Blog — bite work

In Trauma and Memory, Peter Levine explains that successfully renegotiating traumatic memories involves safely revisiting the experiences that activate them. When an individual can move through those stress responses and come out the other side, it creates a sense of triumph and mastery—allowing the past to resolve rather than repeat. From there, life can be lived with more vitality, instead of being constrained by autonomic patterns like fight, flight, freeze, or appease. With a reactive dog, we’re aiming to create that same opportunity for renegotiation. This is distinct from simple counter-conditioning. Rather than just pairing triggers with rewards, we thoughtfully...

  Beyond Snuffle Mats: What Dogs Truly Need Sniffing, licking, and chewing are all naturally soothing behaviors for dogs. That’s why tools like scatter feeding, snuffle mats, and long-lasting chews have become staples in enrichment routines. And they absolutely have their place. But there’s a piece of the puzzle that often gets overlooked—something just as important, and for many dogs, even more satisfying: Biting, tugging, kill-shaking, and dissecting. Honoring the Predator Within If we take a step back and look at the predatory sequence, it becomes clear that dogs are not just companions—they are, biologically, predators. A full predatory sequence...

Working with Your Dog’s Drive What does it mean to work with your dog’s drive? First, you want to identify what most motivates your dog. Think about the things that naturally capture their attention—food, movement, prey, toys, or interaction. When your dog encounters one of these stimuli, observe two things: arousal and persistence. Arousal is the level of excitement your dog shows in response to the stimulus. Persistence is how long they stay engaged with it—the “annoying” way they can obsess over something! As you explore different motivators, take note of both. How quickly does your dog light up? And...

Why Dogs Need to Bite, Carry, and Chew: Understanding the Predatory Sequence Dogs are predatory animals by nature. Even in our modern homes, their nervous systems are still wired for the hunt. This doesn’t mean your dog wants to harm everything around them—but it does mean they have deeply ingrained instincts that need an outlet. At its core, the predatory sequence is a natural progression of behaviors: orienting, stalking, chasing, grabbing, biting, carrying, and ultimately consuming. Different breeds emphasize different parts of this sequence. For example: Herding breeds may focus on eye-stalking and controlling movement Terriers are driven to dig...