Help: Is Canine Influenza the Same as Kennel Cough and What the Heck Is Going On?!

This month, our co-founder, Jess, was shocked when her dog, Stanley, was diagnosed with pneumonia. Jess shared Stanley’s diagnosis on his instagram account and was flooded with questions from our community. To answer those questions, TOC sat down with Dr. Brent Gordon, DVM and Medical Director of Bond Vet Bethesda.

What is kennel cough?

Above is the actual image from Stanley’s x-ray at Bond Vet from when his pneumonia got worse on February 2.

Dr. Gordon: There are a number of reasons for a dog to develop a cough, but a common one is bacteria and viruses that infect the respiratory tract, such as bordetella and canine influenza.

Canine infectious respiratory disease complex, or CIRD for short, is an infectious respiratory disease transmitted between dogs, and in rare instances cats. The most common organisms that contribute to the canine respiratory disease complex include viruses like canine influenza and bacteria like bordetella, which we commonly refer to as kennel cough.

What are some of the symptoms to look for with kennel cough?

Dr. Gordon: Coughing, sneezing, and eye discharge are the main symptoms, but some pets will have lethargy, loss of appetite, coughing up sputum or phlegm, or in rare cases difficulty breathing. Some pets may also have vomiting or diarrhea, but this is less common.

How is kennel cough transmitted? 

Dr. Gordon: It is transmitted through respiratory droplets in the air (think coughing), direct contact with an infected dog, or when they come in contact with a surface or object that another sick pet interacted with.

It is a big issue for areas of high traffic or close proximity such as dog parks, kennels, doggie day care, grooming, and really any event or location that sees lots of animals in a small space.

How does kennel cough or canine flu progress into pneumonia? 

Dr. Gordon: It progresses to pneumonia in the same way that the flu or COVID becomes pneumonia in people. The virus causes inflammation in the lungs and reduces the immune system's ability to respond to other bacteria. Bacteria then take advantage of the situation and pneumonia develops. Pneumonia is just inflammation/infection in the lungs that is caused by a bacteria or virus. 

Canine influenza progressing to pneumonia is still pretty rare and only about 10 - 20% of cases will develop pneumonia.

How would you describe pneumonia or canine flu to someone?

Dr. Gordon: Canine influenza is a virus that is easily transmitted between dogs, which causes coughing, fever, lethargy, loss of appetite and other similar symptoms to the human flu. In most animals it will resolve without issue in a few weeks with supportive care. In a few cases however it can progress to pneumonia, which may be life threatening in rare cases.

So is canine flu kind of like COVID?

Dr. Gordon: You can actually make a lot of parallels between COVID & canine influenza. It's a respiratory disease. It can spread through the air. It's something that we can vaccinate against, but it doesn't provide complete immunity or total immunity. We [can still] get it, but it's a less severe form or we're less likely to have complications. All of that is very, very similar to dogs when it comes to canine influenza. But they are still very different viruses in other ways.

What are some of the symptoms to look for that indicate that your dog’s kennel cough may have progressed to something more serious? 

Dr. Gordon: Generally if your pet is happy, eating, and playful despite the cough, there is likely no major concern. The signs to look for that are a concern are when the cough is severe, they can’t sleep, they are lethargic, don’t want to eat, they are coughing up green or white phlegm or they have difficulty breathing or rapid breathing.

At what point in seeing symptoms do you recommend taking your dog to the vet? 

Dr. Gordon: For any pet owner that has a pet with unexplained coughing I would recommend taking them to the vet or doing a virtual visit at the least. There are a large number of other causes for cough in dogs that may have a worse outcome if undiagnosed. 

Generally speaking a young dog, who recently went to a boarding facility, with no other history of disease, who feels well and has a very mild cough could be monitored at home. But I would still recommend a visit in case there is something a veterinarian may pick up on that is important. For older pets or pets with a known history of heart or lung disease, or pets that have moderate symptoms, or no history of boarding or other dog exposure, it is best to have these pets seen in person, regardless of the severity of their symptoms.

Are dogs who have been vaccinated for Bordetella and canine influenza still able to get kennel cough? 

Dr. Gordon: Yes, dogs that are vaccinated can still get kennel cough or canine influenza. The vaccines for these diseases will provide partial immunity, meaning that they are less likely to have severe symptoms when vaccinated, but it doesn’t prevent them from getting the disease.

It's interesting because our dog Stanley had the Bordetella shot and I believe the flu vaccine and he still developed pneumonia. Is he an anomaly?

Dr. Gordon: No, not really. 10 to 20% of dogs will develop pneumonia after getting canine influenza, and that's just one cause of respiratory disease. There's a whole complex of different diseases out there that can contribute. It's also based on other factors too. It sounds like your dog had gotten the first symptoms or first signs of pneumonia while they boarded. So a dog that is under stress unfortunately is more likely to have a reduced immune system response.

Potentially there's, other complicating factors too. If they are boarded in isolation, that may reduce risk some, but not completely. Some places will have world class immaculate facilities, but then in other cases they may not have accounted for all ways the disease can be transmitted. They may not have adequate ventilation, or the pets are crowded or visit a communal space, share a water bowl, etc. So they could have things at the boarding facility that complicate, or spread the disease. I would always warn owners that if you have a dog who is coughing and is either diagnosed, via a test or presumptively diagnosed based on the doctor's opinion with kennel cough or canine influenza, potentially this dog is infectious to other dogs for up to a month. They should avoid boarding or grooming, but also they can contract another disease while their immune system's reduced. So you always have to be super careful about those things.

Is there anything guardians can do to protect their dogs from getting kennel cough? 

Dr. Gordon: Generally speaking, the best things to do are to have your pets routinely vaccinated, and to avoid areas where dogs congregate or high traffic areas for pets during times when kennel cough or canine influenza may be going around.

For facilities that are looking after dogs that may be able to spread canine influenza or kennel cough it is best for these facilities to screen pets for signs of illness, require vaccinations, have proper ventilation, and disinfect the area routinely.

You can also call facilities and ask if they are seeing outbreaks of kennel cough or similar. It’s better to change your plans in some cases than to risk exposing your pet when it may be unnecessary.

What should I do if I find out that my dog was exposed to kennel cough via daycare, boarding, grooming, etc. but they aren’t showing any symptoms yet? 

Dr. Gordon: The best thing to do is isolate them from other dogs (keep them at home and in the backyard) and monitor them for symptoms for the next 2 weeks. If your dog does not develop symptoms it is unlikely they have contracted the disease and can return to normal.

We've heard this is the worst case of kennel cough in 20 years. Is that true? If so, why do you think that's the case? (Is that just an anecdote or is that data coming from somewhere?)

Dr. Gordon: The current outbreak certainly is the worst in my memory, but I have only been practicing for about 8 years. Other veterinarians who have been practicing for longer may have different opinions as there was a time before vaccines for these diseases were readily available or commonly used.

Do you think that there's any chance that the reason why this is such a prolific period for canine influenza and kennel cough and pneumonia by extension is because dogs were away from each other for a while because of the pandemic and now society is open again and people are out and about? (I've heard people extrapolating like that previously, but I didn't know if that was the case.)

Dr. Gordon: I think there's a number of factors. I'll tell you a couple things that I think are contributing to it, but I don't think the veterinary scientific community will know for sure until this outbreak that's currently happening is well in our rearview mirror and we look back at the data and see who is getting what, where, and can compare the numbers to previous years. You'll see news articles every year around this time about kennel cough outbreaks or canine influenza outbreaks and generally speaking, I do think there's probably a couple factors that could come into place where there's a fair number of new dog owners or people who purchased or adopted dogs during COVID lockdown. Just because we did see a huge spike of ownership, during and following the COVID lockdown, I think a lot of those dogs are now being boarded. I think a lot of those owners are now traveling, whereas say a year ago or even two years ago when it was a lot less likely they would travel. We weren't really having this much of an issue. During and before lockdown, we'd still see kennel cough from people boarding their dogs, and those still going to doggy daycare. But I think there's just so much more boarding and daycare now because I think people are starting to feel more confident with their own travel plans, or they're having to go back to work. So doggy daycare and kennels and boarding facilities are just much more inundated with dogs, and with reduced ventilation during the winter, I think that just increases the likelihood that these types of outbreaks could occur.

Is there any way to support our dogs’ immune systems so that they don't get this or so they recover quickly from it? 

Dr. Gordon: The best thing you can do is vaccinate, and avoid known areas where dogs congregate when an outbreak is occurring.

Otherwise basic things such as feeding a complete and balanced diet, keeping them indoors during cold weather, proper ventilation if other dogs are visiting, cleaning bowls or items other dogs have interacted with, and letting them rest if they seem less active, should be enough to keep your pets immune system in the best shape.

What about taking a daily probiotic?

Dr. Gordon: I'm not aware that there's any studies that have proven that there's some efficacy for probiotics when it comes to canine influenza, kennel cough, or similar respiratory diseases in dogs. I am aware there are some initial trials in laboratory animals and the use of probiotics for influenza-like diseases, but I don’t think there is a broad scientific consensus on this in dogs. I do think that there is a place for probiotics in a number of other diseases, generally GI related diseases, but I think it will be a while longer before we determine a benefit for this specific use.

What is the healing process like for a typical dog that gets kennel cough, dog flu, and pneumonia? 

Dr. Gordon: When talking about canine flu or kennel cough, the most common course of the disease is over the period of 7 - 14 days with a residual cough that may persist for up to a month. They need basic supportive care such as a safe environment, that is climate controlled, with food and water nearby, and plenty of rest. They really should be doing very little in the way of activity as they should not be going out for walks in the neighborhood or dog parks as they could potentially get other dogs infected or pick up another respiratory disease themselves. A little bit of time outside and movement is likely somewhat beneficial, but rest is still a core component to recovery.

For pneumonia it can vary wildly and may include antibiotics and rest at home with the use of a nebulizer to help break up respiratory secretions. Or in very rare cases it may require hospitalization, IV fluids and medications, and oxygen therapy. Recovery from pneumonia may take 1 - 2 months for some patients. Untreated pneumonia can be life threatening. And in some cases even treated pets will still succumb to the disease, but this is rare.

This period has reminded me a lot of when our dog was neutered because they're supposed to rest a lot and you're not really supposed to play with them, which can be very challenging because dogs' needs are not being met. When we were talking to one of your colleagues, they even said not to use a snuffle mat, or have him play outside and to take all his chews away, which is very challenging for our dog. What is your take on that and how to contend with those changes during the recovery period?

Dr. Gordon: For those dogs with uncomplicated kennel cough, I think it’s still reasonable to say you can continue to entertain them and engage in limited activity in small ways in your own home or your backyard depending on how they're doing. The first two weeks are often the most severe in terms of the symptoms and I'd have kid gloves at that point and say to an owner, “okay, let's keep them calm, let's not get them too active, because when they get active, the coughing is worse and it worsens inflammation in the lungs”. This is the phase they need to rest the most. But after they recover and they seem bright and alert with minimal coughing then they're just kind of in the infectious phase where they might be able to transmit the disease but don’t have much of the symptoms. That’s when I would say it's okay to do some light exercise in the backyard, and toss the ball around for short periods, or something similar.

For those dogs that have pneumonia, it's a little bit different. It is a slowly resolving disease. It can take up to a month or more for them to completely resolve. In the case of pneumonia we shoudl be more cautious about activity, do very minimal stuff. It’s beneficial for them to get up and walk around the house or briefly in the backyard. But I don't necessarily think that I would completely remove all objects. I think I would continue with objects that you could easily sterilize after the fact or discard if they can’t be cleaned properly. 

To clean, usually it's going to be something like dilute bleach or similar cleaner. If you have a standard bottle of bleach that you would use on laundry, then you can do a one to ten dilution. So that’s one part bleach, nine parts water and then you bathe the object in it for about five to ten minutes. That is enough contact time for it to kill the virus and reduce the likelihood of reinfection or transmission.

So you would use the bleach if you had another dog coming over to your house and you were worried that they were going to take a ball or something and you didn't want to spread whatever your dog has?

Dr. Gordon: Maybe you have the same water bowl, or toys, or you have the same food bowl from before and the dogs are going to share. You might need to clean these before another dog shows up in the house.

How can we help reduce the spread? 

Dr. Gordon: The best thing is vaccinating your own pets and if your pet has a cough, do not take your pet to dog parks, boarding facilities, kennels, dog shows, the groomers, or for walks in areas of your neighborhood where other dogs may pass by. It can vary based on the pet and the underlying disease, but it is possible for pets to be infectious to other dogs for up to one month, so quarantine your pet away from other pets for 1 month before returning to the groomers or doggie day care.

When you talk about quarantining for up to a month after you develop canine influenza or pneumonia, is that a month from when you first have symptoms?

Dr. Gordon: Generally it's going to be a month from when they first have symptoms, but I would address that per patient. It's really something where if they're still having a lot of ongoing coughing or other symptoms, or they were hospitalized for a period of time and they had to be treated for pneumonia, I might extend that for even longer to eight weeks in some cases. But if we're talking about just the most common form that we see where it's mild symptoms, they generally recover in about two weeks, and I would say an additional two weeks minimum. You'll find different resources that quote differently. Some will say 28 days, some will say six weeks minimum. I think it just kind of depends on the studies they're looking at and the opinion of the veterinarian for that specific case.

Given the current climate, is it safe to get your dog groomed in a mobile grooming vehicle by themselves? 

Dr. Gordon: If the area in the mobile center is cleaned appropriately, if they screen the animals that come in, and if they make sure the animals are vaccinated, I think it reduces the likelihood if they're doing it properly because it just means that they're less likely to directly interact with another dog and they probably see less dogs per day than a grooming facility. So it could reduce the chance your pet would contract a respiratory disease if done properly.

Once you get pneumonia, we heard that it's easy for a dog to contract it again. Is that true just because their immune system has been hit by it? 

Dr. Gordon: I would say any dog that has recently had pneumonia can contract it again because it's such a slowly resolving disease. It can rapidly progress and get worse, but recovery is just very slow. For any dog that's recently had pneumonia, there's probably residual inflammation and changes within the lungs that will make it more difficult to recover should a second disease come along and infect the pet. I would just be really careful with those dogs that have recently had pneumonia and potentially putting them in a situation where they could develop another respiratory condition.

Can dogs spread this to humans? 

Dr. Gordon: For healthy adults it is very unlikely to be transmissible from dogs to people. For those that are immunocompromised it is possible but still rare. People that are immunocompromised (the very young, old, going through chemotherapy or similar), they may need to take extra precautions if their pet is suspected of being sick with pneumonia, kennel cough, or canine influenza.

It is best to have the dog isolated from those that are immunocompromised and the pet handled and cared for by someone who is healthy. If this is not possible then the pet should sleep in a different room, minimal contact needed to feed and let the pet outside, and wash hands thoroughly. It may also be helpful to increase fresh airflow into the house to reduce airborne transmission. If this is a concern for you it is best to speak to your doctor about other precautions based on your specific need.

What about if your dog is diagnosed with canine flu or pneumonia and they're on antibiotics? Is there still a danger of transmission to humans if they're immunocompromised?

Dr. Gordon: Yeah, there is still some danger. Again, it depends on what the diagnosis is and even then transmission is still very rare. As far as I'm aware and as far as my research has shown, there's no reported cases of canine influenza being transmitted to humans, but there's a number of other infectious disease agents that could be transmissible from pets to people. Even though they're on antibiotics, there's still often a viral component to these respiratory diseases that needs to run its course and the antibiotics are not gonna do anything for that component of the disease. So I still would recommend, for the most part, to minimize contact if there's some concern there. But if you're a healthy adult, and you're washing your hands after interacting with the pet, and they're not sleeping on your chest and coughing in your face, then I would say that there's pretty minimal concern there.

Are you still seeing the same volume of cases or has it decreased at all?

Dr. Gordon: It's decreased a little bit. We were seeing about three cases a day of kennel cough or canine influenza a day at our practice and now we're seeing maybe one every other day. There's four doctors that work there and we meet up as a group frequently and everyone agrees it's getting a little bit better.

How many cases of pneumonia have you seen a day?

Dr. Gordon: I have seen at least two recently and I did see a case unfortunately pass away. I hadn't been treating it. They came into us urgently, and the dog immediately collapsed and passed away. But it was suspected of having canine influenza. This is very rare to have happen, but it’s important to know. I think our hospital's probably seen more than that though. In terms of dogs with pneumonia, we've probably seen, if I were to guess at least two or three cases per doctor. So we're looking at closer to around ten cases or maybe a little bit less than that, because we've probably seen about 50 cases of kennel cough and canine influenza in the last few months and that would fit with the nationwide statistics too.

Packing List: The Best Travel Gear and Tips For You and Your Dog

Recently on Instagram we asked you about the travel products YOU love that make trips easier and more enjoyable with your dogs. Once again we were blown away by your responses, and decided to turn them into an easy to reference guide. We will keep adding to this list as we get more great recommendations from YOU, the amazing pet parents and pro-trainers in our TOC Family! PS: One of the easiest ways to be sustainable is to buy less. With that in mind, we compile these lists to try to help you find quality products so you don't have to keep buying things. Just because it is on this list doesn't necessarily mean you need it to travel with your dog. Please feel free to also check around for used versions of these products! [Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.]

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Navigate to Where You Want to Go

1. What to Prep Before Your Trip

2. What to Pack

3. For the Car

4. For the Plane/Airport

5. For Your Home Away From Home

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What To Prep Before Your Trip

1. Make a Packing List

From @gingers_naps:“Ginger has her own packing list so I don’t forget anything 😅. Before we go, I look for dog-friendly locations near where we’re staying, walking trails, restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating, etc.”

2. Plan Your Potty Break/Enrichment Stops Ahead of Time

From @elphapupper: “ … we always try to stop every few hours and get in a leg stretch - which means we often go off the highway rather than a highway rest stop. We’ve found some really pretty parks and hikes by going slightly off track.”

3. Plan the amount of food and medication you neeD + Pack Extras

From @soelsoprano :”…I now always travel with an extra day supply of kibble because I have lost luggage and all his kibble for the trip was in my checked bag and it was just stressful to have to immediately find a pet store.”

4. Research vets nearby

From @keeping.up.with.flynn: “ … aware of where your nearest vet might be - dependent on where you are it’s multiple hours away.”

What to Pack

1. Collapsible dishes

From @zeldaandaaron: “When staying at b&bs or hotels I always make sure to bring … their foldable bowls (always with me) … ” Note: TOC found this collapsible bowl on GSI Outdoors.

2. first aid kit

From @keeping.up.with.flynn: ”Dog first aid kit ... ” Note: TOC found this first aid kit on Amazon.

3. travel water bottle

From @owenthelobo: ”We only do road trips with Owen, so luckily we get to pack more for him than if we were to have to fly. For sure packs: … doggy water bottle.” Note: TOC found this water bottle on Amazon.

4. extra leash

From @dachshund_nola: “ … Extra leash … - you never know 😅😂” Note: TOC found this long line on High Tail Hikes and you can use code TAILSOFCONNECTION for 10% off on all products!

5. toys

From @rseuler: “ … toys ... it's like having a toddler! 😂…” Note: TOC found these toys on Amazon.

6. LED Collars

From @steelandflorawellness: “I don’t leave home without the LED collars or harnesses, because we often arrive after dark.” Note: TOC found this LED collar on Amazon.

7. enrichment toy

From @boba.the.sustainable.mutt: ”An enrichment toy or two that work easily with kibble. I like bringing two different sized toppls because they can work together as a food dispenser, or separately. Alternatively, we bring our snoop.”

8. old plastic peanut butter jar for treats

From @boba.the.sustainable.mutt: “I also tend to bring an old plastic PB jar filled with extra [treats] so I can refill as needed, and have easy access to a treat jar wherever we’re staying.” Note: Make sure you use a peanut butter jar that doesn’t contain xylitol that is toxic to dogs.

9. dog bed

From @frankie.p.pittie:“We only car travel. Her normal favorite bed is a must.” Note: TOC found this bed on the Houndry site. Before you put your dog on their bed in the car, we encourage you to research what is safe for you and your dog in your particular vehicle. This post has some good advice.

10. blanket

From @elphapupper:“We have done a few weeks long car travel trips and there are some things that I just *always* keep in the car so I don’t have to worry about packing … blankets …” Note: TOC found this blanket on Amazon.

11. towels

From @captmorgan_10:”We also bring the quick-dry towels that roll up small.” Note: TOC found this towel on Amazon.

12. paw wipes

From @captmorgan_10: “We also bring the quick-dry towels that roll up small, his paw wipes …” Note: TOC found these wipes on Amazon.

13. shampoo

From @stanleysthoughts: “We always bring shampoo with us in case Stanley needs a random butt bath or paw bath before reentering the place where we’re staying or even getting back in the car.” Note: TOC found this shampoo on Amazon.

14. lickimat

From @jessyergin : “We always bring a lickimat with us and it’s come in handing during quick paw baths."

15. snuffle mat

From @owenthelobo: “We only do road trips with Owen, so luckily we get to pack more for him than if we were to have to fly. For sure packs: … a snuffle mat …“ Note: TOC found this snuffle mat on Etsy.

16. Lint brush

From @steelandflorawellness: “I travel a lot with the dogs! … I keep a … lint brush … in the car. Note: TOC found this lint brush on Amazon.

17. extra high value treats

From @dachshund_nola: “ … Extra high value treats …” Note: TOC found these treats on Amazon.

18. toothpaste and toothbrush

From @owenthelobo: “ … toothpaste and toothbrush … ” Note: TOC found this toothbrush on Amazon.

19. DIY scratchboard

From @owenthelobo: “… I also bring a homemade scratch board for easy training and nail maintenance, plus grooming scissors in case I need to cut some hair out for whatever reason …” Note: TOC published the article below on how to make a DIY scratchboard.

20. Ruffwear food caddy Bag

From @steelandflorawellness: “… Oh and the Ruffwear food caddy bag, it seems dumb to spend money on but it keeps the food stink off the rest of my stuff better even than double ziplock.”

21. Muzzle

From @keeping.up.with.flynn: “… muzzle incase of emergency’s - increased bite risk if they are in pain …” Note: TOC found this muzzle on Amazon.

22. cardboard

From @frankie.p.pittie: “ … cardboard for chewing” Note: TOC found these plain cardboard moving boxes on Amazon, but if you buy one of the other products on our list from Amazon (or if you already have cardboard at home), you can just use that free packaging etc. for for enrichment.

23. Fanny Pack

From @boba.the.sustainable.mutt“ … We always carry a fanny pack with treats (as well as extra poop bags & a collapsible water bowl) … ” Note: TOC found this fanny pack on Amazon.

24. Extra Collar

From @dachshund_nola: “- Extra … collar - you never know 😅😂.” Note: TOC found these biothane collars on Mossy Pawz’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Pet POC Diretory here.

For the Car

1. CAR Hammock

From @blissdogs831:Walking groups of dogs, I feel like I’ve tried every kind of seat cover and destroyed them all. 😂this is by FAR the best one, on Amazon: “Plush Paws Products Premium Rear Car Seat Protector w/Hammock.”

2. Seatbelt harness

From @blissdogs831: “I have a small senior dog so in addition to the many great ideas above, we always bring & use his Kurgo seatbelt attachment and a back-clip harness … ”

3. Ramp

From @theotheramyprice: “If you have a Great Pyr or similar breed, consider a ramp for the car. I think we could have avoided issues if we had one when we traveled. Also, be aware that a lot of rental places have very slippery floors (easier to clean, I guess?) That can be a challenge for some pups. :)” Note: TOC found this ramp on Amazon.

4. car crate

From @luna.in_the.city: “Love this! We have been traveling with Luna since she was 6 months. We do MA-FL car travel twice a year and she's a champ. We do set her up for success by: bringing her crate along with us …” Note: TOC found this crash tested crate on Gunner’s website.

5. Roadside Emergency kit

From @elphapupper:” … car emergency kit (which has things like jumper cables, flares, etc. in case we are stalled or stopped on the side of the road).” Note: TOC found this kit on Amazon.

6. snooza travel bed

From @pretendyelling: “So we have tried a couple of car seats with bolsters for her to steady herself against, the best being the Snooza travel bed. We chose the medium size so that she can lie properly on her side rather than being curled up, which must be uncomfortable on long trips. It's designed so you can bring either the whole bed or just the cushion insert out of the car and use as a bed at the destination which is handy …” Note: TOC found this bed on the Snooza site. Before you put your dog on their bed in the car, we encourage you to research what is safe for you and your dog in your particular vehicle.

7. back seat extender platform

From @steelandflorawellness: “I have a back seat extender platform from Amazon …” Note: TOC found this back seat extender on the Amazon site. Before you put your dog on an extender in the car, we encourage you to research what is safe for you and your dog in your particular vehicle.

8.Sleepy Pod Harness

From @myhelpfulcloud: “ … For car trips, I always have our sleepy pod harness.”

9. trash bag for motion sickness

From @the_marvelous_ms_mavi: “I also make sure we have … a trash bag in case of motion sickness.” Note: TOC found these trash bags on Amazon.

10. enzymatic cleaner

From @the_marvelous_ms_mavi: “I also make sure we have enzymatic cleaner …” Note: TOC found this cleaner on Amazon.

11. cooler with frozen kongs or chews

From @kitstagram_awoo: “ … We bring a cooler with frozen kongs and chews (as well as her crate from the car) to help her get through it!”

For the Plane/Airport

1. Carrier

From @soelsoprano:“I fly often with my little one (in the cabin with me), and we do training with his carrier about a month before any flight. Small sessions, I basically start as if it’s the first time (though he seems to know the drill now). It helps so much for him to be comfortable going in and out while we are at the airport.” Note: TOC found this carrier on Amazon.

2. Potty clean up kit for the airport

From @soelsoprano: “My dog also refuses to use dog relief stations at airports, so I have a little potty clean up “kit” (lots of paper towels, dog friendly disinfectant wipes, and keeping him on non carpeted areas if I think he might pee).” Note: TOC found this travel urine stain and odor remover on Walmart’s website.

3. Extra Food

From @myhelpfulcloud: ”I’ve had trips where my dog gets his own suitcase and trips where he gets a ziploc baggie full of kibble and that’s it 😂. It really depends on where we’re going but I HATE to overpack … ”

4. Toy to play with

From @soelsoprano: “I always bring a toy he can chase (a ball, chew toy, rope toy) because we have to get to the airport so early, I like to give him some play time.” Note: TOC found this toy on Amazon.

5. Treats and chews that are tummy-safe

From @myhelpfulcloud: “For any type of travel, do NOT give your dog new treats. Make sure any treats or chews your dog has are already demonstrated to be tummy-safe. The plane, car, train etc. is the worst place to find out your dog doesn’t tolerate something. And I like to keep the no new treats rule for the entire trip, just for safety.” Note: TOC found these treats on Amazon.

6. Stasher Bag for Food

From @otis_unleashed: “Stasher bags for the plane. They are great silicone bags that you could stash your extra food in.”

For Your Home Away From Home

1.Grooming kit

From @myhelpfulcloud:” … a small grooming kit so I can keep him looking nice on the trip.” Note: TOC found this brush on Amazon but you can assemble your own small grooming kit with products that you might already have at home!

2. X-pen or baby gate

From @owenthelobo: “I have a Regalo wooden baby gate from target that is really easy to pack. It’s not the most sturdy so I’d only recommend for dogs that’s are visually deterred when they see a barrier rather than an escape artist 😂 the X-pen is the you & me brand from Petco and it is much less easy to pack since it’s so heavy, so I’d only bring it if I’m really unsure what the layout of the house is and if I want to block large spaces rather than just one room.”

3. Travel Crate

From @c_healy21: “I always travel with a travel crate … It’s the EliteField 3 door soft folding crate on Amazon. I have the 42” and the 36”. They are so light and easy to carry!”

4. Rain jacket

From @blissdogs831: “I have a small senior dog so in addition to the many great ideas above, we always bring & use his … sweater & rain jacket.” Note: TOC found this rain jacket on Amazon.

5. ULLERSLEV from Ikea as a bed

From @pretendyelling: “ … though she just sleeps on a rug on our bed when we travel) ... it's ULLERSLEV from Ikea 😁”

6. White noise machine

From @luna.in_the.city: ”Love this! We have been traveling with Luna since she was 6 months. We do MA-FL car travel twice a year and she's a champ. We do set her up for success by: bringing … her white noise machine, and a few toys.”

