Tried and True Canines

04/26/2025

Happy National Kids and Pets Day!

Today is a reminder of how magical the bond between kids and dogs can be when the relationship is built on trust and respect. 🫶 But it all starts with education! Teaching kids how to safely approach, interact with, and care for dogs not only keeps everyone safe, it helps grow lifelong relationships.

"My dog wouldn't hurt a fly! They're so patient with my child!"

Even the most gentle and patient dogs have their limits. While they may tolerate a lot, it’s important to remember they’re living beings with feelings—not stuffed animals or jungle gyms.

Things like hugging too tightly, climbing on them, pulling ears, or surprising them while they sleep can make dogs uncomfortable or stressed, even if they don’t show it right away.

Teaching kids to treat dogs with kindness, space, and respect helps to keep everyone safe, and strengthens the bond they share. When dogs feel safe and understood, they truly shine. ✨🐾

04/20/2025

Everest would like to wish everyone a happy Easter!🌷

04/11/2025

🐾Happy National Pet Day!🐾 Share a photo of your pet and tell us your favorite thing about them, or a recent funny story about them!

I'll go first: I took Everest through the Wendy's drive thru recently, and he was completely silent until I started ordering. That's when he began high pitch barking and screaming so loud that I could barely hear my own voice. Sorry to the person taking my order, that boy loves his French fries 🍟🤦‍♀️

04/07/2025

Come join us! This is going to be a great seminar!

A reminder that in just a few months, AMPP Pittsburgh will be hosting animal behavior expert and author of "Plenty in Life is Free," Kathy Sdao! Join us on August 2nd and 3rd to learn about the following topics:

- Understand basic science of “cueing” (teaching your dog to associate a specific action with a specific word or gesture)
- Effectively choose, add, change, and maintain cues
- Provide a clearer channel of communication with your dog
- Develop more complicated cues to move beyond simple movements
- Beneficial for pet owners, dog trainers, and dog caregivers

Fees for Auditing:
AMPP Member Price: $300
Price: $350

For more information, visit: https://www.pittsburghpetprofessionals.com/eventsandseminars

04/05/2025

Easter is just around the corner, which means it's time to step away from dogs for a moment to discuss another animal that’s dear to my heart: Rabbits. A couple years ago, I wrote a blog post for Alliance of Modern Pet Professionals - of Pittsburgh talking all about proper rabbit care and what should be involved in living with a rabbit.

Rabbits are a common pet whose care and welfare are unfortunately very misunderstood. A healthy, well cared for rabbit has the potential to live into their early teens. Duke, featured in the photo below, passed away at just shy of 13 years old. His partner, Heidi, lived to be just shy of 12 years old. Unfortunately, the majority of pet rabbits pass away long before this age due to improper care. This is not due to purposeful owner neglect, but because of a lack of education or because they followed the poor care advice given by equally uneducated pet stores.

Rabbits are not a starter pet. They require just as much care as a dog or cat, and many of the common beliefs about rabbit care are, in fact, false. If you’re considering getting a rabbit as a gift for a child or loved one, I strongly recommend reading the below blog and doing additional research on what is truly involved in owning a rabbit before determining if the person receiving the rabbit is equipped to handle the responsibility.

https://www.pittsburghpetprofessionals.com/post/rabbits-real-or-chocolate

03/23/2025

Happy National Puppy Day to all the new puppy parents out there! 🐾

Bringing a puppy into your home is an exciting adventure, and the first few months are crucial for setting them up for success. Here are some tips to help your new pup thrive:

✅ Focus on experiences over behaviors: Rather than focusing on teaching tricks right away, prioritize providing positive experiences. Your puppy’s early interactions shape how they respond to the world around them.

✅ Know what proper socialization looks like: Socialization isn’t just about meeting other dogs; it’s about positive, safe exposure to different environments, people, sounds, grooming, and more. Gradually introduce your puppy to new experiences to build confidence.

✅ Set them up for success using proper management: Puppies can’t be expected to make the right choices all the time. Set up their environment to help them succeed and avoid mistakes—use crates, baby gates, and supervision to keep them safe and on track.

✅ Reward good choices: Catch your puppy doing the right thing and reward them! Positive reinforcement is the best way to encourage desired behaviors and strengthen your bond.

