Ahead of The Game Dog Training

06/18/2025

A thorough health screening to rule out pain/discomfort or other abnormalities should always be the first step in any behavior modification plan, especially cases of sudden onset of aggression.

‼️ If an “aggression expert” isn’t advocating for thorough investigation into possible pain as part of their work with you… they are NOT ethical! ‼️

This is a sensitive story, and as such names have been changed to protect my clients’ privacy and identity. The dog pictured below is mine.

Over the last couple of months I’ve been working with a family and their dog (we’ll call him “Benny”). A year ago, Benny turned from a loving family pet to suddenly guarding the lounge; anytime that someone made an unexpected move in the room or entered it, Benny would begin posturing and barking at them, which eventually escalated into jumping and grabbing at their clothes, and then bites that punctured the skin.

A physical examination at the vet didn’t yield any results, and Benny was taking multiple types of anxiety medication that didn’t touch his behaviour.

We started working together, and I asked them to have some scans done to further investigate pain. Behaviour changes are one of the first indicators of pain, but otherwise dogs are REALLY good at hiding pain and it can be easily missed, even in a vet exam.

Because they had already been to see the vet, I was met with some resistance. We did implement safety measures and some training strategies to try to help Benny feel more at ease in the lounge, but his behaviour wasn’t improving.

Eventually, Benny did have an MRI, and it was revealed that he has a chiari malformation in his brain - that is, part of his brain was pushing down into the spinal canal. We could have done all the training in the world but it wouldn’t have mattered, because this wasn’t a behaviour issue.

How many trainers would have slapped a shock collar on this poor dog, who was already suffering? How many would have simply said that he needed to learn boundaries or hear the word “no” and not looked any further? How many would say that it’s all well and good to use positive reinforcement, until it “doesn’t work” and then you need punishment?

It’s estimated that up to 80% of aggression cases have some kind of underlying medical issue. You NEED a behaviour expert who can liaise with your vet and who will advocate for *thorough* examination, not just a quick check over to tick a box.

It’s an unregulated industry. Be careful who you trust with your dog, even if they call themselves an expert or have tons of followers. And if your dog’s behaviour suddenly changes, they’re probably in pain.

05/25/2025

Treatment for Trauma induced reactivity goes far beyond traditional dog “training”!

You're a dog trainer and your dog behaves like that?!

I have had many cruel things said to me about Mando's reactivity because it is assumed that if I specialise in canine behaviour, I should have the perfect dog. In all honestly, I have achieved greater behavioural change with other dogs than I have with Mando and that is for one crucial reason: Reactivity has different causes.

There are many causes of reactivity, so if I am dealing with frustration or a ritualised behaviour, its much quicker and easier to address. However, if I am working with a dog that has suffered a trauma, like Mando, the process is much more complicated. Here's why:

When a dog suffers a traumatic experience, several things occur in the brain:

- The hippocampus (crucial for memory) may actually shrink, inhibiting a dog's ability to process and retain new memories (in this case positive experiences with other dogs)

- The amygdala (responsible for processing emotions such as anxiety and fear) can become hyperactive, increasing fear based reactions, like barking and lunging at other dogs. This can greatly reduce a dogs threshold, requiring greater proximity from dogs to achieve emotional change.

- Trauma can also inhibit the prefrontal cortex ( the control centre of the brain which helps regulate emotions) triggering impulsivity, poor emotional regulation and aggression. Therefore, we see the dog struggle with anxiety or impulse control in other areas of their life, such as when we have guests or go to the groomers.

- The HPA Axis (hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis) can become dysregulated, triggering chronic stress and sensitivity to triggers.

- Trauma can also cause maladaptive neuroplasticity ( the brains ability to adapt by creating new neural connections) making it challenging to overcome fearful responses.

- Trauma can impact the levels of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline, which are essential to emotional regulation.

So it is not as simple as "train your dog", when the cause of the reactive behaviour is trauma. Trauma creates significant neurological changes, meaning the training journey is entirely different to other dogs, even if they are displaying behaviours that appear the same to the untrained eye.

