Do you wish your dog would stop pulling? Barking? Lunging? Biting? Stealing forbidden items? Jumping? Fleeing? I can help you with that and more! We can work together at your home or even virtually via Zoom. You and your dog deserve peace! If you’re ready to get started please visit my website to complete my contact form and schedule an initial consultation. nataliepiperthedogtrainer.com #certifieddogbehaviorconsultant #dogtraining #dogaggression #dogmanners #chambana #savoy #Mahomet #stjoseph #Rantoul
Doing the same activities in tandem with loose body language (sniffing, playing, chasing, observing, etc) can be a sign things are going well! Whether the dogs are on leash or off, it’s usually helpful if the humans keep moving through the environment and have relaxed body language too. If your dogs aren’t getting along seek professional help before it gets worse - letting them “work it out on their own” can sometimes be disastrous. #dogbehavior #DogTraining #pyrenees #eskie #dogsenjoyingnature
A client did this with her dog at the crate door and reported back “you’re a genius!” 😝 I’m soooo not, but I *can* help you if your dog has “big feelings” (becomes overexcited, anxious, fearful, frustrated, or aggressive.) I specialize in behavior modification: changing the way your dog feels about a given situation, so they can have self control and confidence, and they can choose more desirable behaviors. #dogtraining #pyrenees #chambana #dogbehaviorconsultant #setthemupforsuccess
Team Casey & Yoshi have been putting in tons of effort and today it paid off big time! Yoshi historically has been reactive on leash to other dogs. Today after our second B.A.T. 2.0 session with helpers Grace & Felix he was able to approach Felix calmly and appropriately with minimal guidance from his handler. Yoshi and Felix made fast friends. Watching the dogs play is great reinforcement for this behavior consultant 🥹🥹🥹Shout-out to Grace and Casey for being such excellent dog handlers who gently set boundaries and consistently reinforce desirable behaviors in their young energetic dogs. Seeing people like them who go above and beyond for their dogs really fills my cup. I love my job!
#behavioradjustmenttraining #certifiedbehaviorconsultant #reactivedogtraining #dogtrainingsuccess #grateful #dogsplaying #longline
Team Casey & Yoshi have been putting in tons of effort and today it paid off big time! Yoshi historically has been reactive on leash to other dogs. Today after our second B.A.T. 2.0 session with helpers Grace & Felix he was able to approach Felix calmly and appropriately with minimal guidance from his handler. Yoshi and Felix made fast friends. Watching the dogs play is great reinforcement for this behavior consultant 🥹🥹🥹Shout-out to Grace and Casey for being such excellent dog handlers who gently set boundaries and consistently reinforce desirable behaviors in their young energetic dogs. Seeing people like them who go above and beyond for their dogs really fills my cup. I love my job!
#behavioradjustmenttraining #dogsplaying #longline #certifiedbehaviorconsultant #reactivedogtraining #dogtrainingsuccess #goodvibes #gooddogs #blessedandgrateful
Dogs helping dogs! Luna and Kuiper have previously been reactive to dogs on leash. Toula and Elsie are usually calm walking past other dogs. Today a person walking a big dog was looking at their phone as they unknowingly approached us after they suddenly appeared from around the corner. Their dog looked friendly and interested - they were about ten feet away directly approaching us. And without giving the dogs any instructions or doing any special management we just kept on walking, everyone stayed quiet and calm and kept their leashes loose. If you’ve ever worked with a dog who can be reactive to dogs you know this is a huge victory! If it had been just Kuiper or just Luna, I would’ve probably had to get a little distance by arcing my path slightly away, or give a cue or use food, but today I suspect Toula and Elsie gave them some confidence and that’s why it went so well. It’s often better to walk one dog at a time….except for when it isn’t! 😆there’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to dog behavior! (This clip is from earlier in the walk) Does your dog’s behavior on a walk improve when walking with a canine friend? Or does it increase unwanted behaviors?
