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Happy Hound University

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Elk Grove Village, IL
Happy Hound University

Happy Hound University Dog training and behavior modification using positive, science-based, pain free methods to help you

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Happy Hound University offers certified, professional positive training for you and your dog in your home. I use force-free methods to manage and modify your dog's inappropriate behaviors, and replace them with new, desirable ones. Serving the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, IL. Email today to schedule your initial consult!

Did you recently bring home a new puppy?Don’t let their critical window of socialization pass you by!Young puppies need ...

04/07/2025

04/06/2025

Last minute class addition!

We had a schedule change and so are able to offer our "Walk this Way: Real Life Skills for Polite Leash Walking" class starting THIS week! This class will run for four weeks (the first three weeks will be at 8 PM on Wednesdays, the last week will be on a Monday evening at 6 PM so that we can work outdoors at a local park!) and focuses exclusively on the skills you and your dog need to build their polite leash walking!

IMPORTANT: This class is only for graduates of our good manners and/or puppy classes! This class is not for brand new students to Happy Hound University!

Interested in signing up? Email [email protected]!

04/05/2025

Looking for a positive reinforcement group training class to take with your dog? We've got options galore!

Please note, some of these classes do have prerequisites, so please make sure to read the class description!

Good Manners 1: For dogs 5 months and older who have not taken a training class yet. This 5 week class goes over the "basics" of training and teaches sit, down, stay, leave it, polite greetings, polite leash walking and more! Learn how to communicate with your dog more effectively all while having fun!

Good Manners 2: For graduates of good manners 1! Throughout this 5 week course you will continue to refine your dogs skills by increasing the difficulty level of the exercises learned in good manners 1!

Walk this way: Real Life Skills for Polite Leash walking: For graduates of good manners 1 or our puppy courses. This specialty 4 week class is focused exclusively on polite leash walking. PLEASE NOTE the schedule change for the last week of class (the first three weeks will be on Wednesday evenings but the last class will be on a Monday at an outdoor location!)

Beginning Tricks Class: Learn some new, cute tricks with your dog, and continue to build your bond and foster resiliency and confidence!

Happy Hounds Around Town: Returning by popular demand, our "around town" class goes to a different outdoor location each week (either a park or forest preserve) to practice your skills out in the "real world"!

All classes are taught by Mary Thompson, CPDT-KA PMCT1 CTC FFCP FDM, owner of Happy Hound University LLC and held at 1095 E Thacker St, Des Plaines, Illinois.

And if you recently brought home a new puppy, ask us about our rolling enrollment puppy socialization classes for puppies 8-20 weeks old!

Email [email protected] with questions or to get signed up!

04/04/2025

A HUGE congratulations to our good manners 1 graduates from this week, Bernie adopted from Second City Canine Rescue, Georgina adopted from Fetching Tails Foundation, and Frankie adopted from Second City Canine Rescue!

Our puppy 1 graduate Honey!

Our puppy 2 graduate Ranger!

And our good manners 2 graduates V***n, Goguma, and Scooby also adopted from Second City Canine Rescue!

These are some very good pups who made great progress in their classes and will continue to learn and grow with their awesome parents! I can’t wait to see you all continue your progress!

04/03/2025

We've got openings in our good manners 1 and 2 classes starting in April!

Do you want a dog who pays attention to you, knows "leave it", "stay", "come when called", and how to politely greet people and walk politely on a leash? Then our good manners 1 class is for you!

This class focuses on the building blocks for polite behavior that every pet dog should have! We use humane, positive reinforcement training methods to teach and keep class sizes small so that you and your dog can focus and get the individual attention you need!

Check out some of what our past students have said:

"Mary's in-class training suggestions were tailored for each dog and helped us know what and how to practice at home; we still use her homework sheets for training sessions on walks and around the house."

"Mary has SO MANY tips and tricks that we didn't know, despite having several dogs throughout the years"

"My wife and I could NOT recommend Mary more, time over time I told people that it's not like working at a big box store but Mary really understands what is going on and connects with your dog so well."

