Intuitive Dog Training

11/09/2024

When the social dynamics of the group and their collective level of training allow, It is such a treat to be able to do group off leash walks together!

Prerequisite skills:
- automatic check-ins
- solid recall away from big distractions
- appropriate social behavior with other dogs

Very proud of this crew!

11/08/2024

10/20/2024

Good breeders ❤️

Today was visiting day for Emmy's litter, and I got to go and meet the pups and their wonderful new families along with them!

I have had the pleasure of working with Ma2Doodles and her puppies for over 4 years now, and can unequivocally say Dina is the gold standard! From complete health testing including OFA's that cover both breeds, to ENS, puppy culture, potty training, and hand feeding, not to mention selecting forte best pet dog temperaments in her breedings, these puppies never cease to amaze me with how easy they are to train.

Above all, these puppies are raised surrounded by so much love from the moment they are born.

Thank you Massachusetts Goldendoodles for breeding fantastic dogs time and time again. I can't wait to get two of these little ones in for their puppy camps!!

10/18/2024

Big Man Ollie the Bernedoodle is here to work on his basic obedience and manners in public! Ollie has a fun-loving family who wants to take him on all sorts of adventures, so good loose leash walking, solid stays, and a reliable recall will help Ollie live his best life as a social butterfly 🦋

10/06/2024

Frankie runs with the big dogs 💪😍

10/06/2024

Some great insight on nail trims, and also on the broader subject of changing how a dog feels about something that is upsetting to them. Patience and trust in the process are so key

Here is a photo of Quest's nails. She has always hated restraint, including nail trims. For a long time she was nervous of the dremel (which is my prefered method of trimming nails). Since she was a puppy I have tried getting her comfortable with the dremel. Praticing the usual approaches that everyone says will work. Well....it didn't work.

What worked was TIME. RELATIONSHIP BUILDING. TRUST. It took a look effong time tbh.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't perfect. And she still hates restraint. But, she allowed me to finally dremel two nails last night.

I personally have a pet peeve with long nails, not to mention the issues it can have on a dog's body, gait etc.

Aside from time, relationship building and trust, I had her around when I dremeled Journeys nails. Journey didn't typically like that Quest was around during trims but I figured it would help her get use to the sound, especially while she wasn't restrained. I felt allowing her to see me do Journeys nails would potentially help a little as well.

Last night was the first time she allowed the dremel to touch her nails while it was on. She seemed to not care so much, so I decided to attempt a trim on one nail.

I would trim for 1-3 seconds, then either toss her toy or send her to take her toy. She would run and play and even watch me do Journeys nails some more. Then if she came over to play or interact, i repeated the process. Nail trim = play. I tried play and nail trims in the past, as this is how I was able to have Journey tolerate nail trims. But it never worked for Quest, until now. ❤️🐶

This has taken a long time. Something I haven't pushed. I spent more time building our relationship away from this which is part of why I feel she finally allowed this to happen. I will try to get some video of this as I continue getting through those pesky nails. Fingers crossed 🤞.

10/04/2024

Fantastic Frankie (blonde) and her wonderful brother Murphy enjoyed an outing to Tractor Supply Co today and absolutely rocked it! These confident, friendly young pups worked on their passive socialization, loose leash walking, and basic engagement around all sorts of distractions.

10/03/2024

We start 'em (off leash walking) young 💪

09/29/2024

It's the best time of the year! And by that, I mean we have Ma2Doodles pups here for Puppy Jumpstart once again ❤️
Every time I have pups from MA Doodles in I'm so impressed with their fantastic temperaments, head start on potty training, and how easy they are to integrate into daily life with myself and the dogs. They are still puppies and are working on crate training, house training leash walking, coming when called, and socialization. But they are so much fun!

09/24/2024

Rewarding offered check-ins: the foundation of our off-leash walking!
One thing that I always do when hiking dogs off leash is rewarding them with a treat when they decide to come back to me on their own. This helps the dogs learn to keep track of me when they are starting out on their off leash journey, and maintains a solid foundation of attention even when they are fully off leash trained like these guys are!

09/22/2024

My 1-year-old Malinois, Squirrel, started learning how to do weave poles recently and has been an absolute star!
The behavior you see here looks much different from how her weaves will look in 6 months. Speed will naturally increase as she understands the behavior, but right now she is slowing down and thoughtfully completing the set of six, even with tough entries, and that's exactly how I want her to work right now!
Whenever we are teaching a dog, a new behavior, whether it's an agility obstacle like weave poles or learning to walk nicely on leash in public, starting slow and breaking down the behavior into chunks that the dog can understand and execute successfully is how all good training gets accomplished!

09/14/2024

Young Artemis learning to do...nothing. Doing nothing is the hardest thing for an energetic young dog to learn!

09/10/2024

Just two happy young Belgian Shepherds enjoying this gorgeous weather and off leash freedom! With working breeds. It is incredibly important that their exercise needs are met, and off leash hikes are a great way to do that!

09/06/2024

Handsome Artemis is a young Belgian Tervuren here for basic manners, off-leash reliability, and public access training. Like most adolescent Tervs he has LOTS of energy and struggles with self-control. He is learning how to channel his energy into appropriate outlets (play), and is also learning exactly what we would like him to do when out in public. Characteristic of the breed he is very quick to learn and to test boundaries, but he has been a very fun boy to work and play with already!

08/22/2024

Stella (black and brown) and Stanley (brown and white) are two "siblings" here for confidence camp and some basic manners!
I start every training relationship this way, and while it isn't riveting dog training, it's incredibly important to build a bond between trainer and dog, and to teach the dog that they can push for reinforcement from me.
As you can see here, Stella is wary of coming too close to me, so I just work with her brother Stanley until she decides she would like to be involved, and reward that heavily! I also am always moving backwards to take the pressure off of Stella and encourage her to push into my space with confidence.
These two are already so fun!

08/22/2024

A day at the farm!
Baxter is here to work on basic obedience, and a big part of that is learning to perform those obedience behaviors in all sorts of different settings under all sorts of distractions. What better place to learn that a farm? Good boy Bax!

07/25/2024

Myself (Haylie) and my Border Collie Swift with a winning agility run at an agility trial in Rhode Island! This is one of the dog sports we train and compete in, and one of the reasons we've been so busy this summer!