207 Dog Training, LLC

15/11/2024

“You’re a dog trainer, your dogs must be so well behaved!”

One of the dogs in question, who just barked at me until I helped him up onto the couch: 🤣

14/11/2024

Shutting down behaviours through aversive methods such as loud noises (shakers, rattles, clapping, shouting), air sprays or water sprays, shock collars or physical punishment may certainly suppress behaviour in the short term, which can be very reinforcing for caregivers.🐾🐈🐕

However, what we MUST consider is what effects this may have in the long term.🌟🐾

Animals will learn that they can no longer use certain behaviours to communicate, relieve stress or show their emotional state.🐶😿

This in turn may lead to learned helplessness, reduced welfare and quality of life, or in some instances to physical disease such as Feline Idiopathic Cystitis.💔

So, before choosing the easier option of shutting down behaviour, please consider what this may do to your pet in the long run…🌟🐕🐈

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05/11/2024

Dozer & Sundae working on their sit stays & release only on your name, followed by “ok”. Technically a wait cue because I’m releasing them. They’re getting good at this! Dozer still needs a bit of encouraging to get up from his stay by me showing him the treat after I say the cue. That’s ok, we’ll fade that out eventually! I’m super proud of both of them. Obedience work is hard for Dozer.

05/11/2024

There’s enough to stress about, don’t let your dog needing to walk perfectly on your heel be one of them!

It’s ok if your dog is walking in front, on the side, or even behind you! My criteria with my dogs is it’s essentially all good as long and you’re not pulling hard. I let my dogs sniff and basically walk wherever they feel comfortable as long as it’s a pleasant feel on the leash.

What’s your criteria?

03/11/2024

My dogs are quite friendly with people.

It might surprise you to know that when I had an appliance delivery this morning, all of my dogs were behind two layers of safety away from the delivery people.

First, I don't want to risk a dog slipping out through an open door.

Second, delivery drivers are trying to do a job. They may not find attention from my dogs is as delightful as I do.

Third, when people call me because their dog has bitten someone, they always say something along the lines of "I never imagined he would do that" Never assume that your dog won't bite a stranger entering your home.

Gates, crates and doors will keep your dog safe.

31/10/2024

Happy Halloween! 👻🎃

I don’t know many dogs who enjoy strangers knocking on their door, so if you haven’t thought of one already, make a plan of what your dogs are going to do this evening if you get trick-or-treaters!

- You could put a candy bowl out on a table/chair in your driveway (not on your steps or front door, where your dog may hear footsteps) so trick-or-treaters are a safe distance away.
- Create a safe space for your dog with music, TV, or a radio playing in a relaxing room (or crate if they’re comfortable) away from the front door.
- Put a sign out to instruct trick-or-treaters NOT to knock.
- If you have any anti-anxiety medications your dog gets for stressful events (like Trazodone and/or Gabapentin), use them!! Two hours prior to when you expect trick-or-treaters to start showing up.
- And please don’t take your dog out trick-or-treating. There are too many “scary” costumes & decorations most dogs will not enjoy, not to mention the crowd and traffic could be stressful!

My dogs & I are staying home and watching a movie. We are lucky enough not to get any trick-or-treaters (they would not appreciate knocking 🤣) 🎃🐾

21/10/2024

Just popping in to remind my reactive dog guardians it’s OKAY your dog has some reactive behaviors, it’s nothing you specifically did to cause it, you DON’T need pain or coercion to address the behavior, positive reinforcement works, and you’re doing a great job! 🐶💛

16/10/2024

09/10/2024

We need to 🅢🅣🅞🅟 normalising animal abuse, in the name of convenience or human ego.

Training, by definition, entails learning something new, developing new skills, learning a new behaviour/ habit. This means …. YES - it takes time. Any behaviour takes time to develop and : or change.

Abuse tools, in the likes of prong or shock collars, have been invented for human convenience, for human need to “control”, and for nothing else. These are 🅝🅞🅣 training tools, because they do not teach an animal anything other than when doing normal dog behaviour - humans inflict pain / discomfort. That’s it. They don’t teach dogs how to walk nicely on a lead, they don’t stop dogs being reactive to things.

It’s time we said NO to normalising trends that are harmful to animals. It’s time we said NO to using tools that cause pain/ discomfort/ fear. It’s time we step up and train our dogs ethically, kindly and with compassion.

Time for a new trend - kindness to all animals.

27/09/2024

At the beginning of August I made the decision to behaviorally euthanize Ellie. When I adopted her, I knew her history and knew this outcome was a possibility, but also knew she deserved another chance.

She had always been a fearful and reactive dog, but her triggers were manageable. Her world was very small, but she was fine that way.

Then she attacked Sundae a month prior seemingly unprovoked. I have replayed the scenario in my head many times, wondering if I missed a small warning or cue, but the attack was unpredictable and truly lacked warning. At that point, her world grew even smaller. She couldn’t be with the other dogs and her reactivity outside escalated. Even just going outside to potty would trigger a fight or flight response.

She started declining rapidly. Inside the house, she began acting confused, as if she didn’t recognize us. There were multiple times she wouldn’t let us enter the house. Her startle response was confusion and aggression, directed towards us, the people she trusted. We saw a behaviorist, a veterinary behaviorist, and scheduled an appointment with a neurologist. I thought it was possible this was a brain tumor or neurologic condition. I even tried her at a family member’s home, thinking she possibly would do better without me or my other dogs. She worsened there as well.

