Urban Pawsibilities

16/08/2024

School for Dogs 🐾

We’re so lucky to spend every week with a variety of lovely dogs. ❤️

09/08/2024

Ethel before and after working on the exercises from our Come Dog! training program. 🤓😁

If I can find the footage of her recalling from a stranger tempting her with hot dog, I’ll post it! She is so impressive. That *could* be your dog! 👀

🔆We have space in the series that starts Monday!🔆

In our Come Dog! class, you’ll spend six weeks building foundation behaviors that will get your dog coming back to you when you need it the most. Our recall class is a games-based series where we will be teaching our dogs that proximity to us pays off big time. Each week, we will learn a new game that will help build a reliable recall, and discuss the different ways that we can introduce increasing levels of distractions. This class will have your dog coming when called before you know it!

Length: 6 weeks, meeting 1x per week
For: Any dog, any age! Dogs should not be reactive on leash (barking and lunging at other dogs).
Fee: $260
Vaccine Requirements: At least one round of DAPP administered 7 days prior to the start of class, Bordetella recommended; email records to [email protected] or upload to the portal upon sign up

Class Schedule:
Mondays starting 8/12 at 6 p.m. *no class 9/2

If you have questions or need help enrolling, email us or send us a DM. 💌

01/08/2024

🐶 PUP CITY 2024 🐶

We had a great time at this year’s Pup City event at the Rose Quarter. It was so fun to see familiar faces! Shout out to Eddie, Frankie, Georgie, and Duncan for saying hello.

This was only our second time attending an event as vendors and we’re super excited to do it again in the near future! We love getting the chance to meet new people, chat about your dogs, and most importantly, give them treats. 😉🤣

We also had the pleasure of meeting Leland of and Michael of in person! 🎉

If you want to stay in the loop with what we’re up to, be sure to sign up for our newsletter, a once a month email that updates you on all things UP! 📧

We’re excited to announce some completely new class series in the next newsletter. Stay tuned! 👀

12/07/2024

Calling all dog's dogs📢📢

Join us on Saturday, July 27 for Pup City, presented by

Pup City is an event featuring all our favorite things: Portland's Trail Blazers and our dogs. Dogs (and humans) of all kinds will meet at Moda Center for a walk around the Rose Quarter Campus, led by the only cat allowed, Blaze. While at Moda, enjoy drinks, tasty treats and fun things for your dog from more than 25 participating vendors, including TAVO, Blue Star Donuts, Stumptown, Portland Pet Food and more! (All of the vendors tagged below🫶🏼)

Meaghan and Emma will be at our booth snapping photos of all the pups, and handing out goodies to folks who visit us!

Interested in joining for the walk? Your registration saves you a spot for you and your dog, 1 ticket to a 2024 Trail Blazers early season game, 1 Pup City collar for your dog, and a portion of the fee benefits to . We are giving away 4 FREE TICKETS to any folks who register through us.

Use the link in the bio to claim your ticket before they're gone!

Vendors:

04/06/2024

04/06/2024

Our newest mural, from Toni Doggett of Spilt Ink Gallery & Gift Shop located in St. Helens, OR

Toni and friends enjoying her latest mural "Nothing too Wild for Us". It was commissioned by Emma Brent of Urban Pawsibilities in Portland.

15/05/2024

Our newest mural addition ❤️

If you have been to UP in person, then you've probably seen some fun art around the building, including our African Dog in the office window, and our "Squirrel Fest" print in the private lesson room.

These were created by Emma's cousin Toni. Toni and her wife, Tammy, own and operate in St. Helens, along with Tammy's parents, Diane and Rick (Emma's aunt and uncle).

Frankly, that whole side of the family is incredibly artistic and talented. If you find yourself in St. Helens, Split Ink Gallery & Gifts is located right in the center of town! Check it out for all sorts of fun collectables and beautiful art pieces.

I've wanted a mural from Toni for a very long time, and I am so happy with the result! Now, I feel like we need to get a school bus with the UP logo for a shuttle service🤪

Toni had a suggestion for what our new motto should be, and titled the painting, "Nothing Too Wild For Us." Next time you're in, stop into the private lesson room to get a look for yourself.

