Canine Performance

05/02/2022

25/08/2021

The dog industry is hard. But you all make it easy💕

I was reflecting back on my time in the industry for the past several years.

When Canine Performance was created, I never anticipated the impact this business would have on my life.

Many times were hard.

Exceptionally hard.

It’s been my baby that has consumed my life more than anything and it was built by (quite literally) putting blood, sweat and tears into during the 60-80hr work weeks.

Lessons were learned and I’ve taken those lessons and grown a lot.

Most importantly, I’ve learned, grown, changed and adapted thanks to the support of all of you here.

You’ve been here as I’ve evolved and I’ve shared my journey in the most authentic and vulnerable ways that I could.

I try my hardest to make an impact on the most amount of individuals that I can, I hope I have not failed you.

It’s a common question I receive from aspiring dog trainers, or other trainers already in the industry: “How do you handle all of the dog industry drama and hate?”

The answer has always been quite simple: its all of you.

It always has been.

For every nasty person that comments on my posts, DMs me, emails, or publicly bashes me in their stories and posts...there have ALWAYS been 10+ more people that have supported me. Encouraged me. Held space for me with love and understanding.

In order to thrive in this world, but most importantly in this industry, it’s so important to find your tribe.

I feel so lucky to have found that in so many of you.

But who is that for you?

Who is the person that supported you?

Encouraged you during the times that you felt like you failed your dog, felt like you failed yourself and the road ahead seemed impossible to walk?

Tag them below.
Tell them thank you.
Who’s is your tribe?👇🏽

21/08/2021

Maybe it’s never really been about the tools.

It’s been about a persons personal opinion of preference derived from their morals and ethics.

Moral (noun):
“a person's standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do”

Ethics (noun):
“moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity”

I believe it was Pat Stuart who brought this up in one of his podcast episodes and it really stuck with me.

Back on Clubhouse (are people still on there?) there were a lot of rooms that deteriorated into disarray when the use of tools was brought up.

Obviously, a lot of reasons and accusations were thrown about to and fro on why one should or shouldn’t use tools. How they should be used, etc.

I thought back to what Pat had mentioned and brought that forward in conversations on Clubhouse and from there it seemed more pleasant and individuals were open to speaking on the use of tools.

For many of us, when it comes to training our dog, we defend and explain our training methods with science, studies, etc.

However, isn’t it really at the core: what we are or are not willing to do when it comes to parenting our dog?

It’s one thing to argue with me that punishment isn’t effective. Because it is. By definition it is.

However, it’s something totally different to state that it’s not aligned with your morals and ethics.

For me, personally, I am of the firm belief that leaving a dog too frustrated without clear direction of right or wrong is worse than providing clear and concise feedback in a way that the dog understands and accepts.

If I can do that with food/play then ok!

Great!

But I’m also a professional.

It’s my livelihood to know how to manipulate behavior through reinforcers.

My clients are not.

It’s against my personal morals and ethics to leave the dog frustrated and the owners frustrated at the ineffectiveness at which they know how to train their dog and could result in low quality of living for both parties.

I have zero problem making a dog momentarily uncomfortable in order to give them clear direction and feedback.

Others are not.

And that’s none of my business.

20/08/2021

Get out. Just get out.

You drill and drill and drill obedience.

Practice day in and day out.

You’re obsessed with it and you’re determined to find that “ease” of obedience with your dog, so you hold them to a high standard and yourself to an even higher one.

But sometimes you just need to G**O (Get The F*ck Out)

Here’s the dichotomy behind it all.

Holding yourself and your dog accountable in situations can help teach the dog (and you) that you can in fact do hard things and no harm with come.

You can develop a picture in which the dog can add that to their mental picture Rolodex so the next time you’re in a similar situation, the dog goes “oh, I’ve seen this before and it was fine so i can do it again”

However, on the other side of it all is that sometimes and more often than you would like, you probably need to literally trash obedience in that moment and just get out. Leave. Go.

Just get out.

And sometimes that’s exactly what you need.

The benefit of staying has far more potential of negative fall out and your dog is going to see the threat as too high that it is not beneficial to hold them to obedience.

