There For You Dog Training

15/07/2024

Have you ever heard of a scratch board? They are fantastic to help wear your dog's nails down without having to even touch your dog! These are great to use while you get your dog more used to getting their nails trimmed as it can take some time.
If you'd like some help in learning how to get your dog to tolerate nail trims, visit https://canine-cohesion.com/ to get in touch with us!

01/06/2024

Roo wanted to let you know that everyone is valid, welcome, and safe to work with us, always. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

01/06/2024

As many of you saw in a previous post of mine, I've started working with The Dog Door, but what I didn't tell you was that The Dog Door and a few other business are banning together to create Canine Cohesion Behavior and Enrichment Center! I'm really excited to be a part of this team and can't wait to see what we accomplish!
If you want to work together please visit https://canine-cohesion.com/ to learn more. If you are a current client you do not have to do this.
If you have any questions feel free to reach out!

📣BIG NEWS!!!📣

We are growing!

Horizon Dog Behavior will be collaborating with a few other fantastic businesses as part of Canine Cohesion Behavior and Enrichment Center!

We have the same amazing people on our team including founder, Desiree Beauchamp Bales plus a few more who we will introduce soon!

In addition to serving the Greenville, SC area…

We will now also serve the Asheville, NC area and meet with you at The Dog Door! The Dog Door

Our amazing vet partner is Dr. Hilliard of Feeling Pawsitive Veterinary Behavioral Solutions! Feeling Pawsitive Veterinary Behavioral Solutions

And we love meeting your dog’s play, enrichment, and training needs at Happy Tails Country Club! Happy Tails Country Club

We are so excited to share more info and details soon so stay tuned!!

28/05/2024

I hope everyone had a great Memorial day weekend! We traveled to visit family for a birthday and it was a wonderful time.

23/05/2024

Do you have a confident dog?
It's been a heartwarming journey to watch Roo get more and more confident with herself. When I first adopted her she refused to walk on metal surfaces like manhole covers, hesitated to even get her paws wet in standing water, needed encouragement she could perform certain physical tasks that I knew she could do like go over and under downed trees, and didn't make it a point to investigate much in her environment.
Now? She walks on metal like it's any other kind of surface, this past week went up to her shoulders in calm water and will walk in faster streams, now maneuvers around downed trees easily, walks on unstable surfaces more readily, and likes to check out everything! She also now uses her paws more by digging at things she finds in the dirt and puts her paws up on things like trees and our windowsill, which she never did before.
What caused this change? I never forced her to do anything. If she didn't want to go in the water, I didn't push her in. If she felt uncomfortable trying to go over a tree, I picked her up myself or found an alternative route. For everything, I always let her go at her own pace and rewarded/praised her for any new attempt at any of her challenges.
There are many ways to help build confidence in your dog, besides letting them explore at their own pace. Did you know one of those ways is actually positive reinforcement training? This training method builds successes in our dogs, and just like humans, the more success we have, the more confident we feel in our abilities. "101 Things to do with a Box" is also a great starting point to getting your dog more confident and encouraging them to try new things.

18/04/2024

*IMPORTANT UPDATE*
Hey everyone! Recently I have accepted a position to join a dog training company called The Dog Door in Asheville, NC. I am really excited to work with this amazing team of other dog trainers and continue to grow as a trainer!
What does this mean for There For You Dog Training, LLC? For any new clients that wish to work with me, you will contact The Dog Door to move forward. For any of my current clients, nothing will change!
I will not be spending much time, if any, on producing videos as was mentioned before, and if I decide to keep posting Blog posts it may not be every month anymore. All of this depends on extra time I have going forward.
If anyone has any questions about anything, feel free to comment here or reach out privately!

01/04/2024

Sorry I haven't been very active recently, there's some things going on behind the scenes and I have an announcement I'll be making soon about all of that, so stay tuned!
For now, here's a new blog post on all things muzzles for this month: Why dogs use them (there's more reasons than aggressive behaviors!), the different types, how to muzzle condition your dog, and proper fit.

I go over how to muzzle train your dog, the different reasons why dogs wear muzzles, different types of muzzles, and proper fit.

