Lucky Dogs Training and MORE LLC

06/20/2026

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“Nala used to lose her mind if the doorbell rang. Answering the front door was impossible. It took a loooong time to train but Now she barks twice and will go into her crate for a treat! I could not have done this without you!”

06/08/2026

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Fourth Domain: Behavioral Interactions (with the environment)

Welfare Fun Fact💡
Competently navigating environmental obstacles is critically important for a range of exploratory, predatory, social, and hazard avoidance behaviors in canine behavioral ecology, helping dogs work their way through, up, over, onto, under, and around physical challenges with dynamic mind and muscle engagement for problem solving.

What does it look like?
Stepping up, jumping onto/ over, moving through/under, climbing, crawling, or balancing related to physical obstacles

How does obstacle navigation become a "behavior problem" in pet dogs?
Most dogs live a single-plane reality in pet homes, with few permissible chances to put their proprioception chops to the test. The average home might offer countless opportunities for canine parkour, between sofas, tables, counters, and beds, but most of these are far from favored furnishings for creative canine choreography.

Dogs are chastised or redirected to more "appropriate" locations to move and play.

Even on walks, most dogs move in a linear manner on flat ground with little variation. Given the motivation to interact with a physically interesting world as a curious and athletic animal capable of extraordinary feats of climbing, tunneling, jumping, and traversing, boring environments can set the stage for some "bad dog" shenanigans.

Welfare Hack 🚨
Provide and designate various levels and spaces inside the home for dogs to develop obstacle navigation skills. Dogscape your yard beyond flat grass using boulders, branches, nooks, and crannies. Encourage the use of walls, logs, and benches on walks. Get off the beaten path in nature where opportunities for physical adventure are extensive. Consider joining in yourself and rediscovering muscles you forgot existed.

Image commissioned by: Trick Woofs

06/05/2026

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The “immediately friendly equals well-socialised” myth

There’s a widespread assumption - particularly in Western dog culture - that an immediately friendly dog is a well-socialised one. But sociability and social health aren’t the same thing.

A dog that rushes up to every stranger isn’t necessarily confident. It can equally reflect overarousal (due to varying emotions), a lack of impulse control, or a lack of clear social boundaries.

Natural reservation and fear are not the same thing. This distinction matters enormously, and the two are frequently collapsed, which is a significant equivocation with real consequences for dogs.

Fear-based reservation tends to involve active avoidance, visible stress signals, and an inability to recover. Natural reservation looks quite different - the dog may be calm, observant, and fully functional - simply withholding engagement until they’ve made their own assessment. Conflating the two pathologises a healthy characteristic.

Some breeds were never bred for indiscriminate friendliness: Chow Chows, Akitas, and many Nordic and Eastern breeds among them. Applying a universal social template to every dog and finding them wanting does a real disservice to both the individual and the breed. The Eurasier standard, for example, describes the breed as reserved with strangers, but without signs of aggression - and in my experience, that’s accurate. There’s a spectrum, as with any breed, but natural reservation was genuinely one of the things that drew me to them.

The pressure for dogs to be immediately friendly with strangers largely serves the stranger, not the dog. A dog that takes their time is exercising due diligence. Appropriate social boundaries. Something we’d readily respect in a human.

There’s also a persistent assumption that reservation in adult dogs signals inadequate early socialisation. Sometimes that’s true - but a well-socialised dog of a naturally reserved breed, or any breed, may still be reserved. Socialisation does shape confidence and resilience, but it doesn’t necessarily alter how much social contact a dog seeks, or from whom.

Every dog deserves to be read as an individual - not measured against a template, or unrealistic expectations that we wouldn’t apply to other humans.