Be My Buddy, dog training

23/10/2024

One day you have a cute little puppy who just wants to snuggle and the next you have a piranha in the shape of a puppy.

Or you you adopt a calm shelter dog and 2 weeks later he’s dragging you down the street because he has to enthusiastically greet everybody he sees.

Or your sweet well mannered pup grows up to be reactive toward every dog on every walk and your at a loss for what to do…

No matter what the scenario at some point the voice of reason in the back of your head starts to say “I need a dog trainer”.

And from there you start on a journey, but it’s a journey filled with more questions than answers isn’t it?

“How do I find a trainer?” “How do I know if they’re a good trainer?” “What if their methods make me uncomfortable?” “Should I sign him up for a board and train or do in home training or training in a store???”

Choosing a dog trainer isn’t like picking out a new TV. Your choosing the person who will determine the rest of your dogs life and if you choose wrong… the consequences could be devastating.

So how do you start? First by understanding how the dog training industry operates:

1. There is no certification process to become a dog trainer. YOU, right now with your unmanageable potentially aggressive dog could call yourself a dog trainer and you would be and no one could legally deny your right to charge people money to train their dogs.

2. Big box pet stores (and local small ones) select and train people to be dog trainers based off their ability to make a sale. NOT their capability to be a trainer, teach people or dogs or even their knowledge.

3. Board and trains don’t work. They just don’t. All you end up with is a dog who is more closely bonded to their dog trainer than to you and a handful of commands they “might” listen to. There is NOTHING more important in training a dog than forming the relationship between dog and owner, board and trains don’t do that.

4. Any trainer who tells you to hurt or scare your dog doesn’t know what they’re talking about. All of the top dog trainers in the world and the people who study and experiment to figure out what works best with dogs agree that hurting and scaring your dog will absolutely change their behavior, but it’s always accompanied by fall out. Which is a fancy way of saying, you’ll create new problems in the process of trying to solve the ones you already have.

5. The American Veterinary Association of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) are the leading experts in dog behavior and psychology have laid out a check list for you when you interview a trainer. If the person you’re speaking with doesn’t check all the boxes, then you should absolutely run away.
https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/How_to_Choose_a_Trainer_AVSAB.pdf

(Photos are of the above linked article)

20/10/2024

‼️‼️$30 in home assessments start now!‼️‼️

I come to your home, meet your family and your dog and we talk about what you need.
I leave you with a little bit of instruction on what you’re struggling with the most and a free dog training book!

Fill out our new client form and schedule today!

https://www.jotform.com/assign/220555088794062/220555333543047

(Be my buddy dog training is located in Boise Idaho. Extra charges apply for a longer than 20 minute drive to your house. Online dog training is available.)

20/10/2024

🎶🎶🎶Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us, and you will see
This, our town of Halloween🎶🎶🎶

Desensitization needs to start TODAY, if you haven’t already been working on it.
You and I both know this thing isn’t going to eat your dog, but your dog does not know that!
especially when it’s leaning over the neighbors fence at 3am…

Any store that allows PET dogs and has Halloween decor is a great place to work on this, or that one house down the street that puts up all the decorations.

Start by finding the distance from the Halloween decorations that allowed your dog to still feel safe but be within sight of them.
Then just sit. Take a lawn chair with you and just sit and watch the Halloween decorations as people turn them on and off and interact with them.

Maybe take some treats, something like real bacon or plain boiled chicken and just pop one in your dog’s mouth everytime they look over or relax.
If your dog is more okay motivated than food motivated take some toys and play around some. And don’t forget to love on your dogs the whole time! Full body massages are a must ❤️

After about 30 minutes just get up and go home. If you do this 3 or 4 times right now, your dog might even feel comfortable enough to go trick or treating with you.

Desensitization to scary things doesn’t have to be a battle or a long drawn out frustrating process. Just go watch the scary things and create some good associations in your dogs mind. They’ll overcome that fear in their own time.

17/10/2024

For a few years now the service dog community has been advocating against taking fake service dogs into public spaces.

The horror stories of true service dogs being attacked by fakes and the distrust store associates feel for real service dogs after experiencing a fake service dog eliminating on the floor or destroying merchandise has stuck with all of us.

Except… Now we’ve swung to far toward the other extreme. Now instead of being overly accommodating of all dogs or simply aware of how harmful faking a service dog can be we’ve swung over to the extreme opposite and have become ourselves as a society unwelcoming and even judgmental of any and all service dogs.

