Gentle PUPPY training sanctuary

09/23/2025

With Newfoundland Puppies – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉

09/19/2025

Update on grass roots action against PetSafe Brand⚡️We must stop normalizing shock collars in American culture.

What we expect from PetSafe is simple: make a clear, written statement denouncing shock/e-collars and commit to ending their sale, marketing, and promotion. End sponsorships that platform aversive methods. If leadership continues to endorse these products or strategies, they should step aside.

Want to help? Make this highly problematic brand aware of your position today. Leave factual comments on PetSafe’s newest posts, and vote with your wallet.

Here’s the backstory: PetSafe recently posted a video promoting shock/e-collars with claims that weren’t scientifically sound. Thanks to pushback from our community, they pulled it within 24 hours of our formal boycott of the PetSafe brand. You can see the now deleted video in my stories.

But that doesn’t mean they stopped selling shock collars to the public - which enables further harm to dogs and the relationships between people and their dogs.

Across veterinary and behavior organizations worldwide, the guidance has been consistent for years: shock/e-collars have no place in dog training or behavior modification. Research links these devices to more fear and anxiety, elevated stress, increased aggressive responses, and erosion of trust between dogs and their people; humane, reward-based methods meet the same goals without those costs.

The commercial success of shock collars depends on public confusion and euphemisms that rebrand pain as “stimulation” and control as “freedom”.

The boycott continues until actions, not PR, match modern standards of animal care. We’re prepared to widen the pressure to the retailers that carry PetSafe products.

Pain is not a training plan. Trust is non-negotiable. Dogs, and the people who love them, deserve better.

More info on this boycott here https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FPLrEuu4b/

———

American College of Veterinary Behaviorists position statements on veterinarians’ responsibility when working with behavior cases, and humane and effective evidence-based training https://www.dacvb.org/page/PositionStatement

American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior position statement on Humane Dog Training Methodshttps://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/AVSAB-Humane-Dog-Training-Position-Statement-2021.pdf

More sources and a list of organizations worldwide who have condemned shock in training at zakgeorge.com

09/19/2025

September is responsible dog ownership month. Owning a dog is a joy, privilege, and responsibility. If you have a canine companion into your life, think seriously about the commitment that being a responsible dog owner entails. Recognize the commitment - Before deciding that a dog is right for you, make an honest assessment: are you ready for the financial, emotional, and time commitment owning a dog requires?

09/18/2025

I think it's strange that dogs get called naughty, bad or blamed for their natural behaviour.

It's even odder to me that dogs are usually the last one in the household to be considered.

They are just expected to fit in and have no opinions.

Then when they cry out for their needs to be met in one way or another, a trainer is fetched in.

Then the dog becomes the sentient victim of the vast uneducated dog trainer lottery.

Then if they are unlucky the poor dog is exposed to one of those 'broken people dog trainers' who focus only on results so work through threats and force.

In barely no time at all, a desperate animal who has been asking for help in the only way he knows how, is put into the hands of a disconnected brute of a human with a prong collar and a big scary voice.

The dog learns that when they ask for help they are threatened.

They learn that pain is the response to them trying to stay safe.

That dog learns when they are scared, they just have to push it all back inside because of the brute standing over them, or the metal spikes around their neck.

This is not good enough!

We have the capacity to be so much better than this!

We have enough access to education to know that bullying isn't teaching!

We have known for decades that dogs are emotional and sentient animals.

We have intuition and instinct to know that it's wrong to push a vulnerable animal around.

WE know that it's wrong.

YOU know in your heart that it's wrong.

So why the hell are you still doing it?

(Note from the writer - well I escalated quickly 😅)

09/18/2025

10/19/2022

All PIAI Organizational members promote a code of professional ethics, honest and transparent operational practices to support consumer protections and are committed to working towards the “Gold Standard” for professional competency.

10/19/2022

10/18/2022

Watch the replay here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYQiBQtimMCbZlhxwUP9IRj8dCebe_PwE

