Kentucky Canine Campus

03/27/2024

Clients (past, present and future),

If you’ve worked with me over the past 1-2 years, you are likely aware that my health has been an ongoing issue. In the past several months, it worsened to the point where I could no longer deny the impact it was having on my ability to reliably keep appointments. I didn’t feel it was fair to continue offering 6-week-long programs that were significantly lengthened by my need to postpone multiple times through the course of the program. For that reason, I stopped putting these on the schedule in hopes that I would soon have a diagnosis and treament that would allow me to bring them back.

Unfortunately, I still have no answers regarding the cause of my symptoms nor have I found a way to treat or prevent them aside from riding them out. All I know is that it is a chronic illness with “episodes” that can last anywhere from one to seven days. The amount of time that I feel well between episodes has gotten shorter and shorter. If I catch the early symptoms and immediately limit activity, I can sometimes avoid a full episode (which starts with debilitating fatigue and ends with a finale of the worst “stomach flu” you could imagine). Recovering from a full episode then takes additional time.

As hesitant as I have been to share those details, I wanted to illustrate why this isn’t something I can simply “push through.” That has been the most frustrating part of this ordeal; pushing through is typically how I handle most challenges. Knowing that I can’t do it with this one has been one of the most difficult truths I’ve ever had to accept.

All of that said - I’m not finished. As I work with doctors to try to figure this out, I’m also looking at ways to offer training programs that will not result in clients having to tolerate a number of postponements within one series of sessions. Please be patient as I finish setting these new offerings up. It’s imperative that anything I offer be just as (or more) beneficial to my clients as previous programs.

For those still on the schedule with me: Thank you for your patience. I know it’s been a long haul, and there are not enough words to express how grateful I am to you for understanding and sticking with me. For those waiting on new dates - I want to extend my gratitude to you as well. KYCC and Paws Town have both been blessed beyond measure with the kindest and most compassionate clients we could ever imagine.

- Terri

01/09/2024

My only resolution for 2024 is to get better at posting pictures here. 😆 To kick us off, let's give a big congratulations to our first graduates of 2024, Nash the Lab and Leia the Miniature American Shepherd! 👏🎉

These teams absolutely rocked their Foundation Obedience 1 class and it showed tonight!

12/25/2023

Merry Christmas to all of you, especially those who have trusted me with your training journeys this year! 2023 has been one of the most challenging years for me, with health and family issues left and right. But you have been so patient and understanding. I cannot begin to say how grateful I am to each and every one of you.

We've laughed, cried, and sometimes vented together. My heart has soared with each of your training successes, big and "small."

With your help, we've taken a feral poodle from having no quality of life to loving life each and every day.

We donated to a very special local rescue and continue to work closely to help in all ways possible.

We partnered with the local kennel club, creating connections and hopefully future programs that will continue to benefit the dog-owning community in Owensboro.

Whether you realize it or not, you even helped save the lives of three rescue kittens over the summer.

Kentucky Canine Campus is more than just some random dog business to me, and that is because of you. Together, we can continue to make a positive impact in our community when it comes to pet education, rescue, and safety.

I wish you all the best as we head into 2024. Here's to making it our best year yet!

- Terri Spencer

11/28/2023

Please see the attached information from the KVMA regarding the respiratory illness that has been going around in dogs.

We are keeping a close eye on this situation and ask that our clients do the following:

- If your dog or any dog in your household shows signs of illness, please do not bring them for training or to the dog gym until two weeks after symptoms have cleared.

- If your dog or any dog in your household has visited another dog facility within the past two weeks, please let us know prior to bringing them for training so that we can determine the level of risk to other dogs.

- Please bring your own water bowl for use in the dog gym. We will continue to have water available in the gym but want to eliminate the risk of dogs drinking after others.

- If you are attending a group class, do not allow your dog to approach others. Keeping distance helps mitigate the risks for our dogs in a group setting.

If the above protocol results in the postponement of a training program or gym package we will be happy to work with you to ensure that you still receive those services once your dog is able to come back to the facility. Safety is the biggest concern, as always!

KVMA Statement regarding Canine Respiratory Concerns with Unknown Pathogen.

10/06/2023

We have come so far! Watch with sound and tissues. ❤️

Check out This Dogcentric Life's video.

