About
Shauna specializes in timid and fearful dogs through positive training methods, as she has been doing successfully for the last 30 plus years. It takes time, patience, and understanding for a timid dog to learn how to trust. Without that trust, timid and fearful dogs are often mislabeled as aggressive. Positive reinforcement and rewards can help a fearful dog redirect their attention and become less reactive. Positive, reward-based training does not mean that your dog will always need treats or toys to perform. Teaching reliable behavior and setting boundaries is the final goal. Dogs feel more secure with clear boundaries because they know what is expected of them. Positive reinforcement uses the dog’s natural desire to please.
Part of her mission to help those relationships between dogs and their family is through education and volunteer work. Babies R Us selected Shauna to teach new and expecting parents how to help their dogs meet and accept new babies. She also has helped a local pet relief program with basic training for low-income and homeless people and their pets.
Shauna’s efforts to help are also seen with her work for K9 Paw Print Rescue, helping foster parents work with their foster dogs. She also is available to the new pet parents to answer questions about their newly adopted family member. Shauna is also registered as a Be a Tree presenter. The Be a Tree program is a dog bite prevention seminar program for school-age children.
Understanding each other is important in any relationship. Training helps us ask our dogs to learn what we want them to do without forcing them to do it. Dogs and humans are born speaking different languages. It’s our task to help you to better understand each other. Dogs have a well-developed way of speaking with facial expressions and body language. If we expect the dog to listen to us, we should learn to listen to what the dog is telling us.
