Black Magic Dog Training

06/16/2022

06/16/2022

Dasha and Andrew had a session out of a training package with Mr. Toby and his humans.

Tobi is a rescue and in his new home has been working on basic obedience, manners, structure, and respect for his humans.

In past sessions we have worked on meeting other dogs, leash-handling skills, and started on basic obedience. At this session we focused solely on in house matters. There have been some changes in Toby's life, mom had a surgery, Toby is having food allergies, and the leadership and responsibility for him has shifted somewhat towards his sister, all these changes have left Toby scrambling to find his place.

The most important issue to tackle today was Toby's purported reactivity to his human sister. We started with the basics - energy levels, respect, and bond building. We found that because of Toby's enthusiasm (read over excitement), it was making his human sister uncomfortable and essentially Toby was starting to push her around. We talked about the importance of our energy and how we display confidence to our dog so that they have a safe place to exist under our leadership.

We have got the whole family on hand feeding Toby to start. Hand feeding is an excellent way to add value to our existence to our dogs, "this person gives me food, i like/need this person". Immediately we saw a change in Toby's behaviour with his sister. This is not a one day fix though, like many things this requires consistency to stick.

Toby has been exhibiting some destructive behaviours inside the house and in the backyard. We talked about and practiced how to teach him which things are his toys and which things are not. On top of this, we talked about how important it is to not give him the opportunity to screw it up - if that means more crate time when we can't actively watch him - that is where we will start.

This was one of those session where we left with some really good feelings. We entered into a house where the people were uncomfortable with Toby's behaviour and feeling generally stuck. By the end of our session we had encouraged new confidence, hope, and an optimism of how the future years with Toby will be.

Stay tuned for more Toby in coming weeks!

06/16/2022

Ms. Molly is back for another session with Dasha and Andrew.

Today we worked on Molly's excitement at the door (inside and outside the house), about the vacuum, and her digging in the garden.

Starting with excitement at the door, we talked about and worked on desensitizing Molly to the comings and goings of people through the front door. How even though Molly is interested in people putting on and taking off their shoes, that she still needs to present and calm with us in the house. While she is learning about this her family is going to try leaving a short leash on her. If she refuses to listen to us (recall) and leave the person at the door alone, we can just calmly walk over pick up the leash and move somewhere else to practice calm engagement.

Excitement for vacuums is very common. Homework for working on the vacuum is essentially the same skills we have been practicing with seeing/meeting new dogs outside. If you are calm, you can check it out, if you aren't calm, we will move away until we can practice calm engagement in that spot, then move closer and practice more. There are more strategies we worked on that when used all together can effectively shift the way our dog cares about the vacuum. At the end of the day, if your dog is uncomfortable with the vacuum, you have to vacuum, and you don't have the time or ability to practice calm behaviour - there is NOTHING WRONG with putting your dog in a quiet, safe place, to relax and sleep while you do your chores.

Finally digging in the garden - if Molly doesn't listen or respect the rules in the backyard, then we need to reel back on her level of freedom until she understands the rules and boundaries. Dogs have urges - like digging - that are rewarding for them to satisfy. It is our job to find ways that our dogs can perform their doggly desires without destruction or danger. You can direct energy for digging towards things like puzzles and snuffle mats. Possibly most important though, is that she doesn't get the opportunity to satisfy those needs in the garden - that may mean more involved supervision or a leash in the backyard for a time. Step one is only allowing what you want to happen, to happen.

06/16/2022

Dasha and Andrew had their first session out of a Mixed Breed 5 pack with Ms. Lupi!

Lupi is a Border Collie Mix and we've been asked to help with her reactivity inside and outside the house.

We started at the front door and found Lupi to be very timid of new people in her space. We decided to move quickly into the fun stuff, got leashed up and headed out for a walk. We talked lots about how to turn challenges and triggers into opportunities for training.

Lupi loves to stare at other dogs (is this a collie thing??), but then is offended when other dogs stare at her for too long. To guide Lupi through these awkward interactions with other dogs we started working on a *Look* command. Keep in mind, we are not try to create robot, we WANT Lupi to look at dogs, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the world - we just also want Lupi to be able to engage with us.

We gave Lupi's parents a lot of homework - exercises to do inside the home with just Lupi, when new people come over, and exercises to do when we go out for a walk or are in a more stimulating environment.

At the end of our session we had a really great interaction with a neighbour and another person training their puppy Corgi nearby.

We have one more training session with Lupi before they move on to work with Kelly and her pack, so check back to see Lupi's progress!

06/16/2022

Rowdy rottie Rosie had a session with Dasha and Andrew. Actually, after multiple session with different trainers with The Pack, Rosie has not shown her true rowdy self or so says her parents. 😅

This session we started off on a calm walk around the neighbourhood looking for dogs to trigger Rosie. We met rude dogs and good dogs and never had any issues - this is pretty typical when there is a dog trainer around.

