Dominika Knossalla-Pado |Certified Dog Trainer

Scroll to the right to see the Dominance Theory - training by forcing dogs into submission - explained in 10 slides. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ______⁠ ⁠ You won’t be your dog’s pack leader because:⁠ 👉️Your dog is not a wolf.⁠ 👉️Dogs have never evolved that social structure. ⁠ 👉️Dogs have evolved to be….. Scavengers!⁠ ⁠ ______⁠ ⁠ How did the Dominance Theory become popular in dog training?⁠ ⁠ ⁠ The gist:⁠ ⁠ The theory was born 78 years ago based on observations of captive wolves. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠It was later debunked! ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ‘Alpha’ implies competing with others and becoming the top dog by winning a contest or battle. ⁠ ⁠ However, most wolves who lead packs achieved their position simply by MATING and PRODUCING PUPS, which then became their pack.⁠ ⁠ ⁠Q: Your thoughts? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #dogtrainingphilosophy⁠ #dogbehaviortraining #dogbodylanguage #dogmeetsbaby #childsafety #dogsandbabies #certifieddogtrainer #ladderofaggression #aggressivedog #dogbehavior #dominance #dominancetheory #alpha #packleader #leaderofthepack #balancedtrainer #positivereinforcement #dogtraining ⁠ ⁠ __________⁠ ⁠ baby safety around dogs • dog and baby expert • dog meets baby • preparing dog for baby • dog body language • leader of the pack •dominance theory • alpha • positive reinforcement •certified dog trainer •ladder of aggression • aggressive dog • balanced dog trainer • dog training philosophy

🎯Comment - mobileprep (one word!) - and I’ll send you ✅the free Toddlers and Dogs Guide full of practical tips for helping toddlers and dogs peacefully coexist ✅the link to the Pre-mobile & Mobile Baby Bundle ✅and the link to community favorite dog-themed toys, books, and stuffies. ⁠ —————— 👉Many dogs like to stay under coffee tables, sofas, in corners, or between furniture. Some dogs may get into these spaces because they try to hide or escape from a moving baby.⁠ ______⁠ ⁠ 💥When dogs are hunkered down in these spaces, it is risky if a baby approaches them. The dog is more likely to feel cornered because they will have a harder time exiting or escaping the situation. If dogs feel trapped or cannot easily escape, they are more likely to use warnings, such as growling or snapping.⁠ ————— ⚡️We are sharing this video for educational purposes NOT judgement.⚡️ ————— ⁠ #dogmeetsbaby #dogsandbabies #toddlersanddogs #childsafety #dogbiteprevention #dogtrainer baby safety around dogs • dog and baby • dog meets baby • dog body language • crawling baby⁠• child safety • dog bite prevention • dogs and kids • certified dog trainer • petting • dogs are not toys

🎯 Are you expecting? Comment - Babyprep (one word) - and I’ll send you: ✅my free Dog Meets Baby Preparation Checklist to help you prepare your dog for their new “sibling⁠” ✅the link to the First Meeting and Preparation ✅the link to our new resource, Baby Registry Guide for parents-to-be who have dogs.⁠ Or comment: 📌Firstmeeting (one word!) for the First Meeting Course link. —————— ⁠ 👉 Go to stories to see some of the videos we analyze in the First Meeting Course. ⁠ ——————⁠ ⁠ ⚡️As many of you know, the moment my dog saw my newborn twins she was HUNTING. The combination of early term tiny humans and their cry and movements turned on Lola’s predatory instincts.⁠⚡️⁠ ⁠ While it’s luckily rare, and as a trainer I knew what to do, it made me realize that a step by step plan for the introduction would help other parents to know how to safely introduce their little ones to their dogs.⁠ ⁠ 🎯My First Meeting Course, ⁠has been designed with the safety of your baby in mind and includes a module with videos of dogs showing predatory body language around newborns.⁠ ⁠ ⁠#dogmeetsbaby #dogsandbabies #dogmeetsfamily #preparingforbaby #dogbodylanguage #dogsandkids #4thtrimester #babysafety⁠ #dogbehavior #newbornsafety⁠ #predatory ⁠ _________⁠ ⁠ baby safety around dogs • dog and baby • dog and newborn • dog meets baby • preparing dog for baby • predatory • prey drive in dogs• parenting babies and dogs • dog body language • how to introduce your dog to your baby⁠

