What Dog Handlers Say

14/05/2025

Yes, Your Dog's Breed DOES Matter - Here's Why

I've noticed a concerning trend in dog training circles lately: "Breed doesn't matter. Talking about breed traits is just stereotyping. All dogs are individuals."

While this sounds enlightened and progressive, it's dangerously misleading.

Of course every dog is an individual with their own personality. But pretending that centuries of selective breeding hasn't created meaningful differences between dog breeds isn't progressive - it's ignoring reality.

No other species on earth has been so deliberately diversified by humans. We've spent many hundreds of years selectively breeding dogs for specific traits, behaviors, and abilities to perform vastly different jobs.

And those genetics matter.

Stand a Pug next to a Belgian Malinois. Look at their physical appearance, energy level, and behavior. They're so different it's hard to believe they're the same species. Acknowledging this isn't stereotyping - it's observation.

More than half the training issues I've seen in my career could have been prevented or significantly minimized if owners had carefully considered what kind of dog they were getting.

When someone living in a small city apartment brings home a Husky bred for running miles pulling sleds in cold climates, then wonders why the dog is struggling... that's not the dog's fault. That's a mismatch of genetics and lifestyle.

When a family wants a bombproof social dog for their busy household with many visitors, but chooses a breed selectively bred for guardian tendencies - that's setting everyone up for unnecessary challenges.

Acknowledging breed tendencies isn't limiting your dog. It's seeing them for who they are - and part of who they are is their genetics.

If you have a herding breed, you should expect to work more on motion sensitivity and chase behaviors - these traits are foundational to what makes them excel at herding.

If you have a terrier, you should anticipate certain natural tendencies toward prey drive and digging.

If you have a guardian breed, their natural wariness of strangers isn't a "training failure" - it's part of what made them excellent at their historical job.

Individual personality and environment will certainly influence how these traits express themselves, but the underlying genetic predispositions are real.

All dogs need social time, enrichment, and novelty. They need daily exercise and training. But how MUCH exercise, what TYPE of training, and which specific activities will fulfill them best is significantly influenced by breed.

Respecting breed tendencies isn't stereotyping - it's setting your dog up for success by understanding and honoring who they are.


Happy (Breed-Specific) Training!

19/02/2025

⚠️ The Truth About Pacing in Dogs: A Sign of Compensation, Not Efficiency

Introduction: Is Pacing in Dogs Really More Efficient?

There is a widely held belief in the dog world that a pacing gait—where a dog moves both legs on the same side of the body together—is more energy-efficient than a trot. That pacing is a restful gait, which allows for energy conservation.

🔎 However, biomechanical studies on both quadruped animals and quadruped robots suggest otherwise. In fact, pacing at trotting speeds is often compensatory, meaning the dog is likely adjusting its movement from a contralateral gait (trot) to an ipsilateral gait (pace) to avoid the torque inherent in a contralateral gait.

🧠 Understanding why this happens, and what we should be doing about it, is crucial for dog owners, trainers, and breeders.

Read the full blog post, with marked up, explanatory graphics, and linked studies on my website.









https://canineconditioningcoach.com/the-truth-about-pacing-in-dogs-a-sign-of-compensation-not-efficiency/

13/02/2025

Facts

07/12/2024

👍🏼

27/11/2024

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24/11/2024

From Dog People

03/09/2024

"You can never trust a dog" is something I was told recently.
Maybe trusting your dog means understanding their natural behaviours.

Dogs act like dogs and can only act like dogs. Don't set unrealistic expectations, and hope they won't do what they've been bred to do.

You can build trust by acknowledging their genetics and breed specific traits and treating them as the wonderful dogs they are.

09/05/2024

08/04/2024

❤️‍🔥

ShopCanineAesthete.com

05/04/2024

Dear future "working home,"

While I know you have dreams of podiums when you bring your little working line puppy home, you have a much bigger responsibility to this little puppy I'm trusting to you.

That's great that you've researched pedigrees, have a club and maybe even a solid mentor. That's amazing that you have all the latest tug toys and a custom wide agitation collar with his name embroidered on it. And I'm really stoked that you already have his instagram loaded with fire emoji's detailing his daily puppy training sessions.

But over and over, my puppies are FAILED by their working home owners. Owners who look amazing on paper. Owners who have all the goals and dreams for their little puppy. And it's not just MY working home owners. I know other breeders who feel this same pain as they send their little ones out into this world. Knowing that these puppies who could excel at so many things are going to be set up for failure by the first people who have their hands on them.

How are they being failed?

By s**t advice. S**t advice from the clubs that are mentoring them. S**t advice from the internet. S**t advice from those around them.

I'll scream it from the roof tops ....

Stop taking these working prospects and shoving them in crates, only to come out for "work" in the name of drive building. If they need full deprivation to "work" then the genetics aren't there in the first place.

Stop taking these working prospects and controlling every single morsel of food to the point of deprivation, over long periods of time. If the food drive is that bad, the genetics aren't there in the first place.

Stop taking these working prospects and never letting anyone touch your puppy. "He should treat people like furniture." Yeah ... solid advice for some puppies but I know when you wash this dog in 18 months, I now have a full size adult intact male Rottweiler who's never been handled by strangers. Great, thanks.

Stop taking these working prospects and never letting them interact with another dog or animal. "He should be neutral to dogs." Yeah ... great ... now you wash this dog in 12 months and I have a full size intact male Rottweiler who doesn't know how he feels about his own species.

Stop taking these working prospects and never telling them "no" because you want them to be strong on the field. Great....now when you return King Kong to me, he isn't really going to know what to do with those big feelings when that's not how the world works.

Stop depriving your working line puppies of a solid start in life ... because when you wash that dog from sport for an issue YOU created .... now I have to clean up the mess.

Raise your puppy for sport however you want, but at the end of the day if that dog doesn't pan out for sport you are giving them a death sentence if you haven't also raised them with a pet dog life in mind.

Sincerely,
A Working Dog Breeder