Barking Up the Right Tree: Dog Training Secrets from Geralyn Kelly

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Geralyn Kelly has dedicated over two decades to helping dogs and their owners through positive reinforcement training. As the founder of Elite Canine, she strives to make training fun, rewarding, and stress-free for both dogs and their humans. Geralyn's passion for canine companionship is evident in everything she does. She approaches each training session as an opportunity to strengthen the bond between dog and owner through patience and understanding.

Geralyn's training philosophy centers on clear communication rather than intimidation or fear. She takes the time to properly teach dogs what is expected through positive reinforcement rather than punishment. Geralyn believes every dog deserves to feel safe, secure, and confident. Her force-free methods have helped countless dogs who struggled with leash reactivity, separation anxiety, and other behavioral issues. Whether working with puppies or senior dogs, Geralyn's calm, encouraging presence puts pups at ease.

After over two decades in the business, Geralyn remains dedicated to continuous education within the field. She strives to stay on top of new training techniques and research. Geralyn is also an advocate for humane treatment of all dogs. Her passion, expertise, and compassion shine through with every training session, cementing her reputation as one of the most respected dog trainers in the region.

About Geralyn:

Geralyn Kelly has been working with dogs since 2002. She began in a daycare/kennel environment where she gained valuable firsthand knowledge about canine behavior. In 2004, after two years at the daycare/kennel, Geralyn began her training career and has never looked back!  She began training at a large corporate pet store chain, where she learned everything from ethics, the scientific study of animal behavior, to learning theory and how dogs learn. The core of Geralyn’s belief is that to be a great dog trainer; you must know everything about them from their origins, background, recent changes in breeds, and how their minds work.  To expand her education, she has attended seminars, workshops, and conferences and met some greats like Ian Dunbar, Sophia Yin, Victoria Stillwell, and Suzanne Hetts. After three years in the corporate world, Geralyn left the pet store chain to pursue a career with a private kennel.  She developed the entire training program for this kennel from the ground up, where she trained Obedience, Agility, and Flyball!  

In 2008, Geralyn relocated to Winston-Salem and spent four more years working for a corporate pet store chain as Store Trainer and Area Trainer, where she not only held many classes in the store but also trained numerous other trainers who have gone on to have successful training careers.  During this assignment, she trained dogs in obedience and rallying. 

 In December 2012, Geralyn decided to reach more animals and work more closely with their human handlers and rescue groups, so she opened her own training center, Elite Canine! 

Connect with Geralyn

Web: https://elitecanine.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elitecaninetraining/
Instagram: https://www.instag

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your average chat fest. Here,real people spill the tea
alongside their favorite drinks,from the hilarious to the heart
wrenching, each episode a wildcard, you'll laugh, you may cry,
but you'll definitely learnsomething new. So grab whatever,

(00:26):
what's your whistle and buckleup. It's time to dive into the
raw, the real and theridiculously human. Let's get
this chat party started. Heyeverybody, it's Kristen daukas,
and you are listening toconversations on the rocks, the
show that is as random as me,and right now, be glad that

(00:50):
you're not me, because the voicein my head is me, because
there's something weird going onwith my microphone. Luckily,
you're not hearing two of me,because no one needs that. Ish,
I am super, super excited towelcome my good friend, Jerilyn
Kelly. And you know how they saythat dogs are humans best

(01:14):
friends. I'm not gonna say man'sbest friends, because they're
everybody's best friend. True.
Geraldine Kelly is dog's bestfriend, and she has a fantastic
business here locally calledelite canine. And two of my pups
are proud graduates. Can't saythey might be able to go into

(01:35):
the alumni class, but if I'mdoing the if I'm doing the stuff
they do listen like loose leashworks much better when Kristen's
doing it than when Steve's doingit, because Baxton knows that we
don't pull because mom willstand there. So what Geralyn is
very well known for, is whatthey call is what is known as

(02:02):
positive reinforcement and forcefree training. So instead of me
echoing myself through this,Geralyn, why don't you tell
everybody exactly what that isand how it differs from other
forms of training for our furbabies,

Geralyn (02:21):
sure, sure. So I have always been a positive
reinforcement, force freetrainer, since day one, going
into my 23rd year as a dogtrainer, and I've never thought
about ever using anything otherthan this method. So I train
using a clicker. When I firststarted out, the clicker was not

(02:42):
part of training, but we usewhat's called a marker, and
that's what your clicker ends upbeing. And it basically tells
your dog, yes, I asked you to dosomething, and that's exactly
what I wanted you to do. So I'mgoing to give you a click, or
you can use a verbal a lot oftimes in class, you'll hear me
click and then go, yes, becauseI'm so conditioned from the

(03:03):
beginning stages of my trainingto say yes, so then it's
followed by you are such a gooddog and a reward. So it's
basically reward based trainingwith no aversive methods
whatsoever. I show them what Iwant them to do, as opposed to
force them into what I want themto do. So you have your force

(03:26):
free trainers, and then you havewhat's referred to now as a
balanced trainer, which is justin my and I'm, you know me,
Kristen, I'm brutally honest.
It's just, that's why we loveyou. Yeah, I mean, it's just,
it's just a fancy word for andthe trainers usually say, I do
what I think the dog needs, andthat is shock collars, which

(03:48):
they are now referred to as Ecollars, trying to, you know,
hide the fact that, yes, make itbougie, right, that it's a shock
collar choke chains which Donothing but that choke and your
fancy prong collars, and so thisis more of like a fear and
intimidation form of training,and it suppresses a behavior.