📌Dogs are tolerant….until they aren’t. 👉Comment - Toddler101 (one word!) - I’ll send you the free Toddlers and Dogs Guide full of practical tips for helping toddlers and dogs peacefully coexist, the link to the Pre-mobile & Mobile Baby Bundle, and the Dog Body Language Course. ————— ‼️Dogs communicate ALL.THE.TIME. If you have a dog: 👉Understand the dog’s body language 👉Don’t assume your dog would never snap or bite 👉Management is only as good as your knowledge of the dog’s body language. ————— ⚡️We are sharing this video for educational purposes not judgement.⚡️ ————— Creator: @herrfreckles #dogbites #dogmeetsbaby #airsnapping #ladderofaggression #childsafety #babysafety #dogbodylanguage #dogtrainer baby safety around dogs • dog bite • air snapping dog • dog meets baby • ladder of aggression • certified dog trainer • dog body language • dog mouthing baby

⁠📌What is your dog's biggest wish or ideal gift now that you have a baby? ⁠ Quality time with you, or maybe all food dropped by the baby?⁠ A new toy or puzzle toy? ⁠ Boxes to shred?⁠ Or maybe a playpen for the baby so your dog is not bothered by the toddler?⁠ ⁠ 👉️Hela loves fetch and swimming; playing fetch with my kids and swimming with them is her favorite activity. ⁠ ⁠ 👉️Lola loves food. They don't drop as much as they used to, and she is on a strict diet, but that doesn't stop her from watching them like a hawk during meal times. 🤣⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #giftsfordogs #dogtoys #babygate #giftbasket #dogmeetsbaby #puzzletoys #dogenrichmenttoys #canineenrichment #fetchislife⁠ ⁠ ⁠

📢Comment - Babysounds (one word!) - and I’ll send you a link to the free library of newborn sounds recorded by moms from my mom group in San Francisco. ______⁠ 📢🐕I recommend introducing your dog to newborn sounds ◾BEFORE◾ your baby arrives. ______⁠ ⁠ 👉How to do it:⁠ ⁠ 📢Follow the instructions on my website. ⁠ 📢Once your dog is relaxed when you play the baby sounds at a realistic level, you can start incorporating the sounds when practicing future baby routines. Example: Wrap your phone in a baby blanket and play audio of crying newborn in baby equipment. 🎯If needed, consider acclimating your dog to baby equipment, and your actions associated with equipment, separately before adding audio. 👉Preparation Course has a module on how to introduce various baby equipment. 🎯A real baby is way more than just the sound! Many dogs initially whine or bark when the newborn cries, it is a common reaction. Prepared dogs tend to acclimate faster. —————— 🎥🐶Video filmed by @gusguscasey who is enrolled in the Dog Meets Baby Bundle Course and has THE BEST parents. —————— #dogmeetsbaby #dogsandbabies #babysafety #babiesanddogs #babyprepping #trainyourdog #dogtrainer #certifieddogtrainer #babyprep #cryingbaby baby safety around dogs • dog and baby • dog and newborn • dog meets baby • preparing dog for baby • dog body language • how to introduce your dog to your baby⁠• baby cries • newborn sounds • certified dog trainer • baby prep • baby prepping

🚨Comment - Safechild (one word!) - and I'll send you a link to my free Rules of Interaction to keep your baby safe and teach to treat your dog with care. ⁠ 🎯Bonus Tip - Rules for interacting with unknown dogs.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ________⁠ ⁠ Q: Does your child want to pet every dog they see?⁠ ⁠ ⚡️Interacting with a dog out in public is always a risk.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 💥Unfortunately, no dog owner can give you a 100% guarantee that their dog is going to be comfortable being handled by an unknown child.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ________⁠ ⁠ 👉It is best to teach children that when dogs are on leash, they are busy walking with their owner. We can watch them and talk about them from a safe distance, wave at them, blow kisses, air hug them or sign ‘dog’, but it’s best not to approach.⁠ ⁠⁠_________⁠ ⁠ 🎯Comment - Safechild - to learn how to assess if saying hi to a dog is safe and when to stop the interaction. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ _________⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠❣️Share this post with your friends even if they don't have a dog, but have children "obsessed" with dogs. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #dogmeetsbaby #momtips #toddlermomlife #momoflittles #toddlermilestones⁠ ⁠ Dog meets baby • dog safety • child safety • baby safety • polite greetings • kids and dogs • dog tips • dog trainer • assertive • how to respond • polite no • petting a dog • greeting a dog • saying hi to a dog

