Maike Maja Nowak, born in Leipzig and living in Berlin since 1986, studied dog psychology and behavioral therapy for dogs. However, she soon turns away from the content of these teaching materials and abandons all common dog training methods that use treats or pressure and turn the dog into a conditioning machine. She remembers how her lead dog, Wanja, led a pack of ten dogs confidently, competently and friendlyly in the Russian village of Lipowka, where Maike Maja Nowak lived from 1991-97. No pressure, no bribery. Without method. He led her. That was enough.
“When it comes to dogs, no one has more right than them!” Maike Maja Nowak
What does good leadership mean to you?
We often imagine leadership as something completely wrong, because in our human spheres there are only a few good role models who lead and guide people with fairness, without pressure and with great social competence. We sometimes equate a tough or dictatorial demeanor and domineering with good leadership of the dog. Or we avoid leading our dog altogether because we don't want to be dominant with him.
Is training with a reward system successful?
A confident leader dog or a calm dog mom doesn't need fun methods to make herself interesting, bribes with treats or conditioning. They need a good eye, quick judgment and decision-making skills and the trust of the pack in their competence. The treat as a reward should be given to the person who makes a good decision in the dog's interest, i.e. the person.
When do dogs accept humans as partners?
Everything I teach is based on observing dogs, because they are the best teachers themselves. I'm not showing how to turn a dog into a conditioning machine. On the contrary – I show how you can build a wonderful relationship in which you trust the leadership of your owner and therefore do not question his/her decisions. The insights I share have been around as long as dogs have existed. You just have to have the respect to look and absorb what they have to tell us that is helpful.
What can we learn from dogs?
Dogs act instinctively and immediately. We miss a lot of time to act because we spend time thinking. Dogs act body language and unmistakably. People still talk, justify, explain and misunderstand. Dogs don't tell themselves what to do, only what not to do. That's why they have much more freedom between themselves than we do. Dogs live in the NOW. That's why you can start over at any time.
Is the popular wisdom true: Like the Lord, so does the shaving?
A dog absorbs the basic energy and habits of its human. This ability distinguishes him significantly from the wolf.
Can a dog be “used” as an emotional substitute?
A dog is not a replacement for children, not a substitute for a partner, not a substitute for our own lack of individuality and originality, not a substitute for anything that we have to look for and find within ourselves. A dog has the right to just be a dog.
What is the biggest difference in communication between humans and dogs?
We humans are told from childhood what we have to do and what the world is like. People sit on talk shows and explain something and other people sit in front of the TV and listen to them. I'm also explaining something to you right now. Dogs, on the other hand, rarely tell each other what needs to be done, but rather what should NOT happen. You need a single working vocabulary: a stop sound. A lead dog doesn't raise its paw, point to a place and say: «You go over there and stay there.» He is more likely to put a taboo on the room where the other dog is NOT supposed to be.
How does this difference manifest itself in how humans train dogs?
We humans have put our way of communicating on the dog like a foreign hat and wonder why it only wants to fit a few dogs. So we now explain to the dogs what they have to do. For example, “sit”, “down”, “stay”. Equipped with treats, we go out onto the street and hope that nothing happens that is more exciting than our treat. This has nothing to do with trusting ourselves and our dog. It's more of a game of chance where the dog almost always wins.
But books teach and dog schools practice the treat method.
Authors and trainers are also people who naturally act and think humanely. It takes courage to say goodbye to your own human perspective and dare to try something new. Some colleagues already have it. That's wonderful.
How do you imagine a harmonious relationship with the dog?
In my ten-strong Russian dog pack, I observed for many years that dogs were allowed to do whatever they wanted all day long until the lead dog felt it necessary to stop in order to protect the pack or to maintain harmony. If more dog owners learned a functioning stop and the right leadership energy specifically for their dog in order to act in their dog's language, they would be amazed at how easy a dog is to lead. You would have acquired something completely new: competence and composure. And that feels very good, even in the rest of your life.
A final word?
Dogs are EASY. The most difficult thing for us as humans is to let go of our complexities and get involved with these very simple things.
Maike Maja Nowak
About the book:
»Dogs are a mirror of people. They offer him the chance to perceive and change himself.«
What “Dog Whisperer” Maike Maja Nowak brings back to life with the dachshund Benny, who bites in time for the daily news, Antonio, who is overwhelmed by being pampered, the couple who play off their dogs against each other, the timid Alfons von der Kette, who is led by the courageous Helen, back to life Finds, and has experienced many other two- and four-legged clients, she tells here in case stories that are as entertaining as they are enlightening. They are stories in which people reveal themselves, bravely dare to do something, and show something touching or humorous. With inimitable empathy, Maike Maja Nowak gets to the bottom of the characters of dogs and people, and with sharp powers of observation she traces the relationship structures – that's what makes these stories so unique and captivating. It opens your eyes to what is really important when living with a dog, but above all it tells about people who grow in their relationship with their four-legged friend and gain experience, learn and fail, experience happiness and powerlessness. A special reading pleasure: animal-human stories in which you learn to recognize the “inner animal” in yourself and others.
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