ABC Dog Training Caroline Bird Cpdt - Ka

ABC Dog Training Caroline Bird Cpdt - Ka Caroline Bird CPDT-KA Certified trainer with 16 years of class teaching experience with dogs and owners. offering classes in obedience, puppy and agility.

Private sessions both in home and at my boarding kennels near st martins.

Just wanted to give this shout out for Susan and her dog Ruby who she adopted for the SPCA .Ruby had been in the SPCA fo...
03/16/2025

Just wanted to give this shout out for Susan and her dog Ruby who she adopted for the SPCA .
Ruby had been in the SPCA for over a year and was not being adopted because of her behaviors, she was not aggressive, reactive yes but not on a scale that she could not be helped. She just needed a lot of training to help bring out the best in her.
Susan saw through all the negatives in her, adopted her, committed 100 percent to her training and the results are amazing. Such a different dog that came to me for privates a few months ago.

03/14/2025

SMALL DOG SOCIAL PLAYTIME. Saturday 15th March, 3.30-5pm
held at 1250 Latimore Lake Road. Saint John.
No registration needed as this is a drop in event.
Any dogs attending must be up to date on their vaccinations.
Cost is 13.00 per dog, $6.00 for a second family dog.

Just a quick post before l post the information for the small dog social on Saturday afternoon.For those of you, who lik...
03/14/2025

Just a quick post before l post the information for the small dog social on Saturday afternoon.
For those of you, who like stuff like this read on, its from the books l was gifted for my birthday. I just love information like this, and it all helps me to be able to understand dogs even more.

GENETC MEMORY
How traits and instincts are passed down from one generation of animals to the next.
This is the process whereby animals are capable of passing their acquired memories, knowledge and instincts on to their offspring in their genes.
Genetic memory explains so many otherwise baffling phenomena in the animal kingdom such as a bird's ability to make a nest, or how to migrate without being shown how, or why salmon feel compelled to swim upstream to spawn.
Similarly, it explains why a border collie has a compulsion to eye, herd or chase other animals or objects, resulting from the instinct's he inherited at birth, from the ancestors that existed before.

According to my children l am a very difficult person to buy gifts for, so instead of guessing they ask me what l would ...
03/12/2025

According to my children l am a very difficult person to buy gifts for, so instead of guessing they ask me what l would like.
So for my last birthday l asked for a book about Border Collies, which if anyone knows me is one of my favorite breeds.
l say one of my favorite breeds because l work with so many different dogs and could easily adopt most of them, lol. But the one that always seems to draw my attention the most is the border collie.
I have had 5 collies of my own at various times in my life and can only say that although they all carry the same herding genes, every one has had a completely different personality.
They are a very unique breed that can easily catch a unsuspecting person out, many people adopt them thinking they will be easy to train because they are so smart, but find out what they thought they were getting is just not the reality as their dogs come with a unique mind set that can quickly turn into obsessive behaviors.
I thought l knew a lot about Collies , but when l read parts of the green book in the picture it was quiet an eye opener for me.
People often come to me to do privates with their border collie dogs and tell about strange behaviors l am already very familiar with, so luckily l can enlighten them that this is indeed a very common behavior in border collies and what they can do to help their dog.
Understanding their mindset is definitely a good start so l will often recommend this set of books.
So back to the point of this post. I asked for one book and got all 3 books (thanks Laura), lots more reading to do and l will be posting a lot of interesting border collie behaviors on this page that l think people will find very informative, especially if they have a herding type breed of dog.
l can also show examples of one of my own border collies to highlight what she is writing about.
Just as a teaser for what is to come here is the authors writing on how many border collies traits can often mirror those found in.
autistic people, she then goes on to give a list of 25 behaviors . Its going to be an interesting read for me.
If anyone reading this post has a herding type dog, or even mixed herding type dog that does strange behaviors do comment below so that l can get an idea of what parts of the books you would like me to cover the most.
A really common one would be the obsessive tendency to chase a ball, and being unable to mentally stop the behavior despite exhaustion setting in.

