Dog Friendship Inc.

06/27/2026

▶️ How To Deal With A Crotch Hound
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdiVbi_IZ2g

Video is a short discussion with a vet and trainer on how to prevent your dog from crotch-sniffing visitors...(from two dog pros we enjoy... an informal video made for veterinarians...).

In the video, they suggest the option of using hand targeting.

To teach a hand target, get ready for a training session by putting some good treats in your pocket (in a treat pouch or small open plastic baggie in your pocket).

Start the session in a quiet room with just you and your dog.

Hold your hand near the dog (about 10 cm from their nose).

When your dog sniffs/boops your hand with their nose say "yes" (or click) and quickly reward with a treat from your other hand. Caution: Be careful and don't thrust the hand you are holding very quickly to near your dog's face, make sure things are very calm and gently move your hand abaout 10cm from their nose. Thrusting your hand into view suddenly can cause your dog to feel startled (and possibly anxious, depending on your dog) - and so may make them want to move away instead of sniff your hand. If your dog is uninterested in approaching your hand, take a treat from your pocket and rub it over your hand, then try again...

After the first attempt is successful, repeat and reward your dog AFTER they "boop" your hand. Do this several times - always moving the hand to the same place. Once the dog starts to get the idea, after 10 - 15 times you can start to move your hand around a bit - say 20cm away, or 10 cm lower. Most dogs will "get" this game right away. Then start moving around in the room further from your dog and holding out your hand. Don't rush this - we want your dog to see this is a great game! If you're having trouble, feel free to connect with us to help out.

Practice this for several days, when you feel confident your dog knows the game you can start adding the word "boop" or "target" when your dog is loving the fun. Then ask a family member or housemate to walk into the room unannounced during a training session - step in quietly one or two steps and then stand quietly inside the doorway. Have some extra good treats in your pocket/pouch for this day. You can show your housemate what you've been training and tell them your "boop" cue word. One of two things usually happens:

1. If they stay near you, hold out your hand as usual and say "boop". If they target your hand with their nose, reward with several good treats in a row. Your dog will think "hey jackpot"!!

2, Your dog may go towards the new person, if they do, you can have your housemate hold out their hand and give the cue word - then you walk up and treat. Or you can just walk over near your housemate and after a moment hold out your hand and give your cue word. If they don't target you because the new person is too exciting.

If your dog doesn't respond to either you or the new prson holding out their hand, it just means you have to go back a few steps and trainer for more sessions, and occasionally throw in an awesome reward for a surprise. If that doesn't work, contact us for more troubleshooting and training help.

If all goes well, and your dog is respondended when your housemate walks in, overr the next few days, do a few one-one-one sessions with your dog and then just chill out and ignore them for a half- our or so. Then have your housemate walk in and out of the room quietly. Every time your dog chooses to boop/hand-target despite distraction they get a reward - it doesn't matter whether they boop your hand or your housemates.

You should start to see your dog realize that the appearance of your housemate means the hand game starts! Again - this describes what MOST dogs will do but your dog may react slightly differently. If you're having trouble with this and your dog is not reacting as describe, you can go back to the last successful thing and make the changes slower/break what you're asking your dog to do is less of a big change, and if that failscontact us for support with your training. Your dog isn't broken, sometimes a small change in how the training is being done is all that is needed!

Once you've firmly established new person in the room = the start of a hand-targeting "boop" game, you can get your housemate to amp things up a bit - get more excited and loud when the housemate walks in, or have them rush in more quickly, or walk quickly to a new place in the room. To prepare for this, with your rushing housemate start moving your hand around more so that the dog has to move further and use extra energy in order to get to your hand. This can give them the opportunity to get some of the excited energy of seeing a familiar person be unpredicable out of their system.

The next step is to slowly introduce a visitor to the house the dog knows to the game. If your visitor is up for it, after a few visits of quietly walking into the room you can do the same thing you did with your housemate.... slowly amp up the excitement on entry! Remember to practice both with your hand near the dog's face and with your hand moving around to different locations. Once this is going well, move your game to the foyer of your house. In this new scenario, go back to having the known housemate just knock on the door enter for several training sessions, or just open the door and step quietly in - and up your treats to fanastic new level at first (then back down to regular). As before, move up to having your housemate be more active. Then get your visitor friend to start the same process out quietly.

This all takes some extra time and work to train. It's one of the reason so many people decide to cheat and skip doing this actual training and instead just punish the dog for approaching the visitor. Punishing behaviour always has an effect - and it can seem like a great and easier choice but there are some real downsides.

