Best Friends Dog Academy

10/17/2025

Family Paws Parent Education is the best baby(kids) & dog(s) resource!

Let’s clear up a dangerous myth: Your dog doesn’t need to sniff, lick, or directly interact with your baby to “bond.” 🐾

Bonding happens through:

✨ Calm coexistence in the same space

✨ Positive associations (baby appears = good things happen for dog)

✨ Consistent, predictable routines

✨ Parallel living with success stations

✨ Time and patience

Direct interaction isn’t bonding—it’s risk.

Your dog can bond with your child without ever sniffing their face or licking their hands. In fact, that’s the safest path forward.

Trust the process. Trust management. Trust that safety and connection can coexist. 💙

10/17/2025

10/15/2025

Client dog Ellie, ready for… anything!

10/14/2025

BRAIN UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The challenges of the teenage dog.

There’s a saying that most parents of teenagers can relate to - "Parents of teenagers understand why some animals eat their young!"

The changes that happen in the brain of a teenage dog are not that different to a human teenager.

The brain undergoes a period of "pruning" and "re-wiring". This process can cause some parts not to work, work sporadically or work too much.

To describe it in the simplest of terms -the prefrontal cortex of a teenage brain is at the “back of the queue” in this process. It’s still “under construction” and still developing. This area of the brain is responsible for making “logical” decisions, controlling impulses, learning, remembering, problem solving and social interaction.

Because the prefrontal cortex is being reconstructed, the brain relies more on a part called the amygdala to make choices and react.
The amygdala is involved in the “big feelings” we may see - emotional responses like fight or flight, anxiety, excitement, reactivity, impulse control and instinctive behaviour.

Being aware of the physical changes the teenage brain is going through in the process of maturing, helps us to be more understanding and accepting.

Statistics show that many dogs are surrendered or re homed during the teenage stage as their owners no longer “like” the way their dog behaves, can’t handle them or just give up on them.

Please don’t give up on your teenage dog. We need to manage our expectations and frustrations during this phase.

Understand and acknowledge what is happening in their brain. Help them through this stage with patience, consistency, love and acceptance.

10/13/2025

So important!

Canine behaviour isn’t random—it’s a response to internal states, environmental triggers, and past experiences.

Before we label a dog as “naughty” or “stubborn,” let’s ask: What are they trying to tell us?

Let’s shift the narrative from correction to connection.

10/10/2025

Love Dr. Pachel! (Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorist) 👏👏👏

10/09/2025

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

Our environments are changing, becoming louder, faster, and more chaotic. This is challenging not only our neurological and sensory systems, but also those of our dogs.

For humans, practices like mindfulness help us stay steady amid overstimulation: to be less emotionally reactive, more neutral, and less likely to swing between extremes. Dogs may not possess the same reflective awareness that allows for mindfulness practice - yet they can benefit profoundly from ours.

Through our calm, grounded presence, we can create a co-regulated loop of emotional balance. Dogs are our mirrors: they feel our energy, read our body language, and sync to our nervous systems. When we cultivate inner stillness, we offer them a model of safety and calm.

At the same time, we can help dogs develop greater neutrality toward environmental stimuli, become more emotionally regulated, and improve executive function. This isn’t about suppressing emotion or turning dogs into robots. It’s about supporting their capacity to stay centred in a world that often overwhelms their innate sensibilities.

10/08/2025

10/03/2025

Veterinary, behavior, shelter professionals and dog sports enthusiasts, check this out!
We’ll be there and hope you will too! 🤓💪🙏

10/02/2025

A friendly reminder: When you walk in a Veterinary clinic with your dog for a visit, keep your leash short so they don’t wander on in ahead of you and get into unnecessary “conversations” with other dogs. After all, some dogs are there because they are sick 🤒 (perhaps contagious). Also, many dogs are already nervous just being there and a strange dog in their space can trigger a stress response.

Bobber had his yearly check up today. He LOVES going because his Vet has always sat on the floor with him and fed him chopped turkey and a little whipped cream! ❤️🐶