Naturally Canine - Behavior & Training

09/04/2026

New research! 🔥
Excited to see new research from Jade of Animal Behaviour Matters out this week! These two studies were undertaken with the Scent Detection Research Group at the The University of Waikato in New Zealand.

🦴 Dogs were given breakfast before or after completing a scent-detection task.

❌ When working prior to eating, dogs made significantly more false alarms.

🐺 Being hungry may cause a mild increase in frustration-related behaviour during scent work for some dogs.

🐕 Dog’s hunger state can influence both scent-detection performance and behaviour.

Yee et al. (2026) found that dogs working before breakfast produced more false alarms, suggesting hunger may increase dogs' tendency to respond to non-target odours.

Fountain et al. (2026) found that unfed dogs showed more whining and interaction with the equipment, indicating mild frustration associated with hunger. However, frustration behaviours were generally infrequent and varied between individual dogs.

Links to both of these open access articles will be in the comments or search them on google scholar/research gate.

Fountain, J., Yee, J., Hazel, S. J., McWhorter, T. J., McNutt, T., & Edwards, T. L. (2026). Effects of feeding on dogs’ frustration-related behaviours during a laboratory-based scent detection task. Behavioural Processes, 105430.

Yee, J., Downie, I., Fountain, J., & Edwards, T. L. (2026). The breakfast effect revisited: Dogs’ scent detection performance before and after a meal. Learning and Motivation, 95, 102328.

09/04/2026

It’s no secret that I love border collies, so I’m always thrilled when the opportunity to work with one arises. I met Ace at just 10 weeks old, and it’s been such a pleasure to be a part of his journey. Like many border collies, he has his quirks, and adolescence within the breed can be rough. Unsurprisingly, off-leash time in nature has been one of the most important pieces in the plan we’ve developed for Ace. He’s so lucky to have a family so dedicated to meeting his needs and understanding how his mind works.

Happy first birthday, Ace! See you next week!

08/15/2026

Just some really good dogs ❤️

06/20/2026

Acadia photo dump 3/3

Gosh, what an amazing trip! It was even more special that the girls were able to accompany us literally everywhere. MDI is so dog friendly, and just about everywhere we ate had the option to have the girls with us on the patio.

I’ll note that even though we could, we didn’t have the dogs out with us at every dining experience. Why?

1. Physical comfort. I always have mats for the girls to lay on, but there were some areas that didn’t provide enough shade to be comfortable for them. I have various techniques for keeping dogs cool in the summer, so they were much more comfortable in the car under our supervision that they would have been in the full sun.
2. Physical/mental fatigue. We had long days, and while they were a blast, they were also tiring. I knew there were times where the girls would prefer to be sleeping in the car (again, under our supervision) than out with us and socializing with the public. Also frankly, sometimes I’m too tired to advocate for our space, despite both dogs being objectively very easy in public spaces.

I also want to provide the disclosure that the unleashed photos shared were not taken in Acadia National Park. We were able to explore other areas of MDI that allowed dogs off-leash at specified hours, which was lovely. It’s a privilege to enjoy a park like Acadia with the dogs, so we take park rules very seriously.

I’ll be thinking about this trip for a while.

06/19/2026

Acadia photo dump 2/???

06/18/2026

Acadia photo dump 1/???

It’s been 5 years since our last Acadia trip, and we’ve been having a blast exploring MDI! We’ve gotten so lucky with beautiful weather. Nothing fills my cup quite like our family trips.

11/09/2025

It's hard to ignore the conversations happening on social media about different training methods, and it's easy to get caught up in conversations about what does and doesn't work.

While my passion and competitive nature push me to dive into the science and learn all the nerdy things, my values are what guide my choices about how I interact with my learners (both human and canine).

This is your reminder that when you are training or competing with your dog, you are teaching them how they should feel around you.

It's not just about what works or what gets us the result we're after; it's about how the dog feels.
I'm looking for how they feel in their body language, in their returns to me after reinforcement, in the quality of their lineups, and how they are in the home post-training.

Asking yourself, "How does my dog feel right now?" is a quick and easy way to check in with your methods and how they align with your values.

📸 Big Air Photography

10/29/2025

Happy spooky season, let's talk about why we LOVE muzzle training.

-it’s great for working on training to help dogs feel safer and more comfortable in the world, while keeping others safe

-it’s great for dogs to safely enjoy enriching activities without risk of bites.

-it’s great for emergencies. A dog in pain may be more likely to snap, so muzzle training can keep everyone safe.

-it’s great for dogs who have PICA or similar issues with compulsively picking up and ingesting things they shouldn’t

-it’s great for dogs who don’t love being rushed by strangers but are super duper cute, providing a mini stop sign for anyone who’s considering unsolicited face smooshes

There are also lots of kinds of muzzles that may work best for different face shapes or purposes. Bones here is wearing my dog Nina’s muzzle. It’s nylon (nice and bite proof) but has a treat hole for training, and lots of room to pant (Bones is showing this off quite nicely!) It’s also got allll the fun colors.

10/27/2025

My heart. 🥹❤️

Integrating a new dog can be hard work, but when it goes well, so so rewarding.

Nino (left) struggled with anxiety and discomfort around other dogs for a while, which is how I came to work with him and his mom. Although he made massive progress, we weren’t certain that he would ever be comfortable enough to enjoy the companionship of another dog.

Enter Rosco. Found by Nino’s mom as a stray; underweight, heart worm positive, with no microchip or people to claim him. We were guarded in the plan to introduce the dogs, but with patience and thoughtful management, it went better than we could have imagined.

Updates like these melt my heart. These two were meant for each other, and are so lucky to have such an amazing human in their corner.

10/24/2025

"Can I still tell my dog no?" I get asked this question a lot in my work. I believe it's misguided to banish a two letter word from the shared vocabulary with our dogs, but as Sarah has beautifully stated, it is a drop in the ocean of the communication and world we can build together.

Here’s the thing: I tell my dogs no. And I teach my clients how to communicate to their dogs when a behavior should not be repeated or continued. Pretending that’s not part of the equation is a mistake.

But it’s a drop in the ocean of the actual work.

The real skill, the true magic, is in the yes. Most people have no idea how to tell their dogs which behaviors should be repeated or continued in ways that actually matter; and that’s a vital skill to master. The vast majority of lasting behavior change comes from fulfilling the complex minds and bodies of the dogs in our care while crafting environments in which we can effectively apply our “yes” skills.