Olympia Dog Training

24/04/2025

This.

The amount of clients I’ve worked with over the years who’ve shared with me that…

1/ Their vets have criticized/shamed/guilt-tripped them over the training/tools they use.

2/ Their vets recommended they only use a positive-only/force-free approach.

3/ Their vets have referred them to a positive-only/force-free trainer, or worse, a veterinary behaviorist.

4/ Their vets have recommended medication for behavior issues as the first response.

5/ Their vets have told them they aren’t allowed to bring their dogs in to the office with certain training tools — because they’re now “fear-free”.

…would make your head spin.

Vets aren’t trainers. Which makes it terribly unethical for them to offer training advice and training critiques. What they are, by and large, are solid medical doctors who are highly skilled in their actual line of work as veterinarians — but who have sadly been completely indoctrinated by the culture that has engulfed the veterinary world.

As for veterinary behaviorists, they are even more deeply indoctrinated. They will happily charge you thousands of dollars, take extensive useless histories, give extensive useless “training” protocols, prescribe extensive useless (but likely harmful) meds, never actually touch your dog, and then recommend euthanasia when it all mysteriously doesn’t work. They are the great charlatans of the dog training world — but the credentials and fancy lingo sure look and sound good… and they happily leverage them to you and your dog’s detriment.

So if we can stand back and actually see that these professionals are deeply indoctrinated (brainwashed), and that their ability to see and work with reality has been, in most cases, completely derailed, then we should be able to clearly see that they’re the last people you should be getting your training advice from.

My suggestion? Do the hard work of searching out training professionals with mountains of evidence of their work actually training dogs, and mountains of testimonials supporting that evidence. And please, stop allowing your local vet to be the arbiter of training wisdom, or to bully, guilt, influence you. Their skills lie in the medical treatment of your dog, not in the training treatment. Even if their hubris gets in the way of that acknowledgement.

22/04/2025

So many owners fall into this mental/emotional trap, and they take their dogs with them.

Here’s the thing: What you perceive as being firm, strict, a “joy killer”, oppressive, and perhaps even tyrannical — if shared correctly is anything but.

All the rules, restrictions — and their enforcement — become the foundation in creating your dog’s clarity about what is and isn’t healthy/desired behavior, which helps them become dogs who CAN be included in daily life, and who CAN go anywhere.

They also provide your dog proper intervention from you via direction and structure — and yes consequences — for unhealthy behavior and lifestyle patterns that are directly connected to your dog being a stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, and freaked out mess.

So from one shift in our view and beliefs and actions (let’s call it the unapologetic leadership shift), we impact not only the outward behavior that greatly limits their lives as far as freedom and inclusion, but also the deleterious interior effects that living a chaotic life has on their mental state and nervous systems.

This is your near constant reminder that what so many of you think grants the gift of freedom and happiness (a hands-off, permissive, laissez-faire approach) almost always does the precise opposite.

It creates extremely messy, uncomfortable, and even dangerous dogs, who live terribly limited lives — all because of a mistaken human viewpoint. Often one that comes from a place of wanting the best, but not being able to see far enough downstream the effects their beliefs and approach are having on that which they love dearly.

As I always say, well behaved dogs live bigger lives. But I’d like to add, they also live much happier interior lives as well.
Something to think about the next time you find yourself viewing your dog’s chaotic behavior as them just being happy dogs. I promise, It’s anything but.

PS, I never write/speak directly from the dog’s point of view. It’s a rhetorical device that’s abused in the dog world to manipulate/elicit emotions via the dog’s first person narrative. But in this case it seemed appropriate.

20/01/2025

Let’s go one by one.

1/ On leash meetings with other dogs. By now most have seen video clips of owners attempting to create a positive social interaction with their dogs, only to watch it all go terribly wrong. Why? Leashes create restraint and cause unnatural interactions, fraught with tense, friction-filled, possibly guarding, possibly overwhelmed, possibly bullying behavior. It’s the perfect setup for pushy dogs to push softer dogs and for softer dogs to become overwhelmed and defensive… and middle of the road dogs to leave the middle of the road.

