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Long Time, No Write

Yellow Labrador and black lab napping on the lawn. Dog training, Smart Dog University, Frederick, clicker training

It’s been a long time since I’ve written, I know.

It’s not you, it’s me.

No, really. I’ve found myself drowning in the minutiae of small businessing. Also, taking care of three old dogs. Add to that teaching two Karen Pryor Academy courses. Training (barely) Schooner to like his veterinary visits. Add some business travel in there, and I think that’s pretty much the recipe for burnout.

You know how you just don’t want to get out of bed on Monday morning? That, “I wanna sleep a little longer, then play with the dogs, then take a nap, and then eat (but not fix) an amazingly delicious dinner before I read my book in bed until I fall asleep” feeling? That’s been me. For probably 18 months.

I’ve tried lots of different things to get the funk out.

Different organizational strategies. I’ve tried getting up early. Going to bed late. I’ve read 1,000 articles on entrepreneuring trying to figure out how I got so far off track. To date, I’ve learned nothing.

So that’s not entirely true. I have learned that getting started is the hardest part. And I mean getting anything started. I used to write three times a week. And produce a weekly video! But every week that I was away from here was one more week harder to get started again.

For awhile I ran out of ideas to write about. Plain old empty in the noggin. Couldn’t think of one thing to write about dogs or dog training.

To get back in the groove, I’m doing a little stream-of-consciousness thing.

If it’s going on in my life, I’m writing about it. My theory is that once I get started again, it’ll just get easier and easier.

Like running. The first mile is never fun. But the miles after that get easier and better. I’m hoping blogging follows suit.

So here’s what’s been going on in a nutshell.

These may sound like excuses, but that’s not my purpose of putting it all out here. My purpose is really to remind myself that I have a lot to write about if I’d just sit myself down and let it happen.

  • Old dogs. I have three old dogs now. They’re priceless. They’re also crazy expensive. And worrisome. And exhausting. And the most perfect beings ever created. But they make you think. A lot. About things like quality of life. It can be both a downer and an upper all in the same day.
  • Quirky dogs. I have one quirkster. Schooner, of course. The biggest, baddest dog in the house is also the scardiest. So I’ve spent a ton of time working with him to get him cool with the veterinary hospital.
  • Running. I’m running a lot now. Haven’t been taking the dogs — it’s just too hot and only Schooner is young enough to go with me. Running keeps me sane, but also takes time out of my day. Schoons will head out with me in the fall when we lose some digits off the temperature.
  • Working. Trying to refine my perfect niche. Been thinking about narrowing my focus. It’s a scary prospect — excluding people who want to pay me to help them. But I’m thinking it might be the best move to prevent that dreaded burnout I mentioned earlier. Plus, if I narrow my focus, I can provide more detailed and intensive help to those customers in that niche.
  • Speaking. I’m headed to ClickerExpo in March 2017 and speaking on four different topics. Speaking is great fun, but man, it’s a lot of work, too. Preparing speaker submission packages, developing talks, titles, descriptions. And then putting the talk together.
  • Planning. Business: What am I going to do with Smart Dog University in 20 years when I retire? Will I hire trainers? Sell it? Collapse it? Personal and business travel: should I plan any upcoming trips over the next year, given that I have three dogs that could potentially not be here in a year? My god, what would I do if I wasn’t home and one of them got really sick? {I’d die. Die dead.}

So anyway, hang around, I think I feel my writing streak coming back. Or at least there’s a little bit of a spark there.

Have you faced similar struggles? How’d you overcome them?

4 Ways to Prep Your Dog for Back to School

4 Ways to Prep Your Dog for Back to School

back to school, separation, dog alone, back to school, dog training, puppy training, dog walker, positive, clicker, Smart DogBack to school shopping lists have been printed, the stores are all carrying notebooks, pencils, markers, and paper. Cue the Staples commercial “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Parents put in a lot of footwork to make sure their kids are ready for back to school, but have you thought about how back to school time will affect your dog? In this month’s newsletter, we’re going to give you some tools and ways to prep your dog for back to school — for longer, quieter days, and more time alone.