24/04/2024

Updated this blog post over on our fresh website. :)

Learn how to properly and proactively socialize your puppy with our comprehensive puppy training programs.

18/03/2024

All services for School for Dogs are *wait-list only* for the rest of March🫨

The last few months have been pretty crazy! There was a canine infectious respiratory disease spreading; there was an ice storm; it's been a lot.

However, things are starting to level out again, as they always do, and with that comes good news for UP, and bad news for anyone who was hoping to book day services in March:

Sorry, we're fully booked.

March is wait-list only for the rest of the month. You can get on the wait-list by submitting reservation requests. We will wait-list it on our end, and contact you know if a spot opens up. This is also a friendly reminder to get your reservations in for April! We are already full for services on some days. Click the sign up link in the bio to put in your reservations requests.

P.S. According to the Oregon Veterinary Medicine Association, as of Feb. 15th "No New Case Updates [of Canine Infectious Respirtatory Disease have been] Received from ODA." At UP, we are always working to maintain a clean, well-sanitized facility, and our whole model is designed around keeping playgroups small and populated by healthy, vaccinated dogs! I just wanted to make sure everyone is up to date that, for now, cases of CIRD have waned.

28/02/2024

‼️We have a few spots in these classes starting next week!‼️

All classes run for 6 weeks, cost $250 for the series, and are taught by head trainer, Emma! ✨ Classes take place in our spacious facility in SE Portland.

If you’re interested in signing for any of the classes, feel free to sign up through the client portal or if you have questions, drop a comment down below or send us a DM. Happy to answer questions! 😇

26/02/2024

📣BIG NEWS📣 Urban Pawsibilities is teaming up with Reese's Rainbow Mobile Pet Salon

We are officially offering grooming as an add-on service at our School for Dogs. If you'd like for your pup to be evaluated for grooming, we will be hosting Happy Visits ($30) with Head Groomer & Owner of Reese's Rainbow Mobile Pet Salon, Sydnee Ennes, on Tuesday, March 19th. Comment below or send us a DM to get your pup on the schedule and sign up for a Happy Visit for that day.

Happy visits will be conducted by our trainers, where we will prep your pup to eventually be passed off to Sydnee, with the goal being comfortable and cooperative grooming experiences. Once your pup is cleared by our trainers and Sydnee, they will be able to sign up for grooming while at school.

This is a perfect opportunity for puppies who have little to no experience being groomed to become acclimated to a grooming experience at their pace, or for dogs who need help building a relationship with a new groomer and would benefit from the gradual exposure our trainers and Sydnee can provide through this experience.

14/02/2024

Happy Valentine’s Day friends! ❤️

14/02/2024

Thank you so much to everyone who answered our Group Class survey. We are busy trying to figure out how and where we can add additional classes to meet everyone’s needs. In the meantime, we changed up our schedule a bit and have classes in slots they’re not normally offered in, in the attempt to create more opportunity for new folks to attend! As always, we appreciate your willingness to provide us with feedback.

Available Classes taught by Meaghan:
Puppy Preschool: Fri. 3/15 at 7:15 p.m. *no class 3/29 OR Fri. 4/19 at 7:15 p.m.
Puppy Socials: Every W at 6:15 p.m. starting 2/28
Puppy Kindergarten: starting Sat. 3/16 at 2:15 p.m. OR Fri. 4/5 at 6 p.m.
Get Ready Dog: starting Wed. 4/17 at 7:15 p.m.
Polite Dog: starting Wed. 2/28 at 7:15 p.m.
Green Dog: Sat. 3/16 at 3:30 p.m. *no class 3/30

Available Classes taught by Fern:
Green Dog: TH 2/22/24 at 6:00 p.m. - 1 spot left

Available Classes taught by Emma:
Green Dog: Tues. 3/5 at 6 p.m. OR Sun. 4/21 at 11:15 a.m. *no class 5/26
Tricky Dog: Mon. 3/4 at 7:15 p.m.
Get Ready Dog: starting Tues. 3/5 at 7:15 p.m.
Calm Dog: Tues. 4/23 at 6 p.m.
Come! Dog: Sun. 3/10/24 at 11:15 a.m. OR Mon. 4/22 at 6 p.m. *no class 5/27
Triggered Dog: Sun. starting 4/21 at 10:00 a.m. *skip 5/26 OR Mon. starting 4/22 at 7:15 p.m. *skip 5/27

