Smartypaws LLC

16/08/2025

“Hey Georgie, how ‘bout we have an awesome weekend?” ☀️🤿
Furfriends George Bailey & Boulder

13/08/2025

Hiring a professional dog trainer to help you teach your dog appropriate behaviors and then not doing what you’ve been taught is a waste of money and time for both you and the trainer.

Training isn’t about obedience and control. It’s about establishing a true bond with your dog. It’s about creating a relationship and out of this relationship comes understanding. Dogs are a different species and humans have unrealistic expectations of how dogs should fit in to our human dominated world. When we come from this place of obedience and control we are asking for a robot not a loving companion.

Understanding dogs means learning what they need and helping them adapt to our environment which is completely different than what they would need to thrive. So when we come from a place of truly understanding dogs we are better equipped and better prepared for success.

10/08/2025

When we punish dogs for growling, even if they're growling at our child, we aren't helping them feel better about whatever it is that is threatening them. Instead, we are teaching to stop letting us know when they feel unsafe.

The result? A dog who stops giving us warning signs and "bites out of the blue."

And, that's how we create dangerous dogs. I'd much rather have a dog growl and tell me they're upset (so we have a chance to intervene and help them) than a dog who just bites without any warning signs.

Read more here: https://rescuedbytraining.com/2025/08/04/behavior-suppression/

07/08/2025

They don’t need the whole house on day one.
In fact, too much "freedom" in your home can create challenges in those first few days.
➡️ Unfamiliar places can add more stress to an already anxious pup or dog.

They need time to adjust to their new environment.
Everything is different.....scents, sights, people, surfaces, and sounds.
Let them settle into one room before opening up the rest of the house.
Nervous or overstimulated dogs may toilet inside or even become destructive.

Chewing is natural... but you might not like what they find if they’re off exploring unsupervised rooms.

You’re adjusting to them as much as they are to you.
Limiting access to a couple of rooms really can help and it helps with that crucial early bonding.

➡️ Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
The adoption centre, breeder, or previous family often knows what your dog needs or prefers.
They want you to succeed and can help you through the early stages.

In the nicest way possible....use that support.
Reach out.
They’re there to help, not judge.

➡️ Don’t smother.
Children especially may want to show physical affection right away.
It’s tough to tell them no....but your new dog has been through a lot.
They don’t know or fully trust anyone yet.

Being hugged, kissed, or cuddled before trust has been built.....that’s too much.

They’ll let you know when they’re ready for more.

07/08/2025

If you invest the time and energy into building a relationship, playing with and training your young puppy, then you just might find yourself enjoying their adolescent antics while maturing into a wonderful canine companion.

I hear pet parents say to puppies-

Go do something else! Move! Go play!
Trying to get puppy to get away from them and go get some energy out.
They hand strangers treats to feed their puppy.

Then around 6 months old I hear them say to the dog, Come here! And say that everyone and everything in the environment is more reinforcing to the dog than they are.

Start teaching puppies that you are:
Their rock, their safe space.
That you can play and engage!
That being with you is reinforcing - have food, toys, engagement.
That being with you can be quiet and calm as well as fun.

05/08/2025

Anyone else dreaming about the early days of summer? Why did it go by so fast?
We can’t stop the seasons, but Smartypaws can certainly help you make the best of them! Contact us now to start training your pup to be the best partner no matter the weather.☀️🍁❄️🌸
816-743-4077 Smartypaws.net

03/08/2025

01/08/2025

Bolder is on the look out for fun! ☀️
With just a few more weeks til school is back in session, what summer adventures are you enjoying with your dog this weekend?

31/07/2025

“I tried positive reinforcement, but it didn’t work.”
That’s a common phrase, but it’s actually not accurate. Just because you give your dog a treat does not mean you are using positive reinforcement!

⭐ Positive reinforcement is an OUTCOME, not a methodology, as far as behavior principles are concerned.

