Alabama Dog Academy

01/16/2024

Sure is nice to have a dog well trained to heel, when you head out for an icy neighborhood walk!

12/04/2023

Why punishment “works” Thanks https://www.facebook.com/rplusdogsbehaviour/

11/18/2023

Have you been putting off getting your dog trained? Or would you like to give the gift of training to a friend this Christmas? Here’s your chance to get a good deal on a training class and support a fantastic nonprofit in the process! Bid on this class and check out all the other silent auction items here on the website: https://limestonecac.auctions.networkforgood.com/auctions/open-house-silent-auction-2023/items/18

08/21/2023

I’m so proud to have been working with the Limestone Child Advocacy Center to train their Canine Advocate, Harper! Check out some of the amazing work Harper and her coworkers do to help kids, in my most recent blog post! http://www.alabamadogacademy.com/training-blog

08/15/2023

Prayers for all those affected by the wildfires! 🙏

(CNN) — Twisted metal. The carcases of burned sedans. Charred shells of what once were homes, thriving businesses and cultural landmarks. As Maui officials continue searching through the wreckage for

07/17/2023

Thinking about getting a service dog? Elizabeth at Alabama Dog Academy can help you train your own dog to help mitigate your disability! Not sure how it works? Check out http://www.alabamadogacademy.com/service-dog-training.html, and contact Elizabeth to get started!

07/17/2023

Just two black and white dogs, playing on a black and white blanket ❤️

07/15/2023

Service Dog in Training, Moose, is continuing his Board and Train today with an outing to Subway! Restaurants can be particularly tricky for service dogs, but Moose has had lots of practice with down-stays during mealtime at home so he’s rockin’ the restaurant outing too! Great work! Subway

07/12/2023

This handsome boy, Moose, is a Service Dog in Training, so he’s spending the next week or so in Alabama Dog Academy’s Out on the Town Board and Train program! That means every day he’ll be training in a new public location around town. Keep your eyes peeled and give him a wave if you see him!

11/14/2022

We all know that dogs are easily distracted, but often we humans don’t realize how distracted WE are too! It’s important to be aware of your environment when you’re out in public with your dog, but if you want your dog to be more focused on you, you might need to be more focused on him as well. It’s a simple fix that can make a huge difference!

11/02/2022

Does taking your dog for a walk feel more like water skiing without the water?

Do you wish you could enjoy the fall weather in your neighborhood with your dog?

Do you want to teach your dog to walk at your side, without resorting to collars that hurt him?

Alabama Dog Academy offers training packages focusing solely on teaching your dog how to walk nicely on leash! Enjoy $20 off this training package during the month of No Pull November! To find more info, and to contact Alabama Dog Academy, check out www.alabamadogacademy.com/family-dog-training-packages

09/06/2022

If you’ve never trained a service dog before, and usually even if you have, you’re going to need the help of an experienced, professional trainer. But service dog training is an extremely specialized field and not every neighborhood has a qualified trainer. You may end up having to drive several hours every week just to meet with your trainer. It’s a good idea to find a trainer before you start your service dog journey, so you are aware from the start how big a commitment you’ll be making to train your own dog.

09/02/2022

It’s and a good time to mention that the only requirement to have a service dog, is that the handler has a disability for which the dog is trained to help. ID cards and licenses? Not legally required; anyone who tells you differently is just trying to scam you.

09/01/2022

September is Service Dog Month! Stay tuned all month long to learn more about how service dogs can help people with disabilities, and what we can all do when we encounter a service dog.

Have you or someone you know been considering getting a service dog? Check out this article I wrote about what service dogs can do!

At least once a week there is a story in the news or on social media about service dogs. But even with all this attention, you still may find yourself with questions about service dogs. The first bit...

07/15/2022

Dominance in Dog Training: it’s just not relevant, and dogs continue to experience harmful effects from humans who can’t let it go.

Dominance theory is often misunderstood, which can lead to the development and/or exacerbation of behavioural issues in dogs

07/03/2022

Puppy mills exist because they are a good source of profit. It doesn’t cost much to breed dogs if you don’t care about vet care, grooming, nutrition, or exercise for the dogs in your care. The puppies look healthy and happy in photos online, but if you never go in person and see where the puppy was raised, you’re probably supporting a puppy mill.

Reputable breeders exist for the love of the breed and to share their dogs with people who will love them. Reputable breeders spend the money on excellent health care for all their dogs, and look out for the happiness of their dogs, too. Reputable breeders charge more for puppy mills but make much less profit, as the price you pay for the puppy goes back into their breeding program to produce more excellent puppies.

Support reputable breeders. Support shelters and rescues. But please don’t buy a puppy if you’re not sure what kind of breeder you’re supporting.

