The Barefoot Dog Trainer

02/26/2025

💡 In light of all the recent dog attacks I've seen.. I'll say it again

🗣️ I'm all for having your dog off leash in an off leash area, I believe that a standard walk alone isn't enough for most dogs. I find an off leash walk with a game of fetch or tug drains a fair bit of energy.

However, I don't think a dog should be let off it's leash without a reliable recall. If you have to chase down your dog at the park, screaming it's name a hundred times over before scruffing it and moving on.. keep it leashed and for the love of dog, keep a collar on your dog.

Excitable but social dogs, have a tendency of causing dog fights. "Understand, a poorly socialised, but friendly dog can easily start a fight that he's not looking or prepared for. If I ran up to every stranger I met and tried to hug them, sooner or later someone would punch me in the face." - Chad Mackin.

Annoying, pushy behaviour starts fight. Why's a collar important? Not only should it have their ID attached, it's something to grab incase of a dog fight.

If you can't recall your dog from another dog (or human), invest in either a trainer or a long line (they come in a range of sizes such as 6 metres and 20 metres).

Stop putting your dog in sh*tty situations.
Stop putting other dogs in sh*tty situations.
Stop putting other people in sh*tty situations.
Stop letting your dog rush at other people.

Don't have control over your dog off leash? Don't let it off leash until you get that issue addressed.
Every time you allow your dog to rush up to someone else, you're reinforcing that sh*tty behaviour.
Stop it. Leash the dog.

02/24/2025

NOT SURE IF YOUR PET NEEDS SHOTS? ALWAYS TITER YOUR PET FIRST BEFORE OVER-VACCINATING!

“Vaccinosis, the name for the chronic disease, is caused by continued use of vaccines. These symptoms mimic the original disease in parts.

Vaccines have achieved many important benefits for companion animals, however, after spending many years monitoring the results of vaccinosis, those in the animal healthcare field now have a duty to re-examine and improve the current vaccine protocols for the health and safety of their patients. This is especially true for animals with compromised immune systems, since vaccines represent one more stressor that could prove to be the tipping point between health and disease.

Side effects from dog vaccinations can occur anywhere from instantly up to several weeks or months later. Vaccines can even cause susceptibility to chronic diseases that appear much later in a dog’s life." - Dr. Jean Dodds, world-renowned veterinarian immunologist

TITER TEST:

A titer test (pronounced tight-errr) is a laboratory or in-house veterinary test measuring the existence and level of antibodies (necessary to fight off disease) in your pet’s blood. Basically, it’s a test that will tell you whether or not you actually need to vaccinate your pet.

It’s also super useful when making a decision about vaccinating a pet with an unknown vaccination history, or for determining if pets have received immunity from vaccination.

Rodney Habib - Pet Nutrition Blogger

02/24/2025

Doing what I love most with the one I love most and of course dogs

02/23/2025

Pixie joined the big girls for a 1.5 mile walk today and did so well! She’s now a sleepy girl!

02/21/2025

Meet little miss Muffin, a ball of energy and butt wiggles! Muffin is a Boston Terrier who is around 6 years old and weighs 15 lbs. She’s a very happy pup with a love for any toy that is round and rolls. In fact, she’s a pro at playing fetch! This girl loves to play hard and snuggle harder. Muffin is very smart, knows her basic commands, and is very food- and toy- motivated, which comes in handy for teaching new tricks. Muffin is potty trained and is also very good in her crate in the car, when you aren’t home, and at night. She’d love a home with a nice yard where she can run around and burn off some energy. Muffin is open to meeting other dogs, can be cat-tested if requested, and would be fine in a home with kids. She may have skin allergies, so that is something that may need to be addressed in the future. Apply for Muffin at lvpeaceablekingdom.info. Peaceable Kingdom, PA Kennel License #04131, 1049 MacArthur Rd., Whitehall, PA 18052

02/21/2025

It’s beyond frustrating. Either step up or stop complaining.

One of the very best things an owner can get out of high quality training is a clear insight as to what their dogs are truly capable of.

Great trainers can leverage the right tools, training, and mindset to find answers that many owners would otherwise not find on their own. And even though it’s only a piece of the solution—knowing what is and isn’t possible—is an awfully important piece.

Once an owner sees what is possible, then it is up to them (with the guidance of their trainer) to become the equal of their goals and challenges with their dog. This almost always includes immense amounts of mental, emotional, and physical effort. Skills have to be learned, new ways of thinking and acting have to be developed, and lifestyle needs to be adjusted.

Of course this is a tall order. In the same way that most everyone would love to be in great shape, be financially abundant, and have great relationships with friends and family… these accomplishment all require great effort, great sacrifice, and longterm discipline and commitment.

And because we all know how us humans are wired—instant gratification with longterm costs almost always beat out delayed gratification with longterm benefits—we find most humans know precisely what’s needed, but find that cost simply too high to pay.

So when we proclaim how much we desire to transform our dogs and their behavior, it’s best, if we want to avoid appearing foolish and hypocritical, that we first examine how much of ourselves and our behavior that we’re truly willing to transform.

Said another way, don’t complain about the results you didn’t get from the actions you didn’t take. The results are waiting for you, but only come when you’ve become their equal. ❤️

02/21/2025

02/19/2025

Look at these good boys and girls practicing their place command during daycare today and waiting to be released one by one! If you care about your dog, train your dog.

