Quotes from Kevin Behan

When two beings want the same thing, they can communicate. And when two beings want the same thing that neither can attain on their own, they can connect. A want held in common weaves life into one network, a worldwide web of feeling.

contrast, when an owner is submissive, or wishy-washy in dealing with his dog, his dog will tend to become assertive, brash, "overly protective" — the classic hallmarks of the so-called dominant dog.

The little brain in the gut develops from the same embryonic tissue as the brain in the head, and the two are connected via the massive vagus nerve. Most intriguingly, there is a nine-to-one rate of data transfer from the gut to the brain, as opposed to the brain to the gut.

the gut had a mind of its own

When one spends a great deal of the formative and imaginative period of his life alone in the woods, the ability to note and track detail becomes highly developed. He becomes attuned to the subtlest changes in his surroundings, and it's easy to imagine that there might be hidden, immaterial processes beneath the surface.

With every dog I trained or handled, and there were hundreds each year, I practiced the skill of not projecting a thought, intention, or expectation onto anything the dog might do. This allowed me to bypass thinking and let the dog's actions show me what was the immediate-moment energetic equation in what was happening before me.

I believe there is only one way to evolve: by staying true to desire; the wellspring of passion — the prime kernel of code that factors out feelings and behaviors as expressions of emotion in order to consummate desire — is the same in human and dog. What is most wild in human and canine — Heart — is what bonds us.