Here are a few photos from Saturdays agility event at Petitcodiac which shows Rudie, Sidney and Sully having their time ...
03/10/2025

Here are a few photos from Saturdays agility event at Petitcodiac which shows Rudie, Sidney and Sully having their time on course.
Hoping to get a video of Brody which l can post later.
So glad to get photos like this, it makes me feel so proud of them all for everything they have achieved so far.
A few are blurred but l think everyone can get the general idea.

One very tired little Rudi who is one of the dogs in our agility class. fast asleep after a busy day at the Petitcodiac ...
03/09/2025

One very tired little Rudi who is one of the dogs in our agility class. fast asleep after a busy day at the Petitcodiac agility fun match, more photos of the event to follow this evening.

New Basic Obedience Class. Sunday 16th March at 4pm.Held at 1250 Latimore Lake road. Saint John.Content includes, focus,...
03/09/2025

New Basic Obedience Class. Sunday 16th March at 4pm.
Held at 1250 Latimore Lake road. Saint John.
Content includes, focus, walking, sits, downs stays and recalls, plus extra proofing games to ensure that you and your dog really do understand what we are teaching.
This is a set of 10 classes, cost is $180.00 plus hst.

New PUPPY CLASS. Sunday 13th April at 5.30pm.
A set of 7 classes that include a theory section, social playtime and an introduction to basic skills that any puppy would benefit from knowing. For pups aged 3-5 months old who have had at least two sets of vaccinations
Cost is $140.00 plus hst.
Registration is via the website www.abcdogtraining.org
Regsi

03/08/2025

SMALL DOG SOCIAL PLAYTIME. Saturday 8th March, 3.30-5pm.
Held at 1250 Latimore lake road. Saint John.
No registration required as this is a drop in event.
Any dog attending must be up to date on their vaccinations.
Cost is $13.00 per dog , $6.00 for a second family dog.

Our first graduating students from puppy class for 2025. Despite all the snowstorms that meant a class cancelation for s...
03/05/2025

Our first graduating students from puppy class for 2025. Despite all the snowstorms that meant a class cancelation for s few weeks they all made it through to proudly stand with their owners for their photos.
Well done everyone.
Our next new puppy class starts on Sunday 13th April at 5.30pm
for pups aged 3-5 months old.
register via the website www.abcdogtraining.org

This is more of an information post about why some people get bitten on the hand or wrist while breaking up a dog fight....
03/04/2025

This is more of an information post about why some people get bitten on the hand or wrist while breaking up a dog fight.
To me a dogs eyesight is a very fascinating subject , l started some fact research before giving doing this post because l wanted to be able to give people a better idea of distances that dogs can see , but l ended up going down a rabbit hole on the subject , so to keep this post short l am going to just address the first sentence in this post.
One of reasons people can get bitten when they try to break up a dog fight is because the vision in front of a dog's eyes is blurred. This is where l went down the rabbit hole to find out the exact distance in front of their eyes but ended up reading about everything else.
Their main way of finding out about the world in front of them is with their very powerful nose, all those smells give them so much information.
If a person brings in their hand to grab a dog's collar in an effort to stop the fight there is a high chance that they could get bitten because the dog will not be able to see if it is the other dog coming into their face space again, or if it is a human. They will lash out because it is a survival instinct that they need to protect themselves.
They do not do it because they cannot clearly see what is coming towards them, whether it is a person or animal, the response will still be the same.
Just as a teaser for another post, dogs have two sides to their brain so which side a dog is approached from will also make a difference to the outcome of the situation. l do have a full write up on that from a course l did a few years ago, l will have to find that out and see what i can put together for a different post.

Week 5 of the Movement games class, we introduced two boxes for the dogs to pass through, we started wide and then slowl...
03/02/2025

Week 5 of the Movement games class, we introduced two boxes for the dogs to pass through, we started wide and then slowly moved the boxes to make it more narrow for them to move through. It was interesting to see how the dogs still managed to keep going onwards through this challenge
My biggest challenge is to get the students confident enough to move further away from the course set up, but we are slowly getting there.
With each success the confidence will grow.

