K&C Canine Life Skills LLC

01/10/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! If you or your dog are getting frustrated; both of you take a time out to stop, breathe, and regroup.

01/10/2025

Please ask as many questions as you feel necessary. I am transparent and will gladly answer any questions you may have.

If you were looking for a trainer would you know what to ask? If you are a trainer how would you respond? The 'Transparency Challenge' by Jean Donaldson back in 2014 is something we all need to keep in mind- ask trainers these 3 questions before you hire them.

17/09/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! Is your dog presenting behaviors that you find to be concerning? This week I encourage you to shift your mindset from fixing and correcting your dog’s behaviors to discovering how you can help him or her. The first thing to do is understand that your dog’s behaviors are normal for their species. The second thing to do is to understand your dog’s behavior concerns are of concern to people, because we do not understand that dogs function different than us. The third thing to do is ask: "Why is my dog behaving this way?" Of course, asking “Why?” then leads us to ask additional questions including “Who,” “What,” “Where,” and “When.”

Here are a few common canine behavior concerns that you can begin to help by asking “Why?”:

* A dog presents barking at various times of day. Ask “Why?” rather than focusing on suppressing the barking. Your dog is expressing his or her emotional state wanting attention, needing to go out for potty, sad, afraid, alerting you to something that he or she finds to be alarming.

* A dog presents reacting to dogs during walks, walking past the window at home, parks, etc. Ask “Why?” rather than focusing on suppressing the behavior. Your dog is expressing that he or she is experiencing barrier frustration, fearful, stressed.

* A dog presents pulling on his or her leash during walks. Ask “Why?” rather than focusing on suppressing the behavior. Your dog is expressing barrier frustration, really wants to sniff something exciting, or anxious presenting displacement behavior to avoid something scary.

A helpful tip for you is to be inquisitive and question “Why?” is my dog presenting this behavior. Then be a detective asking follow up questions: “Who,” What,” “Where, and “When.” “Why?” is a fantastic starting point to begin your detective work and putting the pieces of the puzzle together to help your dog to overcome his or her canine behavior concerns and live a happy life.

As always, take care of each other, be your dog’s teammate, and work together.

16/09/2025

Refocus your mindset from fixing and correcting to coaching to help your dog live their best life.

10/09/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! Let's take a counterintuitive approach to dog training and canine behavior intervention. Do you find yourself frustrated with your dog saying that he or she is always doing something wrong? Let's turn that frown upside down and re-frame your thought process!

Dog training and/or canine behavior intervention success happens when you are positive and look for things your dog is doing right! Capture the small moments such as your dog standing politely when you come in the door, looking up at the counter and not counter surfing, three barks when the delivery truck arrives, etc. This week's wisdom is to be mindful that the more positive you are, the happier you are, and your dog is much happier!

As always, take care of each other, be your dog’s teammate, and work together.

03/09/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! Dogs do not want to please us. Dogs are opportunists who do what works to get what they what.

28/08/2025

How did your dog make you smile today?

25/08/2025

No to correcting, fixing, or breaking your dog's behaviors. He or she needs your help - not your condescending behavior.

06/08/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! Let’s about instant gratification and delayed gratification as it applies to dog training. Instant gratification is great for humans for things including internet speed, vehicles starting, and television turning on. On the other side of the coin, delayed gratification is good for humans for things such as learning a new job, learning to drive a vehicle, and starting a new business.

This brings me to ask, "Why do we have unrealistic expectations of our dogs? Why do we press instant gratification onto our canine companions?" The answer is that many people do not view dogs as beings who have feelings and emotions. I am here to tell you that yes, dogs do have feelings and emotions, yet they express both in different ways than humans.

Humans are allowed the time to learn new skills such as learning a new job, learning to drive a vehicle, and starting a business. Yet, we expect dogs to instantly learn how to sit, stay, come when called, greet people without jumping, etc. Dogs also need to learn their skills as a process (acquisition, fluency, generalization, maintenance).

This week's wisdom is to focus on delayed gratification rather than instant gratification for successful dog training results. Be patient and learn with your dog as you two are proceeding through the training process. You and your dog will learn skills together that will help you both in the long term rather than the short term.

As always, take care of each other, be your dog’s teammate, and work together.

30/07/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! Did you know that there is a paradigm shift of dog training and canine behavior modification? Modern dog training methods have evolved from the days of the Alpha Dog and progressing to relationship building and bonding with your dog.

The Alpha Theory/Dominance Theory has been debunked. Many scientific studies have proven that punitive training methods lead to the emergence of new canine behavior issues or the exacerbation of current issues. The most damaging result of using punitive training methods is that human relationships with their dogs suffer.

This week’s wisdom is to rethink your relationship with your dog and embrace the paradigm shift by ending the battle of wills, be his or her human team mate and family member. Be proactive rather than reactive to help your dog to overcome canine behavior challenges.

As always, take care of each other, be your dog’s teammate, and work together.