Stick To It Dog Training

12/04/2024

I now work full-time at the Animal Protective Association of Missouri (APA) and they are currently hiring for a paid summer internship! Our team focuses a lot on reducing stress and anxiety in the shelter environment; you'll get to work closely with our enrichment specialists (and me!!) and learn behavior analysis and implement our protocol hands-on.

Animal handling experience is required, and if you're in the process of gaining your certification they really want you to apply!!

This internship opportunity works closely with our behavior and enrichment team to provide outlets for natural behavior and reduce stress. This position helps with playgroups for dogs, in kennel enrichment, behavior modification plans, and provides fear free care and handling. This intern will work....

03/03/2024

Everything has its price. Want more soft, doting, affection time with your dog, but don’t want to turn your dog into a mess? Simple, pay the price of being a solid, healthy, selfless, and disciplined leader when needed and when appropriate, and you buy your way into what you desire.

Sadly, like many things in life, most want the fun/enjoyable stuff without paying the price to have it in a healthy fashion. The price of discipline, discomfort, and delayed gratification are simply too high, and so these people’s dogs—like so many other aspects of their lives—take the hit for their inability to discipline themselves.

I personally love having my dogs on the couch and the bed, I also love being able to be super soft and affectionate and doting. But I’m not interested in having my dogs take the hit for my desires, nor am I interested in all of us taking the hit by having less freedom, less enjoyment, and more stress…simply because I want the good stuff but am unwilling to do the hard stuff.

So we have a handful of very clear rules, we are mindful of each of our dog’s individual needs/personality/limits and their personal requirements for structure, and when trespasses occur there are appropriate negative consequences that clearly resonate with each dog. This simple approach allows myself, my wife, my dogs, and all those around us, to enjoy life together to its fullest.

This stuff isn’t complicated, although as of late we’ve worked awfully hard to make it appear so. If you want the good stuff, man-up and woman-up, and pay the price. Otherwise, your dogs will. And, without realizing it, you will most certainly pay as well—just in a different fashion.

As Jocko so simply says: “Discipline equals freedom.” It’s true with dogs, and it’s true with everything else.

18/02/2024

How could I forget these two?? Sumac and Tabasco aren’t the only ones I’m pet sitting. I love taking care of exotics, from mice to roaches (this beardie’s food..) to geckos or hamsters. 🦎

17/02/2024

Pet sitting for mister Sumac and Tabasco!
Nevermind that it’s 15°, we’re having a blast! 😂

Tabasco was eating snow out of that bowl like it was food.. mmm, crunchy yet.. hydrating. 😅

15/02/2024

Juno is showing off how we’re combining two tricks into one— sit pretty and hold an object!
He’s pretty happy with himself and his treat!!

Think outside the box and combine tricks— like a spin into a play dead, or a wave with a bark to say hello!

08/02/2024

I love hearing about y’all’s successes!!

It’s been almost a year since I’ve worked with Balto and his mom, but it is NEVER too late to make your dog trainer smile!!

Psst, ‘kaja’ in Korean means ‘let’s go’ or ‘come on’ 😁 Balto is bilingual!

23/01/2024

Hello!! We sent out about 20 Christmas cards before the holidays. It seems none have made it to their destination, which is really frustrating!!

If you do receive yours, or have already, please let me know! If you haven’t and don’t, please know that I thought about y’all and used cute stickers that look like your pups. I appreciate everyone who supported Stick To It in Texas!

13/01/2024

Let’s find Buttons a home! 🩷

10/01/2024

What am I up to? Nothing much, just hanging out with tiny puppies every day!! 🖤🤎

I’m helping raise these little ones for my friend, I’m doing ENS and ESI every day from days 3 to 16 of their life! After that, I’ll be introducing new sights, sounds, and textures every day and handling their paws, ears, tails, noggins, noses, well.. everything up until they go home! I’ll start them on crate training, problem solving, recall, and puppy culture adventures as well. All of this before 8 weeks of age!

Read about ENS: https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/dog-breeding/breeder-puppy-socialization-early-neurological-stimulation/
Read about ESI: https://responsiblepetbreeders.com.au/early-scent-introduction/

08/01/2024

For anyone in Austin or Dallas looking to get their pet on TV. ❤️ They’re so wonderful to work with!!

Hit the Mark Animal Talent Agency provides casting, scouting, and handling services and source all species of animal talent across the United States.

03/01/2024

We’ve been quiet for about a month— that’s because we moved to southern Illinois!

We’re still finding our footing, but are happy to offer a limited number of private lesson packages while we settle in. Many of our services are unavailable as we aren’t in our own place quite yet; our website is up to date though so please feel free to browse what we can offer! Our service areas are around Belleville, Fairview Heights, Granite City, and Edwardsville.

As always, feel free to text or message at any time with any questions. We miss the pups and humans we worked with immensely and we hope the journey here goes well. ❤️ Thank you for your support!

04/12/2023

Today I returned this beautiful crazy foster girl to the City Of Taylor, Texas Animal Shelter. Jersey was with us for a bit working on reactivity towards strangers, critters, bikes, cars.. a lot of things. While I didn’t accomplish what I wish I would’ve (it’s been hectic), I hope she learned a few things and I know she’ll make someone so happy someday. I’m happy to offer free virtual training and support for Jersey to whoever adopts her. She’d make a great sport dog and could probably compete in personal protection, agility, scentwork.. whatever you put her mind to I think she’ll enjoy it!! Whoever adopts this girl, please give her time to settle into your home, rules and boundaries, tons of play time, and of course understanding of her brain that sometimes seems like it’s in overdrive!

