From A Dog's Eye View

**This episode is dedicated to Gary Flynn, all of the Task Forces deployed with their search and rescue canines, including Ohio Task Force 1, and those who perished on September 11, 2001. This is also dedicated to the dog handlers and emergency crews who continue to suffer from the trauma experienced during that time, and to their family members supporting the mental and health issues of their loved ones who continue to suffer.September 11 was the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. People were stunned and frightened as they watched the events unfold on their television screens. After the plot to destroy human lives and weaken American leadership had concluded on that horrific day, the largest call-up of emergency services occurred and FEMA task forces were deployed. One of the 26 FEMA task forces summoned was Gary Flynn and Ohio Task Force 1.I highly recommend listening to this podcast where Gary describes, in detail at times, how the events impacted him and his 5 year old Belgian Malinois, Tascha. To say that this was an emotional podcast is an understatement. In fact, words cannot describe adequately the plethora of information that Gary was willing to share. Therefore, I am only going to write about details in the best way possible to help break down the magnitude of that day, and the months and years to follow. This is also the platform where I can share photos that Gary took during his time there. Never did I think that I would meet and get to know someone who I could call my mentor and my friend, and someone who tirelessly worked at finding survivors with his personally trained professional dog. This was a war zone, no doubt about that. The way that Gary describes how he got the call while working his day job at BIOPLASTICS CO. in North Ridgeville, Ohio, is already uniquely different than the majority of us who watched the news that day in our homes. He was called up and ready to go like any soldier summoned to war. We all remember exactly where we were when we found out about the first plane slamming into the World Trade Center. None of us dreamt this was part of a much bigger plot to wreak devastation on a such a grand scale. We were able to watch the events on tv in the security of our homes. However, the first responders and those called up to search for survivors had to risk their lives and the lives of their beloved and highly trained canines.Out of the 72 people in Ohio deployed by FEMA, only 4 dog handlers and their canines were chosen to go. Three of the four handlers were from OSDA (Gary’s search and rescue dog agency). The fourth handler, Terry Trepanier was a veteran firefighter and paramedic from Washington Township, shown in the picture below with his dog Woody. There were many more qualified people ready and willing to go serve, but were not chosen by the federal government to assist. FEMA plans for disasters similar to this and whatever they decide is not to be debated or contested. Gary talks about how much the love and support from those not selected to go was an immeasurable support system while being there.FEMA requested that the canines to be deployed be live human finds only. Gary had a cadaver dog, Felix, fully trained and ready to go, but that was not what was needed from Ohio Task Force 1. There were Task Forces from other states who received the order for trained cadaver dogs. However, Gary’s dog Tascha, exhibited an aversive behavior whenever she would come across cadaver parts. She would shrug her body in such a way that it was almost an actual alert signal. Gary had specifically trained her to go past any cadavers and only focus on the live human scent. Gary and Tascha worked 12 hour shifts, but it never ended at the 12th hour. If they were commanded to search a specific area of “the pile” (which was approximately 40 stories high) and they kept finding more openings within that pile to investigate, they did not quit just because their shift was up. They continued until there was no more area left to search . If it required to rappel blindly into a dark hole, then that’s what they did. Sending his dog in first with no leash and no collar to find survivors caused fear and anxiety that cannot be verbally described. “I can tell you what it was like, but I have no way to tell you how it feels” Gary FlynnGary and Tasha weren’t always working the pile. Sometimes they were commanded to search the surrounding buildings. A badly damaged structure assigned to Gary and Tascha was the Merrill Lynch Financial Center, pictured below. They had to climb 51 flights of stairs with no lights to guide them and search every inch for survivors. What they found was mostly plane pieces, cadavers, luggage and clothes. Gary says that the job always starts from the top on down, instead of the other way around. That way, when you are all done with the search, you can just exit the building.One of my questions to Gary was about using protective gear for himself and his dog. Gary had all the protective gear needed for a toxic environment like the one at Ground Zero. He knew what he could be exposed to because he was a certified environmental hazard specialist. However, the protective gear got in the way when navigating through narrow passages with sharp objects all around. He wished he could have worn the gear all the time, but it wasn’t feasible. Tasha did not wear any boots for her paws. She managed okay without them. She did endure a large burned area on her chest, not from direct fire, but from abrasions caused by squeezing in between and crawling through so much rubble. The wound healed up, but the fur never grew back. She lived until the ripe old age of 17. She was a cancer survivor on top of all that. It was too difficult to say that the cancer was due to her exposure to chemicals at Ground Zero, but living 13 years after the event is pretty astonishing! Gary is beyond grateful to the Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams dispatched by FEMA to Ground Zero to provide medical care to the hundreds of search and rescue dogs on site. Tascha became dehydrated to the point where she needed to have intravenous fluids pumped into her. The VMAT teams provided the prompt assistance required to get Tascha back on her paws again.Another question I asked Gary was if dogs experience PTSD. He believes they do but it is because those dogs were not properly trained or they were not the type of dog that could handle the stress from search and rescue work. Just like not all dogs make good service dogs, not all dogs are cut out to make effective search and rescue dogs. The stamina and prolonged self motivation required for this kind of work is not present in all dogs. The dogs who have been correctly trained succeed and love what they do. Their handlers reward them with play time whenever they can sneak in a few minutes of downtime. Sometimes, due to the tasks at hand, the only reward was their handler’s voice praising them. Other times, down time meant rest time. Catching a few Z’s had to be squeezed in there too!Another amazing feature of the search and rescue dog is their ability to provide loving and caring support to their handlers and emergency staff members. Gary said there were plenty of them crying into their beloved dog’s fur. Dogs provide comfort that humans cannot. It’s just different. Gary is eternally grateful to so many people, but most importantly, his wife and young daughter. Returning from any search and rescue mission is difficult to resume a normal routine, but coming back home from Ground Zero was especially challenging. The trauma of seeing so much death and destruction can make it hard to carry on. Gary encourages anyone experiencing trauma to seek help. PTSD manifests itself in so many disguising ways. Seeking professional help is crucial to learning how to resume mundane chores and a “normal” lifestyle. You want things to be the way they were, but it’s impossible when you have changed because of this traumatic event in your life. I want to extend my humble and sincere gratitude to Gary for giving me the opportunity to talk about such an emotional subject. I feel deeply that our paths crossed at Petco because as fate would have it, one day I would have the platform for him to share his experience with all of you. So many people suffered, and sadly still suffer, from that sunny fall day 24 years ago that suddenly turned dark. Please be kind to all people. You don’t know what their story is.Thanks for reading From A Dog’s Eye View! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit canineconcierge.substack.com

Search and Rescue dogs are highly trained canines used to locate missing people and their personal items at disaster sites either natural or man-made, crime scenes, and terrorist attacks. Dogs possess the ability to pick up different scents that humans and technology cannot. They travel faster than humans when navigating through rough terrain, which speeds up the process of finding missing individuals. Time is of the essence when working a search and rescue mission. Every minute counts when dealing with life and death. Human emotions can be highly charged during these missions. Therefore, professional search and rescue organizations must maintain a sense of calm and control while adhering to local, state and federal standards.  Gary Flynn, owner and head handler for The Dog Advocate in Vermilion, Ohio, has been passionate about working with dogs since his time in the military. His training as an infantryman taught him how to navigate in the wilderness. This highly refined skill became very useful when he started working with Georgia Canine Search and Rescue while stationed at Fort Benning. Land navigation skills are extremely useful while working on a mission that may last days, even weeks. Sometimes these search and rescue missions will take crews into the woods or disaster sites where there are no well defined exits. The crews have to figure out how to navigate through it without getting lost. Before cell phone and GPS technology, search and rescue missions were even more challenging. Gary used his land navigation skills and applied them to become an extremely qualified and well sought after search and rescue handler. Upon Gary’s discharge from the military, he moved back to familiar territory in Vermilion, Ohio. He knew he wanted to become a professional search and rescue canine handler. He contacted Benji McPeak who owned and operated Firelands Kennels. Benji was a police dog trainer who also trained wannabe professional handlers like Gary. Benji had contracts to train dogs for the Ohio State Police, numerous sheriff departments, and even police departments that had their own canine programs. Gary started training dogs in junkyards searching for various items and conducting car searches for drugs. However, what really sparked his interest was training cadaver dogs - placing cadaver parts in different areas for training purposes for the dog to find.One of the most important lessons that Gary learned was how to shape dogs into performing desired behaviors. It takes a skillful eye to piece together the deliberate behavior conditioning by the handler with what the dog does naturally. Reading the dog accurately was key to developing the most effective and reliable professional dog. Taking this skillset and applying it to searching for humans, dead or alive, became one of Gary’s specialties. He trained his dog to be a cadaver dog. He used this skill many times when doing area searches of collapsed buildings, floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters.Gary discovered that how he trained dogs to alert him to dead or live finds was different than a fellow canine handler for the Ohio State Patrol. Gary trained his imported German Shepherd, Iren, to alert him to a deceased body by running back to him, bark 4-5 times, and then run back and forth between him and the deceased. If the body was alive, she was trained to run to Gary, run back to the person, and stay there and bark. This was vital later on when Gary had his own search and rescue agency and he got a call from a homicide detective for the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) who was trying to solve a missing persons case. Sometimes Gary was called to help solve cold cases. There was a possibility that by using one of his dog’s keen sense of smell and method of alerting, some of the SBI’s cold cases would result in closure.One of those cases was a deathbed confession. The murderer told his wife where the body was. Then, the wife was dying and told their daughter. So many years had passed, so the credibility of this confession was suspect. However, the daughter did the right thing and contacted the police. The police made contact with the new owners of her parent’s house. Then, Gary and his cadaver dog, two forensic anthropologists and a coroner showed up. Bingo! The remains were there and the identity of the deceased was verified.Another pertinent lesson that Gary learned while working for Benji was how to keep a dog engaged with their handler and remain focused with the task at hand for a prolonged period of time. This is the foundation for building the motivation and drive which is required in professional dogs. A tremendous amount of time is spent teaching the dog not to give up. Providing the appropriate rewards and the timing of it is also extremely important to achieve this. As a professional handler, Gary believes everything he does is intentional. The dogs must be worked in every type of situation imaginable so they ignore the bunny that runs in front of them and continue to search for people or articles of clothing. They have to ignore the juicy cheeseburger on the ground and be motivated enough to stay on course. Many times the dogs are out of the handler’s sight, so it is crucial to work with them in all scenarios in order to ensure they stay on task.I believe this lesson can be applied on a much smaller scale to every dog owner who wants to train their dogs to do a certain behavior. You have to make it exciting and fun for the dog with plenty of rewards to keep your dog engaged. Otherwise, the dog will wander off mentally and physically because you are not providing enough excitement to keep them interested. I had the privilege to work with one of Gary’s professional dogs named Abby. First, Gary demonstrated how he worked Abby through the different stages of escalating her drives. Once he got her to where she needed to be, he had me copy him. I put the bite sleeve on my arm and shouted out the German commands for her to run towards me, no leash, no collar, and bite my sleeve. I was not scared because I trusted Gary and knew previously how well controlled Abby was. Since it was my first time wearing a bite sleeve, I was hesitant and not confident enough. I couldn’t get Abby to respond in the same way that Gary could. Gary told me that I wasn’t all in. I needed to be 100% committed in order for Abby not to be confused with what I was trying to achieve and then stop working for me. I tried again and did better, but I definitely needed practice! This is exactly what Benji taught Gary and Gary taught other handlers. The easy part is shaping the dog’s behavior. The hard part is teaching the handler to trust their dog and maintain prolonged engagement with them.Benji introduced Gary to North American Police Work Dog Association (NAPWADA) and North American Search Dog Network (NASDN). These organizations established a working standard for all police work dog handlers and trainers through an accreditation program. There are standards for tracking article search, area search and human remains detection. Any evidence that could be presented in court had to adhere to strict standards so as not to corrupt a crime scene. Gary even brought his dog into court to prove the reliability of their results. As far as search and rescue missions were concerned, Gary started noticing the lack of standards in place that was prohibiting the expediency and efficiency of conducting and completing a mission. The issue of liability was emerging and the last thing Gary wanted was for him or his co-workers to be sued by individuals because the integrity of the mission was compromised. This was the motivation for Gary to form his own search and rescue agency, Ohio Search Dog Agency, which still exists today.The impetus to follow through with Gary’s desire to form his own search and rescue agency was when he received 3 calls to find missing searchers in the same county. Gary realized that not all search and rescue handlers had the same land navigation skillset he did. There was no requirement to be trained in that and no guidelines to be certified in wilderness first aid. Being a paramedic is a great foundation for what may be expected of a handler while being deployed on a mission, but it is not the same as wilderness first aid. Injuries from a tornado are different than injuries from a flood or a terrorist attack such as Ground Zero on 9/11. Search and rescue is not just about the dog sniffing out and finding missing humans. It’s also about getting the proper education required, knowing the standards and most importantly, knowing your dog. Lack of resources, lack of egress, and the undefined time spent searching, are all factors that weed out the professionally trained handlers from the volunteer handlers. Gary understands that people want to volunteer their dog during times of disasters. Their hearts are in the right place, but due to their lack of professional training, they get in the way and can become a liability. Gary suggests to people who want to become handlers of search and rescue dogs to contact their local Emergency Management Agency and inquire about trainers with credentials and experience in search and rescue in their area. Start your way down the chain of command instead of the other way around. There are too many organizations who claim they are search and rescue experts but they are not. Make sure you weed them out from the real professionals.Some of the individuals Gary was introduced to when he worked for Benji would become invaluable assets to him when he formed his own search and rescue agency in the 90s called Ohio Search Dog Association, He decided to contact three people he thought would work well together in this new venture. One of them was John Macioce, who had a lot of experience working with professional dogs with Benji like Gary did. Another person was Mike Pal

