This is what training is all about 🥹🥰
Ravens mom has been struggling with her aggression, reactivity and poor behaviour to strangers in and out of the house and despite their best efforts the problems persisted.
What it came down to was a divide in their relationship that her owner described perfectly. “It feels like I’m her care giver and if that’s all I am then that’s ok because we rescued her from a bad spot.”
That alone is such a touching thing to say but ultimately not the relationship anyone seeks to have with their dog. After being with her owners for over a year, we have allowed Raven to open up and build a stronger relationship with her mom and they got to PLAY for the first time ever yesterday!!
There’s still lots of work to do with Raven but seeing her come out of her shell has been the most heart warming thing to watch ♥️
Tonight’s Reactive Dog Group Class was all about fun!! While it is important for us to establish boundaries and expectations with dogs like these, it can’t always be about what not to do!
It’s can be hard learning new things but it’s best when you keep it fun! Every one of the dogs in the room tonight, previous to training, would lose it at the sight of any dog but look how close these dogs are all getting to each other while they have a proper goal in mind with their handler.
Your relationship with your dog can’t be all about “No” if you want it to be healthy.
Raven got to meet some cows tonight 🐮
Generalizing the place command with Navy!
The “Place” command is such a valuable tool when your are dealing with behaviours like reactivity, over excitement, and over stimulation. It’s a tool that gives your dog something to focus on even when the most exciting or triggering thing is happening around them. More than anything I want my dogs to be excited to jump on place but once that’s exciting we start change what the place bed is!
“Place” can be a rock, a picnic table, a place bed or even a big duffle bag! “Place” means paws off the ground and it can be a fun escape no matter where you and your dog find yourselves! 😊
Thank you to everyone who came out to our Home Opener Event!! It was a great time and it was awesome to see you all!
We will be announcing raffle item winners tomorrow so stay tuned
If you’re lazy you lose it!
@axl_the_black_shepherd was having some lazy grips and poor possession after the win so we showed him that if he was going to act that way he wasn’t allowed to play anymore 🤷♂️
When he came in for his second set, he definitely understood the assignment! He was showing lots more possession. Still some work to do with the grips but Axl was taking his work a lot more seriously the second time around! 💪
Axl is a great dog and is super fun to train. I’m so happy we are able to help progress his training and make things more clear for him! That way he can kick some butt in next years PSA Trials!!
My favourite slow feeder!
Just a regular old #kong toy stuffed in a food bowl. This way they can hold on to the kong after breakfast/dinner and you won’t have to worry about a flimsy plastic slow feeder being eaten along with the meal!
You can also add some water to the food to slow them down even more!
How it started vs. How it’s going with Fire learning the position box 🔥🔥🔥
SHE NAILED IT!!
Tonight’s Aggressive and Reactive Group Class was awesome! Thanks to those who showed up and made it an awesome learning environment!
Tonight was all theory and we focused on relationship between human and dog, dog body language, and the quadrants of operant condition. It was incredible to be able to share my knowledge with everyone and help them see their dog in a new and more helpful light.
Training starts with relationship and once a working relationship is well established, we have a much more valuable line of communication with our dogs and learning becomes easier for everyone!!
So incredibly proud of these two! Ellie came to us with some pretty extreme leash reactivity to both humans and dogs, and her and her owner were feeling very anxious to go anywhere.
Now they both have the opportunity to go back to their favourite stores, parks, and just anyplace now that Ellie is feeling more confident and her owner has the tools and knowledge to help her through tough situations.
Keep up the great work you two!! 😊
