Mindset & Manners Dog Training

05/31/2024

We will be returning any texts, phone calls or emails early next week!

Have a great summer weekend everyone!

05/31/2024

In case you are able to take a few mornings and help out Austin shelter dogs…

* This is just a courtesy post from The Long Stay Project trying to help recruit some volunteers. You 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗧 contact APA and/or visit https://www.austinpetsalive.org/volunteer to see what’s needed from you BEFORE you walk dogs.

Volunteers can start taking dogs to yards at 7am and off campus at 8am. By 8am, almost every dog has waited 12 hours for an outing and for many closer to 14-15 hours.

It seems the most needed hours are mornings 7am-10am and evenings 4pm-8pm but any time is of course welcomed. Even if you only have an hour to spare, that could be a few dogs getting a break that otherwise wouldn’t without you! 💙

05/30/2024

She ain’t wrong.

05/22/2024

For our San Antonio friends! What a cool exhibit!

Dog Exhibit Gets Unleashed

05/12/2024

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms today!

Thanks for letting me be the cool Aunt to all your puppers. I love each and everyone one so dang much. These are just a few of my favorite selfies 😃

1. Marvin the corgi
2. Enzo the Italian Greyhound
3. Eddie the Irish Setter
4. Chewie the Leonberger
5. Gordo the Coton de Tulear
6. Devin the Derp (aka my personal pitbull main man)

05/10/2024

Edit : OWNER FOUND.

FOUND DOG!

Is this your dog? Please spread the word and share this post.
Contact me here if you have seen any posts or flyers or know this dog. I can’t keep her around my work and personal dogs so hoping family is found soon!

Sweet female boxer(?) Mix who has clearly had a home. Followed me with food easily and hopped right in the car. Settled down and knows some commands.

PLEASE PLEASE SHARE HER.
If you could temp foster her till family is found or next steps can be taken, I would really appreciate the help

05/09/2024

New laws about to be in place…
Can’t say I’m upset about it.

When rescues import dogs with sickness and no health checks and with an OUTSTANDING stray dog/cat problem in most of the US… seems ludicrous to bring more to the States.

Until we have a hold of our own problems, we only make it worse by bringing more dogs in…

How do you feel about it?

Starting on August 1, all dogs entering the U.S. (including those that left the U.S. and are returning, and regardless of the country they are coming from) must be:
• healthy upon arrival
• at least 6 months of age
• microchipped
• accompanied by a CDC Dog Import Form receipt and required vaccination and veterinary documents.

Additional requirements may apply depending on where the dog has been in the last 6 months and whether or not the dog was vaccinated in the United States.

Use CDC’s Q&A tool (the CDC “DogBot”) to determine what rules apply to your dog: https://bit.ly/2rww2bq

05/01/2024

Welcome our newest member of the M.A.M. training family:

⭐️ Say hello to Indy! ⭐️

🐾
Congrats to Mom laying the foundation for a paw-some bond by starting on training and pursing guidance so young! From tackling puppy nibbles to setting up routines, we’re diving into the exciting world of raising a 4-month-old pup. Together, we’ll explore the ins and outs of shaping behaviors and fostering understanding while building a solid foundation.🌟

04/30/2024

Something to think about… 😂

04/26/2024

There are THOUSANDS of urgent cases in Texas at the moment… People needing to rehome their dog for various reasons (some valid and some NOT), people abandoning litters of puppies at gas stations, people not properly securing their yard/leash/collar and losing their dog, and cases like this where a stray is adopted and then found WORSE OFF than when she left…poor girl.

With no proper check into WHERE a dog is going when getting adopted, this story happens far more often than you think…🤬

If you might be interested in helping this lady out, please contact the rescue posting here.
She deserves an ACTUAL good home.

They all do.

04/24/2024

🚨 Update on Toxic Algae in Austin area: 🚨

There have been testing and positive results at a few lakes in the area for toxic blue-green algae already.

🚨🚨 REMEMBER to AVOID any stagnant water or NON-FLOWING bodies of water.

Do not take your dog to water if it’s rained in the last 1-3 days.

We are headed into another extremely hot summer so it is tempting to let them frolick in some water to cool off but be VIGILANT!!

A harmful algae bloom occurs when Cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, produce toxins. Lady Bird Lake experienced a harmful algae bloom in 2019, which sickened and killed several dogs. There have been harmful algae blooms on Lady Bird Lake every year since then. We have also detected harmful...

04/23/2024

A few years ago, Ashlinn started her modeling career with a magazine shoot in San Antonio.

She moved on to posing for Loyal For Dogs, the medical company working on the first EVER dog longevity drug.

She was born for the camera, don’t you think?

04/16/2024

Training is not something you do for a few weeks and then stop. Training isn't a race to the finish line, there isn't a finish line at all. There is always another conversation to be had.

