Best Friends Dog Training

07/18/2024

05/27/2024

You may do this as a loving gesture, but it can be confusing to your pet. And when you tell your pooch these two calming words, his stress level likely shoots through the roof. Most people think nothing about doing this to a snoozing pet ... do you?

05/21/2024

Aw! A good dog....

01/21/2024

Give us a call 217-223-0883 🐾

08/16/2023

BEST FRIENDS DOG TRAINING
ANNOUNCEMENT:

THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER ARE HERE!
HOW ABOUT DOING SOMETHING ENTERTAINING AND PRODUCTIVE BEFORE THE WARM WEATHER DISAPPEARS?
SIGN UP NOW FOR PRIVATE LESSONS TO SHARPEN YOUR DOG’S SKILLS OR LEARN SOMETHING NEW.
THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS AND THE FUN GUARANTEED!
🐶🐾🐾🐶
CALL US TODAY 217-223-0883 Quincy, IL 😉

06/16/2023

We’re the shop cats. We train dogs, if you pay with tuna 🐾🐾

05/31/2023

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely young border collie I’ll call “Sami.” She was a beautiful example of a well-bred herding dog – quick, keenly intelligent, and fit and grac…

04/24/2023

A couple of things happened yesterday; things that made me think.

The first was I saw a dog trainer in the park wandering around with what looked to be a guardian and their dog. The dog was moving carefully and didn’t have relaxed body language. It seemed like the trainer was showing the lady how her dog could walk (creep) with the right kind of treatment.

I thought about it for hours afterwards. I wondered why some dog trainers take peoples’ dogs off them for an entire walk. I completely understand showing techniques momentarily as examples, like marking a check in. But what would be the point of taking someone’s dog off them for any longer than that?

The next thing was some (confident but wrong) guy on a Facebook video telling people what to look for in a dog trainer.

In his opinion dog trainers should have very well-trained dogs and show off well trained dogs on their social media all the time. There were a few other things that made me cringe too, but I didn’t watch for long and won’t go into them.

On reflection.

Neither of these approaches or people seemed to place any focus on how the dog feels.

Both of them focused on what they can make the dog do.

This to me is where full focus on training to change behaviour breaks down, and causes welfare issues.

It’s like the expectations on Victorian children.

You will be seen but not heard.

Can you imagine living a life where you’re the only one who is expected to change in a relationship. Where changing you is the priority of everyone around you. Everyone you love unconditionally fills your life with conditions.

Never asking you how you feel about things.

Never wondering what it is you might want and need.

Always just pushing you to be different.

To fit better into their expectations of you.

Imagine if your entire life was filled with people who didn’t acknowledge your personality, your fears, your aches and pains. People who didn’t know that trauma which dictated your behaviour now. People who didn’t help you to feel safe or didn’t even recognise when you felt unsafe.

It's time to shelve this idea that dogs should be seen and not heard.

I saw an excellent meme yesterday from the amazing “Heal the Dog” it stated very clearly that the opposite of obedience is not disobedience.

And that’s true.

Without rigid and forceful training dogs are not going to run wild eating people.

When we meet their dog needs, our dogs need less training.

Then with the training they do need, because we have built a wonderful trust between us, it’s more like coaching.

It’s a dance of unique individuals.

It’s a friendship.

A healthy relationship.

Let’s zoom out from the idea that we have a priority of nicely trained dogs.

And instead look at the entire dog.

The glorious dog.

Their full potential.

They don’t live very long, let’s fill that few years with safeness, respect, happy learning and fun times.

Not being walked around the park by a stranger for ego’s sake.

Not wearing a chain collar that threatens them not to move at their natural walking pace.

Their life, their time and their moments are all they have.

I promise you all, one day you will see how bad it is to overlook a dog’s needs and instead employ a trainer who gets results.

Don’t let that day be even a day too late for your dog.

🐶 Please!

10/28/2022

We’re back 🐾😊🐾

08/16/2022

It’s that time again 🐶

BEST FRIENDS DOG TRAINING
ANNOUNCEMENT:

THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER ARE HERE!
HOW ABOUT DOING SOMETHING ENTERTAINING AND PRODUCTIVE BEFORE THE WARM WEATHER DISAPPEARS?
SIGN UP NOW FOR PRIVATE LESSONS TO SHARPEN YOUR DOG’S SKILLS OR LEARN SOMETHING NEW.
THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS AND THE FUN GUARANTEED!
🐶🐾🐾🐶
CALL US TODAY 217-223-0883 Quincy, IL 😉

04/10/2022

Rawhides for dogs are a popular chewing option, but before you buy one, read this. It is best to know best beforehand.

01/30/2022

This is part of our Dog Lovers Guru Guest Blog Series. See the dog-human bond from a different perspective at www.dogloversguru.com By Author Laurie Plessala Please Stop Yelling At Your Dog I’ve do…