Mutts, Manners and More, LLC

Attention Pettis County 4-H Dog Members! Here are the dates I have scheduled for working dogs over the course of the next couple of months. Please comment below if you plan on attending, so I can keep track of who will be there. I would like to limit each work session to about 5 kids just so we can get more one on one work done. If none of these dates work for you, please let me know and we can schedule some one on one times. Our show will be Saturday, July 17. It will be hel...d at my building in Windsor and will start at 10:00 am. I am asking each family to donate one item/basket for the raffle table. Whether you seek out a donation or your family donates it, doesn’t matter to me! The show premium will be available soon. And our next regular meetings will be June 3 and July 1 at 6:30. Topics for June will be achievement night projects (will have more details soon) and July will be dedicated to the show. Dogs are optional for the June meeting. Work Sessions for 4-Hers and dogs: Saturday, May 22 10:00- 11:00- Saturday, June 12 10:00- 11:00- Friday, June 25 6:00- 7:00- Thursday, July 15 6:00- 7:00- Friday, July 16 5:00- set up for dog show and pizza...everyone is invited!

We had to have a date change! If you reserved seats for the June 5 paint event, please contact Paint the Town Columbia (if you haven’t heard from them already).

June/July classes are being announced! We are going to try something new based on the responses/interest in my next round of classes. Hopefully this works, if not...we (unlike dogs) learn from our mistakes! Evening classes will start on Monday, June 7 and go through Monday, July 12. The morning class will go from Tuesday, June 8 to Tuesday, July 13. All classes are $100 for the six weeks ($75 for those who have already attended a class with us this calendar year). ... Puppy 101 (for puppies ages 10 weeks to 6 months) will meet from 6:00-6:50 pm on Monday nights. Basic Pet Manners will meet from 7:00-7:50 pm on Monday nights. Advanced Pet Manners will meet from 8:00-8:50 pm on Monday nights. Puppy/Pet Combination will meet on Tuesday mornings from 10:00-11:00 am. This class is for those who are available to meet or prefer to meet during the day. It is for puppies over the age of 4 months to adults of any age. To request to be signed up for a class, please text me at 660-281-3791 or message me through FB. Commenting below will not get you signed up. Class size is limited, so once I have received your request, I will confirm if you have a spot. I have several individual clients who have a reserved space in a class and clients who just attended a class who have priority. Once I know that my class schedule works for them, I will let people know if you have a spot. Please give me a few days to get it all sorted and I will announce the class list by next Thursday, May 20. When requesting a spot, please be specific on which class. Say the name of the class (as listed above) and the time of the class. A very common mistake that causes confusion, is to request that your puppy attends manners class. Yes, you may call your 10 month old a puppy (which they are), but MY puppy 101 class is for under the age of six months. If this is as clear as mud or you have any questions, please let me know. There is also a description of the classes on my website muttsmannersandmorellc.com Looking forward to working with you all and I’m once again trying accommodate as many as I can!

Making some final decisions on the next round of classes starting on Monday, June 7 and running through Monday, July 12. I typically offer Puppy 101 for puppies from 10 weeks to 6 months. In order to offer this class, I need at least 5 puppies to attend and it will be limited to 8 total. I also typically offer Basic Pet Manners for puppies 5 months to adult. This class is limited to 8 dogs. ... I also have interest from several previous attendees for an Advanced Pet Manners class. This is for older puppies and dogs who have been through a class or individual sessions and is ready to work specifically on the items for the Canine Good Citizen evaluation or who are wanting to continue training for performance type events. I only have Monday evenings open to offer classes...so I have to decide between the Puppy 101 and Advanced Pet Manners class. I’m asking for help in my decision! Please comment below which class you would be interested in! I currently already have 6 people interested/signed up for my next Basic Pet Manners class, so I know this class will be happening. I will make my final decision and announce/begin taking enrollments on Thursday, May 13. Thanks for your input and help!

Just a reminder that we will be offering a Therapy Dog Seminar this Saturday from 10:00 am- 12:00 pm. Cost is $25 per person/family. Doors will be open at 9:30 am to allow people to come in and get seated. Masks are required for entering and moving around building when we cannot be socially distant. This is a people only seminar, but if your potential therapy dog already has the ability to sit/lay down and relax beside you or in a crate, you are welcome to bring them along. ...I will have a couple of my dogs at the seminar for demonstration purposes. Information covered in this seminar will include: differences between therapy animals, emotional support animals, and service dogs; information about the different therapy dog associations most common in Missouri; what typically happens in a therapy dog visit; common evaluation criteria for the different therapy organization; what qualities a therapy dog needs to have or be trained to have; how to prepare and train your dog to be a potential therapy dog; stories of therapy dogs in action; and a demonstration of a therapy dog evaluation. After attending this seminar, you are then invited to attend our monthly Therapy Dog work nights at half price (normal cost is $10) where you can begin the training of your dog for a therapy dog evaluation and/or therapy dog visits. There is still room for more to attend this seminar. To sign up, please contact me so I can have the appropriate number of materials printed off and ready. Payment is due at beginning of seminar on Saturday (cash, check or plastic accepted).

