Hearts and Paws: Dog Training, Austin TX

03/26/2025

Luna is loving this sunny weather for her boarding stay! Sun baths and singing are her favorite! 🎤🦮🩵

03/21/2025

Spring has sprung for our pups here at Hearts and Paws! Breezy weather and sunny skies, perfect for all day play! 🐕☀️🫧

03/20/2025

Real dog trainers evolve by changing their minds and methods. Trust is the new “obedience”. Crossing over takes courage.

Switching from aversive methods to a positive reinforcement, neuroaffirming approach is a courageous journey.

As a crossover trainer, you’re not just learning new techniques, you’re embracing a new mindset.

The first objective in dog training isn’t to get the behavior; it’s to build trust.

In positive, neuro affirming training, success starts with a confident, trusting dog who wants to work with you, not a dog who obeys out of fear of correction. Accept this.

Crossing over is more than just swapping tools, it’s a change in worldview, and it’s not always easy. Be kind to yourself during this transition.

Feeling a bit unsure or slipping into old habits now and then is part of the learning process. What matters is that you’re committed to evolving toward a stronger bond with the dogs you work with.

A dog’s behavior is a mirror of their emotional state. When we see undesirable behaviors, it helps to ask: What is my dog feeling right now? Stress, fear, or confusion often manifest as reactivity or non-compliance.

If we address those underlying emotions, the behaviors begin to change in a sustainable way.

While punishment might momentarily stop a behavior, but it doesn’t resolve the fear or stress driving it. In fact, fear can shut down your dog’s ability to learn, making real progress harder. On the other hand, modern methods focus on acknowledging a dog’s emotional status at all times and build more genuine understanding between a person and a dog.

Over time, you can literally change your dog’s emotional response from fear to confidence, leading to lasting behavioral improvement and a stronger partnership built on trust.

In practical terms, this means sometimes you’ll focus on comfort and safety before asking for a cue. (For example, if your dog is nervous about strangers, you might spend sessions just pairing new people with low-key enjoyable experiences, before expecting a perfect “sit” for greetings.) By prioritizing your dog’s feelings, you set the stage for learning that sticks.

Spend time bonding in low-pressure ways. Play games, explore new places at your dog’s pace, or just relax together. Seek out environments where your dog is comfortable and not overwhelmed at first.
Some crossover trainers even put formal obedience on hold and teach fun tricks instead.

Trick training is great because it improves your timing and planning as a trainer, without any pressure on you or your dog.

Your dog is always “talking” through signals like yawning, tail position, ear posture, lip-licking, etc. Pay attention to signs of stress or comfort. If you notice your dog getting uneasy (like turning away or tensing up during an exercise), ease up and give them a break or more distance.

Noticing your dog’s stress doesn’t mean you’ve failed. In fact, it means you’re growing. Take a breath, reset, and try again.

By respecting their signals, you show your dog that you’re listening, which builds trust. And that’s what a real relationship is, a two-way street.

Keep your training upbeat and your reactions calm. If you’ve committed to avoiding leash pops or harsh corrections, stay consistent, even if your dog makes a mistake. View slip-ups as valuable information to guide future sessions, never as moments to punish.

Over time, your dog will realize that your hands bring guidance and fun, not corrections. That reliability helps them feel safe and free to try new things.

Regularly check in on your dog’s state of mind: Is the training environment causing stress? Are you feeling impatient or frustrated? These feelings are normal, it takes insight and strength to recognize and respond thoughtfully to them. These are the hallmarks of the most talented dog trainers in the world.

It’s perfectly fine to shorten a session or skip a cue if your dog (or you) is having an off day. Sometimes just a calm few moments of soft petting or a play break mid-session can reset the tone.

Prioritizing your dog’s comfort instead of “pushing through” a training drill shows them you’re attuned to their feelings. This emotional safety empowers your dog to confidently explore and learn without fear, an approach far more powerful than many initially realize. These are smart animals. Let them use their brains in productive, confident, proactive ways.

Transitioning to positive training is an evolution, not an overnight change. You’re not alone on this path; many trainers and dog guardians have stood where you are, feeling that mix of doubt and hope, and have come out the other side with stronger partnerships than ever.

When setbacks happen, remind yourself how far you’ve come and the positive changes you’ve already seen.

This week, focus on one trust-building activity like playing or teaching a trick and observe how it affects your dog’s attitude, and yours too!

Good luck! And share your stories below!