Training is both a cause and consequence of a healthy relationship. Healthy relationships are built on mutual respect and affection, they rely upon integrity and trust.

04/05/2024

It’s so annoying when people just let their dogs roam the street unattended!!

So rude!

04/04/2024

Going through some old photos, I found a few cute ones of my main man, Devin, being a model in my favorite flowers.

This was 9(?) years ago?!

Devin was retired from his working dog sidekick position last year and Freddie is coming up in his place but there is no replacing the thousands of memories and days we have spent together on this journey.

(The last photo is from a few days ago 👴🏼)

❤️❤️❤️Give him some love! ❤️❤️❤️

04/02/2024

Owners, once you truly get that nothing changes with your dog until you change, you’ll be prepared for reality. Whether that be transforming yourself and your dog, or settling for the status quo with both of you—at least you will know precisely where you stand and also precisely what to expect.

Trainers, once you truly get that nothing you can do with a dog will actually change the dog unless its owners change, you’ll also be prepared for reality. Whether that be letting go of unrealistic expectations (and the frustration/resentment that goes with) for the undetermined, or falsely feeling like Superman/Superwoman because of what you’re capable of achieving with the dog—at least you’ll know precisely where you stand and what to expect.

If both owners and trainers agree to work within the framework of reality and the obviously observable dynamics between owner and dog—or environment and dog—then both parties can approach this dog training enterprise with clarity and healthy expectations. Which would save much disappointment, resentment, and heartache on both sides.

The upshot? Owners, unless you’re truly prepared to change whatever is required to change your dog, it’s best that you save your time, money, and hopes. Trainers, unless your owners are truly prepared to change whatever is required to change their dog (this is your job to suss out), then please save them their time, money, and hopes—and on the way you’ll save your well-being and avoid much of the emotional burnout that derails so many.

03/26/2024

Have you followed us on TikTok yet?!

It’s a little loosey goosey over there with some silly videos on top of celebrating the accomplishments with students.

Check us out before TikTok is banned in the US! 😆🤣😆

Check out Mindset&MannersDogTraining’s video.

03/25/2024

Enzo (Italian greyhound) and Freddie (Mini Shepherd Butthead) are fantastic models, don’t you think?
❤️🥰🤣❤️

03/21/2024

The current dog crisis is overwhelming to say the least…
A great read on the current epidemic we (American society) have created and a little of what you can do to help or at least NOT CONTRIBUTE.

03/20/2024

🧐

* Bringing this post out of the vault, because it’s so important * 👇🏻

I think it’s common to think that when our dog is unruly, there is something wrong with them. 

Especially when we look around us and see perfectly behaved pups strolling happily down the street with their owners. 

But the truth is…

Everything your dog does is NORMAL. 

Chewing…

Digging…

Barking…

Pulling on the lead…

Lunging at other dogs or joggers…

Growling…

It’s all NORMAL. 

This is  a normal response for a predator (because that’s what dogs once were) that got plucked out of their natural environment and dropped onto your sofa. 

What’s not normal? 

Walking on a leash at a mind numbingly slow pace as you stare at your phone…

NOT chewing things, or mouthing you…

Holding a sit stay or a down stay as you chat to a friend…

NOT losing their mind around another dog. 

Sure selective breeding has curbed some of the more natural responses our dogs have…

But the truth is…

Your dog’s behavior is a NORMAL response to them trying to adapt to an environment that truthfully is NOT normal for them. 

So tell me…

What does that shift for you? 

Because your dog isn’t “Bad”. There’s nothing wrong with them. Everything they are doing is completely normal.

03/15/2024

Such clear boundaries disrespected...

Such effort given trying to be listened to…

Such patience exercised while dealing with people who continuously put their child in danger by not taking the time to understand the dogs own needs…

How has it become so common to disrespect an animal so deeply that we claim we ‘love’ and ‘treat like family’…

Look for these signs in dogs you meet or see out and about at a cafe or on the street.

Look for lip licking. Whale eye. Stiffening of jaw. Pinned back ears. Effort to move away and not allowed…
I guarantee if you pay attention, you’ll see it MUCH more than you ever thought you would.

03/09/2024

Another unique breed that’s is unlike any others you will meet. Here’s a quick and simple intro to Xolos!
I’m currently working with the largest Xolo I’ve ever seen right now :)

03/08/2024

Knowing where a breed COMES FROM and the history of how it came to be is one of the first steps we can take to being responsible dog owners.

I find this history a very interesting read… These dogs are very sweet typically and have magically soft fur 😊 but their genetic medical issues are rampant…

THIS BROKEN BREED WAS CREATED AT CRUFTS

It’s Day Two of 2024 Crufts dog show, which seems as good a time as any to talk about a breed literally created at Crufts.

