Strong Bonds Canine Training & Behavior

09/08/2025

Meet Bean!

Bean has struggled with reactivity, but his people are doing a great job helping him to feel more comfortable around strangers and dogs. Here he is at our latest session, working around a neutral dog (my dog) and a dog savvy “stranger” (my sister).

03/05/2025

It’s always a good idea to incorporate training with play! Here’s an example of me having my dog to sit/stay while I move the flirt pole (his absolute favorite toy) around before releasing him to play again.

23/03/2025

When your private lesson turns into an impromptu group class!

11/03/2025

One of the best things you can do for your senior dog is keep them active! Modify activity where needed, and certainly consult your vet if you have any concerns, but keep working their bodies AND their minds!

This is Liam and he’s 15 yrs old. He can’t handle long walks anymore, but loves following his nose! Here he is in our nosework class.

27/02/2025

📢 Let me say this so that everyone in the back can hear

Dog bites do not happen out of the blue!

Dogs give many subtle signs before they escalate to defensive behavior.

Recognizing early cues like yawning, lip licking, and turning away can prevent stress and conflict.

Understanding dog body language can help you avoid your dog experiencing unnecessary stress - keep them (and everyone else safe)

💛 SHARE THIS to help your fellow dog guardians and lovers!

22/11/2024

Great information for puppy owners!!

16/08/2024

This is a great example of what happens when you put in the time and effort to help your dog succeed!

The dog on the left is Buzz, my dog, and the dog on the right is Maya. Maya belongs to a friend of mine and has struggled with being around other dogs. I remember a time when Maya’s mom had to make sure no other dogs were around before bringing Maya out. Look at her now!

Maya has reached the point in her training where her mom felt she was ready for closer, careful and controlled interaction with other dogs. She has started meeting up with friends who are good at reading dog body language, and their dogs, to walk Maya with. We were happy to help and witness the fantastic results of all her hard work and dedication!

16/07/2024

Are you providing your dog with enough mental stimulation?

Here are some examples of ways to mentally exercise your dog!

• Puzzle toys (store bought or homemade)
• Nosework/scent work activities
• Trick training
• Sniff walks

12/05/2024

Great information!

Here’s a PSA on behalf of all dogs.

Stop correcting your dog for sniffing.

Stop it. Please.

How would you like it if I corrected you for looking around a room? Imagine if you raised your head to look around a new place and I popped you or shoved you or said “HEY! PAY ATTENTION” You’d get pretty upset pretty quickly I’d imagine.

Dogs don’t smell because they are ignoring you or being stubborn. We humans primarily depend on sight, but dogs use smell AND sight to assess their surroundings and communicate. People spend more time interpreting visual data than olfactory information. Dogs are just the opposite.

Dogs devote lots of brain power to interpreting smells. They have more than 100 million sensory receptor sites in the nasal cavity as compared to 6 million in people, and the area of the canine brain devoted to analyzing odors is about 40 times larger than the comparable part of the human brain. In fact, it’s been estimated that dogs can smell anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 times better than people.

Scent gives information. Smelling is normal. Smelling is necessary and natural. Smelling is relaxing. Air scenting is HUGE for recovering reactive dogs. LET YOUR DOG SMELL!

Correcting a dog for sniffing is one of the worst things I watch people do. It’s another example of how controlling we try to be in our dogs lives. If you don’t want your dog to smell, teach him to focus on you instead for part of the time, and then give other ample times to smell. If he’s pulling you to smell, use a different tool that inhibits pulling but still allows for some nasal exploration. Even better work on collar pressure work too so your dog learns to smell when there’s less pressure! Walks on a long line on a dirt road or in a field for your dog to zig zag back and forth on to smell is MUCH healthier and more tiring for them as animals than trying to keep them within 6 feet of you on a neighborhood walk.

Please accept that smelling is normal and work WITH your dog on it, rather than just trying to suppress it. Just because that blade of grass or tree isn’t interesting to YOU doesn’t mean your dog deserves a correction. Who cares if you don’t walk the extra block - spend those 5 minutes on that one tree if you need to. Your dog doesn’t complain when you watch YouTube videos of kittens for hours or read the news or binge on Netflix, so let him get his scent binge in to.

Happy smelling pups!

07/05/2024

27/01/2024

This is Lulu, a 6 mo old little mixed breed dog. Today, her people worked on Lulu being able to maintain focus on them while around other dogs and polite greetings with dogs. You can’t see him, but Buzz played training prop and was sitting next to me while I took this photo. Lulu did awesome!