Recent Blog Posts

A scruffy white and dark grey dog looking out over a park with colorful flowers.
Enrichment
Tiffany Holmes (she/they)

Decompression Walks: Rethinking What a “Good Walk” Looks Like

Does your dog’s walk feel more like a leash-tug chore than a treat? A decompression walk flips the script: more space, a longer line, and total freedom to sniff, wander, and process the world at their own pace. It’s one of the simplest ways to help an anxious, reactive, or overstimulated dog unwind, and it hits nearly every enrichment category at once — physical, sensory, mental, and social. In this post, we break down what makes a walk “decompressing,” how to find the right spot for your dog, and what equipment makes long-line walking easier so you can get out

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A white cat snoozing on his cardboard scratcher.
Enrichment
Emily Strong (she/they)

Why “Just Get a Scratching Post” Never Works

The internet’s cat-scratching advice (buy a post, spray Feliway, trim nails) fails because it’s prescriptive: it hands you a fixed solution without asking what your specific cat needs. This post walks through a descriptive approach instead, using material, orientation, and location preferences to figure out what actually works. It also

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A woman installing a baby gate. Preparing home for dog and baby.
Behavior Problems
MaryKaye Kendrick (she/her)

No, the Blanket Won’t Fix it: Getting Your Spicy Dog Ready for Baby

Bringing home a baby with a “spicy” dog in the house? The internet’s favorite fix, having your dog sniff the baby’s blanket, isn’t the safeguard it’s cracked up to be, and assuming your dog will love the baby can set you up for disappointment. This post busts both myths and

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A black goat on a back porch. Descriptive living for an individual family with multiple species.
Human End of the Leash
Beccy Hughes (she/her)

5 Things a Behavior Consultant Will Tell You That the Internet Won’t

Your search history is a list of “why is my dog…” questions and a cart full of puzzle feeders. The problems are still happening. So you book a behavior consultant — and they ask BIZARRE questions. A laundry list about poop. What your dog’s ears and tail do around triggers.

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A human hand with painted nails holding a dog's paw. Cooperative care for dogs.
Essential Skills
Veronica Garcia (she/her)

Real-Life Care and Cooperation for Happier Pets

Vet visits and nail trims don’t have to feel like a wrestling match. This post cuts through prescriptive, Instagram-perfect training advice to show what cooperative care actually looks like in real homes, including routines you may already be using, like a treat-cue teeth-brushing ritual or insulin shots on cue. Learn

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A scruffy white and dark grey dog looking at an orange plate with something on it. Resource guarding in dogs goes beyond the food bowl.
Behavior Problems
Tiffany Holmes (she/they)

Resource Guarding Beyond the Food Bowl

Resource guarding isn’t just about food bowls. It shows up around counters, shoes, sleeping people—even someone else’s poop. Real cases from the Pet Harmony team show how guarding is contextual, often worsened by pain and stress, but can make progress with the right approach. Guarding can appear with one person

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A basenji dog sniffing along a rocky beach
Essential Skills
Emily Strong (she/they)

How to Prepare Your Pet for Vacation

Vacations are supposed to feel like a break — but for a lot of pet parents, prepping for one just adds another item to an already overflowing to-do list. The good news? A little planning early on can make the whole thing feel a lot less chaotic.

Whether your pet

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A scruffy white and dark grey dog with his face very close to his person's face. Sometimes you need a break from your dog.
Essential Skills
Tiffany Holmes (she/they)

How to Take a Break from Your Dog

Needing space from your dog doesn’t make you a bad pet parent — it makes you human. Here’s how to build independent project time behind a gate, so your dog learns to relax solo while you get a breather. You’ll also find tips for designing a calming environment (scents, sound,

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A scruffy white and dark grey dog lying on a mat that looks like a bear, calmy licking a long-lasting calming project treat.
Enrichment
Tiffany Holmes (she/they)

What Treats Will Relax My Dog?

Skip the CBD pitch and start an actual plan to help your dog settle. The key is turning chew-and-lick treats into “long-term calming projects”: items your dog works on independently that lead to real de-escalation, not just distraction. To know if it’s working, you’ll need to understand your dog’s body

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Person walking a small, fluffy dog. Leash reactive dog training to walk away from an approaching stranger on a neighborhood sidewalk
Training Tips
Allie Bender (she/her)

How to Help a Leash Reactive Dog: The Flight Training Method

Instead of forcing your reactive dog to “face their fears,” try flight training (teaching them to choose to move away from scary things on cue), which builds agency instead of dread. You’ll get the step-by-step process for pairing a flight cue with rewards and applying it to real triggers, plus

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Human walking a leashed dog calmly on a quiet neighborhood sidewalk
Behavior Problems
Veronica Garcia (she/her)

5 Ways Your Dog’s Leash Reactivity Starts Before You Leave

Your dog’s leash reactivity often has less to do with the sidewalk than with everything leading up to it. Here are five hidden triggers to check: undiagnosed pain or GI discomfort, disrupted routines and sleep loss, stacked stress hormones from the prior 72 hours, tense gear or pre-walk rituals, and

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A scruffy white and dark grey dog walking on a long line in a cemetery.
Human End of the Leash
Tiffany Holmes (she/they)

How to Simplify Walks With Your Reactive Dog

Walking a reactive dog is a lot. Treat pouch in one hand, leash in the other, constantly scanning for triggers. Here’s how to plan ahead: choosing predictable, low-contact locations, scheduling walk time around your own bandwidth, and prepping calming projects for after. You’ll also find the specific gear that makes

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