Canine Companions is one of the premier service dog organizations in the United States. They provide dogs to people with disabilities free of charge. One of the clients who applied for a Canine Companions service dog is Jim Turner. Jim has a hearing dog named Koogle, who helps him navigate his daily life with confidence and independence. I had the privilege of talking to Jim with Koogle by his side, and saw first hand how Koogle assists Jim as his link to the world of sound.Jim was diagnosed with bilateral neurosensory hearing loss during a company physical exam when he was in his forties. His wife, Kathleen, thought he had selective hearing and was sometimes ignoring her. It is a hereditary condition which worsens over time. Since then, he has been wearing hearing aids. Jim’s hearing challenges are defined by the limitations of not being able to hear the upper half of the frequency range that humans normally hear. Smoke detectors, doorbells, microwave alarms are all very challenging for Jim because even his hearing aids do not pick up that frequency. Also, when Jim is in a crowd of people, it is difficult to hear, especially when his name is being called amongst all that background noise. Jim and Kathleen were familiar with Canine Companions because they were already puppy raisers for the organization. Volunteers like Jim and his wife, agree to raise the puppies provided to them by selected breeders from 8 weeks to 16-18 months old until they go on to professional training. (Please refer to my previous post with Staicey Sholtz dated 8/5/25 for more details about puppy raisers).Jim was being encouraged by his close friends in the Canine Companions community to get a service dog. He didn’t feel that his hearing loss was that bad to warrant one. He wanted the service dogs to be reserved for people who were deaf. An event in his life changed his mind. One day, his wife was working in the kitchen and hurt herself. She was bleeding and calling Jim for help. Jim was only 10 feet away in another room and had no clue he was being called. He didn’t hear her pleas for help. That day he applied for a service dog. Jim filled out an application online at Canine Companions’ website: canine.org. Applicants are prompted to describe their disability and how they could benefit from a service dog. The organization then reaches out to them for an initial interview. There is a space to write about your lifestyle - what your interests are, if you are an active or sedentary person. In Jim’s case, he had to provide a medical recommendation from his audiologist about hearing limitations. Canine Companions wants to ensure that the request is not only warranted, but also to match up the right dog with each applicant. This entire process can take up to two years. Jim is a retired geologist. He had an illustrious career in the oil and gas industry and was part of a team who located oil and gas under ground. The first day of Jim’s retirement, at age 63, was the day he started his team training with Koogle. It was meant to be!Part of the process of getting a service dog from Canine Companions is to go to one of their training facilities to be matched up with your personal service dog. At the time, Jim and Kathleen were living in Houston, Texas. The closest training facility was located in Oceanside, California. This is where he completed his two week team training, referred to as “rotations”. There were 7 applicants and 8 dogs. All of the applicants practiced handling each one of the dogs. The professional trainers who spend 6 months with these dogs make their observations and match up the best dog for each applicant. The “extra” dog remains at the training facility and is the first one in the next rotation to be matched up with the next group of applicants. After several days, Jim was matched with Koogle. Jim said it was like magic how accurately the teams were put together so perfectly. Koogle is a six year old Labrador Retriever Cross. His mother is 50% Lab/50% Golden Retriever and his father is 100% Lab. Canine Companions select breeders who must meet certain standards. Koogle’s breeder was the caretaker of Koogle’s mother and had the privilege of naming one of the puppies in the litter. Canine Companions have restrictions for naming the puppies so that the names are appropriate and not repetitive. Koogle’s breeder/caretaker’s maiden name was Koogle. What a great way to honor her late father.During Jim’s two week stay at the training facility, he learned many cues that were taught to Koogle. The trainers tailored certain cues according to Jim’s hearing loss needs. He learned protocols for socializing Koogle such as making sure Koogle wears his Canine Companions vest and what he should do when approached by people who want to greet Koogle. The first six months, Jim was to be the only person to give Koogle food. He was instructed to notify close friends and relatives about how important the first six months were and to abide by Jim’s rules so as to not disrupt any training Koogle had received up to this point. Canine Companions wants to assure that the bonding between their client and the dog remains intact.The Americans With Disabilities Act does not require any labeling or vests for service dogs. Canine Companions require their dogs to wear a vest which you will see in some of the pictures below. Wearing a vest helps Jim notify the public that Koogle is a service dog. He found it useful to have “Please Ask To Pet” sewn on to it. Like most dogs, Koogle loves people and would love to greet everybody he meets. However, every time he says hello to people, he is no longer working for Jim during that interaction. It is out of respect for the handler of any dog, let alone a service dog, that they be asked first to greet their dog.Koogle was trained to perform many different tasks to assist Jim in his everyday life. When he hears an alarm, a doorbell, or Jim’s name being called, he is to find Jim, nudge him with his nose, Jim tells him, “Good, Koogle what?”and Koogle takes him to where the sound is. However, if it is a smoke alarm, Koogle will still nudge Jim, but instead of taking him to the noise, he lays down. So, whenever Jim sees Koogle lay down after being nudged, he knows to get out of the building they are in. Koogle was also trained to do standard service dog tasks such as turning on and off lights and opening and closing drawers. He can even jump up and push the accessibility button to open doors in public places.One intangible benefit that Jim did not expect to experience with a hearing dog was the acceptance of having a hearing disability. For example, Koogle gives Jim the confidence he needs when trying to have a conversation with someone in a crowded environment. Background noise impedes the ability to hear well. He is more apt to tell a stranger to repeat themselves because he has a hearing disability when Koogle is by his side.Jim’s wife was very excited to have a hearing dog in the house so she didn’t feel she always had to be Jim’s ears. Koogle relieves her of knowing that when she is not with Jim, the dog can alert him, if needed. Even something as simple as dropping his keys and not hearing that sound, Koogle can stop Jim by nudging him and taking him to where he heard the keys drop. This gives his wife a lot of reassurance that he will manage well when going out of the house. Jim believes there are two aspects to being a service dog. One is the ability to perform the tasks they were trained to do as demonstrated in the video above. That’s the easy part! The other part is that the dogs need to be calm and manageable in public. This is attributed to the puppy raisers who properly socialize them while they are in their care. The other part of being calm is the temperament of the dog. This speaks to the breeding of these dogs. For example, if a dog is too hyper or has a high prey drive, Canine Companions breeders will not breed that dog. In both podcast videos of Staicey Sholtz and Jim Turner, their dogs remained laying down until they were called to do a task. Although the dogs look like they are sleeping, they always have an ear out for noises that change in their environment or that could possibly harm them. This auditory instinct allows them to differentiate between familiar voices and changes in the intensity of those voices which will wake them up in case they need to act on them. Their dogs are trained to be ready for action as soon as they hear their name being called.Jim meets people out in public who either have service dogs they paid a lot of money for, or who tried to train their own dog only to find out that it didn’t work out for numerous reasons. Sadly, there is plenty of fraud in the service dog field. Organizations will claim they can train your dog to become a service dog, but are not qualified to do so. They also do not have the standards required to be an effective service dog. Canine Companions is a well known and trusted service dog organization yielding qualified dogs and plenty of satisfied clients. There is so much that goes into training service dogs above and beyond just training the standard tasks. If a dog is fearful or even mildly aggressive with certain triggers, this can present problems. Professional trainers can work on these issues with the dogs, but it can slow down the timeline required to place these dogs with applicants. My dog, Ebi, could make a great service dog, but she is too big and too hairy! Also, I have come across some people who are afraid to meet her because of her size, or they are cautious because they don’t know what breed she is. Labs are a great size and can fit under tables at restaurants or places of business. They don’t drool, and have a very inviting look. They are famous for being friendly dogs. They do shed but their fur is not long and fluffy like a Golden Retriever’s

Canine Companions, formerly Canine Companions for Independence, is the oldest and largest service dog organization in the United States. It was formed in 1975 and is credited with starting the concept of the modern service dog that we are familiar with today. They attend to over 65 different types of physical and cognitive disabilities including autism, hearing loss, PTSD, Parkinson’s disease, POTS, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, and debilitating arthritis. They do not train dogs for the blind or for people who need to be alerted for medical conditions such as seizures and low blood sugar levels. Canine Companions provides their own breeders, puppy raisers and professional trainers with the end goal of placing the right dog with the right person in need. Since Canine Companions’ inception, 8,000 dogs have been placed nationwide. Currently, approximately 400 dogs are placed annually, of which 50 are in Ohio. The need for these highly trained dogs far exceeds the supply. Canine Companions’ longterm goal is to decrease the current two year waiting list by increasing the amount of puppies born as well as volunteer puppy raisers.There are many ways that distinguish Canine Companions from other service dog organizations, but the main feature is that these highly trained dogs are provided at no cost to the person in need. Canine Companions exists solely on donations. Please access their website: canine.org to read the stories of the celebrities who have generously donated their time and money to the organization. You can also read many heartwarming personal stories about how these dogs have helped people live their daily lives more independently. One very generous donor was Charles Schultz, the late cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip Peanuts, featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Shultz was instrumental in getting Canine Companions off the ground. He donated money to help fund the national campus and current headquarters in Santa Rosa, CA, where he resided the last 30 years of his life. Since he passed away in 2000, his wife and family continue to support the organization. Canine Companions was founded by Bonnie Bergen. She is credited with inventing the concept of the service dog. Up until then, there were only guide dogs for the visually impaired. While Bonnie was traveling overseas, she saw donkeys assisting people with mobility issues. Her special education background motivated her to help her own students by experimenting with training dogs to assist them. She started with shelter dogs and began training them to pick up things. It was highly successful and rewarding to discover that this could actually be a way to help people with disabilities. Because of her innovative idea and determination, Canine Companions has grown into the thriving service dog organization it is today.Service dogs are different from therapy dogs in that service dogs are trained to perform specific tasks for physically and cognitively challenged individuals. They are paired with an individual in need and live with them in order to assist them to manage their day to day lives with more independence. Service dogs have access rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This permits public access anywhere that humans are allowed to go, except where they may compromise a sterile environment. Most importantly, they serve one person only.Therapy dogs are not trained to perform specific tasks. They are considered a family pet just as service dogs are, but they do not have public access rights. They are able to go to venues that are dog friendly. They are trained and tested to have good manners and are there to provide emotional comfort wherever they go with their handler. Please refer to my June 17 podcast regarding therapy dog training for further details.My guest on this podcast is Staicey Scholtz. Staicey is a Northern Ohio Leadership Team member and a 15-time volunteer puppy raiser. After the female dogs (referred to as dams) give birth at a Canine Companions approved breeder’s home, the puppies are transferred to volunteer puppy raiser’s homes for 16 to 18 months. Currently, Staicey has a 16 month old Lab/Golden mix, named Rocco the 5th, who hopefully will be ready to go to his professional trainer on August 8, 2025. If he qualifies, he will be trained on specific tasks and hopefully placed with a person in need. Staicey also has a 5 month Lab/Golden named Hammond the 3rd.Staicey’s motivation for volunteering as a puppy raiser grew out of the desire to help raise future service dogs. She wanted to help those in need live more independently. According to Staicey, service dogs are life changing. Raising the puppies has had a tremendous impact on her. The experience has made her look at her own life and feel blessed that she does not have a disability that would require a service dog. She views what she does as a puppy raiser as a gift to someone in need.When Staicey is out in public, she sometimes gets comments from people who don’t understand how she can give a dog up after living and caring for them for a year and a half. They think of it as comparable to a death of a pet. Staicey doesn’t view what she does in the same way. The clients who get these dogs love them just as much as she and the professional trainers do. The dogs want to work and are happy doing the jobs they were trained to do. However, she does admit that getting another puppy to fill the gap definitely helps in getting over missing the dog who has finished their stay with her. Hammond will be filling that gap very soon!The journey of a Canine Companions dog begins and ends as follows:* Breeder - from birth to 8 weeks old* Puppy raiser - from 8 weeks old to up to 18 months old* Professional trainer - from 18 to 24 months* Forever handler - from 24 months to end of lifeBreeding ProgramCanine Companions has a state of the art Research and Science Team who discovered that the ideal breed for service dogs involves a combination of Labrador and Golden Retriever. All of the males in the breeding program are 100% Lab. The females can be Lab/Golden crosses and have varied percentages of each in them. They decide which dogs will be best suited for breeding by the time they are old enough to move onto their professional trainers. If a dog is not marked for breeding, it is either spayed or neutered. They are very careful to breed out any physical and medical defects, so that the failure rate of service dogs due to medical reasons is very low. For example, if a dog’s bite doesn’t align quite right, that dog may not be suitable to carry things in their mouth to their handler. A dog like this will most likely be deemed to be a therapy dog, which will be discussed later. Volunteer breeders sign up to take care of either the sire (male) or the dam (female). Litters are born in the homes of these volunteers located in California. If a volunteer has a sire, they will get called to meet up with the dam in heat and travel to that location. They drop them off and give them several days to do their magic and then get picked back up again once the dam is no longer in the receptive period of her heat. Caretakers of dams have the option to whelp (assist in the birthing process) the litter in their own home, but are not obliged to do so. If they choose to experience this, there is a Canine Health and Wellness Center near by to assist them with the birthing process or to just support the breeder during this stressful yet exciting event.When puppies are born in the caretaker’s home, they will be named by a letter of the alphabet which is assigned by headquarters. The breeders will submit 50 names which will be reviewed to make sure there are no other working dogs with the same name. There is a possibility for a donor of $15-$20K to submit a name for a future service dog. In fact, Staicey’s dog Rocco the 5th was named after the owner of Fahrenheit Restaurant in Cleveland - Rocco Whelan. Puppy RaisersOnce the puppies are named, they will be designated to volunteer puppy raisers in one of the six regions of the United States. Ohio is in the North Central region and includes states from western Pennsylvania to North Dakota. The puppy raiser will go to the nearest training center to pick up their puppy. The closest one in Ohio is located in the Columbus suburb of New Albany. This is also the same location where the puppy will return for professional training once they have reached 15 to 18 months.Puppy raisers sign a contract stating that they will be responsible to care for the puppy for the next 15 to 18 months, including veterinary care, food, and spaying or neutering if they aren’t marked for breeding. They are obligated to attend at least two obedience training classes each month which follow the LIMA training philosophy, or as most people are familiar with, the positive reinforcement technique. The LIMA training philosophy stands for Least Intrusive Minimally Aversive, and prioritizes the dog’s well being. They are to avoid any methods causing fear, pain or distress. As soon as the puppy comes home, they are introduced to the preferred walking tool by Canine Companions known as the Gentle Leader. In the picture above, Hammond is wearing a Gentle Leader. In order to establish positive association with the Gentle Leader, the puppy will wear it while they eat as soon as they arrive at the puppy raiser’s home. Since puppies eat three times a day, this is a frequent opportunity for them to get used to it. The Gentle Leader is a tool that requires some conditioning since it encompasses their nose and mouth. Typically dogs do not like it at first and need to gradually get used to it. However, it can be a great tool to guide the dog in different directions and teach a nice heel position. The designated client is under no obligation to use the Gentle Leader, but it is highly recommended. The Gentle L

