There For You Dog Training

09/29/2025

I had such an amazing time at the Aggression in Dogs Conference this past weekend. There were so many great talks and people, I didn't want it to end.
Huge shout out to Big Snoof Dog Gear for letting me help out at their booth this weekend!

“No one ever told me that the scars from dog bites would be nothing compared to the scars each dog leaves on our hearts when we think we failed them.”

Michael Shikashio, opened the Aggression in Dogs Conference with a reminder of the hidden weight so many professionals carry. Beyond the techniques and long hours, it is the stories that stay with us. The dogs trembling with fear. The guardians facing impossible choices. The nights we question if we did enough.

This community is where we remind each other that we are not alone in that weight. The work is difficult, but it matters deeply. And together we find the strength to keep showing up.

09/28/2025

Having a great time at the Aggression in Dogs conference! Thank you , and for the fun photo op! It's been great learning so much and getting to meet amazing people.
I had to grab the tiny "extra spicy" muzzle 😂

09/06/2025

How cool is this?? Sarge's Animal Rescue used my art I made for them as a design for one of their new shirts! You can support an awesome rescue and wear my art at the same time!

08/26/2025

Happy International dog day! I love Kangaroo with all my heart, and despite all her medical problems and stranger danger, I would adopt her all over again 💜 She's always down for whatever you are, whether that's going for a hike or watching movies and cuddling on the couch. I could write so much about her, but I'll keep it shorter and say she's just an amazing dog.

08/23/2025

Come out to support a local resuce! We're selling art today here 😊

Today is the day - Come on out and see us at The Auction House Food Hall enjoy some great food and drinks - meet some amazing vendors - meet some of our pups - get some doggie kisses in the kissing booth - check out our amazing raffles , grab the kids a free goodie bag and let them adopt their very own stuffed animal - if you are need of free pet food - come see us - we have some with us - lots and lots of amazing stuff going on - it is going to be a great day

07/28/2025

Some of you may have already noticed this if you've been on my website recently, but I wanted to make a more official announcement: I have recently started offering art commissions of custom pet portraits, and am doing so under my There For You Dog Training, LLC business instead of opening a whole second business. You can see information about this on my art page of the site, Thereforyoudogtraining.com/art.
Art is something I've been doing since I was a kid now, off and on, and I've dabbled in many varieties of it. Just like dog training, it is something that brings me joy to do, and so being able to do it alongside of dog training would be absolutely amazing.
Here's an example I did of one of dogs, Gabby! They are an absolutely amazing rescue filled with awesome people!

07/26/2025

Hanging out at WagWorld with a bunch of cute dogs and an amazing crepe from Crepes-R-Us 💜

07/04/2025

4th of July means fireworks in the US, are you and your dog ready? Here are some tips on helping keep your dog more relaxed tonight.
1) Give them a safe space.
2) Take them out before fireworks begin
3) Prepare a frozen lick mat or Kong
4) Play music, white noise, or run a box fan
5) Comfort your dog. Show them you are a safe space they can go to when they are scared. It is a myth that you can reinforce fear. Think of a phobia you have. Now picture yourself surrounded by that phobia, and you're going into panic mode. If a friend came over to you with comforting words, a hug, ice cream, whatever it is that makes you feel good, does that increase and reinforce your fear? No, and it's the same for our dogs. Dogs have the same cognitive ability as a 3-4 year old human child, so please treat them with the same care you would treat a scared toddler.
6) Don't forget if you got a sedative from your vet you need to give it 2 hours prior to the fireworks starting or they may not work!

06/25/2025

Thank you Fairview Boarding for taking care of Kangaroo while we were away for the weekend 💜 Kangaroo doesn't like being touched without consent (Can you blame her? I also don't like random strangers trying to touch me without asking), and even though she's made incredible strides with her stranger danger, every once in a long while she will be weary of someone. They were great at following her protocol I wrote out for them on how she likes, and dislikes, being interacted with, and her cues when she's getting uncomfortable. Larry was great on answering all of my questions and being super friendly with both Kangaroo and I. The report card and pictures they shared were great as well! It felt great to read how well she did during her stay. She was so comfortable there she asked for attention and apparently soaked it all up!
I'm sure there are people out there that judge me or her for wearing a muzzle out in public, but we shouldn't judge a dog because they have fears, or owners for keeping their dogs and others safe. Kangaroo is not defined by her fears.

05/27/2025

Hiking weather is back and Kangaroo couldn't be happier!
While hiking we like to wear our Mia's Muzzles as Kangaroo doesn't appreciate off-leash dogs running up to her. It does not matter if "He/she's friendly!" A dog running up to another one full force is just plain rude and anxiety inducing to both owner and dog that's being run at.
I understand wanting to let your dog off-leash, but if they are not going to come when called, a long-line is great for allowing your dog more freedom, but still have control if need be.
If you would like help muzzle training your dog, feel free to reach out!

05/09/2025

I am thrilled to announce I am now a Fear Free Certified Professional Trainer! Not only will I be helping dogs, but I want to extend my experience and knowledge to cats as well! Here is some information on what Fear Free is and how I can help make care for your pets less stressful. If you have any questions feel free to reach out!