Understanding that reactivity is not simply a lack of training or socialisation, is crucial to showing compassion for guardians with reactive dogs. We should never make snap judgements and assume that because someone has a reactive dog, they are a bad guardian or a bad trainer/behaviourist. You don't see their daily struggles and you will never appreciate the time, effort and tears that goes into supporting their dog's emotional struggles.- Holly Leake

Please feel free to share, but please do not copy and paste the text or edit the graphic in any way. Thank you.

References

Algamal, M., Ojo, J.O., Lungmus, C.P., Muza, P., Cammarata, C., Owens, M.J., Mouzon, B.C., Diamond, D.M., Mullan, M. and Crawford, F., 2018. Chronic hippocampal abnormalities and blunted HPA axis in an animal model of repeated unpredictable stress. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12, p.150. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00150.

Seksel, K., 2014. Stress and Anxiety - How Do They Impact the Pet? World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) Congress Proceedings. Available at: https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?pId=12886&id=7054740&print=1.

05/15/2025

“Every interaction is a conversation”-

Interestingly this trainer posted this as a knock on positive reinforcement training (he’s not a fan) yet his own words below actually support it (aside from the fact he doesn’t know the difference between reward based training and bribing).

Every interaction with your dog IS a conversation- and the more positive your conversations are, the more you pay into your relationship bank account with your dog. The more they trust you the easier true behavior modification becomes. Why would you want to have interactions/conversations that purposely damage your relationship?

I’m fascinated by the vast disconnect between what should be wildly obvious, and what 99% of trainers and owners actually see/perceive.

Ask an “expert” trainer what precisely rewards and punishment do. If they *only* say that they increase or decrease behaviors, I’m sorry, but you’re not talking to an expert.

These are people who are so consumed by the superficial intellectual components of dog training that they’re incapable (or unwilling) to see deeper into the second and third order effects of this work.

Every interaction is a conversation, and if you dont think there’s a massive, and powerful conversation transpiring between you and the dog as you share reward after reward, and omit any negative consequences — and that this conversation is shaping your relationship dynamic — you’re asleep at the training wheel.

This doesn’t mean using positive reinforcement isn’t a fabulously powerful teaching aid, it just means that the truly savvy trainer, and owner, are keenly aware of all the nuance that’s transpiring between the human and canine animal, and how it’s forming the nature and flavor of your interactions.

Just a little something to think about. 🙂

05/11/2025

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms— even the fur-Moms!! 💖🐾🐾💖

04/20/2025

Happy Easter! 🐰🐣🐇✝️

03/31/2025

SEE THE DOG!

Why do trainers seem to have the wrong of the telescope on so many issues? Let's take the once again issue being raised of how bad it is for dogs to play fetch, or get excited and run and jump and play hard. This concept has been around for ages, and it drives me batty.

Long ago, I grew weary of the argument that running and jumping and fetching etc were bad for dogs, caused blood cortisol levels to spike, created stress, etc. It's been around a long, long time. Calm walks only, no chasing, etc. What's the grain of truth at the heart of such advice?

Do some dogs have problems self-regulating? Yep.

Will some dogs play till they keel over? Yep.

Do some dogs have a tendency towards compulsive behavior? Yep.

Do some dogs have physical limitations that mean long-term certain activities will cost them dearly? Yep. But *they* don't know that and so delight in a game is not a matter of informed consent - hell yes that's true for so many dogs.

You know, dogs are just like people in so many ways. Like us, and for so many reasons including human interference and selective breeding and appalling raising practices and unnatural lifestyles and god awful structure and obesity and poor conditioning and crazy expectations, dogs can struggle with making healthy choices that support adaptive and functional behavior.

Imagine if the whole discussion was reframed in terms of functionality - can the dog self-regulate even in the presence of exciting stimuli? is the dog physically capable of doing X at that level of intensity? how does this affect relationships with others?

