Stephens' Solutions Dog Training

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12/23/2025

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS ….
Not just for Christmas, but every day of a dog’s life – these are some of the things I believe dogs would want -

Gifts of love, kindness, compassion, understanding and knowledge

Gifts of helping them feel safe, secure and protected in their environment

Gifts of understanding their body language and how they communicate

Gifts of unconditional love, second chances and a forever home

Gifts of allowing appropriate choices

Gifts of mental and physical stimulation

Gifts of proper nutrition and health care

Gifts of never using punishment, force, fear, intimidation or tools that cause pain

Gifts of acceptance for the dog that they are

Wishing you and dog’s everywhere a very Happy Christmas filled with the gifts that really matter!

12/23/2025

This one is for the kids✅.
It's also for parents and teachers who may want to open the conversation about keeping safe around dogs.

Two goals here, to keep both dogs and children safe. They're not separate goals, they work together. We all need to remember that young children need to be supervised around dogs and dogs need supervision around young children.
This is especially important at this time of year when we are visiting family and friends who may have their own dogs that may not be used to small children.
This is a great concept to talk through before you visit.

For children, I really like the bubble message as it's memorable and involves the concept of "space means safety".
This uses simple language, bright visuals and clear messages designed intentionally for young children.

I hope you all like it and critique is always welcome, as are suggestions on the next child friendly dog topic you would like to see covered.

12/18/2025

Green is the issue? 🤔
Red's loud, it gets our attention but green is the most misread of all.

Many dogs labelled as "calm" aren't.
Some are barely coping.
They're still responsive, still functioning but are sliding into that amber zone, or were already firmly in it to begin with.

That means their green was never green to begin with.

When that green is misunderstood, amber is already there.
When that amber is missed it feels like a rush to the red zone, it feels sudden even though it wasn't.
It never was.

When we want less red, we need to stop focusing on it.
I know that's a strange way of looking at this but the red is often the outcome of not recognising or respecting the green and amber states.
We need to get as good as possible when reading a dogs body language and we have to be prepared to put our assumptions aside to do that well.

It's those smaller changes we need to get really good at noticing.
The posture.
Breathing changes.
Weight shifts.
These and more are all clues into how your dog is feeling and the more you start to recognise them, the easier it is to see them in those different zones.

But, we need to read where they really are.
Not where we wish them to be.

12/13/2025

DISTANCE ASSISTANCE

It’s not easy having a reactive dog. As much as we may feel frustrated, restricted, angry or even ashamed or embarrassed, our reactive dogs are also experiencing a range of negative emotions when they react to something that triggers them.
Reactive dogs have a nervous system issue not a training issue.

This nervous system reaction is usually caused by anxiety, fear, feeling threatened, frustrated or may even be pain related.

These emotions cause high levels of stress and stress prevents both us and our dogs from being able to process information, think clearly or learn a different, more acceptable way of reacting to whatever triggers us.

This is why creating enough distance is so important.

I’m really scared of snakes and even struggle to look at them. The only thing I want to do is run and create as much distance as possible.

If someone was restraining me, forcing me to sit and look at the snake while trying to feed me my favourite chocolate, telling me there was nothing to worry about or trying to educate me about the reptile, it would do nothing to alleviate my fear and would only increase my stress levels.

Doing this at a sufficient distance, where I felt safe would be far more effective and my stress levels would be much lower. In time, with patience and practice, I may even be able to get much closer to the snake without having a negative reaction.

The same principle applies to reactive dogs. Creating sufficient distance where they can see the trigger but still feel safe and don’t react is the best way of helping them to cope with their feelings.

Some dogs, or people, may never be able to decrease that distance and that’s also okay.

We need to accept our dogs for the unique individual they are, keep working on the things we can improve and change and accept the things we can’t.

12/13/2025

FACING THE FEAR

There is a common belief that comforting a dog that is feeling scared, anxious or stressed will only reinforce, encourage the feelings or make it worse.

This belief is incorrect because fear is an emotional response and one that a dog does not choose to feel.

An emotion is an involuntary, uncontrolled response that cannot be reinforced.

Punishing fear-based behaviour is even worse than not providing comfort, as it creates even more negative associations with whatever the “scary thing" is.

Imagine an intruder broke into your home, tied you up and took off with your belongings. After being freed and getting help, a friend arrives to see how you are.

Your friend tells you that she can see that you’re really anxious and scared but she’s just going to completely ignore you, is not going to attempt to comfort you, sit with you or support you because by doing so she will make you even more afraid and upset. Does that make any sense?

Why should it be any different for dogs that also experience a range of emotions? Why then is it still believed that we should ignore our dogs?

