DogFit Dallas- Dog Behavior

06/13/2024

🎉 MEMBERSHIP LAUNCHES TODAY 🎉

We couldn’t be more excited to share with y’all the BIG NEWS that we now have a monthly membership available for all things dog psychology. Let me introduce the BETTER BECAUSE OF MY DOG - DOG PSYCHOLOGY COMMUNITY.

Whether you're a dedicated dog owner looking to make life a little smoother, or a professional working in the dynamic dog industry, this membership offers a unique opportunity to deepen your understanding of dog psychology, learn new training strategies, and grow as a dog owner or trainer.

There are already over 200 hours of video and learning material available today. We will keep uploading new videos regularly so you can continue your education. We will have weekly community Zoom calls to answer your questions and discuss various topics. We will have guest speakers. There will be an opportunity to add one-on-one mentorship sessions soon, too.
And - there will be a global community because this will all be available for everyone from all over the world.

If you’ve been looking for a place to dive deep into dog psychology, help your own dog, work on yourself in the process, find a like-minded community, look no further. It’s right here!

Click the link in our bio to learn more and sign up. Can’t wait to see y’all there. First group zoom call is this coming Monday!

03/06/2024

Lay a good and solid foundation with your dog from the start, so you can have more freedom and fun later on.

I don’t want to have to micromanage my dog for their entire life. That sounds like a lot of work. 😅 I want to have fun with my dog, not be militant. How do we get there without things getting out of control? By laying a good and solid foundation early on. Make the boundaries clear. Set the expectations and communicate clearly so it’s a given. It becomes a way of life.

Ultimately, I want my dog to make good decisions on their own but they will only do that if I make sure they have the space to do so. If I bring a dog home and let them do whatever they want for a few months or years and then get frustrated if they start taking over my home or start getting into fights over things with my other dog, that’s not their fault.

I want my dog to be neutral to potential triggers so we can live in harmony and I don’t have to watch every single step they take. So the goal is prevention vs intervention.

If I discover issues down the road, I can always go back to basics and start over again. But ultimately, I want to make my life and the dog’s life as easy as possible by laying a solid foundation in the beginning, so I don’t have to become militant.

And yes, there will be some extreme cases where management becomes necessary to keep things safe but that’s not the norm. Those are rare cases.

What’s your relationship with your dog like? Mutual understanding and a solid foundation? Are they running the show? Do you find yourself having to watch every step they take? Let me know in the comments.

Side note: if you have a young puppy, yes, you want to watch everything they do - this goes back to prevention over intervention. Again, you lay the foundation now, so you can have a more harmonious life down the road. 👍

02/10/2024

Disengagement or the lack of connection will make the problems you’re experiencing with your dog even bigger.

If your dog is not connected with you in general, if they are in their own little world, and don’t feel understood by you, they won’t feel connected with you when there are triggers around.

It is important to build a solid foundation and relationship with your dog on a daily basis and make that connection a priority instead of only paying attention to it in moments when you think you need it.

Your dog will most likely blow you off when you try to recall them out of a certain situation, or won’t pay any attention to you if you try to redirect them from reacting to another dog when you don’t have that understanding and connection in the first place.

A lot of times, people are in their own little world (up in their heads, on their phones, distracted otherwise all day) while their dog is present in the here and now. We miss so many opportunities to connect, to reward all the good behavior they’re giving us naturally, to pay attention to how they’re feeling, to truly understand them. We miss giving them the information they need in order for them to feel safe and secure.

Then when it comes to moments of reactivity or any other “bad behavior”, that’s when we all of a sudden pay attention because now it’s more noticeable to us. However, we need to start paying more attention on a daily basis, become aware, be present, and give our dog the consistent information they need in order to feel a mutual connection. So we start connecting in all areas of our lives together, not only trying to connect in moments of stress.

Here’s a challenge for you. For one week, pick one thing during the day that you do with your dog and work on true connection - this can be the walk, how you feed your dog, time outside in the yard, how you reunite when you come home, how you leave the house together, you name it. Pick one, and start being fully present with them. Put your phone away during that time and start paying attention to your dog, be curious, study them, fully be with them. You’ll learn so much about your interactions, and you’ll learn so much about your dog.

02/03/2024

Happy Saturday from our pack. Let’s do a breed guessing game. 1-7, what do you think? (We have DNA test results for everyone but Gracie, so we’ll be guessing that one with you).

