Welcome to the March 2022 edition of ZENFUL Dog of the Month featuring Bentley! Bentley is a vibrant, playful and energetic shepherd-border collie mix who is proud to be a loyal member of Erin and Karl’s family. Bentley is a very sensitive and curious soul who adores children and is happiest when surrounded by the people he loves. Bentley has a gift for reminding his parents to slow down to find joy in everything.
Bentley
Age: 18 months old this month
Meet Bentley’s Immediate Family:
(Bentley’s Mom): Erin is Bentley’s gatekeeper. Bentley goes to his mom for everything—including reassurance if he is uncertain about something or scared. Erin and Bentley walk trails together, paddleboard together and are even learning to kayak together! Bentley is Erin’s constant companion who loves to go everywhere she goes, especially to the beach and to visit Erin’s mom. Bentley does not like being separated from Erin.
(Bentley’s Dad): Bentley was naturally more comfortable with women from day one and Karl can be a bit hard in an effort to be an authority figure for Bentley so Kendra trained Karl in a sense alongside Bentley to improve the way they interacted with one another.
Now they are each others’ perfect companion and confidant. Bentley brings Karl so much love and peace and he means the world to him. They have a schedule together and love to go for walks, play and go for drives. When Karl is away for longer periods than usual or it is getting late, Bentley starts to worry.
Bentley’s Extended Family:
(Bentley’s grandmother and great-grandmother): Erin’s mom and grandmother love and embrace Bentley for who he is and they love to host him. Bentley likewise loves visiting them and enjoys running, playing and swimming at their houses.
(Bentley’s grandmother’s dog—Sammy): Erin’s mom’s dog, Sammy (8 years old), tolerates Bentley’s playful and boyish energy. They definitely have different approaches to ‘play’ but manage to get along.
Bentley prefers to be with his entire family and always have them near—he is visibly calmer and more content when he is surrounded by everyone he loves. His love and excitement toward his family cannot be contained—Bentley frequently showers them all with his affection and adoration.
When Erin and Karl first adopted Bentley, they had recently lost their dog of many years—Lyla. Heartbroken, Erin and Karl had only been married a month when Lyla passed away and they were finding the house quiet without her. Erin was hesitant to adopt a new dog only weeks after Lyla’s death but with Karl’s encouragement, she decided to go ahead and adopt a puppy—Bentley!
Erin describes Bentley's Personality: Bentley is very playful, sweet and sensitive. He is exceptionally smart, handsome, loving and kind. Bentley cares deeply about everyone around him. He works hard, loves to please and is very protective of his home. Bentley does not particularly enjoy meeting new people.
Erin Shares The Most Unique Thing about Bentley: Bentley is a dog who really knows how to find joy in the smallest things. He doesn’t seem to want or need many toys or things, he is completely happy to just play with a stick. Bentley is very vocal—he has this uncanny ability to express his personality through weird noises. He also has a sock fetish—he chews on them and will chew kleenex too if he can get his paws on it!
Bentley's favourite Treats/Foods according to Erin: It is difficult to narrow down Bentley’s favourite food as he is extremely food-motivated and loves everything. All treats are his favourite treats. Erin cooks all of Bentley’s food and guesses that if he had to choose a favourite, it might be rollovers and cheese.
Bentley’s Favourite Activities:
Running
Playing with a frisbee (especially his orange one)
Chasing a ball
Playing tug
Exploring off-leash in the trees and on new trails
Swimming
Nestling with his loved ones
Playing with friends off-leash
Being a sock ninja
How Bentley Unwinds After a Full Day of Activity: Bentley has a bit of trouble unwinding but when he finally does, “he enjoys laying on his perch in front of the window gnawing away on his favourite deer antler.” Chewing on antlers gives Bentley both mental and physical stimulation which helps him to unwind and eventually chill out a bit.
If Bentley had a human voice: Karl thinks that if Bentley had a human voice, he would sound like the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s friendly neighbourhood Spiderman—Tom Holland.
Bentley’s Training
Bentley does Skill Training and Cani-Trail regularly with ZENFULdog and has also done Parkour Training, canicross and Fitness Training. Bentley is full of energy that needs to be stimulated through exploration but he also lacks some confidence so Cani-Trails offer the perfect atmosphere for Bentley to explore and release energy while staying close to his parents. Kendra identified that Bentley’s sensitivity could be reinforced in a way that will slowly build his confidence.
Transitioning from parenting an older, calmer dog to parenting an energetic puppy was a difficult transition for Erin but she felt an immediate empathetic connection to Bentley. Bentley grew extremely close to both his parents but Erin is connected to what Bentley is feeling and in touch with how truly sensitive he is.
