It Started With a Husky

11/03/2026

I try to avoid as much luring as possible when it comes to training my dogs fancy feet competition heel.
This is one of the ways I teach my dogs to keep their head up. I put food next to their head and whenever they look away/look up at me they get their reward. This teaches the dog to ignore things that they want on the outside of their face and it helps teach attention.

10/29/2026

10/29/2026

Harsh Handling Almost Killed My Dog

What exactly do I mean when I say “Harsh handling” because if you ask three different trainers what unnecessarily harsh/rough handling is, you will get three different definitions.

My definition of Rough, Unnecessarily Harsh and Man-handling is when you choke dogs out by their collars, roughly shoving dogs, grabbing them by their necks, hanging dogs by their collars, yelling at dogs for “not listening” dragging dogs who are terrified into crates or kennels, using upward leash pressure to demand basic behaviors. Using excessive force unfairly and generally treating a dog like they are an untamed wild beast trying to kill you.

Now back to my hook, “rough handling almost killed my dog” My newest addition Kuvira is a 1-year-old Malinois puppy who was brought to a shelter because of her excessive energy. Right out of the gate breed stereotypes such as “Malinois are difficult” “Mals need a firm hand” and “Malinois BITE” were applied to Kuvira, who in all honesty is a sweet loving dog who just has a LOT of energy. She has a very low bite threshold but a very high bite inhibition, meaning that while she does bite/mouth very easily it takes an extreme amount of pressure to make her bite hard. Or at least it did.

Kuvira does not enjoy being forced into a confined area, who does? She will pull back, toss and throw herself around, and will snap using her mouth to communicate “I DO NOT WANT TO GO IN” she is also extremely food motivated and will go into a crate or kennel for some hotdogs and with some patience. But unfortunately some of the well meaning volunteers and staff at the shelter used brute Force/ unnecessarily harsh handling to get Kuvira back into her kennel. I witnessed this myself. She put up quite a fight.
One of the volunteers one day, I'm sure, was very frustrated because she had a reaction to something and “didn't listen to the verbal correction”, strung Kuvira up by her neck while yelling at her and Kuvira, responding with force because of force, delivered a Level 4 bite. She was treated like a dangerous Malinois so she became a dangerous Malinois.

She had a much harder time with pressure after that incident, she was quicker to escalate her communication with other people (aka getting mouthy and wild), and she was almost slotted for behavioral euthanasia. An unnecessary death because of unnecessary harsh handling. She's not a dangerous dog naturally, she's just a high energy working dog puppy with Zero Impulse Control Training. Forceful handling made her into “a dangerous Malinois”.
Her story ended happily because of an absolutely wonderful saint of a Volunteer who saw she was just a scared under -stimulated dog that needed help and offered her gentle and kind handling with a focus on patience and teaching her skills.

I do not blame the volunteers or staff members at that shelter, they did not know better and only did what they thought was right. They were doing their best with the education they had and the environment they were in. I am grateful that Kuvira was allowed to be brought to me. Although I am saddened by the circumstances in which it happened.

But this is why I am making this post. To spread awareness to people who don't know any better, to people who need to take a good long hard look at their treatment of dogs and what they're doing. This isn't about loving dogs, everyone who volunteers and works in a shelter loves dogs. But Intention does not negate impact and rough/forceful handling has an extremely serious, sometimes deadly, impact on the dogs who experience it.

I have personal experience with unnecessarily forceful and unkind handling with my own dogs. I am not innocent. I have been unnecessarily harsh with past dogs, with Kuvira even. I was wrong to do some of the things I've done with her in the heat of my frustration. I have dragged her into her room by her collar and yelled at her because of my own dysregulation and frustration and her refusal to “just get into the goddamn room already I'm going to be late goddamn it. Why won't you just LISTEN” I have screamed and thrown objects (never at the dogs thankfully) because of my own anger. I have anger issues and an extremely low frustration tolerance naturally, combined with medical conditions that cause an even lower frustration tolerance if I don't take my pill and you get an extremely reactive person.

And Kuvira has responded to that harsh handling by snapping, by being harder to handle, by mouthing but tolerantly never biting. Because she's a sweet kind dog.
It's my job to keep myself in check, and it shouldn't be my dogs who take the blunt of my own frustration. It's every person who works with dogs Job to keep themselves in check. No matter how much the animal is frustrating you.

And guess what? Whenever I stop, I think and I make a
management plan to set her and myself up for success, such as making her room into a much more fun place where we play games and get high value pepperonis so she's more happy to go in there, handling her gets easier, and she's no longer fighting me.

