Fluxpack LLC

19/06/2024

** NO DAY SCHOOL 6/19 **
** JUNETEENTH **

We’re almost packed full for summer! Have you gotten your boarding reservations in? Limited availability remains for July & August 🏖️

17/06/2024

Our BATH DAY for BUTLER fundraiser has been an amazing success!! HUGE THANK YOU to ALL our clients who contributed and brought their dogs for our very special spa day 🫧

Our Fluxpack team, plus amazing groomer volunteers Bre and Brianna, tackled almost 30 baths and nail trims on Saturday June 8th and added a few more for our Boarding and Day School dogs throughout the week.

Thanks to this amazing crew and to YOU, we have raised over $6,000 to contribute towards Butlers TPLO surgery!!

Extra special thanks to Marielle for the idea and taking on the lion's share of planning this event. As if that wasn't enough, she also went above and beyond supplying each dog that signed up in advance with a personalized Fluxpack bandanna and a framed photo to take home 🚀

Butler is officially scheduled for his pre-op exam and Brit will be getting the full estimate soon, so we are leaving the GoFundMe link open through at least FRIDAY JUNE 21st to ensure everyone has the opportunity to assist should they desire to do so!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/bath-day-for-butler-fundraiser

We feel so blessed to have your support!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you have done for Brit & Butler!

Looking for a great groomer? Email us for Bre & Brianna's contact info and we'll connect you 🧡

19/05/2024

** BATH DAY for BUTLER **

Attention Fluxpack Families & Friends! One of our own is in need of assistance and we hope you can help us come together for Brit & Butler 💙

In early 2023, it became clear that Butler’s knees were in bad shape, so last May Brit had the more damaged of the two repaired. As one leg healed and strengthened, the pain of the other became more acute than before, so it is now time for Round 2!

TPLO surgery is incredibly costly and we are hoping to help with this burden by offering a spa treatment for your dog at Fluxpack Training Center! Please join us Saturday June 8th for Bath Day for Butler! See flyer for details and see us at the front desk or email to sign up today 💙

https://gofund.me/74002c87

11/04/2024

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to CHAMP & LIAM and their families! These two are our very FIRST Fluxpack Dogs to pass their Canine Good Citizen test here at Fluxpack Training Center! Completing this test is a wonderful achievement that shows just how much work you have put in to training and building your relationship with your dog 🧡

Thank you so much to everyone who participated and volunteered to assist. We had a great showing from all our attendees and we know all the other teams that joined us just have a little more work to do and they will be ready to try again soon 🧡

Finally, a massive thank you to Jamie Whitbeck of The Mindful Dog Walker for not only facilitating our testing but also for offering invaluable guidance, support, and advice throughout the process. We are looking forward to continued collaboration, so stay tuned for more opportunities for CGC and beyond 🚀

28/03/2024

** CLOSED for DAY SCHOOL Good Friday March 29th **
All current Boarding reservations will remain as scheduled.

Our Fluxpack Dogs are sailing into Spring sporting a new piece of equipment we had clearly been underutilizing in the past: HARNESSES!

At Fluxpack, we are always learning and teaching new things, and many of our dogs have been enjoying new activities like long line hikes and beginner weight pull during their Day School days, so our meager harness collection has been getting a heavy workout! We can clearly see how the right kind of harnesses can have a very important place in our training and enrichment activities, and the confidence gains we are seeing are lighting us up as much as the dogs, so we’re leaning in to ensure all our pups have as many opportunities as possible to achieve biological fulfillment in whatever way works best for them.

We will be (and have been) adding more well-made adjustable Y-front harnesses in several sizes and more emergency backup clips and slips so that we can keep everyone safe on our adventures. If you have any extras to share or one that fits your pup, please do ask us if it would be useful to send in. As usual, any harness donations we cannot use will be redirected to Medfield Animal Shelter.

Interested in learning more or need help selecting a harness or fitting your dog? Ask! We are always happy to help!

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Please be advised that our website info form was OFFLINE for some period of time recently so we are not sure how deep that impact was for our prospective clients and their families. If you or someone you know did not get a reply from us, please encourage them to try again or EMAIL [email protected] to get started!

25/03/2024

Sudden changes in behavior could mean your dog is experiencing some type of pain! More training is not always the answer 🧡

‘My dog is naughty/bad/untrainable/dominant/stupid’

I hear this most weeks on intake forms. Usually I get pretty excited to see these cos I know I’m gonna get to change a dog and owners life!