03/20/2025

Absolutely a must watch of the heroism of Dog/cat owners

03/10/2025

03/04/2025

Don’t Forget to Register for Camp and Tell you Friends!
Www.heartsandpaws.com

02/26/2025

Edited: For all the people wondering about Salt Box, it is the page of a restaurant owner in Maine who beautifully articulated a lot of what needs to be said. A FB search will bring you to the page. https://www.facebook.com/saltboxmaine

If you prefer another source, try Robert Reich, Alt National Park Service, Heather Cox Richardson, Rebecca Solnit, and so so so many others.

While I desperately wish this were not true, all signs point to the information below from Salt Box being the reality of the moment. I know many of us are utterly exhausted by the fire hose of chaos and lies on so many fronts it’s impossible to know where to turn.

You’ve got to pick the issues that you care enough about to DO something about. Is it freedom of speech? Support of women and children (you know, the next generation?), education, farmers, the environment, national parks, the Constitution, civil rights?

If I pointed to the current regime and said they were all about shock collars and abusive training methodology, this post would be seen by more people than if I say our country is in serious trouble.

I understand more completely than I ever wanted to how Germans and others ignored reality as the N***s swept to power – and they did so fast, really horrifyingly fast. I understand now how some saw the writing on the wall and escaped; others did not, could not. How far is it from the current regime's desire for a "registry" of immigrants to wearing special insignias to designate them and target them?

But unlike those who were facing the N***s not so long ago, we have ways to fight back, to communicate, to organize. And we must. Please. Today. We cannot accept the lies fed to us every day. We must read the writing on the wall. The “big beautiful bill” Congress is about to pass does not ask the ultra-wealthy or big corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. Instead, it will cut benefits for children, people living at the poverty line, Medicaid recipients, farmers, and so many more. We’ve already stopped caring for others around the world.

We cannot stick our heads in the sand and pretend this is not happening. It IS happening. We cannot be silent. In whatever way you can, speak up. Phone calls. Emails. Sharing posts. Donating what you can to causes you believe in who are actively involved in fighting for democracy and our country. If you can, show up at rallies. Be aware.

Find something you care enough about to fight for. Take the time to read the post below. This all deserves your full attention.
****
From SALT BOX https://www.facebook.com/saltboxmaine
Hey. Yes, you. I know you don't want to hear this. And I also hate to tell you this. Really. But this is an emergency and a dire warning. For the love of everything and everyone you care about please take one minute and read this timeline.

If the current trajectory holds, one month from now, America won’t have collapsed—not in the way Hollywood would script it. No explosions in the streets, no tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue. No, it’ll be something quieter, more insidious. The kind of unraveling that happens in plain sight, with a shrug, a sigh, a collective “What can we do?” as the last line of resistance buckles under the weight of exhaustion.

So here’s the future, laid bare:
---
1. A Government in Freefall—Or, More Accurately, a Controlled Demolition
The resignations won’t just continue; they’ll accelerate like rats from a sinking ship, except this isn’t a ship—it’s a tower being purposefully wired with explosives. Every week, another high-profile departure. Not fired. Not forced out. Just… gone.

Vanished, like they saw the iceberg ahead and decided to take the last lifeboat. The vacancies will pile up, and the replacements? Cronies, loyalists, corporate fixers—people whose sole qualification is their willingness to say “Yes, sir” and never, ever ask questions.

Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE, because they never tire of the joke) will push through sweeping measures to “streamline” agencies. Read: strip them down to their skeletons so they can be puppeteered more easily. Federal oversight? Neutered. Watchdogs? Defanged. The last embers of resistance within the state will flicker and die.
---
2. The Media Will Be a Hall of Mirrors
The war on the press will shift gears. No overt shutdowns—that would be too obvious. Instead, it’ll be subtler. More journalists blacklisted, more access revoked. More lawsuits designed to bankrupt independent outlets that refuse to play along. Federal funding for NPR and PBS? Slashed to nothing. The FCC? Remade in Trump’s image, chipping away at what little remains of media independence.

Meanwhile, Wikipedia, that last democratic bastion of collective knowledge, will be under relentless assault. Expect high-profile editor bans. Expect bot swarms rewriting history in real time, scrubbing records clean like a digital Ministry of Truth.

You’ll wake up one morning and realize your news options are state propaganda or private-sector propaganda, and the line between them is a smudged, greasy fingerprint.
---
3. The Economy Won’t Crash—But It’ll Start to Rot
Markets will wobble but won’t immediately collapse. Investors will throw their weight behind Musk, believing his stranglehold over Washington means fewer regulations, fewer restrictions, a golden age for robber barons.

But international investors? They’ll start hedging their bets. Quietly, subtly, money will begin leaking out. Allies will start questioning whether America is still a safe bet, a stable partner.