7. Human headlamP

From @boba.the.sustainable.mutt: “ … I wear a @petzl_official Tikka headlamp (once this one kicks the bucket I’ll probably invest in one of their rechargeable options).”

Progress Report: One Month After Starting From Scratch With How To Train Dog Recall

When you call your dog to come in a variety of settings, how likely are they to immediately run to you? If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that I “started over” with my “hunty-sniffy” dog Sully’s recall about a month ago. 

In my first article, I talked about what recall actually is, why I changed Sully’s recall cue, and how I started working with the new cue (among other things). In my second article, I talked about my effort to capture and build attention as a foundation for recall.

What changes have I seen in the past month (keep scrolling!)? What am I keeping an eye on? Let’s dig into my one-month update! 

Recall Priorities: Build Behavior First

Before I started from scratch with working on recall with Sully, she used to routinely side step around me in the woods like I was an obstacle to avoid in her sniffing path.

While I introduced a new recall cue to Sully (you can learn more about that process here) a month ago, I’ve actually devoted very little of my time and energy to training with that recall cue. I’ve done two formal training sessions with it and paired it with human food she loves (as the opportunity arose) if I was planning to share with her anyway. That’s it. 

The vast majority of my effort this month has gone towards building desired behavior on trails without any verbal cues. 

There are three main behaviors I’ve been focused on: 

1. Offering attention (i.e. voluntarily looking at me or orienting to me)

2. Coming all the way to me when I mark or drop a treat on the ground 

3. Eating the treat I offer 

I talked about this process more in my previous article, but as a refresher, here’s what I’ve been doing for the past month:

• On our daily trail walks, we stop at least once to play a simple attention game (it’s quick - usually no more than 30 seconds). Sometimes it’s a stationary up-down game while other times it involves more movement. (You can see quick examples of stationary and moving games we play in this post we shared. I also shared how-to’s at the very bottom of this article. Plus, if you really wanna work on attention, check out our on-demand video e-course, Attention Unlocked!)

• On our daily trail walks, we capture any and all attention that she offers. Literally. Every single instance. That means that if she stops and orients to us or looks at us, we give her a treat. 

In Recall Training The Secret Sauce Is ‘Simple Is Sustainable’ 

Perhaps you noticed that nothing that I’m doing is earth shattering. Maybe you noticed that I’ve done almost no “formal training sessions.”. The bulk of my work is happening on our trail walks - an activity that is already a habit for me. This is intentional and here’s why:

1. Foundations first. If I can’t get some of the “simpler behaviors” to show up, I set us up for failure if I move past them. Plus, just because I know how to do “more complex” things doesn’t mean that is what I should be doing. Our progress has come from consistently working on simple foundations. 

2. You want to see change? Then you generally need consistency. And I know that I do simple things more consistently than complex things. It’s harder for me to consistently carve out training sessions from my day than it is to pause for 30 seconds on a walk (especially with Sully – I have much less of an R+ history for training her than I do with my other dog, Otis). So I do what I know I can do consistently. 

How To Make Magic: Collect Data

When I first started talking about our recall journey, I mentioned wanting to do this systematically – including taking data. Data are really important to the training process. They help us determine how to intervene and if our interventions are working as expected. 

Given all the effort I am putting into building attention, how do I know “if it’s working”? 

DATA!!! 

I have been measuring the number of instances of “offered attention” per daily hour-long walk. I defined an instance of “offered attention” as Sully looking at us (eye contact), stopping and turning at least her head towards us (with or without eye contact), and/or walking up to us and pausing (with or without eye contact). Anecdotally, the majority of her instances include eye contact. (Some dogs don’t love eye contact, so I am fine with a general orienting behavior.) 

Admittedly, I am not being as precise as I could be. I keep count in my head as we walk and jot down the total on my phone at the end of the walk. I undoubtedly screw up my counts, but ultimately, this isn’t a formal study. I am just looking to get a sense of the overall trend (I want to see the count trending upward). 

When I first started this journey, this number was so low (between zero and three) that it was easy to count. It’s gone up so much over the past month (now she regularly offers around 30 instances of attention per daily hour-long trail walk) that I likely need to revise my data strategy. 

If I wasn’t seeing her offer more attention on walks, I would have revised my strategy. 

Behavior Update: A Quick Summary

Sometimes you gotta start slow to go fast in the end. My partner, Ben, and I have been getting such a kick out of the changes we are seeing in Sully after a month of work (remember: we didn’t do any fancy training; we just did simple stuff consistently). 

Typical Number of Instances of Offered Attention Per Hour-Long Walk

• One Month Ago: 0 to 3

• Today: ~ 30

When we’re walking together, I have gone from an obstacle for Sully to avoid in her sniffing path to a signal for valued reinforcers in many contexts. I won’t lie: that feels nice 😂. 

Many of the check-ins she offers happen when she is within 15 feet of us (she’s rarely farther than that because that’s the length of her dragline). However, the other day she was in pursuit of some poop to roll in and got a bit farther away from us. I knew I had no business trying to call her, so I just waited. And guess what she did after she rolled in the poop for 10 seconds? She SPRINTED the 30 yards to me. Everything about her behavior gave me the sense that she was certain she would get a treat when she showed up to me. This is what I want! It tells me that contingencies are clear and that my reinforcers are competing well enough in this environment. In an ideal world, I see this type of “recall behavior” show up more and more before I ever add a verbal cue. 

Guess what else I am seeing?! When we verbally prompt her (with her name or a kissy noise), she is responding by orienting to or coming to us more often. Now to be fair, I am not measuring these data right now, so I am just going off what I think I have noticed (but given that she was basically unresponsive most of the time a month ago, it’s not hard to see the change). You can see a clear example of this at the end of this post we shared this week where I said her name to simply see if she could look at me (she chose to run all the way to me). 

Will Your Treats Compete? 

If you have a dog who doesn’t consistently eat outside, please know you are in good company. That used to be Sully. And it could be Sully again tomorrow if I don’t set her up for success (by that I mean arrange conditions in ways that I know make it likely for her to perform the eating behavior). 

For the past month, we’ve been primarily using boiled shredded chicken breasts, baked chicken thighs, or ground beef as our treats, and she has consistently been eating them. We only use these as treats when we do our trail walks to try to reap some of the benefits of novelty when it comes to reinforcer value (without using food deprivation). The novelty can boost the value of reinforcers, which can help them compete with nature, increase the reinforcing strength of the treat, and  make eating behavior more likely (as well as any behavior that produces the opportunity to eat). 

I spent a number of months (a while ago) focused on building her eating behavior, but I still have to be careful. I am intentional in how I progress to make it more likely for my treats to compete. For example, when I first started working on attention pattern games (a while ago), we played indoors with very few distractions so that the desired behaviors were likely to show up. Then we slowly moved to more distracting settings (only as fast as I could keep the desired behavior stable). Now those patterns games are ones I can use in new environments to help get eating behavior to show up there (since the eating behavior already shows up in those pattern games under generalized conditions). 

On a day when I only have string cheese (which is still high value but less novel), I am less likely to offer food early in the walk. Early in the walk, nature is more novel and therefore higher value, and cheese doesn’t compete as well. After about 15 to 20 minutes, I can count on her eating cheese. 

The precursor to everything I have been talking about is having a reinforcer that your dog will reliably perform to access. In my case, that’s food, which means I need to count on Sully coming towards me to eat the food (that’s a behavior) when I offer it on trails before I can really use food as a reinforcer on trails. If you aren’t getting the eating behavior consistently when you just offer “free food,” you likely need to change your antecedents. Where will your dog consistently eat the food you offer? Start there and then bring the behavior into new environments. (Note: I am just thinking out loud here because this comes up so often. I am not giving specific advice. One of the first things you should check if your dog is not eating consistently is their health..)

Fringe Benefits

Historically, I haven’t always loved training Sully. She doesn’t opt into training as often around home (she prefers to sleep under an old poplar tree or patrol the yard) and tends to offer fewer behaviors that I find really reinforcing (like looking at me, coming to me, asking me for attention). I just have less of a reinforcement history for working with her than I do with Otis. One of the real benefits of focusing so much on capturing attention has been how much reinforcement I am getting from this for “training” her. I am seeing behaviors I love more (since I am looking for them and then reinforcing them). I now have a nice, recent R+ history as I approach the next phase. 

What’s Next?

I will keep reinforcing the heck out of attention on our walks, but I am likely going to put a bit more effort into working on recall using our new verbal cue around home, where I can control the level of distraction. Stay tuned! 

Reminder

I am very realistic when it comes to Sully. I don’t expect to turn her into Otis. I expect to make progress, but my goal is not to create a dog who stares at me all of the time. She is still my “wild child,” and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I anticipate that I will always be a bit choosy about where I drop her dragline and what criteria I have for that decision, and that is perfectly okay for us! 

Addendum: My Go-to Simple Attention Games on Walks

I like to pause like this on hikes now to play attention games with Sully (Otis insists on joining in the fun too!) like the up-down pattern game seen above.

A number of people asked in an Instagram post this week what attention games I play on walks, so I am sharing the two most common ones here! 

Simple Up-Down Pattern Game (popularized by Leslie McDevvit)

To play: 

• Place a treat down on the ground in front of your dog’s paws for them to eat.

• When they eat it, they should naturally lift their head up. Mark (you can say “yes” or use a location specific marker like “find it”) and reinforce (place another treat down in the same spot in front of your dog’s paws.

• Quietly wait for them to orient up towards you. (Many dogs will look up at you, but if that is uncomfortable for your dog, general orientation towards you works just as well!)

• When they do look/orient to you, mark and reinforce with another treat in the same spot. Keep repeating. 

Tips: 

• This game is about capturing offered attention, so you want to avoid prompting your dog by saying their name or pointing to your eyes. 

• Your dog is allowed to look around. Just wait for them to look up. 

• If they aren’t looking up at you consistently, you may need to start in a lower distraction environment. 

Pattern Game with Movement

To play: 

• Place a couple treats down on the ground and then move away (if you’re just starting, take only a few steps, but if your dog knows this, you can move farther away). 

• After your dog eats the treats you put on the ground, they will look at you. Mark and reinforce by putting treats down on the ground where you’re standing and then move away again. 

• Repeat. 

• Keep it small or make it a bigger game with more running! 

Tips: 

• Just like in the up-down pattern game, you are capturing offered behavior rather than verbally prompting your dog to come to you (though you could adapt the game to that end in the future!) In other words, do not say your dog’s name or their recall cue (for now). 

How To Train a Dog To Recall Through Building Foundations

Do you dream of the day that your dog reliably comes (“recalls”) when you call them? Or maybe you’d just settle for an improvement relative to where you are right now. I recently decided that the best thing I could do to improve my little hunty-sniffy dog’s recall was to start over, and I’m bringing you along for the ride!

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Navigate to Where You Want To Go

1. Forget the Recall Cue (For a Minute)! What Behavior Is My Dog Voluntarily Offering?

2. What Are the Foundations for Recall?

3. How Do I Get My Dog To Offer Me More Attention?

4. How Can I Make Desired Behaviors More Likely?

5. How Will I Know If My Training Is Helping?

6. A Brief Reminder: You Don’t Always Have to Be Your Dog’s Priority

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In my previous article, I talked about what recall actually is, why I changed Sully’s recall cue, and how I started working with the new cue (among other things). While I plan to systematically work on her response to that new cue (“Ewok”), today, I want to talk about the training that I’m doing simultaneously that doesn’t involve any verbal cues at all. We’re going back to foundations! (Pssst … I cannot emphasize enough how much the training in our on-demand video e-course, Attention Unlocked, can help with recall goals).

Forget the Recall Cue (For a Minute)! What Behavior Is My Dog Voluntarily Offering?

Let me start by painting a picture for you of my two dogs’, Otis and Sully, typically offered behaviors on trail walks (aka what they do voluntarily rather than in response to a verbal cue). As you read, consider which dog’s history may make them more likely to recall and why. 

This is a pretty accurate depiction of the different behavioral tendencies of my two dogs. There is no good vs. bad or right vs. wrong here - just different. These dogs are individuals with vastly different learning histories. I love that Sully loves nature so much and my goal is not to turn her into Otis.

OTIS: Otis trots along trails sniffing specific spots or air scenting (aka throwing his nose in the air and following some invisible scent through space) and tends to stay in a roughly 15 yard radius from me. If he hits the edge of that radius, he either voluntarily stops and looks back at me or runs all the way to me, which I usually reinforce with a treat. As he trots along within that radius, he regularly looks back over his shoulder to see where I am or returns all the way to me to check-in, which I tend to reinforce with a small treat. If he sees another dog or person on the trail, he automatically stops and orients to me, which I tend to mark and reinforce. If I stop walking, he stops walking and looks at me. If I continue to stand still, he runs to me. If I change directions, so does he. If he hears a treat bag rustle or sees my hand move towards my treat bag, he sprints to me. If I give Sully a treat, Otis shows up. 

SULLY: Sully moves with her nose glued to the ground for the vast majority of her walk. She has gone entire trail walks without ever once looking up at me (no joke). If I stop ahead of her in the middle of the trail, she will arc around my legs and carry on sniffing as if I am a rock and she is the river that just flows around it. She has been known to walk right past treats offered to her in open palms early on in walks. When I give Otis a treat, she appears oblivious by the way she carries on walking and sniffing right past the whole event. If she is not sniffing, she is likely staring at some prey she saw or heard. 

Chances are you determined that Otis is likely better positioned (at least based on the limited info I gave you) to respond to recall cues on trails than Sully. How did you conclude that since I didn't talk at all about calling them to come? You probably picked up on the fact that Otis is already regularly offering components of the recall behavior on walks, which means those behaviors are getting regularly reinforced in that context. Plus, if my dog is behaving to access my reinforcers, I may have a bit more confidence in my ability to actually reinforce recall in the future (clearly, I needed to make adjustments with Sully).

What Are the Foundations for Recall?

This is a clip of my two dogs, Otis (gray and white) and Sully (blonde), and my neighbor's dog, Chance (white), on a hike. There were clearly some interesting smells in that area that they all picked up on, which thrills me! I want them to have the chance to move and explore without focusing on me. But notice how Otis voluntarily runs to me after he’s done sniffing? The environment cues those check-ins all the time with him. With Otis, I also feel confident saying that my treats compete easily with most of nature most of the time since he often behaves to access them. This type of history is really helpful when it comes to recall!

“Attention” (i.e. orienting to you) is one of the most important foundations for recall. I want to see a dog offering attention in the environments where I will use their recall cue in the future. Ultimately, it’s easier to recall a dog who is attuned to you to some degree (even if it’s just an occasional glance back) than one who has all of their senses fully tuned to the environment all the time. But perhaps more importantly, attention is the first behavior in the chain of behaviors that make up recall. 

When you call your dog, they have to stop (if they are moving) and orient to you before they ever run to you (that is basically how we define “attention”). 

I put a lot of weight (in the form of a positive reinforcement history) behind offered attention because I want that behavior to show up more often outdoors. By focusing on offered attention (aka no verbal prompt), I can reinforce part(s) of their recall behavior while mitigating the risk of using their recall cue when they’re not capable of responding, which would just weaken it. Plus, depending on when I mark and how/where I reinforce, I can actually produce more of the full recall behavior. For example, if my dog looks at me when they are 10 yards away from me on the trail, and I say “yes,” that marker cue essentially pulls my dog all the way into me. From the outside, it will look just like recall! 

There is another foundation that is often overlooked. It’s easy to focus so much on the recall behavior that you take for granted the behaviors needed to actually access your reinforcers. Imagine you call your dog, and they run to you. When they get to you, you offer a treat in your palm. Your dog looks at it and decides to return to sniffing instead of eating it. You were hoping to reinforce their recall with a treat (we might say that “giving them a treat to take from your hand” was your “reinforcement strategy”), but they have to perform behaviors (approach hand, open mouth, grab treat, swallow treat) to actually “get the treat.” This leads to the other foundation I want to highlight in this article: Your dog needs to reliably (in a variety of environments) respond to the cues and perform the behaviors associated with the reinforcement strategies you plan to use with your dog’s recall.   Put actionably, you likely want to practice your reinforcement strategies (in a variety of environments) before trying to use them to reinforce behaviors. Now put more plainly … think about how you plan to reinforce your dog’s recall – for example, dropped treats, tossed toy, etc. – and practice having your dog eat dropped treats or chase a dropped toy in various environments without those valuable events being contingent on some behavior like recall. If your dog doesn’t reliably eat food on trails, then you won’t really be able to use treats reliably to reinforce recall.  

Markers are conditioned reinforcers, but they are also cues. That means if we plan to use markers, which I recommend as a general practice in training, we need to make sure our dogs can perform the behavior that the marker cues to actually access the reinforcer. In this video, I marked Sully’s offered attention by saying “yes,” which should tell her to come and get a treat from me. The first time I said “yes,” she started to move but then stopped. The second time I said “yes,” she flew to me to get the treat that “yes” told her was available. Ideally, I don’t ever want to use my marker without it being followed up by the associated primary reinforcer (this pairing needs to remain tight and consistent), so I want to be careful about only using it in conditions where I am confident that my dog can actually respond to get the treat (or whatever reinforcer my marker signals). I am way more careful about when I use my marker with Sully now.

Your reinforcement strategies may or may not include the use of markers like the word “yes” or a click from a clicker. Markers are a fairly complex topic that I am not going to dive into too deeply here, but feel free to check out this Instagram post I did talking about markers. I bring this up because strong markers  allow you to capture offered attention from a greater distance. The marker serves as a secondary reinforcer for the offered attention (i.e. looking back at you) and a cue that brings your dog all the way back to you to access a primary reinforcer (i.e. a treat).  However, in order to do this, not only does your dog need to be able to perform the eating behavior, they need to reliably respond to your markers. With some dogs, they’ll almost “automatically” respond to their known markers in just about every environment, but for many dogs, you have to train your markers in new environments to get your dog to respond to them there. 

How Do I Get My Dog To Offer Me More Attention?

It’s easy to think that recall training is all about calling our dogs, them coming, and then reinforcing that behavior. But there are a lot of other things we can do that can improve their recall! For example, just about any training you do is going to up the level of reinforcement your dog has for working with you, being near you, responding to you, etc., and that history can absolutely help make it more likely for them to come to you when you call them.

I am using a few strategies right now to get Sully to offer me more attention on our trail walks, but I could boil them down to this: I’m reinforcing the heck out of it! Here’s a closer look at what I’ve been doing (you can see some of these in action in this IG post we shared):

1. We pause once on our daily walks to play the up-down pattern game (popularized by Leslie McDevvit) for 30 seconds or so. I love this game because it’s simple, sets the stage for her to offer attention (the pattern helps), and allows me to reinforce a lot of reps of offered attention pretty quickly!

To play:

• Place a treat down on the ground in front of your dog’s paws for them to eat.

• When they eat it, they should naturally lift their head up. Mark (you can say “yes” or use a location specific marker like “find it”) and reinforce (place another treat down in the same spot in front of your dog’s paws.

• Quietly wait for them to orient up towards you. (Many dogs will look up at you, but if that is uncomfortable for your dog, general orientation towards you works just as well!)

• When they do look/orient to you, mark and reinforce with another treat in the same spot. Keep repeating.

Tips:

• This game is about capturing offered attention, so you want to avoid prompting your dog by saying their name or pointing to your eyes.

• Your dog is allowed to look around. Just wait for them to look up.

• If they aren’t looking up at you consistently, you may need to start in a lower distraction environment.

2. We pause on walks for 30 - 60 seconds to play moving pattern games. These games give Sully a chance to practice actually running to me.

To play:

• Place a couple treats down on the ground and then move away (if you’re just starting, take only a few steps, but if your dog knows this, you can move farther away).

• After your dog eats the treats you put on the ground, they will look at you. Mark and reinforce by putting treats down on the ground where you’re standing and then move away again.

• Repeat.

• Keep it small or make it a bigger game with more running!

Tips:

• Just like in the up-down pattern game, you are capturing offered behavior rather than verbally prompting your dog to come to you (though you could adapt the game to that end in the future!) In other words, do not say your dog’s name or their recall cue (for now).

3. We capture any and all offered attention as we walk. That means literally anytime Sully intentionally chooses to orient towards us, we mark and give a treat (or just give a treat). This isn’t a behavior that has been showing up much on walks, but we are hoping to see more of it after adding the three items on this list to our walking routine.

We actually made a whole on-demand video e-course called Attention Unlocked with Juliana DeWillems of JW Dog Training to teach you how to build attention from the ground up (you would start farther back than what I am talking about in this article). Attention may not sound that sexy, but it’s the foundation for so many other behaviors (including recall). You will often reap big rewards by spending time on foundations (even if it feels “easy”) - we truly cannot recommend it enough. 

The three things I am doing right now are very low lift, which is key if I want to reliably do them. More broadly speaking, these activities have dramatically increased my reinforcement level with Sully. One of the indirect factors that often helps a dog’s recall is just a large R+ history for interacting with that person, being near that person, etc. I want being near me to predict GREAT things for Sully, and since dogs are always learning, even basically any training can improve recall (this is why so many people who did the TOC Challenge reported that their dog was coming when called so much better even though there is no recall in that course). 

Right now, I am just trying to get SOME offered attention on walks. In the future, I may incorporate some stimulus-stimulus pairing procedures to help produce more offered attention at certain points on our walks. For example, I may drop treats anytime I stop walking (pairing my stopping with treats on the ground) to try to produce the operant behavior of her standing near me. Or maybe I’ll start dropping treats anytime she hears a squirrel moving to get squirrels to become a cue to orient to me. Or maybe I’ll pull a page from Attention Unlocked book and work on offered attention around specific distractions. We shall see … for now, we are starting nice and simple and just trying to get attention to show up in the context of the woods!

Do you have a dog who will wake up from a deep sleep and come over to you if you even open the treat drawer? This is very much related to recall! One day I realized that anytime I opened a certain type of Tupperware, both of my dogs showed up in front of me. This is a great example of operant behavior (walking to me) that was produced by stimulus-stimulus pairing. Now to be honest, I am not sure where the pairing actually started. Was it the smell of chicken that got paired with me handing them chicken? Was it the sound of the lid that got paired with the smell of food, which might have already had its own associated response? Was it the sound of the lid that got paired with me handing them food? At any rate, the sound of that lid became a cue that signaled to them that if they came to me, I would hand them food. This is a reminder that our dogs are always learning by consequence and by association. The way to build a recall cue that’s as strong as the sound of treats or Tupperware lids is to make our recall cues reliable predictors of GREAT things.

How Can I Make Desired Behaviors More Likely?

We know that dogs perform behaviors more often if they lead to valued reinforcers. But the challenge is that the value of a stimulus or event is not static. 

Let’s look at a human example. Imagine you got lost hiking in the woods and walked eight miles without any food. How valuable might a giant burger be to you in that moment? Now imagine you just ate a huge brunch and had to unbutton your pants to give your belly some room. How valuable might that exact same burger be in this post-brunch moment? Is it as valuable as it was to you after your full day hike? 

I’m talking about motivating operations (MOs). “Motivating operations influence the current value of a consequence and therefore the frequency of the behavior that would contact that consequence” (The Dog Behavior Institute). DBI has a great post on MOs and one on the difference between a motivating operation and a discriminative stimulus if you want to learn more.

A few people have asked me how I chose “Ewok” as Sully’s new recall cue. In terms of criteria, I wanted the cue to: 1) Delight me (listed as number 1 for a reason); 2) Be something distinct that didn’t get used regularly in everyday life (really didn’t want to dilute it); 3) Be easy to say (aka no words that I might trip over trying to say); 4) Avoid causing harm to people when yelled out loud (i.e. don’t want to be yelling something that makes other people uncomfortable). Plus, before we got Sully’s DNA results, we assumed she was part Ewok. We still kind of think she is.

With Sully, the value of my treats in a given moment influences how likely she is to orient to me (or recall in the future) since that’s the behavior that leads to treats. I want to do everything I can to up the value of those treats (well, not everything … I am not going to use deprivation and starve Sully before training). 

I play with MOs a bit to help myself out (and to be kind and care for Sully’s needs). We’ve been doing most of our attention training on our morning trail walks, and I let her walk for at least 20 minutes without any interruption from me. If she happens to offer me attention, I may** reinforce with a treat, but I am not going to pause to play games until after that 20 minute mark. I want her to “get her fill” of nature first so my treats might go up in value a bit relative to nature. 

Imagine you’ve been sick and trapped indoors on the same couch for five days, and you feel like you’re going to lose it if you don’t breathe some fresh air. Getting outside has become REALLY valuable. Now think about Sully who has been “trapped” indoors all night as we sleep and desperately wants some nature in the morning. She’s been “deprived” of nature for the night and it’s value is quite high first thing in the morning, which means my treats are likely lower value relative to it. The value of my treats go up as she spends some time in nature and isn’t feeling so deprived of time outdoors. 

**The reason I said “may” is because Sully’s eating behavior is a bit more fragile than many other dogs I work with. I had to work hard to get her eating behavior to show up consistently outdoors, and a big part of our success stems from my not offering her food when she’s likely to refuse it (I don’t want her to rehearse that behavior). In the first part of a walk, the environment is so high value that it’s hit or miss whether she’ll eat. I make a decision whether to drop a treat or not based on what exact behavior I’m seeing in her offered attention and what’s going on in the environment. After we get about 15 minutes in, it’s usually pretty safe to assume she’ll eat.

How Will I Know If My Training Is Helping?

Data!!!!!

Sully’s baseline for offered attention or check-ins on walks was basically zero. If I am actually reinforcing attention, I should see more of it under similar conditions moving forward. 

My dog Otis regularly comes up to me on walks “asking for treats.” I want to see some of that from Sully to feel more confident that I’ve got a reinforcer that can actually do some reinforcing! 

Here’s the good news: She offered us (me or my partner, Ben) attention on this morning’s walks FIVE times. That’s a 5x increase given that we started at zero. (Note: This count does not include instances of attention that are a part of the structured games we play.) AND, she even turned away from something in the environment and voluntarily ran to me (this was at the end of the video I shared on Instagram). This could be a fluke, but I don’t hate what I’m seeing … ! 

A Brief Reminder: You Don’t Always Have to Be Your Dog’s Priority

I want to be clear that I am not trying to turn Sully into a dog who is always focused on me. I love Sully’s love of nature. I am constantly checking myself as I train to make sure I am not depriving her of what she needs to thrive (time to “independently” explore nature being a key part of that). She never has to “earn” the ability to sniff or move around, and I still want the bulk of the walk to be hers. I am just seeing if I can get a few more tiny moments where she connects with me and then returns to the rest of nature. 

More to come!

Back To Basics: How To Train Your Dog to Recall

Have you ever felt like you're talking to a wall when you call your dog to come to you? I realized a while ago that my little dog, Sully’s, recall had gotten worse. After some thought, I decided to start completely over with recall training, and I’m inviting you along for the ride. 

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Navigate to Where You Want To Go

1. What Is Recall?

2. How Do You Get Your Dog To Come When You Call Them? 

3. Is It Harder To Teach Some Dogs Recall?

4. Why Am I Starting Over With Sully’s Recall?

5. How Do You Start Teaching Recall?

6. The Secret Ingredient 

7. Questions From Our Community

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What Is Recall?

Recall is the term used to describe a dog coming to us when we call them. In reality, the “recall behavior” is actually multiple behaviors performed sequentially. Those behaviors may vary a bit depending on what the dog was doing, what you cued, and when/how you marked and reinforced. 

Generally speaking, when you call your dog to come, your dog will: Stop moving (if they are moving away from you), turn towards you/orient to you, run to you, stop when they get to you, and station in front of you (aka sit or stand in front of you). I often simplify this to: 1) Orient to you; 2) Move towards you; 3) Station by you. 

By thinking about individual behaviors that make up a dog’s recall, we can really hone in on strengthening those component parts, which can help us build a stronger overall recall.

Understanding the individual behaviors that make up the broader sequence of behaviors we label “recall” is incredibly helpful in training. We will loop back to this in the future! 

How Do You Get Your Dog To Come When You Call Them?

For now, let’s start with the basics. 

When you call your dog to come, are they coming just because you asked them to? Sorta ... But not exactly. 

Have you heard people say that “reinforcement drives behavior”? Whether or not your dog comes when you call them is determined by what happened under similar conditions in the PAST after they came to you. 

