Dogpoint, Miami, FL (2026)

10/30/2026

If you've been told your dog is a lost cause,
I'd like a word with whoever told you that.

You're walking your dog at 5:30 in the morning so you don't run into anyone, crossing the street whenever another dog shows up a block away, and shutting your dog in the bedroom when friends come over while the barking carries on through the door.

Maybe you've already paid two trainers. One told you to throw treats at a dog lunging at the end of the leash, the other told you some dogs are just like that and you'll have to manage it for the rest of their life.

Somewhere along the way the words "rehome" or "medicating" came up at the dinner table, or worse, at the vet.

The real damage happens when you start believing your dog can't be fixed, because that's usually the moment people stop looking for help, right when their dog needs clear structure more than ever.

I've trained dogs for over 30 years all over the world, including blind and deaf dogs and rescues that came with baggage nobody else wanted to touch.

Most dogs labelled hopeless have simply had years of mixed signals from owners following advice that was never written for their dog in the first place.

Here is how I work with owners in your position:

• A live one-on-one Zoom session every week, built around your dog, their breed, and your actual schedule

• A recording and a written PDF summary after every session, so nothing gets lost between calls

• Balanced training, mostly positive reinforcement, with clear corrections when your dog needs them to understand

• Direct support from me between sessions when something goes sideways

I won't pretend this is effortless. You'll have homework and I will hold you to it, but it fits into the life you already have, on the walks you're taking anyway.

If you're close to giving up on your dog, DM me the word TURNAROUND.

We'll arrange a free call to talk through your dog's behavior and map out a plan to fix it.

You'll know by the end whether we're the right fit, and if we're not, I'll tell you.

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.

10/29/2026

Your puppy needs 18 to 20 hours of sleep and rest a day, and the teenage phase doesn't get you off the hook.

Most owners I talk to are nowhere close to their puppies getting this much rest.

Then they book a session because their dog bites everything, gets the zoomies every evening, barks at every noise and can't settle, and they assume they've got a difficult dog when most of the time they've got a tired one.

I mean I'm happy to help. But this can also be fixed if you pay attention to this advice.

Sleep is when your dog grows. Bones, muscles, the immune system and the brain do most of their building during rest, and that's also when the day's training gets filed away.

Cut it short and you pay for it twice, once in development and again in behaviour.

Picture a new hire stuck in back-to-back meetings from 8 to 8 with no lunch. By 4pm they're snippy with everyone and fatigued. Your puppy has the same problem!

So here is what it looks like:

𝟴 𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝟲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀

18 to 20 hours of sleep and rest out of 24. Roughly two hours down for every hour awake, so play and training sessions stay short.

𝟰 𝘁𝗼 𝟲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀

Around 16 to 18 hours. The awake windows get longer, but the naps still have to happen.

𝟲 𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝟴 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀

Around 14 to 16 hours, and large breeds often need more. This is the stage where owners think their teenage dog needs more exercise, add way too much activities to their routine, and then wonder why their dog's behavior got worse.

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱

Hard biting or mouthing that gets worse when you try to stop it, overreacting to noises, people or other dogs, and a dog who can't settle even when the house is quiet.

Insufficient sleep can also cause your dog to become anxious and irritable.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁

Schedule the downtime the way you schedule your meetings. A crate or pen in a quiet room, covered if needed, and nobody wakes your dog up to play, including the kids and the visitors who "just want to say hello."

Get the rest right and a good chunk of the "problem behaviors" on your list slowly but surely disappear.

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.

10/28/2026

Your treats are probably making your dog's reactivity worse, and the reason is when you hand them over.

One of the most repeated tips online for reactive dogs is to shove food at them the second they start barking and lunging, so they "learn the trigger means good things."

It sounds kind, but it pays your dog for the exact behavior you want gone.

Food in training is payment for good work done.

Hand it over at the wrong moment and you're paying for the wrong job.

So here is what it looks like:

𝗗𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Your dog is over threshold and in the red zone or extremely overstimulated with excitement, so learning is off the table.

Anything you give now rewards the lunging, the whining and the pulling.

