The Companion Coach

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The Companion Coach The Companion Coach was created with one goal in mind: to help humans and their furbest friends communicate better

10/14/2026

I’m a dog trainer, so obviously I want ALL the dog nerd details. 😂 Tell me what you’re working on with your dog!

10/13/2026

Go wild and freeze is a great game to play with your pup. It teaches them the skill of switching from excitement back to calm on cue, which is self regulation. By playing this game, your dog builds the skill of turning their own engine down while still excited.

When should you reward? On the freeze. The moment Bella offers me a behaviour like four on the floor or a sit, I’m marking “yes!” and giving her a reward. Then we start the game up again.

I’m also using this game to reinforce four on the floor, since Bella is still a jumpy 5 month old. Watch the video closely, because you can see her working through it. She was about to jump up and then self corrected into a standing position!

Try it with your pup and let me know how it goes! 😊

10/11/2026

I had a lot of free time on my walk today, and apparently my brain wanted to reflect on mine and Ellie’s learning journey 😂

Every stage looked a little different, and as you can see, learning took time.

When I was in the thick of it, I wasn’t really thinking about how long it took to help Ellie feel more comfortable around children or how long loose-leash walking took. I just put on my shoes, grabbed my treat bag, and made teaching Ellie one of my priorities.

So when I share how long some of these things took, it’s not meant to discourage you with an “Ah man, THREE YEARS?!” 😂

It’s meant to encourage you to keep going. Progress takes time, and sometimes we don’t realize how far we’ve come until we look back. 💕

If you’re feeling stuck or struggling to see those small wins, let’s book a session together! I’d love to help you recognize your progress, figure out what to focus on next, and bring back some of that enthusiasm for training.

Links in bio, and my DMs are open! ❤️

I really hope this helps 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻Follow for more amazing dog training advice 😊😊 Amanda Malott | Dog Trainer | Halton
10/09/2026

I really hope this helps 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

Follow for more amazing dog training advice 😊😊 Amanda Malott | Dog Trainer | Halton

10/08/2026

A dog not taking food can be really useful information during training, but it’s not the only way a dog can tell us that something is getting harder.

Some dogs will continue eating even when they’re uncomfortable or stressed. So I’m also paying attention to things like body language, changes in movement, sniffing, scanning, avoidance, tension, and other little changes in behaviour.

Basically, I’m looking at the whole dog, not just whether they’ll eat a treat.

And now that I know this about Bella, I have another piece of information I can use next time.

If we’re walking past this house and there happen to be dogs behind the fence, I already know that getting closer than she can comfortably handle may mean she stops taking food. So if I see them there, I can proactively create more distance instead of waiting for her to tell me she needs it.

But there’s an important piece of context here:

The dogs aren’t behind that fence 24/7. 😂

Most of the time when I walk past this house, there aren’t barking dogs there at all. So I’m not going to start treating this entire section of the neighbourhood like a guaranteed trigger.

This is part of why I love paying attention to the individual dog in front of me.

Training isn’t always about following a set of rules.

Sometimes it’s collecting information, learning your dog, and using that information to make better decisions next time.

If you’re trying to make sense of what your own dog is telling you, that’s kind of my whole thing. Link in bio if you want some help decoding them. 🫶🏻😊

10/05/2026

Definitely giving credit to Jean Donaldson here. She wrote a similar scene in The Culture Clash, and for whatever reason, something I read earlier today made me think of it again.

Which naturally led me to wondering:

If I were plucked from Earth and became someone’s pet in an alien world… I really hope they’d use positive reinforcement to teach me. 😂

I know training a dog can feel hard. Especially when you’re dealing with reactivity, anxiety, behaviour you don’t understand, or just a dog who seems to have missed the memo.

But you don’t have to figure it all out alone.

Positive reinforcement is absolutely doable for all kinds of behaviour challenges. And that’s where a good trainer can help you understand why your dog is doing what they’re doing and give you practical ways to work through it together.

If you need some help, reach out! I’d love to set up a call or session and help you make sense of it.

And if you don’t need training right now, you can still follow along Amanda Malott | Dog Trainer | Halton. 🐾

10/03/2026

Okay, I need to know 😂

Are you team no puppy when you have a senior dog or team yes puppy when you have a senior dog?

Which one are you? 👇

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