(04:09):
So, you know, always people sayto me, when I use my prong
collar, my dog walks. Great,okay, but what happens when you
don't use your prong collar? Sosuppressing a behavior and
teaching a behavior are twocompletely different things.
You're not fixing the badbehavior. You're teaching the
dog to avoid this aversivemethod, whether it be a shock, a
pinch on their neck or the factthat they can't breathe, as

(04:32):
opposed to saying, I'm gonnatake the time and teach you how
to do it properly and and

Kristen Daukas (04:41):
I'm going to interject something real quick,
something I didn't say. One ofthe best parts about geralyn's
company is her, her logo, or hermotto, is training for both
sides of the leash, yes, becausehumans need to be trained. And

Geralyn (04:57):
that's it's, I mean, it's me basically training the
humans. Yes, and the level ofpatience that people have is
honestly nowhere close to thepatients that I have. And I know
it's frustrating to have apuppy, I totally get that. But
when I look at a dog, whetherit's my own dog, or it's a puppy

(05:17):
in my class, or it's a 10 yearold rescue that somebody's
brought to me, I could neverlook at that little face and
even consider pressing a buttonthat's going to shock them,
right? I don't raise my voice atmy dogs. I don't yell at them. I
have never smacked one orspanked one, or, you know,
whatever you want to label it asif Colt is not doing something

(05:41):
that I want him to do. It'sbecause I didn't teach him. If
your your child does somethingbad, you know, you're not going
to shock them. So it's, yeah,well, maybe some people, but I
mean, you know, so it's kind ofthe same thing. And I have, it's
very rare that people ask me,Why do you choose this method?

(06:02):
And this is what I always say.
This is my little story. So foreverybody who wonders why I
don't use shock collars, this isa perfect story for it. So
you've just started a brand newjob. It's Monday morning, 9am
your rip roaring and ready togo. You're so excited about your
new job, and your boss comes inand he says, Oh, welcome to the
company. Here's your firstproject. I want this on my desk

(06:22):
by Friday, and along with thepaperwork, is every step to
doing that project, every singlestep, Mr Bill. Oh, okay, there
you go. He just told me, is MrBill, and every step is right
there. So all week long, you'reso excited you can't wait to

(06:43):
show your boss this project,because you know you're doing it
great. Friday comes, you walkinto his office, you put the
project down, it's perfect. Andhe says, this is fantastic, good
job. I'm gonna give you a raise.
That's your reward for doingsuch a good job. And then next
Monday comes, and you're excitedagain. Oh my god, I got a raise

(07:04):
last time. And here comes thatsame boss, but he's not happy
anymore, and he just throws theproject down on the desk and
says, do it, but it's adifferent project, and you've
got no instructions on how to doit. Friday comes, you've been
struggling all week. You bringhim the report. You're
terrified, and he looks at thereport, and bam, he shocks you

(07:26):
in the face. How you didn't evenknow how to do the report. But
instead, he throws a shockcollar in your face, right? So
how? I mean, you're a human. Youdidn't know how to do this.
Imagine a dog who doesn't evenspeak English, not knowing what

(07:47):
sit is, or loosely schwacking Orthat they have to come to you
when you call them. So was thata little dramatic? It was, but
pressing a button and shockingyour own dog is beyond inhumane.

Kristen Daukas (08:01):
Yeah. But humans need to have that, that that
parallel, right? They need to.
They can't. They just go well,that this is the fastest way.
It's just a dog, right? Whichinstant gratification is, me
off. You know, it's like, ifit's just a dog, then why'd you
get it right? And it takes time,right? And it's

Geralyn (08:20):
instant gratification.
That's what people are lookingfor. That's where those shock
collars and those prong collarscome in. When you bring a dog
into your home, and I don't carewhere that dog came from, you
rescued it. You found it on theside of the road. You got it
from a breeder. I don't carewhere it came from. When you
brought that dog into your home,you made a promise to that dog
that I'm going to keep you happyand healthy. That's what

(08:43):
training is part of. So you havea dog that goes to the bathroom
in the house all the time.
You're going to throw itoutside. You have a dog that
eats your furniture. You'regoing to get rid of it. You have
a dog that jumps and knocksyour, you know, your friends
over. You're going to create itall the time. That's not the
dog's fault. So for me, when Ilook at a dog, that's what I

(09:06):
see. I see a creature the numberone doesn't speak our language,
and number two needs direction,plain and simple, I need to
communicate to this dog what Iwant from them, what I want them
to do, as opposed to constantlysaying, Don't do that. Cut that
out. No, no, no. Bad dog. Stopdoing this. Okay. Well, they're

(09:30):
looking to you to say, Okay,what am I supposed to be doing?
And that's where I come in. So Iwant every person to have a
beautifully trained dog. Is thatreality? No, it's not reality.
But when my students come to myclass, I tell them, flat out,
it's your job to teach them therules, and if they make a

(09:52):
mistake, it's your fault, plainand simple, it's your fault you
haven't taken the time, thenthey're not going. To learn,
plain and simple,

