Mission Paws Dog School

27/11/2025

Most dog parents go into holiday gatherings hoping their dog will “just behave”…

…but the truth is, your dog’s behavior starts before the doorbell ever rings.

And the things we think will help — giant walks, letting them “get used to the activity,” letting guests rush in to say hi — usually make the overwhelm worse.

Not because you’re doing anything wrong.
But because you were never taught how to prep your dog’s nervous system, not just their energy level.

A regulated dog can:
• think
• listen
• settle
• cope
• make good choices

A dysregulated dog… can’t.

That’s why these small shifts matter so much.
They’re simple, but they change the ENTIRE tone of the event.

And if you want a clear plan for navigating all the holidays — greetings, busy houses, food-stealing moments, travel, visitors, everything — the Holiday Harmony workshop replay is ready for you.

🎄 Holiday Harmony
Your plan to help your dog stay calm & confident this holiday season without battling barking, jumping, zooming, and food theft.

Comment REPLAY and I’ll send it your way.

26/11/2025

Most dog parents think their dog “suddenly loses it” during the holidays.

The barking.
The zoomies.
The jumping.
The sudden growl they've never done before.

But here’s the thing no one tells you:

Dogs don’t explode out of nowhere.
They show you the early warning signs…
we’re just not taught to recognize them.

Those tiny little signals —
sniffing out of context, lip licking, pacing, freezing, clinginess —
aren’t “naughty,”
and they’re not your dog “acting weird.”

They’re communication.
They’re processing.
They’re saying:

“This is a lot. I’m trying to hold it together.”

And when we can catch those early signs?
We can support our dogs before the big reactions happen.

This is the part of dog behavior that changes everything.
And most people never get taught it.

If the holidays tend to bring out the overwhelm in your dog (or you), I did a free workshop that walks you through exactly what to do in those early red-flag moments:

🎄 Holiday Harmony: Your Plan to Help Your Dog Stay Calm & Confident This Holiday Season
Watch the replay for your go-to action plan to enjoy the holidays with your dog.

Comment HOLIDAY and I’ll send you the link.

26/11/2025

Hot take:
You don’t have to bring your dog to every holiday event.

Even if you can, even if you feel guilty, even if well-meaning relatives say “just bring them!”

I learned this the hard way with Mr. Vince.

There was one Christmas where we had 11 humans and 4 dogs packed into one house.

And look, Vince is a great dog. He’s social, he’s mostly chill, he’s well-trained.
But that environment was… a LOT.

A lot of noise.
A lot of movement.
A lot of energy.
A lot of “trainer mode” for me.
(AKA: watching body language, preventing over-arousal, redirecting excitement, managing dog-dog interactions, blocking access to holiday snacks. The works.)

I wasn’t relaxing.
I wasn’t enjoying my family.
I was working.

And Vince?
He was overstimulated, wired, and needed constant redirection.
Not because he’s “bad,” but because the environment was too much for his nervous system.

So the next year, I did something radical:

I left him at home.

I gave him a fulfilling morning of exercise, enrichment, snuggles, and he curled up in his safe, quiet space and SLEPT like a king.

No FOMO.
No stress.
No overstimulation.
Just peace.

And I got to drink my Bailey’s coffee while it was still hot.

Here’s the thing no one says out loud:
Sometimes the kindest, most supportive choice isn’t the traditional one.

It’s the one that supports BOTH your dog’s nervous system and your own.

And… sometimes you do want to bring your dog.

Or your dog has separation anxiety so you have to bring them.

Or you're going out of town and you have to bring them.

Or you just want to know exactly what to do before things start going off the rails.

If that’s you this year, I’ve got you.

🎄 I’m teaching a free live workshop called Holiday Harmony — your plan to help your dog stay calm & confident during the holidays.
🗓️ Nov 26 @ 5:30pm PST
📍 Live on Zoom
💸 Free

Tune in Live or catch the replay.

Send me a DM and I’ll send you the link.

24/11/2025

If you’ve ever watched your trained dog completely fall apart the second the holidays start…
please hear this:

It’s not you.
It’s not your dog.
And it’s definitely not a “we didn’t train enough” situation.

Holiday behavior falls apart because the environment becomes utterly unhinged:

Noise.
Movement.
Doorbells.
Relatives swarming.
Kitchen chaos.
Kids running.
Smells everywhere.
Your dog’s brain melting out of their ears.
Your brain melting out of your ears.