 In order to have a well-balanced dog, 60% of a dog's day should be filled with exercise, 20% discipline, and the other 20% affection, and in that order. This is according to Cesar Millan, a well known dog behaviorist. I agree with that, but I break that down a little bit more by saying that within that 60% exercise, 40% of it should be structured exercise. This refers to walking your dog in a structured way - more specifically, in a heel position. The dog should not be in front of you, behind you, or allowed to go wherever they want. Another form of structured exercise is playing fetch or tug of war with your dog, but there has to be rules. When playing fetch, the dog must sit before you throw the ball. When the dog brings back the toy, you tell them to drop it, and then step in front of the toy to show that it belongs to you. This demonstrates you are the leader, making the rules of the game you are both engaged in. This also avoids the dog lunging at the toy at the same time as you, possibly avoiding an unintentional bite. After the dog retrieves the toy, you either engage in playing more fetch or you end the game. If playing tug of war, the dog should be trained to release the toy on command. It is important to note that when you are playing tug of war with your dog, you are both competing for the same toy. They will see you as an equal until you set some rules from a position of leadership. Some dogs get over-the-top excited when playing this game, especially the terrier breeds, who are known to hold on at all costs! In order to teach the dog to drop the toy, start with a light game of tug and trade the toy with a treat. At the same time the dog releases the toy from their mouth, say either “Release” or “Drop It”. They need to know what “Release” or “Drop It” means before escalating further with stronger tugging. This takes hundreds of repetitions. If you feel that your dog starts to get into a more aggressive state of mind, please contact me or a certified dog trainer for guidance. The other 20% of a dog’s daily exercise can be unstructured exercise. This includes having free time in a fenced-in yard to wander around or to play with other dogs. Playing with another dog can totally exhaust a dog because there is the physical part of playing, but also the mental part of navigating how to communicate with the other dog. As dogs play with each other, they are communicating through their body language and movements. I always recommend that playtime be supervised in case any disagreements arise between the dogs.Throughout the day, 20% of it should include discipline. This does not mean we are telling the dog “No!” every time they misbehave. It means that we are telling the dog where they can and cannot go. We are enforcing the rules of the house: what to do when guests arrive, if they are allowed on the furniture, or where they are allowed to sleep at night. This is where your basic obedience skills come in to play. For example, you may want the dog to sit and stay while you prepare his breakfast or dinner, or the dog must be in a down stay while your child or grandchild eats at the table. The last 20% of a balanced dog’s day should be affection. The problem most of us have is that we give too much affection to our dogs at the wrong time. We unknowingly pet our dogs lovingly when the dog is in an excited or fearful state of mind. Remember, petting our dogs is a reward in the dog’s mind. You are rewarding the state of mind the dog is in at that moment. The best time to pet our dogs is when they are calm and submissive. We can be fooled by our dogs too. We may think they are calm because they are laying down. However, their brain may be in a tizzy still because they just finished playing and they haven’t calmed down yet. So, if you go to pet your dog and they get up and start getting excited all over again, then they aren’t totally calm and submissive. Just wait a few minutes for the brain to adjust to a calmer state and try again.I believe that our dogs want us to be the leader and make decisions for them. Even in our human family, the parents should be enforcing the rules of the house. Otherwise, the children will feel they have to make their own decisions and they simply do not have the skillset to do so until they have matured into adolescence. Dogs are no different. Remember, they have the intelligence and insight of a 2 to 3 year old toddler. Dogs thrive when they know where to go and what to do in every situation, especially new scenarios. They need their leader to tell them.I have found over the years working with clients, this 60% exercise, 20% discipline and 20% affection is lopsided. People are giving too much affection to their dogs, not enough discipline, and not enough exercise. Some people actually do exercise their dogs quite a bit, but it is mostly unstructured exercise. All of this can lead to unbalanced dogs who end up with various issues that get in the way of living harmoniously with their human family. It is very challenging to keep up with our dogs. They have way more energy than we do. However, by keeping this 60-20-20 lifestyle with our dogs in the forefront of our minds, we are on our way to having a more balanced dog.There are two different types of walks. One is a structured walk in the heel position and the other is a nature walk on a long leash, sometimes referred to as a “Sniffari”-a sniffing safari. The structured walk is what I recommend and teach all of my clients. This involves teaching the dog not to pull on the leash. It involves a mentality that the human is the leader and the dog is the follower. I am not opposed to a sniffari type of walk. Just make sure you are giving the dog permission to be at the end of the long leash instead of the dog making that decision. In fact, a sniffari type of walk can exhaust a dog due to the brain power expended from processing all of the scents on the walk. However, your everyday walks should include a structured walk to maintain a healthy leader-follower relationship.Structured walks in the heel position require a lot of training and patience to accomplish. It doesn’t happen overnight. I haven’t met one person yet who enjoys being pulled on the leash by their dog. However, since it takes months and hundreds of repetitions to achieve a walk with no pulling, people tend to rush the process. So many people abandon walking their dog because of the danger of being pulled. Even those clients who do contact me for this reason, still won’t take the time necessary to teach the dog how to heel, and therefore still deal with being pulled on the leash. The way I have had success in teaching a dog to heel is first finding the best walking tool for that dog. I go in to this in detail in my episode “Harnesses, Leashes and Collars, Oh My!”. After deciding on the right tool for the dog, choose which side you will predominantly walk your dog. It really doesn’t matter if the dog walks on the right or left hand side, unless you have plans to make your dog a show dog, a therapy dog, an AKC Canine Good Citizen, or enter competitive handling competitions. In these cases, it is highly recommended and even mandatory that the dog be walked on the left hand side. As a trainer working with a pack of dogs, it is easier when everybody walks their dog on the left hand side. Some people may have physical limitations which may require the dog to be walked on the right hand side. However, as long as the dog is in the heel position, I can still manage the pack for certain obedience exercises.After determining the right walking tool and the side the dog will walk on, next is teaching the dog to stay next to you by using treats. As far as where the heel position is, I tell clients to think of the dog’s ears lining up with your thigh. When dealing with medium to large dogs, this position is even more important. It helps arrange the dog’s shoulders and chest to be a little behind you. Should the dog lunge, you will have much more control from this posture as opposed to the dog already being in front of you and possibly making you fall down as you try to hold on. Fun fact: The “heel” position originated in the military. Guns were drawn from the right and dogs were handled on the left.When training your dog to walk in the heel position on the left hand side, it is best to hold the leash in your right hand and treat the dog with your left hand. If your left arm hangs straight down with your hand open and palm facing the dog’s mouth, that is the heel position. Treat the dog only when the leash is loose. Later, add the “Heel” command and always use your voice to confirm this by saying, “Good Heel”. I taught my dog Ebi this way. She doesn’t know how to walk way in front of me. A Leonberger in front of their handler would be sending a message to the dog to protect the handler. That is not a scenario I want to intentionally create. I wish more people asked me how often they should walk their dog. Before I knew how beneficial it was to the dog, I would walk my Corgi, Hank, whenever it fit into my schedule. When I had to get a professional dog trainer to manage Hank’s aggression, it was brought to my attention how beneficial exercise was to his well being. I was advised to walk Hank twice a day for at least one to two miles. This is what I advise my clients. Hopefully, one time in the morning and another time in the afternoon to early evening. If you can get another walk in, that is great. We all have busy days, but we have to remember the exercise requirement of our dogs. One walk is better than no walks. No exceptions for holidays. Obviously, as the dogs age, adjust the schedule according to what they can manage. If you can’t physically walk your dog, think of hiring a dog walker. I can recommend a few!When you are walking your dog, it is very important that you don’t stop every 10-1

Aggression in dogs is a serious issue which always needs to be addressed. Some dogs are reactive, but not aggressive, towards other dogs. Some are aggressive towards dogs and some are aggressive towards people. I hope to clarify the difference between these behaviors and explain some of the reasons why dogs act out in an aggressive manner.   Getting to the root of the behavior and why it is occuring is key to a rehabilitation plan for the dog. Some dogs show aggression when protecting their human, their territory, or things of value. Other dogs show aggression when in a state of uncertainty and fear. Very few dogs that I have encountered are aggressive due to their dominant temperament. Dogs are not born aggressive. The environment, which includes the humans around them, can contribute to developing aggressive behavior. Reactivity is when a dog barks, lunges, shows their teeth, or the hackles are raised on their back. They are reacting to things in their environment. Sometimes reactivity can be mistaken for aggression because the dog’s reaction can appear to be intense. Aggression is taking it to the next level of intensity and the dog bites either another dog or a human. However, just because your German Shepherd may have bit a stranger while he was protecting you, it doesn’t mean that your dog will bite all humans after that incident. It is important to know the traits of your dog and seek the guidance of a professional dog trainer to help manage these types of breed traits and identify potential triggers that cause the reactivity and/or aggression in your dog.The training I received at Petco was based on the positive reinforcement philosophy. The company policy prohibited dog trainers to work with any kind of reactivity or aggression. I probably dealt with more reactive cases than what Petco wanted me to. However, I knew my limits and I was not qualified to handle a certain level of intense reactivity that could turn into aggression. I had no formal training on how to deal with it. Therefore, I referred these cases out to Chuck Stella, owner of Elite K911.I met Chuck almost 15 years ago. It was very rare when I had to refer aggressive cases to him, but it was a necessity nonetheless. The dogs I referred to Chuck would take part in the board and train service that was and still is offered at Elite K911. The dogs stay on premise and trainers work with the dog to discover the root of the aggression and devise a rehab plan to help the dog and the humans live harmoniously together. Whenever I come across a dog that is beyond my expertise, I still refer them to Chuck, as well as Gary Flynn, an excellent dog trainer who has been a guest on my podcast. Presently, I still base my assessment of a potentially aggressive dog as I did many years ago while working at Petco. I observe the dog’s body language, how it interacts with me first, then with their pet parent, and finally with other people. If a dog has bit their pet parent, I will find out what happened which caused the dog to act that way. If a dog has bit strangers, I will find out what environment and position the dog was in, in relation to their pet parent. For example, if a dog was out in front of their handler, the dog may be in protection mode. In this case, a dog should be walked in the heel position to confirm that they are being led by their handler. Their handler does not need to be constantly protected. Conversely, if a dog is a cautious dog and is also allowed in front of their handler, they feel more insecure and may lash out because of that. This type of dog prefers to be led than to lead. They don’t want to make the decisions on how to react to stimuli in their environment. They prefer their handler to make those decisions.I also assess the dog’s temperament and body language. Finally, I feel I have a sixth sense which picks up the dog’s energy. I always tell people I am way better at sensing a dog’s energy than people’s energy. Dogs can’t fake how they act or feel. People can be experts at it!I will work with the dog that is having aggressive tendencies, as long as the dog lets me handle them. The best way for me to really get to know a dog is by walking them on leash. I may try different tactics, and specific walking tools to come up with how to manage this dog in different scenarios. A lot of times, I am successful. However, when I have exhausted my options and I am not seeing any improvement, I will refer this dog to either Chuck or Gary. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen a lot. The good news is the majority of dogs that come my way can be rehabbed and very few have unfortunate outcomes.Cesar Millan, a famous dog trainer/behaviorist whom I admire, says the true nature of a dog is to be calm and confident, to exude love, and to be joyful. Everyone wants to be around this type of energy. We all know it when we experience it. My previous dog, Hank the Corgi, did not have it. My current dog, Ebi the Leonberger, does. Part of that is due to the amount of training and knowledge, or lack of knowledge, the pet parent has about dog behavior. The other part is their temperament and true nature that Cesar Millan speaks of. Dogs do not want to be in an aggressive state. They prefer to be in a calm and submissive state of mind. They strive for balance in any pack they are in. It is when they cannot achieve a balanced state that they act out, sometimes in an aggressive manner. Chuck recounts on our podcast how it pains him to see dogs who want to be dogs, but their pet parents get in the way. Some people have their own version of how dogs should be trained, which goes against what professional dog trainers believe. It is necessary to make the pet parents understand dogs are animals with certain instincts which are different than ours. We have to call out the pet parents when they try to anthropomorphize their dogs. This is when humans project human emotions and logic on to their dog. They explain their dog’s behavior using human logic and reactions, and not basing it on dog psychology. This is one way that pet parents get in the way of fixing their dog’s behavior.Chuck believes dogs are survivalists. Their brain is always in survival mode. They assess their world by determining if they need to fight or flee any given situation. It is up to us humans to assure them through our confident and consistent leadership that “we got this.” It is through repeated events that are handled in this way, when the dog begins to trust us. The majority of dogs do not want to handle unknown situations. They much prefer to surrender that job to their leader. It is when this leadership and trust are not present that the dogs become unstable. We cannot love our dogs into changing their behavior. There is a time and place when it is appropriate to show affection towards our dogs. However, what typically happens is the pet parents will pet the dog who is barking or is scared. This reinforces the exact behavior in the dog they are exhibiting in the moment. From a dog’s point of view, petting is a reward. Ultimately, you are rewarding the dog for barking or you are rewarding the dog for its current fearful state of mind. That coupled with saying “It’s okay, it’s okay” in a soft voice, is not only rewarding the dog, but also demonstrating that their leader is no longer calm and confident. In the dog’s eyes, their leader has weak energy and therefore there must be something to be fearful about. This is another way pet parents get in the way of rehabbing their dog.Always remember the behavior you are reinforcing in the dog when you pet them or give them a treat.It is very rare to come across truly aggressive dogs. According to Chuck, people tend to quickly label a dog as aggressive, even if the dog is not biting, but is growling and showing their teeth. These are all warning signs a bite may be imminent, but doesn’t mean the dog is aggressive. There are many reasons why dogs may act out in an aggressive way, but it doesn’t mean that this dog should be labeled aggressive. So many of these aggressive tendencies can be managed by teaching the pet parent how to handle the dog when triggered. In order to highlight the issue of reactivity, I will cite examples starting with my own dog. When Ebi was about 15 months old, she went into heat. During those months prior to the heat cycle and post heat cycle, she didn’t want any stranger dogs near her. She started barking at any dog passing by, sometimes rather intensely. I was able to manage her 110 lb. body, but it was challenging. I did not know at the time this could happen during a heat cycle. I had to work through this reactivity in order to rehab it. This took a long time. As of today, she may bark and jump a little at certain dogs who stare her down, but she has never gone after a dog aggressively. It was around this time that she started barking a particular bark when she was outside in the backyard. A key instinct of a Leonberger is to protect their territory from predators. She started barking at pedestrians walking by on a nearby busy street. I had to go outside each time to put her in a sit by my side, which communicated to her I was now in charge, and her job to alert me of the stranger was done. She still does this occasionally today. It’s difficult to fight Mother Nature and that actually is a useful trait to have. I want my dog to alert me, but then I also want her to stop once I get involved to manage the situation. If I never addressed this issue, some other negative behaviors could have formed and she could have become aggressive.Both of these examples are reactivity examples. The second example is one of two reasons that Chuck says can trigger a dog to be aggressive. If Ebi thought the stranger on the street was encroaching on her territory and a potential threat, she could bite that person. She would be in the territorial min