So often we write our dogs off as any adjective that fits the above and honestly, I’m yet to meet a dog who fits any of those adjectives (and I have worked with 10k plus dogs over the ten years I’ve been doing this!). I do however week in week out meet dogs with health issues that contribute to their slow progress in terms of training. Did you know dogs don’t show pain or discomfort how we do? We often think ‘oh he isn’t limping or yelping so he is fine’.

Please read the examples below ⬇️

🐾 A huntaway cross who I work with who bit his owner. Reluctant to have his feet cleaned, got spicy over any intense handling, had periods of seeming insanity and relentless barking and being unable to calm down. Huntaways are vocal dogs… but…

Turns out he had hip dysplasia. This dog didn’t limp. He wasn’t lame in any way. He chased his ball and sprinted and jumped and had no issues physically on the surface however under that behaviour was pain.

🐾 A French bulldog. Resource guarding to the extreme. Bit his owners while resource guarding the knot pattern in their wooden floor. Also bombed around without a worry in the world and had no outward signs of pain.

Turns out he had a severe spinal condition causing intermittent excruciating pain.

🐾 A young spaniel owned by a very good friend who was having confidence issues. She would ‘tap out’ of training on the regular and my friend went from ‘this is my ticket dog who will represent my country’ to ‘is this even possible?’

Dog had hormonal issues and likely spikes of hormones left right and centre. A carefully timed spay and she is now grade 6 in agility.

🐾 A friends Border Collie. Owned by a very experienced and talented agility handler and trainer. Regularly ‘checked out’ of training sessions, seemed to not be able to learn things that were moderately straightforward. Described by other trainers as ‘oh she is just a border collie it’s what they are like’.

Turns out she is mostly deaf.

🐾 A black Labrador. Always social and friendly and attended brilliant puppy classes and adolescent classes. Had the best start training wise you can imagine. He started showing some intermittent aggression to his owners in the home and aggression to other dogs out and about.

Turns out he had bilateral elbow dysplasia.

🐾 Young German Shepherd. Always energetic and silly in her behaviour but suddenly got worse. Excessive zoomies, inability to settle, increased reactivity to other dogs, reluctant to get in the car, obsessive destruction at home.

Turns out she had an infection in her va**na that was causing discomfort and exacerbating all those teenage behaviours to the point of being unmanageable.

🐾 My own dog! My NSDTR started missing his dog walk contact early last year. I was tearing my hair out trying to fix it.

Turns out he had a minor iliopsoas strain and some physio fixed the issue for us.

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All these dogs have one thing in common. They are not stupid or untrainable or naughty or dominant. They are uncomfortable and that is triggering extreme behaviour fallout.

None of the above issues would be resolveable with training. All of the issues will be resolveable with training ONLY when the pain is resolved. Some of them will have drastic improvement from the moment the pain or discomfort is managed!

If your behaviourist or trainer doesn’t immediately advise a veterinary visit if any aggression, excessive ‘naughtiness’ or strange behaviour is present, walk away immediately. Even if you think your dog is fine, visit the vets. Ask for a thorough examination and push for a proper evaluation of your dog from nose to tail and potentially blood tests too. If you’re still not sure, get a second opinion.

You cannot train the pain or discomfort out of your dog. Address THIS first and foremost.

22/03/2024

** CGC PRACTICE TEST Wednesday March 27th **
** CGC TESTING AVAILABLE Wednesday April 10th **

At Fluxpack, we want all our dogs to be good citizens! The AKC Canine Good Citizen test is a great way to evaluate your dog's skills as well as your own!

AKC Evaluator Jamie Whitbeck of The Mindful Dog Walker will be with us on Wednesday evening March 27th offering Mock CGC testing for any of our teams who would like to participate starting at 6:30 PM. This gives our Fluxpack Families a great opportunity to have a practice walkthrough of the test so that we can see where any opportunities lie to build on the skills our dogs learn day in and day out here at Fluxpack 🧡

Just TWO WEEKS later, on the evening of April 10th, Jamie will be back to offer a LIVE CGC Test so that our teams will have the opportunity to achieve this title for real! Some of our own personal dogs will be in on the action as well because at Fluxpack we believe that training for a test with specific criteria like this one brings dogs and their families closer together and that is the reason we do what we do!

