Front N'Scenter Animal Behaviour & Consulting

Front N'Scenter Animal Behaviour & Consulting Our mission is to enhance the well-being of pets and strengthen the bond between animals and their families.

We aim to create happier, healthier lives for animals and peace of mind for their caregivers.

02/04/2025

I never have drop in space and try not to operate that way, but I do have room for 1 or 2 dogs at 815 this evening at Fetch. Dogs should already have some odour experience

This is why the vets I work with often recommend further testing even when the general practice vet says that the dog is...
02/04/2025

This is why the vets I work with often recommend further testing even when the general practice vet says that the dog is physically fine and the routine bloodwork is normal. Behaviour is often the ONLY sign of a physical problem.

Meet Theodore! He is a 2 year old Golden Retriever who has been in to see Dr. Juanita Ashton regarding his behavioural concerns.

Dr. Ashton recommended a thorough diagnostic work up due to his pet parent's concerns.

It was revealed on bloodwork that he had a tick- bourne illness called Anaplasma, which is similar to Lyme disease. He also had low Vitamin B12 levels. Both can cause all over pain, gastrointestinal disease, mood changes and fever.

After treatment was initiated, he started to improve a lot! He is feeling so much better now.

Behaviour concerns are not isolated in many cases. Even though he has treatment for behavioural issues, there are often medical issues underlying. Pets can often mask and hide disease. Medical issues can worsen behavioural symptoms.

We are all so very happy however, Theo is feeling better and on the road to recovery!

02/04/2025

Pups on Parole class in the works. Small classes that start with dogs with visual barriers. These 2 dogs have big feelings around other dogs and were able to work their way to outside the visual barriers. Pattern games help teach the dogs skills to come down from arousal (and Frank says it helps with his rally obedience skills).

02/03/2025

Remember Zelda from last week? She has a history of barking and lunging at dogs (but like all shepherds, she is a sweetheart underneath). We introduced a lifelike dog to the picture and asked her to work with a skill she was learning to love.
We will work on being more neutral and doing nothing eventually but we started with a skill in the presence of a dog that doesn't yell back.

01/28/2025

Update - classes cancelled

Rainbow has an important message to everyone all up in arms about the CBC programs on veterinary care ...just take a mom...
01/27/2025

Rainbow has an important message to everyone all up in arms about the CBC programs on veterinary care ...just take a moment and chill.
Medicine is expensive - human or veterinary..it would have been interesting for CBC to compare the prices of similar diagnostics for humans and animals.
Yes corporate has bought up a good number of veterinary clinics. We have an interesting things I've seen happening in NS is that there are also a lot of independent clinics opening up. Don't like corporate - then find a privately owned clinic and support them so they can remain open.
Love your vet but they are corporately owned - stay with the vet you trust and let them know you appreciate them. It means a lot to the staff and at the end of the day - they care for your family member no matter who owns them.
Now as for costs of things- working behaviour cases- the vets i work for send pets back to their general practice for further diagnostics in a number of cases. Often this is outside routine testing and often it is expensive. It's not to pad any wallets, it's because there have been many pets with physical conditions that only had behaviour changes as signs of physical conditions- from disc issues, GI diseases, cancer, endocrine diseases - many of these were not caught on normal tests and only discovered with a different set of tests. I can't train away pain.
If you have financial concerns (because we all do)- be honest with your vet and they can help prioritize where to put funds. Vets and veterinary staff are not recommending testing to pad wallets- they are recommending testing because they want to help your pet.
Yes - there are bad eggs in every industry, and yes there are bad matches (I love all the general practice vets I have had over the past few years - some are just a better match for me than others).
So take a moment and chill like Rainbow before blasting all vets because of a one sided report.

01/27/2025

Today's daytrain friend is Zelda. She is learning that the food robot is amazing and touching a target away from the food can get the food

How cute is Tilly? She is hanging out with me for daytrain support to help with skills managing her anxiety as well as a...
01/23/2025

How cute is Tilly? She is hanging out with me for daytrain support to help with skills managing her anxiety as well as adding some additional feedback for her veterinary team.

We have had some hiccups, and we are sure there will be more, but we are loving the functionality of our simple space. ...
01/19/2025

We have had some hiccups, and we are sure there will be more, but we are loving the functionality of our simple space. We'd love to say hello on Feb 6, 2025 from 630-9pm We will determine a storm date later if mother nature has other thoughts.
This is going to be informal, but we'd love an idea of numbers so kindly email us at [email protected] if you plan on attending.
Please note that the vet clinic next door is open until 7 so be considerate and leave their parking are open for their clients and staff.

Rainbow is doing some last minute checks of the tub. We will be able to offer pre-booked self serve baths, as well coope...
01/17/2025

Rainbow is doing some last minute checks of the tub. We will be able to offer pre-booked self serve baths, as well cooperative care training and sanitary grooming for our pets eith big feelings

Avonport Scent clinic Feb 2. I may have 1 spot open for a newer or beginner dog in the afternoon. Please email me at i...
01/16/2025

Avonport Scent clinic Feb 2. I may have 1 spot open for a newer or beginner dog in the afternoon. Please email me at [email protected] if you are interested in more information.

The cutest boy that came for some training today. The cutest sploot when we were done
01/15/2025

The cutest boy that came for some training today. The cutest sploot when we were done

01/15/2025

Save the date for the evening of Feb 6. We are working on an open house/small grand opening at our new facility. This will be a people only event. We are looking forward to showing our little place to everyone.

01/12/2025

Back to group classes today. We can't wait to see the returning dogs and to meet the new ones.