The most basic unit when talking about operant behavior, which is voluntary behavior that is increased or decreased as a function of its consequences, is the Antecedent - Behavior - Consequence (A-B-C) unit. You want to start by defining the behavior you are looking at. The antecedent and consequence are stimuli or events that happen in the behaver’s environment. The antecedent comes before the behavior, and the consequence comes after the behavior.

“Come” is an example of a cue (in this case, a verbal one). When you call your dog, it signals the opportunity for them to access reinforcers (like treats) if they come to you. In other words, your recall cue (e.g. “come”) tells your dog what behavior-consequence contingencies are in play. 

Here’s a human example of how cues work: When your phone rings (cue), if you answer it (behavior), someone on the other end will talk to you (consequence). Your phone ringing signals to you that the behavior-consequence contingency of “if you answer the phone, someone on the other end will talk to you” is now in play. If you answer the phone when it’s not ringing, there won’t be anyone on the other end who will talk to you. 

So … your dog isn’t recalling simply because you told them to or because “they know what the word come means.” How they respond to your recall cue in the present moment is determined by what outcomes their behavior produced in the past under similar conditions. 

This gets more complicated. For example, there are a lot of factors that may change how motivating a particular consequence is. I talked about this using the same human example as above (phone calls) in a recent Instagram post if you want to check it out.

We’ll leave it here for now. 

Is It Harder To Teach Some Dogs Recall?

It might help to know a little bit about Sully. She is my great humbler, and I probably don’t thank her enough for all that she has taught me. She is not an “easy dog” in many ways, but I can rest easy knowing that the same behavior principles that apply to every other living animal apply to her. 

Someone once described her as a “bloodhound in a terrier-like agile body,” and I thought that was fairly accurate (though I don’t think it fully captures her “prey drive” behaviors … in quotes because there is far more to it than “drive,” but I am not going to get into it here). Long story short: she finds the environment SUPER reinforcing. 

When I say I say Sully loves the outdoors, I mean she is literally one with nature. I am competing with the dirt we walk on. I’d like to tell you that it’s rare that she gets herself this dirty, but that would be a lie.

On top of how much sniffy-hunty behavior she does, I struggled at first to even find reinforcers I could reliably use. When I first adopted her, she wouldn’t eat treats outside (she would occasionally, but not consistently enough to do anything meaningful with them). Someone might have labeled her “not food motivated,” but it was more so that the relative value of food went down when outdoors and she didn’t have a big reinforcement history for eating outside. I had to spend a fair bit of time just working on eating outdoors in a range of environments before I could even consider using food as a reinforcer for other behaviors like recall, which I worked really hard to build with her. 

So with all of that said, my very honest answer is this: Yes, I do think it’s harder to teach some dogs to reliably respond to your recall cues than others. Dogs have unique learning histories and may find different things reinforcing.

BUT, that doesn’t mean that it cannot be done or that “positive reinforcement won’t work because a dog is [insert whatever breed you want].” The strongest recalls are built by creating big reinforcement histories for coming when called. Did you know that discretionary effort is one of the unique side effects of R+? 

The phrase discretionary effort comes from the work of Aubrey Daniels, a behavioral psychologist who specializes in applying behavior science principles in the workplace.

With some dogs, we may just have to be more aware of what the dog finds reinforcing, what antecedents are at play (i.e. motivating operations), and how we move the recall behavior into new settings. Some dogs may tend to find treats WAY more reinforcing than nature, and that can make it “easier” (perhaps more “forgiving”) to build solid recall.

I know how to train recall (I LOVE doing it), and I still find myself in a position where I have to start over … which is okay! So please know you are in good company if you find yourself there too.

Why Am I Starting Over With Sully’s Recall?

Put simply: I don’t want to fight the learning history she has with her current recall cue (“come”). 

It has become hit or miss whether she’ll come when we call her, and if she does come, the latency of the behavior is often high and the speed is often slow … not what I’m aiming for 😅. 

Here are the three main measures of recall I’ve been using: 

1. Does she come when called (defined as coming all the way to me)? This is a Yes/No data point. I should be logging mostly “yesses” here, but she was not coming at all when called about 50% of the time. 

2. How quickly does she START to come to me after I call her (this measure is called latency)? I measure this in seconds. I want her recall behavior to be LOW latency (aka very short time between me calling her and her starting to come). However, I was seeing pretty high latency behavior (i.e. when I called her, she would often take 4 to 7 seconds to start to move towards me).

3. How quickly does she complete her recall behavior (this is called speed)? The amount of time it takes for her to travel all the way to me is going to vary depending on how far away from me she is when I call her, so I am typically rating her speed as slow, medium, fast, or lightning fast. I was getting a lot of slow and medium recall speeds, which isn’t what I am aiming for. 

Her recall used to be much better than it is right now, so what happened? A number of things could have happened. 

We could have inadvertently punished her recall behavior by following it up with something aversive (which is defined as anything an individual behaves to escape or avoid). An example of this might be using your recall cue at a dog park and then leashing your dog to leave the park or calling your dog to come and then picking them up to put them in the bathtub. Those examples aren’t fitting for Sully, but punishment still could be at play. 

Perhaps more easily done than punishing recall, we might not have actually been reinforcing her recall when we thought we were. Just because you deliver a treat does not mean you reinforced that recall – you only know you reinforced it if you see the behavior strengthened or maintained in the future under similar conditions … and we are not seeing that play out. 

What I feel confident we did was use her recall cue in situations where she couldn’t perform the desired behavior (aka immediately and with speed run to me). To be clear, I know the rules here (only use the cue when confident the dog can respond), but Sully is harder for me to make predictions with (the value of food is a lot less static than it is with many dogs and the environment is just SO interesting), so plenty of these instances were just accidents (i.e. I thought she was gonna recall). Though to be clear, plenty of the instances were just me and my partner, Ben being sloppy (and maybe a bit greedy) by calling her when we had no business doing that 🤣.

To some degree, she’s likely learned that her recall cue is irrelevant under certain conditions (it’s basically just become background noise that doesn’t signal anything meaningful for her). We used the cue too many times without a response, so that means the cue didn’t lead to a reinforcer all those times … so it’s just weakening more and more. 

She now has a huge history (that I don’t love) with the cue “come,” and I’d be fighting it if I wanted to use that cue in my training to try to change her recall behavior. I don’t want to fight her history, so I am creating a new recall cue, Ewok (because she looks like an adorable Ewok) and starting at square one. This allows me to get the desired behavior (immediate response and fast run to me) and slowly move it into new conditions (more on this in the future)!

How Do You Start Teaching Recall?

There are a lot of ways to start, so I am going to talk about how I started (or restarted) with Sully. 

As a reminder, before I did any training, Ben and I agreed on Ewok as our new cue (because I didn’t want to fight the history with the old cue). A part of my criteria for picking a new cue was that it had to delight me 😅. Then we agreed not to use her recall cue in real life yet to avoid “ruining it” before it’s even ready to dazzle. In the meantime, we’re leveraging long lines, drag lines, and informal prompts like kissy noises and “pup pup pup.” 

I chose to begin by doing something called a stimulus-stimulus pairing. Put simply, I’m creating an association between two stimuli: the word “Ewok” and treats. You may have heard this talked about in dog training as classical or pavlovian conditioning. 

Ewok → Treats

In this session, I simply said “Ewok” and then delivered treats (I did this about 15 times). She wasn’t required to do any behavior to get the treats. I delivered treats after I said “Ewok” 100% of the time regardless of what she was doing. 

In the Instagram post I shared on this session, someone asked a great question, “I noticed that [Sully] was constantly looking at you. If you [said] Ewok and she was looking some other way, would you still give her the treat??” The answer is YES. But this person’s keen observations hint at why this stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure can be a great place to start your recall training: BEHAVIOR IS HAPPENING. I am using this pairing procedure to help produce operant behavior (voluntary behavior that is increased or decreased as a function of its consequences). In future sessions, I will adjust how I am using the treats. Instead of treats being delivered every time after I say “Ewok,” they will be delivered after I say Ewok and she performs some aspect of the recall behavior. Because I hope to train errorlessly, it may not look all that different at first, but it will in time! 

The Secret Ingredient

Sometimes you hear people talk about using lower value treats in less distracting environments, but I am actually using the best stuff I’ve got in our first session. 

One of the things I do when I want something really high value is cook some ground beef in a skillet. That isn't a typical treat that we use, so the novelty adds some extra value!

Here’s why: Take away the idea of your recall cue for a moment, and just imagine how your dog might respond to you holding out the most delicious food for them to eat (maybe a nice big steak or piece of salmon). Are you envisioning your dog flying over to you with “enthusiasm” (aka more effort than needed since walking slowly would have worked too)? I want to bring THAT behavior and those emotions to our recall, and high value reinforcers help me with that. 

I cooked specially seasoned chicken and ground beef, and I asked Ben not to pull from those treat containers right now in everyday life because I want the boost in value that novelty can give reinforcers. (To be clear: I train her with food in her belly, and she still gets plenty of other high value treats in everyday life. I am not a fan of using deprivation generally speaking. I am simply using a treat that I wouldn’t otherwise make for her to take advantage of novelty’s effect.)

Questions From Our Community

I’ll try to pick a question from Instagram to highlight and answer in this section (or at least respond more thoroughly to … not sure “answer” is a fair word). I am basically thinking out loud here, so consider yourself warned lol! 

Question: “Thank you for another wonderful post! I'm struggling a little bit with the idea that you used the recall cue too many times when Sully couldn't perform the behavior - I understand how this could spoil the cue, but it also seems to me that the times when recall is most useful/important is in those difficult moments. My dog also finds the environment heavily reinforcing, with a high prey (or at least chase drive) and what appears to be an insatiable curiosity about everything! She has very good recall at the dog park, but I don't let her off-leash anywhere else, fearing that my recall cue might not work if she came across a wild animal that she wanted to investigate or chase. How do you determine if your recall cue is ready for these situations? Do you think it ever can be for a dog with such high interest in the environment?”

Answer: This is a GREAT question. Have you ever heard someone say that your dog needs to be able to recall 100% of the time (“have perfect recall”) before you let them off leash? 

But here’s the plot twist: While that old advice is meant to keep dogs and people and wildlife safe (or that’s my interpretation), I actually think the bigger threat comes from believing that any dog’s recall is 100%. I almost do the opposite of that old advice when I make a decision to let my dogs off leash: I assume my dogs will not recall. By making this assumption (or at least playing it out in my head), I can assess how big of a problem it would be in a given area if my dog blew a recall. If the risk to my dog and/or others is too high (and people will have different ways to evaluate risk and different risk tolerances), I don’t let my dog off. 

For example, my other dog, Otis, has GREAT recall. But I don’t let him off leash if we are near a busy road. That isn’t because I think he will fail a recall. It’s because I cannot predict the future with 100% certainty, and the consequences of a failed recall are way too dangerous in that setting. I’m flipping the lens a bit and instead of focusing first on how likely my dog is to recall, I’m first focusing on how problematic it would be in the area we occupy if my dog didn’t recall. This actually helps take a lot of the stress and uncertainty out of my decision because all of the weight isn’t on my dog to recall perfectly in that setting. 

Let’s chat about this point from the original question: “ … it also seems to me that the times when recall is most useful/important is in those difficult moments.” PREACH. I hear you loud and clear. This is what makes it so tricky to build recall. It also allows us to dive into the next decision layer with unclipping a leash. We have to have a pretty good understanding of our dog’s behavior and be able to read the environment well in order to make predictions. I would be remiss if I didn’t call out here that I have clearly failed at this since I am starting over 🤣. It’s so easy to blurt out your recall cue in a difficult moment and just cross your fingers that it works. 

As you are building the recall, you will butt up against this line a lot. I actually think it’s easier at the beginning of training because the line is a lot clearer - you can basically assume the dog is not ready for any real life tests yet. For right now with Sully, my rule is not to use her recall cue at all in real life. It gets harder the more training progresses because that line gets a bit blurrier. (I do think this is where my decision making process for unclipping a leash helps.)

Let’s chat about the next part of the question: “How do you determine if your recall cue is ready for these situations?”

This can be tricky, and there isn’t one right answer. To some degree, the human’s risk tolerance is a factor. I don’t think I have ever written this out before, so I don’t think this will be perfect … my confidence level stems from some combo of these things: 

1) My dog’s experience recalling under similar conditions.

In the course of training, I will systematically work in a variety of environments and with a variety of distractions. I will collect data (often in my head, but this time I hope to do it on paper) to help me determine what Sully is ready for. For a good long while, I will only use my recall cue when we are out and I want to get a recall rep in. I won’t likely use it in random, tough moments (I’ll accept that she may dip for a second and breathe knowing that I dropped the leash because I was okay with this happening here). I will only use my recall cue in real life when I think she has the learning history needed to respond by coming to me. I won’t be able to work directly with every tough distraction in controlled ways (e.g. deer), but I can set up similar conditions that I can control to work on recalling out of chase (like recalling off chasing a ball or a prey-like-toy on a flirt pole). If my dog has been able to recall mid-chase in a variety of contexts that I controlled, I have more confidence than I would otherwise (still not perfect) about recalling out of chasing other things in real life. If my dog has no experience recalling when they are mid-chase, I am not going to use a recall cue when they are chasing a squirrel. (More generally, I might also think about how many successful reps of recall my dog has done in total to gauge their overall R+ history. This is more relevant early on in the training journey.)

2) My dog’s past behavior around this distraction while on a long line. 

For certain tough distractions (like deer) that I can’t easily control, I may use real life moments when leashed to train and gauge my dog’s behavior. For example, I want to see a dog quickly and easily respond to me when they see a deer while leashed before I ever consider recalling them away from deer when off leash. I might even see a dog spot and deer and automatically orient to me, which is the first part of recall anyway! I might take a dog to a spot with squirrels where they can practice just watching them (rather than chasing). These types of experiences around tough distractions give me a lot more confidence about recalling away from them if/when the time comes. 

3) My dog’s offered behaviors.

This may not seem as obvious, but how my dog typically behaves in a given environment can contribute to my overall sense of confidence. For example, if my dogs have learned (generally) to stay on the trail, I may feel more confident than if they hiked by zooming around 100 yards off the trail. If my dogs auto-check in (aka stop and wait, look at me, and/or run back to me) as soon as they hit a certain radius from me on the trail, I might feel more confident than if they just keep running ahead. Right now, Otis’s typical trail behaviors inspire far more confidence than Sully’s. As soon as Otis gets about 20 yards away from me, he automatically stops or runs back to me. He is checking in all the time. Sully may walk for 45 minutes before she even looks at me 😂. Otis is essentially already performing the recall behavior - I would just have to add a cue in front of it. Most of the time, Sully isn’t offering any recall behavior (not even the initial components of it). I want to see pieces of that behavior showing up in the context of the environment before I try to cue it verbally. I will be working on offered check-ins on trails with Sully before I use her recall cue. (This can also give me info about whether my reinforcers are strong enough or not.)

4) Response checks. 

There are a range of simple behaviors I will use to gauge what’s going on with a dog on a given day and in a given environment. For example, I might cue a nose touch, sit, and paws up. If those are behaviors that my dog can reliably do in a range of environments, I would know something is up if suddenly they can’t do them or they perform them slower. With Sully, one of the behaviors I will always check is whether or not she can eat. If she isn’t enthusiastically taking a treat I drop for her (or isn’t then looking up at me to ask for another), that is not a good sign about how motivated she’s likely to be to recall. Data like this can help me feel more confident in my choices.

5) Distant antecedents.

What has or hasn’t happened lately in my dog’s life that could influence their behavior or the strength of reinforcers? Here is a good example: We live near the woods and have a fenced back yard that Sully is able to patrol all day. When we stay at my sister’s house in Atlanta, she loses that activity for a week. When we come home, the deprivation can make her sniffy-hunty behaviors WAY more likely since the value of the associated reinforcers went up (because of the deprivation). So when we first return home, I hold her long line for a while and don’t recall her until she has her fill of nature again so my reinforcers can compete better with nature. 

I heard something from a conference a while back that may be helpful as a framework (I wish I could remember the speaker’s name and exactly what they said). Write out a list of environments that are easy, medium, and hard in terms of level of difficulty for a recall. For example, here are Sully’s: Living room (easy), empty field (medium), woods (hard). I have expanded on this a bit and actually have a list of easy’s, medium’s, and hard’s. Then write out a list of as many distractions that you might recall your dog away from as you can think of going from easy to hard. For example, at the bottom (easy) end of the list might be a jacket on the floor and at the top (hardest) of the list might be a screaming fox running away. There are a lot of distractions between those two. Then you can start working through the distractions somewhat systematically to build the learning history you want with them. This can give you some confidence you might not have otherwise and help you decide when to let your dog off leash.

Now to be fair, I only worked through certain distractions (like recalling away from wildlife, recalling away from food, etc.) super systematically with my dog, Otis. Otherwise, I got to be a bit loosey-goosey and focus on building a big R+ history in general while still being intentional about when I used my cue. With Sully, I am going to be WAY more systematic (hello data collection!) – in large part to set myself up for success since I have a history of inaccurately predicting whether or not she will recall (or just throwing out hail mary’s). 

Now to the final part of the question: “Do you think [recall] ever can be [ready for difficult moments] for a dog with such high interest in the environment?” To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t think I will ever trust Sully’s recall the way I trust Otis’s recall. She finds different things reinforcing than he does, and I have a harder time beating the environment with Sully. And I think that’s okay! I am going to make very different decisions about where Sully vs. Otis can be off leash. I still have safe ways to get her off leash time in fenced spaces and can use long drag lines in areas that are not-populated and very far from roads. There are MANY ways that I can work with some of her predatory behaviors, so I’m sure we will make progress. How that progress translates to my decision making is yet to be seen, but I have a hard time believing that I will ever feel as confident in her recall as I am in Otis’s. 

This leads me to a final closing thought. Sully is going to fail recalls during this training journey. While I am going to use an errorless teaching approach, failures and mistakes are a normal part of the process. As we progress and the recalls get harder, I am going to make mistakes in my predictions and call her in moments when she can’t recall. To some extent, those failed recalls give me really valuable data that inform my training and helps me sort out where our gaps are. I won’t be using her new recall in real life anytime soon, but when I do, I am going to have to give her a little bit of freedom in order to recall her (it’ll be freedom on a long drag line). It’s a tough thing to balance! 

 Stay tuned for more!

Opinion: Rather Than Penalize Dog Guardians, Support Them

This week, news broke that “the Atlanta City Council halved the amount of time a dog can bark before its owner runs the risk of being cited and paying a $150 fine.” Now if Mayor Andre Dickens signs the legislation, “under the new ordinance, a dog barking for longer than 10 minutes (without a 20-second break between barks) can be considered a nuisance.”

As someone who's nervous system doesn’t love tons of barking and is very interested in animal welfare, I can find ways to generously interpret the intent behind this ordinance (and the many others like it that exist throughout the country). But I think it’s important to talk about the realities of rules like this and what they actually mean for both humans and non-human animals.

Animal control, who is generally charged with enforcing these ordinances, has historically taken a “community policing approach” to “animal welfare,” but is that actually the best way to care for non-human animals and/or humans?

A good friend of ours, Kassidi Jones, who does a lot of antiracist animal advocacy work on her Instagram page (@gingers_naps), recently highlighted a helpful article on this topic: Punishment to Support: The Need to Align Animal Control Enforcement with the Human Social Justice Movement by Sloane M Hawes, Tess Hupe, and Kevin N Morris.

The authors point out that “animal protection ordinances, similar to human criminal justice policies, disproportionately target communities of color with their enforcement interventions.” Beyond that, “punitive approaches to addressing social problems, such as citation and incarceration, often blame the individual while disregarding the structural causes of an issue.”

In this punishment based approach, it’s not just the humans who are likely to suffer. What happens to the welfare of animals whose guardians are trying to avoid citations and fines? Might this set the stage for more people to slap bark collars or shock collars, devices with well documented risks to behavioral health and welfare, on their dogs to try to get them to stop barking quickly?

This ordinance and those like it around the country treat barking as a monolith, but it’s actually a topographically diverse behavior that functions to produce a huge range of outcomes for dogs and it shows up in a wide variety of conditions. Reducing a dog’s barking ethically requires us to understand what is going on with an individual dog and their environment.

Punishment ordained by cities and enforced by animal control is not the answer. I am not saying that actual animal cruelty or neglect should be ignored. But I’d find it hard to believe that the majority of dogs whose barking may violate this ordinance would be doing so due to some mal-intent on behalf of their guardian. Instead, I imagine people don’t know what they don’t know and/or don’t have access to resources they need (information, training, dog sitters, etc.).

What would happen if instead of punishing and criminalizing, we sought to provide people with the resources they needed to care for their animals? What if instead of threats and punishment for barking dogs, we connected people to affordable or free training resources like Kiki Yablon’s “Thanks For Barking 2.0 Protocol” or Logan Buie’s article for Tails of Connection entitled “What to do for a Dog With Separation Anxiety?”

Christie Catan, is the co-founder of Tails of Connection and a certified professional dog trainer, knowledge assessed. She also happened to grow up in Atlanta.

Guide: The Best Products for Hiking With Your Dog

Earlier this year on Instagram we asked you about the hiking products YOU love that make hikes easier and more enjoyable with your dogs. Once again we were blown away by your responses, and decided to turn them into an easy to reference guide. We will keep adding to this list as we get more great recommendations from YOU, the amazing pet parents and pro-trainers in our TOC Fam! PS: One of the easiest ways to be sustainable is to buy less. With that in mind, we compile these lists to try to help you find quality products so you don't have to keep buying things. Just because it is on this list doesn't necessarily mean you need it to hike with your dog. Please feel free to also check around for used versions of these products! [Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.]

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Navigate to where you want to go:

1. Dog Clothing and Accessories For Hiking

2. Human Clothing and Accessories For Hiking

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Dog Clothing and Accessories For Hiking

1. A First Aid Kit

From @peevepaisley: “…Have the Kurgo first aid kit in the car and an few key items (mostly for paws) in the pack.”

2. A High Tail Hikes Long Line

From @hounddog_mack: “Fav products: @hightailhikes long lines & safety straps — biothane is a gift in cold, snowy, wet weather!” PS: Use code TAILSOFCONNECTION for 10% off on all products!

3. The Ruffwear Harness

From @ruby_top_of_the_hills: “Love the Ruffwear harness, provides comfort and control…”

4. The Kurgo Adjustable Lead

From @peevepaisley: “…The Kurgo adjustable lead is great too - has a daisy chain connector so you can hook it to you and go short when it’s crowded to regular when it’s not.”

5. High Visibility Gear

From @wigglebutt_bailey: “Love this post! High visibility gear (we used to use a blaze orange bandana but Bailey’s fur is pretty long so we switched to a harness), especially during hunting season.” Note: TOC found this harness on REI’s site.

6. A Y-Shaped Harness

From @petuniapickles_gsp: “So many things😂. Trying to find a few that might not be on here already. I think one that can get overlooked is a harness that has a Y shape in the front so it allows for natural and safe movement especially in a hiking situation.” Note: TOC found this harness on Amazon.

7. A Collapsible Water Bowl

From @brew_stah_the_dog: “GSI Outdoors Collabsible bowl it’s for human hikers so it has a lid and actually stays upright 👏🏻 every dog specific one I’ve ever gotten…doesn’t…”

8. A Dog Backpack

From @amientus04: “Love my dog’s backpack! I have him carry his own collapsible water bowl and poop bags (as well as a Ziploc that I put the dirty poop bags in. Gotta back out his waste!).” Note: TOC found this backpack on Amazon.

9. The Wilderdog Harness

From @maural33: “…And I usually use the Wilderdog or Kurgo harnesses and clip on the back for extra freedom (normally she’s an easy walk front clip kinda gal 😂).”

10. The Ruffwear Convertible Waste Leash

From @sara.bolds: “Ruffwear leash that converts to a waist leash. Great for downhill sketchy spots where you need both hands…”

11. A Water Bottle that Doubles as a Bowl

From @brimounteer: “…I bought a water bottle on Amazon that doubles as a water bowl so I don’t need a collapsible bowl as well…” Note: TOC found this water bottle on Amazon.

12. Extra Balls

From @pheebadoodle: “Lots of extra balls. This is her highest reward so I can always use it as back up if I see she has own ideas…”Note: TOC found these balls on Amazon.

13. A Dog Sleeping Bag

From @rescuedog_lady: “…your dog deserves the same sleeping conditions as you - that means if *you* need an insulating sleeping pad or a cool-down coat, so does your dog...”Note: TOC found this sleeping bag on Amazon.

14. A Tick Key

From @ebpertner: “Tick key!! I find it much easier to use to remove ticks (from dogs and humans) than regular tweezers.” Note: TOC found these tick keys on Amazon.

15. A glow collar

From @chanzmcmanus: “Also, a glow collar! This is more for us TBH. Our pup has good recall but when we are out at night the collar makes him easier to see so he can explore more freely and we can still see him and not call him back unnecessarily.” Note: TOC found this glow collar on Amazon.

16. The Fido Pro Rescue Harness

From @karliemarianne: “We bought a @fidopro rescue harness in case our guys gets hurt and needs to be carried out of the woods. Haven’t had to use it yet but I don’t leave home without it.”

17. An outfox hood

From @ranajean: “Outfox hood during foxtail season @outfoxfordogs.”

18. A Dog Rescue SLing

From @daysofdarby: “…For really long adventure hikes I also throw in a sling in case D gets hurt and I have to carry her out.” Note: TOC found this sling on Fido Pro.

19. A Spare Dog ID Tag

From @dug_the_adventurer: “A spare ID tag! In the UK dogs must wear ID tags by law when they’re out and about (plus if Dug gets lost I want someone who finds him to be able to call me!), but Dug has lost his in brambles before when it snagged. So now I carry a cheap spare with the correct details on it so if he does lose his tag there’s no change of him going on to get lost without my details on him.” Note: TOC found this tag on Amazon.

20. A K9 backpack

From @bulldognamedcoco: “Our K9 backpack! Couldn’t live without it, as a Frenchie owner she can’t handle big hikes so when she gets tired we pop her in our backpack and carry on.” Note: TOC found this backpack on Amazon.

21. A GPS Collar

From @lulolilbigdog: “My favorite hiking gear if my dog will be off leash are: … a GPS collar…”Note: TOC found this Whistle GPS collar on Amazon.

22. A Kong Safestix

From @manateelotti: “…For playtime and making sure she leaves sticks alone we have a Kong Safestix. Sure gets you some strange looks but our stick-obsessed dog super quickly accepted that instead of wood…”

23. Musher’s Secret

From @chanzmcmanus: “Where we live and hike can get super cold and icy and they often treat the roads and sidewalks with salt so Mushers…on his paws before and after we go out is a must for us. We’ve got a pot of it by the door and a stick applicator for the car.”

24. RollOut Travel Bowl

From @wheresadieroams: “Our @muttruk gear is always a must on adventures! We always carry the…roll up bowl…”

25. A Frisbee

From @miorlanski: “…Frisbees (one of the dogs cannot be on a 20 min off leash walk without having those discs for at least a few throws)…” Note: TOC found this frisbee on Amazon.

26. THe Ruff Rescue Harness

From @camembert.chronicles: ”…Something else I find important is an emergency dog carrier like ruff rescue, this gives me a way to more easily carry my dog if they are ever seriously injured…”

27. Dog Boots

From @camembert.chronicles: “…I also always bring his boots in case he were to have an open wound on his paw to help keep it protected…” Note: TOC found these boots on Ruffwear.

28. An Extra Collar

From @indy_inspired: “…In the backpack we always have a collar and leash (in case something breaks)…”Note: TOC found these biothane collars on Mossy Pawz’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Pet POC Diretory here.

29. A Bear Bell

From @lulolilbigdog: “My favorite hiking gear if my dog will be off leash are: a bear bell…” Note: TOC found this bear bell on Amazon.

Human Clothing and Accessories For Hiking

1. The MuttRuk Sidekick Hip Pack

From @hounddog_mack: “…@muttruk sidekick to carry treats, keys, phone etc— the built in water bottle holder is 👌…”

2. Sandals

From @indy_inspired: “…I also always bring a pair of sandals…”Note: TOC found these sandals on Amazon.