07/01/2022

So many dogs run away when they hear fireworks, so this is a great reminder of what to do if a dog wanders to you this weekend!

We got an email this morning from a person who had a dog wander onto their property. That person decided to keep the dog and began vetting the dog. When a family member came to visit with their own dog, there was a fight and the person who found the dog kicked her to stop a fight. We were told the dog has to go. We wish this person had known that you cannot just keep a dog who wanders onto your property. This situation likely could have been avoided.

Our newly published Community Resources page on our website covers this topic.

WHEN YOU FIND A PET

If you find a lost pet realize that animal belongs to someone and is that person's property. Pets who get loose often look like they have been abandoned or dumped when in fact they are just lost due to no fault of the people who care for them. Pets are property under the law and while we know that people often find pets and re-home them themselves, this is illegal. There is nothing wrong with trying to make plans to find the animal a new home or contacting a rescue group to see if they may take the animal, but you cannot re-home animals yourself. You can adopt the animal if you want, but you still need to go through the system to make sure the owner of the animal has an opportunity to find their lost pet. Please take the following steps:
• Report the found pet to local animal control authorities so the pet is put "in the system" to make sure the owner can find them. Information on how to do that in Huntsville and Madison County is found on the HAS website. If you find a lost pet and have control of that animal, you may be asked if you can foster the animal to avoid having them enter the shelter which can be incredibly stressful for them. If you cannot, you can make plans to get the animal to HAS.
• Check for tags or other identification on a collar. Many people use tags that include a phone number and some microchipped pets wear tags with the microchip number so you can contact the company and report you found the animal.
• Take the animal to your veterinarian to be scanned for a microchip if that is an option for you. Most veterinary offices will do this for free to help a lost pet get back home.
• Canvass the neighborhood. It may be that the pet you found belongs to someone who lives very close to you. Check with your neighbors and businesses near you to ask if they know who owns the pet you found.
• Use social media to try to find the owners. Social media is a great tool to try to help pets get back home. Once the found pet has been reported to Huntsville Animal Services and is either being fostered by you or at the animal shelter, you can still use platforms like Facebook or Nextdoor to find the owner. On Facebook, you can join the page for Lost and Found Pets - Huntsville, AL/Madison County to get the word out about the pet you found (this is a public group). You will need a good photo and information about where you found the pet.

https://www.nokillhuntsville.com/community-resources.html

06/15/2022

✔️ A doggie pool of water
✔️ Obstacles providing shade in the cool grass
✔️ Plenty of access to shade trees
Just what these guys - and their trainer! - need to be comfortable on this hot summer day!

06/15/2022

Has your dog started digging holes in the yard? One reason why dogs dig is to find a cool spot to lay on these hot days. This little guy, Huggins, has figured out how to get his friend, Thaddeus, to do all the hard work for him!

06/09/2022

Business owners are often surprised when I explain to them how they can - and should - ask dog owners to remove their dogs if they’re disrupting their business, regardless of whether they’re service dogs. Misbehaving dogs continue to be a nuisance for people like my clients who put a lot of time and effort into training their dogs. This June and July, I’m offering a limited number of presentations to help business owners, nonprofit employees, and staff members learn what their rights are when it comes to service dogs. Contact me on this page for more information!

06/07/2022

“Lack of public education surrounding caring for companion animals, understanding the problems of breeding, and voting for legislators who focus on hot button issues and who protect corporation’s bottom line contribute to the problems facing animal advocates.”

The good news is post pandemic pet ownership is on the rise and during the past ten years, the number of animals killed in shelters across the country annually has been reduced from 23 million to 2 million.

06/06/2022

Service dogs are allowed to accompany their partner out in public, but training a dog for public work takes months or even years, and many dogs still will never be able to handle the pressure. A dog trained to do tasks to help you at home can be incredibly valuable, and you’ll have a working partner in much less time (and for much less money, too)!

06/03/2022

“How much does it cost?” is almost always the first question people ask when they contact me about training a service dog.

The fact is, service dogs ARE expensive. When you add up the purchase price of the dog, dog supplies, vet bills, a high-quality diet, regular grooming, training lessons, and transportation to and from training, you will be investing several thousand dollars before the dog even knows how to help with your disability. And if you’re training the dog, there’s no guarantee he will be suited to service dog work; which means you may have to rehome your dog and start all over from scratch. Some service dog costs are tax-deductible, but none will be covered by insurance.

Nonprofit organizations will often place dogs free of charge. They will match you with one of their fully-trained dogs; you don’t get to pick out the exact dog you will get, but professional trainers will play “matchmaker” and make sure you get a dog you love. The only nonprofit organizations that teach you to train your dog - and give you the freedom to choose your own dog - free of charge, at least in North Alabama, only train dogs for military veterans.

