C.A.R.E Focused Education for Dogs & Their People
Inspiring Curiosity, Agency, Reflection, & Empathy
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A Guide to a Calm Holiday Season with Your Dog
The holiday season is often described as the most wonderful time of the year, but for dog parents, it can also bring a whirlwind of stress.
Between bustling schedules, a parade of visitors, and the clatter of festive chaos, even the calmest dogs might feel overwhelmed. Thankfully, with a little planning and some creative management, you can navigate the holiday hustle while keeping your dog happy and your household peaceful. Let’s dive into the key strategies to reduce stress for your dog—and yourself—this holiday season.
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If your dog struggles with guests, having multiple people over for a family meal can be really exciting or really terrifying for them. Here are a some quick tips to help your dog TODAY, tomorrow, or in the future  The inside scoop on how to narrow down your trainer search Looking for the right dog trainer and coach can be an intimidating challenge. It's important to discover someone who you can trust to support your dog and your family.
I've got you covered! I've put together some essential questions to ask prospective trainers and coaches that will give you an idea of whether you'll be a good fit for one another. You might be wondering why I, as a trainer and coach, am sharing this with you. Because there is only so much time in the day and so many family and dogs I can help. I won't be the best match for everyone so I want to provide you with guidance on how to filter through all the options available out there. Additionally, I'll share some warning signs and red flags that could indicate it's time to keep searching for a better match. You can find even more red flags in my last blog post. At my core, I believe in helping you and your pup achieve a happy and deep relationship through finding the best support for you and your family! 10/11/2023 0 Comments Heading down the Vet Prep Path
Preparing your nervous pet for a visit to the vet can be a daunting and overwhelming task.
Sometimes it feels like an all or nothing situation. "Well, if my dog is never going to love the Vet, we should just get it over with".
With a bit of understanding and some home-taught skills, you can make the next Vet visit a little happier. You'll turn this potentially stressful situation into a smoother and more comfortable experience for both you and your pup. Here is a overview to help you understand how I recommend navigating down the Vet Prep Path. 7/24/2023 0 Comments Foundations of Better BehaviorStruggling with your dog's behavior?
I'm going to share my 5 Relationship-Focused Building Blocks to Better Behavior with you to help you figure out where you might be getting stuck and how to re-establish your foundation.
When it comes to training and behavior change in your living, breathing, 4 legged family member, there can be a lot of behavior problems that come into play. Whether you're dealing with fear of people, leash reactivity, fear of new places, separation anxiety, poor manners, barking, biting, noise phobia, fear of the vet, or are starting with a new puppy or dog... your relationship with your dog and with the behavior process is where it all begins. All behavior needs a solid foundation, built in trust, safety, and agency. 3/2/2022 0 Comments The Power of Trick TrainingImproved attention, a better relationship, and a bigger vocabulary for your dog. What other type of training can do all that?  How you talk to your dog makes all the difference in how he is likely to respond to you During a private training session the other day, I was asked a great question! As my client's husband was calling his dog over and had repeated "come" a few times in a row, she asked: "Aren't you supposed to only say the cue once?" This time, I saved her husband. What he did was actually exactly what I would do, mostly... I'll explain But first, let me ask you this: When you call your dog over to you, is your tone high or low? Do you say it once or repeat it over and over again? When you tell your dog to STAY, how is your tone then? How about LEAVE IT? How about when you ask your dog if he "Wants to go for a ride?" Think about how different your tone might be in all those different situations. What if you see a loose dog up ahead and you know it's not going to go well if that dog comes running over to your dog - might there be a change in your tone then, too? I think that's reasonable! But... Did you know that tone makes a huge difference in HOW our dogs respond to us? Ok, maybe you did but I would guess that you might still be underestimating the significance of it.
 Here are the stages that will help set your training progress up for successWhen you are dealing with big emotions in dogs, it's important to break down the training process into smaller achievable goals that set everyone up for success.
Reactivity is simply responsiveness to a stressor, trigger, or something exciting in the environment. It can be really difficult for them to think or learn when they are in that state of mind, just as it can be hard for you to take in new information when you're in the same state of mind. When we expect too much from our dogs too soon, it can really set back our training progress leaving both ourselves and our dogs very frustrated and feeling defeated. For that reason, I'm going to show you the 6 stages to focus on to help find your success path in the training process So how can I refer to what I do?Yes, technically, I am a Certified Professional Dog Trainer but it just doesn't sit right. It's not about getting dogs to "obey"
I had to take some time to think about how I approach the process of helping dogs and their people learn. I am always paying attention to body language, considering emotions, trying to keep things playful, breaking learning down into smaller digestible chunks, building trust, setting boundaries and remaining consistent with them. A-HA. I figured it out! Do you know why your dog ignores you? You know those times when you have somewhere to be and you need to call your dog to come inside but he just takes his time responding? Or maybe he even plays a little game of keep-away at the most inconvenient time? It happens to everyone!
There are many reasons why your dog might ignore you or get distracted by something else but all those reasons can be pretty easily summed up into 5 main categories. This will help you better understand how to start to work on the problem so that you can start getting better attention from your family dog!
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