Shake On It Pet Behavior Consulting

11/21/2025

Basement fun!

11/06/2025

🐾 GIVING TUESDAY 🐾
Early one morning, Salt Lake County Animal Services received a call about a dog who had been lying in a front yard since 8 a.m. The property owner thought she might leave, but hours passed and she still hadn’t moved. When our officers arrived, they noticed she couldn’t put weight on her back left leg — and something was clearly wrong.

With no microchip and no owner in sight, this sweet 2-year-old Siberian Husky/German Shepherd mix froze as officers gently lifted her into the kennel. She didn’t growl or resist — just quietly waited, trusting us to help. That’s how Rocket’s journey with us began on April 1st.

After an exam and X-rays, it was discovered Rocket had a femur fracture that required specialized surgery. Thanks to our Injured Animal Fund, Rocket was able to receive the care she desperately needed.

Dr. Erin Corbin at Granite Veterinary Specialists performed an open reduction and internal fixation surgery, using a plate and screws along the outside of her femur and a pin placed through the center of the bone. The procedure cost $3,274.73, fully covered by our Injured Animal Fund, which exists entirely because of community donations.

The surgery went smoothly, and Rocket is now recovering beautifully. Her veterinary team is optimistic she’ll regain full use of her leg and live a happy, active life.

Rocket’s story is one of strength, compassion, and second chances — made possible because of donors like you. 💙

Your support gives injured animals the opportunity to heal, to love, and to find their forever homes.
Join our Giving Tuesday challenge — Team Dog 🐶 vs. Team Cat 🐱 — and show your support for pets like Rocket!

🔗 Donate through this link! https://cbo.io/bidapp/index.php?slug=slcoasdonations

Comment “dog” or “cat” with your donation and help your team win the Giving Tuesday donation battle!

10/21/2025

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQAq9hpiXua/?img_index=7&igsh=MWNwdHQ3bjl5NHlkbA==

10/17/2025

It's a Puppy, Not a Problem.

In the past, I trained pet dogs. The first session would almost always go something like this:

Student would pull a list of problem behaviors out of their pocket. Meanwhile, their four month old puppy chewed on the leash and pulled various directions, causing the student to express obvious irritation. The student would then lay out all of the problems that they wanted to fix.

"We're having problems with barking, wanting to play all the time, running through the house with dirty feet, jumping on people, chewing stuff up, excessive interest in human food, constant pulling on the leash to get to things, and digging holes in the garden. Oh yeah – could you teach a reliable recall, off leash, so that when I'm ready to leave the park we can go without me having to chase my dog?"

In short, could I make their young puppy behave like a grown up dog?

Think of puppies as pre-verbal children. Show patience. Structure the environment for success. Accept that inconvenience will happen. Remember that what you do now is going to determine the type of relationship you will have into the future. What are you looking for? Do you want to be seen as an accommodating person who creates opportunities to do interesting things, or as a domineering tyrant that is best avoided? When you ask your dog or child to come see you, do you want them to come running with enthusiasm, or to experience worry and anxiety about your presence?

But start by understanding that there is nothing wrong – there is no problem. There is only a puppy, and training to be done. What happens now is up to you.

Excerpted from the 2019 article, "It's a Puppy, Not a Problem," written by . https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/blog/it-s-a-puppy-not-a-problem

10/10/2025

Pro tip! Did you know that dogs and cats have somewhere between 100-300 MILLION scent receptors, compared to humans who only have around 5 million. This means that their sense of smell is SIGNIFICANTLY more sensitive than ours! Dogs can smell individual ingredients in food! This is how service dogs help keep their humans from eating foods that may make them sick.

The pro-tip is to be mindful of the scent in your home. Exposure to overwhelming scent from things like scented wall plug-ins, scented candles, and cleaning with bleach can be a potential source of stress for our pets.

09/17/2025

Pro tip: Indoor only cats need extra enrichment. Cats are creatures of the outdoors. The outside environment provides an abundance of enrichment that satisfies all of their senses. If you have an indoor only cat you will need to work a lot harder to ensure their enrichment needs are being met adequately and consistently. Many common behavioral issues cat owners face such as vocalizing at unwanted hours, not using the litter box, fighting with other cats in the home, & destruction of the home have a direct link to the cat being under enriched.

There are loads of ways to enrich your indoor cat's environment.

*Cater to their sense of smell. A cat's primary sense is their sense of smell.
Grow cat grass for your cat to smell and munch on.
Bring in cat mint, catnip, valerian root, and silvervine.
Open your windows.
Reduce your use of scented candles and scented plug ins.

*Cater to their curiosity.
Bring the outside inside. Find non-toxic plants from outside and place them in your home for your cat to investigate.
Bring in cat safe house plants that they can investigate.
Let them have your amazon or chewy boxes for a while before tossing them out.

*Cater to their need to hunt.
Buy or make new toys and rotate toys every few days.
Install bird or squirrel feeders outside your windows.
Play with them daily.
Provide food puzzles.
Provide treat sniff hunts around the house.

*Cater to their need for safety and security.
Have a predictable schedule for their eating, playtime, and snuggles.
Have plenty of high places they can use.
Have plenty of hiding places.
Don't clean off surfaces that they've scent marked with their facial glands.
Have plenty of scratching options available that are sturdy and long enough for them to stretch out their whole body on.
Have the correct amount of litterboxes based on how may cats you have, and spread the boxes around the home.

If you have the means, building or installing a catio so that your indoor cat can have some safe outdoor time is definitely a must!

These are just a few things, there are many many things you can do to improve your indoor cat's life and behavior.

08/11/2025

Hot take! I may have an unpopular opinion, but I've gained this opinion over 20+ years of working with pet dogs.https://shakeonitpettraining.com/dog-and-cat-pro-tips/2025/8/11/3-risky-places-to-take-your-dog

The 3 top most risky places to take your dog These common places might suprise you! Jamie Flanders CDBC CFDM FPPE CBC The three most risky places you can take your dog are neighborhoods for walks, traditional city dog parks, and day cares. All 3 of these places pose significant risk to your dog.

07/22/2025

Super proud of my client and their hard work on rattlesnake avoidance trained via positive reinforcement. Love seeing it work in real life!