Confident Canines LLC

06/17/2026

Neurophysiology of Territorial Aggression & Common Behavior Modification Approaches --

This looks at what is going on beneath the surface when a dog displays territorial aggression and explores why. But it also compares the use of shock collars to reward based methods and explores the neuro-physiological responses to both.

Audio podcast and Transcript are available at this link: https://www.confidentcaninesdogtraining.com/post/neurophysiology-of-territorial-aggression-in-dogs-common-behavior-modification-approaches

Audio here:
https://youtu.be/MRw_nOS34-A

06/14/2026

This is something I regularly tell clients, yet many people are sometimes unwilling to temporarily change their walking environment until their dog is ready for that level of intensity. Life is about choices. We have to set our dogs up for success by choosing the appropriate environment. We have to meet them with where they are at rather than be upset they aren't where we want them to be.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17Ebc92Zau/

Improvement does not occur in the presence of constant overwhelm. Dogs can't learn how to cope if they are busy trying to avoid the things that are scary. The avoidance will be the way that they learn to copy.

Busy neighborhoods are rich in triggers: unpredictable movement, proximity to unfamiliar dogs and people, noise, and limited ability to create distance. For a reactive patient, this results in repeated activation of the stress response.

When a dog is consistently over threshold:

▶️Sympathetic arousal increases
▶️Cognitive function is impaired so your dog can't learn the behaviors that you are trying to teach
▶️Defensive behaviors are reinforced through repetition without you doing anything except continuing to walk your dog

This is not exposure therapy nor is it desensitization. It is training your dog to BE REACTIVE.

Each reaction strengthens neural pathways associated with threat detection and response. Over time, the behavior becomes more efficient, more intense, and more easily triggered.

Progress happens where the brain is able to process and learn—not where it is in survival mode. If we want different behavior, we have to change the conditions in which behavior occurs.

06/11/2026

There is NOTHING that a human can do in normal, every day encounters that would make it reasonable for a dog to severely attack with intent to kill. Period. The process of domestication of various species is breeding for docility and tameness toward humans, reduced fearfulness, and basically breeding for low hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function (the body's stress/threat detection and response system). With many dogs that we see in the U.S. nowadays, dogs suffer from extreme fear and anxiety which can lead to aggression toward humans, including owners. It is not unusual to hear of dogs who cannot be anywhere near strangers who are minding their own business while walking down the street without the likelihood of aggressive behavior being displayed. Not a guarding context, for which some dogs were bred. When the opposite of "docility" is achieved and aggression is heightened toward humans, something is very wrong. Even livestock guardian breeds are bred for non-lethal deterrence, and not with the intention of killing the trespassing human or wildlife.

This woman reportedly acquired the dogs who nearly killed her from rescue groups and was actively fostering a sixth dog. Many people make excuses for dogs' extreme aggression but the bottom line is that this is completely abnormal behavior that is unfortunately becoming more normalized in the United States. Nearly killing (and reportedly eating) the owner is not a normal way a dog resolves conflict, but it is becoming more common to see dogs display unmodulated aggression nowadays, likely for many reasons, including heightened fear from impoverished socialization, genetics tending toward fear & anxiety, strongly intact prey drive for the full predatory sequence, neglect, and early life trauma/adversity. However, research is also showing evidence of particular genes associated with aggression, increases in particular gene expressions that reduce the modulation of aggressive behaviors in a few breeds, altered neuroanatomy that heighten fear and reduce aggression modulation, and altered hormone and neurotransmitter levels -- all of which can affect the intensity of aggressive behaviors (more on that in a future post with extensive citations). This is important to note because aggression caused by neurological and physiological issues are NOT training issues. You cannot train away mental or physiological illnesses. There may or may not be appropriate medical treatments to make these dogs consistently safe. That is a truth that is immensely difficult for many people to face.

