De Marinis Dog Training & Behavior

21/12/2024

Our free puppy guide is now up on our site! Sign up for free and receive your copy! This guide is helpful for new puppy owners for both before and when puppy arrives home. There is information on potty training, day to day logistics, puppy proofing, crate and pen training and so much more!!!

(We are in the process of trying to make it a higher resolution. In the process of working out those kinks!) you can find it on the puppy training page when you scroll down. Link in comments.

10/12/2024

With winter approaching and with our recent cold weather, it's important to remember that regardless of what the weather is like, our dogs need their mental and physical exercise needs met.

If you can't bring your dog for a walk or a hike too often due to the weather, then consider some other activity to help meet your dogs individual needs. This could be brushing up on some basic skills so that they can be improved, taking up trick training for fun, maybe improving your play skills (with or without toys), taking a group class or maybe even a dog sport for fun!

06/12/2024

With winter approaching and with our recent cold weather, it's important to remember that regardless of what the weather is like, our dogs need mental and physical exercise needs met. If you can't bring your dog for a walk or a hike too often due to the weather, then consider some other activity to help meet your dogs individual needs. This could be rushing up on some basic skills so that they can be improved, taking up trick training for fun, maybe improving your play skills (with or without toys), taking a group class or maybe even a dog sport for fun! 

02/12/2024

Every once in a while I get people asking me how to go about hiring a professional dog trainer and/or behavior consultant. There isn't really one right answer. So what I have done is written a blog on this topic. Here is some tips and suggestions. Link in comments.

20/11/2024

🐶Teaching a dog how to settle is such a valuable skilll. It can be used at home, around guests, in public and is a concept that can help some reactive dogs.

This is one of the ways I teach this concept without food. Personally I typically feel that using food in an exercise like this doesn't generally help a dog stay relaxed. Check out the video description for more info on this concept. ⭐️⭐️Video Link in the comments to watch the instructional video!

(Photo of Journey and his friend Calamari lol)

21/10/2024

I still constantly get asked by clients if playing tug of war is ok to do with their dog. Many are worried about if it causes aggression or "dominance ". So is tug and play ok??? YES IT IS! There are many benefits to tug and just play in general with a dog. Tug and play concepts are a great way to develop a relationship if your dog enjoys the game. It is also a great outlet for many dogs. Tug and play can even be used as a reward in training and in behavior modification programs.

To learn more about tug, its benefits and to see how much fun it can be, check out my blog on Tug! Plenty of video links inside the blog. 🐶Link in the comments below!

20/10/2024

What is reactive behavior in dogs and why does it occur? Well, here is a helpful blog breaking it down for you. If you knpw someone who could use this blog, share it with them! 🐶Link in the comments below.

Here is a photo of Olaf. I have been working with him and his owner on addressing his reactive behavior towards other dogs. This guy has come a long way!

16/10/2024

Yesterday i received a call about a family dog that unfortunately bit their child in the face. There are many situations like this that can be difficult to navigate when your dog displays aggressive behavior. And sometimes this means the family needs to make a difficult decision based on the safety of the family. I wanted to share my blog on the options families have when they are in a difficult situation that involves aggression. I will admit this blog is about 4 years old now and needs to be updated as there may be some things in it that I no longer agree with. But that said, I am sharing it as it can be a helpful guide for many. Link is in the comment section. (Here is a photo of my two little beasts for a smile!)

10/10/2024

Visiting Sleepy Hollow today for spooky season.

06/10/2024

I posted this last month, but it bares repeating for all you new puppy owners out there! This is a quick but helpful and important read! Do not chase your puppy and stop snatching things from their mouths. Read this blog of mine to learn why. It will save you a headache and reduce the chances of developing unnecessary issues. Here is the link: https://demarinisdogtraining.com/prevent-resource-guarding/

05/10/2024

Here is a photo of Quest's nails. She has always hated restraint, including nail trims. For a long time she was nervous of the dremel (which is my prefered method of trimming nails). Since she was a puppy I have tried getting her comfortable with the dremel. Praticing the usual approaches that everyone says will work. Well....it didn't work.

What worked was TIME. RELATIONSHIP BUILDING. TRUST. It took a look effong time tbh.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't perfect. And she still hates restraint. But, she allowed me to finally dremel two nails last night.

I personally have a pet peeve with long nails, not to mention the issues it can have on a dog's body, gait etc.

Aside from time, relationship building and trust, I had her around when I dremeled Journeys nails. Journey didn't typically like that Quest was around during trims but I figured it would help her get use to the sound, especially while she wasn't restrained. I felt allowing her to see me do Journeys nails would potentially help a little as well.

Last night was the first time she allowed the dremel to touch her nails while it was on. She seemed to not care so much, so I decided to attempt a trim on one nail.

I would trim for 1-3 seconds, then either toss her toy or send her to take her toy. She would run and play and even watch me do Journeys nails some more. Then if she came over to play or interact, i repeated the process. Nail trim = play. I tried play and nail trims in the past, as this is how I was able to have Journey tolerate nail trims. But it never worked for Quest, until now. ❤️🐶

This has taken a long time. Something I haven't pushed. I spent more time building our relationship away from this which is part of why I feel she finally allowed this to happen. I will try to get some video of this as I continue getting through those pesky nails. Fingers crossed 🤞.

25/09/2024

Great advice from one of my friends on teachong your dog to automatically check in while off-leash.

16/09/2024

A few photos of me with my reactivoty group class yesterday. I love this class. Everyone has worked so hard to get here. Good job everyone!!

13/09/2024

A constant issue I run into with puppy owners is the fact that owners end up chasing their puppy around the house when puppy steals some thing like socks or shoes, etc. Doing this can end up, causing some issues to occur that become Real problems that need addressing. I have updated an old blog. I wrote on this topic so that you can share it with anyone struggling with this issue.

Puppy Training Long Island, NY. Learn how to teach puppy not to steal your items, drop items when asked and become a nice family pet!

06/09/2024

Here are some photos of a herding lesson Journey and I had last week with our coaches Amanda Farnsworth and Jess Williams Battaglia. Here we were practicing some drive work, which is where the dog is pushing the sheep away from the handler or towards a specific area. This is one of Journey's weaknesses, something he isnt confident with and something we haven't practiced enough of. So we got to work and he did so well! Also this is Journey 6 months post op!!! 🎉

05/09/2024

A huge Congratulations is in order for this awesome team!!!! Enzo and Joe have been working hard on there gun dog training, retrieves and obedience this year and it sure has paid off. Congratulations boys! Well deserved!!! 🎉