K&C Canine Life Skills LLC

05/11/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! Let’s talk about how our dogs reinforce our behavior! Yes, I realize that this is sounding counterintuitive, but hear me out. People have told me that their dog has trained them. Yes, our dogs train us as much as we train them.

A recent example is a client told me that their dog trained them when she needed to go potty by walking to the back door and sounding small whimpers. I was so excited for this client to have listened to their dog with respect to her preferred potty indicator. This is a fantastic example of a dog having reinforced her people for being kind to her.

Unfortunately, our dogs can also train people by unintentionally reinforcing the use of aversive training methods including shock collars, prong collars, leash popping, physical manipulations, etc. How do dogs train people to use aversive methods? Aversive methods such as those previously mentioned provide quick results to reinforce people’s desires of wanting quick, robotic responses. Our dogs, on the other hand, suffer the consequences of enduring pain and being fearful that they respond quickly to avoid the unpleasant consequences.

This week’s wisdom is to always be kind to your dog and follow their lead for them to teach you kind training habits. Remember that dog training is a reciprocal relationship that both you and your dog are learning from each other!

Above all else, take care of each other, be your dog’s teammate, and work together.

05/11/2025

I am a Behavior Consultant.

Understanding the difference between a behavior consultant and a veterinary behaviorist can make all the difference for your pet. A behavior consultant focuses on training and behavior modification, while a veterinary behaviorist can assess medical factors and prescribe medications when needed. When we collaborate (we're all professionals!), pets get the most comprehensive care and support. Teamwork is the key to success and benefits the human and animal client in the long run. I am so appreciative of my collaborative VB and vet partners! Read more in my post this week about why you might need both a qualified behavior consultant and veterinary behaviorist on your care team! Link below!

04/11/2025

They're just "off".
Something has unsettled them and we just cant see it.
There's no dog around.
No people either, but they are struggling.
Time to look a bit deeper.

Candles, diffusers and even a change of your perfume can be deeply unsettling for a dog.
If you have two dogs and need to take one to the vet or the groomers, sometimes the welcome home is confusing.
Colder or even aggressive.
Their friend looks the same but they smell totally different (and scent is everything to a dog).

Of course dogs can be stressed by storms but before that thunder and lightning they may be acutely aware of a change in the atmosphere, long before we even notice.
It doesn't need to be an actual storm either, a change of weather is sometimes enough to unsettle dogs.

Those ultrasonic devices we have in our homes, the pest control devices can cause dogs anxiety but so can our modern TVs and devices on standby. Some can emit high frequency sounds that we can barely hear. Even a heat pump turning itself on and off and adjusting output can trigger dogs and even the compressor unit outside cause stress.

We often think of triggers they can see and miss all the other ways our dogs can be affected.

Back to the candles, oil burners and plug in air freshener units for a second.
They may be pleasant for us, but deeply disturbing for a dog.
For some dogs, they can really take a toll.

Maybe rethink if you really need them.

You may be surprised just how relaxed your dog is when you don't use them.

29/10/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! Happy Halloween! Let’s talk about keeping your dog happy and safe on Halloween. All of our family members, including dogs need to be considered of their safety needs.

Make Halloween as fun and pleasant as possible for you and your dogs with a few simple helpful tips:

• Keep hanging decorations out of reach from your dogs (and other fur kids) to prevent harm from occurring.

• Keep all treats (candy, caramel covered apples, popcorn balls, etc.) out of your dog’s reach to prevent illness from occurring.

• Place your dogs in a safe space away from the trick or treaters coming to the front door or inside the house away from outside fun. Keeping your dogs in a safe space can prevent him or her from being scaring and stressed from the doorbell ringing, seeing costumes, escaping.

• Make sure your dog has their identification tags (and Microchip information up to date, if applicable) up to date just in case he or she happens to escape the front door, take off being afraid of costumes or other scary trigger, or any other unfortunate event.

This week’s wisdom is to be proactively safe while you and your dog celebrate Halloween. Safety is important for everyone, both humans and dogs to enjoy happy lives together. Happy Halloween to you and your dogs!

