I’m really excited to announce that my Guides to Dogs are being added to Patreon!

I’ve been writing these guides for the last 4 years. They started out as free information I shared in the Fort St. James Dog Owners Group on Facebook and have slowly evolved into a comprehensive collection of guides covering everything you need to know to care for and raise a dog.

Guide 4: Puppy Training

World-renowned dog trainer Ian Dunbar once said that if you want to prevent working with dogs with behaviour problems, you need to create a puppy class. (This is something that is also in the works and will come out next spring!)

With this statement in mind, the first guide I released was actually Guide 4: Puppy Training.

In Guide 4, you’ll learn everything you need to know to get your puppy started on the right path, including:

• How to select a puppy from a breeder or rescue
• What to know before bringing your puppy home
• How to help your puppy settle into their new life
• House training
• Socialization
• Crate training — and why it’s an important tool to have
• Puppy biting and chewing
• Teaching your puppy not to jump on people
• Foundation training to get them started on the path to obedience
• Leash training so they don’t fight the leash every time you try to put it on

Guide 1: Safety, Bylaws & Care

Guide 1: Safety, Bylaws & Care is really the foundation guide for the whole thing, though.

This guide covers everything you need to know about caring for your dog and keeping them — and the people around them — safe.

It starts with bylaws and rules, including the laws you need to be aware of in your community and tenant rules you may need to know if you rent your home.

You’ll also learn what to do when you encounter a dog at large, whether that dog is friendly or aggressive, and how to handle each situation safely.

A very large portion of this guide is dedicated to understanding canine body language and keeping kids safe around dogs.

There are detailed articles about:

• Stress signals dogs give off and how to recognize them to help prevent a bite
• How to introduce kids to dogs
• How to teach kids to understand dogs
• Games dogs and kids can safely play together

There is such a heavy focus on dogs and kids because I am a Bite Prevention Educator, and teaching dogs and kids how to interact safely is very important to me.

The guide then moves into caring for your dog throughout their life, including:

• What to do in a medical emergency such as poisoning, choking or bleeding
• How to put together a first aid kit
• How to prepare your dog for grooming and handling
• How to choose a groomer you can trust
• Vaccines, including how and when to vaccinate your dog
• Weight management and how to determine if your dog is underweight or overweight
• How to meet your dog’s nutritional needs at each stage of their life
• How to choose between a raw food diet and kibble

How Can You Access the Guides?

You have two options for viewing these guides:

1. Purchase the Guide and download it

This gives you instant access to ALL of the articles within the guide you purchase. You’ll also be able to download a PDF to keep as your own copy.

Copyright laws apply, so you may not sell or redistribute the guides.

Each guide is priced differently based on the content included in that guide.

2. Join my Patreon subscription

Join the monthly membership tier to gain access to ALL of the articles posted for all of the guides.

Guide posts themselves cannot be downloaded, although some posts will come with a downloadable attachment that goes along with the article.

For example, the Canine First Aid post will have a downloadable form where you can record your dog’s baseline and current vitals in the event of an emergency. You can keep this sheet right in your first aid kit!

Article posts are uploaded about every 3 days, which means some guides may take a little time for all of their articles to be added.

If you don’t feel like waiting, you can simply purchase the guide itself!

Interested in a particular article and wondering when it will be posted?

You can check out my Patreon Schedule to see when each article will be added.