Someone stepping a dog's tail, reaching to pet them too quickly, or going near their food should never result in them being seriously bitten and certainly not mauled to death. Dogs who are unwell (physically or psychologically) may do that. Ritualized aggression is what healthy dogs do to assert boundaries without real harm coming to either party. Both wild canids (within the pack) and domesticated dogs display ritualized aggression (and submissive signs) to resolve conflict -- hard stares, lips raised, growls, and alternatively, head turns, backing away, appeasement licking, rolling over, etc.

Additionally, rescues need to stop adopting out dogs like this. It is business-as-usual for me to see dogs adopted out from local rescues that immediately begin displayed some pretty serious aggression in their new homes. Adopters and fosters, in my experience, often are told little/nothing about the dogs' histories except sometimes being told that they were "saved" from shelter aggression euthanasia lists. There is a lot of faith put into these organizations that they know the dogs' histories and have vetted the dogs as "safe" to be in their home, but that is not always the case. There is no mandatory period or record keeping for rescues, at least in Nevada, for testing and documenting the behavior of a dog before he/she is adopted out into the community.

There are lots of wonderful dogs out there who need homes, but the adoption of seriously aggressive dogs of any breed only deters people from ever wanting to trust a rescue organization enough to adopt a rescue. I am hopeful that the rescues in this case are held legally responsible for the injuries to this woman if there was any shred of evidence that these dogs displayed aggression before adoption or if there was a lack of adequate vetting of the dogs prior to adoption. Adopting dangerous dogs -- human aggressive or severely dog-aggressive -- out into the community puts everyone at risk. People accidentally forget to latch doors, people may drop a leash during a walk, the backyard gate can blow open, owners can have medical events while walking their dogs that result in them losing control. It should not result in serious injury (or death) to someone if a dog gets loose. Yet, we see people killed by dogs regularly who were loose roaming the neighborhood, or going after their own family members in their own homes.

Bottom line.
Please don't believe this type of high intensity severe aggression is normal. It is very ABNORMAL behavior and the opposite of what domestication is supposed to achieve. When seeing a loose dog on the streets, no one should have to be afraid to approach that dog to leash them and take them to safety for fear of serious bodily harm and/or losing their life. A small nip or bite on the hand that barely breaks skin is different than an uninhibited multi-bite attack intended to kill the victim. This has nothing to do with breed but everything to do with vetting for normal versus abnormal behavior in the dogs we allow into our homes and communities. It is not helping dogs to place them in situations where they are set to fail.

As a reminder -- trolls will have their comments deleted.

-- Eileen Koval, CDBC, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, MSc
Candidate M.S. Applied Animal Behavior and Welfare (2026, Husson University)

https://fox17.com/news/local/woman-attacked-by-several-dogs-she-was-fostering-metro-nashville-police-say-davidson-county-tennessee

06/06/2026

Early socialization CANNOT wait, and this is why.

The brain literally changes and loses some of its early plasticity, or openness to change and new experiences.

How does this happen? New research is revealing why.

In a research study with mice, glucocorticoid receptors in the hippocampus area of the brain (which controls memory, learning and motor patterns) binded to cortisol that was released with exposure to light. This affected the opening/closing of early critical periods in mice. Removal of the glucocorticoid receptors re-opened the critical windows and renewed the brain plasticity.

These same glucocorticoid receptors binding to cortisol is what is problematic for dogs when trying to teach them new things while they are highly stressed. This is why stress reduction in training is essential for learning. These receptors will block the storage of positive memories formed during training if they are bound to cortisol (stress hormone) that circulates in the body and brain tissue when animals (or people) are highly stressed. This is why some of these dogs seem to "forget" what they learned in their next training session if they were very stressed or very over-aroused in the previous one.

There are reasons for the recommendations of socializing heavily before 12 weeks of age and for reducing stress in training. These recommendations are based on understanding of what is happening beneath the surface that will help set up dogs for success

I wonder what this new discovery holds for understanding dogs, humans and other species' critical periods? To say it could be game-changing is an understatement!!

https://neurosciencenews.com/cortisol-astrocytes-brain-plasticity-30810/?fbclid=IwdGRjcASRVGdjbGNrBJFUZWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHjHIV3CL6aBt_pOUV0q1N8OMwAB3bKW9TWeORPG6d9sLdbKTtQOU7WWqVUka_aem_VxEdMc5CztOdHxz6A0gSuQ

Cortisol activates an astrocytic gene program to close early-life brain plasticity windows.

