Yesterday was a busy day, filled with amazing progress from some incredible clients and dogs.
Fern has been working on her reactivity, pur last appt she fixated on the fake dog, and had a hard time disengaging. Yesterday's appt was a huge success. I'm so proud of her, and therefore, our next appt will be at a park for some real-life stuff.
Cooperative care is so important for our pets. When I talk about this in classes or private lessons, I always say it's your dogs choice and what makes them comfortable. No forcing.
Leeloo has always been a total rockstar at nail trims. Up until several months ago, when she absolutely would not allow me to touch her feet, we tried everything to see why the change. I chalked it up to a negative experience at a groomers. My only guess would be that there may have been some force to get them done, or her quick was hit a few times causing pain. Of course, I will never know why the change, and can only guess.
So, over the past four months, every time she is here for day training, I've been counter conditioning her to feet touching and the clippers.
She's come a long way, and we've managed to clip some nails before she opts to walk away, which I allow. There's no pressure, no force, and if she doesn't even want feet touching, I never push it with her. She very clearly let's me know she's not wanting it , and I give her all the space she needs.
This sort of stuff takes time after a negative experience. It's best to work in this with your puppy while young. Feet touching, nails, pads, between toes, touching clippers to the feet. I also always suggest not having the clippers hidden in a drawer that only come out when we are going to do nails. If you are uncomfortable doing this yourself, find a professional, and make sure they offer force free methods.
Unstoppable.....
Just another awesome client working hard with their dog..
Stevie has come leaps and bounds since we started his training back in April. Again, it was a trial and error with what he could and couldn't manage. We opted for some home appts, and those have worked wonderfully for him. We worked in the backyard with some basic skills and teaching him to find and search. Utilizing his sniffer to engage more with the ground rather than be hyper focused on everything else.
Yesterday, we worked the front yard, I didn't get a video, but stevie went and sniffed the ground often during our lesson, which is super huge for him
Also, look at this leash walk. What a pro...
Doing the homework I send you is so important. Even though stevie still struggles, he's doing incredibly well from where we began. I am always reminding clients to celebrate the small wins. Think back two or three months back. Could your dog do what they are doing now?
Two months ago, stevie wouldn't have even been able to hold still in the front yard, let alone walk with his human...
I am so incredibly proud of Hoss and his pawrents.
Hoss had some reactivity, and after inside appts, we moved to some outside appts. Things did not seem to be getting much better for him, so I reached out to my circle of dog people and got him set up with an entirely new training plan. We worked on the front driveway today, and he did incredibly well. I even stood in the center, as people can also be a bit difficult for him.
His family created space when he started to add tension to the leash and reset. He continued beside me with a loose leash and focus on his human.
Great work. 👍
I met Kiera and her mom at Henderson for a lesson. Can't even believe I'm doing lessons outside mid December. Anyhow.....
When I first met kiera she was nervous, timid, and leash reactive to most moving objects. Bikes, walkers, dogs, ect. We've been working hard on building her confidence, trust and moving past her triggers. This is our first outside lesson and she absolutely killed it. We seen two Bikes, one came from behind us, and she would normally spin around on her leash, but she checked in with her mom Instead.
I'm so proud of her and her family for working so hard with her. It's incredible to see such a huge change in her leash skills and general confidence.
I absolutely loooove when clients come in for a follow-up lesson and are incredibly happy with their dogs' progress thus far.
Murphy came in for some lessons to help with his overall confidence, leash skills, and jumping on people. He has made huge progress in all areas.
Training is really in your hands as their guardian/parent. If you don't put in the work outside of lessons, you will never see change.
(December 10th is the next puppy social, head to the website to book Www.paws-on-training.com)
Who's ready for a challenge??
I will post a full write-up on sunday.
In this video below, what things do you notice with the dogs, and what do those suggest to you?
For instance - dog has whale eyes or ears pinned, dog most likely is uncomfortable, or nervous.
Comment below with your thoughts, even if you just have a general thought on kids and dogs.
Happy friday!