Our leadership team of certified behavior consultants, board-certified veterinary behaviorists, and business and technology specialists are working hard every single day to bring you and your dog a learning experience like no other.
Walk with the dreamers,
the believers, the courageous,
the cheerful, the planners, the doers,
the successful people
with their heads in the clouds
and their feet on the ground.
Let their spirit ignite a fire within you
to leave this world
better than when you found it.
–Wilferd Peterson
Your dog`s breed influences who they are, but it’s not the whole story.
Genetics can shape tendencies like sociability, drive and preferences. A herding breed may be more likely to chase and control movement. A terrier may be quick to dig or hunt. Those traits are real, and identifying them can help contextualize behavior.
Breed is just one piece of a much bigger puzzle. Early experiences, socialization, training, health, stress levels, and your dog’s individual personality all play a powerful role in who they are.
We believe every dog is an individual. Understanding both breed tendencies and their personalities are key to compassionate training.
Recall is a high level skill for our dogs —— we are asking them to ditch what they’re most interested (a scent, another animal, or simply the joy of freedom) and come running back to us! Here are 5 tried and true tips to develop a reliable recall:
💡 Reward unprompted check-ins: if your dog offers you their attention without you asking, reinforce that idea. This builds a behavior of your dog offering you attention regularly while out in the world.
🗣️ Don’t overuse your recall cue: once trained, your recall cue is precious. Keep it valuable with regular practice and reward, but avoid unnecessary repetition.
🧀 Offer a high value reward to reinforce: recall is a high level skill, so it should come with a high level paycheck. Rewards vary in value from dog to dog —— whether it’s tossing a fav toy or saving your string cheese specifically to reward a recall, pay your dog fairly.
🐕🦺 Avoid only calling to signal the end of freedom: if you only call your dog to leash up and head out, your recall cue can quickly become a signal that the fun times are over. Practice recalling your dog and then releasing them back to what they were doing regularly.
🩵 Pack a long line until they’re ready: safety first! Until you feel confident in your dog’s recall, pack a long line so you can give them freedom to roam without worries. Using a long line also sets you up for success in recall practice, by preventing your dog from rehearsing running away from you when called.
Choose your dog’s friends thoughtfully 🩵
Canine social skills take practice! Young dogs are often enthusiastic about every dog they meet, while adult dogs naturally become more socially selective.
To set our young dogs up for social success, we practice interactions beyond play. Here, adolescent pittie Angus and senior golden Cynder are working on relaxed co-existence at @westernpetpdx. Spending time alongside a known, safe, adult dog helps young pups build lifetime skills for appropriate dog-dog socialization.
Greta the Black Lab is here to cheer everyone on: dogs and humans alike! Praise counts as positive reinforcement 😎
But what is positive reinforcement in dog training anyways? Simply put, positive reinforcement involves rewarding your dog for a behavior with something they are motivated by (often food or a toy——us humans are generally more driven by verbal praise than our pups).
By adding something to reinforce behavior, you are increasing the likelihood that your dog will perform the desired behavior again.
We all need positive reinforcement, with our dogs and with the people in our lives 🩵
Your dog’s environment has a significant impact on their behavioral health. The right environmental conditions facilitate safe, healthy, desirable behaviors and reduce undesirable behaviors.
When considering environmental design, we focus on four key objectives: minimizing exposure to stressors, impeding unwanted behaviors, facilitating good choices and providing safe outlets for natural behaviors. Considering these factors provides your dog with an optimized environment that encourages positive behavior change and low stress learning 🩵
Huge thanks to our puppy pal George and his family for the 5 Star Review! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Training a puppy is no small feat, and those early learning moments make a big impact on their future. Watching families and their puppies grow together brings us so much joy.
Way to go George –– we`re cheering you on every step of the way! Reach out for support on your puppy`s training journey.
Your puppy is growing up –– let’s talk TEENS. From 6 months up to 2 years of age, your dog is an adolescent 🤘🔥🎸
As puppies enter early adolescence, it is important to understand that just like human teenagers, their behavior will naturally change, often in ways that make them a bit more challenging to live with.
During canine adolescence, the area of the brain that influences cognition, social behavior, and decision making isn`t yet fully developed. At the same time, the part of the brain that influences arousal and reward-seeking behavior shows increased activity.
In your dog’s teen era, you might see new behaviors emerge, such as:
• Increased levels of impulsivity & risk taking behavior
• Changes in conflict resolution style, testing of family boundaries
• Decreased social tolerance for other dogs
• Emergence of breed-typical behaviors
Feeling disconnected from your dog? We’re here to help. 🐾
Training can feel overwhelming, whether you’re tackling big behavior challenges or brushing up on the basics. It’s easy to get stuck chasing progress and forget the why.
At Instinct, we help you and your dog reconnect through effective training rooted in curiosity, kindness and the human–animal bond.
Experience the joy of working with your dog. Train with Instinct. ✨
✨ Enrichment is everything ✨ Providing your dog with nature driven enrichment does more than just increase their overall happiness.
When a dog feels instinctually fulfilled, they are less likely to engage in destructive, disruptive behavior and exhibit frustration related behavior issues. They are also better able to learn and respond to feedback.
When a dog does not have adequate access to natural behavior outlets, they can experience increased levels of frustration. Instinctive behaviors are likely to come out in unwanted ways –– it’s up to us to provide them with appropriate outlets 🩵
Set your puppy up for success with thoughtful socialization –– and we`re not just talking about attending puppy socials 🩵
Socialization is about helping your puppy grow into the most resilient, adaptable, confident version of themselves. We divide socialization into two categories: active and passive.
Active socialization means that your puppy is directly interacting with people, dogs, or objects in their environment. Passive socialization means
that your puppy is observing people, dogs, sights and sounds from a distance. *Both* are key to a well rounded socialization experience.
