Paws With Me K9 Enrichment & Training

08/31/2025

UGH! This hurts my heart so much!

I don't know any of the details in regards to the video or the trainer, but how horrifying to think of all of it: the trainer doing this infront of the guardian, or this is a board and train situation and the guarding has NO IDEA!

Sooooo grateful this woman has shared. It's hard to do that!

I did some confidence building work with a woman and her nervous dog. She told me about her interaction with a trainer trying to help her dog overcome this. The trainer told her she had to make her dog confront the thing she was afraid of. Put her right in the middle of it, face her fears.

How horrifying is that? That's like you being afraid of snakes and the trainer says, well, only way to "get over it" is to get in the pit that is full of snakes. And guess what? You can't come out until you're not afraid anymore.

Say what??? How is it that you aren't going to be afraid of snakes anymore? You're going to be even more horrified!

Thankfully the guardian didn't feel right about it and left class. That's advocating for your dog! That's listening to your intuition that is telling you something isn't right.

Getting a more in depth vet visit, checking ALL of the boxes, not just a wellness check, may tell you more about your dog's wellbeing and help with some behaviors.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16toXyU98P/

4470 likes, 418 comments. “He had celebrity testimonials, amazing before and afters and was led to believe this was the ONLY way to fix them. I have so many regrets. Don’t trust your dog with these dog “fixers””

08/29/2025

Advocating for your dog!

When we found out Brutus was a sensitive boy with BIG feelings, a trainer told me to get a leash that said "In Training". We did, and we found that not 1 person paid attention to it. So, I bought a harness that said it instead.

It's been a game changer. People see the handsome fella at the end of the leash and they want to come say hi, then they see his harness, and most people will stop. Depending on how we are standing or what we are working on, people may not see it, and I have to ask them to please not come closer as I start to move him away.

Some will even ask what he's training for. I tell them it's not for him, it's for them. He doesn't want to say hello, he needs his space. Sure, I may get funny looks but it does it's job and keeps us all safe.

This picture, is at the vet. And each and every time we go, I advocate for him and his safety. When I get there, I go in, by myself, and let them know we are there. I don't want to overwhelm him and have him freak out due to all of the people/animals in the waiting room. I ask for the room off to the side with it's own entrance and they are more than happy to oblige. My goal is to make sure my boy endures the least amount of stress as possible. After they are done checking him out, I make sure when we leave that people aren't coming and going outside so we can go safely back to the car and then I go back to check out. I want him in his safe space where he (and I) can relax.

Advocating means speaking up, setting boundaries, and creating safe spaces so your dog can thrive.

08/27/2025

September classes are open!

We have classes in Laconia and Franklin.

Registration link in comments!

08/27/2025

✨ Advocacy Matters – For You & Your Dog ✨

One of the most powerful tools we have as humans is our voice!

Some people struggle with advocating for themselves, and if they are lucky, they have great friends/family, that can help advocate for them. But dogs, they don't have a voice, we MUST be their voice, they depend on us to be that voice.

Advocating for your dog’s needs isn’t just about speaking up at the vet or in training—it’s about creating a life where they feel safe, respected, and cared for.

💙 Advocate for their health → Ask questions at the vet, get second opinions if something doesn’t feel right, and keep pushing until you feel your questions have been answered. Remember you know your dog best.

💙 Advocate for their safety → Whether that’s choosing equipment that makes them feel secure, saying “no” to interactions that overwhelm them, or standing firm when others dismiss their boundaries.

And don’t forget—you matter too. Your health, safety, and peace of mind are just as important.

At Paws With Me K9, we understand how important advocacy is. We've lived it both personally with our own health and we used our voice to protect our dogs to keep them safe and secure.

When we learn to speak up for ourselves and our dogs, we build deeper trust, stronger connection, and a more joyful life together.🐾💙

👉 How have you advocated for your dog (or yourself) recently?

08/27/2025

Moving our thought process from “what do I want from my dog” to “what does my dog NEED?” is they key to living a happy, fulfilling life together.

What Does Welfare Look Like?

If welfare is cumulative, then it shows itself in patterns of behavior over time.

A dog’s ability to freely express a variety of natural behaviors is one of the clearest ways we can begin to understand their welfare state. Behavioral diversity is a promising new metric that animal welfare scientists are increasingly using (Miller, 2020) as an objective,observable lens into an animal’s quality of life. It’s the most practical tool we have ever had to assess canine welfare, giving us real data and feedback about the effects of the things we are doing (and not doing) for the dogs in our lives as welfare-conscious dog pros working to deliver the Good Life.

What, really, is “good behavior” for our dogs’ welfare?

