MaximumK9NWA

01/01/2026

12/31/2025

The critical socialization period for puppies occurs between 8-16 weeks. Allowing your new puppy to safely experience new environments and interact with dogs familiar with puppy behavior is crucial. Gaining confidence around other dogs and puppies is extremely important. If anyone knows someone who is getting a puppy in 2026. Let’s help them start their puppy in the right direction.

12/28/2025

The last few lake days of 2025 for the pups.
Happy holidays everyone 🎄🍾🎉

12/28/2025

Holiday boarding role call!!

12/24/2025

Working on the Follow state refers to a developmental phase (around 2-4 months) and a training goal where a puppy learns to look to the owner as a calm, confident leader, staying close and responding to guidance rather than getting overly excited or independent.

12/21/2025

Teach a puppy to recognize when session is complete to avoid confusion . After exercise, allow playtime. Similar to toddlers, puppies have short attention spans and get bored easily, so 5-10 minute training sessions throughout the day will make training enjoyable and prevent burnout.

12/21/2025

Mastering impulse control is a critical skill for a 15-week-old puppy to acquire in order to become a well-behaved adult dog.

12/11/2025

Meet Charlie, who is excelling in puppy development, particularly in his interactions with other dogs over the past few days. Teaching puppies to interact with other dogs from the start is crucial for their development.

11/24/2025

All the good reasons I tell clients to stay away from dog parks. It’s just not worth the risk.

Dog Parks? Hard Pass.

What’s the big deal with dog parks and are trainers just overreacting?

Dogs are social creatures. Most enjoy the company of familiar, well-matched dogs. So in theory, dog parks should be a great place for them to connect and burn energy... right?

Unfortunately, that’s often not the case.

Here’s why:

Quite often dogs at dog parks are strangers to each other. Meeting unknown dogs typically triggers an adrenaline spike and heightened arousal, that can quickly tip into tension, high-pressure situations or conflict. Repeated exposure to this dynamic conditions a dog to associate social dog interaction with high intensity interactions and adrenaline dumps. In many cases, this is where reactivity begins - often observed as frustration on lead.

Safe and healthy introductions require structure. Wide open spaces, minimal training, and a lack of handler control (can a dog recall off other dogs?) make dog parks a high risk environment for incidents.

Add to that the fact that dogs all have different social styles - some are boisterous, others are timid, and appropriate pairings become nearly impossible. The goal of any interaction should be to promote appropriate social behaviour, where dogs feel safe, have fun, while not feeling overwhelmed and pressured. It’s hard to do that in a chaotic, uncontrolled setting.

A better approach?
Find a dog your dog pairs well with and meet in a safe and suitable environment, or consider a structured daycare program run by qualified trainers who can supervise and manage play appropriately.

Lastly, we acknowledge there are some well managed park environments where regulars meet and manage the space/social interaction well. These are rare though.

11/17/2025

Who else shares an appreciation for big cats? When you reside 40 minutes from Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, why not take a drive over and visit the cats. We have a great affinity for all kinds of animals here.

11/17/2025

Some guests from last weekend. They definitely had a blast.