Sniffs and Giggles

12/02/2025

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12/01/2025

Thanks to NOSE where Verena earned her Super Elite title and 2 Detective Q’s. One was 3rd place. One could have been 2nd but I called a hide twice🤦‍♀️🐾🐾🙌🙌🐾🐾

11/28/2025

11/28/2025

11/27/2025

11/27/2025

Clarity in the Relationship: The Foundation Every Dog and Human Team Needs

If you’ve spent any time around dogs, training them, living with them, or trying to drink your tea while they perform parkour off your sofa, you’ll have realised one simple truth:

Your relationship with your dog isn’t just part of training… it is the training.

When the relationship is solid, training feels smooth, almost effortless. When the relationship is cloudy, confusing, or a bit lopsided?
Well… that’s when you end up shouting “SIT!” while your dog stares at you as though you’ve just attempted advanced calculus.

To build real clarity between dog and human, we need to look at three pillars that make or break the relationship: Connection, Communication, and Commitment.

Let’s break them down in a way every owner, trainer, and handler can understand, without needing a psychology degree or a stiff drink.

1. Connection

Connection isn’t some mystical woo-woo nonsense, nor is it a “my dog loves me so the rest doesn’t matter” fantasy. It’s the practical, observable stuff that creates genuine understanding between you and your dog.

Love

Of course we love our dogs, most of us love them more than some members of our extended family. But love alone doesn’t fix training.
What love does do is give us the patience to teach, the compassion to guide, and the ability to forgive when the dog decides to leg it across a field after a pheasant like a possessed feather-seeking missile.

Awareness

This is where most people go wrong. Awareness means actually noticing your dog, not just what they do, but why they do it.
Too many handlers switch off while walking, staring at their phone while the dog creates its own entertainment, which usually involves chaos.

Awareness is mutual.
Your dog needs to know you exist too, otherwise you’re essentially a slightly mobile treat dispenser with opposable thumbs.

Respect

Respect isn’t dominance. It isn’t “who’s the boss.”
It’s simply understanding that both parties have needs.
• You need your dog not to drag you into hedges.
• Your dog needs you not to throw them into overwhelming situations.

Respect is the glue. Without it, nothing sticks.

2. Communication

If connection is the glue, communication is the instruction manual. And let’s be honest, most of us only start reading the manual after something goes wrong.

Good communication requires three things:

Information

Both dog and human need to give and receive information.
Your dog is constantly communicating with you, usually long before a behaviour happens:
• Tension building…
• Ears locked on…
• Tail stiffening…
• Nose switched on…

Dogs practically shout their feelings through body language.
Most humans miss the memo entirely.

Feedback

Feedback is not shouting “NO!” repeatedly.
Feedback is about letting the dog know whether the choice they made was helpful or unhelpful. Clear, timely, fair.

If your feedback comes five minutes after the crime, the only one learning anything is the goldfish.

Consequences

Consequences are not punishments.
They’re simply the results of actions.

If a dog pulls, the walk slows.
If a dog checks in, they get praise, food, or permission to go sniff.
If a dog ignores a recall, the lead goes back on.

Consequences create clarity, clarity creates confidence.

And clarity is what prevents you from saying sentences like,
“I swear he knows what he’s doing… he just chooses violence.”

3. Commitment

This is where the magic happens and where most owner–dog teams either soar or sink.

Commitment isn’t about perfection.
It’s about consistency, attention, and trust.

Attention

You need your dog’s attention even when the world gets interesting.
It’s easy to get focus in the kitchen.
Try getting it when a squirrel appears like a furry ninja. That’s the real test.

Responsibility

You are responsible for guiding your dog through the world safely.
Your dog is responsible for trying to listen, even when their instincts yell louder than your voice.

This is teamwork.
Not “You must obey me because I said so.”
Not “I’ll only listen when it suits me.”

Trust

Trust goes both ways.

Your dog must trust you not to throw them into situations they can’t cope with.
You must trust your dog to make good choices once they’ve been taught how.

And trust doesn’t magically appear.
It’s built through repetition, consistency, mistakes, victories, and the occasional shared disaster (usually involving livestock, mud, or a rogue picnic).

Why This Matters

When any part of these three pillars is missing, connection, communication, or commitment, the entire relationship becomes foggy. Dogs thrive on clarity.
Unclear relationships create unclear behaviour.

You don’t need to be perfect.
You just need to be present, observant, consistent, and willing to keep improving.

Dogs aren’t looking for superheroes.
They’re looking for reliable, fair, predictable humans they can count on.

A Simple Self-Check Exercise

Here’s a quick way to assess your relationship with your dog.
Rate each area from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent):

Connection
• Love
• Awareness
• Respect

Communication
• Information (Do you notice what your dog tells you? Do you give clear cues?)
• Feedback (Is it timely and consistent?)
• Consequences (Are they fair and predictable?)

Commitment
• Attention (Can you get it when it counts?)
• Responsibility (Do you both uphold your part?)
• Trust (Does your dog feel safe? Do you rely on them?)

Anything below a 5 needs attention.
Start with the lowest scores first, they’re doing the most damage.

