Pawsitive Chance Dog Training

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Pawsitive Chance Dog Training Pawsitive Chance is owned and operated by Shelby Regan, a Guide Dog Mobility Instructor and Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP).
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🦮 I train service dogs, and I use the same foundations with pet dogs
Because reliability is reliability, wherever you’re going 🐾 Start here with my free guide ⬇️
https://stan.store/pawsitivechance She has been training service dogs since 2017 and has since expanded to help people train their companion pets as well. She enjoys attending dog training conferences and seminars, and always strives to c

ontinue learning so she can provide the best, most effective training techniques and methods to her clients. ​Shelby has two dogs: Chance, a black lab, and Atlas, an Australian Kelpie. Shelby is a dog sport enthusiast and spent many years competing with her dogs in flyball. She has also dabbled in disc, herding, canicross, and lure coursing. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and adventuring with her dogs and exploring the beautiful landscape that Central Oregon has to offer.

02/06/2026

If your dog pulls (hard) on leash, a pattern game can help.

Here’s how:

Patterns are predictable and predictable is calming. This works just the way it does for humans.

The back and forth reconnects them with you rather than freight training straight ahead.

And when you add a cue to it, you can get this behavior anytime. Your dog isn’t just calming down, he’s learning through patterns.

And if you’re having trouble with your dog on leash, check out my Leash Walking Foundation Guide that gives you more easy games like this to work with your dog rather than against them. You can find it at the link in my bio.

31/05/2026

As requested, here’s how to train your dog to put an object into a container, also known as “thing in a thing”. It is fun to train, builds confidence, and perfect for a rainy day. Oh, and can be helpful to train your dog to clean up after himself when he’s done playing with his toys.

With a bonus blooper at the end of the video!

Here are the steps:
- Teaxh your dog to put his nose into the container. This increases his accuracy when he starts to put things away. Put treats into the bottom and as he eats them, reward for keeping his head down.
- If your dog doesn’t know how to pick up, hold, or retrieve objects, that comes next. Reward any interaction at first, then specific interactions like biting, grabbing, and holding.
- Then combine steps 1 and 2 so you have him grab the object then stick his nose into the container with the object in his mouth.
- Add your cue like “put it away” or “clean up” or whatever you choose

What are the weirdest objects you can teach your dog to put away?

31/05/2026

Here are three reasons that sniffing on walks is beneficial not only to your dog, but to your training:

First, it’s decompression for your dog. Walks can be overstimulating and sniffing can help reduce that overstimulation by calming your dog’s nervous system. Second, it’s mental stimulation. Sniffing tires their brain so their walls are more fulfilling and your dog can actually relax afterwards. And last (this one might surprise you), you can use sniffing as an environmental motivator during short training sessions. This means even dogs that don’t always work for treats can still train outside and make progress toward your goals.

And if you’re looking for easy exercises to start improving your leash walking, grab my free leash walking guide. You’ll get exercises you can start today to work on getting a more engaged focused dog outside.

31/05/2026

The goal of recall isn’t to be “more exciting”, because you’ll never get a solid recall you can trust that way. I tell my clients:

Recall should be a reflex, not your dog weighing his options.

So how do you train that?

By practicing where you can get rep after rep of your dog responding successfully without even thinking about it. That means when you add in distractions, they should be low level enough that your dog isn’t getting sucked into them.

Successful reps = reflex and habit building

And if your dog isn’t food motivated or doesn’t pay attention to you at all outside, you might think you’ll never get a solid recall. But once you understand your dog’s brain and what motivated them, it starts to get easier. Grab my free Motivation Guide to figure out why your dog doesn’t take food outside, why he doesn’t pay attention to you as soon as you leave the house, and how you can actually motivate and reward your dog. Grab it at the link in my bio.

31/05/2026

As a dog trainer (especially as one who specializes in service dogs, adolescent dogs, and dogs that are reliable in real life situations), this is the game I use to train strong foundations for leave it.

There is no minimum age (I’ve done this with baby puppies) and it can be made easier or more challenging depending on your dog’s skill level and history with leave it.

And no, you don’t need to toss treats forever. But you do need to build a solid foundation so you can successfully reduce them over time. And this is how I do that.

This is part of an entire Leave It system I have that teaches both an auto leave it (someone the other day told me they call it an ‘implied’ leave it and I love that!) and a cued leave it. That system can be found in my Impulse Control Workshop Bundle, but if all you do is practice this game regularly, you’ll be so much further ahead and your dog will begin to think before they act!

30/05/2026

If walking your dog is really stressful for you or your dog and doesn’t feel worth it, no one said your dog HAS to get walks. Is it beneficial? Absolutely. Your dog gets in movement, gets to explore, smell the smells, but I care about the human side of the leash, too, and if you’re miserable, you can engage your dog in other ways.

