Happy Dog Institute

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United States
Olympia, WA
Happy Dog Institute

Happy Dog Institute We create happier dogs and happier people. We solve behavior problems and teach group classes.

Dog training and behavior consulting in Olympia, Lacey & Tumwater, WA. Puppy manners and socialization, basic training, obedience and behavior solutions. We specialize in Separation Anxiety in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, puppy training and anxiety and human aggression problems.

03/06/2025

Our Advanced Truffle Hunting class was a success today! All the dog found truffles in a beautiful forest that included some elk visitors today! Great team work Peggy Sue & Fran, Ziti & Sunny, Cassian & Ivy, Lady Bird, Andy & Addison.

03/02/2025

Celebrating some more clients!
This one is from Laura, a long term agility student who has been with us for 9 years!!

It's been so heart warming to hear from students who have continued to return to classes (for whatever reason).

Learning is a lifelong journey and we love to help support longer goals, continued progress, and of course assist with those newer pups in your home.

We want to hear from you! Reach out to us and we would love to share your story of learning with our community!

02/27/2025

Needing some things to celebrate, check out these cuties that just graduated our Puppy Lifeskills class. (Missing are Minnie and Charlie) but woah this whole class did wonderful together.

Looking forward to seeing you grow into confident adults!

02/25/2025

We are catching up on some reading and podcast listening!

Beyond Obedience with Tracy Franken was a lovely surprise into the conversation on leadership. In generally, some terms tend to be hot topics so it's a little hard to make blanket statements about them. But studies show that consistency in training improves effectiveness and accuracy- which we think could totally be summarized as trust.

What's something small you do each day to continue to build trust in your dog?

02/21/2025

Want to know what our trainers have been learning?
Turns out we were wrong if we ever told you to use less treats!

There was a study done recently that explored the relationship between reinforcement size and how fast dogs learned a behavior. You can use less treats for easy things, but for harder skills you probably want to use more or higher value!

Give the Dog a Big Bone: Magnitude but Not Delivery Method of
Food Impacts Preference and Reinforcer Efficacy in Dogs
Erica N. Feuerbacher, Chelsea Stone, and Jonathan E. Friedel

02/18/2025

Catch our last newsletter?
We have a handful of fun classes opening up over the next couple weeks.
Let us start preparing you and your dog for spring!

Antsy dog need a hobby? We have Sports Sampler starting 2/28
Maybe you are embarrassed by your dogs leash skills? Heather has you covered in her March 1st Total Recall and Loose Leash Walking class.
Maybe your just playing catch-up with getting your dog out into the world? Puppies About Town is the safe socialization class for you!

Sign up online through out website!

02/09/2025

Sharing some Quick Tips from class with everyone.
Our first tip is to give people space. Whether walking around the mall with your dog, OR meeting a friend for a walk.
If we assume other dogs need space this helps sets clear safety guidelines and minimizes confrontation or reactions.

Practice asking for space from others "We need space" or "We aren't greeting" will help draw attention to your dog and minimize the chance for a frustrating situation.

02/06/2025

Our Advanced Truffle Hunting class went to the woods today and each dog found truffles in the wild!! What a rush!

Congratulations to Gigi, Bernie, Perry & Cosmo!

02/05/2025

Junebug is a recent graduate of our chaotic canine class. Her moms have been so diligent in creating clarity and consistency for this sassy lady.

Sometimes our students like to take us on behavior adventures and as we got into the flow of class we were able to start to clarify and redefine some approaches for Junebug. Her moms rocked the class and we had a lot of fun with all the feelings that were shared along the way.

01/30/2025

Congratulations are in order for our new Canine Good Citizen teams! Christine & Harley got their Advanced CGCA and Urban CGCU Canine Good Citizen titles! Jenni & Curry got their CGC and Urban CGCU titles! All tested at Capitol Mall. What a fun location to test their skills. Well done!!

01/28/2025

Are you interested in purchasing some Happy Dog swag? We are doing another order for hoodies and t-shirts! If you are interested in ordering, here is the link. Orders are due no later than 2/12/25 - we will follow-up with an invoice after your order is received. Thank you! https://forms.gle/GEdkvagkmryaNqP16

01/26/2025

This weeks Question and Answer: what do you do when your vet sends you to a trainer?

Contact them! We love to build close relationships with our local veterinary offices. That does mean that a lot of people get sent to us. Sometimes it's just needing a basic group class, other times it's because your vet is worried about some big behaviors. If they are struggling to even touch your dog to look at them, delivery vaccines, etc. Then we have some options for you!