10/05/2023

09/21/2023

Exciting Frannie update and more:

I was so honored and humbled to be trusted by my NADOI colleagues (see: http://nadoi.org ) to host a virtual roundtable discussion on feral dogs. We had amazing panelists, each with decades of unique experience in the dog training world. You can view that presentation here: https://youtu.be/zygqIa2m1ZU?si=diSdQGZZUM3Ms4kT

Of course, my inspiration for the feral dog topic was our very own Frannie.

One of the things we discussed was the inability to use traditional rewards with dogs like this. When a dog finds ALL parts of the human world terrifying, distress comes from even the most basic but necessary routines (feeding, entering and exiting the room, etc.). Relief from that pressure/distress is often the only thing we can utilize as a reward, at least in the beginning.

Frannie had hit a bit of a plateau recently, and I knew deep down that she was ready to be pushed a little more. I started with her grooming sessions - she was afraid, but the Frannie of the past who would have urinated and defecated out of fear was long gone. She handled that groom better than I could have ever expected. No more sedated grooms for our girl (see picture of a groomed Frannie below).

The next challenge was the outside world. Frannie had not been able to go out into the sun since the day she arrived; something that constantly bothered me. However, the level of absolute panic that she exhibited in any open space, especially on a leash, made it completely unsafe to risk taking her out until recently. With the help of my collie, Frannie was finally able to overcome her fear and run and play outdoors, safely. Words can't express the happiness I felt when watching this unfold, but that still can't compare to her most recent step forward, which nearly brought me to my knees.

Over the past couple of weeks, I'd been using Fran's newfound stubbornness about going back into her kennel to start the process of teaching her to find value in human touch. In short sessions, I would give her two clear options: go into the kennel (where she feels very safe and wouldn't be bothered) or stay out but accept brief pets from me. She was a bit stressed by her options but chose to accept brief pets each time. This became the bridge that led to her latest breakthrough.

Last night, Frannie was in the hallway and didn't want to return to her room or kennel. The hallway was spacious enough for her to easily avoid me if she wanted, but I decided to test her progress to see where it would lead. I praised her for being near me, then offered my hand to her....would she retreat or would she interact?

Frannie didn't retreat from my extended hand. Her tail wagged faster than I'd ever seen it wag, and cautiously, she moved in closer. She sniffed for a moment, then proceeded to lick my fingers. I praised her happily, in the tone she's grown accustomed to hearing when we play. Then, I retreated before she had a chance to do so herself. My retreat only made her even more excited, and we repeated this twice more, each time resulting in her approaching and licking my hand, and then getting more excited about what she'd just accomplished.

Have you ever been moved nearly to tears by a dog licking your hand? It's an odd triumph for sure, but it was the type of breakthrough I'd been waiting ten months for. Frannie had never licked me and she had never interacted with an extended hand with me directly facing her. Pure joy is the only way to describe how this felt.

When I work with a dog, I can practically feel the confusion, the excitement, the anxiety...this allows me to adjust as needed, reflexively. When those feelings are especially intense, I feel them amplified. A fearful dog's shift from terror to celebratory excitement is almost palpable, and I'm suddenly reminded that this is what I was put on this earth to do. Onward and upward, Frannie-girl. Together, we've got this.

09/14/2023

Finally, Frannie in the outside world. Had one rough moment, but saved by the rough collie!

07/29/2023

Gym Visitors - I've just been made aware that our web host issued an update which has caused confusion when requesting gym time via the link on our site (www.kydogcampus.com).

Please send any dog gym requests to our email directly and we will respond to confirm your reservation within 24 hours. Our email address is: [email protected]

We apologize for any inconvenience and hope to get the link and form corrected soon! Thanks so much for your understanding and support!

06/28/2023

Many of you are probably already hearing fireworks go off here and there. Every year, dogs are lost around the 4th of July holiday, and I'd love for this year to be different.

Here are some tips I put together to help you keep your pets safe and sound during a time that can be downright traumatic for pets as well as for many of our honorable veterans.

I love fireworks as much as the next person, but I admit that I think it might be time to embrace ways to celebrate without the noise. (If you already do this, please comment with your traditions below!)

06/24/2023

Dogs love to play in the gym, although some don't always play fair... 😂

06/05/2023

One of the most exhausting parts of being a professional dog trainer - someone who feeds and clothes their children through their work with dogs - is the number of people who come out of the woodwork to call themselves dog trainers without doing the work to gain legitimate knowledge and experience.

