It's been a very weird few weeks here trying to readjust to a new normal.
I'm really hoping I can find a job that allows me to spend more time with my dogs and work less.
I have an interview today, so wish me luck 🤞
#unemployed #dogmom #lifewithdogs #dogwalking #dogsports
Sometimes when making content with dogs they create their own scripts. We were gıfted all 5 flavors of @smackpetfood dehydrated raw food, we use their food regularly as a training treat, but haven't tried the Carribean Salmon Fushion flavor until today. Both Nova and Oscar loved it.
We love supporting local, Canadian made companies. And we love finding healthy nutritious treats to use when we train, that are also high value to the dogs, because we do so much training.
If you want to purchase your own smack food we would appreciate you using our code MUTTHOUSE it gets you 15% off and we get a share of the profits 😊
#lifewithdogs #funnydogreel #healthydogtreats #dehydrateddogfood #smackpetfood #dogs #ourmutthouse
I could tell you, but I'd rather just show you.
Emma was the most stereotypical husky. She used to get groomed 2-3 times a year and the last time she got groomed the groomer told me she had done so well! I asked if she didn't get screamed at the entire time, but she still screamed, just stood nicely in the tub while screaming.
I loved her to bits and miss her, but still would not recommend a husky to most people.
#husky #siberianhusky #lifewithdogs #dogs #funnydogreels
Bathing a siberian husky
If you've never seen it, now you have!
Novas original "Find my phone" video
#dogtricks #dogtaining #servicedog #servicedogtraining #smartdog
Nova "Find my phone" video was our start to a social media account for the dogs!
And I got ALOT of comments worried about her breaking my phone. In 6 years she hasn't even cracked or scratched a screen.
BUT
We didn't start learning retreivals with a fragile item until she was much more comfortable and confident holding different types of items.
I still have that pink bag from the 2nd 2 clips and at this point it's barely a bag anymore lol.
You'll also see in the middle 2 clips that she is not gentle, she's clumsy, she drops the bag several times. This is because she was still a little puppy and this was new to her. (She was 4.5 months in the first video and 7 or 8 in the 2nd)
All this I guess to say is if you want to teach you're dog to find your phone - teach them a solid retrieval with a non fragile item 1st. Once you are confident in their ability to pick up and not drop a variety of different items, then give it a try with an old phone!
#dogtricks #dogtraining #servicedogtraining
Let's start normalizing actual normal homes.
And stop normalizing people being house poor and barely able to afford their mortgages
Here is my 90 year old 830 Sq ft house. It's not perfect, but we make it work. But I can give you a full house tour in 30 seconds 😂
It's never going to be the type of house that you see as inspo on social media, but that's okay 🤷♀️ we are very happy and comfortable where we are!
#normalhouse #smallhouse #normalizenormalhouses #ourmutthouse #lifewithdogs
Oh Nova 😅 sometimes there's inadvertent distractions when doing scent detection.
I let her sniff the bed/toys because sometimes the people setting the hides are tricky like that.
I'm just impressed with her double toy steal lol.
She did go on to actually find the hides 😂
#scentdetection #funnydogs #troublemaker #scentworktraining #workingdogs
This one might get a little *spicy*
So I'm going to preface with this - sometimes I walk my dog on retractable leashes. I walk them on retractable leashes in less busy situations, like our regular neighborhood walks. I would never walk a dog on a retractable leash in a busy or populated area. I would never walk a reactive dog, or dog with poor recall on a retractable leash.
There are people who are adamantly against them in every situation, which I disagree with.
I do agree that they are often misused, and can be dangerous if misused.
I would also highly recommend using the tape style ones vs. The cord style ones.
The absolute bare minimum before using a flexi lead? Solid recall.
Ideally your dog would also know cues like wait, stop, heel, etc.
#dogtraining #dogwalking #positivereinforcement #recall #smartdogs
Dog tricks can be about so much more than just being cute tricks.
They can be practical. Like this "Find my phone" trick Nova knows
#dogtricks #dogreels #cutedogs #dogtraining #servicedog #positivereinforcement
Our race trip to Oregon and back through last week was over 3000 miles. So I've been thinking about how much of a Rockstar Nova is with traveling.
She's been to 12 US states at this point in her life, and I'm sure there will be more!
Oscar only started coming racing with us last June after Emma passed, so he's still got some catching up to do, but he is also becoming an awesome race track and travel dog, too!
We decided this coming up weekend that we would leave the dogs at home, and it's the very first time I am going racing without her coming along. Lol. I'm going to have separation anxiety for sure!
#adventure #adventuredog #travellingwithdogs #racetrackdogs #dogtraining #sprintcar #racecar #positivereinforcement #traveldog
Remember that social media is a highlight reel, people are not often sharing the frustrations and struggles of dog ownership.
So here was my "sh*tty dog guardian" moment from the other week.