If we acknowledge that providing comfort and support to a dog that is experiencing these emotions will not reinforce them, do we know if providing comfort will reduce these emotions?

Research on this subject shows evidence that providing comfort and support in stressful situations decreases a dog’s heart rate, salivary cortisol levels, reduces stress responses and increases calm behaviour. In short, it helps the brain to return to a calmer state more quickly.

Although providing comfort is not some type of “magic eraser” for fear, ignoring the emotion is far more damaging than helpful.

We need to accept and acknowledge that our dogs are having an emotional response and not a behavioural problem.

We need to show compassion, understanding, be a secure base, a safe haven and provide the appropriate comfort when our dogs need it.

12/13/2025

Knowing how to bond with your dog is simple when you get right down to it. Fear and force free training, and play provide plenty of bonding time.

12/13/2025

Don't fight against it, work with it!⚡
There is a zone.
It's not mystical or magical, it's neurological and simply the best time to teach.

The "perfect" technique means nothing if we don't respect just how a dog is feeling before we start.
This is a little tricky to explain and seems a bit contradictory to many, but good dog trainers simply won't persist to teach when a dog is not in a true learning state.
That does not mean we give up, it just means we change the conditions first.
We attempt again after we have used those little tricks we know to reduce over arousal, anxiety or we have figured out just what this dog needs.
Even then, we may only get a few golden moments of engagement in.

Then we wait for the next opening.
We see it's coming, we see that arousal settling or that confidence builds again and "bam" we will get another few minutes in.
That's when we can really make a difference.
Those little moments we had together become more frequent and that relationship is building for us both. Perfect!

Find those little moments.
Find what makes your dog "spark" in those moments.
But, respect that sometimes those moments may be few and far between when a dog is either hyper or hypo.

Another point here. This is individual.
It doesn't mean that dogs wont engage with you when they are in those extremes.
There are always dogs that will, and happily!

The zone is there, it just shifts for each individual dog.

Family Dog Manners Graduation! Congratulations to these wonderful handlers & dogs! Well done!
12/13/2025

Family Dog Manners Graduation! Congratulations to these wonderful handlers & dogs! Well done!

10/30/2025

THE PRAYER OF A DOG

10/25/2025

KNOW ABOUT MY NECK!

A dog’s neck is really not that much different to ours.

In fact, it may be even a little more sensitive, as the outermost layers of the skin are thinner than ours.

In additional to the damage that using choke collars, prong collars, slip leads or shock collars cause in a psychological and emotional way, the physical risks are also often not acknowledged or understood.

Here are just some of the physical risks these aversive tools can cause –

The Vagus nerve runs down both sides of the neck and controls so many vital functions - heart rate, breathing, digestion, emotional regulation and communication between the brain and other major organs.

Pressure on the neck can compress the trachea, making it hard to breathe properly -decreases oxygen to the brain and other organs, potentially causing long-term damage.

Pressure can also damage the thyroid gland, injure nerves and muscles and bruise soft tissue.

Compression of the neck can cause intraocular pressure which affects vision.

The neck and cervical spine contain the spinal cord, where the nerves of the front legs originate. Excessive paw licking is often misdiagnosed as allergies, when it’s actually caused by pain.

Compression of the Esophagus – the tube that carries food to the stomach, can cause digestive and gut issues.

I find it really hard to understand why these tools are still so widely used and promoted.

What could possibly be admirable or intelligent in using force, inflicting pain, causing physical and emotional harm to control another sentient being, when there are far more effective, humane, ethical ways?

"The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves" – Jayne Goodall

10/25/2025

DON’T FORCE ME TO BE SOCIAL!

It may be really disappointing or frustrating when our dogs are not the social beings we expected them to be.

Many people assume dogs should just naturally get along with other dogs, after all they’re the same species.

Some believe the “unsociable” dog has a behaviour problem that needs to be “fixed”.

Early, appropriately timed and proper socialisation is really important, but sometimes despite all of this, some dogs are just not that sociable or socially selective to varying degrees.

Sometimes this can be improved, especially if the cause is from a negative experience, but genetics, breed tendencies, individual personalities, health and age all contribute to tolerance and sociability, which also change throughout a dog’s lifetime.

If we, as a human species, don’t get along with everyone we meet, how can we expect our dogs to?

Do we label or try to fix every person that has an argument; doesn’t make friends with everyone they meet, dislikes some people, or just prefers not to be social as having a problem that needs to be fixed?

Why is it so easy to accept that every individual person is different than to accept that every individual dog is different?

When we have done what we can to improve our dogs’ social skills, we need to accept and acknowledge our dogs for the individuals they are, allow and respect their choice of whether to be sociable or not and never force interactions that dogs are not comfortable with.

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Victoria, BC

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+14038705280

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