It's often been said that Kennel Club breeders are trying to "breed to a picture."

Nowhere is that more true than in the case of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, a breed cobbled up in the 1920s and 30s to "recreate" the type of lap dog seen in the oil paintings of aristocrats painted by Titian, van Dyck, Stubbs, and Gainsborough.

While owners of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels like to wrap themselves up in the pretension of having an ancient breed related to British royalty, this particular dog was in fact created in the late 1920s and 30s at the Crufts Dog Show.

This is not to say that small spaniels did not exist back in Tudor times and even before. They certainly did.

In fact, lap dogs are among the oldest canine breeds, and the crossing of small terriers and spaniels to make lap dogs has probably been going on right from the beginning.

What is incontestable is that by the early 20th century, the so-called "King Charles Spaniel" (now known as the English Toy Spaniel in both the U.S. and Canada) no longer resembled the dogs seen in 16th and 17th Century paintings.

The modern dogs had a shorter face and domed heads.

Where did these domed heads and flat faces come from? The flat face, it is conjectured, came from mating King Charles Spaniels' with Pugs and Japanese Chins. The domed head, no doubt, is caused by simply breeding the dogs too small, forcing the brain of the dog to push up the skull -- a common feature found in many toy breeds.

Though most Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breed histories claim an old uncorrupted line of the original dog never died out and "was kept at Blenheim Palace, home to the Dukes of Marlborough," this is nonsense. By the turn of the 20th Century, the original-looking dog was so extinct that not a single example of a proper-looking long-faced and flat-skulled "old type" King Charles Spaniel could be found!

In the 1920s, an American by the name of Roswell Eldridge decided to recreate the dog he saw in the old paintings, and he went so far as to print up a flyer and offer a cash award at Crufts for any King Charles Spaniel "of the old-fashioned type" which had a longer muzzle, a flatter skull, and a spot in the middle of the crown of its head.

No dog was forthcoming, and the award remained unclaimed for five years before either a "throwback" or an incorrect King Charles Spaniel (depending on who is telling the story) was presented in 1928 to claim the prize.

This dog was "Ann's Son," a dog owned by Miss Mostyn Walker. Unfortunately Roswell Eldridge had died three months earlier, and so he never saw the object of his desire.

Nonetheless, energized by the prize and the romance of a dog that "looked like those in the van Dyck paintings," a breed name, standard and a club were formed on the spot.

The goal was to "preserve" the breed. Of course, the "breed" consisted of just one dog!

No matter. A course was set, and Ann's Son was soon cross-bred with King Charles Spaniels which, while not perfect examples of the hope-for breed, had faces too long and heads that were too flat to do well in the ring.

By simply breeding "rejects with the right features" to each other, a back breeding program was created and the gene pool of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was expanded from one to some.

Slowly, things moved forward, and over several decades the dog's general form was stabilized.

In 1945 the Kennel Club (UK) granted separate registration for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (the "cavalier" monicker was added to differentiate the dogs from the shorter-faced King Charles Spaniel), and in 1952 the first dogs came to the U.S.

In 1954, Mrs. W. L. (Sally) Lyons Brown of Kentucky formed the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA with the idea of keeping a stud book and eventually getting the dog into the American Kennel Club.

The AKC admitted the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel into its "Miscellaneous" class in 1962, and accepted the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA as the official breed club and registering body at that time.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA applied several times for full Kennel Club recognition, but was rejected each time, and after a number of years the CKCSC-USA simply decided to move forward without the AKC, creating its own stud book, establishing its own show system, and adopting its own code of ethics. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel remained in the "miscellaneous" class of the AKC, but this was mostly done to allow those interested in obedience trials to compete in that venue.

Members of the the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA developed their own culture outside of that of the American Kennel Club, and that culture put a significant premium on their own lengthy code of ethics, which members had to agree to in order to join the club and register their dogs.

This code of ethics stated that "the welfare of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breed is of paramount importance. It supersedes any other commitment to Cavaliers, whether that be personal, competitive, or financial."

The code of ethics went on to say that members of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA agreed to not sell dogs to pet shops, agreed to NOT breed bi***es before 12 months of age or after age eight, and agreed to never allow a bitch to carry to term and rear more than six litters in her lifetime.

Finally, the breed club's code of ethics noted that "These exists a constant danger that ignorant or disreputable breeders may, by improper practices, produce physically, mentally or temperamentally unsound specimen to the detriment of the breed" and requested that members of the Club consult with other breeders in the club before a mating and to never breed "from or to any Cavalier known to me to have a disqualifying, or disabling health defect."

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA prospered as an independent registry, with slow but steady growth in it membership. In 1992, however, the American Kennel Club decided that it wanted to clear out breeds that had been in the "miscellaneous" class for many years, and they asked the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA to become the breed club.