Erin is so grateful she found ZENFULdog Training—Kendra taught her how to open up to Bentley while grieving the loss of a very different dog. Erin learned how to distinguish between and work with Bentley’s unique traits and personality which helped her to also grow as a person alongside Bentley’s development.
When first training Bentley, Erin had moments of feeling like she was an obstacle getting in the way of Bentley’s progress. Kendra created a space for Erin to see she was not a problem and not alone with how she was feeling. Erin realized that many dog parents struggle with training and that there is a learning curve to the education needed to train each unique dog. Erin credits Kendra for helping her move forward not only in the training process but in the grieving process as well.
Erin Tells Us How Training has Shaped Bentley: Working with Kendra has taught Karl and Erin how to identify Bentley’s particular needs and how he expresses them which in turn helps them communicate clear direction and instruction back to Bentley.
When Bentley first started training with ZENFULdog, Kendra taught his parents the difference between athletic and cognitive energy. Erin had been addressing Bentley’s athletic energy and needs with plenty of indoor and outdoor exercises but needed to learn how to address and respond to his cognitive needs as well. Learning how to connect to Bentley’s cognitive side was a game-changer for Erin!
Kendra strengthened the relationship and dynamics between all three of them. When Kendra would first visit the house, Erin referred to her as ‘The Warden’ because as soon as Bentley saw Kendra, he knew he would be called out for his mischievous behaviours in a way that he understood both because he is smart and because Kendra knew how to communicate with him. Kendra would then explain the reasoning behind the behaviours to Erin and Karl in a way that they could understand so they could in turn help Bentley with what he was struggling with. Erin compares it to peeling back layers, as soon as one problem is worked on, another one is uncovered—a work in progress.
Bentley’s Biggest Training Challenges: A big challenge for Bentley’s family was addressing his constant energy and reactiveness on-leash as well as improving his confidence. Erin’s connection to Bentley is beautiful but she felt that she was struggling to keep her emotions ‘in-check’ for Bentley’s benefit. Kendra helped Erin learn how to channel her empathic energy for the good of Bentley. She also taught Erin how to identify Bentley’s traits so she could work with those traits instead of against them.
Erin never wanted to change Bentley but rather work with him to give him the best life that he is entitled to. Erin has learned that to do that requires a lot of patience and boundaries. Bentley is a dog who always just wants to play, have fun and interact. It is important that Bentley gain confidence when meeting others on-leash which is hard to do because he has a lot of “shepherd energy” and is also afraid of others. Kendra supports Bentley in a way that targets that energy toward his success and teaches Erin and Karl how to do the same.
Erin describes Bentley’s Biggest Training Success: Bentley’s biggest training successes are his improved confidence and his gained ability to settle down on a trail. Improving his confidence also helped to relieve some of his reactiveness on-leash.
Erin is also thrilled to see how Bentley has grown into loving children so much that he can be confident and vulnerable with them. Bentley has a heartwarming bond with the neighbour kids which shows Erin that an accepting environment where Bentley can be himself helps him to have the best life—which is rewarding to see as a pet-parent.
Bentley’s Most Rewarding Training Moments: Some of you might remember a past blog about ZENFULdog’s Holiday Party. One of the 3 holiday miracle moments was brought to us by Bentley and his parents and was also Bentley’s most rewarding training moment!
Bentley’s parents had been holding off from interacting with other dogs until they were sure they would be around dogs with personalities that could calm Bentley. When they heard about the holiday social, they talked to Kendra about going to test out the social waters. Erin was flabbergasted when Bentley entered the pen and played successfully with other dogs with great play language. Erin and Karl were incredibly proud to see Bentley play well, read the room, have fun and give space as needed. Kendra was likewise incredibly proud of all three of them as Erin’s connection to Bentley and Karl’s guidance were huge factors for Bentley’s success.
Kendra adds: “Bentley is such a cool dog and he has a deep connection to his pet-parents, particularly Erin. He is an incredibly smart dog who loves to be challenged. He has fabulous off-leash play skills with other dogs. His high drive and sensitive nature mean he needs an understanding, calm, skilled and dedicated pet family to help him be the best him he can be—so I am happy he has that family. It is such a privilege to be a part of their training journey as they have their full heart and souls invested in raising Bentley; it’s beautiful to see.”
A very special “Thank You!” goes out to Erin for providing so much of the content for this feature. Don’t forget that you can follow ZENFULdog Training on Facebook to stay connected to your like-minded dog-loving community every day.
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