Sublime Canine Services

04/17/2025

Someone asked a really good question in class last weekend:

Her puppy would often get very snappy and would show aggressive behaviours when another dog was coming over excitingly to meet her. The other puppy is just being friendly, so how can she make it so her dog doesn't act that way when meeting?

I think that's a great question. Its good to look at *why* the behaviour is happening. When calm puppies came by for a little nose sniff she reciprocated, but when the very excited puppy came over she would snap and lunge when they jumped on her. We can assuming she is using those more 'aggressive' behaviours to say "BACK THE HELL OFF I DONT LIKE THAT!" So I wouldn't assume that there is something we can do to make her like that kind of approach. If a stranger off the street walked into class and ran towards me to give me a hug, you better believe that will be met with aggression from me.

What CAN we do?

You can look at the function of the behaviour. The aggressive behaviours are a way to STOP the overwhelming greetings from happening and get space away from them. You are going to take over that role for your dog . You are going to make sure they have the space they need so that they don't feel like they need to proactively defend themselves. You also have an idea of the type of dogs she can meet without feeling overwhelmed. So when a calm dog strolls by and seems slow and happy and indifferent, that might be an okay greeting to let happen. But if you see a dog straining at the end of the leash, walking on two legs trying to pull over to say hi, you are going to intervene. "Sorry, we aren't saying hi today!" Physically moving and walking away if they keep coming over to you. You want your dog to know that you are going to deal with the situation, so they don't need to worry about taking matters into their own paws.

One thing I see a lot of people doing is "seeing what happens". When the dog is only lashing out sometimes, with every greeting you're just ready to see how it goes. We as dog owners need to be far more proactive with our dogs and those we let them meet. If you can look at the dogs and their body language and you can tell that the vibes are off .. DON'T DO IT!

04/03/2025

Today's installment of "The Good Dogs, and the Other One."

03/28/2025

One of these dogs belongs to a dog trainer. I'll let you guess which one. 😂🫠

03/16/2025

We had a very cute, sweet, and happy Small breed puppy in class recently who was struggling with their "down" and if they did go into the position they were not staying there and popping back up right away. (Not this puppy, but this guy is equally as cute).

If you have ever had a small breed puppy, especially the super wiggly ones, down is sometimes a bit of a struggle in the beginning! Cold hard floor, new place, people and puppies around ... It's a lot of variables at play and not something I think too much of.

Well this puppy went to see his vet for a checkup, who also does physio/chiro. She noticed his pelvis was slightly tilted and he got a chiro adjustment. After that adjustment guess what: no more issues doing a "down" and holding it.

It's no secret that health and wellness affects behavior. But how many times has your dog refused to 'sit' or 'down' or whatever behaviour, and you wonder why the sudden 'disobedience'? Or "why won't they do this thing that I consider actually pretty easy?" When there actually might be something else going on under the surface 👀

03/04/2025

No caption needed 🙈

02/25/2025

Hey! So a spot just opened up in my Wednesday, Feb. 26th Basic Life Skills all ages course. Here are the details

Wednesday (7:45-8:45pm) *1 Spot Available*
Location: Happy Hounds Doggy Daycare
Course Dates: Feb 26 & Mar 5, 12, 19, 26 & Apr 2.
Email [email protected] with a contact number, your dog's name, breed and birthdate to register for class.

02/20/2025

Sarah is extremely behind on emails because of a family emergency. We apologize, you aren't being ignored. She will be getting back to you within the next few days.

02/10/2025

The first step in working on off-leash training isn't necessarily recalls! Try these off-leash skills first:

Working on offleash hiking skills with Board & Train puppy Groot, & Springer Spaniel Layla.www.sublimecanine.ca

02/01/2025

Sarah's class this morning is cancelled!

01/29/2025

I've never had to work so hard for a photo in my whole life 😂😂

01/26/2025

The 6.5 year old dog who has never chewed a shoe or slipper in her whole damn life really said

✨"Never say never"✨

Please note the evidence still hanging from her lip 😂😂

01/23/2025

Little puppies love to sniff! How much sniffing does your puppy do?

01/18/2025

It is NORMAL for dogs or all ages to be startled. What is ideal is to see is a fairly fast recovery.

In this video we stopped to check out the parachute guy. Mica noticed him, was being curious and doing some air sniffing, but also wanted to check out the new area we were in. So she wasn't overly bothered by the weird thing in the sky. When the guy was running sideways with his parachute she definitely had a moment of "UMMM HEY SOMETHING WEIRD AND NOT NORMAL IS GOING ON HERE". But she wasn't distressed, was easily encouraged to walk away, and was soliciting treats from me after. We even played a bit with a cool stick we found in the grass 😂

There's so much pressure to have a dog that will never react anything and be okay/neutral with absolutely everything. That's a great goal, but sometimes unrealistic. They are a living creature in our bizarre world, and to be alive is to react to the world around you. What I'm looking for is: in the face of great excitement or worry, you can choose to just walk away and trust that I can handle it.

01/16/2025

Taking some cookies tossing fun and shaping it into a whiplash name response!

Featuring Tilly and Frankie

01/14/2025

Someone asked a good question last night:

In puppy classes they took way back when, for "sit" they just pushed their bum down. Is that wrong?

That totally was a really common way to teach sit! Luckily we've learned so much since those days that we know that it can be faster and more effective to teach in other ways.

Having a sit at a distance with just a verbal cue is one of the benefits to teaching it differently and why I chose to not teach it by just pushing their bum now ❤️

01/13/2025

EDIT: SPOT HAS BEEN TAKEN!

I still have one spot left in the Puppy Basic Life Skills (3-8 months) class starting tomorrow!

Location: Fall River Animal Hospital
Class Dates: Jan 13, 20, 27, Feb 3, 10, 24 (No class Feb 17th)
Mondays (6:00-6:45pm)

Email [email protected] to secure your spot

01/11/2025

The progression of Arlow's ears from November 16 to today 📡

01/10/2025

I LOVE seeing shy puppies come out of their shell. These two were a little nervous when their set of classes had started, and were interested but too unsure to actually physically check out the other dogs.

With puppies we never Force interaction, but always encourage curiosity and braveness. So proud of these two, who clearly became fast Friends ❤️