Training Canines LLC

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Training Canines LLC Researching how puppies learn. Specializing in early puppy development. Specialized puppy training. Foundational training for pet and assistance dogs

👉Your puppy isn’t “just nervous” your anxiety is teaching them to be fearful. I have said it 1000 times. If you are ca...
29/11/2025

👉Your puppy isn’t “just nervous” your anxiety is teaching them to be fearful. I have said it 1000 times. If you are calm your puppy will be, if you are anxious your puppy will be.

👉👉The mechanism most people don’t understand:

✅Emotional contagion between dogs and owners, the owner’s state of anxiety is contagious to their dog! This is why if you are not in the right mindset, don’t walk the dog. Many do this to clear their head, but guess who suffers.

✅Dogs synchronize their emotions with their owners , they don’t just observe your emotions, they experience them alongside you

➡️This isn’t metaphorical. When owners are stressed, it elicits increase in cortisol levels in dogs your stress hormones create physical stress responses in your puppy.
If you avoid situations to prevent fear you are in turn hindering how your puppy will learn. Not all stress is bad, BUT how you handle it directly effects your dogs personality.

✅Your anxiety during critical periods isn’t temporary, it becomes their permanent response pattern.

👉How reactivity develops: You see another dog → tense up (even slightly) → puppy feels it → gets uncertain → reacts → you expect problems next time → anxiety increases → cycle strengthens

✅Your anticipation often creates the problem you’re trying to prevent. Stay calm (puppies read your actual emotional state). Allow puppy to explore at own pace, never force them to face fears when panicked. Be there to support. Gradual controlled exposure, not avoidance.

👉👉Your puppy’s confidence reflects yours.

✅ empoweredpuppyschool.com - puppy courses for Goldens/Labs
✅ Adolescent Reset + Breeder/Trainer Certification
FREE: Should I get a puppy? Mini course

29/11/2025

👉Do you know they hear differently than we do?

➡️Your puppy hears frequencies between 40,000-60,000 Hz. You max out at 20,000 Hz. That vacuum you think is “a little loud”? Your puppy is experiencing sound layers you can’t perceive.

✅Why this matters:
Between 3-14 weeks, their brain is wiring “safe” vs “dangerous” associations for every sound they encounter.

👉If the first time they hear metal banging is at 6 months when you drop a pan, their brain files it as “threat.” If they hear it at 8 weeks paired with food, it gets filed as “safe, maybe even good.”

✅What you’re preventing:
Noise phobias. Firework panic. Thunderstorm anxiety. Vacuum terror. Doorbell lunging. The adult dog who hides during normal household activities.
These develop because early sound exposure was either absent or negative.

➡️How to do this:
Use household items. Metal bowls. Pots. Cookie sheets. Drop kibble into them while making noise. Let your puppy investigate at their own pace.

👉Sound = food appearing. Their brain learns: unexpected noise predicts good things.

✅✅Why food works:
Food triggers dopamine release. You’re creating positive neurochemical responses paired with sounds. Classical conditioning at the biological level.

➡️➡️The mistake:
Tiptoeing around your puppy. Keeping everything quiet so they “don’t get scared.” That creates a puppy who’s never learned normal household noise is safe.

➡️Critical window:
Do this during 3-14 weeks. After 14-16 weeks, their brain becomes naturally more cautious. Building these associations gets exponentially harder.

✅A puppy who learns early that clanging metal = food will generalize to other unexpected sounds. Car backfires. Construction noise. They’ll investigate instead of panic.

✅Start now with noisy household items. You’re building neural pathways that last a lifetime.

✅ Puppy-Adolescent-Breeder/Trainer Courses online at empoweredpuppyschool.com

👉If your puppy only listens when you have treats visible, you’re bribing, not training 👉Here’s what I see happen:👉Month ...
28/11/2025

👉If your puppy only listens when you have treats visible, you’re bribing, not training

👉Here’s what I see happen:

👉Month 1: “Positive reinforcement is amazing! My puppy is so smart!”
👉Month 3: “He only listens when I have treats...”
👉Month 6: “He’s so stubborn! He knows these commands!”

✅What actually happened: You accidentally trained your puppy that compliance is optional and negotiable.

