New Beginnings Dog Training

02/04/2025

A huge flock of turkeys were our unexpected distraction today. Luce was amazing! No barking or chasing. Just watching. I took the opportunity to practice recalls at a safe distance from the turkeys and her recall was 100%.
Some people may say that she was on a long line so you don't really know if her recall would have been solid. That's the point. We have never encountered such a big flock and we hike in areas that have coyotes, bobcats (saw tracks yesterday), fisher cats, deer, and other wildlife. I would rather have her on a long line than have her killed by 40 turkeys or another animal if she chose to chase them instead of come back to me. I give my big dogs more freedom once their recall is solid, but they are less likely to become a snack.

01/25/2025

This showed up in my memories today. One of my favorite foster dog pictures of Bailey in his new home. No decompression needed!

01/14/2025

Jumping is the number one unwanted behavior that my clients want help with. It's such an easy fix if everyone is consistent in their response. Consistency is key! My response to Seamus jumping in my lap is not a good example of consistency! Sometimes his bad behavior just made me laugh.
* Jumping is attention seeking. Giving the behavior any attention will reinforce the behavior.
* Ignore jumping completely, don't say "off" or "down"
* Control your own body and space. Cross your arms, turn your head, be very still (boring). If necessary, leave the room.
* Any rehearsing of the behavior will make harder to extinguish.
* All family members, guests to your home, people you meet on the street must have the same response to jumping.

Management: (to stop the practice of the behavior while you are training)
* Use a barrier (baby gates, pen) to prevent access to the door you use to enter the house to prevent jumping as you come home if your dog is not crated.
* When guests come over your dog should be crated, behind a barrier, or leashed.

Training:
4 on the floor:
* Mark & reward (click and treat) when all four paws are on the ground (the dog does not have to be in a sit).
* Practice in less exciting situations at first- not when you have been gone all day or when guests are coming over.
* Increase the excitement level by increasing the speed of your movements (walk quickly around your dog, bounce up and down).
* Add distractions by enlisting the help of family or friends to practice.
* Feed the floor. This makes it more likely that your dog will keep 4 on the floor.
* If your dog is too excited and you are not getting any moments of 4 on the floor then practice behind a barrier.

01/06/2025

I love this! Totally agree. Your dog does not have to say hello to every person and dog they meet. How many times have you heard "My dog is friendly" from someone whose out of control dog is barreling towards you? I also don't want to put my dog in a situation where they might be encouraged to practice unwanted behaviors like jumping. We have our first small dog and she's pretty cute. When people see her they want to say hello and they get her all excited. Again little dogs need to have good manners just as much as big dogs.

Why yes my dog would LOVE to say hi, but I’m still going to say “no thank you” and move on. Why?

1. Because I want my dog to learn that every time we see people it doesn’t mean it’s a party for him. I’d like him to continue his focus on us together as a team and not create conditioned excitement and expectation every time we are approached by someone.

2. Because I don’t know what saying hi means to you. Will you politely touch him? Will you allow him space to move away if he wants? Will you put your face too close to his? I don’t want him to have a negative experience so I’m going to avoid that by continuing our walk.

3. Because maybe I feel overwhelmed or stressed in public places and conversations with strangers may make me uncomfortable, so even though you’d like to talk and meet my dog, I’m protecting myself too.

4. Because we’re in a rush and have to get something done quickly.

5. Because I said no. Even social, sweet, friendly dogs and their handlers have every right to say “no” to a request to meet and be touched by people. This shouldn’t just apply to reactive, worried or bubble space dogs. Dogs are not public property, and saying “no thank you” to touching my dog shouldn’t be regarded as rude or unkind, any more than if a stranger asked to hold my baby.

Please normalize hearing “no” OR even better, normalize ignoring more dogs in public. Let them carry on with their handler and admire them from a far. It would do a world of good for dogs and humans everywhere, trust me.

- Helen St. Pierre

01/05/2025

Yesterday the world lost a pioneer in animal behavior and positive reinforcement dog training. Karen Pryor was a leader in the field beginning her career as a marine mammal trainer in the 1960s. I received my dog training certification through the Karen Pryor Academy in 2011. My relationship with my mentor trainer in the program, Emma Parsons, continues today. Emma's generosity with her time and knowledge is a reflection of Karen's leadership.
I had the honor of meeting Karen twice. One of those times was at the barn where Karen came to watch her daughter Gale ride. I summoned the courage to introduce myself to her and we had a nice conversation about horses, dogs, and the program that gave me my career.
Thank you Karen for all you have done for the animals.

01/03/2025

If you already have a fabulous trainer you are off to a good start to the year. If not here's what you need to know when researching a trainer:

What to Look For:
**Certified - CPDT, KPA, CDBC, CBCC
**Force-Free - no punishment or fear
**Positive Reinforcement
**LIMA (Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive)
**LIFE (Leash Inhibitive, Functionally Effective)
**Science Based
**Clicker Training

What to Avoid:
**No certifications
**Alpha, Dominance, Pack Leader
**E collar, Shock Collar, Training Collar
**Balanced
**Corrections
**Board & Train
**Guaranteed

If you need help finding a trainer in your area please reach out.