Many of the clients who choose those inexperienced trainers will end up spending money again with someone like myself, who actually has been putting her blood, sweat, and tears into this passion for decades and professionally for 15 years. However, many will never trust a dog trainer again.

This happens every single day. Someone has some luck training their own dogs, watches enough YouTube, and boom. They’re taking YOUR money to gain experience training dogs. Sometimes it works out for you…a lot of the time it doesn’t.

Recently - for the second time in a short period - another local trainer was exploited by a new “trainer” who claimed that they learned the trade from that existing trainer. This was not true. This new trainer paid for the existing trainer’s services, then decided to open up shop. Just like that. They even used the legit trainer’s tagline almost word for word when advertising their services. My understanding, in this specific case, is that they are also taking on boarding and daycare services without education in those fields as well.

I’m going to be candid that I’m honestly sick and tired of it. The biggest losers here are you - the dog owner - and the dogs themselves. Obviously, those of us who have been doing this for years, bending over backwards to learn all we can and gain meaningful certification, are hurt by this too. And with each of these new trainers it becomes harder and harder for a dog owner to know how to find a real dog trainer.

The problem is many decades old. When NADOI (the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors) was formed in 1965, one of its purposes was to help dog owners answer the question of how to find an experienced, legitimate, humane dog trainer. Now, in 2023, NADOI continues to be necessary to fulfill this purpose.

There is no outside oversight in the dog training industry. No one to report these trainers to. The only ones who can make a difference are you - the consumers. But you can’t make a difference if you don’t know what to look for.

Some red flags to watch out for are:

- Lack of meaningful certification: NADOI, IACP (the cert not just the membership), or CCPDT if you prefer a force-free trainer

- Offering service dog training cheap, quick, and without meeting or helping choose the dog that you plan to use for service dog work first. (Service dog training can’t be completed in a matter of weeks.)

- Offering guarantees that any problem can be fixed in a short amount of time and/or with little to no involvement/work from you.

- Lack of verifiable experience training a number of dogs across a number of breeds to any standard.

- Lack of education in ACTUAL animal behavior/ethology.

If I seem frustrated it’s because I am. I have fielded calls from owners for years who started with one of these would-be dog trainers and ended up in far worse shape than they started in. Trainers who had no idea how to read a dog. How to handle fearful dogs. How to understand and address aggression. I have even helped clients who have had to take other trainers to court for serious documented abuse and neglect.

Pet dog training has more unpredictable variables than any other sector of dog training. Even in a puppy class, I’m spotting future problems before they are problems and doing what I can to help mitigate those issues. Training pet dogs is not something to do haphazardly. And when it comes to service dogs? Those are someone’s lifeline. Someone’s independence. Not a quick and easy way to make money.

There are no shortcuts worth taking in this field. And there is no good reason for these people to keep taking money while using you and your dogs as their guinea pigs to learn the trade. The correct place to start is with a school, apprenticeship, or other guided education course that ends in gaining hands-on experience under the oversight of a successful professional trainer.

05/26/2023

Congratulations to these recent Intermediate Obedience graduates! Excellent work dogs and owners!! Keep it up! 🎓🎉

05/23/2023

Every day she gets just a little more confident. Go Frannie, go! ❤️

05/23/2023

New group class start dates are on the calendar! Call (270) 478-5012 to enroll. For questions, feel free to send us a message here or via email at: [email protected]

**NOTE: The Advanced class starting 5/30 will NOT meet on July 4th due to the holiday. We will resume the following week.**

05/22/2023

Congratulations to Cypsy on passing her Alliance of Therapy Dogs test yesterday! Cypsy and Chantay are a wonderful team! 🎉🎓

05/16/2023

Frannie (feral rehab dog) took a big step yesterday - she finally played with other dogs! My collie, Lux, decided it was time, and this time Frannie agreed.

This is huge because play is such a powerful tool that can be used to overcome fear. Until yesterday, she just didn’t have the confidence to join in a play session even when my dogs tried to initiate one. She was too on edge.

She’s still very much on edge as you can see in the video clips. She makes sure she knows where I am at all times, even in the middle of play. But…she’s PLAYING. Our little feral poodle is getting more comfortable and as a result, her world is getting bigger.

