Happy Hounds Dog Training

05/27/2026

Incredibly Helpful! This has really helped with our very prey conscious boxer puppy. I really love the explanations and helpful way she guides you with the book. Totally recommend it!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ New review for Stop Chasing

Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave kind reviews. They genuinely help more than you know — especially for a 1-person business like mine.

Stop Chasing: A Step-By-Step Guide to Solving Dog Prey Drive is available in both digital and print formats:

💻 Digital: https://happyhoundsdogtraining.shop/products/dog-prey-drive-how-to-stop-animal-chasing-with-force-free-methods

📚 Print: https://a.co/d/1pIci2t

05/08/2026

FREE online event! 😊 I’m excited to share the Perfectly Relaxed Walks Summit hosted by Amanda VanTassel. I was interviewed alongside numerous other trainers, and we all shared our best tips for calmer, more enjoyable walks with your dog 🐾

This free event starts June 1st. If you’d like to join the online summit, you can register here:

https://perfectly-relaxed-walks.membership.io/summit-register

05/08/2026

NEW VIDEO 🎉 If you're struggling with your dog's animal chasing, this is for you.

As a professional dog trainer and the author of Stop Chasing, I’ve worked with many high prey drive dogs — including my own dog, Neirah — so I know how stressful and frustrating this behaviour can feel.

I recently sat down with Amanda VanTassel to answer some of the most important questions about dog prey drive, including:
• why dogs chase animals
• why treats often “stop working” around wildlife
• whether prey drive can be trained without corrections
• why training alone is often not enough
• what real success actually looks like

This conversation will completely change how you think about your dog’s animal chasing — and how to actually get training results.

🎥 Watch the interview here:
Rethinking Your Dog’s Animal Chasing (9 Questions That Will Change Your Training): https://youtu.be/74aNcoG7eDI

💻This interview is part of the Perfectly Relaxed Walk Summit, a completely FREE online event where trainers share their best tips for calmer, more enjoyable walks with your dog. I've shared the link for that free event in the comments!

🐾 STEP-BY-STEP TRAINING PROGRAMS BY HAPPY HOUNDS:View all training programs: https://happyhoundsdogtraining.ca/trainingguidesStop Chasing: A Step-By-Step Gu...

05/07/2026

NEW TOY ALERT!! 🎉 It’s no secret that I absolutely LOVE Tug-E-Nuff toys and recommend them all the time (especially for dogs struggling with animal chasing and high prey drive).

So.... I’m very excited that the Whip It Flirt Pole is back in stock!

They put a lot of thought and quality into their toys, and this new one is no different.

Smart features:
• Shock-absorbing bungee to protect both your dog’s neck and your shoulders
• Squeak + no-squeak options
• Replacement lures can be purchased separately
• The bite area is blue — one of the colours dogs see best — helping them stay visually engaged during play

I can’t wait for Neirah’s to arrive, and wanted to let you know about them before they likely sell out again.

Flirt poles are a fantastic option for:
✔ burning off energy before training walks
✔ channeling prey drive into a structured outlet
✔ providing an easy enrichment activity during bad weather or busy weeks

If you’ve been looking for a fun, low-effort way to meet your dog’s needs while improving training results, check out the Whip It Flirt Pole here: https://tug-e-nuff.com/products/whip-it-flirt-pole?ref=happyhoundsdt

Please note: That is an affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase. I only recommend items I genuinely use and like myself.

And if you haven’t tried satisfying your dog’s prey drive with replacement outlets yet, definitely check out this video — it can completely transform your training results:

How to Stop Your Dog's Animal Chasing (Prey Drive Training Isn't Enough): https://youtu.be/NtohyrKROcM

05/06/2026

Neirah’s officially 12 years old!
She may not be able to come running with me anymore… but she still insists on cuddles when I try to stretch 😂💛

05/01/2026

As a professional dog trainer, much of my content focuses on improvement — better walks, better behaviour, and better skills.

