Pied Piper Dog Training

After a recent tragedy in the dog community where a family lost more than half of their dogs in an unexpected house fire, I just wanted to touch on the importance of fire safety in your home especially when you have pets. Here are some tips from kiddie.com on fire safety: Pet proofing: Like with human children, homes most often require pet proofing. Pay careful attention to objects such as stove knobs and hot appliances that can be knocked over or turned on by curious pets. ...Never leave a lit candle within reach of a pet. Discard or store leftover food out of reach to prevent pets from trying to grab it (i.e. avoid leaving food on the stove). Train pets to alarm sound: Dogs may become unsettled or anxious when a smoke alarm sounds, running and hiding rather than heading toward the door. Kidde recommends families work with skilled, professional trainers to help their canine friends learn how to properly respond to alarms. Window clings: In an emergency, first responders need to be able to quickly assess the number of pets in a home. Consider attaching a removable/replaceable decal to a window near entrances to let rescuers know how many animals are inside. Include pets in escape plans: Pets should always be included in a family's evacuation plan. Stay aware of their typical hiding spots and where they often nap in case you must evacuate quickly, and assign a family member to account for each pet. Keep an emergency kit with food, medication, and a leash near the exit. When you're not home, keep pets in areas near entrances where emergency responders can easily find them. When you leave home: Pets can be mischievous, so consider confining them to a specific area, ideally close to an entrance - using items like a crate or dog gates - to keep them safe and to make it easier for first responders to remove them quickly to safety in case of emergency. Replace alarms at 10 years: Smoke alarms must be replaced after 10 years. Even if you do it all right sometimes terrible things still happen but its good to be as prepared as possible. If you are interested in reading the story you can see it here: https://www.facebook.com//5608553453022/10223965674985236/

To be off-leash or not to be off-leash. Stand-by for a very long but informative lecture on leash laws. Three times this week, I have been approached by off-leash dogs with my on-leash dogs in hand. Every time I had to worry for the safety of my dogs and attempt to control the interaction with a strange animal. Owners stood back and watched or repeatedly attempted to call their dogs off, and left me to deal with these dogs on my own. Its frustrating, it can be frightening, a...Continue reading

Take a minute to complete a poll regarding group classes, regardless of if you are in a situation where you need them. Now that group classes are deemed safe again (with some restrictions) would you: A. Want to do classes right away? B. Want to wait a few weeks-months for fewer restrictions/to see if anything changes?... C. Prefer private lessons over group lessons. I just want to see a rough idea of how people are feeling about group situations these days!

My [Insert Breed] shouldn't do that! My collie shouldn't be afraid of or mean to kids. My Doberman shouldn't be skittish. My Pyrenees shouldn't be trying to eat my chickens. My mastiff shouldn't be jumpy and nippy. Maybe your breed shouldn't but YOUR DOG does. ...Continue reading

Only THREE weeks until Christmas. This weeks small business feature is: Yellow Pieuvre- dream catchers and a little more. Emily creates beautiful and imaginative dreamcatchers. They are available in many stores around the area as well as having lots of custom options. She also currently has beautiful Christmas ornaments up for sale as well! Check out it for the spiritual or artistic person on your list. ... As always if you know a small business person let me know to get them featured.

It's time to jump for joy friends! We are getting a new set of group obedience classes rolling right away! Details: An indoor 6 week course at 6:00 p.m with a tentative start date of October 27th. This course teaches sit, down, stay, come, leash manners, drop-it, leave-it, and targeting. We cover appropriate dog interactions, greetings, and have opportunity to discuss any day to day issues with your dog. The investment is $150. Covid-19 regulations: Since we are indoors we will be requiring face coverings, hand sanitization upon entering building, and there will be a limit of 2 handlers per dog. Class size will be LIMITED so be sure to register quickly!

Oh no Piper made the naughty list Is your pet naughty or nice this year? And are they getting presents regardless?