✅ Avoid punishment: Punishment can harm the trust between you and your puppy. Instead, focus on rewarding good behavior and redirecting them when needed.

Raising a puppy is a journey, and we’re here to help you along the way! 🐶

03/18/2025

Join Certified Professional AMPP members, Katherine Anselm CPDT-KA and Coleman Fish CPDT-KA, CVT for an evening talking all about teenage drama and how to get through it.

1924 Spring Garden Ave, Pittsburgh 15212 (in person event)
$25 per person (or free for AMPP members)

Teenagers can be tricky, your perfect puppy who listened and focused like a pro suddenly has opinions, seems to choose to ignore you, indulges in naughty things, and just seems to struggle with making good choices.

Let us guide you through what you can expect through adolescence (it will end, we promise), what training things to focus on, what skills you can use to manage the unwanted behavior and get through life easier, management tools available that can help you get through, and what you can do to set your teenager up for success.

This seminar is ideal for pet parents, rescue volunteers, shelter volunteers, pet care professionals, and training professionals.

2.5 CEUs available for CPDT professionals.

Registration available here:

https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule/50aa96be/?appointmentTypeIds[]=74370572

03/01/2025

Happy gotcha day Charlie!🎉 I’ll be honest, I had zero clue what I was getting into when I adopted Charlie 7 years ago, and there were moments in the beginning that I questioned my decision to adopt him. He is, and always will be, my behaviorally special needs pup. He came to me severely reactive to dogs, cars, bikes, and anything else with wheels/tires, and would redirect onto me when in the middle of reactive episodes, resulting in quite a few bites to my calf in the first year with him. He displayed very aggressive behavior to anyone coming into our home or onto our property, and had a strong aversion to training in public settings (to the point he would shut down completely if I did any form of training outside our home). He struggled with anxiety in general, and later on began struggling with panic attacks in the house.

Charlie’s behavioral issues challenged me in practically every way possible. He forced me to dive into research on behavioral modification strategies, and taught me lessons in patience, empathy, and acceptance. We learned and grew together, and much of what I know today about training and behavioral modification, I know because of him.

Today, he is my helper dog with reactive dog clients, has made lots of human friends who he welcomes happily into our home, and is typically quick to warm up to new friends with the right introduction. His anxiety is well-managed with behavioral medication, and with the right management, he no longer lunges at passing cars (and no longer redirects onto me on the rare occasion that he does react to something). He is happy, goofy, and playful.

Because of the many factors against him (Genetic makeup, lack of socialization or training as a puppy, and chronic pain and medical conditions affecting his anxiety), Charlie will likely never be a “normal” dog, and will always need special modifications and management in certain situations. Despite this, I love Charlie for who he is and for all the lessons he has taught me over the years. It has not been a smooth ride, but I have loved watching Charlie grow into the dog he is today, and look forward to the lessons he will continue teaching me in the years to come❤️

02/15/2025

For those who currently have, or will soon have a teenage dog (from roughly 6-18 months of age), this seminar is for you! Learn management strategies and skills for thriving as you and your pup go through this phase together.

AMPP is happy to announce our next seminar: "Thriving, Not Just Surviving, With Your Teenaged Dog!"
When: Monday 3/24-- 7-9pm
Where: 1924 Spring Garden Ave 15212 (SJC's small room to the Left of Dollar General)
What: A great training on working with adolescent dogs, including 2.5 CEUs available for CPDT
Registration & Cost: $25 (free for AMPP members), sign up at - https://www.pittsburghpetprofessionals.com/eventsandseminars

Please feel free to share widely, as this event is open to everyone: pet parents, dog trainers, veterinary professionals, dog sitters, etc.

02/12/2025

This lil puppers, Tilly, just signed up for puppy school to learn all the good dog things🎓 She’s already proving just how smart she is!

Feeling overwhelmed by your new puppy? We’re happy to help!

02/04/2025

Introducing the newest member of the Tried and True Canines crew!

Cashew has been with us since Sunday evening and is settling in great! He’s an 11-week-old Icelandic sheepdog and has seriously been such a good puppy so far (knock on wood)! Charlie is taking a while to warm up to him, which was to be expected, but Cashew and Everest are hitting it off well with close supervision and management.

