Manners & Puppy SuperStart classes begin next week!
Looking to work on your dogs foundation training and give their listening skills a boost? We have both Puppy SuperStart and Mind Your Manners classes starting next week!
Here’s what one of our Manners grads had to say, along with a video showing how well her dog has been doing with her loose leash walking since completing the classes.
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Hi Darcie,
I wanted to share Juno’s progress…thanks to your help. We were in your mind your manners class in the summer. She’ll likely need some more training….but I was so happy with this!
Thanks.
Desiree
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For more info and to register: www.communicanine.ca/group-classes/
Any day is a good day when you get to work with little wiggle butts like this! 💕
Any day is a good day when you get to work with little wiggle butts like this! 💕 Remi clearly had a good time at her first Puppy SuperStart class last night, and so did we. 😃
Looking to improve your dogs listening skills?
Adding a new puppy to your life or recently adopted a new rescue?
Does your dog have a behavioural issue you need specific help with?
At CommuniCanine, we offer a variety of classes and programs to help you raise and train your dog to their full potential.
Thank you Travis of Travis Harper Visual Media Creations for the great video showcasing what we're all about.
If you're looking to create a video for your company or event, I'm happy to recommend him. He was professional, easy to work with and the turnaround time was super quick. https://www.instagram.com/travisharpermedia/
Total Recall - One Spot Available!
Would your dog come to you if faced with this challenging scenario? As you can see, Ruby is being fed treats by Sarah who is holding her while a group of noisy dogs and people approaches. Yet, when her owner calls her from several hundred feet away, without hesitation she turns on her heels and runs right to her!
If this is a pipe dream, then we invite you to our Total Recall class! We have one opening left in our class starting Friday, May 24th at 10:30am.
Click here to register: https://communicanine.ca/group-classes/#total
UPDATE: The class is now full!
If you’re interested in registering but this one doesn’t work for you, contact us at [email protected] to be put on our waitlist. We’ll be running one more series of daytime and evening classes later in the summer.
Puppy Class Obstacle Course!
This week’s Puppy SuperStart students aced our obstacle course!
The course is designed to build confidence, resilience, willingness to interact with new things, body awareness, agility and most of all, to have fun with your puppy while you both learn and experience new things together in a fun, positive environment. It’s consistently a client favourite.
This is just one of the many things we cover in this class, including foundation obedience commands (sit, down, come, leave-it) and co-operative handling for grooming, nail trims and vet visits.
If you’ve got a new puppy and are looking to start them on the right paw, look no further.
For more info and to register, go to https://communicanine.ca/group-classes/#puppy
Socialization isn’t just meeting new dogs and people. It’s getting to experience all kinds of places, sounds, surfaces, smells and scenery. It can even be something as simple as getting to watch a hockey practice from the comfort of a warm lap.
Socialization isn’t just meeting new dogs and people.
It’s getting to experience all the new places, sounds, surfaces, smells and scenery you can think of.
It can even be something as simple as getting to watch a hockey practice from a warm lap. Apparently very exhausting given that Walter conked right out part way through. Either that or he just got bored. 😄
The key is making sure your puppy experiences those things in manageable doses without being overwhelmed, exhausted or scared. If they leave the experience feeling good about it and themselves, you’ve done it perfectly.👌🏼
Walter is available for adoption through The Farm rescue. But even if he’s not your type, they have lots of other dogs and puppies of various breeds and sizes available for adoption also.
You can find out more here: http://www.thefarmrescue.net
Walter Update: This might look like no big deal but this is a couple of weeks work in the making. Walter initially valued proximity to Sarah over everything. So, with a commitment to helping him learn independence and some strategic training, success!
Walter Update: This might look like no big deal but this is a couple of weeks work in the making. Walter chose to go in there by himself!
Walter initially valued proximity to Sarah over everything. She couldn’t put him in the crate and shut the door, even if she sat right beside him, without him screaming his head off. And he had no interest in anyone else in her home.
He was very needy and demanding of Sarah and Sarah only!
So, with a commitment to helping him learn independence and some strategic training, Sarah can celebrate this huge success! He chose to go in there and chew his bully stick on his own!
