A Kid's Best Friend Dog Training

11/02/2023

Hi everyone,
I am no longer working as a dog trainer or am open to the public. I do offer boarding services to CURRENT CLIENTS ONLY, not to the public, so please do not recommend me to people who haven't worked with me. We enjoy having the current dogs we've worked and that we've gotten to know well. These dogs blend in with our family and are no trouble to board. We are happy to continue to board your dogs but would like to get some family time back. Also, due to my health, I can no longer "wrestle" with dogs on dog walks or try to get them into kennels.

I do ask that if you continue to board with us, to please keep your dog familiar with the training rules I worked hard to instill in your dog. We don't expect perfection (no dog is perfect), but they need to be crate trained or at least familiar with their crate and housetrained.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity and chance to work with your dog. We've built so many good memories that we love to share with others.

03/29/2023

Use the Turn Ariund to stop excitement. Notice how Joey is very abrupt?

03/20/2023

This family lives down the street from me and lost their home to a house fire, along with their dog, Coda. Coda was one of the first dogs I've trained, and she often came for boarding, so this hits hard for me. They were so proud of their dog, she truly was one of the best dogs I've ever had the privilege to work with. Please consider giving something to this family, as they have lost everything. (Their cat is missing as well.)
https://gofund.me/1471e42d

11/24/2022

Thank you for the kind messages sent my way! I'm still recovering from everything but am home from the hospital. I had some strange "heartburn" on Tuesday that quickly accelerated as an unbearable pain in my chest. My social worker (who helps my autistic son) was here thankfully and she called 911. What we thought was simply heartburn with a panic attack (EKG initially looked fine) was an aortic dissection that resulted in a heart attack (the pain was the dissection, the heart attack happened in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.) I ended up losing consciousness and went into full cardiac arrest which they were able to bring me back with CPR and a few shocks from the defibulator.

Which brings me to the point of writing all of this--I am no longer going to be doing Train and Board, where I keep dogs with me for two weeks for training. I had been struggling for a while now, and was trying to figure out a way to train but not so intensively. Many of the dogs that come have jumping habits, too rough, and could be difficult to put in their kennels. My heart hasn't been able to handle this sort of exertion for a long time. The heart attack is what finally made me accept this.

I would now like to offer one-on-one training classes in my own home, as I still am offering boarding to my clients, and can't be away from the dogs who are boarding here (otherwise they would never get out of their kennels!) This is ideal, as I would have you work with your own dog and you will be able to work on this at home as well.

I'm also going to offer simply one-time consultations which can be done either remotely or in my home. I will have a calendar for sign up either here or on my website (haven't figured that out yet.)

I'm excited about this idea as I don't want to give up dog training completely and yet, I still can keep my heart safe without worrying about over-exertion.

I will continue to update these changes as I work on them. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

11/18/2022

Hello all,
Some changes coming up in my services!
This past Tuesday, I suffered a heart attack (an arterial dissection) which stopped my heart and had to be restarted with a CPR and shocks. This actually is not my first heart attack or cardiac arrest, as I had one before in my 30s. I'm still in the hosptial and will be receiving an internal artifical defibillator if my heart stops again., which is both comforting and terrifying, haha.

I've been thinking about cutting back on my dog training for a while, as I've been getting more and more fatigued while working with dogs, but this last event has helped me to make that difficult decision. I do enjoy dog training and working with people. and although my body sometimes tells me different, I don't feel ready to retire yet.

So for that reason, starting in December, I will not be offering in-person dog training anymore, to try to keep things a little bit safer for myself. However, I will be offering remote training over Zoom and perhaps even basic obedience classes.

I will also continue to offer boarding to clients I have worked with already. I know these dogs, they know me, and I usually don't have to struggle with them to listen. Dogs that I have not worked with, can be untrusting and resistant, and so for this reason, I won't be able to board anyone's dog outside my "dog training family"

Thank you for letting me train your dog and continue to improve my skills. I have a lot to learn from each and every day.

I'll be in touch soon about remote classes or one on one training sessions as soon as things settle down and I figure out a plan.

Thank you!