If you have questions about upcoming classes or need help signing up, send us a DM or email us at [email protected]

24/01/2024

Day 11: Revisit Foundations Frequently

Training starts with you and your dog’s foundations: your mechanical skills, your reinforcement procedures, and your dog’s basic cues. The truth of the matter is that your training can either be helped or inhibited by how well you and your pup can perform your foundation skills. Clean mechanics, well conditioned reinforcement procedures, and basic cues trained to fluency really pave the way for a well trained dog which is my opinion a dog that is attentive or continuously having a conversation with/to their handler even around distraction, and can respond to at least their basic cues in a variety of varying difficulty contexts.

So what are your mechanical skills when it comes to dog training?

When I’m thinking about the handler’s mechanical skills I’m thinking about:
-The ability to observe their dog’s behavior
-The ability to mark behavior with precision timing
-The ability to deliver food after marking a behavior in a way that is helpful towards the overall goal behavior with out causing unnecessary distraction or behaviors to develop
-Leash handling skills (how you hold the leash, ability to “cut” slack)

When I’m thinking about reinforcement procedures, I’m specifically referring to the ways we indicate to our dogs that they’ve met our current training criteria, and how we communicate to them the way they’re getting “paid”. This includes wether or not we’re skilled at following up in the intended way (ie: I say “find it” and grab a treat, toss it on the ground instead of accidentally giving it to my dog’s mouth). This also includes spending time ensuring our dog’s understand the different ways we’ll be paying them (ie: they hear “find it” and put their nose to the ground to start searching for the food).

*more in comments

16/01/2024

New blog post by Samantha Hoaglin, CPDT-KA

"How To Become A Dog Trainer" :)

For a while, dog training was just a hobby of mine. I’d go to work at my office job, then come home and teach my dog a new trick or read whatever dog training book I was on at the time. It wasn’t until I started giving unsolicited advice to friends with new puppies and random internet strangers ...

15/01/2024

Tuesday 1/16. ❄️❄️

13/01/2024

Saturday 1/13/24 ❄️

06/01/2024

For today’s resolution, we propose you proactively commit to preventing burn out by resting and taking breaks as needed! Sure, consistency aids in getting desired results but in the long run, if you’re pressuring yourself to train every day, especially multiple times a day, then you’re likely running this risk. If you fall off the training wagon after a month because of the burn out, then the daily sessions weren’t necessarily the approach for you. So often I see the posts that are like, it just takes 1 minute a day 3 times a day! And maybe it does. Realistically, most of us do not have the bandwidth for that every single day. I can tell you that I do not train my dogs every day. Yes, they’re always learning and I am mindful of their environment, household management to prevent skills, but I am not going out of my way to practice and proof new skills every day. Do what feels right for your obligations, balance training goals with other types of enrichment that fills your dog’s cup, and give yourself permission to rest and let your dog rest, too!

04/01/2024

In the beginning, dog training seemed intimidating to me. I didn’t feel like I needed my dog to “comply with commands”. It seemed harsh in some ways. I just wanted my dogs to be happy dogs. Through my journey, I quickly realized that training is so much more than sit, down, stay, heel, etc. It’s not just about compliance or goal behavior. Training at its best is creating conversation between you and your learner. Those conversations build the relationship you share. It’s serious business, but it’s also not all that serious. Like all skills, being a great trainer takes time, it takes practice, it takes keeping up on your mechanical skills, recognizing where you can improve and also recognizing where you’re doing a great job.