21/03/2024

It's a beautiful day to volunteer to walk some shelter pups 💜 We practiced some check ins and loose leash walking while we were out!

12/03/2024

Dogs behave the way they do for many reasons. They do NOT do things deliberately to be stubborn or ‘naughty’, nor do they aim to assert control. Outdated mythologies and training methods have detrimental effects on well-being and strain the relationship between a dog and their caregiver.

🧬A dog's breed and genetic makeup can play a significant role in determining certain behavioural traits. Dogs have genetic predispositions and breed-specific tendencies that contribute to their behaviour.
Some breeds are predisposed to specific behaviours, such as herding, hunting, or guarding.

The environment in which a dog is raised and lives can profoundly impact their behaviour. Early socialisation, which involves exposing a puppy to a wide range of people, animals, and environments during their critical developmental period, is crucial for building confidence and shaping a dog's social behaviour to reduce fear or aggression.

Overstimulation can cause all kinds of unwanted behaviours as it overwhelms their senses and can lead to hyperactivity or erratic responses. For example, if a dog is exposed to loud noises, multiple people, and various stimuli all at once, or on a daily basis, they might exhibit excessive excitable behaviour, poor impulse control, become agitated and exhibit behaviours like jumping, barking, or pulling on the leash, as their senses are overwhelmed by the excessive input.

Previous experiences and learning consequences can influence a dog's behaviour. Traumatic experiences, in particular, can lead to fear, anxiety, or aggression.

How a dog is trained and educated by their caregiver or handler can significantly affect their behaviour. Consistent, positive reinforcement-based training can lead to desired behaviours, while harsh or inconsistent methods can result in confusion or fear.

A dog's health, including their physical and mental well-being, can influence their behaviour. Illness, pain, or discomfort can lead to changes in behaviour.

A dog's emotional state, including fear, anxiety, and excitement, can affect their behaviour. For example, a fearful dog may display unpredictable defensive reactive behaviours or might avoid any encounters and run away trying to hide. While a confident dog may exhibit playfulness and a relaxed demeanour.

A dog can become frustrated and destructive if their mental and physical needs are not met. This dog, full of pent-up energy and boredom, may become frustrated and exhibit poor impulse control. In their frustration, they might resort to destructive behaviours, such as chewing furniture, digging up the garden, or incessant barking. This destructive behaviour is often an expression of their frustration and an attempt to alleviate their built-up energy and mental stress.

The type of diet a dog receives can significantly influence their behaviour, with high-quality nutrition promoting better energy levels, mood, and overall well-being, while poor diet choices can lead to issues like irritability, hyperactivity, or digestive problems.

As dogs age, they may experience canine cognitive decline, which can manifest as changes in memory, learning, and behaviour. This condition can lead to increased confusion, disorientation, and altered social interactions in older dogs.

It is really important to understand that each dog is unique, and their behaviour can vary widely, even within the same breed. Dogs use body language, vocalizations, and other forms of communication to express their needs, emotions, and intentions. Understanding a dog's communication cues is essential for interpreting their behaviour.

04/03/2024

Did you know there's several things people do wrong when greeting a dog, including putting your hand out for them to sniff? Check out this months blog on the right, and wrong, ways to greet a dog properly to make sure you aren't unintentionally stressing out those you meet and interact with.

There’s a Right Way, and a Wrong Way Do you ever see a cute dog or puppy and think to yourself “I really want to say hi!” and you start marching over to them? There are a couple of myths on how to greet a dog properly still floating about, and there are some things we do that we don’t realiz...

01/03/2024

Behaviour = Communication.

There is a tendency to put behaviour into one of two categories: 'good' or 'bad', labels which move us away from the realisation that we need to understand the 'why' of the behaviour.

The truth is that there is no 'good' or 'bad' behaviour. It is all simply behaviour. It is something that tells us about how the dog feels in that moment.

The 'good' behaviours, the ones we like, generally mean that the dog is happy, relaxed, joyful, excited, and these are occurring in a context that we humans like.

The 'bad' behaviours will see the dog doing things we don't like, such as barking a lot, pulling on the lead, growling, etc. These we can find problematic, and we will often want those behaviours to stop.

