In Stride Pet Dog Training LLC

10/08/2025

Great tips and information 💖🐾🐶😉

How do we help dogs decompress and settle in after a big change like adoption, moving, or other major life events?

▪ Provide a predictable routine for mealtimes, walks, enrichment, and more! If your pet is on behavioral medications, don't make any changes without consulting with your veterinarian first, even if you are bringing a shelter pet home to a quiet environment.
▪ Provide them with a safe, quiet space away from the busy areas of the home, like in a bedroom or similar. You can provide a crate in this area, but it's not a requirement.
▪ Implement proactive management strategies. If you don't know this dog well yet, you don't know what habits they may or may not have (think potty training, destructive behaviors, barking at windows, etc)! Even if you do, big changes can lead to changes in behavior, or behaviors not transferring over to a new environment.
▪ Limit new experiences and other unnecessary changes. Give them time to settle in before inviting guests over.
▪ Give them space. Let them initiate affection, play, etc, and be understanding if they are showing less interest initially.
▪ Finally, have patience! Their adjustment will happen on their own timeline, not yours. Support them through it, and ask for help if you're struggling!

10/08/2025

So important 🙌🙌🙌

Are you considering hiring a dog trainer? The ACVB (American College of Veterinary Behaviorists) put together a guideline of how avoid the wrong ones and choose the right one.

Tail-Blazers Dog Training proudly follows the AVSAB’s recommended standards ✅

10/08/2025

Great information and visual 🐾💖🐶😉

As pet parents it is important to recognise the different signals our dogs give off before they get to the top of the ladder and have to resort to a bite.

10/08/2025

Things to remember 🐶🐾😓💔

THE PERILS OF PUNISHMENT

In order to stop your dog from doing something, your actions need to be sufficiently unpleasant to "work". If that outcome is achieved, then the dog has found it aversive, whether or not you view what you are doing as punishment. Adding something unpleasant to reduce the likelihood of a behaviour falls under the quadrant of positive punishment; we can be sure that it will cause discomfort, and will most likely increase fear.

One of the many fallouts of the use of punishment is that we cannot control what else your dog may be learning. As well as creating the intended negative association, it is highly likely that further negative emotions will arise from inadvertently pairing the aversive with other things which might be present in the environment. For example, if we deliver a physical correction to stop a behaviour, we can cause our dog to be fearful of us, the source of the punishment. It is catastrophic for our relationship with our dog, eroding trust and confidence.

Suppression of behaviours may appear to work on the surface, but it does nothing to address the underlying emotions driving the dog's actions. The very behaviour we are trying to "correct" can worsen considerably and result in explosive, seemingly unpredictable escalations. Or, our dog may decline into learned helplessness.

When we can use kind and ethical coaching methods along with management to tackle any challenges, there really is no need to risk the potential fallout that punishment brings.

For further reading on this topic, check out my blog post:

https://www.trailiepawsforthought.com/post/the-perils-of-punishment

©️ Trailie Paws For Thought
www.trailiepawsforthought.com

I'm very happy for all of my content to be shared, but please do not copy and paste to avoid sharing from source. THANK YOU! 🐾 🐾

10/08/2025

Yes 💖🐾🐶🤗

Given the statements that we see so often from those using aversive or 'balanced' training methods, those of us who use a force free approach need to clear up some of the issues with what is said.

As well as the red flags so often seen of 'positive only' or 'purely positive', these statements will usually trot out the old misunderstanding that all we do is toss cheese at a dog when they do something right and ignore everything else. This is absolutely untrue and does not reflect the force free approach at all.

Successful force free training involves SO much more than that.

• It needs a deep understanding of learning theory.
• What the dog's welfare needs are and how to make sure they are met.
• The potential impact of health on behaviour.
• The emotional states that underly behaviours.
• How to manage situations so that the dogs don't carry out the undesired behaviours and perhaps get an internal reward for doing them.
• How to train other behaviours the dog can do in that situation that will be rewarded so that the undesirable behaviour is no longer the best choice for them in that situation.
• When training isn’t the right answer at all.

The factors involved in getting the force free approach and training right are far too many for me to list in this post or on this image, but these are the things that a good force free trainer or behaviour professional is doing every time they are working with a dog and their humans.

It's so much more than just lobbing food at a dog.

10/08/2025

So very important 💖🐶🐾🙌

10/08/2025

Yes please 💖🐶🐾🙌

10/08/2025

So important 💖🐶🐾😉

10/07/2025

Great resource 💖🐶🐾😉

Last chance to register for Thursday's live event!

Are you struggling to understand your dog's protective behaviour? Do they seem territorial of your home?

People often describe their dogs as “territorial” or “protective.” But what does that really mean? Is it a special drive, or is it fear, arousal, and reinforcement showing up at doors, fences, and yards?

In this webinar, we’ll look at what the science actually says about so-called territorial and protective behaviour. You’ll learn:

-Why these labels are best understood as context, not motivation
-How fear, reinforcement, and environment shape door and yard aggression
-What the most recent research tells us about stranger-directed aggression
-Practical strategies to manage and modify these behaviours humanely

This session is designed for trainers, behaviour consultants, and anyone working with dogs who bark, lunge, or bite at the door, in the yard, or when family is present. Pet guardians are welcome to attend!

Date/Time: October 9th, 2025 at 10 AM Pacific

Recording: A recording is always sent out afterwards to all registered participants.

Scaled Pricing System (in Canadian dollars):

We are trying a scaled system to make this webinar more accessible. This pricing works on the honour system, please choose the option that best fits your situation:

Fee-waived:
https://wildatheartdogtraining.as.me/territorialprotectivefeewaived

Mid-price $14.99 CAD (approx. $11 USD):
https://wildatheartdogtraining.as.me/territorialprotectivemidprice

Full price $24.99 CAD (approx. $18 USD): https://wildatheartdogtraining.as.me/territorialprotectivefullprice

Note: USD amounts are approximate. Final cost will depend on current exchange rates set by your payment provider