One of the premier dog training companies in the greater Cleveland area is Elite K911. The owner is Chuck Stella. I became acquainted with Chuck while I was working at Petco beginning in 2012. When I wasn’t conducting classes, I was trying to sell my obedience classes to customers. So many of them would tell me they were all set with their training needs because Chuck at Elite K911 took good care of them and he was an excellent trainer. He helped rehab their dogs and they were forever grateful to him. I had to meet this man! As I have mentioned before, Petco’s policy was to not manage any aggressive dogs. Before meeting Chuck, I had to tell clients whose dogs had aggression issues that I could not continue to help them. I didn’t want to just leave them hanging with not knowing where to turn. This didn’t happen very often, but I wanted to be able to help more by referring them to someone reputable. Chuck was that guy. After meeting Chuck, I knew if he couldn’t help the client and dog, no one else could. Over the years, I have referred about a dozen cases to Chuck and his trainers. They all had serious issues outside of my realm of experience. When I went out on my own, I decided that I did not want to handle “red zone” cases. In order to help these dogs, I consulted with Chuck, and either he or his trainers would work with the dog as a board and train situation. This is when the dog stays at Elite K911 for a period of time while the issues are being evaluated and worked out. Some cases did not have a good outcome, but others surely did. I cover this in more detail in my next episode with Chuck about reactivity and aggression. Before Chuck built Elite K911 into a business of 15 employees, including trainers and groomers, he started rescuing dogs while working on construction sites. He would bring them home with him, but then he didn’t know how to train them. He met a young woman who showed him ways to work with the dogs to help correct their behavior. When Chuck implemented these strategies, they worked. That was the beginning of his interest in training dogs. Over time, Chuck brought more dogs home and integrated them into his existing pack. Dog catchers weren’t as plentiful and efficient as they are today. So, Chuck felt that every time he would go to a new construction site, he would end up bringing a dog home! Along the way, Chuck was meeting more people who knew about dog behavior. The more he learned, the more he was interested in really helping these dogs. Ultimately, he contacted Mel McGrath from Paramount Dog Training Company, who took Chuck under his wing and even helped him form his own company. After almost 35 years working construction and then forming his own construction business, Chuck was ready to focus all of his attention into starting a dog training business. He bought a dilapidated house where the owner bred chinchillas. Chuck had to completely strip down the interior due to the damage done by the chinchillas, and start from scratch. As he rebuilt the inside while living there, Chuck started doing in-home visits to help people with their problem dogs. Then, he built a training room where he could conduct group obedience classes. Elite K911 was under way!One of my first interactions with Chuck was when I called him for advice to give to the son of a friend of mine whose dog spent all day and night in a crate that was too small for him. It was located in a rough section of Cleveland. Chuck went there, rescued the dog, and brought him back home to re-home him. Fast forward to today, Chuck is still helping dogs in need. Chuck and his staff have been working with a dog belonging to another rescue organization that is mostly blind and very reactive. It is imperative to treat this case not only with caution, but also with respect for the dog. Chuck has found from his experience that when a dog is completely blind, it is easier to rehab the dog. They no longer try to use that sense of eyesight and therefore rely on their other senses. This is a work in progress and everyone on staff is trying all they can to save this dog. Board and trains When dogs come from different rescues to be rehabbed, they are considered part of Elite K911’s board and train service. A plan is devised that will best suit each individual dog, whether it is a rescue or a client’s dog who needs help. Chuck prefers to screen the pet parent who brings their dog to him because he wants to make sure that they will commit to continuing the work and progress made during the board and train once the dog is back at home. There is always a transition period after the dog has completed his stay at Elite K911 and ready to go home. Two transitional training home visits are included in the board and train contract, with unlimited follow-up visits if necessary. Board and trains are not meant to be a shortcut to having someone else train your dog and relieve you of the hard work of training your dog and fostering a healthy relationship. Dogs don’t get fully trained in a 3 to 4 week board and train or in a 6 week group class. It can lay a nice foundation for the pet parent to expand upon. If there are serious issues like aggression or overcoming crippling fear, it can take your laser focused attention to these types of issues for the lifetime of the dog. Dog training is not just training dogs. It is about making the humans aware of their dog’s behavior and knowing what signs to look for that could trigger those behaviors when interacting with other dogs and people.A trained and well-balanced dog takes effort from the pet parent. Dog training is for the lifetime of your dog. It is about the relationship you have with your dog. Progress can be accelerated by getting professional help, but the bulk of the work has to come from you. BoardingAs every smart and successful business owner knows, you have to keep developing a solid business plan to satisfy the demand for your services. Chuck has definitely been following a plan to grow his business by including other services besides dog training. A service that has been recently resurrected since COVID is boarding dogs when pet parents are out of town. The indoor kennels can handle 20 dogs. There is an additional 15 outdoor kennels so dogs can spend some time outside. Standard boarding includes taking the dog out multiple times each day and feeding them according to the pet parent’s instructions. Everything closes down at 8:00 p.m., but if a dog requires attention after hours, Chuck is there on site to tend to that dog. There are package deals that include socialization, swimming in the outdoor pool and supervised running through the agility course. Dogs have the option to get some exercise while being boarded there which can help limit the stress of being away from the familiar surroundings of their home.GroomingWithin the last year, Elite K911 expanded their services to include grooming. There are 3 groomers and 3 bathers, with room to grow. On Saturdays from 8am-1pm, open grooming is available. No appointment is necessary for a nail trim or an ear cleaning. Otherwise, the salon is open Monday through Saturday for full grooming services by appointment only. Anna, the head groomer, is a behavioral groomer. She will take on difficult cases. Not all dogs love the sounds of a grooming salon. It is very common for dogs to avoid being touched on their paws and near their eyes. Some don’t even like to be on the grooming table. Dogs have to be conditioned to withstand all of the stimuli of the grooming salon. So, early exposure is key for your puppy. However, if you are rescuing an adolescent or adult dog, doing some exposure work at home to scissors. clippers, and being elevated on a table, can expedite this conditioning process. Obedience classesElite K911 offers a variety of obedience classes starting with the 5-week Puppy Start class. This class addresses basic puppy behaviors like jumping, nipping, barking, and potty training issues. There is time for socializing off leash with the other puppies in the class. It also includes a time for the pet parents to get tips from their trainers about dog behavior. The goal is to provide information about optimal ways to deal with puppy issues and provide them with hands-on experience so they will have a well-balanced dog.After completing the puppy start class, a 6 week basic obedience class teaches the Sit, Down, and Come commands. This is then followed by Advanced Obedience, which takes the basic skills and starts adding further distances, more distractions, and longer durations of holding the commanded behavior. It also sets the foundation for off leash reliability. If pet parents wish to continue their training even further, Canine Good Citizen is offered. The protocol for this class is dictated by the American Kennel Club(AKC) and is concluded with a 10 step test. For more information about this 10 step test, please access the AKC website: www.akc.org.Scent and Mantrailing classesThe scent class at Elite K911 is taught by head trainer, Elise, who has trained both of her Belgian Malinois’ for live human and cadaver recovery. She is very skilled and knowledgeable in search and rescue work. This class introduces dogs to certain smells to track. The different scents for this type of work is derived from essential oils. Birch, Anise and Clove are the most commonly recognized scents that are found in scent kits and also used by the AKC in their classes.Scent work is both physically and mentally draining for a dog. Their noses are exponentially more sensitive than a human’s nose to the point where we don’t even really know exactly what they can discern and process from a particular scent. I know when I hide treats for my dog either indoors or outdoors, she gets exhausted much quicker than a 2 mile walk. That’s because of all of the processing that goes on in their brain

So many people who have dogs have told me that their dog can tell when they aren’t feeling well or when they are sad. It is evident when dogs respond to our happy and excited state of mind. They get excited too; sometimes too excited. However, we are sometimes taken back when our dogs come over and just want to be with us when we are sad and not feeling well. Not every dog has that ability. Some get very anxious when their pet parent isn’t feeling well. As Dr. Jennifer Smith pointed out in the previous episode about the 5 pillars of intelligence in dogs, empathy is one of the pillars. The dogs who do sense that they can make people feel better are the ones who make great therapy dogs. Even if your dog isn’t certified to be a therapy dog, they can still provide much needed comfort during times of stress.I am a believer in our own personal energy and how it affects other people and animals. I believe that we all project a certain type of energy without even being aware of it. How many times have you walked into a room full of people and you pick up on a certain energy? The energy I am speaking of can reflect the type of person that we are. If we are an anxious person who worries a lot, the energy this person projects is unsettling. On the contrary, if we are relaxed and easy going, our energy can be calm and confident. Dogs are the same way. Dogs who aren’t anxious or overly excited will project that calming energy that makes us feel good. These are the dogs who can make great therapy dogs.Therapy dog training was not a class that was offered when I worked at Petco. I was not trained in training dogs to be therapy or service dogs. I really didn’t know much about it, except that it existed. However, when I met one of my guests in 2012, Coleen Monroe, early on in my Petco career, while conducting obedience classes, I had a feeling that her young dog, Teddy, had the energy it takes to be a great therapy dog. I loved his energy and he wanted to be with me. He would let me pet him until I had to tend to my other responsibilities in the store. He wasn’t demanding of my attention. He was becoming a well trained dog and Coleen was developing such a strong bond with him. I also met Coleen’s family and Teddy was happy and well behaved with all of them.I knew things could change because Teddy was a young dog when I started working with them. When dogs mature and when the pet parents are not providing the rules, boundaries, and leadership a dog needs, it can change a dog. As Coleen says in our discussion, she was very determined to have a well trained dog. She had two daughters who brought a lot of friends over to the house, and she wanted her dog to behave appropriately. I put the bug in her ear that I thought Teddy would make a good therapy dog. This motivated Coleen to have more than just a well trained dog. She started doing some research to find a pet therapy program which was right for her and Teddy. What sealed the deal for her was when she was visiting her Mom in the same hospital where she ended up volunteering, someone brought in a therapy dog. When Coleen saw the whole room light up when the dog came in, she decided that’s what she wanted to do. My other guest, Lisa Bolognia and her Golden Retriever, Josie, also found me at Petco and signed up for classes in 2015. I got the same feeling again with Josie as I did with Teddy. At that point, I had trained hundreds of dogs, and felt that I knew what it took for a dog to become a good therapy dog. Josie had it! She just exuded love and wanted to share it. And who doesn’t love a well trained Golden Retriever? Lisa was very motivated, just as Coleen was, to have a well trained dog . Lisa’s Mom was wheelchair bound due to a surgery gone wrong. She did not want her puppy to become a dog that was obnoxiously jumping around her Mom. Josie needed to understand the boundaries and space required by a person in a wheelchair, as well as being trained in all her basic obedience skills. When I suggested to Lisa that Josie would make a great therapy dog, Lisa wasn’t even sure what that was. I arranged for Lisa to meet Coleen. By that time, Coleen and Teddy had passed the therapy test with Pet Partners and were already sharing their love at the hospital. She put Lisa in touch with the coordinator at the time to see what was involved. That was the beginning of Lisa and Josie’s 10 year stint as a therapy dog team at Fairview Hospital. As far as I was involved in this process, I wanted to train more dogs to become therapy dogs. Dogs thrive on having jobs to do. Therapy dogs help people in countless ways, and likewise, the therapy work is wonderful for the dog. I was able to tell clients more about the process and help them prepare for the test. I went to the testing site to observe the test as it was taking place. I felt that I could prepare my clients better by knowing all of the steps required to pass. In the picture below is another client, Peg Mondozzi and her Belgian Tervuren, Dralion, who passed the therapy test with flying colors. Peg stayed in the program for two years until she got involved in the show arena with Dralion. If you are thinking about your dog becoming a therapy dog, you need to be aware that it’s a lot of work besides attending obedience classes. The three teams above all completed basic obedience, advanced obedience, AKC Canine Good Citizen, and therapy dog training classes. I recommend these classes to my clients who wish to pursue this path. Sometimes the puppies start so young that they breeze through the 6 week classes. I recommend repeating a class or two, just for the sake of keeping those skills fresh. Practice makes perfect!It is also imperative to socialize your dog a lot. This involves bringing your dog with you to as many dog friendly places as possible. The best time to start socializing is after the puppy has been immunized and approved by your vet to be exposed to people, places, and dogs. Socializing involves conditioning your dog to get used to all different types of people, sounds, smells, and other dogs. Imagine the hustle and bustle of a hospital environment with all the noises, people shouting, and gurneys passing by. For the dogs who pass the test, there will always be a first time for the dog to experience these stimuli. There really is no way of knowing how your dog will respond to this because only therapy dogs are allowed to go in to hospitals. However, if you socialize your dog in stores where there is a lot of activity and noises on the intercom, they shouldn’t have a major issue. If your dog passes the therapy test and does react negatively to the stimuli in the hospital, there are other places connected with Fairview Hospital to frequent as a therapy dog. One of my clients and her dog who recently passed the test found out that her dog did not react well with the stretchers passing by, especially with an entourage of people surrounding it. She was also nervous around the large food and laundry carts. The solution for this team was to frequent the Moll Cancer Center of Fairview Hospital. They provide much needed emotional support to all of the people in the waiting room. Socializing also involves establishing rules while out in public. No one likes to greet a dog who jumps, nips or licks them. This is covered in my obedience classes. It is very important. All of these manners require training by qualified professional dog trainers in order to ensure that the dog behaves well while they are out and about in public. It is not imperative to pass the AKC Canine Good Citizen test in order to qualify for the Pet Partners test, but it is highly recommended. The Canine Good Citizen test is a 10 step test. Nine of these steps are also on the Pet Partners test. The one step that is on the Canine Good Citizen test but not on the therapy test is the dog being separated and out of site from his handler for 3 minutes. If your dog whines, paces, or barks while being tested for this step, the dog and handler will fail. This can be a deal breaker. This indicates that the dog has separation anxiety. Don’t worry if you don’t pass the first time. It is possible to retest at any time with a qualified evaluator. The other two steps that occasionally cause the dog and handler to fail are greeting other people without jumping, and doing a pass with a neutral dog without reacting. These are also typically the two steps that teams fail on the Pet Partners test. To find out more about the Canine Good Citizen test, please contact either me at the number below or access the American Kennel Club at www.akc.org.In my opinion, one of the most important things that isn’t on either test is the relationship between the dog and the handler. As a dog trainer, I am always teaching my clients to solicit a look up to them from the dog. You want the dog to “check in” with their handler. You have to know when your dog is getting stressed or has reached their limit while being out in public. Lisa describes in our discussion how Josie looks up to her for guidance as if to ask what’s next. Dogs live in the moment but they also want to know what’s next. It is up to the handler to communicate that effectively. The handler should be able to interrupt the dog at anytime by this signal or command to look at them. As Coleen mentions in our discussion, the testing isn’t just an evaluation of the dog. It’s a team test and a team evaluation. Both Lisa and Coleen notice that their dogs are excited about being at the hospital. They know they have a job to do. Dogs love to have a job and making people happy. However, jobs can be exhausting. Lisa says that after making the rounds, which is typically after a half hour, Josie may lay down, start panting, or Lisa just sees that Josie’s eyes look tired. Coleen noticed the same signs in Teddy and was always aware to not push him to the poi

My guest, Dr. Jennifer Smith, has been in the education field for 46 years and is a business owner specializing in trauma-informed behavior. Her love of animals (dogs in particular) has been constant in her life. So much so, that she was on her way to pursue a degree in veterinary medicine at The Ohio State, until she changed her mind. When Jennifer discovered how dogs can change human behavior and humans can change dog behavior, the desire to study human behavior prevailed over the desire to study dog behavior. She noticed that interactions between dogs and humans could be silent but very powerful. She wanted to get to the root of this soulful connection between the two.Jennifer has a masters in psychology and special education teaching. She pursued her doctorate in psychology, specializing in self-injurious behaviors and functional assessments. Delving into this field at the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis in California opened Jennifer’s world to figuring out the reasons why certain individuals with a limited skillset in certain environments exhibit particular behaviors. This newly acquired knowledge helped Jennifer bridge the two passions in her life - human and dog behavior.Jennifer managed a way to use her degrees in education while following her passion for dogs. Working with dogs with challenging behaviors and working with people with disabilities is very much aligned, according to Jennifer. The procedures and interventions are the same. The functional assessment process is the same. This helps with understanding the reasons behind the behaviors manifesting in both humans and dogs so that the interventions can be therapeutic. I find in working with my clients that trying to identify the root of the behavior helps assist in developing a rehabilitation plan. If you only try to treat the symptoms, you will only end up putting a bandaid on the problem. It will only rear its ugly head again and again down the road.Whenever I help a client and their dog in the Cleveland area, and the client’s profession is in the special education field, they invariably know Dr. Jennifer Smith. She was the head of the behavior and curriculum department at the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities until she retired almost 12 years ago. These clients were either trained by her or participated in a seminar where Jennifer lectured. All of these clients understand my approach and how I assess their dogs. They get it. There is a certain way to communicate across the species which is similar to communicating with individuals with limited language skills. I will often compare dog behavior to human behavior for the sole purpose of trying to make my assessment of a client’s dog more relatable. I do not have a degree in Animal Behavior. However, there are patterns and common reactions to stimuli in dogs that are very similar to those in humans. I was a little unsure about making these comparisons so as not to imply that humans are like dogs or vice versa, because I didn’t want to offend people. Also, I had no scientific research to back up my comparisons. I find myself often telling my clients “Think about what the dog is feeling and interpreting right now”. Hence, my choice for the title of this podcast, “From A Dog’s Eye View.” After talking to Jennifer, I feel validated in the explanation of my approach to assessing any given dog. Jennifer combined her expertise in functional assessments of individuals for Cuyahoga County with training and rehabilitating dogs through her connection with It’s A Dog’s Life. Since I have known Jennifer, she was always rehabbing dogs and blending them into her own pack of dogs. As she was performing in-home assessments with families of children with disabilities, she was also doing in-home family visits with dogs that had various issues. Wherever the behavior presented itself was where Jennifer would be. If it meant going to a grocery store, that’s where she would set up her meeting. Not only is it necessary to observe the person or dog closely, but you also have to know what you are looking at. Observing something as simple as prolonged eye contact that causes a reaction, or as complex as the frantic or intentional movement of an individual or dog, can help identify the root of a particular behavior. ‘“We don't know what it's like to hear, see or especially smell at the levels that dogs can.” - Dr. Jennifer SmithTo elaborate on this subject of observing and working with dogs who are triggered by something in a particular environment, I will work with a dog wherever the behavior is happening. Dogs do not generalize. What that means is that if your dog barks at strangers at their own front door, it doesn’t mean that they will bark at strangers at your friend’s front door. I need to see the dog in their own environment and how he reacts to certain triggers. It is equally important to observe how the pet parent reacts and what their body language is like while the dog is in the middle of the reactivity. It takes teamwork to rehab a dog, and guiding the pet parent to handle the dog appropriately is crucial to the entire rehab process. The difficulty with the rehabilitation process is always when you return a dog to his pet parents. It is up to the pet parents to understand and change their own behavior because we, as the adults, are the agent of change. It's the same in schools. If you want your kindergartner's behavior of throwing books at other kids to change, they aren’t going to magically wake up one morning and make today the day that they won’t throw books anymore. Adults have to guide the child to an alternate behavior that is more appropriate in order for the child to change. I always love to hear from my clients, “You’re training us humans, not the dogs.” That’s exactly right!You must change things up because whatever you were doing wasn’t working. This is a lot easier said than done. According to Jennifer, on any given day, our frustration level is higher than on other days. Our reactivity to issues can be more intense. We’re rarely on the same emotional level. This inconsistency can be very confusing and create an unstable environment for the dog. The dog can’t figure out all of these changes. We become unpredictable, and in their eyes, unsafe. I advise clients that life happens, and you just have to try your best to push your life issues aside while you are in communication with your dog. “A lot of individuals who have reactive dogs that are fear-based, have trouble because they themselves aren't being perceived as safe.” - Dr. Jennifer SmithJennifer has had a wide variety of breeds as family dogs. From German Shepherds and French Briards to Shih Tzus and Chihuahuas. However, Jennifer’s dream as a little girl was to have a poodle. She came to know that poodles were a complex breed that would require more time and effort to do the breed justice. She knew the common traits of the various breeds she rehabbed in her home, but she needed to learn more about the poodle. She felt that she needed a higher skillset and needed to mature in her approaches to working with this sensitive and very intelligent breed. The wait was worth it and it happened at the right time in her life. That time came several years ago when she had the opportunity to meet her longtime idol, and now mentor, Joseph Vergnetti of Dassin Farms, who is a highly respected breeder in the poodle world. Joseph had heard that Jennifer did temperament training and testing. He said he had a poodle for her. This particular poodle was not ready yet for the show ring because she had some quirks to be ironed out. When Joseph showed Jennifer this beautiful, quirky black poodle, Jennifer was weak in the knees. She named this poodle Scarlet. At last, her dreams came true! Jennifer exposed Scarlet to many different places and people to build Scarlet’s self confidence. Jennifer believes that upon conception, the temperament of the dog is set. Then, you add personality on top of that. This is where the pet parent plays a big part. It’s how we, humans react to what dogs are reacting to that can shape a dog into becoming a fearful, cautious dog or a confident, polite dog. Scarlet has a very reactive bark and Jennifer just has to be very aware of the environment they are in at the moment and be Scarlet’s best advocate. When Scarlet’s frustration is high, her skillset is low. Always being aware of this helps maintain a balanced approach to any given situation so as not to overwhelm her. Instead of continuing to show Scarlet, Jennifer decided to breed her with a sire from Joseph’s line of poodles. In fact, Scarlet was pregnant when Jennifer showed her for the last time. Joseph picked the perfect sire for a dog with Scarlet’s temperament. She had a litter of nine puppies, but two of them died. Scarlet was amazing and knew what to do, but Jennifer and her husband were a nervous wreck. They had experts on stand-by to help out if anything went wrong. In the long run, Jennifer and Tom just watched this beautiful miracle take place as Scarlet did what came naturally. There is a definite sense of pride when whelping a litter and contributing positively to their impressionable first couple of months. On top of that, what an honor and privilege knowing that you had a part in this process, especially when one of the puppies becomes a winner in dog shows. There is such a sense of pride after studying the poodle line, taking care of them, and socializing them properly.It is a lot of work raising puppies and socializing them and then ultimately finding good homes for them. Jennifer and Tom couldn’t just let them all go, They had to keep one and named her Chapel. She is now two years old and is currently living and working with a professional handler. The hard work is so worth it when they hear back from the families who adopt

