08/01/2026
Sharing a personal story here, about our guy Yoda! Heâs a 14 yr AmStaff whoâs recently had some health challenges, which has meant multiple trips to his wonderful vet. Yoda has lived a long life, and weâve had many adventures together.
You may recognize him as the âposter boiâ of our Do as We Doâ a social leaning game weâve taught here at Leaps and Hounds. But, news flash, thatâs the only training class or program he has even been through. Weâve actually done very little formal trainingâ because if Iâm being honest it doesnât bring him much joy and it doesnât âfeedâ his welfare needs. What he really wants/needs is predictable patterns, resiliency, communication, and safetyâ and to go on Adventures and explore NATURE with his pal Jellyďżź.
In fact, he recently over exerted himself on an adventure. So weâve been taking it easy the last few weeks. His body is really slowing down, so weâre helping him heal so that he can get back to what he enjoys most.
And thatâs what I want to sayâ supporting your dog means providing for their welfare needs. Sure, training can be part of that. But itâs such a small part of meeting welfare needs for most dogs. Training is NOT the panacea out industry purports it to be.
ďżźIn our work, we are always collaborating with veterinary teams and through that we commonly see âaggressionâ and other âbehavior problemsâ in dogs are often indications of underlying medical/health related conditions or illness, and various other unmet welfare needsďżź. So naturally, thatâs where our focus isâ supporting welfare needs and the dogâs whole brain/body system!
If youâre out there meeting your dogâs needs, and your own, just know that youâre helping them feel better and live a healthy, happy lifeâ youâre on the right pathâď¸â¤ď¸
