New Leash on Life Dog Training and Lost Pet Tracking

04/08/2026

Owner/ Trainer
Stephanie Avila
New Leash on Life Dog Training and Lost Pet Tracking

Spring is in the air. Get summer ready with a well mannered dog 🐾

Let’s get those dogs trained this Spring and Summer 🐾

I have openings for obedience as well as taking on dogs with concerning behaviors. (Private/ groups/ board and train) in Topeka.

Spring in the air . What a great time is is a great time to build a bond,..... avoiding boredom and destruction from setting in . It's about investment in a living, breathing being that deserves to be part of your family. It gives me immense satisfaction to know I can help prevent dogs from being turned in to shelters . I teach owners confidence and to embrace that confidence so it flows down the leash to your dog. Egos to the side..... Let's build relationships and establish proper leadership!!!!

No more charging the door and jumping, no non stop barking, no more redirected aggression due to the excitement and presence of food and toys, no more counter surfing,-and let's start walking well on the leash without pulling you into snow drifts or charging at other dogs.
Have your pup trained to lay on its spot or dog bed while company is around- enjoy your pup as part of a well mannered part of the family!

❌I do individual training in the owners residence. We go out to places such as Petsmart and Home Depot or the park to work around distractions etc.
For me I have found many people have issues in their own environment with their pets. When I can observe the owners and the pet , I can intervene much more appropriately .

❌I do basic obedience with the added behavioral twist - working with the individual needs.
I can also do small groups .for example if I come to Lawrence it's more economically feasible for perhaps several people to work with me.

Then I still go to the home to correct and issues specific to the home- like jumping on the counter in search of food.
If a family has more than one pet, the fee doesn't double for the added dog. I just increase it slightly depending on what the need is.

*❌I try to address training in a variety of opportunities. Different options work better for some families .

*❌These issues as well as obedience are also
offered in small groups and board and train.

There are many things that owners suffer in silence with:
Barking
Fights
Jumping
Charging the door
Manners indoors
Coming when called
Dislike of one household member-
Rank issues
Escape artists
Running out the door or car door
Anxiety
Fear aggression
Separation issues
Crate training
Potty training
Holding still while brushing and bathing
Behavior around babies and toddlers
Digging
Leash work- heeling, stay, recall
Games to hold interest and provide mental stimulation
Proper physical exercise
Proper feeding schedule
Motivational methods
Prepping for therapy dog certification and exam,
Working with families in crisis due to pets fighting and misbehavior.( which is most always... Rank issues...The lack of leadership and boundaries)

I teach people to be more confident and it flows down the leash and is very palpable when the change occurs.

*❌I also train service dogs and professional
therapy dogs.

❌Call 785-221-2116

04/08/2026

A fun evening with my service dog and therapy dog group

01/22/2026

01/22/2026

Dallas and Laurie Johnson
Working on some exposure and in this case , seeing other dogs while out. Dallas will be a therapy dog in the Roseville / Silverlake area.

09/27/2025

This!

DISTRACTED DOG WALKERS

The distracted dog walker is commonly seen chatting on their cell phone, wearing headphones or socializing with other people while oblivious to what their dog is doing, how their dog is feeling or what is going on in the environment.

This may not sound like a problem, but it is something that many of us have a problem with, even more so if we have a reactive, sensitive dog.

I always compare walking a dog to driving a car. It’s not so much about our driving skills, but having to constantly be aware of the driving skills of others – trying to predict what they will do, which rules of the road they will ignore and how distracted they are. This is especially true in the country I live in, where driving can be a really stressful experience.

I understand that we often need to multi task – there simply doesn’t seem to be enough time in our day to accomplish everything we need to, but walking our dogs should not be one of these times.

Some may say – “but my dog is really friendly, well socialized, gets on well with everyone, is well trained, knows this environment well etc. and I hear that. But another dog might not be – maybe they need space, are reactive, sensitive, selectively social, have health issues, might be terrified of another dog racing straight towards them chasing a ball thrown from a ball launcher etc.

If distracted dog walkers have no regard for other dogs or other people, they should at least have regard for their own dogs.

Walking your dog should be a time of bonding, of connecting, of seeing the environment through the eyes of your dog, of reinforcing and rewarding wanted behaviours, of keeping them safe and protected.

Our dogs need us to be focused, to pay attention, to be aware and attentive. Our dogs depend on us to advocate for them.

09/05/2025

Get ready for fall and winter with a well mannered dog 🐾
Puppy classes
Adult classes
In home private training
Group classes at Western Hilks Veterinary Clinic
Professional therapy dog training
Service dog training
Board and train / day bosrd or full board
Behavioral interventions .

Let’s get those dogs trained this Spring and Summer 🐾

I have openings for obedience as well as taking on dogs with concerning behaviors.

Fall is in the air. What a great time to get out and spend times with our dogs.

This is a great time to build a bond,..... avoiding boredom and destruction from setting in . It's about investment in a living, breathing being that deserves to be part of your family. It gives me immense satisfaction to know I can help prevent dogs from being turned in to shelters . I teach owners confidence and to embrace that confidence so it flows down the leash to your dog. Egos to the side..... Let's build relationships and establish proper leadership!!!!