  E-collars (electronic collars) or shock collars are used in dog training for different reasons. Some dog trainers use them almost exclusively, and others use them for specific purposes. My knowledge and experience is limited with e-collars due to my background. As I have mentioned before, I was trained at Petco. E-collar training was not part of their program. However, I met a lot of clients during my time as a trainer there and even more clients when I started my own business who would tell me that they tried an e-collar and it didn’t work. I could not offer any assistance or feedback, even though e-collars were sold in the store. My lack of knowledge and inability to help, motivated me to learn about them. Luckily, I know Gary Flynn, from The Dog Advocate, from our days at Petco. The more I got to know Gary, the more I knew that he was the one I wanted to learn from. I knew that he had used e-collars before in his professional career before working at Petco. I had a lot to learn when I started my own dog training business, so learning about e-collars was not a priority. There were so many other issues to focus on first. It wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I felt it was time to learn about e-collars so that I could help my clients more. I had a sneaky suspicion that the whole reason people weren’t having success with them was because they weren’t being used correctly. My suspicion was right. As I was in the process of being trained by Gary, I realized right away that an e-collar was a serious training tool. I could understand how it could be used incorrectly. As with so many things that I learn about, I need to know everything I can about a certain subject until I feel comfortable advising people about it.In order to learn about e-collars, I knew that I needed hands-on experience. So, I brought my dog, Ebi, to Gary for many sessions until I felt I had a good foundation to start practicing using the collar on my own. I also was at a point with Ebi where learning something new would be a challenge for her. After I realized that using an e-collar was not harmful to the dog if used correctly, I enjoyed learning about it and working with my dog in a new way. I was getting a little bored with challenging her with the basic obedience skills at long distances in different locations. The timing of this new tool was perfect for me. Ebi was 4 years old. I remember telling Gary that I felt that Ebi was getting bored with the same old skills that I tried challenging her with. Ebi would do what I asked her and was very reliable in her skills, but she just looked bored. Gary actually told me that I was the boring one! I didn’t give her enough incentive to keep her engaged with me. At that point, I had pretty much abandoned rewarding her with treats. Gary reminded me that everyone, including dogs, needs a “paycheck” every now and then when they are working. So, I brought the treats back in to my routine, giving them to her every now and then, while working with her.I brought an e-collar that was recommended by a different dog trainer to my first session with Gary. We quickly discovered that the lowest stimulus and even the vibration setting on that collar was too much for Ebi. She looked around anxiously wondering where it came from. That is not the type of reaction you want to start off with from your dog. Instead, you should be looking for a flick of the ear or a turn of the head. When I returned for my next lesson, I brought the e-collar with me that Gary recommended - The mini Educator. (www.educatorcollars.com) As Gary describes in our interview, the reaction that he is looking for when testing out a dog’s sensitivity to stimulus, the dog should be a little annoyed that maybe a little bug flew by. Then, they should quickly recover back to being calm. When Gary tried out the new e-collar on Ebi, he adjusted it to a very low setting. She was just laying down in his backyard. She responded in a more acceptable way this time. She actually flicked her ear. I saw this but didn’t realize that this is a classic sign that the dog felt the stimulus. When Gary experiences a dog’s sensitive reaction to the stimulus, he carefully notes what the dog was doing when he interrupted him with it. Maybe the dog was in the process of passively eating a treat or chewing on a branch. The stimulus could make the dog a little hyper sensitive at that moment if interrupting an active behavior. It is very important when you are testing out the sensitivity (or lack of it) to be mindful of what you are interrupting the dog from doing.I really had no intentions of using the e-collar as a permanent training tool on Ebi. However, in order for me to advise clients on my opinion about this type of training,I had to master: * manipulating the various functions of the remote control* the timing of the stimulus * choosing the right degree of stimulus depending on the situation* recognizing the subtle body language from Ebi with the varying degrees of stimulusIt took me almost a year of working with Ebi every day until I felt comfortable using the e-collar. I worked on getting her excited about putting the e-collar on. Fun things were going to happen when she got the collar on. The collar had to fit tight enough, and the prongs had to be long enough to get through all of her fur. If the collar is too loose, then the stimulus won’t be as effective. I found myself turning up the power higher and higher so that she would feel something. I solved that issue by making a mark by the correct hole in the collar to guarantee the right fit. Proper fitting is imperative to the e-collar functioning correctly.I worked with Ebi in my backyard to learn her body language when I had the setting too low or too high for a particular application. I started out with turning the power on low, but just high enough to where I would get that flick of the ear while commanding her to do a basic “Sit”. I had to get used to the timing of turning it on and off. Pressing the power on means the dog is in the process of executing the command. Releasing the power means the command has just been executed. Then, we progressed to doing “Sit” out on our walk. I had to turn up the power a little bit more now because there were more distractions on the walk. Figuring out how much to increase the stimulus given the situation was the most difficult part for me, but I figured it out. I have found that the most common reason people purchase e-collars is to try to stop an issue they are having with their dog. For example, dogs may jump on people when guests come to the house. The pet parent purchases an e-collar, puts it on the dog, and zaps the dog when he jumps on a guest at the front door. One reaction the dog may have to this shock is he may stop jumping and the pet parent thinks the e-collar worked. The pet parent never showed the dog an alternate behavior in that scenario - only that he feels a shock when he jumps on people at that particular door. If this is done enough times, the dog may begin to be afraid of people entering their house through that door again. If the pet parent does the same thing while out and about in the community, the dog will begin associating that people approaching them is a negative thing. All the pet parent was trying to accomplish was to stop the dog from jumping. What ended up happening is now the dog is afraid of people at the front door and out in public. A new problem was created by trying to solve the original problem.Another reaction a dog can have to being shocked while jumping on guests is the dog may run away. The dog hasn’t been conditioned to know what to do when he feels the shock. The dog stopped jumping, but again, now the dog won’t go near that door. He didn’t like the feeling of being shocked, he had no idea what he was supposed to do when he felt it, he didn’t know where it came from and consequently ran away to get away from that feeling. Once again, in the pet parent’s mind, the e-collar worked. From the dog’s mind, this feeling left him very unsure and confused. The feeling was negative, his reaction was negative, but his pet parent was happy. If the pet parent is also using the e-collar like this for a different issue, even more uncertainty will develop and fear will set in. The dog won’t know at any given time if he is going to feel that shock again. This can make the dog neurotic where he becomes afraid of everything. I have met dogs like this who don’t trust anything or anyone. I can’t say conclusively that it is because of the misuse of the e-collar, but I feel that it can be a contributing factor.In all of these reactions from the dog, the stimulus setting could have been too high and no alternate behavior was offered. Also, there was no interaction between the pet parent and the dog. They were expecting the shock to solve the problem and they didn’t have to do anything else. This is the exact scenario that Gary and I refer to as using the e-collar as a “Magic NO button”. You never want to leave the dog hanging in blind punishment. You always want to correct and then redirect with a more appropriate and already known behavior for that situation. To top that all off, most people start yelling at the dog to stop jumping. Any kind of verbal reaction from the pet parent can only add to the excited state the dog is already in, which exacerbates the problem. Sometimes, pet parents will threaten the dog by showing them the remote and that they are going to receive a shock if they don’t behave. Now the dog is really uncertain about their pet parent’s energy with that threat and whether or not they may feel a shock. This can develop into neurosis. Deconditioning this behavior out of the dog takes so much longer than creating the neurotic behavior. So, be very mindful of how the dog sees this scenario being played out - hence, the name

When you bring your puppy home for the first time, it is one of the most exciting events in your lifetime. You have made a decision to add to your existing pack, and I congratulate you for doing so. One of the first items you will need to purchase is a leash and a collar or harness. How to decide on which one can be overwhelming. Just as overwhelming as what cereal to choose in the cereal aisle at the grocery store. There are so many choices! Sometimes, you just go by what friends and family have recommended. Other times, you may be influenced by an ad on social media. This episode is to clarify how certain walking tools work, and to help you choose the right one for you and your dog.When we pick up our puppy from a breeder, most likely, the breeder has put some kind of colored ribbon around the puppy’s neck to differentiate which puppy is which. The puppy is somewhat used to wearing something around its neck, but that doesn’t mean that the puppy will be totally willing to have you put a snap or buckle collar on them. How you introduce this collar is very important to the puppy positively associating this “thing” with something good. There will be some of you reading this post saying to yourselves that your puppy was absolutely fine with you putting the collar on. As a dog trainer, anything you introduce to your puppy should be well thought out in advance how you will be presenting it before you just go barreling in and forcing a new item on them. You ALWAYS want to create positive association with introducing anything new to your dog.Introducing a collar or harnessThe process of introducing a collar or harness to a rescue dog is the same as introducing them to a puppy. Rescue dogs may already be used to wearing a collar, but most likely you will be choosing an additional collar or harness for walking purposes. Whichever tool you decide, the introduction will be the same as if it was a puppy. First, take your time with the whole process of showing the dog their new collar. If you are relaxed and mildly excited, your dog will be too. You want to create some excitement over the collar or harness, but not too much. Get them interested in what is about to happen by feeding them small treats. Then, let them sniff it to their heart’s content. Pet the dog with the collar or harness while giving them treats, being mindful of not letting straps from a harness dangle in front of them. This can trigger a fear response. If the dog is still engaged and not shying away, use some treats while showing them how it snaps together. Sometimes the sound of the snap can trigger some fear in them. If all is progressing positively, ideally you want them to come to you to put the collar or harness on. Again, lure them with treats. You may need to ask a family member to feed the treats while you put the collar or harness on and snap it. When it is on, you will have to adjust it so that it is “two fingers snug”. If introducing a harness, every strap should be two fingers snug. What this means is that you can fit two fingers between their neck or body and the collar or strap of the harness. This is to ensure that the dog cannot back up and escape out of it. Also, fit the collar high up on the neck, right behind the ears. This prevents the collar from damaging the trachea when they do pull (how to prevent dogs from pulling on a walk will be a separate episode). I want the dog to be excited about their new collar or harness, but not so excited that I am chasing the dog around the house just to get it on. Remember, you are setting an example of how this walking tool is going to be associated with something. That something is going to be your way of eventually controlling the dog on a leash. Now that the collar or harness is on, take the dog outside to play or play with the dog inside the house. Pretend that this is a huge accomplishment and make sure the dog knows that you are happy that they are wearing their first walking tool. Depending on the reaction of the dog, just leave the collar or harness on them for a very short period of time. Dogs usually don’t react adversely to collars, but they can with harnesses. There are only two harnesses that I recommend, which I explain below. Harnesses are made to have dogs haul things. The majority of harnesses clip on the back of the dog. It is impossible to walk a medium to large sized dog in the heel position with this type of harness. It is set up to have the handler behind the dog and to be pulled. If there is tension on the leash, the dog will resist that tension by pulling forward. Now, who is taking whom for a walk?? Harnesses can be big and bulky and it’s a very foreign feeling for the dog to have something on their back. Some dogs will freeze and not want to move forward. I have seen way too many harnesses that are improperly fit - usually too loose. This is a perfect setup for the dog to wiggle out of it and run away. I have heard of too many stories like this. One dog actually got hit by a car when he ran away. The handler was pulling back on the leash, creating the resistance for the dog to move forward. He wiggled out of it, panicked, and ran in the street and got hit by a car. He was okay, but it involved an expensive vet bill and some recovery time for the dog. Luckily, nothing was broken. Collars are great for hanging identification tags. They are also a way to quickly grab the dog if needed. I don’t recommend leaving a collar with tags on in the crate, especially if you are leaving the house for a period of time. Always check the integrity of the collar. A cloth buckle collar can begin to fray at the eyelets or the buckle can start to break down. If you have any doubts, buy a new one. There are other collars with the 3 prong plastic snap that are very sturdy too. This is just a preference issue. The most important thing to remember about the collar is that it is fit correctly - two fingers snug!It is worth noting that collars are great to leave on the dog during the day while you are potty training. You can attach the leash to a collar a lot quicker than trying to put a harness on a very wiggly puppy. LeashesI always tell my clients to purchase a cheap leash while training a puppy. As much as you want to discourage your puppy from biting the leash, they inevitably will. I will explain more in detail how to stop your puppy from biting the leash in a future episode where I will talk about “The Walk”. When the puppy has been trained how to walk, that’s when you can invest in a leash that will last a long time. Leather leashes are my favorite. They are comfortable and don’t slip in my hand, and they last many years. Gary Flynn, who has been on my podcast before, likes the BioThane leash. It is generally more durable than leather, and is waterproof. However, it is vulnerable to bite marks. Make sure you have worked with your dog to stop biting the leash before investing in a BioThane leash. In my next episode, we will show you this type of leash. It is very durable and comfortable in your hands. These leashes are not sold in most pet stores, but are sold online. The important thing to keep in mind when deciding on a leash is how comfortable it is when your hand is wrapped around it. Remember, I do not promote walking dogs in front of you where you are just holding on to the handle. Walks in the woods and “sniffaris”are different than walking in a heel position. I will discuss this further in my episode about “The Walk”. In the video below, you will see how I recommend holding on to a leash. Note that my left hand is grabbing the leash over the leash as if I am holding on to handlebars on a bike. My hand is right by the clip so that the dog does not have much leeway to go where they want to go. It is up to the handler to take the dog over to an area to sniff or eliminate, not the dog leading you over there.YOU are taking the dog for a walk, not the dog taking you for a walk.In the picture below, from top to bottom, the first leash is a small 6’ leather leash with a small clip. This is suitable for small dogs. The clip is small and can attach to the ring on a very small collar. You want to make sure that you don’t weigh down your small dog with a heavy, bulky clip. The leash underneath is the leash I use for my 100+ pound Leonberger. The clip is bigger and sturdy enough if she were to lunge. I have rather small hands so the width of this leash is perfect for me. Below this leash is a two handled leash that is very comfortable to grab with your bare hands. Some people really like double handled leashes. You have the option of walking the dog on a shorter lead with the second handle. Both handles are very comfortable to hold on to. The very bottom multi-colored leash is a slip lead. I like this leash for some dogs because I can position it high on the neck, right behind the ears, and keep it in place with the grey tab. It is important that it is adjusted on the dog like a slip collar or chain collar. There is a right and wrong way to put this on depending on which side you walk your dog. I explain this more below under the slip and chain collar categories.I would be remiss if I didn’t mention retractable leashes. The only application I can even possibly approve of this type of leash is if you have to take your dog out to eliminate on a leash and you don’t want to go outside, and you have a small dog. Otherwise, there are several reasons why I don’t like them. First of all, I have seen and heard of too many accidents where the dog ran around their handler so quickly and tightly that they caused lacerations around their handler’s legs. Other times, the dog gets hurt by chasing after something and goes to the very end of the leash and abruptly gets choked. Our friend was biking with his dog running beside him. He was holding onto the casing of the retractable leash. The dog saw something,