🎯Comment -petting101 (one word) - and I’ll send you a free handout on how to teach your toddler to safely pet a dog, and the link to our Baby & Toddler Courses. ————— 👉The pre-mobile baby course has an exercise called “From neutral (or suspicious) to the biggest fan. Change how your dog feels about your baby.” ————— Those words (see reel caption) written by Pat Miller, renowned dog trainer, resonated with me when I read them in the @dogsofwholedogjournal newsletter. —————— 🎈My dogs love my kids NOW. Lola was not a fan of them when they were toddlers. She never approached them for attention. With lots of management, simple exercises, clear boundaries, parents’ modeling, consistency and patience she started seeking my daughter’s company when she was about 2.5. It took her another year to be truly comfortable near my more unpredictable son. 🎯The Pre-Mobile & Mobile Baby Courses include everything I did with my kids to have this dream relationship. My kids and dogs are best friends.❤️ Comment - Mobilebaby (one word) for a link. ⁠PS That wouldn’t be my goal for every family! Not every dog will be a child’s best friend. And that’s ok. Peaceful coexistence is what I would aim for. #dogchildsafety #kidsanddogs⁠ #dogmeetsbaby #lifewithdogandbaby #dogbodylanguage #dogsandkids #babysafety⁠ #tolerantdog #spanishwaterdog #americanlab #goldenlab #yellowlabs #seniordogs #twins _________⁠ ⁠ baby safety around dogs • dog meets baby • parenting babies and dogs • dog body language ⁠• dog is happy to see child • best friends • dogs and children • yellow lab • Spanish water dog • Labrador retriever • senior dog • twins

🎯Comment - Toxic - and I’ll send you a free Toddler Foods Toxic to Dogs checklist. It includes a Bonus List of common baby & toddler items ingested by dogs. What was the most unusual thing your dog ate?⁠ ⁠ ——————⁠ ⁠ 👶Babies bring A LOT of exciting new and organic smells to your dog. ⁠ Dogs are natural scavengers. Scavenging is a survival mechanism and an instinct that is strong in most dogs. Introducing a baby to your house will potentially trigger your dog’s scavenger tendencies in new ways. ⁠ ⁠ ——————⁠ ⁠ 💥Has your dog had an emergency trip to a vet after eating something they shouldn’t have?⁠ ⁠ ——————⁠ ⁠ 🎯Popular baby items that often entice and stimulate dogs, with many ‘thinking’ of them as food:⁠ 👉dirty burp clothes⁠ 👉dirty diapers⁠ 👉milk/formula bottles⁠ 👉pacifiers with baby slobber ⁠ 👉socks ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠🎯Popular toddler „items”:⁠ 👉toys⁠ 👉poo in potty ⁠ ⁠ ——————⁠ ⁠ 💥Always call your veterinarian if your dog consumes something potentially dangerous.⁠ ⁠ ——————⁠ ⁠ 👉Great vet accounts:⁠ ⁠ @drmollysays Small animal veterinarian and mom to two toddlers. ⁠ ⁠ @thehonestvet Sylvalyn is a mama to a toddler and a newborn, a general practitioner, and an emergency veterinarian. Fear Free Certified.⁠ ⁠ @drlisalippman Celebrity veterinarian Lisa frequently shares great tips for pet parents.⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠ ⁠__________⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #dogmeetsbaby #dogsandbabies #babysafety #veterinarian #toxicfoods #emergencyveterinarian ⁠#toxicfoodsfordogs #grapes #dirtydiaper #scavenger #chocolate #chewinggum #sickdog #emergencyvet #raisins #pacifier #binky ⁠ ⁠ dog meets baby • dogs and babies • baby safety • toxic foods for dogs • emergency veterinarian • grapes • dirty diaper • scavenger • chocolate • chewing gum • sick dog • raisins • pacifier • binky ⁠• ER trip⁠ ⁠

🎯 Are you expecting? Comment - Babyprep (one word) - and I’ll send you my free Dog Meets Baby Preparation Checklist to help you prepare your dog for their new “sibling⁠”, the link to the Pre-baby courses, and our new resource, Baby Registry Guide for parents-to-be who have dogs.⁠ —————— “This course did a great job of explaining which things to focus on for the first meeting. This is something that you have one chance to get right and I’m so glad we took this course so we could be prepared. Our dog can have issues meeting strangers but by following the course, he immediately took to our baby and now, almost 10 months later, they love each other. Thank you!” - Hallie *More reviews on the website* —————— 📣How did you introduce your baby to your dog or what’s your plan if you are expecting? 🎥@jakekazakevich ⁠ #dogmeetsbaby #4thtrimester #3rdtrimester #40weekspregnant #dogsandbabies #preparingforbaby #carseat #dogtrainer #certifieddogtrainer ⁠ baby safety around dogs • dog and baby • dog and newborn • dog meets baby • preparing dog for baby• how to introduce your dog to your baby⁠• car seat • certified dog trainer