She doesn’t seek me out for attention the way a normal dog would, but she does seek me out for comfort. She tells me a lot without either of us making a sound. When she’s had enough, she tells me. When she wants to try something new, she tells me.

This is not a dog you can sweet talk and cuddle into becoming “normal.” I’m slowly teaching her that sweet words from a human are not a threat (or a reason to literally pee/poop herself which she used to do if you barely looked at her the wrong way). But mostly - I keep my mouth shut and guide her through my body language, routines, actions…things that she can more easily understand than words.

I will admit that at the beginning I had very serious doubts. Shortly after meeting Frannie, I knew in my gut this would be a long-haul project. I struggled with the fairness of it all - to her, to me, to other dogs. The logistics of simply meeting her basic needs have been tricky enough to navigate without even factoring in the amount of time that progress might take. Despite all that, my stubbornness keeps winning out. She keeps giving me signs that she’s moving in the right direction, and I keep taking those signs as a good reason to keep going.

Yesterday was worth everything to me. And today she was even more confident about coming out to play. We’ll keep going as long as she keeps telling me she wants to.

05/12/2023

Here are just some of our most recent KYCC teams who have been putting in great work! Keep it up guys!! 💪

05/08/2023

Leah and her dog, Oscar, have been training with us at Campus and they are a fabulous team! Leah is one of the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet, and we'd love to see this dream come true for her. Please share, and if you can, please donate!

Local young woman starts GoFundMe for wheelchair accessible Taylor Swift Tickets and she needs our help!

03/26/2023

Arnie (in the birthday shirt!) celebrated his birthday with a party at the dog gym today! Check out the fun in the video as well as pictures in the comments!

Happy birthday, Arnie! Thank you for spending it with us. 😊

03/22/2023

We have new group class start dates AND a new group course! To enroll, call: (270) 478-5012 - For questions, feel free to call, message us here, or email us at: [email protected]

Puppy Foundation Obedience is suitable for pups under six months of age. Foundation Obedience is for dogs six months and up (it's never too late to start!)

Intermediate and Advanced classes do require that your dog already know certain behaviors, so if you're interested in those and have not taken other classes with us, reach out and we can determine the best fit!

Our new Leash Manners Master Class is all about the walk! Our trainer specifically designed this course to address the common problem of leash pulling at its very core and teach you how to turn the leash into a form of communication instead of just a tether!

Professional dog training and activity center in Owensboro, KY.

03/21/2023

We have another group of awesome graduates to share! Congratulations to these wonderful dog+owner teams!!

03/14/2023

Big congratulations to some of the most recent graduates of group classes and private lessons! Excellent work was put in by these dog+owner teams (and all of our students)!! Keep up the great work!

03/09/2023

Looking for a new place to play or train with your dog? Want to get friends and their dogs together for a play date? Need a good spot to host a dog birthday party? Check out our indoor dog gym! For more information or to get started, message us on Facebook, call us at (270) 478-5012 or email us at: [email protected]

Professional dog training and activity center in Owensboro, KY.

03/07/2023

My dog doesn’t listen! WHY?

I get this question a lot, but the answer isn't as simple as most would think. If your dog doesn’t “listen,” more often than not, it’s because:

1) Your expectations don’t match the level of training that you’ve put on the dog.

Training goes far beyond teaching a dog the meaning of a word. We must teach the basic meaning at an easy level, then gradually practice that training in a variety of settings, working our way up from easy to more challenging. Just as a child can't go from learning addition to calculus overnight, a dog can't go from performing "sit" in the living room to performing a perfect sit+stay in the middle of a busy park overnight. Training is a process. There are no shortcuts worth taking.

2) You are unclear.

This is a FAR more common problem than most people realize. Dogs read body language, tone, and context clues (the overall “picture”) first, THEN they pick up on actual verbal cues/commands. If your body language and verbal cues don't match, the dog is almost always going to feed off what your body language says despite your words. And nine times out of ten, your body is saying something that you wish it wasn’t, you just don’t realize it. If you aren’t making sense to a dog, it will also be more likely to “check out” and go do something else rather than try to figure you out.

3) You’re giving way too much freedom too soon.