06/05/2026

Do you use jackpot rewards? If not, maybe it is time to start incorporating them.

I was just reading a study a few days ago in dogs that hinted at these heavy jackpot rewards improving future performances of behaviors (which matches my experience), but this study better elucidates how it works. It is great to see this studied and written about and the neurochemical mechanisms becoming better understood!
https://neurosciencenews.com/dopamine-accelerate-learning-reward-30742/?fbclid=IwdGRjcASP6FVjbGNrBI_oPWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHhO-Fy-a1mGnxLW2Q-F9l78CaKD7LZwzYx2iOQxkq_oZFf2FJCIpcjuGEUzh_aem_j-BIxk9ddHTvq5GAt1l4UQ

Large rewards accelerate learning speed by extending the duration of dopamine signals in the brain.

06/05/2026

Negative posts are going around about dog sports and how dogs should be "natural", should not be taught obedience, and should just exist in people's homes to do as they please without much human input or guidance.

This is inaccurate "science".

Most dogs living in the US were bred to work alongside humans originally. They are NOT wolves or any other form of wild canid. They are not a wild species or free-roaming domesticated dogs. They are mostly bred from breeds that were bred for very specific behavior patterns, many were bred for their biddable nature since they were trained to work with a specific human, and ultimately for doing work alongside humans. Dogs have a special social cognition with humans that is shared by no other species. They gravitate toward humans, understand humans' body language and gestures, are quick to pick up on verbal cues even when we are not trying to teach it to them, and they are far more inclined to trust humans than any wild species. This from our unique shared history and thousands of years of domestication.

What is "natural" is not necessarily an improvement on captive animal welfare. In the natural world, anything that enhances survival and reproductive advantages is considered positive and beneficial. Animals that have early adversity in life display HPA axis dysfunctions and display maladaptive behaviors like hypervigilance, but they also live longer. That is considered an advantage in the natural world for a wild animal. Guess what? That is poor welfare for a captive animal. With a captive animal, the goal is not "survival". The goal is enjoying a life worth living.

Most dogs that I encounter are highly under-stimulated, under-socialized, and under-prepared for the social situations they are expected to navigate inside the home and away from home. Some people don't even have their dogs leave the home even for a walk most days or even most weeks, which is really sad. Dogs are curious and typically are social creatures, but not when they are so deprived of early socialization that the world is fearful to them. Obedience should not be about control but more of teaching a way to communicate to your dog how to handle a particular situation -- such as cueing your dog to turn and move away from a social situation if they look slightly stressed by a person or other dog's behavior; standing or sitting for a greeting (not jumping); teaching a dog to ignore other dogs and people while on leash; teaching coping skills around things that frustrate the dog -- like seeing something they want but cannot have at this moment; teaching respectful boundaries around access to resources when they are multiple dogs in the home -- resource guarding is a sign of anxiety and insecurity; teaching the dog not to pick up everything off the ground or off the dinner table that could potentially hurt them. We do this with human children so they can learn boundaries and feel safe to operate within them in the world. This should all be taught in a way with rewards that is fun and enhances welfare, not compromises it.

