HOUNDING AROUND

Individualized Dog Training, Off-Leash Pack Hikes, Dog Training & Special Events

Empowering dog owners with personalized, effective, and science-based training to build stronger bonds with their dogs while giving back to the community through rescue support and environmental stewardship. We offer off-leash pack hikes, individualized in-home dog training, and are available to serve as your pet wedding attendant if you are looking to include your fur baby in your special day!

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SERVICES

DOG TRAINING

Off-leash dog training, reactive dog training, dog socialization, puppy training and obedience training - we have you covered! My aim is to foster behaviors that fit your lifestyle, align with your dog’s personality, and enhance the life you and your dog share together.

OFF-LEASH HIKES

With the goal to wear out even the most active of dogs, our off leash day hikes provide exercise and social interaction for your pup, while giving back to impactful animal rescue organizations.

WEDDING PET ATTENDANT

Looking to include your dog in your wedding? Allow me to handle your wedding day pet care! I'll accompany your pup and have them available for the events you and your partner are looking to include them in.

Schedule a Consultation Today!

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Avery has taken care of my dog since he was just a puppy and she continues to be the only person I 100% trust to take him off-leash. She is an experienced dog owner, knows how to handle different temperaments well, and has strong training skills. My dog always came home from their adventures physically and mentally exhausted and his behavior was so much better because of it!

Megan K.

Avery has been an exceptional caretaker of our two pups, June and Adonis. She has a gift for putting humans and their pets at ease, bringing confidence and lightheartedness to all encounters. Her adventurous spirit means our pets always have great outdoor experiences and plenty and chances to exercise when being cared for by Avery. Our pups always come back tired and happy! Bonus: we receive very cute picture evidence of their fun times. I highly recommend Avery for your pet adventuring, sitting, walking and sitting needs!

Margot S.

Avery is in her element when she's with dogs, and it's rare you catch her without at least one (although usually more) at any given time. She cares deeply for our canine counterparts, and you can tell after just a few minutes together that your dog is in the best hands. Whether she's working on training, or just going for a romp in the woods, she loves to lead dogs, and they love to follow her!

Erin K.

Looking to build a solid recall around distractions? Start here. Looking to strengthen your dog’s social skills? Start here. Looking to promote calm behavior around other dogs? Start here.

All of these skills are rooted in engagement! Your dog should look to you for support and guidance, knowing that your relationship is built on mutual value and trust.

Here’s how Woody and I worked on engagement and recall while other dogs played nearby:
🐾 Choose Your Distance: We positioned ourselves far enough from the other dogs that Woody could observe without feeling overly excited. Start farther away if your dog struggles to disengage from the distraction—move closer gradually as they become more reliable with check-ins.
🐾 Practice Neutrality: Socialization isn’t always about play; it’s also about calm observation. Neutrality around other dogs means that your dog can remain calm and responsive, even when other dogs are playing. If your dog seems too eager, create more distance until they can observe without lunging or whining.
🐾 Teach Disengagement: A valuable skill is for your dog to disengage from a distraction when called. This can help you redirect them from play or de-escalate a situation. Start small: call them from moderate distractions and reward their quick response. Build this skill so they can happily return to you when it’s time to leave or pause play.
🐾 Celebrate Engagement!: Every time they check in, reward that engagement—whether it’s a treat, toy, or praise. Consistently reinforce that coming back to you is a positive experience.

Pack is getting bigger in May 2025 - but this time it’s a human baby and not a fur baby

Spooky, scary, HALLOWEEEEEN 🎃👻

Halloween is here! It’s a fun time for us, but all the costumes, sounds, and decorations can be a bit spooky for our pups. Here are some tips to keep your dog calm and happy today:

1️⃣ Costume Comfort: If you dress your dog up, make sure their costume is comfy, breathable, and free of tight or dangling parts. Let them wear it in small sessions beforehand so they get used to it. Don’t force your pup to wear something that makes them uncomfortable!

2️⃣ Trick-or-Treat Ready: With doorbells ringing all night, give your dog a quiet space to relax. Try a calming chew or their favorite toy to keep them occupied.

