Custom Canines

Stevie is back for a little staycation while her people are out of town! 🐾💛

One of our favorite parts of welcoming graduates back for boarding is getting to see the continued progress they are making at home with their people.

We love offering the opportunity to keep up the results of their hard work by continuing the structure, fulfillment, communication, training, and confidence building activities while back in the familiar environment of camp. We love having this sweet girl back!

Daisy came back for a couple weeks of refresher training while her people’s home was under repair and we made the most of our extra time together! 🌼🐾

We continued building her confidence and neutrality while exploring new parks, patios, and experiences. This sweet girl did such a beautiful job settling into unfamiliar environments, making good choices, and taking it all in stride. It was so much fun having Daisy back! 💛

Building confidence. This relates to our dogs too.

🚨 According to Research about our Brain :

This is for the person who has been looking for confidence in the wrong place.

Who has been seeking it in compliments and in recognition and in the approval of people whose opinions they respect. Who has found that the confidence produced by external validation, however genuine the validation and however much it is appreciated, does not persist in the way that genuine confidence is supposed to persist.

That it requires regular renewal. That it is present when the validation is present and begins to thin when the validation is withdrawn or withheld or simply not offered for a period.

Who has wondered whether genuine confidence, the kind that does not require constant external replenishment, is something they are capable of or whether there is something specific about them that makes them more dependent on external validation than other people seem to be.

Neuroscientist Roy Baumeister at Florida State University, whose extensive research on self-esteem and its sources found that self-esteem built primarily from external validation was significantly less stable and significantly less predictive of genuine wellbeing than self-esteem built from the internal experience of meeting challenges and demonstrating competence, found the specific reason why externally sourced confidence does not hold.

External validation activates the brain’s reward system in a way that is structurally similar to other forms of social reward. It produces a genuine neurochemical response. And like other reward responses, it habituates. The same level of external validation produces a diminishing response over time, requiring either escalating validation or more frequent validation to maintain the same felt effect. This is why the pursuit of confidence through external approval tends to produce an increasingly demanding cycle rather than a stable foundation.

Researcher Albert Bandura at Stanford University, whose concept of self-efficacy found that genuine confidence is built specifically through what he called mastery experiences, the direct personal experience of attempting something difficult, navigating it, and arriving at the other side with the evidence of one’s own capacity, found the specific alternative.

The brain builds stable confidence not from being told it can do something but from having done it. From the accumulated record of difficult moments that were entered and survived and completed. From the specific, internal, unborrowable evidence that the person attempting the next hard thing is the same person who survived the previous ones.

This evidence cannot be given to you by anyone else. It can only be gathered by you, in the moments when something is difficult and you do it anyway, one instance at a time.

Those moments are available right now. In whatever form the current difficulty is taking. And each one entered and survived is adding to the only kind of confidence that does not require external replenishment because it is built from something nobody outside you can take away.

Little dogs, BIG personalities. ❤️🐾

Found this throwback from when Spike, Puddles, and Dottie were all here together!

Spike and Puddles came back for a training refresher while their family was out of town, and Dottie returned for a boarding stay with her house sibling Koda as previous board and train graduates.

One of my favorite parts of this job is getting to watch these dogs grow long after they go home. Whether they’re here for boarding or a refresher, it’s always fun to see familiar faces walk back through the gate.

People often assume little dogs don’t need the same training, boundaries, or adventures as big dogs, but these three are proof that every dog benefits from clear communication, structure, enrichment, and having opportunities to simply be a dog.

Little dogs for the win! 🐶💙

Welcome back, Buster! 🐾

Buster recently came back to stay with us for boarding while his family was on vacation, and it was so much fun having him back!

Since completing his Board & Train, his family has remained committed to understanding what he needs to thrive. They continue to prioritize clear communication, fair boundaries, and meeting both his mental and physical needs.

For Buster, that means balancing the freedom to explore, sniff, and adventure with the ability to slow down, follow direction, and be part of a team. Those two things don’t compete, they complement each other.

Boarding with us allows dogs like Buster to continue practicing the skills they’ve learned while enjoying hikes, play, enrichment, and plenty of opportunities to just be a dog.

Always happy to have you back, Buster! ❤️🐾

Buddy is back! 🐾

Buddy first came for a Board & Train over a year and a half ago. Together, he and his person put in the work to build better communication, clearer boundaries, and more confidence navigating the world.

Like many of us, life got busy and routines changed. Some of those habits slowly faded, and Buddy started telling us he needed a little guidance again.

The best part? His owner recognized it and took action.

She’s back to investing in Buddy through private lessons, boarding refreshers, and, just as importantly, working on herself. Learning to see Buddy as a dog who benefits from leadership, structure, and clear communication rather than feeling responsible for carrying everyone’s emotions has been a huge part of their journey.

Training isn’t about perfection. It’s about continuing to learn, adjust, and show up for your dog.

Welcome back, Buddy. We’re excited to keep helping this team grow. ❤️

💙 Welcome back, Leo, Cooper, Daisy, and Louie! 🐾

One of our favorite things is seeing our Board & Train graduates come back for boarding!

They already know the routine, understand the expectations, and settle right back into life at boarding camp. That means they get to spend their vacation enjoying playtime, exploring, relaxing, and having fun while keeping up the skills they’ve already learned.

Watching these dogs return reminds us that training isn’t just about the weeks they spend here, it’s about creating a foundation that lasts long after they go home.

We’re so happy to have you all back! Let the adventures begin! 🌲🐾

WelcomeBackLeo

🐾 Welcome back, Charlotte! 🐾

There’s something special about seeing Board & Train graduates come back for boarding. ❤️

Charlotte already knows the routine, understands the expectations, and gets to jump right into enjoying her vacation. We get to pick up right where we left off; balancing structure, freedom, play, and plenty of fun.

So happy to have this sweet girl back for a visit. Let the adventures begin! 🌲🐾

🎓🐾 Congratulations, Sadie! 🐾🎓

Sadie has gone home after completing her Board & Train program!

When she first arrived, she was an incredibly smart, independent young Golden who loved to explore the world on her own terms. She pulled hard on leash, greeted people with jumping, and didn’t yet have the recall needed to safely enjoy off-leash freedom.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve built a new foundation of communication and trust. Sadie has learned that staying connected with her handler doesn’t limit her world, it actually expands it.

Now her family can enjoy:
🐾 Relaxed walks instead of being pulled down the street.
🐾 Polite manners around people.
🐾 Reliable recall that opens the door to safe off-leash adventures.
🐾 More freedom, more experiences, and more opportunities to enjoy life together.

One of the things I loved most about Sadie was her curiosity. She loves exploring, loves other dogs, and has a wonderful enthusiasm for the world. Now she’s also learned that her people are an important part of that adventure.

Training isn’t just about teaching behaviors, it’s about improving quality of life for both ends of the leash.

Congratulations, Sadie! Wishing you and your family so many amazing adventures together. 💛🐾

✨ Stevie has officially graduated! 🎓🐾

Over the last three weeks, Stevie has worked incredibly hard building confidence, learning new skills, and discovering that the world doesn’t need to be so overwhelming.

Together we focused on:
• Confidence and resilience
• Loose leash walking
• Reliable recall
• Place and duration work
• Crate confidence
• Calm neutrality around people, dogs, and everyday distractions
• Looking to her handler for guidance instead of reacting to her environment

Growth isn’t about creating a “perfect” dog, it’s about building better communication, trust, and a mindset that allows your dog to navigate life with confidence.

I’m so proud of everything Stevie accomplished and excited to continue helping her family build on this foundation. Congratulations, Stevie! ❤️🐾