🟢 A dog following their nose to explore a new environment with curiosity
🟢 Chasing, ambushing, wrestling, or play-stalking with bonded friends
🟢 Caching a bone in the pillows or parading a toy proudly through the house
🟢 Rolling in the grass or napping in the sun with the cat
🟢 Confidently navigating logs and rocks in pursuit of a fresh critter trail

Poor welfare can sometimes look deceptively “good”, as natural behavior becomes diminished:

🟡 A dog lying quietly for most of the day, taking little initiative to engage with their environment and social members
🟡 A dog who walks calmly on leash without sniffing or investigating
🟡 A dog with narrow patterns of behavior like dropping a ball at your feet repeatedly

Welfare is about the range of behaviors, the emotional valance behind them, and the overall life experience that shapes them. This is why observing the breadth of natural behavior, especially over a period of time, can give us a more comprehensive picture of a dog’s Good Life.

08/21/2025

Before getting a dog, we tend to do a lot of dreaming:
Purebred
Mixed Breed
Age
Gender
Names, before we even get them
The fun things that you expect to do together (walking, hiking, camping, snuggling, swimming, quiet life, active life...)

We certainly aren't dreaming about what happens if things DON'T go as planned.

This is exactly what happened to us. I couldn't wait to have Brutus go EVERYWHERE with me: shopping, walking, hiking, camping... We'd hang out with all of our friends with dogs and have fun. We'd run errands together and he would love everyone.

When that didn't come to fruition, there wee so many emotions: sadness, frustration anger and even grief.

I took some blame for Brutus being the way he was. I must have done something to make him grow up with big feelings. I never thought about his experiences before he came to us, I just focused on his experiences, our experiences since he had been with us.

It became lonely, living a secret life together, not able to go out and do things that so many others were. We had to find different ways to have fun, different places to go where there were no others or stay within our own yard.

The emotions sadness and grief were abundant. And it’s these emotions that can prevent you from bonding with your dog.

But what I've learned along the way; the best relationships with dogs start when we leave our expectations at the door. Let go of what you think it 'should' be, and open yourself to discovering who your dog really is. That’s where the magic happens.

08/20/2025

Oh my heart! This…right…here!

When all else failed and we struggled finding a trainer, I put the work in. Classes, conferences, all through COVID.

You have no idea how much this meant to me, being able to spend a weekend with this boy, participating in various fun activities and continuing our work. We had trainers there to support us and help us make it a success.

This boy means the world to me. I will do everything I can to help him feel safe in this world and live his best life. Our time together is very special ❤️🥰

08/19/2025

I was so excited to take Brutus on an adventure Saturday, but it wasn't what either of us had expected.

Brutus was nice enough to find us a bees nest 😫 poor boy stuck his face in it. I didn’t realize it was bees until I got stung. I thought he was after a critter in the hole and then I realized, his poor face!
We went running, as you can imagine and they followed! He was covered in them, ear, back, legs, collar, harness and little did I know they were all over my shirt.

I got them off him first, as we continued to move and then worked on me. Thankfully my shirt was too big so they didn’t get me.

Picture this! I take my shirt off in the woods and hope for no cameras and people 😂 I couldn’t tell if I had any on my back so that was my only solution. Plus, I was afraid of what might be on my head/in my hair.

Poor Brut had 3 bumps on his nose, but a quick call to the vet as we left and a stop at the pharmacy for some benedryl, I got him treated as quick as I could.

I’m sooooo grateful he didn’t have a bad reaction, the benedryl worked and I watched him like a hawk. Swelling has gone down. As for me, I’m thankful I just got stung on the finger, it’s annoying but fine.

Walking in nature is calming and healing, but…nature! You never know what you’ll find.

08/12/2025

If it wasn't for Brutus, I wouldn't be where I am today. He has taught me sooooo much! Ok, COVID had a part in it too. If COVID hadn't shut everything down, who knows where Brutus and I would be now. I don't know that it would be here.

I was on a mission to figure out what i needed to do to make sure he and I lived our best life. With no other options, I dove in to classes and attended conferences virtually. I picked the things that felt right to me, using various skills from various people and hoped for the best.

Thanks to Facebook, I had met people who had similar struggles and shared their experiences and what worked for them. Once the world opened up again, I had people that were gracious enough to work with us in person, working on skills and helping us find out what worked and what didn't. We spent time in parking lots, school fields, and on trails. We learned, we bonded, we grew.

There have been tears, both of sadness and joy (this boy has made me so very proud), there has been grief and extreme joy.

I am so grateful for this journey, all that he has taught me and how it strengthened our bond. Yes it's been challenging, but I wouldn't change a thing!

We do of course teach our dogs things, but they should be lessons learned together.

When we change our mindset to the lessons are for us, not them. Then we set ourselves up on a better path to shaping the behaviour we want.