Interested in signing up? Email [email protected] for more info!

04/02/2025

We love to hear from our amazing clients! Thank you to Bailey's person for the kind words!

"Mary worked with myself and my dog Bailey for the course of just over 6 months. I can not even explain the value she added to my dog's life as well as mine. My biggest fear was finding someone who wasn't positive reinforcement and making him worse. My fears were alleviated by meeting number one. She had creative solutions, and was communicative. She asked a thorough history of what worked, what didn't, who we tried to see before. She emailed to check in when we moved, knowing this would be a stressor for my anxious dog. She went above and beyond and I will recommend her for forever. She was knowledgeable about when it was time to consider other options like medications, or different interventions. Bailey is night and day different with meeting people in the home, and I can now even run with him, when he couldn't really even pass people before closely from fear. He still is an anxious boy, but we both have the tools to work through it now and he can actually relax. I can't thank Mary enough!"

04/01/2025

Training tip Tuesday: If you know your dog is likely to do something “naughty” or “bad”, don’t wait for them to do it! Get in front of the behavior.

Yesterday I was driving down the street in my neighborhood, and I saw a dog that I often see being walked. This dog tends to bark and lunge at other dogs, and the owner struggles with the dog’s behavior. There was another dog on the other side of the street, and as that dog was passing by the other dog stared. And stared. And stared. And THEN, after probably 5 seconds of staring and getting worked up, the dog started to bark and lunge, at which point the owner started to pull and yank on the dog in an effort to STOP the behavior.

When dogs have a long history of behaving a certain way, we have a pretty good idea of WHEN the behavior is going to happen. Old school dog training had us wait for the undesired behavior, and then CORRECT the behavior using all means of nasty techniques. But we know now that training that way can have negative consequences for our dogs and our relationships, so we no longer want to train that way.

Instead, if your dog has a history of a problem behavior in predictable contexts, focus on getting in front of the behavior proactively, instead of waiting for the naughty behavior and reacting instead!

In the case of the dog in the first paragraph, if his dog was able to take food in the presence of the other dog we could have tried scatter feeding, using a food lure to move the dog away, or asking for an alternative behavior (although this is usually a bit too difficult to start with!) BEFORE the barking and lunging started and then reinforcing heavily for these behaviors, which would have prevented the explosive outburst.

If your dog has a long standing jumping issue, don’t wait until your dog is already jumping on you! Instead, anticipate that they will probably jump on you when you get home, and either use management like gates and pens to prevent the jumping from happening at all, or ask your dog for a sit or four on the floor as they approach you and BEFORE they have jumped up on you. Don’t have them practice the jumping in the first place!

It’s so, so important to minimize the rehearsal of unwanted behaviors in our dogs, and one way to do this is to anticipate the behaviors and get your dog doing something else instead, before they’ve even been “naughty”!

03/30/2025

We have ONE SPOT left in our jumping beans anonymous class that starts this Tuesday!

This 3 week mini-class focuses specifically on teaching your dog how to greet people politely with less jumping!

You must be a graduate of our good manners 1 or puppy classes to join this class, and the class runs Tuesday April 1st, April 8th, and April 15th at 5:30 PM!

We’ve also got openings in our good manners 1 class starting April 9th and each of our rolling enrollment puppy classes!

If you'd like to sign up for the last available spot in this class, please email [email protected]!

03/29/2025

Just stumbled upon a Facebook post from a trainer in another state, and the name of their business has “pawsitive” in the title, their website states “our force free training methods”, and their marketing is very clearly geared towards people who would want to use positive reinforcement based training.

One look at their social media and every. Single. Dog. Is wearing a shock collar. Not only that, but one of the dogs in her post is reportedly “not great” with other dogs, but wearing a shock collar in a down stay next to another dog. This dog is VERY clearly distressed, she is panting, her ears are pulled back tightly, you can see the whites of her eyes, and she is STIFF. Not only do I disagree with this from an ethical and humane training standpoint, but for safety’s sake as well.

