The Pet Professor

16/01/2025

I am on vacation and won't be answering emails or texts until I return on 1/23. Current clients with an emergency can text and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

19/12/2024

Meet our new friend Winter (fka Trixie)! She's our foster through . She's 4 yr old beagle/ yorkie mix and former puppy mill mama looking for a home. She's spayed, had a dental and weighs about 17 lbs.

Likes:
🐶 Dogs
👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 People of all kinds (men, women, kids)
🌭Food
🐱Cats (she'll chase, but not harm them, so your cats will need to be dog savvy)

Skills:
🧗‍♀️ climbing and exploring
👃 sniffing
📦 (mostly) crate and housetrained

She hasn't been in the "real world" for very long, so she's just starting out with her obedience skills. She is mostly house trained, but needs supervision to make sure she goes outside every few hours (when not crated) and when she wakes up. She also needs some peanut butter and her crate covered - otherwise she'll give you a beagle howl for a couple of minutes.

Winter would be a great match for a person or family who wants a sweet (and slightly mischievous dog.) She'd make a great scent work/ barn hunt partner or hiking buddy!

Reach out with any questions!

15/12/2024

Look familiar? Has your once cute puppy turned into a velociraptor? Becoming distracted or fearful or destructive again during adolescence is completely normal, but can also be very frustrating. We can help!

We still have space in our 5pm Thursday Adolescent A*hole class!

This mini class is designed to build on your dog’s early training. Over the course of 4 weeks, we will concentrate on impulse control, relaxation exercises, mental enrichment and learning to focus in the great, big world. These skills will help your dog learn to relax and engage with you instead of becoming overly excited and aroused by the world around them.

https://www.supernovadogs.com/upcoming-classes-registration

01/12/2024

New Year's Resoultion: work on your dog's reactivity

Have you been struggling with your dog's reactive behavior on leash this year? Tired of the lunging, barking, growling and in need to help? Join Leah on Sundays at 6:00pm starting January 5th for Reactive Rehab!

Register online at supernovadogs.com 🐾

25/11/2024

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! I am grateful for your support and for the relationships that I've made and sustained this year.

I'll be spending time with my family this week and won't be holding classes, lessons, or consultations until 12/2.
I will only be answering emergent calls, texts and emails.

Have a warm and relaxing holiday 🦃

31/10/2024

Happy Halloween! 🎃

Grateful for my little hotdog 🌭 who can't help but make me smile 👻

01/10/2024

Congrats to our most recent reactive rehab grads!

🌟They are all super stars 🌟

We wish you the best - whether it be living it up on the couch or in one our upcoming sports classes. You now have the tools to keep on working towards a happier life. You got this! 🎉

(Not pictured: PUMBAA!)

24/09/2024

📣📣Scent students! 📣📣
Lori (Do Over Dog Training) is in need of trial volunteers! I'll be there Monday Sept 30th. Volunteering is a great way to learn how trials run and to see advanced scent work in action.
She's specifically looking for Sept 29/30 but volunteering at any trial would be super helpful!

https://www.dooverdogtraining.com/trials
Each trial has a spot to sign-up to volunteer.

Do Over Dog Training supports the local Nose Work community by hosting both NACSW trials and ORTs.

21/09/2024

They did it! Woo hoo! 🎉

We are beyond proud of our scent work teams for completing their ORT or adding on some legs towards completion.

Team Daisy ✅✅✅ (passed all three on her first try, got her ORT)
Team Luna ✅✅✅ (passed birch today, got her ORT)
Team Hera ✅✅✅ (passed anise today, got her ORT)
Team Frankie ✅✅ (added anise today)
Team Vandal ✅✅ (added anise today)
Team Harley ✅✅ (passed birch and anise today)

Best of all they had fun and spent quality time with their dogs- look at all of those happy faces! 😀

Thanks to for most of the photos 📸

16/09/2024

What a wonderful job these pups and their humans did in their adolescent a*hole class! They took their lessons to heart and all improved in 4 short weeks. Hooray for Mia, Olive, Ringo, and Korra!

Mia is an adoptable dog through - she's a stunning dog who loves to work for food! Reach out to the rescue for more info on this special girl.

Our next Adolescent A*hole class starts next week on Thursday Sept 26 at 5pm. You can register at supernovadogs.com.

10/09/2024

EMERGENCY!!! These 8 three-week-old French Bulldog puppies were stolen during a home invasion on Lasalle Avenue in Buffalo today. The puppies' mother was stolen also but jumped out of one of the invader's arms in the yard when they were returning to their white van that had its' license plate taken off. These puppies will NOT have long to live.

