Positive Pooch Behavior

11/08/2025

The RIGHT puzzle makes a difference!

If your dog is easily frustrated, here's my advice:

Licky mats:

🛀 Decreases anxiety/ stress for all dogs.

🛀 It offers instant gratification. Think of a pint of ice cream in your freezer or redirecting your anxiety by watching TV, it’s easy, quick and easily consumed.

🛀 Licking is a self-soothing behavior for dogs. It can help trigger the release of endorphins, which helps them settle down and feel more relaxed.

🛀 Practice a few short sessions so your dog associates the mat with relaxation before using it during stressful times.

🛀 When in doubt, offer a licky mat before a challenging Kong puzzle.

Kongs:

😬 Challenging puzzle.

😬 Requires thinking, chewing, problem solving, and learning. Think of refocusing your anxiety on a fun project, such as crafts, reading or solving word puzzles.

😬 Hard puzzles can be frustrating, offer easy puzzles solutions at first then increase difficulty.

Down & Dirty:

✨Easy puzzles are just as effective as difficult puzzles.

✨ Challenging puzzles last longer however easily frustrated dogs can easily become overwhelmed- make it easy at first!

06/08/2025

Completing a puzzle (and getting a reward) triggers the release of dopamine, the "feel good” chemical.

Let’s take a deeper dive into puzzles benefits:

🧮 Builds Confidence: Repeated success in small challenges creates a feedback loop of confidence.

🧮 Teaches Independence: Puzzle toys allow dogs to work on their own, without constant guidance from humans. This builds independence and a sense of autonomy (freedom and ability to make their own choices and decisions, without being controlled by others).

🧮 Builds Resilience: Puzzles require trial and error which improves frustration tolerance and teaches problem-solving without giving up—both linked to higher confidence.

How to apply this at home:

🔎 Build Resilience: Make puzzles easy at first. Then slowly increase the difficulty level.

🔎 Build Confidence: Provide super easy puzzles several times a day, try adding your dog’s meal inside or on top of a puzzle.

🔎 Teach Independence: Provide puzzle options to encourage your dog to solve alone (Kong, food dispensing, snuffle mats, licky mats).

Take away: Make puzzles easy at first. This teaches your easily frustrated dog how to deal with setbacks without getting stressed.

30/07/2025

Yup, you guessed it! Frustration is feedback, your dog is confused.

👉 In non-dog trainer language: Well meaning humans are accidentally increasing and causing their dog’s frustration.

👉 Dog trainer language: Frustration is a learned behavior. Especially if certain patterns of behavior are unintentionally rewarded over time:

It’s okay tho, all can be adjusted! Let’s break it down:

Offer different choices instead of “don’t do that”.

💥Profusely reward “Sit” instead of jumping, for every second that four feet remain on the floor- reward!

💥Don’t give the time to jump again, keep those feet on the ground for treats.

Provide clear communication by rewarding OFTEN.

🎉Profusely reward (1 treat every half a sec) when looking at you instead of barking.

🎉Trust me, you won’t mess anything up by giving too many treats during training.

🎉Instead, you’re providing CLEAR communication- THIS is what I want instead of THAT.

🎉You CAN mess things up by NOT giving enough treats and at the RIGHT time (reward as and when the behavior is happening).

🎉And don’t decrease treats, during training sessions, too soon- THAT’s a HUGE MISTAKE (and super common).

🎉Don’t freak out- treats shouldn’t rain from the sky forever BUT if you stop rewarding a behavior, it will go away. Do you work for free? Point made.

Teach how to self settle (self calm)

😌All dogs and puppies (plus humans!) should learn how to self calm. It’s an invaluable skill for all mammals.

😌Teach this daily for 1-2 mins and reward OFTEN

If your dog gets confused, make it easier- not harder.

👏This is a BIG ONE! If your dog get frustrated, they’re confused- make the training session easier.

👏Still stuck? Take a break and think how you could make this lesson easier.

👏Try taking a step back, rewarding more often, adding distance, removing distractions.

Take your time and watch your dog for frustration. Remember, your dog is not trying to give you a hard time, they're confused.

24/07/2025

Frustration is an emotional response to stress. When ignored this emotion can be redirected inappropriately (you won't like it).

Some dogs have a “short” frustration threshold, meaning they become easily frustrated quickly.

Understanding the cause is crucial.

💥Lack of easy mental and physical stimulation (easy puzzles)

💥Unclear communication from humans (mixed signals, inconsistency)

💥Inability to access something they want (treats, squirrels, person)

💥Lack of control over their environment (freedom & ability to make own choices)

💥Have not been taught how to self settle (this is a learned skill)

Over the next couple of weeks, keep an eye out for easy tips that can help decrease a dog’s frustration.

If your dog is displaying excessive frustration (mouthing, barking, anxious, fence fighting and so forth), please seek help.

Yes, we can help too!

18/07/2025

Super interesting read.

Over the last 15 years, I’ve tried my best to keep my dogs intact.

Preventing unwanted litters is a goal we all share—but it's time to rethink the surgical approach. Hysterectomies and vasectomies, which preserve hormonal balance, can safely be performed as early as 8 weeks of age, making dogs sterile without disrupting their natural hormones.

