Fideaux Fundamentals

27/12/2025

19/12/2025

Please read the labels before giving anything to your pup.

08/12/2025

Bringing this back, as it's important! 👍

The problem with punishment in animal training is that it does work, and oftentimes quickly, at changing behaviors. But at what cost?

Aversive methods suppress unwanted behaviors by causing pain and/or discomfort that the animal will try to escape or avoid. While this works to stop a behavior, it does not address the underlying motivation for it. This can be effective in the short term but often leads to unintended consequences and lasting harm.

Research has shown that aversive methods increase fear and stress, and also risk causing aggressive and unpredictable behaviors. We also put our relationship with our pets in jeopardy. Punishment fails to teach the learner alternative behaviors and coping strategies, and can lead to learned helplessness.

If you feel stuck or don't know how to achieve your pet's behavior or training goals without using aversive methods, please reach out to a credentialed reward-based trainer, behavior consultant, or veterinary behaviorist.

We are here to help educate and make training and behavior modification feel achievable for everyone, without risking pets' welfare.💙

08/12/2025

🚫⚠️🚫 RAWHIDE WARNING 🚫⚠️🚫

It's that time of year again when store shelves are stocked with Christmas-themed rawhide "treats" for our dogs.

Before you purchase rawhide for your dog, PLEASE read the following. You may be shocked at how it's made and the chemicals used in the process...chemicals that your dog is consuming when you give him rawhide as a "treat."

🚫⚠️🚫 DID YOU KNOW? 🚫⚠️🚫

Rawhide is a dog chew that’s a by-product of the LEATHER industry.

It is made from the inner layer of either cow or horse hides. The outer layer of the hides is the leather that is used for shoes, garments, upholstery, etc.

The inner rawhide is treated, dehydrated, and then formed into various shapes as a dog chew.

Once the hide has been separated from the animal, it’s first dipped
into high salt brines to slow the decay which can make it very salty.

The hide will also be cleaned with detergent and degreasers and sterilized with low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide.

The next step after this is to remove any hair or fat attached, which involves harsh chemical combinations.

Then additional chemicals, such as lime, are deployed to separate the layers of skin.

Once the hide has been separated, it is ready to be made into rawhide for dogs. During this process, artificial colors and flavors may be added to make them look and smell more appealing, and they’re then manipulated into fun shapes which can sometimes involve glue.

Some risks of rawhide for dogs (other than the variety of chemicals they are ingesting):

1. Rawhide can cause intestinal obstruction in the short and long term;

2. Can be a choking hazard;

3. Can break your dog's teeth;

4. Contamination/exposure to salmonella or E. coli to dogs & people.

Yes, rawhide is a CHEAP, long-lasting treat for your dog, but the reality is, rawhide is harmful to your dog.

There are so many healthy alternatives on the market, and you can make your own healthy chews by dehydrating meat or vegetables.

You can also visit your local supermarket or butcher and ask them to cut some marrow bones for you. Your dog will GO NUTS over them. I just purchased several packs of marrow bones from Publix. The price for 6-9 fresh cut bones was less than $4 a package.

I'll just ask this simple question: Would you ingest a product made with bleach, lime, degreasers, chemical solvents, hydrogen peroxide, and glue?

Your dog deserves so much better than that.

08/12/2025

I speak slightly out of turn here, because I don’t have children of my own. And I’m always mindful of how it can feel when someone without that lived experience offers advice to parents. But sometimes, those of us who aren’t sleep-deprived can offer a fresh perspective.

If I were a parent, one of the most important things I’d want to teach my children is consent. Not just for their physical safety, but for their emotional wellbeing. For their growth into kind, empathetic, and understanding humans.
Now let me be clear: I don’t believe dogs should be our children’s teachers. Or therapists. Or ours, for that matter. That’s a whole other conversation about choice and consent. But if we do live with dogs and children, we’re sitting on a beautiful opportunity, one that’s often missed.

We can teach children about consent through our dogs.
I’ve asked children I know—including my goddaughter—questions like:
• “Would you want someone to touch you without asking first?”
• “Do you expect people to listen when you say no?”
• “How can we tell when someone’s uncomfortable, even if they don’t say it out loud?”
• “What does ‘no’ look like in body language or facial expression?”
• “What is inappropriate touch, and how do we navigate that?”

