The Dog Guy

12/08/2025

We had an opportunity to help this very large, lovable two year old Saint Bernard who was leash reactive to other dogs.

At 130 pounds he could easily pull down his owners, it was only a matter of time until somebody got hurt.

The Dog Guy visits you in your home and shows you how to build a relationship with your dog so they trust and respect you. We do not use any gadgets or gimmicks like spray bottles, prong, shock or vibration collars (or any other adverse techniques)

We cover the area from Ottawa to Kingston and give full support for the rest of your dog’s life.

We are looking forward to doing more free consultations at various PET VALU locations throughout the area. We will be in PRESCOTT on August 16th, EMBRUN on August 23rd and ARNPRIOR on August 30th. We will be there each day from 10 to 5, except for Arnprior which will be 12 to 7.

For the first time we will be holding a ‘loose leash walking course’ at Pet Valu in Arnprior, this is a free one hour seminar. The store has offered to give the eight participants a $20 gift certificate. If your dog is excited, shuts down, pulls or is easily distracted, please give us a call to register.

www.thedogguy.co

12/08/2025

11/08/2025

BRINGING A PUPPY HOME

The first day with your new puppy is the most important.
When you bring your new puppy home it can be very overwhelming for them, after all you have just taken them away from the only life they have known, their mom and their siblings.
They now have a whole new world to adapt to and it's important for all involved that they get off to a good start.
When you pick up your dog you should try and make it a day where their is not a lot of excitement, or pity, you want to make the puppy feel just like it did with its Mom and her calm, confident energy.

THE CAR RIDE

It's important to be aware of your energy and not interact with your puppy in an overly excited way. Don't feel bad for the new puppy, dog's don't rationilize, therefore they don't know why you are feeling sorry for them, they interpret this as bieng weak, and therefore opposite of their confident mother.
Just make sure your new family addition is safe and do your best to be calm.

ARRIVING AT HOME

Take your puppy around the block (check with your Vet about diseases and other concerns) a few times before going in the house. Make sure you go through the door first, followed by your puppy.
This way you are not going from one 'den' to another, and you give the dog a chance to transition to it's new home.
When in the house, leave the leash on your puppy and show it every room of the house.Then show the puppy the room it is going to stay in, it's bed and water dish This room should be gated off. Keep the dog in that room for a few days (except to go outside every thirty minutes to p*e) Then let them free to discover the rest of the house.
Its chalenging to say the least, your new puppy is adorable, but you want to reassure them that it is going to be OK, and you are just like their mothers and you want to show them what is expected from them, to be calm and submissive.
The Dog Guy

09/08/2025

DEAR TRAINERS: TELLING YOUR CLIENTS WITH A REACTIVE DOG TO CROSS THE STREET EVERYTIME THEY SEE ANOTHER DOG IS NOT REALISTIC

08/08/2025

07/08/2025

LEADERSHIP

As a species dogs are a specific type of animal that deals with nature in a specific way having inherited their pack nature from wolves.

A dogs pack leader is born into that position they have more energy, instinct and prey drive than other dogs. One out of six dogs are born leaders.

It is a pack leaders job to protect and direct the other members of the pack

This is why leadership is so important to a dog. Leadership is programmed in a dogs genes and exist at a primal, instinctual level.

If a dog does not have a calm, assertive confident decision maker they can become anxious or unbalanced because they do not know if they are going to survive.

05/08/2025

WE ARE OTTAWA’S ONLY CANINE BEHAVIOUR SPECIALIST (SINCE 2006)

IN HOME-CONSULTATIONS AND DOG OWNERSHIP CLASSES.

31/07/2025

I really believe I have one of the best jobs, and the absolute best part of my job is when I get called when people have a new puppy.

The owners of this 10 week Old Samoyed reached out to The Dog Guy for help with the barking, the biting and pulling on the leash. They wanted to know about the feeding ritual, how to introduce their puppy to dogs and the dog park, crate training, basic obedience, when to redirect them and when to disagree with the behaviour

The Dog Guy visits you in your home to help dogs who have ‘issues’, or in this case to help with people who just got a new family member.