Some trainers will really do anything other than be HONEST with people in order to make money.

When you are selecting a trainer, I am BEGGING everyone to think critically and to vet their trainers. If someone found this trainer on social media and did zero research, they would absolutely think they were signing up for positive reinforcement training BECAUSE THERE IS NO CONSUMER PROTECTION IN THIS FIELD.

I’m tired of this fight, y’all.

03/28/2025

A HUGE congratulations to our puppy 1 graduate from this week, Tommy!

And turn puppy 3 for big dogs graduate, Miley!

These are some very good pups who made great progress in their classes and will continue to learn and grow with their awesome parents! I can’t wait to see you all continue your progress!

03/27/2025

We have ONE SPOT left in our jumping beans anonymous class that starts NEXT WEEK!

This 3 week mini-class focuses specifically on teaching your dog how to greet people politely with less jumping!

You must be a graduate of our good manners 1 or puppy classes to join this class, and the class runs Tuesday April 1st, April 8th, and April 15th at 5:30 PM!

If you'd like to sign up for the last available spot in this class, please email [email protected]!

03/26/2025

"What's in your pouch?" Wednesday

I have had some people ask me for different treat recommendations, since I encourage my students to change up their reinforcers for the novelty factor and to keep introducing their dogs to new foods. So I decided one of the better places for me to post about this is on our social media!

Heads up, the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning that I will receive a small commission from these purchases at no additional cost to you!

The treats my dogs have been enjoying this week have been:

- Plato's Small Bites: https://amzn.to/4iwrj1y. These dehydrated meat treats are small enough to be used as training treats, or can be broken in half to make even more treats! They come in a few different flavors (I like the fish since my dogs love stinky treats) and feature simple, easy to read ingredients!

- Freeze Dried Cheddar: https://amzn.to/4fgvkUK. If you've got a dog who loves cheese, but struggle to remember to grab it from the fridge, freeze dried cheddar may be the answer to your shelf stable prayers!

- Shameless Pets Duck Jerky Treats: https://amzn.to/4gtzpG2. These jerky strips break up into tiny pieces, making them great for training, and they are soft, chewy, and smelly, which mean most dogs really enjoy them!

How about you and your dog? Have you recently found a treat or food that has been working well for your training? If so, please comment below! And happy training!

03/25/2025

Training tip Tuesday:

Recall secret weapons!

I’m a strong believer that if you want a dog to recall reliably, you HAVE to make it worth it for them, and when you’re dealing with real life distractions like other dogs and critters, that means breaking out the really good stuff!

Truth is, some breeds and individuals find recalls less “expensive” than others (breeds that were created to work WITH a person, instead of INDEPENDENT of a person tend to find more value intrinsically in staying close and checking in with their human!) but I think no matter the dog offering the equivalent of dog “hundred dollar bills” is very important for this particular behavior!

The problem, though, is that lots of doggie hundred dollar bills are not shelf stable! Cheese, deli meat, chicken, steak, these are things that require extra prep ahead of time, and you can’t just leave them where you need them because they have to be refrigerated!

That’s where these recall secret weapons come in! I love using chicken or beef baby food jars and tubes, vacuum sealed cat food, and churu squeeze tube cat treats during recall training! These items are shelf stable, meaning that you can store them where you need them and use them when you need them, without having to worry about prep ahead of time!

Even better, if you have a “super sniffer” dog that figures out when you do and don’t have treats on your person, if you use something like these foods your pup won’t know you have the treats on you until you open the package! I love to joke that my dog thinks I’m a wizard that can conjure cat food out of thin air 😂😂😂

03/22/2025

A very happy birthday to my bestest boy, the original happy hound: Regis!

