Paws of Nature

07/31/2025

Cleo and Jill were on the morning Mass Appeal TV show today to talk about new puppies.

(Mass Appeal) – Bringing a new puppy home is so exciting and also comes with its own set of challenges–making sure the dog develops into a calm, loving pet takes time, training and pati…

07/28/2025

Are you expecting or know someone who is expecting? Would you like to feel more confident about how to best acclimate your dog to a new baby in the home? Join us Saturday August 2nd at 10 am via Zoom for our Dogs & Storks - Preparing Families with Dogs for Life with Baby presentation. This is a 2 hour presentation and the registration fee is $65.00. Contact us by email: [email protected] and please include a phone number if you'd like to register.

07/21/2025

Check out this beauty looking for a new home at the Westfield Animal Shelter.

Miss Luna--

Wishing you a Yappy Friday!

Luna is looking for a new home 🩵🖤🩵

07/10/2025

Best news ever!!! Penelope has been found and is safe!!!

07/10/2025

Update: Penelope has been found and is safe!!!

Please help us find Penelope! She can be shy w people she doesn’t know so please call if you see her.

06/29/2025

With no more young children in the house and living in a secluded location, I have to put extra effort being sure Cleo experiences as many sights and sounds as possible, especially in relation to human activity. We had a startling experience recently where 2 little boys came running out of the woods directly at us. Cleo was frightened and barked and hid behind me. Today we were able to set up her child experience in a better way, allowing her to observe from her comfortable distance then eventually approach when she was ready. She did fantastic meeting a 3 year old today.

06/27/2025

I’ve been working hard to build a safe and positive relationship between these two. With an aging small breed and a baby giant breed, things can go south really fast. All sessions together are 100% monitored and I’ve taught Pixie a “here she comes” cue so she isn’t being startled by Cleo when she isn’t paying attention. Initially Cleo on leash only and I wait to see if Pixie initiates an invitation to play. Sometimes the elder dog isn’t in the mood so Cleo is learning “not now” as well as “all done” cues when I see Pixie is ready to end the session. They are kept separate when I can’t monitor their interactions. Gates, crates, x-pens, and long lines are important management tools to support building this relationship.

06/23/2025

Adoption Fee waived to help cats in need ♥️

Call today 413-564-3129 x2

06/16/2025

Not a fan of picking up dog poo in your yard? Then give Doody Dashers a call! Serving many towns thruout the Pioneer Valley.

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06/12/2025

Welcome to the Paws of Nature family Boulder Ridge Cleopatra of the River. Cleo is a 9 week old Bullmastiff puppy who recently became a member of Jill’s family. ❤️🥰❤️🥰❤️

06/10/2025

Great words from a great trainer - Helen St. Pierre

It’s really important to understand that dogs don’t NEED training. They can dog perfectly fine. The only reason we created training - and all the capacities it’s used in - was to meet OUR needs.

Dogs can dog just fine, in fact, it’s usually when they can’t dog properly or enough that they display behaviors that we don’t like or label as “bad”. When we expect them to not dog in environments that are primarily designed for us to human. All our human spaces are usually aesthetically designed and created to meet our needs - then when we bring another species into them - we view their difficulties adapting as THEIR problem that needs to be fixed. Not ours.

Now before you all angry mob me, yes, of course dogs having skills is important, but mainly because it truly helps bridge the gap between human and canine and helps our dogs exist in our weird little world. They often look at us with such puzzled expressions, and I dont blame them one bit. They don’t NEED to know how to do a perfect down stay, but they learn and do it for us because they are truly the most devoted creatures on the planet. All the strange things we ask - like walk on this rope and drop things that you find and for gods sake be friendly but not too friendly and protect me when I need it but also stop barking when I say!

Which is why I am so adamant about teaching and communicating with dogs in a way that they enjoy. In a way that strengthens the relationship and encourages learning on BOTH ends of the leash. Having a dog is a privilege, and we should live and work with them as such.

- Helen St. Pierre

02/26/2025

A sleeping dog. Why is this picture so exciting? This is Izzy and she just graduated from our Safe at Home training program for dogs with separation anxiety related behaviors. Her guardians started working w us in Sept of 2024 and stayed true to following their daily sessions. We are incredibly proud of all of them!