All of our classes cover basic levels of cooperative care- and maybe that's all you need! If you more support seems like an ideal situation you can work one-on-one with a trainer to build a very specific homework plan.

We also have a cooperative care class! you can check our website and join the waitlist for openings!

01/20/2025

We might need some puppy grad cheer today!! Check out these sweet faces who worked hard to learn confidence, patience, basic manners, and how to have fun!

01/16/2025

Welcome to Happy Dog Institute!

It's never too late to do a re-introduction. We pride ourselves on having trainers who focus on a wide range of skillsets and hold multiple certifications.

From private training- to group classes- to ongoing sports curriculum we have you covered!

01/14/2025

What's your question of the day (or week)?

A lot of our students wonder how much the breed or mix of their dog actually matters. Of course we always have some follow-up questions. But it definitely doesn't matter for taking classes with us!

Different breeds were created for different reasons, and as trainers, we definitely start to notice some patterns over the years.

Tell us what breed or mix you have and a fun or quirky behavior you know about them!

01/12/2025

Upcoming classes are open!
We are booking out through March and so excited to some wonderful opportunities and updates!

01/11/2025

Check your emails!
We’ve got a new line up of classes open for winter- some exciting updates to our Puppy LifeSkills classes- and another Free Handout!

Know someone who could benefit from some training- send to a friend or family member!

01/09/2025

Starting the year off strong with some client wins!

Ashley has been working hard to help prepare certain clients for holiday visitors (and just any stranger in general).

We received this lovely win from Tyson and his family! Because we started off slowly working with 1-2 "safe" people, Tyson was quickly able to generalize to other visitors.

Have some recent wins for you and your pup? We want to hear about it!!

Address

7924 Sweet Iron Court, Ste 109
Olympia, WA
98501

Website

http://www.happydoginstitute.com/

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Videos

Some super cool puppy grads for you all. We’ve had quite the variety in our puppy classes recently. It’s something our trainers embrace. So many good things happen when your pup can have positive exposure to dogs of various temperaments and aesthetics. Join our classes today! #HappyDog #DogLearning #TrainYourDog #PositiveReinforcement #RewardYourdog #DogHobbies #LearnWithUs #AboutTown #PuppyClass #Socialization #Doodles #Doberman #TinyDog

Foster dog, Beau, is working hard on attention and loose leash walking skills. All our group classes cover a variety of approaches and games to integrate into your loose lease outings. #HappyDog #LifeSkills #PositiveReinforcement #Doodle #DoodleOfInstagram #OlympiaDogTraining

What’s the solution to puppy fever? Checking out the adorable friends in our open enrollment puppy courses! We continue to be so proud of our puppy teams! Look forward to seeing you all in LifeSkills! [video description: back background. White text shows up saying “puppy grads” and “Bein’ Cute” 6 blacks start to fill with images of different puppies: a vizsla, Irish terrier, ACD mix with tall ears, golden retriever, Dane mix, and Swiss shepherd.] #ClassGraduates #Puppies #PuppyLife #DogLife #GrowingPup #HappyDog #OlympiaDog #TrainingVetRecommended #BuildingCommunity #findjoy

New post with some simple tips on handling and preparing for offleash dogs! #TraingForSuccess #EverydayManners #FearFreeLearning

Haven’t gotten a chance to check out our new registration page? Well we made a short video for you!!! Plenty of classes opening early April, May classes are also already on the calendar! #HappyDog #Organizing #SpringCleaning @busypaws.app

Did you know that it’s a completely normal part of adolescent development to struggle with impulse control AND be easily distracted by anything in the environment. Of course these all have their own variables as well. Here, Heather is working with foster pup Mor of being “chill” aka not chasing or stomping on our shop roomba. #CapturingCalm #Doberman #PositiveReinforcement #RewardYourDog #Adolescent #ResilienceRainbow #BehaviorVets

Reminder that we will be closed 12/30 - 1/1 for New Years! Feeling the pressure of setting goals? Make it a game and have fun! What would your dogs goals for the next year be? Detmer says more nosework would be her preferred... also eating more flash cards is second on the list. We've got some great new classes starting up in Jan/Feb take a look at our schedule linked in our bio. #DogLife #LabLife #HappyDog #HappyNewYear #OlympiaDogTraining #TumwaterWA

It was so hard to choose what to highlight this year! We have grown so much over the past few years and have to thank our ongoing Happy Dog community for the support! Here are just a few glimpses of what we have accomplished with so much more to look forward to in 2024! #HappyDog #HappyLife #CertifiedDogTrainer #GroupClasses #PrivateLessons #CommunityBuilding #DogsOfInstagram #2023 #NewYear