Why Care?

If you’re fortunate enough to be off during the summer, or if your kids were home a lot on their summer break — entertaining (or being entertained by) the dog, you’re going to need these tips because your dog might be one sad pup in a few short weeks when the kids head back to school. If you think about it from the dog’s perspective, right now life is good! Someone’s around to let them in and out, take them for walks, play ball, and snuggle with on the couch. I think a lot of dogs’ perfect worlds would include having a person with them at all times. Dogs are social animals, they enjoy having their family with them. Naturally, they love hanging with us whenever they get the chance.

We owe it to our dogs’ to help ease that transition from “constant entertainment” to “home alone all day.” It can hit some dogs awfully hard to lose their playmate (or personal butler, depending on your dog), so here are some things you can do to help your dog.

Practice Alone Time

If you know your dog is going to be alone six hours every day and you also know that school starts in four weeks, you’ve got a ready-made plan! Start by leaving your dog home alone for increasingly longer periods of time — a little more each week until you’ve reached the perfect duration for your circumstances.

If you can, vary the amount of time your dog is left alone so it’s not always for a longer duration of time. Mix it up, but keep increasing the average time your dog is alone. For instance, maybe Week 1 you want to leave your dog alone for up to 3 hours. Go out for an hour once or twice, then for three hours, then maybe only for two, and even maybe for 15 minutes. Week 2, you’ll increase that average time alone to 4 hours (plan your errands so you’re gone for 2 hours, then 3 hours, then 1 hour, 4 hours, 3 hours, etc.).

Entertainment Center

Giving your dog something to do while you’re gone is helpful. My dogs get frozen stuffed Kongs when I leave the house. Here’s a quick and easy article (with video) to show you how easy it is to stuff a Kong. It’s something I’ve done for them since they were puppies. I do it to help prevent separation anxiety. By giving them something to do as I leave, they’re otherwise engaged and don’t pay much attention to my leaving. In addition, I’m pairing something good (peanut butter stuffed Kongs!) with my leaving. Most days, when my dogs see me get the Kongs, they’re wagging and running to their beds in anticipation. They hardly bat an eye when the garage door opens, I grab my keys and walk out the door.

If your dog doesn’t already know how to get goodies out of a Kong (or other food stuffed toy), it’s easy to teach.

Background Noise

Some dogs are more comfortable if there’s background noise to help dampen the sound of car doors slamming, trash trucks banging, and street noise. There are lots of different options to help your dog. The first is to leave a radio on for your dog. Pick a station you like and leave it on at a reasonable volume level. It should be loud enough to help cover the street noise, but not so loud that it bothers your dog. Dog’s ears are far more sensitive than our own, so don’t blast the speakers.

At our house, the dogs love Through A Dog’s Ear (TADE). The music on TADE is composed specifically to benefit the canine ear (and mind). It’s simple sound that has been clinically shown to calm dogs. It’s pleasant for you, too! Sometimes, if I really need to concentrate, I’ll turn off the radio and put on TADE. My productivity skyrockets!

Start playing the music now, before the kids go back to school, so it’s not an indicator to the dog that you’re about to leave your dog alone. Play it while you’re home, play it while you’re out running those short errands mentioned in “Practice Alone Time” above, play it whenever you get a chance.

Schedule Relief

Midday relief, at least for the first month or two, might help your dog get adjusted to all that time alone fairly quickly. You can ask a retired neighbor to come over around noon to visit with your dog and let him out (or take him for a short walk). If you don’t want a neighbor in your house or there isn’t one available, check out local dog walkers. The idea is to give the dog a little bit of entertainment and social contact at least once during the day.

There’s still some time before the kids go back to school. If you start now, by the time the house gets quiet in the fall, your dog will hopefully be content to lounge around the house while everyone’s at school and at work.

