Magnolia Animal Training

09/05/2024

Proud member of PPG. They have my full support when it comes to regulation and standards. Check out their website for CEUs. Lots of webinars available among other education options

28/04/2024

Interested in contributing to a pet supply drive for the Omaha, NE community? If you live in the area, you can drop supplies off at Petsmart - West Maple.

Here's two easy ways regardless of where you live:
1) Visit the Petsmart app or website to purchase items online. Just set the delivery method to "Pick up in store: West Maple." Put it under the name "Tornado Drive"

2) Visit the Petsmart app or website and purchase an E-gift card at any value. You can send it to [email protected]. (Name: "Tornado Drive") These E-gift cards will then be used to purchase items for the supply drive.
Receipts will be posted after these purchases (within 5 days of receiving gift card)
*I will be able to provide option 2 until the end of May.

Link to Petsmart - West Maple store page (select this store for option 1)
https://www.petsmart.com/stores/us/ne/omaha-store2038.html

Both in stores and online, you'll find that there are several items discounted right now. Some have 5x points offers attached to them as well. Donating can be hard on the wallet sometimes. Please take advantage of these deals, discounts, and extra points available to Treats Rewards Members.
You have to take care of your pets, too.

At Omaha PetSmart pet stores, you'll find essential pet supplies and services. This location offers Grooming, PetsHotel, Doggie Day Camp, Training, Adoptions, Veterinary and Curbside Pickup. Visit us at 17035 Evans Plaza or call us at (402) 289-1592 for an appointment. The PetSmart Treats program ea...

27/04/2024

27/04/2024

My community is in desperate need of donations right now. If you are interested in helping but don't live in the area, please donate to the following organizations and/or donate items online.

You can donate items by purchasing them through the Petsmart website, selecting the W Maple store and place them under my name (Laura Schaeffer). I will ensure they reach the victims.
Don't forget to use the code Save20 to donate even more for less.

(Please use this store when placing orders to be donated. https://www.petsmart.com/stores/us/ne/omaha-store2038.html)

Thanks in advance to everyone stepping up

21/04/2024

As cannabis-derived products have become more available across the US, veterinarians have seen increased cases of THC exposure in pets. Here are the most common clinical signs in dogs. If you suspect your pet may have ingested a cannabis product, contact your veterinarian.

For a detailed guide to cannabis and its impact on veterinary medicine, check out avma.org/Cannabis.

21/04/2024

You can, and definitely should, take your puppy to places early on. These are three easy ways to prevent your puppy from getting sick:
1) Wiping their paws (so they don't lick them to clean them)
2) Avoiding contact if the dogs aren't vaccinated, dirty, etc.
3) Avoiding areas that are obviously contaminated or high-risk such as dog parks and pet stores

Ten myths about canine behavior!
Myth 1: Puppies should not leave the house until fully vaccinated.
The critical socialization period for puppies occurs from about 3 weeks to 14 weeks of age, a time when they learn what is safe or not safe in their environment. They are also learning "doggie" social skills and what it means to live in the human world. Vaccinations are administered every 3-4 weeks apart until at least 15-16 weeks of age, which marks the end of this critical timeframe. If you wait until your puppy has received all vaccinations before exposing them to the world, your puppy may become more fearful as an adult and lack the necessary coping skills to live in the human world.

12/04/2024

Enrichment also helped keep my geriatric dog in great cognitive health. I would highly recommend incorporating enrichment into your daily routine.

12/04/2024

I just wanted to let everyone know that the dog (Rocco) in the profile picture was euthanized yesterday. If you aren't familiar with him, he is my personal dog of 8 years.

He was my handsome old man who fought to the very last breath. You wouldn't have guessed that he had a splenic mass taking up 50% of his abdomen. Or that he had near complete kidney failure. Or that he had liver cancer. It really wasn't until the last three days that I knew it was his time.

He was still walking, jumping, and prioritizing his dignity rather than doing what he could to rest up. He made it clear to me that he wanted to walk into the vet's office, not be pulled in on wagon. (That ended after I put him back in the second time.) He was 13 years old and still fooling people into thinking he was a puppy. I can't believe he was just two months shy of his 14th birthday.

For my followers who had the pleasure of meeting my dog, I am so glad you did. If you had the fortune of utilizing my dog to help your fearful/reactive dog overcome their issues, I want to thank you for trusting Rocco.