I’m excited for what the future holds for this little guy! He will be doing dog sports of some sort, and if all goes according to plan, he will eventually take over the role as my primary helper dog with reactive dog clients.

Stay tuned for lots of educational (and cute!) puppy content!🐶

12/25/2024

✨Merry Christmas and Happy New Year✨

12/19/2024

Quite a few new faces this week!🐶🐾

Lynyrd is a newly adopted beagle mix with lots of energy! His humans are working on teaching him some basic manners and learning how to meet his energetic beagle needs.

Cherrie’s humans realized not long after bringing her home that she is deaf. They are learning how to communicate with her through visual signals to teach her all the puppy basics.

Oakley is also learning all the basics of how to be a good boy, and his big brother Koda loves setting a good example and helping to teach Oakley all the things!

12/11/2024

Snow day with the boys!❄️

12/03/2024

X-pens, also known as exercise pens, puppy pens, or play pens, are such an incredibly versatile management tool that that has come in handy on countless different occasions in my household. Their long length and ability to combine multiple X-pens together allows for gating off large spaces that a standard gate would not be wide enough for. They are budget friendly, often being cheaper than many of the extra wide baby gates available on the market, and their flexibility in movement allows for gating off awkward spaces where a normal baby gate would not work.

Some Uses for X-Pens Can Include:

✅ Temporary outdoor fencing

✅ Wrap it around the Christmas tree and gifts to protect it from puppies and little ones

✅ Attach it to the crate to expand your puppy’s space for hanging out during the day when not closely being supervised.

✅ Separate pets who struggle to coexist 24/7

✅ Safe recovery space for injured dogs

This week, X-pens have been extremely handy, as my 8 month old niece has been staying with us along with my brother and sister-in-law. Babies are a very rare sight for my dogs, and this was their first time seeing my niece, who just recently became mobile. Both dogs have been slow to warm up to her, Charlie especially.

Being a very open-concept house, baby gates don’t work too well in my home. X-pens have allowed me to gate the dogs off so that they can have a separate space away from my niece, and so that my niece can have a safe place to crawl around away from the dogs.

It has also been a full week of friends and family visiting. Charlie is a stranger-danger dog, and struggles with large gatherings. X-pens allow him to have a safe space gated off away from the commotion and people.

In both situations, covering the gate with a bed sheet helps block the dogs’ view, which prevents the dogs from being triggered by seeing whoever is on the other side.

Do you struggle to manage your dog in certain situations? X-pens may be a solution for you!

11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!🦃🍁

11/23/2024

“But my dog will feel left out if they’re not with us during our family gathering!” I’ve heard this comment many times when I tell people to give their dogs a separate space away from the main area of the house during holiday gatherings.

If you have a dog who genuinely loves people and enjoys being involved while all the extended family and friends are at your house, that’s fantastic and by all means include your dog!

But for many dogs, having that many people in their house, with loud conversations, kids running around, and people yelling and laughing can be very overwhelming and stressful for them. This is when I suggest giving them a safe space gated off away from the commotion. A space where they can relax on a comfy bed, maybe enjoy a stuffed Kong or long-lasting chew, listen to some calming music, and not have to deal with the stress and anxiety of being in the middle of the social gathering.

If you have a dog who get stressed out by large gatherings in the house, and barks, paces, hides, growls, snaps, etc. as a result, I promise your dog will not feel unloved or left out if you give them a safe space in a different room during holiday gatherings. More likely, your dog will feel relieved that they don’t have to deal with the stress and anxiety of being in the main area.

Does your dog struggle with holiday gatherings? Reach out and I’d be happy to help you find solutions!

11/09/2024

Goldie is a puppy mill rescue who just recently discovered how fantastic beds are, and chose to spend the majority of her consultation lounging in hers💗

I like to help dogs feel as safe and comfortable as possible during our sessions, especially during initial meetings when trust is still being built. With her background in a puppy mill, Goldie is experiencing a lot of likely firsts, and gets fearful and nervous in a lot of situations, so if the bed is where she wanted to be, that’s where we did her training! She was happy to join us on a short walk, but afterwards returned right to her bed to continue lounging☺️