Refining Dogs

Refining Dogs We offer Professional Dog Training in the Williamson and Travis County area.

06/21/2025

Kima is moving around more and learning how to keep calm and move slowly. She has pretty much worked mostly on stationary commands so far. But now that she can stay calm while laying down, she's ready to get it moving. Notice her anxiety pick up when we walk (scanning the room, panting, quick head movements). We are working on her focusing on me and trusting me to lead. We switched her to a slip leash instead of her prong collar to help with her slowing down. Using the prong collar seems to agitate her anxiety and makes her want to hurry to do a command. (A good example of prongs not being the right tool for EVERY dog). As the video progresses, you can see an improvement in her focus.

She has learned a "Double Down" on Place, which means she has to lay her head down as well as her body. This allows her to calm down faster since she anxiously scans the room if her head is up. She is also working on muzzle conditioning. This is training her to love her muzzle and be comfortable in one. This will help with transitioning her back home and making sure everyone is safe. She's progressing well! Slowly but surely. 😊

06/21/2025

Nala has also started her e-collar training and is doing really well! She is getting the hang of her commands and has improved greatly with her self-control. She still gets excited and is her normal peppy self, but without jumping up or putting paws on the counter. She is also doing well with small added distractions like dropping treats on the floor and me sitting on the couch. Her focus has been amazing, and she is progressing quickly!!

06/21/2025

Sativa is learning e-collar training. She is doing great and is quickly getting the hang of it. She pretty much already knows how to respond to the feeling of the collar, and I dont need to help with the leash very often.

She is a very affectionate girl, and any opportunity for pets is a huge distraction for her! Anytime she gets up from Place or Down, I am repeating the distraction until she stays and then rewarding her. This teaches her to stay no matter what is going on around her and builds impulse control. A skill she will need once we start going out in public!

Kima has made a big improvement with her Place/Down command (compare Fridays pics)! This girl has so much anxiety becaus...
06/18/2025

Kima has made a big improvement with her Place/Down command (compare Fridays pics)! This girl has so much anxiety because she's never learned to slow down. Her mind races at 1000mph. Before I start to work on other things, I need her to learn how to sit still and relax.

Although she already knew a Place/Down command, she was always popping up or getting off of Place with the smallest distraction, or if I acknowledged her in the slightest way. She would adjust every few minutes and just not sit still. Sounds from the other dogs would make her sit up to see what was going on, and now she may angle herself towards the noise but stays laying down and mostly unbothered.

We've worked heavily on ignoring everything while on Place and truly relax. She is learning to calm her mind, not just her body, and has made great progress. We've started having her follow me around the house at an excruciatingly slow pace, which she is beginning to get the hang of.

She is so much calmer and relaxed overall now and has not even thought about biting even when I been hovering over her when cleaning mud off of her from the recent rain. She is such a sweet baby and just has a lot going on in her head. I can't wait for her to be her best self at home too!

Sativa is doing great! She has really started to get a good grasp of what is expected of Place, Down, and Let's Go. She ...
06/18/2025

Sativa is doing great! She has really started to get a good grasp of what is expected of Place, Down, and Let's Go. She will stay on Place/Down with regular household distractions, like when I'm cleaning the kitchen, prepping dinner, working on emails, etc. She ignores the other dogs completely now and follows my lead extremely well! She is so sweet and loves attention but has recently been so polite in asking for pets/scratches instead of jumping up.

The anxiety of being in a new environment has subsided, and her nose is healing now. She is officially ready to start her e-collar and outdoor training!

Nala is calming down and listening! This fluffy ball of energy would NOT let me sit down on the couch without her before...
06/18/2025

Nala is calming down and listening! This fluffy ball of energy would NOT let me sit down on the couch without her before. She'd hardly stay on Place for a minute or two and was always right under my feet.

She has progressed really well with her commands and is calming down a lot! She will still jump once or twice when let out of her crate, but she knows she is not supposed to, seems apologetic, and isn't as forceful as before.

She is gaining confidence and will now potty outside on her own without having a meltdown 😅. She is super enjoyable to be around now that she's more compliant, and I can pet her without her getting so excited about it. She is ready for the next step: e-collar training!

Nala has joined us for a 4 week Board and Train! Nala is here to address her over-excited behaviors like pulling on the ...
06/14/2025

Nala has joined us for a 4 week Board and Train!

Nala is here to address her over-excited behaviors like pulling on the leash and jumping on people! She has a hard time settling when there are distractions around, and her owner would love to be able to take her in public more! Right now, it's just too stressful with her current behavior.