What I notice though is that we can get so focused on our end goals that we forget to make the experience enjoyable for our learners or ourselves. My dog performs the behavior, I mark, I deliver food, and that’s the focus. We’re using positive reinforcement but the session itself isn’t encompassing “positive vibes”. Maybe we’re nervous to mess up, maybe we’re being hard on ourselves about our skill level, maybe we’re being hard on our dogs without even realizing it. So what I recommend to you today is to loosen up a little bit! Try doing something that makes you smile before your training sessions or taking breaks during your sessions to play with your dog. Shake it off. If you notice yourself feeling a bit tense, point out one thing you’ve done well in your session. In KPA, they often talked about being “clickerly”. So I say be “clickerly” to yourself. Find what’s going right and celebrate that. Be forgiving to your dog and to your skillset. Effort and momentum in the desired direction should be celebrated.

03/01/2024

Fill your dog’s cup and your own cup too!

The idea of your dog having an “emotional cup” comes from fabulous dog trainer Sarah Owings. This is something that has always resonated with me in the context of our dogs but people too. (See the second slide for more on this.)

How can we expect our dogs to comfortably exist in the human world if they’re not getting their needs met? How can we expect ourselves to exist in this chaotic, often depressing and overwhelming world, let alone show up for our dogs, if our cup is empty too?

Right when UP opened up, I went through a divorce. Plus the pandemic was there. Plus the stress of a new business was there. (Emma was my superhero. She still is.) Suddenly I had 6 animals alone and my emotional cup was completely empty. Most days I was proud of myself if I brushed my teeth, my animals were fed and exercised. I did not train them. I did not go above and beyond for my dogs or myself. It was not until I was in regular therapy and finding ways that I could fill my own cup, a lot of times while filling my dogs’ cups, that I made lasting progress. Sure this is an extreme example but it’s relatable. I hear from folks in lessons so often that life happened, they were struggling with their mental health, or something else, and they weren’t able to be there for their dogs in the ways that they wanted. What I tell people is that I understand and I see you. I’ve been there. I think over the last couple years especially, most of us have. We will never judge you for that.

More in comments.

02/01/2024

For our second day of reasonable resolutions, we say teach your dog “find it”!

For us, we teach “find it” to mean we’re going to throw a single piece of food onto the ground, typically within 2-6 ft. of where we’re standing.

To teach it, I will hold treats behind my back (or keep them in your pouch), say clearly “find it” then with my dog watching, quickly toss a single treat close by. The treats should be big enough that my dog can easily find the treats (don’t throw tiny treats onto a hard to find surface to teach this cue). I repeat this over and over again, until my dog hears the cue “find it” and then begins to search the ground for a treat.

There are so many uses for “find it”. The first thing that comes to mind is to redirect my dog’s attention. If my dog is staring at another dog, pulling towards something, or is generally stuck, saying “find it” and tossing a treat in the opposite direction can be enough to move my dog’s attention towards something else, giving me the opportunity to then cue a different behavior, or ask for another “find it” while strategically tossing the “find it” treats in a way that gives me more and more space from the distraction.

I have used multiple “find it’s” in a straight line to move a dog down a sidewalk when there was a distraction or trigger on the other side of the road, as well as used “find it” to keep a dog’s attention low to the ground when working on polite greetings.

Does your dog know “find it” already? If so, when do you find yourself using it most?

02/01/2024

Personally, I love the New Year. Reflecting, reimagining your life, setting goals, and making resolutions are positive actions we can take. Of course, you can do this at anytime you’d like, but there’s something that can feel special and reinvigorates that desire to change come the New Year.

One of mine and Emma’s resolutions for this year is to meet up every Friday morning to train our personal dogs. I’m sure you will all see lots of great footage from that shared here and in our detraining programs, but that has me super excited both just to spend more time with Emma, to spend more time training, and to be out in the world building community.

On that note, as dog trainers who love bonding on all things training, we have much to share and so many thoughts when it comes to training your dogs. ✨✨✨For the month of January, we’ll be sharing 31 days of Reasonable Dog Training Resolutions and Tips. Follow along at home, let us know what you think of our tips, our proposed resolutions and feel free to share the posts if they resonate with you.✨✨✨

Happy New Year ya’ll. We’re glad to be in 2024 with you.

29/12/2023

Our motto has always been “learn together, live together”. Emma came up with this when she founded the original concept of UP.