12/31/2024

Happy New Year! January is Train Your Dog Month. You should be training your dog every day of every month but maybe try something new in January or build on your dog's basic behaviors. Try a new dog sport - agility, scent work, water rescue. Add duration or distance to a behavior you have been practicing. Maybe you got a new dog recently and you want to start the year off right. Stay tuned for more posts on how to find a trainer, stopping the number one unwanted behavior, enrichment activities, and more.

12/17/2024

Great advice for all of us. I always enjoy reading her perspective.

    Pondering about what to write in this week’s post, I thought: I know! I’ll write an article about what dogs REALLY want for Christmas. Deep from within my dusty, cobwebbed brain, a thought emerged, like smoke arising from smoldering embers. Have I ever written about that in the past? Oh, s...

12/14/2024

Send a message to learn more

11/21/2024

for a rainy day

11/04/2024

The Amish are a large producer of puppy mill puppies treating them like another crop. Do your research when looking for a puppy.

11/02/2024

Long term clients Cristina and Jim are doing a great job with their newest rescue, Guinness, a Spanish Galgo. He had very little socialization living as a hunting dog in Spain. Their other dog Stacy is a rescued Greyhound who came to them extremely fearful and is now a therapy dog. Patience and dedication to training has made all the difference to these dogs.

10/12/2024

Beautiful beach walk this morning. Lots of great smells for Luce!
Let your dog sniff.

09/26/2024

Love this! Today I saw two different people walking their dogs on retractable leashes and talking on the phone.

DISTRACTED DOG WALKERS

The distracted dog walker is commonly seen chatting on their cell phone, wearing headphones or socializing with other people while oblivious to what their dog is doing, how their dog is feeling or what is going on in the environment.

This may not sound like a problem to some, but it is something that many people have a problem with, even more so if you have a reactive dog.

I compare walking a dog to driving a car. It’s not so much about our driving skills, but having to constantly be aware of the driving skills of others – trying to predict what they will do, which rules of the road they will ignore and how distracted they are. This is especially true in the country I live in, where driving can be a stressful experience.

I understand that we often need to multi task – there simply doesn’t seem to be enough time in our day to accomplish everything we need to, but walking our dogs should not be one of these times.

Some people might say – “but my dog is really friendly, well socialized, gets on well with everyone, is well trained, knows this environment well etc. and I hear that.

But another dog might not be – maybe they need space, are reactive, are not sociable, are recovering from an illness, might be terrified of another dog racing straight towards them chasing a ball thrown from a ball launcher etc.

If distracted dog walkers have no regard for other dogs or other people, they should at least have regard for their own dogs. Walking your dog should be a time of bonding, of relationship, of seeing the environment through the eyes of your dog, of reinforcing and teaching wanted behaviours, of keeping them safe and protected from the unknown.

Our dogs need us to be focused, to pay attention, to be aware and attentive.

Our dogs depend on us to advocate for them.

09/06/2024

Why do I teach targeting? It's easy to teach and has so many uses:
To get the dog to focus and ignore distractions.
To move your dog without touching him.
As a start to a recall and a heel.
To show him that hands coming at him are OK.
To provide a way for your dog to greet people.
To teach puppies to use their mouths gently.
As a fun way to get kids involved in training.
As a tool to use in dog sports such as agility.

If you don't know how to teach targeting, post in the comments and I'll show you how.

08/28/2024

If give your dog a cue and he doesn’t respond, first ask yourself, do you have his attention and does he understand what you’re asking.
If you don’t have his attention, it’s ok to get his focus on you and ask again. If he doesn’t know what you want, break the behavior into smaller steps until he does.
Set your dog up for success!

Today's Dog Training Myth of the Day: "Only tell them once!"

What if you ask a dog (whatever age, breed, s*x, background, training level) to do something, but there is no response?

Set aside the myth of "only tell them once." Good rule of thumb: if it were a toddler, what would you do? Probably wait a few beats, be sure you had the kid's attention, then ask again.

Just like us, dogs may not be tuned in 100% because they are busy having their own experience of life which may or may not include you at any moment.

If you *do* have the pup's attention, and they did hear you, next step is to consider that they do not understand and/or don't see the point!

I've often asked clients to stand on a chair and sing happy birthday. I've done it while they were trying to take notes. Result: no compliance, and they say usually say, "Sorry - I was focused on taking notes. What did you say?"

If they are paying attention to me but look at me as if I'm crazy, I ask, "Did you understand what I asked? You did? So why aren't you doing it?" Inevitably the answer is, "I don't want to" or "Why would I do that?" It helped them understand how their dogs might be responding.

So give your dogs the courtesy of clear communication, engage attention first, be sure there is understanding, and make it worthwhile for the dog to work with you. Respect, courtesy and taking responsibility for what we are communicating and how we are communicating -- those are all supportive of healthy dog/human relationships.

This does not mean repeating, Sit-sit-sit-sit-sit-sit which is not good communication no matter who you're talking to! 😊

If you want and need response to just one request (and this has great value!), you first have to teach understanding, understand that connection and attention must come first always, then develop the skill, tighten the criteria and make it worthwhile. Then practice!!!

08/26/2024

Happy National Dog Day! Here is Luce and some of the dogs that came before her.

08/07/2024

Great article on displacement behaviors- what are they and when do they become problematic.

Displacement behavior in dogs is best recognized as out of place or odd behavior that doesn't seem to fit the context surrounding it.