Able Pawz

08/17/2025

Olive & Kirby sure love when I come take them for walks

07/28/2025

07/09/2025

This Predatory Motor Patterns infographic is in my book and I've received several requests to make this chart available as a download/poster.

NOTES here: https://doggiedrawings.net/blogs/whats-new/new-free-download-predatory-motor-patterns

DOWNLOAD for free here: https://doggiedrawings.net/products/predatory-motor-patterns

Edit to add: What was the [breed] traditionally bred to do? Buy my book :) http://doggiedrawings.net/pages/dogs-of-the-world-book

06/12/2025

How an ACD Interprets Space: Pressure and Movement in Training

Australian Cattle Dogs are spatial thinkers. As a breed developed to control livestock through movement and pressure, their understanding of space is sharp, deliberate, and deeply instinctive.

This shows up clearly in training:

🔹 They read your body position, not just your words.
An ACD is more likely to respond to how you move than what you say. Step into their space, and they yield. Step away, and they may advance. Pressure means something to them—it’s how they were bred to influence livestock.

🔹 They use space to communicate.
Crowding, flanking, darting behind—all of this is a conversation. An ACD uses movement to test your boundaries and clarify their own. A trainer who understands that pressure is a language will communicate far more effectively with this breed.

🔹 They are sensitive to push/pull energy.
Too much pressure can overwhelm. Too little, and they’ll test leadership. Success with an ACD often lies in your ability to modulate pressure—knowing when to step in, when to give space, and when to stay neutral.

🔹 They thrive on purposeful movement.
Because they were bred to control motion, random or unclear movement from a handler can confuse or frustrate them. Precision, timing, and intention are key when asking an ACD to follow your lead.

⸻

Understanding how ACDs interpret space and pressure is key to building mutual respect.
You’re not just training a dog—you’re learning to speak the language of a thinking, spatially aware working animal. And when you get it right, the results are powerful.

06/06/2025

05/05/2025

DOGS KICKING OR SCRATCHING THE GROUND AFTER ELIMINATING

Dogs kick or scratch the ground after eliminating for several reasons, primarily related to scent marking and communication with other dogs. This behaviour is an instinctive action that helps dogs spread their scent, indicating their presence and potentially marking their territory. Some dogs do it and some don't. It's an individualised behaviour and not generalised to all dogs. It has nothing to do with dominance theory or trying to be the alpha - this is outdated thinking.

Dogs have scent glands in their paws that release pheromones, which they use to communicate with other dogs. Kicking after eliminating helps distribute these scents, marking the area and leaving a 'calling card' or potential warning for other dogs.

By spreading their scent, dogs can assert their presence and claim a territory. This can be particularly important in areas where other dogs are present or likely to pass by.

The kicking motion also creates visual markings on the ground, which can serve as a visual signal for other dogs, especially when they are nearby.

Some dogs may also kick to bury or spread their waste, potentially to conceal it or to further disperse their scent.

The kicking motion can also be a way for dogs to express relief after they have eliminated.

Does your dog kick or scratch the ground every time they eliminate?

05/04/2025

Behavior “problems” people tell me their dog has (and they want to fix) that I find extremely relatable -

- He doesn’t like it when people he doesn’t know come to the house, especially if it’s a man.
- SAME
*dogs don’t understand company coming over. They have no concept of UPS, Amazon Prime, or family barbecues. The majority of time in human civilization that dogs have existed with us did not include ANY of these things. They are mostly still hardwired to view unknown visitors on their territory as a potential threat or danger. We forget that most of the time we KNOW who’s coming, but our dogs don’t. And imagine if you didn’t know and suddenly a stranger showed up wanting to come in and hug you. I bet you’d freak out too*

- He’s fine with people he knows, but he doesn’t like it if a stranger tries to or does touch him.
- SAME
*dogs are not public property. I wouldn’t allow a stranger to touch my child or baby simply because she’s cute, why my dog? Dogs should be able to choose if they want to interact with someone and people need to learn how to accept and understand when they say no politely, before the dog feels they have to escalate to get more distance*

- She doesn’t want me to touch her while she’s eating and will sometimes growl or grumble if she has a toy and I try to take it away.
- SAME
*ever try to take away a kids Easter candy? How about taking someone’s money that they are holding in their hand? How do you feel when someone takes food off your plate? Sharing doesn’t come naturally to humans OR dogs, but for dogs it’s rooted in survival and completely normal.*

- She growls when the kids lay on her if she’s sleeping, or if I try to move her when she’s on the couch napping.
- SAME
*not wanting to be bothered when resting is also natural and normal. If I groan and get irritated when my kids do that to me, I’m not labeled as aggressive or unpredictable. What dogs do to communicate irritation or discomfort is absolutely acceptable, and yet they are the ONLY creatures that we see this behavior as a problem*

- He used to be fine with big social gatherings like the dog park. Now he’s not.
- SAME
*behavior and ideas of “fun” change as we get older and mature. Same happens to dogs. I’d love a nice bath and a book at the end of the day now, not a night on the town. Nothing happened to me, I just grew up. Dogs are the same way many times. Their likes and dislikes aren’t always concrete and we have to learn to adapt with them, just as we do ourselves*

I seriously could write these all day. All it takes is a mild shift in perspective to see the issues we label as bad or rude or negative in dogs are often COMPLETELY normal mix and “fixing” them first starts with understanding them, then helping your dog, and meeting in the middle. Training is appropriate in lots of different situations but it’s useless if we fail to actually realize dogs as the animals they are. The more we do this, the easier life with these amazing creatures is for both of us.