✨What is Fear Free and How It Helps
💜 Fear Free helps to prevent and alleviate Fear, Anxiety, and Stress (FAS) in pets by providing vet, grooming, and husbandry care in a way that helps protect the physical and emotional wellbeing of your pet. This makes visits and care a safer, more enjoyable experience for your pet, you, and the care team.
💜 Experiences filled with FAS can have lasting effects that negatively impacts your pet like compromised trust and fearful memories that affect their future emotional state and behavior. This can result in increasing intensity of FAS, escalating struggle to get away, or aggression during future vet or grooming visits and home care.
💜 Animals can learn to willingly position themselves for handling, care, equipment, or procedures.

✨How I Can Help
💜 Cooperative care training: Cooperative care involves training an animal to not only tolerate handling and husbandry procedures, but also to be an active, willing participant. Pets can move their body into a needed position or remain still for care with less need for physical manipulation or restraint. This helps with care such as nail trims, brushing, dental hygiene, ear care, injections, and more.
💜 Pet prep: this encompasses preventive measures to minimize FAS as much as possible by increasing comfort and making happy associations from the start. This is for young animals and calm adults to familiarize them with equipment and the care environment.
💜 Counterconditioning: I can provide training that helps to redeem a care situation in which your pet is already fearful, anxious, or stressed or such a situation is anticipated (e.g. injections, nail trims).
💜 Victory Visits: structured in-facility training to condition pets to specific aspects of handling, equipment, and care.

As someone who is both a vet assistant and a trainer, starting to work within this special area of training that combines the two means the world to me.

05/04/2025

I'm sure many of you have seen that Roo wears a muzzle. As a dog trainer it was hard for me to start showing pictures of her with it on in fear of people thinking I'm not a good trainer if my dog has to wear a muzzle, but this post explains exactly why she wears one: people don't always respect dogs' boundaries.
Roo is a rescue I got at the age of 2 with an unknown history. What became clear after she settled in with us though is she doesn't like being touched without consent and has a lower tolerance than other dogs for people not respecting that. If someone randomly came up to me without asking if they could touch me and started stroking my face, you bet I would tell them off.
Thankfully Roo has made wonderful improvements with her fear of people, and has even gotten compliments on her behavior from complete strangers. Unfortunately these kinds of fears don't always go 100% away, even if you do everything right, and I can't control people touching her without asking (literally) behind my back, so she may always wear a muzzle while walking around people.
Helen's post is worded wonderfully on this topic to give us a much needed perspective to help understand our dogs' behaviors.

Behavior “problems” people tell me their dog has (and they want to fix) that I find extremely relatable -

- He doesn’t like it when people he doesn’t know come to the house, especially if it’s a man.
- SAME
*dogs don’t understand company coming over. They have no concept of UPS, Amazon Prime, or family barbecues. The majority of time in human civilization that dogs have existed with us did not include ANY of these things. They are mostly still hardwired to view unknown visitors on their territory as a potential threat or danger. We forget that most of the time we KNOW who’s coming, but our dogs don’t. And imagine if you didn’t know and suddenly a stranger showed up wanting to come in and hug you. I bet you’d freak out too*

- He’s fine with people he knows, but he doesn’t like it if a stranger tries to or does touch him.
- SAME
*dogs are not public property. I wouldn’t allow a stranger to touch my child or baby simply because she’s cute, why my dog? Dogs should be able to choose if they want to interact with someone and people need to learn how to accept and understand when they say no politely, before the dog feels they have to escalate to get more distance*

- She doesn’t want me to touch her while she’s eating and will sometimes growl or grumble if she has a toy and I try to take it away.
- SAME
*ever try to take away a kids Easter candy? How about taking someone’s money that they are holding in their hand? How do you feel when someone takes food off your plate? Sharing doesn’t come naturally to humans OR dogs, but for dogs it’s rooted in survival and completely normal.*

- She growls when the kids lay on her if she’s sleeping, or if I try to move her when she’s on the couch napping.
- SAME
*not wanting to be bothered when resting is also natural and normal. If I groan and get irritated when my kids do that to me, I’m not labeled as aggressive or unpredictable. What dogs do to communicate irritation or discomfort is absolutely acceptable, and yet they are the ONLY creatures that we see this behavior as a problem*

- He used to be fine with big social gatherings like the dog park. Now he’s not.
- SAME
*behavior and ideas of “fun” change as we get older and mature. Same happens to dogs. I’d love a nice bath and a book at the end of the day now, not a night on the town. Nothing happened to me, I just grew up. Dogs are the same way many times. Their likes and dislikes aren’t always concrete and we have to learn to adapt with them, just as we do ourselves*

I seriously could write these all day. All it takes is a mild shift in perspective to see the issues we label as bad or rude or negative in dogs are often COMPLETELY normal mix and “fixing” them first starts with understanding them, then helping your dog, and meeting in the middle. Training is appropriate in lots of different situations but it’s useless if we fail to actually realize dogs as the animals they are. The more we do this, the easier life with these amazing creatures is for both of us.

- Helen St. Pierre