ONLY 5 weeks until Christmas! Our next local brand feature is: Tanglewood Garden & Farm Organic Soap & Wellness Apothecary This Caroline based organic soap maker is one of my personal favorites. Everything is handmade and always delicious. They have products that are fantastic for every member of the family including your dog! So if you're looking for some truly awesome bath products make sure to check them out. :)... As always if you're a local little guy, feel free to reach out and we will feature you. Keep on spreading love (from a distance <3 ) !

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! Today we are taking some time to be thankful for the things in our lives. I am thankful for my friends and family both human and furred, I am thankful that we have had an extended fall with nice weather, I am thankful for the continued health of those I care for, and I am of course thankful for my lovely Pied Piper community. ... Best wishes to all of you on this holiday!

It is 6 weeks until Christmas! I love Christmas. And as a small local business I also love small local businesses! I'll being using this platform to feature local products and artists (especially those who are also animal lovers!). If you are in the market for Christmas presents stayed tuned. And if you are a local business or artist reach out to collaborate, and I would love to feature you! This Week's Artist: CJS Twist'd Jewelry! "CJS Twist'd Jewelry was a simple little th...ought to me, I've always been creative, and I decided oh why not just try. I'm local to Rocky Mountain House, I work over full time in the summer and not a lot in the winter so this became the perfect thing to do, so this is my VERY small business! But I love it! I do a lot of Metal stamping on Bracelets, Rings, Pet ID Tags, Blanket Tags, Key chains, ETC. Whatever YOU can think of I will bring it to life for you, or at least I'll do my very best. I also wire wrap crystals , which is very fun as I am a very outdoorsy person, and I make candles with intentions, Protection, Prosperity, Love, ETC."

We talked today at college about the human-animal bond. What do you think the human-animal bond does for you? I think our pets make us better people. I'd love to hear from you and see pictures of animals (not just dogs) who you love and have loved!

"How do I turn this thing off?!" is a common complaint with young and energetic dogs. You run them until you pass out, play with them for hours, and they are still wild all evening. It's exhausting and frustrating... and surprisingly easy to correct. What we have here is a lack of an "OFF switch." But installing one doesn't require a handyman. As with any other skill our dogs learn, learning to be calm requires practice. This is where we introduce placework. Place work is as...signing a dog a spot where they are expected to stay and relax for as long as you need them too. We train placework by getting the dog on their spot and keeping them there. You can use either a physical restraint like a leash to keep them limited to that area, a crate that they can be enclosed in, or by keeping firm watch and correcting them when they leave that place. Dogs can be rewarded on a random schedule while they are staying in their place with praise or treats to tell them that they are doing the correct thing. Keep your dog in place until they have completely relaxed into it, we aren't practicing stay we are waiting for true relaxation. We must also remember that if you have put your dog deliberately into a place that you should remember to release them when you no longer feel it is necessary. After a couple of sessions you should notice your dog visibly settle in their spot because they have learned that being there means being calm. So teach your dog to calm down and enjoy a peaceful evening, because you both deserve it.