Yes, fake service dogs are harmful to those who need a service dog to survive day to day (yes survive, service dogs are life saving medical equipment).
But being questioned by every store associate and numerous customers, harassed by random people and interrogated to the point they have to reveal sensitive personal medical information to prove their service dog is real?
That is even more harmful than encountering a fake service dog or in some cases even going without a service dog.
Doing so can even trigger seizures, heart attack, panic attacks or PTSD episodes for people who need service dogs to mitigate these disabilities.
By trying to determine if a service dog is real or not you could be putting a service dog handler in real medical danger.

So let’s clear up some misconceptions:

1. It’s not your job as a customer of a store or restaurant to vet a service dog, you have no right to ask if it’s real or accuse the handler of faking a service dog.
That’s the store employees job, not yours.

2. If the dog is doing something that put you, someone else or the store employees in danger you can ask to speak to a manager of the store about having the dog removed. But you have no right to approach the team yourself and question them.

3. There ARE NO registries for service dogs, paperwork they are required to carry or a license they must show. A service dog is not even required to wear a service dog vest or be marked as a service dog.
And as a customer or patron of a place of business you don’t have any right to ask for these things.

4. If you are a store or restaurant employee you can ask only two questions to vet a service dog team.
(As a customer you cannot ask them anything)
“Is this a service dog” and “what task is he trained to perform” you can also for clarification on how the service dog performs the task if it’s relevant but the team has the right to decline to answer.
For example if the handler answers “he alerts me to a medical condition” you can ask “how does he alert?” And the handler may answer “by pawing at me, giving one bark, jumping up, nudging me with his nose” etc. this question can be helpful in an environment where something like a bark could be problematic like at a library so that you as an employee can be aware of why the dog is doing that and reassure customers that the dog is doing its job and that everything is under control.
You do not however have the right to refuse the team entry just for a task being a bit disruptive.

5. As a store employee you have the right to ask a service dog to leave your store if it’s being overly disruptive barking, jumping on people, licking passersby’s, eliminating in the store or destroying merchandise etc.
But you do not have the right to ask them to leave for shedding or because you have allergies or because someone is afraid of dogs etc.
As a customer of a store you have no right to approach a service dog team for ANY reason, if the dog is being disruptive you must bring this to the store managers attention and allow them to handle it as they see fit.

6. No one, absolutely no one has the right to speak to a service dog handler or their dog unless it’s to ask them the two questions (if your a store employee) or interact with them in a way you would anyway regardless of the dog.
What do I mean by that?
You should never reach out to pet a service dog, click at it, snap your fingers, speak to it or even comment to its handler about it.
Unless a handler approaches you to speak to you about their dog, you should as an employee (once the dog has been vetted) or a customer just ignore the dog and pretend it is not there.

7. And this is maybe the hardest concept for society to understand. A service dog who is “on duty” is no longer legally considered a dog. They become life saving medical equipment that the handler cannot exist without.
But service dogs are STILL dogs, sometimes they have bad days. Sometimes they are sick or have an upset stomach.
They still experience fear and anxiety.
Just because a service dog has an accident on the floor or barks at another dog does not mean they are a fake. It means they aren’t perfect just like every living creature on earth and it’s not your job as an employee or a customer to blast the service dog team on social media.

The long and short of it?
It’s not your job to police the service dog community. Do your part by not faking a service dog and teaching your friends and family why they shouldn’t either and leave it at that.
If your a store employee on the clock ask the two questions, if they’re appropriately answered then let the team be.
Be aware of things fake service dogs do and ready to ask the dog to leave if it acts up (even a real service dog can be asked to leave if it’s acting up) but if the dogs is behaving well then leave the team alone.

18/09/2024

It’s raining!!!
Time to take the flawed dogs for a walk everyone else is staying home today!
Walk your reactive babies in peace!

Hugs ❤️❤️❤️

30/06/2024

“Stop! Don’t pet pet my dog, he’s shy and we’re working on socialization”

Wait what? Sounds counter intuitive doesnt it? Socialization means asking people to pet him doesn’t it? Maybe even holding him in place so people can pet him, right?

“Stop! Restrain your dog! Give us space! He’s shy and we’re working on socialization”

Hold up. What? Doesn’t that mean you should MAKE him interact with other dogs so he can learn they’re safe? Right?

Nope. No. Definitely not. Don’t do that.

A dog who is shy of people or other dogs needs space to feel safe. Invading his space will only convince him there really is something to be scared of.
If you want your dog to be friendly instead of scared, he first has to trust you when you say something is safe.
And the first step toward earning that trust is advocating for him.
Make sure he knows you will step up and make his wishes known. That you will make other people respect him and what he’s comfortable with.

