From that Closet

It was in the world of smells that Flush passed most of his life. Love was mostly smell, shapes and colors were smell, music and architecture, law, politics and science were smell. For him, religion was also smelling. With these words Virginia Woolf concludes the biography of the dog Flush. It was 1933, it was not a dog or veterinary expert, yet the writer had grasped something eternal and profound. This ability to relate contexts, smells, emotions and the concretization then in experience, in bonding, in affection has always made me feel in great empathy with the ‘odorous’ world of dogs, spontaneously my own.

I was still an adolescent, in fact, when I learned to develop this skill: associating smells with memories, scents with emotions. I was just 11 years old and the death of my mother generated a very difficult and profoundly sensitive period. In those months of great emotional confusion, one afternoon I found myself, I don’t even know how, inside the closet of mom’s winter coats; the “safe”of her smells and my most primordial memories.

After so many afternoons of my youth in there, in the darkness of the most blind emotions, in the midst of that chaos of fragrances, I learned to rework memories and find keys to read to take me to the adult world. In that corner of the house I found a completely personal way I can be able to fantasize again with the presence of mom and I managed to tattoo inside me an indissoluble bond that had escaped me forever.

My name is Giovanni Iannò, I am an educator and dog trainer, founder of the ComuniCane school; first in Milan and for about 10 years in Reggio Calabria I have as a professional goal to spread a culture in the management of the man-dog relationship, favoring the relational aspect both in the educational and training field. Following the uncertain first steps of a new family and their  puppy is a matter of great responsibility for me, getting into the familiar realities and finding solutions that satisfy the needs of hairy and non-hairy, is the most creative and extravagant part of my work. Knowing how to use existing motivations and talents to create functional relationships, privileging collaborations, attitude and self-esteem will complete an educational path that is too important for the well-being of our dog. All this will be guaranteed to trigger a virtuous circle of experiences and shares that are always new throughout the life of the dog.

In the training field I take care to improve the relationships of people with motor disabilities and their dogs, helping them to create an increasingly stimulating and functional relationship, with the great goal: autonomy. My greatest passion remains the nosework, the smells and emotions that arise from it, certainly architects of very strong empathy. After so many experiences with the dog on rubble, I found my dimension, falling madly in love, in

preparing dogs for diabetes and epilepsy alert training and all the relational dynamics that orbit around them. This is a special trip with a double meaning. The first, the most visible, is the functional health aspect, providing auxiliary support for the individualization of possible crises on the horizon, increasing the predictability and tranquility of the family unit; giving the dog a challenging and gratifying role.

The second is the relational aspect. Having the awareness of favoring the birth of unique and indissoluble bonds, especially in children: the feeling of how tangible enriching the relationship with one’s ‘special’ dog is, a growth in which the different (the dog) becomes help and friend, and the disease becomes a pretext and discovery of wonderful values. I’m glad I gave light back to that closet. I’m glad I gave a voice back to that child. I’m glad I made those smells and emotions part of me.