About the author

Stephen Smith

Founder of Ask Bailey and editorial lead for the Ask Bailey blog.

About Stephen

I built Ask Bailey because I wanted a kinder, more practical way to train my own dog at home. Ask Bailey turns that work into an Android app and a free library of source-led training guides. I am the founder and editorial lead. I am not a certified dog trainer, veterinarian, or veterinary behaviourist, and every Ask Bailey guide is written on that basis: it is educational, it points you to the underlying sources, and it directs you to a qualified professional when training, medical or welfare decisions genuinely matter.

How Ask Bailey guides are written

Each article on the Ask Bailey blog follows the same editorial pipeline:

  1. Topic selection — driven by what real dog owners are searching for, using Google Search Console signals rather than guesswork.
  2. Source research — an AI research step gathers authoritative sources from established trainers, veterinary and welfare bodies, and kennel clubs.
  3. AI-assisted synthesis — a large language model drafts a long-form guide that summarises those sources in plain English, with in-line citations back to the original URLs.
  4. Human editorial review — I review every guide before publish for tone, safety framing, and alignment with the cited sources. Anything that touches health, welfare, bite risk or medical topics carries a visible “speak to a qualified professional” note.
  5. Ongoing improvement — guides are refreshed when search and engagement data suggest readers need better, clearer, or more up-to-date answers, and a dateModified is set on the underlying BlogPosting schema when that happens.

Editorial principles

  • Source-first. Every guide links out to the sources it is built on. Those sources are the final authority, not Ask Bailey.
  • Positive reinforcement only. Ask Bailey does not recommend aversive tools (e-collars, prong collars, alpha/dominance methods). Guides are written around reward-based, welfare-first training.
  • Safety over speed. If a behaviour involves aggression, severe fear, pain, illness, or bite risk, the guide tells readers to stop and consult a vet or veterinary behaviourist.
  • Transparency about AI. Guides are drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. We do not pretend otherwise.

Important. Ask Bailey articles are educational resources, not veterinary care or professional behaviour advice. For illness, pain, aggression, bite risk, severe fear, resource guarding, or any sudden behaviour change, please follow the sources cited in the relevant article and speak with a qualified veterinarian, veterinary behaviourist, or certified positive-reinforcement dog trainer. Ask Bailey and Stephen Smith accept no liability for outcomes arising from use of these guides.

Contact and app

Ask Bailey the app is on Google Play for Android, and you can reach me through the contact page or at support@askbailey.app.

Read Ask Bailey guides Get the Android app