For those of you who are struggling with dogs who need to be with you all the time and can’t bear to be without you, here are a couple of tips to start working through this:
1) Spend a tonne of time building value for places away from you. For example, when you give your puppy a high valued chew stick, stuffed Kong or feed them a meal, give it to them in their crate or confinement area. Leave the door open initially.
2) When they seek attention from you, do not respond. If there are other people in your home, have them play or engage with the pup to start increasing their own value to the pup.
3) When they seek out their crate, confinement area or dog bed, quietly reward them by dropping a couple of treats where they're laying. Don't talk to or pet them.
4) If your pup seeks physical proximity to you, like lying on you on the couch, get up and walk away, again making sure they have another option to choose instead, preferably something you've already started building value for, like another person, a comfy bed to go to, a high valued chew to focus on or toy to play with.
These little steps take away the reinforcement they’re seeking from you and start building value for more independent choices away from you.
Sarah will be the first to admit that the hardest part about doing this is ignoring them when they so clearly love and want you! But
Walter got to hang out with the kids in Sarah’s daycare this week. They had so much fun that they all got a case of the zoomies. 😂 Walter is available for adoption through The Farm rescue. http://www.thefarmrescue.net
Walter got to hang out with the kids in Sarah’s daycare this week.
They had so much fun that they all got a case of the zoomies. 😂
Sarah has always taught her kids how to properly behave around dogs for everyone’s comfort and safety so, as you can see, Walter loved being around them.
These are the kind of socialization experiences we always aim for. Puppy feels comfortable and happy and walks away feeling good about it.
Walter is available for adoption through The Farm rescue.
http://www.thefarmrescue.net
We told you how Sarah has been carrying her foster puppy, Walter, in a pouch for his walks due to his insecurity and only putting him down when he asks to be. We’ll look at him now! He walked for a full 20 minutes in the dark and on a strange street.
We told you how Sarah has been carrying her foster puppy, Walter, in a pouch for his walks due to his insecurity and only putting him down when he asks to be.
Well look at him now! He walked on his own for a full 20 minutes in the dark (a scary time of day for many pups) and on a street he wasn’t familiar with.
This is what we call progress!! And Sarah will keep building on this.
Walter is available for adoption through The Farm Rescue.
http://www.thefarmrescue.net
Your daily dose of Walter. Pug puppy, Karma, was visiting and these two made fast friends. 🧡💛 Walter is available for adoption through The Farm Rescue. http://www.thefarmrescue.net
Here’s your daily dose of Walter. Pug puppy, Karma, was visiting and they made fast friends. 🧡💛
Walter is available through The Farm rescue.
http://www.thefarmrescue.net
Success in Baby Steps
I mentioned yesterday that foster puppy Walters most favourite thing right now is Sarah. He wants to be within a couple of feet of her and ideally touching her at all times and gets verrry upset if he can’t.
So Sarah has been working really hard on building value for being away from her, especially in the crate with the door shut.
This video may not look like much, but it’s a huge success from a lot of groundwork Sarah has done! He’s in the crate with the door closed, goofing around and enjoying himself.
Sarah can’t leave him on his own in there yet, but this is a great start.
Success doesn’t always happen quickly or easily. Sometimes it happens in very small, slow incremental baby steps.
Walter is adoptable through The Farm rescue. You can contact them for more details.
http://www.thefarmrescue.net
Adoptable Puppy!
If you’re looking to adopt a puppy, look no further! This little sweetheart is currently being fostered by our staff trainer, Sarah, who says she is the sweetest, easiest puppy you could ask for.
Sarah runs a daycare in her home so the pup has had a lot of exposure to young kids, other dogs, cats and also plenty of socialization outings where she’s gotten to explore the big, wide world. And she’s aced all of it!
If you’re interested in adopting her or finding out more about her, she is available through The Farm rescue. (Bullmastiff not included.)
