Whole Dog Camp

12/02/2025

12/02/2025

it's been said before, but I feel like I need to say it one more time...

12/02/2025

is launching new free resources to support pet caregivers through grief, created by the Ontario Veterinary College. The new hub combines storytelling with expert insight to help people navigate the loss of a beloved companion animal.

Learn more: https://uoguel.ph/zynnq

12/02/2025

This is an example of how you make a recall cue "low cost" and high value: recalling for a cookie and sending them right back to play. Required ingredients for training: safely fenced yard, piece of cheese.

11/29/2025

Quadrants rant

11/27/2025

Dogs don't try to escape or avoid reinforcement. If you see a dog performing an escape or avoidant behavior that means that they are perceiving some sort of punishment in their situation. Our job is reinforcement trainers is to watch for escape and avoid avoiding behaviors and try to change them so that the dog is seeking reinforcement rather than trying to escape a punisher https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRkUxQ2EYHs/?igsh=MTloMm83d2luM3h3aw==

11/27/2025

I'll add, give dogs plenty of opportunity to rest from the party! Naps are good!

Planning holiday gatherings with your dog? Keep everyone safe and stress-free with simple management tips, safe greeting strategies, and ways to prevent accidents.

Download my Free Safe Holiday Gatherings Guide and enjoy the holidays with confidence.

11/26/2025

A recent U.S. class action (Hernandez v. Radio Systems Corporation) has resulted in compensation for consumers after claims that e-collars were misrepresented in sales and marketing as “safe” and “humane.” The complaint also outlined that such devices can cause both physical injury and psychological harm to dogs. Details are in the link below.

https://www.classaction.org/media/hernandez-v-radio-systems-corporation-complaint_1.pdf

At the UK Dog Behaviour & Training Charter, we uphold a strict no-shock collar and non-aversive policy. Training should build trust, promote wellbeing, and respect the dog’s experience, not rely on pain, fear, or coercion.

If you’re looking for humane, ethical training support that puts the emotional wellbeing of your pet first, you can find qualified professionals through our Charter member organisations and their members, who are all committed to kind, science-led methods.

Let’s keep bringing out the best in dogs through kindness, clarity, and care.

https://dogcharter.uk

11/26/2025

Have you ever trained your dog in a way that went against your ethics, just because a trainer told you it was the right thing to do?

I’ve worked with pet parents who don’t align with punishment—people who never imagined they’d use a prong collar, a shock collar, or hurt their dogs. So how do they end up there?

Studies show that people will harm others when instructed to do so by an authority figure. And dog trainers hold a lot more authority than we like to admit. We’re given enormous trust by families coming to us in very desperate times. Often, our advice is taken as gospel—even if it sounds or feels wrong. Even if it goes against everything the guardian believes is right.

Many trainers recognize that power and use it to gain influence, money, and followers.

In dog training, the trainer/client relationship carries a power dynamic that can be easily wielded in harmful ways—especially when a provider doesn’t have the education to solve the issue without punishment, or when they want to validate their own authority… or take your money.

It’s a dangerous combination: authority, desperation, and vulnerability. And when a trainer wants to take advantage of that, it’s all too easy.

The truth?

It’s easy to be manipulated when you’re desperate.
It’s easy to follow bad advice when it comes with a smile and a promise.
But it’s not your fault.

If you’ve trained in ways that made you uncomfortable, know this:
You are, after all, only human.
Forgive yourself.
It’s not too late to do better.

11/25/2025

Don't abandon your reinforcement based training method when your dog is being "naughty."

How? If you find yourself feeling like you need to "put your foot down," have some reinforcement handy to reward your dog for cooperating. Feed your dog when you ask them to get out of the way (or off the couch or bed), go into the crate or car or vet's office; get into the car, accept the leash, or dropping your favorite shoe/wallet/ pen or a stick of butter.

You aren't rewarding naughtiness, you are rewarding cooperation. If your dog feels that sometimes you're a friend and sometimes you're a foe, you'll create resistance, reluctance, frustration and perhaps refusal.

Be your dog's best friend ALL the time.