Fearless Fidos

10/22/2024

Allow me to take a moment to reintroduce myself! I’m Kenna, the proud owner, trainer, and spirit behind Fearless Fidos. My expertise lies in working with dogs that are commonly labeled as reactive, and I am deeply passionate about the work I do.

My mission is to empower both dogs and their owners by nurturing trust, communication, and confidence through customized training programs designed to meet the unique needs of each team.

Having personally faced the challenges you are currently experiencing, I understand how isolating it can feel. It is essential to me that every client I work with feels supported, recognized, and heard, and most importantly, that you do not feel judged for your dog’s behavior.

My approach is grounded in positive reinforcement, creating a delightful learning experience for both you and your dog. At this time, I am offering private training sessions tailored to your dog’s specific needs, allowing us to formulate a plan that feels manageable and straightforward!

If you’re interested in working with one another, you can either arrange an initial consultation via my website or reach out to me with any questions at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

09/24/2024

Allow me to introduce my new(ish) friend, Flynt! He’s a sensitive teenage boy who is exploring the art of adapting to his environment. Our first meeting took place at Bayview Cemetery, and for our second lesson, we ventured around Civic Field Stadium. As soon as we arrived, I noticed that Flynt seemed much happier exploring an area that was predominantly free from humans, dogs, and other distractions he had been observing from afar at the cemetery.

My objective for Team Flynt leading up to our next session is to reduce the number of ‘neighborhood walks’ and instead focus on more relaxing walks in serene areas, free of as many triggers as possible, where he feels calm, cool, and collected.

Personally, my favorite part was the end of our session when Flynt decided to come over and relax next to me (:

05/13/2024

Dogs bark for various reasons. They are all meant to communicate something! It’s important that we listen and try to identify the type of bark so we can understand the […]

05/03/2024

03/23/2024

Happy Weekend! This is your reminder to take time to turn off your brain, and find ways to achieve true decompression. The work you are doing with your sensitive dog is difficult - physically, mentally and emotionally. You deserve a break!

Over time I’ve learned decompression time does NOT include my dogs. In fact, I’m not using this time to take a break from my dogs and do something for myself.

Chickens have become extremely therapeutic for me. Every day I start and end my day by taking time to sit outside and sit with the 20 miniature dinosaurs that are inhabiting my yard. We snuggle, talk about the day, turn over rocks to find bugs, and dig for wormies together.

This is Puff. She is the quirkiest little lady, and HHIC (Head Hen In Charge). She demands snuggles, thinks dogs are stupid and wishes she was a human ♥️

03/18/2024

After nearly a year of fumbling through the trials and tribulations of owning, and running my own business, I'm finally ready to focus my attention on a few very special groups of dogs! Effective immediately, we are making changes to our services so we can focus our attention on:
- fearful dogs
- spicy dogs
- small dogs
If you have any questions about the changes that are being made, please reach out to us via email!

03/01/2024

Thanks for joining our Fearless Fidos Program! Tyson's a very sweet, 1 year old chihuahua mix. Tyson thrives in environments he’s familiar with, but is easily overwhelmed when presented with new situations. Our plan is to work on building his confidence, a positive relationship with the training process, and exposing him to new situations at a “volume level” he’s comfortable with!

03/01/2024

Your dog's behavior in a new environment, and around triggers can tell you a lot about how they’re feeling. I like to regularly check in with the dogs I'm working with to ensure they're still feeling safe & secure.

In this particular situation, I chose to pull out a rope toy to see if Paco would engage in play. If he had been too focused on the kids to play, I would have created more space between he and the trigger to make things a bit easier on him.

03/01/2024

Welcome to the Fearless Fidos Program, Paco! This young man has big feelings about strange humans and dogs. We’ll be working on strengthening his automatic check in response, and adding new tools to his toolkit so he can better handle high arousal situations. Our goal is less barking & lunging, and more dismissal of triggers in the environment 🙂

02/28/2024

Holy moly, there are some cute dogs at the Whatcom Humane Society right now. Go and meet them! ❤️

Our adoption kennels are open today 11am - 6pm. Stop by and say HI to Zeus and the many other amazing animals looking for great new homes. www.whatcomhumane.org

02/08/2024

Being an adolescent is rough! Your dog may look like a big dog, but they’re still thinking like a puppy. They’re testing their boundaries, learning what their preferences are; but they’re also unable to regulate their emotions the way an adult dog would.

Apollo’s an 18 month old American Staffordshire Terrier Mix who is in full teenage mode! Like most dogs who are reaching the age of social maturity, his social preferences are changing which has led to big changes in his behavior when interacting with new-to-him dogs.

During our time together, we’ll be working on:
- introducing muzzle training
- finding the right balance of physical and mental stimulation for this busy kiddo
- teaching his guardian about canine body language so he feels more confident navigating social situations
- teaching Apollo to dismiss other dogs in the environment
- navigating low arousal dog-to-dog interactions
- finding Apollo a few good buddies to play with, rather than a ton of acquaintances

My suggestion for adolescent parents is to:
- be patient
- remind yourself teenagers are temporary
- continue to be consistent with training
- continue to expose your dog to new social situations, make note of changes in social preferences

But most importantly, if new behaviors come up, don’t wait for your dog to grow out of them… because they usually won’t. Contact a force free trainer or behavior consultant if you or your dog are struggling with big feelings!

02/06/2024

Tommy's a sweet & spicy boy, who communicates with his bark! When he sees something he wants, he gets REALLY excited... then begins to sing the songs of his people. Instead of barking - he's learning to engage with his handler when there are distractions present. During our walk at the cemetery, we have the chance to practice around: humans, dogs, birds and cars.

Six year old, corgi mix Tommy (and his brother Charlie) were adopted a few months ago. Unfortunately, his guardians weren't given much history about these two - but what we do know is it's taken some time to adjust to 'pet dog life'. Can't wait to continue our work together and meet Charlie during our next lesson!

01/25/2024

12/30/2023

I wanted a dog for Christmas… not a real dog… but a stuffed dog. Meet Fifi! She’s a life-sized stuffed dog, who I’ll be using as a:
• distraction from a distance when we don’t have access to triggers, and when introducing new training exercises
• way to assess the behaviors your dog might display when they come in contact with another dog
• demo dog to show clients how to conduct a training exercise, cooperative care procedures, etc.
• demo dog to show clients how training hardware should fit, and how to put it on their dog- calming caps, muzzles, harnesses, the works!

Watch out ya’ll! She’s coming soon to a private lesson near you 😉

12/19/2023

Sonny has officially joined our Fearless Fido Walk & Train Program! His housemate, Joni, will also be joining the program later this week. Each dog has big feelings about different triggers, but they feed off of one another when they are activated on walks. As a result, walks feel pretty darn stressful for all parties involved.

Our goal is for both, the dogs and their guardian, to feel confident handling each dog individually in situations where they're face-to-face with a trigger.