02/18/2025

Hiring a trainer is a great step towards having a well trained/behaved dog! However that trainer is there to help guide you and your dog, they’re not there to do the work for you. Its a lot of work and if you don’t put in the work yourself, you won’t have a well trained dog. It’s a simple as that. Now, get up and go train your dog.

02/17/2025

Anyone who’s worked with me or studied with me has likely heard me mention how nice it must be to be a car mechanic. The car comes in, you diagnose the problem — which has a specific, knowable cause (or causes), you get the replacement parts, and then you put it all back together and you either did it right or you didn’t.

You either fixed it or you didn’t.

Dogs on the other hand, well, you get the unique personality quirks, you get the genetic stability (or lack thereof), you get the breed tendencies, you get the experiential impact, and you get the habits which have been allowed to be practiced often for years.

What this means is that you’ve got anything but a truly fixable problem. Why? Because unless you fix all of the items in the above paragraph — which is impossible — you aren’t fixing anything, you’re finding the very best answers for the challenges in front of you.

Can the genetically messy, bite-happy dog be made better? You bet. How much? That all depends. Can the wildly fearful dog who slithers, flinches, or flees whenever something novel occurs be made better? You bet. How much? That all depends. Can the bratty, pushy, happy-to-bully humans and other dogs be made better? You bet. How much? That’s all depends. Can the explosively reactive dog whose breed and genetics make other dogs and prey a cause for explosions be made better? You bet. How much? That all depends.

Just to be clear, I’m not in any way, shape, or form looking to be negative or pessimistic — I’m in fact always optimistic. I’m simply saying that dog training is all about the impossible-to-perfectly-navigate tension between what is possible and what isn’t possible — and that perfection and “fixing”, due to all the stuff our dogs come with, is recipe for frustration and heartache.

Have I seen mind blowing transformations where attitude, demeanor, and personality — and behavioral choices — are radically transformed? You bet. But even with these amazing transformations the fundamental dog is still there, and their quirks and all the rest that make them the individuals they are, are still in there. That said, I’ve also seen countless dogs where 5, 10, 15% improvement was all that was possible — not because the training or owners were the problem, but because the dog was only capable of so much.

The real point I’m trying to make here is that if our dogs are this stew of complex ingredients which they are made of, and which we can only influenced so much (how much is unknown until attempted), trainers and owners are best served by striking a nearly impossible balance: push as hard as possible for progress, and simultaneously find the spaces where nothing more can be achieved. And then work exceptionally hard to find the elusive, sometimes painful, but ultimately reality-aligned, and peace-giving space for you and the dog… acceptance.

02/17/2025

Pixie is here for a two week board and train “refresher” while her mom is healing from hip surgery! I’m excited to see what this spicy chicken nugget can do!

02/17/2025

When I encourage putting a frozen, stuffed “Kong” toy in your pups bag for their stay or when I recommend it for crate time at home, I don’t just mean filling it with peanut butter. THIS is what I mean 🙂

Here I used: fresh pet, wet food, soaked kibble, cottage cheese/raw egg/peanut butter blended together, pumpkin, coconut oil, and some biscuits. Get creative 🙂

02/12/2025

02/11/2025

This is why we offer structured daycare and daycamp, however you still need to train your dog, walk your dog, have fun and experience life with your dog!

02/10/2025

Fatigue starts long before your dog is laying down panting heavily, squinting and with their tongue on the ground …
Understanding and recognizing early signs of fatigue is key to keeping our dogs successful in training, and their bodies safe.
The longer you train, the higher the chance that your dog will experience:
🏋️ physical fatigue (tired body)
🤯 mental fatigue (tired mind - too much information)
❤️‍🩹 emotional fatigue (tired mind - too much stress/excitement)
Or often a combination of these!
The subtle signs can be easy to miss. And if we don’t stop training when our dog first tells us they had enough, things usually go downhill fast …
Be observant and look out for the following:

1️⃣ Disengagement
If your dog has been happy and enthusiastic during your session and suddenly disengages, sniffs the ground or wanders off, chances are they had enough. Do not keep pushing them to train … it will likely not be successful.
2️⃣ Overarousal
Your dog was in a focused state of mind, but suddenly “spins out of control”? Even though over-excitement may look like excess energy to us, it can actually be a sign that the dog needs a break! Some dogs “stress up” (become MORE crazy as they get tired).
3️⃣ Fidgeting
Your dog was doing well (for example by staying in a Sit Stay), but suddenly starts adding “random” behaviors? Stepping in place, scratching, sniffing themselves etc. are all signs that your dog is getting tired.
4️⃣ Regression
Your dog was doing well at the beginning of the training session, but seems to actually get *worse* as time goes on? This is a very common and often overlooked sign of fatigue.
We see it especially in reactive dog training, where dogs are fine at the beginning of a session, but exposure near their threshold and trigger stacking makes them more and more stressed throughout.
Don’t ignore these first signs. If you try to push through it, your dog will not magically recover (mentally, physically or emotionally) … but is much more likely to keep making mistakes, rehearse unwanted behaviors or even get injured!
Which of the above signs of fatigue do you see most often in your dog?