3. A Multi Tool Knife

From @indy_inspired: “…In the backpack we always have a…a multi tool knife…” Note: TOC found this knife on Amazon.

4. A Car Seat Cover

From @hounddog_mack: “…And a car seat cover, important all year between the sand, dirt, mud, and snow 😂…” Note: TOC found this car seat cover on Amazon.

5. The Deuter Fanny Pack

From @manateelotti: “…I found a Deuter that's big enough to hold my camera. That thing was a game changer!” Note: TOC found this Deuter fanny pack on Amazon. Check the size of your camera before you buy this model.

6. An Old Nalgene Bottle

From @agoodfeeling_inco: “Use an old Nalgene bottle to pack out 💩 on your hikes!”

7. The Patagonia black hole 5L waist pack

From @peevepaisley: “The Patagonia black hole 5L waist pack is amazing. Small front pocket for treats, two mesh pockets for water or hauling out 💩. Huge interior and wide band…”

8. A Headlamp

From @hanks.oysterdog: “In our backpack first aid kit (every single hike)…headlamp.” Note: TOC found this headlamp on Amazon.

9. A Waterfly Pack

From @maural33: “Love this thread - I’m interested to hear about what others bring, as we are still learning! So far, I’ve found that Waterfly (found on Amazon) makes a great hiking/walking fanny pack - there’s one that has two water bottle holders so one for her, one for me (and I use their smaller one for neighborhood walks). Great pockets for treats, keys, phone, extra gloves, first aid etc…”

10. A CamelBak with the water pouch removed

From @brimounteer:”…I have a camelbak with the water pouch removed that then hold my car keys and water for the pup…” Note: TOC found this CamelBak on Amazon and it still has the water pouch.

11. A 65L Backpack

From @rescuedog_lady: “…I camp with a 65L backpack…” Note: TOC found this backpack on Amazon.

12. An Ice Pick

From @cthulu.the.saint: “…For backpacking trips in winter I like to carry an icepick/handshovel/small mallet/hatchet or similar in case gear gets frozen in after a snowfall, we need to drink from a frozen water source, or to collect ice chips for snacking or boiling down.” Note: TOC found this ice pick on Amazon.

13. A Walker Family Goods Fanny Pack Sling

From @one.ear.up.frank: “Fanny pack from @walkerfamilygoods comes with us on all our walks; it's the perfect size for poop bags, a little Stasher treat bag, another Stasher with eye rinse and emergency Benadryl (since apparently Frank is allergic to bees)…”

14. A Small Phone Battery Pack Charger

From @hemorn: “I have a small phone charger in my pack if needed to call out and my phone has died.”Note: TOC found this battery pack on Amazon.

15. A Gardening Vest From Duluth Trading Company

From @the_bramleywolves: “I bought a gardening vest from @duluthtradingcompany and it’s fabulous. Lightweight, and full of pockets and attachment sites. I clip the treat pouch on, and put leashes in the pockets, lens cloth, hat and gloves, Chuckit ball… it’s amazing how much I can carry, have accessible and yet also have my hands free. It’s definitely my fave piece of gear and I hike with a few off leash dogs every day.”

16. A Salomon Vest

From @manateelotti: “…When we go running together I have a Salomon vest with two water reservoirs. One is for me, the other for her so that I can give her some water straight from the tube. That's been super handy. It also has enough space for all kinds of extra stuff I might need, like her frisbee. ;)…”Note: TOC found this Salomon vest on Amazon.

17. The MuttRuk Phoenix Backpack

From @wheresadieroams: “…Our @muttruk gear is always a must on adventures! We…use the Phoenix backpack. The treat pockets are amazing and when I need to carry a larger pack I miss them 😂

18. A Whistle For Recall

From @miorlanski: “Whistle for recall…” Note: TOC found this whistle on Amazon.

19. The MuttRuk Duty Bag

From @wheresadieroams: “Our @muttruk gear ! We always carry the duty bag…”

20. A Smaller 25L Backpack

From @camembert.chronicles: “Ooo so many things to mention! I use a small backpack for (25L) which holds water & human snacks, safety and camera stuff…” Note: TOC found this backpack on Amazon.

21. AllTrails App

From @petuniapickles_gsp: “…Another one is using apps to research [trails] and see reviews before you go (I like bringfido and AllTrails) and to navigate when there (AllTrails). It’s also fun to have a record of all the hikes you’ve done and how you’d rate them...”Note on AllTrails from @brew_stah_the_dog: “…Since it’s crowd sourced, it often will send hikers and tourists to sacred Native sites, see @indigenouswomenhike @native_power_rangers for better details.”

22. An Extra Clean T-Shirt

From @indy_inspired: “…I also always bring … a clean shirt to change into for the drive home which is so lovely after a big hike.” Note: TOC found these t-shirt on Black Dog Mom Shop’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Pet POC Diretory here.

Secrets to Sustainability on a Budget: Yes It’s Possible!

Have you ever been scrolling through social media and come across an ad that reads something like “If you care about the planet, then buy our product!” These products tend to cost more than their traditional alternatives, which isn’t an inherently bad thing if it means better quality and fair compensation for the people making them. Unfortunately though, more often than not, these claims are no more than greenwashing, which entails intentionally misleading consumers about the actual sustainability of products or services. This can make navigating the marketplace incredibly frustrating and confusing, especially if you have limited financial resources and/or time to spend on something like buying dog gear. While these concerns are valid, I am here to suggest that perhaps the way our culture approaches being sustainable is inherently flawed. Living more sustainably is possible for anyone, regardless of income.

It doesn’t matter what your tax bracket is because the central tenets of sustainability remain the same. In short, repurposing what we have, buying less, and buying better (when we have to) is a great recipe for sustainable living. Full disclosure, I am not rich, nor do I come from an affluent family. Much of my introduction to sustainable living came out of necessity – choosing the most environmentally-friendly pet accessories wasn’t a real consideration because our dogs weren’t generally getting new things.

Chances are, if you grew up in a scarce environment, you probably can relate that resources are precious. If something breaks and you don’t have the money to replace it, repairing it is a necessity. Indeed, reducing your level of consumption is not a huge issue if you’re not over-consuming in the first place. However, you don’t need to be struggling financially to be mindful of your resource consumption, and to carefully tend to what you already have.

When It Comes to Sustainability on a Budget, Research and Consideration Are Key Before Making a Purchase

Luckily, it's usually more sustainable (and cheaper!) to keep using what you already have! For example, what is the more sustainable option -- a new electric car, or the old gas-guzzling SUV you might have? You might be surprised to learn that it's actually the old SUV. This isn't to say that an SUV is eco-friendly, by any means, but if you're looking at the amount of resources it takes to produce a new car, vs. continuing to use the one you have, it's better to keep the one you have! This same principle applies to most things, including dog accessories.

Historically speaking, “reduced” consumption, reusing, and repairing was the cultural norm for pretty much all people. For instance, fast fashion didn’t exist in the past, so people held on to the clothes that they had. Learning how to sew and repair things was so standard that it was taught in Home Ec classrooms across the country at one point. However, with increased industrialization and exploitive overseas production, our culture has shifted away from valuing the materials and labor that went into producing things, and towards a culture of reckless consumption and disposability. While some people go as far as arguing that things like cheaply made clothing increase accessibility for lower income folks, this is a very recent idea, and it doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Up until quite recently, even low-income individuals paid good money for things like clothes, with the recognition that they would be well-used for years. Most people owned far less in the past, but what they did own was intentionally selected and used.

Today our cultural approach to shopping is drastically different. How many times have you impulsively bought an item for you or your dog? How much of a role does cost play in these decisions for you? If you’re like many people, you probably buy impulsively at times, and are much more inclined to do so when you see a sale. Marketers are excellent at creating a sense of urgency around purchases – buy now to save money! This coupled with constant item turnover, of things like dog collars or new clothes for yourself, can seemingly remove our ability to take the time to consider our purchases. This is a large part of fast fashion business models – if somebody doesn’t know if they’ll find an item the next time they return to a store, they’re much more likely to buy it the first time around. I see the same business models replicated by many larger pet companies, with everything from new collar designs to new toys being manufactured and sold at an alarming rate. Conversely, what would happen if we took the time to consider our purchases beforehand? Nobody is saving money by spending money on cheap products that aren’t made to last. Indeed, spending time researching and considering our purchases is well worth it, both from a cost and a sustainability standpoint.

Perhaps if we spent more time researching our purchases, we would be less inclined to fall for misleading marketing claims. While “sustainable” has become a marketing buzzword, most of the time these products advertised are very far from sustainable. Without even getting into the materials and whatnot that might lend to a more sustainable item, it’s the rate of production for most of these “eco” products that makes them unsustainable, by the very definition of the word. I would be remiss to say that more environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional products, including pet goods, aren’t necessary. They are. But in order to be truly sustainable, we have to change our relationship with the way we consume such products. We cannot continue to consume at the same rate and call it sustainable. It’s simply too much for this planet and the people on it to continue to support.

Why Slow Production and Consumption Are So Important to Living Sustainably

Moving towards slow models of production and consumption – as opposed to things like fast fashion or fast food – is a critical part of getting out of this climate mess. Mass production is inherently at odds with sustainability, and that is a concept that is almost never relayed by marketers. Instead, marketers tend to tout the idea that the “sustainable” thing to do is to buy their “eco” product in lieu of a traditional product, and to continue to consume at the same rate. Not only is this not sustainable, but it also makes sustainable living seem out of reach for many. If you’re already living paycheck to paycheck, how could you possibly be expected to pay more for a product that you’re already struggling to afford? Speaking from my own experience living on an extremely tight budget, I would suggest buying less to begin with, and opting for gently-used items whenever possible. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that you or I will never have to buy something new again. Instead, I’m suggesting that we shift our relationship with our belongings, old and new, away from one of disposability.

For instance, if you’ve ever bought something from a local small business, be it dog-related or not, do you tend to appreciate the item a bit more than a mass-manufactured version? You might be less willing to get rid of an item if you have a personal connection to the maker, and perhaps even to the design of the product that was made for you. For example, I have a custom collar and a few leashes of different lengths from a small business that is local to me. When the collar (my dog’s only collar, I might add) became rusty after swimming in salt water this past summer, I reached out to the maker, and she happily replaced the hardware for me, free of charge. So instead of throwing away a rusty generic collar, I was able to have the collar repaired and increase my attachment to it in the process. 

This isn’t to say that one must become hyper-attached to everything in order to be sustainable; I’m merely suggesting that if we know the makers and are part of the production process, we might gain more of a respect for the materials, time, and craftsmanship required to make something like a quality dog collar. Importantly, you can also be much more confident that what you are buying is ethically made, because in many cases, you’re speaking directly with the maker. This direct line of communication also allows for more customization (and in turn, a product better suited to your specific needs over the long term), as well as the ability to request things like more sustainable and local materials if they’re not already offered.

Making Sustainable Food Choices On a Budget For Your Dog

Our co-founder, Christie Catan, wanted to share one idea (above) for how to make super high value dog treats at home in a more sustainable way. She tried this just other day and reports that it made her house delightfully smelly for her dogs, Otis and Sully.

Some of you might be reading this and wondering about other things that we have to buy for ourselves and our dogs, like food. If we’re considering the environmental impacts of dogs, their protein intake is by far the most damaging, so it’s well worth examining more closely. There has been a rise in many “sustainable” pet foods, ranging from more ethically raised livestock, to insect-based dog foods. Unfortunately, many of these options are just too expensive for a lot of people. Again, marketers often posit such options as the only real sustainable choice for dog food. Terms like “human-grade” are used to make us think that we are providing the best possible options for our dogs, but if we consider things from both a health and an environmental standpoint, such qualities aren’t necessarily better. 

From an environmental perspective, it makes the most sense to utilize all parts of any animals that are raised for consumption. This would entail feeding byproducts to our pets, which some marketers have done an excellent job of demonizing. In reality, many people already do feed by-products to their pets, they’re just not marketed as such. Any liver, tripe, or other organ tissues that are often sold as healthy options for pets, are in fact by-products. The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) even recognizes that byproducts (which do not include hair, horns, teeth, or hoofs) can be “perfectly safe and nutritious” for dogs to consume. And while we might find things like udders or lungs extremely unappetizing, our dogs would likely beg to differ! In short, feeding our pets a more sustainable, nutritious diet doesn’t have to mean opting for the “best”, most expensive cuts of meat, or feeding them expensive alternative proteins (although I am personally very interested in the advent of insect-based dog foods). A more sustainable bowl of dog food can just mean feeding them some of the scraps (aka byproducts) of our own meat consumption, something that dogs are especially evolved to do.

Although cost can sometimes seem like an insurmountable barrier to living sustainably—especially when dogs are involved—this is rarely the case. Cost should not be a real barrier to living sustainably, because in short, using what we already have on hand is the most sustainable thing we can do as individuals. When we do purchase things, it is wise to take the time to (1) evaluate if we really need a new item, or if we can repurpose something we already own, or buy used, (2) consider how a product can serve us over the long-term, and (3) beware of greenwashing when buying something new. If there is one take-away from this article, I would like it to be that we should all take the time to question marketing claims about sustainability, and to buy less in general. Reshaping our relationship with our consumerism is perhaps the best thing we can do to live more sustainably, and it doesn’t cost a dime.

Training Diary: My Journey to Figure Out How To Put a Cone on My Dog (Intro)

Editor’s Note: Rather than a formal guide, this blog is very much in the vein of a journal entry. I may adapt the style a bit as we go, but for now, I went with providing a simple peek into my thinking.

Hi friends! I’d like to start by saying that I feel a funny mix of “let’s have some fun” and “please direct me to the nearest hole to crawl into” as I begin writing this. Why?! Well, in the process of trying to put a cone on my dog, Otis, after a surgery, I made a billion mistakes that forced me to have to do this work. And then I made a ton more mistakes. AND I am not done. So yep, that about covers it.

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I’m going to do my best to share training videos and talk about what I was thinking about that led to some of my choices. Let me be clear: I didn’t always make the best choice first. I also needed help! While this journey happens to be cone related, I think a lot of the lessons can be generalized more broadly. My hope is that we can use my journey (it’s easier to pick at my own work) to help ground many of the concepts you hear us talk about in training. I REALLY want this series to be a conversation, so PLEASE ask questions, share stories, etc.

How My Journey Began to Figure Out How To Put a Cone on My Dog

Otis is the dog who turned me into a trainer. As you might suspect, I would like a re-do on a great many things. He’s a sensitive soul, and I didn’t condition a cone before he got neutered (and had a gastropexy) years ago. TIP: Absolutely condition whatever you plan to use post-surgery beforehand (don’t make my mistake)! When I picked him up from the vet, they told me they couldn’t keep a cone on him. I had no luck either (and risked him tearing all the new sutures). I tried a donut and couldn’t get within 15 feet of Otis.

Fast forward a couple of years: I started to condition the cone as a “just in case” measure. Relative to “I won’t be in the same room as a cone,” we made progress, but we always stalled out at the same point (and then I’d stop working on it). I had a “moment of clarity” last fall when I just knew I was going to regret it if I didn’t sort this out now. With much more knowledge than I had before (including the wisdom to bounce ideas off people), I got started!

Who Is This Training Diary Series For?

Anyone! While I am going to show you how I approached a specific problem/goal related to a cone, the concepts at play apply much more broadly. For example, one of the issues that led me to getting stuck at the same point every time was that I was doing something called “lumping criteria.” I had to break it down WAY more than what I was doing in order to make progress. This is a truth that applies in most every training endeavor. 

Jump to my first training session here.

Training Diary: My Journey to Figure Out How To Put a Cone on My Dog (Session One)

Editor’s Note: Rather than a formal guide, this blog is very much in the vein of a journal entry. I may adapt the style a bit as we go, but for now, I went with providing a simple peek into my thinking.

What do you do when you get stuck at the same point in your training every single time? Well, if you’re like me, you might avoid training for a while, but then you eventually go back to the drawing board. If you missed the context for this series, basically I need to get my dog Otis comfortable with wearing a cone just in case he needs to wear one in the future. You can read more background here. In this article, I am showing you footage from the very first session of my “re-imagined” cone training plan and walking you through some of my thinking and observations. This isn’t a “how-to” for getting a cone on your dog (in fact, my best tip is to work on this FAR before your dog develops an aversion). This is what I did for one dog in a specific situation, but I hope that by thinking out loud, it will give you some ideas (whether your challenge is a cone or something totally different). 

My Process of Thinking About My Behavior While Trying To Put a Cone on My Dog

Here you can see my rudimentary setup, where my wire “cone” is suspended in my hallway over a blue yoga mat.

In previous training attempts, I spent so much time thinking about the behavior I wanted Otis to do (“put his head into a cone” and “wear a cone”) and very little time thinking about my own behavior. As a great mentor, Laura Monaco Torelli, taught me, very often the behavior we are asking of our dogs is simple. We are just asking them to perform that behavior in a huge range of conditions. Functionally speaking, the behaviors needed from Otis in order to wear a cone are pretty simple.* But what is going to happen around him in the environment is far more complex. So this go around, I focused on every little component piece of environmental events that Otis would experience as a part of “wearing a cone” (just not all at once!). 

*At the most basic level, I needed Otis to be able to stand and to eat a treat. However, I did note all of the behaviors I wanted Otis to be able to do while wearing a cone (like walking outdoors, moving through the house, lying down, eating, drinking, etc.) because that would factor into future training. 

My Approach to This Cone Training Session

Here’s a closer look at my makeshift “cone” with Otis resting on the couch in the background.

From my prior experience in working with my dog and cones, I identified two big problems that contributed to us getting stuck in our training: 1) Any movement of the cone around his head; 2) Taking my hands off of the cone once his head was in it.

I decided that I wanted to focus on breaking down the two big problems I identified. I knew I couldn’t start with a cone without lumping criteria, so I had to think of a way to break it down. A cone tends to move around a bit as the dog moves, so I wanted him to experience some subtle but unpredictable movements with a less intense object near his head. I decided I wanted my hands out of the equation to start because I wanted to give him as much control as possible (while I’ve tried hard not to force things on him throughout his life, he knew that my hands could move). Otis makes progress much much faster when he has as much control as possible (something that is not unique to just Otis 😉).

So I found an old wire hanger and bent it into a circle. I wrapped the metal circle I made in a towel to make it softer. I made the circle larger than the opening he would have if he were wearing a cone or donut to reduce the intensity he experienced when putting his head through it. 

Then I had to come up with a way to hold this circle up in the air without using my hands. I wanted the circle to move a little bit but not a ton. The reason I didn’t want it to be perfectly still is that I wanted him to learn up front that the circle moves a bit and make choices based on that understanding. I attached four small ropes to the circle and rigged up a suspension system by attaching the rope to the inside of doors in the narrow hallway in my apartment. To start, I tried to have as much tension as I could on the ropes to limit movement (knowing that it would move no matter what because of my design). 

There are a million ways I could have started the actual training session with him. Two more amazing trainers influenced how chose to start: Kiki Yablon and Hannah Brannigan. I sent Kiki a picture of the absurd setup that I had created and said I was a little nervous that I was going to mess this up from the get-go and have to come up with a totally new picture. She sent me one of Hannah’s videos where she starts a training session by teaching the dog (non-contingently) where the treats will show up for the session. Kiki said she often starts harness desensitization by first teaching the dog that treats show up through the harness. I remember telling her that I was worried about doing that because I didn’t want to create a conflict by making him do something “scary” to get food. As Kiki is apt to do, she reminded me that I could observe and adjust … and that I could stick my hand all the way through the ring to start rather than asking him to bring his head through the ring.

With a plan on how to start, I laid a yoga mat out (so he would have secure footing), set the camera up (so I could re-watch the session and see what to adjust next time), and began.

My Observations From This Training Session

Note: My bullets below that reference times in the video may be off by three seconds or so.

• Apprehensive at first - When Otis first approached the circle, he stayed fairly far away. He was reaching/leaning forward rather than just approaching it, and in this context, I read his behavior as showing a bit of concern. I repeatedly clicked and then reached my arm through the circle to give him a treat. I reached far through the circle at first and gradually reached less (I tried not to force him to come closer too quickly). 

• Yoga mat - While I thought to put a yoga mat out, I didn’t align it correctly, so his back feet slipped on the wood floor. Imagine not being comfortable around something new in your environment. Are you going to feel more or less comfortable around it if you feel like you can’t control your movements? I would argue less. 

• It moves! – You can see him learn that the circle moves. He was really “jumpy” in response to the circle’s movements at first. 

• Nose boops - He tapped the circle with his nose a couple of times. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to gather info about the circle or if he was offering a behavior trying to get a treat. In the early stages, I was really trying to non-contingently give him treats through the circle to teach him where the treats showed up. I didn’t actually want him booping it too many times because I didn’t want this setup to cue booping when I knew that later I was going to shape him to put his head through it. I still gave him a treat for the nose boops, but I didn’t mark. 

• Rate of reinforcement - I chose to speed up my rate of reinforcement to try to prevent the nose booping altogether. Looking at the video now though, I probably fed him too quickly because I was marking before he even finished eating the previous treat. (Mechanics are hard  😅.)

• Treat placement - I gradually delivered the treats closer to the circle. I still delivered treats non-contingently for quite a while (aka he didn’t have to do a specific behavior to “earn” the treat). (NOTE: I say this but there is always SOME behavior happening that I am reinforcing. I just wasn’t really selecting for anything yet … aside from maybe eating the preceding treat from my hand through the circle.)

• Moved yoga mat - At about a minute, I got smart and scooted the yoga mat so his back feet would land on it too. I tossed a treat away while I moved the mat, and when he returned, he basically stuck his head through the circle! 

• Offering behavior - He started to offer some movement towards the circle on his own. I think he got a little startled (sharp backwards movement) by the circle moving and stopped offering forward movement towards the circle. 

• Treat placement - I switched back to non-contingently delivering treats, but this time, I started to deliver them ever so slightly on my side of the circle. This meant he had to stick his head in a little bit to get the treat. 

• Wonkiness - At around 1:30, the circle moves, he backs up and boops it a few times. I maybe asked too much of him before this. Maybe he was gathering info. I didn’t want to push him, so I delivered a treat on the ground a little closer to the circle. I probably could have just reset tossed away from him. I think in the moment I was worried about him deciding the game was to back up, but with hindsight now, I didn’t need to worry about that. 

• Adjusting to movement - At around 1:45 and later, he learns how the circle moves when he pulls  his head out from it since I was now clearly delivering the treat on my side of the circle. He was super responsive to the circle’s movements – you’ll see his jumpy movements. He also seemed to really look at the circle. I really tried to notice where his attention was going – it gave me data about what cues in the environment mattered most to him. And for a good while, his eyes were locked on that circle (perhaps telling me that circle was a very relevant cue for him). I was non-contingently delivering treats for a bit after switching to delivering them on my side of the circle to avoid raising criteria in more than one dimension at a time. 

• Contingent reinforcement - At about 2:12, you will see him shift his weight forward towards the circle. I marked that. I started looking for him to offer me some movement towards the circle to mark & reinforce. He was now consistently doing this! At about 2:29, he got a little startled by the movement of the circle, and he pulled his head up and took a step back. Why? My best guess was so he could get a better look at the circle. After this, I marked the moment he chose to learn forward again even though he was farther away from the circle. To me, this was shaping “resilience” around a moving object! At around 2:33, he actually made the choice to stick his head into the circle even though it was moving quite a bit! This was cool! He took a few big steps back at 2:37, so I chose to give him a reset toss away (walking away is ALWAYS an option). After he came back, you will see him become a little less responsive to the movement of the circle, which was what I was looking for. He still had a few reps where he pulled his head out fast and watched the circle move, but more and more, he wasn’t attending to the circle as he moved his head in and out. He backed up one more time, and again, I tossed away to give him the choice to return or not (he returned). 

• Ending - By the end, he was rapidly sticking his head partway through the circle by choice and is not orienting to the circle every time it moved anymore. Earlier in the session, the circle’s movement was a very salient cue for him to back up and watch the circle move. Over the session, he seems to have learned something about that movement because his responses to it changed. And he recovered quickly if he did need to back away from the circle. From where we started, this was big progress!

What I Learned From Figuring Out How To Put a Cone on My Dog

Within four minutes, Otis went from staying far from the circle and leaning to get treats to sticking his head part way through the circle and not really responding to the circle’s movement around him. I was really happy with this! Because of the trend of his behavior during the session, I was comfortable sticking with the approach of showing him where the treats would appear (I think this sped up the session quite a bit). If his leaning/reaching had gone on for longer or he was not approaching the treats, I would have stopped this approach. 

Did I maybe train for too long? Probably, but I don’t know. I will tell you that I thought about ending the session many times during these few minutes. A part of me thought I should end because I know that in general, shorter quality sessions are better. However, I thought that this was something that was going to require some time for him to adjust to the environment. I wanted to give him the space to do that. I worried if the sessions were too short, he wouldn’t have the time he needed to adjust. I honestly am not sure if I made the “right” call or not, but for us, it worked out.

The Journey to a Sustainable Life and How To Live it With Dogs

Editor’s Note: Hi, it’s Christie Catan here! It's so tempting to equate sustainability with recycling, but it's so much bigger than that (for example: I spend more of my energy thinking about what I chose to buy or not buy). Am I perfect? NOT EVEN CLOSE. My hope is that our new TOC Contributor, Brianha Hendey, will help our community learn a bit more about how this home of ours (earth) works and why talking about sustainability even matters. I want to acknowledge that there are a HUGE number of reasons why people behave the way they do, and they are all valid. We are here to talk & learn with you (not tell you what to do). I'm hoping that our conversations will help us all better understand what contingencies are at play (yay behavior nerds!) as we make choices related to our dogs and perhaps allow you to bring even more awareness and intention to what you do (even if your behavior remains exactly the same).

Have you ever stopped to think about who you’re serving when you post a cute gear pic with a discount code on your dog’s Instagram account? When my partner and I decided to start an Instagram page for our dog, Boba, we were excited to share dog pictures, connect with trusted dog professionals, and meet other pet parents in our community and the greater dog world. However, the more time I spent scrolling through “Dog Instagram,” the more concerned I became about the environmental impacts of everything I was seeing. In an effort to make Boba’s Instagram feed a bit less consumeristic, I searched for sustainability-related dog pages and the results were unsettlingly empty. Indeed, I found nothing but a few pages promoting vegan dog diets, which were unhelpful to sustainably-minded pet guardians and the dogs in question.

Full disclosure, I’m a vegetarian. My master’s research focused on sustainable consumption. I was specifically interested in factors that might lead people to reduce their meat consumption and opt for higher quality, more sustainably-sourced meat when they do eat it (as opposed to completely abstaining). Without going into the behavioral science of it all, I am generally interested in helping people live more sustainably in a way that promotes their own well-being and that of the collective. 

Dogs undoubtedly increase our well-being (in most cases at least). You don’t have to do much digging to find numerous studies citing dogs’ ability to increase our life satisfaction, as well as improve our mental and physical health in measurable ways. So while our dogs’ environmental “paw print” is far from negligible, for many people their benefits far exceed their costs (although I say this as a self-acknowledged dog-obsessed millennial woman).

This then begs the question, what are the environmental implications of dogs, and how do we lessen them?

Since I couldn’t find answers on social media, I took it upon myself to research and to share my findings with you, with the hopes of creating an open and ongoing dialogue on the topic.

How the Pet Industry Impacts a Sustainable Life and How To Live It With Dogs

In a country like the U.S., where dogs and cats are very common pets, the environmental impacts can add up. Indeed, dogs and cats consume as much dietary energy as ~62 million Americans, or one fifth of the U.S. population!

At a glance, domestic dogs are an environmental disaster. You can’t really sugarcoat the massive amounts of resources spent on dog accessories and what have you, but it’s their food (and the waste that follows it) that is the biggest environmental culprit. Roughly 30% of protein raised in the United States goes towards feeding domestic pets. If you’re at all familiar with the impacts of industrialized animal agriculture, then you know that these aren’t small environmental impacts we’re talking about. Yet even as a vegetarian sustainability professional, it’s very easy for me to mentally distance myself from the environmental and social impacts of Boba’s dry food as I scoop it, twice daily.

Indeed, the pet industry has somehow managed to completely separate dogs from the natural world to which we all belong. While the idea of connecting to nature has been commercialized across dog products, from food to toys, in practice it’s rarely more than marketing. Catchy advertisements with terms like wild, all-natural, and evolutionary, are slapped onto bags of dog food with images of wild animals, yet the food bears no visible resemblance to anything an actual wild animal might eat. And in most cases, it was manufactured with limited to no concern for any wild animals impacted throughout the production process.

