Meet Tripp, our Kansas City Dog of the Month!
After training thousands of puppies over the past 20+ years, we have created puppy behavior modification training programs that can be personalized to teach any puppy any new behavior!
The main training goals of Tripp’s Kansas City puppy training program were to eliminate his pesky jumping and teach him calmer behavior especially when playing with his human siblings. Tripp nailed his puppy training goals and now his family is confident taking him all around Kansas City with them because of his newly learned good behavior. Go, Tripp!
Link in bio to learn more about our in-home, board and train, and virtual puppy training programs!
#puppytraining #goldendoodle #puppy #dogtraining #beyondthedog
Link in bio to learn more about our Kansas City fearful dog training programs!
If you see another dog or your own dog showing this behavior, the dog park is not a good place for you and it’s time to leave!
1.) If a dog enters the dog park, is greeted by other dogs, and immediately runs away with their tail tucked oftentimes vocalizing.
2.) If a dog is overly physical, constantly chasing and biting other dogs without ever reciprocating vulnerable body positions.
3.) If a dog is showing clear signs of aggression such as hackles raised, consistently stiff body language, and growling and snapping towards other dogs.
If your dog has good social skills and you want to take them to the dog park, always stay on the sidelines first and watch if any dogs are exhibiting the above behavior. If they are, wait for those dogs to leave before entering to ensure safe, positive fun!
If you tried socializing your dog but something still isn’t clicking, we are happy to help! Link in bio for professional help with dog socialization, dog reactivity, or any other dog behavioral issue! We offer both in-home (in select cities) and virtual training sessions.
Some dogs should not go to the dog park and that’s okay!
Poor candidates for the dog park include…
❌ Young puppies, specifically those in the critical socialization period of 3-12 weeks (we recommend being extra picky about the group of dogs your puppy plays with until they are at least six months of age)
❌ Unneutered males over 8-months-old
❌ Adult males who have recently been neutered
❌ Dogs that stay by your side the entire time and have no interest in playing with other dogs
❌ Dogs that just want to play fetch with their owners and have no interest in interacting with other dogs
Stay tuned for part 2!
Our Kansas City Dog of the Month is Roman, the Miniature Poodle.
The main goals of Roman’s Kansas City dog training program were to get Roman more comfortable and confident leash walking and going up and down the stairs.
As a puppy mill survivor, Roman was truly terrified of these activities. However, behavioral training was highly effective for him and by the end of his training program, he was confidently walking around his neighborhood and using the stairs.
We are so proud of you, Roman!
Link in bio to learn more about our behavioral training programs!
Resource guarding is a complex, social behavior that is typically caused due to a multitude of factors including genetics, early environment, training history, and the behavior of other dogs in the home to name a few.
It is not caused because your dog no longer “sees you as the alpha”!
If resource guarding is left untreated, the behavior could escalate into your dog biting you or a family member.
Luckily, resource guarding can be treated with behavior modification! We treat resource guarding using a combination of classical conditioning and positive reinforcement that ultimately teaches dogs to look forward to being approached by loved ones.
Learn more about resource guarding below!
https://beyondthedogtraining.com/dog-training/why-is-my-dog-resource-guarding/
Dog-Friendly Chocolate-Covered Strawberries and Yogurt Hearts ❤️
INGREDIENTS
10-12 strawberries (stems cut off)
1/4 cup carob powder (or chips)
1/4 cup coconut oil (or olive oil)
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
INSTRUCTIONS
For the strawberries…
Rinse your strawberries and chop off the tops. Set aside 5-6. Mix carob and oil into a bowl. Coat your strawberries and freeze overnight.
For the hearts…
Dice 5-6 strawberries. Mix with Greek yogurt. Spoon into a mold leaving space on top for the carob. Drizzle carob on top of your yogurt hearts and freeze overnight.
We hope you enjoy these dog-friendly “chocolate-covered” treats!
💌 Happy Valentine’s Day! 💌
If your dog only listens to you when you have treats, it’s not because they don’t love or respect you enough.
It’s because they simply don’t understand what is expected of them.
In a healthy relationship, you don’t assume the other person isn’t listening to you due to a lack of love. The same applies to your relationship with your dog!
Meet Sawyer and Annie, our Kansas City Dogs of the Month!
These sweet pups enrolled in training mainly to work on Sawyer’s jumping, barking, and play-biting directed towards Annie, his owners, and guests.
Throughout their Kansas City dog training program, Sawyer and Annie learned new, calm behaviors both in their home and their Kansas City neighborhood.
Sawyer learned how to appropriately interact with his owners and his sister and we’re so proud of all of his progress!
