Second Collar Training - Body

Your body, pup, is your mobility and freedom. With it, you will come to express your pup self eloquently. Experience and training, along with your physical flexibility and strength, will allow you to use your body's shape and stance to express your pup identity in ways that elude a new pup. 

Starting out in human pup play, a person often focuses on the headspace of pup play as the major thing to master. Their attention to the physical is usually limited to some poses for their master of simply enjoying being on all fours. Collar Training for the Body is about teaching you a a familiarity with your pup body as compared to your human one, and using an economy of movement in expressing your pup self. The aim is to use your body as a pup to seem and be like a dog. Achieving that requires you to start understanding your body's movement and learning to deliberately control it to express only your pup self, not your human nature. Be aware your human self will naturally try to reassert itself whenever possible. 

FCT Body taught you to focus on your spine as the centre of your movement. Now we extend outward so that your in future expression of your pup self your arms flow freely to express gesture and action and you find your new balance as a pup. Your spine, setting the plane of your body, can express your demeanour as you learnt in FCT Behaviour. Your arms serve to express gesture and action, showing what you want and desire and how you feel about things as a pup. Remember, you don't want to use human facial expressions and certainly don't want to use language, so your body and non verbal communication is your number one tool of expressing and interacting with others in pup play. 

Here is an exercise that you can do to encourage flexibility and expressive movement for your arms and upper body. Begin by assuming the Present posture. Raise your arms and elbows to the level of your shoulders, stretching your arms out sideways. Slowly start to curl your arms towards your chest, curling first from your hands, then wrists, then elbows, till your knuckles are pressing on your breastbone. Take a moment to breathe in and out, then slowly reverse the motion, uncurling first your shoulders, then your elbows, then your wrists, then your hand. Do this movement exercise a few times a week to simply build an awareness of your arms as an extension of your self. See the video below to see how it works.

What is going to be radically different for you in human pup play is that the majority of your movements  will not be the same as when you are in human 'form'. There is a very basic reason for this, and it is not because of the gear, nor is it from the mental pupspace. The reason is that your centre of gravity has changed from the postures and positions you will be in. Being upright as a human, every part of your body will return to a natural position because of gravity. From your first steps as a baby till now you have learnt to move and act with a subconscious awareness of your centre of gravity. As a pup you need to relearn the centre of gravity, and there are a couple of exercises to help you do this. 

You can and should do these exercises in a variety of postures, most notably the Present and All Fours positions as you learnt in FCT Posture. The first exercise is gentle and easy. Assume a relaxed position in the posture. Now slowly transfer your weight from one side of your body to the other side, then slowly bring it back. As you go back and forth pay careful attention to the small and subtle changes of pressure and weight you make by shifting your mass. The aim here is to just raise an awareness of your new centre of gravity. The video below also explains the exercise.

A second more physically active exercise will challenge you to move that centre of gravity. At first it will be difficult to do, and you will probably feel clumsy, heavy, and off balance. Practice makes all the difference. It is best to do this exercise first from All Fours, then try the Present and Kneel positions. Find a clear space and have your pup mat in front of you. Assume a relaxed position in the posture, and be aware of the comfort of your whole body. Have your muscles calm and relaxed, not taut or tense. Breathe easily and in rhythm, with as clear a mind as you can get. Begin the movement exercise by taking a deep breath, then spring forward, propelling yourself a few centimetres of the floor, and landing as best you can on the mat. If you bounce, be careful. You are a puppy not a frog! You may eventually achieve a fluidity to this movement that sees you leaping backwards, sideways and forwards and landing well. That is not the actual goal of the exercise. It is important not to judge yourself with this exercise. It isn't a competition. It is simply a semi vigorous exercise to help you adjust to a new centre of gravity in pup play. The video below demonstrates the exercise.