Best Of Behavior, LLC. Dog Training and Behavior Consulting

04/16/2025

🔠 Reinforcement. Reinforcers.

🤔What are those words we sometimes use?!

✅ A reinforcer is a stimulus, event or consequence that follows a particular behavior that increases the likelihood repetition of a specific behavior or response being repeated in the future.
It can be either positive (*adding* something to increase behavior) or negative (*taking something away* to increase behavior),

✳️ The pups have been playing, running, chasing squirrels, getting into hedgerows, playing keep away with one another, and I have been practicing calling then away from these things currently in the environment (offen called ‘distractions’).

📢 You will hear me call the puppies using one of their ‘come to me’ cues (quickly and now please!!) Hear the “pup, pup, pup, puppies!”?

⬆️ I reinforce the behavior of leaving other fun activities and ‘coming to me’ by feeding them food close by me. One after the other i give them treats to keep them close to me (I teach them to come to me and stay with me!) rather than to grab it and run off!

💥 But it doesn’t just stop there!

🆒 I turn it into an ‘event’ (a longer duration and fun activity) close by me by directing them to these hidden treats by the bushes, that i had placed earlier.
So they have to sniff along and locate the pieces of cheese in the damp mulch.

🆒 FUN!! And yum! And it takes some time!

🔆 I always change reinforcement strategies - sometimes I run away and they chase me.
Sometimes I roll a treat or throw something for them to chase and pick up…Change It up and keep it fun and interesting for your dog!

🤔 How do I know this is a reinforcer, or if the behavior has been reinforced ? I’ll answer that tomorrow! 🤓

04/14/2025

✨Muzzle training!

🔆 It is extremely important to properly condition a muzzle with a dog.

✅ A muzzle is a necessary piece of equipment sometimes with our dogs, for various reasons.
Mainly for safety and management.

🆘 We should never just shove a muzzle onto a dog (unless it is an emergency, but even then it is preferable to have preconditioned a muzzle!)

❓What do we mean by ‘properly conditioning’ a muzzle?

‼️Teaching them that a muzzle is a positive thing and ensuring they have a positive emotional response to wearing one, for a good period of time and while doing various things in various places.

Like many things- the devil is in the details .

🎥 In this clip you will see me asking George to place his face into the muzzle.

🤚🏻 I will also touch and stroke between his eyes, behind his ears and all around his head.
These are the places that the straps will be.

👁️ I want him to see me moving my hands around his head, further away and then closer, the straps moving around and he will sometimes feel them touching , and we build on all this as he becomes trusting and associates all good things with the muzzle!

❌ It is vitally important that we don’t just shove a muzzle onto a dog’s face, or try to trick them. It may work the first time, but subsequent times will be more difficult for you!

⭐️ This is desensitizing the muzzle for George and conditioning the equipment.

🆒 This is a gorgeous new custom muzzle from Trust your dog! And it is slightly different to other muzzless he has worn before. Is rather take my time and ensure he is happy with wearing this new muzzle.

(We had a few distractions with the vacuuming happening in the adjacent room.)

04/14/2025

✨ We are extremely proud to support many incredible rescue groups in the South Suburbs and the city of Chicago.

💕 This past weekend we worked with *3* separate, wonderful rescue groups and saw the magnificent hearts, deep love, passionate commitment and hard work that the staff and volunteers give to ensuring the welfare of these animals.

❤️‍🔥 It moves our hearts. You are an inspiration. The animals in your care are blessed to have you advocating and caring for them.

🙏🏻 Thank you for recognizing and trusting our expertise to assist you and walk the challenging, joyful and complicated path of rescue alongside you.

💋 Many thanks to Determined to Rise, Dogs are Deserving and One Tail at a Time.

04/11/2025

Be CAREFUL of trainers that use prong and/or e-collars, and methods like ‘Nepopo’ training.

A colleague put this short film together, hearing from the dog owners themselves, and other leasing indiatry experts, to show you SOME of the fallout and harm caused by these methods.
PLEASE watch it!!

Punishment based training has fallout.
I know, because I have seen it regularly over the last 25 years of professionally training dogs.
Sometimes it can cost the dog their lives.

Your dog is relying on you to make knowledgeable, informed training decisions.

Their welfare relies on it.

https://youtu.be/HmER1e1xVaAdr

Every day dogs are subjected to shock and prong collars under the guise of better control and more reliable behavior. The Price Of Pain exposes the behaviora...

04/09/2025

❓Looking to hire a dog trainer or do a board and train for your dog?
‼️Be careful!

Here, a colleague of mine(Jim Crosby), a former Police Lieutenant , who is possibly the most educated and respected person in the country when it comes to dog bites,(and is THE person called in when there has been a severe attack, mauling and often death), writes an article that everyone should read if you contemplate a board and train for your dog.