All January Individual Session spots have been filled. If you were wanting or needing a spot, please message me. As things change throughout the month due to illness, commitments, work schedules, etc. cancellations do happen. If I know you are interested, I will contact you if something opens up. I get contacted often by people requesting evening or weekend times (and I get it, when you work during the week, that is when you have the time) but I cannot meet everyone’s needs.... I’m a one woman show and can only commit so much of my time to being at my building. Weekends are reserved for my family and for my dogs. I am a dog trainer who is actively competing with her dogs. Which is a good thing because that means I’m in the real world of dogs! And always, family comes first. I try to have times for individual sessions on some evenings. However, those times fill up fast! And if I don’t have sessions available on an evening, that is because I may have group classes, work nights, 4-H dog meetings, etc. (and every once a while my husband would like to see me)! I understand that my schedule and your schedule may not coincide. There are other dog trainers out there. There are online courses. There are many options available. One thing I would like you to consider. Does your doctor have his/her office open on evenings and weekend? Does the court house, law office, DMV, water company, bank, etc. all have hours for you to come in on evenings and weekends? Sometimes, we have to take off work in order to schedule an appointment. I’m not asking you to take off work for dog training, but please don’t be upset with me because I cannot immediately make a time to meet with you and your dog because it works best for you. As my business continues to grow, I will be looking at other options to accommodate more people/dogs and to make things easier to access. But, it’s a process!

****URGENT PLEASE SHARE***** Baby T, a 2 year old brindle female Mastiff, was stolen January 4th at approximately 2 pm from her home in rural Missouri around Or...rick/Fleming. Local shelters and law enforcement have been informed as well as the KCMO rescue network. She is chipped and there is a reward! PLEASE help find her!! She's about as sweet as they come and does not know a stranger! Most recent photos of her out with her chickens and ducks. PLEASE share and call (816)730-9917 with any information!!! See more

I talk a lot about dogs having a routine or knowing what to do in a specific environment. Because they are nonverbal communicators, they rely heavily on the cues in their environment letting them know what our expectations are. My dogs know that when I kick back in my chair, it is time for us to all chill. Aida has decided that my lap is her favorite chilling spot. I sit, and she’s on my lap. So tonight, as I kicked back in my chair to eat supper, she was confused. I’m in ...my chair, so she should be on my lap...but I’m eating. And my dogs know that when we eat, they leave us alone. I don’t like begging dogs and through consistency, they know they aren’t going to get anything anyways. There was a dilemma tonight. And if you understand dog body language, you will see her stress in the situation. Videos and pictures are in the comments. The first video is her waiting on the ground. But, she eventually decided that she just had to get on my lap. Once in my lap, she realized there was food right there. Yes, she smelled it. And that is where you can see her stress signals...the yawning, the lick lipping, etc. Food is tempting, especially right at her nose, but it’s human food on a plate and that is not something she is allowed to have. So what does a dog do? Now I know my dogs and I know that she wasn’t going to take the food off my plate. But, why stress my dog out? A simple no command (which has been taught to my dogs), gave her the support she needed to do what she has been taught. She no longer had to think through the situation and stress herself out. She relaxed because I stepped up and made the choice for her. Don’t judge me for eating in my chair rather than at the table. Don’t judge me for allowing my dog to get on my lap especially while eating. What I allow in my house with my dogs is my choice. Many people would say I could never do that because they would eat the food. And I get that, but I have trained my dogs to follow my expectations based on how I live. And you can too! You can have a well trained, mannerly pet based on your household and based on what you allow and don’t allow. Need to know where to start? Be watching for class announcements and sign ups! Group classes will start in February and information will be posted on January 11 on how to sign up. Can’t wait until February? There are still a few individual sessions available (check my December 18 post for available times).

I love how easy this boy is to train! But housetraining has not been easy. I know we are to blame because there are many times I am not home long enough to real...ly work on it. At my building, he will whine when in a crate if he needs to go out. But at home, he had not found a way to communicate with us that we understood. He always went potty whenever we had him go out, but it was up to us to watch for cues and signs that he needed to go. I know he tried to communicate with us, but we weren’t on the same page! I’m not saying he is 100% house trained, but we are almost there. For the past month or so, he has started ringing the bell. Thank goodness!!! He is making it easy for us. Tonight I was finally able to catch it on video. He’s not as obvious as Haven who walks under the bells, but he is starting to purposefully hit them. It is still a process and sometimes he just circles at the door. I know what he is saying, but I’m ignoring the circling and making him become a little more persistent about actually ringing the bells. Why ring the bells if I see his circling? It’s because of the layout of our house. If we are not right in the living room to where we can see him, I want the sound to alert us anywhere in the house. It is all part of us being able to trust him loose and not right beside us. 99% of the time, the dogs are in the same room as myself, but they don’t hang out with Kevin as much as me. If I’m not home, he may be in the back and they are in the living room. This makes it easy for Kevin to know when a potty break is needed. And how did I teach this? First, any time he was walking towards the door (purposeful or not), I gave him his potty command and had him go out and then he was rewarded. Then, I made him take a few more steps toward the door. Then, he had to walk all the way up to it. If he walked to the door and we didn’t acknowledge, he started to turn around and look at me and would start to circle again. I would acknowledge that second circle. And then, he would sometimes do two or three circles before he bumped into the bells. He sometimes immediately bumps it when he circles, so I know he is getting it figured out. My entire approach with his training is to let him be successful in what he does. It is also letting him figure out what behaviors he can offer me to get what he is wanting. This offering a behavior approach sometimes takes a little longer, because I have to shape what he is offering into what I actually want, but once he has it, he has it! I have always (and probably will always) hate house training puppies. It takes commitment and time, but it is so worth it in the end. And the biggest issue with house training, getting the other two legged member of our house to watch and reward the communication attempts!

If you have signed up for the Paint your Pet event with Paint the Town Columbia for this Saturday, January 9, 2021, please comment below. Also comment if you are coming with anyone or would like to sit at the same table as someone else coming. I will have enough tables set up that you can sit in whatever situation makes you the most comfortable, but knowing in advance will help me be prepared! Thanks and looking forward to a fun afternoon of painting!