3️⃣ Treat Safety: Keep candy out of paw’s reach, especially chocolate and sugar-free treats, which can be toxic to dogs. Have dog-friendly treats on hand for some fun, safe snacking. 🦴

A calm Halloween is a happy one for your pup. 🎃

Saw a reel floating around the instawebs of a pack of 17 dogs sitting perfectly in a line, all wearing sheets as ghosts.

As you can see, the majority of my pack said ‘yeahnaaaaaah.’

But considering we don’t regularly put sheets over our dogs, this isn’t something they’re used to. My pack still isn’t super stoked on party hats either, and I know plenty of packs that all pose willingly. It’s a matter of exposure and habituation. If I worked more on the pack with things like this, it would be easier.

Some dogs are very tolerant, and others don’t want anything to do with it. I praise and reward experiences with these extra items, and never force a dog that is too uncomfortable.

Regardless, I’m happy with whatever we get because it’s still training all the same.

Velcro Dog? Try this:

🦴 Don’t let your dog follow you from room to room—close doors to limit access, or practice sit/stays while you’re in a different room.
🦴 Be selective about when you take your dog with you. They don’t need to come along every time you go out.
🦴 Practice short solo trips, like grabbing the mail. Quick absences teach your dog you’ll always come back!
🦴 Limit couch/bed time if they’re allowed on furniture. Teach them to relax nearby without being glued to your side. “Place” on a bed is great for this!

Struggling with separation anxiety? Talk to your vet and a trainer to create a personalized plan. The above tips are great for general management but won’t fully resolve separation anxiety on their own.
🦴 You CAN ignore your dog when you don’t want to interact with them. I put my hand on Micco’s head when I first sat down and then he immediately wanted more. You can put your dog into a sit or down, or just walk away and ignore.

Was a little sad the fog lifted and it wasn’t as sp👀ky as it could’ve been 👻

Football Sunday for the dog trainer vs. her friends.

Good girl with great store etiquette in @paxtongatepdx

Being inside of a store is already a level of socialization some dogs struggle with, but being inside a store filled with taxidermies and bones all over can be a challenge. Piper really leans into her sense of scent, but is respectful when it comes to putting her mouth on anything. Even in the pet store, she will sniff treats at her level but won’t put any in her mouth.

We can work on that if any of those are a skill you’re looking for your dog to have!

Ever feel like your dog’s totally over your training sessions?! 🙋‍♀️

We all have our off days, and our dogs are no exception. Just like us, they can be tired, grumpy, or simply need a break.

If they’re not feeling it, try using play or a walk to get them engaged before you start training. If that doesn’t seem to help, it’s okay to pick your session back up later. Training should be fun and engaging for both of you, and if one of you isn’t into it, it’s okay to skip a session.

Our 20yo potato needs her daily walk on the feed. Good girl, Franki!

Reminded of how much we love agility courses. Might be time to build and purchase some equipment.

If we offered agility - who would be interested in some classes?

Halloween Desensitization in Progress 👻

Many dogs hate blow-up decorations, and we know the Wacky Waving Inflatable Tube Man can be especially terrifying! These decorations are strange and unsettling for our four-legged friends, so it’s important to help them feel more comfortable during neighborhood walks and car rides.

Desensitization is a behavior modification technique where you expose your dog to their triggers at a low intensity, gradually increasing as they grow more comfortable and show less fear.

Pair this with counter-conditioning, another technique that associates the trigger with something positive, like treats or praise. By rewarding your pup when they face their fears, you can help them develop a more positive emotional response.

Here’s how to start:
👀 Begin your walk with your dog engaged and focused on you.
👀 As you approach a spooky decoration, keep your distance and let your dog observe it from afar. Stay calm and reassuring. When your dog acknowledges the decoration without reacting, praise and reward them.
👀 If your dog reacts negatively, gently redirect them. You can turn them away to face you and refocus their attention (reward their focus), or add more distance to create a comfort zone (reward calm behavior).

The key to this process is gradual exposure—don’t overwhelm your dog. Take it slow. If your dog relaxes quickly, you can move closer. If not, give them space and time to adjust. Never force it!

Unlike Cruella’s Dalmatians, make sure your pups are well-mannered and ready for Trick-or-Treaters this year (and any other guests that come to your home)!

Place work is an incredible skill for dogs when visitors arrive. It gives them a “job” (just maintaining place!) and allows you to set clear boundaries for greeting people at the door, if at all.