  At some point in your dog’s lifetime, most likely you have had to take them to your vet for an emergency type situation. Whether it be due to swallowing a foreign object or requiring surgery for an acute injury, Dr. Randy Hutchison and his professional staff at Animal Clinic Northview in North Ridgeville, Ohio, will be able to get your dog back on the road to recovery. In this episode, Dr. Randy and I discuss common injuries and treatments that are available for various conditions. As much as we try to prevent injuries from happening, they are almost inevitable. I don’t think I have ever met anyone who hasn’t had to take their dog to the vet only for well check ups. One of the great things about Animal Clinic Northview is that they have round the clock service. So, no matter what time of day or night your dog suffers an injury or illness, there will be a vet on duty to help you.Dog BitesAs a dog trainer, unfortunately, I have seen plenty of people get bit by dogs or their dogs have gotten into dog fights. The wounds can be serious, sometimes fatal. Especially if they have gone untreated for a period of time. Bite wounds for people should never, ever be taken lightly because of the bacterial content of dogs’ mouths. When we witness or experience dog bites, we think of the dog lunging toward their target and biting quickly and powerfully. Some dogs will bite and hold on. Others will bite once and let go. Either way, the damage can be extensive. To a trained eye, dogs ALWAYS give you a warning before biting. Please consult a professional dog trainer if you feel that your dog has aggressive tendencies. They will not go away on their own. My contact info is below. If I feel that I cannot help you because the aggression is too serious, I can refer you to other dog trainers. Dr. Randy sees an influx of bite wounds in the winter time. Dogs don’t always get the exercise they are used to during the warmer months. This can create a lot of frustration for dogs due to pent up energy. Sometimes, fights happen between dogs living in the same household. Common causes of fights are over claiming possession of valuable resources such as toys and food. In the dog training arena, we call this resource guarding. One dog will pose in a way that their body is over the food or toy and their body is stiff. You may even see “whale eyes” or the whites of their eyes, accompanied by growling and baring their teeth. Assessing the damage done by a dog bite to another dog has to be done very carefully. If the decision is made to stitch up the wound, the possibility of locking in the bacteria can lead to locking in an infection. Antibiotics may be prescribed to address the infection. Sometimes, depending on where the wound is located, there is not enough skin to stitch together. However, there is a new treatment on the market called Phovia. Phovia delivers fluorescent light to the affected wound, which stimulates the body’s natural healing process. It is non-invasive and painless. Any kind of wound care treatment involves multiple visits until everything has healed up nicely. Your vet will guide you through the healing process and may even recommend physical therapy depending on the injury.The bacteria in dogs’ mouths can cause serious infections in humans too. It may require antibiotics to get rid of the infection. The bacteria doesn’t necessarily have to be transmitted through a bite. My neighbor almost died after she came home from an operation and her dog licked the wound, like dogs do. There can be certain bacteria in the dog’s mouth that can cause sepsis through an open wound. Please consult your veterinarian or medical doctor if you or your dog experience a bite or licking an open wound from another dog. Another totally innocent way a dog can get a serious infection from a bite wound is through play. My dog, Ebi, was playing with her best friend across the street. I was watching the dogs play. It is very common for dogs to use their mouths while playing and bite gently. I heard one of the dogs shriek. Ebi was laying down, but then got back up to play again. I figured one of the dogs came down too hard on the other and they let the other dog know about it. Well, 2 to 3 days later, my husband discovered a big growth on her side that we had never noticed before. My friend, who is a former vet tech, came over, and shaved the area where the growth was. It revealed a puncture wound from a tooth. That’s when I realized what that shriek was all about. Our neighbor dog came down too hard on Ebi. The bacteria from that bite caused an abscess to form. I took Ebi to the vet for further treatment and she healed up beautifully. Cranial Cruciate Ligament TearsAnother common yet painful injury to dogs is tearing the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL), which is the equivalent of tearing the anterior cruciate ligament(ACL) in humans. The CCL is located inside the knee joint, connecting the thigh bone to the shin bone. I have never personally experienced this with my dogs, but plenty of my client’s dogs have, unfortunately. The surgery and rehab is quite pricey and stressful because the dogs have to be contained for an extended period of time. A lot of times, dogs will tear their CCL because they sprinted towards something or jumped off a high place. You will know right away if your dog injured themselves because they will start limping immediately. Every time your dog steps on that leg with a torn CCL, it buckles because the ligament is not there to provide stabilization. When the injury occurs, there is acute pain. However, that pain subsides as time goes on, but the limp persists. If this does happen to your dog, contact your vet immediately so that they can assess the injury.One of the biggest misconceptions about CCL injuries is that the vet is surgically repairing the ligament. If that was actually attempted by a vet, it would almost certainly end in failure. The ligament is so minute and damaged that it is impossible to stitch it back together. Almost all CCL repair techniques are done to provide stabilization to the joint. There are a couple of ways to repair these injuries. One option is called a lateral suture. This procedure uses sutures to reinforce the outside of the knee joint which creates a type of artificial ligament. A more up-to-date method is referred to as TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy). This procedure is done more commonly now. The joint forms scar tissue around itself to let the body heal it in a way that creates stability. Rehab Facility On Premise Animal Clinic Northview offers many different types of therapies for patients coming off of surgeries and injuries. They now have a swimming pool to help rehab a joint that needs to move but not involve hard impact. Also on the premises are underwater and dry treadmills, acupuncture, and laser therapy to help with the healing process. This is such an improvement to what used to be offered when the dog would undergo surgery and be sent home to heal. All of the therapies mentioned above can expedite and improve the quality of the dog’s life a lot quicker so that they can get back to running around again.The rehab facility at Animal Clinic Northview is in the same building as the main veterinary clinic and is staffed by therapists dedicated to rehabbing dogs. There is a separate extra wide entrance to accommodate patients coming in on gurneys and for those who may be more stressed entering through the main lobby. There is even a special rubber coated floor for those patients recovering from leg surgeries to prevent any slipping. ObstructionsTwo of the commands I teach during my basic obedience class are the “Leave It/Drop It'“ commands. Dogs love to explore their world through their nose and their mouth. I don’t think I have ever met a puppy that hasn’t wanted to put everything in their mouth. It’s their way of exploring their world. It’s up to us humans to keep them safe and teach them to stop pursuing an object with the “Leave It” command. If it’s too late to prevent them from putting it in their mouth, we use the “Drop It” command to make them release the object and surrender it. It is also common for puppies and dogs to play “keep away” from their humans and make a game out of running around the yard or house with a prized possession in their mouth. We don’t realize that we are playing the exact game the dog wanted to play when we chase the dog around and yell at them to drop it. The more the humans yell, the more excited and energized the dog gets to continue this fun game! It’s when the dog decides to swallow the object and a blockage occurs that Dr. Randy comes in. He has dealt with plenty of clients whose dogs ingested something they shouldn’t have. Whole ears of corn, fish hooks, socks and underwear to name a few. He says that a lot of the time, family members just want to know who is to blame - who left the underwear on the floor in the first place???There are instances where we actually witness our dog swallowing an object that was too big or knowingly indigestible. It is extremely advisable to immediately go to the vet to get it expelled. Socks and underwear are two very common foreign bodies that are ingested. If addressed soon enough, there are medications to induce vomiting, and the object comes back up the esophagus, out the mouth, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief and goes home. Another way to prevent having to surgically remove a foreign body is through an instrument called an endoscope. There are different kinds and sizes of grabbers and loops that are attached to the endoscope which are fed down the esophagus and into the stomach. The grabber will pick up the foreign body and be pulled back out of the mouth. Foreign bodies get tricky when no one in the family notices that the dog ingested anything. All they notice is that the dog does not

 If you have a dog, chances are you have visited the veterinarian’s office a few times. Scheduling regular vet appointments can ensure the healthiest life possible for your dog by staying up to date on vaccines and preventative care. From parasite prevention and treatments to birthing and breeding dogs, the professional staff at Animal Clinic Northview in North Ridgeville, Ohio, can help your pet get the best treatment possible for whatever issue you may be experiencing with your pet. Dr. Randy Hutchison (Dr. Randy) has been a practicing vet for over 25 years at Animal Clinic Northview. When he was just 5 years old, he decided he wanted to be a vet, attend The Ohio State University, and work with his father. It helped that his Dad, Dr. Robert Hutchison, was and currently still is, a vet too. However, when Dr. Randy was 16 years old, his father sat him down at the kitchen table and told him that he didn’t have to follow in his footsteps if he didn’t want to. Dr. Randy told his Dad right then and there that his goal in life was to become a vet. Imagine how proud his Dad was that his son was going to follow in his footsteps and become the esteemed veterinarian that he is today, all because of his wisdom and knowledge that he passed on to his son. How Animal Clinic Northview was established As with anything great, the back story on how Animal Clinic Northview got started is a very captivating one to tell. Dr. Robert met his original partner, Dr. Gary Krone, graduated from vet school and worked for a vet in Elyria. They had a vision back then to build a full service animal clinic where they could offer services other than just vaccines and well check ups. You could say the dream was to create a one stop shopping venue where whatever your pet needed, they could provide the service. When Dr. Randy was 3 years old, his father and soon to be business partner, started looking for a plot of land to build the office of their dreams on. This was top secret, or at least it was supposed to be top secret until one of Dr. Robert’s elderly clients told him that the ladies at the beauty parlor were talking about him building a new vet office. The word got out and Dr. Robert and Dr. Krone felt they had to do the right thing and tell their boss about it before he found out by word of mouth. Unfortunately, but actually fortunately, they both were fired the next day. This propelled them to pack up their supplies and operate their business out of their trunks while their new office was being built. They rented surgical rooms from other vet clinics and made it work. By the time the building was ready to be operational, they had approximately 3,000 clients!Fast forward to today, Animal Clinic Northview offers so many services, including 24 hour emergency service, laparoscopic surgeries, an intensive care unit, CT scans, three types of ultrasounds, and even more. The vision of the clinic today is to provide the most comprehensive care possible with compassion. On a personal note, I discovered Animal Clinic Northview from a mutual client and their German Shepherd, Heidi. I used to help them handle Heidi on appointments due to her reactivity to other dogs that she might encounter in the waiting room. Now, she is so well behaved that they can manage on their own, but helping my clients’ dog exposed me to the clinic. So, when I got my Leonberger, Ebi, she had her first puppy appointment with Dr. Randy and has been a client ever since. Since then, when one of my cats was in his last stage of life, I went to the vet down the street from me that I had been going to for over 20 years. I took the cat in to find out what was going on. The vet told me that I needed to confirm her diagnosis of possible lymphoma by getting an ultrasound. They did not have the equipment there. They told me to go to Animal Clinic Northview. It was confirmed that he was in his last stage of life and his organs were shutting down. He died two weeks later at home. So, it was a no brainer for me. I switched my other cat over to Animal Clinic Northview and I have been very happy ever since. Animal Clinic Northview offers many different servicesReproductive ServicesOne of the first unique services the clinic started providing other than basic veterinary medicine was a reproductive department. Animal Clinic Northview has one of the largest canine frozen semen banks in the world. Breeders choose to store their stud’s (male dogs) sperm there. A stud’s sperm can be preserved for as long as the client wants and can be used for breeding dogs. The sperm is owned by the stud dog’s owner. There is a separate agreement outside of the clinic. When the breeder finds a female to breed with their stud’s sperm, they contact Animal Clinic Northview to release the sperm. It has happened where the stud has been dead for 25 years and still producing litters!Another reproductive service the clinic offers is a birthing unit. There are certain breeds, like the bully breeds, in particular French Bulldogs, who require C-sections when giving birth. They just aren’t big enough to handle the birthing process. However, just like there are different reasons that humans require C-sections, dogs share the same reasons. For example, the labor has failed, the mother’s life is at stake, or the puppies lives are in jeopardy. There is an observation room for the owners to watch the birthing process if they desire. It can be very exciting to watch, especially when they are all healthy and the mom is doing well. Some owners are involved and some stay in the corner, but it's very exciting to witness a live birth. Intensive Care UnitAnimal Clinic Northview also has an ICU for very similar reasons that require a human patient to be admitted to the ICU. It is staffed by 3 to 6 nurses around the clock. It can house potentially 40 to 50 patients. Attached to the ICU is an isolation ward with a see through window. It is separate from the normal wards where patients go so as to not cross contaminate with healthy pets. For example, if a pet has a respiratory illness such as Parvo, these patients will be in the isolation ward separated from the other ICU patients. Animal Clinic Northview promotes their techs to specialize in certain departments. If a vet tech shows interest in wanting to be trained in working with specific cases, they are encouraged to do so. So, the vet techs who tend to patients in the ICU are dedicated to this department. You won’t see an ICU nurse in your well check up visit. These techs are experts at handling serious cases like infectious diseases, pneumonia, diabetes, and heart and kidney diseases which require constant supervision. An ICU technician may have the exact same licensing as a surgical technician or a floor technician, but they have chosen to follow a certain path that they are very passionate about. Very few clinics have this type of set up in the United States. Exotic PetsNot only can the vet technicians and assistants choose a certain department to specialize in, but so can the veterinarians themselves. At Animal Clinic Northview, it’s not just about cats and dogs. There are 3 doctors who cater to clients with exotic pets such as birds, small mammals, snakes, tortoises, and rabbits, just to name a few. There are also vet techs who assist these vets with surgeries on these animals and even turkey, chickens, and reptiles. They are just as loved as a pet as a dog or cat can be. The staff at the clinic recognize this and want to be able to provide services to as many different pets as possible. Common Reasons Why Dogs Require a VetFor the purpose of this interview with Dr. Randy, I will be discussing common dog issues that require a vet visit. It just so happens that Dr. Randy’s field of expertise is dogs. When most people think about vet visits, they think about vaccinations - preventative medicine.VaccinationsWhether you are bringing home a puppy or a rescue dog, it is strongly advised to keep up to date on vaccinations in order to prevent diseases. The most common series of shots is the DHPP : Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvo and Parainfluenza. When puppies come in for their first visit, frequently they have had at least one round of this all in one shot. This vaccine protects dogs from getting these potentially serious infections and helps keep them healthy for their lifetime with follow up boosters. One common misconception about the puppy series is that they need to be vaccinated often to get the proper dosage in them in order to prevent illness. Dr. Randy clarifies this by stating that it doesn’t matter how many shots a puppy has had. What matters is that by week 16 of a puppy’s life, this is when the mother’s immunization passed on through the colostrum and milk has waned and the puppy’s own immune system kicks in. However, if the health of the mother’s immune system is not optimal, this can affect the strength of the antibodies passed on to the puppies in the colostrum within the first 48 hours. Hence, the reason why the first series is commonly given within the first 8 weeks of life. The second round typically follows around a month later, and the very last series is administered around week 16. Even if breeders insist that they have already given the puppy 3 rounds of shots prior to 16 weeks, the truth is that the maternal antibodies negate the vaccines. So, all of those vaccines that breeder gave the puppy are useless. One hopes that this doesn’t happen because a puppy’s immune system can be bombarded with vaccines to the point where even that can cause issues. It is sometimes impossible to determine whether a dog from a shelter has had prior vaccinations. There are such things as titers, but they are not reliable. For example, a titer may show the presence of Parainfluenza, but it does not differentiate between exposure to the disease or immunization of the disease. Therefore, if there are no