#dogshelpingdogs #bassetmix #bordercolliemix #yorkie #eskie #cockerspaniel #gooddogs
Puppy socialization! Felix got to meet some adult dogs, observe a motorcycle and rider, and practice stairs. Felix’s person does a great job introducing him to stuff in a controlled and thoughtful manner so that he remains relaxed and has a pleasant experience. His excellent breeder started this process with him. Proper puppy socialization between 2-16 weeks of age can help set puppies up to better cope with novelty as adults. If something is too scary or exciting for your puppy, try later from further away, for shorter duration, or less intense and pair it with tiny treats.
#puppysocialization #gsdpuppy #cockerspaniel #dogsandmotorcycles #gooddogs #dogtrainingtips
Temptation tower game at group puppy class graduation is always a favorite 🤩 Handlers have 2 minutes to stack up biscuits in front of their pup, tallest tower wins! 🏅
#puppies #puppytraining #itsyerchoice #puppyclass #prairielandfeeds #cuhumane #forcefree #gooddogs #dogtrainer
Predictable patterns can help dogs a great deal in many contexts. In this video Hanna lets Boh (who has a history of sometimes overreacting when he sees a dog) show her when he’s ready to move closer to the other dog (Sadie) using the framework of Leslie McDevitt’s “Super Bowls” game. Do you have any predictable activities or a predictable order of events that your dog appears to appreciate?
#superbowls #controlunleashed #dogtraining #dogbehavior #gooddogs #familydogmediator #certifieddogtrainer #forcefree #gentledogtraining
Sweet Stoney learning the beginnings of a hand target. Since he’s deaf we used a flashlight instead of a clicker or marker word to let him know when he got it right. Once a dog learns it well, a hand target is a great force-free way to move a dog to a specific place or position. There are SO many advanced applications for this simple skill once taught.
#dogtraining #forcefreedogtraining #deafdogtraining #bulldog #gooddog
There are just a couple spots left in the puppy group class that begins Monday March 28th at 4:30pm @prairieland_feeds (303 S Dunlap Savoy IL).
This class is for puppies 2-4 months old. Puppies need to be up to date on vaccines (not fully vaccinated, or they would be past their prime developmental window for puppy class, it is SO important for behavioral development to safely get your puppy out in the world before they're fully vaccinated! )
We meet for 6 weeks total (no dogs the first week) cost is $120 and there is a $20 discount for puppies adopted from a licensed non-profit or government run animal control facility.
To register please call @cu_humane at (217) 344-7297
#puppyclasses #forcefreetraining #groupdogtrainingclass #puppies #puppiesofinstagram #trainhumane #snackleader #positivereinforcement #familydogmediator #cpdtka #abcdt #goodvibes #progressivereinforcementtraining #letyourdogbeadog #positivenotpermissive
Here Beasley demonstrates being called into heel (maintain position by handler’s side) and also loose leash walking (notice how he rebalances and backs up after I gently stop him).
Sorry I’m not the best camera woman (my husband says these videos make him feel seasick!)
And let’s address the elephant in the room… yes he is wearing a basket muzzle! He’s been trained to enjoy wearing it because he has a bite history.
Even though he hasn’t had an unfavorable response to a trigger in a very long time, a dog who has bitten is likely to bite again in the event of a “perfect storm” (trigger stacking comes to mind) no matter how much training and behavior modification in place it is always wise to keep some level of management to prevent another bite when a dog has a bite history. He lives on campus where his triggers frequently appear at close range from behind blind corners, which can be tough especially for a herding breed (who humans have genetically selected to be extra responsive to sudden environmental contrast!)
He knocked it out of the park today with his calm meandering in the presence of screaming running children, off leash dogs who started to approach us, and loud trucks. His owner has done fabulous work with him! He’s such fun to work with and I’ll miss him when he goes home today.
#australiancattledog #beesknees #cattledog #herdingdog #redheeler #gooddog #muzzleup #muzzleupproject #muzzleupmonday #muzzleddogsarentbaddogs #looseleash #forcefree #heelersofinstagram #dogtraining #dogbehavior #doglegs #familydogmediation #familydogmediator
Spring has sprung and so has Luna! A favorite trick after some easy work around triggers, 🥰 she’s come so far ❤️❤️❤️
#eskie #americaneskimo #dogbehavior #eskiesofinstagram #spitz #naturaldog
Dogs NEED opportunities to engage in natural dog behavior, and providing those opportunities can go a long way in preventing unwanted behaviors.