02/28/2025

our next SMALL DOG SOCIAL PLAYTIME is Saturday 1st March 3.30-5pm
Held at 1250 Latimore Lake Road. Saint John.
No registration required as this is a drop in event.
Any dogs attending must be up to date on all their vaccinations.
Cost is $13.00 per dog ,$6.00 for a second family dog.

Still uncovering items in my spare bedroom which l will be putting on clearance . I have two (possibly 3) small dog beds...
02/27/2025

Still uncovering items in my spare bedroom which l will be putting on clearance . I have two (possibly 3) small dog beds which l am clearing at just 8.00 dollars each The other dog bed is lighter in color.
l can bring them to Latimore lake for pick up. message me if you want one.

The next new BASIC OBEDIENCE CLASS starts on SUNDAY 16TH MARCH at 4.30pmA set of 10 classes that cover all the basic ski...
02/25/2025

The next new BASIC OBEDIENCE CLASS starts on SUNDAY 16TH MARCH at 4.30pm
A set of 10 classes that cover all the basic skills, focus, walking, sit , downs, stay and come. We do a few more weeks than a typical commercial training class as we do like to proof everything the owners and their dogs are learning.
Taught by Caroline Bird CPDT - KA a certified dog trainer with over 18 years of experience teaching with all breeds of dogs.
Held at 1250 Latimore Lake road. Saint John in a spacious, heated room with cushioned flooring and free car parking spots .
Cost is $180.00 plus hst
register via the website www.abcdogtraining.org

Our latest puppy class started on the 23rd February, we split into two groups so we do have a few spots open if any other pups want to join the class. Message me if you want to join us.

WHERE DOES YOUR DOG FOOD COME FROM. I try not to ever do political posts on my page, but with all the problems now happe...
02/24/2025

WHERE DOES YOUR DOG FOOD COME FROM. I try not to ever do political posts on my page, but with all the problems now happening in America l need people to become very aware of where their dog food come from.
My usual brand of dog food comes from Costco, l have never had a problem with it until now. I need to explain why.
The contents in the bag come from ingredients that come from America. It is a chicken and rice formula. BUT in America the department that inspects the food to make sure it is safe has just been gutted by Elon Musk. America poultry industry is experiencing an outbreak of the Avian Bird Flu, once again the agency that protects against this has been gutted by Elon Musk.
This means there are not the standard safety checks going on to protect against whatever is going into these bags of dog food.
Before moving to Canada 18 years ago l lived through the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease. I lived in a rural community and witnessed truckloads of healthy cows and sheep being taken away to be euthanized, then stacked on huge piles of logs to be burned and then buried deep in the ground in large pits. It only took one case in the farm and every cow and sheep had to be destroyed to stop it spreading. We had to step through buckets of special disinfectant before going anywhere near any farm buildings or in veterinary areas.
it was a long while ago but i think it lasted about two years and so many healthy animals had to be slaughtered to stop it spreading. As far as l can remember the outbreak was caused by something that went into the animal foods from another animals bones that has been crushed up, but l would have to research it to be 100 percent accurate. The food that was fed to livestock was changed after this devasting event.
Without inspection from the correct American agencies the same thing could happen in Canada. For the world of dogs we have been lucky so far with the biggest problem we have being kennel cough that spreads easily but can be treated as will pass after a few weeks.
For me personally l am not going to chance this happening because of where l usually purchase my food from. It made be distributed by Costco, but it comes from America.
l will still shop at Costco but from now on l will be inspecting all the labels to find out where it comes from.
I have now changed to a local supplier in Fredericton, their brand contains food that is sourced from local farms. It is even cheaper for me now as l buy it in bulk and can get it delivered directly to my home.
So even if you are not participating in the Buy only Canada products it is well worth considering your dog's health and the health of the dogs around you if something does go wrong from the lack of food inspections in America
Comments are always welcome below if anyone has had experience with other Canadian brands and would like to recommend them.