The most important thing we can do is look at the situation and try to work out why the behaviour is happening. Is the dog barking and/or growling because something is making them uncomfortable in that situation? Are they pulling on the lead because they haven't really been fully shown how to walk on a loose lead? Are they trying to run away from something that has scared them?

When we can understand the why, we can begin to understand what our dogs need in that situation and, if the behaviour is one that we find difficult and shows that the dog is struggling in a situation, we can find kind and gentle ways to make it easier on both of us.

If you have a dog who is struggling in certain situations you may find my on-demand 'Supporting a 'Reactive' Dog' webinar useful which can be found here: https://www.goodguardianship.com/challenge-page/supporting-a-reactive-dog

27/02/2024

This is why I wrote the dog body language blog. So may people, to no fault of their own, don't know much about reading body language, which can be very dangerous.
True personal story: I recently had someone come into the vet clinic I work at wanting to talk to a vet about behavior problems with their dog. They mentioned they have had several dogs all throughout her life, but she didn't know how to handle this one. The women was telling me how when the 14 month old baby is around the dog will "protect her." After I finished talking to her, I went and got the doctor. When the doctor came in the dog went to try and crawl on their owner's lap, licking their nose, ears back, whale eye, and tense. The owner then goes "This is what he does when the baby is around." to which I told her those are all signs of stress and anxiety, her dog is not protecting her, her dog is anxious about the baby. She had no idea despite having dogs all her life.

Up to nine in ten dog owners wouldn’t be able to identify some 'crucial signs' of anxiety in a dog, according to research by the Kennel Club.

26/02/2024

Today is not only Kangaroo's gotcha day, but also her birthday!
This pup has really made life so much better from wanting snuggles everyday, making me laugh when she gets silly, helping me be more active, and inspiring me to become a dog trainer and open up my own business, where she is the mascot and logo, and helps as a demo dog for online lessons.
She loves to bask in the sun, even on 80 degree days, go on sniff walks, hiking, rip things apart, food, and cuddling. I only wish I knew what her first two years were like before I adopted her and what she looked like as a puppy.
I love you Roo, here's to many more years 💜

25/02/2024

Today Roo and I partook in our first neutral walk! We don't often get to train in more controlled environments like this, and I'm so happy someone in our area decided to put a group together to plan these walks. We had a great time and a nice roll around at the end.

23/02/2024

Lincoln is doing great with his mat training! And he got a cute groom since the last time I saw him as well 😊

22/02/2024

I recently released a new podcast episode and I daresay that I was a bit bold in my thoughts on this very common topic:

Should you bring home a hospital baby blanket for your dog to sniff?

This might be the most common advice people give dog parents with newborns. And I call BS.

Listen and find out why. And then please share with your mom's groups and due date groups. Let's put an end to this silly idea once and for all.

https://poochparenting.net/episode80/

20/02/2024

It's time for our first "Tips and Tricks Tuesday" video! For our first one, I was unfortunately inspired by the XL Bully Ban that is happening in the UK where dogs fitting a certain description in the UK are being forced to wear a muzzle in public, friendly or not. Aside from this ban, I think it's a great idea for dogs to be muzzle trained for emergency situations, like painful events, because any dog will bite anyone if in enough pain or stress.
So, I put together two videos: How to muzzle condition your dog and proper muzzle fit. The proper muzzle fit video is linked in the conditioning video for those interested on YouTube. This video breaks down a way to muzzle condition your dog step by step and also includes a few tips and tricks throughout.
https://youtu.be/fuDTNYCQ6UY

This video goes over several steps broken down on how to muzzle train your dog in a positive way to get them to like their muzzle just like any other piece o...

14/02/2024

Happy Valentine's day! Does your dog have something they love to do or play with? Kangaroo loves many things: food, cuddling, sun bathing, sniffing for trash and critters on our walks, and hiking to name a few.

13/02/2024

Ginger has improved on so many things since I saw her last week! We've been working on not jumping up, loose leash walking, come, and sit. Today we introduced her to learning how to stay as well!