In this reel, we practiced the 3 Ds of training:
🐾 Distance: How far can you be from your dog while they still hold the command?
🐾 Duration: How long can your dog maintain the command?
🐾 Distraction: What’s happening around your dog while they maintain the command? This is the most challenging, as it incorporates both distance and duration while adding extra stimuli like people, dogs, noises, etc.

Here, Dale and I practiced maintaining place while I opened the door, stepped outside, and returned before rewarding and releasing him.

A few key things to note:
👻 I turned my back on Dale when I walked away. Turning your back can often tempt dogs to break their place unless you’ve trained and proofed for it.
👻 Dale understands thresholds—just because the door opens doesn’t mean he can run out.
👻 He watched me walk outside, change clothes, and come back inside—additional distractions!

There’s a lot involved in walking outside and back in that your dog may not yet be trained for. We didn’t incorporate door knocks, doorbells, or a different person at the door this time. If your pup can’t master this, they’re not ready for the added challenge of a human or noise distraction!

Start small and keep building your dog’s skills with increasing challenges! And as always, reach out for any training support you may need!

Selecting a trainer can be more daunting than the actual dog training. Here is what to look for:

✅ Training style that aligns with your beliefs: Find a trainer whose approach you’re comfortable with.
✅ Credentials and certifications: Ensure they have the qualifications to back up their claims.
✅ Experience and expertise: Look for a trainer with proven results and a solid education. Read those Google reviews and client testimonials!
✅ The real secret: Find a personality that fits: Choose someone who’s approachable, patient, and kind. You need a trainer who is a great fit for both you AND your dog!

Your dog deserves the best, so ask questions and trust your instincts. Don’t be afraid to walk away if the fit isn’t right - whether that’s before or after you’ve hired them!

Consider starting your search with Hounding Around by reaching out for a free consultation! We’ll discuss your dog’s needs, your goals, and my approach. I offer private, in-home training sessions in the Portland Metro area, as well as virtual sessions for those farther away. Let’s work together to help your pup thrive!

Ugh I just love them. I love trying new things with them, running in the woods, jumping in puddles, training new skills.

Trying to snag a pic with the pups solo is a challenge since they’re so used to staying visually connected with me for sit/stays. Taking this pic with most of them in the car provides physical structure to pair with their impulse control of not just yeeting themselves out of the car when they feel like it.

This content is cute and wholesome, but is also still a form of training ✨

Looking for that loose leash walking where you can hold your coffee AND two dog leashes with your pinky on the same hand? I got you 😏😏

Reach out for individual, personalized training where I come to you! I’ll show you how to nail the loose leash walking so you can effortlessly walk your pups without losing a drop of coffee (or your patience!)

Training recall should be fun and easy!

Here’s how to do it:
🐾 Start inside, and as you start to proof the command, slowly increase the level of distractions
🐾 Use a long line (I like 20’) so that you can increase the distance your dog can be from you, while still having them tethered. This provides security for your dog, but also the ability to guide them back to you if they don’t come when called.
🐾 Set your dog up for success! If you watch carefully, you’ll see that Dale is just walking along; he isn’t sniffing or focusing on something in the distance. This automatically makes it easier for your dog to stay tuned into you, and respond when called. As you proof the command and their recall is stronger, you can call them back while their attention is directed somewhere
🐾 Speak with intention in a tone your dog can hear and understand. Starting out, you may want to use a more exciting tone/inflection so they want to choose you over anything else.
🐾 Reward with big praise and treatos!
🐾 Keep sessions short and practice often

Golden slurps ASMR

I could watch these two golden retrievers all day.

Today is another group socialization walk!

Join us at Red Sunset Park in Gresham at 4pm for our twice monthly Wag-N-Walk! It is free to join and it is a great opportunity to work on neutrality around a group of dogs. Reactive dogs are welcome, or even just humans looking for some tips on how to bring their dog into a walk like this.

Sound like something you’d like to do but can’t attend? We have another walk Saturday October 19 at Pat Pfiefer Park at 10am.

What an absolute honor to be a part of such a special day!

Lola was one of the first pups to join my pack when I started Hounding Around. Since then, I’ve become friends with her humans and I am so grateful. Wonderful dogs come from wonderful people, and I feel so privileged to be a part of such an intimate experience for couples as their dog handler 🥰

Happiest of birthdays to my adventure loving, squirrel hunting, hates sitting in the back seat, soul dog. Hounding Around came to life so I could spend more time exploring with her, and what a world that has opened me up to.

