In Stride Pet Dog Training LLC

10/21/2026

Yes please 🐾🐶💖😉

No dog needs “corrections.”

Corrections don’t teach. They only scare, startle, or interrupt. At best, they suppress behavior. At worst, they damage trust.

So what do we do instead?
We learn to understand why dogs do what they do.
We get better at reading body language.
We manage their environment.
We teach them what to do instead.

It’s never about “fixing” the dog.
It’s about us doing better for them.

Need help with your dog's behavior? Schedule a session today!

10/21/2026

Yessss!! 🐶🐾🙌 Let’s help everyone stay safe and sound!

10/21/2026

So true! 🐶🐾💔 Let’s choose welfare based methods when teaching, please! 🙌

Many thanks to Mighty Dog Graphics for the graphic....

Mighty dog is the home of great graphics and artwork...

10/21/2026

Things to remember. Keeping them healthy will make their lives more comfortable and help them stay with us longer too! Win win 🐶🐾💖🤗

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗪𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆

This study followed 48 Labrador Retrievers throughout their lives, and its findings helped establish a lasting connection between nutritional management, healthy body weight, and longevity in dogs.

Here’s what the research found:

𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗻: Dogs fed 25% less food than their pair-matched controls had a median lifespan of 13.0 years, compared with 11.2 years in control-fed dogs—a difference of 1.8 years.

𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲: Food-restricted dogs developed age-related chronic diseases later in life, with osteoarthritis among the particularly notable conditions.

𝗕𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: The study linked greater fat mass and declining lean body mass with mortality, highlighting the importance of maintaining a healthy body composition.

𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: The dogs followed their respective feeding regimens from puppyhood, emphasizing the potential importance of nutritional management throughout life.

Although initially published in 2002, this is still as important today.

Because healthy weight management is more than an aesthetic goal. It is an important component of preventive veterinary care, with potential implications for both lifespan and healthy ageing.

For veterinary teams, this research reinforces the value of regularly assessing body condition, individualizing feeding recommendations, and discussing nutrition with pet owners before excess weight becomes a problem.

Subscribe to VetEd to help us access more veterinary journals.

Kealy RD, et al. Effects of diet restriction on life span and age-related changes in dogs. JAVMA. 2002;220(9):1315–1320.

Lawler DF, et al. Diet restriction and ageing in the dog: major observations over two decades. British Journal of Nutrition. 2008;99:793–805.

10/21/2026

So important 💖🐾🐶🙌

MIND YOUR MANNERS!

The safe, respectful, polite way to interact with a dog.

Imagine a stranger walking up to you, invading your personal space, touching you without consent or maybe cornering or restraining you so you can’t get away.

Would you feel threatened? Would you feel safe? Would you accept this without reacting?

You try to communicate your discomfort, but the person ignores you and continues to touch you, leaving you no choice but to defend yourself.

This is perfectly understandable when it comes to people, but somehow, we often don’t understand that dogs have the same need for space, choice, consent and safety.

Dogs are frequently approached, touched and crowded by people without being given a choice. Their body language signals of stress are not understood or simply ignored.

Then, when a dog growls, snaps or reacts defensively, we act surprised.

One of my own dogs is particularly sensitive to unfamiliar people. If we have visitors, I always ask that they give her space and avoid trying to interact with her.

She needs to make the decision that she feels comfortable enough to approach and interact.

So often, my request is ignored. Sometimes resulting in a reactive response from my dog. The person is then genuinely shocked - What's wrong with your dog? Why is she so aggressive!

The real question should be - why wasn't her need for space respected?

Her personal space had been invaded, she had not been given the opportunity to feel safe or choose to engage. When her body language didn’t work to keep the person at a distance, her behaviour escalated.

We expect people to respect our personal boundaries. We expect to have a say in who touches us, when and where they touch us and if it’s acceptable. Why should it be different for dogs?

Dogs are not public property. They are sentient individuals with their own preferences, fears, boundaries and ways of communicating.

Being friendly, familiar or well-behaved does not mean a dog is freely available for anyone to touch.

Feeling safe is rooted in choice, in consent and the right to say no and we need to respect that.

10/21/2026

Great post! 💖🐶🐾😉

You'll often hear someone say, "I've been working with dogs for 20 years," as though that alone should be sufficient evidence of their expertise.

Experience is valuable. Working with dogs, observing and recognising body language and developing skills are essential to becoming a trainer. But experience and education are not mutually exclusive. You can, and arguably should, have both.

If somebody has spent 20 years using the same methods without questioning them, exploring new research or understanding behaviour, what have those 20 years actually taught them? There's a difference between having 20 years of experience and repeating one year of experience 20 times.

Without an understanding of learning theory, behavioural science, stress physiology and animal welfare, we risk confusing the suppression of behaviour with genuine behavioural improvement.

Dogs are another species, with their own evolutionary history, sensory experiences, communication systems and biological needs. If we're making a living influencing their behaviour, particularly when they cannot verbally explain what they're experiencing, shouldn't we want to understand them?

Imagine consulting a psychologist whose only qualification was having worked with people for a long time. We'd have questions.

Yet in dog training, individuals can advertise themselves as experts in aggression and other complex behaviours without having any recognised formal education in animal behaviour.

I'm not suggesting every trainer needs a degree, or that academic qualifications automatically make someone competent. But anyone offering professional advice on animal behaviour should be able to demonstrate an investment in understanding the science.

It's not simply the qualification. It's what pursuing it says about someone's approach to their profession. Studying requires time, money, effort and, perhaps most importantly, a willingness to have your beliefs challenged. The more you learn, the more you realise how much you don't know.

Experience matters. But experience should never become an excuse to stop learning.

10/21/2026

So true and important 💖🐾🐶😉

10/20/2026

Great information 🐶🐾💖😉

10/20/2026

Dogs are amazing 🐾🐶💖😉

DID YOU KNOW?

The average dog has around two hundred and twenty million olfactory receptors in the nose, although it can be as many as three hundred million in dogs bred specifically for scentwork. Those tend to have longer ears which help to capture the scent and move it towards the nose.
In comparison, the human has an average of only six million scent receptors.

According to Dr Michael T. Nappier DVM, DABVP of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, their excellent sense of smell enables a dog to detect the equivalent of half a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic-sized swimming pool!

The canine frontal cortex is smaller than ours, therefore it has different emotional capabilities; it is this part of the brain which is responsible for conscious scent perception. When it comes to canine scenting ability, their brains are forty times more capable than our own, which equates to a sense of smell 10,000 to 100,000 times more powerful!

To help this to compute fully, James Walker, former director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, describes this in terms of sight: “If you make the analogy of vision, what you and I can see at a third of a mile, a dog could see more than 3,000 miles away and still see as well.” Phenomenal stuff!

The wind musicians amongst you will be thoroughly impressed that dogs can circular breathe. They draw in and process scent at the same time as they breathe in and out, creating a constant stream of air, effortlessly. They can also use their nostrils independently, creating a 3D scent picture that allows them to pinpoint exactly where a smell originates from. Mind-blowing, really!

For more fascinating facts, why not check out my blog post:
https://www.trailiepawsforthought.com/post/the-science-of-scent-part-one

©️ Trailie Paws For Thought
www.trailiepawsforthought.com

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Image shows a close-up of my scenthound Max's nose and face, taking a nap, as usual!