STRONG CANINES

Hi there, and welcome to Strong Canines! 

 

My name is Hilary Strong (Strong is my last name - I know, I'm so creative, right?!); I have been a Certified Professional Dog Trainer since 2013 and Fear Free Veterinary Professional, and the melon-head in the picture with me was the love of my life, my heart dog, Taz. 

 

 

You could say that I was the love of his life too, but to be honest, Taz never really liked many people aside from me. The running joke in our household is that his favourite saying if he could talk would be "I don't like that". He kind of came that way as a puppy (noise sensitive, hiding under tables to avoid well meaning visitors), and from many mistakes as a novice dog trainer and owner, I kind of made him worse. Taz soon turned into a growler, lunger, and air biter. 

 

 

He is who inspired me to help other dogs and their humans work through similar challenges. Taz was as weird as they come (and so am I), and I quickly learned that reacting to him with physical punishment was damaging our relationship and not teaching him what I wanted him TO DO instead. I found that teaching him coping mechanisms, building positive associations, and having fun with him no matter how much progress we made that day made all the difference! This of course did not mean I became permissive, but rather I would set him up for success.

 

 

He still never became even close to perfect (and neither am I), because dogs are not machines that can be reprogrammed overnight. It is a lot of work to rewire a brain that has a lot of practice rehearsing the old undesirable behaviours. Don't ever let anyone tell you differently. There is no magic fix. 

 

 

With that being said, with gentle leadership skills, knowledge of how animals learn, and a great partnership, I have seen some dogs transform and their humans become better trainers. Because of my experiences with Taz and now many other wonderful dogs, I want to help puppies get the right start, adult dogs reach their full potential, and challenging dogs cope through this crazy society that is forever moving too quickly for them. 

 

 

Taz passed away from cancer in 2021, but his goobery spirit still plays a major role in my life. This will be forever a life of helping dogs and their families because of him. 

 

 

Thank you for listening to our story, and feel free to reach out with any questions about consultations, training, presentations, and behaviour help.