 In reality, domestic dogs are not “wild” animals. They have been co-evolving with us for thousands of years, along with their diets and behaviors. This is not to say that they are not as much of a part of the natural world as their more wild relatives. On the contrary – dogs are a great reminder that we as humans are also a part of the natural world.

With that in mind, I don’t think meat is the problem here. I think it’s the means by which we produce it that is problematic. 

Why Considering Quality and Your Dog’s Needs Can Help You Live Sustainably

Our industrialized society is constantly pushing to be faster and more productive, compromising quality (and our ecosystems) in the process. This also persists at the individual level, where feelings of inadequacy persist if we’re not “productive enough.” So consider this a formal invitation to slow down with me and to connect with your dog in a meaningful way. If the pandemic has taught us anything, I hope it’s that we are all allowed to slow down. More than that, slowing down is necessary for our own health and the planet’s. I think it’s also something that dogs have been trying to teach us all along.

When you see ads on social media for pet gear, what are you considering before you tap "buy now"? Is it something your dog needs? Is it something you want because you saw someone else with it? Is it because it's cute and caught your eye? Are you hoping watching your dog with it will bring you some joy? I'm not here to tell you what to do but rather to invite you to pause and notice. What would happen if we took the time to genuinely consider our dog’s needs, and actually listen to them when they try to communicate those needs? Would they prioritize a bit of time outside with you more than a shiny new collar? When it is time to make purchases for our dogs, it’s much easier to mindfully select products that serve their needs if we’re actually familiar with them. Let’s take the time to observe the subtleties of their body language, and wonder at the way they engage with our natural world. 

While living more sustainably with dogs might seem like uncharted territory – especially given the lack of conversation around it – I will leave you with one simple message: slow down. Take the time to connect with your dog, understand their needs and preferences, and actually research purchases before making them. We will explore what it might mean to make "better" purchases in the future, but for now, my invitation for you is to take time to really connect with your dog. Talk to you soon!

Guide: The Best Products For Surviving Winter With Your Dog

If you live in a snowy and icy place, caring for your dog in the winter can be particularly tricky. A few weeks ago we posted on Instagram and asked you about the winter dog products YOU love that make life easier and help you survive winter weather. Once again we were blown away by your responses, and decided to turn them into an easy to reference guide. We will keep adding to this list as we get more great recommendations from YOU, the amazing pet parents and pro-trainers in our TOC Fam! [Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.]

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Navigate to where you want to go:

1. Winter Dog Clothing and Accessories

2. Winter Human Clothing and Accessories

3. Enrichment and Snow Toys

4. For the Home and Grooming

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Winter Dog Clothing and Accessories

1. Ultra Paw Boots

From @littlesplines: “We've been using ultra paws boots for a few years. They’re a pair of rubber pads that helps grip the paws and they stay on even playing in the snow…”

2. A Waist Leash

From @gimpyballerina: “…a waist leash to preserve the fingers…I've been borrowing this one from a friend. I like the control handle and that it's super easy to unclip to convert to/from a regular leash without having to deal with getting it on and off my body. The shorter length works well for our narrow sidewalks, and the shock absorption is handy for when my pup gets excited to see a friend and suddenly pulls. The reflective parts are helpful at night but with my light up stuff not necessary. I don't use the pockets on the waist portion but some may find them useful.”

3. A Fleece Pullover

From @jesshorwitz: “…My girl Rooney has a fleece pullover and jacket-harness from @ruffwear that work great for very cold days. She’s a lab mix so I feel fortunate her short coat is rather low maintenance in the snow!”

4. Pawz Boots

From @ouimaelle: “In the city where the streets are full of salt and other chemicals to melt the ice, I love the Pawz Dog Boots. They’re the only boot that they can’t shake off, and not the end of the world if they do eventually lose one. They get used to them real quick and they’re so thin it never really seems to bother them.”

5. The Ruffwear Cloud Chaser

From @peevepaisley: “…love the Ruffwear Cloud Chaser…”

6. A Gold Paw Fleece

From @peevepaisley: “…love Gold Paw fleeces…”

7. Jawz

From @jabbowaki: “Jawz for easily getting Pawz booties on our dog! He struggles to hold still and the jawz cuts down the time it takes to put them on him.”

8. The Weatherbeeta Waterproof Dog Coat

From @boilermakeranna: “…a WeatherBeeta waterproof dog coat that covers a good amount of their belly!”

9. A Blazin’ Safety LED Collar 

From @gimpyballerina: “…Blazin’ Safety LED collar for more well lit areas…”

10. A Non-stop Dog Coat

From @aaron_theangry_gsd: “Our winters aren't ever too cold. 9 degrees are the lowest temperatures we have. But we will live somewhere else soon with cold winters (Turin or somewhere in South Germany). Aaron has arthrosis so he needs to be kept warm. Therefore I've bought him a warm coat from nonstop dogwear that covers shoulders and legs warming his joints and big muscles groups. Its on his way to us in South Italy…”

11. A Jacket Harness from Ruffwear

From @jesshorwitz: “…My girl Rooney has a fleece pullover and jacket-harness from @ruffwear that work great for very cold days. She’s a lab mix so I feel fortunate her short coat is rather low maintenance in the snow!"

12. A Carhartt Insulated Dog Coat

From @pacificpaw: “@carhartt keeps us toasty 🙌.”

13. Canada Pooch Boots

From @nickiiolivares: “It’s my first winter so this list is great. Although it rarely falls below 30 degrees (F) and if it snows it melts by the afternoon. We do plan on a winter cabin getaway so I’ve already started conditioning my girl to Canada Pooch Boots.”

14. A Muttluks Snowsuit

From @lily_aka_bean: “Bean has a snowsuit, an entire body covering snowsuit, by Muttluks, I bought it second hand and had to sew up the pant legs but living in Alberta with -30°-40° weather I couldn't not buy her one…”

15. Muttluks Dog Boots

From @puppygeniusacademy: “…Muttluk Dog Boots - they never fall off and have lots of grip…”

16. Beacon Safety Lights

From @puppygeniusacademy: “…Beacon safety lights…”

17. A Wilderdog Fleece Jacket

From @maural33: “And @wilderdog has great jackets that work with their harnesses- excellent for when it’s really cold!”

18. A Canada Pooch Raincoat

From @kronkadoodle: “Canada pooch rain coats because they're functional and cute, and don't have an awful zipper to fuss with…”

19. A Nite Ize Tag

From @jewellgrnb: “Nite Ize tags for their harnesses (I’ve actually had people driving stop and tell me how visible they were)…”

20. A Rechargeable LED Collar

From @roverrehabnj: “Rechargeable LED collars for those dark nights…”

21. A Dog Sweater Suit

From TOC: We found this dog sweater onesie on Da South Breeders Pet Supplies’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

Winter Human Clothing and Accessories

1. Convertible Fingerless Mittens

From @gingerbeer.dc: “Convertible fingerless mittens were amazing last winter! It kept my hands warm but when I needed to break up treats I could still use my fingers without taking the gloves completely off.” Note: TOC found these mittens on Amazon.

2. Squeeze Tubes

From @mersey_theadventurebean: “A few key things that I find make our winters most enjoyable are using baby food in a squeeze tube as a treat so I can keep my mittens on…” Note: TOC found these squeeze tubes on Amazon.

3. Crampons

From @leighpeigh: “Crampons for my boots! I have two large dogs and while they walk nicely on a leash, even the slightest yank on your centre of gravity can bring you down on a patch of ice.” Note: TOC found these crampons on Amazon.

4. A Good Winter Coat

From @mersey_theadventurebean: “…a good winter coat for her when it gets really cold (for me too of course 😂)…” Note: TOC found this coat on Amazon.

5. A Pair of Fingerless Gloves Feeding Treats

From @e_chape: “…A pair of gloves that you only use for treat feeding.” Note: TOC found these gloves on Amazon.

6. Icebugs

From @littlesplines: “…I wear icebugs, shoes with cleats built in so both feet feels balanced…”

7. Ice fishing flip top mittens

From @littlesplines: “…Ice fishing flip top mitts so I can use my fingers tips to dispenser treats…” Note: TOC found these mittens on Amazon.

8. A Reusable Hand Warmer

From @littlesplines: “…Trying reusable hand warmers this year.” Note: TOC found these hand warmers on Amazon.

9. A Headlamp

From @jewellgrnb: “A headlamp for walking in the dark.” Note: TOC found this headlamp on Amazon.

10. A Pair of gloves with the index finger and thumb cut out

From @peevepaisley: “Gloves with a cutout for the index finger and thumb - perfect for treating!” Note: TOC found these gloves on Amazon.

11. Yaktrax

From @roverrehabnj: “Yaktrax for human foot traction.”

12. Kahtoola EXOspikes

From @gimpyballerina: “…Kahtoola EXOspikes for traction…”

13. The Noxgear Tracer

From @gimpyballerina: “…Noxgear Tracer plus a headlamp for the human for less well lit areas…”

14. A TurtleFur fleece lined balaclava

From @gimpyballerina: “…a TurtleFur fleece lined balaclava to keep my face and neck warm...”

15. Thermal Underwear

From @aaron_theangry_gsd: “I use thermal underwear and a warm coat…” Note: TOC found this thermal underwear on Amazon.

16. Baleaf fleece-lined leggings

From @maural33: “For humans- Baleaf fleece-lined leggings are cozy as heck. 😊”

17. A Long Raincoat

From @kronkadoodle: “…A long old lady rain coat for me that everyone makes fun of me for until they wish they had one as long as mine…” Note: TOC found this raincoat on L.L. Bean’s site.

18. Waterproof Boots that Zip

From @kronkadoodle: “Tall, zip up waterproof boots so my feet stay dry stomping through the water and mud.” Note: TOC found these boots on L.L. Bean’s site.

19. A Reflective Vest

From @kronkadoodle: “…reflective vests for the humans…” Note: TOC found this vest on Athleta’s site.

20. Wool Socks

From @trompingwithmolly: “…wool socks…”Note: TOC found these socks on Amazon.

21. Fleece Lined Pants

From @trompingwithmolly: “…Fleece lined pants…” Note: TOC found these pants on L.L. Bean’s site.

22. A Merino Base Layer

From @jewellgrnb: “For me merino base layers…” Note: TOC found this long sleeved Merino top on Amazon.

23. flannel lined jeans

From @jewellgrnb: “For me…flannel-lined jeans…” Note: TOC found these jeans on Duluth Trading Co’s site.

24. A skida balaclava

From @jewellgrnb: “…Skida balaclava make my favorites.”

25. Ski Goggles

From @lily_aka_bean: “…I am going to get ski goggles soon.” Note: TOC found these goggles on Amazon.

26. A Buff

From @lily_aka_bean: “For myself I use a … buff…”

27. A Hat with Ear Flaps

From @summers_dayinthe_sun: “…hats with ear flaps…” Note: TOC found this hat on the Trailheads site.

28. Snow Overalls

From @summers_dayinthe_sun: “…a pair of snow-overalls made last winter so much more manageable!” Note: TOC found these snow overalls on Amazon.

29. A Beanie that advocates for your dog

From TOC: We found this beanie on EukaryaPaw’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

Enrichment and Snow Toys

1. A Hol-ee Roller

From @mersey_theadventurebean: “I also really love hol-ee rollers as an alternative fetch toy that is less likely to sink and get lost in deep snow!”

2. Bright Colored Toys

From @sunshineaussie: “…Bright colored toys…”Note: TOC found this toy on Amazon.

3. Indoor Games

From @isteriae: “Indoor games and chews for the day where we cannot have long walks because we're already under 1m of snow (since december 1st actualy 😭).”Note: TOC found this snuffle mat on Amazon.

4. Enrichment Games

From @raven_not_raisin: “And lots of indoor enrichment backup plans in case outdoors is an absolute no go!” Note: TOC found this toppl on Amazon.

5. An Indoor Agility Kit

From @archkatie: “This is my first winter with my cold hating pup! She has a coat and I have mushers. I also got an indoor agility kit for the darkest days 🤞🤞🤞.” Note: TOC found this agility kit on Amazon.

6. Kong Tennis Balls

From @trompingwithmolly: “Lots of Kong Squeaky balls for indoor games.”

7. A Lickimat

From TOC: We found this lickimat on Lizo Bandana Co’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

For the Home and Grooming

1. Musher’s Secret

From @wigglebutt_bailey: “Mushers secret for the paws…”

2. A Thermos

From @otis_unleashed: “I also often carry a whisk in my bag to break up some of the snow balls and a towel and a thermos bottle with hot water (I can pour hat water on the hand towel and hold on a snow ball stuck to them if they get one in a painful spot that I can’t break off).” Note: TOC found this thermos on Amazon.

3. A Wire Whisk

From @maural33: “She’s a snow lover and I’ve heard that a wire whisk is great for removing snow balls so planning to use that this winter.” Note: TOC found this whisk on Amazon.

4. A Quick Drying Towel

From @herstabetoff: “An absorbent quick drying towel, similar to ones used for hiking in the backcountry, to put down in the back seat dog hammock. It sucks the melted snow off him so he doesn't have to sit in a puddle of his own melt.” Note: TOC found this towel on Amazon.

5. A Waterproof Blanket

From @roverrehabnj: “And lots of warm blankets for snuggling on the couch after being out in the snow.” Note: TOC found this blanket on Amazon.

6. Burt’s Bees Wipes

From @brimounteer: “But also Burt’s bees wipes for her paws for when we come back in, to get all the salt and everything else off!”

7. The Soggy Dog Doormat

From @kronkadoodle: “…soggy doggy towels and door mats (which double as good "place" mats as well as snuffle mats haha).”

8. Paw Balm

From TOC: We found this paw balm on the Simply Sage Dog Treats site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

Guide: The Best Thing I Ever Bought My Puppy

One of the most popular questions we get is: “Help, I’m bringing home a new puppy. What should I buy?!” A couple of weeks ago we posted on Instagram and asked you about the puppy products YOU loved that made life with your puppy easier and helped you survive the craziness. Once again we were blown away by your responses, and decided to turn them into an easy to reference guide. We will keep adding to this list as we get more great recommendations from YOU, the amazing pet parents and pro-trainers in our TOC Fam! [Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.]

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Navigate to where you want to go:

1. Enrichment

2. For the Home and Management

3. Leashes, Collars, and Harnesses

4. Play

5. For the Car or Travel

6. Training Gear

7. Grooming

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Enrichment

1. The Rumbl

From @lumosdogtraining: “The rumbl is so versatile. You can put a toy in the top hole, seal the smaller hole with wet food, add a variety of food sizes.”

2. The Kong Wobbler

From @lumosdogtraining: “I absolutely love my @kongcompany wobblers ... I’ve had one of my wobblers since my first guide dog puppy I raised over 10 years ago 🙈.”

3. The Toppl

From @lumosdogtraining: “The toppl is an easy way to provide frozen enrichment and if you have both sizes it can be a good dispensing toy, too!”

4. A Food Dispensing Toy

From @frostbitesleddogs: “Food dispensing toys have been an absolute lifesaver"…” Note: TOC found this Planet Dog Orbee-Tuff Snoop Interactive Treat Dispensing Dog Toy on Amazon.

5. The Puppy Kong

From @eearthchild: “Puppy Kongs!! Freeze a tiny bit of peanut butter inside to make it more challenging to lick out :).”

6. Frozen Wash Cloths

From @bugthestreetdog: “Not something I’ve bought, but freezing old wash cloths to make frozen teething rings. Since we foster, it’s a cheap way to help the baby sharks.” Note: TOC found these wash cloths on Amazon.

7. A Flirt Pole

From @kusherwood: “A dog-sized flirt pole! I had a lot of trouble trying to teach my pup impulse control aka not go after every single bird, squirrel, piece of trash in the wind 😂 with the flirt pole, I’d practice having her stay in “place” command while I would move the flirt pole around. I would reward her with an “ok/free” command to catch the toy at the end of the flirt pole! Also was a great tool for rainy days where she didn’t get as much exercise or outdoor stimulation.” Note: TOC found this flirt pole on Amazon.

8. The Okra Tire

From @the_mojitomoji: “Orka tire. It’s one of the most looked over enrichment toys and gets a stupid amount of attention in our house.”

9. amazon boxes and paper stuffing

From @_shnatalie: “One of the best things I learned with our pup was to give an outlet for their natural puppy behaviors. Ours liked to shred. After finding her with several shredded full toilet paper rolls, we started giving her our Amazon boxes and paper stuffing that came with them so she could happily shred in peace. It was such a great energy outlet for her and I think also helped with her teething (this worked because she didn’t have a desire to eat what she shredded, just spits it out). Find what natural puppy behaviors their exploring and give them a safe way to do it that doesn’t harm your valuable things! “ Note: TOC found these plain moving boxes on Amazon, but if you buy one of the other products on our list from Amazon, you can just use that free packaging for enrichment.

10. The Benebone

From @super_nova_loves_learning:”❤️ benebones once the adult teeth came in.”

11. A Higher Quality Snuffle Mat

From @thesnuffleclub: “I bought a low quality snuffle mat on Amazon, it was awesome til it ripped (they had fun ripping it up though) so I decided to make my own! Loved it so much I have my own snuffle business because I wanted to share it with all the dogs!!” Note: TOC found this snuffle mat on the site that @thesnuffleclub links to in their IG bio!

12. A Food Puzzle Toy

From @lb_and_doggg: “…Lots and lots of enrichment toys were our favorite and best way to get through a day of puppyhood. Food puzzles…I wish I’d known about the canine enrichment page on Facebook sooner.” Note: TOC found this puzzle toy on Amazon.

13. The Busy Buddy Magic Mushroom

From @lcherub121: “I see a lot of kong wobbler and west paw recommendations but none of my favorite enrichment feeder: the Busy Buddy Magic Mushroom!!! The wobbler was way too easy for my dog after a week or so, and when I couldn’t get her to eat filling up the magic mushroom was always a hit.”

14. Carrots, Celery, or Cabbage

From @lumosdogtraining: “…something that cost very little is letting your pup shred carrots, celery, or cabbage! It feels good on their teeth and meets some of those land shark needs!” Note: TOC found these celery sticks on Amazon.

15. The Kong Easy Treat Spray Can

From @untrainablenorahbones: Kong Easy Treat spray cans make filling treat dispensers so much easier.

16. An Old Towel

From @marvelousmaisienj: “Best (mostly?) free things: an old towel for DIY snuffle snacks…” Note: TOC found these towels on Amazon.

17. Kong Ball With Ridges

From @pippinalab: “The toy we really liked was the Kong ball with ridges that can also be filled with treats. It was the best for teaching him how puzzle toys worked because it is not very hard and PB can be smeared on it for extra chewing. We don't use it as a puzzle anymore but we do still use it as a ball!”

18. A Lickimat

From TOC: We found this LickiMat on the Lizo Bandana Co site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

For the Home and Management

1. Baby Gates

From @zoology.rocs: “Get baby gates. So many baby gates.” Note: TOC found this baby gate on Amazon.

2. A Primo Pad For the Crate

From @mollieandcollieandmerle: “The one that saved my bacon this time around was a Primo Pad for the crate. They are waterproof and highly chew resistant. You can even get them with zip tie attachments so the puppy can’t dig it up or flip it. Anthem had “hunger pukes” in the early am for awhile and had thrown up on his crate pad multiple times. Fortunately all it takes to get the Primo clean is a quick wipe down. And I have never worried about him chewing up or ingesting it because he’s not tough enough to damage it which means he actually has something to lay on when unsupervised (Valor spent awhile laying on nothing but the crate pan because I didn’t trust her)! Great family owned business with good customer service and prompt shipping too! 😁 @primopads.”

3. An X-Pen

From @meghandvolta :”I’ll be real, I packed up an entire ex-pen and brought it to an air bnb for three nights with our puppy a few months ago. When your puppy isn’t fully crate trained yet but you need SOMEWHERE to put the gremlin because you want to shower, they are invaluable. You don’t have to rush because fido will not be eating your shoes when you get out. It also doesn’t allow them access to cupboards/drawer pulls like just gating off the kitchen does (I say that from experience having lost molding to puppy teeth)!” Note: TOC found this x-pen on Amazon.

4. A Crate

From @lindsayeberts: “…Crates! Crates everywhere! (Car, office, bedroom, living room).” Note: TOC found this crate on Amazon.

5. A bed with bolster sides

From @lindsayeberts: “…Beds with bolster sides.” Note: TOC found this bed on Amazon.

6. A Water Wicking Mat

From @lindsayeberts: “…water-wicking mats at my door for wet feet…”Note: TOC found this mat on Amazon.

7. A Dog Bed with a Washable Cover

From @untrainablenorahbones: “Investing in a dog bed with a removable, machine washable cover was a game changer. Don't fall for beds simply advertised as "machine washable" as they may mean you have put the entire bed in the machine, which is not very helpful with large dog beds.” Note: TOC found this bed on The Houndry site. PS: Use the code OTIS for 20% off on any order.

8. A Privacy Screen

From @untrainablenorahbones: “When it comes to management: Privacy screens for windows or see-through doors (storm doors, sliding deck doors) has helped minimize passerby distractions…”Note: TOC found this privacy screen on Amazon.

9. An Extra Tall Pet Gate

From @untrainablenorahbones: “…Extra tall pet gates that open and close are great for keeping my dog out of the kitchen.” Note: TOC found this baby gate on Amazon.

10. The Furbo

From @lkee507: “The Furbo! Expensive but worth it with the barking/cry[ing] notifications. It definitely helped my anxiety when I left the house but could still check in on him. Plus the daily video recaps are so cute!!”

11. A Waterproof Bed

From @lb_and_doggg: “One thing I didn’t have that I would get now is a waterproof bed!!! I didn’t know that they were a thing and we lost many a bed because they were the best place to pee 😅…” Note: TOC found this bed on Amazon.

12. Dog Blankets

From @katiestacy: “…We used blankets instead of dog beds because they are easier to wash and she was less interested in chewing…”Note: TOC found this dog blanket on Amazon.

13. A snuggle puppy

From @dntblink: “Heart beat puppy for those first few weeks. When they start using them as a toy instead of a pack member you can remove from bedtime routine.”

14. Krud Cutter Pet Carpet Cleaner

From @bptakoma: “…Krud Kutter pet carpet cleaner…”

15. Bissel SpotClean

From @bptakoma: “…Bissel spot clean…”

16. A little microwaveable heating pad

From @amystew20: “A little microwaveable heat pad. I had her in with me the very first night but she was crated beside my bed at the start and the heat source kept her sleeping all night from the second night I had her. A must, I think, as small animals cannot regulate their body heat.” Note: TOC found this pad on Amazon.

17. A Waterproof Play Mat

From @jjjjia: “…Waterproof play mat…” Note: TOC found this mat on Amazon.

18. A Head Torch

From @anna_g_w: “A head torch for the nighttime toilet breaks it’s a game changer to have your hands free to look after the pup.” Note: TOC found this head torch on Amazon.

19. A Dog Bandana

From TOC: We found these bandanas that are perfect for the holidays on the FurTheCulture Etsy Page. FurTheCulture is featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

Leashes & Collars & Harnesses

1. A Biothane Long line

From @pneuwarum :”A biothane longline. Easy to clean, stands up to wet West Coast weather, and allows my deaf dog to explore and sniff safely on walks.” Note: TOC found this long line on High Tail Hike’s website. PS: Use code TAILSOFCONNECTION for 10% off on all products!

2. A Backclip Harness

From @jacuzzagram : “…Essential dog products I would consider are: 1. Back-clip harness…” Note: TOC found this harness on Amazon.

3. A Biothane Collar

From @catinarium: “…a biothane collar with stainless steel hardware (@canaancollars) that can handle frequent beach adventures…”

4. A a PetSafe 3 IN 1 HARNESS

From @catinarium: “…I like …pet safe 3-in-1 harness.”

5. A Ruffwear Front Range Harness

From @catinarium: “…And TWO good harnesses for when one is inevitably wet and dirty! I like @ruffwear front range…”

6. A Rope Leash

From TOC: We found this leash on The Lofty Leash site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

Play

1. An Outdoor Tunnel

From @zoology.rocs: “He LOVES his outside tunnel. Just a cheap kids crawl through tunnel but great for exposing him to small spaces, weird sounds and textures.” Note: TOC found this tunnel on Amazon.

2. West Paw Toys

From @mich_leung_: “Love West Paw toys my Lab can’t destroy them! Has had a few since he was a puppy and lasted over a year and a half now.”

3. Gouhnuts Toys

From @mollykcrandles: “…Our dog is an incredible chewer, and the only brand he hasn’t been able to destroy is Goughnuts…”

4. Toys From Kong

From @untrainablenorahbones: “After months of torn up toys I finally invested in durable and rubber toys from @kongcompany and @westpawus and they have lasted longer and in better shape than other toys, saving me $$. With an AmStaff mix who loves to chew to destruction I had to find toys that would LAST.”

5. A Chuckit! Ball

From @tinesnub: “We‘d take the Chuckit! ball to an island with us - indestructible, versatile (play fetch, chew, hide it for search), fun!…”

6. A Kiddie Pool

From @katiestacy: “…For a summertime pup, we loved filling the kiddie pool and “bobbing” for treats…” Note: TOC found this kiddie pool on Amazon.

7. A Plush Pizza Slice

From TOC: We found this plush pizza slice on the In Pups We Trust. site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

For the Car or Travel

1. A Seat belt Harness

From @untrainablenorahbones:”A seat belt harness + tether and car hammock to keep my dog secure and my car clean. When I brought her home she was jumping all over the car which was a huge safety hazard. Now she's learned how to sit nicely in the car, is less distracting, and is safer…” Note: TOC found this harness on Amazon.

2. A Back seat Hammock

From @untrainablenorahbones: “…A car hammock to keep my dog secure and my car clean. When I brought her home she was jumping all over the car which was a huge safety hazard. Now she's learned how to sit nicely in the car, is less distracting, and is safer. Plus the hammock can convert to hammock or seat style.” Note: TOC found this back seat hammock on Amazon.

3. A Travel Water Bottle

From @lindsayeberts: “Also…doggie water bottle for hiking…” Note: TOC found this dog travel water bottle on the Lizo Bandana Co site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

4. A Travel Crate

From @taralfk: “…a travel crate-we started traveling really young. She would not sleep in a hotel unless she was in her crate!” Note: TOC found this travel crate on Amazon.

5. A Stroller

From @lkee507: “A puppy stroller. My Pomeranian puppy was way too little to go outside but I still wanted to expose him to different environments.” Note: TOC found this stroller on Amazon.

Training Gear

1. A Treat Pouch

From @frostbitesleddogs: “…Also highly recommend investing in a decent treat pouch with a few different pockets.” Note: TOC found this treat pouch on Amazon.

2. A Muzzle

From @jacuzzagram: “…Muzzle or empty yogurt container to desensitize the pup to sticking their face into things. It’s much easier to get them used to wearing things while they’re young, than if you wait for them to be older. It’s a skill that’s suuuper useful in all sorts of situations, but especially cool when you have a muzzle trained puppy that doesn’t eat everything it sees on your walks. Saves you a lot of stress and lets you walk in places you wouldn’t normally be able to take them. Our favorite field was covered in duck poop, but thanks to the muzzle, we were able to walk there without her gorging herself on grossness.” Note: TOC found this muzzle on Amazon.

3. A Rope Toy for Training ‘Drop It’

From @jacuzzagram: “…Rope toy for tug-o-war and “drop it” training! I got the most solid “drop it” without even trying, simply by playing tug with her. Hold the toy and quit tugging until she drops it, then reward by continuing the game. She generalized that skill to dropping food as well, even though I never even set up any training scenarios with food. (Obviously, if I raise another puppy, I wouldn’t take that risk a second time. I’d do actual food centered training sessions just to be sure the puppy learns to drop food as well.)” Note: TOC found this rope toy on Amazon.

4. A WhiteBoard

From @rutabeagle: “A whiteboard where can document when they last pottied and napped. It made crate and potty training so much easier.” Note: TOC found this whiteboard on Amazon.

5. A CLicker

From @freddy_the_chi: “…A clicker…” Note: TOC found this clicker on Amazon.