08/29/2022

A reminder to everyone: Dog trainers and behaviorists do not train your dog--you do.
Trainers get you on the right path, we help you see why your dog behaves as they do, where the behavior started and how to stop it.
Your dog will CONTINUE practicing those behaviors until you decided to step up and practice leadership
Leadership is not intimidation, it is leading.
Dogs need order. Without it, you get very disordered behaviors.
Do not blame the trainer for your mistakes. It isn't right or fair.

08/03/2022

To everyone who is new or checking out my page for the first time--welcome! I am a one person business within my own home and have five children. If you do not hear from me, I apologize. I do my best to respond to every email and phone call but I do not have the luxury of time in long phone calls. Email work best for me. Thank you for understanding this! If you cannot wait for me, I totally understand that you must move on with looking for a trainer that can respond promptly.

Thank you!

05/04/2022

I know it sounds like a broken record, but it's true: if you want to teach your dog new habits, you have to be super consistent about what you want.
If you don't want your dog to jump, find a way to let him/her know that is effective (not abusive.) Those who have worked with me know I use the Pet Corrector a lot. Be consistent. Spray every time your dog jumps so he knows that *this is what happens whenever I jump."
Consistency is the key. You will see a change in your dog's manners in literally 1-2 days if you are consistent.

04/26/2022

Just a reminder to everyone that I only do boarding for dogs that I have trained--I do not board dogs that I don't know.
thanks!

04/13/2022

A fun tidbit about service dogs: you are not allowed to pet them OR talk to them as you are walking by ("Hi, doggie!") While this seems unnecessarily strict, it's because you are teaching the dog distraction. If you see handlers get a little annoyed when this happens, that's why. It takes a lot of work to get the dog to keep focus only on you.

Another tidbit fact: dogs are just fine with reduced affection and attention (meaning from others) as long as they are getting it from their handlers. In fact, this is really all they need to be happy. We have gotten in a very bad habit of over-treating our dogs in basically everything: food, treats, comfort, affection--which is why they are usually badly behaved. Dogs are pack animals; they are happy as long as they're within a pack.

04/11/2022

We've had some big changes to our household lately. One being that we lost a pack member--Ace. And another being that my son Max, received his medical alert dog over the weekend. While we very much miss Ace, Alexai is not in any way a replacement to fill Ace's spot. It was a year ago that we put our application in to the Diabetic Alert Dogs of America and Ace was not sick back then.

So meet Alexai! A wonderful add on to our pack, however, he is running solo as he is only Max's dog. So you may see glimpses of Alexai here and there, but he will not be playing or mixing in with any other dogs that are here as he is always a service dog, not a pet. We are so excited to have Alexai here and that Max has a friend to help him with his blood sugars! I made a short video of Max's greeting with Alexai. Forgive the dramatics of it; I feel very emotional about it. I am so happy Max has Aleaxai.

03/17/2022

Lately I've been getting a lot of people who have adopted or thinking of adopting a dog that are either too high spirited for their energy, or too large to handle. Many of these dogs have been rehomed.

Friends, please don't feel the need to rescue every dog that tugs at your heart. Adopting is not the time to think with your heart, but with your head. Think ahead:

Can I meet this dog's exercise needs? (If not, you will pay for it by excessive chewing, barking, jumping and other unwanted behaviors.) How big is this dog going to get? Is my home environment going to meet his needs? Do I have medical conditions that might make it hard to care for the dog? Am I at the right age to handle this particular (breed/size/exercise requirements)?

Before adopting, request a temperament test. Don't just go off of a volunteer's say so of "he/she is a good dog". You are about to bring in a stranger with teeth into your home; do you know how he will handle your children? Other dogs? Noise and environment?

Ask yourself why you want to get *this* particular dog, and be honest with yourself. Having a cute face or a funny personality is not enough. Always go by the dog's temperament and ask a professional trainer to do the test, not a volunteer. I have nothing against volunteers (I was one myself) but most of them are not trained to do temperament testing.

Last, don't be afraid to pass up the dog that doesn't suit your environment and lifestyle. You are not abandoning the dog. You are just not the right family. It does more harm to the dog to bring him to your home, get him settled, just to return him and disrupt his life once again.

So if you are thinking of adopting, follow this guideline:

1. Am I thinking with my head or my heart?
2. I am not the dog's only rescuer. There are other rescuers out there too!
3. It is ok to say no and find a dog that I can fully commit to.