Kristen Daukas (10:01):
I had a child. I had a problem child. He wasn't a
problem child, but, you know, hewas a spaz. He's still a spaz.
I'm surprised he hasn't come uphere. You know, he's an
excitable, lovable dearf Thatjust, and you have to, and she's
doing so well, and especiallynow that he's starting to get a
little older, right? I can, youknow, I can see that some of

(10:24):
them, but you would thinkeverybody that walks through
this front door is his new bestfriend, and

Geralyn (10:31):
there's nothing wrong with that. I love love when
they're social. I love thatbecause the alternative is not
good, absolutely, but it's thecontrol that's what they need to
learn. They just need to learnto control themselves. I never
want to break that spirit. Inever want to shut a dog down.
That's never my goal, right? AndI want those people who have

(10:56):
that opposite, the dog that'sterrified of the world. I want
them to come to me, because Ican help that. I don't want that
dog to be terrified. I don'twant Baxter to knock somebody
over, but I never want him tolose that fun, happy. I love
everybody's side. So you have tofind kind of that common ground
where, you know, everybody hasto be a part of the training. So

(11:18):
when you have people come over,you know, you've been to my
house. You know, Colt isexcitable. Is he supposed to be
on the couch without beinginvited up? No, he's not. But
when I have a party, you seehim, he's all over the couch
because nobody's shoving himoff. And I'm in the living room,
making in the kitchen, making,right for everybody. So, you
know, right? He He will takeadvantage of it as well behaved

(11:40):
as he is, but absolutely, am Igonna get mad and pick him? Am I
gonna get mad and throw him inthe backyard? No. I mean, he's
so adorable. Well, come up here.
Say hi. Kristen daukas,

Kristen Daukas (11:52):
come on. And if you aren't watching this, you
need to go to the YouTube,because you would get to see a
dog right now. You get to seeCory and Mr Bill. He's got his
Mr Bill. Hold on, hold on. Letme take a picture of this. Okay,
wait,

Geralyn (12:09):
hold on. I lost my screen. There we go.

Kristen Daukas (12:11):
Oh, there you go. Hold on, five, core, cold.

Geralyn (12:19):
Oh, he turned at the last second, did you get it?

Kristen Daukas (12:22):
Did I don't know, did we I can send you a
picture? Yeah, Oh, whoops, ohyes, almost I did. All right.
Okay, cool. So if you're luckyenough, I'll include it.

Geralyn (12:37):
I have a difficult read. Samoans are not easy to
train. They're extremelydestructive, they're loud,
they're stubborn. But I reallylucked out with Colt. He's a
great dog where those of you whoknow me know Nanook. He was an
awful puppy, awful, awful. Imiss him every day, but he was,
I know, but they are the mostwonderful creatures. I mean,

(13:04):
when you think about all of thethings that they do in the world
for humans, without asking foranything in return, nothing,
nothing in return, you know, sowhen I'm training one of them
and they've done something good,I'm gonna give them a reward.
I'm gonna give them that cookie.
Am I a cookie pusher? Somepeople call me a cookie pusher,
and that's okay, because, youknow what? At some point there's

(13:26):
no more cookies. There's no morecookies. You're doing it because
they do it, because you took thetime and you trained them to do
it, right? But if you went towork all week and didn't get a
paycheck, you want to go back towork? No. So when they're young,
yeah, a little incentive is nota big deal, you know. So
question,

Kristen Daukas (13:46):
speaking of so question is it, is there ever a
point wherethey're too old to train No
never.
So, so the whole you can't teachan old dog new tricks is a
complete myth, everybody. Yes.

Geralyn (14:01):
So I have had 11 year olds in class. I had Madison,
who, God, I loved her. She wasso cute little. She's gone now,
but she came to me. She was alittle maltipoo. She came to me
at 11. I trained her, and shewas on the therapy team for four
years for she'd retired andpassed away. So they're never

(14:21):
too old. And remember that I geta lot of rescues, so I do get
older dogs, and sometimesthey're awesome, but most of the
time they have baggage. So, youknow,

Kristen Daukas (14:34):
I was gonna say, yeah, so, and that's okay.

Geralyn (14:36):
I mean, I am an obedience trainer. I don't do
behavioral training. I have myfriend Jennifer. I send
everybody to her. But I mean,like, if I have a dog that
people say, oh, you know they'rea bad Barker, that's okay. I
have things to make them quiet.
We know that, you know, or theyknow all of this stuff, but they
can't walk on a leash, okay?

(14:58):
Well, then you don't have to do.
Beginner class. I'm not going tomake you do the beginner class.
You move up a level. Sosometimes they do have some
training. And of course, ifthey're at Forsyth, those techs,
those kennel techs, train themwhile they're there. So you
know, sometimes even, like thealumni that I get in class, they
already know how to sit there.
They know how to lay down. Soyou know, they do get some

(15:20):
training, and then I'm like,Farah, oh, my god, Farah, I want
to squeeze her till she pops.
She already knew everything. Shewas a rescue, but she knew
everything already so and thensometimes I get dogs that I had
as puppies that have beensurrendered and rehomed, and
they come back to me. I'm like,I already know you, and they

(15:41):
already know everything. So youknow they're they're so smart.
And I it really irks me whenpeople are like, Oh, my dog's so
dumb. No, they're not dumb. Youjust haven't taken the time out
to train them to some learnfaster than others. Of course
they do, but that doesn't meanthey all can't learn. People
need to be patient with them.