No more charging the door and jumping, no non stop barking, no more redirected aggression due to the excitement and presence of food and toys, no more counter surfing,-and let's start walking well on the leash without pulling you into snow drifts or charging at other dogs.
Have your pup trained to lay on its spot or dog bed while company is around- enjoy your pup as part of a well mannered part of the family!

I do individual in the owners residence. We go out to places such as Petsmart and Home Depot or the park to work around distractions etc.
For me I have found many people have issues in their own environment with their pets. When I can observe the owners and the pet , I can intervene much more appropriately .
I do basic obedience with the added behavioral twist - working with the individual needs.
I can also do small groups .for example if I come to Lawrence it's more economically feasible for perhaps several people to work with me. Then I still go to the home to correct and issues specific to the home- like jumping on the counter in search of food.
If a family has more than one pet, the fee doesn't double for the added dog. I just increase it slightly depending on what the need is.
There are many things that owners suffer in silence with:
Barking
Fights
Jumping
Charging the door
Manners indoors
Coming when called
Dislike of one household member-
Rank issues
Escape artists
Running out the door or car door
Anxiety
Fear aggression
Separation issues
Crate training
Potty training
Holding still while brushing and bathing
Behavior around babies and toddlers
Digging
Leash work- heeling, stay, recall
Games to hold interest and provide mental stimulation
Proper physical exercise
Proper feeding schedule
Motivational methods
Prepping for therapy dog certification and exam,
Working with families in crisis due to pets fighting and misbehavior.( which is most always... Rank issues...The lack of leadership and boundaries)
I teach people to be more confident and it flows down the leash and is very palpable when the change occurs.

----------
This is an excellent little article from a cohort. One of the most important philosophical underpinnings of my training.

The Good Dog Tip: Permission based training and why it works

One of our primary goals when training and rehabbing dogs is to get them out of auto-pilot behavior and into a listening, processing, responding mode. What is auto-pilot behavior? It's where the dog sees, hears, smells something and instantly reacts to it. Or where the dog wants to do something, or to access something, and simply does it. It's an impulse control issue. Feel - do!

And this is where permission based training comes in. Permission based training isn't anything fancy, but it is highly effective. Basically, we start teaching the dog that he needs to look to us before making decisions. Not every decision mind you, but most. This new way of living/behaving creates many positive changes. It creates handler respect, it teaches tons of impulse control, and gets the dog to think before acting. All major pieces of the training/rehab puzzle.

Once a dog begins to look to you for permission you'll see much of the manic, hyped-up, tuned-out, crazy, disrespectful, and disobedient behavior disappear.

Here's a few examples of where we work on this and where permission is needed:

-Crate (going in or out)
-Thresholds (going in or out)
-Place command (not leaving unless given permission)
-Eating (waiting for release)
-Peeing/sniffing on walks (waiting for release)
-Any command that the dog has been asked to be in (must wait for release)
-Furniture (wait for permission)
-Personal space (must wait for permission to access)
-Getting in our out of the car (wait for permission)
-And any other contexts where you see a lot of excitement/pushiness etc.

Teaching your dog to look to you, to ask you for permission before simply reacting is the true secret sauce to transforming both behavior and attitude.

Use it!! 🙂

-/————

What’s happened to us?

We used to be able to deal with our dogs, and our kids, and our lives in a far more firm, confident, assertive fashion.

We didn’t negotiate or placate everyone and everything. We didn’t avoid conflict at every turn. We weren’t terrified of being unloved or unliked if we did something unpopular.

Now, we seem to have lost our way. Strength, confidence, certainty, boundaries, the willingness to speak the truth even if unpopular - I see so little of this.

Sure, the pendulum always swings. I know there were things about our past behaviors and interactions that could have used some tweaks. It wasn’t all perfect, by any stretch. But, as per usual, we’ve swung all the way in the opposite direction.

Instead of realizing there were some better ways to communicate, some more sophisticated ways to teach, nurture, and guide, and then adding them where necessary...we opted to throw all the good out with the bad.

And so we’re left with a bunch of...soft, afraid, placating ninnies. So many have become fearful, weak, doormats. Our kids walk all over us, our dogs walk all over us, our mates walk all over us, our co-workers, neighbors, you name it...walk all over us.

When I conduct, watch or listen to client sessions, I know there’s a ton on the client’s plate. They’re learning a completely new skillset, they’re under pressure to perform, they’ve got a million things to try to juggle and remember. I get it. Truly.

But...

But what I see and hear over and over are owners struggling with the emotional aspects far more than the mechanics. They feel bad, sad, reluctant, and want to pet, touch, coo, snuggle...the dog who bit them, or their friend, or their kid. Or the dog who makes their lives on the walk, or in the car, or in the house miserable due to their disrespectful antics.

And yet, instead of sharing the firmness that will help their dogs become the dog they actually want, and who they could actually enjoy—safely—they roll out the doormat. Themselves.