- Helen St. Pierre

04/24/2025

04/24/2025

If you are going to have a dog, you are going to have to make sacrifices. You cannot expect to have an animal that was designed to live primarily outside and bring it into your house and not have to make changes or adjustments. A dog is not an ornament, a commodity or a display. A dog is an animal. You are sharing your life with another species. This is life with a dog.

Your yard will not be pristine. The grass will get burned from their p*e. Holes will be dug, bushes shredded, mud will come in the house. You cannot ask them to not p*e in your house and then also try to control even their outside bathroom. Please see how unfair this is. This is life with a dog.

You house will need management. Your counters will need to be clear. Shoes will need to be put away. Laundry room blocked. Kids toys picked up. Some things will get destroyed anyway. This is life with a dog.

They will bark at noises. They will protect their territory. Sometimes fiercely. They will not welcome strange people into the home easily even if you “know them” because this is in their genetic DNA. They don’t understand family gatherings and they don’t always see things the way we do. They won’t love playing with every dog they meet. This is life with a dog.

They will need enrichment and work and productivity. They will need training that is kind and fair and consistent and then maintenance to maintain that training. They will need guidance and coaching and lots of reinforcement to help them perform unnatural behaviors against their natural phenotypes. This is life with a dog.

They will mature and change and modify in their likes, behaviors and preferences as they age. Their behaviors aren’t guaranteed. They are not robots and they can be mercurial as they grow into their own personalities. They are allowed to change their mind and shift naturally just as we do. They need to be seen for what and who they are, not what and who YOU want. This is life with a dog.

Life with a dog is not a human right. It is a privilege and a responsibility and an education. They are animals and should be treated and expected to behave as such. That doesn’t make them any less loved or family members and it doesn’t make them any less deserving of respect, in fact it makes them more so.

Enjoy your life with a dog, and help them enjoy life with a human.

- Helen St. Pierre

04/16/2025

Did you know? Dogs must be 24 months or older for OFA Hip and Elbow certification, and 12 months or older for Cardiac, Patellas, and Thyroid certification. There is no age minimum for eye certification, nor for DNA, since DNA does not change as the dog ages.

The OFA also does Preliminary evaluations on hips and elbows before 24 months of age. However, they will need to be re-evaluated again for a final certification once the dog reaches 24 months.

Individual breeds may have different minimum age requirements for their CHIC program, which is determined by their parent club.

For more information, visit https://ofa.org

04/08/2025

04/04/2025

I didn’t think I’d spend my career fighting for dogs to be allowed to play fetch. But here we are.

Four years ago, I noticed little hints of pet parents being warned about playing fetch. I had clients whose working dogs got no exercise.

“We used to play fetch, but the previous trainer told us to stop so he wouldn’t become a super athlete,” one Aussie owner told me. “The arch of the ball in the air causes adrenaline spikes,” one trainer wrote. “It causes compulsive disorder” is a common theme. “They are addicted”. The list goes on and on.

At that time, I warned that it would spread like wildfire, and indeed it did. Now, the concept that fetch is bad is in most pet households. Why do I care? Because many dogs are underenriched. Most dogs are underexercised. Taking away the one joyful thing they do is terrible. Especially when the claims are false.

Yesterday, I was tagged on a post about fetch. My followers know I’m pro-fetch (because I’m pro-happy and excited dogs). Heck, I wrote a chapter in my book about fetch.

When I saw the post, my heart sank. The post, with the click-bait “HERE’S THE SCIENTIFIC TRUTH NO ONE TALKS ABOUT,” had 900 shares. Then 1000. Now 2.1k.

I’ve tried so hard to stay out of these debates. I just want dogs to be happy, but the world is on fire, everyone is stressed, and we’re all focused elsewhere. But this morning, someone shared it with a cattle dog group. One commenter said, “I play fetch with my dog once a week, and now I’ll rethink that.”

And just like that, my heart snapped in half.

In 2.1k shares, there are countless guardians who will stop playing with their dogs because of that post.

So, I woke up this Sunday morning and found myself here, making this post, attempting to put a bandaid on the gushing chest wound of the assault on happy, excited dogs.

The first claim of the viral post is that fetch mimics the predatory sequence. This is the pattern that all predators use to hunt. They find the prey, then they stalk it. Next, they chase, then grab, bite, kill and consume. The poster says that fetch is bad because “the kill bite never comes” and reports that “the dog is neurologically left in a state of arousal.” I get it. When paired with words like “dopamine,” “adrenaline,” “and cortisol,” it sounds potentially bad.

If we are concerned about completing the sequence, we can rest easy knowing the dog does, in fact, “capture” its ball “prey.” If they want to shake it, they do. They can if they want to hold it with their paws and rip it apart with their incisors, instinctively acting out the “consume” part of the sequence.