09/02/2024

Say hello to Lincoln! This cutie has a dangerous habit of running out the door! He just wants to say hi to his friends dropping off packages, but there's a real chance he gets hit by a car when he dashes out the door. So, we're teaching Lincoln to stay on a mat while his parents answer the door to get their packages to keep him safe. He also needs some work on his leash skills since he likes to pull.
He's a smart cookie and was already sitting on his mat pretty well by the end of our session!

09/02/2024

Do you have a question about kids and dogs?

Just ask me!

I have a custom tool that will search my (almost) 100 podcast episodes and it will generate a FAST answer for you.

Give it a try!

www.poochparenting.net/askpoochparenting

07/02/2024

Here are some nice visuals to go along with the body language blog post I made the other day!

05/02/2024

Today I have posted my first ever blog! I'm starting with talking about dog body language. I chose this topic first because it's a really important thing for every dog owner to know to have the best relationship possible with your dog and is important during training as well. I found myself often saying something along the lines of "watch their body language" with other blog topics I will be posting in the future, so I knew this would be an important first.
I hope you enjoy it!
I plan on posting a new blog the first Monday of every month, so let me know if there are any topics you'd like to learn more about!
https://www.thereforyoudogtraining.com/post/body-language-do-you-know-what-your-dog-is-trying-to-tell-you

How Well Do You Speak Dog? Many of us have had dogs all our lives, some only just recently got a dog, while others have never had a dog, and yet within these groups of people the knowledge on dog body language can vary widely. This is certainly no one's fault as most dogs don’t come with an instru...

03/02/2024

Starting this coming Monday (the 5th) we will be posting monthly blogs! They will be posted the first Monday of every month on my website, but shared on here and Instagram. If you have a topic you'd like to see, comment below or send me a message!
I am also going to start posting "Tips and Tricks Tuesday" videos on how to teach your dogs tricks, or tips on different training topics like muzzles, impulse control, etc. If you have any tricks you'd like to teach your dog (Or just want to see Kangaroo perform), let me know as well!

31/01/2024

28/01/2024

27/01/2024

I got to end the week with handsome Cedar! We talked about crate training, how to build up being able to handle being alone, socialization, practiced loose leash walking, and started learning how to go to a mat! After our session it was play time.
Playing after a training session can help improve training and the pup's memory!
Cedar was too into his bunny to sit for a nice photo.

26/01/2024

The vast majority of dogs are what we call "selective", which means they really only want/need a couple of friends and don't care to say hi to the rest. That is perfectly normal! Do you want to greet every person you meet when you're out? Probably not, and our dogs are the same.

18/01/2024

I will be watching this event as much as possible, and you can too! It's absolutely free and all about puppies!
There's always something to learn in the dog training world, and I can't wait to see what tips and tricks I may pick up from this summit.

My Puppy Doesn’t Listen to Me No Matter How Many Times I say “NO”

Raise your hand if that thought has crossed your mind once or twice (or 5 times each day)???

If you’ve ever thought that, then you’ll definitely want to sign up for the ‘Your Puppy Blueprint’ Summit- where you can stop guessing, wondering, and Googling how to have a well-behaved puppy and turn the chaos to calm!

I want to introduce you to my friend and colleague, Kelly Fahey. Kelly is a puppy specialist and she has hand-picked 25+ experts in dog training and behavior for this complimentary conference on raising a puppy (and surviving puppyhood). The best part is it’s FREE to you! (and the topics also benefit unruly dogs. Know anyone who has one of those??)

If you're tired of telling your puppy “NO”, come hang out with me and the other amazing trainers and behavior professionals who will be part of the event, helping you with all your puppy predicaments.

AND… you’ll be hearing from me, talking about one of my favorite topics - parenting kids and puppies at the same time!

Registration is open now. Event starts 1/22.

So, if you are tired of trying “everything” and would like access to helpful, accurate information then join me for this FREE event. I saved you a front row seat. But you have to register to be part of it!

Claim your spot at the event here: https://conference.puppyblueprint.com/michellestern

16/01/2024

Everyone meet Bruno! I've been working with this cutie and his owners for a few weeks now as he learns several things like mouthing and jumping aren't okay, and starting his foundations with come, sit, and loose leash walking.