(16:04):
They're dogs, you know, andagain, yeah, you bring them in
your home, you have to bepatient with them. They don't
know the rules. They don't know,you know. Oh, my dog went to the
bathroom on the floor because hewas mad. No, your dog went to
the bathroom on the floorbecause you didn't take him out.
Or, my dog ate my remote controlbecause he was mad I went on a

(16:24):
day trip and didn't take himwith me. No, he ate that control
because you left it on thetable, and your dog wasn't
crated, and they eat things inyour home.

Kristen Daukas (16:32):
So out of curiosity, why? Why will you use
the remote control? I'm gonnaknock I'm not knocking on wood
right now. I have never, everhad that happen, is it? Do you
think it's a something otherthan you left it out, right?
Because I leave those thingsout, and my dogs don't even pay

(16:54):
attention to it.

Geralyn (16:55):
It's just the dog. I mean, I have, I mean, I have a
switch with the remote, with thecontroller and my remote control
for the TV right next to it, andit's always been there, and no
one has ever decided to touchit. Some dogs just look for
trouble. I mean, oh no. Coltloves his toys. Colts never he

(17:17):
carries my socks around.
Sometimes He never eats them,but he's never taken anything
that didn't belong to him. Hereally is. I mean, I can't say
enough good things about thisdog. It's unreal. Nanook, not so
much. So when we had Nanook, theremote control was never out
when he was younger, when he wasolder, yeah, but I mean, that
dog ate $600 in cash. Heshredded all my books. Remember

(17:39):
the little folders I used togive you with the paper in it,
and all the little Blue Buffalohandouts? I made 45 of those,
and he destroyed all of them. Sowhere was I? This was me testing
him to see if he could be out ofhis crate when I wasn't home,
and the longest I was gone was

Kristen Daukas (17:59):
23 minutes. So he was an opportunist, is what
you're saying. He is. He was

Geralyn (18:04):
most definitely and then I can leave an open pack of
uncooked bacon on the floor inthe kitchen. Nicole would never
even think to come near it. Sothere is a different you know,
you have dogs that love to eatmulch, and then you have dogs
that couldn't care less aboutmulch. You think all dogs love
to eat mulch, but some dogsdon't, you know, and then you
have some dogs that never chew.
Remember, Foster. Foster neverchewed on anything that he

(18:26):
couldn't digest. Colton and Nookare all about their antlers and
their Benny bones and you know,this plastic stuff where Foster
was like, I can't eat that.

Kristen Daukas (18:38):
Yeah? Josie is not a big fan of anything. Yeah.
So like, we'll, we'll buy toys,one for her and one for Baxton.
And we go, ha, ha, ha. That'llbe josie's for 30 seconds,
because as soon as Baxton turnsaround, or Josie turns her back,
you know, Baxton has it, buthe's right. You were and right.
I have discovered, I know youdon't have kids, but do you

(19:01):
remember those little FisherPrice educational toys that
were, like the ball and youstuck the shapes and like, you
remember those, right? Yeah. Sowhen Mackenzie was, I don't
know, a year old, we were out oftown, and they had left the
pieces, you got the star and thetriangles in the square right.

(19:21):
And the worst pain in my entirelife, even beyond childbirth,
was walking into the room on andlike planting on that I have, I
have recently discovered the 50year old version of that are

(19:44):
those damn horns, yeah,

Geralyn (19:46):
oh yeah, the Nyla bones, the Benny bones, they all
hurt. They're like Legos fordogs, oh yeah. That's why every
night, all of cold scores getput away, because I'm not going
to step on them in the middle ofthe night if I. To come out to
the living

Kristen Daukas (20:02):
room, and you can always tell, I can always
tell when baxton's been in thereand he's left one because then
all of a sudden there's a stringof profanities coming out of my
mouth. Here he is again. Ifyou're not watching, you're
missing out.

Geralyn (20:20):
Squeeze it. Oh, my God, he's so cute. He's such a cutie.

Kristen Daukas (20:24):
So have you ever had a student that you
absolutely could not pass was a100% fail? You don't have to
tell their name.

Geralyn (20:34):
So I don't have a human dog student. It would be the
human. The human would be thefailure. And, yes, yeah. I mean,
I it's, it's not as much. SinceI opened a lead canine at
PetSmart, when I can I say that,you can say whatever you want to

(20:55):
sis at PetSmart, when I workedthere, I had a lot of that, you
know, the dog could go throughall six classes and not even
learn how to sit. And it was,you know, people would say to
me, and even now they'll say tome, sure, what you know is it
really, I mean, they paid youwhat? So what's the big deal?
What's the big deal? The bigdeal is that, you know, well,

(21:16):
it's not like they wasted yourtime. It wasn't free. It that's
not what it's about. It's aboutthe dog, you know what? I mean,
um, but on a flip side, it isabout me, because you see that
dog at Tanglewood acting like atotal idiot, and someone says to
you, Hey, have you ever thoughtabout training? And they say,
oh, yeah, we went to training atelite canine. And here's this