Did I leave out anything?

If you do something for your dog that I didn’t list here, let me know in the comments! I’m sure the other readers would appreciate it!

The Results are In! Schooner’s Veterinary Visit…

dog training, vet visit, dog scared of vet, puppy training, obedience classes, Frederick, Mt. Airy, Smart Dog, clicker, Laurie LuckSchooner’s Veterinary Visit

Not long after we brought Schooner back home (he was gone at service dog training camp for 15 months), I took him on a field trip to our veterinarian. At that visit, I realized that Schoons was a little scared at the vet. He didn’t want to wag his tail, he stayed away from anyone who even just wanted to pet him, and was generally uncomfortable at that first visit. That was a year ago. In the last article, I detailed our “dry run,” where Schooner accompanied Nemo to a veterinary visit. Schoons got to hang out, eat some food, and get some lovin’ — and he did great!

The Real Deal

While I was happy that Schooner did great in the vet exam, I was still a little worried about what would happen when the veterinarian and the technicians focused on him, instead of on Nemo. Our appointment was just a few days after that dry run, so I was hopeful that Schooner would do alright. This veterinary visit was going to include a comprehensive exam, a vaccination, blood draw (for heartworm test), and a look at a tricky spot on Schooner’s paw. That’s a fairly tall order for any dog, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little apprehensive as we walked in.

A Stable Pony

dog training, clicker, dog obedience, scared dog, dog scared at vet, dog bit vet, positive training, positive reinforcement, Smart Dog, Laurie Luck, Mt. Airy
Nemo is a “stable pony” for Schooner

Because Schooner did so well when he accompanied Nemo a few days earlier, I thought “Why not take Nemo again?” In the horse world, the primary task of a lead pony is to help a racehorse with its training, both in practice and on the day of a race. So Nemo was our stable pony for the veterinary visit. Nemo’s generally always a happy camper, even more so if there are people who will love on him and give him treats. My hope was that Schoons would go in thinking “Oh, nice. We just did this very same thing and it wasn’t so bad.” Nemo led the way into the exam room, asking anyone who would listen to feed him treats, and [yahoo!] Schooner followed suit: “Hey, I want a treat, too, please!”

Change Up the Order

Normally, the technician gets the vitals of the dog: pulse, temperature, respiration rate, checks teeth, etc. I asked our technician if she could first visit with Schooner for a minute, just feeding him treats (and Nemo, too, of course) and hang out with us casually. That worked great, Schooner’s tail was wagging as much as Nemo’s. When it was time for her to use her stethoscope, she showed it to him and let him sniff it — also a big help. Because the temperature taking is a little, um, invasive, I asked if we could wait and do that one at the end (hahaha). Not a problem, we could go in any order, she said.

What Matters Most?

The blood draw was the most important piece of that veterinary visit, so I requested that we get that done first. I didn’t want to do all the other stuff to him which might put him in an agitated state, and then try to get the blood draw. The heartworm test was the highest priority, so we jumped to that one first. If that went well, we could then continue on, but if it stressed him out too much, I could easily leave then and would still have gotten a lot accomplished.

One Step at a Time

Another technician came in to assist with the blood draw and we took a minute to let Schooner sniff and investigate (and eat treats!) before proceeding. They allowed Schooner to be in any position he preferred, saying they could work around his comfort. [This is huge for a wary, timid, or fearful dog!] I was feeding treats to Schoons the entire time. They were efficient and the whole blood draw was over seemingly before it even started. [Another bonus!]

The blood draw went so well — it didn’t seem to throw Schooner much at all. Onward with the rest of the veterinary visit! The veterinarian came in, sat on the floor, and fed both dogs treats while he let Schooner approach and investigate. As he was looking at me and somewhat ignoring Schooner, he started to pet him and just get his hands on Schoons in a casual, non-veterinary exam kind of way. Having Nemo there didn’t make things easier for the veterinarian or the technicians (or me), but it did make it easier for Schooner because we could talk to and feed Nemo and let Schooner sidle up at his own pace. Every step of the way, I could see that Schooner seemed a little less concerned when he saw Nemo pushing his way into the scene.

vet visit, scared dog, dog training, dog obedience, positive, clicker, Smart Dog, Laurie, Frederick, Luck, dog trainer
Investigating is important.

