Paws & Sniff Pet Services

06/02/2026

Shout out to . They were the first people Kylo met unmuzzled, thanks to their protective gear.

What you’re seeing here is a snippet of Kylo during weeks 8 to 10 of his Board and Train. It took hundreds of hours of work to change how Kylo felt about people and, more importantly, how he responded when he was uncomfortable with touch.

In the past, Kylo would approach people to investigate them, but if he became uncomfortable with being touched, he would attack. He hospitalized his owners three times: twice sending his female owner to the hospital and once his male owner. He also seriously injured a stranger on a trail who insisted on petting him, resulting in an ambulance being called.

He is no longer that dog.

This transformation was achieved through play, negative reinforcement, and punishment. Kylo is a 5 year old intact male Rottweiler with an extensive training history prior to coming to us, including a resource guarding program and a Board and Train with balanced trainers. Despite this, he continued to bite people when he felt uncomfortable with handling and touch. The issue was never obedience. It was how he felt and how he responded to discomfort.

Cases like Kylo’s are why we believe rehabilitation is possible, even for dogs with serious bite histories. It takes time, skill, consistency, and a tremendous amount of work, along with some management.

05/20/2026

Kylo-Ren is wrapping up his Board and Train. Grooming and the vet were very challenging for him. I wanted you guys to see his progress in that department. I'll post another reel soon, highlighting his new found human social skills.

05/10/2026

05/08/2026

04/12/2026

Oso lives in a busy home with a family balancing two full time jobs, a baby, and two other dogs. It was a lot for him. He was anxious, under fulfilled, and unsafe to take outside. The neighbourhood is full of off leash dogs, children, and constant activity. For a dog already struggling, it was overwhelming.

To keep Oso in his home, we knew this had to be real behavior modification. Not just obedience, but a genuine shift in how he felt about his triggers. Children, dogs, men. These were not small concerns. He had previously bitten a child and a workman in the home.

That’s the work we did.

We changed his emotional responses first and introduced management last. We crate trained Oso and helped the family crate train their other two dogs. We also muzzle conditioned him. Now they have the tools to live together successfully.

Our focus is always long term success back in the dog’s real environment. Not just how they perform with us, but how they live at home.

This is Oso one month after training with us.

He’s doing fantastic.

04/02/2026

We spent 8 weeks teaching Benito how to move in pack drive and, more importantly, how that state feels.

Now it is no longer up to him. His owner can cue relaxed walking, and if he does not comply, they have a clear follow through. In this case, that means negative reinforcement using three taps on the e collar.

This is how we help fearful dogs function in environments where their triggers are everywhere.

Benito is a rescue from Turks and Caicos who arrived extremely fearful of everything in his new environment. He was beginning to show reactivity toward other dogs and was wary of strangers handling him.

He was just under six months old when he started training with us. Months after his board and train, he is doing exceptionally well. He now seeks out people, comfortably visits cafés, and walks the streets of downtown Toronto with confidence.

He has the skills and stability to be off leash anywhere.

12/28/2025

This was a long process. We started with simply walking near other dog, first at a distance, then with dogs passing by her, without aggression. From there, we progressed to side by side walks with another dog, each with a handler. We practiced resting and eating in the presence of other dogs.

The final step was freedom around them. I made it clear that fighting was not an option for Moon. And wouldn’t you know it, beneath all that violence was a playful dog, fully capable of existing around other dogs without bloodshed.

We know now that Moon can go to a home safely. She was headed for euthanasia before this.