It’s real. It happened.

http://jimcrosby.canineaggressionissueswithjimcrosby.com/2014/10/a-dog-died-today-because-of-trainer.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR6DDX5Nbky_PmZmHDSALCfl3SrZIjdl7waFxcx1V02tibFPXAuYnu7FNV1Lzg_aem_Q-U2WvN4KF7TTnSut-NYIA&m=1

NOT ALL board and trains (or trainers!!) are equal.

And just because someone says they’ve been training for 10 years, doesn’t mean a thing either.
I’ve had teeth all my life, doesn’t make me a dentist….

Ask questions.
Visit places.
Read reviews (thats WHY I appreciate my clients leaving reviews- nudge nudge!) 😉
Ask for referrals!!
e.g.- I am ALWAYS happy to give referrals from previous clients who are happy to talk to people about their experiences with me. And I give them tel #’s (with their permission!) of people who had dogs that took chunks out of people before we started working together.

Be careful who you trust with your dogs, their training and care!

Also- just because your dog is fine with you, does not mean that I will be safe with your dog.
As professionals who see dogs like the one in the article daily, we have to ensure our safety.
We take precautions to make sure that we don’t get bitten or hurt by your dog.

This is for our sake AND your sake!!
(Currently, the average dog bite claim on insurance is over $80,000.00!!!)
We have a million dollars of insurance! As ALL training companies ahould have!!

Please don’t be offended- or think that we are over cautious.
If we are dealing with a dog that has exhibited aggressive behavior, we will take necessary precautions.
We don’t want your dog to bite, us or anyone!

We don’t need to see the dog bite because we don’t use punishment based training.
I believe you when you tell me!
I don’t need to see it!

Be careful who you hire!!

A blog about dog bites, aggression, fatal dog attacks, and other issues about canine behavior.

04/07/2025

Paris is a 2 year old Doodle who first started coming to me for board and trains when she was a young puppy.
Helping shape her development appropriately, sleep patterns and rest, play and training, correct socialization with humans and other dogs, chewing appropriate items, not counter surfing etc…is incredible important!

Supporting her parents through her developmental stages (and struggles, as we all have them with puppies!) has been an important factor as she has grown.

She is an incredible young dog. Very stable.
She is very friendly, dog friendly but not obsessed with other dogs or needing to greet them, not ‘reactive’, a really well behaved young dog.
She recently had a new human baby brother join her family and she has been the quintessential older sister.

Paris comes to stay with me when her family are busy or away, and she settles right in and becomes ‘one of the family’ . No worries for anyone. Here is her second, loving home. Home away from home.

Choosing where to do board and train programs for puppies is critically important! For their well being and safety! Choose wisely!
Call us today if you have a puppy and need help!

04/07/2025

Spaying is an important, and can sometimes be a ‘hot/controversial, topic.
Please research more about this topic as it CAN have detrimental and important effects with your dog, both physically AND behaviorally!

Monday Medical Corner:

Ovariohysterectomy, popularly known as ‘spaying’, is commonly performed on female dogs as a means of sterilization and to reduce risk of certain diseases including mammary tumors and pyometra (uterine infection). Recent evidence suggests that delaying this procedure until the dog is more mature (at ~18-24 months of age) offers behavioral, orthopedic, and other health benefits.

Dogs’ reproductive cycle is different than that of humans’. A dog’s estrous cycle includes multiple stages. The best known phase is proestrus/estrus or when the dog is in “heat.” This is the phase where the dog ovulates and can become pregnant if she is bred. This phase lasts about 3 weeks on average. The dog then enters diestrus – the phase of pregnancy. What is interesting about dogs is that the hormonal profile in diestrus is the same whether the dog is actually pregnant or not. During this phase, estrogen declines and progesterone rises (secreted from a structure called the corpus luteum [CL]). Progesterone is the hormone that maintains pregnancy. Diestrus in dogs lasts about 2 months – the average duration of gestation when the dog is pregnant. At the end of diestrus, the CL essentially dissolves or becomes inactive and progesterone levels drop. If the dog is pregnant, this change is part of the process that triggers the birth of the puppies and onset of lactation and maternal behavior.

After diestrus, the dog enters anestrus which is a period of hormonal quiescence. In the dog this lasts on average about 6 months as the typical complete estrous cycle in dogs is about 7-9 months long.

If a dog is spayed during diestrus, the precipitous drop in progesterone can mimic whelping and trigger the onset of maternal behavior – including maternal aggression. Since the dog does not have puppies, dogs may begin to guard other objects and show aggression toward humans or other animals. In rare cases, this aggression has persisted long term.

Since there is no benefit to spaying a dog during diestrus, we recommend that dogs be spayed during anestrus to prevent this possible complication.

03/12/2025

This is satire….comedy.
But, some people do this with dogs and babies/kids.
A dog may not be a 300lb python, but they have a mouthful of kitchen knives.
Too many babies and young children have been mauled and killed by family dogs.
Please don’t leave a baby or a young child unsupervised with any dog - and please look up Family Paws for advice and help (or, call us!).
Prevention, manage and training!