After talking about thresholds and calm engagement we got to practice with a nearby racoon.

The nice thing about dog trainers that bring their own dogs is we can recreate some real-life situations in a controlled environment. We brought Voodoo out to be a triggering, staring, rude dog, her resting bitch face, unchecked and uncontrolled, can always trigger a dog.

This got a reaction out of Rosie! Yay! Finally that was our opportunity for mom and dad to practice dog reactivity and thresholds. We spent a little time practicing this before we moved on to a walk.
We got Voodoo and Rosie to meet PROPERLY, everyone shook it off and we called it a day.

06/16/2022

Dasha and Andrew had a session with Norman!

Norman had his initial assessment with Kelly and will be working through a package that includes training with all of us!

Understanding that he was a little on edge throughout his initial assessment and typically with new people in the house we weren't sure how he would respond initially. However, much to Norman's parents surprise, he was quite comfortable with Andrew. This is partly because Andrew did not force any interaction on Norman, not even eye contact. Very quickly Norman relaxed and eventually went to sleep in the middle of the session!

We spent some time discussing how to set our dog (and visitors) up for success when they come into our space. Our dogs need strong confident leadership so we are always looking for ways to emphasize and display that role. For one, having house rules clearly communicated to visitors, like do not touch my dog, do not stare at my dog, or do not feed my dog. These rules MUST be communicated and enforced with visitors - if you cannot count on them to follow your rules, they should not get the privilege of being around your dog. Another aspect of leadership is teaching our dog what we need out of them and rewarding them for following our rules for THEM. Things like a strong place command and being comfortable in a crate give structure and security to a shifting environment and atmosphere.

We talked about having some high value treats on hand when we are trying to make or break behaviours (Norman was a big fan of stinky fish treats).

Norman's mom and dad were super excited to see results already, and were eager to begin working on their homework. Stay tuned for more with Norman!

06/16/2022

Dasha and Andrew had a session with Mr. Axel! Look at that hair-do!!!

Axel has been working on some reactivity to dogs and wheeled transportation. As usual we started out inside the house a little bit but because most the issues are outside we moved on quickly.

We went for a walk with Axel, got some leash handling techniques honed in and then started adding dogs.

First Voodoo came out and we walked around until Axel understood that excessive excitement will not allow him to meet Voodoo. We exchanged bum sniffs and then did the same thing with a PB&Chi Dog Rescue Society foster puppy who is staying with Dasha and Andrew.

While we were walking we saw a repeat offender/trigger for Axel, a neighbourhood yellow lab. The first time we saw them mom choked up on the leash and said "oh no, this dog always triggers Axel". We talked about how to not pre-trigger our dog and turn challenges and previous issues into training opportunities. Later we saw the dog again and were able to calmly continue our walk without much reactivity. We had a similar experience with a vehicle driving by.

We will be seeing Axel again soon and we are going to go to a more dog saturated location to really put him and his mom to work!

06/16/2022

Kobe had his final combo trainer session with Kelly, Dasha and Andrew.

Kobe has come a long long way since our first session! We have worked on human reactivity, dog reactivity, and manners inside the house.

The whole family came to this session to see Kobe shine. He met Voodoo, Dobby, and a friend's dog and was absolutely perfection.

We talked lots about how to take his training even further for the foreseeable future. We practiced some leash handling techniques when encountering rude dogs in our day to day lives.

We talked about how to deal with reactivity to the mailman (seems stereotypical!) and how to add fun and games into our daily dog training activities.

It was an absolute honour to work with Kobe and his large, loving family. If you search up Kobe on our page you can see his entire training journey!

06/16/2022

This here is Freddie! He has been working on some various behavioural issues with Dasha and Andrew!

This session was a entirely in home as we wanted to set him up for a sort of boot camp with his family and to guide them through what that will look like.

Freddie is very loved, very very loved. So much so that he has his way with everyone and everything. Time for a reality check - time to whip this dashing young man into shape!

We worked on what healthy boundaries look like, how to be crystal clear in what we expect out of our dogs, and how to balance structure and discipline with our unconditional love for our dogs.

Freddie's family are very committed to his training and we have no doubt that they will be doing all the homework we gave them. Check back soon to see how he is progressing!

06/16/2022

Dasha and Andrew had another session with Mr. Rollo!

Rollo and his mom were working on some dog reactivity previously and we made some really good progress on that. However, after some life changes and disruption he started acting a little reactive with certain people on the street.