We cover the area from Ottawa to Kingston and give full support for the rest of their life.

If you would like more information about how our services work, or want help with your dog, please drop by one of our free consultations at various PET VALU locations throughout the area.

We will be at the PRESCOTT location on August 16th, EMBRUN on August 23rd and ARNPRIOR on August 30th.

On August 30th in Arnprior we will also be offering a one hour FREE seminar on loose leash walking. The class will be limited to eight dogs and their owners. If your dog pulls on the walk, gets distracted or is too excited, please give us a call to hold your space. The store is offering a $20 gift certificate for all those that enroll.

www.thedogguy.co

30/07/2025

HOW TO GET YOUR DOG TO ‘DROP IT’

If you constantly take things away from your dog, they will get in the habit of running away from you and possibly even eating the unwanted object. They do this because in their mind you are trying to steal it from them.

In the dog’s world, they don’t steal objects or food from each other, they ask for it.

When a more powerful dog wants something from another dog they stare at them using their body language and energy until the other dog walks away and leaves the toy, food or object.

So, it is important to get in the habit of making your dog move and the object staying put.

An example of this can be when your dog steals a sock. You should start 20 feet away and using your body language and energy (stand straight, shoulders back, breathe! and try to be as calm and confident as possible) look at your dog. Eventually, you can start slowly walking towards your dog. At some point, you can step on the end of the sock, and then using your other foot take more of the sock and so on. in time your dog will walk away and look at you. At this point lift the object straight up off the floor back up 10 feet and drop it. Do not let your dog have the object.

It is important to take into consideration your dog's demeanor, if your dog has been or has the potential of being aggressive you should wait to do this with a professional present.

Eventually, your dog will understand that socks, or whatever the object is will be off-limits.

Once you start practicing this, your dog will understand that you know how to communicate with them and you can ask them to drop an object ,and they will.

www.thedogguy.co

29/07/2025

The Dog Guy offers in-home visits to show you how to get and keep your dog in a balanced state of mind. We DO NOT train dogs to sit, stay, or how to shake a paw. We work on the reactivity, excessive barking, jumping, digging, shutting down on the walk, house training or other issues.

We promise to never use any of the following terms:

Four quadrants of dog training

Four phases (antecedent, fluency, generalization, maintenance)

Barrier frustration

Poison cues

ABC (antecedent/behaviour/consequence)

Neutral, stimulus or unconditional stimulus.

These are terms used by ‘trainers’, human psychology applied to dogs.

We do not feel the need to go to seminars every six months to learn the most recent theories on dog training and behaviour, after 19 years, we know what we’re talking about!

We do not believe in charging for an assessment fee, we are able to assess a dog within a few seconds.

We apply dog psychology to dogs. We teach owners how to give a routine of exercise, discipline, and affection (in that order), how to use their energy and body language to communicate with their dogs.

We show you the importance of the greeting, feeding rituals, and the all important walk, how to implement rules, limitations, and boundaries and how to deal with your dog with a calm, confident energy. We explain how dogs interpret the world through nose, eyes and then ears.

We have heard of trainers who:

Drive their clients dogs around in a car to desensitize them to reactivity.

Offer classes with other reactive dogs to work on reactivity.

Give their clients dog treats, no matter what they’re doing, even if they are fearful, reactive or anxious.

We are not a reward based, non-confrontational, force free, Rplus trainer, because that’s not how dogs act in their world.

No aggresive techniques are used, we do not choke, hit, use the dominance roll or abuse dogs in anyway, (no matter what our competition says). See our reviews for more information.

We offer in-home visits to help rehabilitate dogs and train people. Humans have a huge influence on their dog’s behaviour, once you are taught how to fulfil their needs, how to promote or disagree with any behaviour, you are well on your way to having success. We also give full support for the rest of your dog’s life.

For more information you can drop by one of our consultations that we offer at various locations throughout the area

www.thedogguy.co