Schooner’s First 10K I’ve talked about my adventures in running in past articles. How I got started running, how running is a lot like dog training, and how training for a race is exactly like training your dog. Last year, I was up for an adventure, so I took Schooner, my Great Dane, to a local […]
Settle on a Mat
Settle on a mat is a lifesaver. It’s the fix for “He’s too excitable.” Is your dog easily excited? A bit “too much?” Is he a maniac when people come to the door? Does he bug you when you’re trying to eat dinner? Would you love to have a place where your dog could just chill out yet still […]
Personal Life. Business Life. It All Blends Together Sometimes.
Personal life. Business life. It all blends together sometimes. Most readers of the Smart Dog U blog know that I own Smart Dog University, a one-woman dog training business. Like most micro business owners, I do it all: accounting, marketing, admin, teaching, email, blogging, training, well, you get the picture. In addition to the business, […]
The Results are In! Schooner’s Veterinary Visit…
Schooner’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 […]
Help Your Dog Through Scary Veterinary Visits
Does 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 […]
Field Trip Friday: Stress Free Veterinary Visits
Stress Free Veterinary Visits Schooner was great at the veterinary hospital when he was a young dog, but he was gone for 15 months at service dog graduate school — we have no way of knowing if his veterinary experiences were good while he was away, so today was Field Trip Friday! We went to the veterinary office just to […]
Service Dog Training: Schooner’s Adjustment to Career Change
Changing careers is hard, for people as well as dogs. Schooner, the Great Dane pup we raised for service work was recently released from service dog training. The transition has taken some time, but I think Schooner is settling into the new lifestyle of stay-at-home dog. Big changes. Service dogs in training get to go […]
Help Your Dog Adjust to His New Home
Being the new kid on the block is just as difficult for dogs as it is for people. Schooner lived with us for only ten months before he left to go off to service dog finishing school. He was gone longer than he was here (he was at the service dog organization for 15 months). […]
Service Dog Training: He’s Baaaack!
We have added a fourth dog. And it’s not a service puppy in training. It’s Schooner! We raised this guy two years ago with the expectation that he’d be a brace (balance) dog for someone. He went through his puppy training with us quickly. We had him a mere ten months before he went into […]
Service Dog Schooner is Going to High School!
Raising service dogs is good work if you can get it. I mean, it’s tough work for sure — house training, teaching good manners, public outings that go awry, the list goes on. But I wouldn’t keep doing it if it weren’t loaded with good stuff, too. One of the best things is seeing the […]