2/ Poorly supervised doggy daycare. Once again the hopes are that healthy, comfortable, and “happy” social interactions occur. The reality in many daycares? Just like with on leash meetings, pushy, bratty, dominant dogs apply unwanted and unhealthy pressure to soft, timid, and even fearful dogs. And without proper human supervision, these dynamics play out over and over — and do so in environments which the overwhelmed dog cannot escape, and the pushy dog can push over and over.

3/ Dog parks. I’m sure we’ve also seen and heard countless horror stories of dogs bullied, attacked, and even killed in dog parks. Once again we have the restricted, “I’m stuck with you, you’re stuck with me” environment. And once again the overly aroused, pushy, bullying dogs clash with the soft, timid, fearful dogs — which encourages the bullies and traumatizes the soft ones.

All 3 of these share certain dynamics. 1/ forcing incompatible dogs to interact. 2/ the dogs have no way to escape the pressure. 3/ the pushy, bratty, bullies are encouraged (by allowance and payoff) to become even more problematic, and the timid are repeatedly overwhelmed and freaked out. 4/ this translates to the pushy ones being even more pushy/bratty and thus when on walks they become reactive because it feels good to do so and they’re used to doing what they want — and the timid ones become even more fearful and defensive, and thus reactive on walks because they’re so scared, and are used to not being able to keep themselves safe.

The upshot? These environments encourage the bullies to become bigger bullies, and the fearful to become more fearful. So you create a vicious cycle where one kind of dog learns to enjoy bullying and the other loses their trust in other dogs. And just to be clear, you can have less pushy dogs who will become more so simply by experiencing the thrill of doing so. And you can have dogs who aren’t timid but are more sensitive who become fearful simply because they’ve experienced nasty, traumatic interactions repeatedly.

It doesn’t take a genius to see how if we encourage and allow these negative interactions repeatedly, building bullies and creating defensive softer dogs, that this behavior is inevitably going to surface on walks.

4/ You. You can have a dog who’s never had any on leash meetings, never been to daycare, and never been to a dog park, and absolutely still have serious reactivity issues. How? Through a permissive, unaccountable, leadership-free overall lifestyle and walk. Just by allowing dogs to behave in a fashion which is chaotic, pushy, bratty, disrespectful — or chaotic, nervous, worried, fearful — this leadership gap we create invites all manner of poor choices. Without the proper guidance, many dogs will slide into serious reactivity problems simply because no one has taught them how to properly respond to seeing other dogs. And a proper response, regardless of your dog’s personality (pushy and confident, or soft and insecure) should be a neutral one. But that only comes when owners step up, take the lead, and show their dog’s how to properly respond.

PS, even if you’ve done 1-3 and have unwittingly created reactivity issues, you absolutely can reverse these problems by tackling number 4 properly — by properly leading your dog. We do it all the time. But it’s far easier if you skip 1-3 and just do number 4 correctly.

06/01/2025

Just because I think his caption needs to be read twice here it is again 😅 and I quote:

“Let's make the toxicity of selfishness at the cost of those in our care something we find less worthy of celebration, and more worthy of condemnation.

This of course doesn't mean you can't enjoy, dote on, and appropriately indulge your dog. It means that your job is to ensure that your dog's deeper needs are prioritized over your superficial ones. Which means, enjoy them — but keep them healthy and balanced, even when you'd rather do otherwise.

Because if you ask just about any trainer, they'll tell you that the human's need to spoil their dog for their own pleasure, and refrain from the balancing act of sharing proper discipline in equal amounts to the spoiling - is the biggest hurdle to success.

PS, And for all those who are triggered and already madly typing away an outraged response of "I spoil my dogs and they're perfect!", please extend your outrage to all those unlucky dogs - who are most dogs - who are nowhere near perfect, and are instead terrible messes.

PPS, And I'm pretty certain the word "perfect" gets an awful lot of flexibility/re-interpretation/latitude when it's being used as an emotional shield to deflect guilt and dereliction of responsibility.”