SMALL DOG SOCIAL PLAYTIME. Saturday 22nd February, 3.30-5pmHeld at 1250 Latimore Lake Road. Saint John.No registration r...
02/21/2025

SMALL DOG SOCIAL PLAYTIME. Saturday 22nd February, 3.30-5pm
Held at 1250 Latimore Lake Road. Saint John.
No registration required as this is a drop in event
Any dogs attending must be up to date on all their shots.
Cost is $13.00 per dog, $6.00 for a second family dog.

For a few different reasons l have been reluctant to do this post on the subject of dog TRIGGERS, but it's another subje...
02/18/2025

For a few different reasons l have been reluctant to do this post on the subject of dog TRIGGERS, but it's another subject that I seem to be talking about a lot lately it could be worth a read for some people.
This is not about a dog who has stacked triggers (that would be for another post) it is actually a case about a dog l went to see in an In Home private session around the time Covid was coming to an
end.
As a word of warning this is a very sad case without a good end, but at least by writing this people can come to understand what the cause of the Trigger was for the dog and why we have to look at dog behaviors from all angles before making any decisions.

A lady reached out to me to see if l could help. Her dog had been booked in to be euthanized because of its sudden change of behaviors to members of her family. It had started attacking family members for any random reason, i.e. her father was reaching down to take a plug out of the wall socket and was attacked. This is a dog probably about 70lbs so it was a big deal when this happened. This is a dog that loved all the family members and until recently had never given them any reason to be afraid of him.
But things were changing and not for the better.
The other troubling reason for his scheduled to be euthanized is that he would attack people's feet that he did not know when they came walking up the driveway leading to the owners home. His latest victim was the pizza delivery driver. To get the dog to release his grip on the pizza delivery driver foot the family members would literally have to choke the dog airways to get him to let go. You will find out why he did this later in this post, but it was sadly caused by a human's inhumane action towards the dog. But l do not want to get ahead of myself to soon.
One important piece of the puzzle that the owners told me about is that occasionally they would see the dog's eyes glaze over and his nose would turn a dark red color, I asked if this was just when they were choking the dog out to get him to release a person foot and they said no it happened at random times.
During private sessions with owners is always difficult because l have to piece lots of bits of information together to make the big picture so here are some more background details.
The dog was a rescue, it was a traditional dangerous breed to anyone who has been brain washed by social media so if l say the breed some people will already have made their mind up that the breed is reason for this issue. But here goes it was a beautiful black and white Pitbull.
I think they had had this dog for a year, had done some training with no issues with another local trainer who would come to their home.
They said when they went to get the dog from its foster home it was being kept outdoors in a fenced in area. it looked really sketchy to them, and they were glad to get it out of the foster home. The dog settled in very easily with the family and was a typical family dog (apart from the issues with the attacking peoples feet).
So l had to ask questions about the dogs eyes glazing over and nose going red at random times. l had my own thoughts about this but to double check my thoughts l asked a well-respected friend of mine who is a Reki master and she told me that the dog had pressure building up along the left-hand side of his head. She did not have to see the dog as Reiki can be done from using a photo.

I told her about them having to choke the dog out and would this cause it but she assured me this was not the case. It is only on very rare occasions that l will ask for her opinion and l totally respect her if she does not want to offer her help. But she said this dog was truly suffering and she wanted to help in any way she could.
So from this we worked out that the pressure on the dogs head was what was leading to the dogs glazed eyes and red nose.
The pressure was what was causing him to start attacking family members, he had no clue what was going on and was attacking whatever was nearest to him when the pressure really escalated. My thoughts are that he would think that whatever was nearest to him at that time would be causing the pain and he would lash out to protect himself from whatever was causing it.
This is why l choose the photo on this post of the fireworks going of over a dog's head, the dog would be clue less about what was causing the scary noises and would choose either the flight or self-survival choice to protect themselves.
So with that part having some reason to it, we needed to address why he would attack people's feet and these are my thoughts as to what was causing it.
The owners did not know the dogs background, but we do know that the dogs TRIGGER to attack someone's feet was caused by the sound of people coming towards him, i.e. footsteps on gravel ground that were heading towards him.
I am thinking that the sound of the footsteps led to him being severely kicked and beaten on the head. This was what had caused the head trauma that had led to the pressure on his brain, which led to him starting to attack his owners as the pressure started to get worse.
We will never know how many times this happened to him, but it must have been lots or one major incident for him to remember the trigger sound so clearly.
some inhumane person thought it was okay to attack a dog like this and now the dog was paying the price for their actions. It has nothing to do with the dog being a Pitbull.
Despite what had happened to him the dog still loved his new family, and if this had not happened in his past he would still be with them now. He would be living pain free and most likely loving his family life.
The dogs was euthanized the following week without any further brain tests. His condition had become so bad that he had to be muzzled or crated when people where around.
I have often though about this case, but until now because of all the keyboard warriors on the internet with their own different thoughts on the subject l have been reluctant to ever post it.
But it does hopefully explain to people how TRIGGERS will lead to dogs doing certain things, NOTHING EVER HAPPENS WITHOUT REASON FOR IT.
Hoping people can be respectful about this case, if people get abusive all comments on this post will be turned off. I am not looking to get into an argument with anyone. It is just my evaluation of what l think happened and l respect that someone else might think differently about my thoughts but lets just respect this dogs needless suffering

