Smartypaws LLC

07/03/2025

3 huge mistakes!
Especially #1 and #3!

06/03/2025

Current status in KC! 📸⬇️⬇️⬇️
It snowed yesterday and today is the melt. Woo doggy, it’s muddy. 🐾🦴

06/03/2025

Trade Up, Don't Take Away!
The data is in! Messing around with hands in a dog's food bowl, or taking it away INCREASES aggressive behavior around food. If you drop a tasty tidbit in the bowl when you walk by, the dog will anticipate good things and reduce aggressive behaviors around food. Be smart - don't grab food and high value items from dogs.

04/03/2025

DID YOU KNOW?

The average dog has around two hundred and twenty million olfactory receptors in the nose, although it can be as many as three hundred million in dogs bred specifically for scentwork. Those tend to have longer ears which help to capture the scent and move it towards the nose.
In comparison, the human has an average of only six million scent receptors.

According to Dr Michael T. Nappier DVM, DABVP of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, their excellent sense of smell enables a dog to detect the equivalent of half a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic-sized swimming pool!

The canine frontal cortex is smaller than ours, therefore it has different emotional capabilities; it is this part of the brain which is responsible for conscious scent perception. When it comes to canine scenting ability, their brains are forty times more capable than our own, which equates to a sense of smell 10,000 to 100,000 times more powerful!

To help this to compute fully, James Walker, former director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, describes this in terms of sight: “If you make the analogy of vision, what you and I can see at a third of a mile, a dog could see more than 3,000 miles away and still see as well.” Phenomenal stuff!

The wind musicians amongst you will be thoroughly impressed that dogs can circular breathe. They draw in and process scent at the same time as they breathe in and out, creating a constant stream of air, effortlessly. They can also use their nostrils independently, creating a 3D scent picture that allows them to pinpoint exactly where a smell originates from. Mind-blowing, really!

For more fascinating facts, why not check out my blog post: https://www.trailiepawsforthought.com/post/the-science-of-scent-part-one

©️ Trailie Paws For Thought
www.trailiepawsforthought.com

I'm very happy for all of my content to be shared, but please do not copy and paste to avoid sharing from source. Thank you! 🐾 🐾

Image shows a close-up of my scenthound Max's nose and face, taking a nap, as usual!

02/03/2025

28/02/2025

Your Dog is Speaking – Are You Listening?

Dogs communicate with us all the time, but we’re often too distracted to notice. Their body language can be subtle and fleeting or clear and obvious—like the dog in this picture.

This is a very worried dog. He’s asking for space. Can you spot the signs?

The last thing this dog needs is that hand.

Understanding canine body language isn’t just about avoiding bites—it’s about building trust, reducing stress, and truly connecting with your dog.

Want to learn how to listen better? My book on canine communication breaks down the signals your dog gives you every day—so you can respond with confidence and compassion.

👉 https://amzn.to/3F8KEq2

Because when we listen, we make life better for our dogs.

26/02/2025

And just like that, the snow is gone and it’s gorgeous weather for playtime and walkies with the pups. Call now to start enjoying walks with your dog! 816-743-4077 Smartypaws.net

26/02/2025

THE FOOLISHNESS OF FLOODING

Using flooding as a behaviour modification technique involves exposing a dog to an intense amount of something they fear with the goal of eliminating that fear / anxiety / emotional response.

This approach is often recommended as a quick fix that achieves fast results.

Some examples of how flooding is used –
A dog fearful of water might be forced into a pool and prevented from escaping.

A reactive dog may be forced into a “sit” near other dogs or people and be punished for any signs of reactivity.

A dog afraid of loud noises might be forced to stay in a room while loud sounds play, with no way of escape.

In flooding theory, once a dog stops reacting, the fear has been cured, but at what cost?

Flooding is traumatic and may cause extreme stress, anxiety and even more long-term fear related problems, increasing negative associations.

Flooding often causes learned helplessness - an emotional coping mechanism that may look like a dog is completely “cured”, but in reality, they have shut down, given up, disengaged, become emotionally numb and detached. There is no other choice because no matter how hard they try there is no longer any point in trying to escape or react.

