Greater Phoenix Area
Behavior consulting/training for cats, dogs, rabbits & more. Fear free methods.
Having a dog that is scared of strangers is difficult. But you don’t have to do it alone!
Four Leaf offers Behavior Modification lessons for dogs who are struggling with “Stranger Danger.” Dogs can develop fear of strangers for many reasons, but it commonly has been a huge issue for dogs following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reach out today to schedule a behavior modification to work on making your dog more comfortable with strangers.
Four Leaf will have a break this month. Any inquiries for training will be responded to when I return on July 24th.
Does your cat have accidents outside of the litterbox? Check out some reasons why.
House soiling can be a serious problem when severe and persistent. It is the #1 reason why cats are rehomed. It is very frustrating to deal with cleaning up cat accidents, but you don’t have to do it alone.
Four Leaf offers feline behavior consulting and training that can address many issues, including house soiling!
Reach out today if you are struggling with house soiling and get some support in resolving the issues.
What are some displacement behaviors that your dogs do?
My dog will often lift up her front paw and hold it!
4th of July is coming up! Take a look below to see some tips on how to ensure your pet is secured.
The most stray animals come in to shelters on July 5th and January 1st. Don’t let you pet get loose and lost during the scary fireworks.
My routine differs on July 4th because I
1) feed and walk my dogs earlier in the day
2) play classical music and close the blinds
3) give them enrichment to help calm them during the displays
Some safety tips I always observe that are:
1) my pets are microchipped with the information always being up-to-date
2) they wear tags on their collars
3) my dogs wear properly fitted harnesses and martingale collars to prevent them from slipping off the leash
4) I keep the dogs and cat in a separate room if I know the door will be opened or shut and they might have a chance of slipping out without me seeing
Is anyone’s dog bored and restless indoors? Going from nice weather to triple digits can be hard for our best friends when they gain so much enrichment from the outdoors!
Unfortunately for many months of the year in Phoenix it is not easy to safely exercise with your dog outside.
For the summer months I’m offering Enrichment Courses specifically to help with keeping your dog happy and cool! Each session for enrichment will be customized to what you and your dog want to do. Each dog has their own interests and dislikes. And your dog’s breed can influence these! We will cover taste, touch, sight, sound, smell, mental, and physical to figure out which things you and your dog like best 💚
Message if you would like to schedule a session to learn all the tips and tricks on how to enrich your dog 🙂
Congratulations to Chewy and Guinness on completing their training!
Guinness completed four weeks of behavior modification training to help him be more comfortable with strangers. By the end of our session I was able to scratch him on his neck while he dozed off to sleep. It was amazing to see him relax enough and open up to me, a stranger.
Chewy (not pictured) completed one session to help her not join in with reacting to Guinness’ fear response. She did excellent.
It was amazing working with these two pups and their owner, Linda, who is a very skilled owner and trainer. Congrats to you all 💚
Happy everybun!! We are SO THRILLED to share this labor of love with you! We have been working with the brilliantly talented Drawings by Lili Chin to create a bunny body language poster! We've been wanting this resource for our clients for quite a while, as we just haven't found one that we love-so we reached out to Lili for help! Lili is well-known in the positive training community for helping pet parents better understand their animals. She has also illustrated several positive dog training infographs, and we were very excited to get her help with this project!
Would you like to save this for your reference? Download your own copy here: https://empoweredanimalsbehaviorandtraining.com/resources
Please share! Skipper (aka Juniper) is available for adoption at Soldier’s Best Friend.
Skipper is:
• 14 month old border collie mix
• about 35 lbs
• friendly with other dogs, kids, and adults
•crate trained
•potty trained
•has basic obedience training
Skipper is looking for a home that is active and has lots of outlets for her energy and smarts. She would excel at agility and other dog sports. Email [email protected] if you are interested in this lovely girl!
If your pet is scared of fireworks, NOW is the time to call your vet to ask about medications. Not July 3rd!
Do you know what the busiest days are for shelter workers? January 1st and July 5th.
Why is this? Pets are most likely to go missing during firework displays, so shelters see an influx of strays after holidays that focus on fireworks.