The invaders will end up with 8 dead puppies, serious felony charges, and no money. We will follow any and all leads to hold these perpetrators accountable... UNLESS...
These puppies are returned. If they are, we PROMISE
1. A reward of $1,000
2. NO Questions asked.
3. No police contact whatsoever.

If they are NOT returned, we offer $1,000 to any information that will lead to the arrest of the burglars.

It's that simple.
These puppies are on borrowed time and I want all of Buffalo to know we are looking for them. Please share to media so that these puppies have a chance of returning home.

28/08/2024

There are a couple of spots left in this Saturday's barkour walk at Niawanda Park.
Snag a spot while you still can!

Register here: https://www.supernovadogs.com/upcoming-classes-registration

13/08/2024

Chelsea is the best!

22/07/2024

We still have a few spots left in our barkour adventure walk this Saturday 7/27 at 9:30 in the Outer Harbor.

Come explore Gallagher Beach and Buffalo Harbor State park with your two and four-legged friends!

Register at supernovadogs.com/upcoming-classes-registration

Reach out with any questions!

18/06/2024

I spend so much time working with people and their reactive or aggressive dogs, learning how to help them and work with them, but I also try to show people with NON reactive dogs learn how they can help them too. I have both kinds, dogs who take things too personally (like eye contact from 100 yards away - ahem, Aslan) and dogs who think everyone needs a hug and a slobber (ahem, Andy). I truly believe if we work together as a collaborative society of dog lovers we can help every dog live their best life. Here are some things I try to teach every human and dog team, and I’ve actually found these are good preventative tools too.

1. Stop letting your dog have on leash greetings with other dogs. Even if they are friendly. Teach your dog when they are on leash you are the best thing they can focus on! This will minimize their conditioned excitement every time they see another dog and help them not pull, lunge or move towards a reactive dog who doesn’t want an interaction. Also, the more you do let your dog meet dogs on leash, the more frustrated and aroused your dog can get when they see them and then reactivity can develop. NO leash greetings all around is a much healthier way to teach your dog(s) that the world out there is great but you’re even better to focus on!

2. Silence your dogs tags. I started doing this a few years ago when we started camping. I realized that the jingling of my dogs tags walking was a huge trigger for many of the dogs in their campsite, and as a result, they would bark and scream profanity at my dogs walking. This made their walk stressful too. By minimizing the noise, I’ve greatly improved my dogs walks and I know I’ve also helped a lot of reactive dogs not get triggered for the umpteenth time that day.

3. Work on a bombproof recall. And then work on it some more. And then some more.

4. Only let your dog off leash in places that are allowed. Even if you think no one is there. Even if it’s just for a second. Just. Don’t. Do it. It’s not fair and it sets so many dogs and humans up to fail. Want a place to let your dog run? Look at Sniffspot.com

5. Respect muzzles, give me space vests, and people saying “no” It is super hard to take a reactive dog out in public and have confidence. The more we give space and respect the better these teams will do! Don’t make judgements or stare or insist on saying hello because you hope to be the exception. Just tell them they are doing a great job and keep going.

6. Don’t let your dog stare. This is a BIG one we work on in all our classes. We teach humans how to position their dogs so they don’t stare at other dogs. I work hard on teaching my dogs to not stare at other dogs on leash and you can too. This is more subtle than not leash greeting but it can be just as helpful. Teach your dog to acknowledge there’s a dog there, but then move on, or turn around and not face them. For many reactive dogs there is nothing more triggering than a goofy adolescent dog staring at them across the road. I swear they scream back “WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!”

7. Confine and safely manage your dog in the car. Dogs hanging out of windows, barking and lunging in the backseat, or moving back and forth in the car are problematic because 1. It’s not safe and 2. It’s teaching THEM terrible behavior and 3. It’s very stressful for reactive dogs trying to walk down the road. My dogs are crated in the car; or tethered or use a calming cap to reduce their own stress and the stress of dogs that may walk past.

8. Offer to help. Ask the person what you can do to make it easier or help them? More space? Or moving back and forth? Or just continuing on your way. Some people struggle to find others with NON reactive dogs to practice with, so having help makes a big difference. Speak up if you see someone putting them down. Warn someone with an off leash dog that there’s a dog there that needs space. Help them the same at YOU would like it if it was you and your dog.

Reactive dogs are not broken: and they aren’t abnormal either. Reactivity honestly is now becoming more normal than NON reactive dogs, so we have to all work through this together. And it boils down to respect, understanding, courtesy and lots of reward based training.

We can do it gang.

-Helen St. Pierre

17/06/2024

Our weekend and barkour walk season was off to a great start on Saturday! Six dogs, their people, and I headed out to Walton Woods to play some parkour and enjoy the company of friends.

Outer Harbor is up next on July 27! Will you join us? SUPERNOVADOGS.com for more info and to register!