Feel free to share any of your recent moments as well.
We went for a run the next day and both of us were much happier.
Featuring older footage of a POV of a typical walk for Oscar. It was filmed using an @insta360 cam attached to his harness,
VD: various clips of a black and white siberian husky with a red harness on a walk, the camera is attached to his harness and gives his perspective. He's walking on a sidewalk, sniffing trees, etc.
#husky #siberianhusky #forcefreedogguardian
Realistic dog ownership, dog training mistakes,
Trust me when I say Oscar makes it look easy. But remember, he was literally bred for this, it's in his genes.
I've also trained with him a lot!
While I do occasionally run with Nova and the foster dogs... it is not nearly the same.
So, if your dog looks like Aries when you run, that's okay 🤷♀️
Oscar and I did 2k in 10 min 11 sec. Aries and I did 2k in like 18 minutes.
Ps. This was the point I got to with him before we ever hopped on a bike together, probably more for my confidence than anything else
Our gear:
Harness, bungee line and canicross belt - @nahaksports
Shoes - @brooksrunningca @brooksrunning
#canicross #urbanmushing #sleddog #siberianhusky #husky #huskymix #purposebreddog #dogswithjobs #dogsports #dogsofalberta
If you saw Nova how old would you think she is?
I'm genuinely curious, because I've been asked if she's over 6 months, and asked if she's a senior dog within weeks of each other.
I think I can understand why, but curious as to how old you would think she is, and why you think that!
#puppy #seniordog
Hopefully this saves my really plant lol.
Thanks @homesalivepets and @zippypaws I couldn't pass this one up 😂☘️
#monstera #lifewithdogs #huskymix #funnydogreels
I don't make Nova do tricks she doesn't like doing 🤷♀️
Because that wouldn't be fun for either of us.
For some reason people love asking if she can fetch a beer from the fridge.
The answer is yes she can, but she doesn't like it, so I don't make her do it.
We do tricks mainly for enrichment and bonding between the 2 of us, not so I can make her do unnecessary things for me.
What is the trick your dog dislikes the most?
#trickdog #tricktraining #dogtraining #dogswithjobs #smartdog #smartpuppy #forcefree #forcefreedogtraining #positivereinforcement #cutedogreels
I had to see if the barbie AI filter would work on the dogs, I'm both intrigued and terrified 😨 😂
#measabarbie #dogs #barbiedog
Whats the weirdest item you see making up the thing?
My personal favorite is the "clothing optional" sign lol
What better way to really see what the thing is like than a little tour!?
I'll be honest this was one of the first videos I filmed using my @insta360 and its taken me so long to post it because I haven't had enough memory on my phone (The 360 videos take up so much space, but they are worth it!) 😅
I bought myself a tablet as a birthday present so I can use it to edit photos and videos more easily. So far I'm pretty happy!
Enjoy this little adventure with my dogs, and I!
#thething #yql #lethbridge #adventureswithdogs #husky #insta360 #urbanlegend #lifewithdogs #dogsofinstagram #dogsofcanada #albertadogs #uleth #positivereinforcement #dailydog #dogreels #instadogs #huskyworld
What else would you add to this list?
I started deep diving into dog behaviour, training and cognition when I decided to start training Nova as a service dog.
I still made so many mistakes over the years with her and with my other dogs.
I thought training a dog should just come naturally, and that people should just "know" what to do and how to communicate with dogs, but boy was I wrong.
5+ years of heavily devoting myself to being that best I van be for my dogs and there is still so much that I don't know, and that's okay. What I do know now is when and who to reach out to for help when I don't understand.
I know now that dogs do not perceive the world at all in the same way humans do, I know now that we need to teach dogs how to coexist with us, other dogs and other humans.
I know we need to set reasonable expectations, because after all they are still dogs.
I've had a few comments saying "how can you give training advice when your dogs misbehave?"
But here's the thing - my dogs bark, and dig, and occasionally makes messes and chew things they shouldn't.
But also - I recognize that is 100% my fault. Either my dogs are bored, or anxious, or I haven't taught them what I want in a situation.
#dogtraining #forcefreetraining #positivereinforcement #husky #huskymix #fosterdog #dogreel
To the people who tell me they wouldn't be able to foster a dog because it would be too hard to let them go.
I don't do it because the joy and happiness far outweighs any of the sadness.
As the old saying of you can't have the rainbow without the rain.
It is hard to let them go, and that's part of the beauty of it.
I made this when we got our new foster Aries, but the thing is we would t be able to keep fostering dogs if we kept them. So they get to go to their forever home, and we get to help another dog.
#fosterdog #animalrescue #dogrescue
Fostering, foster dogs, how to foster a dog
This is part 2 of our practice search.
This was a mock trial set up, with unknown number of hides and unknown location.
See part one for more details.
#scentwork #scentdetection #nosework #sdda #workingdog #dogswithjobs