01/11/2025

This past week, I was lucky enough to help Dr Ashton with some feline friends at Bide Awhile . I love working with cats even though I don't get the opportunity very often. We worked on pattern games with a couple of the cats to help them with their big feelings.
https://www.facebook.com/share/181zJYphka/

01/11/2025

Our first selection for Outdoor Show competitors has been sent out. We do have a few applicants that we are currently keeping on standby (so have not reached out yet). Please check your email and send us a confirmation of you plan to attend.
I will be reaching out to those i have earmarked as alternates next week.

01/09/2025

Some upcoming events
Our last spot in our Scentsitive Souls class was snapped up quickly, but if there is interest, I am looking to add a class out of my Lake Echo facility. Send me an email if you are interested. It likely would be a weekend morning.
Some people looking to start competing in scent work, are looking to find out things like rules, how to enter, differences between organizations so I am looking to do a short seminar on these things. I will likely make it as a donation to the Trout Fund (assuming it has started to be formalized by then).
I will soon be starting a monthly "Cat Chat" evening at the facility in Lake Echo to discuss common behavioural concerns in cats. Fee will be by donation as well. For our feline followers- what topics would you be interested in.
We are also working on a fun scent competition location this summer- you are going to love it.

01/09/2025

A quick sneak peak of the new training facility. We will be having limited self-serve bathing available (tub and table are electric so no lifting dogs or bending over)

Address

6-3288 Highway 7
Halifax, NS
B3E1C6

Telephone

+19024767934

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Videos

Pups on Parole class in the works. Small classes that start with dogs with visual barriers. These 2 dogs have big feelings around other dogs and were able to work their way to outside the visual barriers. Pattern games help teach the dogs skills to come down from arousal (and Frank says it helps with his rally obedience skills).

Remember Zelda from last week? She has a history of barking and lunging at dogs (but like all shepherds, she is a sweetheart underneath). We introduced a lifelike dog to the picture and asked her to work with a skill she was learning to love. We will work on being more neutral and doing nothing eventually but we started with a skill in the presence of a dog that doesn't yell back.

Today's daytrain friend is Zelda. She is learning that the food robot is amazing and touching a target away from the food can get the food

A quick sneak peak of the new training facility. We will be having limited self-serve bathing available (tub and table are electric so no lifting dogs or bending over)

Meet Archie. He is afraid of the world and because we live where we need to live, he lives in the city. The buses and cars and all the things are terrifying to him. His guardian mentioned he is much more comfortable at the cottage. Archie has a great care team, but sometimes part of behaviour modification is thinking outside the traditional thoughts. Behaviour modification begins with meeting an animal's needs. Red setters were bred to find birds. We decided to take Archie for a field day to see if he could put aside his worries and have some fun. When he arrived, he was nervous of the pigeons and the people. It didn't take him long to find his happy face and his happy tail and find joy in unlocking his breed instincts. (The pigeons in use are well cared for homing pigeons and the dogs do not come in direct contact with them. They fly back to their coop where they find their food). Thanks to Darren Miller of Firefly Kennel and Gun Dog Training for helping Archie find his bird dog self.

We love working with all species. My week at The Ranch is giving me a chance to work with a variety of species. Corgi the goat is learning to back up to a mat.

Day 1 of group sessions with Elliot done today. Thank you Aqua Terra Kennels for use of your property. This video is so much more than a dog rocking his introduction to tracking. Henry and his caregiver have been working hard with me and his bevaiour veterinarian. Just 6 weeks ago - any one coming close to Henry would result in either reactive barking or cowering. A change in his medication and the training he has been doing was able to be maintained. Psychopharmaceuticals shouldn't look like a sedated zombie, they should look like a dog enjoying an introduction to a fun day like every other dog attending. Sometimes the first choice of medication needs to be changed but it doesn't mean that medications don't work, it sometimes means that you have to switch things up.

We are into a summer of heat warnings. While I still am careful about temperatures about when I am field training with Rainbow, I still want to continue to train him. Heat injuries become fatal very quickly so I want to do what I can to prevent them. A tactical veterinarian provided this technique for helping to cool dogs when there are no bodies of water. Fill a cooler with ice and water. Sponge your dog down at regular intervals to cool them down. For Rainbow, we are doing this after every run. We are pouring over the back, and sponging the belly. We are still cognizant not to drop his temperature too low. This kept him from overheating and being able to train. If you are ever in doubt in the heat, just avoid training, or working your dog and leave them home. You can't train a dead dog. Have fun with your dog while being safe this summer

Rainbow getting his Cytopoint injection. With Emla cream, some whipped cream cheese, and a foundation already in place, his injection is a non-event. Ask us how we can help your pet cooperate more readily with their care needs. Please note - if your pet already has a strong aversion to procedures, please do not jump straight to distraction. Rainbow can opt out and knows how to, and has had training for injections.

Did you know that you can train your cat to take medications voluntarily? Willow loves cooperative care training days and readily takes empty gel capsules so that she has lots of practice if she ever actually needs medication. The best time to get your pet ready for taking medications is long before they ever need it (start as soon as you bring them home)

And the fan favorite award now known as The Lux Memorial Award

Karen's reaction is the best

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Specializing in building the bond using your dog’s natural instincts

Barb grew up with a love of all animals, but had a passion for dogs. She loves training dogs of every breed and shape and loves to bring out the best in them.

After struggling to train her irish setter, Skylar, the way it was “normally done” and fighting what was natural to him (sniffing and hunting), she sought out activities that the 2 of them could do together without fighting nature. They both fell in love with hunting and scent detection.

Barb continued to pursue further education in scent detection and it has become her livelihood. She strives to work with each dog in her classes as individuals to bring out understanding and the best in them.

Barb’s dedication to scent detection training has driven her to obtain and train a dog for professional bed bug detection purposes (thought by some to be one of the toughest detection dog disciplines). Camo accompanies Barb to most of her classes, and Barb is willing to share stories of her triumphs and training mistakes with her students.