Author: Nan Long

I’m so confused. As a society we seemed to have had a huge paradigm shift toward being kind, thoughtful and compassionate. Honoring the needs of others is our mantra, except in dog training. I see a consistent shift towards more support of aversive based trainers. Shock collars, choke chains and other punitive methods are being … Continue reading Don’t Dogs Lives Matter Too?

Aversives are methods that use something unpleasant to the dog that is used to suppress or diminish an unwanted behavior. They do not modify behaviors they only suppress behaviors. They come with too great a risk for the dog and can increase problem behaviors. Examples of aversive equipment are shock collar (aka e-collar, electric collar) … Continue reading Aversives have no place in dog training

We need to be the guardian of our dogs’ by watching over, and protecting, not punishing and forcing. Depending on genetics and their past history, they can struggle with things in their life. We can make our dogs do things, in a way that suits us, or we can give them agency and honor their … Continue reading Dogs are Sentient Beings with Emotions

We are always learning to help improve our training methods and behavioral science. Lately I’ve come across some information about better helping meet our dogs needs. And the methods aren’t difficult at all. I started using one of the enrichment exercises for food foraging. ItInvolves my dogs using their sniffing for obtaining their meal. I … Continue reading Foraging For Meals

We believe that creating a unique plan for each dog and their owner is crucial to helping with dogs behavioral needs. Using liquid training we are cognizant of the needs of the learner and the work is build upon that. Each learner is different and the learner is different in each moment. If we observe … Continue reading What is liquid training?

I have been seeing a common issue with people’s dogs. It is car sickness/ anxiety. It seems to becoming more problematic with clients. It’s important to stress that dogs in cars need adequate footing to feel safe. (They need it other places as well, not just cars:). I’ve seen lots of clients struggling with this. … Continue reading Car Riding Issues

We have been training in western North Carolina since 2002. We use only training methods based on current behavioral science. Modern Training Is: Force Free Efficient Improves the quality of your pet’s life. Benefits over Traditional Training: It is more efficient. Safer (less risk of averse reactions from dog) More fun. Physically easier for you. … Continue reading Our Modern Training Methods

There is a lot of value in allowing dogs agency. Old school-style dog training does not allow dogs to freedom to choose. They were forced to participate in things they are afraid of. Current behavioral scientific studies show that when a dog is stressed, giving them space and the choice to move away, helps them … Continue reading Allowing Dogs Agency

We just took a course on LATTE pattern game for enrichment and decompression by Leslie McDevitt for dogs and their people and it is amazing! We’d love to share information about that and other science-based training methods with you. We do our very best to help empower dogs and their people in non-aversive ways. Please … Continue reading We love helping empower dogs (and their people)

Nan has a special way with dogs. She immediately impressed us with her obvious care and love for our pups. Her knowledge is vast and she offered customized solutions for every unique issue we faced. But, beyond that, she immediately bonded with our dogs and showed us how we could relate to them in a … Continue reading We are here for you!