A popular topic in the dog training field for trainers and pet parents is Positive Reinforcement. To be honest, before I became a dog trainer in 2012, I didn’t even know that there were different methodologies that were taught in training dogs. I am only knowledgeable and comfortable teaching positive reinforcement techniques. However, I have experienced the other method of training dogs, which is “correction” based, when I signed up for training my Corgi, Hank, in 2005. You have to remember that even as recently as 20 years ago, the big box pet stores like Petco and PetSmart were not as well known and widespread as they are now. In-store dog training classes were not offered until sometime in the 1990s. People didn’t even think about getting their dog trained from a private dog trainer, let alone a pet store. Now, it is common to attend training classes with your dog, and the benefits of it are more well known. It has become more common to seek out a trainer for problem issues at home and/or just basic obedience skills. In fact, a lot of breeders either highly suggest or require that the puppy they have raised, attend basic obedience classes. Dogs went from being thought of as an animal that lived in a dog house outside, to a family member that sleeps in our beds, in a relatively short period of time! When I was growing up, there was no leash law. Very few families on our street had dogs that roamed the neighborhood. The only bad thing I remember about that was the dog poop. No one liked it then when a dog pooped on your lawn, and no one likes it now! I’m sure kids got bit by these dogs, but they were far and few between. Not that many households had dogs like they have today. There are still cities and communities with no leash laws. However, with the threat of rabies from dogs attacking other dogs and humans, leash laws have become the standard.In my early teenage years, my parents took care of my brother’s dog, Rama, for several years while my brother was in college. Rama was not allowed in the house. Rama was not my sole responsibility, but if my Mom told me to walk or feed him, I was happy to do that. I even used to walk him into town, off leash, bring him into the small grocery store and he would stay at the entrance until I was finished with my shopping. That is unheard of in my neighborhood today. If you do walk your dog off leash, you risk paying a fine if the police happen to see you in action.Today, most of the neighbors on my street have dogs. The way we think about dogs has changed. They clearly are family members and because of that, people want the best care for them. Not to say that people didn’t want what was best for their dog back 20-30 years ago, but in general, people are more aware of caring for their dogs. What seems to resonate with pet parents today is positive reinforcement techniques versus correction based methods. People have become more aware of how we care for our pets. How we train them, discipline them, feed them, and provide veterinary care for them, has changed. This all has an impact on the dog’s behavior and well being. There still are people who espouse the correction based methods of training and disciplining a dog, but they are becoming the minority. I remember asking my manager at Petco when I started to become aware of this difference in training, if there was an “old school” and “new school'“ way of training dogs, and he immediately said “Yes!”So back in 2012, when I got the job at Petco, the curriculum there was all based on positive reinforcement. It was written by a well known animal behaviorist named Patricia McConnell. Positive reinforcement is a behavior modification technique. In order to get the dog to do the desired behavior you're looking for, you use something very positive. Most often it is treats, pea sized treats. You can also use a toy as long as the dog doesn't get too excited about the toy. When you're doing repetition after repetition to instill that behavior in the dog, a toy can take up too much time and cause too much excitement. You have to wait until the dog can refocus again on training. However, toys are great after a training session and the dog has some “free time'“ to decompress. The other tool you always have on your person is your voice. You can praise your dog with your voice. The only thing you have to be aware of when using your voice is the excitement level in your voice. If you are too excited with your voice, the dog can get too excited and distracted by that. I happen to use both my voice and treats when shaping a particular behavior. Sometimes if I have been working on a particularly challenging behavior and the dog finally “gets it”, I want to shout for joy. However, I refrain because I want to do even more repetitions without having to spend time calming the dog back down from my excitement. Instead, I recommend giving a jackpot of very small treats and my energy is very happy. The 3 D’s in dog training: distance, duration and distraction Keep the distance from the dog very close, have them hold that behavior for a short duration ( 2-3 seconds), and keep the distractions at a minimum. Always work with your dog keeping these 3 factors in mind. You want to set your dog up for success. This is a great formula to achieve that. As you get in hundreds of repetitions, you can increase the distance by another foot, increase the duration by seconds, and then provide a little more distraction by either the movement of your arm or head, for example. When teaching a dog a new behavior, I always lure the dog right up to his nose to best utilize his sense of smell. I keep it there until I get the behavior I am looking for. I don’t say a word. The command comes later after the dog has done the behavior at least 5-10 times in a row. It is only vocalized while the dog is in the process of doing the behavior you are asking for, and you are 99% sure the dog is in the act of doing the behavior. Within two seconds, I give them a “Yes!” marker word and the treat. After you give them the treat, that is their release, which means they can get up. Then, it’s lots of repetitions, until you are ready to go to the next stage of that behavior.Dogs stay motivated because they love the treat that you're giving them. If they start to get uninterested in the treat, switch to another one that has a different scent. The next stage of shaping a behavior after luring, marking and adding the command is adding a hand signal and making the dog hold that behavior until you release them. I recommend having a treat hand and a signal hand. This eases the weaning off the treats process. They still get the treat within 2 seconds, but it comes from the hand with the treat which is behind your back. When I release a dog from any behavior, a sit, down, or stay, I personally slap my leg and say, “Okay!”, and take a step backwards. That step backwards makes the dog want to follow you. Most likely, they will get up to get the treat (again within two seconds). Back in 2012, when I was doing the online courses at Petco, the curriculum said to reward the dog within 2 to 3 seconds. By the time I left in 2016, they changed that to reward the dog within 2 seconds. One second can be the difference between keeping the dog's attention and them moving on and deciding what's next. The human should be in control of what’s next for the dog, not the dog. When dogs are left to make decisions, they make dog decisions. These dog decisions usually don’t mesh with the human’s decisions. Even if you give your dog a command that they have some free time and no longer have to be in communication with you, you are the one telling them that. This is what effective and clear communication is all about.We can't talk about positive reinforcement without also talking about what if the dog doesn't sit? What do we do then? Sometimes the dog won't naturally sit. So, we might have to apply a little pressure right at the base of their back where the tail is, and just gently push their butt down. Sometimes that will work, depending on the dog. Other times, maybe your treat isn't motivating enough. I always advise having two to three different types of treats. Dogs will get used to and kind of bored with that one taste and smell. You bring in a brand new smell, they're motivated to work again. If your dog is just unruly and does not want to pay attention, then I say change the venue. Instead of training in your kitchen, go into the living room and try there. You may have to go outside and throw the ball a few times to release any pent up energy. Better yet, go for a nice long walk. If the weather is not conducive to walking that day, put the dog on a treadmill!A tired dog is a good dog. A dog that has had their energy drained is more submissive and receptive to learning.Remember, you have to keep the distractions very few so that you can hold their attention. So many of my clients say with puppies that their puppies have attention deficit disorder. Well, they don't. They just can't stay focused on you for very long. That is very common. Keep the training sessions short, maybe 10-15 minutes or until you notice that your dog is starting to get too distracted too easily. Also, check your energy. Maybe you are losing your patience and starting to get frustrated. Take a break or pick the training session up later. Always end the session with an easy “Sit”, and release them. You are the one ending that conversation, not the dog. We can’t talk about positive reinforcement without talking about discipline. When you are searching for a dog trainer, it is advisable to find out how the trainer disciplines dogs. Dogs are going to misbehave just like children will. How does the trainer handle this? In my opinion, there is no tolerance for hitting a dog. Not even two fingers on the nose. This is a topic I will discuss further in another

Dogs learn skills from different sources. They learn from their humans and they learn from each other, if they are part of a pack of dogs. For this episode’s purpose, I am going to focus on how dogs learn from their humans and how integral our part in their learning process is. Our energy, our confidence, and our body language, all play a part in their success or failure to learn. What Gary and I are really teaching is the humans, and how to communicate across a species, in a manner that is positive and effective. The dogs are usually the easy part!One of the first things to keep in the forefront of your mind while working with dogs is that you have to be the most important thing to your dogs for the right reason. If you aren’t fun and positive, why would they want to work for you? If you are always using a stern voice and giving very little praise with low enthusiasm, the dog isn’t as apt to follow your commands. As Gary always says, “You can’t phone it in”, meaning, you can’t fake it. If you pretend to be be fun or happy for your dog, your dog will pick up on this and not be as willing to work for you. From a dog’s eye view, you are not authentic. This leaves some doubt in the dog’s mind that you are not the leader they need. They really want to work for someone who knows what they are doing and has a confident air about them. Otherwise, they will hesitate and possibly lose interest in you. From what I have learned, the only way to get the confidence needed to communicate with a dog is through practice. With the coaching of a professional dog trainer, you will be taught to carry yourself in a way that displays confident and calm body language. For example, if you are hunched over when communicating to your dog, this is a more submissive position than if you are standing straight up. What comes natural to you as you are working with your dog may be sending a more submissive signal to your dog because of your posture. On top of that, if you are hesitant or not comfortable with communicating, your dog will pick up on this and may not respond. If you are too assertive, you are crossing over the threshold of assertiveness to frustration. Now, your dog really won’t listen to you! You have to do your homework and work on this calm and assertive energy. It was something that definitely did not come natural to me. However, when a professional pointed out to me to act like I am talking to my children when it is imperative that they do something, I adapted that energy more easily. When you really think about it, communicating with a dog is a skill. The only way to get better at a skill is to practice. It’s like learning how to play the piano. You have to be disciplined enough to practice on a consistent basis, you have to learn to read the notes, and you have to be open to being taught by a professional. You don’t just wake up one day and know how to play Beethoven’s 5th Symphony! I see transformations in most clients after several sessions working with them. There has to be a willingness to learn and change the way they may have been communicating with their dog, in order for this transformation to happen. I love to see this because I also see how the dog responds to them. The dog starts looking to them for direction and helping them to solve what’s next for them. It’s so rewarding as a trainer to see that and I never get tired of witnessing it. Along side of being important to your dog is you must have a way to mark their behavior as the one you are looking for. There has to be a reward base. Gary actually prefers the word “stimulate” over “reward”. Rewards can lock people into one thing - treats. It’s the first thing that comes to most people’s minds. If you are using treats, I always recommend having a few different types while always making sure they are healthy treats. The treats that are 100% of that ingredient, like freeze dried chicken or salmon, are great. The treat only has to be the size of a pea for the dog to work for it. Dogs can get tired of the same taste, so change it up if needed. Rewards or stimuli can take on different forms. There can be a verbal stimulus. We all say “Good boy!” or “ Good girl!” When we say this, our energy is very positive. When I am doing repetitions of a particular skill, such as the “Down” command, I will say “Yes!” as soon as the dog is in the down position. Then, I will repeat “Good down” to reiterate the command, especially if they are in the process of learning the down behavior. The “Yes!” is also confirmation to the dog that this is what you are asking them to do.Another reward can be a toy or playing tug with a toy. It is equally important to remember that not every dog is motivated by the same stimulus. My dog, Ebi, is more motivated by treats than by toys. Treats work very well with her in shaping behaviors. She may be motivated by a toy for a little bit, but not for as long as I need her to be when doing repetitions of a new behavior. Gary’s dog is more motivated by playing tug and working until she gets to play that tug with him. She still enjoys treats, but they have a different effect on her than a game of tug does and she is motivated to work towards that reward. When Gary finishes a dog, that means the dog no longer needs a leash or collar. Gary and the dog are a team because they have practiced and completed so many repetitions of the same behavior under so many different distractions, that the dog knows exactly what he wants. He discovered how that dog understands and learns that skill and what keeps the dog motivated to learn. It is important to add that Gary makes sure he gears his training according to each dog’s drives and motivations. Knowing what motivates your dog is key to the learning process. Recognizing breed traits is very important in finding the right reward to match the energy of the dog. If you are working with a terrier with a high prey drive, you will not be able to sustain successful repetitions if your reward is to play tug with your dog. Better yet, a squeaky toy will not be the best reward for this type of dog either. It can ignite that prey drive and you will not have any luck in your training session. Now, all your dog will care about is that squeaky toy. They have passed the threshold of being able to give you a calm sit to vibrating with instinctual energy that will make them possibly lunge for that reward. If you create so much excitement in the dog while completing your repetitions, it will take quite some time to calm him down. Remember, even if the dog is siting or in a down position, his brain is on the verge of exploding and working so hard to hold that sit or down position, that he forgets what you even wanted to teach him. There is a time and place to apply this type of highly excited energy to good use when training a dog to be a protection dog, for example. This cannot be achieved without also teaching the dog an “Off” switch. Gary will explain this more in detail in a different episode when we discuss training security, protection, police, and search and rescue dogs. I will admit that after Ebi learned all her behaviors, I got pretty lax at being excited when she did what I asked her to do. I took it for granted that she would do these commands. At the same time, I had pretty much abandoned the treats, I didn’t feel they were necessary anymore. It took me working with Gary to point that out to me. Gary always says, “You like getting a paycheck from your employer, right? Well, so does your dog!” You may not need a paycheck immediately after completing a task. Once a week or bi weekly is suitable to keep you motivated to do your job. Getting a bonus every now and then or a pat on the back, definitely keeps us humans motivated. It’s the same for dogs. After learning a particular skill, they don’t need a treat every time they do it, but every now and then, will keep them motivated. When working with your dog, you are also building an association that learning equates to fun. Dogs learn best when they know there is something in it for them and it’s fun. If you aren’t having a good day and you’re pretending to be in a good mood, your dog will pick up on this and not want to work for you. This is when we tend to get frustrated and think it’s the dog’s inadequacies, not our own. My advice when this occurs is to pick up the training session again when you can give your dog 100% of yourself. Your dog deserves it! Dogs learn in pictures, not movies. As you stimulate the behaviors over and over again, it’s the association and repetition that takes the picture in the dog's head. Dogs learn through association repetition. “The behaviors we stimulate are the behaviors we accelerate”. If you stimulate a behavior, right, wrong, or different, you get more of it. Everything in a dog’s eyes is seen as the singular. So, there's one and more ones and some ones and no ones. They'll never understand that five and two are seven. They'll just know that more ones plus more ones is more ones. It’s as if they take a picture of what your body language was at the time that the stimulus was given. You can even see the wheels turning in your dog’s head when they are learning a new behavior. They are trying to figure out what you and the environment looked like when they got that reward. Then, it’s like magic. Suddenly, they make the connection of what they had to do in order to get that reward. Again, I get so excited when I see this magic happen that I want to shout for joy. I have to refrain from doing so, because I can interrupt the learning process! “Find the picture you want, stimulate that behavior, and do it in a manner that doesn't interrupt.” When talking about shaping the “Sit” behavior, Gary will get a sit, and he wants to reward the sit. He’s not going to start off by stimulating the sit in a manner that disturbs the sit. He is going to tr

