RotNDog Training & Behavior Consulting

04/16/2025

Grateful and honored to be asked by Tom Candy to speak further about my seminar topic for the Aggression in Dogs Conference back in October. Food and treats, like anything, can be used appropriately or inappropriately. You can check out the discussion on the Simplifying Shelter Behaviour podcast, titled, "Treats! Best Friend or Worst Enemy with Jess Feliciano" on any of the major platforms.

12/23/2024

10/23/2024

I had the absolute HONOR to be asked to speak at the Aggression in Dogs Conference held in Arizona the other week. As the only conference dedicated specifically to working with aggression cases, it was the fifth annual one, and I have been a fan of it since it started five years ago. I am still floored at the opportunity to present amongst the best, as this has been the biggest speaking engagement of my career.

The speaker line up was top notch and it was very surreal speaking alongside the likes of veterinary behaviorists, scientists, and authors whose books I had read twenty years ago when I was first starting out on my dog training journey. To be asked to join the likes of such amazing leaders in the industry was truly a dream come true.

After experiencing some resistance amongst my peers in the industry the last few months, I had some reservations about presenting. However, my lecture was met with nothing but support and love. The community around the conference and my experience within it, restored and renewed my faith in our industry and the dynamics of differing opinions. It dissolved any bitterness and negative feelings that were lingering and I am truly humbled by the opportunity to be a part of it all.

I want to extend an immense amount of gratitude to all of my clients and their dogs who I see, and have seen, on a regular basis for the past two decades. You all have taught me so much and I would not be where I am today without you! The access I have to so many aggression cases really allows me to fine tune and cater to my niche. The endless amount of video footage, photos, and case studies that I have is something that’s so incredibly worth while in sharing to the world, in an effort to spread awareness and educate whoever wants to listen and learn. I got so many “thank you’s” from attendees, for being able to provide so many practical video examples. And I wouldn’t have that ability without all of my wonderful, trusting clients.

I also want to say thank you to all of my clients and colleagues who attended virtually and sent their support throughout the weekend. I want everyone to know that I felt the love and support and appreciated it greatly!

Enjoy this little clip from my 90 min presentation called Treats: Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy, highlighting how using food in aggression cases can go wrong and actually do us (and the dogs) a disservice.

Infinite gratitude to AggressiveDog.com and everyone who made this amazing event possible. It was truly an honor to participate!

10/22/2024

DOG TALK TUESDAY: MUZZLE PUNCHING

Muzzle punching is when a dog makes contact with their closed mouth, in a “jabbing,” “poking,” or “punching” manner. This can be considered an escalated distance increasing signal, possibly one of the last “warnings” before an actual bite.

This is a video of my own dog, Chupacabra, that I used recently in my presentation at a conference. In the video, there’s a muzzle on the floor with some residual smearable food in it (peanut butter) which can turn the muzzle into a food item from the view point of the dog. Chupacabra has a history of multiple bites involving resource guarding (including food items). So when I reach down to pick up the muzzle, you will see that he body blocks once, body blocks twice, and then escalates to a muzzle punch to my hand, as it continued to reach for the muzzle (done purposely for the intention of this video - do not try at home! I know Chu well, his body language, and his thresholds). It’s at that moment that I ask him to leave it and move away, rather than reach for it another time.

The muzzle punch was a clear indicator to move away and make space from the object that he was guarding.

As always, when reading body language we have to remember to read it like we would read a sentence. Understand that it’s all the words together that create the meaning of a sentence, not one word alone. Thereby we also need to take all of the dog’s body language signals combined to create a meaning, and not focus on one single body part by itself.

10/21/2024

MUZZLE MONDAY

Ari, the American Eskimo, is modeling his custom made biothane muzzle from Trust Your Dog while we work on his visitor routine with strangers.

I’m grateful to have been able to meet the great people at TYD at the Aggression in Dogs Conference in Arizona recently. I now have one of their trainer referral packets which includes color options that you can see in person before ordering.

If you’re in need of a custom biothane or clear vinyl muzzle, you can use my discount code RotN10 when you place your order.

10/11/2024

And it begins!

09/09/2024

“Birth and death are only a door through which we go in and out.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Twice a year I honor Malakai’s existence in my lifetime - the day she came into my life and stepped through that door, and the day she left her physical form and walked out that same door. Today, September 8th, is the day that she walked in to my life, back in 2010. To be exact, she walked through the doors of Miami Animal Dade Services. A door that many dogs don’t walk back out of, they get carried out of, in a black plastic bag. And while she was about to go in and out in that manner, I fought hard to get her to walk out on her own four feet, alive. And I’m so grateful I fought that battle.

Every September 8th I drop flowers off at the old MDAS building gates. This year, on September 8th, I am in the Samadhi, Sacred Valley in Peru. So I dropped her flowers off a few days early and I continue to honor her today, in this special place. Where she continues to live on - everywhere.

As a bonus, anyone who knew her knew I called her my unicorn. And look in the pictures to see what my daily passage to read was, this am! She’s here! Everywhere!

“No one can bring about the destruction of the imperishable (the soul).”

