Central Missouri Canine Solutions

07/11/2025

12/31/2024

Puppy Classes are starting back up this Saturday, January 4th at 12:30pm at Honey Creek Pet Resort. This is an open enrollment class - start any time and attend the Saturday sessions that work for you! Full details at www.centralmocanine.com

12/10/2024

Working with Mocha an adult female German Shepherd available through Journey Home GSD Rescue !!

We have been working on her engagement exercises and have graduated to doing them and some basic obedience around distractions. For her, other dogs can sometimes present the biggest distraction. But she's been doing well and we like her progression so far! She is both food and toy motivated making her a fun girl to work with too.

She'd love to find a loving home where she can still have some fun but also just chill out with the family. Feel free to share this post and contact the rescue if interested!

06/08/2024

Puppy class today is a go! Come join us at Honey Creek Pet Resort at 12:30 for puppy foundations, socialization and confidence building.

Open enrollment - start any time and attend the Saturdays that work for you. Full details on our website.

05/17/2024

PUPPY GROUP CLASS IS BACK! Starting this Saturday we will be holding our group puppy class at 12:30. This is an open enrollment class meaning you can start any time and attend the Saturdays that work for you.

We'll cover our foundation exercises, a few beginning obedience commands, help with puppy raising issues (house & crate training, mouthing/chewing, jumping, etc), confidence building and socialization.

Cost is $100 for up to any 4 Saturdays. Visit our site for more details and feel free to message us here or through the website www.centralmocanine.com if you are interested.

02/19/2024

Hey all! One of our long-time clients recently adopted this beautiful, long-haired, 1 year-old German Shepherd boy, Leo, from a shelter. Unfortunately, it has turned out to be a mismatch and they have made the very difficult decision to find him a better fit.

Leo has some generalized anxiety and has recently started medication. He'll do best in a home without cats, chickens and other barnyard animals. While the current Shep he lives with does not appreciate him, he may be fine living with another dog his size. He has a few obedience commands started as well as our foundation exercises which many of you are familiar with. He has high food drive and plenty of prey drive to work with.

Leo will do best in a home with an active family without small children. Having some dog experience is needed. To help Leo have his best life, we are offering to do a complimentary behavior session with his new family too.

If you are interested in Leo, please PM us and we will go over some more specifics and get you in touch with his current owners.

12/26/2023

If you want your dog to perform obedience commands in distracting environments, you have to teach them to perform commands in distracting environments.

I know that may sound obvious now, but you’d be surprised at how often human nature makes us think “If my dog knows (X behavior) at home, then my dog knows (X behavior) everywhere else.” But, of course, that’s simply not true.

Dog’s minds are similar to ours in some aspects and very different in others. Context is one of those major differences. And if you want to have truly functional and reliable obedience, you have to practice behaviors in many different environments and situations before a dog will understand to perform that behavior no matter the circumstances.

This is the part of dog training I personally find the most fun. Because you get rewarded for being creative and “getting weird with it” as I like to say. The more difficult and varied you can make the training scenarios, the more functional your dog’s behaviors will be. And also, you’ll be much more confident in, and trusting of, your dog in real-world scenarios.

-Mike

11/04/2023

It’s one thing to teach a dog a behavior. It’s a whole other thing to teach a dog to do a behavior no matter where they are or what’s going on around them. But the process is fairly simple no matter which behavior you’re trying to get to a functional level. Whether it’s a sit or down stay, leash manners, recalls, or heeling, it’s all done in roughly the same way. Teach the behavior thoroughly, gradually add in distractions and contexts, then proof and generalize it in different environments and situations.
This video is a very brief illustration of that process. Here’s 6 weeks worth of off-leash heel training in 90 seconds.
-Mike

08/29/2023

Hey Folks! Mike will be in Columbia this Sunday afternoon at the Lil Paws Big Hearts Fundraiser. He'll be there to answer training questions and discuss our services as well as host an "Ask the Trainer" open group discussion and demo (time TBD). We've donated 1 private training session to the rescue to use as a prize/auction too!

Our annual fundraiser is here!!! Come join us for a fun Sunday afternoon filled with gaming, puppies, and even chihuahua races! Get your tickets at https://www.facebook.com/events/700387488579755

07/18/2023

Years of working with pet dogs and their families has taught us that leash pulling is something that plagues nearly every dog owner. This is one of the many reasons why we have decided to put together a class that focuses on nothing but teaching you how to train your dog to not pull on a leash.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to teach your dog to walk nicely on a leash yourself, then this class is for you. Here’s a very brief overview of what you can expect to learn in our Loose Leash Walking Class that begins on August 1st.

05/09/2023

Hachi Update!

Hachi (available through Journey Home GSD Rescue) has been doing great with his training so far. This sweet boy shows wonderful engagement with Mike in these pics we took while working today. Our daycare dogs were very helpful in providing a distraction 😆

Now that we have established his engagement and foundation work, we'll be helping him learn that sudden, big hand/arm movements from people are no big deal. The current plan is for him to go to a foster home in a couple of weeks or so, where he can learn how wonderful it is to live in a home!

If you are interested in Hachi or helping the rescue in any way, just contact them directly!

04/25/2023

Training and raising a puppy is mostly about creating good habits and preventing bad ones. One good habit you should create early on is enthusiasm for training and interacting with you.

A good way to do this is to simply play with the puppy using food and toys. Continually rewarding the puppy for choosing to interact with you is the quickest way to create a very positive association to yourself. Creating that positive association to you and training is the first step to any good training system and will be continually developed throughout the life of the dog.

We’ll show you exactly how to do this and much more in our Group Puppy Class that starts up in the beginning of May. But for now, enjoy some clips of our newest CMCS/ HCPR family member, Yoshi, developing his enthusiasm for training.

Warning: The basset puppy cuteness is almost too much to handle so viewer discretion is advised.

-Mike