So does that mean you shouldn’t let your shy/scared dog interact with anyone? No. But it does mean it should always be his choice! If someone asks to pet him say “only if he’s ok with it” and watch his body language, if he isn’t enthusiastically asking to be greeted then say “sorry maybe next time” and move on.

“Well ok, that sounds fine for a shy or a scared dog. But I have a puppy. She HAS to meet other people and dogs so she’ll know they’re safe.”

Umm, well no not really. The key word there was “safe” she needs to feel safe. If you force your puppy to interact with every dog and person you come across you will inevitably run across people and dogs who are NOT safe and will make her feel afraid. Fear leads to aggression.

Or worse still you’ll come across the crazy puppy lovers who will get her so hyped up and excited that she’ll grow up unable to focus on you at all, I call that reverse reactivity. Instead of being aggressive she drags you barking and crying toward every dog and person within your line of sight. Sounds miserable doesn’t it?

It’s so much better with any dog of any age to sit back at a safe distance and just observe the world around you and save interactions only for people and dogs who are calm, gentle and respectful.

50% of Socialization should look like sitting on a bench 10-15 feet away from the entrance to a pet store or Walmart or walking trail or on-leash park and just observing the world.

30% should be actively introducing your puppy or dog to as many different environments, surfaces, sounds and moving objects as possible. From a safe distance of course.

The other 20% should be interacting with other dogs and people you know are safe. In a safe and controlled environment.

25/06/2024

First they tell you his behavior is bad you need to “correct” him by hurting him or scaring him.
Then they act surprised when your dog becomes fearful or reactive.

They say “force him through it, make him overcome his fears or he never will”.
Then they act surprised when your dog loses trust in you.

They say “take away everything, don’t give him anything for free, not even attention”.
Then act surprised when you feel disconnected from your dog and he starts to avoid you when possible.

They say “push him harder, make him obey, force him if you have to”.
Then act surprised when fear and dislike morph into aggression.

Don’t let yourself get dragged into the cycle of punishment, fear and aggression. What you put into your dog is what you get back in return. If you feed him aggression, eventually you will get aggression back.
But if you feed him love, trust and understanding. Eventually you will receive love, trust and understanding in turn.

Say “no thank you” to trainers who recommend fear and force. Please, don’t choose to form a relationship of anger and fear and aggression with your dog.

Find a trainer who will guide you into the forming the kind of relationship you want with your dog. One where the two of you accept each other’s flaws and love each other all the more for them.

20/06/2024

I struggle with this one because my entire life I was taught to clip dogs nails by holding them down until they “give up” and let you do it.
I’ve learned in recent years that best case scenario you create learned helplessness with that method, worst case scenario you create fear and even aggression.

So through this whole video you’ll see me struggle with my instincts to hold him down when he tries to move away from me. I have to consciously remind myself it’s ok to let him jerk his paw away and even stand up and walk away.

I want him to stay and let me clip his nails because he feels safe and happy, not because he’s learned there’s no escape from it.
One thing I’ve done differently with Bodhi is make an effort to to NEVER cut his quick, not even once. Most all groomers and trainers will tell you not to worry about it, avoid it as much as you can but the dog will get over it if you cut the quick.
But in my opinion if you want your dog to trust you, you have to start with being trustworthy. So sometimes if I’m not sure where to cut I simply won’t, or I’ll just take the tiniest tip of the nail off instead of cutting it to where I think it should be.

My dogs trust in me is so much more important than him having “perfectly” shot nails all the time.

13/06/2024

Don’t let this be your dog this year. Book a consultation now.

09/05/2024

Meanwhile my dog is just trying to cope in a human world full of unreasonable expectations.
Not all dogs fit into the mold of a “perfect dog” or even into societies expectations of a “good dog”.

We ask our dogs to do SO many things that come unnaturally to them every day and when they can’t cope with these unrealistic expectations we punish them as if they should just know to act against their instincts.