How is your dog doing with the list of testing items? Interested in learning more? Let us know! We’d love to have you!

Canine Good Citizen Test Items
Test 1 : Accepting a friendly stranger
Test 2 : Sitting politely for petting
Test 3 : Appearance and grooming
Test 4: Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead)
Test 5: Walking through a crowd
Test 6: Sit and down on cue and stay in place
Test 7: Coming when called
Test 8: Reaction to another dog
Test 9: Reaction to distraction
Test 10: Supervised separation

$25 per test and pre-registration required! Email [email protected] to sign up today 🚀

09/03/2024

**MARCH WEEKENDS CLOSED FOR BOARDING**
**3/23-24 & 3/30-31**
All currently scheduled reservations will be honored for these weekends 🧡

The training seminar season is HEATING UP and we are grabbing all the opportunities we can to learn and grow!

We are very pleased to announce the whole Fluxpack Team will be attending Michael Shikashio’s aggression seminar at Gemini Dogs in Littleton 3/23-3/24! Michael is the founder of AggressiveDog.com and focuses on teaching canine professionals from around the world how to successfully work aggression cases, and we were thrilled to find an event locally to meet and learn from such a well respected international trainer 🚀

The following weekend 3/30-3/31 we are conspiring to sneak off to New York! North Country Paws for Obedience is hosting GRC Judge Peter Stoddart for two events. First will be a Social Responsibility Skills seminar on 3/30 followed by a GRC Trial Sunday!

Stay tuned for more opportunities coming up for Canine Good Citizen training and testing in March and April with Jamie Whitbeck 🧡

13/02/2024

** NO DAY SCHOOL February 13th **
FLUXPACK TRAINING CENTER CLOSED TUESDAY

Fluxpack will be closed on Tuesday, February 13 due to the impending storm! All Day School reservations have been canceled. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Stay safe out there! 🧡🚀❄️

16/01/2024

**EXTENDED PICK UP HOURS 3-6 PM Tuesday 1/16**

With the snow pouring down and ice on the way, we will be OPEN TODAY 1/16 for EARLY PICKUP starting at 3 PM 🧡

Our dogs are having a blast in the snow today, but the roads look terrible, so if you need to scoop your pup early, please feel free! Some schools are letting out early as well, so please leave extra time for travel this evening, and DRIVE SAFELY 🧡🚀❄️

13/01/2024

** NO DAY SCHOOL MONDAY 1/15 **
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY

We’re bundling up for winter! Bulldog Belle got the royal treatment as we upended our winter coat stash to find a match for our favorite sweet potato. Our staff goes above and beyond making sure all our dogs are ready to enjoy winter hikes and we’re always accepting donations of your dogs’ old coats, towels and single layer non-woven blankets to help keep our pups warm and dry day in and day out 🥰🧡🚀❄️

01/01/2024

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 🎉
CLOSED FOR DAY SCHOOL 1/1-1/2
DAY SCHOOL resumes Wednesday 1/3 🧡
We are OPEN 1/2 for BOARDING pick up and drop off

We are winding down from a busy holiday week with all our special guests! Each of our dogs received personalized care tailored to their needs during their stay and as always it is our goal to ensure each dog is happy, healthy and safe through the holiday season 🎄

Being away from home can be stressful so our activities are customized to the individual dog to ensure they come home content and fulfilled. Vacation weeks are always busy here at Fluxpack so make sure you plan ahead as our attention turns to the new year! Board and train programs are booking into March and February & April vacations are filling up so get your reservations in soon for best availability 🥰🧡🚀

25/12/2023

MERRY CHRISTMAS from FLUXPACK! 🎄
** NO DAY SCHOOL 12/24-1/2 **
DAY SCHOOL RESUMES Wednesday 1/3/24 🧡

Blessings and joy to you and your family on this holiday weekend! We love having all these happy faces to take care of this holiday season. We know that providing peace of mind is the best gift we can deliver to each of our families while you’re away, so we feel passionate about making sure all our Fluxpack dogs feel supported while they are in our care 🧡

Watching our pups’ parents smile as each dog arrives at the center full of excitement to stay with us is truly the best reward for a job well done. Knowing our dogs are happy to visit and comfortable during their stays warms all our hearts and provides all the positive reinforcement we need to press forward during this busy time of year 🎄