Which can in turn deteriorate the trust in the relationship between you and your dog.

It can also create too high of pressure of a situation that can lead to you being averse to trying to do hard situations in the future when it MAY be actually beneficial for you.

So when are these moments?

Usually when I have too little control of the environment and/or too little control of the dog as well.

For example: If I’m working on obedience in a pet friendly store and my dog’s obedience is strong enough to do it in public BUT THEN a totally rambunctious and out of control dog comes into the store and the owner is totally oblivious to what their dog is doing. Fricken forget obedience if my dog isn’t able to handle that other dogs energy. I’m getting the heck out of there.

Or situations like off-leash dogs, too small of areas (i.e. trails), apartment areas, etc.

Have YOU ever been in a situation where you just had to get out as fast as possible?

17/08/2021

Reactivity? Distracted while outside? Fearful?

Rarely do you need/want to work on your dog’s problems head on.

I say this a lot during my livestream Q&A sessions and with virtual training clients.

Someone will ask a question like “My dog is leash reactive. How can I get rid of this while on leash?

And my response is usually along the lines of “How is your structure at home?” Or “Does your dog have anxiety while inside?”

Usually when we see behavioral issues like reactivity, we are seeing a manifestation of SYMPTOMS and trying to address this issue head on isn’t going to actually solve the problem.

A great visual analogy of this would be a w**d.

You see the problem: (stem of the w**d) and all of the symptoms: (the flowers or leaves)

If you try to “fix” the issue by cutting off all of the flowers (symptoms)…they’re just going to keep coming back.

You aren’t actually fixing anything.

The root CAUSE of all of the symptoms and the problem itself is in the roots.

And just like roots where their are a lot of them…more often than not, the cause of the problem and the symptoms are going to be multi-variable.

Just like reactivity where we actually solve the issue, not by addressing the behavior while on leash, but by addressing:

- Relationship & Trust between dog and owner
- Structure, Rules, Boundaries and Accountability in the home
- Relieve Anxiety
- Biological Fulfillment
- Teach Incompatible Behaviors/Preferred Alternative Behaviors
- Counter Conditioning & Desensitiziation

It may seem a lot of the time that your dog has “just this one issue” but that “one issue” is a manifestation of a lot of different issues that is truly the root cause.

Have you encountered something similar?

What have you worked on with your dog that helped remedy issues somewhere else?

15/08/2021

I prefer Labradors to Beagles

“So what you’re saying is that you hate Beagles. I also see you failed to mention Pitbulls and German Shepherds. As a dog trainer that’s incredibly stupid of you to leave out so much of your audience. Educate yourself and stop spreading dangerous ideas that Pitbulls are dangerous.”

Summary of a real conversation.

This form of logic is birthed from the notion that two events cannot both occur at the same time.

(AKA: Mutually Exclusive, False Dichotomy or False Dilemma)

Sort of like a heads or tails situation.

If one exists it means the other can not.

You see this most frequently in dog training in regards to tools.

❌”If you train with an ecollar you don’t train with love.”

Because in their logic path, love and using an ecollar are mutually exclusive. One can not exist at the same time as the other.

Ecollar = you don’t love your dog

❌”If you train with a prong collar you’re an abuser that just forces your dog into obedience.”

Because in their logic path using a prong collar means that no teaching or learning occurs and you abuse your dog into obedience.

Prong collar = abuser and you don’t teach your dog

❌”If you have structure and boundaries in your home then you’re just lazy and relying on management”

Structure & Boundaries = lazy owner

On and on.

We are all guilty of logical fallacies and we can only understand to the depths of our education.

However, for those of you out there that have been shamed for your choice of tools, how you choose to structure your home and how you parent your dog I hope you can recognize when someone is using a logical fallacy in order to shame you.

What sort of logical fallacies have you experienced?

13/08/2021

Your dog is not a blank slate at birth. They were born with purpose.

People love to get puppies for a lot of reasons.

They’re cute.
They’re fun.
They’re tiny.

But a lot of times people want puppies because of a “blank slate” mentality.