✅When you bribe, you offer a reward BEFORE the desired behavior, when you reward, you reinforce AFTER the dog has responded.

➡️The timing creates a completely different learning experience. Something else I learned years ago is to ditch the treat pouch. Owners think they’re being prepared and organized. But puppies learn the pattern instantly. Pouch on I will do what they say, pouch off, no need to do it!

✅ I purposely DON’T wear a treat pouch when training. Treats stay in my normal pockets, on counters, behind my back, anywhere the puppy can’t see them as a predictor.

➡️Why this matters more than you think: Your 4-month-old puppy sees a car coming. You’re not wearing your treat pouch. You call them. They’ve learned you only mean business when the pouch is on. They don’t come. You need your puppy to respond no matter what.

👉Or: Your puppy finds a chicken bones on a walk. You reach for treats to trade, but you don’t have any! They’ve learned to wait for proof of payment. They eat the bones. Do you see why using food to make them do a behavior is not really teaching them to respond to the behavior in the right way?

✅Your treat pouch isn’t helping your training. It’s becoming a crutch that tells your puppy exactly when they need to listen and when they can ignore you.

Ditch the treat pouch!!

✅ empoweredpuppyschool.com - puppy courses for Goldens/Labs
✅ Adolescent Reset + Breeder/Trainer Certification
FREE: Should I get a puppy? Mini course

28/11/2025

➡️Every time your garage door opens or closes, your puppy is learning something.

👉The question is: are YOU teaching it, or is fear?

✅Here’s what most people miss: Environmental sounds don’t create fear. Your response to them does.

👉When your garage door opens and you ignore your puppy, they’re processing alone. No guidance. Their nervous system decides, usually choosing caution, which becomes fear, then reactivity.

✅What to do instead:
Sit with your puppy when environmental sounds happen. Garage doors. Doorbells. Trash trucks. Vacuums. Stay calm. SAY NOTHING. Just be present.

✅When the sound happens or stops, reward. You’re giving their nervous system information: “That sound predicts good things.”

👉Why this works:
You’re teaching their brain that novel sounds = safety + reward. Classical conditioning. Pairing sound with positive outcomes before fear forms an association.

👉The critical window:
Puppies have a socialization period between 3-14 weeks where their brain is primed to learn “this is safe.” After 14-16 weeks, changing fear responses becomes much harder.

✅Use environmental sounds NOW as teaching opportunities. Build a dog who hears strange sounds and looks to you for information instead of panicking.

✅Common sounds to address: Vacuums. Blenders. Dishwashers. Doorbells. Thunder. Fireworks. Trash trucks. Leaf blowers.

👉Your garage door isn’t just a door. It’s practice for every unexpected sound they’ll encounter.

✅ Puppy-Adolescent-Breeder/Trainer Courses online at empoweredpuppyschool.com

👉Leaving food out all day isn’t “letting them eat when hungry” - you’re sabotaging your training ✅Here’s what most peopl...
27/11/2025

👉Leaving food out all day isn’t “letting them eat when hungry” - you’re sabotaging your training

✅Here’s what most people don’t realize about free feeding:

👉The convenience you gain (not having to feed on schedule) costs you EVERYTHING else.

👉Training leverage gone: Your puppy is never hungry enough to care about treats during training. Food is always available and boring. Why work with you? They’ll just eat from the bowl whenever.

👉Puppies need adequate rest and sleep to support healthy brain development and memory consolidation scheduled meals support this by creating predictable routines.

👉Health monitoring impossible: With scheduled meals, you know instantly if something’s wrong. Puppy skips breakfast? Call the vet. With free feeding? You have no idea if they ate today, yesterday, or how much. By the time you notice appetite changes, illness has progressed for days.

👉Potty training nightmare: What goes in on schedule comes out on schedule. With free feeding, you’re guessing when they need to go out. No pattern = constant accidents.

👉When food only appears during training and scheduled meals, YOUR presence becomes associated with food appearing.

✅That’s powerful.

👉The switch is easier than you think.

Scheduled feeding isn’t about control. It’s about creating structure that makes EVERYTHING easier , training, health monitoring, potty schedules, and your puppy learning that engaging with you is valuable.