We can’t believe 2024 is almost here but our books have been fielding reservations for months already stocking us up with as many board & train and boarding reservations as we can handle as we plunge into the new year! Get your requests in soon for best availability 🥰

24/11/2023

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from FLUXPACK! 🧡🚀

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had an awesome holiday with all these special guests, and we feel so blessed to be full again for a busy holiday week 🦃

As temperatures drop we are recommending sending appropriate layers for all of our day school and boarding dogs. We also take donations of warm or rain proof clothing you are no longer using to ensure we can keep our pups safe, healthy, and active outdoors throughout the year. The low temps don’t stop our daily hikes, and though our wardrobe is extensive, we can’t always fit every dog, so sending your coat could help us spread our coverage 🧡

Winter boarding is filling up with several requests coming in for February and April vacations! Send your requests asap for best availability 🥰

14/11/2023

Last week Julia took the trek out to Idaho to spend a week shadowing Stephanie and her amazing team at Method K9! While we missed her dearly and certainly felt her absence, we are so proud of her and her drive to continue pushing herself out of her comfort zone, growing and learning in this industry. Please congratulate her with us on the completion of her Shadow Program 1.0. Hoping we can make it back out in 2024 for their second round of this program together! 🧡

Another great Train the Trainer 1.0 in the books! We are so happy to have met you all, and we are cheering for all of you to achieve your goals and dreams!

02/11/2023

** HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST WINNERS **

First Place goes to DENALI who swept in late in the game taking the prize as the Big Bad Wolf dressed as Grandma!! He scored himself a new orange biothane collar and 8 in 1 combination leash from along with an assortment of high quality treats from their extensive collection!

All week we had watched SUNNY and MOUSSA battle it out neck and neck in a dramatic tug of war! They both scored themselves some extra treats for their efforts with Sunny creeping us all out and scoring a solid second place finish 🎈

Rounding out our winners is KODA the Party Animal scooping up the win in the Employee portion of our costume competition!! He wins Emily K a $50 Starbucks gift card (and hopefully many many pup cups along the way) 🧡🎃🥰

We had a blast with all the entries. They were such great sports for their costumes and photo sessions! Luckily most of them have had lots of practice posing 😉 Thanks to everyone for all the likes, votes and shares for your favorite pups!

31/10/2023

👻 HAPPY HALLOWEEN 👻
** COSTUME CONTEST BONUS STAFF CHALLENGE **
Like photos on FACEBOOK to vote 🎃

It’s the LAST DAY to vote for your favorite costume but FEAR NOT! We have a 24 hour BONUS STAFF CHALLENGE today just for you! Vote for your favorites on Facebook and the staff dog with the most likes on their photo will win a $50 gift card to Starbucks!!

In order of appearance we present Koda, Gracie, Kirby & Aubrie! Like photos on Facebook to vote 🎃

Thanks to everyone who made this challenge super fun and competitive this year! Our current vote leaders are Denali, Sunny, Moussa, Belle & Finn! Make sure you show them some love as we finish up and select our winner 🥰

28/10/2023

** COSTUME CONTEST DAY FIVE **
Like photos on FACEBOOK to vote 🎃

Our Day FIVE pups are NOT ready to lay down and accept defeat on this last official day of our Halloween Costume Contest! Featuring Axl as Mickey Mouse, Belle as a Baked Potato, Denali as the Big Bad Wolf masquerading as Grandma, Lacey as Rapunzel, Taj the Lion and Maya as a Gryffindor!

Vote for your favorites on Facebook and the dog with the most likes on their photo on Halloween will win our holiday gift basket with gifts from 🥰👻

Stay tuned for our Staff Dog Bonus Costume Contest coming MONDAY!! Vote for your favorite staff member’s dog for their chance to win a $50 Starbucks gift card 😍🧡🎃

27/10/2023

** COSTUME CONTEST DAY FOUR **
Like photos on FACEBOOK to vote 🎃

Another wave of contestants coming your way with a strong showing on day FOUR of our Halloween Costume Contest! Today we had Hermie the Dragon, Liam the Lion, Roxie the Soccer Star, Zeus the Taco, Taj the Chef and Maverick the Shark 🦈 Today’s participation trophy goes to George who didn’t want to be left out of his hiking buddies’ party time 🥰

Vote for your favorites on Facebook and the dog with the most likes on their photo on Halloween will win our holiday gift basket!