Final Thoughts

A dog doesn’t wake up thinking,
“How can I ruin my owner’s day today?”

Dogs do what makes sense to them based on the information, clarity, and guidance they’ve been given.

If we strengthen the relationship,
If we provide clearer communication,
If we build mutual trust

Training becomes easier, behaviour becomes better, and life with your dog becomes calmer, more predictable, and far more enjoyable.

Because at the heart of it all, training isn’t about commands.
It’s about connection, clarity, and commitment.

Because let’s face it: if we didn’t laugh, we’d cry.

11/26/2025

Verena Vom Stratosphere earned 3th place in The Chinook search and 1st place overall Nov. 22, 2025 AT the NACSW Elite trial in Salem Lakes, WI.

11/21/2025

Your Mindset Determines Your Dog’s Future: Why the Way You Think Shapes the Dog You Get

Dog training is often spoken about as though it’s an equation made entirely of genetics, breed tendencies, food rewards, and clever handling techniques. And yes, all of those matter, some more than others (I’m looking at you, Spaniels, who would happily ignore gravity if there was a tennis ball involved). But there’s a far more powerful influence that owners and trainers regularly overlook:

Your mindset.

Not the dog’s.
Not the trainer down the road’s.
Yours.

It sounds almost philosophical until you realise how much of your dog’s behaviour is a reflection of your choices, your consistency, your expectations, and dare we say it, your emotional regulation. Put simply:

How you think directly shapes how your dog behaves.

Let’s dig into this properly.

Mindset: The Hidden Lead in Your Hand

When people bring their dogs for training, they often expect the magic trick to be something the dog learns, “Stop pulling,” “Stop reacting,” “Stop using my arm as a sled dog anchor.”
But the real shift nearly always starts with the human.

If you approach training thinking “He’ll never listen,” “She’s too stubborn,” or “This breed just can’t focus,” you’ve already put limits on what your dog can become. Dogs may not speak English, but they are world-class readers of energy, posture, tone, and intention. They know if you’re hesitant. They know if you’re inconsistent. They know if you’re giving a half-hearted “sit” while mentally debating what to have for dinner.

A clear, confident mindset doesn’t just influence your dog, it guides them.

Obstacles Become Opportunities (And Yes, Even Your Dog’s Bad Days Count)

A strong training mindset doesn’t magically erase challenges. Dogs will still have off days.
Reactive dogs will still react.
Puppies will still bite your shoelaces at the exact moment you’re running late.
And working breeds will still be working breeds, no matter how many Instagram videos suggest otherwise.

But mindset transforms how you interpret those moments.

Instead of seeing an obstacle, you see information:
• What triggered that reaction?
• How can I support my dog better next time?
• Is the behaviour confusion, overarousal, or lack of training?

A good mindset doesn’t say, “My dog has failed.”
It says, “We’ve just found our next lesson.”

Your Dog Doesn’t Need You to Be Perfect, Just Consistent

People often get overwhelmed by the idea of being the “perfect” dog handler. They imagine they must glide about like a Crufts competitor, giving flawless commands with the serenity of someone who’s just spent a month meditating in the Highlands.

Here’s the truth: your dog doesn’t want perfection. They want consistency.

You can be:
• tired,
• slightly annoyed,
• in possession of only half a working brain cell,
• or wearing slippers and a coat that definitely doesn’t match…

…but if you’re consistent in your cues, your expectations, and your boundaries, your dog will thrive.

Mindset isn’t about pretending everything is wonderful. It’s about showing up with clarity, even when you don’t feel like it.

Training Is as Much About You as It Is About the Dog

This is the bit many handlers find uncomfortable, because it means taking responsibility.
You can’t just blame the dog’s breed, energy level, past experiences, or the weather (though let’s be honest, rain does ruin most training plans).

When a dog improves, it’s because the handler improved first.
When a dog becomes more reliable, it’s because the handler became more consistent.
When a dog becomes calmer, it’s because the handler learned how to regulate their own behaviour and expectations.

And when a dog becomes chaotic… well, you can imagine the rest.

Dog training is never 100% about the dog.
It’s a team sport, and you’re the team captain.

Cultivate a Mindset of Resilience, Curiosity, and Patience

If you want better results with your dog, start by adjusting the landscape of your own mind.

Resilience:
You will have setbacks. Your dog will test you. Sometimes you’ll feel like you’re back at square one. That’s normal. Resilience keeps you steady.

Curiosity:
Instead of taking behaviour personally (“He’s ignoring me on purpose!”), start asking questions. Curiosity invites solutions.

Patience:
Not the fluffy sort. The practical sort that shows up every day, even when the dog is being… creatively selective.

When you approach training with belief in yourself and belief in your dog, your progress accelerates. Not because the dog suddenly becomes easier, but because you become clearer.

The Limitless Future Starts with You

If you want a well-trained dog, don’t start with better equipment.
Don’t start with the latest social media trend.
Don’t start with a new command or a new routine.

Start with your mindset.

Because the truth is simple:

Your dog can only rise as high as your belief in what the two of you can achieve together.

And when your mindset changes, your training changes.
When your training changes, your dog changes.
And when your dog changes, you get the future you’ve been aiming for all along.