(21:38):
dog that can't even sit. That'sa reflection on me. Absolutely,
it, technically is a reflectionon them. Because of all the
1000s of students I had andhave, there's a handful that
maybe have come out and notreally learned. But there's a
there's I've changed a lot overthe years. I used to really kind

(22:01):
of tiptoe on eggshells with myclients. You know, not that I'm
not nice. I'm always very nice.
I'm but sometimes I will talkwith a bit of an edge when I get
excuses. Well, they doeverything for me at home. I get
that. I get that they should bedoing everything for you at
home. But when I come here, theydon't do anything, okay, but
they do it for you. Of coursethey do. I'm the cookie lady. I

(22:24):
have a pocket full of treats,and I never tell them they're a
bad dog. They love me. Do youknow what I mean? I'm always
gushing over them. I'm alwaysrubbing them. I never get upset
with them. Of course, they loveme. They're gonna do anything
for me, but you need to havethat in your home. Okay, well,
now they're doing everything forme at home, but when I take them

(22:47):
places, so from day one, youknow, I always say the same
thing, dogs don't generalize.
This is one of the very firstthings that I learned when I
became a dog trainer. They donot generalize, which means
they're going to be great foryou at home, but you take them
to Lowe's and they're going toact like an ass. You take them

(23:07):
to Academy sports. You take themto a brewery. They're not going
to behave there, unless you takethem there and excuse my cat,
unless you take them there andtrain with them. Yeah, he sits
on the

Unknown (23:20):
ball and you've got somebody in your house.

Geralyn (23:25):
What's up? Kiki, it's good as bloom. Is he the cutest?
Okay,

Unknown (23:32):
there's a Kremlin in your home, yeah, protect
yourself. Pete,

Geralyn (23:38):
Kiki, no, he's gonna get down. Okay? He sits on the
back of my shoulders when I'm

Kristen Daukas (23:41):
working. He's very Penny. Does that, yeah, one
of my twins does that, yeah. So,

Geralyn (23:46):
you know, you have to take them out. You have to go to
strange places with them. Theyneed to, you know,
socialization. A lot of peopleare like, oh, I need to
socialize my dog. Do you have adog I could work with? It's not
just about the dog, it's aboutpeople, places, sounds, the
floor, the noises. You know, theother night at Lowe's, a

(24:06):
forklift came right through myclass, and, you know, the lady
with the flags at Lowe's and thebeeping, and all of my students
were like, so just watching themgo by, and the lady was like,
they don't even care. I'm like,no, they do not. They don't
care. Why? Because we're atLowe's, and that's what you're

(24:27):
you know, their families havedone. They've taken them out and
practiced and you know, now theyknow that's not a scary noise,
or the great downtown that Ihave to walk across is not a
scary thing on the ground, orthe creaking of the Mass General
Stores floor, is not something Ineed to be afraid of. So it's
all you know, to have a fullywell rounded dog. You do have to

(24:49):
take them out. You have to takethem out of the house. And I do
get which always annoys me, thevets that will tell them they
have to be fully inoculatedbefore they should go to class.
It, and by that time, they'refour, four and a half months
old, and you've missed a hugewindow of socialization there.
And I understand the concern,don't get me wrong, but I'm not

(25:14):
going to put anybody's dog indanger. I want them to start at
10 weeks. I want them to startright fresh. Look at all these
puppies. Look at all these dogsthat are going to love you and
these people who are going towant to touch you, and look at
this new place at four and ahalf months old, that window may
have closed already, and nowyou've got a dog that's afraid

(25:37):
or a dog that's never metanother dog, and if they're a
big enough breed, they don'tcome in a puppy class, so they
don't get that socialization. Soit really does start right from,
you know, puppyhood and up. Andwhen you don't get them as a
puppy, you start them with thosenoises, with those different
places and the sights and thesounds and the new people. But

(26:01):
you have to do it where yourdog's having fun. They have to
be having fun. So to answer youroriginal question, my training
methods are fun. They're fun. Wehave a great time. Everybody's
happy. They're excited to comeback to class, including the
humans and I, try to make itsomeplace where you want to be,

(26:23):
as opposed to a hive dogtraining tonight, the instructor
so boring in this, you know, theclass sucks. Oh no, I laugh a
minute. I have so many jokes,it's not even funny. So I want
you to want to come back, and Iwant your dogs to enjoy
themselves, just like they do athome. So and

Kristen Daukas (26:40):
they do, at least mine did, yeah, yeah.

Geralyn (26:43):
So force free training is training with love, your
rewards, your clickers. Balancetraining is training with
aversive methods like fear andintimidation. The best way to
describe it, I

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Kristen Daukas (27:31):
Is there any difference? And I know there is,
but I want to hear yourprofessional opinion on it,
speaking of training, the wayyou train and the way
professional dogs are trained.
So our canine, our little canineofficers, you know? I mean,
luckily, I never went throughthe through with getting a

(27:53):
German Shepherd as much as Ithink they're cool, yeah, I
don't have the discipline to dothe training. And like you told
me, the thing that you told methat was, that was that really
set me back, was they need ajob. They