~ The Bhagavad Gita (Ch 2 V 17)

🦄

09/06/2024

RotNDog will be CLOSED Sept 6th - Sept 18th for a much needed break. All messages will gradually be returned starting Sept 19th.

🐾

09/05/2024

Whenever I get a message about “aggression” in a golden retriever, I can almost always bet money that it’s going to be resource guarding. Especially, when it’s a new puppy from a pet store.

Cooper (left) was giving his new owners quite a problem with his displays of aggression and resource guarding around the house. And his owners were super stressed about it. This created a lot of conflict in their relationship, and no one was happy.

We had our first consult a few weeks ago, and thankfully, Cooper’s owners were very understanding of what I was conveying to them, and they were totally on board with my suggestions - including the ability for them to have realistic expectations.

In the past few weeks they have done a phenomenal job of working with Cooper and therefore repairing the relationship they have with him. There’s no more conflict and mistrust. No more walking around on eggshells. Everyone is happier (even their other dog).

Owner education is where it’s at when it comes to behavior modification and working with aggression cases. If you don’t have their buy in and commitment, you won’t get very far. Cooper is very lucky that he landed in the right place!

08/12/2024

MUZZLE MONDAY

It’s important to have your dog spend time wearing their muzzle while doing neutral things and/or fun things. If you only use the muzzle during potentially stressful events, the muzzle itself can become a tip off to the dog that something unpleasant is coming. We never want the muzzle to just be associated with one thing, especially when that one thing can be really challenging for the dog. Sometimes you will see this happen even after your dog has been muzzle trained for a while - if you slack off with doing the what I call “maintenance training.” It can present as avoidance when attempting to put the muzzle on or fussing with it once it is on. This can be easily remedied by adding in those neutral and/or fun situations while wearing it a couple times a week.

08/11/2024

Dog treadmills also make very expensive platforms for cats to lay on and groom themselves. Just ask Jada!

08/10/2024

I love working with my fellow yogis and their dogs. Lucky (left) and Happie (right) were really giving their mom a hard time with a variety of challenging behaviors (confinement anxiety, separation anxiety, codependency on each other, fear aggression towards visitors, leash reactivity, pulling on the leash, and not to mention all the barking that came as a symptom of their anxieties). And despite the long list of changes their mom had to make, she’s been committed and they are doing so well. The look on Happie’s face says it all!

08/09/2024

When a cat is supervising your treadmill session with disdain… Jada the cat is wondering why Jack the dog is “dumb enough” to use that thing! 🤣

This might be one of my favorite videos I’ve captured of all time!

Another benefit of the treadmill - the cat gets to mock the dog.

08/08/2024

It’s very common for guardian breeds (although it doesn’t happen in them exclusively) to place themselves in between you and another person, especially a stranger.

For happy, sociable individuals with no history of aggression displayed towards other people, they may place themselves in between you and someone else just because they want to be in the center of all the attention and interactions. But for any of our guardian breed individuals OR for any individual who has a history of displaying aggression towards other people, (my El Chupacabra is both categories) I always caution owners allowing the dog to do this. It makes it too easy for them to react with aggression should the other person move quickly, stand up, or reach over towards you.

To mitigate this, we ask the dog to move to our opposite side, and instead, placing ourselves in between. You can see me doing that with Chu, here.

It’s often times in situations like this where people say “the dog reacted out of nowhere.” Knowing and honoring your dog’s history, as well as not setting them up to fail is key. Knowing Chu’s history, I was not going to allow him to stay planted between my friend (who was videoing) and I. It’s an easy enough request to give, and execute while making the situation much more safe for the other person.

08/07/2024

The three minute down stay with a distraction as prep for the Canine Good Citizen tests was really challenging for Lucy because her distraction was a giant piece of lamb lung staring right at her for those long three minutes! Varying up your distractions when proofing any behavior is key to getting them to generalize faster - that the behavior is the same no matter the circumstance.

08/06/2024

DOG TALK TUESDAY: Displacement Stretching

In this picture you see a border collie eating from a bowl on the right, frozen, and side eyeing the borzoi on the left. (Disclaimer, this was sent to me by another dog trainer, I never ever ever recommend that dogs eat together like this.) The borzoi, wanted the food but is recognizing the border collie’s warning signal. Don’t we all know the conflicted feeling of “I want that but they are telling me no,” that leaves us feeling torn? We want to move forward but know there will likely be a negative consequence. Those moments of conflicts are often times where we exhibit a displacement behavior - a behavior we choose because we don’t know what else to do. And in this case, the borzoi is stretching. Of course dogs stretch in the appropriate context of just waking up or just going to sleep. But out of that context in direct interactions involving potential conflict, the stretch is a displacement behavior. And at the end of the day, the borzoi is still keeping distance and honoring what the border collie is saying, so he is still responding appropriately.

As always, when reading body language we have to remember to read it like we would read a sentence. Understand that it’s all the words together that create the meaning of a sentence, not one word alone. Thereby we also need to take all of the dog’s body language signals combined to create a meaning, and not focus on one single body part by itself.