But we should never forget that dog should be exhibiting normal "dog" behaviors to be healthy. What those look like can vary by dog because breeds are bred for such highly specific patterns, but there are cross-overs between breeds. The preferences of the individual take primacy over "breed" or anything else. Practicing these behavior patterns are essential to their well-being! But scheduling out enrichment is not sufficient. That sounds like life in a prison where you get meals brought to you, time in the gym, your visitor hour, and everything is decided for you. A key component of welfare is having CHOICE. This includes having the freedom to CHOOSE what to do at given times. Having choices over chewing items, when and where to rest, toys they enjoy to play with, choices over food that they find palatable and enjoyable and having some variety if possible, choosing when to go on walks, where they might like to walk, letting their owner know that they would like to do training, regular meet ups with friends (since they can't grab the keys and leave), freedom to occasionally meet another dog or person they might like to say "hello" to on the street if the other party agrees, asking the owner for attention of play time, etc. There has to be two-way communication. My dog can let me know when and where he wants to walk by going to two different doors. One goes to the garage where we will drive to a park. The other door is the front door to the neighborhood. He also can let me know when he wants to train agility by going to the back door and nosing his toys. He also knows how to ask for specific stomach medications if he is having an IBD flare. These things matter.

My dog is my partner. He has saved my life, as a diabetic and him as my diabetic alert/response dog. He is a Nederlandse Kooikerhondje, which means "the hunter's dog". He was bred to work closely alongside one person. And that is what he does.

That said, there are a lot of concerns I have with the way *some* people in the dog sports world use harsh training (especially in the bite sports and obedience), deprive their dogs of autonomy, deprive them of the ability to engage in normal behaviors with excessive crating, and other forms of welfare deprivation to build arousal and engagement with the handler. At least in the agility world, this type of approach has fallen wayyyy out in favor in the last several years (thank goodness!). The problem is not with sports. Sports enhance welfare and the dog-human bond. The problem is with the way a minority of people approach training and engaging in the sport. When we trial, I do not even bring a crate if my husband is there. If he is not there, my dog is crated for ten minutes while I walk the agility course to learn the sequence. Otherwise, we are having fun finding his dog friends at the event and socializing, watching other other teams run, sniffing wherever he would like to go, and lying in the grass together. Most people know that I have been very active in trying to change the culture of dog sports both in my local area, but also with mounting campaigns to enhance safety-related policies with the American Kennel Club. Changes occur in culture, practices, and policies when we actively advocate for them.

Working with a human is very natural for a dog. It is exactly what most were bred to do. However, the working relationship with the dog shouldn't be abused and it sometimes is. These posts going around focusing on making dogs an object in the home without guidance on how to feel safe in and navigate the world, without respect for what dogs were bred to do and their special relationship with humans, without stimulation... it is very sad to me because there is some missing out on what dogs' needs actually are and the connection between dogs and humans. People's hearts are in the right place, but the answer to problems in the obedience training world and dog sports is not abandonment of these things that can help meet dogs' needs.

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Update: Internet trolls will have their posts deleted. I respond to people who want to engage in genuine dialogue, but trolling and/or making nasty comments about me or my dog's photo and other inappropriate things is simply unprofessional and I lack the time for it since I am busy with clients full time and 25-30 hours per week with graduate school. The big question: why do people troll? They likely are unhappy in their own lives, feel helpless in a world that is moving on without them and not representing how they feel things should be, and they feel powerless about. It is sad that anyone could find something wrong with a post promoting the dog-human relationship, advocating for more choices for and understanding of our animals. It is sadly likely reflective of the mindsets and emotional states of the individuals making these arguments. This page is not an open forum. It is my personal business page promoting best industry practices, training and behavior information from research publications, and my own knowledge and opinions from personal experience.

-- Eileen Koval, CDBC, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, MSc
M.S. Candidate Applied Animal Behavior and Welfare (graduating 2026, Husson University)

Photograph courtesy of Tiffany F. Photography

06/04/2026

We need strong animal welfare laws to protect both animals and humans too. This falls under the scope of One Health One Biology One Welfare. We have virtually no federal welfare laws for privately owned animals, and very few state laws. Animals welfare falls mostly under local regulations, and it enforcement depends on how well the local regulations and state laws are written to hold up in court.

Most people are aware of the three horses that were stabbed by a fellow barrel racing competitor who was not even in the same class competing against those competitors.