There was one caveat, however: The Cavalier King Charles Club Spaniel Club of the USA could NOT make acceptance of a ban on selling dogs to pet stores a prerequisite for dog registration. Nor could they require that breeders avoid knowingly crossing dogs with inheritable disqualifying or disabling defects. If the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA wanted to be the AKC's breed club, they would have to jettison their code of ethics and conform to the AKC's rules which said any dog could and would be registered provided it paid a fee to the AKC and could claim descent from a previously registered AKC dog and dam.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club USA declined to join the AKC as the parent club of their breed, and so the AKC reached out to a small set of breeders who were a little less ethical and a little more rosette- and cash-hungry. These breeders formed the American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, and this club was waved into the AKC in 1995.

What happened next?

The short story is that Cavalier King Charles Spaniel registrations shot through the roof.

As the AKC's own web site notes, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels were "among the biggest movers" in the last 10 years with a 406% increase in registrations. In fact, Cavalier King Charles spaniel registrations are up 800 percent from what they were 14 years ago, and the Cavalier is now the 25th most popular breed in the AKC (up from 70th 1997) out of a list of 157 breeds in all.

And what has happened to the quality of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel?

As could be predicted, it has fallen through the floor.

A breed with an already bottle-necked gene pool due to its peculiar history and recent origin, was further choked down in 1995 when the AKC recruited a small subset of Cavalier King Charles Spaniel owners to serve as the foundation stock of their new breed club.

The small number of dogs owned by these breeders is as wide as the gene pool of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is ever going to get in the AKC.

And because so many small AKC dogs come from puppy mill situations where sires may be used hundreds of time, and dams may be pregnant nearly all their lives, the gene pool of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (never strong to begin with) has contracted very rapidly.

In fact, a close reading of the excellent web site www.cavalierhealth.org leaves one concluding that the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels has been reduced to a genetic basket case, with every Cavalier bloodline infected with at least one of the following genetic defects:

▪️Heart mitral valve disease (MVD) is a terminal illness which afflicts over half of all Cavalier King Charles spaniels by the age of 5 years and nearly all Cavaliers by age 10 years. It is CKCSs' leading cause of death, killing over 50% of all Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

▪️Syringomyelia (SM) is reported to be "very widespread" in the Cavalier King Charles spaniel breed. Syringomyelia is a disorder of the brain and spinal cord, which may cause severe head and neck pain and possible paralysis.

▪️Hip dysplasia is reported in a significant percentage of Cavalier King Charles spaniels. It is a genetic disease which can cause the dog pain and debilitation, and be expensive to remedy.

▪️Brachycephalic Airway Obstruction Syndrome (BAOS) -- Because the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel has a short muzzle and a small head, it often has serious breathing problems. Elongated soft palates, stenotic nares, everted laryngeal saccules, and laryngeal collapse are other inherited developmental defects in the breed.

▪️Luxating Patellas (slipping knees) are are a genetic condition believed to affect 20% to 30% of Cavalier King Charles spaniels. If the condition is not corrected, it can degenerate, with the dog becoming progressively more lame.

▪️Hereditary eye disease has become widespread in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. A study of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels conducted by the Canine Eye Registration Foundation in 1989 showed that an average of 30% of all Cavaliers evaluated had eye problems.

03/07/2024

Might have just captured the best photo ever.
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03/05/2024

We wanted to wish a big CONGRATULATIONS to Marvels momma on getting married this weekend! I appreciate you always trusting me to take excellent care of your dog, Marvel, while you’re away. He is always a fun house guest bringing smiles and laughs while doodling around 😁
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03/01/2024

This has been on my mind lately… After 13 years as a professional (ie. working as my full time career, not volunteering at shelters or running a rescue as I did BEFORE) trainer, I am not fond of labels as they shortchange almost instantly what is really important.

Helping the dog in front of us.

03/01/2024

😂 Which one is your favorite?
It might be the Staffy for me but so hard to pick!

02/29/2024

I often get asked what crate I use for travel or in my home.
These are one of the few crates we recommend for dog owners and they have a special color coming up! They are very sturdy and stood strong in car crash tests repeatedly.

Like most equipment or training tools, there’s only a small number that have proved to be safe and reliable.

🪻 NEW COLOR ANNOUNCEMENT 🪻
This is not an April Fools Joke, we promise!
Coming Soon, stay tuned for more information! 🐾

02/17/2024

Atten: ALL CLIENTS! Pack Walk on Sunday Feb. 25th at 10am.
If you would like to join (and I highly recommend you do!) please take a sec to signup!

Sunday - FEB 25 - 10AM - Sign up for group class w/ Mindset & Manners Dog Training and Open Gates Dog Training!