ERIE DOG CO

08/27/2024

The world can be overwhelming when you’re just leaving your littermates and you’re only a few inches off the ground. In addition to teaching life skills such as crate training, potty training, door boundaries, tolerance for handling and loose leash walking, I really focus on building a confident and environmentally stable dog.

My job is to expand each puppy’s comfort zone by exposing them to new sights, sounds, surfaces and situations with the goal of creating a neutral or positive response.

Air breaks on buses and trucks are a known trigger to spook most young dogs. I joined the kids at the bus stop this morning, brought some tasty treats and was playing games of chasing treats and luring him into positions. Although Bandit was unsure for a moment at the loud breaks, I said, WHATS THAT? BUS! LETS GO! And we continued playing our games and he very quickly recovered. My context cues let him know that I know what it is, and we don’t have to worry about that. Too many people avoid discomfort, when in reality, the more we expose our dogs to novel situations that they might be unsure about, the more we can grow their comfort zone. I also don’t teach the dog that our entire world stops when a potential trigger is approaching. Because I don’t want it to be our focus. It should be background noise to our handler engagement games.

08/27/2024

I give this same advise to my clients. Do not allow your dogs to interact with unknown dogs. And even if it’s a known dog, do not allow interaction if they’re on leash. Sharing trainers that do great work! Robert Cabral is a great trainer to follow!

08/27/2024

Happy National Dog Day! 💕 Post a picture of your dog!! I love to see those faces!!

08/23/2024

Day 1 with Brewster and he’s learning the important rule that he cannot exit the gate, crate, front door, back door or car door UNLESS I give him permission and invite him out. Door bolting is a serious offense with potentially dangerous outcomes.

➡️ Notice how I am NOT commanding the dog to WAIT. Instead I am teaching the DEFAULT BEHAVIOR that he should ALWAYS make this choice without needing to be prompted by a human to wait.

This is another repeat client and I haven’t seen them in 5 years or so! They reached out to let me know that Sampson crossed the rainbow bridge 🌈 and they wanted my help in selecting and raising a new dog. Sampson was a tough dog, a mix of Black Mouth Cur and Rhodesian Ridgeback. He was A LOT of dog! When they got Sampson, they wanted to do the right thing and rescue a dog in need, but after the challenges of mananging Sampson’s intense prey drive along with his conflicting drives, they asked me to help select their next dog for them! We chose a great local breeder- I’ve trained many of her dogs and I love the predictable temperament of her intentional coupling. Along with the fact that she does phenomenal training with the Puppy Culture program from birth to 8 weeks. I’m excited for my clients to finally have their dream dog that can join in on all of their adventures! What an honor! 💕

08/22/2024

08/08/2024

When everyone is off leash trained, it’s time to hit the trails!

08/08/2024

Bringing out the best in these pups!

08/05/2024

Raising dogs is pretty simple. It’s kind of just like old fashioned child-rearing. Focus on manners, focus on teaching them to be hard workers, and the next thing you know, you end up with dogs and children that make good decisions. And if they can make good situations then you can trust to put them in a lot of situations. And if you put them in a lot of situations, they learn a lot.

One of my favorite trainers to follow. Be sure to follow Stonnie Dennis Dog Training & Boarding 🙌

07/10/2024

Off leash days are the best days! Now those are some happy dogs!!

06/29/2024

Transform your dog’s behavior with expert training. 🐾 Start the journey now at eriedogco.com. 🐾 🚀

Prongs imitate teeth on the neck, which is a natal language to dogs. Some humans have BIG feelings against these tools, but dogs are not humans and our anatomy and communication is very different. To ignore these facts w...

06/27/2024

💥 Next week is Independence Day 💥 and if you live in Erie, Colorado, then you know there will be a huge fireworks display on July 3rd! 💥 Here’s my annual reminder to make sure your dog has tags with a current phone number, and if you need medication from your veterinarian or CBD tincture from , now is the time to plan ahead!! 🥳

06/26/2024

Welcome Lucy! She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s gonna love me soon! At least she’s not growling at me today! 😬 😅 She struggles with anxiety, reactivity, emotional regulation, containment phobia (stress in the kennel), impulse control, engagement, handling exercises and restraint. In my entire career, this was the hardest nail trim I’ve ever performed. Even with 2 tethers, she got her muzzle off 3 times, broke the arm of my grooming table and every fiber of my being said to stop and send her to the veterinarian for a sedated nail trim. I don’t know if I’m brave or dumb, but I completed the trim. When nails are so overgrown that it affects a dog’s posture and movement, they are not in a position to learn new information or retain information. Without a nail trim, I can’t begin my work. It’s no wonder that she’s struggling to process information, communicate clearly and overall just having a hard time. It’s never easy to have a dog in my care that has no hesitation to put their teeth on my flesh when things aren’t on their terms. And even more concerning that she does the same thing to her owners if they attempt to trim her nails. Caring for our dogs shouldn’t feel dangerous. And I see how her energy affects others, especially her housemate Luna (the Malinois mastiff mix that’s here too). Their family is devoted to their dogs and eager for change. They want to reclaim the peace and respect in their home and I’ve got my work cut out for me. I know Lucy has many redeeming qualities and I’m looking forward to her feeling safe enough to share them all with me. She won’t take food from me, or play with me, and all she wants is distance from me right now. That certainly makes training a bit harder because she just wants to be left alone. I’ve seen how serious she can be when she feels pressured or threatened, so I’m going as slow as I can, I’m keeping my head on a swivel and my defensive handling on the forefront of my brain. I’m looking forward to building her confidence and emotional regulation, building her trust and respect through predictable actions, responses and accountability, and giving her family pride and confidence in her reliable behaviors.

