Confident Canines LLC

11/13/2025

Seriously... don't play with laser pointers. Get a flirt pole instead where they can grab/catch the toy on the end. It is a great way to work on "drop it" too! Compulsive behaviors (abnormal behaviors) like light chasing are VERY debilitating for the animal who is in a constant state of stress that manifests as endless searching instead of doing normal dog behaviors like playing, sniffing, resting, socializing, etc. they cannot function normally. These are not happy dogs. The laser pointer play and the stress it creates result in neurological changes, which is how this long term behavior ends up happening. This type of compulsive behavior can be difficult to fully resolve, even with medication and behavior modification. Don't do it! Take the time to genuinely play with your dog.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQzK7EHjLye/?igsh=bGtteDhxOWFleXdx

11/13/2025

Does it feel easy to earn the rewards during your training sessions? What if the task feels impossible or overwhelmingly difficult? Predictability is essential, where your pet knows that when they offer a certain behavior they will get a reward. But that isn't enough. It should also feel like the rewards are accessible. If rewards don't feel accessible to the learner, you will definitely know! That is when we see dogs offer other (unwanted) behaviors. A lot of times, that can be kissing, licking, or jumping at you to offer appeasement behavior. Other times, they may go through the list of behaviors that have earned them rewards recently - frequently, we see dogs offering sitting, offering a paw/shake, or other tricks. When it gets bad enough where they feel it is too difficult, dogs may simply bark repetitively in frustration. Owners may think this is cute when the dog offers a litany of known behaviors. They may consider the barking to just be an impulse control issue where the dog simply needs to learn to wait for the rewards. However, it is often a red flag about how the training scenario is being conducted -- that the dog either isn't sure what you want them to do or they feel that the training scenario is overly difficult. Rewards should feel easily accessible. If working on a complex behavior task or something that is simply new and challenging, you can introduce rewards in an interspersed fashion throughout different steps of the behavior -- rewarding at the beginning, the middle and the end. Then offer a jackpot reward at the end. Behaviors can become poisoned by frustration type emotions becoming attached to them. If your dog is often barking at you or offering a litany of other behaviors, this is a red flag. If your dog loses their mind when a treat comes out into the training space and goes through a list of behaviors they know, this is also a red flag that your dog feels rewards are there but inaccessible to them. They don't know what magic it takes to get the reward, so they keep guessing and throwing everything at it in the hopes something might work.

11/11/2025

Countless research studies support that these frequently cause physical pain and psychological damage to dogs. We have known this for years. Unfortunately, we do not have truth in advertising laws in the US, so people have to take companies to court to prove damages -- but this is exactly what happened here.

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

11/08/2025

Thank you to everyone who came to the Loose Leash Walking & Distractions class today! Everyone made fantastic progress! 🎉🐶

11/03/2025

Easy Homemade Dog Treats in under 45 minutes!!

I have used a variety of store bought dog treats over the years, and have often run into problems finding ones that worked well for training. This was made all the more difficult with our dogs' food sensitivities. The solution: easy, homemade dog treats.

These recipes make soft dog treats that are great for training. The ingredients in these recipes can easily be swapped to suit your dogs' taste buds or diet. Believe me, the recipes are difficult to mess up. Dogs are very forgiving!

I recently made these Venison-Chicken-Cheddar dog treats for Gilgamesh who needs lower fat food, avoiding wheat, gluten, and rice due to food sensitivities. The dogs in his agility classes were going nuts trying to dive their muzzles into my treat pouch.

Homemade dog treats usually win over any store bought treat.

Here are some of my dogs' favorite recipes from over the years. Enjoy!

I have used a variety of store bought dog treats over the years, and have often run into problems finding ones that worked well for training. This was made all the more difficult with our dogs' food sensitivities. The solution: easy, homemade dog treats.These recipes make soft dog treats that great....

10/31/2025

Dogs (and people!) rarely get sufficient exercise. Walks can provide exercise, bonding time, mental stimulation, and even social enrichment if you meet and interact with neighbors and others. Walks cannot be entirely replaced by running in a backyard. Over-exercise can be a problem for dogs, especially if the exercise is heavily dependent on fetching balls, which involves excessive repetitions of sprinting and tight turning. Proper mental and physical stimulation from walks outside the home can help dogs deal with stress. Mental enrichment is very limited at home with few new smells on the ground and the same toys and objects. The mental enrichment from sniffing scent trails of people, dogs and wildlife on a walk cannot be overstated.