My GSDs are strong and sound. While they love their games, they can also stop when asked. They can adjust themselves to take a break as needed. The same activities they enjoy were inappropriate for my Lab/Chow cross with crappy structure and bad hocks. One of my dogs long ago did not have the sense to know she needed to rest when playing fetch. Thankfully, she had 2 black spots on her tongue that were perfect markers whatever the temp -- first spot showing meant she was nearing her healthy max; second spot showing meant STOP. Wish all dogs came with such clues.

Oh wait - all dogs DO have such clues! It's called behavior. It's called movement. Always available for us to see, if we have developed the observation skills that let us see what dogs are telling us.

Perhaps most critical in this "no fetch" or "fetch is fine" discussion: does the *handler* know how to make those assessments? Can the handler recognize the shifts in fine motor control or balance or cadence or gait or recovery?

Further, does the handler know what to do with the information gained from those assessments? Do they know how to take care of a dog so to promote healthy interactions, play, and activities that support the dog's mental, emotional and physical well being.

That's our job: to be caretakers, which includes quite literally taking care when a dog is not able to be self-protective or self-regulate or when the dog's lack of understanding about long-term consequences means fun in the moment may create harm further down the line. We have to take care that our encouragement or requests or expectations are within healthy limits for that dog, and that means getting our egos out of the way, always seeking more understanding of the dog as a whole being, developing greater observation skills.

When we start to understand self-regulation its importance for any being to function well, we can make recommendations that are appropriate for each individual dog instead of stupid blanket rules.

Being disregulated is good for no one, that much is true. But what healthy arousal and fun looks like varies for each animal.

While I was teaching in Warsaw at a conference, there was a pretty hot argument about horses, racing and jumping. One person claimed horses only ran or jumped because they were forced to, and it was awful for the poor beasts and so stressful. "No horse would jump just for fun." The knowledgeable horse people were outraged by the stupidity of this statement, as their lived experience with horses echoed mine and was utterly counter to the dumb remark.

Likewise, my lived experience with dogs has shown me that some dogs self-regulate beautifully, others do not, and still others have clueless handlers. What matters is the individual dog. SEE THE DOG.

I've watched handlers who bought into the no fetch advice - and you know what? Some had major problems in their relationship with their dog because they listened to stupid humans rather than their dog. Ditto for handlers who listened to trainers telling them to exercise their dog for hours or pack weights or ... fill in the blank of exercise of choice. They had problems too.

What is almost always a problem for the human-dog relationship is this: opinions of humans vs the facts straight from the dog. Blanket statements automatically exclude listening to the dog.

KNOW HOW TO ASSESS your dog mentally, physically and emotionally so you can support them and enjoy what is good and healthy for them! SEE THE DOG. Always. First. Forever.

03/22/2025

Happy to announce I’ve completed the Aggression in Dogs Master Course by world renowned dog aggression expert Michael Shikashio (Aggressive Dog).

Knowledge gleaned from this certification enables me to provide much needed help to dogs labeled aggressive - including those with a bite history. Many guardians and families have given up hope because many trainers won’t work with aggressive dogs. I’m here to rekindle that hope by providing practical, science backed solutions and much needed support.

03/16/2025

If any dog trainer tries to tell you reinforcement based training doesn’t work (or doesn’t work with every dog or every situation), that’s your sign they don’t know what they don’t know.

Thank you Susan Garrett's DogsThat for this exceptional podcast!

Have you heard the news that positive reinforcement doesn't work? The truth about the dog training success enjoyed by positive reinforcement-based dog traine...

02/24/2025

So fortunate to have Tom Mitchell as a training mentor.
Games Based Concept Training has enabled Ahead of The Game to change the lives of hundreds of dogs as well as the people that love and care for them. All accomplished without fear, force, or intimidation.

Addressing modern dog ownership, Dr. Tom Mitchell, founder of Behavet and Help! My Dog, has developed innovative approaches to common behavioural issues

01/05/2025

Rest in Paradise, Karen Pryor: Queen of the Clicker! Thank you for your immense contributions to animal training. You leave behind an undeniable legacy.