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Happy Hounds Center

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United States
South Deerfield, MA
Happy Hounds Center

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I have decided to close the facility and focus on mobile and online services. Staff trained in canine body language, appropriate play, and enrichment.

I will be offering partnership behavioral training, training walks, an online Skool dog training community and canine assisted life design coaching. We are a full service canine center, from daycare and boarding to training we have you covered! We currently offer training classes and private training sessions in our Trainers Co-op. Join Sue for super fun Agility, get help with a reactive dog or build strong foundations with Alexo, Start your puppy of right or refine your dog's obedience skills with Finn, learn how to train your own service dog or learn how to transfer the skills from the training center to the real world with Colleen. For people interested in animal assisted Therapy Colleen offers Paws for Joy Canine Assisted Therapy with therapist Cris Carl on Saturday mornings Nov-Apr. Our daycare and boarding is going back to our vision of daily enrichment, training, appropriate play and more individual attention for each dog every day. Our daycare and boarding area has over 6,000 Sq ft of climate controlled indoor play areas and outdoor fenced play areas. Stay tuned for the new services to be added over the next few months! check our website for more details! www.heroesbts.com

11/10/2026

Ferguson's social preferences.
Loves to play and loves the people he trusts. He needs a few days of positive introductions before he is comfortable. Some people he will never like and that is OK too!
Is selective with canine friends and doesn't like a lot of new people.

Does well with dogs that are laid back, playful without getting over arroused or defensive.

Does well with dogs who co-exist with him and let him do his own thing.

Does well with dogs who chose avoidence as a correction method rather than growling, snapping, lunging, pinning, etc. Correction methods.

Does well with "crate and rotate" lifestyle when high value items and food is out in the home around other dogs when he is anxious, settling in somewhere new, or working out living arrangements. Like most anxious dogs he will guard things he finds valuable against other dogs when he is feeling uncertain in a new environment, new situation, changes in the usual routine/living situation/guests are over or is over arroused.

Does well in a crate and prefers to be seperated in a different room in his crate with his favorite chews and frozen treats when visitors come over. Will bark a little at first but settles in nicely and quiets down for the rest of their visit.

Doesn't like crowds, farmers markets, dog parks or busy areas to walk in. They are all too over stimulating for him. Prefers his own fenced yard or private fenced sniff spot and walks without a lot of activity. He loves to sniff, play with toys and run! He is great at entertaining himself.

He will allow you to have a social life if you allow him to stay out of it.

This is an experiment to see if being honest and up front about a dog finds a person who will love him. I don't believe in sugar coating or having people read between the lines to figure out if an animal will work for them. I don't believe it is helpful for the animal or the person. It may take longer but I believe it is better in the long run.

11/09/2026

A little video to show the "crate and rotate" management style of having an anxious or reactive dog in your home so everyone can stay safe and happy!
This is a great option for when dogs need time away from eachother, there are high value items out that can cause resource guarding issues or you have guests over. If you have new people or dogs over it will be better for Ferguson to be in a seperate room with his favorite frozen treat or chew.
Even though Ferguson is selective and more of an introvert he will be perfectly happy allowing you to have friends over!

11/09/2026

Monday Fun day and the green ball of happiness!

11/08/2026

What to bring, where to meet and what to expect for the misfits walking club today:
Meeting in the parking area at Happy Hounds. We will be working outside and around that area.
Bring high value treats or toy, something your dog will do anything for.
Use a regular 4' or 6' leash. No retractable leashes! Have dogs on flat collars, martingale collars, harnesses or gentle leaders. No prong collars, e collars, chock collars, etc.
Leave dogs in cars for first 10 minutes while I demo the games we will play. Then I will walk around and help you as you practice. After that we will take a short walk and practice the games during the walk. At the end we will have a short Q&A before heading out.
$15 cash only
See you soon!