And suddenly the both of you are juggling a thousand stimuli at warp sp*ed, doing your best to hang on while your dog starts launching, jumping, pacing, zooming, or barking at thin air.

Of course “sit” and “stay” fall apart.
Of course you freeze and forget everything you learned.
Of course your dog can’t think clearly.

Because this isn’t a training problem.
It’s a no plan, “I’m winging it,” real-life moment problem.

The good news?
Once you understand what’s actually happening — and you have a simple plan for those big holiday moments — everything changes.

You feel grounded.
Your dog feels supported.
And suddenly the holidays feel doable… even enjoyable.

If you want that plan (and don’t want to wing it again this year), I’m teaching a free live workshop that walks you through exactly what to do:

🎄 Holiday Harmony
🗓️ Wed, Nov 26 @ 5:30pm PST
📍 Live on Zoom
💸 Free to join

Comment HOLIDAY and I’ll send you the link.

21/11/2025

It’s not what you think — “no” isn’t fixing the behaviour.

It’s just interrupting it. And that difference matters more than you realize.

Saying “no” works in the moment because it gives you relief.
It stops the jumping.
It pauses the barking.
It quiets the chaos just long enough for your shoulders to drop.

But your dog isn’t actually learning in that pause.
They’re freezing from uncertainty — not understanding.

And during the holidays?
Everything that overwhelms your dog is dialed up:
guests, noise, food everywhere, unpredictable routines, excitement, tension, travel, the energy of the room… all of it.

So “no” doesn’t just interrupt.
It suppresses.
It adds pressure.
And it quietly makes the behaviour bigger the next time.

What your dog truly needs in those moments isn’t correction —
it’s clarity.

It’s guidance.

It’s support to think when emotions are high.

It’s an environment where good choices are actually possible.

That’s exactly what I’m walking you through inside the Holiday Harmony Webinar — how to help your dog stay calm even when December feels like emotional confetti.

👉 Want your dog to stay calm, confident, and collected even when the holidays get wild?

Comment with the hardest part of the holidays for your dog and let’s chat about how this webinar can help.

19/11/2025

If you’ve already had that nagging thought of:
“Holy sh*t, what am I going to do with my dog this holiday season?”
You’re in good company.

Maybe last year had…
doorbell meltdowns,
launching greetings,
zoomies during dinner,
tree-related crimes,
counter surfing,
or Grandma-related near-crimes.

Maybe you swore it would be different this year.
And now it’s practically December and life got in the way.

The good news?
Your dog doesn’t need perfection.
YOU just need clarity and a strategy so you know what to do.

Before the proverbial p**p starts to hit the fan.

That’s exactly what I’m teaching in a totally free live workshop:

If you’ve already had that nagging thought of:
“Holy sh*t, what am I going to do with my dog this holiday season?”
You’re in good company.

Maybe last year had…
doorbell meltdowns,
launching greetings,
zoomies during dinner,
tree-related crimes,
counter surfing,
or Grandma-related near-disasters.

Maybe you swore it would be different this year —
and now it’s practically December and life got in the way.

The good news?
Your dog doesn’t need perfection.
YOU just need clarity and a strategy so you know what to do
before the proverbial p**p starts to hit the fan.

That’s exactly what I’m teaching in a totally free live workshop:

Holiday Harmony:
Your Plan to Help Your Dog Stay Calm & Confident This Holiday Season
🗓️ Nov 26 @ 5:30pm PST
Free for everyone

Comment below with your dog’s most iconic holiday moment from last year —
the chaos, the comedy, the crimes —
and I’ll DM you the link to join us.

Let’s make this holiday season easier, calmer, and a lot less… eventful.

19/11/2025

One of the saddest things I see in dog training?
The dog owner who signs up for a program not knowing what they’re in for…
or sends their dog to a board-and-train where everything happens behind closed doors…
or tries harsher methods out of sheer frustration, hoping something will finally work.

Only to end up with a dog who’s more anxious, more reactive, or more shut down than before — and no one warned them why.

Here’s the truth no one tells you:
Most dog training “works.” The real question is: at what cost to your dog?

👉 Read the full article:

Your dog’s training method shapes their emotional world. Here’s the truth behind balanced, e-collar, and fear-free training — before you pick a trainer.