✅ empoweredpuppyschool.com - puppy courses for Goldens/Labs
✅ Adolescent Reset + Breeder/Trainer Certification
FREE: Should I get a puppy? Mini course

27/11/2025

👉How to play:
Place one piece of kibble on the floor. Don’t say anything.

👉If your puppy goes for it, cover it with your hand. They may paw at your hand - that’s normal. The second they back away, reward with a treat from your opposite hand.
Remove your hand from the floor kibble. If they don’t grab it, reward again. If they do grab it, cover it again with your hand.

👉Practice this until they understand backing away gets rewarded. Usually takes just a few tries before they naturally back away instead of grabbing.

👉Once they get the idea, make it harder. Add more pieces. Build gradually based on what they can handle.

🤔Why “take it” not “leave it”:
“Leave it” teaches avoidance - don’t touch that. “Take it” teaches impulse control with permission - you CAN have it, but wait for my release.

✅This builds patience around desirable things. Waiting for food bowls. Not grabbing off counters. Not lunging for things on walks.

✅What this prevents:
Impulse control is the foundation. It prevents jumping, begging, counter surfing, resource guarding, leash pulling, door dashing. Build it now, prevent problems later.

✅Why developing brains tire faster:
Puppies are learning to regulate arousal, control impulses, and process complex information all at once. Their prefrontal cortex is forming. Every moment of self-control is cognitively demanding. That’s why short mental exercises exhaust them effectively.

⭐️⭐️When to use this:
Chaotic days when you need your puppy calm. Before guests arrive. When they’re overstimulated. A few minutes of this game and they’ll be ready to rest.

See how many pieces your puppy can do.

👉Every puppy is different. The goal is mental engagement, not perfection.

🤔How many did your puppy do?

➡️What I often hear:👉My puppy LOVES playing with other puppies! We do play dates all the time. Or I send them to daycar...
26/11/2025

➡️What I often hear:

👉My puppy LOVES playing with other puppies! We do play dates all the time. Or I send them to daycare every day!

👉Great, but what’s your puppy actually learning? Good or poor socialization skills?

✅Good socialization teaches: Other dogs exist, they’re safe, and that’s... fine. Not exciting. Not scary. Just neutral. Calm behavior around dogs is the goal.

➡️Poor socialization teaches: Excessive unstructured peer play can reinforce hyperactivity and poor manners, potentially leading to reactivity. Puppies need to learn calm observation, not just frantic play.

✅After play dates or daycare, watch for these:

👉Happy tired: Relaxed body, still eats, content and calm, normal next day, seeks interaction
👉Overstimulated exhausted: Crashes completely, refuses food, irritable when touched, takes DAYS to recover, manic the next day, regressive behavior
👉An exhausted dog could be an irritated or stressed dog. If your dog is getting picked on, exhaustion comes from avoiding confrontation all day long.

➡️Why young puppies are higher risk: Puppies need 14-16 hours of daily sleep. When overstimulated they enter anxiety which leads to reduced impulse control.

➡️Overstimulated puppies may develop heightened stress sensitivity, making them prone to anxiety and fear-related behaviors as they grow up.

✅IMO the best approach: Short controlled play with ONE matched puppy, frequent breaks YOU enforce, teach calm observation (dogs exist = boring), intervene before rough, end before overwhelm, quality over quantity

➡️Not every puppy needs constant group play. Some thrive with it, others do better with occasional controlled play and mostly calm exposure.

✅ empoweredpuppyschool.com - puppy courses for Goldens/Labs
✅ Adolescent Reset + Breeder/Trainer Certification
FREE: Should I get a puppy? Mini course

26/11/2025

✅Train before naps not after ⬆️

👉What you’re watching: Sleep.

✅This is when your puppy’s brain consolidates what they learned into long-term memory.

✅The timing of when you teach determines how well they retain it.

👉👉Two types of learning:
Pattern learning (all day): Environmental associations. Dishes = sit. Door = wait. Leash = calm. Context-based conditioning through repetition. Train this anytime.

✅New skill acquisition (timing matters): Brand new behaviors, cognitive work, complex problem-solving. Requires memory consolidation during sleep to stick.

