The Warrensburg Dog Nerd

Home
United States
Warrensburg, MO
The Warrensburg Dog Nerd

Improving human-dog relationships by decreasing frustration on both ends of the leash.

12/09/2025

Shay completed her first day train session today!

Shay is a Cavapoo who is full of life and has lots of opinions! Today we introduced pattern games to build engagement and the foundations of loose leash walking. She's also starting to make good choices when she wants to bark at random people.

I think she'll make fast progress!

12/08/2025

I have availability for a day train tomorrow if any current clients want to jump on the opportunity. Day Train sessions are $50 instead of $80 for the month of December!

12/07/2025

Preacher successfully completed his first day train session!

We focused on engagement, confidence building, and leash skills. For a big beefy cake boy he gets nervous sometimes. Slowly but surely he will enjoy all sorts of activities and become a well mannered gentle giant.

We started at Marr Park, took a break in my training room, did some work in my culdesac, made a new friend, and ended at Cave Hollow. When he got home he took a well deserved nap.

12/04/2025

Both dogs in the video get very excited around other dogs. They like other dogs but they struggle to self regulate their arousal levels which often results in very rude dog behavior like pulling, lunging, barking, whining, howling, etc. This is very off-putting to other dogs and people. So we use pattern games and baby steps to teach these dogs how to regulate. The goal isn't perfect obedience, punishment, submission, or diluting their personality. The goal is to teach them how to make good choices so they can regulate themselves more easily.

Margo, an adolescent Lab mix, is doing an amazing job engaging with her person and following her. Renzo, an adult Standard Poodle, is doing a great job being stationary and choosing to watch without getting worked up.

Have a dog excited dog? Ready to help them regulate their arousal? Send a message to schedule a new client evaluation today!

12/02/2025

December Deal
$50 Day Trains
($80 value)
4-5 hours of your dog getting one on one work with me

11/22/2025

What does puppy socialization ACTUALLY look like?

Well, it's not actually about the quantity of social interactions. Positive interactions with people and dogs outside of the household are important but socialization has much more to do with exposure. Exposing puppies to sights, sounds, textures, movement, experiences, and environments. We want our puppies to learn how to exist in the world. We want calm, confident neutrality. We want to be able to regulate the arousal of our puppy and build engagement amongst distractions.

Stormy the Pomsky is doing exposure. She's been to different environments but now we are adding criteria. Since she is still young and VERY excitable, I'm simply clicking and rewarding eye contact. I'm not talking to her much, I'm not drilling obedience commands, I'm not even playing a pattern game. I am simply marking and rewarding her when she chooses to engage with me. I'm building value in her choice to be calm and check in with me even though potential new friends are passing by.

Want to learn how to set your puppy up for success? Schedule a new client evaluation today!

11/07/2025

The holiday season is right around the corner! For our dogs that means upsetting the household routine, guests, lots of tempting food, and stress.

Here are some things you can do NOW to help you enjoy the holidays with your dog:
- teach place/settle
- teach kitchen boundaries (exit on command, don't enter without permission)
- make sure you have a plan to fulfill their exercise needs with lower temps and less sunlight
- preparing frozen enrichment and puzzle toys ahead of time
- establish a napping/crate break schedule now and stick with it!

Don't wait until the week before! Set yourself, your dog, and your home up for success now!

10/30/2025

Working on getting a venue to host the clicker training demo!

10/27/2025

I operate on the assumption that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have.

Address

Warrensburg, MO
64093

Telephone

+16602387954

Website

http://www.estherstevens.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Warrensburg Dog Nerd posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to The Warrensburg Dog Nerd:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service in Warrensburg?