The Good Sniff

11/09/2025

03/08/2025

Myra all day every day

Bu****it

31/07/2025

Let’s practice more acceptance.

Acceptance doesn’t mean you can’t still work toward your long-term behavior goals for your dog. It just means you’ll spend less time ruminating and loosen your grip on the expectations you had for them.

When you do that, you’ll start to see your dog for the beautiful, unique, and perfect being they already are.

It’s an important lesson for life with dogs and for us in general, especially these days.

What are some things that you've learned to accept in your dog?

04/02/2025

We're back!

16/10/2020

The problem a lot of people have with ‘Stay’ as a cue, is they often use it to practise recall as well, so they get the dog to 'stay', and then call their dog to them. However, dogs tend to learn to a series of cues, and in order to efficiently earn their reward, they often predict what the next one will be. This is why lots of dogs seem to forget 'sit' and start going straight to the 'down' position, as 'sit' has been used as a stepping-stone to teach 'down', and they have only been rewarded on the 'down' for many repetitions. So similarly, if a dog is called after a 'stay' and are rewarded when they successfully get back to their owner, they will see that as the 'end-goal' of the cue; as such they will be more likely to break the 'stay' to get to their final-goal and earn their reward.

In our classes we teach 'Stay' and 'Wait' as two separate cues; this is because we want one cue - ‘Stay’ - to be sacred. So with ‘Stay’, you ALWAYS go back to the dog to reward them, whereas with ‘Wait’ you can call the dog to you. This creates two versions of the cue: where ‘Stay’ always means ‘Stay’, until you go back to them, and 'Wait' means 'Wait' until my next instruction! 👍

21/09/2020

11/04/2020

WORDS/PHRASES THAT RUFFLE TRAINERS' FEATHERS ... AND WHY!
So I came across an interesting post started on a dog trainer's personal FB page today and it got me thinking. She asked "what words annoy you when you hear them?" She did state she didn't want the "why" of it just the words/phrases. As I scrolled down her comments I realized I agreed with many and thought -- if a non-dog behavior expert was reading this they might think "why do these words bother so many trainers?!"

So, I decided to lay this out and explain the "why" to a lot of this.

Why trainers don't like the following words/phrases:

➡️ DOG OWNER SAYS: MY DOG IS SO STUBBORN!

☑️ DOG TRAINER HEARS: I don't know how to communicate/train properly with my dog and she's not doing what I ask so I assume she's hard-headed.

💡 REALITY: I get it. Dog owners aren't usually dog trainers, hence why I have a job! So, you don't know what you don't know. However, if your dog isn't listening or "obeying" you the reality is likely that the dog isn't listening because of one, several or all of these factors: hasn't been trained to understand what you are asking of him, is confused, is stressed, and/or has made a poor association with the thing you ask and therefore won't do it at all out of fear/stress/anxiety.

🐕 BOTTOM LINE: Training will fix this label.
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➡️ DOG OWNER SAYS: HE'S BEING DOMINANT!

☑️ DOG TRAINER HEARS: I watch a lot of Cesar Milan but don't really know exactly what all that entails .... and/or I think if a dog is doing a pushy or bratty behavior it's because he's dominant and "thinks he's boss".

REALITY: Your dog can't be "dominant". It's not a personality trait. It's not like saying my brother is "out-going". Dominance is fluid and only happens in certain contexts. Usually over resources and a dog that is aggressive or insecure is reacting for other reasons that aren't even related to "dominance". I could go on and on about this topic. It's very sadly been used and misused by a lot of trainers and even still by some trainers today. The truth is that science has shown other answers to what decades ago was always blamed for "dominance". You can read more on dominance in dogs here: http://bit.ly/2GElznQ

🐕 BOTTOM LINE: Get to the root of the problem with a qualified professional (that doesn't adhere to the dominance/pack theory of yonder years.)
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➡️ DOG OWNER SAYS: WE TRIED POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT TRAINING, IT DIDN'T WORK.

☑️ DOG TRAINER HEARS: We did that a couple times, didn't get immediate results so gave up and said it doesn't work.

REALITY: The thing with positive reinforcement-based training is that it does, in fact, take work, consistency and dedication on your part. It's not magic and it never works if you only do it a few times or if you are inconsistent. You often see immediate results but for them to "stick", and for long-term goals like great leash work (no pulling on leash) coming when called in distractions you will need to be consistent and work at it.

🐕 BOTTOM LINE: Don't give up. Listen to your well-educated, qualified, positive reinforcement trainer ... and stay consistent!
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➡️ DOG OWNER SAYS: OH, HE'S KNOWS WHAT HE DID/HE KNOWS HE WAS WRONG!

☑️ DOG TRAINER HEARS: My dog is trying my patience on purpose and doesn't listen just to spite me even though that's not the case because dogs aren't humans so they aren't spiteful and do things "on purpose".

REALITY: Dogs that continually do things do so because it works and usually there is some kind of reward in it for them, even if just the satisfaction of chewing things or tearing something up ... or they had to potty so they did it on the floor because they just couldn't hold it ... or they were anxious when left alone and so they peed the floor from anxiety/stress (not uncommon at all).
Also, dogs that *appear* to have look of guilt are only doing this based on muscle memory --- the last time she entered the room and I was in this spot she was mad so I'll hang my head low in hopes she doesn't become confrontational --- or your body language, which dogs read faaaar better than you can even realize. Remember dogs can smell a seizure so they can smell when your adrenaline is up and your mood is changing as well as your eyes, your face, everything.

🐕 BOTTOM LINE: Your dog isn't plotting against you. He just needs proper guidance and training on what to do.
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These are just a few things that I think trainers hear very often and have different "meanings" for dog owners than they do for trainers.

I will say this .... trust your trainer's knowledge unless you have a good reason not to. They aren't there to make your life miserable or make you feel like you don't know what you're talking about. They just want to explain why your dog is doing what he's doing and help you overcome it. Follow their advice and expertise and you should be well on your way!

Happy training!
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Stacy Greer, CPDT-KA
Sunshine Dog Training & Behavior
Dallas/Ft Worth, Texas, USA
sunshinedog.com