Whole Dog University, LLC

12/17/2025

This is so cool!!!

Dogs have an extraordinary ability to anticipate your return home by relying on their powerful sense of smell and keen observation skills.
As your scent fades throughout the day, they instinctively track its diminishing intensity like a natural timer.
They also learn your daily routine, picking up on environmental cues such as familiar car sounds, footsteps, or even changes in light.
Over time, these subtle signals form an internal clock that tells them when you're likely to arrive.
This combination of scent, habit, and sensitivity often leads dogs to get excited moments before you even reach the door.

12/10/2025

This is not local or anyone any of you probably know but when I heard about it, my heart just broke. A colleague of mine in KY (Larry) trained this beautiful young Rottweiler, Elsa. Today he received word that she was killed in a house fire over the weekend and her family lost everything they owned. I think this is every pet owner’s nightmare and on top of losing everything you own…clothes, furniture, dishes, household stuff - all can be replaced, but family pictures and keepsakes and their beloved dog cannot be.

If this sad situation moved you as it did me, please whisper a prayer tonight for Elsa’s family (and for Larry…when we work with you and your dogs, there is a heart connection and even more so if they are a dog in residence with you (board & train) for a few weeks. He is grieving, too),

Thank you. I suspect a lot of you, like me, can put ourselves in that situation and we can only imagine the trauma and grief that family must feel right now.

11/26/2025

Wishing all of you a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving celebration with your family and friends from Whole Dog University Professional Dog Training in Lebanon!!

Watch those doggies around the table or anywhere there is food being served the next few days. Also, you may need to remind guests (and even household family members) to please not give the dogs that Thanksgiving food, especially not from the table.

Here is a good list of what is safe / what is not - no one wants to be getting up with a sick dog during the night or spend a small fortune at the emergency vet. From a behavioral standpoint, it’s always best to give that special “treat” in their own food bowl and not from the table off a plate.

11/21/2025

Please keep an eye out for this little scared Boston Terrier who has been on the run / missing for 4-5 days in the Lebanon area…she is very skittish of strangers. She has been spotted numerous times but has yet to be caught. If you see her, please call the number on the flyer. .

11/12/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/19vN3EgDik/?mibextid=wwXIfr

❤️❤️❤️🐶🐕‍🦺🦮🐩🐕

MRI studies have revealed something amazing about dogs. Their love for their owners goes beyond food, toys, or even other dogs. Scientists discovered that when a dog smells its owner, a special part of its brain actually lights up more than it does when the dog smells food or another animal.

This part of the brain, called the caudate nucleus, is connected to feelings of love and reward. The reaction is so strong that it shows dogs aren’t just recognizing a familiar scent, they’re feeling joy and affection.

It proves that when our dogs look at us or come running to greet us, it’s not just habit. Deep inside their brains, they truly love us, in a way that’s powerful and real.

11/10/2025

For those who have puppies who are just experiencing the snow for the first time, show us your pup and snow pics! (Check one more thing off your socialization checklist!)

11/07/2025

Thank you to each and everyone one of you…past and present (and thank you for your referrals.. it means so much!)

These are challenging economic times for all, so I truly appreciate your choosing WDU for your early puppy development needs, obedience training, behavioral assistance, and/or canine leadership education needs. You are a blessing to me!

10/10/2025

This is why I say over and over and over that dogs don’t always understand baby cries / sounds and often can mistake them for wounded prey…to dogs, babies are more strange creatures than your beautiful child. Thank God for a tough cat with good instincts that potentially saved this baby’s life or at least prevented serious injury. Parents put your dog up when you are not right next to your baby. While some dogs do great with babies, if your dog has not been well socialized to babies and children from young puppyhood on, then things like this are more likely to occur. It’s just not worth taking the chance, put them up / secure them when you are not physically right beside your baby.

09/29/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/1779FNs8QU/?mibextid=wwXIfr

❤️🐶

MRI studies have revealed something amazing about dogs. Their love for their owners goes beyond food, toys, or even other dogs. Scientists discovered that when a dog smells its owner, a special part of its brain actually lights up more than it does when the dog smells food or another animal.

This part of the brain, called the caudate nucleus, is connected to feelings of love and reward. The reaction is so strong that it shows dogs aren’t just recognizing a familiar scent, they’re feeling joy and affection.

It proves that when our dogs look at us or come running to greet us, it’s not just habit. Deep inside their brains, they truly love us, in a way that’s powerful and real.

08/26/2025

Today is National Dog Day!!! How rich our lives our to be able to share them with our beloved dogs for the brief time that we have with them!

Show us your pics of your dog(s) so we can celebrate with you!

08/02/2025

Just let them be. (Most importantly, teach children this).

I know they look adorable when they're snoozing....but look and don't touch.
Sleep is just as essential for dogs as it is for ourselves.
Chronic sleep disruption can actually contribute to irritability, anxiety, and unwanted behaviour.
They need that good quality sleep to regulate hormones, repair their body and it can even help with training too.
Those little bodies have a lot of work to do when they are at rest....and yet....we just want to grab their lil chubby chops and tell them how much we love them.

Just because they are dogs doesn't mean we have the right to interrupt their well earned sleep.
They need to be left in peace.
That may mean encouraging them to rest elsewhere (other than the busy lounge) when they start to show they are tired.

Quality sleep helps everything.
As humans we know it helps us.

Why do we think our dogs are different?

07/17/2025

Ayla is making great progress as we are moving through week 2 of her program. She is doing great for this point in her program.

We are at the point where we are practicing her obedience skills in public places (neighborhoods, various dog-friendly stores - here at TJ Maxx, a park, eventually we’ll go downtown Lebanon, weather permitting).

She can be a little shy socially in unfamiliar settings but she is getting better with each venture into those kinds of places. As she is getting more comfortable, now it’s to get her to understand you can’t break command to go greet someone or say Hi to another dog in public.

Overall, I’m really pleased with what I’m seeing in terms of her progress. Isn’t she such a pretty girl?!