06/26/2024

What do you get when mix a Belgian Malinois with a Mastiff? This girl!
Welcome Luna!! It’s your time to shine!

06/26/2024

I get about 4 dogs a year with this quirky behavior- the dog won’t potty on walks, won’t potty while on leash in their own backyard, and they wait until they’re OFF leash in their yard to eliminate. It might not seem like a big issue if you have a fenced in yard, but a dog’s world will become very small if they have this limitation. No day trips because it’s hard to find a fenced yard when you’re on a road trip. No field trips around town because you can’t potty the dog. No hotel stays or bringing your dog along. Limited boarding options because many of us potty dogs on leash for safety. Challenges post surgery at a veterinary hospital because the dog won’t potty outside so they potty in the kennel and can get infections from sitting in their filth. So many reasons why it’s essential to teach dogs to potty on leash.

Dottie is a new rescue and her previous foster mentioned that she won’t p*e on leash. Her new owner has been letting her off leash in their fenced yard every few hours and this has eliminated her accidents in the house. But hasn’t solved the bigger issue.

Since the start of her board and train, Dottie has only been p*eing in her crate. Even though I’m taking her outside every 2 hours, she does not eliminate outdoors and continues to soil her crate about 7 times a day. 😅 It’s very hot outside, so she’s drinking a lot to stay hydrated. As much as I’d like to give in and just let her off leash, I won’t solve the problem if I do this. Since I come across this often, I know it’s usually about 3-7 days of excessive cleaning, mopping and bathing until I solve the issue. I’m setting my alarm around the clock, day and night, to continue giving her the option to p*e outside. Her last potty yesterday was in the crate around 7 pm, and since I couldn’t get her to eliminate before bedtime at 10 pm, I made sure to wake up throughout the night and continue to offer her bathroom breaks in hopes to avoid waking up to a urine soaked dog again. And success!! At 3:00 am, she had her FIRST p*e on leash! 🙌 I’m hoping we’ve turned a corner and can spend our time together training and not bathing 😉 and hopefully I can get some well earned sleep tonight!

And to follow up, here’s how to prevent this behavior from being created. When you first get your dog, potty them on leash every single time. If you choose to give your dog off leash freedom in the yard, do so only after they have eliminated. This teaches dogs to potty quickly and that all fun and freedom happens AFTER they potty. Off leash freedom is a HUGE reward and should be earned, not given haphazardly. The reward comes AFTER the completion of the behavior not BEFORE. Welcome Dottie! I’m excited to bring out the best in this sweet girl!

06/21/2024

Shout out to my favorite team of veterinarians at Vista Animal Hospital ! Gryffindor woke up non-weight bearing on his front limb this week, and although he’s improved immensely in the last few days, I decided to take him in for an examination. Gryffindor was so cooperative, letting the Doctor inspect and manipulate his body thoroughly. He even got to wear these cool doggles during his laser light therapy treatment, which will sp*ed up the healing process and help with pain and inflammation.

I’m so grateful to these talented doctors that help keep my pack thriving! 💓 And it’s always a treat to hear compliments from the staff that Gryff is a great patient and it’s obvious we prioritize and practice handling exercises!

I say it all the time- teaching your dogs to be INCONVENIENCED by practicing restraint and handling grows their comfort zone, keeps our veterinarians and groomers safe, and makes vet exams stress free for everyone. When we teach dogs to be inconvenienced, we build tolerance, trust, and simply said- it makes caring for our dogs SO much easier!

06/18/2024

To create a dog that is an independent thinker and offers default preferred behaviors:

Give less prompts.

Let the dog THINK for a moment.

Give guidance when needed and positive feedback when correct.

The PAUSE is essential for dogs to think and process.

06/18/2024

Many dogs don’t want to be petted… and this concept is so hard for people to understand.

06/17/2024

All dogs learn that they need to be invited to exit the home, crate and car. This is a DEFAULT command. Which means that I do not give the dog a command. It is IMPLIED that he never has permission to exit unless he is clearly invited. 🙌🏼 I don’t want to rely on humans (especially young children) commanding the dog to stay at an open door. Instead we teach this as a DEFAULT command. An open door is not permission to exit! This one is LITERALLY a LIFE SAVING behavior!! 🙌🏼

The walk starts before the walk starts! 😉

06/08/2024

Gryffindor and Sonny 💕