Yesterday’s fall hike was filled with pumpkin spice pup cups 🍂

Had two visitors show up to the ranch yesterday and gave us a bit to work on 😮‍💨

As with any training, you need to level up to improve. The dogs are great with me, particularly when we are in familiar places. But introduce a new place or a new distraction, and things can feel like we went back to square one.

The dogs responded well to me when two separate cars pulled in, but when they realized some pretty great people were here, some of them had a hard time coming to join the pack when they’d rather see other friends.

We love having new opportunities and challenges, especially when we are in safe and controlled environments. Prepare for all of the things, friends!

We have spaces available in the pack! Who is looking to send their dog on weekly adventures where they get to socialize, exercise, and adventure with their pals, all while improving their obedience, impulse control and emotional regulation? Schedule a consultation on our site or shoot us a DM!

We are on vacation through Wednesday September 19! Kinda - I am training Miss Murphy when we aren’t snuggling the shit out of my new human NIECE 😭🥰😍

All emails & texts will be responded to on Thursday!

How I Keep Dogs From Running Off (And What I Do When It Happens)

Off-leash adventures with 15+ dogs? You bet! But keeping them safe and close requires a lot of attention and awareness. Here’s my approach to hiking with dogs:

🦴 Vetting Before Adventures:
Before any dog joins the crew, I ensure they have strong recall and can easily be redirected from distractions like other dogs, people, or animals. This foundation is key to their safety and the pack’s flow. A lot of these dogs also have a great pack drive - they have a strong desire to stay with the crew.

🦮 Intervening Early:
Keeping the pack walking at heel, or just ahead of me with regular recall back for snacks is key. This keeps them engaged with me! If I notice them starting to focus on something outside of myself or the pack, I redirect them back to me. If a dog fixates for too long, it becomes more difficult to redirect them.

But what about when a dog does take off? Here’s what I do:

➡️ Stay Calm
➡️ Leash up the rest of the pack
➡️ Stay Put: I stay put and wait for them to return. Another great option can be returning to the car!
➡️ Recall Command:I use their recall word to bring them back.
➡️ Understand the Why: For me and my pack, if a dog runs off, it is typically due to their prey drive.

The Reality: Yesterday, it was two hound dogs chasing an animal (yes, mine was one of them 😂). I didn’t realize the dogs had caught a scent or a visual until they were taking off. If I had noticed even moments before, I could’ve had better odds calling them off of it. Both dogs have previously been called off animals before, so it was handler error.

Off-leash adventures come with inherent risks and it’s important everyone understands that when their dog is off leash (on adventures or with you!) I put a lot of trust into my dogs and the training we have done together. And opportunities like this are opportunities for improvement - for me and the dogs.

Both babes are back, safe and sound. And we finished our hike on leash.

Neutrality around other animals comes from socializing your dog and teaching them how to regulate their emotions! You are training your dogs to behave a certain way in a certain situation - here, it’s around farm animals.

Few Tips:
🐾 Have control of your dog - on leash is best
🐾 Gradually increase exposure. Start far away and for short bursts of time.
🐾 Keep your dog relaxed - if they are too energetic around the animals and you can’t redirect them, they’re past their threshold.
🐾 Gradually increase duration of exposure and decrease distance from animals as your dog becomes less excited/interested by it

Remember! -
🐾 Learning isn’t linear! You could have some great days training followed by one that seems as though no progress has been made. That’s natural!

🐾 Some dogs may have a really difficult time with this. That means you have other skills to work on before you’re introducing new creatures

🐾 Make sure you’re keeping yourself, your dog, and any other animals SAFE. Be respectful of the life around you.

Is your dog’s neutrality and recall around unfamiliar creatures strong enough to have them off leash without a solid barricade between them?

If not, let’s chat 😏 Training dogs off-leash and to be neutral around other animals can be difficult; I’ll get you and your dog to where you want to be.

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Check us out on Instagram

@houndingaroundpdx

Avery Dobson, Founder, Trainer & Pack Leader

Portland, OR

avery@houndingaroundpdx.com

(503).563.0351