My Australian Kelpie, Beretta, has gained popularity among my Facebook friends as the “dog who couldn’t, but now can.” You see, when I got Beretta, she was a free dog on Craigslist. I had so many plans for this dog. I wanted to train her in agility and compete with her by my side, I wanted to make her a demo dog for my training company, and my most difficult goal to achieve, I wanted her to become a service dog for my non-combat related PTSD.

Well, here we go into one of the most debated topics in the dog world. We had to go down the rabbit hole at some point. A few days ago I came across a post on my Facebook feed by an aspiring trainer, and I was disappointed to see how a blooming once-promising positive trainer was talking about how “corrections” were needed to train dogs. Their point was that “positive only” training is much too permissive, and we are leaving out a huge chunk of information a dog needs to learn – what they are doing wrong.

With Christmas just around the corner, I am always looking for the latest and greatest to buy for my dogs. (And test out for my clients!) In the recent years, I have seen an increase in new technology meant to help owners train their dogs more efficiently than ever before. We are a family that is completely infatuated with technology so, naturally, I want to test out all the new training gadgets. I know I have clients who feel the same way. I have created a list of the latest and greatest in positive dog training technology for my tech-savvy clients to refer to whenever they need a new toy. So go out there and spoil some dogs this holiday!

Thanksgiving is finally upon us. The hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving and yummy treats just for the humans is enough to drive any dog mad. It could be hours of sitting around doing nothing while their owners cook delicious food they can’t have or talk to the cat-people relatives. Our dogs being underfoot, begging for turkey isn’t exactly helpful when we’re stressed from hours in the kitchen. Many dog owners wait until last minute and then realize a week of training just isn’t long enough to solve their dog’s behavior problems. So, here at Faithfully Yours Dog Training, we started testing a few ways to keep your dog happy while you get ready for the holidays.

Last night, I had a pretty cool experience. In my brochures I was handing out about Faithfully Yours, a man read the section that said I was studying Psychology.

He asked me where I was studying and what plans I had after that. I told him I would be continuing on for my Animal Behavior degree in a year or so. He said, “WOW! They have an animal psychology degree now!?”He then told me this amazing story about his older dog he had trained to sit at intersections on their walks and wait for him to point in the direction they were going, before the dog would continue walking.

He then added, “I used my psychology degree to teach him all that stuff, come to think of it.”

I have been searching for the perfect orthopedic pet bed for my eleven year old dog, Booski for about a year now. I will admit that I have high standards and I couldn’t find a bed that met my standards that was within a sane price point. Most of the ortho beds were easily over a $100 and all I could think was, “For what? Foam!?”

I am assuming most of you thought the same thing and that is how you came across this blog. One night while looking at the ortho beds for Booski, I got the idea to use an old memory foam bed topper we had laying around in a closet. It could perfectly support her joints and I was throwing it out anyway, so why not use it?

As a dog trainer, I never know who is going to call next. Every client, dog, and family are different. They have different needs, wants, and goals for their dog and household. Of course, there are some common complaints I hear quite often, but most of my job is being creative and making the humans’ lives with their dogs easier. The truth of the matter is most of the “behavioral issues” I see are just dogs being dogs. The dog is perfectly fine and happy. The people, however, have expectations of the dog and are therefore, unhappy when they aren’t met.

It is that time of year again! It is puppy season! This is the time, us dog trainers, see a huge increase in clients, especially puppy clients. The weather is getting warm, the kids will be out of school, and what better idea than to get a puppy so, they can have summer adventures together, right?

Ermm… maybe not so much.

We have all heard it a million times; puppies are a huge responsibility. As adults, we should be able to handle this responsibility, right? Well, to be honest, puppies are not for the fate of heart. Puppies bite, pee, poop, whine at all hours of the night, and in general, get into trouble.

Mississippi is slowly becoming a more dog friendly state, but our local dog lovers do not have much of an internet presence. Unless you are in “the know”, it can be hard to find out about dog friendly events here in the Jackson, MS area. Well, look no further, my friends! I have made a list of dog friendly events in Jackson, MS just for you!

Anyone who has taken one of my classes knows I am obsessed with dog toys. I find myself recommending product after product to clients because they simply make sense in their situation. Puzzle dog toys or interactive dog toys are my all-time favorite. They just cannot be beat when it comes to keeping your dog entertained and busy when you do not want them underfoot. So, what is a puzzle dog toy you ask? Well, my friend, it is God’s gift to dog owners who have lost their patience.

Let me just start this blog by saying, agility is my passion. Out of all the training I do with dogs, agility is my favorite. It isn’t my favorite because you can compete and win fancy ribbons. It is my favorite because the dogs love it and you build an amazing bond with your dog throughout the process. I didn’t think dog owners in Mississippi had an interest in dog agility when I first started training, so I put my passion on the back burner to focus on the needs of my clients.

My name is Lauren Parks and I have been training dogs using positive methods for 11 years. I started training dogs in Nashville, TN. Eleven years ago, trainers in Nashville were using positive methods to train dogs. Clicker training was highly recommended and you rarely saw a prong collar on a dog. Fast forward to today, I am training dogs in Mississippi.

Mississippi is known for many things. Most of those things are negative, like having obese citizens, having lax animal cruelty laws, and being the most corrupt state in the nation. We are known as being backwards and behind on the times.

Clicker training, for those who are unfamiliar (and boy, are you missing out), is a positive reinforcement method that can be used to train any mammal, domesticated or wild. I have even seen fish learn from a modified version of clicker training.

While clicker training, you use a clicker, which makes a “click” noise, to mark the behavior we want to reinforce. The clicker doesn’t mean anything to the dog at first, but by following Pavlov’s lead, we can condition the dog to be reinforced by the clicking sound.

Congratulations on your new fur baby – literally a baby. If you haven’t had an entire night of whining or accident piddling, just wait, it is coming. My recent foster, Rugby (now named Maxx by his forever mom), who many of you have seen in videos I have posted, reminded me of what it is like to have a puppy.

Of course, I am a dog trainer, so I knew what to do the moment he started crying or sniffing around for a potty spot. Don’t think I do not remember the days when I didn’t know though.