Morgan Guimond Dog Training LLC

02/05/2023

What makes us different? We focus on empathy, compassion, and understanding for both humans and dogs! Contact us to get started today! 860-841-1145 www.thedogswillrise.com

03/08/2022

WHY SQUIRTING IS HURTING
Using a spray bottle to sq**rt water at a dog to stop an unwanted behaviour is not something I support and I’ve seen many cases where the consequences of this have caused long term problems.
This method of stopping a behaviour is unfortunately still very popular and even some puppy schools and dog trainers believe that it’s an effective, humane way of correcting behaviour. Just because it doesn’t cause physical harm doesn’t make it right. There are emotional consequences. Consequences like creating negative associations, fear, mistrust, a fear of water and / or bottles and more. Behaviour is driven by an underlying emotion, creating more negative emotions certainly doesn’t solve anything.
Consequences like a puppy being continually sprayed for chasing a child that resulted in the puppy associating the child with the punishment. This family had been advised that this was the quickest and easiest way to stop the behaviour. This pup developed a fear and dislike of children that he may never fully get over.
If a dog is sprayed for jumping up at a person, it doesn’t teach the dog what behaviour they should be doing instead. Rewarding a dog for having four paws on the floor instead of jumping up is the logical way to teach this. Yes, it may take more effort and time, but the dog will learn an alternative behaviour and the jumping up will stop.
Teach dogs what to do instead of what not to do. Dogs live in our world and are expected to follow our rules. How can we expect them to behave the way we want them to if we only punish unwanted behaviour and don’t teach them what behaviour we are looking for? Stop focusing on unwanted behaviour and focus on teaching an alternative behaviour – how else will our dogs know what to do?

28/07/2022

Do you know what pressuring a dog can look like? One of the things about being a dog in a very modern (especially modern urban) world is that there is a lot of pressure on you! Dogs are expected to conform to a standard of behavior that can be really challenging for them. And as human guardians we can accidentally put a lot more pressure on our dogs than we realize. We mean well, and it can be really challenging to know when we've tipped the scale from a little to too much until our dog's are over reacting to something. Our instincts tell us that we can prove that new people are a good thing through what we assume are positive interactions with new people. But very often those interactions are very overwhelming for our dogs.

Two of the biggest mistakes we make in trying to help our dogs adjust to novel stimuli (new people, new dogs, new environments etc.) Are that we ask for too much proximity, and too much interaction. Meaning we as a dog to be too close to the thing they find unsettling, or we engage a dog directly with the thing (or person!) they find unsettling. This results in a lot of pressure, and becomes very overwhelming. And often times we will see dogs in these situations escalate their level of reactivity in an effort to push back against the pressure and get some relief.

If your dog is struggling with reactivity, stranger danger, novelty uncertainty seek out a qualified professional to guide you! This reduces the risk that you accidentally put too much pressure on your dog! And gives you constructive tools to build resiliency and reduce reactivity!

27/07/2022

I have many clients asking about harnesses and leashes and collars and what I recommend. I have created a page on my website dedicated to the products I have used, owned or recommend. Each of the products are tools I have used or owned and can stand by my recommendation!

Using humane, punishment-free training methods to get a happy, healthy, polite dog of any age and any breed.

25/07/2022

Here is the latest blog post: a review on Belpro multi-use harness that I bought for my dog, Beau!

https://mguimonddogtraining.com/blog/f/review-belpro-multi-use-dog-harness

23/07/2022

New to enrichment and looking for ideas? This great infographic from R Plus Dogs might just help you out

22/07/2022

21/07/2022

There are two types of training I engage in; active and passive. The first is what we all think of when we think dog training. You cue a dog for a behavior, and they perform it and are reinforced for that performance. We teach a dog the cue to dance like a bear, or fetch the newspaper. But the second is just as important, and that is passive training. That is the idea that I can reinforce behaviors my dog's offer, but I did not necessarily ask for. For example when my dogs are just chilling I can drop reinforcement in front of them to reinforce the idea that hanging out doing nothing is a pretty good way to spend their time. I often don't even mark these behaviors, I just drop a little "manna from heaven." Another good example of passive training is when I am teaching with a demo dog. I will often just hand out reinforcement for my demo dog offering a stationary sit or down while I talk and explain things. This is a great way for me to teach my dog that sometimes when we stand around we just do nothing for a while. Remember we can use reinforcement to shape and encourage behaviors we ask for, and those we don't but the dog offers! Take a few minutes today to consider what you could reinforce your dog doing that you haven't expressly asked them to do!

15/07/2022

Are you worried your dog is going to escape their harness or collar out on walk? Do you want some ideas on how to keep them safe? This blog post is for you! This post is all about the safety measures I take out on walks to prevent dogs from escaping.

https://mguimonddogtraining.com/blog/f/escape-resistant-equipment

08/07/2022

Along with the blog, I have started my own Etsy shop selling digital downloads. These will be for anyone who has rescue animals (both dogs and cats!), along with people committed to positively training with humane methods. I currently have one listing, but stay tuned for more!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MorganDogTraining

05/07/2022

Another blog is up! This is how I include enrichment for Beau in his daily life.

For those that don't know, enrichment is anything you give your dog to do that will enrich this lives, usually mentally or emotionally. Since Beau's world is pretty small, I like to add anything I can to make it more exciting. If you need ideas for your dog, this is a good place to start!

Before getting Beau, I knew about enrichment. I knew a lot about enrichment, but for the most part, I thought all enrichment was created equal. After getting Beau, I realized that yes, enrichment is good for dogs, but no...

27/06/2022

Another Blog Post!

This is for anyone interested in my personal dog: Beau. There will be more updates on him in the coming weeks as well!

https://mguimonddogtraining.com/blog/f/how-i-got-beau