With that said, I am continuing my break from taking on clients so that I can properly grieve the loss of my dog. Thank you for understanding

05/04/2024

At Fear Free®, our mission is to prevent and alleviate fear, anxiety & stress in pets by inspiring

09/01/2024

As of January 5th, 2024 -- Magnolia Animal Training will be taking a hiatus with no known return date for personal reasons. While I am not currently accepting clients, I do welcome requests for referrals. I may not be able to help you, but I can definitely direct you to someone similar to me.

The exception to this is training requests for livestock and equine. I have a special interest in teaching husbandry skills to both humans and animals. If you want to learn how to do things you didn't think were possible, contact me and then watch some zookeeping training videos. That's what our training is going to look like if you hire me. (I am not good at describing my methods.)

12/11/2023

Some pets may tolerate certain festive activities, but most of the time, they'd prefer to opt-out.

We wanted to take a moment to raise some awareness about these unrealistic expectations. When we acknowledge and understand that we have these expectations, we can take proactive steps to make sure our pets are well during this special time of year!

Want to be proactive with your pet for the holidays? We'd love to have you join our upcoming webinar on Nov. 15! We're sharing our top strategies for keeping your pet happy and stress-free during the holidays.

You can join today for $17! Register here: https://petharmonytraining.com/holidays/

12/11/2023

Providing choices in a way that sets a dog up for success is a huge part of my training philosophy. You can see the difference in the confidence and decision making of a dog who has been supported in making choices compared to a dog who is used to always being told what to do. It empowers the dog and frankly, makes your life easier!

On hikes, Arry chooses to focus on me when she sees a person, dog or horse. It's much easier to then give her guidance (come, stay or 'go say hi' depending on what is appropriate) when she's already choosing ME over the distraction.

On walks, Lupine chooses to focus on me when a dog barks. It's much easier to guide her past that very hard distraction when she's already choosing ME over barking back at the dog.

Now of course there were several games used to teach my dog to choose me since running up to people and dogs or barking back at other dogs are all behaviors that would be very rewarding. But by taking the time to help your dog to make good choices, you end up having to do less in the long run.

www.PawsitiveChangeMT.com

05/07/2023

05/07/2023

“Force-free/Positive Reinforcement trainers only reward the good and ignore the bad!”

Nah, mate. We’re here to completely abolish the entire concept of “good” and “bad” behaviour altogether.

Dogs do not know what “good or bad” and “right or wrong” are. These are human constructs and concepts that mean absolutely nothing to them (which is honestly wonderful).

What they know is what’s safe and unsafe, what’s pleasant and unpleasant. So if we think we are letting our dog know that their behaviour is “bad” or “wrong” through punishment, we are essentially letting them know that something unpleasant is about to happen, and sadly potentially also that we are unsafe to be around.

What even is “bad” behaviour anyway? Is it things our dogs do that inconveniences us as people? Behaviours we or society decided that we don’t like in dogs even though they are just being dogs or just trying their hardest to communicate with us?

Our dogs’ behaviours are information. Even jumping up, growling, barking, lunging, digging, pulling on leash, snapping, biting, etc. are information about what our dogs might be in need of in that moment and what we have to do to meet those needs and help them feel safe.

Yes, sometimes they may feel challenging for us, but that does not mean that it’s “bad” behaviour nor does it need to be punished and suppressed.

And what even is “good” behaviour? Obedience and compliance? Total “neutrality” to everything?

I don’t want that ever. I want my dog to feel safe to communicate and express himself, to have his needs met and let me know what he needs. I want him to feel safe to say “no, absolutely not” and to feel safe to try something new, even if that means jumping into the raised plant beds now and then and having a cheeky little dig. I want him to be a dog and be who he is.

I want him to feel safe with me and in this world.

When we abolish the concept of “good” and “bad” when it comes to our dog’s behaviour, we can finally see it for what it is and learn what they are trying to communicate and meet their needs more effectively.

We can learn and grow together, and feel safe with each other without the baggage of these unnecessary constructs.

ID: The background photo shows a white dog running on the grass behind a person. The handwritten style text above has a strikethrough and says in quotation marks “Reward the good, ignore the bad”. The text under this in red highlights says “Abolish the idea of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ dog behaviour.”