The idea behind being able to create a dog exactly how you want them.

While this may be true to a certain extent, your puppy is not completely blank.

Hardwired into every fiber of your dogs existence are genes.

Just like you and I have genes that comprise us as a unique individual - so does your dog.

Those genetic predispositions MUST be taken into account when training.

Dog training CAN NOT BE a cookie cutter approach because of this reason.

R***r here has a difficult time relaxing and has major FOMO being in the crate while other dogs are out or if he’s being held accountable to a climb command. He has dog reactivity and is nervous and sudden movements and will alert to small details in the environment.

Because he’s a German Shepherd.

A dog bred and at his core -he doesn’t even know why he does what he does- a herding dog.

A dog like R***r was birthed to work.

And as a German Shepherd he was designed to herd other species.

Do you know how incredibly alert, reactive, proactive and aware this type of dog has to be?
Hardwired into him is the capacity to monitor the movements of HUNDREDS of another animal species all at once. He must move accordingly with spacial pressure, snapping, barking, growling in order to control and manipulate another species/the environment.

And people wonder why GSDs (or most herding/working dogs) have reactivity issues.

They are drinking in every single tiny little detail in their environment and are desperately wanting to control the perceived chaos.

I didn’t teach him that.
His owner (who’s wicked cool) didn’t teach him that.
He didn’t learn that from another dog.

He was genetically created that way and hard wired to do these things from the moment he exited the womb.

YOUR DOGS GENETICS MATTER AND IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT HOW YOU RAISE THEM.

It’s not just nature vs nurture.

It’s nature AND nurture.

What breed of dog do you have? What were they genetically born to do? Do you know?

11/08/2021

You’re the one who has to live with your dog. Train them in a way that benefits you and them. Not others.

I stumbled across these old gems yesterday that I had drawn but got buried in the creative drafts of my iPad.

There’s a lot of shame involved in the dog training world.

Sometimes it can feel like you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

When you reach a crossroads such as that, the answer is to do what aligns with you deep down.

Shame is not a good motivator.

It’s often paralyzing and contributes to so much unnecessary misery. It festers, mutates and spreads inside of you.

The funny thing about shame is that it often comes from individuals who have no place or right to do so.

Other people on the internet don’t live with your dog.

They aren’t responsible for walking them every day.
Taking them to the vet.
Feeding them.
Bathing them.
Training them.

You need to align your actions in ways that will most benefit the long term relationship between you and your dog.

Continuing to allow your dog to do actions and behaviors that make you dislike them, is going to build resentment.

If there is a way for you to train your dog so you can enjoy them every moment of the day and not build resentment, why wouldn’t you want to do it?

Perhaps sometimes it is easier said than done. But life is full of similar choices.

Don’t let your choice of allowing other peoples opinions stop you from living the best life possible with your dog.

Make choices and take action in ways that benefit you and your dogs.

No one else.

Have you personally had to overcome other peoples opinions when it came to training your dog? Are you and your dog better for it?

10/08/2021

Reactivity Thresholds: let’s discuss with visuals👀

The most common reactivity types that I see are:

👉🏽Excitement
👉🏽Frustration
👉🏽Fear

And usually it is a reaction when a dog visually sees:

👉🏽Another dog
👉🏽Prey (squirrels, bunny, etc)
👉🏽Children
👉🏽Movement (bikes, running, etc)

*that’s not an exhaustive list. pls feel free to include whatever your dog in specific is reactive to*

When I take a dog out into the environment, I am looking at these indicators:

👉🏽Proximity/distance
👉🏽Intensity
👉🏽Recovery

So, first I try to figure out WHY the dog is reactive. Is it based out of fear, frustration, excitement or something else. Maybe a mixture of several things.

Next I want to take inventory of the various triggers and details about them (does my dog only react when the other dog is reacting to them? Is it large dogs? Small dogs?)

I want to also look at the intensity of my dogs reaction. Then at how they recover afterwards.

Once you have that available data you can create what I call “zones”

Red Zone= Above threshold. Mission abort. Get out of there ASAP or avoid at all costs. Create space! In this zone your dog will not be able to engage with you socially or do obedience commands.