Flooding can destroy the trust our dogs should have in us. Dogs depend on us to advocate for them, protect them and keep them feeling safe from whatever they’re afraid of.

Flooding prioritises achieving quick fixes over emotional wellbeing and a safe and supportive environment.

Using modern, scientific, effective, ethical and humane modification methods like positive reinforcement, counterconditioning or desensitisation is the answer to achieving positive learning experiences, to build trust, relationship, safety and in turn, long lasting behaviour change.

The harm and negative consequences that flooding causes is certainly not worth it.

“In the soil of the quick fix is the seed to a new problem” …. Wayne Muller

21/02/2025

17/02/2025

So many reasons for this behaviour and that can make it a little trickier to stop 🛑
It can become compulsive.
It can be a way to seek interactions or attention.
Energy levels usually play a big part in this behaviour too.
Yes✅ Both females and males can show this behaviour.
Neutered or not.
Take note of when, where and what happened just before, all of this can help you decipher exactly why this is occurring.
This dog training graphic is available through https://www.abcdogsnz.com/product-page/abc-dogs-nz-why-do-dogs-hump-dog-training-handouts

15/02/2025

An easy trap that many energetic pet dog owners fall into is that they will burn the dog's energy only with physical exercise. Physical exercise is very important for dogs, but if we focus on that as the only way to burn energy, then we end up creating athletes. And, just like with human athletes, if it takes a mile of walking to wear them out, and we do that everyday for a month, then next month we're going to need to do two miles to reach that same level of exhaustion, and the following month it'll be three miles.

Again, that's not to say that we shouldn't be walking and exercising our dogs. We absolutely should. But we should also give equal attention to mental exercises, such as "Place," or other impulse control activities. We should be challenging them mentally, putting them in situations where they have to focus on a certain task that we can make increasingly more difficult as they get better. For most house pets, they need to be challenged mentally as much, if not more, than they do physically. 🐶❤️

14/02/2025

We l❤️ve our family dogs! 🐶
Here’s the best/safest ways for kids to kiss their canine family members.
Have a pawsitvely safe and happy Valentine’s Day! 🐾❤️

12/02/2025

ARE YOU WORTH COMING BACK TO?

I’m often horrified when I watch people trying to get their dogs to come back to them when they call.

They call and call and get increasingly angry and frustrated as their dog keeps ignoring them.

When their dog eventually comes back, or has been chased and "captured” by the now really angry person, they get screamed at, yanked about, or punished in some way for taking so long and not listening.

Why on earth would a dog want to return to someone who does this to them!

The most common reason dogs don’t come back when we call is because it’s not a positive experience.

A new environment is generally far more rewarding, stimulating and exciting than coming back to us.
An exciting scent or seeing something to chase can all override a response to recall.

Make coming back to you well worth it by always making it a rewarding experience and keep practicing this throughout a dog’s life.

Have a little patience if it takes longer than you would like, let your dog finish what they’re doing before calling them, practice in different locations and environments and never reprimand or punish them for coming back.

There is never a guarantee of a perfect recall each and every time, but making it a rewarding experience will greatly improve the rate of success.

11/02/2025

JUST BECAUSE WE *CAN* DO SOMETHING, IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE *SHOULD*.

I've been seeing an increasing number of posts recently which have really concerned me, with guardians sharing photographs of their dogs in very uncomfortable, stressful situations, openly mocking and ridiculing their dog for their reactions and obvious discomfort. A particular scenario which seems popular right now is the use of a grooming sling to suspend dogs in the air to immobilise them while their nails are clipped. In many of the images shared, the dog's look petrified while they are handled, unable to do a thing to protect themselves or make themselves understood. This is flooding, and places them at a real risk of emotional shutdown and learned helplessness.

Whatever it is that we are setting out to achieve, there are always alternative ways of doing things. Instead of using a grooming sling in this way, why not train your dog to use a scratch board? It is easy to use, simple to teach, and gives the dog an interactive way to shorten his nails, rather than forcing him to accept it by rendering him powerless and removing all choice from him.