Think of it as a performance bonus for the employee who just shouted at a client.

𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲

The trigger has walked gone away, your dog has calmed down, and now the treat comes out.

By then the moment is over and your dog has no idea what it's for.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀

There is a moment between those two where a reward teaches your dog something useful, IF they chose not to react.

It's often less than a second wide, it shifts as your dog improves, and it looks completely different for a fear-reactive shepherd versus an overexcited Lab who was "socialized" by greeting every dog in the park.

Knowing that window exists is the easy part.

Spotting it on a busy street, deciding whether this is a moment to reward, correct or simply walk away, and doing it consistently enough for your dog to learn from it is where owners get stuck, and it's why I don't hand anyone a generic reactivity protocol.

If walks have turned into s**t show, DM me TIMING and tell me what sets them off.

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.

10/26/2026

"My dog only listens to me when I have treats."

I hear this on calls a lot, and I know exactly why.

Somewhere along the way the treats got phased out too early. Your dog learned to sit, came when called a few times in a row, and you decided the job was done and started holding back the food.

If your dog is highly food motivated, why would they keep working for you once you stop paying them?

In your dog's eyes that is unfair, and I agree with them. Stop paying your employees after one good month and see how long that lasts.

So here is what it looks like:

𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝟭: 𝗣𝗮𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲

Every correct rep gets a treat, for much longer than you think. You stay here until your dog comes or does the command quickly, every time, because they know the treat is coming.

How long that takes varies with each dog, and for many it means months. I know you don't want to hear that, but it's the truth.

𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝟮: 𝗙𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗹𝘆

Only then do you start rewarding roughly 3 out of 4 times. A few weeks later, about half the time, and after that around 1 in 4.

These numbers are an approximate because every dog is different, and rushing this stage is where most owners lose everything they built.

𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝟯: 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽

What you are really building is anticipation.

Your dog does the command expecting the treat, so they still do it when the payment doesn't come every time, which only works if you built a very strong reward picture in their head during phase 1.

Stop rewarding completely and it holds for a while. Then the responses get slower and sloppier, and eventually your dog goes back to ignoring you.

So when someone tells me their dog only listens when treats are involved, I usually hear a dog who got a pay cut before they had properly learned the job.

Save this before you start cutting back on treats, and repost it for the friend whose dog only sits when there's a sausage in sight.

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.

10/25/2026

Your dog sprints to you when the fridge opens, but at the park you're a stranger yelling a name.

You call once, then louder, and get that "I'll get there eventually" look. By the fourth call you're shaking the treat bag and chasing your dog, who thinks it's a game.

So the leash stays on, while other people's dogs run free and come back when called.

Your dog isn't stubborn or deaf. Every time you called and nothing followed, they learned coming back is optional.

Higher value treats, a happy voice, running the other way. Fine in your living room, useless against a squirrel.

To me, recall is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT commands your dog can know, because it keeps your dog alive near an open gate or a busy street.

How I teach it depends on your dog. We start on a long line and use a mixture of positive and negative reinforcement. For some dogs this works just fine and is all you need.

But for some dogs, especially ones with extremely high prey drive, we add the e-collar as a communication tool.

And for those of you already wincing at even the slightest mention of an e-collar... you've probably been fear-mongered by inaccurate explanations on the internet.

I've literally posted a video of me wearing it and using it on myself. The sensation is a light muscle tingle like a TENS unit, like what you use in physiotherapy. (Google it)

I always say punishment without a clear explanation to what the right thing to do is, then that is abuse.

If your dog has no idea how to make the sensation stop, that's on you, which is why the long line comes first. And why this specific method should be carried out by a professional that KNOWS what they're doing.

I've trained dogs for over 30 years in America, Canada, the UK, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Trinidad, including my own narcotics detection dog that worked off leash at a distance.

YouTube can't see your dog or tell you what you're doing wrong. I can, in live one-on-one Zoom sessions, with a plan built for your dog, plus a recording and PDF summary after each session.

If your dog treats recall as a suggestion, DM me RECALL.

We'll set up a free call to plan the fix.

