All Posts

Prevention is sadly, hard to sell. You might be following the story of a well known dog influencer and the tragedy she faced of losing three of her dogs in one incident. A quick summary of what occurred is that this person had 7 bull breeds living together. Lots of content online that I skimmed through made me uncomfortable in terms of proper multi dog household management (i.e. I saw a lot of red flags in their interactions, body language, and situational setups). This perso

Let’s discuss some inside the box and outside the box firework safety topics for your dog’s behavior. Holidays like the Fourth of July and New Years can pose a challenge for a lot of dogs, especially ones who already struggle with aggression, fear, and anxiety. For whatever reason people are enthralled with loud, giant booming lights in the sky. But for many dogs (and wildlife) they create a terrifying war scene, often times for a few weeks surrounding these holidays. Every y

It’s not just the poinsettias you want to be careful of. Every holiday there’s a lot of posts, blogs, and infographics that get shared and passed around on the dangers associated with the holidays - things like keeping chocolate out of your pets’ reach and reminders to make sure their microchip information is up to date. But for this holiday, I’m not here to tell you that poinsettias are toxic to your dogs (even though, yes, they are). I’m here to look at other safety precaut

Keep your pets safe for this holiday! Halloween can be a fun time for humans, and yet it can also be a scary and dangerous time for our pets. Here are some important reminders to keep them safe and happy on Halloween night. 🎃 Keeping your pets inside is the safest thing to do. Exercise your dogs early! Feeding them dinner a little bit earlier and going for your evening walk a little bit earlier will not only allow you to take care of their needs before the excitement and cha

Kintsugi, would wear his reinforced agitation muzzle when meeting new people and when at the vet, for the safety of everyone involved in...

Orion, thankfully - yes. Whenever I talk about a dog needing to no longer be on the couch, I sometimes receive a lot of resistance from...

Shedding light on muzzles, one dog at a time. Most people equate muzzles with dogs who are dangerous and/or with dogs who bite. But that...

Kintsugi, was able to earn the privilege. Now before you respond to this blog post with an angry emoji or go unfollow, listen up... Some...

My El Chupacabra From late 2020... I can no longer say that I have never foster failed a dog before. And since it’s not any secret, I...

It's common to get labeled as your profession, but dog trainers are more than just dog trainers! For most of my life, I have solely...

Don't fall into this common trap of creating resource guarding in your puppy. Resource guarding is normal. The idea of having something...

Using food while working with leash reactivity is not as simple or easy as you may think. I often hear that when you’re using food to...

Leash reactivity can vary in motivation and severity but most of it can be improved via teaching disengagement from the "triggers" that...

Having a loose dog run towards you and your dog on a walk can be scary and can potentially cause issues with your own dog - even if the...

To sniff? Or not to sniff? I get asked this question a lot. Here's my answer: It depends. If you are working through any behavioral...

Dogs don't exit the womb asking for belly rubs. “Oh how cute she’s rolling over for a belly rub!” How many times do you hear someone say this? Or how many times have you said it yourself? Rolling over onto the back and exposing the belly is actually a distance increasing signal - a stop sign. In this photo, a dog in a local rescue is showing us a perfect example. During her training session where she was working on acclimating to a muzzle, she stopped and did this. She is NOT

Having one or more dogs with behavioral challenges during an evacuation can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be complicated. It can...

"Watch me" has a number of benefits for obedience training, but it is not the best option for most leash reactive dogs. “Leash...

Growling is communication and a warning signal. We want dogs who talk to us. Clients are often baffled when I tell them not to physically...

Rethink calling a dog "Cujo" Let’s talk about the fiction story that Stephen King wrote called “Cujo” back in 1981 and became a popular...