Modern K9

Modern K9 *Teacher By Day; Dog Trainer By Night!
*Balanced Dog Trainer (CDT-C)
*Living peacefully together👤🦮
(1)

09/03/2026

I saw this statement written in the book “Animals Make us Human” by Temple Grandid & Catherine Johnson and I couldn’t agree more.

No matter what, the human is in charge-
-in charge of teaching and guiding the dog throughout their entire life.

09/03/2026

When we can find the right motivator, our dogs will do almost anything🩵

(and when I say my daughter tried to take him for a walk I just mean we were walking together, but she was holding his leash).

09/02/2026

Many dog owners automatically put their dog in a sit when working through threshold boundaries or doorway manners.

It’s not that the sit is bad.

It’s that we end up working on a sit stay versus true threshold boundaries. Instead, we want our dog to understand that even if nobody is there to put them in a sit, they still can’t exit if the door is open.

The learning really comes when the dog understands that an open doorway is not an invitation to exit. The door being opened is not the signal to go.

This is why when I am practicing this skill I always keep the dog in a stand, and later on, we might add in other positions to practice all the variations.

But when it comes down to it, the majority of accidents of dogs rushing out the door happen because nobody was there to put them in a sit in the first place. So teach your dog how to handle this boundary, even when in a stand.

09/01/2026

Tito is learning to ignore distractions (especially people, which he loves).

We did a few repetitions like this and on the second rep, he completely ignored me.

08/31/2026

What many dog owners don’t understand is that when we constantly allow our dogs to greet other dogs simply because they see another dog, this creates a dangerous predictability for that dog.

Meaning, the dog starts to see that the sight of another dog is the signal to go greet. Therefore, when the dog is not able to greet as quickly as they’d like, it builds into frustration, which then can turn into reactivity.

This is why I do not allow my dogs to greet other dogs until I’ve given a cue.

It’s not that I don’t let them meet other dogs. It’s not that I don’t let them play with other dogs. It’s that they must wait for the signal to come from me. I do not want them thinking that the signal is just the mere sight of a dog.

This way when they see a dog, it’s not that big of a deal to them because they don’t anticipate greeting. They have no idea if they’re going to greet, which then means there’s no reason to get excited or anxious.

For my dogs, I have two cues-I may either use their release cue “free” or I might use their “go say hi” cue, which I use for greeting both dogs and people.

08/31/2026

Just because the dog has more leash doesn’t mean they should have free access to everything near them. That means the dog must learn how to ignore other people and animals.

And with this privilege of either being off leash or having more leash, there comes more responsibility on the owner’s end.

Not only are we working with Tito, but we are also working with the client to teach her the different things to look out for when walking with her dog. Because even though we know Tito is harmless, we cannot expect the rest of the world to know that about him.

When first giving the dog more leash, they will not automatically know they have to ignore other people/animals. That’s why it is up to the owner to make that very clear.

This can be done by giving a cue to the dog to direct them appropriately such as “leave-it”, “let’s go” “heel” or even “no” (if the dog knows that cue). If the dog struggles to follow through then we use the long line to reel the dog back in closer to the handler.

But in the end, it is always the responsibility of the owner to prevent their dog from running up to other people/animals.

08/29/2026

When I’m first working with a client, I like to find out if their dog already knows a marker. A marker is a signal that gives the dog valuable information. It allows the dog to know exactly what action they completed that is earning them a reward.

If the dog owner tells me the dog understands a marker, my next question is, do you give a reward 100% of the time when using the marker?

Most of them tell me no. Sometimes they give a reward, sometimes they don’t.

That is when the marker loses its power. It becomes diluted and the dog no longer sees the value in that marker.

We essentially are using it as verbal praise. Verbal praise is great and can be effective, but we all know that there are times when verbal praise will have its limits. That is because great things don’t always come after verbal praise. Sometimes they do. But sometimes they don’t.

With a marker, we have to make sure great things happen 100% of the time after using it. It doesn’t mean that you have to always reward your dog for every little thing they do. It just means that if you’re going to use the marker, you must pay up. If you don’t want to pay up, then don’t use the marker.
That’s when you can use verbal praise instead.

So if you enjoy using a marker in your training, be sure that when you use that marker, whether it be a clicker or a verbal marker, such as yes, always show your dog, the value in that cue by delivering 100% of the time.

08/29/2026

Ok ok ok. They’re not “small” details.
But you get the idea 🤭

08/28/2026

The sooner we can accept this about dogs, the faster we’ll reach our goals.

Thinking dogs want to please us is a very ineffective way to live with these apex predators.

Yet I hear this phrase constantly. To believe this as true is to believe that dogs think ahead to what they want to do just in order to put a smile on our face. When we continue to believe that about dogs, we struggle immensely with their behavior.

We fail to understand that dogs need motivation to make decisions we deem acceptable. And where many get it wrong is that they assume motivation only means treats. But there are a variety of ways to motivate dogs. And not just through rewards. Dogs can also be motivated to not do something or to stop a behavior through an aversive.

And this is where I think many people get mixed up. A dog that complies because they “don’t want to get in trouble”, is not a dog looking to please the owner. This is a dog looking to avoid conflict. Not because they want to make the owner happy, but because they want things to be peaceful -so in the end, they do it for themselves, not us.

I know that reading this can make it sound like I am implying dogs are complete selfish jerks, but to be honest, they are not much different than we are. Many of the decisions we make on a daily basis have some type of motivator -whether it be intrinsic or extrinsic- it doesn’t matter, it typically benefits us in some way shape or form.

This is also not to imply that you need to reward your dog for every little thing he/she does. It’s more about understanding how dogs learn and function and finding what is motivational to your individual dog and using that in your daily life.

08/27/2026

There was a time where I didn’t leash my dogs back up. I just had them come to me and put them in a heel because my ego was too big to see that this moment wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about flexing. And it wasn’t ok to be lazy.

Yes, my dogs are awesome. Yes my dogs can totally handle that scenario. But the people I’m passing don’t know that. And even if I tell the other people that my dogs won’t bother them, how do they know that what I’m saying is accurate? How many times have you encountered people that say one thing about their dog but their dog exhibits the exact opposite behavior?

Far too many for me to count. There are quite a lot of people out there who don’t actually know their dogs well enough. They don’t know their dog’s behaviors. And they get it wrong all the time- which is why we constantly hear “oh that’s never happened before”.

But anyway, I digress.

I just don’t think it’s fair to force other people to be comfortable passing my dogs when they are off leash.
And it’s not like we’re on a trail that is designated for off leash dogs.

While I have high expectations for my dogs, I have to have even higher expectations for myself, if I want to continue enjoying this privilege of allowing my dogs off leash.

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