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The easiest cardio program you’ll ever start is also the one your dog will love the most: walking. No gym membership. No equipment. Just a leash, a pair of shoes, and the discipline to show up. Walking is a great place to start any fitness program. Its upsides are huge compared to the down side. When just starting out the risk for injury is essentially zip. Even if you train for strength training but don’t do any cardio or just want to shed a couple, this is a great place to start.

Over the past few years, I’ve dedicated my life to two things — training dogs and training people. At first, I thought of them as two separate worlds and honestly, I wanted them to be. One side of me was coaching clients in the gym, pushing them to build strength, discipline, and confidence. The other side of me was training dogs, teaching patience, order, and focus.

I decided to get certified as a decoy. For anyone who doesn’t know, a decoy is the guy or girl inside the bite suit — the one who takes the hits, the bites, from dogs during protection training and working dog sports.

I’ve taken bites on sleeves from my own dogs, Ace and Ava, but it’s different. One, because they’re my dogs — they won’t truly go all out on me. Two, I wasn’t in a suit, and they weren’t fully trained in protection anyway.

Here’s the quick recap of the last 3 months with Arya and why I’m finally making the switch. When I got Arya she was 3 months old and she was a itty bitty thing. Small, petite, weighed hardly anything. And when I get a puppy I typically use a flat collar. Nothing special, any simple traditional flat collar. Reason being, she’s a puppy. I want her to explore and run around, not totally unrestricted but enough. So to me the only reason for the collar is to connect to the leash. That’s it. Connect me to the leash, leash to collar, collar to pup. I did not use the collar for any training purposes, only for a ‘Leave It’ if I needed to protect her from doing something stupid. I didn’t use for healing or nothing.

In my previous post, I talked about detachment — how stepping back, letting go, and staying present can change the way we train and the way we live. This week, I realized that lesson shows up in another place too: the “OUT” command. At first glance, it’s just teaching a dog to drop something. But really, it’s about building trust, learning release, and proving to ourselves that letting go doesn’t mean losing.

There are days where I feel like everything's slipping—where the weight in my chest lingers, and focus feels impossible. I've been through one of those stretches lately. But every time I step outside with Arya, everything slows down. She doesn’t ask me to be perfect. She doesn’t care about the noise in my head. She just looks at me like I’m still the one she trusts to lead her. And in that moment, I remember: training a dog isn’t just about shaping their behavior—it’s about reshaping ourselves. Letting go. Showing up. Being present. Even when we’re hurting. Especially then.

Over the years, I’ve made my share of mistakes as a dog owner—especially when it comes to boarding. A lack of preparation can turn a simple trip into a disaster for both you and your dog.

I’ve had Ace break out of his crate and redecorate the floor (use your imagination). It could’ve been a mix of anxiety, confusion, or simply because it was his first night away from us. I had Ava, who used to be a rock star in thunderstorms—we’d train in the rain, go for walks, she never cared. But the one time we boarded her during fireworks season, she came home terrified of any loud noise. To this day, she’d hide in the deepest corner of the house, shivering with anxiety.

Let me set the stage: this post isn’t meant to flex. That said, I do take tremendous pride in the fact that I got exactly what I wanted (after logging hours of research) and that I’m in a position to do it. But more than that, this ties back to my two missions:

1. To help as many people and dogs as possible create strong, lasting bonds.

2. To inspire anyone who's afraid to take the leap— personally or professionally. If I can jump, so can you. Everything will be okay. You will be okay.

So, with that lens in mind, let’s talk about the vehicle.

During my period of pontification, I continued to learn, study and expand my education. It was also a period of reflection of things I did right, things I did wrong and things that didn’t quite work with Ace and Ava. When I first brought Arya home, something in me felt different. This wasn’t just another puppy. It was a clean slate. A new beginning. And this was a chance to apply everything I’ve learned—about dogs, yes, but mostly about myself.

I’ve loved and trained dogs before, but I’ve also made mistakes. I’ve been impatient. I’ve been inconsistent. I’ve held myself to impossible standards. This time, I’m choosing to slow down, listen more, and lead with intention.

So if you haven’t seen my latest Youtube video where I introduced Arya. I wanted to write about it as well for those who still appreciate the written word. So with that said:

Arya, say ‘Hello, World.’ World, say ‘Hello’ to Ayra.

Ayra at the time of writing this, has been mine for 6 full days now. And she has been bonding to me extremely well. But before getting into the nitty gritty of what we’ve been doing, how training is going. What our training looks like. And what the future looks like for us. I wanted to take a second and tell the quick story of how Ayra and I found each other. So with that, gather around the camp fire.

Owning a dog can be one of the greatest joys in the world. It is so fulling beyond belief that regardless how you’re feeling the joy a dog can have on your mood is nothing but pure jubilation. Your dog doesn’t care if you’re having a good day or bad day. They are just so happy to see you and spend time with you. They are Present when with you. This is the stuff most people brag about when they own a dog. So.

What about the stuff people don’t tell you about owning a dog? That’s a whole other story. It can be pretty eye opening stuff. Some of these you may haven’t thought about, some you may have known, or known about it but didn’t take too seriously. Shut up, Steven. Here you go without further ado, quick top 3 of things people don’t tell you about owning a dog. Kicking this off.

As anyone who’s ever seen one of my YouTube videos knows, I’m 100% transparent. So with that said I’ll let my ego do the speaking on this one. Being perfectly honest and in the most simplistic way possible I wanted to have something that is completely, undeniably mine. Something that I have absolute ownership of. Something that I was 100 % committed to. And if pursued, it’ll 100% scare the shit out of me. This checks all those boxes. Now let me put my ego in check.

Although the above is completely true. As always in life there’s more to it than that. It took me a long time to get where I was yet again , ready to fully go all in on but this time,  not quit. With that it’s best to start at the beginning because surprise, surprise dog training was not my original trade. If I ever had one. But maybe you’ll see a common theme here. If not it’ll be revealed at the end.

Strong Dogs is more than a name. It’s more than a brand. More than something to market. More than training your dog. It’s an Ideal. My purpose if you will, it’s a moment, a decision, when you needed a desperate change but were too scared to jump. My goal, or my ‘WHY’ for any Simon Sinek fans out there, are two things:

1) To help you train and develop the best dog possible. Taking the time to train your dog can be deemed a chore. Taking your dog out to go to the bathroom especially when you’re tired can be deemed a chore. But if I can assist you to ascertain this isn’t only just plan fucking irritating and your dog Isn’t a chore rather than the best Decision you’ve ever made so you guys have the longest, most endearing, meaningful relationship possible. Then it’s a win.

Balance Training, Positive Only training, E collar training, Negative Reinforcement, Positive Reinforcement, scare tactics, there’s so much information, misinformation, ideologies, theories that I feel more stupid now more than ever.

“You’re Tearing Me Apart!” - James Dean (Rebel Without A Cause)

Does that sound about right? Or some version of that anyway? Here’s the thing, all the theories and possibilities are all well and great until you got a dog in front of you. All those theories and possibilities are all well and great until you have a uncompliant, high drive dog in front of you. Because until you have a dog in your life and are caring for them 24/7, all the YouTube, Instagram, Facebook or other social media clip you’ve seen, go out the window.