Wagging Good Dog Training

11/22/2025

This is why it just never stops.♾️
The reason it keeps happening.
It's working in that very moment and it's remembered.

A pattern has formed, a history and it worked!

Running and barking in front of the gate when the courier arrives.
Nudging your hand when you're relaxing in the lounge.
Barking through windows at that dog walking past.
Even pulling and dragging you along when they are desperate to reach that tall grass around that tree.
All of those are examples.

The reasons behind the "why" sometimes look complicated to us.
We can't quite figure it out.
It's almost "mystical" because we cant quite grasp why.

When we shift from "why won't they stop" to "what's in it for them" those patterns can be obvious.

Are you, "just over it", frustrated and "tried everything" ?
Take a deep breath, step back and look at things in a simpler way.

How were they rewarded?

11/13/2025

It's very important to be able to read your dog, especially in excited social situations. It's always better to pull your dog out of the situation before they become too excited or over aroused then to wait until it's too late and something has happened. Pulling your dog out of the situation while your dog is still capable of thinking and responding also help your dog develop patterns of pulling themselves out of the situation

Happy or hyped?
Why do we need to know the difference?
Excitement can spill over into over arousal.
➡️Over arousal can lead to reactive outbursts, nips, lunges and they will likely start ignoring you.

They just cannot calm down easily, or quickly.

For some dogs, over arousal starts to creep in and shows often.
Every day situations can start to feel more "intense".
Your dogs stress levels may be high, even when "nothing" is happening.
They are at "that level" more and more.
Walking becomes harder.
Barking at the slightest noise.
Launching themselves at visitors.
Frustration can show.
These can all be signs your dog is struggling to cope, yet it is seen as excitement by many people.

The thing is with excitement, it lowers. It fades when the fun ends.

Over arousal tends to "hang around" much longer and then it can start to compound.
It can stack up day after day.

They don’t calm between even simple events.
Now you may have a dog who looks joyful, smiling, panting, bursting with energy but they're actually running on stress.

Over aroused dogs struggle to make good choices.
Impulse control disappears.

Is your dog truly excited or showing signs of over arousal?

Two very different states that can (and often do) look surprisingly alike.

10/06/2025

Stop watching the clock.
Start watching your dog.
Self control starts to slip away the longer play goes on.
Those emotions can heighten, frustration can kick in and what started as play can now turn.

They may really struggle to read the other dogs "no thanks" cues or vice versa.
It can get rougher.
Snappier.
More forceful.
What was fun for both has now turned, and we can be oblivious to it.

"It's a good way to burn their energy though"?
Of course!
It very well may be a great way to burn off that excess energy and that can help them settle more.
But, at what cost?

Has the play changed?
Turned?

"But, they still have 15 more minutes to go."?
What are they truly learning and being exposed to in that time?

If physical exhaustion and burning off energy is what we want, at the expense of healthy interactions, we are missing the point of play entirely.

It's not about time, good play never was.

10/01/2025

We're going to delve a little bit into what it's like to be a dog with this post.

Carrot, rutabaga red beet bean tomato.

Did you get that? Your dog didn't either.

This simple game is one that surprised me when I first came across it in my reading. I had never thought of this way to simulate how a dog understands us when we're trying to teach a new behavior cue. This game can also extend to any time there's a language barrier.

Our dogs can't directly tell us what they think of our training methods the way that another human can. If ever you are struggling to communicate something with your dog, remember that you may as well be saying the names of fruits and vegetables and so you need another way to communicate clearly.

If you want more like this, this game (and other humorous information about ways to put yourself in your dog's footsteps) are in Suzanne Clothier's book Bones Would Rain From the Sky

09/24/2025

Everyone is full of advice when it comes to walking your dog. "He needs to walk on a loose leash!" "He needs to walk right next to you in heel position." "He needs this amount of exercise in a day and he can only get it by walking." "You shouldn't let him stop and sniff everything."