My challenge to you is to walk your dog twice daily -- no matter what. Let them walk and sniff as much as they would like. A long evening walk can help dogs relax and settle down for the evening, but it is better to get out briefly than not at all.
Start and finish the day on a walk -- together.

10/31/2025

Thank you for all the dozens of shares and the amazing feedback from vets, behaviorists, trainers and pet parents on this article ❤️❤️❤️

In some dogs, training approaches repeatedly fail to yield emotional and behavioral changes. It is well-known that neuroendocrine responses can become dysregulated due to past stress. They may not function properly for the individual, rendering the animal incapable of coping and responding appropria...

10/29/2025

I LOVE all the progress I have seen this week with animals and their humans!!! Both with my wonderful behavior clients and amazing agility teams ❤️☺️🎉🎉

10/29/2025

Yikes! We have all likely experienced being assigned a nightmare group project partner who does nothing to help but expects stellar results. In their mind, the work is always someone else's job and problems are someone else's fault (the dog, the horse, etc). There is zero personal responsibility or accountability. Be the partner you would want to work with. Pets don't get to choose their partners either.

10/26/2025

❤️

I cannot stress this enough, and when I saw this graphic, I had to share it.

Your dog is not a programable, updatable or replaceable. And, neither are YOU. You are both two halves of one team and you will each have to meet each other where you're at on any particular day. The same goes for any relationship or partnership.

The last year and a half, as I've navigated grief and the world as a new context without my mother, training has looked different for me. I'm not as intense, I'm not as persistent, I truly don't hang my perception of myself anymore on how my dogs "perform" - but rather in how I feel around them, how they feel around me, and having more fun than finished product. They have met me in where I'm at, because a lot of the time "my best" is barely hanging on, and I have been so grateful to that.

I do the same for them. Some days they won't be on top of their game, they may be navigating something themselves - even if it's as simple as ALL THE LEAVES ARE BLOWING AND OMG - and I just have to lower my goals for that day and let it be. Life is too short to be mad at my DOGS. I mean, really.

In a world of technology and everything being taken over for us, try to relish in the unpredictability of nature and organic relationships. Remind yourself that even though you are surrounded by machines that do everything for you at the touch of a button, YOU are a human - an animal - and so is your dog. And it's one of the oldest and most sacred partnerships in the animal world, so enjoy it, don't try to control it or rush it. Our dogs don't, so we shouldn't either.

Helen St. Pierre

10/24/2025

A MUST-READ for any animal professional

In some dogs, training approaches repeatedly fail to yield emotional and behavioral changes. It is well-known that neuroendocrine responses can become dysregulated due to past stress. Stress can actually alter physiology in the long term. These systems may no longer function properly for the individual, rendering the animal incapable of coping and responding appropriately in certain environments or around stressors. This can lead to excessive fear or even aggression that is resilient to training approaches. But there are ways to help this through integrative approaches, although mitigate stressors is Learn what this looks like and how integrative approaches can help this.

In some dogs, training approaches repeatedly fail to yield emotional and behavioral changes. It is well-known that neuroendocrine responses can become dysregulated due to past stress. They may not function properly for the individual, rendering the animal incapable of coping and responding appropria...

10/21/2025

A lot of behavioral problems can be solved when we look at the communication we are receiving from the animal and make adjustments instead of being inflexible. People often prioritize physical control and exercising full control over situations that are not safety-related. They simply just want to be in control where everything happens on their terms. We all like to do things a certain way, but maybe the dog or other pet would be willing if things were done a different way? This can appear as a dog who is "stubborn", "doesn't listen" or is "being dramatic". Sometimes, people don't respect small signals that they are uncomfortable, the situation does not feel worth it to them, or they simply don't want to do it. People force dogs into their crate instead of making the crate feel like a happy and comfortable place for short periods, use physical control to jerk them away from things on leash -- even going so far as to wearing leashes in the house -- instead of teaching boundaries from a very early age that are heavily rewarded, they force them through nail trims instead of desensitizing and counterconditioning the procedures. Sometimes people make the dogs' world smaller by making them walk everywhere outside the home in a "heel" -- never having the chance to choose where to sniff, to choose where to explore or to make friends or even be off leash -- to keep in full control instead of slowly giving them more freedom while teaching them how to navigate their environment. Companion animals get it -- we have full control. But don't abuse it!! This is supposed to be a mutually satisfying relationship. Dogs and other companion animals are our partners, even if we are leading. Listen to them and meet their needs, and it will yield faster and more lasting results with a partner who always chooses YOU and WANTS to work WITH you.