Regis turns 13 (!!!!) today. While he may be grey in the face, sleep more, and have his ouchy days due to arthritis, he’s still just as eager to go for our walks and to play our training games. ❤️ Things start to look different when you have a senior dog, but I’m so grateful for every day we get together.

Regis is the dog who taught me how to love behaviorally complicated animals. Without him, Happy Hound University never would have happened. I owe him so much. Good boy, Regie, we love you!

03/21/2025

A HUGE congratulations to our good manners 1 graduates from this week, Rachel, Louie, Hermione, and Buddy!

And turn puppy 2 for little dogs graduate, O’Sullivan!

These are some very good pups who made great progress in their classes and will continue to learn and grow with their awesome parents! I can’t wait to see you all continue your progress!

03/20/2025

Happy Hound University is so excited to announce our recent completion of the Living and Learning with Animals course through under the instruction of the amazing Dr. Susan Friedman!

This 8 week course took us on a deep dive into functional analysis and was an amazing refresher for how behavior works and how to help our animal companions offer more appropriate, functional behavior in our every day lives.

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Elk Grove Village, IL

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 8pm
Tuesday	9am - 8pm
Wednesday	9am - 8pm
Thursday	9am - 8pm
Friday	9am - 8pm

Website

http://happyhounduniversity.com/

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Did you recently bring home a new puppy? Don’t let their critical window of socialization pass you by! Young puppies need to be socialized with other dogs and new people BEFORE their critical window of socialization starts to close around 16-18 weeks of age. There’s no better time to start puppy classes then NOW. Our classes are rolling enrollment, which means no waiting for the next class date to start! You can jump in as soon as there’s an opening! We also separate our puppy class by size and temperament, which means your puppy will be getting QUALITY socialization and our playtime isn’t a free for all. Our goal is that all puppies leave class more confident than they started! Interested in learning more about our puppy program? Email [email protected] or see our website! #dogtrainer #dogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivedogtraining #forcefree #forcefreetrainer #forcefreetraining #fearfree #fearfreetraining #fearfreetrainer #sciencebased #sciencebasedtraining #LIMA #cookiepusher #teamsnackies #elkgrovevillageIL #desplainesIL #mountprospectIL #ParkRidgeIL #PalatineIL #schaumburgIL #hoffmanestatesIL #happyhounduniversity

Myth Busting Monday: Wait until your puppy is fully vaccinated to socialize them According to the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, the foremost experts in pet dog behavior: “… puppies can start puppy socialization classes as early as 7-8 weeks of age. Puppies should receive a minimum of one set of vaccines at least 7 days prior to the first class and a first deworming. They should be kept up-to-date on vaccines throughout the class.” This cannot be overstated: puppies are only in their critical window of socialization (the period of time when puppies are most sociable and less fearful of novelty) until about 12-16 weeks of age. Once a puppy leaves their critical window of socialization they are more likely to meet novel situations with fear and hesitation, and to be less accepting overall. Early positive exposure (done at the puppy’s pace!) to a wide variety of new people, other dogs/puppies, environments, and situations will teach your puppy how to expect and enjoy novelty as adult dogs! Young puppy classes and socials are Happy Hound University’s specialty. We offer multiple class and social times each week, and set puppies up to succeed by matching them with similar sized and tempered playmates. Interested in learning more about our puppy program? Email [email protected]! #dogtrainer #dogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivedogtraining #forcefree #forcefreetrainer #forcefreetraining #fearfree #fearfreetraining #fearfreetrainer #sciencebased #sciencebasedtraining #LIMA #cookiepusher #teamsnackies #elkgrovevillageIL #desplainesIL #mountprospectIL #ParkRidgeIL #PalatineIL #schaumburgIL #hoffmanestatesIL #happyhounduniversity