In this study, researchers looked at whether the age at which dogs were spayed or neutered, meaning how long they were exposed to their natural s*x hormones, affected how healthy they were in old age. They studied a group of long-lived pet dogs to learn what helps dogs live longer, healthier lives. Dogs with the fewest age-related health problems were considered the most “robust.”

The results showed that both male and female dogs who kept their hormones longer (i.e., were spayed or neutered later) were 3 to 10 times more likely to be healthy in old age compared to those altered earlier. Once hormone exposure and age were taken into account, there was no difference in old-age health between males and females.

This study highlights how important s*x hormones may be for staying healthy later in life and shows that early-life decisions—like when to spay or neuter—can have long-term effects on health.

15/07/2025

This baby Chicken Nugget SCREAMED when Mom was out of his view. This is a MAJOR win! Love these updates!

Let me go on record first📣

📢 Puppies + separation anxiety = HARD work for behavior consultants!

📢Most behavior consultants will not take on a puppy with separation anxiety

📢For my mental health, I only take one puppy at a time

So many factors are working against puppies with separation anxiety, such as lack of impulse control, potty training issues, teething and so much more.

We (behavior consultants) have a lot of heavy lifting to navigate these obstacles to ensure success.

At times, my pink hair turns gray ...... my job is to set you and your puppy up for success, and I have to figure out how to move forward toward success.

It's not easy but I love it! 💖

PS: If you ever wondered "where is Positive Pooch Behavior reviews"? Welp, we have a perfect 5 star rating however Google removed us because we're a virtual company (we don't have a brick and mortar location). Stay tuned as we nav this obstacle too. :)

11/07/2025

And no, I didn't charge him. 🤣 This was waaaay back in "dial up internet" days (1994).

I was a new dog trainer back then, and wanted a place to share my knowledge.

It took two days to create the forum (things were not fast back then) and I sat waiting for someone to pop in most evenings. My BFF (she encouraged me) and I would wait and wait...

Then Art Bell popped in!

Art was super nice and gracious. Cameras were very crude back then but his voice was unmistakable.

Art asked for suggestions on preventing a strong dog from pulling on a leash. We discussed using treats to reward non-pulling behavior, a head halter (this was popular back in the day), and Red light/ Green light games.

He thanked me, we chatted about dogs for a bit.

I can't thank Art enough for this moment! I felt like a kid standing in a homemade lemonade stand, and a celebrity just drank my lemonade.

I don't think he understands what this meant to a little goth chick back in the day! 🖤

If you're old like me, and had Art pop in your 90s forums- share your story!

For those that don't know: Art Bell was the creator and original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM. He's a legend!

05/07/2025

Trust Momma, it was a good thing. 🤗

26/06/2025

PLEASE comfort your scared dog, you 👏 WILL NOT 👏 reinforce your dog's fear.

😤 My blood pressure spikes when I stumble across messaging mentioning comforting a scared dog will "make their fear worse"- this is completely false.

💯 This is why I'm committed to sharing updated, modern, science based dog behavior tips. There's so much misinformation out there......

Okay, time to deep breathe.... (blood pressure decreasing)

But really, comfort your scared dog.

Then teach your dog how to respond differently to a scary situation, once your dog has calmed completely (may take 2-3 days).

Think about a fearful time in your life, it took days to process, same for our dogs.

21/06/2025

It's time to prepare now! Your dog has no clue July 4th is approaching, and fireworks are unexpected which makes them even scarier.

❤️‍🩹 Call or schedule an in person appt with your DVM TODAY. Explain your dog's fear of noises and ask for help.

❤️‍🩹 If your DVM prescribes medication, ALWAYS trial dose BEFORE a scary event to rule out any side effects. Observe if your dog calms easier, sleeps deeper and self settles quicker. If not, contact your DVM.

❤️‍🩹 On day of fireworks (or multiple days for us Southerners), dose AT LEAST 2 hours (or more) before fireworks start (before it gets dark). Ask DVM how often you can dose (every 8 hours or so) and for how long (how many days in a row). Dosing early present anxiety.

❤️‍🩹 Before fireworks start, manage your dog's environment. Close drapes, turn on sound machine (better results than TV) on high and place sound machine near a window (where noise comes from).

❤️‍🩹 Make good things happen before scary sounds. PB, squeeze cheese, canned food, or anything yummy spread on a licky mat works great. Make sure it's easy to lick off (if frozen, it's too hard and not worth the hassle when scared).

❤️‍🩹 Offer licky mats often! Licking is a great way for dogs to self soothe. Encourage with mats. You can order these mats online or smear on paper plates, cookie pan or heavy plates.

And PLEASE comfort your scared dog when needed. Stay tuned for a separate post on this topic.

19/06/2025

Separation anxiety has many faces and "cycling" is a big one. If your dog is cycles between barking, howling, pacing and sitting, lying down, sleeping until you return home- this sounds like separation related behaviors.

Unsure if your dog has separation anxiety? Follow these steps, there is hope!

👉 Talk to your DVM

👉 Find a Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer (CSAT)

11/06/2025

Truth! Esp as a Terrier Momma, I would be dissected with stuffing floating up to the ceiling fan.