Modified k9 • NEPA

  • Home
  • Modified k9 • NEPA

Modified k9 • NEPA Modified k9™ is a Northeast Pennsylvania nonprofit centered on relationship-first canine education & development.

ABOUT POSTING ON OUR PAGE:

Thank you all for joining our page & supporting our mission. We very much enjoy hearing from our fb friends, especially when it comes to our pit bull dogs. If you are going to leave a comment or post on our page please refrain from:

☆ cross-posting for dogs in need that are not mk9 dogs.

☆ advertising for yourself, your page, your products, another page, contest, pet

itions or chipins/ send money to posts.

☆ bad mouthing, personal attacks or any other inappropriate insults.

☆ comments that redirect from the post topic at hand. If these guidelines are overlooked your comments will be deleted and you may be removed from our page, permanently, if it continues. We would like this page to stay clear from massive cross postings and jamming up the airwaves. Thank you all for understanding & playing nice ;)

Any questions or concerns about our request above, message us at http://modifiedk9.org/contact

A puppy, a newly adopted rescue, and a twelve-year-old dog may all live beautifully with children.But we wouldn’t ask th...
13/08/2026

A puppy, a newly adopted rescue, and a twelve-year-old dog may all live beautifully with children.

But we wouldn’t ask the same things of them.

A puppy is still learning almost everything.

They’re learning what hands mean, how hard is too hard with their mouth, when to settle, where to sleep, and what all the noise and movement of family life means.

They need a lot of guidance. And usually a lot more sleep than people realize.

A rescue may be learning something completely different.

Even when we know their history, we don’t necessarily know how they’ll feel in this home, with these children, once they begin to settle in.

We think they deserve some time before we decide who they are.

And then there’s the older dog.

The dog who may have spent years happily surrounded by children but now hears less, sleeps more deeply, moves a little slower or simply doesn’t have the patience they once did.

That dog deserves for our expectations to change with them too.

Sometimes we get attached to the idea of what a family dog should be able to handle.

We’d rather look at the dog who’s here today.

What are they capable of right now?
What are they still learning?
What might they need help with?

Children can learn this too.

The way we love an animal doesn’t stay exactly the same throughout their life.

Sometimes loving them well means changing what we ask of them.

Much love,
Modified K9™

Food is valuable.So are bones, favorite toys, a stolen sock, something found outside… sometimes things we wouldn’t expec...
12/08/2026

Food is valuable.

So are bones, favorite toys, a stolen sock, something found outside… sometimes things we wouldn’t expect a dog to care about at all.

When children and dogs live together, we think it’s important that we respect that before there’s ever a problem.

We don’t need to repeatedly take things away from a dog to prove that we’re allowed to.

And we don’t need children reaching into bowls, removing bones or testing whether the family dog will tolerate it.

We’d rather teach the child to give the dog space while they’re eating and teach the dog that people approaching doesn’t mean they’re about to lose something.

If something does need to be taken away, that’s an adult’s job.

Resource guarding can be frightening when people first see it. A dog may freeze, hover over something, move away with it, give a hard look or growl.

We don’t want to punish those early warnings.
We want to listen to them.

A growl gives us information that the dog is uncomfortable. Taking away the growl doesn’t necessarily take away the discomfort.

It may only take away the warning.

This is where the boundaries we talked about last week matter.

Give dogs places where they can enjoy valuable things without being bothered. Teach children that those spaces belong to the dog. And pay attention when a dog tells us something has become important to them.

We can work on the behavior without turning every interaction into a confrontation.

The goal isn’t to raise a dog who will tolerate anything a child does.

It’s to create a home where we don’t expect them to.

Much love,
Modified k9™

| Dog tolerance is a relationship, not a label One of the biggest misconceptions in the dog world is that a dog is eithe...
11/08/2026

| Dog tolerance is a relationship, not a label
One of the biggest misconceptions in the dog world is that a dog is either dog-friendly or dog-aggressive.
The reality is much more nuanced.
Dog tolerance exists on a curve.
At one end are dogs who genuinely enjoy interacting with almost every dog they meet. At the other are dogs who prefer little to no interaction with unfamiliar dogs. Most dogs live somewhere in between, and where they fall can change with age, health, stress, environment, and experience.
A puppy who happily greets every dog may become a more selective adult. A dog who is tired, uncomfortable, overwhelmed, or restrained on leash may have less tolerance than they would under different circumstances.
And tolerance is never one-sided.
Every interaction is a conversation between two individuals, each bringing their own communication style, confidence, boundaries, energy, and experiences.
Some dogs simply fit together better than others.
So instead of asking:
“Is this dog good with other dogs?”
Maybe the better question is:
“Under what circumstances does this dog thrive?”
Success isn’t measured by how many dogs they play with.
Our job isn’t to convince our dogs to love every dog they meet. It’s to understand their body language, recognize their limits, and advocate for them before they feel the need to speak louder.
When we stop treating dog tolerance as a pass-or-fail test, we make room for something far more useful: Understanding.
Understanding a dog’s comfort zone allows us to make better decisions for them.
Much love,
Modified k9™
——-
Photo Mk9 Derek with two of the best mk9 pups we had the pleasure of sharing life with Poll Pocket (Top) & Bella Vita.

