Goode Paws Academy

12/12/2024

We listen and we don’t judge.

ShopCanineAesthete.com

24/09/2024

So true!

I’m always amazed that this incredibly obvious aspect of the human/dog relationship dynamic is so often overlooked, or at the very least, underestimated.

You’ve spent all this time showing your dog precisely who you are, what you’ll accept, and what you’ll do when behavior is problematic. They know how far they can push, they know how firm, or not you can be. They know how uncertain you’ve been. They know how heart-first you’ve been. They know how soft you truly are.

Like any dysfunctional human relationship, where one party has allowed themselves to be trod upon, and then, after much work, learns how to stand up for themselves—how to have and articulate boundaries, and how to share consequences for trespasses against said boundaries—but finds that these new skills and this new awareness is met with pushback and disbelief...your dog will do the same. Because that’s what you taught them about you, because that’s who they know you as.

You wouldn’t be surprised if your human counterpart needed many repetitions, reminders, and considerable “convincing” that the new you is in fact a real, permanent, required-to-be-taken-seriously you—and that denial and pushback of this new you will not only be futile, but will also have consequences. If one were wise and experienced in the arena of relationship renegotiation, one would, or should expect this friction and effort. And so we should also expect that when we show up and “announce” to our dogs that “it’s a new day”, and we are in fact “new” people insofar as how this whole human/dog thing is going to go down—that we are here to take charge, to set rules and standards, and that we WILL be respected, and that we WILL enforce all we are demanding—that it might also take a considerable bit of repetition and “convincing” to prove that this “new” you is in fact one to be taken seriously and responded to accordingly.

The upshot? Don’t be surprised after having spent a great deal of time presenting a prior version of you—with all the mistakes, dysfunction, perceptions, and associations that were baked-in to that presentation and relationship dynamic—that your dog requires a bit more than your optimistic pronouncements, and newly acquired, but strangely alien, likely shaky, and most definitely unearned swagger...to be convinced.

03/05/2024

🤭🤭🤭

💛😂

11/03/2024

The reality is, unwanted pressure, bullying, scuffles, fights, and out-and-out attacks teach dogs that other dogs aren’t safe, which cause many dogs to become proactively aggressive and/or reactive…because they learn to see other dogs as risks to their safety…an “I’ll get you before you get me” mentality takes hold.

PS, for multi-dog homes, much of the above applies as well. If you’re allowing your home to be a micro version of a dog park or chaotic daycare where pressure, bullying, competition for resources, scuffles and fights ensue, don’t be surprised if you have a home where dog fights are the norm.

28/02/2024

Bluey is loving this cooler weather!

14/02/2024

Snacks are my love language too Niko 💕🐾

05/02/2024

Happy 1st Birthday to sweet Cookie! 🥳

05/02/2024

😂

13/12/2023

13/12/2023

🤭

13/12/2023

If you’re sending me a PM on here please send it to my personal account Catrina Goode. Messenger isn’t allowing me to switch to my business account to check messages. Thx

09/12/2023

PSA 📢📢 Puppies and kittens need a LOT of time, training, and love, and they come with long-term financial responsibilities. Do NOT recommend getting them as gifts for your loved ones without their knowledge. This is a big decision for any person because you are choosing a companion for the rest of the animal's life.

Every year people adopt puppies at Christmas time only to return them 1-4 months later or even a year later. And by then, they are not so tiny and adorable. And haven't been trained, developed poor behavioral habits, and now are much less adoptable. This means they will sit in the shelter, now in the large dog runs instead of the tiny puppy pits.

We want FURVER homes for our animals, not just homes right now. Do what is in the best interest of the animal. We would love for all of our animals to find great homes for the holidays, ones where we know they will be loved forever and be taken care of long-term.

08/12/2023

I see countless social media dog training “help” pages where owner after owner share the struggles they’re going through with their dog, and which they then proceed to list all of the politically correct, “science-based”, emotionally comfortable, morally superior, always positive-focused approaches they’ve attempted to use to remedy the issues…to no avail.

What’s wild is, they’ll share how long they’ve been at it, the money spent, the damages incurred (materially, physically, and emotionally), and they’ll proudly list all they’ve tried, almost as if it’s a banner, or a signal. Well, after all, it is a signal. A signal that says “I’m on the good team.”, “I’m one of the kind, caring, humane, smart, science-y ones.”

And every time I read these posts (don’t ask me why I torture myself), I’ll then read them to whoever happens to be close by—which is usually my wife or my team. (Sorry! 🤣) And then I’ll list all the incredibly obvious ways the owner could actually stop the problem—if stopping the problem was actually more important than feeling morally superior, emotionally comfortable, or belonging to the right group was to them.

Of course these suggestions I make would not only never fly on these pages, but even if they did remain, the chance that anyone would act on them would be an almost guaranteed zero.

Why? Because although these solutions would almost certainly solve the problem, they would most inconveniently not align with the current PP/FF ideology/cult/religion, AND they would involve countless interactions that these owners would find unpleasant, uncomfortable, unenjoyable—and morally unacceptable.

And so the issues, struggles, stress, and pain shall remain. Not because there aren’t solutions, but because real, honest to goodness solutions aren’t at all what any of these people are actually looking for. Solutions garner no attention, sympathy, or belonging—only chosen suffering, for dog and owner garner these prized benefits.

And so eyes and minds will remain closed and the suffering will roll on.