03/04/2022

I had Ace's story written all out but before I could hit Publish, it all disappeared for some weird computer reason. So I will try again.

We adopted Ace when he was about 5 years old. He was found walking along a highway, which is not surprising, because even after we adopted Ace, he was always a wanderer. That, and a garbage dumpster--a habit he most likely picked up back in his homeless days.

My son and I were volunteering at Countryside vet when Ace was turned in. We met him and loved him instantly. Great with both people and dogs and such an easy going temperament. Before I could even entertain the thought of bringing him home, he was adopted. I was a little disappointed, but mostly happy he found a home. But then, he was returned a week later. The new owner complained he kept going after their cat. So, it turns out that Ace came home with us.

It wasn't just because Ace was such a good dog that we wanted to adopt him, or the fact that he needed a home. My son, Luke, had developed a severe vocal tic at the time. It was so bad that he was actually diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome. His tic was constant, it never stopped, not for a second, except for in his sleep. Before it was diagnosed as a vocal tic, he had an MRI for possible brain tumor, had many blood draws, scopes put down his throat, speech therapy and so many doctor visits. The picture that you see is of him crying because they had to draw blood so many times. When we were referred to a neurologist--the best in MN--he diagnosed Luke with a severe tic. He gave him medicine that didn't work but told us that it was caused by stress, and only learning how to relax would make the tic go away. With all the stress we had gone through, that seemed impossible. Until we met Ace.

We brought Ace home, and Luke immediately bonded with this big Black Lab. Within a few weeks, Luke's vocal tic faded away until it was gone completely. I credit Ace for that.

We found out later that Ace had been shot at one time. Once, when we went to the dog park, he pulled a muscle and could barely walk. Upon doing an Xray of his shoulder, the vet found shards of bb gun pellets--or shotgun pellets--they didn't know which, scattered all over his shoulder and chest area. The fact that Ace had been shot and still was such a laid back and friendly dog, made us feel even more grateful for having such a good dog in our lives.

Was he perfect? No. He had tried to bite a customer dog at one time, and so from that time on, we would keep Ace separated from other customer dogs. But over time, he became more sure of himself and much more tolerant around dogs. I'm proud to say he never bit a dog again, although we did try to pair him up with only calm dogs.

As I said, he also went through the garbage constantly. I had to invest on a very heavy wooden garbage holder with a heavy lid so he wouldn't keep going through it. And if he couldn't get into our garbage, he would go through the neighbors. I'll never forget the day he dragged home a dead carcass that one of our neighbors had in their garbage when they went hunting, all the way to our yard. Most degusting thing I ever saw on our driveway, and yes, he got sick. And then there was the mange that he somehow picked up and I thought for sure he would die. It cost us $3000 to get him back to health.

And then last fall, we noticed Ace wasn't gaining weight. We just thought it was old age and finicky eating. But then his energy began to wane. And soon, his legs would give out every so often. We brought him in to initially be declared healthy, but no tests were done. We brought him in again a month later, and when they did another chest Xray, they found a large mass growing in his lungs.

Ace made it another two months. He never stopped wagging his tail or following people around, even when he shouldn't have. He fell down the stairs even though we tried to not let him follow us down the stairs. It got to the point where he no longer wagged his tail and he just looked sad all the time. It was then we knew we had to bring him in.

They say your dog will tell you when it's time to go. I don't think this is true for all dogs. I know it wasn't for Ace. Because even on the day we had to bring him in, he was up and wagging his tail, happy to see everyone, even barking. It was tough to say goodbye when he seemed to be feeling good, but I think I would have preferred to bring him in on a good day when he was happy, rather than a bad day when he was sick and scared.

We still have Joey and Zoey and we are thankful for them, but they are different personalities. They aren't Ace. I'm glad we brought him in, it was time to end his suffering, but boy, we will miss him.

I chose to say goodbye at home, I didn't want my last memory of Ace to be in the vet. Dennis and my daughter Anna brought him in. They gave him a donut, which they say he wolfed down happily. He never gained weight but he still had his sweet tooth. I drove Max to school (he insisted on going) and we sobbed all the way to the school. Upon returning home, Dennis was somber but in better spirits than I expected. "That was the nicest thing we could have done for him," he said. "It was mercy."