After Rimadyl became popular, one of my technician's dogs died 2 weeks after using it. In the emergency service, we had dogs coming in with kidney failure, liver failure, gastric ulcers, etc. after using Rimadyl. Alarm bells!⁠
⁠
Labrador Retrievers are specifically mentioned as sensitive to Rimadyl/Carprofen.⁠
Galliprant is supposed to have the least amount of side effects, but it is labeled for use in arthritis only.⁠
Metacam can only be given by injection once for cats. Oral Metacam is specifically labeled as NOT for use in cats.* It can cause renal failure.⁠
Onsior is only labeled for postop pain for orthopedic surgery or spay/neuter.⁠
The Previcox insert has a list of adverse reactions too long to even put in this caption.⁠
⁠
Potential Adverse Reactions for ALL NSAIDs ⁠
- Kidney Failure⁠
- Liver Failure⁠
- Seizures⁠
- Gastrointestinal bleeding and perforation. If your animal is on an NSAID, make sure you check their stool! Dark, tarry stools, diarrhea, anorexia, and other GI symptoms can be signs of a serious issue.⁠
⁠
✳️ I ALWAYS do lab work before starting an NSAID to make sure liver and kidney function are fine. Then, I do lab work every 3 months while the pet is on the medication. ⁠
✳️ Always ASK for the drug inserts from your veterinarian!⁠
✳️ I absolutely minimize the use of NSAIDs with my pets by using alternative therapies and safer OTC options where possible.⁠
⁠
❌ Do NOT mix NSAIDs with steroids. ⁠
❌ NSAIDs should NOT be given with any other NSAID!! This can kill your pet. You have to have a minimum 7 day wash out period (wait 7 days) before switching.⁠
❌ Do NOT give antacids (like Famotidine) with NSAIDs (there is a potential reaction where the tissue of the stomach swells)⁠
⁠
✅ For natural pain management options, read more here: https://drjudymorgan.com/blogs/blog/treating-arthritis-naturally?_pos=1&_sid=22a88fa12&_ss=r⁠
⁠
✅ For Syringomyelia: https://drjudymorgan.com/blogs/blog/therapy-for-syringomyelia?_pos=6&_sid=5199006d8&_ss=r⁠
⁠


*Edit to add: Metacam has been labeled for cats outside the US, but still has a narrow safety margin in cats and signs of overdose may be seen at small overdose levels.

10/18/2022

🎉 The Dog Nutrition Event of the Year!!

Free sign up: https://petaffiliates.center/179-17.html

10/15/2022

There's really just three main types of dog behavior problems and this flow chart summarizes how you can resolve all three.

Obviously, there's only so much info we can fit on a single page but if you'd like to learn more about how to resolve these 3 common types of dog behavior problems you should enroll in our free online course:
https://dunbar.info/6steps

It all starts with NOT feeding your dog from a food bowl. If your dog has a behavior problems, there's a very good chance you can use their regular daily allotment of food to help resolve this problem. You might be able to resolve it without using their food but making use of their food will almost certainly accelerate the training.

Do the problems occur when the dog is at home and unsupervised? The key is preventing these problems with confinement, either a crate or playpen, but it's essential that you start by teaching your dog to LOVE hanging out in these confined areas, and the best way to do that is with food-stuffed chew toys.

Are the problems the result of fear or stress? Is there any element of aggression? If so, you have to manage for safety and then use classical conditioning to teach your dog to feel more at ease. You'll also want to use lure reward training to put useful skills on cue, which you can use to redirect your dog's attention from stimuli that stress them.

If it's not an at-home unsupervised problem, and it's not a fear or stress-based problem, then all you need is a simple obedience training solution. Your dog is doing something you don't like. What would you like them to do instead? Sit-stay? Down-Stay? Go to their bed and settle down? Be quiet?

Teach them to do this behavior on cue and then practice it in progressively more challenging situations until they do it reliably, anytime, anywhere.

Want to learn more? Sign up for our free course, Six Simple Steps to Solve Your Dog's Behavior Problems: https://dunbar.info/6steps

10/14/2022

https://doggonesafe.com/Halloween-Safety

10/14/2022

I never ever believe in that Dominance Myth in dogs !! Years ago I worked for a Fox Hunting Club where there was 65 dogs together, living together, playing eating together and I 've observed the way they were interacting was like a big family ; dogs with experience ( parents , older sibling, ) were the teacher, role model for the young ones.

Theories are just that. Just an idea until they are proven true. And like many ideas, this trend has been out of style for decades.

While backyard trainers will try to spin what your dog does into flashy terms like "alpha" and "asserting dominance", your dog is not built with this software.

While it makes sense to us because we live in a "top down" system, dogs are just doing what works for them and they don't function in this hierarchy.

By claiming this theory, they can attempt to justify the use of fear, intimidation, corrections and pain to "fix" the problem... they have no choice but to try to take back "leadership".

These out of control trainers are using smoke and mirrors to justify their inability to work with and understand your dog.

Even the scientists who considered this to be true quickly realized that they were wrong when wolves, who were (and still inaccurately are) the justification for this blueprint were realized to be living in family groups instead of being ruled by an alpha.

Come join us in the 2000’s where it’s uncool to train this way!