Our dogs need to be treated with kindness, empathy and understanding. Not force, not rough handling, and not in frustration.
Get your treat pouch, give your dog time and *go at their pace*

10/26/2026

The Tale of Two Puppies

I have had a *lot* of dogs in the past few years. And each one has taught me more lessons than I can count.

My first Puppy Sokka, who's now 3 years old, taught me a lot about how NOT to raise a puppy.

Whenever I brought Sokka home I was still mourning the fact that Appa would never be the go everywhere and do everything dog I wanted so desperately.

So Sokka would fill that void that Appa left. He was a sweet little blank slate that with enough socialization and training he could be a happy and confident dog who could do anything! At this point in my life I had already read the training books, I took many puppy classes, I socialized him with friends and other dogs. I took him to pet friendly stores often and had him practice everything we learned, I made sure he had time to be a dog and relax, I utilized only Positive Reinforcement and had an incredible foundation. He had an amazing start and I won't say I did that wrong because I didn't.

I genuinely only missed one incredibly important aspect when raising a puppy. Which was failing to Go at SOKKAS pace.

I did everything right, but Sokka wasn't a blank slate that I could pour a foundation on and expect him to turn out great without taking his personality and needs into account.

He was a puppy who loves to work and please, he loves going out. But I confused wanting to spend time with me as “enjoying the environment I'm putting you in” which he wasn't enjoying. Looking back on old photos, I can see the stress lines on his face as a puppy. He was wagging his tail and he was soft. I won't claim he was 100% stressed out, he wasn't, but he was uncomfortable in some situations and I didn't support him. I blissfully misread that because he was doing all the obedience cues I pushed on to him, because he was giving the attention and he was working that he was *enjoying* himself.

As Sokka grew older, he did have to get louder about how he was feeling in new places, not just stores but any new environment, how much time he needed to decompress before he was ready to adventure. I remember points in time I would take him for a trail walk and he would be crunched down and terrified the entire walk. That's when my eyes finally opened that something needed to change. I remember taking Sokka out as a puppy and expecting him to behave like a completely trained adult dog, expecting him to enjoy sitting at my feet for an hour around other dogs all because he would do it.
Once I stopped putting so many expectations on him, and went at His pace his confidence grew again. And although we still have moments, he is 10x more confident than he was as a puppy.

Everything he taught me I brought over to Sozin.

Sozin, my third puppy, is everything I wanted in a dog.
Well. I made him into everything I wanted in a dog. I learned from my mistakes from Sokka in thinking a puppy is a blank sheet of paper that I can draw whatever I want on and get. I understood that Sozin's baseline temperament is an absolute dumpster fire. He is primed to be reactive, guardy, insecure, intolerant to things “against his rules” loud and bitey with a low frustration tolerance. And he is *still* all of those things at a baseline. I never forgot that.

I made sure to go at SOZINS pace. I took him everywhere with me and I *supported* him. I still made mistakes that my next puppy is going to benefit greatly from, but Sozin is a very artificially regulated dog because I gave him time and put work into him based on what HE needed. I built a lot of abilities to recover, and decompress from stress that he naturally does not have. That was my main focus with him as a puppy. Whereas with Sokka my main focus was obedience.
I can count on one hand the few times I've let Sozin down hard. I can't count how many times I dropped the ball with Sokka. How many times I failed to support him.

I am not saying that I haven't done any obedience with Sozin, that's the main thing I post about him, but it wasn't The Focus of his training. It's the byproduct.

What I did differently with Sozin vs Sokka was I didn't push Sozin. I treated Sozin like an individual vs a checkbox of things that I needed to do with him. Rewarding effort and things I like, no particular hard rules until he was older. Just play and be patient! If he were struggling, I stopped and listened the best I could.

I am proud of learning from Sokka. For realizing it was my own handling that made him unconfident instead of blaming him and his baseline temperament.

I am still learning and I did make mistakes with Sozin, but I am proud of the way I raised him. I think if he was my first dog then he would currently be a REACTIVE mess simply due to his genetics.

10/25/2026

PSA to always take your dog's needs into account!

After we went a busy festival I made sure Sozin got some outdoor run away sniffing time with his siblings.

He went with me to a very human centered Event where he was expected to do a lot of unnatural things (like walk past loud dogs and speakers at my slow human pace, be calm and quiet, pay attention to me, ect) and be on his "best behavior" and while he did have fun and get lots of treats, it's NOTHING compared to being himself in a natural environment running free.

