We had the pleasure of meeting Nicole Veile back in Fall 2014 when she was a volunteer at the St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center in Overland, MO. She had called asking to pay out of her own pocket for private lessons so she could teach the dogs at the shelter better manners and they could find, and stay in, their forever homes more successfully. Nicole was a wonderful natural trainer and picked up clicker training concepts very quickly. Fast forward to February 2016 when obedience class started at Petsway. We knew exactly who to ask to assistant with class, and Voila!, she accepted. Meet Nicole and you’ll see, too, why The Persuaded Pooch is so proud to have her as our Assistant Trainer! How did you get your start in dog training? Reward based training was introduced to me with a variety of different animals during an internship at a … Read More
Why You Haven’t Heard From Me Lately
It’s not that I think you are anxiously awaiting my next newsletter or blog post, or that you just wouldn’t be able to function without a review on the latest and greatest dog leash. But you might be wondering why you haven’t heard from me lately. I have cherished each and every private client and group class student that “The Persuaded Pooch” has reached. Because of the mutual care and respect that exists, I thought I’d update you. In September 2013, I had the unexpected pleasure of taking a new full-time position with a St. Louis-based premium pet food company, called Nature’s Variety. As many of you know, I worked for PepsiCo while also growing The Persuaded Pooch in my spare time. Some might say I am a workaholic, but when you truly have a passion for what you do, sometimes it just doesn’t seem like extra “work.” The grand … Read More
Giving Up on Perfect
There was a time early on in my dog training career when I wanted to be perfect. And I wanted a perfect dog, too. At the time, I was volunteering at a service dog organization, and was obsessed in my interactions with service dogs who were bred and born to be working dogs. They started training at 8 weeks old, were trained every single day, attended class once a week for 18 months with their puppy raisers and then had another 6 months of dedicated training by advanced trainers. Whew! That’s a lot of training… And these amazing dogs, seemingly, were perfect. They never barked in public, they never bothered anyone, and no noise, distraction, crowded mall or cramped space seemed to phase them ever. (Of course, as you might wonder, they did have the opportunity just to run and play and “be dogs” when they weren’t working, too.) But … Read More