Mutts&Manners

07/01/2025

Hey guys, we need your help! Our neighbor has been tirelessly searching for their dogs since New Year’s Eve. If you live on or around Hatchaway Bridge Road, please keep your eyes peeled! A reward has been offered.

07/01/2025

Hey guys! With a new year comes new adventures for you and your pup!

We offer everything from basic puppy obedience to advanced off leash training and behavior modification. Please feel free to message us with any questions!

We’re beginning to fill up for January so message us ASAP to secure your best friend’s spot with us. We can’t wait to hear from you!

19/12/2024

We are apparently in our Hound dog days here at Mutts&Manners!
Maya and Goner have been working hard proving that even a hound can develop great off leash obedience and impulse control.

19/12/2024

Rosie wants to let everyone know we have some openings for board and train AND private sessions coming up soon!

Message us today to get on our schedules before the new year

15/12/2024

Hey guys, we need your help! Mutts&Manners will happily provide some training, at no cost, in support of whoever adopts this pup! Message us for more information ❤️

Winry is a 9mo-1yr old shepherd cross that was found off of a back road in Aiken county. She’s been vetted and vaccinated but is not spayed and is around 54lbs and in good condition. This sweet girl has a very high work/play drive and loves having a job. She loves to work and be the look out! She does great with meeting new people and animals and does great with cats. She is a little intimidated by horses but does not act aggressively towards them at all. She knows how to sit, stay, heel and walk nicely on a leash with minimal correction. She is still young and learning but loves to do things! Her biggest negative is that she is on 24/7 and has a hard time finding neutral in the house regardless of how much work i do with her in a day or have her out. I feel she can be a great dog for someone who wants a working animal but this is not something myself or my husband can facilitate. She is a sweet dog and doesn’t have a mean bone in her body

07/11/2024

Rip and Daisy (and Arya, sort of) are enjoying some zoomies on this very muggy afternoon.
Daisy is still patiently waiting for her own humans!

03/11/2024

It’s always nice when we have a few dogs with similar play styles. Atlas and Pepper had a blast roughhousing this morning. We only allow this when we can bring it to an end at any moment. They also know not to initiate this type of play unless given the greenlight by a human.

01/11/2024

I’ve been fortunate that all of the dogs in the kennel are very eager to learn. Super helpful with Kristyna up in Wisconsin for Great Dane nationals. This is Pepper. He’s most likely a collie/shepherd mix. He came in pretty anxious and hyper aroused by other dogs. His antidote was work. Give him a job and he’s cool as a cucumber! Great job, Pepper!

01/11/2024

Sean O’Shea, always on point!

If only we could get the majority of owners to understand this simple dynamic—we’d see far, far fewer troubled dogs and owners.

Of course, the challenge is that the small stuff doesn’t look like much, and so owners, quite understandably, often don’t respond to it appropriately.

But for skilled and experienced trainers, these small things are everything. And because we understand this so clearly, and are skilled at how to properly address these moments, we’re able to not only make tremendous progress, but we can do so—almost always—without having to address the big, fiery, ugly, and dangerous stuff.

Owners, on the other hand, let the small stuff go—for the reasons listed above—but then go after the big, fiery, ugly, and dangerous stuff… because it’s so obvious and clear. And by that point, it’s either become an incredibly tall mountain to climb, or it might even be a mountain you’re unable to climb.

Think about it this way. Kids who end up in serious trouble with their parents, and often the law, don’t start out as highly out of control, wildly disrespectful, and deeply troubled youngsters happy to make a tragic mess of their lives. They start out with small actions/behaviors/boundary pushing, and the way the parents respond—or don’t—is what determines who these kids become, and what their lives end uo looking like.

While some of the dynamics and details will obviously show up differently, overall as a concept/approach/strategy, it’s the same for your dog. Troubled kids and troubled dogs come from the same place—the place where the small, but profoundly important moments are either too much trouble, or seem too benign to address. And so given enough time and repetition, they become anything but small.

31/10/2024

Rip and fizz want to wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween!! What are your pups dressing up as this year?

31/10/2024

29/10/2024

Atlas is another dog making big strides this week! We always want to get dogs into temperament appropriate socialization groups quickly after they get here. If we don’t get a foundation of recall started first, this turns into chaos. You are better off, not asking the dog to recall if they don’t know what it means or are unlikely to do it. Otherwise playtime is understood as I ignore my human time.

29/10/2024

Sawyer has a lot going for him! His progress in two days is comparable to most dogs first week. If there is a lottery for good puppies, Rick and Amy hit it. All of the character traits that make for such a trainable dog are a negative without the training. Sawyer‘s owners would attest that he was a bit of a terrorist without some direction. 

26/10/2024

The day we’ve been dreading since his Myasthenia Gravis diagnosis arrived. Kismet finally got some much needed rest this morning. Thank you to everyone who was a part of his life. He was everything you could ask for in a dog and then some. We lost a good one today. We love you, Skiddy. Thank you.

25/10/2024

Please join us and welcoming Barbell to the Mutts&Manners training crew! He’s a young Rottweiler/Newfoundland cross. He’s also part goofball. His owner had done a really good job on the basics, but came to us for help with some of the detail work she was stuck on. Two sessions in and the progress is remarkable. This is the result of a biddable dog, solid foundation work and a committed owner. Thank you Raven Poole, for trusting us with such a cool dog and putting in the work!

24/10/2024

Teddy came to us with some fear struggles as well as a few bites under his belt. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon for small dogs struggling with fear issues. We made a pivot after immediately realizing he was not the aggression case we were expecting. You can see, he’s starting to trust us enough to take a little direction. Stay tuned for more progress from Teddy.

Ps. I know I sound like an idiot in this video, but he needs the encouragement to loosen up 🥴