The Academic Pooch

13/02/2026

I love this explanation - ‘you’ need to be the leader, it really is in your job description.
This mentality and when put into every day life practice really works to help your dogs anxiety.
If you need help in this area I can help you turn the anxiety around.
You just need to be ready to make the changes.

12/02/2026

This has been put so well.

09/12/2025

Sounds about right!

14/10/2025

This is one way to get your message across :)

COPIED AND SHARED (unfortunately I do not know the original author to give them appropriate credit)


The other day I was at the local public park (not a dog park, but dogs are allowed there). We were walking along in a high movement area, so I had my dog on a leash. Another dog, off leash, sees us and starts approaching.

My dog needs her space so we start moving away, but the dog got to us before we could leave. My dog was stressing a little, so I politely said to the woman, "sorry my dog doesn't want to play" and ushered her dog away.

Her dog gets the message and moves on.

Quite good, right?
Here comes the juicy part:

As I’m leaving the owner comes to me with a speech more or less like this:

"Hey, if your dog is nervous and doesn’t even want to play with other dogs, go somewhere else! Don’t come to the park and ruin other dogs fun".

I heard this and a wave of fury started taking over, but suddenly I had a lightbulb moment and switched gears completely.

With the biggest, friendliest smile, I opened my arms as wide as I could and said "Ohhhhh! Come here... I want to give you a BIG hug!"

With panic in her eyes, she backs up, speechless and quickly starts walking away.

I said "Hey, don’t run, I’m so friendly, come on, I only want to give you a hug! I’m friendly I promise... I just want to Hug You!"

Still speechless and backing away with terror now, I said "Wait, you don’t want my friendly hug?"

She yelled "No!"

I said "Well neither does my dog! Have a nice day!!!"

As I walked away, I saw her just standing there, speechless and she was leashing her dog!

I think I’ll try this approach more often.

12/09/2025

20/08/2025

I visited with young Harlo tonight a mini dashund who had decided that lying down was not for him.
With a quick little trick, a treat and praise from his mum and dad he was lying down like a champ.
His humans are doing a fantastic job training him with the help of Portland Dog Obedience Club.
There are many methods for various issues - not one fix for all breeds.
As you have found out with your own dogs; not all dogs are alike so why would one method be the right one for all doggos.
Keep trying different things; here if you need 😃

17/06/2025

*Patience is a virtue*
In dog training no truer words are spoken.
Never lose your cool.!
Remember if your dog has had some trauma, be it frightened by a car back firing, jumped on by a bigger dog etc or maybe it’s a rescue and you don’t know its history; you will need patience, persistence, consistency and kindness to bring them out of it.
This does NOT happen over night; don’t expect it - you will need to put in some hard work.
Anxiety of any kind; fear; aggression; or anything in between will test you BuT, you CAN do it!

24/05/2025

The Darcy Dog has my heart ❤️
He is such a joy to teach; he’s just added whisper, speak and crawling to his bag of tricks.
We are working on find the treat under the cups, he loves the game but very hard on the sturdy disposable cups so I need to find some plastic ones 😂

24/05/2025

Great session today with Halo (baby Dachsund); his owners are on the right track with his training but needed some reassurance and tips to move forward without creating bad habits.
He is such a little cutie!

18/05/2025

Like a lot of owners I see my dog running, crying, growling etc in his sleep.
This is a great article about how our dogs sleep, what their sleeping positions may mean and how they dream.

What do dogs dream about? Can dogs have nightmares? Learn more about how you can help your dog have a more peaceful, relaxed, and restful sleep.