All of the above advice contains a flaw. Not all dogs like walking on a loose leash - I know a handful who use the tension in the leash to keep track of the human (or vice versa). Heel position (*deep breath*) should only be cued for short distances or in crowded areas. If your dog wants to walk that close to you for an extended period of time, make it their choice. As for exercise, well, dogs need the correct amounts of both physical exercise and mental stimulation. Not enough (or too much) of either and your dog might have a hard time relaxing. If your dog is able to sleep for 12+ hours of the day, you probably have the right combination for your dog. Sniff breaks during a walk are a free and easy way to add mental stimulation. But expecting your dog's only exercise to come in the form of matching your walking pace is like asking a toddler/preschooler to match your pace. For a toddler on just their two legs, they will tire before you do and aren't able to keep up well (think elderly chihuahua). A preschooler on just their two legs can match your pace fairly well and maintain it (think mature pug). But if the preschooler is on a tricycle, matching your pace just isn't possible without a lot of practice and outside exercise (think Great Dane in his prime). I have walked with an adult Great Dane before. He took one step for every three I took. This week, I went for a walk with a German Shepherd. When we started out, we were walking closer to 4mph. My top walking speed is 3.5mph, but she had too much energy to slow down that extra .5mph and so walked with tension in the leash. For the second half of her hour-long walk, our average speed was 3mph. I should also mention that we do take a few sniff stops during the walk, so our speed was higher than 3mph at times.

09/18/2025

Dog and human body language differ significantly, particularly in facial expressions, as humans have more facial muscle control allowing for diverse expressions like smiles and frowns, while dogs primarily move their lips. Human gestures are categorized into emblems, illustrators, and adaptors, with research ongoing into their meanings. Dog body language consists mainly of illustrators and adaptors, with meanings often inferred from movements rather than static positions. The same expression can mean different things in humans and dogs; for example, a "guilty" look in humans suggests guilt or shame, whereas, for dogs, it might mean "Don't be mad at me," usually in response to someone else's anger. Despite these differences, both species use body language to communicate.

09/03/2025

We've spent the last six months (yes, it's been that long; Ear Talk 1 was posted on February 26th, 2025) breaking dog body language down into discreet signals, looking at one at a time. But the common thread through all of this has been the fact that a dog is not changing the position of just one body part. All of the body parts are working together to form a more cohesive and nuanced message. How do you know what your dog is trying to say? Take their T.E.M.P. (Tail, Ears, Mouth, Posture), the four signals that are easiest for us humans to see quickly. The following questions are a guideline and, if you're only going to remember some things from the past six months of body language posts, these are the questions you should prioritize remembering (and the answers are admittedly simplified).

09/02/2025

Always, always with great intentions.
That's how this all starts.
We should let them meet all other dogs and puppies, shouldn't we?
They're excited to see them, meet them and interact, so why should we stop them?
Leash reactivity is a very real concern that we do need to take seriously, just ask someone who has a reactive dog.

"We let her meet every dog she came across, to socialise. Now she screeches at a dog from 100 metres away"

"He was just so excited and happy when he saw another dog, so we always made a beeline for them to keep him happy, now he drags us there"

It can start that easily.
We think we are doing the right thing, letting them have fun and satisfying that need to meet that dog they have just seen across the road.

What we can create is a dog that goes to another stratosphere when they see another.
The leash or lead is now a barrier too.
Letting them pull towards their "new friend" was "fine" when they were younger but now it's impossible to even hold them still and they can drag you down the road with them.

Pulling worked when they were younger.
They were rewarded by every "dig in" , it got them closer.
They met the dog, they got there eventually.

Why do we expect they won't do the same when they are older if we haven't shown them differently?

08/30/2025

We're just now starting to understand what it means that dogs are social animals. They aren't pack animals, though stray dogs will form social groups.
And when it comes to living with an animal, I would rather live with a social animal instead of a pack animal.