If you have a puppy that won’t stop bothering your older dog, we can help! Set up a free consultation with us using the link below to get started on your training journey.
https://calendly.com/beyondthedogconsult/15min
Dog reactivity can be an incredibly stressful behavior for pet parents to manage. Many owners and trainers try using shock to treat reactivity. In many cases, shock is seemingly very effective in getting your dog to immediately stop barking or lunging.
But do the ends justify the means when it comes to using shock for reactivity?
Shock often addresses the symptoms of dog reactivity (barking and lunging) but it can mask the underlying cause of the reactivity, the desire to get unfamiliar people and dogs to go away.
The use of shock can make a dog stop barking and lunging but the negative association a dog has with unfamiliar people and dogs can be heightened. After using shock, the dog will associate other people and dogs with an even more unpleasant and painful experience. Classical conditioning is always at play!
Research supports this as studies show the levels of the stress hormone cortisol remain high after the use of shock. Research also shows shock can elicit aggressive behavior!
In our opinion, the ends DO NOT justify the means when it comes to using shock on behavioral issues such as reactivity. It is simply not worth the risk of long-term side effects.
Behavior modification using principles from classical conditioning and positive reinforcement is the best and most ethical method to treat dog reactivity.
For more information on this topic, check out our latest dog behavior blog post below!
https://beyondthedogtraining.com/dog-training/does-it-matter-how-you-train-your-dog-the-effects-of-aversive-training-techniques-on-well-being/
Some people think the far left has taken over dog training and that’s why trainers have stopped using aversive methods such as shock collars and the alpha roll. They believe you must assert your dominance over your dog or they will not listen to you, period.
But is this true? Is positive-based dog training too soft?
No. Research has proven time and time again that behavior modification is the most ethical and effective way to train your dog.
Classical counterconditioning is the foundation of behavior modification. Also known as pairing, classical counterconditioning is when an association between two stimuli is developed.
The most famous example is Pavlov’s dogs, who began to salivate at Pavlov’s bell simply because the bell was paired in time with meat powder. Counterconditioning, habituation, and systematic desensitization are all classical conditioning techniques behaviorists use to treat problem behavior with dogs.
By providing high-value foods in the presence of aversive stimuli, trainers can reduce the aversiveness of those contexts. For some dog-reactive dogs, feeding high-value treats in the presence of other dogs reduces reactivity. This means of treatment is much more ethical than relying on punishment procedures or avoiding these circumstances altogether.
If you are interested in seeking professional help, it can be hard to know where to look. These days, anyone can call themselves a dog trainer without receiving any certification. Who can you trust when it comes to your beloved furry family member?
Look for an organization where you can be supported under the guidance of a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, a Certified Behavior Consultant, or a Veterinary Behaviorist.
Our resident CAAB, Dr. Echterling-Savage, has a fantastic research paper on the effectiveness of classical counterconditioning in treating dog aggression. You can find this paper and more research on Dr. Ectherling-Savage’s behavior blog linked in our bio!
Thank you for believing in Beyond the Dog.
Many of you contacted us after receiving a recommendation. Others found Beyond the Dog through their own research. No matter how you found us, you did your due diligence, asked the right questions, and ultimately believed in us.
Thank you for being patient with Beyond the Dog.
It takes time to design your training program, communicate your pet’s individual needs, and solidify your training dates. Your patience does not go unnoticed as we prepare to do our best work for you.
Thank you for trusting Beyond the Dog.
You allow us into your home to work with your beloved four-legged family member, even in your absence. It is an honor and a privilege to become a staple in your home. Your trust in us is felt so deeply.
Thank you for investing in Beyond the Dog.
You put time, energy, and money into your pet’s future. You create space for us in your busy schedule, and your commitment to your pet is felt in every exchange. We strive to make your investment pay dividends.
Finally, thank you for your loyalty.
You share your experience with others and your words mean more than you know. For some of you, our relationship has spanned generations of your family pets. We’ve had the privilege of working with you and your family for decades. There are no words to describe how great it feels to start again with your family. Your loyalty pushes us to offer the same great quality year after year.
As we look ahead at 2024, a massive thank you to you and your pets, the ones that inspire us to go above and beyond!
Happy New Year!
- Kristyn and Sean Savage, Co-Founders of Beyond the Dog
Maisie Mae, the four-year-old Maltese, enrolled in one of our Kansas City in-home dog training programs to address her touch sensitivity.
Touch sensitivity is when a dog is overly sensitive to touch and shows signs of fear or aggression when handled in certain contexts.
The most common contexts for dogs to be touch-sensitive include going to the vet or groomer, having a harness or collar put on or taken off, and getting woken up while on a bed or couch.