Yellow Zone=At threshold. Your dog may not outright react but they’ll have a hard time doing obedience or engaging with you.

Green Zone=Below threshold. Your dog notices the trigger but can do obedience commands and engage with you.

Your goal over time is to decrease the proximity of how far away you have to be from the trigger. Diminish the intensity of reactions and increase recovery.

Take a look at the photos for how a progression over time may look.
(Workable zones in purple)

Do you know you know your dogs zones?

If not, you may be accidentally pushing your dog over threshold (lunging, barking, etc)

09/08/2021

“A tiger doesn’t change its stripes”

We’ve all heard that saying at some point or perhaps a variation of that saying.

I think that it applies well to dog training as well.

One of the heaviest burdens of this trade is having to be the one to tell the old couple that the cute and adorable puppy they got from the rescue that was supposed to be a “German Shepherd” is actually a Malinois and will most likely never be the calm and chill dog that can be around their little grandkids.

Or the outgoing and adventurous young couple that has an extremely nervous and fearful golden-doodle is most likely not going to be the fun, social and confident dog that they can bring on all of their adventures to breweries downtown.

Training can get you really far, and for some dogs it can absolutely transform them into what would seem like a totally different dog in the best way possible.

However, for many dogs who they are at their core is who they are.

“A tiger doesn’t change its stripes”

Perhaps you are on a journey with a dog with behavioral issues like extreme fear, reactivity, aggression or phobias.

There may come a point and time where you will need to acknowledge and accept that your dog is who they are. Trying to force your extremely nervous dog that may redirect a bite out of fear into big social situations isn’t going to be beneficial for either of you.

Now, I am NOT saying that you should simply throw your hands up in the air and say “oh well, my dog is who they are and we’ll leave it at that” and then never help them overcome their behavioral issues.

However what I am saying is that we should help our dogs and put in the work and training but also accept the parts of them that perhaps are not going to change.

Has this happened to you?

Have you tried to change something about your dog only to realize that is who they are and accept that…and instead work with them instead of against them?

08/06/2021

Is your dog reactive? If yes, did you have a lot of on-leash greetings, doggy daycare, play dates, etc?

Yesterday I talked about under-socialization and how NOT exposing your puppy to the world during the critical development period (0-18weeks), can lead to huge behavioral problems.

Today, let’s discuss “over-socialization”

In the 5 Day Dog Reset (mini bootcamp course - link in bio) on Day 5, I discuss socialization and why it’s one of the most dangerous terms used in the dog training world.

Socialization is grossly misunderstood.

SOCIALIZATION ≠ DIRECT INTERACTION

Socialization is the process of creating neutrality to stimuli in the environment.

Dogs are constantly taking in data from the environment around them and creating associations based off of the data they receive.

If you constantly had on-leash greetings, unstructured play dates, open floor doggy daycare, etc you either:

A) built value in other dogs/people and now your dog is reactive because of the frustration of not being able to get to something incredibly valuable to them

OR

B) your dog was overwhelmed and had a bad experience and is now reactive due to insecurity and fear

To be clear, reactivity doesn’t usually manifest from ONE specific thing. We typically see a manifestation of reactive behavior from a mix of genetics, under-exposure and improper socialization.

So if you’re struggling with reactivity, the first step is to determine WHY the behavior is being displayed.

Behavior serves a function. It is not meaningless.

Did you “over-socialize” your dog and did it less to reactive behaviors?

07/06/2021

Hard Truth: Your dog was *most likely* not abused before you rescued them.

Yes, of course there are terrible people out there that do horrible things to animals.

No, I am not discounting what someone told you about your dog when you rescued them, it may very well be true.

Yes, I believe a lot of recuses and shelters out there create stories surrounding the dogs they have because tugging on heart strings helps dogs get rescued.

However, just because your dog may not like *insert what they don’t like here*, does NOT mean that they were abused by a man, woman, child, leaf blower, attacked by dogs, etc.

You know what it DOES mean?

It means that there is a much higher likely hood that your dog was under socialized and had little to no exposure during their critical development period.

