Whelan’s Coastal Pack

Whelan’s Coastal Pack Psychology Based Dog Training
(Services) Private Training, Walking, Board & Trains, Boarding, Group classes & much more! CRC First Aid⛑️

Guiding dogs & owners towards balance, clear communication & confidence to live together as a strong unified pack.

Your dog isn't the problem. You are. And that's the best news you'll get today.Stop blaming the breed. Stop blaming the ...
09/09/2026

Your dog isn't the problem. You are. And that's the best news you'll get today.

Stop blaming the breed. Stop blaming the past. Stop saying "he's always been like this."

Truth is, your dog's behavior is a mirror reflecting your energy, your consistency, your belief. Dogs don't listen to your words. They listen to your certainty.

That gap between "I hope this works" and "this WILL work"? That's where every unwanted behavior lives.

You want a different dog? Build a different you first. He'll follow. He always does.

You have more power over your dog's life than you've let yourself believe. Time to act like it.

best friends at the beach!🏖️
09/05/2026

best friends at the beach!🏖️

09/03/2026

From a human perspective, a kennel can sometimes be perceived as cruel. But I believe that perception often comes from misunderstanding what a kennel can represent to a dog.

09/03/2026

I often get questions from people asking how they can solve one particular issue with their dog. For example: “My dog pulls on the walk. How do I get them to stop?”

And what most people are really looking for is a quick answer a tip, a technique, a different leash, or some simple trick that will make the pulling disappear.

But the problem is, that question is often much deeper than the person asking it realizes.

Because the walk is only one piece of a puzzle that may have a thousand other pieces.

When someone asks me how to stop their dog from pulling, what they’re really asking is, “How do I create a boundary with my dog?”

They’re asking their dog to stay beside them, follow their direction, ignore distractions, control impulses and respect the person holding the leash.

But here’s the question we should ask ourselves:

Have we taught our dog to respect boundaries anywhere else?

If our dog has free rein in the house all day long moving wherever they want, demanding attention whenever they want, pushing boundaries whenever they feel like it and then we step outside and suddenly expect them to walk beside us, ignore everything around them and respect every boundary we place on them…

Is it really fair to expect the walk to suddenly be different?

That doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can change on the walk. There absolutely is.

The tool we use matters. Our energy matters. Our body posture matters. Our timing and communication matter. And perhaps most importantly, our belief in our own ability to walk our dog properly matters.

But those things are still pieces of the puzzle.

Because there is no magic solution that fixes a dog in one specific situation while everything else in their life stays exactly the same.

If we want to truly change behaviour, we have to be willing to look beyond the behaviour itself.

We have to look at the relationship.

The rules.
The boundaries.
The limitations.
The expectations.
The way we communicate.
And the mindset we bring into our interactions with our dogs.

This is something I think gets lost in a lot of the dog-training information we see today.

We’re often taught how to stop a behaviour, but not necessarily how to understand why the behaviour exists in the first place.

And there’s a big difference.

A dog that walks poorly may not simply have a walking problem.

The pulling may be a symptom of a dog who has learned that they can move through the world without much guidance or limitation.

And if that’s the case, fixing the leash without addressing everything surrounding it is like putting a bandage over a problem we haven’t really understood.

The walk gets better when the bigger picture starts getting better.

And that’s really the point I want to leave with my pack.

I don’t just want to give you a list of tips and tricks.

I want to help you think differently about your dogs.

I want you to question the information you come across. I want you to be able to recognize the difference between knowledge that addresses a symptom and knowledge that helps us understand the reason behind it.

Because there is an incredible amount of dog-training information out there.

Some of it is valuable.

Some of it is incomplete.

And some of it can leave us treating the pieces of the puzzle without ever understanding the picture we’re trying to create.

So the next time we find ourselves asking, “How do I stop my dog from doing this?”

Maybe the better question is:

“What is this behaviour telling me about the bigger picture?”

Sometimes the answer to the problem we’re seeing isn’t found by staring harder at the problem.

Sometimes we have to step back, look at the whole puzzle, and finally see how all the pieces fit together.

That’s where real understanding begins.

I hope this gives you something to think about, and as always, I appreciate every bit of support you continue to give me.

Stay tuned.

There’s plenty more where this came from.

The moment ego takes the lead, growth takes a back seat. 
09/03/2026

The moment ego takes the lead, growth takes a back seat. 