Movement games students on week 3 on they add a new soft surface prop to the challenge for the dogs to move across a few...
02/17/2025

Movement games students on week 3 on they add a new soft surface prop to the challenge for the dogs to move across a few even managed to move some distance away from their dogs as they completed the soft surface and the raised poles.

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1250 LATIMORE LAKE Road
Saint John, NB
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SMALL DOG SOCIAL PLAYTIME. Saturday 15th March, 3.30-5pm held at 1250 Latimore Lake Road. Saint John. No registration needed as this is a drop in event. Any dogs attending must be up to date on their vaccinations. Cost is 13.00 per dog, $6.00 for a second family dog.

SMALL DOG SOCIAL PLAYTIME. Saturday 8th March, 3.30-5pm. Held at 1250 Latimore lake road. Saint John. No registration required as this is a drop in event. Any dog attending must be up to date on their vaccinations. Cost is $13.00 per dog , $6.00 for a second family dog.

our next SMALL DOG SOCIAL PLAYTIME is Saturday 1st March 3.30-5pm Held at 1250 Latimore Lake Road. Saint John. No registration required as this is a drop in event. Any dogs attending must be up to date on all their vaccinations. Cost is $13.00 per dog ,$6.00 for a second family dog.

SMALL DOG SOCIAL PLAYTIME , Saturday 15th February, 3.30-5pm Held at 1250 Latimore Lake Road. Saint John This is a drop in event, so no pre-registration is needed. Owners will stay with their dogs during the playtime. Room is split into two parts to allow for a high energy or quieter dogs. Any dogs attending must be up to date with all their shots. Cost is $13.00 per dog, $6.00 for a second family dog.

One of the puppy class groups from their last class as they practice of offering focus using the watch me verbal request and then adding duration as they look at their owners for longer amounts of time. Our next new puppy class starts on Sunday 16th February at 6pm. register via the website www.abcdogtraining.org. A set of 7 classes for pups aged 3-5 months old, cost is $140.00 plus hst.

SMALL DOG SOCIAL playtime. Saturday 1st February 3.30-5pm Held at 1250 Latimore lake road. Saint John. indoors in a heated room. Any dogs attending must be up to date on their vaccinations. Any dog attending for the first time must produce evidence of any vaccinations. This is a drop in event so no pre-registration is needed. The room is divided into two sections to allow for quiet dogs and high energy dogs, however it is recommended that if you are attending for a first time with a quiet dog that you wait until around 4pm as most of the dogs will have run out most of their high energy by this time. Cost is $13.00 per dog , $6.00 for a second family dog.