We’ll post results in stories tomorrow.

📸: (contact her for amazing pet portraits, we love working with her!)

01/23/2024

Teaching your dog commands like sit and down are great. However, obedience training was invented by humans because it makes sense to us. We use words, maybe a hand signal, and condition our dogs to perform a certain action.

That raises a question - how does the dog feel? What is their state of mind? Wouldn’t it be great to also see life from their perspective and understand their psychology? Why do we talk about energy and body language all the time? And how do we nurture calmness?

If you want to know the answers to these questions, join me this Saturday, January 27, at 3PM CST for my FREE webinar where I talk about all things Dog Psychology.

Plus, all participants will get a special discount code for our upcoming Better Because Of My Dog online mentorship program.

Comment “FREE” to receive a direct link to register for the webinar. Can’t wait to see y’all this Saturday!

01/22/2024

We often think of a miracle as something that just happens. An extraordinary event. Something that cannot be explained but something that we wish for.

We CAN also make our own miracles happen. We don’t have to wait for our dogs to magically be better. We don’t have to hope for them to outgrow a behavior. We can create miracles.

⁃ Be consistent. Sometimes change can happen over night but most often it won’t. Just like you need consistency to create a new habit, your dog needs consistency as well to understand that this is the new normal.

⁃ Be clear. Wishy washy messages will not get your point across. Your dog needs clear guidance and communication. Most of the time, we will tell you to stop talking so much to your dog because all your talking is endlessly confusing.

⁃ Understand that every dog is different. Stop comparing your current dog to your old dog or your friend’s dog, or your neighbor’s dog, or a dog you’ve seen on social media. It’s not fair to your dog and it will rob you of being present with your dog if you constantly long for them to be who they’re not.

⁃ Put. In. The. Work. Working with a trainer is great. We love giving you guidance, pointing out things you may not be aware of, and explain what your dog is going through on their end. We can be the bridge when miscommunication between dog and owner happens. AND - we cannot do this FOR you forever. Just like a dietician can only give you a plan for your body and lifestyle, they cannot change anything for you. You need to want to make the changes.

⁃ Find the FUN. 🤩 Make learning and working with your dog fun. The more you dread going for walks, encountering other dogs, having people come over etc the easier it will be for you to stop altogether. If everything we teach you sounds like hard work for you, we know you won’t keep it up. Make learning fun. Find something that motivates you to keep going, even if sometimes you don’t feel like it. Your dog won’t want to work with you either if you’re negative about it.

Are you ready to create miracles with your dog? How bad do you want it? ✨

12/21/2023

A lot of people think jumping is cute when it’s a little puppy (“oh look, they love me so much!”). They hold the puppy’s paws when they’re jumping and start petting them. What this teaches the puppy is, “Humans like when I jump.” Then fast forward to when puppy is now full grown, 60 lbs, and knocks someone over or hurts someone. Then the jumping is not so cute anymore all of a sudden. Who is the one to blame? Most people blame the dog. Not their fault, though.

Jumping is one of those things you want to get a handle on pretty quickly so it doesn’t become a habit. Your dog may not have any bad intentions jumping on people but not everyone likes it, someone could get hurt, and it’s definitely an invasion of your personal space if the dog jumps on you.

So what can you do to stop the jumping? 🛑

1. You can use a leash. Leash your dog and then step on the leash so they can’t jump up anymore. They may still try to jump a few times but will hit a wall and ultimately, they’ll sit down and settle. That’s when you want to reward and give calm affection. If the affection gets the dog excited again, you start over. The dog may not be ready for pets then. It’s also totally fine to ignore the dog a little longer until they fully settle.

2. Place work. Place work is one of those things, when done right, that the dog associate with relaxation. We don’t need them to perform on place. We just want them to settle. So the more you practice place without distractions first the more they’ll just melt into it every time they step on their bed/place board. Then you can slowly introduce distractions. And you’ll see over time that your dog will choose to go to place on their own because they know it makes them feel calm.

3. Make sure you don’t reward an excited state of mind. The more you do that, the more your dog will think that you want them to be excited at all times. When you come home, ignore your dog until they’re calm. Then give calm affection. Don’t reward when they’re running around and jumping. Remember, you get what you pet. So if you reward craziness, you’ll get more craziness. If you reward calmness, you’ll see more calmness.

Do you have a jumper? Let me know.