First we all walked together to discuss what specifically about these seemingly random people was upsetting Rollo. A big factor was how cute Rollo is - I know, how could being cute cause problems!? (I wonder this in my day to day life as well). When people are especially enamored with Rollo they stare, or even worse, they move in to greet him or touch him. This is not allowed. We must always take a strong, confident stance with other people that they must go through you to get to your dog. I will say it again - NO ONE GETS TO TOUCH YOUR DOG WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION (as we work through issues like this you can even tell people not to look at your dog, "don't stare, its weird"). When our dog feels subjected to the world that we are supposed to be guiding them through, they will put up their own boundaries, whether you like how those boundaries look or not.

So, our remedy here is for Rollo's mom to take a much more active, upfront, clear role with Rollo and all the people they encounter. Once Rollo understands again, that mom is the first line of defense he will stop acting like the first line of defense. Dogs are VERY clear communicators - if they are uncomfortable, they will let you know. It is our responsibility to get out in front of every situation and handle it, when your dog sees that you are a capable and confident leader they will feel an immense relief.

06/16/2022

Poppy had her initial assessment with Dasha and Andrew.

This cute girl comes to us to work on some basic manners (leash manners, jumping on people, excessive barking).

During our session we set the foundation for how we get calm engagement with our dogs and how we can turn every situation into a training opportunity (oh yay the mailman, my chance for training, as opposed to, oh damn the mailman again).

We then brought our training outside to practice some structured socialization and how to meet dogs politely. At first Poppy was VERY excited to see new dogs, and also frustrated to be on leash and not able to go bounding up to the new dogs. We took our time and showed her that if she can be calm, she can have the good stuff (like meeting new dogs).

As we walked around the neighbourhood we found some children playing with a frisbee (training opportunity) and we practiced there too.

We gave Poppy's family a lot of homework and will be checking in on them to keep them on track!

06/16/2022

Dasha and Andrew had an initial assessment with Gus!

Gus is an energetic young golden retriever who has been dealing with over-excitement when it comes to meet new dogs and at times excessive barking.

We talked about building a stronger bond, raising our value to our dog, and that it all begins at home, without distractions. Things like hand feeding, praising for calm, barriers to entry are all things that will help improve dog/handler relationship.

A previous trainer that Gus' parents worked with said no treats for training - that is just not the way we do things with The Pack. We believe that if you do good, you should get good - whether that is food, toys, or verbal praise or all of the above. AND LET ME TELL YOU - this boy will work for that food! Adding some high value treats into his training was an immediate game changer.

We moved onto to seeing how Gus would do meeting Voodoo and at first, predictably, he was very excited. We worked on thresholds, leash pressure, and again, praising for calm. We also worked on the look command. We eventually did get a proper introduction between the two which was an essential learning experience for Gus' parents as they want to work on structured socializing on their own as well.

We will be seeing Gus again as he has a combo pack with Kelly, and Dasha and Andrew!

06/16/2022

Dasha and Andrew had an initial assessment with Manhattan (Manny).

Manny and his parents have reached out for help with his human and dog reactivity, leash manners, and basic obedience.

As soon as we got to the front door we could hear Mr. Manny alerting everyone. We were the perfect visitors to show just how quickly our dogs can learn what kind of behaviour is required when there are guests or new people.

We talked lots about how to improve Manny's parents bond with Manny, and how to make them the most valuable important people in his life.

We also spent some time teaching an exercise to practice recall (side affects of being fun and improving our bond with our dog).

As this is a busy family house it will be important for Mom and Dad to get everyone else on board with the house rules and training - including guests!

We will be seeing them again soon to begin working practically on the dog reactivity side of things!

06/02/2022

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05/11/2022

Dasha and Andrew had another session with Mr. Gatsby!

We have been working on leash manners, reactivity, and basic obedience.

To start our session we brought Voodoo out and did our normal proper dog introductions. If you have other people and dogs to practice with you should take every opportunity you get to teach your dog how to calmly meet new dogs.

While meeting Voodoo we noticed Gatsby was not respecting being on-leash, partly because of being on a harness. We decided to practice with a slip-lead because it creates a much better connection between handler and dog.

Immediately after switching to the slip lead, practicing leash pressure, and communicating clearly to Gatsby what we expect his on-leash behaviour to be, we were walking with much less pulling, jumping, and spinning. We brought Dobby out so that Gatsby had a new dog to be excited about and practiced more with the slip-lead.

In The Pack we put a huge emphasis on learning how all dog equipment is used properly. There is no one-size-fits-all piece of equipment - in this case we will be using both a slip-lead and harness for different activities going forward. The slip lead is for when we want perfect leash manners (like on the sidewalk or in stores) and the harness will be used for sports and high energy activities (like hiking, scent-work, learning on the long line).

Gatsby and his mom have their homework to practice with the slip-lead when the situation dictates and always have crystal clear, consistent communication with your dog on how you expect them to behave in any given situation.