One of the features of “From A Dog’s Eye View” podcast is to bring in experts from my community of Cleveland, Ohio, whose profession it is to work with dogs in different capacities. I will be hosting other professional dog trainers, groomers, vets, breeders, and many more. There is so much involved in caring for a dog and my mission is to bring you the best advice.One of my guests, who will be on several episodes, will be Gary Flynn. Many of you have probably heard me say, “Let me see what my dog trainer friend, Gary, thinks about this issue you are having”. In a separate episode, Gary and I will talk about how we met. I feel that Gary’s extensive experience with dogs merits an episode dedicated to how he got started, so that you can understand why I refer to Gary when I get stuck and can’t quite figure out the proper approach for a certain dog. Gary was exposed to dogs while he was in the military and he always just somehow fell into a position where it wasn't exactly the job that he signed up to do. For example, when he first went to Germany, he was a heavy wheeled vehicle mechanic. Within just a couple weeks of being there, he ended up being the base liaison between his unit and all the subunits, to the local MAN service center in Neckarsulm. Upon returning to the states, he was infantry and a good soldier at Fort Benning. He was on the commanding general staff and worked protocol, which involved taking care of foreign VIPs and heads of state. Since he was such a good soldier, he would be grabbed for certain duties, one of which included working with the Georgia Canine Search and Rescue Team. Search and Rescue was a natural fit for Gary because navigating and staying in the woods was Gary’s comfort zone. That was his job as a light infantry scout. The main person he worked with at Georgia Canine Search and Rescue was Curtis Flatt of River Bend, Georgia. His son, Steve did search and rescue too. Gary and his wife stayed with the Flatts occasionally as he was getting out of the army. His family welcomed them into their home. Everybody in River Bend knows their family because his great uncle was the Flatt of Flatt and Scruggs, who wrote the theme song for the Beverly Hillbillies. That song was frequently played at the many Sunday dinners Gary and his wife had there.With the influence and great teaching from the Flatts, Gary started working with dogs and saw what they could do. For example, he saw a drown victim recovery where the dogs marked the location of the bodies that were partially submerged in the water. He also saw an Alzheimer's patient who had walked away from the residence. They found her just a little scratched up and returned her to her home. Those experiences really made Gary understand the amazing capabilities of dogs and want to explore search and rescue even more.(The picture above is Gary with his Belgian Malinois, Tasha, at Ground Zero on 9/11)The more search and rescue work Gary was involved with, the more it made him realize that initially he was giving all the credit to the dog. One could argue that it probably still belongs there, but the truth is, it's the handler's ability to read their dog, and it's the ability to install a clear reward base that is in forward motivation that the dog will work for. Training a dog to find something is what they do all the time. We ask our dog to go find his ball or go find Mom or Dad. What we are actually doing is shaping a dog to do a particular task. In reference to shaping a dog for search and rescue, you are teaching the dog to actually work for an odor, ignore everything else, ignore the other dogs, the people, the horses, the ATVs, the generators, the 800 other searchers on your area of ground zero. This was the type of shaping Gary loved to do. Gary also discovered while working with these dogs that not every dog was capable of handling that level of stress of working through those distractions. What happens when you start to escalate them and move their drives, they don't remain clear headed. For example, everyone has seen this in your pets at home. Some dogs, as soon as they start to get really excited, they get frantic. They have no behaviors other than the instinct to escape. It’s that fight or flight response. They're bouncing all over the place and they're just very frantic. So, not every dog can do what is asked of them to the same level. Selecting dogs and training dogs specifically for search and rescue, became a passion of Gary’s. When he was honorably discharged from the army, he moved to Vermillion, Ohio. He graduated from Amherst and started working with a gentleman by the name of Benji McPeak. Benji was a retired sheriff's deputy and a Vietnam War veteran and was definitely Gary’s mentor. Benji was the master trainer of the North American Search Dog Network. He was responsible for training the bomb sniffing dogs to work at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988. Two of the seasoned trainers who Gary worked with were Cliff Lindsey and Joe Clement. Cliff operated out of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and worked with Bloodhounds. Joe was the president of North American Search Dog Network. This type of environment laid a strong foundation for effectively conducting search and rescue missions.Gary was fortunate to land a job working with such a prestigious group of experienced trainers, but being the rookie of the group, he realized he had to do the grunt work. Cleaning kennels. Being optimistic and a hard worker, he learned that cleaning kennels was a very important part of the job. He got his hands on every dog. He learned each dog’s personality and traits. It wasn’t just the motion of cleaning the kennel, letting a dog out for a morning break, and throwing food down. He had to manage each dog. A job that would be unpleasant to a lot of people was actually very beneficial to Gary and helped him gain more knowledge about dog behavior.The dogs that Gary was managing were coming from countries like the Czech Republic. A lot of these dogs had shutzhund titles. Shutzhund is a German word meaning “protection dog'“. It focuses on three different levels of developing dogs for tracking, obedience and protection work. They are also carefully bred to ensure the highest quality of dog. Today, a dog that is imported from Europe with Shutzhund level 3 (the highest level) can cost upwards of $70,000. Some of the dogs in these kennels were BH's, or Begleithund, which means “Basic Handling”. This is a title given to dogs who have been evaluated for their temperament and obedience in many different situations. ‌Working with this caliber of trained dogs propelled Gary into forming OSDA, which stands for Ohio Search Dog Association. They are still in existence today. His main goal was to provide professional search assets to any public service agency that had the sole responsibility for a specific search and rescue mission. Sometimes that would fall under the fire department, sometimes the sheriff’s department. It all depended upon what was going on and who was to grab custody of the mission at hand. Very quickly after forming OSDA, Gary started working dogs doing homicide evidence recoveries for the FBI. He also did work for the SBI unit (Special Bureau of Investigation) under Dennis Gunsch and Micheline Taliano. Within just one month of being in business, Gary was called to the same county three times to go find searchers. Two of those calls were search dog teams. Gary knew he had to formalize OSDA to increase the efficiency of these search teams. His goal was to categorize it as a 501 C3 business, a not for profit charity that functioned as a public service agency. It based its standards primarily off of the NAPWADA and NASDN (North American Search Dog Network) standards. These were already recognized standards. NAPWADA stands for North American Police Work Dog Association. Its main purpose is to assist all law enforcement agencies in the training and certifying of police dogs to adhere to their established standards through continuing education at the local, state and national levels. Determining what was certifiable and strictly following these high standards required a certain level of training. There can be no gray areas. The dog might be able to do a specific task, but not in the manner that is in accordance to these standards. Now it's not a matter of IF the dog did it, it's HOW the dog did it. One of Gary’s proudest and rewarding search and rescue tasks was his first federal deployment at ground zero on 9/11. Three of the four dogs were certified by OSDA! This included Gary’s Belgian Malinois, Tasha, Mike Palumbo’s black lab, Lucas, and Kelly Clark’s German Shepherd, Evil. The fourth handler, Terry Trepanier and his amazing Golden Retriever, Woody, was Gary’s dayshift partner. Just to emphasize again, a lot of dogs would not be able to handle the level of stress and be able to confidently maneuver their environment under control and command with no leash and no collar. A leash and collar can be a death sentence to a disaster dog working under the rubble. Gary’s experience at 9/11 will be a future episode you won’t want to miss! (Gary and Tasha - 3rd from the left with his team at Ground Zero)As Gary was becoming more in demand and experienced at search and rescue work, he noticed a transition in training the dogs. The dogs he started off working professionally, were hard dogs, kennel dogs, that were worked as inventory. A lot of them had never been underfoot in someone’s home. They had Schutzhund titles, did bite work, searched for articles, but not much odor training and definitely not a family pet. The transition occurred when Gary started training dogs to follow an odor with a clear reward base system to get and keep them motivated. Being the leader that the dog requires which involves trust and respect, is of the upmost importance. How to gain that trust an

Welcome to From a Dog's Eye View! I am so excited to begin this new adventure of podcasting with all of you! I have been thinking about doing this for over two years, and finally it has come to fruition. I will strive to bring you the most accurate and clear information about dogs in a way that will be relatable to you. I was drawn to this type of platform as a way to get solid facts about dogs to an audience that I feel is craving information that makes sense to them. Over the years, clients have told me that they read or saw ways to handle certain issues on the internet. I agreed with some of the info, and others I did not at all. My guests and I will have frank discussions about some of the easy and fun issues we deal with, but also some of the very difficult issues we come across, which will help you sort through some of the confusion. But first, I would like to give you some background information about myself and how I ended up becoming a dog trainer. It all started back in 2005 with my family dog, Hank, who was a Corgi. So, it has been a while! It took eight years of not really knowing how to effectively communicate with Hank, before he bit my daughter. He had sent up plenty of warning signs like air biting, lifting his lip when growling, his body becoming stiff, the whites of his eyes showing, his pupils getting enlarged to the point where they looked black, and charging at us. We didn’t know how bad these signs were and how uncomfortable Hank was in certain situations. After all, it took him eight years before he actually lunged and bit my daughter. A decision had to be made. Finding a home for Hank or getting some professional help. Finding a home for Hank was not an option for me.Instead, I found an excellent dog trainer. When he came to the house and helped me, that's when I decided I wanted to do what he did and become a dog trainer. He gave me so many tips. One of which included walking Hank in a structured way, twice a day: first thing in the morning, and then another one later in the afternoon, for at least a half hour each walk. He suggested my morning walk take place as soon as we woke up, even before I had my cup of coffee! I made that sacrifice.I was so determined to make it work. You can click on this link “My story” on my website, where I go into more detail about my experience with Hank. After he bit my daughter, that's when I decided to do whatever it took to rehab him. After all, I had already invested 8 years of trying to do what I thought was best for Hank. I wanted to do as much research as possible. I was even taking notes while watching episodes of “The Dog Whisperer” with Cesar Millan. I remember asking a friend if she did that too and she gave me a funny look. That’s when I knew I was more interested in dog behavior than the average person. The myth that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks is just that. A myth! The dog trainer also noticed that I needed to change some other things, including a new way to feed Hank. We had to address his food aggression issue. That is a story in and of itself that I will share in a later episode. The dog trainer believed that everything had to be done from a position of leadership. I hadn’t realized that up to that point, Hank was making all the decisions in the house, not me. In 2012, I started looking for a job as a dog trainer so that someone could train me. After 6 months of searching and then pursuing Petco, they finally agreed to hire me! Petco had a great program online, which was based on using positive reinforcement techniques. It was written by a well known dog behaviorist, named Patricia McConnell. The training program also included 6 weeks of observing a Petco mentor and another 6 weeks of me teaching a class while my mentor observed me. My last year at Petco, I was designated the mentor for all of the Cleveland surrounding stores and worked with many wanna be dog trainers. I soon discovered that this job that came so natural to me, was not for everyone! Only a small percentage of the apprentices actually remained dog trainers for so many different reasons. The two top reasons had to do with customer service type situations. The first reason that swayed wanna be trainers away was feeling comfortable with being a “people person” and knowing how to handle the pet parents, even in sticky situations, in order to provide them with the best customer service possible. If you are the person who prefers dealing with dogs rather than people (I would hear that frequently), dog training is not for you! The other main reason was not every puppy or dog was so cute and compliant that it was all fun and games! I took it upon myself to find an outside source to send the most difficult dogs I encountered. Petco did not want us dealing with any aggression. I will go more in to detail about this with one of my upcoming guest, Chuck Stella, from Elite K911. However, I had excellent managers that were so supportive and helped me grow the dog training department by offering obedience classes and puppy playtimes. I really did look forward to each day I worked there. I am forever indebted to the management there because of the experience it gave me.I stayed at Petco for four years and was exposed to so many different dogs. Rescue dogs, purebred dogs, even dogs with disabilities. I really enjoyed working with their pet parents and helping them. I soon realized that dog training wasn’t just about training the dogs. It was more about empowering their pet parents to communicate with their dogs. It was most effective when the pet parent was consistently clear, to the point where it left no doubt in the dog’s mind what they were being asked to do. I loved to hear from the humans “Oh! It’s really me you are training!’ Then, the gratification I felt and still feel after all these years, when you actually get the dog to sit, stay, or come to you. It still amazes me that an animal can be taught to do these specific skills, (Pictured above: Nico, the Belgian Tervuren, Josie, the Golden Retriever, and Teddy, the Golden Doodle, in a class at Petco)After about four years, one of my clients approached me and told me he wanted to make a brochure for me. It took me a little while to figure out what this generous offer really meant. I always had the intention of going out on my own, but I still wasn’t quite ready. However, I took him up on the offer and left Petco later that year to start my own company, Cleveland Canine Concierge. He even designed my logo, which I am so proud to share with my clients. I will be eternally grateful to this person I refer to as Dan the Man!On 1/6/17, Cleveland Canine Concierge was formed. Now, I was able to help people with their dogs in their homes. I was no longer just limited to the classroom environment at Petco. All throughout this process, I had a mentor, and it was somebody I actually mentored while I was at Petco. His name is Gary Flynn. Gary will be a frequent guest on my podcast, talking about all things about dogs. Whenever I had a question, or something was over my head, I would call Gary, and he would help me out. He came on several appointments with me. One of those appointments was a client who was having issues with his Invisible Fence. I had no knowledge of how the system worked and Gary showed me and the client how to train the dog on the electronic collar used for this system. From that day forward, I have been able to help many clients with their Invisible Fence as well as do-it-yourself home boundary systems. (Gary Flynn and his German Shorthaired Pointer, Bella)After nine years of being on my own, I realized all the different issues that come up when talking to people about dogs. I started thinking about a different way to reach people other than the people who have reached out to me for help. I tossed around the idea of a podcast, but didn’t think it would be possible. Yet, here we are! I thought podcasting would be a great way to get the message out, and it's fun! I will be bringing in guests in my community to talk about things like veterinary care, nutrition, grooming, therapy dogs, how to get your dog to swim, and where to take them swimming. If you like this post, please click on the heart emoji underneath the video. I hope you will tune in to my future episodes. We have a lot of exciting things to talk about!Thanks for reading Canine Concierge! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit canineconcierge.substack.com

Subscribe so you never miss an episodeWelcome to FROM A DOG’S EYE VIEW.I’m Susan Coleman, owner and head dog trainer of Cleveland Canine Concierge.After 12 years implementing positive reinforcement techniques, I’ve experienced really easy and fun cases and also some really difficult ones.At the end of the day, I’ve seen a lot of pet parents unknowingly communicate in a way that their dog doesn’t understand. It all really comes down to effectively communicating with your canine companion.That’s why I’m on a mission to provide clear and accurate information about all things related to caring for your dog.* From finding the right furry friend to empowering you to be the leader your dog needs you to be.This podcast is for all dogs lovers- whether you’re a first timer or you’ve had dogs all your life.Join me and my guests every other week as we help you identify common misunderstandings between human and dog while debunking some myths you may have found online.Subscribe so you never miss an episode(Bottom line) Dogs are simple when their owners have the right information.P.S. Want more help with your dog? Give me a call at 440-570-9729 so we can address the issues you may be having. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit canineconcierge.substack.com