We think sometimes we hear the word boundary and imagine restriction.Don’t do this.Stay away from that.Leave the dog alo...
11/08/2026

We think sometimes we hear the word boundary and imagine restriction.

Don’t do this.
Stay away from that.
Leave the dog alone.
Keep the dog away from the kids.

But I’ve come to see boundaries a little differently.

Good boundaries don’t just tell someone where they can’t go.

They help everyone understand where they stand.

Children need that.
Dogs do too.

A dog sleeping in their bed shouldn’t have to wonder whether a child is going to climb in beside them.

A child sitting on the floor eating a snack shouldn’t have to constantly protect their food from the dog.

A puppy shouldn’t be expected to make good decisions while following an overtired toddler through the house.

And a child shouldn’t be responsible for managing a dog who hasn’t learned how to move calmly around them yet.

Those aren’t failures in the relationship.

They’re places where we step in.

Sometimes a boundary is a baby gate.
Sometimes it’s a closed door.

Sometimes it’s teaching a child that when the dog goes to their bed, we let them rest.

Sometimes it’s teaching the dog that the child’s play area isn’t theirs to move through whenever they choose.

Sometimes it’s simply saying,
“That’s enough for now.”

Not because anyone did something wrong.

Because we’ve learned to recognize when enough is enough.

We don’t want a dog to have to growl before they’re finally given space.

And we don’t want a child to have to become frightened before we decide the dog is too much for them in that moment.

We can notice sooner.
That’s part of our responsibility.

Boundaries also shouldn’t exist only for the dog.

Children are allowed to have them too.

They shouldn’t have to accept being jumped on, chased, mouthed, knocked over, followed, or have things taken from their hands because “the puppy is learning.”

The puppy is learning.
So is the child.

And that’s exactly why we’re there.

We can help the dog learn another way without asking the child to endure the process.

Over time, some boundaries may change.

The puppy matures.
The child learns.
The dog becomes more comfortable.

Trust grows.

Other boundaries may remain for life.
That’s okay too.

The measure of a healthy relationship isn’t how few boundaries it has.

It’s whether the boundaries allow everyone within that relationship to feel safe.

There’s something comforting about knowing what to expect.

Knowing where you can rest.

Knowing someone will notice when you’re uncomfortable.

Knowing you don’t have to handle every difficult situation yourself.

For children and dogs, we get to provide that.

Boundaries aren’t walls between them.

They’re the structure around them while they’re learning how to live together.

And within that structure…

Trust has room to grow.

Much love,
Modified k9™

Sometimes the difficult moment between a child and a dog didn’t actually begin with the child.It started earlier.Maybe t...
11/08/2026

Sometimes the difficult moment between a child and a dog didn’t actually begin with the child.

It started earlier.

Maybe the dog didn’t sleep well. Maybe it’s an adolescent who hasn’t had enough opportunity to move, or a rescue still trying to settle into a new life.

Then a child runs through the room, the dog chases or gets too rough, and that’s the part everyone sees.

We’ve learned to look a little farther back.

What did the dog bring into that moment?

Dogs need sleep. Movement. Opportunities to sniff, explore, think and settle.

Breed can be part of that conversation too.

Seeing the individual dog doesn’t mean pretending genetics don’t exist. A Border Collie may notice movement. A retriever may want something in their mouth. A terrier may be quick to pursue something moving.

None of that tells us exactly who a dog will be.
It gives us information.

And life with children gives dogs a lot to process.

Kids run. They wrestle. They drop things. The house gets loud and busy.

Sometimes the dog simply doesn’t have much left in the tank. That doesn’t mean we excuse unsafe behavior. We teach. We manage. We create boundaries. But we also ask what happened before the behavior.

The same is true for our kids. An exhausted four-year-old doesn’t have the same capacity they had that morning.

Sometimes we have two individuals sharing a home, and both are running on empty.

Our job isn’t always figuring out who behaved “badly.”

Sometimes it’s noticing who needs what.

We ask a lot from dogs who live with children.

It’s worth asking whether we’re giving them enough of what they need to do that well.

It doesn’t excuse behavior.