Take your dog's needs into account! Let them be dogs.

10/24/2026

There is just something special about this dog, I knew that from the first second I saw his picture, just something deep in my soul squealed whenever I finally got to meet him for the first time and being able to care and raise him has been the most amazing experience ever. We are still learning and growing and maturing, but I have something special and deep with this dog and I'm so glad I get to live my life with him.

He had fun today, and I had fun with him. A couple years ago the thought of going to a huge dog event and not stressing out seemed impossible. Not constantly having to micromanage a dog just feels amazing. Having that connection between us is something else

10/20/2026

Got a Scatter Brained Wild dog who immediately starts trying to drag you to the nearest sniff any time you exit the car; a dog who clearly thinks you’re unnecessary to the adventure? Yeah me too.

So what can I do to help my dog go from wanting to explore EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW to calm and ready to work? Simple! Give your dog time.

“What do you mean give my dog time? How is standing around going to help?”

Kuvira, my one-year old Malinos that I welcomed home a little over a month ago, finds that everything needs her attention all at once. In short, she has a hard time offering focus, performing “known” cues and generally giving more than a single fluff about me or my treats. “Why would I want a treat when the whole world is right there” I'm sure she's trying to say to me.

In response, I give her time. Time to look, smell, watch and observe her environment. We stand in one particular spot while she watches the world and I watch her. Whenever she is ready, any moment that she tries to connect, I'm ready there with something fun and tasty to reinforce that I am a fun person to connect with and she should do that again. There is no pressure, no commands for eye contact, just rewarding her for choosing me.

The best part? After just a couple of minutes; she’s now ready to work. When she’s ready, when she is offering me more of her attention I will ask for something small, like a touch, and if she can do that I will ask for something maybe a bit harder, and so on until we are both feeling confident.

“But what if my dog never looks at me!” Then your dog is not ready for that environment. Her being unable to “focus on me” is communication. She either hasn't learned that paying attention to me is something I want or she's saying “This environment is too difficult” or perhaps it's both or something else entirely!

Start smaller, in your home, in your yard, down the street, then move to a harder environment. Each time your dog chooses to connect with you and you reinforce them for it, the quicker your dog will choose you next time you take them to the pet store or park. Connection Takes Time. Wait for it.

10/19/2026

"show me a before and after! You can't!"
This is something I hear often, trainers who mock me for using fear-free methods. Saying that because I don't have many before and afters, this proves that I do not know what I'm doing.

Let me explain why this is false and why a before and after isn't everything.

For starters, I set dogs up for success. This means I do not want a reaction, I do not want my client dogs to continue to rehearse reactive behaviors, especially just for content.

Secondly, whenever I am training my client dogs I would rather help my clients through the process of training their dog rather than record their reaction. This means I do not get reactions on video very often because I'm more concerned about training then recording.

And lastly, I have to think about my clients. Do my clients want their dogs lowest moments recorded and blasted on social media? Probably not. I would much rather share their successes then their in progress moments. Now, for my own dogs I don't really care. I will share their failures again and again in order to teach. But, I'm not recording 100% of the time, especially where a reaction is most likely to happen. I don't need my attention taken away from my dogs because I'm fiddling with a camera. Perhaps one day I will get a GoPro, but not anytime soon.

But- for all those people who still want a flashy before and after, here's Sozin as a puppy demonstrating very reactive Behavior, and then a "in progress" and then today. I don't have very many videos of him being reactive as an adult because I can count on one hand how many times it's happened since he was a puppy, because I set my dogs up for success.
That doesn't mean he hasn't had some really hard moments, it just means that I take what I learn and work to help my dog learn how to exist in this world.

10/17/2026

This is a pretty impressive video- but not for the reasons you might think.

When I watch this video I see a happy dog. Sure, he's doing a cool down stay in a *very* busy park. Specifically a local dog event with loud music, barely controlled dogs, people and kids and food, but more importantly and what I find Most Impressive? He looks genuinely relaxed and happy.

He was genuinely relaxed and happy *the entire event*
He was happy and relaxed whenever strangers asked to take his picture or whenever dogs stared at or walked last us, he was *genuinely happy* to connect with me as we walked from vendor to vendor. Together. That's what I want when I train my dogs. I want ture happiness and connection, not because I asked it. But because they want to offer it

10/11/2026

Take time to practice what you teach at home in the real world