Everything You Want to Know About Secret

By Joni Johnson

Thanks to Janet And Jerre Scott, many of us were first introduced to Secret, the 6-year-old Australian Shepherd that is taking the world by storm with the video on dog and human yoga poses.

She belongs to Mary Peters, a resident of Bellingham, Washington, who is also taking the world by storm.  Unbeknownst to many, Mary has been diagnosed on the autism spectrum and Secret is her therapy dog.  She found her as a puppy in Scio, Oregon, and Mary started her Instagram account in 2015 at the age of 14, just a few months after Secret was born.  This picture appeared in her Instagram account “my_aussie_gal” in August when Secret was just shy of her 8 month birthday.  She chose an Australian shepherd because they are known to have a strong work drive and according to the American Kennel Club, they are remarkably intelligent, quite capable of hoodwinking an unsuspecting novice owner and a brainy and a tireless trainable partner for work or sport.

The reason that I say that Mary is taking the world by storm is that currently she has over a million followers and has been interviewed everywhere including Newsweek.  Her videos of Secret have over three million viewers.  As someone on the autism spectrum, Mary trained Secret to help her negotiate situations that were difficult for her.  Therapy dogs do a great deal to help people of all ages feel socially and emotionally secure.

There are three types of dogs recommended for people with Autism.  One is a companion dog, a second is a therapy dog and the third and most strenuously trained is a service dog.  For more information go to: https://www.autismspeaks.org/expert-opinion/service-dog-or-therapy-dog-which-best-child-autism

According to Loyalty Service Dogs, autism service dogs can help in many ways.  For example, they include tethering, deep pressure therapy, acting as a deterrent for self-harm, calming tantrums and meltdowns, acting as an anchor to help with bolting, confidence building, and more.

One parent described her experience after having a trained autism therapy dog for her daughter.  “I have slept through the night almost every single night since we got him, because Clara is calm and sleeping! This is such a huge change in our lives, I’m not even sure how to describe it, except to say that Clara is awake and cheerful when I come to get her in the morning!”

Mary is now 21 and will be entering University of Washington in Seattle in the fall majoring in Japanese with her service dog, Secret, beside her. She says in her interview with Newsweek that she couldn’t have made it through her community college classes without Secret. Mary started her journey as a home-schooled child.  When she started her Instagram account, she hoped her followers might help her with some teaching tips.  She spent a year training Secret as a therapy dog.  Then the training took off.

Mary uses a method called progressive reinforcement, a term created by San Diego-based dog trainer Emily Larlham. If you visit her YouTube channel, “Kikopup,” you will find more than 350 free in-depth dog training tutorials. “Progressive reinforcement is positive-oriented training without the use of physical or psychological intimidation,” Mary explains. “For example, I reward Secret’s desirable behavior and prevent unwanted behavior.” Each time that Secret completes a trick or something new, Mary gives her a treat.  She says it would take too long to explain how she trains Secret for complicated tricks such as playing piano or sledding, but Mary generally trains in very small, incremental steps over time to teach Secret a new skill.

From what I gather, Secret first started learning to paint because Mary found a video on Instagram of a dog who could paint.  From there it has morphed into yoga, skate boarding, sledding, Irish jigs, vacuuming, doing the laundry and then hanging up the dry shirts and much much more.  I thought her painting was extraordinary for a dog and even for many of the humans that I know.

In 2019, Mary taught Secret to play Jenga which is a game where each person must extract a piece of a wooden pyramid without causing the pyramid to fall.  Check out the video of her ability to concentrate and her knowledge of the game.

One of the amazing features of the bond that Secret and Mary have is Secret’s willingness to fall backwards into Mary’s outstretched arms even from a significant height.  This shows the incredible faith and trust that Secret has for her human.  Falling backwards is very difficult for most people, let alone for a dog because you can’t explain to them that you will be there to catch them. In one of her video posts she wrote, “ You need to show them that in everything you do, not just when they are physically falling.  Secret trusts that I will catch her, but more importantly, she trusts that I will be there for her in every aspect of life.”

That kind of relationship is a very special one but not impossible to duplicate.  How lucky we would all be if we had someone like that in our life.  Or if we were there for someone in that way.  It really is an inspiration.

Here is a five minute clip of ALMOST everything she does-including her painting!

Sources: instagram.com/my_aussie_gal, whatcomtalk.com, thesun.co.uk, https://encoredog.org/australian-shepherd  Newsweek.com,Autismspeaks.com