Emily's Puppy Project

03/06/2024

Me and Penny (mostly me) are working on our Senior Seminar Research paper! The topic I am researching and writing about is the “Efficiency Rate of Clicker Training vs Other Positive Reinforcement Methods”. I am very passionate about dog training, and with the topic I chose, I am deep diving into a BUNCH of scientific research on different dog training methods. When I come to a conclusion on which method is most effective, that will be the method I will use to do my dog training. After this paper, I still need to create a presentation and present my research to a board of Animal Science professors who will then decide if I get to graduate or not (no pressure right😬). After all of this is done I will be posting my work on my socials for you all to check out.

02/05/2024

Some books I picked up at the UWRF Library!📚 So many good resources for me to further my education on training🐶

02/02/2024

Celebrating 1 year of Emily’s Puppy Project today🥳🎉 Thank you to everyone who has supported me, believed in me, and encouraged me along the way. And of course thank you to all of my WONDERFUL clients, I would not be here if it weren’t for YOU! Thank you for entrusting me with your pup and their learning🥰 You all mean the world to me.

06/20/2023

06/20/2023

Dear puppy owner,

Here are some tips from a professional dog trainer to help start off on the right foot with your new puppy:

• You do not need to always hold them. I know they are cute, but the longer you do, the more demanding they get as they get older.
• Crate train your puppy. This is self-explanatory. But just in case I need to explain it, read the next bullet point.
• Do NOT let your puppy free-roam. You can not trust these little devils in a house without training. They will chew, eat, p*e, p**p, and destroy anything if given the chance.
• Do not give into anything 'because they are so cute'. That puppy cuteness will wear off and you are left with an uncontrollable adolescent dog.
• Constantly mess with their mouths, ears, paws & tail. Get them adjusted to being handled and assessed.
• Give your puppy time away from you (cough, cough, down time in the crate). They need to understand to be comfortable without you being with them 24/7.
• Your puppy does not need constant play & attention. Puppies need to be taught to calm down and to relax. Just like babies they can get cranky when they are tired.
• Set rules & reasonable expectations of what you want in your household. You don't want them on furniture? Don't put them on it. You don't want them in the kitchen? Don't allow them in there. Stay consistent with them if you want results.
• DESENTIZATION is key in puppyhood. Desentize them to other animals, sights, sounds, smells, etc. Desentize them to the point where neutrality is normal.
• STAY CONSISTENT. If you can't maintain consistency, your dog won't either. If people in the household can't maintain consistency, don't get mad at the dog for taking advantage of it.
• Your dog is not for others to enjoy all the time. Your dog is for you. By always letting strangers handle and pet your puppy, you will teach them to expect it. (We don't let strangers hold and love on our human babies, they don't need too with our puppies.)
• Let them drag around a leash in the house. DO NOT make the leash such a big deal. Let them understand a leash is a normal part of life.
• If you have a multi-dog household, make sure to separate your pup from the other dogs. Your puppy does not need to be with them all the time. All of your dog's will need individual attention. Plus your older dogs will need time away from the puppy. Puppies can be stressful for older dogs due to their energy and learning the proper social cues of the household.
• Do not put off training. Obedinece training is key to building a strong foundation of communication & understanding in your relationship with your dog. They are smarter than they appear.

Puppyhood is difficult. Puppyhood is the start of a long-term commitment. Put in the work at the beginning of their life so you can enjoy the comfort that the remainder of their life with ease.

Welcome to the club of dog ownership- its a wild, stressful, wonderful ride.

06/20/2023

We lay the foundation of training. We help guide your dog to give you the favorable behaviors. We spend countless hours building your dog up, all owners have to do is maintain what we've taught.

However, every trainer has experienced an owner not following through and the dog reverts back to their old ways.

Not only is this frustrating, it's such a waste. A waste of time, money and effort that could have been used on another dog and owner who are struggling.

We try to screen our clients well, but it still happens. It breaks our hearts to see a dog we know can succeed, fail due to a lack of follow through by the owner.

06/20/2023

Let’s get training! Contact [email protected] or 1507-837-9473 to schedule 🐶

05/29/2023

Reactive Dogs. Many of you will know they are a passion of mine.

What can be confusing for some are terms which are used....and importantly what they actually mean and why we stress the importance of these when working with reactive dogs.

So this is a very non technical explanation of what some of these terms mean.....a very general and hopefully easy to understand explanation of terms.

This isn't just for fear reactive dogs......even over excited/hyper dogs can have high levels of stress....in fact some dogs that are just on the "go" all the time often have very high levels of stress hormones.

🔵Stress levels/Stress hormones
Reactive dogs have releases of stress hormones when they react ....the difficult thing with this is they can stay at a high level and can take hours or DAYS to reduce.....if your dog reacts many times a day.....those levels may be very high, and stay high. These levels need to come down to help reactivity. As mentioned even overly excited/hyper dogs can have high levels of stress hormones.