03/08/2025

So happy to be having our favorite communicating Sheepadoodle, Bunny (She’s super Instagram famous!), well…..erm….
Sadly Bunny won’t be joining us….BUT, Bunny‘s lovely Mum, my friend Alexis Devine is coming down to visit my favorite local bookstore (and generally goodies!)- The RockShop60430.
We will be doing a Q and A together and she will be signing books and talking about Bunny and their adventures!
Hope to see you there!

Minds blown on multiple levels, Rockstars! Saturday, March 15 at 3 p.m. we’ll be getting a Bunny the (brilliant) dog’s equally scintillating owner, Alexis Devine. Get out the calendars, the two week countdown begins!!

02/17/2025

Come and join the incredible Ness Jones and I on Monday February 24th at 6:30pm CST (many other time zones are listed on the graphic!)!
We will be discussing using real life, easy to accomplish skills for fantastic recalls in "Run Free and Recall Ready!".
So, if you want to improve your dog's recall, please join us for a fun discussion, and we would love to answer your questions!
Can't wait to see you!
Register here!

02/12/2025

You’ve heard of Air Bud! 🏀

This is Air Wrigley! ⚾️

When your client LOVES the games we play SO much that he FLIES through the air and over his sister!!
🤣🥰 ✈️

(If you aren’t laughing with your clients through the tough stuff, what are you even doing as a trainer?! 😉)

02/01/2025

🐾 Have any questions for a trainer/behavior consultant? (Dog and cat!)

💖 Even if you just want to talk about your dogs and cats- we love to hear about them!

🐶 Come and see us at The Thornton Distillery’s RockShop event, this Sunday (link in comments!) - we’d love to chat! 12-5pm

12/28/2024

🤔 Clients always want to know how I cut up my Happy Howies treat rolls!
So here is a quick tutorial- this is how I get SO many perfect bite sized pieces, quickly and easily!
This way yields hundreds of treats per roll- probably well over a thousand…and then some!
Enjoy! 😊🐾

https://youtu.be/v2WhrJ5o6AI?si=ynUTkaJV8lAmO7Eu

This is a quick cutting demo for you to see how I cute up my Happy Howie’s to get small pieces PERFECT for training! It’s quick and easy! So many clients ask...

12/01/2024

When we do aggression consults, addressing pain is of utmost importance.
It is one of the primary things a well educated and experienced behavior consultant will consider.

I cannot diagnose pain.
That is for your wonderful Veterinary professionals to do (as you may have heard me say if you are one of my incredible clients “I’m not a Vet, nor do I play one on TV!’). They will be able to assess and treat for pain.

Pain can often be a significant contributor to aggressive behaviors. (Pain and Problem Behavior in Cats and Dogs- Mills et al. 2020)

But I DO consider ALL the ways that WE, you the owner and me the animal professional, along with your Vet teams, can limit the many ways that pain is, or could be, a factor in your dogs behavior challenges .

One of the ways that I can help is to identify and to limit potential things that can exacerbate pain!

For example, in my cases today, we discussed amongst many, many things: access to sofas, beds, food and water (how they are obtained, elevation etc…), movement around the home (slippery floors and stairs), touching and petting and so on…

Something as basic as sitting on a slippery floor could potentially exacerbate pain in many places such as the hips, knees, spine, neck etc…
A slippery surface will add the potential of discomfort during the sit and after the sit, and if we did repetitive ‘training’-ooof!!

It is our job to discuss and bring awareness to ALL of these small (or large) potential agitator’s.
For a successful behavior change plan to work, we often must get into the ‘nitty gritty’ finer points.
Not always, but when we have more complex situations with varying and often seemingly unpredictable causes (antecedents and distant antecedents) those finer points can be what makes or breaks a plan!

Check out the cutest sploot sit below- cute right?
Cute…But potentially a very painful position for this adorable young dog, which could be a single factor among many causing discomfort or pain.

For this kid, I recommended (among many other recommendations)using more mats and rugs around the house to prevent slipping and unstable movement.

Walking on slippery floors for many dogs is like trying to walk with slippery soled shoes on ice. It will increase tension and tightness in their body which will exacerbate pain. Slipping can create injuries or worsen them as well.

Pain lowers thresholds. And that will often lead to a ‘grumpier’ animal (I know my severe neck issues this year made me less than a joy to be around!).

If you are concerned about pain, please see your Veterinarian!
Take videos of the movement you see (or don’t see) of your animal from different angles, and show those videos to your Vets (it helps them a great deal to see natural movement outside of what their clinical observations enables).

02/16/2024

We will be having a ‘Puppy Pop-up’ event at The Rock Shop in Homewood on March 9th.
Lots of fun details to come!

(But of you want to come and get your puppy breath fix- mark your calendar!! And if you have any puppy, dog and cat related questions- come and ask away! 🙂😸) (Also….if you’re in the market to adopt, the puppies are up for adoption!) 🤭

Rockhound Pepper (she is speaking with her eyes, trust us) says tune in March 9 from 3-5 for a Best Of Behavior, LLC. Dog Training and Behavior Consulting pop-up tackling all things pup-related