Service dogs are often invaluable lifesavers; they don’t come cheap.

Check out the three blog posts at the top of this page for more information about what it’s like to train a service dog: http://www.alabamadogacademy.com/service-dog-training.html

06/02/2022

Board and Train has recently become extremely popular. This is especially true in the summer when people take the opportunity to get their dogs trained while they are on summer vacation. Doing Board and Train can be a win-win for you and your dog! But not all dogs are good candidates for Board and Train. Check out my most recent blog post for insider information about how Board and Train works!

​ ​ Board and Train : Hand your misbehaving dog off to a trainer for a few weeks, and get him back all trained ! In the last year or two, the number of inquiries trainers get about doing Board...

05/19/2022

Dog owners, especially service dog owners, deserve better.

This trainer claims she apprenticed with a “well respected dog trainer,” so why didn’t she name the trainer? Who you learn from highly influences your own methods, so this can be very important information.

She says she works exclusively with service dogs. Service dog training is extremely nuanced and takes years to master. Where is the evidence that she knows what she’s doing?

It’s wonderful that she’s trained a special-needs dog (and the essay she references at the bottom simply goes into detail about how her dog’s disabilities were diagnosed, rather than details about how she trained him). But if she’s working exclusively in training service dogs, this is completely irrelevant; dogs with disabilities cannot be service dogs.

I don’t know this trainer, I don’t know whether or not she is “talented,” as she says. But this bio gives me no reason to hire her to train dogs, especially not service dogs.

05/18/2022

When you’re trying to find a good dog trainer, the first page on any trainers’ websites to check out is the About the Trainer page. And when it comes to trainer bios, *longer* is not always better.

Check out this Alabama trainer’s bio. On first read his education sounds very impressive, training at the United States K-9 Academy. But if you read closely, you’ll notice that his training happened in 1984, and there’s no mention of further education. Is there any other field in which you’d hire a professional who hasn’t had any continuing education in nearly 40 years?

How about asking what IS the United States K-9 Academy? Check out their About page too, and you’ll find that all of their expertise is in police and military dog training. A police dog is drastically different from your pet dog, and the training should be drastically different as well. Moreover, notice that the About page lists credentials that are 15 years old; even 15 years is an extremely long time in the ever-changing field of dog training.

Want more information about finding a good trainer? Check out my recent blog! http://www.alabamadogacademy.com/training-blog/may-11th-2022

05/16/2022

No doubt you’ve seen drama on social media lately about disreputable dog trainers. How do you know you’re hiring someone qualified and competent enough to train your dog? Check out my latest blog for some simple and helpful tips!

No doubt you’ve seen drama on social media about disreputable dog trainers. These posts beg the question: How do you find a good dog trainer? How do you know that the trainer has your and your...

05/15/2022

The “About Me” page on a trainer’s website is their resume that they want prospective clients to read. It should give all the pertinent information about why this person is qualified to train your dog.

But all too often trainers don’t put useful information on their websites. Would you hire a trainer because he plays lacrosse and supposedly looks like Santa? Or wouldn’t you rather hire a trainer who’s upfront about her dog training experience and qualifications?

This is just one example of how NOT to write a trainer bio. I blacked out all the personal information because this post is not intended to criticize an individual. This trainer is in Alabama. The blacked out words include his name and his business name, names and ages of his three kids, the name of the sports teams he and his son play on, and the names of his three dogs. The photo has not been changed, this is the actual photo from the website.

Want more information about how to figure out whether or not to hire a dog trainer? Make sure you click Follow to get notified tomorrow when I post a blog about hiring of a dog trainer!

05/05/2022

People often ask me how to find a good dog trainer. Unfortunately dog training is a completely unregulated field; literally anyone can call themselves a “professional dog trainer” and start charging people to train their dogs.

So the first thing I recommend if you’re looking for a trainer is to find one who does Positive Reinforcement training. But it’s one thing to *say* you use positive reinforcement, and quite another thing to actually *practice* positive reinforcement training. Here’s a great article about how to spot a “fake” positive reinforcement trainer.

Why falsely-advertised "positive reinforcement" training can do harm.

04/18/2022

Spring is the time when we especially love taking our dogs out on walks! Whether a walk in the neighborhood, a long romp in the park, or pit stops during family road trips, I always recommend using a harness rather than a collar for leash walks. But the right harness is important too. Front-clip harnesses are especially helpful for dogs who pull a lot on the leash, but please make sure it is correctly-fitted like the bottom pictures here.