11/05/2026

I would like to ask for help to find Ferguson his person. He is looking for a unicorn that he can give his whole heart to. It is going to take a lot of sharing and a wide circle of people to find the right person and the right timing. So I am starting the Save Ferguson campaign. If you can help please share his videos and posts as much as you can and keep your ears open for people in the market for a special dog who will help them become the best version of themselves if they let him.

About Ferguson:
About 2 years old
Housebroken
Crate Trained
Good in the house/not destructive
Goofy and playful. He loves his toys and exploring his world!
Great hiking or dog sport partner. He is athletic and loves to engage in team sports with his person
Gets along with certain dogs. Laid back, playful and/or accepting females preferred
He is working on his handler focus and leash skills. His adoption will come with continued support from me with 2 or 3 in person training sessions and access to my online training Skool course.

Other things to know about Ferguson:
He is anxious and reactive on walks, in new situations, with new people and new places. He is working on confidence building and learning he is safe which will help with all of that. This is where his unicorn search comes in. He will need a patient and understanding person who will continue his training consistently without turning to adversive methods. Any introduction of equipment that causes pain will make him more anxious and will make him aggressive. He is a defensive dog when uncertain.
No kids or cats at this stage.

The bonus of working through reactivity is that his person will develop skills others only dream of having. His person will get to develop their relationship building and communication skills into hostage negotiator level skills. They will be able to develope solid inter personal, intra personal, observational, nervous system regulation and intuitive super powers. Plus their heart will grow so large the Grinch would be jealous.
If this sounds like something you want or know someone who does please have them reach out. Ferguson is waiting!

11/04/2026

So far the weather looks good for Sunday 11/8! I will be hosting the first Misfits walking club at noon. We will be meeting outside at Happy Hounds. You can park in front of the building then walk around to the Noryh side by the fire hydrant to where the large dog fence is. We will be working on some handler focus and orientation games then working on some leash walking skills around the property.
$15 drop in class. Cash only.
See you soon!

10/28/2026

This didn't make on this page yesterday but I don't think the pets will mind that it is a day late here!
One of my favorite things in Mexican culture is Dia de Los Mu***os. A full week to honor those who have past with celebration and connection through the thinning of the veil. I also love that it starts today with the animals who come home first. That always seemed perfectly fitting in so many ways.
These are three of the ones I think of often. Brady, Keylee and Luke.

10/23/2026

Good Morning everyone! I wanted to jump on for a quick post to let you all know I will be keeping this page active posting more training and behavioral videos to help you continue building a great relationship with your dog! You can also use the messanger on this page or the [email protected] email address to reach out if you are interested in training, misfits dog walking club, Attuned Canine Guardians Skool group (online behavioral training and human end of the leash course) and/or animal assisted life coaching.
I will be starting to send playgroup emails this week so you can keep your dog's social calander full of friends. :)
Have a great week!

10/23/2026

Zuri is showing the next stage to turning away from something moving. I like to use a fence or a baby gate for this stage so if she does mess up she doesn't get the treat or toy that was thrown. If she leaves it and turns away building on the foundation we started to work on then she gets rewarded from me. If she doesn't turn away I can then call her back, show her what she could have had but don't give her the reward then repeat the exercise.

10/20/2026

A perfect day to end on. Bittersweet fun Thursday. The dogs and I had such a great day. I am so grateful for everyone who supported and loved Happy Hounds. Thank you all for being what I loved most about this crazy roller coaster ride.
I am still getting my head wrapped around closing and reflecting on all of the experiences and lessons I learned in my 7.5 years here. I'm sure I will have another wrap up post once I have a chance to reflect on everything. As I locked the door yesterday the only emotions I had were gratitude, love and sadness.
I am so lucky that I had the chance to meet and work with you and your dogs. Thank you for sharing your dogs with me. Each one of them taught me something that has changed my life for the better.

Address

203 Long Plain Road
South Deerfield, MA
01373

Telephone

+14133979792

Website

facebook.com

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