28/05/2023

Woof Cultr is one of the few apparel brands that I go out of my way to buy from whenever I can. If you love dogs and dog training, highly recommend their gear! They have general training graphics, too, so not just dogs.

08/05/2023

While I previously have taught puppy classes, I do not offer them at this time. If you have recently gotten a puppy, please consider enrolling in this awesome class!

Our Puppy Pals Pre-K classes have a revolving start date, so you and your puppy can begin anytime!

Open to all puppies under 6 months and we meet at American Animal Hospital at 110th & Emmet. (You do not need to be a client of American Animal Hospital to join)

Email [email protected] to reserve your spot!!

28/11/2022

Magnolia Animal Training and Petsitting is temporarily closing its doors for the winter. A hectic schedule, long hours, and health concerns have taken a toll on me and will need to be prioritized to provide my current clients with quality services.

I will still be monitoring the page on an infrequent basis, so feel free to message the page. Please just don't expect immediate responses as I cannot monitor the page like that at this time.

Thank you for understanding.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season this year! See you in the spring!

03/09/2022

18/08/2022

I'm happy to announce that I am now offering more pet sitting (all species) and dog walking services to the Omaha area. Limited services are available to Lincoln and Council Bluffs. Visit the link below to learn more about my services!

You'll get $20 off your first booking with me if you use my promo code: LAURAS96571

Please feel free to message me here or on Rover if you have any questions. 🙂

(Please contact me directly for exact price on visits. Rover has been calculating them incorrectly.) **If you are interested in having me house sit for you, please be aware that I will have my dog staying with me.** Hey there! I am a local dog trainer who loves pet sitting and walking dogs. …

18/08/2022

I have to admit sometimes I get real 😴 hearing all the reasons why a positive reinforcement-based approach “doesn’t work” or “isn’t possible” for all dogs.

Punishment culture is invested in convincing us that compulsion is necessary to change behavior. The good news is, so many of us have found the incredible benefits of positive reinforcement-based training and many more are catching on every day.

It took me not even 30 seconds to jot down all these reasons why I love R+ based approach. Reason number 1: it works.

So don’t let the naysayers get you down, go out there and keep humanely working with your dogs. We’re all better for it : )

17/08/2022

"It doesn't hurt. He's fine."

Assuming an animal is not in pain is one of the biggest dangers to animal care and animal welfare.

When we don't know and cannot confirm if something is causing the animal pain I think we should use extreme caution.

Some things we know:

⭐Pain is different for different individuals as well as different species.
⭐Pain is unique. Your toothache may be excruciating but mine may be very mild. We cannot make a blanket statement about pain.
⭐Some animals hide pain but this does not mean that they are not experiencing pain.

⭐Some things may not cause us pain because we understand it but if someone, including an animal is startled or do not know where something is coming from may cause pain. Example: an invisible fence shock collar. If we try it on ourselves we understand what causes the shock. The dog does not.

The Wong-Baker Faces pain scale does not exist for animals.
We rely on behavior changes, medical changes but it requires observing.

By saying, "s/he's fine" we remove the ability to make those initial observations.
We have already turned off our observation skills.

If your vet says an animal is in pain, listen, and work with your vet to make a pain management plan.

No one ever wants their animal to be in pain.
One way to help them is keep an open mind and seek professional help.

Watch how they get up/lie down, how they move, how they react to sounds or touch. Do they scratch or itch a lot? Keeping an open mind about pain will be the first step to helping your animal.

17/08/2022

It's probably confusing, I know.
We're not exactly a rescue, even though we play one on TV.

07/08/2022

I highly recommend The Stress Factor in Dogs by Dr. Kristina Spaulding. It is an excellent overview of stress, coping, and resiliency in animals and how to foster it. MOST (not all) of the information applies across species, so not just dogs.

06/08/2022

Separation Anxiety in dogs is one of the most common issues we're seeing right now. If you'd like some help, I highly recommend purchasing this course from the Separation Anxiety expert herself! (DeMartini)

Mission Possible Online Course Separation Anxiety Training for Guardians Our CSAT’s are trained to help improve your dog’s separation anxiety symptoms and improve their overall quality of life with a clear, consistent, and effective plan. Preview Course How Do We Treat Separation Anxiety in Dogs...