Geralyn (28:10):
do any, any, and I see the job, yeah. And then I see

Kristen Daukas (28:14):
that and, and, like, chasing the cats ain't a
job,

Geralyn (28:18):
no. And I mean, I have a lot of German shepherds in
class. I love them. They're,they're, you know, they're in my
top four, my Aussies, mysammies, Golden Retrievers,
German Shepherds. They are oneof my all time favorite breeds.
But they need exercise. Theyneed to be entertained. Super
smart, and believe it or not,this in 2024 they took over the

(28:42):
poodle spot as the number onesmartest dog in the world. The
poodle has been the smartest dogin the world for as long as I
can remember. It is now theGerman Shepherd. But when you
have a brilliant dog like that,their mind has to be kept busy,
and they're too smart for theirown good, sometimes too so you
have to keep an eye on them. Butcanine training has come a long

(29:05):
way. It's much different now ina lot of places than it used to
be. So they used to use sort oflike a schutzen training, which
is very, very rough. They wouldkick the dogs and PUNCH the like
anything, somebody they'retrying to apprehend, would they
would encounter? This is whatthey would do. Do you really

(29:27):
have to go that bad? Okay, holdon, bring it back, or I'll still
talk. And so it was a verybrutal sort of training. It was
definitely something that Icould never watch. I have had
people send me canine trainingvideos that I just didn't watch
because I couldn't stomach it.
And I want to say that Iunderstood why, but I don't. I

(29:50):
don't understand why, but now alot of canine trainers are
training is now done withpositive reinforcement. Yeah, so
you don't have those shockcollars on. Sometimes you'll see
prong collars. A lot of timesyou'll see choke chains, but for
the most part, especially herein Forsyth, you know, I work

(30:10):
very closely with the ForsythSheriff's Department. I do a lot
of stuff with them and theirdogs. They're so awesome, but
they're their dogs. Thisofficer, this is his dog. It's
not just his partner. They gohome with them. They live with
them when they retire, they gohome and live with them for $1

(30:31):
think they buy them for $1 fromthe Sheriff Department. So the
training might not be superpositive reinforcement, but it's
way more than it used to be inthe past, schutzen training is
still around. It's just not, notas popular as it used to be,
because now 17 countries havebanned prong and shock collars,

(30:53):
nice so they can't use thosemethods anymore, or they go to
jail. But, yeah, I mean, I'vemet all the canines over at the
at the Sheriff's Department.
They're all sweet. They'll, youknow, they love kids. You've got
the SRO over at West, who is alab, so they're not all German

(31:15):
Shepherds anymore. And then youhave Bain, who's huge. Mean,
he's one of the biggest GermanShepherds I have ever met, and
he'll lick the skin off yourface. But if they're called out,
I wouldn't want to meet them ina dark alley,

Kristen Daukas (31:30):
absolutely not.
Because, from what I understand,one of the newer canines, and I
can't believe I'm blanking ontheir name. But I really can
believe that, since I'mpostmenopausal, the one that is
a not bombs, is it the bombsniffing dog? Anyways, they send
them away for the trulypersonalized so the handler and

(31:52):
the dog go away for a couple ofmonths, a month or whatever, to
get some really intensetraining,

Geralyn (32:01):
right? And the sniffing dogs, the bomb sniffing, he's a
gun Sniffer, the new guy, thebomb Sniffer, yeah, go, No, I
think it's Coda bomb sniffing,um, the drugs, the guns, all
that stuff, is done with aclicker. So when they go from
box to box, and they they, whenthey alert that, hey, the guns
in this box, they get a clickand a reward. It's the same

(32:23):
training that I do. So, youknow, it's, it's almost like, on
the lines of like Diabetic Alerttraining, the diabetics smell
the breath and say, oh my god,their sugar's off. So, you know,
it's kind of the same thing. Soall of those nose work, all that
nose work is done with positivereinforcement. So you know it

(32:47):
the world is changing slowly.
But again, we do have, you know,people that want to send their
dogs away to to get trained, andyou know they don't know what's
happening when they're gone. Notthat every board and train is
bad, but you know, there's thatwoman in Raleigh who killed
those dogs

Kristen Daukas (33:04):
well, and for me, it's just the your whole
premise, I think, is the rightpremise, which is, if you send
your dog off for two weeks, andI have had friends that have
done that, and I Go, but whatabout you?

Geralyn (33:21):
And sometimes the dog comes back and is completely
shut down. I don't, I mean,people have, you know, they do
say to me, please take my doghome. No, no, it'll be okay.
You'll be able to do it. Youknow, I already trained my own
dogs. I'm not bringing yourshome to you. But you know, the
board and trains. I'm just, I'venever been a fan for that exact
reason, and because there's somany. And again, I have no

(33:44):
problem with any of the boardand trains in our area, don't
get me wrong. But there have,there are so many horror stories
out there, you know, again, themost recent one in Raleigh, the
the woman had five dogs in theshed, and four of them died
because the air conditioningshut off. So, I mean, you know
was that a freak accident. No,that air conditioning was a
piece of trash, and those dogsshouldn't have been in a shed,

(34:08):
in crates that were two timestoo small for them. So there was
another one in Florida. The samething happened, but this was a
very reputable place, and theylost power, and their backup
didn't kick in for whateverreason, and a whole bunch of
dogs died from the heat. So I'mjust not, I mean, I don't know,