Attention new puppy owners: we’ve got openings in our Tuesday 4:30 puppy class as soon as tomorrow, and openings in our Wednesday and Thursday evening puppy classes within the next few weeks! Our classes specialize in socialization and offer a fun and safe place for your puppy to meet other puppies and new people outside of your home! And as you can see from this video from our puppy 2 for small dogs class, our socialization time continues into puppy 2 and 3 and focuses on QUALITY social interactions with other dogs. Our goal is to support you from puppyhood through adolescence and into adulthood, and our classes allow for exactly that! Class sizes are kept small to allow for individual attention, and play sessions are grouped by size and temperament so no puppy gets overwhelmed or practices undesirable play behaviors! Don’t delay! Your puppy is only in their critical window of socialization until 16-18 weeks; early safe and positive exposure is critical to raising a well rounded, confident dog! Email [email protected] to sign up today! #dogtrainer #dogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivedogtraining #forcefree #forcefreetrainer #forcefreetraining #fearfree #fearfreetraining #fearfreetrainer #sciencebased #sciencebasedtraining #LIMA #cookiepusher #teamsnackies #elkgrovevillageIL #desplainesIL #mountprospectIL #ParkRidgeIL #PalatineIL #schaumburgIL #hoffmanestatesIL #happyhounduniversity

Attention new puppy owners: we’ve got openings in our Tuesday 4:30 puppy class as soon as tomorrow, and openings in our Wednesday and Thursday evening puppy classes the first few weeks of February! Our classes specialize in socialization and offer a fun and safe place for your puppy to meet other puppies and new people outside of your home! Class sizes are kept small to allow for individual attention, and play sessions are grouped by size and temperament so no puppy gets overwhelmed or practices undesirable play behaviors! Don’t delay! Your puppy is only in their critical window of socialization until 16-18 weeks; early safe and positive exposure is critical to raising a well rounded, confident dog! Email [email protected] to sign up today! #dogtrainer #dogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivedogtraining #forcefree #forcefreetrainer #forcefreetraining #fearfree #fearfreetraining #fearfreetrainer #sciencebased #sciencebasedtraining #LIMA #cookiepusher #teamsnackies #elkgrovevillageIL #desplainesIL #mountprospectIL #ParkRidgeIL #PalatineIL #schaumburgIL #hoffmanestatesIL #happyhounduniversity

Somebody come adopt these puppies before I do 😂 At our Tuesday puppy class this week we had a number of secondcityk9 puppies join us! (Gracie the golden, at the end of this clip, is NOT up for adoption and is in her own loving home already!) The puppies had fun exploring our equipment, getting to meet the other puppies, and doing some training learning sit and down! If anyone out there is looking to adopt a puppy sometime soon, Second City Canine Rescue has a bunch of cuties available! #dogtrainer #dogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivedogtraining #forcefree #forcefreetrainer #forcefreetraining #fearfree #fearfreetraining #fearfreetrainer #sciencebased #sciencebasedtraining #LIMA #cookiepusher #teamsnackies #elkgrovevillageIL #desplainesIL #mountprospectIL #ParkRidgeIL #PalatineIL #schaumburgIL #hoffmanestatesIL #happyhounduniversity

Hondo, Daisy, Gracie, and Freya had so much fun this week during their wednesday night puppy 1 class playtime! In addition to playtime, they got to practice learning "leave it" and practiced having their paws handled and nails filed! Our puppy classes are for puppies ages 8 to 20 weeks of age; the curriculum focuses on proper socialization and introduces basic manners and obedience cues that all dogs will need. Our class size is kept small to allow for individual attention, and printable pdfs of homework are sent home after class each week so that you can keep working on the tasks learned during class time. Since our classes are rolling enrollment you can sign up for the class as soon as there's an opening. No waiting 6 whole weeks for the next round to start, letting your puppy's critical window of socialization pass you by! To sign up for our puppy classes please see our website or email [email protected]! Our classes are held at 1095 E Thacker St in Des Plaines, and are held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings! #dogtrainer #dogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivedogtraining #forcefree #forcefreetrainer #forcefreetraining #fearfree #fearfreetraining #fearfreetrainer #sciencebased #sciencebasedtraining #LIMA #cookiepusher #teamsnackies #elkgrovevillageIL #desplainesIL #mountprospectIL #ParkRidgeIL #PalatineIL #schaumburgIL #hoffmanestatesIL #happyhounduniversity