But as my dog turns 12, I’ve found myself reflecting on a different question:
What does it really mean to give our dogs a great life?

In a previous YouTube video, I said this:

"You are your dog’s life.

How we treat them matters. How we train them matters. How they feel matters.

When we get a dog, we’re taking guardianship of a life. They are captive animals — their entire existence is with us.

Dogs are often compared to toddlers. And while that may be true in some ways, there’s one major difference: they’ll never “grow up.”

They won’t move out, make their own choices, or change things they didn’t like about their upbringing the way a child eventually can.

You are your dog’s life — start to finish.

Whether they have a great life or not largely comes down to their experience with you.

That’s an incredible gift… but also an incredible responsibility.

We need to treat it as such — and respect these amazing creatures we get the privilege of spending far too short a time with."

With Neirah turning 12, I’m realizing how quickly our time together has passed — and how much I want to prioritize what we have left.

She’s quite literally my best friend.

About 9 years ago, during a particularly rough time in my life, I made her three promises.

At the time, I was either in university or working every day of the week. We lived in a small condo in the city, and life felt chaotic. Neirah was one of the best parts of my day, and I made sure to take her on long walks — but I wanted to give her more.

So I promised her three things:

1) I’d have at least one day off a week to spend with her
2) I’d get us a yard so she could spend more time outside
3) I’d take her to see the ocean one day

This dog loves rolling more than any dog I’ve ever met (including rolling in manure in my most recent video… facepalm 😅). And I just knew she would LOVE the beach: the smells, the sand, the ocean… the rolling potential.

At the time, those goals felt completely out of reach. But slowly, I checked them off.
I finished university and finally had weekends off to hike with her.
Then a few years ago, I moved into a home with a beautiful backyard.

But seeing the ocean… I kept putting that one off.

We had an incredible decade together in Alberta. She’s gone on more hikes and seen more mountain peaks than most humans ever will. But somehow, there was never enough time — or money — to make the full trip back to BC.

Then last year, my perspective shifted.

She tore her CCL and needed TPLO surgery, followed by a long, painful recovery.
And twice, the vet suggested biopsying lumps on her stomach due to cancer concerns.

She’s doing great now, but it was a reminder of time.

You don’t always get the chance to do the things you keep putting off.

So here she is — Neirah on the beach, living her best life.
And yes, she loved it every bit as much as I thought she would.

But I’ve also learned something important:

Dogs don’t actually care about these “big moments.” Not the way we do.

I’m glad I fulfilled those three promises — but in reality, they were more promises to myself.

I recently heard a parenting quote:
"Don’t get so focused on giving your child a good life that you forget to give them a good day."

And I think that applies to dogs too.

The beach was incredible, and I’m so glad we did it. But Neirah would have been just as happy if it never happened.

Dogs don’t need big trips or grand gestures.

They need kindness.
They need time with you.
They need enrichment, play, and a few extra treats.

With simple, consistent effort, we can give them a great life and a great day.

So today — give your dog a great day.

They deserve it.

Thanks for reading. If you have a dog beside you right now… go give them an extra scratch from me and Neirah 💛

Want to share this with someone? Here’s the blog version:

My dog turned 12, and it made me rethink everything. This is what I’ve learned about giving dogs a truly good life—before time runs out.

04/26/2026

Walking your dog on narrow sidewalks? This Q&A is for you 👇

Question: “My city sidewalks are very narrow, which offers more challenge when encountering people and other dogs as there is very little room to get around them.”

Answer:
A few things I suggest for smaller sidewalks:

-Use more proactive movement:
If you see something your dog isn’t ready for, cross early, turn around, or step into a driveway/side street before you get too close.