👉The science: During sleep, your puppy’s brain replays and strengthens neural pathways from recent learning. Information learned right before sleep gets priority processing.

➡️What this means:
Teach NEW skills 30 minutes before nap time. First-time sits, place introduction, cognitive work. These consolidate during the sleep that follows.

✅AVOID new skills right after waking. Sleep inertia affects focus and retention for 15-20 minutes. They’re not processing well yet.

✅Practical application:
Morning: pattern work, practicing known behaviors.

➡️Pre-nap: introduce new skills, problem-solving, cognitive challenges.

➡️Post-nap: low-demand activities until fully alert.

➡️Why this matters: Perfect technique at the wrong time = poor retention. Decent technique before sleep = excellent results.

➡️Train strategically around sleep cycles. Your puppy sleeps 14-16 hours daily. Load new learning right before those cycles.

Save this 👇
✅ Puppy-Adolescent-Breeder/Trainer Courses online at empoweredpuppyschool.com

👉👉The timing disconnect everyone misses:👉Owner finds destroyed couch. Puppy slinks around looking “guilty.” 👉Owner scold...
25/11/2025

👉👉The timing disconnect everyone misses:

👉Owner finds destroyed couch. Puppy slinks around looking “guilty.”

👉Owner scolds: “You KNOW you did wrong!”

✅ I ask: “When did this happen?” “Sometime while I was at work... 4 hours ago?”

👉👉👉👉There’s your problem.

✅Dogs’ episodic memory for non-reinforced events fades in under 2 minutes your puppy has zero connection between your anger NOW and that couch THEN.
Horowitz’s study showed dogs looked most guilty when scolded. Even innocent dogs looked more guilty than dogs who actually had misbehaved.

➡️The “guilty look” was triggered by the OWNER’S anger, not the dog’s memory of the crime.

➡️What actually shocked me: Nearly 60% of owners surveyed said the guilty look led them to scold their dog less

👉👉👉So that would mean their appeasement behavior is WORKING, they are getting you to not yell at them! They are diffusing tension and avoiding conflict. Tell me they are not smart!!!!

➡️But here’s the damage it’s causing:
Your puppy learns: When my person comes home, sometimes they’re a bit scary. So I will give them this “look” and hopefully they won’t yell at me.

➡️They become MORE anxious, not better behaved.

✅Better question: What need wasn’t met? Boredom? Teething? Anxiety? Too much freedom?

👉Punishing the guilty look makes you ignore actual causes that could solve the problem.

👉Management prevents destruction. After-the-fact anger just creates fear.

✅ empoweredpuppyschool.com - puppy courses for Goldens/Labs
✅ Adolescent Reset + Breeder/Trainer Certification
FREE: Should I get a puppy? Mini course

25/11/2025

👉Everytime I post of the puppies doing thecue "show me" the numbers or fruit, people comment on how they think it is a trick or I am cueing the puppy in some way. So I thought I would share a video from when I kept the puppies longer than I do now, to show the next step in teaching. In the reel Christina, who used to work with me, is demonstrating the next step with Caitlin a 12 week old lab puppy.

👉As you have seen, it starts with holding cards, rewarding correct responses. The puppies learned visual symbols = specific objects.

👉Then distance was added, the cards were held further away.

👉Then placement, the cards were put on the floor. Puppy gets up, walks, chooses without us holding the card at all.

👉Each step built independence. From just a touch to find and identify what we asked for.

👉Speaking in Italian eliminated voice cuing accusations and the tone of two syllables. "Osso" and "piato" have identical syllable structure and tone so no helping there either.

👉Placing the cards on the floor so no hand cues are possible. People said the rate the cards made a difference. Cards are down, Christina steps back, Caitlin chooses. Her decision, not our direction.

👉She has learned symbol discrimination. She's identifying abstract visual representations and associating them with words. That's cognitive processing. I have another video I will share another time, with Wilbur a Bernese MT. Dog who is amazing what he could identify!

👉Why did we teach this? Problem-solving ability. Choice-making skills.

👉Many think puppies this young can only learn basic obedience. But cognitive capacity exists way earlier than we give credit for.

