Halloween, Holiday, Training, Cooperative Care, Positive Reinforcement Dog Training, Bethlehem PA, Lehigh Valley

The holiday season is officially ramping up, and we kicked it off with a Halloween Photo Contest for our clients! We asked for photo submissions of your dogs wearing costumes or hanging out in front of Halloween-themed backdrops or decorations. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners all won various treats, and of course, our undying admiration and love. Check out this year’s contestants:

1st Place: Gramma Stella! 2nd Place: Pearl and Bigbee (Big Bee lol) 3rd Place: Taco Tuesday Ruby! I had to employ four teams of judges to break the tie for 3rd place. Honorable mentions for Handsome Scooter the Pumpkin King, Hugo the Super Fast Gourd Guard, and Missy and her Many Ghost Babies! The last three photos are just my girls showing off 🙂

Rumor has it there will be a winter holiday photo contest this year, too, so start thinking about entering. Prizes (so I hear) will include toys for your pups!

For the next few months, I would like to celebrate the hard work all of you pet parents are putting into your training with your wonderful dogs. I feel so fortunate to have the clients I do: people dedicated to the welfare and happiness of their companions, who put great effort toward helping them succeed in the human world. The follow-through and consistency pay off! Which brings us to this month’s family, the Wards!

Meredith and JP live with two beautiful Great Pyrenees, Bigbee and Pearl. I met Bigbee and Pearl nearly a year ago, after Bigbee had shown some difficulty accepting visitors into the home, some challenges dealing with loud noises when on walks, and fearful behavior during veterinary visits. Pearl did not share all of the same challenges but was a bit shy (and very sweet).

We set to work on helping Bigs with greetings. We also began working with him to change his response to sounds like the Amazon truck. And very importantly, we started cooperative care – helping Bigs to accept medical care without fear.

Fast forward to now, and I could not be happier with Bigbee’s progress! Not to mention Pearl, who has learned some new tricks despite her initial suspicion of “that whole weird training thing” and has gained confidence in the process. All of this success is due to the pups’ “pawrents” and their hard work between training sessions. The secret to success is follow-through and consistency. Meredith and JP worked diligently with Bigbee on his lessons, and he is a happy, smart, loving boy. He is learning alternate behaviors and coping skills and is learning to communicate with us in situations such as vet exams. His confidence has broken through the shell of uncertainty he wore previously.

In my opinion, training is a forever process. Whether we are brushing up on known behaviors to keep them strong or teaching new ideas and tricks to stimulate our dogs’ brains, training throughout a dog’s lifetime benefits us as much as it does them. Watching the lightbulb go on in a dog’s brain is such a joyful experience, as are our own ah-ha moments!

Thank you, “pet pawrents” for putting in the work!

See you next month with another Spotlighted Family. In the meantime, keep up the good work, everyone!