Let’s make the toxicity of selfishness at the cost of those in our care something we find less worthy of celebration, and more worthy of condemnation.

This of course doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy, dote on, and appropriately indulge your dog. It means that your job is to ensure that your dog’s deeper needs are prioritized over your superficial ones. Which means, enjoy them — but keep them healthy and balanced, even when you’d rather do otherwise.

Because if you ask just about any trainer, they’ll tell you that the human’s need to spoil their dog for their own pleasure, and refrain from the balancing act of sharing proper discipline in equal amounts to the spoiling — is the biggest hurdle to success.

PS, And for all those who are triggered and already madly typing away an outraged response of “I spoil my dogs and they’re perfect!”, please extend your outrage to all those unlucky dogs — who are most dogs — who are nowhere near perfect, and are instead terrible messes.

PPS, And I’m pretty certain the word “perfect” gets an awful lot of flexibility/re-interpretation/latitude when it’s being used as an emotional shield to deflect guilt and dereliction of responsibility.

06/01/2025

04/01/2025

New puppy under your Christmas tree this year? 🎄🎁

Don’t wait to get started working with a trainer. Early socialization and training are so important to raising a well-balanced adult dog. Puppies aren’t the only ones who need to learn though! Our in-home Puppy Kindergarten is to teach YOU how to set your puppy up for the best chance of success.

We have a couple Puppy Kindergarten slots available for winter, shoot us a message or visit our website for more info.

We also have basic and advanced training options for adult dogs (over 6 mos). If you added a new addition to your family this holiday season, training should start right away to set you and your new pup up for success as they adjust. Schedule your phone consult through our website to learn more!

28/12/2024

Thank you to everyone who donated to our Holiday fundraiser, shared our cause, and purchased 2025 calendars! Because of you, we were able to donate a total of $650 in monetary and non-perishable donations to 2 great causes in our community.

From the first round of donations/calendar sales we were able to donate $325 worth of non-perishables and hygiene products along with $100 check to the St Paul of Tarsus Food Pantry. The SPOT Food Pantry assists residents of Clinton Twp and surrounding cities with food and other necessities.

We received a second round of donations that totaled $225 that we chose to donate to the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 154 in Clinton Twp. This organization provides education, resources, and assistance for all Veterans in our community and their families.

Thank you again for helping us give back to our community this Holiday Season. 🎄🎁

25/12/2024

A very Merry Christmas from our pack to yours! 🎄🐾

Wishing all of you a safe and happy Holiday Season!

14/12/2024

Last chance to get your 2025 calendars! The perfect stocking stuffers are on sale now 🎁 $12 for a 10x5 Desk Calendar featuring the dufusiest, dingusiest, derpiest of our Olympia Dog Training Alumni.

All proceeds from calendar sales will go to the St. Paul of Tarsus Food Pantry to help our neighbors in need this Holiday Season.

Donations can be made via Venmo, let me know if you want a calendar and do not have Venmo.

Get your orders in by tomorrow - Sunday the 15th

Calendars will be distributed the 20th-23rd just in time to be the perfect stocking stuffers!

Thank you to everyone who donated and purchased calendars! We only have a handful left, you guys are the best!

10/12/2024

You all submitted your derpiest dog photos and we can’t wait for you to enjoy them all year round!

2025 calendars are on sale now $12 for a 10x5 Desk Calendar featuring the dufusiest, dingusiest, derpiest of our Olympia Dog Training Alumni.

All proceeds from calendar sales will go to the St. Paul of Tarsus Food Pantry to help our neighbors in need this Holiday Season.

Donations can be made via Venmo let me know if you want a calendar and do not have Venmo.

Get your orders in by Sunday the 15th so we can get our donations to the Food Pantry ASAP.

The first round of calendars will be distributed the 20th-23rd just in time to be the perfect stocking stuffers!

Shoot us a message or comment below if you’d like to grab yourself (or all your friends) one!🎄

Thank you all for your continued support!

04/12/2024

Today is the last day to submit your photos for our 2025 calendar!

This Holiday Season we are fundraising for the St. Paul of Tarsus food Pantry!