By taking a few simple actions, you can ensure that your pet does not go missing on New Years Eve this year. Secure your pets during the show away from doors that may be opening during the noise. Provide them with hiding spaces and enrichment to try and calm them down.
MICROCHIP YOUR PETS and ensure that they are registered to you. Update your information if you have a change in contact info or address. Your pet may lose their collar, which is why microchips are so important.
If your pet struggles with the noise of firework displays and shows extreme signs of stress, speak to your veterinarian about if there would be any medications that could benefit them. You will want to do this a few weeks in advance to be able to test the medicine ahead of time to ensure it works well for your pet.
Please think about your dog in the summer. Be aware how hot the pavement gets too.
Congrats to Millie and Canoe who passed their Canine Good Citizen test today!!
They have worked so hard on training and you can really see the fruits of their labor. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with them 💚🍀
Congratulations to Pluto and his handler on passing their Canine Good Citizen test!
This is their first milestone after starting training to become a service dog. This rescue pup is absolutely amazing and it has been such an honor and privilege to work with him and his mom 💚 I can’t wait to see their growth in the coming weeks.
“You need to correct your dog for barking and lunging at things”
“You need to make your dog sit and watch you when a distraction comes by”
Actually you don’t! “Correcting” your dog for reactive responses can cause more problems and doesn’t address the root of the issue. By using positive reinforcement training techniques to build up your dog’s engagement with the person at the end of the leash, you are creating a positive association AND telling them what to do instead. By doing this, you are reaching the cause of the issues which is their negative emotions.
Karen Pryor has amazing resources on Engage Disengage and teaching your dog to look (engage) at a distraction, receive a reward, and then look away (disengage) to learn that it is okay to look away from something scary.
If you are struggling with a reactive dog, please reach out to schedule an evaluation and training sessions! You can go from being hyper vigilant to actually enjoying your walks outside with your dog 💚🍀
Congrats to Blake and Oz on passing their Canine Good Citizen test!
They are the first team that I tested. 🤗
Happy International Chihuahua Day!
I personally love Chihuahuas and own two chihuahua mixes. You may get to meet Ariel as a client to help working towards your Canine Good Citizen, working on dog reactivity, or while in training to become a service dog!
I’m happy to share that I’ve earned my Canine Good Citizen Evaluator certification. I am now able to administer CGC tests, puppy STAR, CGC-Advanced, CGC-Urban, video home manners, and trick dog tests!
Canine Good Citizen is a standardized test for basic obedience. It can be helpful to go through this training and test for dogs and owners who live in apartment complexes, as it will reflect well on their behavior. Learn more about AKC programs and tests at akc.org/sports/akc-family-dog-program/
“High arousal” behavior in animals is a term I often use. But for those without backgrounds in behavior or psychology you might not be familiar with what that means.
What it comes down to is that the animal has a lower threshold for stimuli. Their brain gets overstimulated with too many things for them to sense and perceive and may result in maladaptive behaviors to reduce the amount of stimuli.
Some examples of high arousal behavior in dogs would be excessive, persistent jumping, mouthing, large pupils, panting, pulling on leash, tugging leash with mouth.
In cats, it will be excessive friendliness with little triggers from the people (example: simply seeing a person causes the cat to run to them meowing like crazy and then rubbing on them rapidly), having a short fuse (too much petting causes them to snap and hiss/swat/bite), large pupils, a flicking tail, piloerection (hair standing up), fighting with other animals (especially other cats), and being difficult for veterinary staff to handle due to biting/growling/hissing/swatting.
Additionally, I also use this term with rabbit behavior. Rabbits who are reactive to movement (especially in their territory) that will suddenly lunge, charge, growl, box, and bite.
If you have a pet who sounds like these descriptions and you would like help learning how to better interact with them or want individualized training, please reach out via PM, text/call 623-551-9205, or email at [email protected]
THE YERKES DODSON LAW 📣
Increasing generalized arousal is essential for optimal performance BUT excessive arousal impairs performance. 🤯
This is commonly seen in the dog sports world, but is also an issue in for the average pet. This can look like hyperactive behavior, over excitement, and/or reactivity. 💥
What is important is that our dogs do have the ability to regulate their arousal, but for some dogs this is a challenge. 🐾
There are many things that you, as the trainer or pet guardian, can do both passively and actively to help your dog learn how to self-regulate. Allowing a dog time to process the environment and encouraging sniffing activities are two ways you can support your dog learning to regulate their arousal. Incorporating these activities in your training plan are essential for those dogs that struggle with arousal regulation. 🙌🏼
Congratulations to Ruby, Dash, and Canoe for completely four weeks of Basics Training!