ADOPTION OPPORTUNITY FOR PEEKO. following up from the post yesterday for Peeko who is up for adoption through A LITTLE AT A TIME RESCUE GROUP. he was returned to the rescue group almost 2 months ago (details as to why will be further down this post) the rescue group asked me to access him to find out what the issue was and if he is suitable to be adopted to another new home. He is 2 years old, is neutered and up to date with his shots. A silky yorkie terrier mix with a long following coat that needs daily brushing to stop it from matting. From his time with me at my kennels he has been sharing with another older sh*tzu and a medium doodle mix dog. They all get along with no problems. In his last home he also shared with cats with no problem He walks easily on leash but does not like big dogs when he is on leash and will bark at them. He bonds very quickly with people but prefers women. Children are an unknown as he did seem uneasy around children during his time at the small dog social playtime where he interacts with other small dogs. At small dog social L have to muzzle him as he really does not like one dog there, but seems to get along with all the other dogs in the room. he also wears this because l am so busy supervising the event that l cannot always watch him enough. He really likes people attention and did keep jumping up at their legs to be picked up, but l really have not encouraged that during his time with me so he is now much calmer. He is a typical barky small dog when he gets excited or wants attention. he loves being groomed and will sit on your lap enjoying the process. House trained with no accidents so far. In the car l always put him in a crate and never hear a sound from him. No food or toy aggression issues that l have seen. Because we do not feel he is comfortable around small children then we can only play safe and recommend a home with NO young children. If you are still reading this and are interested l am going to be transparent. he r

ADOPTION OPPORTUNITY. The little dog in the video is named Peeko. This is his first time meeting Bear the great Pyrenees who l had in to do some training with. It did not take them long to become friends. The reason l had Peeko there is because someone who supposed to meet me to see if they would be a good fit to adopt Peeko BUT they never showed up, so this means that Peeko is still up for adoption through the rescue group A LITTLE AT A TIME RESCUE. If you think you might be interested in adopting him then the first step is to contact them to fill in an application from to be pre-approved. he is a silky terrier mix who has a long flowing coat that needs daily brushing, but luckily, he loves being groomed so that would not be a problem for him. I will post many details about him later today and will be fully transparent as we only want him to go to a home that is right for his personality.

I HAVE 2 SPOTS just opened up in the new Movement Games class that starts this Saturday 1st February at 2-3pm. So if you are looking for something to do with your dog during these cold winter months while you have limited space then this could be the answer for you. Both you and your dog learn many co-ordinations skills during the course , plus your dog learns so many paw placement skills as they are challenged with different obstacles as they learn to go over, under, through and around items. cost for the set of 8 classes is $150.00 plus hst. message me or register via the website www.abcdogtraining.org. This class is for any breed of dog who is food motivated.

Our next new small dog social playtime is being held on Saturday 25th January, 3.30-5pm Held at 1250 Latimore Lake Road. Saint John, indoors in a heated room. Owners will stay with their dogs during the playtime. No pre-registration is needed as this is a drop in event. Any dogs attending must be up to date on their vaccinations. Proof must be shown the first time a dog attends playtime. We have divided the room so that the shyer dogs can have a quieter area to play in. It is recommended that if it is your first time and you have a dog who is not yet used to being around dogs that you arrive around 4pm as this will allow for most of the dogs to run off the excess energy before you arrive. cost is $13.00 per dog, $6.00 for a second family dog.

Every video l have posted about Movement games so far as always shown me using pylons to help establish the pattern. However Loki has been practicing as well and his owner is using whatever she has at home. No pylons, no problem as the kitchen table will work well.😀 Then after that we can add more challenges to mentally and physically wear Loki out. (if that is even possible, lol)

Our next small dog social will be held on Saturday 11th January, 3.30-5pm. Held at 1250 Latimore Lake road. Saint John. Indoors in a heated room with cushion flooring. owners will stay with their dog during the playtime. No pre-registration required as this is a drop in event. All dogs must be up to date with the vaccinations to be able to attend. Cost is $13.00 per dog, $6.00 for a second family dog. This playtime will be held every Saturday afternoon through until the first week in April.

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About my dog training services

Caroline Bird CPDT-KA is certified dog trainer who has been teaching classes in the Saint John area for the past 13 years. She is also the owner and operator of Saint Martins dog boarding and training kennels. Her classes that are held in Saint John include puppy class, basic obedience, advanced obedience, pre agility and advanced agility. her website for classes is www.abcdogtraining.org or for the kennels www.stmartinsdogkennels.com