It is well-documented that those who exhibit violence toward animals often also exhibit violence toward humans, too. It is also well-studied that many adolescents, adults, and also dogs who exhibit uninhibited aggression commonly also have neurological abnormalities that affect their abilities to modulate aggressive tendencies. We do not know anything about the health of the perpetrator that in this case, but what we know is that this was NOT child-like behavior and it is NOT normal adult behavior. It is not even the behavior of a person who is having a horrible day. It is unthinkable behavior for most adults.

We need to protect those who are most vulnerable in our community. This is done by creating laws that are specific (not vague) and enforceable, and allow early detection of mistreatment of animals. This is also done through appropriate sentencing for crimes committed, and also ensuring that these individuals will never own animals or be alone with them again. This is important because the arrested individual expressed interest in being a vet technician. Can anyone imagine if this happened to a child and the individual expressed interest in being a daycare worker?!

It also requires recognizing that the perpetrators are not exhibiting normal behavior and they may need help, too. When the individual stabbed the first horse for the first time, the animal likely screamed and reared up in pain and tried to get away, yet the individual continued to stab them and then moved on to the next horse. The individual allegedly even made conversation with one of the owners before then stabbing that horse once the owner left the premises. This is not child-like behavior or normal adult behavior. It is predatory behavior with uninhibited aggression and a lack of empathy for the victims since the individual did not stop when seeing the first horse likely scream in pain.

Please consider writing to the DA's office to support proper sentencing for this individual with a stipulation of never owning animals again, if all the allegations are proven true. The problem is that enforcement would likely only be limited to Clark County, or maybe the state of Nevada since there are not federal welfare laws for privately owned animals. Most of all, please support any initiatives for the strengthening state and federal welfare laws for privately owned animals.

05/25/2026

Inconsistent running dogwalk contacts....solved!!!

At a recent trial we barely hit one dog walk contact, nailed another one solidly, and missed the other. It raised red flags. For the past year we have been highly consistent with our running contacts both during practice and at trials. Running contacts are something I am adamant about doing with my individual dog (an intact male Kooikerhondje) since stopping motion is highly demotivating for him and also a possibility of injury if I do not call my speedy boy into collection (shortened stride/smaller steps) quickly enough to decelerate before stopping in the yellow.

Alarm bells went off after this recent trial. During classes for many weeks there had been tunnels at both ends of the dog walk to work on discrimination between the left and right sides of the tunnel, and sometimes additionally with a jump to the side off the dog walk with the tunnel still there. The contacts that he struggled with at trial had the jump 10-15 feet laterally/parallel away from the dog walk. When we got back to Las Vegas, I ran him several times over the dog walk with a similar setup and then ran him where there was a tunnel ahead (although offset). I was trying to figure out what the issue was since it was a change in behavior. It quickly became clear that he knew his dog walk contact **in the context of** some type of obstacle being ahead, whether or not that was the contact he was supposed to take. I can (usually) easily call him off of that obstacle that lies ahead to take one to the side but he was a bit confused and beginning to collect himself and actually slow down quite a bit in the blue zone further up the downside of the dog walk ramp unsure of where to hit in the yellow when there was not an obstacle in front. He apparently knew he was supposed to hit a spot but was not sure where when environmental elements were not where he expected they would be. He had also been trained on an separate yellow "spot" away from the dog walk, but apparently the environmental factors stuck out as more important to him. He has very strong drive to move ahead, which likely plays a factor in his perceptions. One would think that the yellow contact zone is VERY clear and the most obvious factor, but it was not the only important factor from his perspective.

This may seem strange, but it should not be a surprise to anyone who has run agility or done training with the dog. Many behaviors are learned "in the context of XYZ". We think about gaining distance from the weave poles and that is something that usually has to be slowly trained because dogs will do the poles in the context of us being on a certain side of the poles, a certain distance ahead or behind or laterally, etc. The same goes for completing jumps, tunnels or other obstacles. They typically have limits on how far away both ahead and laterally we can be to feel comfortable enough to move away to perform that obstacle. They may not even understand what we want without us physically being in the position they expect us and other objects to be in -- without us realizing it. The same goes for obedience skills. Dogs may know these in the context of their home environment but not necessarily in the neighborhood or at a park unless we generalize those behaviors to those locations -- and even around certain people and animals.

