RotNDog Training & Behavior Consulting

12/09/2025

When it comes to “commands” or “verbal cues” we always have the opportunity to get creative. One of my clients uses “you’re better than this” in place of “leave it” with her German Shepherd. I was laughing every time she used it!

It doesn’t really matter what you say, as long as you’re consistent. But when there’s some added humor, you can’t go wrong.

12/08/2025

Choosing the right muzzle can be a very frustrating experience from brands, to sizes, to fitting. Choosing the right brand and type is the first step.

I’ve laid out all the things to consider when making your choice of a purchase and in the future I’ll lay out all the things to consider for the next step: size and fitting.

Link in comments.

12/07/2025

Everyone loves to pose their dog for cute photos. If your dog needs to wear a muzzle because they are undergoing behavior modification, have a bite history, or any other reason, that doesn’t mean you have to forgo the cute photo ops out in public!

Life With Reef ‘s Buoy shows us that.

10/31/2025

New Blog Post on Halloween Safety 🎃

Halloween can be a fun time for humans, and yet it can also be a scary and dangerous time for our pets. Here are some important reminders to keep them safe and happy on Halloween night.🎃 Keeping your pets inside is the safest thing to do.Exercise your dogs early! Feeding them dinner a little bit ...

09/06/2025

Coconuts are a pretty safe “toy” that can be given to dogs to play with, chew, and shred (provided they are not trying to consume all of the shredded husk). They can last for a bit and the best part is they are free!

Deegan here is thoroughly enjoying his.

Warning - coconuts may also cause zoomies!

09/05/2025

I hear from a lot of clients who get a second dog so their first dog “could have a friend.” The reason I’m usually called in, is because things aren’t really going too well.

If you want to get a second dog, these are the two biggest points I would consider:

1) Does your current dog display sociable behavior and enjoy the presence and interactions of other dogs? If yes, then ok, your dog might benefit from a friend. If your current dog displays aggression towards other dogs consistently and has never had a known dog “friend,” then bringing home another dog will not magically make your dog like other dogs. This is a recipe for fights in the home, hence why I get called. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t fair to the first dog.

2) Are you happy with your current dog’s behavior and would you want your second dog to act like this dog, too? Then yes, ok, getting a second dog might be a good thing. But, so many people get a second dog thinking it will improve the behavior of the first dog. In this case usually people end up with TWO “badly” behaved dogs. And that’s again why I end up getting called. If you’re not happy with where your current dog is with their behavior, don’t get a second!

Having more than one dog is not just about what you want, but also about what your current dog(s) want, and how their future relationships and behaviors will feed off of one another.

09/04/2025

One way to pair a dog’s favorite things with their crate is to keep some of their most valued toys for in the crate only. However if the crate door is open, it’s pretty easy for the dog to just take the toy out of the crate. So what’s the solution? Zip ties!

This dog’s favorite toy was Lamp Chop, so we secured her to the side of the crate with a couple of zip ties. Now in order to snuggle/hump/chew/whatever with Lamp Chop, he must enter into the crate, and enjoy her there.

This can be done with stuffed toys as well as some bones and other long lasting chews. It works especially well for when we want to pair rewarding high value items with the crate, but also still have the crate door open.

09/03/2025

When people say that “ignoring bad behavior doesn’t work” … there’s an important part that’s missing.

While there can be a lot of varying motivations behind particular behaviors, when your attention is the motivator, the WORST and most PUNISHING thing you can do to the dog is… ignore them!

Almost every single client I see with a dog who displays attention seeking behavior attempts to stop it by doing something that they perceive as punishing - usually in the form of verbal or physical corrections. And yet - that gives the dog the very thing that they want: your attention.

When we yell at a dog, we’re still looking at them and engaging with them. When we shove a dog off of us and push them away, we are still touching them and they often times view what you’re doing to them as fun rough housing (especially the bully breeds and working breeds).

What actually works to decrease the behavior (by definition, therefore punishing the behavior) is to completely ignore them when they display the attention seeking things. Ignoring means to pretend they are invisible - no eye contact, no talking to them, no touching them. They don’t exist, until they give up the undesired behavior, reset, and display a more desirable one.

If your dog is barking at you to get your attention, this is when we ignore it to decrease its occurrence. If your dog is barking at noises outside your home, ignoring it will not make it go away, as the motivation is not directed at you.

It’s very important to know the difference.

09/02/2025

DOG TALK TUESDAY: Pacing

Pacing - where a dog is walking or trotting back and forth, either in a repeated pattern or in various unpredictable patterns, is sign of stress especially when accompanied by a lowered head, ears back, tail down, stress panting, eye whites, dilated pupils, etc. While some dogs can pace in anticipation of something potentially good, even in those situations there’s some stress involved with the frustration of not “getting the thing” that they want, yet. The dog videoed here is actually still fearful of certain members of the household, even after a year of adoption.

Dogs can pace when they are uncomfortable or fearful and don’t know what to do instead. They don’t feel safe and they don’t feel comfortable staying still. Pacing is a behavior that can often times make anxiety and stress worse, as it can create a snowball effect when allowed to continue for long periods of time without an intervention.

As always, when reading body language we have to remember to read it like we would read a sentence. Understand that it’s all the words together that create the meaning of a sentence, not one word alone. Thereby we also need to take all of the dog’s body language signals combined to create a meaning, and not focus on one single body part by itself.

09/01/2025

MUZZLE MONDAY

Ari’s owner has started calling this his “magic muzzle” because it has been instrumental in allowing him to safely open up his circle of friends. Muzzles can allow for behavior change that either couldn’t occur or would occur much slower without it being used as a tool.

Magic muzzles for the win!

08/31/2025

Time and time again I have clients who choose not to crate train (for whatever reason), and then I tell them that they really need to crate train for the situation at hand, and then they get a crate, and then the dogs are like, “THANK YOU - finally.”

Two dogs in the open crate and a third near it definitely shows how some dogs can benefit and you may not even know it until you try it.

And yes, they have more crates then just this one now, as well!

08/30/2025

That moment when your dog and cat are sharing the couch together after starting off with slow, short introductions with muzzles and leashes is truly gratifying.

Dog/Cat dynamics can be incredibly challenging. There’s certainly times where true predatory behavior around cats just isn’t worth the risk. But sometimes, everything works out and the hard work pays off.

Betty and Peter are quite comfortable coexisting now.