Country Friends is so excited to be partnering with Juliette Jones from our own Royse City area in offering Fear Free Puppy Socialization training. We thought it would be fun to introduce her to you through our blog- thank you for being here!

Country Friends: Juliette, It has been fun getting to know you as we’ve getting to know your two sweet pups! Would you please tell our community a little about you and your family?

Juliette:  Sure! I am originally from Miami, Florida, however I have also lived in Louisiana, Georgia, and now Texas. I met my husband, Andrew, in 2013 and married in 2015. Andrew is a retired Army veteran and now works for L3Harris. Together we have two dogs, Charlie, a 7 year old special blend of 6 breeds, and Spud, an almost 14 year old Bull Terrier. We are homebodies by nature but when we do go out, you can probably find us playing arcade games, doing an escape room, and most definitely eating. At home we love to play board games, binge our favorite shows, and of course spend quality time with our dogs!

Country Friends: You are proof that even homebodies stay very busy- especially given that you also have started a local and woman owned business. Want to take this opportunity to share a few details about your business and passion?

Juliette: I would love to. I spent about 12 years in the restaurant industry doing everything from hosting to serving to managing. While there were some aspects I loved about my jobs, I knew it wasn’t my future. I took advantage of our move to Georgia in 2017 to do something different, something I would actually love. Through combining my experience with customer service and my love of dogs, I became a professional pet sitter and started my first company, The Dog Mom. I offered daycare and boarding in our home, which overall was a great experience but it took a toll on my family’s quality of life, particularly for Charlie. 

Unfortunately due to the rotating door of dogs in our home, Charlie started to display some anxiety-based behaviors. I contacted a local positive reinforcement trainer to help us and it was through her knowledge and the resources she gave me that I started to learn and fall in love with dog behavior. I graduated with distinction in 2019 from Victoria Stilwell Academy and immediately started to work for my mentor and Charlie’s trainer.  Shortly after, I became a Fear Free Certified Professional. In 2020, Andrew retired after 20 years in the Army and found a job in Texas. This is where Inquiring Noses Dog Training was born! I will be taking an exam in September to earn my CPDT-KA (Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed).

What I do, as the trainer, is teach (dogs) different behaviors that will not only help the veterinarian or groomer to do their jobs, but also acts as a consent cue for the dog as well. For example, I love to teach dogs to rest their chin in a lap or hand. This is a perfect stationary behavior that keeps the dog in one spot while they are being poked and prodded, but the consent comes in when the dog decides to lift their head. That moment, everything stops so the dog can take a break and come back when he is ready. 

My goal for dog owners is to teach them to be their dog’s advocate. They should feel free to speak up if they see their dog is displaying any stress signals and stop whatever is being done. I teach owners to see the world through their dog’s nose so they can better understand how their dog is feeling and what they can do to help them have better experiences. 

Country Friends: We love Fear Free, too. We want the pets we see to feel safe and loved while in our care. We’re so glad that we get to work together on the upcoming puppy socialization classes! Please share a few details!

Juliette: Socialization is the most crucial developmental period for puppies under 16 weeks. Most people think socializing their dog is just introducing them to as many people and dogs as possible, which isn’t wrong, but there is so much more to it and there is a right way of making those introductions. Socialization is the exposure and association builder to people, dogs, cats, other animals, sights, sounds, textures, handling, etc. The goals are to create positive associations to various stimuli, build confidence in the puppies to they grow to be well-adjusted adults, and teach puppies to focus on their owner around these stimuli. 

In my Puppy Socialization Class, you will learn how to read dog body language, how dogs learn, some basic behaviors, how to enrich your puppy’s life, some basic husbandry skills, how to properly socialize your puppy to the world, and give them a chance to play with puppies their own age.

Country Friends: What a wonderful beginning for a puppy- to learn about this world while building a safe relationship to their new family! So, Juliette, how did you end up at Country Friends?