Austin Dog Trainer Blog

Washington Post Article and Comments on rehoming dog

The decision to rehome a dog is never an easy one - read how one family is struggling with this decision: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/26/a-sacrifice-for-new-son/#comments

Look who's doing yoga!

One of our clients posed for this amazing dog yoga calendar: http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=B2391

He is also the dog that did this commercial for us when JC Penny called us to train a dog for one of their online ads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFR1DW4EQJ8

Cool stuff, Grainger!

Cara Vacchiano, Buddy's Chance, Austin Dog Training

What is the number one thing you should bring when you board your dog in a Kennel?

People often call our Austin Dog Boarding Kennel and ask us what to bring for their dog's vacation with us. They ask if they should bring a bed, a tshirt that smells like them, toys, etc. Those things are all optional at our Austin Dog Boarding Kennel - we keep our own clean bedding and toys here for all of our dogs. The one thing I do want to make sure that each of our dog owners bring is food! I want to keep all of the dogs that board with us on the type of food that they're used to eating. This cuts down on stomach upset a great deal! We also keep some good bacteria (provided to us under the supervision of our veterinarian) on hand to help dogs that do get a little upset stomach from the excitement of overnight dog boarding.

If you're thinking of boarding your dog overnight at a kennel or dog boarding facility, bring their own food for them to eat, even if it means that you have to pay an extra fee to have a special food fed (some places charge for this). It will be worth the hassle to your dog's intestinal tract!

Cara, Austin Dog Training and Board, Buddy's Chance, LLC

Why we use heartbeat sound machines in our Austin Dog Boarding Facility!

Most of the dogs that board with us at our Austin dog boarding center are so tired from walks and playtime when they go into their dog crates for naps that they lay right down and hit the hay! Some spend a little time eating their Kongs or bully sticks before napping. There are some, however, that get upset at being crated or at the interruption in their play. For these guys, we've discovered that a sound machine that makes a heartbeat sound is incredibly soothing and calming and helps these little guys settle in! For many of these Austin dogs that stay at our dog kennel, the benefit is fairly immediate and quite notable. It occasionally fails to work, but it's still one of my first choices in helping to get new dogs at our Austin dog boarding facility to settle in and enjoy their stay!

We prefer the Conair brand sound machine - it has a plug and battery option and the batteries last a fairly long while (we use rechargeable batteries). There are other sounds on the machine, such a crickets and waterfalls, but I've always found the heartbeat to be the most soothing to the dogs. It also happens to be quite soothing to me!

Cara, Austin Dog Boarding, Buddy's Chance, LLC

Our Austin Dog Training Center Featured in Rare Magazine

Our Austin Dog Training Center was featured this month in Rare Magazine! The story focused on our Austin puppy training classes and features a gorgeous photo of my two greyhounds, Chance and Buddy. Incidentally, Steve and I have hired the photographer that did the photo shoot for the magazine to do our wedding next February!

Cara, Austin Dog Trainer

Is Board and Train Dog Training Right for Me?

At our Austin Dog Training Facility, we frequently do board and train dog training programs for our clients. This means that we take the dog for a period of weeks (usually two to three) and do the training for the client. Board and Train dog training is not always appropriate for every training problem, though. Here is a quick guide to deciding if a board and train dog training program is right for your dog's behavior problems.

Basic Manners: If you're looking for basic manners, you'll want to ask some questions about the board and train program. Since dogs don't generalize as well as humans (take lessons from one location or one person to other locations and people), a board and train program can easily fail because the training is not being done by the owner in the locations in which the owner will need it to work. Because of this potential drawback of board and train dog training programs, it will be crucial to pick a board and train program that tries to address this issue. For example, when I am teaching a dog in one of our Austin board and train programs, I train the dog in the first week at our training center and on walks in the surrounding neighborhood. By the second week, however, I begin to take the dog to other locations, such as parks, coffee shops and restaurants. I also have several other people involved in training the dog so that the dog learns that the same rules apply no matter what location we're in and no matter who is giving cues. A good board and train program will also include more than one private lesson with the owner to help the owner learn how to work with the dog successfully. I believe it is these details that allow us to successfully train dogs and then send them back to their owners in other cities without ever stepping foot in the dog's own home!

Aggression: Many forms of aggression are well-suited to a board and train program. For example, resource guarding of food, toys, and other valued items is particularly well-suited to successful treatment with a board and train approach. Resource guarding of a particular person (usually the owner of the dog) is not! If the dog is guarding the owner, the dog behavior consultant cannot successfully address this, I believe, in a board and train setting because the presence of the owner is required to modify the behavior! Similarly, treatment of aggression towards dogs outside of your own home (including barking and lunging on leash) can be successfully resolved in a board and train setting, but aggression among the dogs within your own household is not readily resolved through board and train because it is specific to your household and, generally has a great deal to do with the manner in which your household is being run.

Handling issues: Another type of problem that is well-suited to training through a board and train program is handling. If a dog is either fearful of being handled, or growls or bites when handled, a trainer can work on this issue in a board and train setting for you.