Our veterinarian was able to conduct a full exam on Schooner, including looking into his ears, eyes, mouth, and take a look at that pesky foot. It was a small sore spot on his foot, but because it’d been there for several months, our veterinarian wanted to take a closer look and see what was going on. While still sitting on the floor (and Schoons standing), he got a scraping and put it under the microscope. Bacteria, yuk. Schooner’s on a topical antibiotic for awhile to help eliminate it now.

The very last step was a vaccination. That’s where Schooner said, “Uh, I’m done now, right?” When he saw the technician come in again, I saw his first real avoidance behavior. This was a quick vaccination, easy to give, so I was able to feed Schooner while it went right in with hardly a flinch from the big dog.

Easy In, Easy Out

Because I had almost 250 pounds of dog at the end of the leashes, I asked if I could check out from right there in the exam room, instead of holding two dogs in the lobby dodging other people and pets. Both Schoons and Nemo are friendly to other dogs and people, it was one less thing to distract me. I did all the paperwork and transactions from the comfort of the exam room and then we breezed right on out when we were done. Couldn’t have been smoother!

With the great veterinarian and staff, that was the best veterinary visit I could hope for. I joked with Dr. Cook: “Who’d have thought? Training to the rescue!” We had a good laugh and appreciated the value of training to keep veterinary visits stress- and fear-free.

Talk with your veterinarian — see if some of the options I used with Schooner might also be available at your dog’s veterinary hospital:

  • practice visits (first alone, then with a technician)
  • accompanied by another dog
  • re-order the usual process to best fit the dog
  • eliminate non-essential things (like getting the dog’s temperature, for instance)
  • take a little extra time to feed treats and “make nice”
  • veterinarian and technicians on the floor with the dog
  • set priorities to get the most important thing done up front, even if it might be last in the typical order
  • paying from the exam room

Talk back! What has worked for you and your dog at the vet? Share your ideas in the comments!

 

 

Help Your Dog Through Scary Veterinary Visits

scary veterinary visits, dog training, vet visits, puppy training, scary vet, scared dog, Smart Dog University, clicker, positive, Frederick, Mt. Airy MDDoes your dog think veterinary visits are scary?

If you wish you could make those necessary visits a little easier on your dog, you’re in the right place. Schooner the Great Dane is 165 pounds of muscle. He’s a big boy and — even if I could — I’m not going to make this guy do anything he doesn’t want to do. When we got Schooner back from the service dog agency, I noticed that he was a dog who thought veterinary visits were scary. And we’ve got the best veterinarians — people who know exactly how to accomplish fear-free veterinary visits. They did everything right, but Schoons is a sensitive soul despite his imposing presence.

I was worried that if I didn’t address this budding anxiety and fear, it might ramp up at each subsequent visit. Ramping up how? Well, a lot of scared dogs try avoidance first. That looks like hesitating to go into the veterinary hospital or into the exam room. It can include hiding behind furniture or you, or even sitting in the corner facing away from you. If that’s not successful (meaning: if the technician and/or veterinarian come closer), the dog might escalate his reaction. This could lead to lip lifting, snarling, snapping, or even biting.

Neither my veterinarian or the technicians (or me! or Schoons!) want a bite to happen. No way, no how. So to that end, I took some of my own (sage, if I do say so myself) advice.

Happy veterinary visits

Vet Hospital = Fun
First, we need to make the veterinary hospital itself a fun and cool place to be for the dog. How do you do that? You pack some crazy-delicious treats (chicken, cheese, steak — you get the idea) and you hang out with your dog at the veterinary hospital. I took Schooner’s settle mat, tons of amazing treats, and the clicker.

