Polite Pups Dog Training

10/31/2026

10/23/2026

I know, it's been awhile. But, life gets a little busy sometimes. Today Louis graduated!! We'll do one more session next week at Starbucks just for sh:ts and giggles. Then, we'll be moving to once a month maintenance training. I always get so excited when a dog and owner graduated. It means they stuck it out when it got tough and are reaping the benefits of all their hard work. Congratulations Louis and his owner!

10/09/2026

Training doesn't always look like what you see on YouTube or TikTok. Sometimes it's a little messier and not so polished and simple. Sandor (Sandy) is a great example.
When I met Sandy he aggressively barked at nearly everyone who came in the door. His separation anxiety was so bad one of his owners had to quit work. He would go into panic attacks just a few houses away from home on a walk. In short, he was a mess.
He's been in training for almost 2 years. But, he now greets people politely. He's still nervous around strangers, but quiet. Stranger danger is something we're still working on. He has stayed home for up to 6 hours without any separation anxiety. He loves his walks!
We still have a few things to work on, fear of strangers, leash manners and self control. Those were put on the back burner while we addressed the more severe issues. It was a lot of trial and error to find what works for Sandy specifically. He's made huge progress and is still making progress. I'm extremely proud of his owners for all the patience and work they've put into his training. He's coming today and I'm eager to see what we can accomplish this week.

10/04/2026

I got to thinking about dogs and self control today. It's an issue that has cropped up quite a bit recently with the dogs I'm working with. A lot of dogs today don't have self control. They've never been taught.
There seems to be 2 sides to the coin. The owners who micromanage or the owners who are completely overwhelmed.
The ones who micromanage remove every single object that a dog can get into. There is nothing to tempt the dog, therefore the dog can't get into anything.
The ones who are overwhelmed don't put anything at all up. So, the dog has almost unlimited amounts of things to get into.
Leaving things out that a dog will want to get and asking them to leave it alone starts building self control. You want to leave a small number of things out while the dog is supervised. Like, your empty plate on a coffee table while you're right there. A cheap pair of slippers by the couch, while you're in the room. This starts the process.
It then goes further, asking for a calm sit before the dog gets anything. Leash, outside, toy, treat, etc. We need to look for the small opportunities to build self control and take advantage of them. Once a dog learns self control, the rest is easy.
Picture is Dakota learning self control with cheese balls.

09/27/2026

A client just sent me this picture from today. Finny is very dog reactive. He's actually afraid of other dogs. Today we walked him with Dakota. He pretty quickly learned to ignore her. When we got back we separated them with a baby gate in between. He learned real fast that if he stays there and ignores her, he gets treats. And Finny is all about the treats. Dakota and I also went to Hessel Park today and met up with Meeko. Meeko was pretty nervous. But overall he did very well. Dakota loved the kids at the park, Meeko just wanted them to go away.

09/25/2026

I know. I know. I haven't posted in forever. I'm still here and still teaching dogs to mind their manners.
Today I had 3 clients and did leash work with all of them.
First was Louis. He has gotten so much better in leash! This little guy is actually very close to graduating! Another couple of sessions and he will probably join the ranks of alumni.
I also saw Rocket today. She can be dog reactive (not aggressive), so we walked her with Dakota today. She ignored Dakota, go figure lol. We have some work to do with her pulling, but we'll get there. She's especially reactive to squirrels.
Derf finally accepted me! For the first few sessions he wanted nothing to do with me unless I was giving him a treat. (Which is not unusual for a Shiba Inu.) Today I was getting all the kisses. He was even wanting to give kisses during our walk.
I, of course, forgot to get pics today.

09/18/2026

Today I had 1 client and 1 cancelation. Today I saw baby Derf. I forgot to get a pic again, but he's a 4 month old Shiba Inu. Today we worked on some self control and leave it. We also worked on his dog social skills with Dakota. He's such an adorable little guy. I also had Bucky come today. Bucky is a Polite Pups alumni. He graduated over a year ago. I've know Bucky since 2019. (No, we didn't train for 5 years lol. ) We had to stop training during Covid. His mom still brings him periodically for me to trim his nails. I love my little Buck Buck Goose!

09/17/2026

Puppy driving you crazy? You're not alone. Today is one of those days with Dakota. You know the ones. When you're questioning why you got a puppy in the first place and the calm adult years seem like they'll never come. The days when it seems like you've yelled no more times than you can count. I don't have any clients today due to some cancelations. There's no way I'm doing yard work today with this infernal heat. So, house work it is. I had a bucket of cleaning solution and water in the living room and am happily dusting. I went back into the kitchen to grab I don't know what. I hear Dakota start to rev her engines and start zooming around the room. I walk back into the living room just to see her try to jump over the bucket a d miss. She spilled 3 gallons of cleaning water right in front of the entertainment center. I yelled! I was pi**ed! We quickly unplugged everything so we wouldn't get fried cleaning it up. The water was even running into the basement through the holes drilled in the floor for the cable lines. 6 towels, it took 6 towels to dry that mess up. I'm hoping it doesn't damage my brand new rug. And the little turd? Sat in the middle of the floor with her head locked at me. I resumed cleaning. For those who have been here, you know I keep a blanket covering the couch. I needed to wash that one and put the clean one on. Getting the one off the couch went well, no interruption ls. But, she decided we needed to play tug with the clean one. And, of course, she acted like she'd never heard the words "drop it". I finally got it wrestled away from her. Apparently her reign of terror wasn't over. She decided Stone's ears looked like wonderful chew toys. Or maybe she thought they look like pig ears. They kinda do. She grabbed his ear and bit down. He squealed. I yelled. She got the zoomies again. And it's only noon. It's one of those days.

09/14/2026

One on one sessions at a price you can afford. Any age, any breed. Now taking new clients. Over 15 years experience.

09/13/2026

Ok peoples. I checked the weather for the next 10 days. It looks like most of this week will be a no go for leash work. Sorry. But, when the air temp is 90, the heat index and pavement temp will just be too high. But! After this week we cool off drastically! So, get your walking shoes ready, peeps. Next week we're doing leash work and lots of it!