The shift will be slow—imperceptible at first—but the cracks will be there. The kind that start small before the dam bursts.
And while the rich find ways to profit, the average American will be hit with price hikes, wage freezes, “temporary” cutbacks that never reverse. The rot will be slow, but it will be everywhere.
---
4. The Justice System Will Be Rewired for Revenge
Trump’s cronies in the judiciary will move at lightning speed. More federal benches stacked with Trump-aligned judges. Ongoing investigations into Trump’s past? Dismissed, slow-walked, buried under procedural nonsense.

Instead, the legal machine will pivot to punishing political enemies.

Expect activists, whistleblowers, and progressive lawmakers to suddenly find themselves under investigation. Expect left-wing protesters facing charges they would have walked away from a year ago. Not mass arrests—yet—but targeted legal harassment, a creeping message to anyone thinking about resistance: Sit down, shut up, or you’re next.
---
5. The Military Will Be Used as a Distraction
The gears of war will start turning, because nothing rallies a discontented populace like a new enemy abroad. Maybe it’ll be Ukraine. Maybe Iran. Maybe China.

Either way, expect military posturing, expect rhetoric about “stronger leadership,” expect headlines engineered to keep you scared, keep you obedient.

Expect just enough saber-rattling to make foreign leaders nervous, but not enough to topple the house of cards—because that would hurt the markets, and we can’t have that.
---
6. The Crackdown on Dissent Will Begin in Earnest
Protests will grow, and so will the response. Heavier police crackdowns. Increased surveillance. New laws expanding what counts as “unlawful assembly.”

The federal government won’t need to send in troops—local police, bloated with military gear and emboldened by new protections, will do the work for them. Social media platforms will start enforcing “new security measures” that conveniently happen to suppress anti-government organizing.

At first, it’ll be high-profile arrests: a prominent activist here, a union leader there. Just enough to send a message.
Then it’ll be the everyday people.
That’s when the real fear sets in.
---
7. The Most Dangerous Shift of All: Normalization
Here’s the worst part: you’ll get used to it.
You’ll wake up, see another scandal, another abuse of power, another journalist silenced, another department gutted—and you won’t even be surprised.

You’ll stop gasping.
You’ll stop reacting.
You’ll tell yourself “Well, it could be worse.”
You’ll find yourself nostalgic for things that were, objectively, already terrible.

And in that moment, the battle is lost.
Because the greatest trick authoritarianism ever pulled was convincing people to accept it in increments.
---
Where Do We Go From Here?
This is the moment. Right now. One month from now, the door to resistance might not be closed yet, but it will be closing.
And here’s the hard truth: nobody is coming to save you.
No secret hero. No last-minute plot twist. No cavalry.

If there’s going to be resistance, it has to be now. It has to be loud. It has to be unrelenting.

This isn’t just about elections anymore.
It’s about what kind of country you want to live in.
And whether you’re willing to fight for it.
Because if you wait too long, you won’t get the chance.
Author: SALT BOX https://www.facebook.com/saltboxmaineIf

02/24/2025

Get Well Soon!

Swagger came through surgery like the badass that he is. He had his painful right eye removed and is recovering awesomely. I’m so grateful to the team at Capital City Specialty & Emergency Animal Hospital for taking such good care of my boy, and for sending me this photo when I explained it would help my heart to rest easier. They also gave us an update that Swagger even had a little walk this afternoon. He will be monitored over night and will come home tomorrow. Big thank you to Kim for taking my for an overnight at her friend Julie’s place to minimize as much stress as possible for my boy prior to his surgery.

02/24/2025

Opossums are the ONLY marsupials in the United States. What does that mean? It means, if mama dies, the babies inside her may still be alive and need saving. Please contact your local wildlife rehabilitator if you come across a deceased opossum with a pouch full of babies. You could save some precious lives. ❤️

02/21/2025

Club Pup Camp
Ages 9-16.

Spots Available for All Camps!
www.heartsandpaws.com

02/20/2025

Register Today!
Kids Summer Camp at Hearts and Paws!
www.heartsandpaws.com

02/18/2025

Registration Open for Club Pup Camp!
Www.heartsandpaws.com
[email protected]

02/16/2025

What was you best memory of summer camp?
At Hearts and Paws 🐾 you can bring your dog to camp!

Club Pup Camp Summer 2025.
Www.heartsandpaws.com

02/16/2025

Club Pup Camp 2025 is around the corner!
Don’t miss out on the fun 🤩

02/14/2025

Our furry friends are spreading all the Valentine’s day joy with wagging tails, wet noses, and plenty of puppy kisses! ❤️ From heart shaped treats to adorable V-Day pics 🐾