Our first visit was rocky: Schooner didn’t want to eat any treats for at least the first five minutes. His tail was tucked, he was panting, and restless. He just wanted to leave. I sweet talked him, read a magazine (pretended to, at least) and every so often would offer him a tasty treat. When he began to take treats regularly, I got the clicker out and asked for some easy hand touches.

Our progress began to snowball once I got some training started — I think it’s a combination of (1) taking his mind off of the anxiety, (2) getting his parasympathetic nervous system revved up, and (3) giving him something he knows he can do (and likes to do).

We kept those visits short and light. I didn’t ask him to greet any of the veterinary hospital staff, he didn’t have to get on the scale, or go into an exam room. My only goal was that I get him in the door and get him to relax. Mission accomplished!

Better Living Through Chemistry
To further accelerate Schooner’s progress, we introduced an “event medication,” to help alleviate some of his fear and anxiety. I would dose Schooner with the medication a couple of hours before our visit, he’d mellow out, and our training sessions became even more valuable because we could make more progress at each visit. I added some other adjunctive therapies, too, like Adaptil and Through A Dog’s Ear, to help further prime Schooner for good learning experiences. There are many more medication options available today than were available even a few years ago. And they work better, too. Instead of sedating a dog, the newer anti-anxiety medications actually work on the fear itself instead of putting your dog in a loopy, “out of it” state.

Training Plan
In addition to the weekly fun veterinary hospital visits, I implemented a training plan at home, where Schooner was already super comfortable. It looked to me like Schooner was most nervous when two people approached him, especially if either of those people was holding something that might be used on him. (When my husband and I were giving Tango his weekly Adequan injection [I feed Tango peanut butter while my husband injects the Adequan], I noticed that Schooner made a beeline out of the room — and stayed gone for several minutes.) He would even run from just me occasionally, if I was holding something “suspicious” like cotton balls. [Because cotton balls can be dangerous, of course — everyone knows they are an instrument of terror. Where does he come up with these strange thoughts?!]

So, with some help from a colleague, Laura Monaco Torelli, I implemented a training plan to systematically address Schooner’s sources of anxiety and fear. Here’s what I did:

  • I had some of the typical tools out during a regular, fun-behavior training session. What does that look like? I’d have a stethoscope, otoscope (super inexpensive to buy from Amazon), cotton balls, and maybe some ear cleaning solution on the table when I was teaching Schooner a fun behavior like “speak” or “bow.” I never used those tools on him during the training session, they just hung out on the table with the treats. This made sure the appearance of those tools didn’t predict icky things for Schoons.
  • When the mere sight of the tools didn’t bother Schooner, I made a slight change to the training plan. I would pick up one of the tools, ask Schooner for a fun behavior, then click and treat him when he did the behavior. Still: no real interaction with the tools. They’re still just hanging out with us, I’m not using them on Schooner yet. I’m still building goodwill with Schooner, trying to destroy any not-so-great associations Schooner has made with those tools.
  • After he’s cool with me holding a stethoscope, for instance, I’d touch him briefly with the tool, ask him for a fun behavior, then click and treat it when he offered the right thing. It’s still really easy for him to get this right. I didn’t attempt to listen to his heart with the stethoscope, look in his ear with the otoscope, or do anything to him. I just brought that “thing” into the training session.
  • Next, I needed to add another person to the training session, since this is what seemed to spook Schooner the most. So I dropped back on the tools I was using — the stethoscope and friends were still there on the table, but I wasn’t actually holding them or using them at this point — and then brought another person into the training session. I volunteered my husband as he’s the only other human in the house. To do this, I simply moved the training session to wherever my husband was at the time. Watching tv in the living room? (Sorry, honey, I’m training the dog so turn up the tv if you need to be able to hear over the clicks.) That was a fairly easy bridge to cross, and we accomplished that task quickly. On to the next step, then, which was to have my husband stand nearby. He could still watch tv, I just needed him to (1) be standing (because a veterinarian and/or technician won’t be sitting in the LA-Z-Boy at the veterinary hospital) and (2) close. Again, this was a fairly easy step and we progressed quickly to the point where I had to pull the husband’s attention off the television for some help. I had him put his hands gently on Schoons while I asked Schooner to do something easy (like touch his nose to my hand). Lots of clicks and treats all the way around for all that good progress.
  • So we had all the components added to the mix (except the actual veterinary hospital, but I’m working on that independently with those happy fun veterinary visits I mentioned earlier), so it was time to bring those pesky tools back into the picture with the extra person there, too. As you might imagine, this was accomplished using small baby steps. Husband held stethoscope while I asked and paid Schooner for easy behaviors. I held stethoscope and paid for simple things like sit, down, settle, touch my hand while husband touched Schooner. You get the idea: slow, steady, systematic training