(34:30):
just like I wouldn't board mydog somewhere where somebody
wasn't there overnight. It'sjust personal, absolutely, yeah,
but I have started a new programbecause I have watched a lot of
my students with the walkingreally just lose their minds
when I'm sorry, I'm justwatching out the door for him,
lose their minds when it comesto trying to teach their dogs

(34:51):
how to walk. And a lot of themare those high energy, you know,
working dogs, yes, and it's. Waslike, the light bulb has not
gone off yet. What's going on?
And so I recently had a studentwho I showed up at Lowe's, and
my class was standing outside,and I was like, what's going on?
And I saw one of my studentsmaking a beeline for her car,

(35:13):
and I was like, what's going on?
And they're like, We don't know.
She was just really screaming athim inside the store. So I was
like, well, that's not like her.
So I went to her car. She wascrying, and I'm like, are you
okay? She's like, I had theworst day, and I cannot deal
with him because her dog verysuper, crazy, high energy, only

(35:35):
nine months old, just lovesother dogs, loves people. And
was like ripping her arm out ofher socket. And when you lose
your patience like that, that'snot helping the dog at all. And
so I sent her home, and I said,we're gonna switch to privates.
I'm gonna meet you here,whichever day it was, just like
a month and a half ago. So I mether at Lowe's, and I had her sit

(36:00):
in the outdoor furniture, rightin front of the store, right in
the when you first walk in. AndI took him for 30 minutes and
walked him around the store, mypatient never thins when it
comes to a dog I'm training. Itjust doesn't, because I know
that I'm teaching him. He'slearning just taking him a
little bit. You know, I don'tnever learned algebra or

(36:22):
geometry or any of that, becauseit would have taken me too long,
because I don't have that brainfor math. So I know he's
excited. By the time we weredone with that half an hour, was
he walking perfect? No, was hewalking better? Yes, did he
lower his feet instead ofjumping on people. Yes, by the

(36:43):
third session, she brought himback to the beginner to class,
and he walked like a champthrough Lowe's, because I worked
twice with him, and then sheworked with him in between,
because he tested her andrealized, Oh, this is what jer
was doing, too, and I wasn'tallowed to do it then. So kind
of like with Baxter, with youand Steve, okay, and so he went

(37:06):
off to hunting camp because he'sa hunting dog, so he's at
hunting camp right now. And Ithought to myself, she was
really upset. And again, withthe patience, she just didn't
have it for the dog. And youknow, most people that get dogs
like that, they have a backyardlike you know, I have a nice
backyard. I don't walk cult.
Does he walk nice on a leash? Hedoes, but I don't walk him. I'm

(37:29):
not gonna walk him when it's 95degrees outside. So when you
have a dog that sucks on a leashand you have a backyard, you
know, take the time to teachthem, but you have to take them
out of your house at some point,and when you do, that's when
your frustration builds, andthat's when your patience goes
away, because now they'rewalking horribly, but you didn't
take the time to do it right? SoI said, I'm gonna do this

(37:52):
program where I come to yourhome and I walk your dog. You
don't come with me. I give yourdog a walk and a loose leash
lesson at the same time. So theyget a 30 minute walk with me,
and I'm training them at thesame time. And you have to do it
Monday through Friday, five daysin a row, and then Friday, you

(38:12):
walk with me, and I show you for30 minutes everything that I did
all week, and now you have tofollow through with it. If you
need me to come back, I'm happyto come back, but after five
days, I shouldn't need to comeback. Ash, can you get off?
Thank you. Sorry the kittensclimbing the curtains. What's

(38:34):
the matter? Did you pull yournail? Well, that's what happens
when he hangs in the curtains.
Are you okay? She

Kristen Daukas (38:43):
talks to her animals the way I used to talk
to my kids. If you didn't dothat, that wouldn't happen.

Geralyn (38:52):
This is Ash. Say hi, I'm a climber. I climbed the
curtains. Okay, don't jump fromthis high. You're too little to
jump from this high. Hold on.
Okay, okay, okay, all right.
There you go.

Kristen Daukas (39:01):
Okay. Geraldine, we've only got a couple more
minutes left. So as we talk wrapup, here's here, here's a here's
a parting question for you,sure, a family, a person, wants
to get a dog, what are 345, whatare, what are some key things

(39:23):
you want them to think about orask themselves before they make
this what is supposed to be adog's lifetime commitment first?
And

Geralyn (39:38):
this is going to sound weird, but what is their
grooming requirements? That'sthe first question. And here's
why doodles are super popular.
And I mean, I love all mydoodles that come into class,
but they have to be brushedevery single day. Shaving them
is not good for them. You haveto brush them every. Single day

(39:59):
they have to go to the groomers.
So many, you know, six, six,every six weeks or so, their
nails have to be cut. And thisis all dogs every, you know, two
weeks are you going to do thatgrooming routine if I didn't
brush Colt? I mean, it was herhair would be horrible. You
know, labs, a lot. Baxter andJosie probably shed more than

(40:23):
cult does.