-Teach solid management skills at home:
Honestly, this is one of the biggest keys to real-world walks. I go over 3 of my favourites here:
Why Leash Training Falls Apart in the Real World (and 3 Ways to Fix It)
https://youtu.be/tYsSRReaTMs

-Use heel strategically:
In tight spaces, bringing your dog into a more structured position can help you get through cleanly (once that skill is trained):
How to Train a Dog to Heel
https://youtu.be/-rR-Yg0XiIk

-Focus on neutrality training:
So your dog can eventually pass people, dogs, bikes, etc calmly:
https://youtu.be/-O1u3T3zS2M

-Train a strong “leave it” for surprises:
And make sure it works in motion:
https://youtu.be/eaN6aJPgxvk

Tight sidewalks can definitely make things harder, but the right training foundations will allow your dog to succeed in those environments. Hope that helps!

04/24/2026

This comment is a great opportunity to clarify some of my training beliefs:

Q: Why would you want your dog to have no social contact with its own species? Will you train it not to sniff either? Must you have all its attention and occupy its every thought?

A:
There’s a misunderstanding here — this doesn’t reflect what I actually teach in the video or my training approach.

If you’re interested, in my newest video with my own dog I go more in-depth on sniffing, loose leash vs. heel, dog interactions, and how I balance all of that in real life:
https://youtu.be/wd2lnH-Ullw

I absolutely believe in letting dogs be dogs. That includes sniffing, exploring, and enjoying their walks — those things are really important.

However, on-leash greetings aren’t the most natural way for dogs to interact. Being on leash restricts their movement and communication, which can create tension or frustration, even between friendly dogs.

That’s why I focus primarily on teaching neutrality around other dogs, keeping on-leash greetings selective and intentional, and saving social time for more appropriate situations (like off-leash interactions with suitable dogs, where they can move freely).

Even if you do want to allow on-leash greetings:

the other dog may not want to — and that should be respected
if your dog doesn’t expect to greet every dog they see, they’ll usually handle the greetings they do get much more calmly (less pulling, less frantic energy), which makes those interactions more likely to go well

So the goal isn’t to stop dogs from being social — it’s to make sure those interactions happen in a way that’s actually comfortable and safe for them 🙂

04/21/2026

Most leash training advice works… until you step outside 😂

NEW BLOG: Last week I shared a YouTube video (Real, UNCUT Dog Walk in a Busy Area — linked in the comments), and got a lot of requests for a blog version.

It’s a 29-minute uncut training walk, so turning it into a blog would basically be a book 😅

Instead, I pulled out the 11 biggest takeaways that actually make leash training work in real life—even when distractions, noise, and unpredictability are involved.

Plus, I linked all the supporting videos and resources so you can go deeper into anything you want to work on.

Hope this helps! If you found it useful, sharing the blog really helps support these kinds of resources 🙏

Learn how to train loose leash walking with practical strategies for real-life environments with distractions

04/20/2026

“If the environment is more valuable than the treats… then what?” ↓

This is one of the most common misunderstandings I see about reward-based training.

My older video “How to train your dog to ignore other dogs” (linked here: https://youtu.be/-O1u3T3zS2M ) has been picking up views again, and I’ve gotten a few comments like this — so let’s talk about it.

Comment:

“You lost me at the "...and high value treats". Yes that can work with some low drive dogs. Or higher food motivated dogs. But then you find something way more valuable than your treats... What would you do then? Even though... It's a good video, good technique, and I respect the effort. It's simply not 100% real life material”

My answer:

Glad you enjoyed the video! Re: your question about competing reinforcers — this is a really common concern, but it’s a bit of a backwards way of looking at it.

If the environment is “more valuable” than the food, it usually means the dog is too stimulated (over threshold), and learning isn’t happening effectively in that moment.

That’s a setup issue — not a failure of the method.

The goal isn’t to outcompete the environment.

It’s to build skills in lower-distraction settings and gradually work up so the dog can stay responsive in real-life situations.

Treats aren’t meant to “compete” with distractions; they reinforce behaviours the dog is already capable of performing.

If you want to learn more about this, give this video a watch:
Real, UNCUT Dog Walk in a Busy Area (Loose Leash Walking in Real Life)
https://youtu.be/wd2lnH-Ullw