Training Your Best Friend LLC

11/21/2025

11/20/2025

I wanted to let you know that I will be taking some time off from dog training due to a recent back injury. My doctors have advised me to rest and begin physical therapy in December, so I will be pausing all classes and private sessions during this time. I truly appreciate your understanding and support as I focus on healing, and I look forward to getting back to training as soon as I am able. Thank you for your patience and kindness.

10/27/2025

Frustrated?
You're not alone and guess what?
Your dog may be too.

When our frustration grows our dogs can become confused, unsure and it can rock their confidence as much as it does ours.
Everyone gets frustrated at some point and if you feel it creeping in, stop.
Just stop.

Get that ball out and play.
Sit and do nothing for a while.
Step away while they have a sleep and you have a coffee.
Do something together that you know they enjoy and know how to do.

It's not worth persisting when you're feeling that tension rising and those shoulders tensing.
Your voice and mannerisms cant hide it from your dog. They know you too well.

Everyone has an "off day".
Dogs are entitled to them too and if we insist on pushing through, our frustration will grow some more, while they may just refuse to do anything because they sense something is just not right here.

Tomorrow is a new day.

It is always there waiting.

10/26/2025

Grinning dog?
One thing that we all need to be aware of. ⬇️
A dog's body language can be, and often is, easily misread.
A smile is one of those areas we need to look a bit closer at.

A commissure grin just means that the corners of the mouth (the commissures) are tighter and that can cause a dog to appear like they are grinning. These muscles can retract horizontally and this tightens the lips.
It looks like a happy grin, but it can also mean your dog is feeling some stress or anxiousness.
They could also be conflicted or scared, but hold the phone, yes, they can be happy too.

There are countless videos out there showing grinning dogs and people exclaiming how happy they are, many of them are anything and everything but happy.
Reading body language requires an open mind and a willingness to question what we may have always believed to be true.

There are no absolutes in deciphering a dogs body language.
Absolutes have no real place in dog training as there are always exceptions.

Always.

10/24/2025

10/24/2025

Congratulations to our Puppy kindergarten Graduates! Our two Great Danes graduated with honors tonight. Please meet Newman & Jessie! I just had to share a few photos of just how stunning they truly are. Really proud of these two beauties. They made excellent progress. We were missing our sweet little Golden ( Milo) tonight who could not make it to Graduation. This was a very sweet class. The pups enjoyed training & socializing. Can”t wait to see you at the next class in January

10/23/2025

Copy them.
Watch what happens.
This kind of subtle mirroring taps into something called social referencing and your dog uses your signals to decide how safe the world feels.
You're reflecting their body language and communicating with them in a language they understand clearly.

Dogs and humans can sync emotionally, this is a way we can help that process and let them know they are safe.

Will you look a bit "daft" doing it?
Yup!
You probably will at first, but then watch how much more comfortable you both become.

If I do this on a consult, you aren't boring me with your dogs history, at all!
I've noticed a small signal your dog is giving and I am giving my own messages of safety back.
So my yawn is well timed and intentional.
As are my lip licks and even moving my body slightly away.

We can speak the same language.

10/22/2025

Congratulations 🎈 to our Basic Obedience Graduates! This was an awesome class. Our pet parents knocked it out of the park training their beloved companions. Each team made great progress over the past 7 weeks! Please meet our sweet graduates starting left to right: Leila, Dually, Bear, Reese, Gus, Pixel, Lizzie, and CarMello. Kudos on your incredible journey. A couple of our pups couldn’t make it to graduation. So proud of everyone. Cannot wait to see you at Public Manners!

10/22/2025

DON’T FORCE ME TO BE SOCIAL!

It may be really disappointing or frustrating when our dogs are not the social beings we expected them to be.

Many people assume dogs should just naturally get along with other dogs, after all they’re the same species.

Some believe the “unsociable” dog has a behaviour problem that needs to be “fixed”.

Early, appropriately timed and proper socialisation is really important, but sometimes despite all of this, some dogs are just not that sociable or socially selective to varying degrees.

Sometimes this can be improved, especially if the cause is from a negative experience, but genetics, breed tendencies, individual personalities, health and age all contribute to tolerance and sociability, which also change throughout a dog’s lifetime.

If we, as a human species, don’t get along with everyone we meet, how can we expect our dogs to?

Do we label or try to fix every person that has an argument; doesn’t make friends with everyone they meet, dislikes some people, or just prefers not to be social as having a problem that needs to be fixed?

Why is it so easy to accept that every individual person is different than to accept that every individual dog is different?

When we have done what we can to improve our dogs’ social skills, we need to accept and acknowledge our dogs for the individuals they are, allow and respect their choice of whether to be sociable or not and never force interactions that dogs are not comfortable with.

09/30/2025

DON’T TOUCH MY STUFF!

We all guard our resources; it’s a very normal, natural reaction to a threat of something we value being taken away.

Animals would not survive in the wild if they didn’t guard their resources. It’s essential for survival.

Just because our dogs are domesticated and shouldn’t be concerned about these things, doesn’t mean that this innate, genetic behaviour disappears.

We also don’t get to decide what’s valuable to our dogs or what’s not – different things have different value and at different times.

Food is usually the most common, but toys, furniture, random objects, places, or even a particular person are all things that may be considered a valuable resource.

Punishing or forcing a dog to give something up is probably one of the worst things to do. Resource guarding is rooted in the emotion of fear – the fear of that resource being taken away.

Punishment and force further increase that fear, which only increases and reinforces the need to protect that resource.

When a dog is guarding something, we can change the negative emotion of fear into a positive one by swapping, trading or adding something that has a similar or higher value.

This is one of the most effective ways to address resource guarding as it works at the root cause of the behaviour by changing the emotional response.

A dog resource guarding a person is more complicated to address. A full history of the individual dog, family dynamics, attachment styles, situation and environment all have to be assessed before planning and working on a solution.

Resource guarding can usually be prevented, managed, or resolved by understanding the underlying emotion, building trust and a sense of safety, and using consistent practice coupled with positive reinforcement.