16/11/2025

If you’ve ever brought home a new dog and thought,
“I’d love to let them off-leash… but what if they run and don’t come back?”

You’re not alone.

When Finn first came to me, his new human had that exact fear.
He wanted off-leash hikes, patio hangs, road trips — but the idea of unclipping the leash made his stomach drop.

In 30 days, that changed.

By building value in proximity, teaching disengagement, and giving Finn a arousal "Dimmer Switch", they went from “I might lose him” to “we adventure together.”

And honestly?
The difference wasn’t just in Finn.
It was in the method.

Al told me he’d trained his previous dogs, and they were “well behaved”…
but it always felt like a have to.
Structured, serious, obedient but not sparkly. Not fun.

With this style of training — playful, brain-based, connection-first —
Finn’s behavior became a get to.
He wants to be near Al.
He chooses to check in.
He sprints back at warp sp*ed for his recall cue.

He even wants to cuddle! (a vulnerable request for many rescues)

That’s the magic of training your dog’s brain instead of commanding their body.

If you want that same off-leash confidence with your dog?

✨ Comment BP and I’ll send you the Off-Leash Freedom Blueprint. ✨

This is the exact framework that turned Finn and Al into unstoppable teammates — and it can be yours too.

15/11/2025

When you use food well, you get a dog who checks in without you asking, recalls like it’s their full-time job, and actually wants to tune in to you.

Because here’s the secret nobody tells you:
paying your dog well now is what eventually makes you the reward.

Those treats you use today aren’t forever.
They’re the bridge.

They’re how your dog learns, “Wow, hanging out with you is worth it.”

And once that emotional habit sticks?
You fade the food — not the reinforcement.

Play, praise, freedom, sniffing…
Your dog’s whole world becomes one giant paycheck.

And honestly, most people who avoid treats aren’t wrong — they’ve just been told that treats = bribery,
when really, treats are how you build behavior.

Use food well now →
get a dog who listens because they love the job.

Skip food early →
end up fighting for attention because the motivation was never built in the first place.

If you want to learn exactly how to use rewards strategically so your dog listens more while you reward less…
that’s literally what I teach inside my Focus Booster Series.

👇 Comment FOCUS and I’ll send you the link.

04/11/2025

I once worked with a dog whose owner was convinced he was mad at her.

He’d look her dead in the eyes, stand in front of the door… and p*e.
Not just once, like a “this is personal” kind of p*e.

She swore he was being spiteful.

But here’s the thing, he wasn’t angry.
He was frustrated.

Frustration happens when an anticipated outcome doesn’t happen,
or doesn’t happen fast enough.

In his mind, he was doing everything right.

He went to the door, he waited, and when she didn’t appear instantly, his little dog brain hit error 404: no other options available.

So… he just went.

He couldn’t problem-solve. He couldn’t think outside the box.

He couldn't tolerate frustration.
He didn’t have that skill yet.

It’s the same story I see with dogs who used to love everyone as puppies.

They’d greet every person and dog, tail wagging, life of the party.

Then one day, they grow up and the rules change.

They don’t get to say hi anymore.
And no one told them why.

So they bark.
Because barking worked once — it got them attention, movement, a reaction.
It’s them trying to problem-solve their way back to what used to make sense.

But now the human’s frustrated, too.
Maybe there’s a leash correction, a stern “no,” a sigh of defeat.

And suddenly… other dogs stop meaning “friend!” and start meaning “oh no.”
Physical tension. Emotional discomfort. Predictably not-good-times-being-had.

That’s how quickly dogs pair things together.
Not because they’re naughty or vengeful — but because they adapt meaning to events by everything that came before it.

The fix isn’t more obedience.
It’s teaching them how to handle frustration, adapt, and problem-solve.

And that’s exactly what we do in Tricks Class.

Through fun, brainy games, your dog learns how to flex when life doesn’t go to plan — to think instead of react, and to find confidence even when they don’t get what they want right away.

It's not about party tricks. It’s about building the most powerful skills you can give your dog. 💪🐾

In-Person Class
📆 Wednesdays Nov 5, 12, 19, 26
📍 Vic West Community Centre
🕑 7:15pm - 8:05pm

Comment TRICKS and I'll send you the link

🎥 ONLINE Video Program
Comment LIFE