Unknown (40:24):
Probably, yeah, so Jesse definitely

Geralyn (40:27):
right. That would be my first thing. Are you prepared?
Because, oh, I have a nonshutter that's great, but your
non shutter is more groomingmaintenance than my shutter. So
people aren't prepared for that.
Number two, find the dog thatfits your lifestyle. If you're a
couch potato, you get an Englishbulldog or a greyhound rescue,

(40:49):
or something like a Shih Tzuthat's going to sit on your lap
and watch television with you.
Are you a runner? Get a lab, geta husky, go to the shelter and
get a dog. You know what I mean,if you're active, pretty much
any dog would be good for you,except like an English bulldog,

(41:11):
where, if you took them for awalk in the seat, they go and
fall over and die. So, you know,it's funny, but it happens.

Unknown (41:18):
No, I know, right?

Geralyn (41:20):
If you're you know, if you're a renter, check your
lease First, check yourhomeowner's insurance. Are you
allowed to have a bully breed inyour home? I mean, there are
plenty of times that peopleleave FHS with a pit bull, and
20 minutes later they come backbecause the landlord saw them
and said, Oh no, that's one ofthe dogs on our list. So you

(41:42):
check your leases, check yourhomeowners insurance, make sure
that that dog is covered. By theway, State Farm doesn't care
what kind of dog you have. Is,you know, do you have a fence?
Are you capable of making thatfence non escapable if you bring
a husky home? So read aboutthese breeds. Read about them.
If you go to the shelter and yousee a dog that you absolutely

(42:05):
love, ask the staff about them.
If they don't know anything,well, they're not going to know
anything. But you know, there'sa lot of foster to adopt
programs out there where you canfind out if the dog is good for
your home or not. There arecertain breeds that like to eat
cats. So if you have cats,bringing a husky home probably
isn't the best idea. Okay, doyou have children in your home?

(42:25):
That's another concern, youknow. Are you gonna bring home a
dog that was found on the sideof the road that has no history
into your home with a toddler?
And I'm not trying to deteranybody from rescuing but this
is a major concern when youbring a dog home and not not to

(42:47):
get puppies bite too. I mean,you know, puppies are worse than
any dog that's before,

Kristen Daukas (42:51):
but there's a difference between nipping puppy
nipping and like, right, the dogthat was in my house, that was
my sister's for a while, I don'tknow if you remember how, I
mean, he was resource what's theword resource guarding? Yeah, he
was in it like it was bad,right?

Geralyn (43:09):
And if a child doesn't know that that's you're
creating, you know you'recreating a situation where a
tragedy is going to happen. Sodefinitely grooming, definitely
finding the dog that fits yourlifestyle. Read about a breed.
If you're looking for a breeder,you call me, and I'll help you
find one, a reputable one, notsome that you're going to get.

(43:30):
You know, like if you saw someMoya like coke for $100 you need
to run the other way, becausethere's something wrong with
that dog. You know what? I mean?
Go to the shelter. Hang out withthe dog. Go there and hang out
with them. Take them out for adog day out and get to know
them. You know, how high istheir energy? You know, there,
there's, oh God, there's so manyKristen, I could talk for an
hour on what qualifications,but, you know, the main thing is

(43:53):
investigating the dog thatyou're looking for. So don't
just

Kristen Daukas (44:00):
get, don't just get a burr up your butt and go.
Let's go get a dog. Becauseyou're

Geralyn (44:04):
supporting a puppy mill. You know, there are so
many backyard breeders and somany puppy mills out there that
we need to stop, which is awhole other subject. But, I
mean, you know, they you reallyneed to research the dog that
you're looking for, especiallyif it's a purebred, and you can
read about it. But if you needhelp finding a home or dog that

(44:29):
fits your home and fit yourlifestyle and stuff, give me a
call. I'm happy to help. I mean,I love to do stuff. I love to do
stuff like that she does. And I,you know, I have a lot of ends
with, you know, I have a lot ofdogs in my class, so I have good
breeders, if I needed to sendyou to a breeder. And of course,
I work out of the Forsyth HumaneSociety, so I know those dogs.
There were three beautiful dogstonight at the paw crawl at

(44:52):
brewery, Dubois, Gracie, Sarah,and I can't think of what the
third one's name is, but man,they are awesome. They loved
other dogs. They loved the kidsthere, the people. So I'm giving
a fiches a plug. So if you'relooking for a dog, go check them
out. They have some really cutedogs right now, and they have a
litter of four puppies that areadorable. Yep, but you know, if

(45:12):
you're not sure and you saw thisdog, you asked the staff there,
they're happy to look up. Youknow, where the dog came from,
or if there's any informationabout them, these guys know that
dog the best, so they're goingto help you find that dog at
their you know there that'sgoing to help you. And then you
come to training with me forfree. When you adopt from the

(45:33):
humane society, you get threefree sessions with me, so you
get them off on the right start.

Kristen Daukas (45:41):
Thank you so much. A it was like towards the
last minute, we'll hang on forone second, but to sign off with
everybody else, I hope you havea great day. I hope you have a
great night, and coming in onthe fourth I hope everybody does
smart stuff and keep your dogsinside. Yes please for the

(46:06):
Fourth of July. So till the nexttime, everybody, thanks for
listening. Thanks, Geralyn,absolutely. We'll see you later.
As the saying goes, you don'thave to go home, but you can
stay here. And that's a wrap forthis week's episode. A big
thanks to my guests for sharingtheir story and to you for
listening. Don't forget to sharethe show with your friends and
spread the words. And if you'dlike to be a guest on the show,

(46:29):
the link is in the show notestill next time. Cheers you.