Naked Dog Training

09/29/2026

How does long-term change really happen with your dog? At Naked Dog Training we focus on creating reliable, lasting results — calmer, more balanced dogs without changing who they are. Read our quick 3-minute guide to the approach that creates dramatic, lasting improvements: https://wix.to/FWdfGAy

How Does Long-Term Change Happen? The work we do at Naked Dog Training is entirely focused on creating long-lasting change. Depending on a dog’s behavior before entering our training, owners often describe the change as “dramatic” or even “profound.” We frequently hear some version of:“H...

08/25/2026

Sorry Jack, puppy is priority 🐶

08/01/2026

DOES SPAYING OR NEUTERING REALLY MAKE DOGS CALMER?

For decades, many people have been told that spaying or neutering helps reduce unwanted behaviors. But a new 2026 peer-reviewed review published in Animal Reproduction suggests the science is more complicated.

After reviewing decades of research, the authors concluded there’s not enough consistent evidence to recommend spaying or neutering solely to change behavior. In fact, several studies included in the review found some dogs showed more fear, anxiety, or certain forms of aggression after being spayed or neutered.

Why? The review explains that reproductive hormones don’t just influence reproduction. They also play important roles in brain function, learning, memory, stress responses, and emotional regulation. Removing those hormones may affect dogs differently depending on their genetics, age, s*x, breed, and individual temperament.

One of the most interesting parts of the review is that the authors discuss hormone-preserving alternatives that prevent breeding while allowing the body to continue producing its natural hormones. These include:

🐕 Vasectomy – prevents male dogs from reproducing while leaving the testicles in place, so testosterone production continues.

🐕 Ovary-sparing spay – removes the uterus but leaves one or both ovaries intact, preventing pregnancy while preserving ovarian hormone production.

The authors suggest they deserve more attention because they can help preserve some of the health and behavioral benefits associated with natural hormones while still preventing unwanted litters.

The review doesn’t argue that dogs should or shouldn’t be spayed or neutered. Instead, it encourages veterinarians and pet owners to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach and make decisions based on each dog’s individual health, lifestyle, behavior, and risk of reproduction.

04/28/2026

This is reality for most dogs and owners. While we communicate the very same message, a dog training colleague in Washington state, Sean O’Shea, really spells out the dilemma most people are facing. Well said Sean.

I’m always amazed that this incredibly obvious aspect of the human/dog relationship dynamic is so often overlooked, or at the very least, underestimated.

You’ve spent all this time showing your dog precisely who you are, what you’ll accept, and what you’ll do when behavior is problematic. They know how far they can push, they know how firm, or not you can be. They know how uncertain you’ve been. They know how heart-first you’ve been. They know how soft you truly are.

Like any dysfunctional human relationship, where one party has allowed themselves to be trod upon, and then, after much work, learns how to stand up for themselves—how to have and articulate boundaries, and how to share consequences for trespasses against said boundaries—but finds that these new skills and this new awareness is met with pushback and disbelief...your dog will do the same. Because that’s what you taught them about you, because that’s who they know you as.

You wouldn’t be surprised if your human counterpart needed many repetitions, reminders, and considerable “convincing” that the new you is in fact a real, permanent, required-to-be-taken-seriously you—and that denial and pushback of this new you will not only be futile, but will also have consequences. If one were wise and experienced in the arena of relationship renegotiation, one would, or should expect this friction and effort. And so we should also expect that when we show up and “announce” to our dogs that “it’s a new day”, and we are in fact “new” people insofar as how this whole human/dog thing is going to go down—that we are here to take charge, to set rules and standards, and that we WILL be respected, and that we WILL enforce all we are demanding—that it might also take a considerable bit of repetition and “convincing” to prove that this “new” you is in fact one to be taken seriously and responded to accordingly.

The upshot? Don’t be surprised after having spent a great deal of time presenting a prior version of you—with all the mistakes, dysfunction, perceptions, and associations that were baked-in to that presentation and relationship dynamic—that your dog requires a bit more than your optimistic pronouncements, and newly acquired, but strangely alien, likely shaky, and most definitely unearned swagger...to be convinced.

01/21/2026

Our updated video on what to expect from having your dog trained. A new important piece of information has been added about dealing with your dog's prior associations.

10/28/2025

Natural Law & Having Your Dog Trained

Website: www.nakeddogtraining.com

10/25/2025

Zuko’s brother Russel. In my opinion, sooo beautiful and also well behaved.

10/25/2025

So proud of this little guy, and his “parents”. What a transformation. Zuko happens to be one of the most beautiful Jack Russel’s I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. His brother Russel runs a close second.

10/23/2025

Our latest blog article:

Google defines reactivity as different from aggression—with the key difference being intent to cause harm. According to that definition, aggression involves intent, while reactivity is more of an emotional reaction without it. A better, and more accurate understanding, is important. A more knowled...

10/20/2025

Naked Dogism #1: Inspired by frustrated owners. Especially those owners who have already sought out help from professionals.

Website: www.nakeddogtraining.com