03/14/2026
Always look into who you're asking to train your dog!
My training uses positive obedience and aba psychology for the most well rounded outcome that still gives your dog autonomy as a living breathing animal. I center my services around connection for you and your furry family member!
The ladder of aggression is the ladder of communication.
At the top of the ladder of are the dog behaviours that frighten people. The growl, snap, lunge and the bite.
By the time a dog reaches the top of that ladder they have already said everything they had to say at every rung below. The people around them didn't listen.
Sadly, the dogs who have been pushed to their limit can get labelled as bad dogs, while the people who pushed them may go overlooked.
Poorly educated dog trainers often wade in to stop the behaviour, pushing the feelings back inside the dog, having a pressure cooker effect.
With this effect, the dog either explodes at some point or their spark for life just gets extinguished, leaving them existing but never meeting their potential.
UNLESS an educated dog behaviourist or trainer gets involved.
Someone who can point out gently that the dog needs agency and autonomy over their own body and space.
Someone who can help the dog understand that they will not be crowded when they're uncomfortable and do have a say in what happens to them.
Someone who helps you meet your dog's needs - not disregards them.
Someone who can teach new choices and skills like optimism, flexibility empowering the dog and their human.
Because most guardians don't want to harm or scare their dogs, not really. They just don't know that all dog trainers are not equal.
When you search for a dog trainer, please, please check their methods. If they are overly results driven they might not be educated enough. If they show off what they can make the dog do, question why they are making it about them and not the dog's needs.
Good dog trainers will shout loud and proud that they work with your dog's emotional health as much as their behaviour, in fact they know behaviour is about how the dog feels.
Their educated stance will be on display, they will be proud of their consistent professional education and growth.
And they should be. It takes lots of time, money and effort to become a skilled, high quality professional. They should be proud, and for your dog's sake (and your own in the long term) choose them!