Veterinary Hospital Take Two
In the meantime, I’d been practicing our fun veterinary visits about once a week when my schedule allowed (it’s an hour’s drive, round trip). We moved from “hang out and have fun” to getting a little bit of work done in the veterinary hospital. That meant that when Schooner was comfortable in the waiting room, I then started venturing into the exam room leaving the door open to the waiting room. As expected, this slight change and foray into the dreaded exam room meant we took a little step backward in Schooner’s comfort level. No worries, that kind of backslide was expected and wasn’t worrisome. I simply went back to just feeding him, not asking him to do anything to earn those treats. He hopped over that little speed bump really quickly (also expected) and I then moved to the next step: asking him to do easy stuff in the open exam room. “Piece of cake,” said Schoons! Here are the next steps we went through at the veterinary hospital:

  • Door to waiting room closed, asked Schooner for easy tricks (and paid handsomely)
  • Door to waiting room open, asked a technician to come in and feed Schoons some treats. Predictably, he fell apart a little when a technician came in, but because nothing bad happened (in fact, only good things happened: treats!), Schooner quickly adjusted
  • Took Schooner on a happy veterinary visit with another dog who had to get an exam

Next up, the results of our practice and training are in!

I’ll let you know how the practice veterinary exam went, what worked, what didn’t! Stay tuned for Part 2!

Truly Pawsome Review

Truly Pawsome
Truly Pawsome, review, dog training, Smart Dog University, subscription box

Truly Pawsome is a high-end subscription box for discerning dog owners.

When I was offered a free month of Truly Pawsome’s subscription box, I jumped at the chance. The dogs and I are always up for new and interesting dog related goodies and we weren’t disappointed with Truly Pawsome’s offerings.

The box arrived stuffed with goodies!

The dogs were all over it the minute I brought it in from the mailbox.Truly Pawsome, subscription box, dog training, dog

We had three bags of treats (artisanal, organic) and toys, too!

There were treats and toys and as you can see, Schooner had to have his lips on everything first! If your dogs don’t share nicely, you’ll be wise to consider getting a box for each dog! Our dogs found everything in their box totally enjoyable. There weren’t any duds in the lot!

I loved the toys — one of them was the poop emoji.

It made me laugh plus the dogs loved it. It’s a win-win!

Truly Pawsome, subscription box, Smart Dog UniversityTruly Pawsome offers different size subscription options. Large dog? no problem, you’ll get toys the big guys like. Little dog? Easy, you’ll get toys your little dog can fit in his mouth. There are also  a variety of subscription options – 1 – 3 – 6 – 12 month plans.

Truly Pawsome differentiates itself by offering free shipping and partnering with one canine rescue center, Rocket Dog Rescue, which receives 10% of all proceeds.

Our dogs had a blast scarfing down the treats and ripping the toys to pieces. And I laughed every time I saw one of the dogs running with the poop emoji!

 

Two Dog People Get on an Airport Shuttle…

dog training, puppy training, puppy classes, clicker training, Karen Pryor, Frederick, Mt. Airy, clicker, Laurie Luck, Smart Dog UniversityI was on a rental car shuttle bus, just making my way back home from a working weekend.