Shyness and Fear: The answer to whether shyness and fear can be handled in a board and train setting is, "it depends". If, for example, the fear is focused on one trigger, such as men or children, a board and train program may be quite successful. In cases of overall "fear of the world", I think that dogs that are well-bonded to their owners can do well with a board and train program. On the other hand, if a dog is new to your home and not yet completely comfortable with you, wait on a board and train program for this problem. You want your dog to completely bond and be comfortable with you before taking them out of your home so that their bonding process with you will not be disturbed.

Teenage Terrors: There is a class of dogs that we fondly call Teenage Terrors at my training center. They are out-of-control, jumping on people, scavenging from counters, and they won't perform behaviors for their owners unless they see the food up front. We have a program for them that ishttp://www.buddyschance.com/basicobedienceboardandtrain.html sort-of like boot camp for dogs. They learn impulse control, deference and manners, and a high level of reliability on basic cues like coming when called and a sit stay. This one is often the end of the road for many of our clients! If you're having issues like these and you've reached the end of the rope or you don't have time to do the training yourself, you might consider a board and train program!

Other factors to consider: your ability to be consistent with your dog during the training stages, your flexibility and available time, the seriousness of the problem involved, and the amount of money you are able to invest in a board and train program (the good ones are expensive because it takes time for the trainer to do these things right - there are rarely short cuts in dog training!).

Good luck in choosing your board and train program!

Cara, Austin Dog Training and Behavior

Our new website!

In addition to doing the dog training at our Austin Dog Training School, I run the business and do all the marketing. It's taken about 3 months, but I now have our new website up and running!Go take a peak at our new look: www.buddyschance.com

Back from another trip to Sequim!

I'm just back from another trip to Sequim, Washington!  While no trip to beautiful Sequim is ever wasted, this trip was a particularly good one!  I spent a week chicken training with world-renowned animal trainer, Bob Bailey.  We spent the week training two chickens to discriminate between different shapes and colors.  One of my chicken, Sweetie, learned only to peck on a triangle shaped target to earn reinforcement.  The other, Chickie, learned only to peck a blue colored target for her reinforcement.  We work on this until our birds will only peck the hot target no matter what order they are in when placed down with other shapes and colors.  If the hot target is picked up and only "wrong answers" are shown, the chicken will wait for at least 20 seconds without offering the wrong answer.  They'll then immediately peck the hot target when it is placed down.

Then, on the last day, using only free-shaping (clicking and treating for successive approximations of our end goal), we teach the chickens to no longer peck their original shape or color, but to peck a new shape or color for reinforcement instead!  This challenges the trainer's skill in timing, setting and recognizing criteria, effective placement of reinforcement, observation, and much more!  It's an extremely effective and fun way to polish and maintain a dog trainer's skill!  I'll post video clips later in the week.  I'm working on the same discrimination exercises with some of our boarding dogs now, too!  They love the mental stimulation and interaction.
Cara Vacchiano, Buddy's Chance, Austin Dog Training and Behavior

Building projects at the training center!

It seems each building project at our Austin dog training center takes about 5 more trips to Home Depot then I think they will!  We're busy building our luxury dog boarding suites for our Austin boarding dogs so they have room to stretch their legs and board in style.  So far, we've made 3 trips to Home Depot and I'm headed back for more.  The suites are looking good though!  They're about 6.5 x 5 feet big - much bigger than you'd find at a regular dog kennel.  Cushy digs for our spoiled dogs!  I'll try to do a 360 degree video when we're done building them - I'll have to see how talented I can get with the camera;-) 

Back to building!

Cara, Austin dog trainer

How far would you travel for board and train for your dog?

I was going through some of the forms today for our Austin Dog Board and Train programs and it occurred to me that people come from some very long distances for our dog board and train services.  Although most of our board and train clients live right here in Austin, many come from Kyle, San Marcos, and Dallas.  I have a client who is currently looking for board and train services for her elderly mother's dog in Missouri so she and I were discussing the pros and cons of doing a board and train program for dogs on a distance basis.  There are several things to consider when deciding whether to do a long-distance board and train program for your dog.  First, will you be able to go to the trainer's location and work with them at least once or twice to help your dog transfer the learned behaviors to you?  My clients are all able to do this with me even though they live several hours away.  Are there any quality dog trainers where you live that offer similar services?  If so, what can the long distance trainer offer that they cannot?  Will the trainer provide telephone support free of charge to you after your dog goes home to help with the transition to your home?  Last, is the board and train program a highly specialized one that you cannot find elsewhere?  For example, perhaps it is a dog board and train program that addresses aggression or that trains your dog to be a hunting dog.  This may make travel more reasonable.

Whether you decide to do a long distance dog board and train program or one that is close to you, remember to ask a lot of questions about the type of training provided, the care your dog will receive, the private training that you will receive, and the level of generalizing and proofing of the behaviors that you can expect from the program!

Cara, Austin Dog Trainer