12/16/2023

Having a dog that struggles with anxiety can be stressful. Not only is it stressful for us humans to witness the constant pacing, panting, whining, restlessness etc, it is obviously even more stressful for the dog to live in a state of anxiety.

So what can we do to help our dogs? Anxiety can be tricky and sometimes takes a long time to work with but there are a lot of things that you can try to make your dog’s life easier.

Draining physical energy is one part of it. It helps release pent up energy and move some stress out of the body. We love it. Long walks, a run, swimming etc. Exploring on hikes, letting them use their nose a lot to fulfill their instincts. What’s important is how we start and end this activity. Don’t leave your dog in an adrenalized state of mind, it will create more anxiety. How do we do that?

Helping an anxious dog learn to relax and slow down is crucial. Their brain is going 60 mph all the time so we need to find a way to slow this down.

Tapping into impulse control where they have to learn how to wait for things. Wait for food and only feed them when they’re calm, work on thresholds to build in pauses and time for connection. Have an on and off switch when you play with them instead of go go go the whole time. Massage work to help the body relax. Know that doing this one time is not going to help. Consistency is key. Predictability helps, too.

Another thing is for you to build awareness. Are you an anxious person? You might contribute to your dog’s anxiety. Are you rushing through things because you’re always running late to everything? Your dog will pick up on your hectic energy.

Take time to slow down. Slow yourself down and learn to observe your dog. When are they becoming anxious? Is there a pattern? What creates the anxiety? What can we do differently to create a new, more relaxed pattern?

Another thing you may even want to look into is nutrition. Cheap and crappy dog food can make some dogs anxious. Pay attention to the whole picture. Don’t just look at your anxious dog on the walk and try to fix the obvious. What’s going on all day that can contribute to this?

Do you have an anxious dog? Let us know in the comments.

12/09/2023

A lot of times, people focus on the obvious things a dog does or doesn’t do. They want to stop the leash pulling, the reactivity, the jumping, the barking, the destruction when left alone etc. The list goes on and on.

What they don’t realize is that these are symptoms. And people want to put a bandaid on the obvious thing like use a certain tool or learn one specific technique to fix it. It’s great to learn these things. And - what we want to get to, though, is the root cause. What causes the dog to display these symptoms “bad” behaviors in the first place?
Most often, it is a lack of connection between human and dog.

The human misses the opportunity to truly connect with their dog, to build trust, mutual respect, to fully understand their dog. Your dog studies you day in and day out. But we, the humans, just want our dog to fit into our lifestyle and for them to “function” as if they came with some sort of remote control and a certain setting. It doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t work like that in any relationship. We need to find common ground and build on that. We need to connect.

Learn about the dog that’s in front of you. Be interested in them. Become aware of your own behavior and what you are contributing to the cause. Connect with yourself and connect with your dog.

12/04/2023

Our energy and body language can really influence how our dog feels around us. Dogs communicate through energy and body language all day long, and they’re so great at reading ours.

While they may not be able to differentiate between certain emotions the way we do, they know when something is off.

Nature wants things to be in balance, just like our dogs want to be balanced and they want us to be balanced. If something is off, they may not want to be around it, they may want to protect it or they may want to correct it.

So it’s important for us to feel balanced and good, and have positive energy when we’re working with our dogs. Frustration and anger are not going to help you. Anxiety or fear could potentially make you look weak in the animal world and your dog may want to protect you while out on a walk.

Just like we want your dog to feel good about things/people/dogs they encounter, we want you to feel good about them, too. Which is why we believe it’s important for the human to not only learn how to work with their dog but also learn about themselves. There’s a lot of great tools that can help us come back to calmness when we feel off and to regulate our nervous system. Breathwork, meditation, mantras are just a few of them. And it all starts with building awareness because if we’re not aware that our energy is off, we won’t feel like we need to change anything.

This is just a small part of what we cover in our “Better Because of My Dog” group mentorship program. We want you to be your own best. To show up for yourself, for your dog, and for the world around you.

If this sounds like a group you want to be part of, comment MENTORSHIP and we’ll schedule a free discovery call with you. 🔗 in bio for more info as well.

11/23/2023

🍁Happy Thanksgiving!🍁

We are so thankful for every single one of you. Your trust and support means the world to us. We absolutely adore our community.

You guys keep showing up, you support each other and cheer each other on. It is such a beautiful thing to see.

We are mere the vessel for the community, you guys make it happen.
We hope you get to spend this holiday season with the ones you love (humans and dogs).