A behavior that has been reinforced is a behavior that, after a particular outcome (aka, result or consequence), occurs more frequently. Learning is about behavior patterns, and the only way we, as trainers and behavior specialists, can determine if a behavior has been learned in the way we intended is to observe whether the behavior increases or decreases in frequency. In other words, what does the animal do next?

A reinforced behavior is one that gets repeated. A behavior that gets repeated is one that has been reinforced.
And here’s the important part: that reinforcement is often not tied to what you, as the trainer, thought you were teaching or “reinforcing.”

If you're trying to reinforce Behavior A in a specific situation but Behavior B keeps happening instead, then positive reinforcement isn’t being used effectively.
In fact, reinforcement is happening, just not for the behavior you intended.
How do you know? By simply watching your pet’s behavior patterns.
What happened after you tried to reinforce Behavior A? What behavior showed up next? That’s where the real reinforcement lies.

At Synergy, whether we are working with aggressive behavior or training in scent work, our trainers always consider this question: What is reinforcing this behavior?
It is almost always about an animal attempting to meet their emotional and physical needs. Once we answer this question, we are then able to help meet this animal’s needs in a way that also meets the human’s needs- and because we understand the principles of reinforcement, we never have to utilize pain or fear to accomplish this goal.

Reinforcement drives behavior!

28/07/2025

Neuroscientists have discovered that repeated stress actually changes the brain's structure.

Like kindling makes a fire easier to start, repeated reactive episodes make the amygdala increasingly sensitive.

It begins to react faster to perceived threats and see danger in previously neutral stimuli.

This culmination means that the amygdala is able to override the thinking brain more easily and create stronger stress hormone releases.

This is why reactivity tends to worsen over time without intervention.

It's not failure of yours but of the approach trying to train reactive behaviour away and repeated failure of the method, because we can't control the environment.

Increasing reactivity is the brain protecting itself by becoming more hypervigilant!

When reactivity seems to get worse it’s because they are caught in a biochemical cycle that makes every small stress exponentially more overwhelming.

Learn more: https://sallygutteridgebooks.store/products/safety-based-dog-training

28/07/2025

28/07/2025

One of the most common things I hear from dog guardians when describing reactive or aggressive behaviour is: “He’s just protecting me.”

It’s easy to assume a dog is being protective when they growl as someone approaches or bark at strangers on walks. It feels like they’re guarding you and it’s natural to find that reassuring or even flattering.

But in reality? That’s rarely what’s happening.

Most dogs who display behaviours that look like "protectiveness"; barking, growling, lunging are not acting out of duty or devotion. They’re acting out of fear, uncertainty, or poor socialisation.

In most cases, the dog is not saying, “I’ll defend you!” They’re saying, “I’m uncomfortable and I need this person/dog to go away.” It’s a survival strategy, one that’s often rooted in stress, insecurity, or a lack of coping skills.

Studies in animal behaviour and neuroscience support this. Protective or “guarding” behaviour in dogs is not equivalent to human altruism or heroism and is more often explained by resource guarding, fear-based reactivity, or territorial responses.

Van der Borg et al. (2015) found that dogs labelled as "protective" in household environments typically scored high on fear and insecurity in behavioural assessments.

Sherman & Mills (2008) noted that dogs who behave aggressively toward unfamiliar people or dogs while near their owner are often more anxious overall, and the behaviour reflects emotional arousal rather than purposeful defence.

Horwitz & Mills (2009) also emphasise that many owners misattribute fearful or reactive behaviour as loyalty or protection, which often delays appropriate intervention and support.

When we label a dog as “protective,” we risk missing what’s really going on.
If your dog is reactive around others when you’re nearby, ask yourself:

Do they show stiff body language, growling, or avoidance around strangers even when you’re not present?
Do they try to move away before they react?
Do they settle quickly when distance is created?

If so, this is less likely “protectiveness” and more likely a dog struggling to feel safe in their environment.

Dogs don’t owe us protection. Stop romanticising fear.