But fetch isn’t a broken predatory loop. It’s a modified, learned behaviour that is naturally rewarding, fun to do, and often reinforced with positive feedback and the ball being thrown again.

Not every dog must complete the full sequence to experience satisfaction or neurological "closure." Many have been selectively bred not to complete it (e.g., gun dogs retrieving without damaging prey and herders bred for various tasks). You might see some of your breed’s version come out during fetch, like when a border collie stalks his ball.

There’s no evidence that fetch causes chronic stress. Cortisol spikes during activity, including play, but this is not pathological. It’s a normal response. Studies do not support the idea that fetch causes chronic arousal or leaves a dog dysregulated. Chronic stress is caused by uncontrollable, unpredictable stressors, not voluntary play.

Studies show that predictable, rewarding exercises like fetch can reduce stress when balanced with rest. The claim that “dopamine is not the reward chemical—it’s the pursuit chemical” is a half-truth. Dopamine is involved in wanting AND liking. If dopamine release from play were inherently harmful, food training, nose work, and toy rewards would also be "dangerous" because they rely on the same reward circuitry. But there’s no evidence that normal play dysregulates the brain.

A meta-analysis on canine behaviour problems (Tiira & Lohi, 2015) found that lack of activity is associated with increased problem behaviours, including anxiety and destructiveness. Dogs, especially high-energy breeds, need both mental and physical outlets. Fetch can absolutely be part of that. It’s not "coffee for a child with ADHD”. It’s more like recess for a kid who’s been sitting all day.

While play can resemble predatory behaviours (chasing, biting, shaking), which is why we have stuffy squeaky toys, tug toys, balls, herding balls and candy-coated ways to let our dogs kill things, it’s functionally and emotionally distinct. Play triggers positive affective states in the brain and is associated with dopamine, endorphin, and oxytocin release—not just adrenaline and cortisol. Studies in dogs and other mammals show that play is self-rewarding and contributes to stress regulation, not dysregulation.

We also know dogs can distinguish between real predation, acts of aggression, and sexual behaviour vs play. That’s the whole point of play. It’s like humans playing house when we’re kids. Dogs are acting out the real-life version of what they might need to do, from fighting to hunting prey.

Again, no p*er-reviewed studies show that playing fetch daily creates “chronic sympathetic dominance,” weakens immune systems, or causes behavioural burnout. These claims rely on theoretical ideas, not research. In fact, routine play, when balanced with sleep, training, enrichment, and calm time, contributes to emotional regulation and well-being.

On top of all of the fake scientific-washed bu****it, the concept that it makes dogs less focused on their handler is where I really want to pull my hair out. Our dogs are literally focused on us for survival. They are captive animals, rarely getting more freedom than a zoo animal. They rely on us for everything from potty breaks to feeding, and these days, they can’t even sleep where they choose. I’ve never met a dog who is less apt to focus on his handler because of fetch, but if I do, I’ll congratulate him for having some agency in his day, some ability to not care what the human is doing.

In fact, the very act of fetching and retrieving IS directly tied to the “level of synchrony between human and companion animal.” Delgado MM, Stella JL, Croney CC, Serpell JA. Making fetch happen: Prevalence and characteristics of fetching behaviour in owned domestic cats (Felis catus) and dogs (Canis familiaris). The very concept of fetch is believed to be tied back to days when it was helpful for us to have dogs bringing back animals killed with projectiles, something we still use the behaviour for to this day in hunting breeds.

If you ARE worried your dog is compuslive or “addicted”, know this. NO TRAINER IS QUALIFIED TO MAKE THIS DIAGNOSIS. Especially when the diagnosis is coming because a dog is focused on the ball, jumpy, potentially a lot to manage, Barky, “pushy,” or otherwise doing what excited dogs do. Including not wanting to stop. Imagine, as a kid, if you were running into a playground, excitedly yelling and begging your mom for five more minutes when it’s time to go home, and someone said you were “addicted.”

Compulsive disorder in dogs still needs a lot of studying, but it is likely genetic is often made worse by underlying conditions, like pain. Stress and anxiety usually contribute along with a lack of exercise and enrichment. Your dog enjoying playing with a ball is not a diagnostic criterion. In fact, I use play, including fetch, to help my compulsive disorder clients.

All that to say, the original post will be shared. It will be shared a lot because it sounds real, because it’s clickbaity because it makes people feel like they might be harming their dog. And, as a result, well-meaning people are going to stop playing with their dog.

The last line, “He deserves you—not just the ball”, is what REALLY makes me mad. This gaslighty concept that guardians using fetch are somehow not giving their dogs a relationship, love or connection.

If you don’t want to play fetch with your dog, don’t. If you’re worried about joints or arthritis, I’m not going to tell you to do something that doesn’t feel right. But if you’re like me, and your dogs love games, play and fun, don’t let some post stop you from having fun with your dog.

Update: thank you to everyone who has interacted with and shared this post!

To find out more about your working dog, read my book, Urban Sheepdog: https://amzn.to/4g0o6VT