It’s important to still get your dog outside such as Sniffspots, friend’s houses, or another safe fenced area, but walking your dog itself isn’t mandatory. As long as your dog is fulfilled in other ways, you’re doing just fine.

Here are three ways to engage your dog inside so he’s moving, learning, and feeling enriched:
1. Teach your dog to put things away! I LOVE this one and if you want step by step instructions, let me know.
2. The classic leg weave: lure it, use hand targets, or use a target stick. Easy and fun for both of you.
3. Going around an object: this is probably the most physical exercise of all three. You can teach directional cues, add other tricks randomly throughout to get your dog thinking, and the movement paired with the mental stimulation is likely to make him the most tired of all three.

But if you’re determined to make leash walking enjoyable, I have a free resource on that to get you started. It doesn’t have to be (and shouldn’t be!) miserable for either of you. Check it out at the link in my bio.

29/05/2026

For piranha dogs, there are two things at play (usually): they genuinely don’t know how to take treats gently (or at least don’t know that it’s the expectations), or they’re so excited that they “know better” but can’t think well enough to do it.

Here’s how to fix that WITHOUT having to ask for it every single time.

1. Tuck the treat between your thumb and the rest of your hand. Offer it to your dog.

2. When your dog stops biting and starts licking, say “yes” and release the treat.

3. When your dog is consistent with doing that well, switch back over to the way you typically hold the treat and do the same process (reward licking or taking it gently).

Remember that excitement or big emotion prevents your dog from thinking clearly (kind of like us humans), so train when your dog is excited that way he learns how to think more clearly and is still capable of taking treats gently.

And if your dog doesn’t take treats at all in some situations, grab my free Motivation Guide to learn about how to use non food rewards strategically in your training!

29/05/2026

If your dog only listens when you have a treat in your hand, your treat pouch, or your pocket, this video is for you.

Using treats does not mean you have to lure or bribe your dog. Treats should reinforce behavior that your dog does, not to be a bargaining tool.  So if your dog cannot do the behavior unless the treats are visible, here’s how to change that. 

Start like normal, whatever that looks like for you whether it’s a treat in your hand or in your treat pouch. Then move the treat pouch or the pile of treats to a nearby surface within arms reach. Then gradually get further away so you are now having to take a few steps to get the treats after you mark. Pretty soon you can call your dog to you and go to a totally different room in the house to get the treat after your dog has already come to you.

That’s how you use treats to reinforce behavior rather than bribe your dog. And if your dog isn’t food motivated or doesn’t take treats outside, grab my free Motivation Guide linked in my bio (click my name then click the link at the top of the page) to figure out why and how you can start fixing it.

29/05/2026

If you’ve ever had to say “leave it, leave it, leave it”then had to drag your dog away anyway, this video is for you.

There are a lot of different ways to train a reliable leave it and as a service dog trainer, I have done it so many ways because service dogs need to be exceptionally reliable in public. So here are three ways (plus a bonus way at the end) to get a rock solid leave it so you don’t have to micromanage your dog all the time and can actually enjoy taking him places.

And if impulsivity is your dog’s struggle, that’s why I created the Impulse Control Workshop Bundle, so your dog can be enjoyable to take places without you having to micromanage around distractions. Get it at the link in my bio.

28/05/2026

As a professional dog trainer who spent 10 years training guide dogs and service dogs, I used to train leave it with the treats in your closed fist that your dog can’t have method. And if you think about it, that’s not very fair. I wouldn’t want someone teaching me that I can’t have something by sticking it in my face and waiting for me to give up.

One of the first things I do is start leaving things that are mildly interesting around during my training session. it’s not something irresistible like a piece of chicken or cheese, but it’s something that the dog might have some interest in and be curious about and yet I maintain his focus on me through training other skills. Eventually, the dog gets used to things being out and around that are not his to have which takes the novelty and “you can’t have this thing” excitement out of it. This is exactly how I can have open containers of kibble sitting on the floor during my training sessions. My dogs have been doing it for years and have no difficulty leaving it alone because by now it’s just habit.

This means I also only add the leave it cue if they are tempted, not from the beginning when they’re still frustrated and confused because you’re sticking something in their face that they can’t have. It also means the dog is so much quicker to go back to ignoring it because you’ve set him up for success from the beginning. The dog no longer obsesses over the thing they can’t have, but instead ignores it and participates in the fun game you’re playing in the vicinity of the thing he can’t have.

This is just one of them anyways I get a really solid leave it through games and positive reinforcement rather than frustration.

If you want more like this, especially if you have an adolescent or impulsive dog, check out my Impulse Control Workshop Bundle. Three workshops that teach your dog skills to think before they act so you’re not constantly having to micromanage with your head on a swivel.

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