In dogs, the critical development period is from birth to about 16 weeks old.

Puppies are a SPONGE at this age and they are creating associations about the world around them.

However, some puppies do not get proper exposure during the critical development period.

What this does, is it will create: hesitations, fears, phobias and much more in the dog when they are older and it will manifest in many ways. Such as: reactivity, aggression, extreme fear, anxiety, etc.

Perhaps its not that your dog was beaten by a man in a hat before.

Perhaps its that your dog has never SEEN a man in a hat before.

Perhaps your dog wasn’t tortured by children, but perhaps your dog has never SEEN children before.

Behavioral science and veterinary medicine clash in a very large way during this sensitive and valuable time that your dog is a puppy.

Veterinary science says not to take your dog anywhere for fear of Parvovirus or other diseases.

Behavioral science (trainers), know how huge of a risk you are taking if you do not expose that puppy to the world around them before this critical development period closes.

Owning a dog is full of risk and opportunity cost.

So the next time that you get a puppy or you rescue a dog, consider that their behavior can be largely driven by their critical development period.

What are your thoughts?

03/06/2021

An undervalued skill in dog training that (if learned) will set you apart as a dog owner or a dog trainer.

That skill?

Critical thinking.

Wether you are a dog trainer, dog owner or both, being able to troubleshoot issues that arise in your training with a dog is going to be paramount.

Yes, getting insight, feedback, guidance and direction from other people that know more than you or can provide a different perspective is important…but there’s going to be a lot of times where you’ll need to be the captain of your own ship and make decisions on your own.

Critical thinking is only as powerful as the knowledge that you have acquired and put into your toolbox.

Troubleshooting in real time and being able to think quickly on your feet in how you should implement the knowledge that you’ve learned and quickly asses what you do in training if it will: create holes, create behavioral fallout, put a temporary bandaid on a problem or ultimately solve the problem is something no book, audiobook, video or someone else can teach you.

So what can you do to start teaching yourself how to think critically?

1. Obtain as much knowledge as possible

2. Filter the knowledge that you obtain. “Take what you love and leave what you don’t”

3. Obtain a Toolbox and Tools

4. Assess the behavior and find the WHY (behavior serves a FUNCTION, it is not meaningless)

5. Find the solution using the toolbox and tools you have

The examples I provide are EXAMPLES. Depending on your system of training, your methods, the temperament of the dog, context of the situation and much more, your answer to issues with your dog may be different.

(Ps: this was taken from 1 lesson inside of the 90 Day Dream Dog program. Learn to become the dog trainer for your own dog by clicking the link in the bio)

Do you have an example where you were able to critically think through a situation with your dog and get to your end goal?

02/06/2021

The science behind saying “no” to your dog.

If you haven’t heard this before, it’s only a matter of time before you do. Some people will tell you that you shouldn’t tell your dog “no”

….But do they explain WHY you shouldn’t?

Let’s go ahead and dive into the science of why we tell our dogs “no” and why it doesn’t really matter what we say to them.

____

Dog’s are associative based animals. This means:

→ “X” happens and “Y” follows

↳ Therefore X=Y
____

Example: the food container opens and food is put into my food bowl directly after.

Therefore, food container opening means I’m getting fed!
____

This is called “Classical Conditioning”

If dogs don’t understand English, you could actually say “no” and then give them a cookie and every time you said “no” your dog would come running over to you tail wagging looking for a treat.

Following this path of logic, you could really use any word(s) that you want when training your dog. You could say “potato” and then not give your dog a reward and your dog would start to learn that when you said “potato” they just did something incorrect and now do not get a cookie.

So the next time you hear “you shouldn’t tell your dog “no””

You’ll understand the science behind it.

Do you tell your dog “no”?

Why or why not?

I’m curious. Drop it in the comments👇🏽

31/05/2021

My dog training advice isn’t going to work for you and here’s why

I harp on this a lot in 1:1 conversations I have with people, but one thing that is incredibly frustrating as a trainer is when you see owners constantly switching between different systems of training.