Halloween Tricks Class
Tonight we taught hot dogs 🌭 how to spin, dragons 🐉 how to take a bow (video in comments below) and we even taught a few dogs 🐕 how to wave hello. Just another night at Tricks class. 😄
📢Calling All Puppies!!📢
Our next round of classes start this Wednesday, August 30th at 5pm and 7:20pm in Brentwood Bay and we have a few spots left.
Your pup will learn foundation obedience, have the opportunity to socialize with other puppies, learn how to be handled for grooming and vet visits and, everyone’s favourite, get to play on our obstacle course designed to build confidence, body awareness, agility and bomb proof puppies. 💣
If your pup is currently between 10 and 20 weeks of age, this class is for you.
Click here for more info and to register:
https://communicanine.ca/group-classes/#puppy
(Videoed here is Evie having a ‘pool party’ in the bottle pit on obstacle course night 🥳)
Will your dog come when called at full speed away from someone feeding them high valued treats and run through a loud, moving crowd of dogs and people to get to you? Our Total Recall graduates like Ruby (videoed here) can!
If this is only a pipe dream for you right now, check out our upcoming Total Recall classes. (These are the last ones we’ll be offering until the spring of 2024.)
UPDATE: The Recall classes filled so quickly we just added an additional one at 7:20pm on Tuesday, August 22nd, so there's still room!
For more information or to register, click here: https://communicanine.ca/group-classes/#total
Or if you’re looking for a more generalized obedience class to work on foundation skills like walking on leash without pulling, listening when there are distractions and more, we also have outdoor Mind Your Manners classes starting soon, too.
More info and registration for those can be found here: https://communicanine.ca/group-classes/#mind
Training your new dog doesn’t have to be complicated. Once you get them home, determine based on your dog’s behaviour what your training priorities might be and focus on those things first. You don’t have to teach everything all at once.
For me with my new dog Brodie, I have so far only worked on things that would make my immediate day to day life with him easier. Things like teaching him to wait calmly at the door until invited through and putting his head into his collar to ‘get dressed’ for a walk were two of my priorities so were the first things he learned.
The door manners were crucial because I live in a condo so every time we go outside the dogs are taken out on a leash and we have two doors to go through plus a set of stairs to go down.
I couldn’t safely get before video of what I started out with, but trust me when I say he would charge through the door before it was even fully open and keep going full speed once he was outside. Given that he was 83lbs when he arrived, that was dangerous for me, my other dog AND him as he would ultimately slip on the tile floor trying to make a hasty exit.
All it took was practice and consistency every time we left the house and this is what his door manners look like now. Notice how no verbal cue to wait or look at me is given - it’s automatic, even at the top of the stairs, although I didn’t deliberately train them at that spot, it just carried over from the threshold training I’ve done.
This only took about two weeks to master but, of course, I practice and reinforce this daily with them every time we go through an exit door.
And for those who think you can’t train an old dog new tricks….Brodie is about 10 years old. It’s never too late to teach something new!
We have a handful of spots left in our upcoming dog training classes.
👉Puppy SuperStart (for puppies 10 - 20 weeks of age) - This class has been tailor made for the social and developmental needs of young puppies.
Starting: Wednesday, May 17th at 6:10pm at the Brentwood Community Hall
👉Mind Your Manners (for dogs over 5 months) - Teaches foundation obedience skills and listening to commands even if there are distractions.
Starting: Thursday, May 25th at 5:00pm at the Brentwood Elementary School Field
👉Total Recall (for dogs over 5 months) - If you dream of having a dog that comes when it's called every single time, this class is for you! You'll learn the foundations of building a solid recall while practicing amidst increasingly difficult challenges each week. This is one of our most popular classes!
Starting: Tuesday, May 23rd at 5:00pm & 7:20pm at Wain Park
For more information and to register, go to https://communicanine.ca/group-classes/
Come check out why we were voted the #1 dog training company in the Greater Victoria area in 2022 by Community Votes!🥇
Training Foster Puppy, Lenny
Our staff trainer, Sarah, is fostering this sweeeeeeet little dude for The Farm rescue right now. He got neutered last week and couldn’t run and play so she did lots of training with him to keep his mind and body occupied in a gentle way. He’s a fast learner! And so keen to train. Lenny is about 3 1/2 months old.
