Unleashed Behavior and Training Services

01/30/2025

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It's coming up soon! Do you know how to play Super Bowls!?

01/29/2025

Spots open on Monday, February 3rd! 🥳🥳🥳

01/28/2025

Signs of pain in dogs can be subtle or obvious.

They include limping, stiffness, reluctance to move, changes in posture, or difficulty lying down and standing up. Behavioural signs include whining, yelping, growling, or withdrawing.

Dogs may pant excessively, lick or chew a specific area, lose appetite, or seem lethargic.

Changes in facial expression, pinned ears, or a tucked tail may also indicate discomfort. Being attentive to these signs and seeking veterinary advice promptly ensures timely care, helping to alleviate their pain and improve their quality of life.

Recognising these signals strengthens your ability to support your dog effectively.

01/27/2025

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Dogs are absolutely amazing creatures and, as humans, many of us love them and, in that very human way for showing affection, want to touch and hug them. It's a big part of who we are as a species. And some dogs do enjoy hugs - both of my current dogs are lovers of physical contact. If my boy isn't getting enough fuss and love, he will grab an arm with his paw and drag it closer. My adolescent girl will hop up on the sofa and flop onto your chest and snuggle.

Many (probably most in all honesty) dogs don't. If they like much contact at all, it is more likely to be a scritch on the side of the neck or chest.

However a dog does like to receive physical attention and fuss, the most important thing to remember is that they must have the choice of whether they want fuss or not. And, if your dog is one who is less keen on contact, advocate for them. Tell the people around you how to check with the dog for consent, and to respect the signals they give.

The following is an excerpt from Building the Bond, available now (link in the comments) on how to check for consent before touching a dog.

"Frequently seen advice states that we should reach a hand towards the dog for them to sniff and ‘get our scent’ as an opening step. This is incorrect for a couple of reasons. First of all, this movement is getting in the dog’s space as the hand is usually put right up close to their face, and this could be alarming for the dog, especially if the movement is rapid. Secondly, the dog’s sense of smell is between 10,000 and 100,000 times as acute as our own according to scientists. Alexandra Horwitz, in the book Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, tells us that dogs can detect a teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic sized swimming pools – that’s one teaspoon of sugar diluted in five million litres. They can smell us a long time before we are close enough to interact with them!

Avoid bending down and looming over the dog. People are much bigger than they are most of the time, so this can be intimidating and scary for them, especially when they do not know the person. Also avoid facing them directly and staring at them, as these signals are confrontational in dogs and could make them uncomfortable or even feel the need to be defensive.

Stand at an angle somewhere around 45 degrees away from looking straight at the dog, with your arms loose at your sides. You may want to consider crouching down and maybe holding a hand slightly towards the dog while speaking to them quietly and inviting them into your space. If the dog does approach and comes right up to you, then stroke them – not on top of their head but on the chest or side of the neck. After a couple of seconds stop, and remove your hand to see what they do next. If they do not move away, or they move in closer, stroke them again, but remember to keep stopping and ensure they are given the option to end the interaction and move away.

If the dog does not approach, they instead move backwards, or they turn their head or whole body away, respect their choice and their signals and do not keep trying to interact."

01/24/2025

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January is the perfect time to train your pup! Whether it’s basic commands or fun tricks, training builds a stronger bond with your furry friend. Start today and finish the month off strong!

01/23/2025

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Smell is the primary sense our dogs use to gather information and process their world. Their ability to detect scent is massively superior to ours. Their sense of smell is somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 times better than that of humans – it does vary between breeds and of course humans have developed scent hound breeds specifically for increased scenting ability.

In Alexandra Horwitz’s book Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know she gives an example that shows the sheer magnitude of the canine nose’s ability - dogs can detect a single teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic sized swimming pools. The fact becomes even more impressive when we see how much water those two pools would contain: that’s one teaspoon of sugar diluted in 5 million litres.

This means that using scent as part of our dogs’ enrichment schedules is a massive opportunity to let them carry out one of the most natural canine behaviours, sniffing, and which also works their brains as they need to analyse and identify the scents they discover.
Scentwork as an activity can be great especially for high energy dogs as the brainwork can tire them out and help them relax (with my Border Collies twenty minutes of sniffing often results in a two hour nap, much the same as after a five mile walk).

It can also be wonderful for older dogs who perhaps can’t walk very far and so walks need to be limited, and the same reasoning makes it ideal for dogs recovering from injury or surgery. We can even find ways for dogs who need to be on total crate rest after major surgery.

The perhaps most simple forms of scentwork include scattering food in an area like a garden or around a room for the dog to hunt out, or to allow plenty of sniffing time when out on a walk. For those dogs who cannot walk, or cannot walk far, we can gather items from out in the world and bring home. Put them in a box or an area of the home where the dog can investigate them and let them exercise that nose.

A great book to give lots of ideas on scentwork and how to introduce it into your dog’s life is Sally Gutteridge’s Enrichment through Scentwork for Highly Aroused Dogs – despite the title referring to specifically highly aroused dogs the instructions in the book can be used for all dogs. The link to the UK store is https://amzn.to/3SflRVd and outside of the UK it can be found with a search in your native store. (As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases).

Scentwork as enrichment (alongside a whole host of other topics) is also covered my latest book Building the Bond: https://mybook.to/buildingthebond

If you would like to purchase Alexandra Horwitz's excellent book it can be found here https://amzn.to/46jaQYw - again this is the UK store, but a search will bring it up in other Amazon stores.

01/22/2025

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IS YOUR DOG “STUBBORN”, OR STRUGGLING?