-Dogs are not instinctively happy and friendly with every strange dog that runs up and tries to wrestle with them.
-Dogs do not instinctively walk stoically by our sides ignoring everything around them.
-Dogs do not instinctively love every strange person they come across that thrusts their face into our dogs and tries to hug them.
-Dogs do not instinctively ignore another dog barking and charging at them through a fence.
-Dogs do not instinctively not chase prey animals.
-Dogs do not instinctively differentiate between chew toys and household objects.
-Dogs do not instinctively come back when called leaving everything they are interested in behind without a second thought.
-Dogs do not instinctively enjoy being left home alone for 8+ hours a day.
-Dogs do not instinctively lie still and do nothing for long periods of time.
-Dogs do not instinctively act calm when they are excited to see someone.
-Dogs do not instinctively understand English.
-Dogs do not instinctively know to obey us.
-Dogs do not instinctively know that eating or rolling in p**p is gross.
-Dogs do not instinctively know that biting is a death sentence.

Let’s stop Anthropomorphizing dogs, they are not people. They are dogs and how can we expect our dogs to be perfect when even the best people can’t perform at 100% perfection day in and day out without fail?

Use kindness and compassion when training your dog. If they aren’t doing what you want it’s because they can’t do it, or because they don’t yet understand. The one thing our dogs do instinctively do that society expects from them is love us unconditionally and strive to please us. If your dog could, she would.

And here’s the thing that people don’t realize. I don’t need my dog to not be reactive, I just need her to trust me when I say “that’s not going to hurt you” and trust isn’t earned by following any of the comments below.

The one thing all these comments have in common is that they expect my dog to “know better” without any instructions and that’s just not ok.

02/11/2023

If you have a reactive dog get on out there! The parks are empty, the streets are clear and the hiking trails are barren.
You can relax today, hugs ❤️

Rainy weather = relaxing excursions for us reactive dog parents.

24/09/2023

Hey guys,
Let’s talk about Halloween decorations.
A lot of you have new puppies who have never had a Halloween before, some of you have young dogs who were fine last year but won’t be this year.
A lot of you have dogs who can barely be taken outside during October because they’re so scared..

Because let’s be honest, just because you know this 10 foot witch isn’t going to eat your dog. Your dog doesn’t necessarily know that at 3am when it’s leaning over the neighbors house growling at them with glowing green eyes.

Halloween decorations effect every aspect of your life with your dog from your own home life inside your house to potty training and loose leash walking.

Scary decorations outside (especially those that make noise when people walk by) can increase separation anxiety, barking at passers by, fear of strangers and barrier frustration.

Decorations outside can negatively affect socialization and loose leash walking training. I mean imagine if your young puppy is meeting someone with a hat for the first time and this thing turns around and yells at them, your puppy could associate that fear with people in hats. Best case scenario that creates a fear of people in hats, worst case scenario it leads to aggression toward people in hats down the line.

Let’s talk about potty training, all it takes is one bad experience while your dog is p**ping in the yard to convince them it’s safer to p**p behind the couch.

And if you think your dog is reactive right now… Well wait until your walking by skeleton dogs with glowing eyes and zombies that growl and reach toward them…

It is ESSENTIAL to desensitize your dog to scary Halloween decorations before these scenarios happen.
The best training plan is prevention.
Teach your dog that these things are safe BEFORE they see them at 3am, before they see your 5 year running toward something that looks like it could eat them.

Contact me today for a consult, teaching dogs that scary things are safe is one of my specialties!

22/09/2023

We made some progress on Bodhis socialization checklist today, how about you?

-Wheelchairs
-Crutches
-Halloween decorations
-Utility carts
-Mannequins
-Men in cowboy hats
-Forklifts
-and the infamous scary metal gate at hardware stores.

And the best part of all? Bodhi had fun meeting all these things! Look at that tail wag!

18/08/2023

This is socialization.

06/08/2023

02/08/2023

09/07/2023

Dogs have rights too, do you know what they are?

1. FREEDOM FROM HUNGER AND THIRST.
2. FREEDOM FROM DISCOMFORT.
3. FREEDOM FROM PAIN, INJURY OR DISEASE.
4. FREEDOM TO EXPRESS NORMAL BEHAVIOR.
5. FREEDOM FROM FEAR AND DISTRESS.

08/02/2023

This week only!
FREE, Christmas puppy consultations!
SCHEDULE NOW!

We all know how it goes, you saw this adorable ball of fluff and just KNEW you needed him for Christmas!
It’s understandable, if we’re being honest we’ve all done it!

But right around February, we start regretting it.

That adorable fluff ball is now destroying the kids toys, peeing in the closet and jumping on Grandma so exuberantly your worried she’ll break a hip.
And let’s not even start talking about walks…

For this week only we are offering 100% FREE consultations no strings attached, get to know our training methods and learn something new!

*Sale applies to any puppy under 6 months old purchased or adopted in the month of December, offer applies to any consult scheduled between 2/7/2023 and 2/14/2023*