What is appropriate greeting? And why is it important? 1. An appropriate greeting is brief. Very brief. Studies show that dogs on their own will greet each other for 7 seconds or less. In a natural greetings dogs meet each other nose to tail and then leave after a few seconds of sniffing. In our human world greetings are influenced by leashes and people being in the way or being something a dog wants to protect. In this case we still want to try to mimic the natural greeti...ng patterns. So to follow the Pied Piper Method, allow your dogs to approach from the side, head-to-head greetings are viewed as aggressive. Most dogs will curve towards each other to convey non-aggressive intent. Allow dogs to sniff each others hind end (in the dog world this is polite). Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three seconds allows enough time to judge the other dog but avoids any aggressive response from either dog. At this point disengage your dogs and carry on your way. Alternately if you want to see if the dogs want to play, repeat the process of the three second greeting a couple more times. Pretty soon you'll be able to tell if the dogs like each other and are showing play signals or if they would rather not. Then use your own discretion with what follows. 2. Why is it important? I'm betting you're not a fan of strangers barrelling up to you and giving you bear hugs, right? Your dog is probably the same. A polite, sideways, brief intro is the equivalent of a handshake at a party. It's good manners and sets a good tone for future interactions with that dog and all future dogs. If your pet knows they won't be flattened by the neighbors exuberant Great Dane, they're more likely to want to interact with it. Always ask the other owner if they want to do an intro, keep it under three seconds, and then go back about your day. In this series of photos you can see each step. 1- Dogs are greeting each other from more of a side angle, each dog is curving into a 'C' shape as they work their way down each others body. 2- Here they have settled into a rear end sniff, still curved. The owners are preparing to move along (because the greeting is so short you're moving almost the whole time). 3. Dogs have been moved away, our lab very focused on his owner and not feeling the need to interact with the other dog. The whole process is low-key, natural, and quick. Not all dogs are dog people, so this keeps them from feeling uncomfortable. Does your dog have any dog friends? Let us know!

Taking your dog to a trainer is a lot like taking a car to a mechanic. When you first get a car you take it for an inspection to make sure that its roadworthy. Similarly you should take your dog to a trainer to do an assessment of their behavior, what they know and don't, and where your potential trouble spots might be. Next we take our cars into the shop for routine maintenance. You get your oil changed, tires rotated, and change the air filter. Thusly you should also take y...our dog in to establish a solid obedience foundation to make sure that daily life runs smoothly. If you're noticing a strange rattling noise that could indicate a larger issue, you take it in to make sure it doesn't get worse. So if you are seeing some troubling behaviors in your dog, talk to your trainer before they escalate into dangerous behaviors. It's a lot easier to do an oil change then fix catastrophic engine seizure. If you have a true emergency like your tire blowing up you take your car in as soon as is safe to do, and your mechanic can squeeze you in to make it right. If your dog has some sort of incident that might leave lasting trauma it can be important to undo it before it becomes a set-in-stone issue. And finally if you really love your vehicle you might want to put in some extras and upgrades just for fun. You can do all sorts of fun activities with your dog to upgrade your relationship with them! A solid maintenance plan and a close relationship with your trainer can make sure that you get as many smooth miles as possible with your pooch.

Sent another basic obedience class on their way yesterday. It was such a lovely group of people! Every dog matured by miles from the first class to the last, and we had fun doing it. You can always tell whoch teams put in the most practice and effort by how much improvement you see. Good job guys! Group classes will temporarily be suspended as I'm going back to college in September. I will be training but more part time as my schedule allows. Group classes will be announced ...on the Facebook page as usual so keep an eye here. I will however keep open availability for private lesson packages, video lessons, phone/video/in-person consultations and assessments, and clinics. Feel free to reach out and I'll do everything possible to accommodate you. Happy training everyone!

Remember safety first! Wash your dirty paws, muzzle up, and don't sniff each others butts!

I'm very excited to announce that I am now a Certified Trick Dog Instructor for Do More With Your Dog! The trick dog program allows you to earn titles, ribbons, and certificates for your dog mastering tricks, and I can assess them and vouch for each team. I'm pretty excited to be able to help people earn these awards!

And day three is done! Tricks went amazingly well! Dogs got to tackle a variety of tricks from easy classics to more advanced and unusual tricks. Great job to everyone who participated!

Day 2 of 3 was obstacles! I am so very proud of and impressed by these dogs and owners! They tackled each obstacle with positivity and enthusiasm and by the end of the day all they dogs had conquered any fear they had and showed off just how amazing they are! I can't say enough about how much fun we had today, and how dedicated these teams are. :) <3

Y'all ready for this?

Day 1 of 3 down! Nosework was a blast! These three came in with no prior experience and by the end were reliably finding the odor, alerting, and capable of doing multiple types of searches. Watch out K9 units we have some formidable sniffer dogs here! Next up: obstacles!