These are big questions. But children get it. Often more quickly than adults.
And once they do, we can gently transfer that understanding to the dogs in their lives.

Because I see it all the time: children picking dogs up without warning. Hugging tightly. Leaning over them. Using them as playthings. Not out of malice, but out of a lack of awareness. These are teaching moments. Not scolding moments. Not blame moments. But moments to pause and ask: “How would you feel if someone did that to you?”

When things go wrong between children and dogs, it’s never the fault of either. It’s our collective failure to teach consent, empathy, and understanding.
And here’s the hopeful part: when we do teach it, children rise to the occasion. They’re curious. They’re open. They want to do right by the beings they love.
I know life is chaotic. We’re all stretched thin. But teaching consent, across species, is a gift. One that saves time, energy, and heartache down the line. One that builds safer homes, stronger relationships, and more emotionally intelligent humans.
It’s a gift we should all be privy to.

27/11/2025

27/11/2025

I never like saying this.🫣
We see it as affection.
Dogs can see it as a restraint.
That's the issue here.

As humans we feel a desire to show our love and affection the exact same way we show it to our family.
We wrap our arms around, pull closer and squeeze tight.
They may wriggle, so we hug tighter.
We might playfully wrestle with them when they move away or try to leave, we often do that to other people we know well.

That doesn't mean it translates well to dogs.

If a dog is trying to leave or is not accepting or receptive to a hug, don't insist.
If we need to use our strength to hold our dogs from leaving, they don't want a hug.
They want space.
Space equals safety to a dog.

Don't take it personally, many dogs don't like hugs.
It goes back to feeling restrained and having their freedom of movement restricted.
Being able to move away from anything they're uncomfortable with builds trust way more than insisting they accept that very close, tight physical contact.

Children often greet family dogs with hugs and that's absolutely fine if that dog is happy to be hugged by that child, but this may form a habit of greeting other dogs by getting low, face to face and restraining/hugging a dog they don't know.

Hugs aren't a right we should insist on.
If a dog accepts them and enjoys them, that's trust built over time and feeling safe.

It's not from restraining and removing options to move.

22/11/2025

The key to dog body language is recognizing stress signals, and understanding what our own body language communicates to our dogs.

22/11/2025

"Wow! Is that what it means?"😮
Oh that word!

Socialisation is a word that conjures up visions of cute puppies playing with other dogs and pups. Socialisation "means" interacting with others doesn't it?
Yes and no.

It's not a great word to describe what should be a priority.
Acclimation is a far better term we should all start to use.
Acclimation to wet surfaces, stairs, wind, even standing in the rain.
Yes, it absolutely includes other animals too.

The trap is when people make other dogs or pups the main focus during that very important developmental time in a young puppies life.
We may forget that they haven't seen or heard a bus before.
Crowds of people aren't thought of.
A wheelchair or a scooter can be very unsettling for a young dog if they haven't come across one earlier in life.

Of course we do want our young puppies to interact and play with others.
There's a fine balance here too.
They shouldn't play with all others they come across, they shouldn't meet all others either.
Those experiences with others need well thought out and supervised.
Why?
Acclimation is still the goal. We want them to feel part of the world, but not develop such a strong emotional pull that they must greet and insist on playing with every dog.
Or they can start to physically pull you towards them.
Every dog they see.
Every walk.

If we allow puppies to meet and play with all others, that can be a very short path to a young dog that "insists" they must interact with all others.
That is what they learned when they were younger.

Choose your play partners wisely.

Think of everything this world has to offer and what you encounter everyday.

How can we expose them positively and carefully?
That's the goal.

Not "socialisation".

22/11/2025

Researchers have captured video footage of what they say is possible tool-use by wolves after the animal was seen pulling a crab trap out of deeper waters in...

22/11/2025

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.

22/11/2025

TRAINING TIP THURSDAY

While it is important and smart to get your puppy used to having their mouth and muzzle touched and their bite checked, it is a good idea to ease up on this while your puppy is teething. The teething process can be painful and aggravating for puppies. Be gentle when working through this with baby puppies.