Phoenix K9 Training Advanced Obedience Group Classes!
My first lovely group of students have almost completed their set of classes and they’ve come so far! These dogs have a phenomenal understanding of marker words, communication, they have off leash reliability, lovely obedience and we have had so much fun.
My group classes run for 8 weeks and I only allow 6 dogs per class. I have 12 spots available for the next run of classes (2 separate groups) starting end of September...6 spots have already been filled so be quick!
If you want to train your dog to a high standard, create a beautiful working relationship with your dog, have the clearest communication possible, and work your dog around other dogs in a controlled environment while building handler engagement and focus... get in touch today!
Thank you to my amazing pack walker phoenixk9mike for making this video for me!
THIS is what dog neutrality looks like. Neutral to the incoming dog, totally focused on me and the command she is in.
Luna is only 11 months old and she’s here for advanced obedience as well as ironing out a few puppy problems.
She is incredibly bright, driven, engaged, and full on and I’m loving my time with her.
Mamba was scared of even stepping up onto a slightly raised surface when she arrived here. It took me 15 minutes of encouragement and patience to get her onto a 20-30cm high tree stump in her first week with me.
Everything made her nervous.
Everything made her jump.
Everything was a distraction.
It’s been 4 weeks of non stop hard work and training with this dog and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat to see these beautiful changes happen in a dog. It’s so incredible to see Mambas personality shine through once I’d wiped away her layer of insecurity.
She jumps up onto everything now, without any hesitation or prompting... I think it’s safe to say that her confidence has increased just a tad 🤣
This girl has been an absolute pleasure to train. She is truly incredible and I will miss her terribly, but I can’t keep them all!
Four dogs sitting on a log, good girls.
It’s always important to train your dog EVERYWHERE. Remember that whenever you go anywhere with your dog, you have the opportunity to train, or undo training.
I train pops everywhere, always utilizing my environment for training as you can see in this video.
This was at the top of a mountain in California, filled with tourists, and we went up there simply to enjoy the sunset... but why not squeeze in some training too?
Notice her neutrality to all the people and the environment itself, this is a quality I build in all the dogs I own and train because to me it’s one of the most valuable qualities in a dog.
Training with distractions turned up a notch.
Manners at meal times are so important, but especially in a multi dog household.
Food is extremely rewarding to dogs, so without proper training, manners and responsibility on your part you could create some pretty bad behavioral issues surrounding food.
All of my dogs work for 95% of their food, so at the end they get an egg and their supplements and liquids in a bowl, because I’m not attempting to hand feed that stuff 😂
I could make this simple, and shut them in their crates or in a room one by one to eat this, OR I could make use of the opportunity and train them. I obviously always pick the latter.
What are we working on?
- Impulse Control
- Respect for both me, and each other
- Manners
*Do not try this until you KNOW you can trust your dogs to sit and wait while the other dog eats, build it up slowly until you have a mutual level of trust in your relationship.
Working on change of positions with Poppy, with no hand signals, and no reward in sight.
One of my faults as a trainer is using my body too much, and I often think it’s because I spent so many years of my life dancing... I find in hard to stand still in GENERAL, so when I train dogs, I still move like a dancer at times by habit 🤣 So that’s something I’m working hard on right now.
Using hand signals isn’t necessary unless your dog is deaf, nor is it at all beneficial. Dogs aren’t verbal learners, they’re visual learners. So when we train them to the point that they are LISTENING to what we say, and not watching what we do or waiting for a visual cue, we have much more solidified, reliable training. You can’t SHOW a dog to lie down when they’re 20ft away from you with their back turned. You can only tell them!
Hand signals are easy for them, verbal cues take far more concentration and understanding of the command itself. It is much more impressive as it’s unnatural to them to rely on verbal cues.
Can you spot where in this video I use body cues to help her with a behavior? There are two behaviors that we are still currently proofing, therefore a visual cue is still necessary. But one is a hand target (last phase of luring) and one is a lure. Can anyone tell me which two behaviors these are?
🧐🤓🤔
