Intuitive Animal Behavior

10/24/2026

Great Dane puppy !!! Boarding friend Lacy is enjoying her stay!

07/02/2026

Excellent points here! Be sure to vet any potential training programs (including board and trains) thoroughly! There are ethical, science-backed programs like ours out there that will never use aversive methods on your dog.

When considering a board and train, it's important to know what are red and green flags to look for! Please share this information with anyone that you know looking at board and train programs so that we can prevent dogs from entering abusive programs.

🛑 Claims to be able to tackle all issues no matter what (i.e. everything from manners to separation anxiety to human directed aggression) and/or the program sells itself as a fix for aggression or fear. When a dog is struggling with fear or aggression the MOST important piece of the equation is helping the owner understand their dog better, and removing the owner from the equation is inappropriate.

🛑 Requires the purchase of prong collars, choke chains, electric collars, or any equipment that relies on the use of discomfort to train. Any cookie cutter program that automatically applies pain and discomfort to every single dog entering their facility is a bad program. Period.

🛑 Has low reviews that include information about the dog developing behavior problems like fear and aggression later on, information about losing dogs or dogs getting injured while in the trainer's care, dogs dying while under the care of the trainer, dogs returning home with sores on their neck or sores on their elbows and bellies from being crated for too long, etc.

🛑 Offers guarantees. Offering guarantees for behavior change for any species is ALWAYS unethical. And always a huge red flag.

🛑 The only training videos you can find are flashy before and afters that don't show any actual training. Trainers who use pain to motivate dogs know that that most dog owners don't actually feel comfortable hurting their dogs, so they avoid showing the process.

🛑 Claim to use positive reinforcement with dogs, but do not want to use food to train. Food is one of the best reinforcers we have available. Not using food unless it's an extenuating circumstance is just bad training.

06/23/2026

We are currently looking for puppies to fill a socialization class. The class is 4 weeks long and meets here at the farm starting in July. If you have recently added a puppy to your family, consider enrolling!!! Picture of Mamba for tax!

05/24/2026

Mamba has entered the chat!!!! Welcome, Mamba! We hope you enjoy your stay!

05/22/2026

Hanging out with dog sitting clients Captain and Skipper and I guess Skipper thought his brother had enough cuddles!!

05/18/2026

Today while perusing the internet, I saw someone I know personally who has no credentials as a trainer, nutritionist or vet trying to start up a side hustle regarding nutrition advice and “sound training”. It reminded me that this industry is super unregulated.

Please consult your veterinarian or a board certified nutritionist for diet related advice. Feeding raw, as this individual does requires a balanced mineral/vitamin balancer and routine bloodwork. There are also health risks to others in the home with raw diets. So care is definitely needed. Be sure to ask for qualifications from anyone selling training advice as well. If those qualifications or methods do not align with the AVSAB standards, seek out someone else!

Photo credit: Finn and Elle taking a snooze

05/10/2026

Looking for a trainer? Please take a few moments and read the attached position statement from the AVSAB regarding humane training. Use this as a guidepost to ensure you’re getting quality help!

01/16/2026

Boarding client Lyra is catching some Zzz’s!!!

01/16/2026

This Is a great video helping to show that simply by breaking things down for the dog, we can avoid corrections altogether. Errorless learning!

Focusing on compliance takes us out of the teacher role. We should always be focusing on how to help dogs through the learning process! That’s training!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DTnpBH1QH/?mibextid=wwXIfr

01/10/2026

For those interested in teaching a POSITIVE reinforcement based recall for your dog, check out this article!

Whole Dog Journal‘s mission is to provide dog guardians with in-depth information on dog food, training, behavior, health, and more.