Grey Matter Dog Training

10/20/2026

Atticus is practicing his focused heel and high heart rate alert and doing so good!

Atticus is a 4 month old GSP lab mix who is in training to become Grey’s personal multi-purpose service dog.

Click that follow button to follow along with his journey or if you’d like your dog to look like this send us a message!

10/17/2026

Anthropomorphism has a fairly bad reputation in behavioural science, and often for good reason. Describing a dog as jealous, guilty or stubborn without any real evidence behind the claim can lead to poor welfare decisions, built on a story that happens to be emotionally satisfying rather than accurate.

But treating the word anthropomorphism as an automatic red flag misses something important. There is a meaningful difference between two very different uses of it. Naive anthropomorphism reaches for a human emotional label because it is the easiest, most familiar explanation available, without checking whether the underlying biology actually supports it. Careful, evidence informed anthropomorphism does something quite different: it uses what we actually know about shared mammalian emotional and physiological systems, systems dogs demonstrably possess in comparable form to our own, to generate a real, testable hypothesis about what a dog might be experiencing, one that then gets checked against actual behavioural and physiological evidence rather than simply assumed.

Refusing to ever use emotional language at all, out of an overcorrection against sloppy anthropomorphism, risks its own kind of error: describing a dog purely in terms of observable behaviour while ignoring a substantial and growing body of comparative evidence that dogs experience real emotional states, not identical to human ones, but real, and worth trying to understand accurately rather than either projecting onto carelessly or dismissing altogether.

10/17/2026

A common excuse for certain tools and human-to-dog punishment techniques is 'it's mimicking what the mother dog would do' but is that actually a good thing? 🤔

Two of the common techniques/tools that get explained as a variation on 'what another dog would do' are the alpha rollover and the pinch/prong collar, and there are fundamental issues that come with both of these.

The alpha rollover comes from the idea of physically putting a dog in a position of submission. This has shown to not actually happen in the wild with wolves which, although they are not dogs, a lot of these myths do stem from. In fact, any time a wolf rolls over onto its back in this way it is done voluntarily and isn't forced by another wolf putting it in its place. Furthermore, true alphas are actually parental figures in natural wolf packs and part of being successful in this is shown by the fact they do not need to rule over others with some kind of iron fist. Aggression and squabbling in wolves tend to be seen in insecure packs in captivity, not well-established functioning packs in the wild.

The pinch/prong collar is often attributed to mimicking the idea of the mother physically grabbing a puppy with their mouth 'correcting' them with the pressure of the teeth on the dog's neck. However, yet again this is not accurate to reality. Normally there are many steps a mother dog will take before an inhibited bite is used on her pups, and being able to defuse the situation and teach her pups how to do so without resorting to aggression is part of what is seen as being a successful mother. It has also been shown that mothers who use more of these aggressive behaviours to wean their pups end up with pups who are less social with people, which is not an outcome we are usually looking for!

At the end of the day, we are not dogs or wolves and our dogs know that, but even if they didn't these techniques do not hold up to scientific scrutiny. It is so important that we look into these claims rather than taking them for a fact. So NEVER just do something because someone told you 'it's what another dog would do'. 👍

You can find out more about the study mentioned in the graphic here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/016815918490056X?fbclid=IwY2xjawU4xdFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMU14SlFMTVhrRkw5TUx4ZTFzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEewNU57xy3ZZVJSgM2cwq5E7GdgBw22iqCGfJcHWizb351AALDLw0DmqIgyZg_aem_O7NCxocQXLMtmmUswY_G0Q

10/17/2026

I’M NOT STUBBORN!

Your dog won’t come back when called, refuses to walk in the direction you want to go, won’t sit when asked, doesn’t listen when out and about, but does it perfectly at home…

Are they just being stubborn?

What we may think of as just being stubborn is often an important clue that tells us we need to look deeper into the cause.

A dog’s response is influenced by far more than motivation. Emotional state, physical discomfort, stress, tiredness, an environment, previous experiences, genetics and learning history can all play a part.