You see, the hard thing about being a dog trainer isn’t necessarily learning the dog training...the hard part of being a dog trainer is obtaining and learning a SYSTEM of training that you can operate inside of.

Without a system of training you’re going to have a very hard time getting from Point A to Point B and troubleshooting all of the smaller points along the way that will inevitably pop up.

If you don’t know what kind of system of training you are inside of, something that you implement into the training with your dog can actually create a very huge hole into your training later on. Perhaps you can create a bandaid for the moment but it does not actually solve the problem, it will arise later on.

Understanding what SYSTEM you are in is going to be so important for the mental health of your dog and the success of your training.

I want to encourage you to think critically about the advice that you see on instagram and if it fits inside of how you’ve already been training your dog. If you don’t know what that is, I would spend some time figuring that out

TL;DR: Don’t be on a Keto diet and then ask a Whole 30’s coach, an Atkins diet coach and in Intuitive Eating coach for answers.

29/05/2021

Why changing people’s minds can be so challenging:

There’s nothing more frustrating at times than speaking with someone that just won’t see your perspective on something that makes so much sense to you.

No matter what you say, no matter what you do, no matter how many studies, facts, points of view you show or tell them, they just simply do not want to change their mind.

What we often forget about is the fact that animals are social animals. We have hierarchies and pecking orders. We long for connection, acceptance and a core group around us.

When we do find a core group of people and surround ourselves with others who share the same opinions, beliefs, thoughts and views of the world we want to hold onto that. A left over part of our primal instincts for survival - finding a group and being accepted by that group.

It’s extremely difficult to change someone’s emotions/thoughts/opinion on something because that also means that their is a high risk of being casted out from the group.

Think about it:

If you have always been told and have always told others that you should never frustrate your dog, you should never punish behaviors, you should never use negative reinforcement, you should not use crates, prong collars are tortuous, ecollars will destroy your dog, etc....and that’s what your primary group of people around you also believe....

When you change your mind, you’re also losing your core group of people. You’re not going to be alone and an outcast. Open to ridicule and subject to social exile. From the very people that once stood besides you and went to battle along side you.

It’s not so simple as to show someone facts, show them proof, talk to them, or anything else. At the end of the day, they have to be alright with what will happen inside of their core group and be ok with potentially being an outcast.

No one likes to be alone in this world. No one likes to be attacked. No one likes to potentially be wrong and still lose everything.

Have you ever been afraid to change your mind for fear of what others may think?

02/12/2020

Empathy for the struggling dog owner on the other side of the sidewalk.

This isn’t just a caption from my soapbox on high.

I have at some points thought “they should train their dog” as their dog screamed, lunged, barked and snarled at me from the other side of the sidewalk.

Only for that thought to be followed by immediate guilt and self shame.

Because guess what?

I was once the dog owner with that dog.

I was once the dog owner that wanted things to be different but didn’t know HOW.

I was once the dog owner who was overwhelmed.

I was once the dog owner who was embarrassed by my dogs behavior.

It’s so easy for us to take education and knowledge for grated.

Proper, true, valid and logical dog training education is difficult to come by in my opinion.

For every one post that tells you to not stick your hand into your dogs food as they eat, to advocate for their space, to not bother them as they sleep, etc there are 10+ other posts that tell you to do the things opposite to that which creates the very thing a dog owner doesn’t want.

So...that dog owner that’s struggling?

Well guess what? They are most likely doing the best with what they currently know.

Maybe the ARE trying and that was just a failed rep.

When you’ve never had a failed rep passing another dog with a reactive dog of your own, then maybe you can be on your soap box.

But I know I’ve failed.

A lot.

Failure is necessary to learn - to an extent.

I want to extend more empathy for the dog owner that’s struggling on the other side of the sidewalk.

I want to encourage you to give a smile and a nod to the owner that’s struggling instead of a shameful look.

I want to encourage you to give a little extra space to the dog owner that’s obviously trying with their dog, but their dog is having a moment.

I encourage all of you to bring more empathy, understanding and love out into the world.

Have you ever had a moment of empathy or understanding from a stranger while you were out in public? How did it make you feel?