Canine Companion, LLC- Abbie Volpone

09/11/2025

Lainie is the sweetest little beagle who just turned one year old. She’s been working hard on her leash skills, learning the difference between when she can follow her nose and when she needs to stay close to dad, and feeling confident and relaxed in the world with all the exciting sights, sounds, and smells.
Today Lainie was a very brave girl and practiced these skills in Home Depot!

09/03/2025

09/02/2025

OUCH!! It's been a tough allergy season.

Allergies, itchy skin, red and raw toes can all make a dog more irritable and more likely to snap. I often get asked if a dog is licking their feet because they are nervous - I always want to make sure there are no underlying allergies first! Persistent feet licking is most commonly associated with allergies.

08/28/2025

Callie is just starting her training journey, and we’ve got our work cut out for us, because this little girl has some BIG feelings about the world! Super common in working and herding breeds, she just isn’t a fan of strangers or the unpredictable things they do. Our goal is to help her feel safer in the world, and for her human to be able to read her and advocate for her before she feels the need to take matters into her own hands.
After working on some foundational skills at and around home for the past month, Callie had her first outing for training to a busy new environment, and, perhaps the biggest win of all, was that she still saw ME as a friend and someone she could trust when removed from the only context she had met me in before, coming to her home. I love being a sensitive dog’s trusted friend! Very excited for all the progress we’ll make together 💕

08/26/2025

Many of you know and love my apprentice Clinton, and he's well on his way to becoming a certified dog trainer with lots of experience and education under his belt. Recently, I've had another new apprentice joining me as well!
Please welcome the lovely Shelby to the team!

Shelby is just starting her dog behavior and training journey. Her interest in animal behavior started when she adopted a rescue cattle dog who needed a lot of help. Growing up, she showed Great Danes for her family and lived on a farm, raising show calves and steers, and helping with vaccines and some rehabilitation on the newborn calves. From there she started working at a vet office, helping with nail trims and holding for procedures. Shelby really enjoyed working at the vet's office making it as fear-free as possible and working with the fearful pets to make the vet's office a more pleasant place to visit. Currently, Shelby runs her own pet care business that consists of in-home pet care, nail trims, medical injections or medication. Shelby is working towards becoming a Certified professional dog trainer and has taken some courses through the IAABC foundation.

As always, I let my clients know if there will be an extra person with me to shadow during their appointment. It's such an honor to help shape the future of dog training through mentoring passionate, aspiring trainers looking to me for expertise.

08/21/2025

The biggest this week, Therapy dog Acey passed her American Kennel Club Canine Good citizen test!
Despite being a CGC evaluator myself, we had another trainer administer her test (thanks, Tilted Ear Training and Walking LLC!), just to make sure it was unbiased and she really is the goodest citizen.
This is a tough test to pass, but we’ve been hard at work preparing, and are so happy we met her goal of passing before the school year starts next week and she goes back to work at Hulsing Elementary. So proud of team Acey! 💙💛🏅

08/17/2025

It’s always really touching when I get to help a dog in a foster home. When amazing people reach out for help setting up a dog to succeed and make them easier to adopt out.

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Dougie, a retired racing greyhound being fostered through the awesome Greythounds of Eastern Michigan (GEM) to work through some occasional leash reactivity towards dogs in his busy neighborhood and his desire to chase all the little fuzzy critters.

He’s such an awesome dog. A willing learner, easily trainable, and so sweet and loving. Hasn’t met a person he doesn’t like, and he’s super fun and playful.

He gets along with other greyhounds, and could *maybe* live with another low-key dog with some training to help him feel safe, since strange dogs feel very scary to him. No cats or small critters for this guy, but I’m told he does well with kids.

Whoever adopts this hunk will get a discount if they choose to continue his training with me.

08/15/2025

Shelter friend Sonic has been waiting a long time for the perfect family to come along, do you know someone who would give this big love of a boy a forever home?

08/10/2025

My goes to Frankie for just being such a fun guy to work with. Frankie is often working on complex behaviors that require lots of practice, like cooperative care and other unique training protocols. But lately we’ve also been working on some scentwork training!

If you know me, you know I get jazzed about all things sniffy for dogs. Frankie being a Labrador and just a real smart guy who loves to use his nose, we wanted to introduce scentwork as a way to work his brain, have some fun, and have ways to tire him out besides fetch.

So we’ve been slowly building this behavior, and he’s confidently searching for birch oil. Today we did introduced some odor discrimination practice, making sure he could source the birch oil, and wasn’t distracted by the other tins that had nothing, coffee grounds, or a cheerio in them. Dog’s noses are just the coolest.

07/29/2025

Every dog’s wins look different. Tonight, for my sensitive little friend Sparky, our ‘win’ was meeting the dog where he’s at. Don’t let his tiny body fool you, he’s got some BIG feelings he struggles with. And after having a tough day at home, we opted to skip the more intensive in-home training tonight and meet at a park instead so he could watch stimuli from a further distance while enjoying some sniffs and getting in some decompression.

This choice kept humans safe and Sparky happy. It made sure we were all set up for success. It made sure we didn’t damage our bond or poison any progress he has made. All of those things are wins, too. Sparky is lucky he has humans who are willing to meet him where he’s at.

07/24/2025

Yep, it’s a hot one outside today… 🥵☀️

🍓🍌I often make myself a smoothie in between clients, and pour a little into the dogs’ pupscicle tray to toss in the freezer for days like this. Greek yogurt and fruits make for a great little cooling and calming activity.
🐾🐶 ⬇️click the link below and use code ABBIESDOGS10 to get 10% off your order of Woof products like these! 🔗

https://mywoof.com/?rstr=9232

07/15/2025

A really touching for my friend Tooty.
Tooty has a pretty intense case of stranger danger, and doesn’t enjoy sharing space with anyone but her humans, ESPECIALLY in her own home. I became Tooty’s first new friend when we started training together a couple years ago. And what a journey that has been!

Muzzle training, some remedial socialization, lots of consent based practices and confidence building, and this girl has come so so far. A dog that couldn’t see a stranger from across a big parking lot without losing her mind can now happily walk through stores past strangers and even sometimes give a passing sniff or accept a little pat.

But her true social circle of accepted people is still small. She’s tolerant of a handful of people, but not fully comfortable. Just me, mom, and dad are the only ones that can handle her and enter the house without her muzzled. Our current journey has been building a good relationship with another person, expanding her social circle to 4. And it’s taken many months of small steps, but we’ve done it!

A huge thanks to her new friend Keegan for being such a patient and understanding new friend for our sweet Tooty. We promise, her love is worth the time it takes to gain her trust 💕