I’ve seen and heard a lot of comments relating to “stubborn” dogs just recently. It is all too easy to describe our dogs as stubborn when we are feeling frustrated that they don't seem to be listening to us, or aren't being very cooperative. “Nose down, tail up, ears off!” is often repeated when it comes to scent hounds. However, if we aren’t achieving the response that we are looking for from our dogs, we need to consider why, and how we can help them out.

*Are we being clear in what we are asking of them, and do they understand?
*Are we giving them the time they need to respond?
*Are we placing them under pressure by repeatedly cueing them?
*Is our teaching and reinforcement history adequate?
*Are we asking too much of them too soon and not building solid foundations first?
*What is happening in the environment which may be impacting them?
*Are they trigger stacked and not in the right frame of mind to be able to focus and learn new things?
*Are they suffering from undiagnosed pain?
*Are they physically capable of what we are asking them to do?

When our dogs aren't able to do as we ask, we need to consider why, and understand that they are not purposely being difficult, but need some help from us. We may not always be aware of potential problems: a worrying scent, a noise in the distance that we are unable to hear, or they might be experiencing pain or discomfort.

To automatically label their behaviour as stubbornness, naughtiness or disobedience is a great disservice to our dogs. Being unable or unwilling to do something is vital information that we need to acknowledge, take on board, and respond to appropriately. We should always be questioning WHY.

With any behavioural concerns, it is really important to get a thorough veterinary check to assess for any undiagnosed medical conditions; we know that up to approximately 80% of behavioural cases have an underlying pain component:

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/2/318

If in doubt, always get checked out!

© Trailie Paws For Thought
https://www.trailiepawsforthought.com/

I'm very happy for all of my content to be shared, but please do not copy and paste (to avoid sharing from source), screenshot, or download any part of it. THANK YOU! 🐾 🐾

01/21/2025

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Vets are a vital, irreplaceable part of our dogs' teams. From basic healthcare to behavioral concerns- your vet is invaluable. They're in one of the hardest professions out there, and they all deserve more thanks than they get. If you haven't thanked your vet recently? Well, today's a good day.

01/20/2025

01/17/2025

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Happy Friday 🤣

01/16/2025

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We're often asked for indoor enrichment ideas and "Find It" is one of our favorite ways!

In this case, "Find It" means putting food on the ground and the dog needs to use their nose to find and get the food.

There are lots of different ways to play find it but make sure you start at a very simple version if your dog is new to this!

Remember you can always help them out if they’re having a hard time locating the snacks. We don’t want our dogs to be frustrated around food, and we want this to be fun!

Looking for more enrichment ideas? Check out our book Canine Enrichment For The Real World by Allie Bender and Emily Strong. It's available on Amazon or Dogwise.

Reading's not your thing? Listen to our podcast, Enrichment For The Real World, available on major listening platforms!

01/15/2025

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Listen to the whispers

Whispers are soft, subtle and so easy to miss in our often busy, hectic lives, but making an effort to listen to them can prevent situations from escalating, resulting in reactive behaviour.

A dog’s attempt to communicate is so often misunderstood or completely ignored.

Body language is one of the only ways that dogs can let us know how they are feeling. When we know how they’re feeling, we can intervene, help them feel safe and prevent those emotions from boiling over.

Body language can be subtle and fleeting, but with careful observation and knowing what to look for most of us can learn to recognize and understand what our dogs are saying.

It’s always important to look at the context, the situation and especially what the rest of the body is doing when deciphering their language.

Being able to understand a dog’s emotional state through their body language helps us to predict behaviour, prevent potential problems or simply allows us to just enjoy observing what they are feeling.

Although dogs each have their own unique personalities and distinct way of communicating, there are many common signs that can give us insight. We just need to take the time to learn and then notice them. I believe dogs would be so grateful if we make the effort to learn their language.

Here are some resources and links to learn more about body language -

On Talking Terms With Dogs - Calming Signals, 2nd Edition by Turid Rugaas
https://www.dogwise.com/on-talking-terms-with-dogs-calming-signals-2nd-edition/?srsltid=AfmBOoqj8ruQJx5bCP7qWb03TqCyAGfmAvCj988UuWk_L1_UHbYcZsES&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0AaDd_wwhSC4JEUqkvQmOG9lU5bNdbAOEeHQb0st7P_DXrdAOR-utY_-k_aem_cqU0VLHHyjrKbce9ddT84g

The Veterinary Behaviour Centre
https://www.heska.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TVBC-Canine-Dog-Body-Language-handout.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3mKGykzNJr7_yFf1_e6mc2sRHjNvjEok2GLvKTw-OMtTxEfjtlxM6vk4I_aem_B-YAlekmE0eV03c_1x8cyw

01/14/2025

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Did you know that honouring your dog's natural behaviours and their ability to practice them can actually prevent some problem behaviours even starting?

Need more information - comment below.

01/13/2025

The 1st classes of 2025 start this week!! 😍 AND there are a few spots available in one of our L1 classes! Also Puppy-K and L2 spots available!! 🤩🥳

Cartoon credit to Maria Scrivan

01/13/2025

Classes starting this week!!! 🥳🥳🥳

01/10/2025

You may have heard the expression that dogs 'see with their noses.' But these creature's amazing nasal architecture actually reveals a whole world beyond what we can see. Alexandra Horowitz illustrates how the dog's nose can smell the past, the future and even things that can't be seen at all. [Dire...

01/09/2025

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Dogs, like us, need control over their bodies and should have the choice to accept touch. Imagine the discomfort of being touched unexpectedly—it’s unsettling. For dogs, unwanted touch can cause stress or fear. By respecting their signals and not mindlessly touching our dogs we create a safe, trusting space for them and build our bond.