Underdog Academy

07/31/2023

Hey y’all! These last couple months have been super busy for me, and I’m happy to be able to start taking on new clients and cases. Click the website link in my bio and send me an email to start the new client intake process.

07/10/2023

Smiles like this can only mean one thing. They just had an .academy sniffari. I’m taking on a few dog walking clients for the summer, so shoot me a message or email me for information!

06/30/2023

Be still my beating heart 🥰. Met Dominic today to work on exposing him to new people as he has a hard time trusting anyone entering the house. As always I didn’t force myself on Dominic and let him take the lead on any sort of interaction. His mom Elise did a great job with her timing on her treat delivery and within just a few minutes was able to get close enough to me to take treats! Looking forward to working with him more in the future.

06/01/2023

Meet Ebbie! I’ve been working with her over the past few weeks on all things puppy related. Later this week we’ll start working on steps to eventually get her to be able to swim! Keep an eye on the stories to see the process!

05/29/2023

🇺🇸 Starting today and running through June 15th, any training package you buy will come with an additional free session! This includes our 3 and 5 session reactivity package or our 3 and 5 one on one in home training packages, turning them into a 4 or 6 session package for the same price! 🤯
Visit the website (link is in bio) and shoot me an email for scheduling information!

05/19/2023

Reactive dog win! Martha has been working with her dog Henry over the last few months to address his leash reactivity, today was our 3rd session and Henry was finally able to get close enough to Athena (while under threshold) to be able to go on a walk with her. Reactivity training is about empowering dog parents, and providing them with the skills and techniques to make them more confident in addressing these behaviors. I’m super proud of Henry and Martha for sticking with the work, and always proud of Athena for being such a wonderful advocate for her breed. R+ works y’all.

05/18/2023

Grateful for for providing a safe, enclosed space so Willow and Stumpy can work on reintegrating after a scuffle over some food a few weeks ago. We worked on recognizing subtle body language cues that may help us prevent uncomfortable situations for either of them. Management of the environment is key for a situation like this!

05/03/2023

Early session with Peanut working on reactivity in City Park!

05/01/2023

Momma Willow serving us looks on a Monday morning ☀️

04/25/2023

Willow taking a break from her babies to work on loose leash manners!

04/12/2023

Teddy is looking for a forever home! Help get this sweet guy adopted! Share if you can!💜

03/30/2023

Looks like Michelle's Private Dog Park in Algiers Point has officially opened! We’re so excited for another private dog park in New Orleans! And this one is on the westbank!! This is great for reactive or dog selective pups! Let us know if you need more recommendations for private dog parks in other parts of the city. Thank you for providing this space, Michelle!

Born and raised in Algiers and just opened the 1st private off-leash dog park in Algiers Point

03/24/2023

🐾National Puppy Day! 🐾Shoutout to the four pups who made Underdog Academy come to life! Sarabi, Kiara, Athena, and Apollo are our beautiful babies. They’ve taught us so much and led us to delve into the world of dog training so we could better understand them and meet their needs. Happy National puppy day to all of our clients and followers! We love you!

02/06/2023

Two more days! We’ll pick a winner Wednesday!

01/27/2023

🚨 This is not a drill! 🚨

Follow the instructions to make sure you’re in the running for the giveaway of the barkade.
There will only be one winner who will receive:
🐾 A thirty minute consultation with a written training plan to follow (current clients will receive a 30 minute training session) 😳
🐾 One biothane 8 ft leash 😯
🐾 one 20 ft biothane long line 🤯

01/20/2023

We have a couple spots left before Mardi Gras! If you’re interested in securing a spot, send us a message or email for more information!

This is Esther and she’s with us for two weeks. Come hang out with her and the rest of the Academy. 🐾

11/13/2022

To the surprise of no one, our board and train has filled up FAST! We have one spot left before the end of November. If you’re interested in securing a spot, send us a message or email us for more information!

11/01/2022

We’re now offering our one and two week board and train program again! If you are interested in learning more, send us an email via our website! (link in bio). Any new client will have to schedule an initial consultation.

10/13/2022

Hit the greens with Loki today during his reactivity session! After a few sessions we learned the key to help with his overstimulation was to give him a bit more room to roam with a long line. It’s made a night and day difference in his training and outings!

10/11/2022

We always reference dog-dog interactions with clients when talking about ignoring jumping behavior. In this short video you see Phoebe jump on Sarabi over and over and when she doesn’t get a reaction she switches to Pumpkin. She does the same thing between the two for a few minutes. When she doesn’t get the engagement she was looking for, she modifies her behavior to barking. (Still undesirable but you see her switching her behavior to achieve the desired result). When that doesn’t work either she eventually disengages and interacts with Diego. A combination of ignoring undesirable behavior, and reinforcing desirable behavior is a potent fix to jumping.
A lot more goes into this but we love using a dogs own communication to demonstrate how we do things

09/30/2022

Running into the weekend like

09/23/2022

We are excited to announce that we are relaunching our Puppy Preschool training program! We are partnering with Underdog Academy to bring this 4-week course to the Louisiana SPCA. The training classes occur every Wednesday at 9:00am, with 6 open spots.

The benefits of group classes for young puppies cannot be overstated! You’ll learn how to prevent unwanted behaviors from occurring while also learning how to teach desired behaviors. You’ll discuss impulse control, proper play, and true socialization. Puppies must be 5 months or younger at the start of their first class and have received their first 2 rounds of DHPP vaccinations administered by a licensed veterinarian

Click the link below to sign your pet up for our Puppy Preschool training program!

https://www.louisianaspca.org/pet-care/training/

09/20/2022

We are SO excited to announce that we will be teaching classes at the Louisiana SPCA on Mardi Gras Blvd. Mondays at 5:30pm will be our puppy preschool class and 6:30pm will be Basic Manners. Visit the Louisiana SPCA’s website to sign up!

09/16/2022

The amount of off leash dogs we continue to encounter is staggering. It discourages people from walking their reactive dogs who have just as much of a right to bring their dog outside as you do. It’s dangerous, unnecessary and selfish. There are plenty of off leash areas in the city where you can bring your dog, but letting them off leash in neighborhoods and parks is incredibly frustrating. “It’s okay they’re friendly!” is usually the default answer, and no it’s not okay. Even social dogs can have a hard time interacting with other dogs while on leash, not to mention the many many dogs who do not do well with unknown dogs period. Please walk your dog with a leash, and if you want to give them more freedom do what we do a get a long line! (Specifically cause they the best). No, we’re not going to apologize for the language 💅🏽 Have a great weekend y’all

09/09/2022

Yesterday we met Sam to begin training on his reactivity to stimuli outside of the house which includes people, dogs, and sometimes loud noises/vehicles. The session started off with Sam barking at us from a block away, but after utilizing some training techniques we were able to end up walking along side Sam back to his house by the end of the session. We can’t wait to continue working with this handsome poodle!

08/30/2022

Odin! We met this poodle/American bulldog mix yesterday to work on his barrier frustration, specifically at daycare. We started work on “leave-it” which we hope will help transfer over to some of his other behaviors his parents would like to work on

08/26/2022

Phoebe! This pint size puppy started her first of 5 training sessions with us yesterday. We worked on conditioning her harness, and teaching her parents how to start recall training on walks. We’re so excited to work with Phoebe’s entire family to set her up for success in the months/years to come!

08/22/2022

🌙 We had the pleasure of meeting Mars today to begin reactivity training. Her parents will be living on a farm soon, so we’re hoping to address some of her reactivity to various animals. Really looking forward to working with such a driven pup!