The Dog Listener

11/18/2025

Hello lovely dog listeners 💜 It’s been a while and I’m really excited to share something I have been working on in my other business.

Who do you know that could really benefit from a relationship and mindset reset ?? Share this post with them, I would love to guide them to a place of feeling freer and lighter !

10/17/2025

If your struggling with how your feeling In your life, in your relationships with humans or your beautiful canine best friend.

May this post bring you some peace and insight.

I may have shifted gears from dogs to humans but the wisdom I share applies to every relationship that we have be it romantic, friendship or our dogs but and especially the one with our selves.

07/14/2025

Have you guys missed me?? Here’s what I’m
Up to these days…. Helping people live happier in their relationships and in their whole lives ☺️

Nope neither of these are correct. There’s a very dangerous slippery slope thinking being in a relationship will make you happy and or that your partner is responsible for your happiness and contentment.

Life is inside out not outside in. Meaning we are solely responsible for our own happiness and it comes from inside us. People are often searching for the “perfect” person to complete them but let me tell you it doesn’t work that way.

Only once we love and accept ourselves and forgive all that we have held onto will we feel content, complete and stop searching for something outside of us to “fill the hole” inside us.

A good Relationship is just the cherry on top 🍒 of the amazing layered dessert that is your life’s adventure.

If you want to live a life that you love while becoming your most empowered self in your current relationships and transcend all your relationship struggles in 8 short weeks, then book your free 1 hour Wild Discovery Session now! Link in bio

06/04/2025

If you have been wondering what I have been up to…sharing glimpses of wild wisdom that can change your life overnight.

When we wake up our own inner wild wisdom the other beings around us slowly shift too, they cannot help it, their nervous systems automatically will resonate with ours, including our dogs, how cool is that!!

Follow my new account for more tiny wisdoms that will change the way you see life, relationships and other people…you won’t regret it!! 💕

To forget is to forgive. When we allow our selves to release old thoughts into the wilderness and no longer hold our selves hostage with them, we create the space to forgive those who have hurt or wronged us.

Our partners, our exes, our friends, our parents. Yes everyone.

Forgiveness is not for the other person. It’s a gift to ourselves. The gift to peace of mind.

We all deserve that gift 🎁 ❤️

03/04/2025

Hi I’m Marika incase we haven’t met. I’m the face behind The Dog Listener and it’s a bittersweet time to announce I’m excitedly embarking on a new adventure 🏔️

I will be shifting my focus from pooches to people and relationships as that’s where my heart is calling me. From dog coach ➡️ relationship coach!

It’s been an incredible journey over these last 10 years or so and what I’ve learnt over all is that humans today are living in such high states of stress and unaware of how much it’s effecting not only their physical health, their mental health and also their ability to enjoy life and be present to all the wonders it has to offer!

Living in stress and overwhelm in turn also affects their human relationships and the relationship they have with their dog which affects their mental health and behaviour too!

This is because dogs are our mirrors and their special gift is to help us see what we need to work on in our selves.

Dogs are never intentionally giving us a hard time or trying to dominate us, they simply don’t have that calculating part of their brain like humans do, they are truely pure innocent beings just as children are. They will go with the flow and take our lead when we are certain and confident in our selves and our choices and actions.

By focusing our own self improvement we are influencing our dogs with our own behaviour this leads to a happier more balanced life for us and our dogs, because just like us, they are sentient and have a deep need for connection, safety, feeling heard and being accepted for who they are and don’t want to feel like they are broken and need fixing and changing. What I have seen is that when we focus on our selves, a lot of our dogs “issues” organically improve which is so freaking cool.

No being wants to feel that way or be pressured into to change, no matter how high value the treat is, being truely appreciated for who we are quirks and all and accepted as who we are meets that core deep need more then any treat or praise.

That’s why focusing on the relationship we offer and the connection through genuine love, gratitude and compassion for what they struggle with is always the way forward.

It’s also the thing people find very difficult because society has programmed us to think our dogs ‘just need to behave’ and ‘just need more training’ which is so far from what they really need. Seeds are spreading and slowly we’re learning there’s a better ways of doing things but a paradigm shift takes time!

I have grown alot through this journey of starting a business and learnt so much more then I thought was possible about dogs and behaviour and then I became fascinated with human behaviour and how we work…and that taught me more about my self then I ever expected to learn.

I don’t know exactly where this adventure will take me and we can never control our future, just be open to the possibilities.

If you want to follow my new account to learn more about my new adventures and be inspired to become a better you…follow me at Wild Wisdom Coaching

On this new account i’ll be sharing tips and advice that will help you awaken your wild wisdom so you can live your best life and help you learn how to effectively reduce stress and overwhelm in your life and relationships (including your dogs).

Here’s to the end of an era and the beginning of a new one 🎉

01/17/2025

A must read about why a feeling of safety and connection always comes first!

Accidental attachment ‘parenting’

Taking on a tiny 6 day old puppy unintentionally taught me a great deal about attachment and how crucial secure attachments are for our dogs’ emotional health.

It’s pretty easy to meet our dogs physical needs and that was even quite easy with a tiny puppy- she needed feeding, she needed help toileting and she needed to be kept warm.

It was apparently straight away that meeting these physical needs and leaving her on a heat pad in a pen was in no way going to meet her emotional needs. It’s not just warmth that puppies need, it’s physical contact with a living being. Heat pads, fake heart beats in toys etc for a solo puppy, just doesn’t do it. She was more settled and content in close physical contact- she preferred with me but any other human or dog would do. She wanted to be next to skin and near a heartbeat, at all times and so that’s where she stayed, for as long as she needed it.

The option of close physical contact with someone they are attached to is such a basic need. I’m sure most of us remember hearing about the awful Harlow experiments where monkey babies had the choice of a wire ‘mother’ (with milk) or a soft, cloth ‘mother’ and would choose the soft mother even at the expense of milk, such is that basic need.

I have children and it felt so similar to when my kids were tiny babies too. I certainly didn’t deny them a need to be near me and I didn’t with this tiny puppy either. When they are developmentally ready (human babies and tiny puppies), they choose to be more independent from you and they spread their wings.

Of course it’s not just about the need for physical contact anyway when they are tiny- it’s about the need to feel safe too and that’s a fundamental need that must be met.

When puppies go into new homes at 8 weeks old they don’t suddenly stop having this need for physical contact and to feel safe near a living being. They go from feeling safe near to mum and siblings to being totally dependent on their new human family. It breaks my heart to think of them relegated to a crate in a kitchen. Of course they stop crying after a couple of nights as they give up any hope that anyone will help them. It certainly doesn’t help them to feel safe and secure in the world.

The same goes for an adult rescue dog who has often suffered so much upheaval and broken attachments along the way and who needs more than anything to just feel safe and secure and to have a bond with someone. This need for connection is a basic need that must be met, the same as being fed and watered.

I know people worry that if you ‘pander’ to them and give them lots of company they will become clingy or overly dependant but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Letting them develop a secure attachment results in resilient and confident individuals who feel safe in the world.

I see so many clients who’ve had awful advice and who have been told that their dog has behavioural issues as they are too nice to them, love them too much etc. it’s all absolute rubbish and they won’t turn into a monster if you meet their needs for safety, it’s quite the opposite and you help them to develop to their full potential ❤️

Laura McAuliffe, Dog Communication 2024