Another option is to condition a nail file or a dremel, if it is the clippers rather than the handling element which he dislikes. Working through a programme of cooperative care gives your dog the power to signal when he is ready for you to proceed and when he needs you to stop. Equipment as well as handling can be slowly conditioned to help him feel safe and comfortable with the whole process in systematic, sub-threshold steps.

I know that we just have to get things done sometimes, but we need to consider what the best option is for our dog, what the most ethical route is, and what he will cope with, rather than what is most convenient for us.

Despite what we now know about sentience in animals, there remains a real disregard for emotional welfare amongst many, and a persistent focus on achieving behaviours. When issues arise, we need to identify the root cause and try to understand why they might be occurring, rather than jumping in head first with a quick fix, without any real thought or regard for physical and emotional safety.

Advice is often given with the focus on how something can be fixed and what is easiest for the human. However, we should be advocating for a more empathetic approach - alternatives which do not compromise the dog's physical and emotional welfare, do not fail to meet the five freedoms, and do not result in flooding.

Just because we CAN do something, it doesn't mean that we SHOULD.

©️ Trailie Paws For Thought
www.trailiepawsforthought.com

I'm very happy for all of my content to be shared, but please do not copy and paste (to avoid sharing from source), screenshot, or download any part of it. THANK YOU! 🐾 🐾

Image shows a dog suspended and immobilised in a hammock-style sling.

10/02/2025

It’s an unusual chilly, gray Monday in KC and the Chiefs forgot to show up for the Super Bowl yesterday, but Cosmo is still smiling! Hope you can find things to warm your heart and be grateful for today, too. 💞🐾

09/02/2025

Today’s the day! Will the Chiefs do it again?
3PEAT? Jack is whoo-whooting for the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LIX! 🏈❤️💛❤️💛🏈

07/02/2025

It’s Red Friday in Chiefs Kingdom! Excitement is in the air for Superbowl LIX.
Lucy is representing the Chiefs. How ‘bout you? Who are you rooting for this Sunday? 🏈❤️💛❤️💛🏈

04/02/2025

"If you were so frightened of (or worried by) something that you responded to it in a big way, and I said that I could stop you doing that completely in a couple of hours – in fact, I could GUARANTEE it – would it sound too good to be true?
It should, because it would be."

If you were so frightened of (or worried by) something that you responded to it in a big way, and I said that I could stop you doing that completely in a couple of hours – in fact, I could GUARANTEE it – would it sound too good to be true?

It should do, because it would be.

Would you have any concerns about the fact I felt I could guarantee this sort of quick behaviour change in you? What would your thoughts be?

Fear is not something that we can ‘resolve’ in a couple of hours. Fear is a deep-set emotion that triggers behaviours that enable us to stay safe and survive. Whether or not we feel that response is justified in the situation, when fear-based responses are being performed, that is what our nervous system is telling us to do: stay safe and survive.

This cannot be changed in a couple of hours. Fear-based responses require patient, conscious, and empathetic support. Some people feel that you should throw yourself in at the deep end. This is known as flooding and is not helpful. It will just result in emotional shut down and gradually worsening behaviour/wellbeing. If you’d like a human example…I’m terribly scared of heights, and did a 15,000ft skydive for charity. In the moment, I shut down emotionally, and jumped out of the plane. I almost felt myself switch off. When I hit the ground, the flood gates opened, and I am now worse with heights than I ever was before.

Fear cannot be resolved using more fear or discomfort. I don’t like using the word resolved, because it suggests that dogs are something to be fixed, and they are not. But please, if you are told your dog is behaving a certain way because they are fearful, and then also asked to use methods that you know your dog doesn’t like, consider – why would discomfort (emotional or physical) help my dog with their fear?

Is the suggestion being made to help your dog, and address the cause of their behaviour, which will result in them behaving differently while being a happier version of themself?

Or is the suggestion being made to offer you a quick fix at the detriment of your dog?

If you’d like to learn more about the “why” behind behaviour and how you can offer your dog a voice in their day-to-day life, then take the next step and get a copy of Empowering Your Dog Through Choice, available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Empowering-Your-Through-Choice-Relationships/dp/B0BCSCZDSB