6. A Fanny Pack

From TOC: We found this human fanny pack on the Afropawlitan site. Afropawlitan is featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

Grooming

1. A brush

From @kiboodle: “Have a poodle. What's in my grooming bag? Brush…” Note: TOC found this brush on Amazon.

2. A Slicker Brush

From @kiboodle: “Have a poodle. What's in my grooming bag?…slicker…” Note: TOC found this slicker brush on Amazon.

3. A Pair of Clippers

From @kiboodle: “Have a poodle. What's in my grooming bag?…clipper…” Note: TOC found these clippers on Amazon.

4. Baby Wipes

From @tinesnub: “…For grooming we have baby wipes with us in the car (cause I never bath her but she rolled in feces 2-3 times before and they get it out of that few spots right away before drying…” Note: TOC found these wipes on Amazon.

5. A Toothbrush

From @tinesnub: “…a toothbrush"…” Note: TOC found this toothbrush on Amazon.

6. A 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner

From @mollykcrandles: “…We loved Burts Bees 2 in 1 tearless shampoo and conditioner for our puppy, still using it now that he’s 2!…”

Guide: The Best Thing I Ever Bought My Dog

A couple of months ago we were blown away by your responses to our post on Instagram entitled “The Best Thing I Ever Bought My Dog Is _.” We thought it would be helpful to turn the post into any easy to reference guide. We will keep adding to this list as we get more great recommendations from YOU, the amazing pet parents and pro-trainers in our TOC Fam! [Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.]

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Navigate to where you want to go:

1. Enrichment

2. Leashes and Harnesses

3. For the Home

4. Toys

5. Training Gear

6. For the Car/Travel

7. Grooming

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Enrichment

1. The Kong Wobbler

From @vhgollatz: “The kong wobbler. We use dry food, nibbles of beef liver, and sometimes beef chunks dusted in liver dust so they don't stick. The wobbler comes out when he needs to be occupied for rainy days.”

2. The Snoop

From @finniganthewheaten: "Orbee tuff snoop!!!”

3. The Benebone Puppy Wishbone

@nickiiolivares: “@mybenebone puppy wishbone chew toy. It helped us succeed in redirecting her chewing to the right things. 6 month old and rarely chews the furniture anymore.”

4. The Paw 5 Snuffle Matt

From @dotcomgrams: “...My favorite snuffle mat is by far the Paw 5. I shopped around for something less expensive but nothing compared in terms of fluffiness.”

5. The KONG Bamboo Puzzle Toy

From @mashazhuuu: “Best thing I bought: Bamboo Kong puzzle toy.”

6. The Toppl

From @lumosdogtraining: “We love @westpawsus for so many reasons! They're a B Corp with transparency about their BLM support, support for employees during the pandemic, they gave employees paid time off for voting, they're involved in their local community, and they happen to make fantastic dog toys. We love the bumi and the toppls.”

7. A Lickimat

From @8bitchip: “We know a senior who's struggling to care for their dog as they lose mobility in their hands (weak grip, stiff and arhritic, tremor) and legs (uses cane). I think if more enrichment products were made to be easy to fill and clean, it would be more inclusive - so for example, Lickimat's new-er line of tough mats for chewers is easier to hold with one hand, especially when it's filled and goopy, so it's easier to handle while moving with a cane. It's easier to lay flat in the freezer because it is hard-backed, or bring over directly to a place for a dog to eat than its floopy original form. It's also easier to clean since it is dishwasher safe. I don't think they were considering mobility issues in the new designs, but nevertheless, it made their product more accessible than it was before.”

8. A Makeshift Sand Pit

From @lemonadeandmaddie: “Makeshift sand pit! Lemonade used to jump into our planters and dig. Eventually got her her own sandpit and she hasn't even looked at the planters since. She didn't even need redirecting. She just needed a digging space for herself.” Note from TOC: We found this sandbox featured above in the photo in case you don’t want to make your own!

9. The Snuffle Ball

From @z3r00h: “Snuffle ball! It's amazing you can stick treats for breakfast in there.”

10. An Outward Hound Puzzle Toy

From @miss.maca: “So hard to choose!! … The @outwardhound puzzles.”

11. The Pineapple Slow feeder from Zippy Paws

From @miss.maca: “The pineapple slow feeder from @zippypaws so Maca can eat slowly and be entertained.”

12. The Kong Classic

From @6lack6eautyy_:“…A dog product that's the best value, I would say the Kong. It's pretty indestructible and I can put all types of food in it…”

13. The Little Tree Root

From @rubyfurever: “We got this little tree root thing when Ruby was tiny! I'm convinced that she hasn't ever damaged our wooden furniture (only one tooth mark from when she had a fever so I don't count it) because there was that one wooden thing she was allowed.”

14. The Gorilla Wood Chew

From @johannap25: “Our puppy had an urge to chew wood and ONLY wood. We discovered chew toys called Gorilla Wood that [are] safe for dogs (it's a pulpy wood that becomes mush and is safe to digest bits of once wet, but chews in a satisfying way for her wood craving). These saved our window sills, coffee table, chairs ... our house and our sanity basically. I wouldn't offer it to a dog who doesn't already have the hankering, but it was 100% what we needed to avoid destruction and provide her with the chewing enrichment activity she needed.”

15. A Rubber Ball Dog Chew Toy and Treats Dispenser

From TOC: We found this rubber treat ball on Grumpy Puppy Bakery’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

Leashes and Harnesses

1. The 30 foot Biothane Long line from Kirsten’s Canine Gear

From @karliemarianne: “…30 ft biothane line from @kirstenscaninegear…”

2. The Wilderdog Harness

From @thelexitales: “…the wilderdog harness. (Lexi is an escape artist and chewed through a Ruffwear harness once!!! It was quite impressive but sad for my wallet)…”

3. The Pro-Mohs Six foot Leather Leash

From @giothestandard: “…One of my all-time favorite dog products is a quality 6 foot leather leash - mine from promohs is perfect. Saves your hands and lasts forever…” PS: The promo code TOC15 is good for a one time 15% discount per customer through 12/31/21.

4. The PetSafe 3 in 1 Harness

From @krys10x: “…his PetSafe 3in1 harness. Easiest harness I've ever put on since it clips on like a collar and doesn't go over the head and the front loop was very helpful for LLW training.”

5. The 10 foot biothane long line from high tail hikes

From @chickencherrypie: “A 10 ft. biothane long line from @hightailhikes…” PS: Use code TAILSOFCONNECTION for 10% off on all products!

6. The Hurtta Harness

From @smudgethesurreycockapoo: “Best things we've bought are probably … hurtta harness…”

7. The Doggy Backpacks From Reddy

From @kim.harlington: “My pugs love their doggy backpacks from Reddy. It has opened up their worlds. They can now go everywhere with us, from hiking to traveling on airplanes. Best thing we ever got them.”

8. The Spotted Nose Design Biothane Leashes

From @adoringatlas: “Oh and another personal favorite is biothane leashes. We get ours from @spottednose.designs [and have] been obsessed since we started using [it] and will never use another material. Fantastic to customize every detail and easy to clean. Super durable.”

9. A Waist Leash

From @youngkaa: “We love our waist leash for long neighborhood, neighborhood, and farmer’s market walks…”Note: TOC found the waist leash above on Amazon.

10. The Off Road K9 Biothane Long Line

From @pittieprincesspenny: “Off Road K9 biothane long line!”

11. The Halti Training Leash

From @ashlathemalinois: “The halti training leash at the moment is my favorite. I love its versatility and the price is achievable for most. Our original one is 8+ years and still going strong.”

12. The Beige Tartan Rope Leash

From TOC: We found this leash on The Lofty Leash’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

For the Home

1. A Cooling Mat

From @rivertonhq: “Cooling mat!” Note: TOC found the cooling mat above on Amazon.

2. The Gulpy Water Dispenser

From 8bitchip: “Gulpy Water Dispenser. Ours is ~8 years old, has never leaked and seen a lot of use/multiple dogs, and still going strong…”

3. The Moroccan Bed From Pet Play SF

From @miss.maca: “…Oh and also the Moroccan bed from @petplaysf so comfy, durable, and easy to wash.”

4. A Dog Camera

From @barkuterieboards: “The dog camera. But's that's really for my separation anxiety because they just sleep all day.” Note: TOC found this dog camera on Amazon.

5. The Houndry Bed

From @otis_unleashed: “…Otis is OBSESSED with his round soft bed from The Houndry. I've tried a million beds for this dog and this is the only one he's ever truly loved.” PS: Use the code OTIS for 20% off on any order.

6. The Snuggle Puppy

From @petuniapickles_gsp: “…Her snuggle puppy would be right up at the top of the list. It's the one we used for sleep time when she was first brought home and she takes such good care of it and only takes it out morning and night for bed. It's the item I pack in her overnight bag…”

7. The Majestic Pet Suede Bagel Bed

From @carmren: “Magestic Pet Suede Bagel Bed - she loves this bed so much, it's become a joke because we're pretty sure if it was between us and the bed she'd choose the bed.”

8. The Colaroo Elevated Cot

From @otis_unleashed: “For Sully, the Coolaroo elevated cot is the best thing! She loves that cot so much! I honestly got it mostly as a station for her, but it's her go to safe spot. Otis never liked his.”

9. The Victure Baby Monitor

From @ariadneshmariadne: “A cheap video monitor for crate training - Invaluable!!! We have the Victure baby monitor. I would easily pay triple for what I ordered it for. It's been such a life saver and gives me so much peace of mind! It's also helped us ensure that she never has any bad experiences in her crate so only positive associations. Would recommend getting a monitor for any new dog owner.”

10. A Crate

From @thisgoodgirlcharlie: “A crate. It's been vital to help my nervous dog feel safe.” Note: TOC found this crate on Amazon.

11. The ‘Do Not Touch My Dog’ Pom Pom Beanie

From TOC: We found this human hat on EukaryaPaw’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

Toys

1. A Ball That Glows In The Dark

From @milo_dcavalier: “[A] glow ball especially during winter, when it easily gets dark.” Note: TOC found this glow ball on Amazon.

2. Tug-e-nuff toys

From @erno_in_kernow: “His @tugenuff toys - we only use them out on walks so they are extra special and brilliant for recall.”

3. The Outward hound Hedgehogz

From @owenthelobo: “…Outward Hound large and XL hedgehogz because they're Owen's absolute favorite toy so now we've got 6 of them scattered around the house.”

4. The Whistler Balls from Chuckit!

From @pheebadoodle: “The whistle balls from chuck it…”

5. The West Paw Soft Frisbee

From @anna.richardella: “The West Paw soft frisbee has been our boy's favorite. Because we had brought him home initially to a townhouse with limited backyard space and he was always leashed, he didn't know how to play outside. Once we bought a house with a fenced yard, he didn't seem interested in his indoor toys, but boy did he love when we played kanjam. Now he will go outside and play frisbee by himself.”

6. The Jolly Ball

From @navigatebyheart: “Jolly ball.”

7. a flirt poll

From @6lack6eautyy_: “The one toy I would take to an island would be her flirt pole as she has a high prey drive and it meets her needs. After working her, she is mentally and physically tired and she is able to focus a lot better…” Note: TOC found this flirt poll on Amazon.

8. The playology scented ball

From @liltish: “Playology scented ball! We hide them and they find them over and over.”

9. The Pet Play SF Toys

From @miss.maca: “…and @petplaysf toys!! They are the best and cutest…”

10. Cardboard boxes and kitchen towels

From @puppanara: “Cardboard boxes and kitchen towels count?” Note: TOC found these kitchen towels on Amazon and you could differently put kibble on them and roll them up for some enrichment fun!

11. Oven Mitts

From @bonniegeez: “Oven mitts. Grommet loves to wrestle and mouth my hands while he does. I've taught him that wrestle and mouthing time is totally cool when I've got the oven mitts on. We have so much fun playing "oven mitt wrestling."“ Note: TOC found these oven mitts on Amazon.

12. Two Identical Soft Toys

From @plutodood: “Not something we bought but something we got for free - two identical soft toys. Taught him give/drop it/fetch better than any other technique I've tried.” Note: TOC found these soft toys on Amazon.

13. The Ruffwear Frisbee

From @tails_of_toasty: “The Ruffwear Frisbee and only the Ruffwear frisbee ... will not play with any other frisbee.”

14. A Tug Toy With the Ball on the End

From @ajojodoodle:”…Buuut. If we're talking desert island ... We'd need a tug toy for sure. Our favorite has a rubber ball on the end…”Note: TOC found this ball attached to a tug on Amazon.

15. The Pro-fit Mega Ring from Coastal Pet Products

From @josielowry: “Pro-fit Mega Ring from @coastalpetproducts Our Golden has not mastered catching in the air but carries it everywhere and loves to fetch it. Best ever.”

16. A Chuckit! Ball

From @otis_unleashed: “And then for Otis a good ole chuckit ball.”

17. Burrow Toys

From @telltaildog: “Burrow toys - I've got the unicorns and chickens for my terrier and she's obsessed.” Note: TOC found this burrow toy on Amazon.

18. The Chuckit! kick fetch ball

From @gingerbeer.dc: “Best toy we've bought is the Chuckit Kick Fetch ball! If we let her Ginger would play fetch with it for hours.

19. The Kong Tennis Ball

From @stanleysthoughts: “The Kong tennis ball! Stanley can literally entertain himself with it for hours lol. It's insane.”

20. The GoDog Stuffed Chicken

From @taralfk: “Favorite toy - the GoDog brand stuffed chicken.” Note: TOC could only find the stuffed rooster on Amazon lol.

21. the virtually indestructible ball

From @karenandcj: “The virtually indestructible ball!”

22. The Hide and squirrel

From @maclynnie: “A toy called a "hide a squirrel" I think it was an Outward Hound brand. At first we used it with the squirrels but then it became a really good tug toy and also we hide her balls in it. She lives to get the balls out of it. She also plays with it herself and tries to put a ball in the hole and then she will pick it up and if she has placed the ball just right it will get inside the hole and then she puts it back down and gets the ball out.”

23. The Passport Dog Toy

From TOC: We found this passport toy on the Lizo Bandana Co site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here. We love this toy because sometimes dogs like to shred important things. Now you can just give them an approved important thing to chew lol.

Training Gear

1. A treat bag

From @taylor_hornung: “…a treat bag for out and about training.” Note: TOC found this treat bag on Amazon.

2. A muzzle

From @smoothandscrappy: “A muzzle. Hands down!” Note: TOC found this muzzle from Amazon.

3. Nervous collar and leash

From @lexis_bierle: “My dog was extremely scared of strangers, and getting her "Nervous!" collar and leash made it SO much easier to take her out to enjoy being outside without being constantly approached. Made it so much easier to not have to constantly be on the defense.” Note: TOC found this collar on Amazon.

4. The Tails of Connection Challenge

From @owenthelobo: “I wanted to say that I can’t even begin to thank you all enough for this program and the community you’ve built! I truly believe the TOC Challenge was the turning point for Own and I’m glad I made the decision to commit to our building our relationship over having a “good” or “well-behaved” dog. Last night’s progress would not have been possible without your program kickstarting this journey for us.”

5. A treat mold

From @owenthelobo: “Treat molds to bake homemade training treats…”Note: TOC found this mold on Amazon.

6. A human fanny pack

From TOC: We found this fanny pack on the Afropawlitan site. Afropawlitan is featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

For the Car/Travel

1. The Sleepypod Car Harness

From @meritthemini: “@sleepypod car safety harness. The only one on the market to pass a crash safety test.”

2. The L.L.Bean Zip Top Tote

From @youngkaa: “…I also got her an extra large ll bean zip top tote as a travel bag for when we go on trips, and honestly it's amazing just to have one spot for all of her stuff. Makes bringing her so much easier for me and it's a good experience for her!”

3. a dog sleeping bag

From @mashazhuuu: “…best value: @whyld_river sleeping bag.” PS: Enter TAILSGIFT at checkout for 10% off your purchase.

4. A cooling vest

From @natalyla: “Actually I was thinking about this yesterday on a hike! Cooling vest! My dog has long hair and he is really outdoors and with the high temperatures, even in the afternoon (after 7 pm) this has been a game changer! @euli.thedog is so happy now in summer.” Note: TOC found this cooling vest on Amazon.

5.  A ramp for getting in and out of the car

From @baileybythebay19: “…a ramp for getting into and out of our car in a safe fashion.” Note: TOC found this ramp on Amazon.

6. seat covers that attach to all four headrests

From @taralfk: “…Also a huge fan of back seat covers that attach to all four headrests.” Note: TOC found this seat cover on Amazon.

7. A soft folding dog crate

From @taralfk: “Best product we have is the EliteField folding soft dog crate. Ivy will sleep anywhere in that!…”

8. A Dog Travel Water Bottle

From TOC: We found this dog travel water bottle on the Lizo Bandana Co site. It is featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

Grooming

1. a shower head attachment that has a retractable comb

From @owenthelobo: “…shower head attachment that has a retractable comb so I can simultaneously brush Owen's long coat while rinsing the shampoo out of it.” Note: TOC found this attachment on Amazon.

2. a coral slicker brush

From @giothestandard: “If we were on an island ... I’d have to bring a brush probably my @chrischristensensystems coral slicker.

3. The Pet Wand Pro

From @kristin.l.e: “The @waterpikpets Pet Wand Pro. makes bath time SO much faster and more tolerable for my doodle who hates baths! A lot of reviews said the plastic diverter it comes with breaks easily, so I bought a $7 metal one to use instead and haven't had any problem.”

4. The mud buster

From @adoringatlas: “...My personal favorite is the mud buster to clean his paws. I get so much satisfaction seeing the dirty water pour out afterwards. This is super helpful especially since he doesn't like bathing/water.”

5. DE-MATTING RAKE

From TOC: We found this de-matting rake on the Grooming Extraordinaire’s site. They are featured on our friend, Kassidi Jones’, Black Pet IG list here.

DIY: How to Make Frozen and Enriching Halloween Dog Treats

Editor’s note: We are very excited to bring you another edition of #TOCDIY for our special TOC Trick or Treat Series, which is starring Hannah Guttormson this week. Hannah is the owner of K9 Fuel, an ethical dog training and wellness business, and she is a Professional Dog Trainer (KPA-CTP) and Canine Nutrition Specialist (CCN-CASI). Hannah is also a retired athlete, and health and wellness has always been her passion. Her three dogs Fendi, Epic, and Luna love taste testing her recipes and trying new enrichment activities. She told TOC, “We enjoy trying new sports but our main focus will always be letting them be dogs and live their best lives! We love going on adventures!” Hannah is going to teach us how to make “a Halloween stuffable [frozen treat] to enrich your dog’s life with this salmon/chicken blend topped with a berry scary ghost and some coconut cobwebs!” [Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.]

 📎 The Supplies That You’ll Need to Make Frozen Halloween Dog Treats

Tools

• Any stuffable of your choice! I used the WestPaw Toppl*

• A silicone mold*, but you can also use an ice cube tray*

• A food processor or blender

Hannah, seen here with her silver lab Fendi, is a natural health practitioner and she has her diploma in canine nutrition, along with being a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner.

Ingredients

• Fruit! Can be frozen or fresh: 1/4 cup of mango, 1/4 cup of cranberries, and 1/4 cup of blueberries

• 2 tsp of chia seeds

• 1 tbsp of raw honey

• 1 chicken breast (boneless and skinless)

• 1 can of salmon (stored in water, not oil and never feed your dog raw Pacific salmon)

• 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree

• 1/2 cup of spinach (fresh or frozen)

• Unsweetened shredded coconut

⏰ Time Commitment

This project will take two hours if you are making the frozen toppers (the berry scary ghost garnish) at the same time. If the frozen toppers are pre-made, you can make this in 30 minutes.

⚖️ Skill Level

Easy (as long as you've baked/cooked anything in your life before!).

✅ Step by Step: How to Cook Your Dog Homemade Halloween Treats

This recipe requires that you make the cute garnish or berry scary ghost fruit topper (step one), and then you need to make the main mixture to fill the toppl (step two). Finally you need to combine those two elements (the fruit topper and the main mixture) for your final product that you’ll freeze (step three). Keep scrolling to find out how you do that.

• Step One: Make the cute fruit topper or the berry scary ghost garnish part of the frozen treat

  • If using frozen fruit, allow to thaw completely

  • In a food processor or blender, combine 1/4 cup of mango, 1/4 cup of cranberries, and 1/4 cup of blueberries

  • Add water as needed for desired texture!

  • Add 1 tbsp of raw honey

  • Add 2 tsp of chia seeds

  • Use a batter bottle*, piping bag or spoon, and add the mixture to your silicone mold of choice! This is the mold I use.* Place it in the freezer for 1-2 hours or until frozen.

• Step Two: Make the main mixture part of the frozen treat

  • Bring a pot of water to a boil

  • Add your chicken breast and boil for 15 minutes, or until fully cooked through

  • Remove from the pot and shred with a fork in a bowl

  • Mix in 1 can of salmon and continue shredding until the pieces are nice and small

  • Add 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree

  • Add 1/2 cup of spinach (** If using frozen spinach, thaw completely, if using fresh, steam it**)

• Step Three: Put the mix in the toppl (from step two), add the garnish to the top (from step one), and freeze!

  • Fill the toppl with the main mixture from step two.

  • Top the toppl with your cute garnish from step one.

  • Add your coconut cobwebs to the top as a bonus garnish for added aesthetic!

  • Serve as is or freeze the whole thing for a long lasting snack!

This recipe is very versatile! You can swap out ingredients for whatever you have available! If you need help finding a substitute, please do not hesitate to reach out!

If you have something that you’d like to DIY for your #TOCFam, please fill out our form here.

The Life-Changing Magic of Dog Enrichment

Dog enrichment has a whole lot of buzz these days and for good reason: it’s really important. But WHY is it so crucial for our dogs? First, let’s define enrichment. It actually originated in the zoo world through the efforts of zookeepers who were focused on zoo animal welfare. Dr. Markowitz, who was a leader in zoo animal welfare, said, “Enrichment should be a synonym for ‘more like nature.’” Believe it or not, dogs are captive animals too. Enrichment is about meeting all of your dog’s needs as closely as they would be met in the wild (aka letting them do super natural dog behaviors). [Disclosure: The page may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.]

These days, it’s easy to associate a lot of expensive toys, puzzles, and pretty looking photos on social media with enrichment and while those things are awesome, (yay frozen Toppls* ha!), they are not the only type of enrichment. Nature is $0 and usually extremely enriching! Keep reading for examples of enrichment, why it’s so important, and why it can be magical for your dog.

How Natural Enrichment Activities Can Help Meet Your Dog’s Needs

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What do you notice about the little dog, Sully, in the post above? While Instagram Reels only allows for 30 seconds of video, I will tell you that she spent 30 minutes systematically gathering the best sticks she could find. This was all her idea. Do you notice how many reinforcers she comes into contact with?! She is independent and has agency (this is a big deal for a dog who lives in captivity in a one bedroom city apartment). She hears the creek and the bugs and the rocks moving. She feels the water and the variable surfaces. She smells all sorts of things. So much sensory stimulation. She had to use her brain to figure out how to dislodge and carry some of the sticks. She used her muscles to climb all over rocks. She shredded the sticks after she gathered them. All I did was put her in an environment rich with reinforcers (where she felt safe) and let her choose what to do.

What is enriching for one dog may not be what is enriching for the next (meet your dog’s individual needs), but health and meeting needs are always our first two goals and considerations. Check out “Canine Enrichment for the Real World”* by Allie Bender and Emily Strong from Pet Harmony to learn more about enrichment!

Why Natural Dog Enrichment Behaviors Aren’t ‘Bad’

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What’s on your list when you think of all the little (and big) things you need to do today to take care of your dog? Maybe it looks something like: Breakfast ✅, Bath Time ✅, Vet Appt ✅, Training ✅, Decompression Walk ✅, Exercise ✅, and Dinner ✅. Bringing a dog into your life comes with a HUGE amount of responsibility. It starts to shift how you look at some of those responsibilities when you remember that your first job is to show them love. And that isn’t just a task. It is a gift that we GET to love these incredible animals who teach us so much about life.

Loving them is not just how we feel about them. It is how we treat them and how we show up for them. It’s how we make THEM feel -- safe, empowered, and fulfilled. The world often lifts up dog behavior as “good” when it is centered around humans’ needs. We LOVE training and will always celebrate it (and to be honest, done well, it is a deeply loving thing to do with your dog). We *also* want to keep celebrating dogs doing natural dog things and remind ourselves that behavior does not need to be centered around humans in order for it to be considered good. Giving dogs opportunities to engage in these natural dog behaviors like running, chasing, shredding, and digging is not only incredibly important for their wellbeing, it is also one of the ways we get to love our dogs. Dogs need to be able to behave in ways that are natural to them. As it turns out, getting to experience watching dogs do that works wonders on our own wellbeing. The video above features some awesome dogs from our TOC Fam doing some delightfully dog things.

For some of our favorite enrichment products like toppls, snoops, and snuffle matts, check out our Amazon store.*

When It Comes to Anxiety, Do Dogs Feed Off Your Energy?

“Is my anxiety making my dog anxious?” We hear this question a lot! It recently came up in a Psychology Today article entitled “Why Do Anxious Owners Tend To Have Anxious Dogs?” It reads, “The reasons for this relationship are unclear but several studies suggest the causal arrow points from owner to pet.” (This type of conversation pops up often outside of this article too.)

Words matter. If you are someone who experiences anxiety (like I am), this type of language may be enough to bring some of it on. When it comes to dog behavior, I find that the behavior lens is both effective and kind. So I thought it would be nice to use it to look at this question in another way (perhaps to partially remind myself that a label the world has given me as a characteristic of who I am is insufficient to use as a cause of my dog’s behavior).

“Anxious” is a construct -- a label. In the science of behavior, we look at the observable and measurable. There’s a lot to go off of there!

Behavior and the environment are in constant conversation. All of us are learning ALL the time. You can’t turn it off. So yes, our behavior absolutely influences our dog’s behavior and our dog’s behavior absolutely influences ours. Because we are a part of our dog’s environment, and our dogs are a part of ours.

But when we look with a behavior lens, we are empowered. We can define our “anxiety” in observable behaviors. Then we can either change our behavior (e.g. dog tags cue you to exhale rather than tense up) or we can teach our dogs that our behavior means something else (e.g. “oh crap” means turn around with me).

So What About Anxiety? Might We Also Be Giving Environmental Cues to Our Dogs?

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Every morning I put on shoes to take my dogs outside. Inevitably, they wag their tails and stretch. I often feel groggy at this time. I don't hear people say my grogginess caused my dog’s behavior. Most people know that my putting shoes on in the morning predicts a walk, and therefore has become an environmental cue for my dogs.

In the first video in the post above, you’ll see that I walked my dog, Otis, to one of my “happy spots.” I felt “calm and happy” during the videos (not “anxious”).  I acted out some “anxious behaviors” that I might do if I felt nervous on a walk: I scanned the environment (looking around with furrowed brows) and then tensed up and gasped. In the video, see if you notice how Otis’s behavior changes based on my behavior.  

It’s no secret that dogs have evolved alongside humans and have become quite skilled at reading our body language and behavior -- even when it’s super subtle. I wasn’t feeling anxious at all, so Otis didn’t catch my anxiety like one might catch a cold from a friend. But in that video, it is incredibly obvious that my behavior influenced Otis’s behavior. 

My scanning cued Otis to scan long before I even gasped. Why?! Here is my educated guess. I am human. I find it super jarring (and aversive) when Otis barks and lunges when I’m not expecting it. His barking and lunging taught me to scan the environment looking for things he might react to in order to avoid being surprised or to prevent his barking altogether. Overtime, my scanning started to predict triggers for Otis, so he learned that scanning meant a trigger was coming. You see how we are both influencing each other’s behavior? 

Here is the good news! If we are using a behavior lens, we can actually do something about it! I noticed long ago that I had a bit of a “reflex” to grab up high on the leash and pull up/in when I got nervous (aka a kid on a scooter comes out of nowhere). So I taught Otis that that behavior was no biggie and just meant to look at me for a treat. 

Watch this next video in the post above and observe my behavior and Otis’s. I arguably exhibited more “anxious behavior” in that last video, but Otis didn’t respond with scanning or barking or anything that looks “nervous.” Why? Because he learned that me tensing and choking up on the leash means to look at me. We can all do this! If we cannot change our own behavior, we can at least teach our dogs (in a safe space to start) that it means something else (like turn with me or look to ground for a treat).