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.

10/24/2026

A 5 mile walk is a warm-up for most dogs. That is why your dog is still bouncing off the walls at 9pm.

Dogs are built to be efficient walkers. A steady trot costs them very little energy, and after the first few blocks a familiar route is about as stimulating as your daily commute.

The legs are moving, but the brain checked out somewhere around the second lamppost.

It gets worse, because every extra mile conditions your dog. You are unintentionally running a fitness program for an athlete who never asked for one, and in six months you will need eight miles to get the same result.

What actually drains a dog is work that uses the body, the brain and the nose at the same time. Fifteen to twenty minutes of engagement games will tire most dogs more than a one or two hour walk, right in your living room.

Here is what that can look like:

𝗧𝘂𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝗿
Full body effort plus impulse control once you build in "out" and "take it." Set the rules first, then let your dog win sometimes, especially when they pull extra hard. Nobody enjoys a game they always lose.

𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀
Hide treats or a toy around the house and let your dog search. Ten minutes of nose work can flatten a dog that laughs at a 5 mile hike.

𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲𝘀
Feed meals from a puzzle feeder, snuffle mat or frozen stuffed toy. Your dog has to eat anyway, so make breakfast a job.

𝗧𝗼𝘆 𝗽𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲𝘀
Toys hidden inside other toys, boxes, flaps and sliders, perfect for the dog who needs to figure everything out.

𝗢𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀
Quick rounds of sit, down, place, recall and stays with distractions around. You tire the brain and build the manners you wanted anyway.

Which game works best depends on your dog. Some dogs would sell their soul for a piece of cheese, others go feral for anything that moves. Puzzles and scent work for the foodies, tug and toy games for the chasers.

Not sure which drive is stronger? Comment with what your dog loves and what they ignore, and I will tell you which one is running the show.

Save this for the next rainy day when a long walk is off the table.

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.

10/22/2026

DIY your dog's training or hire a professional?
Coming from a trainer, I know how the answer sounds.

Trainers run businesses and businesses sell services, so take this with whatever grain of salt you like.

Then keep reading, because most owners get the line between what you can fix yourself and what you shouldn't touch, very wrong, and getting it wrong costs far more than a training package.

So here is what it looks like:

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳

Leash pulling, jumping, door manners and most of the everyday problems I post about here.

Plenty of owners take that advice, stay consistent and fix the problem without ever booking a session, which is exactly why I post it.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗜𝗬 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴

Reactivity is the big one. Any trainer worth their salt will tell you not to tackle it alone, and the reason has nothing to do with effort. I've worked with owners who tried hard, stayed consistent and did everything they read online, and their dog still got worse.

What they were missing was the specialized knowledge of what to do, how to do it, and above all when and why.

With a reactive dog, timing decides everything. Reward at the wrong time and you've accidentally reinforced the lunge. Correct at the wrong moment and your dog thinks that it's being corrected for doing nothing wrong.

If your dog is reactive, things are probably bad enough already without making them worse by accident.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲

I know a lot of people are watching their money right now, and sitting on the fence feels like the cheaper option, but it rarely is.

Every month your dog rehearses the behavior makes it more ingrained, and more ingrained means more sessions, more time and more money to undo it.

The best time to get help was months ago. The second best time is now, and no, it's not too late. In most cases reactivity can be fixed, or at the very least managed to the point where walks stop being something you dread.

If you've been trying to fix your dog's reactivity on your own, DM me REACT and tell me what's going on with you and your dog!

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.

10/20/2026

If you've trained consistently for 3 months with no change, your trainer owes you an honest conversation.

I hear the same story from new clients almost every week. They did the homework, practiced daily, showed up to every session and paid every invoice, and their dog still drags them down the street or loses their mind at the sight of another dog.

When I ask why they stayed so long, the answer is nearly always some version of "I really like my trainer."

I understand that. You've built rapport, they know your dog's name, maybe they've been in your living room, and leaving feels like breaking up with someone over text.

You hired a trainer to fix a problem, though, and liking someone is a terrible reason to keep paying for results you aren't getting.

