Instinct Dog Training of NJ and PA

11/25/2025

A simple way to add enrichment to your dog’s day. 🍗🧊🐾 Freeze a mix of dog-safe foods, pop them out, and you’ve got bite-sized calming treats that keep pups engaged (and out of the kitchen!).

11/22/2025

Ever see your dog suddenly stop playing or training and start scratching out of nowhere? 🐶🖐️💬 When it happens in the middle of an interaction, it can be a displacement behavior — your dog’s way of saying they’re feeling a little stressed, overwhelmed, or unsure.

Scratching during play, greeting, or training often means: “Hold on, I need a second.” It’s a self-soothing pause that helps your dog regulate big emotions or mild discomfort. 🧠✨

AS ALWAYS: Context matters. If your dog scratches frequently, excessively, or outside of certain situations, it could be related to allergies, skin irritation, fleas, or other medical issues — so it’s always good to rule those out first. 🩺🐾

When it happens in the middle of play or training, though, and there’s no skin issue present, it’s often a behavioral stress indicator. When you see this, you can simply pause, soften the interaction, or give your dog a moment to reset.

A little scratch can tell you a whole lot!

11/20/2025

Here’s your quick guide to dog-safe Thanksgiving foods! 🦃🐾 Keep everything plain and unseasoned, and your pup can enjoy a little holiday love right along with you.

Disclaimer: Always introduce new foods in small amounts, keep portions minimal, and make sure everything is plain and unseasoned. Even dog-safe Thanksgiving foods can cause stomach upset if given in excess. If your dog has allergies, sensitivities, or medical conditions, check with your veterinarian before offering anything new. When in doubt, skip it — your dog’s safety comes first.

11/19/2025

PSA: THANK YOUR DOG FOR GROWLING. 🙌
Your dog growls at the vet.
Or when someone hugs them.
Or when the kids get too close to their bone.

And a lot of guardians panic when that happens and tell their dog “NO!”— but here’s the truth: growling is normal, healthy, and necessary. Your dog isn’t being stubborn, dramatic, or aggressive. They’re communicating.

A growl is a warning sign, the same way a person might say, “Please stop.” Your dog is really saying: “I need space, please stop!”.

When dogs get in trouble for growling, they don’t stop feeling uncomfortable — they just stop warning us. Because why keep giving a warning if it never works, right? THIS IS HOW BITES HAPPEN. Not out of spite, but because their earlier communication wasn’t working.

Growling is a conversation starter, not a behavior to punish. Next time your dog growls, say “thank you for telling me you’re uncomfortable!”

11/19/2025

PSA: THANK YOUR DOG FOR GROWLING. 🙌
Your dog growls at the vet.
Or when someone hugs them.
Or when the kids get too close to their bone.

And a lot of guardians panic when that happens and tell their dog "NO!"— but here’s the truth: growling is normal, healthy, and necessary. Your dog isn’t being stubborn, dramatic, or aggressive. They’re communicating.

A growl is a warning sign, the same way a person might say, “Please stop.” Your dog is really saying: "I need space, please stop!".

When dogs get in trouble for growling, they don’t stop feeling uncomfortable — they just stop warning us. Because why keep giving a warning if it never works, right? THIS IS HOW BITES HAPPEN. Not out of spite, but because their earlier communication wasn't working.

Growling is a conversation starter, not a behavior to punish. Next time your dog growls, say "thank you for telling me you're uncomfortable!"

10/12/2025

4 pm eastern update: all well, playgroups indoors and high winds have not arrived. Next update 9 pm eastern

11:30 am eastern update: winds remain moderate and no rain yet. All well here!

Hello Instinct Families! Helper dog Bridget checking in with a storm update. We’ve got extra people in to help; the rain will be less than forecast so the likelihood of flooding in our area is reduced. The issue will be high winds. Once the winds kick up we’ll convert to potty and play walks indoors to keep the pups and our team safe. Next update will be at 11 am easternn

09/23/2025

More of our friends for the week of the dog!

09/22/2025

It’s National Dog Week! A very happy time here at Instinct and we’ll be celebrating our campers, day schoolers, daycare and boarding pups!

09/06/2025

Please help us welcome Leah Bornstein and her pup Tucker! Leah is a certified trainer who works with dogs both in homes and virtually. She is fluent in American Sign Language. Leah will be offering in homes lessons in the Central NJ counties of Essex, Union, Somerset and Middlesex. Welcome to our team Leah and Tucker! We are so very glad you joined our Instinct family!

07/31/2025

07/31/2025

LAST UPDATE:

All clear! The streets surrounding our facility did not flood nor did our Englewood facility. This is our final update. The storms largely missed us though they did considerable damage to communities in central New Jersey and the Jersey Shore. Please keep those affected in your thoughts.

UPDATE: As of 6 pm the storms seem to have split and are passing North and South of us.

We are continuing to monitor the situation closely, it looks like there will not be any flooding on our block or connecting streets

We will update this at 9 pm *unless* something changes in which case we’ll update immediately

For all of our families please stay safe!

Camper Olive here to let all our families know that we are prepared for any possible flooding tonight. We’ll update everyone here as the afternoon and evening progress. We have staff here all night, the generator is ready and if we have flooding in the building we have a site specific map of areas to which we will relocate within the building. We have areas that do not flood and will move them to those safer areas as needed

07/03/2025

Camper Dwight starting off the holiday weekend early! If your fur friends (including cats!) struggle with fireworks they may need some extra love and attention this holiday weekend 💕.