We will be building a 2025 calendar featuring the derpiest of ODT dogs that will be available mid December, just in time to be the perfect stocking stuffer!

If you are interested in participating, we are asking for all your goofiest, derpiest photos, and for a small donation (we’ll leave the amount up to you), we will feature your pet in our calendar 🎄🐶

Comment below or shoot us a message for more info🎁

30/11/2024

The derptastic photos are pouring in, can’t wait to show you! We still need a few more models for our 2025 calendar!

We want to give back to our community this Holiday Season by fundraising for the St. Paul of Tarsus food Pantry.

We will be building a 2025 calendar featuring the derpiest of ODT dogs that will be available mid December, just in time to be the perfect stocking stuffer!

If you are interested in participating, we are asking for all your goofiest, derpiest photos, and for a small donation (we’ll leave the amount up to you), we will feature your pet in our calendar 🎄🐶

Comment below or shoot us a message for more info! We CAN’T WAIT to see all your photos. We will be collecting photos through December 4th so get those photos in soon 🐶🎅🏼🎁

27/11/2024

Olympia Alumni, we need your help!

We want to give back to our community this Holiday Season by fundraising for the St. Paul of Tarsus food Pantry.

We will be building a 2025 calendar featuring the derpiest of ODT dogs that will be available mid December, just in time to be the perfect stocking stuffer!

If you are interested in participating, we are asking for all your goofiest, derpiest photos, and for a small donation (we’ll leave the amount up to you), we will feature your pet in our calendar!

Comment below or shoot us a message for more info! We CAN’T WAIT to see all your photos. We will be collecting photos through December 4th so get those photos in soon 🐶🎅🏼🎁

19/11/2024

If you’ve ever subscribed to the idea that nervous, fearful, anxious dogs “just need more love,” you’re most definitely not alone.

Makes sense right? They must need more “love” to make the bad feelings go away. So we give them what makes US feel good: more affection, more freedom, more toys, more baby talk, more snuggles, more of the mooshy gooshy, hoping to pull our dog out of the endless cycle of fear, reactivity, stranger danger, separation anxiety. Except it doesn’t work. It maybe even makes their behaviors worse, more intense, more frequent. That’s because dogs are animals, and what they need to feel good and safe isn’t actually what we think. They need LEADERSHIP!

Need to start giving off more leadership vibes? Here are a few new ideas to subscribe to:

Structure and boundaries build confidence! Crate time instead of free roaming, place instead of couch, heel instead of sniffing uncontrollably on walks introduce moments of predictability and give dogs more guidance and less choices to be overwhelmed by.

Accountability and discipline are not mean! If you are someone that feels bad telling your dog “no,” holding them accountable/following through even when they don’t want to do something, you will most certainly be seen by your dog as someone to be taken advantage of & unfit to lead them. If you want your dog to feel safe around you, you must be committed to enforcing the rules you’ve created, even if that means your dog has to do things they don’t want to do. That’s life after all, It’s not always fair!

Confident communication provides clarity! Be concise, talk confidently (I don’t mean sternly), limit the baby talk and filler conversations, & pleasee give your dog space! You don’t always have to be petting them, it doesn’t help and you are more than likely reinforcing the wrong behaviors. Not to mention, giving off pushover vibes.

Now, I’m not saying you can’t give your dog
affection, toys, freedom, etc. Just make sure that’s not the ONLY side of you they see. If overindulging your pup in all things mooshy is your love language, then make sure you introduce just as much of the hard stuff so your nervous dog can find peace with you by their side.

19/11/2024

Eloise (Wheezy) graduated Puppy Kindergarten today 🥹🎓

It was so much fun working with her and her family these last 6 weeks! She’s really growing into a great little dog. Her family wants her to become a therapy dog when she gets older 💜, we haven’t seen the last of this little meatball. Congrats Grad!

05/11/2024

Fweater weather 🍁🍃🍂

18/10/2024

We have a couple training spots still available for the Fall 🍁🎃

Pop over to our NEW website for more info and to schedule your phone consult today to have your dog fully trained by the Holidays 🦃