🎈Comment - Toddler101 (one word!) - and I’ll send you the free Toddlers and Dogs Guide full of practical tips for helping toddlers and dogs peacefully coexist and the link to the our Baby & Toddler Courses and the Dog Body Language Course. 🙏🏻Big THANK YOU to Lou’s mom for sharing this video for educational purposes. ‼️Any rude or judgemental comments will be removed, and the person will restricted or blocked. ————— Lou is an 8-month-old Newfoundland who lives with 3 little ones. „He can be possessive with bones, but as he’s grown, I was soooo adamant that we never pull things from him unless we’re playing tug and always try to trade. With toys, rather than doing a growl or any kind of warning, he will usually just pick it up and run off.” 📌Even if a dog loves to play fetch with children and loves when they pet him, a dog can react differently when approached fast by a little child while they have a resource. Lou typically moves away when he has a toy but here, he didn’t. It’s important to remember that dogs may choose not move away even when they can, and over time, dogs can escalate in their responses. ______⁠ ⁠ The ladder of aggression is designed like traffic light signals:⁠ ⁠ 🟢Green means the dog is: Worried, Conflicted, Unsure, Uncomfortable⁠ ⁠ 🟠Orange means the dog is: Very Worried, Scared, More Serious, Very Uncomfortable⁠ ⁠ 🔴Red means: STOP NOW! BACK OFF NOW! If you don’t stop, I will bite⁠ ______⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 💥Don’t expect every dog to show all the signs. ⁠ ⁠ 💥Some dogs are easier to read, while some are more subtle.⁠ ⁠ 💥If your dog has been punished for growling or showing teeth, you may not see these warning signs.⁠ 💥Some dogs will display subtler signs of stress for a long time before moving up the ladder. ⁠ ⁠👉Ideally, you want to intervene when your dog is showing the subtle signals (🟢 zone):⁠ ⁠ ✅Separate your child from your dog⁠ ✅Put your body between your child and your dog⁠ ✅Give your dog space and make sure the child doesn’t approach your dog⁠ #dogmeetsbaby baby safety around dogs • dog bite • fetch dog • dog meets baby • ladder of aggression • certified dog trainer • dog body language • dog protective of toys

🎯Comment - askthetrainer (one word) - and I’ll send you the link to the blog post “To punish or not to punish.”⁠ 👉Why punishing your dog can be dangerous to your child⁠ 👉How dogs make associations⁠ 👉How aversive methods work and what are the risks⁠ 👉What to do instead and where to seek help⁠ ⁠ ___________⁠ ⁠ 🎯EXAMPLE⁠ ⁠ 👉If a dog growls and lunges at fast-running small children and is punished with a spray bottle, sometimes it is enough to stop that behavior. Frequently, “success” is temporary. The dog growls and lunges because they are afraid, protective of you or the space, triggered by the movement, etc.⁠ ‍⁠ ⁠ ‼️When we punish the dog for growling, it may suppress the noise, but it doesn’t address the reasons for that behavior, and it doesn’t teach the dog what to do instead. In fact, by turning off the dog’s warning signal (the growling), we make the dog more dangerous near running small children.⁠ ⁠ ‼️ When a dog is punished, we have NO CONTROL over the associations the dog is making at the moment we punish them.�‍⁠ ⁠ ⚡️The dog in the example above could become afraid of ALL small children.⁠ Or children wearing shorts.⁠ Or children wearing hats.⁠ Or spray bottles.⁠ Or whatever they noticed the moment we punished them.⁠ ⁠ ⚡️In the future, the dog may hide when a person cleans a surface using a spray bottle, or have an aggressive reaction. ⁠ ‼️We got rid of growling, which in itself is dangerous, and also unintentionally created a new issue.⁠ ⁠ Your questions or thoughts?⁠ ⁠ #dogmeetsbaby #dogandbaby #dogpsychology #dogandkids #dogtrainingtips #dogbodylanguage #punishmenttraining #shockcollar #dogbehavior #babysafety #childsafety #dogtrainer __________⁠ ⁠ baby safety around dogs • certified dog trainer • dog training tips• dog meets baby • preparing dog for baby • punishment training • shock collar • should I punish my dog • dog body language • dog psychology