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November Newsletter

The November news is here a little early. Why? We have Jr. High starting, Halloween here, and some brags to share.

1. Halloween is here and the rest of the holiday season is coming soon

We will be closed only in the evening of Halloween. Morning classes will take place, but we close at 2:30 pm on October 31. See below for Halloween tips. We will also be closed Weds-Sunday on the week of Thanksgiving and December 23 – January 1.

If you are registered for a class, you got an email with dates that you have reserved. Notice that these are not always consecutive! Your registration may have a skip date because we are closed for a holiday or because that hour of the class was full when you registered. Please note the actual dates you reserved with your class.

2. Best of Western Washington Contest Results

We won second place this year! The first place winner is also a positive trainer (yay!) and does private lessons outside of Seattle. So that still makes us the top facility in Seattle, and the top group classes in Western WA! Thanks so much to those of you who have voted this year and in the past. We’ve been in the top 3 for the last four years, including a win last year. Thanks in advance for next year’s votes. 😉

3. Association of Pet Dog Trainers

Mireille and I (Grisha) attended the national conference for positive dog training, APDT, in San Diego. We both came back with great new ideas. Mireille attended a variety of talks and assisted my presentation on BAT. Both of my seminars on BAT had about 500 people in them!! The books at the seminar just about sold out, and I recently heard that they did sell out at the APDT conference in Australia.

4. Did you know?

Your dog may enjoy all the fun and visitors of Halloween, but many dogs don’t like the constant intrusion. If you can’t just shut out your lights to keep the visitors out, give your dog a series of stuffed food puzzles throughout the night, preferably in a room away from the door.

If you have a puppy or happy-go-lucky dog, this is a great night to practice polite greeting at the door, if you have one person to answer the door and one person to treat the dog. If you live alone, have a friend come to your house to help out! This will pay off big time in your puppy’s future. If that’s not possible, use a baby gate or a tether to keep the puppy from dashing out the door, and remember to reward good behavior with dog treats, not candy. 🙂

You may even be able to get the children to give your puppy a treat, but make sure that your puppy is allowed to get away if she’s nervous, and that she doesn’t get any candy!

Candy is a big danger on Halloween, so keep yours up on a high surface to keep your dog out of trouble. Click for more tips from the ASPCA.

p.s. A few more reminders from our trainers:

* Any dogs enrolled in Puppy Kindergarten or attending puppy play times should not be going to dog parks, day care, or boarding kennels.

* Wear warm clothing, as many of our training classes spend some time outside.

p.p.s. Visit our Facebook page for news and info, or to just “Like” us. http://www.facebook.com/doggiezen