Living with multiple cats in one house can be difficult if you don’t have the right foundation for their relationship(s). Check out these tips on how to introduce cats to help ensure they are happy and comfortable with each other!
Fun facts:
•cats are solitary in nature (not antisocial). They prefer to not have extensive social interactions.
•cats don’t have reconciliation behaviors like other species because they don’t naturally live in social groups for survival.
•cats are territorial, as this preserves their access to vital resources. But they may flee the find new territory as a survival tactic.
•a domestic cat living outdoors will roam hundreds of acres of land.
•the average household causes issues for a multi cat household because it is 1) very small compared to what they would naturally roam, preventing cats from separating to avoid conflict 2) resources are clumped together making it so that cats have to run into one another repeatedly and fight for things they need
Congratulations to Gus on completing 4 weeks of Behavior Modification!
His owner and ‘godmother’ did such amazing work on training for him.
Test your knowledge with these body language searches.
What is an example of body language that your pet does frequently? Do you know what it means? Comment below!
I love helping owners understand their pet’s body language to promote growth in their relationships through mutual understanding and respect.
Most bites are likely to be preventable from understanding an animal’s escalation signs. The early ones can be missed if you do not have a trained eye or experience with properly escalating warnings/communication.
If you would like to give your dog more freedom to move around or don’t have a fenced-in yard, opt for a long line instead!
Retractable leashes can be dangerous! Use a classic six-foot leash as a safer alternative for you and your dog. 🧡
Check out this playlist made of calming music for your dog (and you)!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/33Kc5r0bpClgFmHZL98abe?si=X16pi62MTZScbN5JeXmpeA
Congratulations to Gabby and Kirby on completing 4 weeks of training! They are Four Leaf’s very first graduates 💚
Gabby worked on basics and tricks. Kirby worked on getting more comfortable and confident being a dog. Their parents, Julie and Matt, did such amazing work with them and we saw huge improvements. So excited to see their progress in the future!
| Monday | 09:00 - 17:00 |
| Tuesday | 09:00 - 13:00 |
| Wednesday | 09:00 - 17:00 |
| Thursday | 09:00 - 13:00 |
| Friday | 09:00 - 17:00 |
| Saturday | 12:00 - 17:00 |
| Sunday | 09:00 - 17:00 |
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“You need to correct your dog for barking and lunging at things” “You need to make your dog sit and watch you when a distraction comes by” Actually you don’t! “Correcting” your dog for reactive responses can cause more problems and doesn’t address the root of the issue. By using positive reinforcement training techniques to build up your dog’s engagement with the person at the end of the leash, you are creating a positive association AND telling them what to do instead. By doing this, you are reaching the cause of the issues which is their negative emotions. @clickertraining Karen Pryor has amazing resources on Engage Disengage and teaching your dog to look (engage) at a distraction, receive a reward, and then look away (disengage) to learn that it is okay to look away from something scary. If you are struggling with a reactive dog, please reach out to schedule an evaluation and training sessions! You can go from being hyper vigilant to actually enjoying your walks outside with your dog 💚🍀 #reactivedog #reactivedogtraining #fearreactivity #fearreactivedog #positivereinforcementtraining #positivereinforcementdogtraining #phoenixdogtraining #phoenixpetbehavior #dogbehaviorspecialists
Have you ever heard a hamster hiss before? The video below is a hamster I worked with in the shelter. I named her ‘Zap’ because of her electric hiss! She was surrendered due to her behavior issues of biting, hissing, and being unsocial. Although the hamsters from pet stores are a domesticated species, they sometimes revert to untame behavior without enough handling. Do you need help with your hamster? Please see the “Critter Services” menu for more information, or reach out to schedule a session!
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