It gives us a better place to begin.

Much love,
Modified k9™

We hear a lot of statements about dogs and children.“That breed is great with kids.”“That breed isn’t good with children...
10/08/2026

We hear a lot of statements about dogs and children.

“That breed is great with kids.”
“That breed isn’t good with children.”
“He’s a rescue, so you have to be careful.”
“She’s been raised with kids, so she’s fine.”

We understand why we look for those answers. We want some way of knowing what to expect.

But dogs aren’t that simple.

Breed matters. Genetics matter.

What a dog was originally bred to do can influence how they move through the world.

Some dogs are more likely to chase movement.
Some are naturally more watchful.
Some are highly sensitive to sound or activity.
Some mature slowly.

Some have an enormous need to move, explore, work, sniff, retrieve, herd, guard, or use their bodies in ways that need somewhere appropriate to go.

We shouldn’t ignore those things.

But breed is only one part of the dog standing in front of us.

Temperament matters. Early development matters. Previous experiences matter. Age matters.

So does the environment they’re living in now.

And all of those things can look different depending on the day.

A dog who enjoys children may not enjoy six children running through the house at a birthday party.

A senior dog who once happily played for hours may now have less patience for being climbed over or startled from sleep.

A puppy who seems endlessly tolerant is still developing and shouldn’t be expected to accept everything simply because they haven’t objected yet.

A rescue dog may arrive with a history we know very little about.

And even the family dog who has lived peacefully with children for years can have moments when they’re tired, uncomfortable, frightened, overwhelmed, or simply finished interacting.

That’s why we hesitate when we hear someone describe a dog as “good with kids.”

What does good with kids actually mean?
Does the dog seek children out?
Are they relaxed around them?
Can they comfortably walk away?

Do they tolerate interactions they don’t particularly enjoy?

Are we noticing the difference?

Because tolerance and enjoyment aren’t the same thing.

And tolerance isn’t endless.

The same dog can have different limits in different circumstances.

Rather than deciding who a dog is from a label, we would rather watch the dog.

What makes their body soften?

What makes it tighten?

What do they seek out?

What do they avoid?

How quickly do they recover when something startles them?

What happens when the house becomes loud?
What happens when they’re tired?

What are they trying to tell us before they ever feel the need to growl?

Breed can give us information. History can give us information. Temperament can give us information.

But none of them gives us permission to stop paying attention.

Especially when children are involved.

We don’t need children to fear certain breeds.

And we don’t need them believing certain breeds are automatically safe.

We need them to understand something much more useful:

Learn the dog in front of you.

Not the reputation.
Not the label.
Not the dog you wish they were.

The one who’s actually standing there.

Because every dog has a history.
Every dog has needs.
Every dog has limits.

And every dog deserves to be understood as an individual.

Much love,
Modified k9™

Children are curious about dogs.They see one walking toward them and want to say hello. They want to reach out. Ask thei...
09/08/2026

Children are curious about dogs.

They see one walking toward them and want to say hello. They want to reach out. Ask their name. Touch their ears. Sometimes hug them before we’ve even had a chance to catch up.

Dogs can be just as curious about children.

A puppy sees a child running across the yard and wants to follow. A dog hears laughter and moves closer. They want to sniff. Jump up. Investigate what’s in little hands.

There’s nothing wrong with any of that.
Curiosity is natural. But curiosity isn’t permission.

A child wanting to touch a dog doesn’t mean the dog wants to be touched.

And a dog wanting to get closer to a child doesn’t mean the child is comfortable with the dog coming closer.

Both sides of that matter.

We spend a lot of time teaching children to ask the owner,
“Can I pet your dog?”

That’s a good place to start. But there’s another question worth teaching them to ask:
“Does the dog want me to?”

Those aren’t always the same answer.

An owner may say yes while the dog quietly moves away. Turns their head. Stays behind their person. Or simply doesn’t move closer.

We can teach children that they don’t have to follow. They don’t have to reach farther. They can let the dog decide what happens next.

And we can offer children that same respect.

If a child doesn’t want to say hello to a dog, they shouldn’t have to. They don’t need to prove that they’re brave. They don’t need to pet the puppy because “he’s friendly.” They can watch from a distance. They can change their mind. They can say no.

The same is true inside our homes.

A puppy doesn’t need access to a child every time they’re playing.

A child doesn’t need access to the dog every time the dog is resting.

Sometimes one wants interaction and the other doesn’t. That’s part of living together.

We’re not trying to take curiosity away from either of them. We’re teaching them what to do with it.

Notice. Wait. Listen.
Give the other individual a chance to answer.

Because wanting to know someone doesn’t give us the right to enter their space. And learning that another living being gets a say in what happens to them…

That’s a lesson that reaches far beyond dogs.