The dog sees it, and boom, just like that he or she knows the believability and necessity to listen and respect the owner is...zero.

Gang, you don’t get respect by being a doormat. You don’t get respect by allowing. You don’t get respect coddling and making excuses. You get respect by being a believable force that your dog cares enough about to give you their best.

Respect isn’t a dirty word, although many view it that way. The truth is, everyone is entitled to view it exactly as they wish, just don’t be surprised if your kids, your mate, your co-workers, your boss, and yes your dog, don’t offer you that which you don’t demand.

Consequences rule the world. And if you choose to omit the necessary ones, you have to be okay with what the world gives you back.
Stephanie Avila

05/06/2025

It’s that time of year to think about and act…. getting your dogs trained and ready for all the summer activities.
Having a well mannered dog enjoy time alone, or family fun is life changing.
Call 📞 785-221-2116

I work with some of the most talented dogs who are overly busy with their own agendas 😎
There is hope .

03/24/2025

What I do as a tracker?
And by “tracker” I mean either someone using a dog to do trailing, tracking ( experience in scent theory) -or -a person trained in visual tracking such as : Sign cutting, or tracking as it is generally known, which is the step by step following of an animal, person, or thing.
Including : track interpretation , expertise in vegetation disturbance, determining direction of travel by specifics in wind direction and in indentations in tracks , etc.... it takes years of training, hard work, and dirt time.

We interpret animal movement and behavior which reveals wildlife sign as well as the subtle evidence of the lost target dog presence.

*While following reports of sightings from phone calls is a big part of lost pet recovery, it is not “tracking”.

It’s called “ tracing”
Much like contact tracing. That too is highly valuable. Everyone in a search is extremely important.
——
I’ve spent my life doing tracking as well as trapping, and done numerous trainings, certifications , and field work on and off for 44 years as an adult under various mentors, and 10 years as a child under the guidance of folks who were master trackers in Michigan as well as a few friends who where trappers to relocate wildlife . Additionally, I worked with those who do Blood trailing in deer hunting with K9s

I also worked locally with the late Dean Whitwam , who taught me a great deal about tracking / trailing with K9 -Bruno and K9-Brutus.
I was fortunate to train K9 -Ian, with Tom Brenneman on some occasions. That was an amazing time. I learned infinitely more that I ever could have on my own.

I am going to be doing some intense training from the master of training Tom Brenneman with Stevie and I can’t wait.

At present I have a bloodhound,Stevie , and in the past , Vernie, German Shepherd , Ian , and others before them, who did trailing and it evolved into trailing for lost pets.

I studied one on one with Kat Albrecht (an award-winning former police bloodhound handler, detective, search-and-rescue manager, and police officer-turned-investigative pet detective). (Google her books).

I am certified with Missing Pet Partnership ( MPP), Kat Albrecht , specifically . Now known as MARN
-*Member and certified MARN
MISSING ANIMAL RESPONSE NETWORK , Kat Albrecht .

*Kanas Fur bearer harvesters trapping license- live trapping
*licensed in Kansas an Michigan as a trapper.

*Member of National association of Trappers .

*Trained in visual tracking
*Tracker in advanced land navigation and advanced animal tracking.

*visual tracking for K9 handler, for the scent-discriminating canine handler .
Finding latent footprints
Aging tracks
Signcutting search tactics
Night tracking
team formations

*FEMA -Incident Command System training level ______3 and 4.
Which is a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of an emergency.

*Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD). To mitigate the impact of an event, accelerate the recovery process.
Used with search teams.

*Integrating visual & canine tracking resources.
*Many Field simulations of a hunts for man an or lost animals

•All the years I've done groundwork in trailing and tracking , trailing/ tracking with a K9, have been influenced and guided by studying some of the people that I find great man trailers and naturalists, wildlife biologists ,as well as working along side wildlife trackers for many years.

*Will be doing continued education with my new bloodhound , with Master trainer and tracker/ trailing instructor, Tom Brenneman .

•Studied and followed the work of Jeff Schettler

•Studied and followed works of Jon Young- expert tracker, deciphering the language hidden in the vocalizations and behaviors of common song birds to assist in locating a target animal or know what predators are present.

•Studied and continue to read from the literature of Fernando Moreira - professional tracker.

•Real life dirt time seems to be the best teacher but without the many people I’ve learned from it would have never been the same.

Initially trained as a dog trainer with a mentor with AKC. Certified in 1978

***Member of IACP

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANINE PROFESSIONALS

01/10/2025

Stephanie Avila
Western Hills Veterinary Clinic, PA

Do you have a dog that is a bit hard to handle?
Call me. It’s really can change your life , as well as your dogs.

This pup her was spotted by my friend
Barbara Strecker Gaudreau while at the YMCA
She referred these lovely folks to me as this pup was perhaps a bit too much for them.
Not anymore . No more pulling them over or through parking lots.

She was adopted at the shelter so not much was known about her.

She’s the sweetest most precious pup ever , but more importantly, she’s not going to accidentally hurt the couple by bulldozing them or pulling them .

She’s a keeper❤️🐾

Call me
785-221-2116