🔵Lowering stress hormones/stress levels/decompression.
Simply put.... ways to help your dog lower those stress levels. Lowering the pressure your dog is feeling.
Ways to help lower those levels include not adding to those stress levels (avoiding situations where dogs react again and again). If your dog reacts again and again....those levels may not drop and they can stay high. Every reaction can "top up" stress levels.
We also add in ways to help your dogs life by helping with confidence, enrichment and creating relaxation which can be a natural way to lower those stress hormones.
Sleep is very important for reactive dogs.
Helping a dog use their nose is extremely helpful for reactive dogs.

🔵Trigger stacking.
Small issues that can occur in a short period of time (or over a few days)....that add to stress in a dog. These can be seemingly small when looked at individually. These smaller "triggers" stack on top of each other and can cause reactions. They may react to something they have always been ok with if they have had multiple smaller scares/stressful situations, even if there are very small outward signs or reactions, they can "add up".......They may also have a much bigger reaction if they have had multiple smaller issues during the day. These can be as innocent as a very small startle when a door is closed too quickly, or a car toot as it goes past......these can have an accumulative effect on your dog so they will be MORE likely to react to something else, react more strongly and at a far greater distance than they may normally have an issue with.
Understanding trigger stacking is important with reactive dogs.

I hope that may clarify a few terms commonly used with reactive dogs.🙂

I will put a link to the trigger stacking post made a while ago in the comment section.

05/29/2023

The easiest time to teach a dog to enjoy being handled is when they're a puppy. if you have a puppy now, or you know someone who does, PLEASE, take the time to proactively teach them to LOVE being held and handled by humans.

If your pup already seems comfortable being held and handled, don't take it for granted! Keep it up, and be sure to handle their entire body, using lots of food and praise to help them form a positive association. Don't forget to get your pup comfortable being handled by family and friends as well.

This will make it much easier to keep them safe and clean, and it will help them feel comfortable if they ever need to go to a groomer or get examined or cared for by a veterinarian. Dogs that are anxious about being handled will suffer much more if they ever need medical treatment for an illness or injury.

If you have an older dog who is already fearful or hand shy, you can definitely still teach them to enjoy being held and handled, but you'll need to proceed much more slowly and carefully, so you don't push them too far, too fast. If you take your time and use lots of treats you can build their confidence gradually, so that they can enjoy life more, with less anxiety.

Learn more here: https://dunbar.info/puppy-handling

If you have a puppy, or you know someone who does, we have an extra-special offer for you!

For the next few days, we're offering our Essential Puppy Training Course for 50% off AND we've just launched a new optional upgrade for our Essential Puppy Course Students. It's called the Premium Puppy Support Plan and it includes 3 months of personalized puppy training advice and assistance from us, the Dunbars, so you can give your pup the best education possible, make sure you and your pup are on the right track, and rapidly resolve any problems you might run into with your pup's training.

We're really excited to get to know some of our puppy students better, and have an opportunity to really help them train their pups with more personalized support.

If you know of anyone with a puppy, please tell them about this special offer!

Learn more here: https://dunbar.info/pup50

05/25/2023

RAISING DOG FRIENDLY CHILDREN
Teach children to be dog friendly before teaching dogs to be child friendly

I’m often asked - “How can I make my dog more child friendly?”

The question really should be - “How can I make my child more dog friendly?”

Children don’t come with an inborn ability to know how to treat dogs. It’s up to us to teach them.

I’m amazed that there aren’t more dog bites considering how often I see children treating dogs like stuffed toys.

If you think about it, dogs are actually amazingly tolerant and patient with people even when their attempts to communicate through their body language, that they’re really uncomfortable, are completely ignored or not understood.

As parents, it’s an important responsibility to teach our children about how to respect and behave around dogs.

Always supervise children and dogs, even if a dog seems relaxed and friendly.

Here are some links to free, on-line resources if you’re looking for more information on how to keep children and dogs safe together -

https://kidsarounddogs.co.uk/pages/free-resources
https://www.familypaws.com/resources/
https://www.cooperandkids.com
https://www.gooddoginabox.com/top-20-ways-keep-kids-and-dogs-safe/
https://poochparenting.net/blog/

05/25/2023

Professional pet sitters and dog walkers make the world a better places for pets—and their people. 🐾♥🐾

05/25/2023

Thanks to .center for this awesome graphic. Study it, then put it into practice.

05/25/2023

05/25/2023

We are never going to have the exact same goals, desires and needs as others. And the lessons we need to learn and go through simply won’t be the same.

Our path is for us only which is what makes us experts in us and our journey.

We can’t change the journey of others, we might not be able to change our own. But we can change the way we experience it, and that starts with comparing only to our yesterday. Never to someone else’s today.

05/25/2023

On warmer days, take extra caution with your pets – especially if your pet is at higher risk of overheating! ☀️
More information here: https://aercmn.com/summer-heat-risks-for-pets/

05/25/2023

It’s getting to be that time of year …..