01/12/2023

❤️

And that’s all we can ever do.

01/12/2023

Daycare with us doesn’t just mean your dog gets to play.. Your dog is learning manners and how to respect boundaries, as well as getting rest time and one-on-one attention. Dogs are paired together based on temperament and size, and groups are almost never bigger than 5 pups.

28/11/2023

It’s Giving Tuesday!

and the kick off of our Search for Search Dogs campaign is here! How do you plan to give back this giving season? Donate to our fundraising campaign? Screen a shelter dog? Share some of our training and screening resources with someone new?

There is no wrong way to give, but we really hope you consider participating in our Search for Search Dogs campaign this week!

https://givebutter.com/TcEMv7

28/11/2023

Peep Cake and I in the fifth photo!

This was an awesome training opportunity, the two hosts insured everyone was safe and doing well with their dogs. This event is open to the public, and I even brought my dog selective/aggressive dog and she really blew me away with how well she did!!

21/11/2023

Emmer’s second day of daycare! She got to meet and bounce around with Willie (merle) and Radar (black/white) and her friend that isn’t pictured, Sugar!

17/11/2023

This is the brand we work with and sell!! Super awesome information and infographics!

17/11/2023

Dog walkers needed and appreciated

16/11/2023

What is a “jackpot” in dog training?

Trainers use an unusually large and exciting reward when a dog has a breakthrough moment. It’s used sparingly, we want it to be super valuable! Here, Willie completes his first retrieve after piecing together what I’m asking him to do. We first worked on grabbing the object, then holding the object, then grabbing the object on the ground, and finally delivering it to hand. I was giving one treat for grabbing the object, but once he gave it to me I gave him my whole handful of treats and soooo much petting and praise!

10/11/2023

Jersey, our adoptable dog, is loving this weather!!!

07/11/2023

Hello! I (Kendra, not the pup in the photo!) have just had surgery today and am expecting a few days of strict rest ahead. I may or may not be able to respond to calls, texts, and emails. Please allow extra time for responses. Thank you so much for your patience.

04/11/2023

Training Tip Thursday

01/11/2023

Emmer did great during her first daycare session!!

She’s such a sweet, social girl like our Sugar! That’s how they became friends so fast. 😄

25/10/2023

This one of the reasons why I ask about feeding schedules during consultations!

ONE COOL TRICK TO HEALTHIER DOGS

While there is no scientific evidence that one brand or type of dog food is better than another, there is a LOT of evidence that serious dog illness can be reduced, and that dog lives can be extended, by proper feeding.

And this is NOT new information, nor it is closely held information.

And this ONE SIMPLE TRICK is not just true for dogs; it’s also true for humans, rats, mice, fish, monkeys, and even worms.

This ONE SIMPLE TRICK has extended the lifespan and reduced illness in EVERY ANIMAL STUDIED.

And it’s held true no matter WHAT they ate or WHERE they lived.

Are you ready for this ONE SIMPLE TRICK?

Here it is: EAT LESS.

Calorie restriction ALONE extends lifespan of a population 10 to 50 percent, depending on the animal and the amount of restriction.

This is NOT NEW INFORMATION.

More than 80 years ago, McCay, Crowell, and Maynard wrote a paper entitled “The Effect of Re****ed Growth upon the Length of Life Span and upon the Ultimate Body Size”.

The data presented showed that restricting calories without malnutrition (i.e. not absolutely starving, and keeping up vitamins and micronutrients) significantly prolonged the lifespan of rats.

In subsequent years, experiments with EVERY OTHER ANIMAL studied have shown the same results.

LESS CALORIES MEANS LONGER LIFE AND BETTER HEALTH.

So what’s the data for dogs show?

Just this: Dogs from the same litter, when fed 75% of what their siblings were given, lived 1.8 years longer. Labrador Retrievers who ate their fill every day had a medium lifespan of 11.2 years, while the median life span of dogs on the restricted diet was 13 years — over 16 percent longer.

But that’s not all.

The dogs who ate fewer calories also had fewer expensive illnesses.

At age five, over half the dogs eating a full diet had osteoarthritis in their hips compared to 13 percent of the dogs on a calorie-restricted diet.

At age eight, 77 percent of the dogs fed a full diet had osteoarthritis, while only 10% of the diet-restricted dogs did.

What about cancer? Cancer showed up in all the dogs at the same rate, but showed up two years LATER in the calorie-restricted dogs.

That’s a LOT.

To be clear, NO OTHER FOOD INTERVENTION has been shown to so dramatically increase a dog’s lifespan.

What’s that mean in terms of dog food, no matter what or how you feed?

Simple: LESS CALORIES MEANS MORE LIFE AND LESS ILLNESS.

So what are the caveats?

Just this:

▪️No matter what you feed, your dog will eventually die of something. A lot of the gains in cohort mortality are due to eliminating mortality due to obesity, not absolutely extending the life of the healthiest animals.

▪️Size matters. No matter what you feed, big dogs (as a group) tend to die sooner than smaller dogs (as a group).

▪️Right feed cannot fix wrong breed. While a calorie-restricted diet will probably help extend the life of your dog and reduce veterinary costs, it is NOT an antidote for genetic defect (often due to inbreeding within a closed registry) or morphological deformity (brachycephalia, freakishly long or sloped backs, etc.).

▪️Real world mortality gains in dogs may be less than what we see in the laboratory where the base line is often a "free feed" situation that encourages obesity. In addition, once-a-day feeding appears to extend life the most perhaps by providing a longer period of "fasting" between meals.

Links here >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2022/10/one-cool-trick-to-healthier-dogs.html