Art, Anne, River, Canyon & the pack

PS: Can you name all of our crazy dogs in order? 😉🥰

📸 Also thankful for for this amazing picture! It’s hard getting so many dogs and humans in one photo. You’re incredible, Kara!

07/21/2023

Change doesn’t happen over night. This is just your friendly reminder that sometimes, things take time. And that’s okay. Working with a nervous/fearful dog like Gracie here can take a long time. It takes patience and commitment. It also takes being present because when you are present, you will become aware of tiny little improvements. Those are huge.

Sometimes, change can be almost immediate. It can be as simple as holding or using the leash a little differently that will make a world of a difference. Other times, it can be shifting our energy and bringing more calmness instead of excitement, and you may notice a big change.

And then, there’s other cases where to someone else it may look like nothing is changing. But it’s tiny things that actually ARE changing like Gracie using her nose now, having a different body language in certain situations, eating when humans are around, softer eyes, moments of curiosity etc.

This is not a race. It’s not a competition. Don’t look at working with your dog as “I have to achieve this one particular goal”. Look at the journey, be present, become aware, and find joy in the little things.

12/23/2022

We hope y’all have a wonderful time with the ones you love. We are very grateful for each and every one of you. ♥️

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

12/20/2022

Christmas came early, y'all!! We are SO excited to announce that we will be hosting our friends at Oregon Tails in March! The Student of the Dog workshop has helped hundreds of dog owners in their journeys to better communicate, grow, and learn with their dogs.

Whether you're a trainer looking to further your education, a new puppy parent, or a seasoned dog owner, each participant in this 3 day workshop will strengthen their bond, improve communication skills, help dogs work through insecurities, build trust, and unlock freedom to truly experience and enjoy life together.

Spots are limited - link is below!

https://www.ortails.com/sotd-tx

12/15/2022

Story time by Anne. Having a dog with reactivity sucks. It really does. It mostly sucks because it makes you anxious and makes you change your lifestyle. You might end up going for walks with your dog at odd times hoping to avoid other people and their dogs. Or you might not go outside at all. You might feel stressed about any interaction you could possibly have, like going to the vet, going through a drive through, having friends come over. I get it.

You know why? Because I went through severe postpartum anxiety with our first born. I was anxious all the time. He is a very sensitive child and got overstimulated by a lot of things as a little baby. Not to mention how much he fed off of my anxiety. Going places with him when he was very little gave me so much anxiety because I was scared that he may end up crying and then I was scared of people’s reactions. Would they look at me weird? Would they think I was a bad mom? Would they think I had a “bad” baby? So I avoided going places for a few months after he was born. Or I would go somewhere and would be incredibly stressed out. We obviously made it through.

And now with our second baby I am so thankful that I don’t have any postpartum anxiety and that I am able to go places. Yes, postpartum stuff can be dictated by hormones and we don’t always know if it hits us or not. And yes, this time around I had a better idea of what life was going to be like with a newborn. However, I also did a ton of work on myself this past year. I didn’t want to end up in the same boat again. I wanted to feel confident. The first few times going places I still felt anxious because of past experiences. But I still went. And sometimes, little baby boy cries because that’s what babies do. And I work through it. I don’t let it bother me. I don’t care what people may think. I zone in on the connection with my baby and nothing else matters.

I’m saying this because I know you can do the same thing with your dog. And know that you’re not alone feeling whatever it is you’re feeling when your dog is having a reaction/meltdown. You’ve got this. We’ve all got this! 🤍

10/01/2022

07/22/2022

📣 Introducing DogFit Live! 📣

You’ve seen us post about it in our stories but may have wondered what it is.

It is a live webinar where we go over different topics such as place work, leash skills, reactivity, or resource guarding, demonstrate things, analyze videos, give you a game plan and have a discussion about the subject of the day.

It’s only $25 to sign up for each live webinar and you can join from anywhere in the world. If you can’t make it to the live, you can still sign up and watch the recording gut up to 72 hours afterwards. The first one is August 6 at 12PM CST.

Go to www.dogfitdallas.com/dogfit-live to see an overview of the topics and to save your spot.

07/19/2022

Are you wondering what you and your dog will be learning in our MAJIC Fundamentals Group Class? See for yourself.

This group class is for all dogs and all behaviors. The important part is that you and your dog build a strong relationship during these 6 weeks and that you have a game plan to face all kinds of challenges.