Nala has a pretty good foundation and knows some commands. However, she struggles with staying for more than a few seconds. Especially if she hears a noise in the other room or if I walk away for more than a minute. Pretty much any distraction is hard for her. 😅

We are working on gradually increasing her time staying on Place/Down and adding light distractions for now. She is doing well and has figured out that I am more stubborn than she is. 😂 She is not always food motivated, so we had to rely on the "back and forth" method (she gets off place, I take her back, she gets off place, and I taker her back, etc.)

She's finally gotten so annoyed with me that she has decided to start staying on Place and accept the treats. Such a hard life she lives... 🤭

Sativa has joined us for a 4 week Board and Train!Sativa is here to work on her reactivity to dogs and men and to addres...
06/14/2025

Sativa has joined us for a 4 week Board and Train!

Sativa is here to work on her reactivity to dogs and men and to address other behaviors like over-excitement. She is an energetic girl, and we've found that a lot of her reactivity has to do with frustration. Once we address her leash pulling and teach her how to have more control of her emotions, we will see a huge improvement overall.

Sativa has started working on Place/Down. She is quickly learning that we dont offer bribes here. 😂 She was very resistant, at first, about following a command when I didn't have a treat in-hand, but she is figuring out that the treat does come after she does what I am asking. She is so motivated by food. Which has made training so much fun and something we both enjoy each session. However, she definitely has a "what's in it for me?" attitude! 🤣🤣

She is starting to ignore the dogs here and will only let out a bark or two. She seems to be insecure around the other dogs and is most comfortable around people. We will be building her confidence around dogs, as she seems like she would like to make some friends. She just isn't sure how. Overall, she's had a pretty good start to her training. 😁

Kima has joined us for a 4 week Board and Train!Kima is here to address her escalating behavior. She is biting people! W...
06/14/2025

Kima has joined us for a 4 week Board and Train!

Kima is here to address her escalating behavior. She is biting people! Which may be hard for some to believe upon meeting her because she is such a sweet girl. However, underneath all her energy and excitedness, she is dealing with a lack of self-confidence and alot of anxiety.

She has been trained before (elsewhere) using the same tools we use here (prong and e-collar), but right away, we noticed that the training was done very differently. Kima knows her commands but is always anticipating the next one. She positions herself on Place like an arrow pulled back on a bow - ready to launch off at any second. When in a Down, her elbows are hovering off the ground. When corrected, she quickly moves to another position without thinking. Everything is fast-paced!

This is exactly why we created our program the way we did. There's a reason our videos are all boring! 🤣 We want our dogs to move slowly, think before acting, and learn to stay calm. We focus on mental relaxation so that these dogs can go back to a home environment where they are usually expected to be calm and relaxed.

Kima is learning to slow down, keep herself calm, and wait patiently for instructions. We've already started to address these things and have seen some improvement in the past few days. With the self-control and self-confidence we are planning to instill, she will not be so quick to act (bite) when she is in uncomfortable situations. She will learn to trust her owner and be in a far better headspace. 😊

Cowboy has joined us for a 3 week Board and Train!He is here to learn obedience, manners, and potty/crate training. He i...
05/21/2025

Cowboy has joined us for a 3 week Board and Train!

He is here to learn obedience, manners, and potty/crate training. He is a 5 month old puppy and is full of energy 100% of the time. If he's not running with a toy in his mouth, he's jumping up and/or biting on your hands.

He definitely has a lot to learn, but he is really smart. So it shouldn't take him long! He already is getting the hang of Place, and will stay there for a minute or so. We will work on him holding that a lot longer and also having him lay down on command. Right now, he's laying down on his own.

We got a lot of work to do! 😎

05/10/2025

Lake did really well at the outlet where it was a bit more crowded. She did worry more about all the people, but did well holding her heel command and trusting me to lead her through the crowds.

She was unsure of loud sounds and kids running around, but followed instructions and showed signs of being more relaxed the next time we passed by.

05/08/2025

Lake took a trip to Home Depot! She did very well following my lead and ignoring the people passing by. She was a bit unsure of the sliding doors at the entrances, but with more outings, she will get used to those.

She followed initial commands really well, but we will also be going places where she can practice holding a down/stay longer. We typically do this at parks with lots of foot traffic so that dogs can get used to distractions. We plan on doing this a few times this week.

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Thrall, TX
76578

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Wednesday 11am - 8pm
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