Snowbound Kennels

11/06/2026

I saw a post by another trainer that said that absolutely under no circumstances is hitting a dog ever justified.

Needless to say, the comment section was full of agreement.

So what about this situation?

You're older and rehabbing perhaps a knee or hip replacement and out on a hiking trail.

Suddenly racing down the trail toward you is an exuberant young labrador off leash and it's owner yelling, because they have absolutely no control over the dog off leash, "don't worry, he's friendly!"

The enthusiastic dog arrives and starts jumping up on you, what exactly are you supposed to do to discourage that behaviour that might literally be putting you in danger of a fall?

What very frequently do other dogs do when other dogs interact with them inappropriately?

The problem with hitting your dog isn't actually hitting the dog. It's the mindset of the person doing that and very frequently it's frustration or anger.

Whether it's yanking on a leash, activating an electric collar or physically striking a dog, when those actions are based in the trainers emotional state, that's when there is a problem.

First and foremost, I'm not a punishment trainer. I'm a reinforcement trainer.

By in large I see physically striking a dog as punishment, although you could certainly find situations where it could be used as reinforcement.

Like so many things in dog training you need to be very, very self-aware and thoughtful and I see the great divide in training to generally be based in ideology.

Overwhelmingly but not entirely, I don't condone striking a dog, but I would never say that regardless of circumstances it's somehow morally abhorrent.

So much nuance and so much ideology.

11/04/2026

If everyone is an expert do experts not exist anymore?

That was a question. I saw post on social media and it wasn't even apropos of dog training, but it certainly tracks.

It seems these days like almost everyone is an expert especially online. People confusing information with knowledge and knowledge with skill has seemingly turned almost everyone into an expert that knows everything about their chosen endeavour to be an expert in.

I thought it was pretty interesting in the abstract way my mind works.

After a lifetime fooling with dogs and since then 34 years professionally, trying to figure out how to optimize training for every single dog, I think I know about 45% of what I'd like to know about dogs and dog training.

I'm no expert.

11/04/2026

"Internally" focused dogs.

"Externally, focused dogs.

I'm always baffled when I hear someone proclaim a dog is a dog is a dog, meaning they are all dogs and very similar.

Nothing and I mean nothing, to be further from the truth.

Here's Athena, not my dog/rehoming project, a very internally focused dog.

Internally focused in that she's generally just wants to hang around me and what I'm doing is important to her.

Lots of different breeds are fairly internally, focused and are much more likely to want to not be independent of their owner.

On the opposite end of the spectrum there are extremely "externally" focus dogs that have a much much lower desire to hang around me very much greater interest to go "out there."

An English pointer might be a top example of an externally focused dog. They don't need me, I'm just slowing them down, they want to go look for stuff.

With a great friend arrived with my new 12 week old Pointer puppy Zoom Zoom many years ago, she took Zoom out out of the crate and put her on the ground.

That little puppy didn't even glance around but just put her head down and ran as fast as she could 250 yards down the field and out of sight.

12 weeks old.

Generally, and I mean, generally, internally focused. Dogs are easier for people to work with that externally focus dogs.

Of course individuals within certain breeds may have more or less internal/external tendencies and then you have to add how independent a dog actually is.

There are some pretty internally focused dogs that are very independent and they will sort of wander away, but I still see that is very different as the externally focused dogs that don't wander, they take the bullet train away.

My dog Sade is very very internally focused but can be fairly independent on her own but that's totally different than a truly externally focused dog.

I had a rescue English pointer named Prato many years ago who was actually quite internally focused and always kept an eye on me and was actually a dog I could just leave outside knowing he would hang around. That's super unusual for a field bred English Pointer.

Or the other extreme was Bonnie, she and her brother Clyde were a couple of the first dogs I ever rescued.

With some foundational training, I hope to just find him a great forever home and she went to someone who had owned other versatile breeds, but never an English pointer.

I guess he put her down to hunt in the Adirondack on a Friday and got a phone call Sunday that someone had Bonnie.

It was a 50 mile drive to pick her up and near as he can figure she had gone 25 miles across the Adirondacks.

She came back and lived out the rest of her life happily here.

Bonnie was externally focused.😂

My entire understanding of training early in my professional career was working with a lot of extremely externally, focused dogs, and understanding how to work with them.

When someone suggests I might not be able to get their labrador to come when it's called, despite the fact I've been successful with probably over 1100 other dogs, I just smile and tell them not to worry.

11/04/2026

Pet or hunting dog, out of sight usually means out of control, but those two are not mutually inclusive.

Someone said to me years ago when I had called my English English pointer who was out of sight, "she's not coming."

I just stood there and she appeared about 150 yards away coming very quickly and I just said, "it takes a while for them to come when they are a long way away."

Lobo off in the woods today looking for distractions because he is exceptionally high prey drive.

After this, a couple deer took offand he was easily recalled.

11/03/2026

I believe this is Dog number 49 since April 1st transitioned to the remote collar.

11/03/2026

I rarely post feedback from clients but I'm probably going to start doing it more, with their permission, to try to balance out some of the incredibly terrible information that infects social media.

**Just wanted to forward the compliments from our local trainer. He thought "Rover" was significantly better behaved, and could tell "Rover" had been so well trained in terms of ecollar. He said sometimes he sees dogs whose spirits are broken or are just plain scared. He said with "Rover" it was clear you had done such a good job, that it’s more like a tap on the shoulder. **

11/03/2026

"Force free trainers routinely starve dogs to make them more food motivated to train successfully!"

Just imagine if you were someone using reward base marker training and read that statement.

Now extrapolate that to how I feel reading/seeing all the mind bending bu****it people throw out on social media and tell their clients in person.



11/02/2026

On social media, I see people spending epic amounts of time training their dogs to do incredibly stupid things.

And you know what?

I am 100% all for it!!

It doesn't matter what other people think, what matters is that you and your dog are enjoying what you are doing regardless of what that is.

I think in a lot of disciplines many people should take a step back and see if getting angry and frustrated every time they work with their dog is really what they got into dogs for?

An insider tip:

If you're angry and frustrated a lot, it's probably because of you not your dog.

11/02/2026

Today's training with Lobo went uphill for the second day in a row.

10/31/2026