Perhaps dogs don’t understand what we’re asking. Maybe an environment is far more rewarding than we are. Maybe they are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, overexcited or tired. Maybe they've learned that responding to a particular cue predicts something they find unpleasant. Perhaps there is pain, discomfort or they’re not feeling well.

Are we making it worthwhile, have we taught the behaviour clearly and practised in different environments, is the environment too challenging, are we asking more than the dog can manage in that moment, is there an unmet need or an underlying physical issue?

These are far more important questions than asking how to make a dog comply.

Our responsibility isn't to win a battle of wills. It's to understand the dog in front of us, in that moment and create the conditions in which they can succeed.

Build motivation through what is reinforcing to the individual dog. Make learning clear and consistent. Manage the environment. Respect emotions and physical limits.

A dog succeeds when they feel safe, understand what's being asked and are motivated.

Instead of labelling a dog as “stubborn”, first look at what might be underneath that behaviour.

10/17/2026

Yeah, yeah. Trigger stacking 🥱
I know. We harp on about it.

But it's fundamental to understanding and helping a dog.

And those triggers?
They can be pretty insignificant when looked at individually.
A sniff that went wrong, a rattling trailer driving past or even a barking dog behind a fence.

That's why we always need to keep trigger stacking tucked away in the back of our minds.

It's often easy to recognise when a dog has reached complete emotional overload.
Clear as day.

All those other stages?
Sometimes not so clear.

And when things aren't quite so obvious, it's easy to make decisions to stay at the park a little longer, meet that next dog, or greet that person.
When maybe we should have recognised what our dog was already telling us.

And those stages?
They're not really a reliable, fixed scale.
Dogs won't necessarily work their way neatly or clearly through each one.
The stages can overlap, those changes can be really subtle, and recovery?
Yup, pretty individual too.

So maybe it's time to stifle that yawn and give trigger stacking the attention it deserves.
Because those seemingly small, insignificant experiences can add up.

And what a dog could cope with an hour ago might be something they simply can't cope with now.

Even your dog.

10/17/2026

10/15/2026

Join us October 24th at the Dog House Sports Bar in El Reno, OK for low-cost pet vaccinations!

Make sure your furry family members are up to date on their vaccines.

📍 Dog House Sports Bar | El Reno, OK
📅 October 24th

We look forward to seeing you and your pets!

10/07/2026

We’ve spent decades trying to change what dogs do.

What if we’ve been looking at the wrong end of the equation?

Behavior isn’t the whole problem. Behavior is the visible consequence of an invisible system.

The barking is information. The lunging is information. The shutdown is information.

Stop asking only, “How do I stop this behavior?” Start asking, “What made this behavior necessary?”

That question changes everything.

Visit www.waldrupsomaticmethod.com to learn how to see the dog underneath the behavior.



[dog behavior, canine nervous system, dog somatics, reactive dogs, canine behavior, nervous system regulation, dog psychology, anxious dogs, canine stress, dog body language, behavior modification, dog training, canine education, nervous system resilience, Waldrup Somatic Method]

10/04/2026

As fun as working on a focused heel, flashy position changes, and tasks can be working on settling is just as important of a skill for service dogs to have.
Service dogs need to be able to calmly wait in one spot for extended periods of time to be able to handle working in environments like movie theaters, restaurants, doctor offices, and libraries where their handler may be seated for 30 minutes to several hours before moving again. A dog who isn’t trained to settle may act out in an attempt to solve their boredom by barking, whining, chewing nearby objects, pacing, soliciting attention from strangers, sniffing their environment, and more- none of which a service dog should be doing while on duty.
If your service dog or service dog in training struggles with settling message us and we can help!

Photo description: photos show a black German shorthair pointer lab mix puppy in a purple butterfly vest with matching “in training” chest wrap and a maroon leash on an outdoor rug under a porch. First image shows the puppy looking at the handler the second image shows the same puppy looking at something in the distance.