Dog Box Training School

14/09/2026

14/09/2026

14/09/2026

Dogs trained in scent detection may be better at sniffing out the right smell after breakfast, with new research finding hungry dogs working for treats are more likely to falsely identify the wrong scent. The study, led by researchers from the University of Waikato and Adelaide University, explored....

14/09/2026

You have probably been told that if you let your dog "get away with it," things will get worse.

That they need to know it's not acceptable. That you have to interrupt it. That you have to be firm, be consistent, be the one in charge.

And here is the part that gets missed entirely: the barking, the lunging, the growling, none of that is the problem. It is the communication about the problem.

Your dog is telling you they do not feel safe.

Punishment does not touch that feeling. It never has. What it does is teach your dog that showing you how they feel comes at a cost.

When the growl disappears, the warning disappears.

The dog look calmer.

But the fear is still sitting exactly where it was, with one fewer way to reach you.

We see this in the research, and we see it in practice every single week. Confrontational approaches are consistently associated with increased fear and aggressive responses, not fewer.

A dog who has stopped telling you is not a dog who has stopped feeling.

Safety is not something we can enforce. It gets built, slowly, through predictability, through choice, through recovery time, through a guardian who notices what their dog is asking for and answers.

That takes longer than a correction. It also actually works.

And if you have used those methods before, please hear this: you were following advice from people who sounded certain. That is not the same as being wrong-hearted. You are here now, and your dog gets the benefit of that. ✨

📌 Share this with someone who was told they were being too soft.

04/09/2026

04/09/2026

THE FLAWS OF FLOODING

Using flooding to change a behaviour involves exposing a dog to an intense amount of anything that causes fear, anxiety or distress, with the goal of getting them used to it and eliminating that emotional response.

This approach is often recommended as a quick fix that achieves fast results.

Some examples of how flooding is used –

A reactive or nervous dog may be forced to “sit” or walk close to other dogs or people and be punished for any signs of reactivity.

A dog fearful of water might be forced into a pool and prevented from escaping.

A dog afraid of loud noises might be forced to stay in a room while loud sounds play, with no way of escape.

Flooding is traumatic and may cause extreme stress, anxiety, increase negative associations and create even more long-term fear related problems.

Flooding often causes learned helplessness - an emotional coping mechanism that may look like a dog is completely “cured”, but in reality, they have shut down, given up, disengaged, become emotionally numb and detached. There is no other choice because no matter how hard they try there is no longer any point in trying to escape or react.

Flooding can destroy the trust our dogs have in us. Dogs depend on us to advocate for them, protect them and keep them feeling safe.

Flooding prioritizes a quick fix attempt over emotional wellbeing.

Systematic desensitization and counterconditioning allow dogs to cope, think and learn without being overwhelmed. These methods involve gradually exposing a dog to a feared stimulus at a low intensity while pairing it with positive experiences. This allows dogs to form new, positive associations and adapt at their own pace without overwhelming fear.

These methods build trust, confidence, relationship, safety and in turn, true behaviour change.

No training objective is worth the harm that flooding can cause.

04/09/2026

04/09/2026

List your dog-related tasks for a typical day and mark each one: does it energize or drain you, and does it leave your dog joyful or stressed? Look for a red and red activity where you both end up depleted, and pick one to redesign this week. Small changes in where your energy goes make loving a Complex Pet noticeably easier.

Look for activities where you and your dog are both red. See if you can redesign them or if they are even really needed.

Look for activities where you are both green and lean into them whenever you can!