Let us know if you’re ready to change your and your dog’s life for the better. Learn to be better because of your dog. 🤍

07/18/2022

07/16/2022

We’re excited to announce that we have a variety of e-books on our website now. More to come. Click the link below:

https://dogfitdallas.com/ebooks

07/14/2022

Click the link to sign up:

https://dogfit.as.me/dogfitlive

07/14/2022

Experience the DogFit Dallas MAJIC in a whole new way.

Check out our new website, full of content to help you be better for your dog and because of your dog.

We've been working behind the scenes to make training more accessible and achievable for all!
• Training e-books - coming in the next few days
• Amazon Storefront with recommended training tools, pet products, and resources
• Calendar & scheduling tools so you can easily RSVP to our Social Club events or schedule a training session
• Merch - coming soon!

www.dogfitdallas.com

07/10/2022

06/17/2022

Building a strong relationship with your dog goes both ways. It’s not about you drilling commands into your dog wanting them to “obey” you. It’s about connection. Yes, you are the one to guide them, you are the leader but none of this works if your dog doesn’t trust or respect you. You have to build this foundation by being both clear and fair.
They should want to be with you and follow you. That’s why you need to learn to understand each other. Take your time. Be patient. Be consistent. Connect. It will pay off over time. 💙

06/10/2022

How do you “love” your dog? Do you love your dog by buying them yet another toy or accessory? Do you love your dog by coddling them? Do you love your dog by buying fancy treats ? Do you love your dog by giving affection all day every day?

All these things are for you. Yes, your dog may enjoy a good ear scratch or belly rub and a fun toy but all these things listed above are primarily for you to feel good about yourself.

If you really want to love your dog, learn to understand them. Learn to see things from their point of view. Remind yourself that you have a dog, an animal, in front of you that would like to be seen and fulfilled as such. Keep in mind that your dog has individual needs and that what may have worked for your previous dog may not be what the dog in front of you needs. Understand that your love language is probably very different from your dog’s love language. Again, it’s an animal, not a human.

In order to create a great relationship with your dog, please see them for who they are. Guide them so they know what the expectations are instead of leaving them hanging. Protect them so they don’t have to end up taking the lead. Fulfill their mental and physical needs so they can rest instead of live in anxiety, fear or frustration. They study you and your patterns all day every day because they want to be in the know. Learn about them, too. Make them happy by loving them the way they deserve to be loved. 💙

06/09/2022

We want to hear the good stuff. Not that we don’t want to hear the bad but we want you to celebrate your victories! Share with us and everyone else what has been your biggest success moment with your dog so far. It can seem like a tiny thing but it might be huge for you, so it’s a reason to celebrate. 🎉

You won’t believe how many times we go on a walk with a client and 95% of the walk was fantastic but the dog had one single reaction. When we ask the client afterwards how they felt the walk went, they only focus on the one reaction and say, “Ugh, did you see when my dog reacted?!”, and then they think the entire walk was awful. We tend to forget about the good and instead only focus on the bad which then makes everything “bad”.

Learn to shift your perspective and focus on all the good things that happen. Don’t dismiss the “bad” but also don’t let it define your entire day. There’s so many wonderful and beautiful things every single day. 💙

06/01/2022

Luckily, the stigma around muzzles has changed for the better recently. As it should. Muzzles aren’t bad. They don’t hurt your dog (if they’re are sized and fitted correctly). They also don’t restrict your dog as your dog should still be able to open their mouth, pant and drink through them.

The only “bad” thing you may be dealing with is looks from people who don’t understand that you’re actually doing your dog, yourself and everyone around you a favor. And that is something that you are going to have to get over. Not using a muzzle because you fear what other people may think about it is doing your dog a disservice.

Some dogs may need a muzzle at the vet. Others may need one to safely learn how to be around humans and other animals. Some dogs may need one only for a short period of time, others may need to wear one every time they’re in a situation that could otherwise be a risk. All of that is okay.

Always make sure to properly muzzle train your dog to make it a positive experience. Take your time. Patience is key! Find a muzzle that fits right. You may need to go through several different brands to find the one that’s best for your dog. Don’t give up. Once your dog is muzzle trained and you can go out and about knowing that nothing is going to happen, you will feel so much relief. And your dog will feed off of your calmness as well. Muzzles are your friend. 💙

05/31/2022

Thank you My Love Fur Paws for having me!