Please DON'T punish your dog for reacting to seeing a new excited person or visitor coming in - for example, by throwing things at them - over time this can make them afraid to play the "boop" game (because bad things happen when I get asked to "boop")...

and if it happens often it can cause them to be afraid of people approaching them, or even more excited because the game has become unpredictable...or even threaten the person to go away (with a bark, growl or tooth showing...even a bite) because they associate a new person with bad things happening!! The effectiveness of the punishment may decrease over time and then you're not just back to where you started, you're worse off.

Having a good trainer help you can be useful - as they can help you stay motivated and make tweaks to the process in real time to prevent you from getting stuck (they are also probably more available to do this than a housemate or visiting friend but, of course, their time costs $)....

Happy training and hopefully, a great trained alternative to crotch sniffing!

PS - if you're a fellow trainer, feel free to let us know if we've missed anything you think should be added, or change out the text for something better so we can make this post an even better help to crotch-sniffing dogs and their handlers!

05/15/2026

Lovely dogs and a great example of how dogs can bring people together!

05/05/2026

Emergency Preparedness Week is May 4-10, 2026 and there’s no better time to make sure you and your furry family members are safe and prepared for anything.

If you already have your first aid kit ready - there may be a few things left - ask yourself these questions (and see how they can be answered at https://ontariospca.ca/pet-emergency-preparedness/)

04/18/2026

Do you have a first aid kit ready?

04/18/2026

Trainers hear this all the time, here-s a good explanation!

"One of the most common frustrations I hear from rally and obedience teams is, 'But he knows this.' And usually, they're right. The dog can sit. The dog can heel. The dog can pivot cleanly and perform beautifully in the space where the behavior was originally taught.

The problem shows up when something changes.

You move from the living room to the kitchen. You go from the basement to the garage. You step outside. Suddenly, it looks like the dog has never heard the cue before. This is almost always a generalization problem. "

Continue reading on the FDSA blog! Generalization: Why Your Dog “Knows It” at Home but Not Anywhere Else by Nicole Wiebusch.

04/18/2026

Mmmmm...what do you think?

If a stranger walked up and asked to touch your child, what would you do? Would you smile and say sure, my daughter is friendly! Go ahead and pet her hair!

Uh, no. I would momma bear the crap out of that situation. No way, a stranger is touching my kid.

Why is it different for dogs?

From a veterinary behavior standpoint, an unfamiliar person reaching toward a dog is not a neutral interaction. It is a social and physical intrusion that the dog must interpret in real time.

Some might like it.

Many dogs will tolerate it.

Many will try to avoid it.

Others—especially those with fear, anxiety, pain, or a history of threat—may escalate.

Aggression is not unpredictable. It is a distance-increasing behavior that occurs when a dog perceives a loss of safety and control.

When we assume access—without consent—we remove choice.

When we remove choice, we increase stress.

And when stress rises, risk follows.

This is why “friendly” is not a sufficient assessment.

This is why bites often occur during routine interactions.

This is why prevention starts before contact is made.

The standard should be simple:

Dogs just like kids are not public property. No one has the right to pet your dog no matter how much they profess that dogs love them.

Not because dogs are dangerous—

but because they are sentient beings with thresholds, histories, and limits.

Respecting that boundary protects the dog, the handler, and the public.

And that is good behavioral medicine.

04/17/2026

A great little article by a friend - Matthias Lenz -

Setting standards for the assistance dog industry since 1987

03/07/2026

Very highly recommend this author and book. If you want a reat Google her name and Crufts so you can see her trained dogs in action doing off-leash heelwork to music!

03/07/2026

Current medical theory is that inside every joint is synovial fluid, a natural lubricant - and cold temperatures can make this fluid thicker, which may increase stiffness and pain. Keep an eye on your dog during the frequent weather changes as we head to full spring!

Myth 5: “Pain only affects movement, not mood.”

✅ Truth: Chronic pain alters temperament, attention span, and interaction. A once “happy-go-lucky” dog appearing more withdrawn may be signalling discomfort.

For more guidance on identifying your dog's pain and a more in-depth look at arthritis, check out our 'CAM Essentials'' course:
https://www.cameducation.co.uk/course/camessentials (link in bio)

03/03/2026

So true!

Pets don’t just learn during training sessions. They’re learning all the time—during walks, at the door, when guests come over, when you leave the house.

Every time a behavior happens, it gets a little easier for your pet to do it again. Over time, those repetitions turn into habits. While you are gone all day, your dog is barking at anything and everything outside. Why would you surprised when he barks aggressively at your friends who visit?

When your dog is in the yard, he is running the fenceline barking. It isn't surprising that they bit someone in the yard.

When your cat meows, you immediately open a can of food. It isn't surprising then that your cat meows overnight when she is hungry and walks on your head until you get up.

Our pets are always learning, just like you and me. Rearranging the environment to reduce the expression of undesirable behaviors is cheap, easy and effective.

Because practice makes permanent.