Thanks for listening. I just wanted to let you know a little about an important part of our pack has passed on.

03/04/2022

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-we-need-to-take-pet-loss-seriously/

How to handle grief after a pet’s death—and why we all need to change our attitudes about it

03/02/2022

So we came to the difficult decision to put Ace down earlier than planned, as he has been struggling a lot with weakness in these past few days. We decided it was best to not make our good friend suffer and to let him rest at last. We will be putting him down tomorrow morning, rather than in April as planned.

For those of you who have dogs with us right now, rest assured that we won't be so distracted in our sadness to forget about loving your dogs or continuing in their training. Actually, I'm hoping they will be a good distraction for us.

Dennis bought some liver for Ace for his last supper, but Ace couldn't eat it. This, from a dog who once ate a rotten fish he found on the beach! We know it's time.

Tomorrow, when I feel ready, I will tell you all about Ace and how we came to adopt him. We wanted to help him, and he ended up helping us. Isn't this the case so often with dogs?

Loving Ace and thanking God for the gift of him.

02/24/2022

Meet Oscar, here for Board and Train! He's an 11 week old Bassett Hound puppy.

02/16/2022

Meet Oliver! Isn't he handsome?!

02/08/2022

02/02/2022

So sadly, we will be losing one of our own in our "pack". Ace has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will need to be put down. In order to have privacy as a family, and also to serve your dogs better, we will be closing for a week on April 4th. I am booked for the next two months which is why we are waiting until April. I would prefer not to have to experience the loss of a pet when we have client dogs here, because my family and I will need time to process and grieve.

He is doing well overall, and we think he will be able to make it another two months. If not, we will bring him in sooner so he doesn't have to experience any sort of suffering.

Ace has been such a good dog to our family! Our "chill" dog who loves everyone, tail always wagging, follows you wherever you go. Even now when it's hard for him to move, he still wants to see where you are going. We will miss him.

Make sure to love your pets today and be grateful that they are in your lives. Remember "behaviors" are just behaviors, not necessarily personality traits and behaviors can be worked on and improved. God put dogs in our lives for our comfort in the hardships of life; be thankful for them.

01/31/2022

Remi does a good job of "playing dead"! (Full credit goes to his owners!)

12/06/2021

Aussie's are smart!

10/05/2021

Training Space available! Book now! 😊
https://www.akidsbestfriend.org/

A Kid's Best Friend Dog Training specializes in families and dogs by using Positive Reinforcement Techniques and Leadership.

09/23/2021

Have you ever heard of "The Turn Around"? This is not just a little trick dog trainers came up with, but something dogs actually do to deflect overly excited behavior!

09/14/2021

1. These dogs should be put down. They are dangerous.
2. This can happen with ANY breed, even happy go lucky labs or Goldens.
3. The mistake this man made was backing away. As hard as it is, try to assertively walk *towards* the dog, in a very assertive manner.
4. In a world that lately only sees color and judges by color, it's heartwarming to see that in this case, the only color that mattered was blood.

A Texas man out on his morning walk came close to dying when he was suddenly attacked by two vicious pit bulls. Fortunately, he survived, thanks to some quic...

08/27/2021

Me!

08/20/2021

08/06/2021

Starting a new program called Little Dog School! If you have a reactive, barky, "little dog", this is for you! You see how happy Teddy is here. 😆

Check out my website for more information.
www.akidsbestfriend.org

07/07/2021

Puppy Push ups!

06/29/2021

Pretty much every time I get a new client, I'm told, "my dog doesn't listen to me." I get it. We speak a different language than our dogs and it's hard to figure out how to communicate what behavior is desirable and undesirable without either putting our dogs in time out (which doesn't work) or just losing it (which doesn't work either.)

The best dog training advice I can give to anyone who have dogs is you will always get the behavior YOU reinforce. So if you play rough with your dog, they will play rough with you. If you let your dog jump on you, then they will. If you don't set boundaries, they will take over.
Get together as a family and discuss the rules you want to make for your dog. Everyone will need to be aware of the training rules so the dog doesn't get mixed messages. Then together, reinforce the behavior you want from your dog. That is how you get good behavior from your dog. :-)