📌 CARE Community Guidelines 📌

 

Welcome to the CARE Community! This space is built on mutual respect, shared learning, and a deep care for dogs and their people. 

CARE is for everyone. We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind — including on the basis of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, body size, or neurodiversity. Accessibility is also deeply important to us. If there’s anything we can do to make this space more usable or welcoming for you, please reach out. We are always learning too!

To help keep this space supportive and safe, we ask that all members adhere to the following:

1. Kindness is non-negotiable.

We do not allow criticism, judgment, or unkind language to be directed at other members or at the CARE team. All communication here must stay respectful, warm, and constructive.

Of course, if you have constructive feedback about the platform, content, or the way things are structured, we welcome it! Please email us directly at [email protected] or use the feedback surveys we routinely send out–do not use the public forums for this.

2. We are here to learn The Nordic Way.

This community is grounded in the Nordic philosophy of dog training: gentle, choice-based, respectful interactions rooted in observation and empathy. We ask that all training discussions stay aligned with this approach.

We firmly advocate for the exclusive use of force-free and fear-free methods in our dog training practices. We distinctly reject any approach that involves force, intimidation, fear/scaring, or the application of verbal and/or physical punishment to dogs.

Please do not advocate for or show images/videos of tools or devices that can inflict discomfort, pain, or fear upon dogs. This includes, but is not limited to, shock collars/e-collars, prong collars, retriever leashes, choke chains, spray or noise collars, and so-called no-pull harnesses. These tools and methods are completely opposed to the Nordic Way.

3. If something looks off, trust that we’ll handle it.

If you see a post that includes a tool, method, or moment that looks aversive or even just uncomfortable for the dog, please don’t step in yourself. Tamara and Emma actively monitor posts to ensure they align with our guidelines, and our Mentors are here to gently support members when improvements can be made. If you have any doubts, you can message the admins privately.

We ask that you trust the CARE team to guide those moments with kindness, care, and consistency. This allows our space to stay safe and supportive for everyone.

4. Seeking professional advice? Use the right space.

If you’re looking for professional support, please post in the Ask A Dog Professional forum and be sure to follow the posting guidelines listed there to get the best help possible.

And a gentle reminder: members are not allowed to comment on each other’s posts in that forum. This helps ensure the advice given is accurate, consistent, and supportive of the Nordic Way.

5. Our mentors promote an open and proactive feedback culture.

If you post in any other forum than “Ask a Dog Professional” and our mentors see something that you may have missed, they may invite you to post in the “Ask a Dog Professional” forum, so that others can learn from your post. 

6. Training advice should only be given by our Nordic mentors & experts. 

In order to ensure that any training advice given is accurate, consistent, and supportive of the Nordic Way, we kindly ask you to not give any personal advice to other members (even if you are a dog professional yourself). This role is restricted to our Nordic Mentors who are labeled as such in our forums (as well as our founder Lisbeth and our experts). This also applies to the chat function during Live Events hosted by our Nordic dog professionals.

Words of encouragement and shared experiences are always ok, as long as they simply help foster a sense of community and support without giving advice.

7. We select our partners, experts and recommendations with care. 

All our partners are selected based on a shared set of values to ensure that our recommendations follow our Nordic philosophy of dog training. Please do not post or refer to advertisements from other businesses or share recommendations based on your personal experience (unless you refer to one of our official partners, such as Canuzzo or experts, such as Anne Lill Kvam).

If ever any of your posts with a non-promotional intention shows a product other members ask you about, please feel free to @ mention either Emma or Tamara (your admins) in the thread to get confirmation that it’s ok to share the brand (we only want to ensure the brand/product is in line with our code of ethics).

If ever you feel like there is a trusted professional from your own personal experience which could be beneficial to name/recommend in one of your posts - but this professional is not part of the trusted Nordic experts - please reach out to your admins and we are happy to look into that person’s background and verify if they align with the Nordic code of ethics and can be openly referred to within our community. 

8. When in doubt, ask.

If you're unsure whether something you want to post or comment may go against our guidelines, please reach out before posting. You can message Tamara or Emma, or email us at [email protected].

The above guidelines apply across our entire community and chat sections of any live event. Be advised that posts or comments that violate these guidelines may be deleted without notice.

While we would never want to lose a member of this community, repeated violations may result in removal.

Thank you for helping us protect the kind, intentional culture of this space. 💛