Dogs are opportunists. When presented with the opportunity to do or attain something they REALLY want vs. the opportunity to perform something you ask, they will choose to go for what they want and maybe circle back with you later. When training, we always start by setting the dog up to easily be able to make the right choice. We do not give him/her the chance to practice unwanted behaviors. Why? Because if we did that, they’d just keep practicing the unwanted behaviors and we’d get nowhere. What you allow is what will continue. (This is where people tend to get frustrated as they believe a dog should just naturally do what they tell it to and never deviate from that. I honestly can't think of any creature that operates that way. Even the best-trained dogs sometimes do unexpected things because they are still thinking, feeling, beings.)

4) You are inconsistent.

Sometimes you address pulling on the leash, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you let your dog jump on you…sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you make your dog follow through with a stay…sometimes you don’t. We’ve all been there, but I’m sure you can see what I’m getting at.

5) You don’t have a solid understanding of the delicate balance between reward and punishment.

There is an art and science to reward just as there is an art and science to punishment. Unfortunately, most people have a very limited understanding of how these things work together to equal a trained dog. They are either coming down on the dog too harshly or they fail to implement thoughtful consequences to bad behavior that the dog can actually understand. The tricky part is that how this looks can vary greatly from one dog to the next. Some dogs care barely handle a firm “no” while others meet the threat of discipline with an attitude of “Hold my beer” (I see you, huskies… 😆).

6) You’ve forgotten what a dog is.

This one sounds ridiculous but is such a major problem. We love our dogs like family, so it’s easy to forget that they are …dogs. We tend to humanize them in ways that make it incredibly hard to actually understand them for what they are. This particular problem saddens me, because the entire reason that dogs are so wonderful is the fact that they are dogs. We see some of ourselves in them, for sure. But even the most “troubled” dog lacks the capacity for deliberate evil that we sometimes see in our own species.

You might have guessed that the theme here is …you. Yes, dogs absolutely can be “stubborn.” They sometimes choose not to “listen.” Still, the burden of getting them from “stubborn” to “well trained” is on the human side of the relationship. It’s our job to teach them and guide them with fairness and understanding of how they learn. I can help you do just that! A good trainer is a valuable “coach” when it comes to changing your relationship from dog + owner to dog + owner TEAM.

03/01/2023

Sometimes those steps that look small are actually giant leaps.

Our feral girl, Frannie, made some giant leaps today in the form of small steps. In the past, any attempt to get her moving on leash resulted in her quickly panicking and trying to escape, to the point of nearly causing harm to herself. (The only single time this didn't happen was bringing her back to Campus from the vet after heavy sedation.)

With the help of a calm dog (one of my personal dogs, standard poodle Benz), time, and the right medication (not sedation) to take the edge off her anxiety, she came out of her room on leash today and spent time with me that did not end in sheer panic. She was scared for sure, but it never got to pure panic. And she sought comfort by getting behind my legs and leaning on me. When I pet her, she didn't flinch. That alone is massive.

(The black/gray furry blob in the pictures is Benz. 😆)

02/22/2023

I could not be more proud of having even a small part in working with these two amazing dogs, but as always, the REAL credit goes to their human guardian. Meggan Clark has worked so hard to help these girls accomplish the mission of being fantastic ambassadors for the Doberman breed while helping children open up and enjoy learning even when doing so is not easy. This right here is what it's all about - the epitome of the dog+owner TEAM.

02/15/2023

We have new group class start dates on the calendar! Classes meet once a week for six weeks and are $160 (plus tax) for the full six-week course.

Call (270) 478-5012 for more information or to enroll! :)

Puppy Foundation Obedience:
Sunday, March 5th @ 11:30 am

Foundation Obedience:
Monday, March 6th @ 5:30 pm
Wednesday, March 15th @ 5:30 pm

Intermediate Obedience:
Tuesday, March 28th @ 5:30 pm

Advanced Obedience (CGC):
Thursday, February 23rd @ 5:30 pm

Here are just some of our group and private lesson graduates from the past several weeks! Congratulations to all of our dog+owner teams! Keep up the great work!

02/01/2023

The gym will be closed today. The main roads are much better, but our parking lot is still a complete sheet of ice. I expect us to be back on a normal schedule tomorrow!

01/31/2023

I truly apologize for the last-minute notice, but we will not be opening the gym today due to road and parking lot conditions. Stay safe, all!

- Terri (i.e. that person who almost broke herself just getting into her car today. 😅)