We absolutely influence our dogs’ behavior, and they influence ours. This is a much broader truth about the relationship between behavior and the environment. It is always a good idea to be curious and observant about how our behavior is impacting our dogs, but we would argue that we can do this more effectively and kindly without using big constructs like anxiety in a causal way. 

For the record, I could dance up and down the leash, gasp, swear, scan, and tense up (with real feelings of anxiety) and my other dog, Sully, remains soft and calm. If it were the “anxiety,” why isn’t she affected? It makes more sense when we look at the anxious behaviors as cues … they just aren’t salient signals for her … so no response!

How To Respond When You’re Walking Your Dog and Someone Says ‘Just Calm Down’

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We’ve all been there. Your dog does something on a walk, and you find yourself in a spiral of anxiety, guilt, and frustration ready to blow at the next leaf that crosses your path. And then somebody tells you that you need to “just calm down” and perhaps they say “your anxiety is making your dog anxious.” … At which point, your eyes retire to the back of your head. 

First and foremost, you are human and feeling a wide range of emotions is normal. You CAN learn to move through the thoughts and emotions that show up. That is very different from expecting yourself to “just be calm” all the time. Second, what the heck is calm!? If someone says “raise your shoulders,” you can physically perform that behavior. If someone says “just be calm,” what are you supposed to do? That feels like a setup for frustration! 

As someone with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (and a history of panic attacks), it felt absurd to even imagine feeling calm walking my dogs. After all, if I could “just be calm,” I would have done it long ago. I had very little experience with calm behaviors, so I had to start from lying on the living room floor and build up. It took me months before I could even take a deep breath while standing up. In other words, just like w/dogs, I practiced calm behaviors outside of the conditions I wanted to use them in first.

What happens if we start by operationalizing (defining in measurable behaviors) “calm.” One of the things that helped me the most was actually defining calm in terms of measurable behavior. Once I did that, a huge shift happened: Instead of trying to BE calm, I could PRACTICE calm behavior. Perhaps: Low heart rate, slow and deep breaths, attending to the present moment, relaxed muscles, etc. Clench your whole body (raise your shoulders, curl your toes, scrunch your face, make fists) as you take a big inhale. Hold your breath for three to five seconds. Do a BIG exhale and release all of the tension you just built so your whole body feels soft. 

When I brought my “practice” to walks, I gave myself a phrase to repeat (e.g. “All of it belongs” or “Wow”). If I feel panic show up in my body after my dog barks, I say “Wow,” put my hand on my heart, take a breath, and start noting what I feel in my body or notice around me with some compassion (e.g. my chest got tight, my head feels hot, my heart is racing, etc.). For me, this gives me space to be safe in what I am experiencing and then I can practice my “calming behaviors” (breathing, attending to the present, softening muscles, etc.).

By the way, our Attention Unlocked e-course combines giving you ways to support and train your dog (thereby making walking them a bit easier) while also inviting you to bring some awareness to your own thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

Getting Started With How To Train Your Dog To Wear a Harness

For a lot of dogs, harnesses can be crucial to their success outside while walking on a leash. It’s not uncommon for dogs to be sensitive to things touching their body, so we put together this mini guide (it’s not intended to have all of the answers - but we’ll keep adding to it!) on how to get your dog to wear a harness. We’ve included a link (keep scrolling to the bottom of the piece) to the harnesses we love as well. [Disclosure: The page may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.]

How to Desensitize Your Dog to a New Harness Before It’s Needed

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In the post above, Beth, a member of our TOC Fam, has been working on desensitizing her dog, Dug (he was six months old in these videos) to his new harness. (Good news: These videos are from several months ago, so he is happy in his harness now!) Dug is sensitive to things touching his body, but having a harness is important since he spends a lot of time on a long line.

If you swipe through the post above, you’ll see some home videos from Beth and Dug! Here is what Beth shared with TOC:

“It’s taken a long time for Dug to feel comfortable with his current harness so when it looked like he was going to grow out of it soon I bought a new one in advance so we could spend time helping Dug to really love wearing it. We’ve been working on this for about four weeks now.

Video One: Here we are playing a nose targeting game with the harness. Dug runs to the harness, puts his nose in the hole and then is marked and rewarded with a treat toss. The purpose of this game is to build confidence around the harness and for Dug to move towards the harness (his default is to run away from it).

Video Two: Here we’re using a behavior Dug already knows well - a chin rest on the sofa (PS: you can learn how train your dog to do a chin rest in the TOC Challenge) - to encourage him to put his head further through the hole in the harness. I’m not luring with a treat - Dug volunteers this behavior and then is marked and rewarded.

Video Three: This was a huge breakthrough moment for us. Dug got to the point where he was happy to put his nose in the harness but not happy for it to go past his ears. I saw a trainer on Instagram ( @noblewoof ) use different novel objects to help teach her dog this behavior. By using something that Dug was already completely comfortable with – his collar - we were finally able to make the association that head through equaled a jackpot. This quickly translated to the harness and other novel objects, like the T-shirt shown.”

How To Turn a Scary Harness Into Something Fun for Your Dog

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Listen, there’s nothing fancy about this video above. Everyday of the week that I filmed it, I pulled out my dog Otis’s car safety harness and simply played fetch with it. And then I put it away! WHY?! Well, because I made an oops. I got this harness right before a road trip and didn’t ever desensitize him to it before tossing it on him. It’s heavy and has metal buckles (road safety!). He didn’t seem super uncomfortable in it, but when I decided to loop back to it and do the consent-based work I should have done initially, he BOLTED as soon as I pulled it out. I tried a few times and each time he spotted or heard it, he was gone. He didn’t even want to stick around to see if there were treats. WOAH NELLY! Now I could have done a million different things here, but I think we both were in need of something fun and low pressure.

So one day, I pulled it out, set it down on the ground, and gave his retrieve cue. Otis knows his cues are all invitations (aka he won’t be forced into anything), so I was just curious what he would do. Something about the “fun game” premise made his body language shift COMPLETELY. He softened and started wagging as he realized we were playing a game instead of trying to do something that felt like a lot of pressure to him. Sure enough, he picked the harness right up and handed it to me. After just a day, I could make pretty big tossing motions with the harness in my hand without seeing any concern from Otis. He was naturally desensitizing to the sound of the metal clasps through this game too! And the only time that harness touches him is when he grabs it, so he has full control over the interaction. Pulling the harness out no longer predicts having to work with something scary. It predicts a game he loves! Now that he is not panicked at the sight of it, I feel a bit more free to start the real work of using consent to put it on him 🤣!

So the moral of this story is twofold: 1) Desensitize AHEAD of using a new harness (I know better 😳); 2) It is okay to not always be super serious! Sometimes silly games can actually be incredibly helpful! (Pssst...There isn’t just one right way to do something. You can do what works for YOUR dog!)

What if Your Dog Already Hates Their Harness?

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Have you ever worked on something and just felt stuck? That was me with the new harness I got for Otis. He rarely wears harnesses anymore, and when I tried to put this new one on, I was pretty surprised to see him sprint to the other room. Like all of you, I genuinely care about how my dog feels, and I prioritize giving him choice. For a couple of months, I tried all sorts of things: basic classical conditioning (pairing harness with treats), teaching him to put his head through it (first through other objects), and all sorts of start button behaviors. No matter what I did, he never chose to put more than his nose into the actual harness and would run away if I moved it even a little bit. Looking back, I see A BAJILLION ways I could improve on what I was doing (and some of them likely would have worked!). I think I was so incredibly focused on how Otis felt about the harness that I never stopped to actually define my goal behavior and break it down into a training plan (pssst...we can do both).

So when my training didn’t work, I felt genuinely stuck. As luck would have it, I had an unrelated conversation with Kiki Yablon, who asked me a question that stuck with me long after our conversation: “How do you know if your dog actually likes something?” The only thing I have to go off of here is his observable and measurable behavior. Then I watched an awesome presentation from Lindsay Wood Brown with a demo from Scotti Harvey where she socialized a six month old puppy to kids. Scotti absolutely cared about how the pup felt, and she also knew that there is no way to separate operant and respondent conditioning. She was really intentional about how she set the sessions up, so she could get and reinforce the behavior she wanted around kids (rather than only thinking about giving treats around kids). The combo of all these things made a lightbulb go off in my head.

I started to think more operantly (knowing full well that classical conditioning was coming along for the ride). Thinking like this unstuck me. This video above shows a highlight of the initial steps! Here’s my TLDR play-by play:

• I tried to simplify the whole thing when I thought about the goal. Here’s what I decided on: I wanted Otis to remain still with loose body language (aka “comfortable”) while I put the harness on him. Then I went and really defined what that meant (perhaps even thinking about what does “liking” the harness look like?). I wanted a soft, still body. I wanted a relaxed face, neutral ears, and his head to remain still and eventually for it to move forward. I knew specifically that I did NOT want any backwards movement (even a subtle weight shift), but it is easier to focus on what I want. Because of how I train, putting these things into the criteria actually helped prevent me from moving too fast. Then I thought about how I could break this down into an actual training plan. I knew I wanted to start with us both on the ground (that’s where we’re even in height, and he is most likely to “be calm” when lying down in a training context). I started by simply sitting down on the ground and capturing the basic position I wanted (calm body language in a down and oriented to me.

• Then I actually skipped a step that I had to come back to (but thanks to thinking about this operantly, it was really clear how to troubleshoot). (NOTE: The video shows the adjusted order after I corrected my mistake.) I moved from the base position to introducing a leash that I could create a HUGE circle with and put over his head. I started by simply raising my looped leash up (but not moving it towards him) and marking and reinforcing for the criteria I had already defined. Because I knew my criteria, I was crazy careful to set up conditions that I thought would set him up for success (aka I didn’t push for speed). I worked in baby steps. Before I even tried moving the looped leash over his head, I tried holding the leash flat and just moving it slightly over his head. That was when I saw his head move back just a little and his ears pin back. I tried one more time and the same thing happened. That’s when I realized I hadn’t actually broken it down enough.💡

• The step where Otis wasn’t able to meet criteria came when my hands (with a leash) were coming over or around his head. Funnily enough, this is the same step where our start button work broke down (he was always willing to put his nose in, but then darted if I moved the harness even a smidge) - coincidence???...I think not! But this time, I was thinking operantly, and this helped me get into a problem solving mindset. I realized I was actually lumping criteria by introducing my hands coming over his head at the same time as introducing a leash coming over his head. So I nixed the leash. I went back to the base behavior, and I worked on fading my hands into the equation. Pretty soon, I was able to move my hands over and around his head while he had calm body language.

• Then when I went back to the leash, suddenly I saw different behavior from Otis. I was able to move the large looped leash towards him, and he kept a loose body and face, neutral ears, and his head still or even forward slightly. That is what I wanted to see from Otis in order to move forward. I said “putting it on” out loud before I made any move to put the looped leash over his head (predictability removes a lot of stress) and “taking it off” before I took the leash off.

• I gradually made the leash loop smaller to mimic the size of the harness opening. When that was easy, I switched to the harness. Using a harness changes the conditions, so I lowered some of my criteria. I started by simply presenting it (without moving it towards him) and marking and reinforcing that same behavior and body language. My job was to set up conditions so that Otis was successful. This meant I had to be super observant about all the little behaviors and to go at his pace. It didn’t take long for me to be able to put the harness over his head. Just like with the leash, I said “putting it on” before moving it over his head and “taking it off” before pulling it off of him. What happened over time was pretty interesting. Dr. Friedman talks about selecting behaviors in the flow. Well Otis naturally started to offer putting his nose into the loop, so I started to select for that.

• We got to the point you see in the video in two 4-minute sessions. I laugh a little bit because of how much time I spent working on this in previous months. I have tried to think about what I did differently this time. I actually think the biggest difference is that I just did a better job training - LOL! I absolutely could have been this thoughtful in my previous attempts using start button behaviors, but I got so hung up on Otis’s feelings that I forgot to think through behavior like I know how to. Respondent and operant conditioning always happen together. I will ALWAYS care about how my dog feels. ALWAYS. And I am a better problem solver when I think operantly because it forces me to be intentional. Could I have caught the same gap (pressure of hands over head) when I was using start buttons? YES! But I was using them without having a real plan for building a behavior. I was just assuming that the end behavior I wanted would magically evolve if Otis had a choice. Sometimes I get away with that. I didn’t here.

• In terms of next steps, I think I want to clarify the sequence of events. I hadn’t planned on a start button behavior, but one is naturally evolving (Otis sticking his nose through the harness). I naturally started waiting to move the harness until he put his nose to the opening, so it started to operate as a start button behavior anyway. I think I like having that built into the sequence, so I want to get more intentional about it. Then I will need to change the conditions and bring this to a stand (I doubt in real life I will have him lie down...though I could). I am pretty sure I will start from a kneel while he stands though (less physical pressure and more of a baby step). I will likely go back and move through hands, leash loop, and harness with him standing and me kneeling and then with both of us standing.

What’s funny is that this experience actually taught me a lot about how I can be more intentional with start buttons. I LOVE start buttons. But I was not thinking much about my criteria (I was jumping straight to the harness as the consequence for the start button behavior when I could have actually gone through a similar progression that mirrored what I did here). It’s also funny that a start button behavior of sorts (nose to harness opening) naturally evolved anyway. I had gotten to the point of Otis putting his nose through the harness before when I was focused just on start button behaviors, but I never was able to actually move the harness fully over him. By thinking operantly and being super duper clear about my criteria and taking ownership of setting up conditions where Otis would be successful, it forced me to break the behavior down much more. Now, when he puts his nose in the harness, I can move it over his head, and he doesn’t sprint away from me. In fact, I see so much softness in his body.

I’m definitely not an expert on dog emotions. I share this story simply to relay a moment where I got stuck and had to unstuck myself. We can’t ever separate respondent and operant conditioning. Because of that, I should always care about the associations I think my dog may make and about the behavior that is operantly being selected (because some behavior always is). In my case, thinking operantly empowered me in a way and got me into a much better problem-solving mindset than when I left that out of the equation in my effort to get my dog to like the harness. I can make arguments in either direction, but I am hopeful this approach accomplished both selecting the behavior I want while building a better association with the harness.

BTW, here are some of our favorite harnesses, collars, and leashes.*

How Can I Start Training My Puppy

First of all congratulations on your new puppy! We are so excited for you! Now if you’re feeling overwhelmed and unsure of where to get started with training, don’t worry. You’re not alone! One of the most frequent questions we get from our TOC Fam is if we have any resources on how to get started with puppy training. There’s a million things to focus on, so we figured we’d start to pull together a mini guide for you with tips to start you off. This is by no means comprehensive, but we have ideas for you of how to begin with puppy socialization, putting a stop to all of that puppy biting, and training loose leash walking. PS: for even more puppy training tips, including how to think about your puppy’s routine and how to prep them for alone time, check out our Show & Tell pandemic puppies feature.

How to Properly Socialize a Puppy by Starting Simple

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There’s a ton out there about puppy socialization, and it can start to feel a bit intimidating. This mini guide is certainly not the holy grail, but hopefully it gives you some helpful info and maybe a few ideas.

First, socialization is SUPER important. But please know that it is not the ONLY thing that impacts how your dog shows up in the world. Puppy genetics, environment during gestation, and early life experiences all factor into how your puppy grows up and interacts with the world around them.

The socialization sensitive period begins at three weeks and goes on until about 12 or 14 weeks (exact end is unknown and may vary based on breed). At its core, our socialization efforts are about making the world “normal” for our dogs. Dogs today live in a pretty diverse environment, so we try to slowly introduce them to the situations they’ll encounter in their lives. We are aiming to do this without creating stress -- we want them to have positive associations!

The life you plan to live with your dog may impact what priorities you have for socialization - it’s good to think about what their world will look like and help them feel comfortable in it. Dogs continue to learn after their sensitive periods, but they are most accepting of novel stimuli during these early weeks (aka these early weeks matter). Here are a few things to think about:

• You want their experiences to be positive, so it is important not to force scary things on them. We want our dogs to be optimistic about new things as adults, so we want to build a history of new things being good for them!

• Print Dr. Sophia Yin’s Socialization Checklist for some ideas of things to socialize!

• Socialization doesn’t always have to be some huge event like a trip to the hardware store (though that can be good too depending on the pup). Sometimes it is teaching them that it's normal for objects to fall over (like in the video above)!

• Avoid using food to “lure” your dog towards scary things as much as possible. They may start to think food in your hand is a “trick” and that is a tougher problem to solve.

How to Start to Socialize Your Puppy So They’re Calm Around People

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One of the most important things you can do when you bring a puppy into your life is to help them build positive associations with the world around them. It’s also great to reinforce them for offering you attention. (PS: we have tons of games to help your puppy learn to offer attention in Attention Unlocked). In the video above, Jaya (who is only 13 years old!) is working with her three month old puppy, Daisy, on a city sidewalk to help her learn how to feel good and calm around people. Prior to taking their show onto a busy sidewalk, Jaya built a strong reinforcement history with Daisy for offering attention (eye contact) in lower distraction settings, which makes it a behavior Daisy is likely to offer. Here is a breakdown of what you’ll see in this video:

• Out on the sidewalk, Jaya captures any eye contact that Daisy offers by simply marking and rewarding.

• When Daisy spots some people walking by, Jaya waits (doesn’t nag Daisy). Daisy chooses to look away from the people and back at Jaya, so Jaya marks and rewards that eye contact.

• Daisy looks back at the passing people a couple more times and each time, chooses to disengage from them and offer Jaya attention (which Jaya reinforces with a treat). Seeing a new person is becoming a cue for Daisy to offer Jaya attention.

There is SO MUCH to love about what both Jaya and Daisy are doing in this video, including:

• Jaya’s marker and reinforcement timing is awesome! She does a great job of reading Daisy and chooses to give her space to process the people passing. (If she didn’t think that Daisy would disengage from looking at the people on her own, she could have marked the moment Daisy noticed the people rather than waiting for Daisy to look at her.)

• Daisy is building positive associations with people (socialization!) as she learns that people predict good things for her (treats!), and she is also learning that the behavior that pays in this situation is giving her human calm attention.

• Being able to engage with her human let go of the stimulus (new people), sets Daisy up well for SO many other behaviors: loose leash walking, recall, chilling outside a cafe, etc.

How To Teach a Puppy Not To Bite

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If you’ve ever questioned if your adorable puppy is actually a shark in disguise rather than a dog, you are not alone. It’s super normal for puppies to nip.
Two of the most important things you can do to help with your puppy’s nipping are 1) management (aka setting up the environment to avoid a lot of that nipping when possible) and 2) sleep! Puppies often nip when they are tired, and puppies need A LOT of sleep! It’s really important to create spaces where they are comfortable and can take a snooze. And if you know they have a witching hour every night, that is where a pen and a nice frozen Kong can be your bff (just avoid the situations where you KNOW the nipping is going to be too much).

If your puppy does start nipping you (especially while you play), you can try redirecting them to a toy or a chew. I try hard not to correct biting (puppies are super impressionable). You also can’t guarantee what you are actually punishing. So often, that nipping is playful, and they are just trying to engage with you. As your puppy grows up, you are going to WANT them to want to do things with you. So see if you can help them find a better way to interact with you! If you are about to have your fourth pair of pants ripped, try to calmly separate yourself from them (perhaps just step over a baby gate) and give them some nice puppy enrichment in your place. And then take a mental note to keep trying to set them up for success, so you aren’t always having to dip out.

In addition to all the management and everyday life moments, I love to do intentional sessions where I teach a puppy how I DO want them to interact with me and my hands. So often, the question is “how do I get my puppy to stop biting my hands?!” But what happens if you change it to “How do I teach my puppy to calmly hang out when my hands come towards them?” There are lots of ways to go about this, but the video above shows you a progression with an adorable baby shark named Hana!

Getting Started With Training Your Puppy To Walk On a Loose Leash

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The video above features, Otter, a standard poodle puppy, and a beloved member of our #TOCFam along with his crew, Alexis and Bunny. Like all puppies, he is learning about SO MANY THINGS (leash walking hardly scratches the surface). Even though leash walking may very well become an important part of your dog’s life, it is important to give your puppy space to explore and develop balance and fine motor skills.

Did you know that a canine’s “normal walk” is a trot with an S-curve to it?! In other words, they walk faster than we do and definitely do not walk straight. Asking a puppy to walk straight and have their head lifted up to you all the time can actually be quite wonky for their developing bodies (may lead to a really unnatural gait). It can also rob them of the ability to learn about the new world they find themselves in!

So what might loose leash “training” look like with a puppy:

• Vast majority of the time outside can be spent in spaces where they can safely be off leash (or have a long line on) and are free to stop, lie down, and explore.

• You may even consider using a ten or 15 foot leash for any walks you do to simply prevent pulling and to meet their needs.

• In the context of these free walks or outings, keep an eye on them to see if they choose to offer you attention or check in with you. If they do, reinforce that behavior, and watch how they start to show up near you more and more! Who knows, you may get loose leash walking just from this!

• You can build in really short training sessions (30 seconds to two minutes) where you simply take a step or two and then give your puppy a treat if they took a step or two with you. This allows you to build the “leash walking” behavior before you ever put that leash on (so the leash doesn’t become a steering device).

For more loose leash walking tips, check out our mini guide here.

Getting Started With How To Read Dog Body Language

Our dogs communicate through body language. Since we ask them to live in this human world, we think it’s super important to learn to “speak their language.” Keep scrolling for different examples of dogs that we’ve captured. You’ll also see our observations, so we can help you learn to read dog body language in real life.

In Dog Body Language, a Wagging Tails Does Not Equal a Happy Dog

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We thought it would be fun to tackle the old misnomer that a wagging tail indicates a happy dog. In the video above, you’ll see two slow motion clips of the same dog (Otis). In both videos, Otis is wagging his tail, but the way he wags his tail and what the rest of his body is doing tell two very different stories.

Here’s what his body language actually means:

• In video one (red text blocks), Otis is alert and upset (human labels) because of the mail truck that pulled up (context). You’ll notice his tail is high, and he does short, stiff wags. The rest of his body is stiff and tense, and he is making himself appear large. His mouth is closed shut and his lips are puckered as he leans forward.

• In the second video (green text blocks), Otis is happy and excited (human labels). Someone he loves just showed up in the driveway (context). He is doing big, sweeping tail wags, and his whole body is loose and wiggly. His mouth is open and he has a soft face and eyes.

Tails give us a lot of information, but it is really important to look at the dog’s whole body in order to get the bigger picture. The context also helps us better understand what we are seeing. “Wagging tail = happy dog” is such a common myth.

How To Read Dog Body Language on a Playdate

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Dog body language is like a dance, and it is super fun to watch! It’s also quite helpful to be able to read dogs, so you know when you might need to intervene.

In the video above, you’l see two adolescent female dogs who have known each other since they were puppies. They'd been playing around in the yard for about an hour before this video was taken. Play can look quite different depending on the dogs involved. In general, we have to look at the whole picture to determine if it is play (for example, a lot of dogs give a goofy fierce face during play that might look scary out of context with their soft, wiggly body).

In the video, we’ve labeled what you’ll observe, but it moves pretty fast (tip: if you tap and hold on the screen, you can pause). We recommend watching it once where you just pay attention to the dogs, and then again where you read the text, and then go back and see if you can spot the body language that we highlighted.

Here are some takeaways about dog body language during play that we can learn:

• Play should be consensual. Often, this means dogs take turns in their “prey” and “predator” roles, but not always. Some dogs really prefer one role over the other.

• You want to see loose, wiggly, soft bodies!

• You want to see occasional breaks (they pause to take a break themselves).

• It is often a good thing when you see mirroring (they look like they are doing the same thing).

• Lack of direct eye contact & soft (probably even squinty) eyes are good signs!

If you’re ever unsure if play is consensual, it is helpful to look at the dog in the “prey” role. Do they appear frightened, or do they seem calm about the dog on top of them/chasing them? If you’re still unsure, separate them for a few seconds. Release just the dog who has been in that “prey” role to see if they choose to go back for more play. If they do, then you can release the other dog. If they don’t, then you can help keep them apart for a bit so the dog doesn’t get overwhelmed.

What To Do if You’re Not Sure About the Dog Body Language During a Playdate

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If you aren't sure if the play you are seeing is mutual (typically when one dog seems to be relentlessly pursuing the other), one of the simplest ways to check is to do a simple “consent test.” To do this test, you need to get a hold of the dog who is doing the pursuing (you can gently hold and then give them a treat, stick a treat to their nose to lure them away, or recall them if you feel confident they’ll respond). The dog who has been pursued is allowed to run free -- this gives them the choice to walk away from that “play” or to return and invite play again. If the “free dog” keeps coming back for more, then you can more safely say that it is play (noting that the dog may need help getting some breaks still), and you can release the dog being held back to play. If the “free dog” walks away, they are communicating that they don’t want to participate in that play, so you can keep the dogs separate. If you aren’t sure about either dog, you can alternate which dog is the one given a choice to leave.

How a Dog Can Calm Things Down With Their Body Language

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Y’all ready to watch a really socially savvy dog and learn even more about dog body language?! As background, it may be helpful to know that the little dog featured in the post above (Sully) can still exhibit some “fear reactive” behaviors (charging, barking, lunging) towards dogs. We were walking through this field on our hike when we encountered this lab. Sully barked a few times (not in video) and started to run straight at the lab (not polite). The lab’s body language diffused Sully’s tension IMMEDIATELY (literally, she stops in her tracks and moves onto sniffing). FYI this post has a play-by-play called out in text on the video - it moves a bit fast, but you can tap and hold to pause the Reel and/or watch it again to make sure you catch it all!

Here are some dog body language observations we wanted to point out:

• When Sully runs at the lab, the lab LOOKS AWAY while maintaining a soft, still body. The lab is a confident dog, who reads Sully correctly and uses his body to appease her and de-escalate. The rest of the dog’s body language makes it clear that this look away isn’t done out of fear (look away can be because of discomfort).

• Sully and the lab stand still while looking away for a few more seconds. Sully feels comfortable enough to move onto sniffing (and the lab correctly does not come to interact).

• When Otis went to greet the lab, notice the trajectory he took (before the butterfly distracts him LOL) - it is arcing to the side. This is a softer way to greet than the trajectory Sully was initially taking (straight on).

• Notice how the lab has a low head and does some sniffing as he comes to greet Otis. This sniffing can say “I come in peace” to other dogs (hence why letting your dog sniff is CRUCIAL on walks).

• They do a quick nose to nose greeting. This is often done as an initial step before they sniff genitals or butts. Here, they don’t progress beyond a nose sniff. They keep it short, andOtis walks away. The lab correctly reads that no further interaction is wanted.

Dogs are highly effective communicators. And guess what?! We can take lessons from them in how people can politely greet dogs: From the side & w/out eye contact! (Obligatory note: Many/most dogs don’t actually want to be greeted by strangers despite how cute they are.)

How To Read Dog Body Language During Off Leash Greetings

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Ready to break down some dog body language during off leash greetings?! The video above has three clips (numbered in the video) of off leash greetings between unfamiliar dogs on a trail. Here’s some of our observations and commentary:

• Clip One: The grey dog and the white dog approach each other at a pretty casual pace (there’s no rushing on either side). The grey dog’s tail is raised up, but the rest of his body language is pretty neutral. The white dog has ears at half mast (and back a bit). Based on the rest of the body language, this feels like friendly positioning. Both dogs curve around the side to the back for a quick butt sniff (with some distance - aka no noses jammed in butts) and then they both carry on their way. This clearly isn’t a greeting between two dogs who are best friends, but it is a really cordial, polite greeting between two dogs who don’t know each other.

• Clip Two: The same white dog from clip one does a big arc towards the back of a small blonde dog. The white dog’s tail and ears are at half mast (friendly, neutral). The blonde dog speeds up a little bit to move away from the white dog and does a couple of baby head turns back towards the white dog (as a way of saying “don’t approach”). The white dog does not follow her. This white dog is a dog-savvy dog in case that isn’t clear and correctly reads the blonde dog and gives a TON of space in the approach and then reads the “no” from the blonde dog loud and clear and isn’t ’t pushy.

