The Better Companion

09/20/2024

Thursday Daycare!

09/19/2024

Wednesday Daycare!

09/18/2024

Tuesday daycare!

09/17/2024

Monday daycare!
This week's theme is manners with a focus on bicycles! We will be starting the day off by encouraging the dogs to sniff and investigate the stationary bike. Later in the day we'll start slowly walking it around the room, encouraging dogs to not be afraid but to also not get in front of it. Depending on the groups and their comfort we may ride it around the arena and/or work on sit/stays while it's being ridden.
Barking or chasing the bike will NOT be encouraged.

09/13/2024

Thursday Daycare! 🫧

09/10/2024

Monday daycare!
This week's theme is bubbles!

09/04/2024

Tuesday daycare!
This week we have the playhouse out!

08/29/2024

Wednesday daycare!

08/27/2024

Monday daycare!
This week's daycare theme is manners with a focus on not jumping!

08/20/2024

Monday daycare!
This week's theme is enrichment with a focus of food puzzles! Daycare attendant Danny brought in their collection of puzzles for the dogs this week! All the dogs will get either their lunches or treats in one! If you have any questions about food puzzles or other types of enrichment, please feel free to ask any of our instructors or daycare/ Open Play Time supervisors!

08/18/2024

Great article!

Discover how you can help your obese dog lose weight and increase health and longevity naturally. Read more about the less known causes of canine obesity.

08/17/2024

This is well said and a great explanation of why we need to give our dogs the power and freedom to say “No”.

So you’re at an outing, standing next to your spouse or friend. Someone approaches you with a tray filled with hors d’oeuvres, and offers one to you. You look at the tray, but then say “no, thank you.” The waiter moves away.

Now, imagine if after saying “no, thank you” the waiter didn’t go away. Imagine if the waiter continued to push you to take one, and even your spouse started saying “come on, take one!” So you uncomfortably took and ate one, even though it wasn’t what you wanted. You’d probably be pretty aggravated with your spouse too. But you think it’s a one off and you carry on with the evening.

A few minutes later another waiter approaches with another tray, and the same thing happens. This time you feel yourself get more upset, especially after saying “no” multiple times. But your spouse insists also, even going so far as to take the snack off the tray and try to put it in your mouth. By the end of the interaction, you’re really on edge.

The third or fourth time you see a waiter approach you, you’re feeling either stressed, angry, or both. The waiter hasn’t even gotten all the way over to you yet and you’re ready to yell “no!” You look around for a place to escape to but your spouse/friend has their arm around you and you can’t back away. You end up physically snatching the tray from the waiter and throwing it on the ground, yelling obscenities and getting as quickly out of the room as possible. The guests look at you while your spouse simply says “I don’t know why she’s being so aggressive! They were just wanted to give her a snack!” I’m guessing you would be pretty angry at your spouse/friend by this point too. They aren’t helping support you at all. You can’t trust them OR the waiter.

You see where I’m going with this don’t you?
Try to imagine if your “no thank yous” were ignored. How many times would it take being ignored for you to get angry, get physical, or try to escape, or worse, just shut down completely. Everyone would handle it differently, but we’d all hate it.

Dogs deal with this EVERY DAY. They say “no, thank you” all the time. And we often times are guilty of ignoring that request and trying to convince them otherwise, sometimes even going so far as to force them through something because WE don’t understand. And then we wonder why dogs reach a point of aggressing or avoiding. Whether we are the waiter; trying to push something onto the dog like an interaction, or the spouse/friend not supporting the dog and backing up their request of “no, thank you” we are doing serious harm to the dogs confidence and even more harm to our relationship with them.

Your dog can only use his body language to tell you what he wants, so pay attention. If your dog says no thank you, listen. If they don’t want a stranger to touch them, support them. If they don’t want to meet a strange dog, let it go. If they want to take their time trying something different, let them take their time. I can tell you the more choice they feel they have the more likely they are to actually decide to try when they are ready. Just like you may finally get hungry enough to want a snack from the tray, but on your terms, and one that you get to pick.

Choice and consent matters in ALL species. Respect your dogs “no, thank you” and you’ll get a lot of respect back.

- Helen St. Pierre, No Monkey Business Dog Training. Please if you share give credit.

08/13/2024

Monday daycare!
This week's theme is obedience with a focus on the touch/ hand target cue!

08/13/2024

Some great recommendations!

Crying it out, Should you let them do it or not?

We have all heard the saying 'let them cry it out" when it comes to putting a puppy in a crate for the first time, but is that really the best?

The answer may surprise you - NO! When you bring home a new dog or a puppy their world is shook up and everything is different. If it is a puppy, then they were taken from their mother, their siblings, and the only environment that they knew up to this point. Having them sleep alone and confined is terrifying to them. Older dogs are experiencing the same situations - being alone, or in a new environment with new smells, sounds, and temperatures. Both ages might cry out when put into a crate for the first time at night - they are letting you know of their discomfort and/or fear.

There are some things that can be done to help alleviate the crying all night in a crate:

1. place the crate close to where you will be sleeping the first few nights (next to the bed or couch) so that you can reach out and touch the dog for reassurance

2. make the sleeping surface match where they were previously sleeping. If they were sleeping on a dog bed/pillow then something similar should be in the crate.

3. have a blanket for them to snuggle in, and maybe warm it in the dryer before bed. This will mimic laying with other individuals and sharing body heat.

4. Experiment with whether the crate should be covered or not for the dogs preference.

It is also ok to co-sleep with your dog if you are comfortable with that or to sleep beside them with them in a dog bed. This will not ruin the boundary setting that will be taking place over the first week or so. It will however, help establish the trust that you will be there even if they are not physically touching you. Bottom line is that its not ok to let them cry it out. The crying comes from them being scared, alone, cold, or just needing comfort.

If you need help with a new puppy reach out. We are here to help.