Don’t miss a contestant! Go to our page to see all the adorable costumes 😍🧡🎃

26/10/2023

** COSTUME CONTEST DAY THREE **
Like photos on FACEBOOK to vote 🎃

Our contest is getting hot with two more Halloween hopefuls on the rise! We know these two can take the heat, featuring Taos the Baker and Maya the Sunflower 🌻

(Peep the stories for some fabulous baguette outtakes 😂👀)

Vote for your favorites on Facebook and the dog with the most likes on their photo on Halloween will win our holiday gift basket! They’ll ALL be getting treats from me this year 😍👻🧡

25/10/2023

** COSTUME CONTEST DAY TWO **
Like photos on FACEBOOK to vote 🎃

Our Tuesday dogs were up to the challenge and absolutely killed it on day TWO of our Halloween Costume Contest! Bonus celebration and treats courtesy of Rosie’s mom on her birthday. We couldn’t help but throw a party for the Queen!

Featuring our next contestants: Sunny as Georgie from IT, Mabel the Vaquero, Rosie the Queen, Chief Brody as Chief Brody from Jaws!, Nellie as Max from The Grinch, Evie the Pumpkin and a very special participation trophy for Dabo the Party Animal 😂😍

Vote for your favorites on Facebook and the dog with the most likes on their photo on Halloween will win our holiday gift basket! These pups know they look good 🎃👻🧡

23/10/2023

** COSTUME CONTEST DAY ONE **
Like photos on FACEBOOK to vote 🎃

Our pups came out the gate swinging with some awesome costumes!! They were all great sports for their photo shoots and set the bar high for the upcoming week!

Todays’s entries are Benny the Cowboy, Finn the Artist, Remy the Gentlemen, Rosie the Shark, Moussa the Gremlin & Dash as Dash from The Incredibles! Excellent choices all around. Vote for your favorites here on Facebook and the dog with the most likes on Halloween will win our holiday gift basket! I don’t know how I’ll choose 😍🧡👻

19/10/2023

** HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST **
Monday 10/23-10/27

Getting ready for next week’s Halloween costume contest! Each day next week, Oct 23-27, we’ll post our pups in costume on Facebook and your likes will decide who wins a special holiday trick or treat basket! We’ll be adding special gifts from Cody's Creations and delicious high quality treats of course 🎃🧡🚀

13/10/2023

Truth bomb courtesy of Argos DogTraining - Boston 👏

13/10/2023

Looking forward to participating with Stroll Dover for our first charity event! Check out the details below 🧡🚀

08/10/2023

** CLOSED FOR DAY SCHOOL 10/9 **
** INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY **

Reminder we are CLOSED for DAY SCHOOL tomorrow 10/9 for Indigenous Peoples Day. We are OPEN for BOARDING pick up and drop off.

Our Halloween Costume Contest is about to begin! Do you have your costumes ready? More info coming soon!

The holidays are creeping up as well so be sure to get those reservations in so your pup doesn’t miss out 🦃🎅🎉

13/09/2023

Great training tips from the grooming pros at
The Main Groomer 🧡

Want to make your visit to the groomer faster and more stress free? Here are some tips from our resident trainer at Alpha Dog K9 Training:
To get your pup used to the feel of clippers against their body, use an electric toothbrush. Turn it on and slide the body of it along the pup's head, body, legs and feet to get your puppy used to the feel of it while on--it feels alot like clippers.
Hold your pup's foot up a few inches, then grab each toe, one at a time.
Gently grab your pup's muzzle, thumb in between the eyes.
Gently grab the bottom of the jaw.
Do all of these training exercises daily for three seconds each. If your dog can be still, feed/release/praise your pup. If the pup is scared, go to one second, and then feed/release/praise. As your pup gets used to these exercises, increase time held--5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds. When your pup is comfortable with a 15 second hold, go outside and do the exercises on your porch, driveway, sidewalk. You may have to go back to short time intervals and gradually increase time again. You CAN teach your dog to be more comfortable on the grooming table!
STAY TUNED:
We will be offering our brushing seminar again in October! This 90 minute class will go over the proper techniques for keeping your groom looking good longer, and how to avoid mats and the dreaded "shave down". You will leave with a brush, comb and styling spray and know how to use all of them.