I ultimately decided not to pursue an MRI or CT scan, because the answer was the same no matter who I spoke to and a diagnosis wouldn’t change the outcome. She was a dangerous dog for people and other animals to live with. Multiple professionals were telling me this for weeks, and I was in denial. One of the behaviorists I saw told me that just because we CAN keep a dog alive, doesn’t mean we should. And she was right. The level of confusion, aggression and fear Ellie was living in every day to cause her to go after the people she loved most was inhumane. The level of management just to live with her wasn’t normal. Ultimately, euthanasia was the kindest and safest option.

This is my second behavioral euthanasia, and it doesn’t get any easier. The topic comes with a lot of shaming and guilt. There are always people who have something to say and think they are entitled to have an opinion on the matter, despite never having gone through it. But those people have never been in your situation and lived with your dog. Only you have.

Thank you to everyone who has been so kind while I’ve been on this short break from social media 💛

10/08/2024

In case you needed a friendly reminder ❤️

07/08/2024

Best tip I can give you if you want a reliable recall with your dog?

Stop giving him reasons to NOT want to come back to you.

So often we call our dogs and do the following -

- bring them inside
- crate them
- put them back on leash
- physically pet them and hug them (a lot of dogs reaallllly don't like this even though WE do!)
- take something from them
- check them for ticks
- wipe their eye boogers
- remove them from the fun

If you've done one or any of these, you've taken a huge deduction out of your dogs "recall account" balance. YES, EVEN IF YOU USED FOOD WHEN THEY CAME BACK! Food - even though very rewarding - is rarely as reinforcing as freedom to dog!

There are many other factors to help you have a reliable recall with your dog, but this is the most important one of them all. STOP calling your dog and then doing something they don't find reinforcing, even if you treat them anyway. Often times, the food very quickly becomes not worth it to your dog, and you find yourself at 5am on your porch in your bathrobe screaming "COME!" rattling a bag of treats just to up the ante more and more, only to have your dog look at you like "Yeah, no, I've been there before human - see ya!"

Build your recall account by calling your dog, rewarding them, and then letting them GO BACK to whatever they were doing before, and do that many more times than times that you actually do have to stop their fun. Walk over while they are chewing on a stick, toss them a treat and tell them what a great find it is, and then walk away. Teach your dog that coming to you, having cool stuff around you (water logged stick, a soggy ball they just found etc) doesn’t always mean their fun is over and you’re going to remove them or the item.

While doing all this, if you’re not sure that your dog is safe to be off leash or reliable DONT let them off leash. Use a long dragline, even in the yard, so you can just bring them to you rather than chase them around or run the risk of them taking off.

Reliable recall doesn’t just happen. It takes time and patience and lots of repetitions. Keep treating, keep letting them have fun, keep your sense of humor!

-Helen St. Pierre

03/08/2024

Friday morning we started the day with 460 animals in our care. Today (Saturday) we started with 445, but we have a lot more animals that need homes. Stop by our Brunswick Campus today and tomorrow for fee-waived adoptions for animals over 6 months old. Help us make room to help more animals in need!

03/08/2024

Guess who walked by three dogs, countless people and children, AND disengaged all by herself from a stranger who tried to say hi to her!!!!! This is a huge deal for Sundae and I am SO PROUD of her. She used to really struggle on walks and have big feelings about other dogs and people - a year ago she would not be making these same good choices.

My goal is to get Dozer to this point by himself, and then work on them as a duo. If you have more than one dog, it’s pretty normal for your dogs to struggle more when they’re together rather than alone. Solo walks can be a life saver while you work with them both individually. 💛

02/08/2024

It is so easy to compare your reactive dog to other dogs, especially when you see pictures on social media of other dogs on adventures or doing something you don’t think your reactive dog could ever do.

But, social media ≠ real life, even when it comes to dogs. We hiked this morning and took so many perfect pictures- you’d never guess it was anything but a perfect hike.

But, you wouldn’t know we got up at 5am so we could arrive early to avoid other hikers.
We practiced using a flight cue to move off of the trail multiple times, even when there weren’t any triggers.
And, the best of all, walked off of the trail and into the woods to sit there for 22 minutes (I timed it!) to wait for an off leash dog we were told was coming behind us to pass, before we were able to continue down.

All so we didn’t see any other dogs! We are not to a point in our training that I think both dogs together would be able to successfully pass a trigger on a super narrow path in the woods, and that’s completely okay. I set up their environment to avoid any possible reaction and best set them up for success for the future, and it worked!

My point is, don’t compare your dog to another dog. We are all at different stages of training and just because it looks perfect on social media, doesn’t mean it’s actually perfect. And I hope you have the chance to take your reactive dog for an adventure, even if it looks a bit different than others and you have to plan in advance, arrive early & bring a whole bag of chicken. 🐔

01/08/2024

On our way!! Lick mat is a success

31/07/2024

Ellie is going to a veterinary behaviorist tomorrow! We are traveling about 2 hours so need to plan how to best help her, since car rides can be stressful for her. I’m planning on packing a lunchbox full of lick mats and Kongs, both for the ride down and back, and am mapping out some spots to stop for a sniff walk. I will update with how it goes! It’s always helpful to have a plan when you’re traveling with a fearful dog, both for your dog, and your peace of mind.

31/07/2024

One hallmark of positive-reinforcement trainers is that they focus on what they want their pets to do, rather than what they don’t want their pets to do. This approach is incredibly effective! 🐾 By simply ignoring behaviors you don’t really like, and rewarding the ones you do, you can completely transform your pet’s manners. 😍