It is important to not treat these as just an obedience exercise but understanding that the dog is looking for environmental cues and support to understand how they are supposed to perform a behavior. They have a different perspective that relies on details that seem unimportant to us but are very important to them. It needs to be respected even if it may seem foreign to us. Always trust that a motivated dog is trying their best. As for me, I decided to go back to basics -- but without an obstacle straight ahead after the dog walk -- and teach him to go to the bottom and start rewarding it, just like I did early on with basics. He started improving quickly. I have to meet my dog with where he needs me in this moment and not be upset with him for being in a different place than where I wish for us to be instead. He is always trying 110%, and he is amazing. He qualified for Nationals last year and likely will again this year, despite not getting to trial often since we have to travel out of state for most trials, take off work and stay in hotels. He is usually very consistent and represents the better half of this team! These miscommunications happen (in any relationship!). I simply did not understand how he viewed the training until the different courses at trial illuminated the issue. Every trial and every training session is an opportunity to learn and improve. It is insight into how our dog thinks about and perceives the world as well as our communication. Seize these moments!

The photo is courtesy of Tiffany F. Photography in Las Vegas, NV.

05/24/2026

Agility is interesting because you have to do 50+ things perfectly correct during each run with exact precision -- no errors -- to qualify at the Master's level. Novice requires a lot of precision, too, far beyond other AKC sports where you can often show up with no experience, enter your dog and very likely walk away with a ribbon. You have to move your shoulders left or right at just the right time sometimes with feet pointed the opposite way, decelerate or accelerate speed to control their speed and collection, call collection and directionals, push through or pull back from obstacles to affect where your dog lands after a jump to be in position for the next one, and never miss a yellow contact or a weave pole or drop a bar -- and run the course correctly! There is tons of training on these skills, foundations, directionals, forward drive, and the impulse control to not drive to an obstacle that they personally enjoy more but one that is not the desired one at that time. It isn't for the faint of heart. It isn't a sport where you can just go to classes with little outside-of-class practice and then do well at a trial. There has to be bidirectional communication, which I love sharing with this boy. With agility, you end up doing a lot of runs with one small error and no qualifications and no awards. That can feel demotivating especially for teams who do sports that have a lower bar of entry and are used to walking away from trials with a backpack full of ribbons, most of which are much fancier than you would see at any agility trial. Every error at a trial is an insight into what to work on next to keep improving skills and communication. The real prize is the deep connection and understanding you develop with your dog, better understanding their needs and how they perceive the course, the world, and your communication. The high level of communication and connection teams accomplish together is the real achievement. Some handlers focus more on control instead of teamwork and don't open themselves up to truly understanding errors because the problem may be their handling skills or how they train. They simply blame the dog for any errors. That is a huge missed opportunity for deep connection and understanding of the dog's perceptions, drives, and needs. Agility is not for the faint of heart. It offers challenges that are different than most other sports, and it is a lot harder to earn those qualifying scores. But every stage of the challenge is worth it!

We finished the weekend in Camarillo 4/6 runs as qualifying, earned a QQ, and 77 MACH points A great weekend! The errors that prevented us from qualifying on the two non-qualifying runs were very small. One missed dog walk contact in Standard today and one off-course jump on Friday. We will go back to reinforcing the value in the dog walk contact. Today was a bit rough because I collapsed after the first run from low blood sugar (diabetes can be a pain!) due to the running/exercise right after exiting the ring. That has happened once before about a year ago. Nic gave me glucose and I was eventually better for the Standard run although I still felt really nauseous and still ready to puke. It didn't seem to affect Gilgamesh although we missed that yellow dog walk contact but he handled another otherwise very tricky course with precision. I could not be more proud of this boy and grateful for the teamwork we share together.