Did you bring home a new puppy over the holidays? Don’t let their critical window of socialization pass you by! Young puppies need to be socialized with other dogs and new people BEFORE their critical window of socialization starts to close around 16-18 weeks of age. There’s no better time to start puppy classes then NOW. Our classes are rolling enrollment, which means no waiting for the next class date to start! You can jump in as soon as there’s an opening! We also separate our puppy class by size and temperament, which means your puppy will be getting QUALITY socialization and our playtime isn’t a free for all. Our goal is that all puppies leave class more confident than they started! Interested in learning more about our puppy program? Email [email protected] or see our website! #dogtrainer #dogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivedogtraining #forcefree #forcefreetrainer #forcefreetraining #fearfree #fearfreetraining #fearfreetrainer #sciencebased #sciencebasedtraining #LIMA #cookiepusher #teamsnackies #elkgrovevillageIL #desplainesIL #mountprospectIL #ParkRidgeIL #PalatineIL #schaumburgIL #hoffmanestatesIL #happyhounduniversity

Teddy the board and train puppy is hard at work on his “go to bed and stay there until released” behavior! We started with teaching him how to “target” the bed when asked, and now are adding in duration, distractions like me dropping treats and rewarding him for staying put, and having me sit down. Like everything else we do at Happy Hound University, we’re teaching using positive reinforcement, proactively rewarding Teddy for a behavior we liked, and breaking it down into small enough steps that Teddy achieved with ease! If Teddy gets off the bed before I’ve released him, that’s just information telling me that I’ve made the exercise too hard too quickly! Good boy, Teddy! Did you recently bring home a new puppy? Email [email protected] to see if your puppy is a good fit for our program! (P.s. yes those are my pajamas I am training in 😂) #dogtrainer #dogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivedogtraining #forcefree #forcefreetrainer #forcefreetraining #fearfree #fearfreetraining #fearfreetrainer #sciencebased #sciencebasedtraining #LIMA #cookiepusher #teamsnackies #elkgrovevillageIL #desplainesIL #mountprospectIL #ParkRidgeIL #PalatineIL #schaumburgIL #hoffmanestatesIL #happyhounduniversity

Myth Busting Monday: Wait until your puppy is fully vaccinated to socialize them According to the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, the foremost experts in pet dog behavior: “… puppies can start puppy socialization classes as early as 7-8 weeks of age. Puppies should receive a minimum of one set of vaccines at least 7 days prior to the first class and a first deworming. They should be kept up-to-date on vaccines throughout the class.” This cannot be overstated: puppies are only in their critical window of socialization (the period of time when puppies are most sociable and less fearful of novelty) until about 12-16 weeks of age. Once a puppy leaves their critical window of socialization they are more likely to meet novel situations with fear and hesitation, and to be less accepting overall. Early positive exposure (done at the puppy’s pace!) to a wide variety of new people, other dogs/puppies, environments, and situations will teach your puppy how to expect and enjoy novelty as adult dogs! Our puppy and adolescents classes are Happy Hound University’s specialty. We offer multiple class times each week, and set puppies up to succeed by matching them with similar sized and tempered playmates. And we have openings as soon as we start back up in January! Interested in learning more about our puppy program? Email [email protected]! #dogtrainer #dogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivedogtraining #forcefree #forcefreetrainer #forcefreetraining #fearfree #fearfreetraining #fearfreetrainer #sciencebased #sciencebasedtraining #LIMA #cookiepusher #teamsnackies #elkgrovevillageIL #desplainesIL #mountprospectIL #ParkRidgeIL #PalatineIL #schaumburgIL #hoffmanestatesIL #happyhounduniversity