Gold Ridge Cognitive Canines

08/27/2026

Very late posting my IACP pictures on here 😂
I had a fun week in Newport Beach and got to spend time with a lot of people I don't get to see nearly enough!

We fit in some other fun stuff too - checked out the In-N-Out by LAX where the planes fly ridiculously close overhead ✈️, visited my good friend Priscilla and Presto's girlfriends Revi + Kiwi ❤️, spent some time with family, and then eventually headed home.

There were also a few presentations I especially enjoyed and have still been thinking about since getting back. A lot of it was really validating, especially around puppies, service dogs, agency, cognition, movement + rest, and looking at more than just the behavior we're seeing.

It also inspired an addition to my service dog training program that I'm really excited about, plus a few ideas I'm playing around with for future seminars/classes. We'll see what actually makes it out of my brain and into the real world 👀

One of my notes from the week:

Not just whether the dog can obey while they're having an emotional experience, but whether we're helping them develop the capacity to navigate that experience.

I apparently had way more to say about all of this than I realized 😂 so instead of trying to fit everything into an Instagram caption, I wrote a whole blog:

Building Capacity on Both Ends of the Leash
What Stayed With Me from IACP 2026

https://www.goldridgecognitivecanines.com/post/building-capacity-on-both-ends-of-the-leash-what-stayed-with-me-from-the-2026-iacp-conference

It's up at grccanines.com 🐾

Anyway, finally getting some of these pictures posted from a really fun week with some really great people ❤️

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08/27/2026

Happy National Dog Day to my best boy, Presto 🐾💛

He says he hopes you do something fun with your dog today ✨

08/26/2026

Shout out to two of my lovely clients/friends who were officially the first to bring my new GRCC logo to life on merch! 💛

It’s so fun finally getting to see the new logo in person on actual shirts and apparel, and even more special that it came from people I love and appreciate!! ❤️

Thank you SOO much to:

🐾 Dudley & Co. Outfitters for the awesome printed shirts!

🧵 And thank you to Judy for the gorgeous embroidery!!

We love you guys, and I’m so excited to be wearing some GRCC gear with the new logo from Rayco Design ! ✨

08/25/2026

08/25/2026

IACP Conference Vendor Haul 🐾

Unpacking all the goodies I brought home from the IACP Conference!

There were so many great vendors this year, and apparently I have very little self-control when it comes to dog treats, toys, and training stuff 😂

The goodies are fun, but I also came home with a lot of ideas from the presentations and conversations that I’m still thinking through. I’ve been working on a blog with some of my biggest reflections, takeaways, and thoughts from the conference -- stay tuned for that!

And an extra special shout out to:

Rare Breed Dog Treats for the awesome healthy dog training treats (only 3 ingredients!) I especially love the treat holding trays the packaging transforms into.

Slip Leashes Dot Com for the beautiful gold leash for my gold collar boy, Presto 💛
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Check out our updated group class schedule at:

grccanines.com
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08/24/2026

Excerpt from my latest blog, Link to the full post is in the comments:

When I evaluate a dog's social skills, two of the things I'm looking for above almost everything else are:

● Can this dog tell another dog “no” without taking it too far?
● Can this dog be told “no” by another dog without retaliating?

Those are relationship skills. They only get built through actual interaction, ideally the kind where a person is close enough to guide it and step in if a correction starts to escalate past what it needs to be. A dog sitting on a bench watching the park never has to navigate a moment of conflict, never has to read another dog's boundary and back off, never has to set a boundary of its own and hold it appropriately. That dog might come away from the outing more comfortable with noise and movement and unfamiliar dogs and people at a distance. It won't come away better at actually engaging with other dogs, because it was never involved in any real social interaction.

That's the piece environmental habituation simply cannot do, no matter how many hours of exposure a dog gets. This is not a knock on habituation. It's just not what habituation is for.

when we call habituation socialization, we're not just being loose with language. We're quietly acting as if structured socialization, and the specific things it builds, don't really exist as their own category of skill. That's a bigger loss than a vocabulary slip. It shapes how trainers think about what a dog needs, and it shapes what owners come to expect and ask for.

Read to whole post on my website to understand the full picture.

08/18/2026

New group class schedule is up on the website 🐾

Including another round of Treibball, plus a Tricks + Dog Dance/Freestyle event coming up! Some fun ways to work, play, and try something new with your dog.

I’ll also be away this week for the IACP Conference and some family time, so I may be a little slower getting back to messages.

See you all when I’m back ✌️🐕

grccanines.com