✅ Puppy-Adolescent-Breeder/Trainer Courses online at empoweredpuppyschool.com

👉Most owners think more exercise = calmer puppy. 👉But here’s what’s actually happening: you’re creating a dog who can’t ...
24/11/2025

👉Most owners think more exercise = calmer puppy.

👉But here’s what’s actually happening: you’re creating a dog who can’t self-regulate. The cortisol spike from intense activity gives them a “second wind” that makes it even harder to calm down. You’re training them to need constant stimulation to function.

✅The goal isn’t exhaustion it’s satisfaction. Teaching your puppy to regulate their own nervous system through predictable cycles of mental work, physical play, and intentional calm-down periods. This is how they learn that arousal goes UP and comes back DOWN naturally.

✅Watch your puppy, not the clock. When you see slower responses, wandering off, or loss of focus during enrichment activities, stop. That’s not stubbornness or lack of motivation. That’s their brain saying “I’m full.” Pushing past that point creates the exact spiral you’re trying to avoid.

👉👉Environment dictates behavior. Create an environment that supports both appropriate activity AND genuine rest, and you’ll raise a puppy who knows how to regulate themselves.

✅ Getting a puppy? Visit empoweredpuppyschool.com - we have an online puppy course just for goldens and labs
✅ The Adolescent Calm and Collected Reset Course is ready! empoweredpuppyschool.com
✅ Are you a breeder or trainer wanting to take your business further? Check out our Breeder/Trainer Online Course at empoweredpuppyschool.com

FREE MINI COURSE: Should I get a puppy? Take the course to find out if you are ready! empoweredpuppyschool.com

24/11/2025

👉Self-rewarding means it feels good without needing an external reward. That’s why digging is hard to stop once it starts.

➡️But WHY they dig determines what works.

➡️For most puppies (Goldens, Labs, mixed breeds):
Digging fills a need for engagement. When the yard is boring and dirt is available, digging becomes the interesting thing.

✅Your solution: Be more engaging than the dirt.

✅Make yourself the interesting thing in the yard through play, training, interaction. When you’re the engagement source, dirt loses appeal.

✅Manage environment. Remove access to digging spots when you can’t supervise. Not punishment, prevention.

✅What you’re teaching: The yard is for engaging with me, not self-entertaining.

👉For dig-obsessed breeds (Terriers, Dachshunds, working breeds):

👉These dogs were bred FOR digging. It’s breed purpose, not boredom. The act itself brings joy.
You cannot train out breed instinct.

👉Your solution: Channel it.
Provide a legal outlet. Kiddie pool with sand, dig box, designated area. Hide toys to dig up. Turn instinct into structured activity.

👉You’re teaching WHERE and WHEN, not stopping the drive.
Know your puppy: Engagement-seeking? Be more interesting than dirt. Breed-driven? Channel the drive.

Save this 👇

✅ Getting a puppy? Visit empoweredpuppyschool.com - we have an online puppy course just for goldens and labs
✅ The Adolescent Calm and Collected Reset Course is ready! empoweredpuppyschool.com
✅ Are you a breeder or trainer wanting to take your business further? Check out our Breeder/Trainer Online Course at empoweredpuppyschool.com

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About Training Canines, LLC

Kim Paciotti,CPDT-KA is a certified professional trainer, but many refer to her as canine scientist, and puppy specialist. In 2009 Kim established Training Canines, LLC is focused on developing training techniques for the health and wellness of puppies. Through the power of education and scientific research Training Canines, LLC developed the Empowered Puppy Program. The system has many facets, and starts training puppies at 10 days of age. They have developed a puppy personality test that will determine a puppies learning, focus, and socialization capabilities. This will serve as the blueprint for a training program that fits the personality of each and every puppy. They teach by imitation, and puppies actually watch themselves on TV in order to learn basic commands. They have had puppies as early as four weeks old sitting on command. Kim is committed to “Changing The World One Puppy At A Time”, by making an impact on the amount of dogs surrendered to shelters and rescues due to behavior and training issues. The goal is to share their system so people across the world will learn that early puppy development is the most proactive solution to preventing and stopping unwanted behaviors.