08/31/2026

From a human perspective, a kennel can sometimes be perceived as cruel. But I believe that perception often comes from misunderstanding what a kennel can represent to a dog.

It’s not cruel for us to spend time in our bedroom with the door closed. In the right circumstances, we actually seek that separation. We use our bedrooms as places to disconnect, decompress, and escape the constant demands of the outside world.

When a kennel is introduced to a dog correctly, it can become that same kind of place.

A place that they don’t have to feel our expectations.
A place where they don’t have to respond to every sound.
A place where they can truly decompress.
A place where they can simply let go.

Our world was never really designed with dogs in mind. And, honestly, I don’t think it’s always very good for humans either. We live surrounded by constant stimulation, noise, movement, technology, people, and endless things competing for our attention. Our dogs experience much of that same environment, but they don’t always have the ability to understand or process it the way we do.

Sometimes, what our dogs need most isn’t more freedom, more stimulation, or more activity.

Sometimes they need peace.

A properly introduced kennel can provide exactly that. It can become a safe, familiar space where a dog learns that nothing is expected of them. They can switch off, settle their mind, and simply rest.

The kennel itself isn’t cruel.

What matters is how we introduce it, how we use it, and what it means to the dog.

When we teach our dogs to genuinely enjoy their kennel, we aren’t taking something away from them.We may actually be giving them something they desperately need: a place to be at peace.

Toby is enjoying getting first crack at playing with a new toy made by Ollie & Ches, and it’s safe to say he can’t get e...
08/28/2026

Toby is enjoying getting first crack at playing with a new toy made by Ollie & Ches, and it’s safe to say he can’t get enough of it!

It even motivated him to get into the pool, and for a dog who doesn’t necessarily enjoy the pool all that much, that says a lot about how much he’s enjoying this toy.The high-quality craftsmanship is also obvious. If it can survive a play session with Toby, you know it’s built to last!

Thank you, Ollie & Ches, for providing Toby with an afternoon of fun. We truly appreciate the time, effort, and craftsmanship that went into making something he clearly loves!

08/28/2026

Before we ask, “Why is my dog acting this way?” we should ask ourselves, “What are we bringing to the relationship?”

If we want our dogs to follow us, we have to be worth following.

Dogs are incredibly influenced by the energy around them. When we are calm, strong, and balanced, we create an environment that helps our dogs become calm, strong, and balanced too.

So before we dissect every behaviour and try to figure out what’s wrong with our dog, let’s take a step back and look at ourselves.

Sometimes, understanding our dog starts with understanding what we are communicating to them through our own state of mind.

There is nothing more important to me than family. Family is always there for you, whether you deserve it or not. And I ...
08/26/2026

There is nothing more important to me than family. Family is always there for you, whether you deserve it or not. And I truly believe the most important part of a family, the person who turns a house into a home, is the mother.

My wife, Breanna, the mother of my three children, is the most incredible wife a man could ask for. Every single day, she proves that to me. She has supported me throughout my journey of growing this business. And the thing that means the most to me is that I never asked her to. She just did it.

You’ll find no greater support than a wife who believes in you and has endless faith in your ability to do something great. Behind every great entrepreneur, there is often a wife quietly supporting them, someone who doesn’t care about getting validation, recognition, or praise from me or the public. She cares about one thing: helping take some of the weight off the shoulders of the person who is trying to build something better for their family.

And that’s exactly what I have in Breanna. She has been there through the long days, the uncertainty, the sacrifices, and all the moments that come with trying to build something from the ground up.

I would not be able to do this without you.

And then I get a picture like this.

My dog Blu, sitting beside Toby, a dog who originally came into our lives as a boarding dog, but has become so much more than that. He feels like my second dog.

And seeing a picture like this, completely unprompted, is all the proof and reassurance I need to know that my wife not only supports what I’m building, she embraces it as part of our family.

She understands that these dogs aren’t just dogs I work with. They become part of our lives. Part of our home. Part of the Coastal Pack.

And that means more to me than I could ever put into words.

This is what I’m building for.

Not just a business.

A better life for my family.

And I’m incredibly grateful that I get to build it with you, my loving wife, Breanna. ❤️

08/26/2026

To create calmness, you need to take the time.

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Conception Bay South, NL

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