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

28/10/2025

A simple guide to understanding your dog's 'talking' to you.

23/10/2025

What is Crystal's body language saying?

22/10/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! Sucessful training results happen when you and your dog are having fun and learning together!

17/10/2025

Unpopular opinion: Your dog's well-being is my priority - not your ego.

15/10/2025

Wisdom Wednesday! Let’s talk about how your dog views the world from their vantage point. Our dogs’ view of the world looks much different than us that they are closer to the ground. People appear larger, trees appear taller, dogs appear to approach faster, people appear to approach much faster and closer, etc. A helpful tip for you is to get down on to your dog's level and see what he or she sees. This will help you to better understand your dog and their reactions to the environment around them.

This week’s wisdom is put yourself in your dog’s position to see his or her view of the world. You will be surprised by this eye opening experience!

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

14/10/2025

What does it mean to be a balanced trainer? What does it mean to be a positive reinforcement trainer? A simple summary is that balanced trainers utilize all four quadrants of operant conditioning. Positive reinforcement trainers, such as myself, utilize the positive reinforcement and negative reinfircement quadrants to encourage a dog's polite manners. We use positive reinforcement to change negative associations as needed.

WHAT ARE BALANCED TRAINERS? WHAT ARE POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT TRAINERS?

I just ran across a YouTube video made by a "balanced" trainer who did not know the definition of the terms he was using - which is the inspiration for this post.

You need to know these terms so you know what to look for and what to ask when speaking to any dog trainer you are considering hiring.

The term, "balanced" is misleading. While we generally associate the term with something positive, that is not the case with dog training.

The 4 Quadrants of Operant Conditioning

Some of you will recall previous posts of mine about the "4 quadrants" of operant conditioning:

1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative reinforcement
3. Positive punishment
4. Negative punishment

"Operant" means one or more of these 4 options are used to train a dog (or another animal or human) to do something. The dog's behavior is shaped through one or more of the above options - consequences applied by the trainer.

"Conditioning" means learning through association or consequence.

"Operant conditioning" uses reinforcement or punishment to increase or decrease behaviors.

"Positive" means something is added, e.g., food, praise - but it could also be something aversive, like shock.

"Negative" means something is taken away, e.g., attention - or shock or something else aversive.

"Reinforcement" means whatever was added or taken away serves to increase the likelihood a behavior will be repeated.

"Punishment" means whatever was added or taken away causes the behavior to stop (Note: it is not an intention, it is an effect, so if something aversive is added or taken away that does not stop behavior, it is just aversive and at worst, abusive.)

Positive reinforcement, aka force-free trainers use:

1. Positive reinforcement

2. Negative punishment, e.g., dog jumps up on them and attention (which is what motivates dogs to jump) is removed, thus removing (negative) the reinforcement (of attention). What is not reinforced (consistently) will stop occurring.

"Balanced" trainers use all 4 options ("quadrants," as depicted in the chart below).

In addition to positive reinforcement (e.g., praise, treats, play) and negative punishment (removing something the dog wants/likes), they use positive punishment (adding a punisher, e.g., shock or a leash "correction") and negative reinforcement (taking the punisher away), once they get the behavior they want. The dog, of course, is motivated to comply to avoid pain.

This is why they refer to themselves as "balanced" trainers. Do not be deceived.

Note: using positive reinforcement does NOT make someone a positive reinforcement trainer. Most, if not all trainers use some form of positive reinforcement. Many use it in addition to physical and verbal punishment, aka "correction."

Also, you will hear balanced trainers criticize force-free positive reinforcement trainers as being "positive only." There is no such thing.

Positive is not permissive. It just isn't painful or fear-provoking. I tell new clients the type of training I do is evidence-based best practices, and that I do not do anything that hurts or frightens the dog.

© 2025 Cindy Ludwig, MA, BS, RN, KPA-CTP, CPDT-KA
Owner, Canine Connection LLC
Willard, MIssouri

14/10/2025

Shift your focus from correcting your dog to connecting with him or her. 🙂