Choose conditions, not pressure.
Start only when the setting, equipment, handler capacity, and dog’s visible comfort make a short practice moment sensible. Use secure spaces and responsible supervision.
Welfare comes before a route
Slow down. Create space. Stop early.
KindCue Circuit promotes general, reward-led educational planning. It does not prescribe an individual dog’s needs, diagnose health or behaviour, or authorize anyone to push through discomfort.
Make the next ask easier.
When attention or comfort changes, lower distance, duration or distraction. Pausing, moving away, sniffing, resting, drinking water, or leaving are valid options.
Use qualified real-world help.
For illness, injury, pain, acute distress, unsafe behaviour, or a situation you cannot safely manage, stop and seek suitable veterinary, emergency, or qualified professional assistance.
Visible observations only
The app does not read a dog’s mind.
Signal Lantern uses general visible examples—such as a loose posture, turning away, loss of focus, or a pause—to prompt the handler to reassess. These examples are not a diagnosis, a label, or a claim about an animal’s internal state.
Hard boundaries in this app
Not included
Aversion-based correction instructions, dominance framing, pain or intimidation, forced posture, unsafe loose-dog scenarios, medical treatment, medication advice, diagnostic claims, injury rehabilitation, guarantee language, or competition-readiness claims.
Not guaranteed
The app cannot make a location secure, establish recall, determine equipment fit, set safe obstacle intensity, decide when a dog can train, or replace a club instructor or animal-care professional.
Reference point: The app’s welfare guardrails were drafted as general educational boundaries informed by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries’ Code of Welfare: Dogs. Read the primary source in the Source Shelf.