Episode 91. How to Build Your Dog’s Confidence in Any Situation with Kelly Lee of Dogkind Training

Is your dog always 100% confident? While Kelly Lee of Dogkind Training specializes in working with fearful dogs, her confidence building tips will help you build your dog’s confidence in any situation.

Kelly shares her top Do’s and Don’ts for increasing your dog’s confidence. Whether it’s a brand-new situation or an experience you may need to reintroduce to your dog in a different way, Kelly’s philosophy is to always make it fun!

My biggest takeaway is how to break down these experiences into tiny steps.  Dogkind Training’s website has amazing free resources for learning how to do this in various ways – from stairs to nail clippers.

We also learn the most common mistakes Kelly sees pet parents make when they first adopt a fearful or traumatized dog.  Kelly’s developed an online training program, the Confidence Builders Club, to provide support for pet parents of fearful dogs.

As much as we all love snuggling our dogs, do we *really* know if our dog wants to be pet right now? What does consent mean as a pet parent?  I first learned of Kelly’s Petting Consent Test video from previous guest Ann King (Episode 87).

Kelly shares her thoughts on what petting consent means and how to tell if our dogs are enjoying our company as much as we think they do.

Kelly & I discuss:

  • Her childhood experiences with pets and her career path;

  • How Kelly’s dog training career was inspired by her own family’s fearful dog;

  • Global fear versus specific fears in dogs;

  • Mistakes pet parents make when adopting fearful dogs;

  • Defining success with a fearful dog and adjusting your expectations as a pet parent;

  • Do’s and Don’ts for building confidence in your dog;

  • Kelly’s training philosophy – make it fun!;

  • Fear aggression;

  • How to break down new experiences (or reintroduce previous experiences) ;

  • Unusual fears and choosing your battles;

  • Tips for vet visits and nail trims;

  • Does your dog want to be pet right now?  How to receive petting consent.

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