Unfortunately, this aggressive behavior typically only gets worse with age so it’s important to address the behavior as soon as you notice it!
Maisie is now so much more comfortable with her equipment, brushing, and getting off of furniture and we’re so proud of her progress! Go Maisie!
Behavioral issues such as touch sensitivity can oftentimes be covered by insurance when training is directed by a CAAB (all of our training programs are!). Link in bio for more information on our dog training programs and feel free to message us with any questions!
Has anyone ever given you the advice that you should use an alpha roll whenever your dog disobeys you?
The alpha roll is when you use force and aggression to roll your dog onto their back and pin them to the ground. Some people say this is a good way to get your dog to listen and assert your dominance, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Depending on the temperament, age, size, and genes of your dog, using the alpha roll as a punishment could result in a bite or damage your relationship with your dog.
Furthermore, behavioral research has shown that using aversive training techniques such as the alpha roll elicits dog aggression at a higher frequency than positive reinforcement training.
Check out the study below for more information!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159108003717
Has anyone ever told you that you need to assert your dominance over your dog and be the alpha in the relationship?
The truth is, that the traditional concept that wild wolf packs have an alpha is a myth. The idea that there was an alpha and fights for dominance within a wolf pack originated from a study in the mid-1900’s of captive wolves.
Later on, researchers realized they could not make any conclusions about the social behavior of wild wolves based on less than one hundred captive wolves.
Wolves actually have family-like structures with parents leading their children. The idea that there is one singular wolf that controls the pack and has fought with the others for their high status is a MYTH.
You do not need to use aggression to show your dog that you are the alpha as the entire concept is a myth in the first place. The best way to get your dog to listen to you is to understand how your dog learns and teach them obedience through positive reinforcement.
Follow us for part 2, coming soon!
If your puppy will be with another family member’s dog this holiday season, it’s important to monitor both their play and your puppy’s stress levels.
If your puppy is playing with another puppy, you want to make sure the play looks balanced and no puppy is pinning the other down for too long.
If your puppy is playing with an older dog, make sure the older dog is showing wiggly, friendly body language and making it clear that they also want to play.
Traveling somewhere for the holidays where you can’t bring your puppy along? We have Board and Train programs where your puppy will stay at one of our trainer’s homes for the holidays and return with advanced obedience skills! Schedule a free training consultation today to learn more!
https://calendly.com/beyondthedogconsult/15min
Your puppy’s first holiday season is an incredibly exciting time!
We want to make sure your puppy has stress-free, positive interactions with all of the new friends that they meet with the tips in this video. Stay tuned for part 2!
If you have any questions about puppy socialization, we’d love to help!
https://beyondthedogtraining.com/kansas-city/dog-training/
Has anyone ever told you that as long as a dog sniffs your hand, you can go ahead and pet them?
Some bites happen because people don’t pick up on the fact that a dog is nervous or simply does not want to be touched. They go to reach for the dog and assume all dogs can tolerate this action, which is not the case.
Sometimes, a dog will tolerate a hand in their face and even sniff it, but will not tolerate being touched by a stranger and end up snapping or biting the person.
When greeting a new dog, let them come to you. Do not go out of your way to reach for them. Once they start asking for attention from you with excited, wiggly body language rather than stiffening up or backing away, you can then ask the owner if it’s okay to go ahead and give their dog some love.
Lots of dogs love receiving attention from strangers but there are certainly some who simply prefer not to be touched by people they don’t know.
Your dog might be okay with you petting them all of the time but you cannot assume that every dog feels the same way.
Meet Wylie, our Kansas City Dog of the Month! Sweet Wylie enrolled in one of our Kansas City puppy training programs to learn the obedience necessary to be a well-behaved adult dog both around his city and at home.
Wylie worked on loose leash walking, sit stays, down stays, recall, chair, behavior in busy places, housebreaking, jumping, and more!
This four-month-old Havanese puppy learned so much in just three weeks and we can’t wait to see all of the progress he makes by the end of his program. Go Wylie!
Need help training your new puppy? Schedule a free consultation to get started on your in-home puppy training journey!
https://calendly.com/beyondthedogconsult/15min
Black cats are less likely to get adopted than any other cat color.
Due to people’s superstitions and false preconceived notions about black cats, black cats spend the most time in shelters.
There is no empirical evidence to suggest black cats are more aggressive or that their emotions are more difficult to read than other cats.
If you’re looking to adopt a new kitty, consider adopting a black cat as they are just as lovable!
If you need help training your new black cat or kitten, enroll in one of our Kansas City cat training programs today.
https://beyondthedogtraining.com/kansas-city/cat-training/