So here is how to check whether your training is working:

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆

Leash pulling and jumping should show clear improvement within the first two to four weeks if you're doing the work. Your walks won't be perfect yet, but you should notice a real difference.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁

If you've been running the same exercises for eight weeks with nothing to show for it and the only advice you get is to be patient, your trainer has run out of ideas and is hoping time will solve what the method can't.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝘆

Ask why your dog does what they do and what specifically is being done about it.

A vague answer also tells you everything you need to know.

The money you've already spent is gone either way, so the only decision left is whether you keep paying for the same lack of results or finally make the switch and join the Marc side.

(see what I did there 😆)

If this sounds like your last few months, DM me STUCK and tell me what you've tried so far.

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.

10/18/2026

You pay for a personal trainer, an accountant and a cleaner, but your dog's behavior gets free YouTube videos.

You outsource everything that matters and that you don't have time to master yourself. Then your dog drags you across the street toward another dog, and suddenly you're taking advice from a stranger on TikTok between two meetings.

Meanwhile you've stopped inviting people over, you walk at 6am so nobody sees the circus, and you apologize to strangers more often than you'd like to admit.

A dog with three or four problems stacked on top of each other doesn't get fixed in four weeks. Those behaviors feed each other, so the dog that pulls is often the dog that reacts, and the dog that reacts usually can't settle at home either.

That's what my VIP package is for: six months of weekly one-on-one training for owners who want a completely different dog by the end of it.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘅

- Leash pulling
- Lunging, barking and reactivity toward dogs, people, bikes or cars
- Jumping on guests and kids
- Fear and insecurity
- Over-excitement from bad socialization
- Ignoring you around distractions
- A dog that can't switch off at home

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁

- A live one-on-one Zoom session every week for six months
- A recording and tailored PDF summary after every session
- Lifetime access to both of my online courses
- More frequent check-ins between sessions
- Video reviews: film the behavior, send it over, and I tell you exactly what I see and what to change

The VIP package is 2,800 USD, a little over 100 USD a week for six months with a trainer who has 30 years of experience in your corner. And let's be honest here... you've spent more on things that annoyed you less than your dog does.

The plan is built around your schedule, your home and your dog's breed, because a plan that only works if you have three free hours a day is a plan you'll quit.

Booking starts with a short video call. I only take a dog into VIP when I'm confident six months will get the result, and if it's the wrong fit, I'll tell you.

DM me VIP and we'll book your call this week.

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.

10/17/2026

Your dog is lunging and screaming at every dog on the street and has probably learned it from all those friendly hellos.

I see the same pattern every week. Someone gets a new dog, reads that socialization is the most important thing they can do, and takes it as permission to let the dog meet every other dog at the park and every person who stops to say how cute it is.

For months every dog means play and every stranger means attention, so your dog quite reasonably concludes that the whole world exists for its entertainment.

Then your dog gets older and one day on a normal walk sees another dog across the street and but suddenly isn't allowed to go over.

That's when the whining, barking, lunging and spinning at the end of the leash starts, and the you stand there wondering how your sweet, friendly dog became the neighborhood problem overnight.

The reality is that nothing about it happened overnight. Your dog had months of practice expecting that every dog it sees is coming over to play, and when a leash blocks that expectation, excitement turns into frustration very fast.

This is excitement-based reactivity, and it gets mistaken for aggression all the time. It's still a serious problem, because it rarely stays where it started.

Sooner or later your over-excited dog charges into a dog that has no interest in a face full of enthusiasm, gets told off properly, and now there is real conflict in the picture.

Proper socialization means teaching your dog to stay calm and neutral around new places, people, dogs, sounds and smells.

In practice that looks like a lot more watching from a distance than greeting, rewarding your dog for noticing another dog calmly and turning back to you,

Politely telling strangers they can't pet them, and keeping real play to a small group of stable dogs you know and trust.

You need to be the most interesting thing in your dog's world, because if every passing Labrador is more exciting than you, you will lose that competition on every single walk.

And that's problematic reality that many of you now live in

- Marc Windgassen
No Drive... No Joy.