The shuttle driver throws out a question to the two women on the shuttle (of which I am one).

“So who is the dog show judge?”

I don’t say a word. I’m wondering how he knows I’m into dogs. I mean, he got the title wrong, but yes, I’m here to teach dog training.

So I’m quiet as a church mouse, keeping my head down, hoping to avoid detection, when — to my surprise — the other woman says “Oh, that’s me! How did you know I was an AKC judge?” Huh, two dog people randomly on the same airport shuttle — what are the chances.

Apparently she wears her passion on her luggage, because the guy said her luggage gave her away (I didn’t even look, hoping to avoid detection).

I’m feverishly surfing my phone, attempting to stay under the radar, out of the conversation. The two talked dogs, breeds, mixes, etc. I’m an extrovert, it’s hard for me to shut up anyway, let alone talk about DOGS.

But I’ve learned my lesson. The hard way. Let a stranger find out you’re a dog trainer and you’re their best friend for however long you’re in their vicinity. It’s not that I don’t like talking about dogs. I love talking dogs — especially with dog people! It’s the debate over training methods that causes me angst. Dog training is a lot like religion and politics: best not to talk about it in mixed company.

I was tight lipped, engrossed in my phone.

Until.

Until the AKC judge looked at me and saw my shirt. She recognized Karen Pryor’s name (I was running a KPA dog training workshop in St. Louis that weekend) and was wearing a KPA logo shirt.

Asked if I was Karen (hahahahahah, I wish) and then declared “I really like clicker training, but it didn’t work for us.”

To which I wanted to respond “Yes, I get it. Gravity sounds nice, but it just doesn’t seem to work for me.”

I laugh when I hear people say things like that. To be fair, many of them follow up with “I know it was me, not the dog, but I just couldn’t get it to work for me.”

To those people, I am thankful. They understand that it was the application of the science, not the science itself that was faulty. I’m the first to admit, clicker training isn’t always presented simply. There’s some (totally false) mysticism surrounding clicker training that I work to dispel every day.

When it was clear that both of us were heavily into dogs, the inevitable question from the “who’s the dog judge” guy was “So what do you guys think of the Dog Whisperer?”

It’s taken me a few years to hone my expressionless face. But I have it nailed down pretty good now. Dog Judge Lady looks at me, rolls her eyes, and sighs. I say to the guy “He’s entertaining!” as I smile broadly.

Dog Judge Lady laughs.

I continue “It’s kind of like the HGTV shows that show the house renovations in 60-minutes. You KNOW it took way more than 60 minutes and that the guys hosting the show did almost none of the work. But man, was it entertaining and did it look good!”

Dog Judge Lady laughs again and says “Yeah, entertainment. That’s a good way to describe it.”

The two of us didn’t agree on clicker training, but man did we bond over reality tv dog training. It was gratifying to know that people from opposite sides of the fence could find something on which we could agree and then used that as a springboard to talk about other topics within the dog world.

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Smart Dog U really helped me deal with my first puppy and help me grow her (Etta) into a sweet little girl. Without that training from SDU this would have been a tough journey.

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We did in-home training and group classes which helped us welcome Ember into our family. Her understanding of both dogs and busy families made the training easy and guilt-free.

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Thank goodness I discovered Smart Dog University! Laurie’s methods quickly made me realize that I was the one in need of training. The end result: A well behaved pup (Kasey) who is a true companion!

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Laurie is someone Your Dog’s Friend depends on for good information on dog behavior and training presented in an engaging, understandable way. She has done free workshops for us; we have used her articles in our newsletter; and she is a trainer whom I can refer people to with total confidence.

Debra Ekman, Your Dog’s Friend

Laurie is a very knowledgeable and experienced trainer. She does a wonderful job with both the dog and owner. She is easily approachable and genuinely wants to make sure you and your dog are getting the most out of her classes.

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