The way I’ve always interpreted this is that the more we are willing to absorb about our dogs, how they learn, their body language, their preferences, and who they are as a unique individuals, the more we are able to truly live a fulfilling life with them, whatever that means for you and your dog.

Here at UP, we have a team that we are very proud of. Not only are our trainers GREAT trainers, but equally important to us, they’re deeply compassionate individuals, both to the dogs and that consideration extends up the leash to the guardians, too.

While we’ve been enjoying being closed for the week, recharging so we can be our best most rested and prepared selves in 2024, I’ve been reflecting a lot: on our motto, on our goals and vision for UP. On how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.

What has been evident to me through all my observations is that in the very beginnings, the UP of today was built through compassion and has continued to branch out through reaching out, being open to conversation, meeting people where they’re at and lifting them without judgment. When I think about it, this type of compassion is at the heart of the dog training we collaborate with our clients on.

We all want improved relationships with our dogs; or maybe we want them to be less anxious, more relaxed, and able to cope with the stressors of life. We want our dogs to experience relief. To have freedom and pleasure.

So at UP, we say “learn together, live together”. But what we mean beyond that is extend compassion. To your dogs and yourselves as you learn. We’re here to help you equip, enrich and enlarge your dog’s world should you desire the help. After all, before UP was UP, our story was just one person asking someone else for help and that person saying “yeah, I got you.” ❤️✨

23/12/2023

🚨😱 New Class Alert 😱🚨

FUN & GAMES MINI SERIES WITH MEAGHAN

This brand new group class curriculum focuses on building engagement around distractions while providing you and your pup with a relationship building experience. Join us for an hour of games, training challenges and contests designed to make training your dog your favorite thing to do.

Length: 3 weeks, meeting 1x per week

For: Any non-reactive dog who has completed at least one group class at Urban Pawsibilities

Fee: $125

Vaccine Requirements: DAPP, Rabies, Bordetella. Email records to [email protected] or upload to the portal upon sign up

Class Schedule:
Saturdays starting 2/3 at 12:30 p.m.

Cute pic of Loki and Jason just for fun.

22/12/2023

New blog post by the fabulous Samantha Hoaglin on barking! :)

When I got my first dog of my own, a little rescue terrier/chihuahua mix, I was surprised to see how long she could go without taking a breath between barking. It seemed like she barked at anything and everything and nothing I did could stop it entirely. She’d bark in her crate all night while I t...

18/12/2023

He is elegance; he is grace; he is Tajin.

I got to meet my first Mexican Hairless Dog client this month, and I'm obsessed. Tajin is an absolute pleasure to be around, and while he is subject to the struggles of most adolescent dogs (mildly reactive to strange people/dogs, likes to jump up when excited, the usual..), his personality is unmatched. Look at him crashed out on the couch at the end of our lesson🥲

Super playful, and decently food motivated, it's easy to get a dog like Tajin to opt into work! Our biggest focus is keeping his goofiest behaviors managed when he's not being directly supervised. Tajin's story is like a lot of teen dogs' stories. In fact, I would go as far as to say teenagers of any species are a lot to deal with when they aren't being directly supervised. I'm not a parent to any human children, but I was once an adolescent, and for reference, I'm a lot to deal with now, so imagine how much of a pain Teen Emma was...

Teens need your patience and your support, even when (especially when) it feels difficult to do so.

Teens need opportunities to earn independence, and management when they've demonstrated that they still need supervision.

People tell me in my lessons all of the time, "this is just like raising kids." And it is! I think most people just don't necessarily know how to translate the concepts they would like to teach as effectively when they're dealing with their dogs.

That's where a good trainer can help you. Take some time to learn effective management solutions for your teen dog! Group classes, private lessons and daytraining are all a great way for your teen to learn new skills, and for you to learn how to set them up for success during this formative time.

Click the link in the bio to get signed up🥳

14/12/2023

✨ How To Potty Train ✨

Did you know we have a blog? One of our absolute favorites, Lindy, wrote a great blog piece this week about how to house train your puppy.

Visit our blog (which is now being updated regularly) by clicking on the “blog” linked in the navigation of our main website.

These graphics are an adaptation of the blog post. 🤓