Much love,
Modified k9™

One of the biggest challenges between children and dogs isn’t behavior. It’s communication. Children grow up in a world ...
08/08/2026

One of the biggest challenges between children and dogs isn’t behavior. It’s communication. Children grow up in a world of words. They learn by listening. They watch our faces. They hear the tone of our voice.

A smile means one thing. A frown means another. Someone says, “Good job,” and they understand they’ve done something right.

Dogs experience the world differently. Long before they understand a word, they’re watching movement. Body posture. Breathing.
The direction someone is walking. How quickly they’re approaching. Whether the body in front of them feels calm… or uncertain. That’s their language.

This is where misunderstandings often begin.

A child may see a dog wagging its tail and think,

“He’s happy!”
But the rest of the dog’s body might be stiff.
Their mouth closed. Their weight shifted forward. Their eyes fixed on something. The dog is saying much more than the tail alone.

Or a dog may quietly walk away from an interaction.

To many adults, it looks like nothing happened.

But to the dog, walking away was communication. They were saying, “I need a little space.”

If we don’t notice that conversation, the dog may feel they need to speak louder next time.

Children aren’t born understanding these signals. Neither are most adults.

That’s why we believe one of the greatest gifts we can give a child isn’t teaching them to memorize a list of “dog rules.”

It’s teaching them to become an observer.
To notice when the dog moves away.
To notice when the dog’s body softens.
To notice when the dog chooses to come closer instead of being called over.

When children begin to see those quiet conversations, something changes. They stop expecting every dog to enjoy the same things.

They begin meeting the dog that’s actually in front of them. And that’s where understanding begins.

The more we learn to see the world through the dog’s eyes…

The easier it becomes to understand what they’ve been saying all along.

Much love,
Modified k9™

When families bring a dog into their home, we often hear things like…“We’re teaching the kids how to behave around the d...
07/08/2026

When families bring a dog into their home, we often hear things like…
“We’re teaching the kids how to behave around the dog.” Or… “We’re training the dog to be good with the kids.”

Both are important.

But we think there’s something we sometimes forget. We’re raising two learners.

The child is learning what dogs are comfortable with. The dog is learning what children are like.

Neither one wakes up already understanding the other.

A young child doesn’t automatically know when a dog wants space. A puppy doesn’t automatically understand why children run, laugh, squeal, or suddenly change direction.

They’re both trying to make sense of a world that’s new to them.

& Sometimes we expect too much, too soon. We hope they’ll become best friends within days. We picture them playing together. Sleeping beside one another. Growing up inseparable.

Sometimes that happens.
Sometimes it takes months.
Sometimes their relationship looks much quieter than we imagined.

None of those outcomes are wrong.

Relationships aren’t built because we put two living beings in the same house. They’re built through hundreds of small experiences.

A child learning to give the dog space while they’re resting.

A dog learning that children running through the yard isn’t an invitation to chase.

A parent noticing when either one has had enough.

Those moments may seem ordinary.
But they’re where trust begins.

Learning isn’t a race.
Neither is relationship.

The strongest relationships are rarely the ones that happen the fastest. They’re the ones built slowly, with patience, understanding, and enough successful experiences that both feel safe simply being themselves.

We’re not raising one learner. We’re raising two. And we’re fortunate enough to guide them both.

Much love,
Modified k9™

06/08/2026

For a long time, I’ve been fascinated by a simple question:

What if behavior isn’t the beginning of the conversation?

What if every movement, every pause, every glance, every moment of distance or closeness is part of a language we’ve slowly forgotten how to hear?

In the coming weeks, after we finish our Kids & Dogs series, I’d like to begin exploring that question with you.

Not through myths.
Not through dominance.
Not through training techniques.

But through observation.
Through relationship.

Through learning to notice what has always been there.

Wolves and domestic dogs share an ancient story. While their lives have followed different paths, they still reveal something profound about communication, social relationships, safety, and the way living beings move through the world.

This series won’t be about trying to make our dogs into wolves.

Nor will it be about romanticizing wolves.

Instead, we’ll use both as teachers…. inviting us to look beneath behavior and ask what it might be communicating before we rush to change it.

The more I study animals, the more I find myself asking fewer questions about obedience…
…and more questions about understanding.

Perhaps the greatest lesson isn’t learning how to speak to animals. Perhaps it’s learning how to listen.

I’m excited to begin this journey together.
I hope you will join us.

Much love,
Michelle Annadelia
Modified k9™

If you come across this post. Follow along here on Modified k9 • NEPA to stay connected to our updates. Feel free to share with others.

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Modified k9 • NEPA posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

  • Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization?

Share