The way you handle the leash and a longer leash can allow dogs the freedom they need. Agency and freedom are critical for all living creatures to thrive.
For safety & etiquette is great to be able to call your dog into a heel or cue their attention as needed but please allow your dog to engage in natural dog behavior like:
- moving away from stimuli they find unpleasant
-trotting along at a pace faster than humans typically walk
-stoping to sniff (sometimes for a long time!)
-urine marking
-rolling
-meandering/ walking in a zig zagging path (exploring!)
-sometimes doubling back to sniff
-observing the environment around them
-choosing which direction to go
#behavioradjustmenttraining #dogbehavior #letthemsniff #letyourdogbeadog #doodle #familydogmediator
This house of old dogs is never going to compete in agility, but yesterday everyone did a little obstacle course just for fun. We used:
- Pool noodles on rungs of chairs/stools
- Rugs for traction
- Table leaf on broom handle as a teeter
- Open cardboard box as a tunnel
- Pool noodles and pencils to make a tunnel in the yard (stick open ends of pool noodles on pencils)
After your dog does the course once forwards and once backwards, you can rearrange the order to keep it fresh
#domorewithyourdog #dogenrichment #olddogsrule #gooddogs #dogagility #dogobstaclecourse
Beasley is the 🐝s knees ❤️ I just love this intense smart boy. Here we work on some impulse control around food. I didn’t realize my husband was coming in with a sandwich! Reinforce any acceptable behaviors and prevent impulsive behaviors from being inadvertently reinforced by the environment (nice job calmly preventing the sandwich grab hubby!) and you will teach your dog SELF CONTROL so you don’t have to micromanage them. Notice we don’t say “no” or anything at all to him if he’s doing something unwanted, we don’t touch the dog if he’s doing something unwanted, and I try not to even look at him when he’s doing the unwanted behaviors. Looking at him, touching him, or talking to him could inadvertently reinforce the unwanted behaviors (even if intended as punishment.) Instead, we calmly prevent access to stuff he wants when he’s doing something we would rather he didn’t. We generously reinforce any acceptable behaviors (this is the most important part, reinforcement drives behavior!)
Also I love how fast he makes a behavior chain of paw and back up and sit at first😆I had to catch him with a treat before he did his whole routine to show him all I want is any form of self control. He learns SO fast! A blessing and a curse.
#forcefreetraining #dogtraining #dogimpulsecontrol #redheeler #australiancattledog #heeler #heelersofinstagram #gooddog #herdingdog #cleverdog #reinforcementdrivesbehavior
The making of a group photo. Let’s be real, posing for a photo is more for me than for the dogs, but I try to keep it brief and make it worth their while (treats all around) Elsie can’t hear or see very well but she still knows the drill, sort of 😂 💕sweet girl
#dogsquad #mixedbreed #doggroup #dogfriends #eskie #cockerspaniel #huskymix #labmix #pitmix #bassetmix #rottweilermix #goldenmix #bordercolliemix #germanshepherdmix #mastiffmix #gooddogs #goodvibes #olddog #olddogsrule
I sure have a big crush on Stan 😍 here he is working on a stuffed frozen Kong. He’s available for adoption through Vermillion County. Stan helped us teach kennel staff about friendly dog body language during our defensive handling meeting. Whatta guy 🥰 (also check out how quiet the kennels were!! 😮) Kudos to staff and volunteers for looking after this sweetheart and all the others who are waiting for homes.
#shelterdog #labmix #dogbodylanguage #kong #dogenrichment #gooddog
Hiding a foraging toy for your dog to sniff out is a great way to help meet their needs (and keep them out of trouble!). There are endless options, including things for dogs on special diets or dogs who need to lose weight. Here Luna sniffs out the hol-ee roller which I’ve stuffed with pieces of paper bag, rabbit skin, a raccoon tail, buffalo tendon, fish skin pieces wrapped up in the paper (you could substitute your dog’s food), and some small plush toys.
#hackyourholee #ditchthebowl #dogenrichment #eskie #americaneskimo #hollisticdogcare #smartdog
