Scallywag Training

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United States
Oakland, CA
Scallywag Training

Science-based, force-free, fear-free dog training in Oakland, CA. Certified Trainer and Behavior Consultant and Certified Family Dog Mediator.

06/03/2025

Some might call me... thrifty. It took me years of making my own disgusting dog smoothies and abandoning them due to consistency issues before I gave up. A few weeks ago, a Bark Pouch fell into my hands. Not only did it give me excellent reinforcement for walking nicely to see his beloved chiropractor, but I knew it would be clutch for fireworks season.

We've dealt with idiots with firecrackers a bunch in the last week, but there was a giant mortar as we were settling in to sleep tonight.

The snuffle box didn't really cut it, but the lick mat with our - which arrived today - did.

We both now smell of liverwurst, but that's a small price to pay for avoiding a panic attack.

At the risk of sounding like a total shill, these are awesome.

05/21/2025

Should every dog be allowed to interact with others? No.

These are injuries that my dog sustained from another yesterday. I wasn't there, but from what I know, the other dog mounted, my dog barked, and the response was a bite and hold to my dog's skull that didn't end until people intervened.

The aggressor is not a dog who should interact freely, without a muzzle, with unknown dogs. This doesn't make her a bad dog, just not a candidate for free play.

It's actually OK if your dog isn't OK. You need to know their limits and help them. It's not OK to let your dog terrorize others.

This is not breed specific. Learn your dog. Know your dog. Help your dog.

05/05/2025

I don't miss the days of working through severe anxiety with my dude. Right now, we're training with dive rings in preparation for fun at the river in July. I found these at Grocery Outlet for $3 and decided that there was nothing to lose.

He was stoked to get them, but initially thought they were for destroying.

Session 1 was on Friday. We went to the park and used his ball as a reinforcer. We transferred known cues for his ball (where's your ball and bring it) to the rings before we added water.

Session 2 (today) was reminders in the park with the ball and then the kiddie pool, first with barely any water and then increasing the amount.

Using his ball built momentum pretty quickly. I also know that he's not afraid of water and will both swim for a toy and put his face in for a stick. So we should be able to make this work!

02/11/2025

I'm obviously bad at posting on social media, but I thought I would share our recent journey.

Bacon has always had a few territorial moments, but not enough that I felt it necessary to do more than in- the- moment work.

We recently got new upstairs doggy neighbors, and I've clocked more moments of barking around our building than I'd like.

I organized a bunch of people through our neighborhood Facebook group to bring their dogs by for structured sessions. We had our first one this evening, and it was flawless.

We're using a desensitization and counterconditioning procedure to shift his feelings before it gets to be a big issue. And he's doing great!

03/15/2024

I keep meaning to get to posting client videos, and I always get distracted. In the meantime, here's how we solved a "problem" at home.

Bacon had started clawing at his bed to achieve the perfect comfort level, but this both split the cover and shredded the insides. I didn't feel like buying a whole new bed, so this is what happened:

I deconstructed the bed and used an old pair of jeans to create patches on each side of the shredded stuffing. This was both to create reinforcement and reduce lumpiness. I added extra stuffing for a smoother feel.

I stitched up the tears and I used an old (and sentimental!) fleece blanket to reinforce the covering.

I added a little more stuffing to the bolsters for extra comfort.

I have no idea if it will be worth the time and effort in the end, but my boy is enjoying his bed without digging again!

I got to this solution through observation: the behavior of digging was relatively new. The behavior was increasing over time. This made me wonder if the deterioration of the bed was actually cueing the behavior. So I sought to make the bed extra comfortable again, and it seems to be working!

Honestly, you'll probably do just as well buying a new bed. But if you're crafty and thrifty, this might be a solution for your pup. The question is always, "Why are they doing the behavior?"

It always pays to be curious!!

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09/28/2023

We're still working through Bacon's fireworks aversion and his subsequent fear of the dark, the neighborhood, and his hypervigilance to lights in the sky. The other night we played porch games, drawing from lots of well practiced behaviors. Happily, this led him to feel confident enough to have an 11pm p*e, when sometimes he doesn't want to leave the apartment. It's a long road to rebuilding confidence, but keeping our dogs under threshold and designing our sessions so that they can control the outcomes makes a big difference.

And yes, this is hard. Yes, this is frustrating. Yes, this is worth it.

09/27/2023

Ollie the is, perhaps, too smart for his own good. He's a committed counter surfer, so we started our last session by using his brain. I prefer to channel that seeking behavior into more acceptable directions, like this puzzle toy.

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09/20/2023

I have a whole blog post written about what I'm dealing with at home - helping a dog through trauma - but I thought I'd take a moment to celebrate some client dogs.

Scout the Aussie came to me for puppy stuff - jumping, mouthing, potty issues, etc - and excelled due to his fantastic parents.

James the pit bull has been my friend for ages, and was the quickest dog ever to learn that there are things that are better than chasing cats! I can't wait to see where he'll go!

I didn't get enough time with Chibi the Maltipoo due to scheduling, but we made great headway on her handling issues while looking at her noise sensitivity.

I love my client teams!

09/14/2023

Well, Scallywag is on ice for a bit! I can still do consultations, remote training, and client coaching (once I can drive), but I'll have a few limitations while my bone mends. It pays to pay attention to where you're walking and not just the dog!

04/24/2023

Yesterday my sweet boy Bacon got bitten for the first time. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, but another dog – let’s call him Gus - misunderstood and thought that Bacon was going for an item that Gus wanted. Now, there’s a lot that we can say about resource guarding here, and many lessons to be learned. But I want to talk about fallout, which is one of the reasons that I don’t train with punishment.

While he was not seriously injured, Bacon was shaking like a leaf. His face was tender and his whole body trembled. While we were able to calm him, it soon became apparent that some other damage had been done.

Bacon refused to re-enter the room where the incident happened, the kitchen. He held himself aloof from his other dog friend who was present. Back at home today, he passed through our kitchen – generally a place of good things – as quickly as possible. And after the immediate shock had worn off, he also began to show a wariness of me. I was the nearest person when he was attacked. And now I’m scary, too.

We have a good relationship. We’ll bounce back from this. But what I saw unfold in front of my eyes is the transference of the fear and pain onto the people and places present when an aversive is added. This is the risk we run when we use an aversive, be it a prong, a shock collar, or even a penny jar. We may unwittingly increase a dog’s wariness of other dogs, certain locations, or even a guardian when we use these tools.

Plenty in life will be scary or painful for our dogs. There is no reason to add to the list and risk the consequences.

We’ll be over here rebuilding our trust account if you need us.

03/26/2023

Charlie was found as a stray with a lot of medical issues. It's not pressing compared to his other needs, but his mom would love to take care of his paws... but he doesn't much like having them touched. After some trial and error, I decided to shape some paw targeting in order to eventually get my hand into the picture, with his full consent. This was our first session working on this skill. Who says that you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

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Oakland, CA
94606

Website

http://scallywagtraining.com/

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