• Clip Three: A brown dog comes in with a lot of speed. He runs around the side to the back of the grey dog for a sniff. The grey dog turns to also do a butt sniff (circle dance ensues). The grey dog leaves the greeting by walking away, and the brown dog follows him with nose to butt. The grey dog allows this for 11 or 12 steps. After that, you can see the grey dog’s back curls up and its tail comes down (aka we are closed for business). The gray dog then turns to face the brown dog, and the brown dog correctly reads that and gives the grey dog space.

It is useful to be able to read dog body language in case you need to step in if your dog is being pushy or advocate for your dog if they are uncomfortable. We’ll be sure to keep adding dog body language examples to this guide.

What Is a Decompression Walk for Dogs?

Decompression walks are one of the most amazing things you can do for your dog. The term was coined by Sarah Stremming, who defines them as, “a walk where the dog is allowed freedom of movement in nature.” Ideally this is done off leash, but it can also be done on a long line* clipped to a y-shaped harness*. You can get quite creative about where you go (to the woods, fields, beaches, creeks, etc.). Keep scrolling through our guide that breaks down the benefits to decompression walks and how I’ve applied those learnings to my normal walks with my dogs.

What Are the Benefits of Decompression Walks?

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Living in a human world can be really hard on dogs -- especially for those who live in cities. Imagine walking your dog on a city sidewalk using a six foot leash. They experience all sorts of sights, sounds, and smells, and quite often, aren’t able to go investigate them (they are also often working hard to stay near you instead of exploring). This type of walk often provides little opportunity for your dog to “just be a dog” and can be incredibly taxing on them. Enter the answer you may be seeking: decompression walks.

Here’s How a Decompression Walk Can Benefit Your Dog:

• Decompression walks are a way for you to let your dog unwind and just be a dog. They involve so much freedom and choice and allow your dog to engage in natural dog behaviors like sniffing, digging, shredding, and climbing in a calming way.

• These walks can have profound physical, emotional, and behavioral effects. They can actually set your dog up to handle their normal human world a lot better because they help dogs reset to a more neutral state.

• Dogs sniff way more when they are free to move, and sniffing comes with LOTS of benefits. Sniffing lowers dogs’ pulse and has a pretty immediate calming effect on them. If you’re trying to wear your dog out, lots of sniffing can actually be the most efficient way. The part of the brain devoted to processing smells is about 40 times larger in dogs than humans, so letting your dog sniff is actually a lot of “mental exercise” that will leave them feeling tired and fulfilled.

• It’s not just the dog who benefits: These walks also happen to be deeply calming for many people!

Why Decompression Walks Are the Best Thing I Did For My Dog and They’re Not Actually Training

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The role of dogs in our lives has changed a TON in the past few decades. Dogs are now part of our families, and with that, comes new living conditions. At the same time, nature has selected behaviors for dogs for a LONG time, and humans have artificially selected behavior (breeding) for hundreds (and even thousands) of years. When we remove dogs from the environment those behaviors were selected for, it doesn’t mean the hardwiring for those behaviors goes away. That’s why decompression walks are so important. Kim Brophey is doing incredible work and driving important convos in this area (we are BIG fans of her L.E.G.S.® model).

Let me tell you about my dog Sully (who is in the video above). She’s a street dog from Indonesia and is fiercely independent. If you spend any time with her, it’s clear how at home she is in nature. A city walk with her used to look like this: Nose to the ground, chased every squirrel, and barked at every person and dog. It took me a little time to realize that I needed to find safe (!) ways to get her off leash access to nature (even if her “obedience wasn’t perfect,” which is often the pre-req). She came to LIFE in nature, and that matters to me.

Those behaviors that were tough on a city sidewalk suddenly made sense. Sully actively hunts. She has her nose to the ground and follows scent trails through bushes and over logs with incredible agility. I haven’t done a DNA test, but it’s so clear that this is natural behavior for her. Imagine if the only outlet she got for all those instincts was a city walk on a six foot leash. Her natural behavior could easily show up as problematic there. The more opportunities I gave Sully to express her natural behavior, the easier it became to get all those other “pet behaviors” we tend to want. Some desired behaviors came without any behavior modification work, and the training I did became a lot more effective once her needs were already met.

There are no doubt ethical considerations around why we need to remember they are dogs with species and individual needs. In addition, when we look at the whole dog (rather than thinking of them as the “pet” that the “pet industry” sells us), it goes a long way towards setting us and our dogs up for success.

What You Can Learn From Walking Your Dog

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When you think about a good on-leash walk with your dog, what do you picture? For all the time we spend working to fit out dogs into our human-centric world, what would happen if we tried to fit a bit more into theirs?

If you picture people walking without dogs, what do you see? Perhaps you imagine humans walking briskly wearing headphones and their faces buried in their phones. They usually have a destination in mind (or goal for distance), and the stuff between the start and end is just the process. Now think about how dogs walk. Their ears catch every sound, their noses cover every square inch of plants ... they experience each moment. Humans label dogs who stop to watch birds or sniff every blade of grass as distracted, but maybe it’s the other way around.

What would happen if we tried to walk more like our dogs? What would it be like to feel the earth below us? What would we hear? What would cause us to stop in our tracks to simply watch with wonder? If we actively look for things that delight us, how many of them will we find?! We humans have a funny little habit of relating everything back to ourselves and using human “measuring sticks” for non-human animals. But in a lot of ways, we think dogs might actually be on a pretty cool path with the way they want to walk.

So keep training walking (and whatever else you want)! Training is FUN, helps build connection, and is important for the wellbeing of our dogs who are asked to live in this world. But what does it feel like if we open up space for our human way to not be the only way? What does a compromise look like to you?

Poet Mary Oliver famously wrote, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” This quote often gets used as a motivator to “DO ALL THE WORK!” But if you read her poem “The Summer Day,” her answer is basically to wander through fields and notice things. Our dogs might be able to help! Have you tried shifting your attention more to the environment around you (including your dog) on walks? Where is your attention? Do you slow down easily or find it tough?

The Surprising Thing I’d Rather My Dog Do on a Leash

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When it comes to leash walking in general, my views have changed quite a bit over time. Both of my dogs are labeled “reactive” (Otis, the one in the video, will bark and lunge at bikes, scooters, and skateboards under the right conditions and will somewhat inconsistently bark and lunge at novel stimuli if startled). I’ve taught him that those stimuli are actually cues for him to orient to me. And by and large, that is what he will do. We can walk around the city where we live without reactions, but I generally need to support him a little bit (which I’m happy to do).

Not long ago, we were on a walk and Otis was particularly sniffy. I saw a scooter ahead and watched his body language to see if I would need to help. But he noticed it in such a soft way and was back down to sniffing again right after. I opted not to do my usual post-scooter treat because I liked his choice so much (and treats often cue Otis to really focus on me). He coped so well with all the various city things he noticed on this walk and didn’t actually need my help. He noticed changes but wasn’t scanning in search of changes. He offered me less attention than he does on other walks, but the only reason I wanted the attention in these conditions was because it’s incompatible with barking and lunging.

Over time, I may have inadvertently reinforced some of this alert, scanning behavior thinking that I was simply reinforcing his choice to orient back to me without barking (reinforced the chain). I’ve had to really think about the precise behavior I want (down to body language -- “what does calm look like?”). I now actually prefer walks where Otis sees changes in the environment and they cue him to sniff rather than to always orient to me for a treat. I think our reality will be a balance of the two, but I’m trying to be more intentional about building the soft noticing and then sniffing behavior. That may mean I need to change conditions to get the soft body language I want and build back up with that as a part of my criteria.

What works best for one dog is not necessarily what will work best for another (or even the same dog in different conditions) -- YAY NUANCE! I am having fun learning and thinking about this. Would LOVE your thoughts in the comments!

How To Train a Dog To Catch a Frisbee

We are so honored to introduce our next Experts in Residence for our Show & Tell series. Meet Anna Privette (she/her) and Ben Rimbey (he/him) from Lucky Mutt Dog Training and Fairly Odd Dogs who hung out with us for a month to share information on the wonderful world of disc dogs! (YAY frisbee time!). Keep scrolling for all of Anna and Ben’s amazing content from their Show & Tell residency with TOC!

Getting To Know Anna and Ben

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Anna and Ben own and operate Lucky Mutt Dog Training and Fairly Odd Dogs. In addition to competing with their own dogs (they are the 2018, 2019, & 2020 Minnesota State Disc Dog Champions!), they also offer online courses, provide private training sessions, and offer board and train services out of their home for pet dogs.

When it comes to frisbee training, they have awesome content to share, ranging from how to get your dog interested in the disc all the way up to teaching your dog to do tricks with the disc.

Getting Started With Teaching Your Dog To Catch a Frisbee

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Have you ever dreamed of teaching your dog to catch a frisbee?! Many people think that if they throw a frisbee and their dog doesn't catch it or even chase it, they'll never play. That is FAR from the truth.

First you need to get your dog interested in the disc. Most dogs do not naturally track flying objects. Many dogs just need to be taught through rolling the frisbee to chase it down and grab it like they would chase a bunny or a squirrel! In the video above, we breakdown rollers and show you how to roll the disc. In this way we can start to unlock your dog’s prey drive. 

Many dogs can build a love for the frisbee through tug of war as well! From there, make it a fun game of back and forth play. This will grow your dog's focus on you and the game! Over time you slowly replace doing a “take and tug” with a little toss up of the frisbee (that we demo in the video) and then tug rewards your dog. Some dogs prefer shorter throws to get them started and other dogs like longer throws.

Once your dog is showing nice disc engagement, we like to play more interactive games where you throw the disc back and forth. So start by throwing the disc out one way and then flash the disc and once they drop it throw it the other way as a roller or air throw. Flash, drop, and toss. That’s it. It keeps constant motion and it’s really fun and engaging for you and the dog. Doing games like this will help with drive building, engagement building, and for higher drive dogs it will help them collect. Don’t forget to have fun when you’re playing. For pretty much all dogs, we avoid doing air throws at this stage. You know when your dog starts powering through catching a roller they are ready to start tracking and chasing down an air frisbee. 

Skills To Make the Frisbee More Fun and Enjoyable for Your Dog

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Once you build up some interest in the frisbee and your dog is getting into it and having fun with it, there are basic skills you will want to teach them. These skills will help you with control with things like being able to get the disc away from your dog, or being able to get them to drop it near you. If you get into the competitive world of discs these are helpful skills to have. A lot of these games will make it a little more fun for your dog and a little more interactive to help build connection and drive.

So how do you get your dog to drop the frisbee or give it you in your hands and drop it from a distance if you want to play with multiple discs? Well it’s actually pretty simple. One of the best ways to teach this is to get your dog excited about the disc. A lot of dogs like playing tug of war, as we outlined above.

So here’s what we suggest to teach them to drop the frisbee:

• Cue a tug and have them tug the disc for a bit

• Flash another disc to get a give or drop from your dog

• Repeat the two bullets above.

This is a great way to get your dog to see it’s fun to give the disc back to you. 

Here’s another way to get your dog to learn to drop the frisbee:

• Cue tug with your dog and tug the frisbee with them

• Once you want the disc back, become boring and hold the disc stiffly and close to your body 

• Right when they let go, mark it and reward them with another toss up toy - in this case it’s a frisbee 

We like teaching dogs by using multiple discs to learn drop it. We wrote earlier about the back and forth game, where you toss it one way and you toss it the other way. It’s a fantastic engagement game also for getting them to drop it for you. 

Here’s what you do for the back and forth game to teach drop it: 

• Toss a disc out for your dog 

• Call them with their name or a sound to get their attention

• Flash the disc in the air and cue drop or out

• The moment they drop say “yes” and reward with another throw

• Bring them in for a tug, pets, and praise and show them how fun it is to play disc with you

In the video above, we also demonstrate how to teach your dog around, which is very helpful for a lot of dogs to setup your frisbee throw. TOC also breaks down the steps to teach orbit here.

Ways To Help Protect Your Dog From Injury When Playing Frisbee

A lot of people love throwing a frisbee to their dog, but most people don’t know how to keep their dog safe in the process. You might not know that you could be setting your dog up for injury, even in the backyard. 

Take a minute or two to warm up your dog and get their muscles going. It’s a great way to help prevent injury. Even the fancy things that we like to do have to be done in moderation. So think about that if you are playing any game with your dog or doing any high impact activity like disc, agility, or flyball. Basically give them multiple ways to use their energy so they are utilizing multiple muscles and not using the same ones. That is a fantastic way to keep your dog safe in disc.

Some things you can work on to help with this is warming your dog up. How we like to do that is learn a few tricks with your dog. Leg weaves are a great little warm up. Doing a scoot is engaging the muscles. If you don’t know some of those things that’s fine too. You can do little switches or turns which are also great at engaging some muscles. Take a little bit of time before you play session to warm your dog up. Another great way to warm them up is to take some time to do some short throws with your dog, which are little short throws to get your dog warmed up and moving.

Another way to prevent injury is to learn how to throw better for your dog. For our dog, we typically throw lower line drives so she doesn’t leap up in the air and land hard up and down. We throw nice and low. If you dog isn’t going to lay it all on the line for a disc, you may not need to focus on this. 

Lastly it’s a great idea to meet up with an animal chiropractor and or a certified animal massage therapist. If you have a dog message therapist or chiropractor they can help work out kinks for your dog and can usually suggest excellent stretches for your dog as well. We like to do our stretches after we are done playing. So we warm up to begin, monitor with them while we’re playing, and do stretches at the end. Then you will have a long life with your happy disc dog. 

Are you working on teaching your dog to play with a frisbee? Maybe it’s even something you’ve been practicing in Camp TOC! How’s it going so far? Let us know in the comments!

Tips for Getting Started With Reactivity Training

When it comes to reactivity, it’s tempting to try to use BIG solutions for BIG problems. Reactivity can feel BIG -- especially when it involves barking and lunging. Like a great many things in life, “the work” doesn’t end up looking as big or flashy as we may think. It’s why most of the time, videos showing someone working through “reactivity” with their dog look fairly boring. “Boring” or “basic” can actually be fairly good indicators that you are on the right track! That’s why we put together this little guide with tips for getting started with reactivity training with your dog.

How to Figure Out When Your Reactive Dog Is Over Threshold

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Thresholds is a word that gets tossed around a lot in dog training. They matter, so it makes sense. But what is a threshold?! You’re likely to hear the word from people working through a “behavior issue” (often related to reactivity, aggression, and/or fear): “Work under threshold!” But thresholds are relevant for training even when we aren’t dealing with “behavior issues.”

You can think of a behavioral threshold as a boundary of sorts -- where you move from one space, over the threshold, and into another space. Sometimes those spaces are emotional/states of being. Thresholds matter because learning happens UNDER threshold. When dogs go over threshold, they experience physiological changes that can put them into a state of fight, flight, freeze, or fool around (this is a state of reacting, not thinking/learning). So recognizing where a dog’s threshold is is vital to any type of training - building new behaviors or changing existing ones - and to a dog’s wellbeing.

What does being over threshold look like:

It depends on the dog and situation. It’s helpful to notice when your dog shifts states (often a bit suddenly). Some expressions of over threshold include:

• Barking, lunging, snarling

• Jumping, mouthing

• Stopping taking treats

• Stopping playing

• Zoomies

• Suddenly freezing

• Being completely distracted (like you don’t exist)

It’s important to remember that thresholds are not static. Unlike the threshold of a door, our dog’s behavior thresholds move all the time -- by the situation, by the day, by the minute. In the video above, you’ll watch my dog, Sully, go over threshold and come back under threshold in the same location over 30 seconds. It is why it’s so important we observe our dogs -- so we can do the best we can to keep them under threshold. Ps: we get into this in much more detail in Attention Unlocked.

What Does Reactivity Training With Dogs Who Bark and Lunge Look Like

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When it comes to desensitization or counterconditioning in dog training, we generally want our dogs to be able to notice the presence of the “trigger” but be under the threshold where that stimulus becomes aversive if we want to change their response. Some behavior is going to be reinforced in this process. What behavior do you ultimately want from your dog in the presence of that trigger? Working “under threshold” can help prevent you from reinforcing behaviors you don’t actually want strengthened.

As an aside, management is always going to be a part of the overall equation! Because we can’t always keep our dog’s under threshold, we train management procedures that we can use in real life to get us out of sticky spots! To be honest, management sometimes looks more “active” than the planned training sessions😂.)

Here’s a breakdown of the clips featuring reactivity training in the video above:

Clip One: Sully, is watching people and dogs from a distance where she can notice them without reacting. She is free to look all she wants. Ultimately, she chooses to come over and play with her human instead. COOL!

Clip Two: Miles is lying down on his mat (totally voluntary) in a Dog Trained reactive dog class with visual barriers up. That’s it. That’s the whole behavior. He is just eating on a mat. GREAT!

Clip Three: Toby is lying in a field when he notices triggers in the distance. He can look all he wants. He chooses to be silly and roll instead! WHAT A COOL BEHAVIOR around triggers (and fun new emotions with it)!

How I Navigated My Dog’s Trigger (Another Dog) In Real Life

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My dog, Otis, is what the world often labels as a “reactive dog” (his triggers include bikes, scooters, skateboards, and a select few dogs). I thought it might be interesting to workshop a real life moment on our walk. For context, Otis is generally good with other dogs. But he has BIG feelings about one dog -- if he smells or hears him, he’ll bark and lunge (sometimes in spite of my best attempts at management). We live in the same apartment building as this dog, so elevators and stairway doors are TOUGH. The video above involves that dog.

Here’s a play-by-play of how we navigated Otis’s trigger in the video:

• What I chose to do in this situation with Otis was specific to the exact moment. I would likely make a different choice on another day or with another dog.

• I factored in not just the immediate antecedents (e.g. we were away from the hot zone of our building, my friend had my other dog’s leash, we had some cars as barriers, my friend was with us) but also the distant antecedents (we had just finished a trail walk filled with all sorts of decompression) that were likely to position both Otis and I to better cope with this trigger (yes, I factored in my own emotional state).

• I thought about Otis’s history with this dog (he often reacts worse when he hears or smells the dog but cannot find him), and I looked around for possible escape routes just in case.

• On most other days, I’d avoid or distract (management for the win!). But today, I not only thought Otis and I could handle seeing this dog, but it was our best option.

• I consciously kept myself calm -- if I were to tense up, Otis 100% would notice.

• I took a final look to locate the dog before we cleared the van (without frantically scanning), and then I watched Otis. I looked for the smallest shift in his body language to tell me he noticed the dog. I wanted him to notice the dog first before I choked up on the leash and/or grabbed treats (so I’d reinforce behavior rather than making treats predict a scary dog).

• Otis can walk by most of his old triggers without treats, but when he needs support, I ALWAYS give it. He needs support with this dog.

• I continued to read Otis’s body language to determine when and where to feed him to get him through it. And I talked to him to help him out.

How I Reduced My Dog’s Barking at the Front Door

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Dogs bark - for all sorts of reasons. Hopefully we aren’t surprising anyone with that statement. It’s super duper normal. Some dogs bark more than others (we will spare you a convo on genetics and temperament for now). The type of barking we are talking about in this post is alert barking (perhaps even reactive barking) that dogs do when they notice some environmental change. It’s quite common for dogs to bark when they hear noises or see new things outside their home. It isn’t possible to eliminate all alert barking in every dog, but it’s very possible to reduce it in a way that works for both the dogs and the humans in the house.

My dog, Sully (featured once again in the video above), has BIG feelings about the vacuum in our apartment hallway everyday. She used to run to the door and bark like a maniac anytime she heard it. I don’t have visual access into my apartment hallway, and the vacuum doesn’t come at a set time, which makes it REALLY hard to implement any sort of management or proactive training. But as you’ll see in the video, even without much control over the setup, Sully’s behavior changed. Here’s what I did:

• I made sure I had treats out on top of my dog cabinet (easily accessible).

• The MOMENT that Sully noticed the vacuum, I made it rain treats on her cot. (I looked for her body perking up rather than waiting for the barking, but sometimes her bark beat me if I was doing other things -- still fine!)

• I repeated this every single day.

• After enough days/reps of this, I built a little pause in after she noticed the vacuum. Because the vacuum always predicts treats on her cot, she automatically walked to the cot on her own expecting them. I reinforced that choice by making it rain treats on her cot!

Now, most hallway noises cue Sully to go to her cot on her own. Sometimes she lets out a few barks at the door first before she walks to her bed. Sometimes she needs a little help from me (a quick verbal cue). I still try to reinforce this choice every time in some form!

Watch This Tiny Reactive Dog Learn To Pass Other Dogs

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Meet Ella and her five month old Chihuahua, Freddy, (featured in the video above). Ella told TOC from London, “I’ve had Freddy for two months now, and he came to me very anxious of the world and mildly fear reactive to dogs (hard stares and barking, mild lunging). After a very stressful first encounter...he started barking at almost every dog he saw/hard stared at all of them. We unintentionally flooded him with an outing to a park where he barked and lunged at every dog that passed and I had to persuade my family to leave. This was a really tough time with arguments among the family thinking I was being too blunt with advocating for Freddy’s space, I was over threshold myself with all the new information I was taking in and trying my best to make sure I was doing everything right for Freddy while also giving him time to decompress. I honestly felt like giving up at many points…However with my journey learning about R+ training, I’ve realised Freddy is just Freddy, and he will bark sometimes. [His] dog reactivity has gotten a lot better with training!”

Ella hasn’t been able to simulate passing dogs in more controlled scenarios (“setups”) yet, so she's been working through situations in real life. The video shows two random dogs Freddy passed in one of those real life scenarios, where you will see all that work lead to some really cool choices from Freddy!

Here is what Ella has focused on w/ Freddy:

• LAT (Look at That from Leslie McDevvit) to turn noticing dogs into a conversation (aka it leads to that beautiful behavior from Freddy where he spots the dogs and then voluntarily looks up at Ella).

• Learning more management techniques for when Freddy is in a reactive red zone for too long.

We feel so grateful to share a bit of Ella’s journey with Freddy with you and our #TOCFam . Reactivity is hard, and advocating for your dog can feel exhausting. There is a learning curve for us humans too - not just our dogs. It is a REALLY cool thing to watch little Freddy out there thriving in a giant world. Little dogs deserve support too -- even if their barks aren’t as loud.

How I Trained My Reactive Dog Around People

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Ready to peak into some more reactivity work in a real life setting?! Once again my dog, Sully, stars in the video above, and she is fear reactive to new people - especially men (she exhibits barking and lunging). So when a construction crew of men arrived, it meant that we got to put some of our training to use (note: I would have avoided this situation if I thought it would be too much for her).

Here is a breakdown of what you’ll see us do in this video (⚠️construction noises):

• I use an up-down treat pattern when we first get outside and when we first move to watch the workers. I don’t wait for her to give me eye contact here. I just make those new people predict treats for her and reinforce her while she is still calm. I don’t take any chances at first, so I reward early and often.

• As she gets comfortable, I build in a pause and wait for Sully to choose to look away from the men (and look at me) to mark and reward, so I can reinforce her for the behavior of orienting to me around men.

• When a man starts walking toward us, I use a treat magnet (I put a treat up to her nose) and u-turn with Sully to create more distance because I know that she would likely bark and lunge if that man gets any closer. Once we have distance, I let her sniff and move about (and her body language is quite nice).

Here’s a summary of my thought process during the training session:

• Sully is alert and close to her threshold = up-down pattern with high rate of reinforcement (aka mark and reward when she notices trigger).

• Sully is comfortable = I allow Sully time to look at the men and choose to look away from them (and look at me) on her own and then mark and reward

• If a trigger is getting too close and Sully will likely react = distract and create distance calmly and quickly.

• My mechanics aren’t perfect (and that’s ok!), but hopefully it gives you some ideas!

We will add more content to this little guide in the future. Drop us a comment below if you are looking for something specific for us to add.

Getting Started With Resource Guarding

Resource guarding is no joke. But it doesn’t make your dog bad. In fact, it’s natural for an animal to want to retain possession of something they find valuable. That applies to humans too (seriously...stick a spoon in my ice cream and watch what happens). While it’s normal, it’s important to pay attention since it can lead to dangerous aggression. Technically speaking, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) defines resource guarding as “the use of avoidance, threatening, or aggressive behaviors by a dog to retain control of food or non-food items in the presence of a person or other animal.” Keep scrolling through our guide for tips related to resource guarding and how to help your dog through management and training.

How To Recognize Resource Guarding Through Your Dog’s Body Language

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In the video above, Stanley is drinking from a water bowl at his house (Hana is the visiting dog). Hana approaches and lingers by the bowl. Stanley freezes (this is a HUGE warning sign in dog body language in general) and then snaps. What do we (humans) do? We help Hana move away from Stanley. AKA, we LISTEN to Stanley. We do not correct or scold him. That snap was inhibited. We want our dogs to be “heard” at their lowest level communications, so they don’t have to escalate.

Here are some important takeaways to remember about resource guarding body language:
1. Resource Guarding Body Language/Behavior → There is a huge range of behaviors (from “possession” to serious aggression):

a. This includes Grabbing and running away with resources, freezing, head lowering, stiff body, eyes moving but head still, growling, snarling (teeth shown), snapping, lunging, and biting.

b. If you see these behaviors, it’s a good idea to find a certified dog trainer.

c. We cannot give out specific plans for resource guarding responsibly, but here are a few things to think about (ideally, a trainer will help you create an actual plan):

• Identify Resources: Make a list of things that your dog guards/has guarded/might guard (space, food, chews, people, balls, etc.)

• Come up with a management plan that prevents rehearsal

• Make sure everyone knows the signs and how to listen to your dog (aka give them space the MOMENT you notice any guarding!

• Make sure everyone understands how to safely remove objects (e.g. high value treat toss AWAY and then do a couple fun things after the resource is removed) → If dog won’t trade, assess if it's actually that big of a deal for them to have the object

• Work on classical conditioning of approach when around resource → build to desired operant behavior when approached around resource

• Teach: Leave it, drop it, retrieve (helpful for stolen items)

• Remember to be more of a giver than a taker 😎

Why You Should Never Punish Growling in Resource Guarding

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It is important to understand that resource guarding is your dog’s emotional response to someone approaching them when they have a resource. This is why correcting your dog for growling is never something you should do. Growling is a normal way that dogs communicate (humans are the ones who have big feelings about it). If you punish growling and suppress it, you’ve not actually changed how your dog feels about someone approaching them when they have a resource -- you’ve simply eliminated the non-violent way that your dog can communicate before potentially having to escalate. It is also important to note that the resources dogs guard vary widely from food or toys and objects to people or spaces.

Resource guarding is complex and can be dangerous, so we can’t responsibly demo how to address it in a single video. In the video above we show you how Sully (a dog who used to resource guard toys from people) looks now when a person approaches her. When Sully was adopted, she would get stiff and then growl and snap if anyone walked within five feet of her when she had a toy (she would get stiff and still if you even looked at her while she had a toy). But now, she gets excited and even brings her toys to people when she sees them approach! When resource guarding is addressed the right way, you should see visible signs that your dog thinks a person approaching them (when they have their resource) is a GOOD thing! This means a dog who is soft, loose, and wiggly (no signs of stress). You will likely see signs of [happy] anticipation because they think that a person approaching them predicts good things! Create an environment where there is plenty to go around. Make people approaching predict the addition of good things, not the removal of things your dog loves.

Why Resource Guarding Has Nothing To Do With Your Dog Being Dominant

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Resource Guarding behaviors have nothing to do with an animal being dominant. The function of these behaviors is to retain control of something deemed valuable. It is really critical that we listen to the least aggressive resource guarding behaviors we can spot by creating distance. If we punish the growl by coming closer or administering some sort of correction, guess what? The dog may learn growling doesn’t work. So next time they have something valuable, they may skip right over growling to something that has a history of working (like biting).

Since Sully (featured again in the video above), has a history of resource guarding behaviors when people or dogs come near her while she has something valuable, I have done a lot of work with her on this. It’s rare that she practices resource guarding in our own home now. But I ALWAYS have some management in place (e.g. she only gets chews she can eat in one sitting and she is fed in a separate room by herself if other dogs are around). This video was the result of a management fail (commotion from visiting my sister). I trained a recall away from valuable items (which she offered beautifully) for this EXACT reason (but then I failed to secure the other dogs -- fail on my part again🥴).

The moment when a dog is resource guarding is rarely the training moment (it could potentially be if there is light resource guarding and you work at a distance). First priority should be to create distance!