If you’ve put in the practice on your recall in many different situations it should work anywhere, hypothetically!
We usually recommend beginning work on a long line, then a fenced area gradually increasing in size, and finally, if your dog is doing well, off leash well away from a road. I personally don’t ever practice off leash near a road, or in a place where my dog’s failure to recall could result in an interaction with an unknown dog or walker. The longer I do this the more humble/cautious I become!
This is a journey and not a predictable one, so always keep working at it and try not to get too comfortable, or your dog will surely make an example of your hubris.
Here I am at Excelsior Pass with Adira. It was a hard hike for us both and I had unleashed to better navigate the snow. She may or may not have needed my whistle after her name, but it’s always a nice extra to have trained beforehand.
If your dog is well trained, sometimes it is a better choice at a water crossing to briefly unleash. I don’t often rely on dogs making good choices where water is involved, so knowing your dog and using common sense and caution is key.
Here Tommy and Adira show how it’s done on the way to Heather Lake!
I’m always careful about putting a large and a small dog together for play, no matter what their socialization history, for safety reasons. It can increase the risk of accidental injury to the small dog, even if the larger dog is playing nicely.
You can see in this match between Hudson and Bo, the terrier mix, that Hudson is doing his best to get small over and over again. I love when a big dog is accommodating like this, it makes the interaction less risky and also extremely cute!
As with any play match, dynamics can change daily or by the minute, so I will continue to keep a close eye on these two. If Hudson begins to do more fast running or chasing, for example, I will probably separate them.
For now though, it’s a pleasure to see two strangers enjoying each other’s company so much😌
I had been working with these three little monkeys all week long but was still surprised and delighted when they were able to do place together in such an organized way!
Meet Charlie!
Charlie is one of our students that is working through one of our more advanced programs. In this video, you can see we are starting to add distance to basic commands, for example, the down command in this video. When I initially begin training this concept, I like to use a toy for the reward if possible as this helps create fast responses and gets the dog really excited to be working for the owner.
I don’t know if my board and train Claire is pro union or just thinks that might be too many dogs, but she was definitely invested in the discussion😂.
Claire is one of those dogs that seems to enjoy watching television, and usually does it quite passively. She will react on occasion to another animal on screen though, and I’ve used that to work on place stay in conjunction with tv distraction.
The set up is the same that you would use to desensitize door knocks or entrances while working on place stay. It helps to have something playing that will reliably and frequently trigger the dog to react.
My TikTok algorithm is very helpful as it is very dog and horse content heavy! You can open up the app on your smart tv and search for dog videos as well to play while you practice.
This type of set up is not a substitute for getting out in the real world and working on reactivity there, but can be a nice add on for a rainy day!
If you are unfamiliar with place stay or how to start working on your dog’s reactivity in general, contact us through our website and we can help get you started on the right track!
Adira, Violet and Cosette have developed quite a nice little play routine through the fence lately. I could watch them all day🥰
The board and train dogs that stay here get daily exposure to the goats and horses, and I often use them for distraction when practicing obedience exercises.
We also offer private lessons where you can practice with your dog around horses or goats!
Multiple dog household management
This video shows a glimpse into one of the many skills I feel are important for a dog to know when they live in a multiple dog household.
This dog is one of my day training clients. She is a fantastic dog that I love working with but she is very impulsive by nature and lives with another dog.
In the video, you can watch me demonstrate a Leave it cue. Being able to have your dog leave something alone in a multiple dog household can help you avoid problematic situations that may lead to a fight between your dogs.
It is important to understand that there is soo much that goes into managing and resolving conflict between housemates, but I can tell you that you want to pay careful attention to what I call “V-Shapes”
This is when two dogs converge at once on an item/person that they find valuable.
An example could be your dogs converging at the same when you drop food, throw a ball, fence charging, or even competing for your attention.
Being able to communicate to your dog to leave something alone when you want, will vastly help you manage a multiple dog home.
Puppy Training
I was doing a lesson with this puppy last week and we were covering the general foundations skills that we typically go over with a puppy.
One topic that always comes up, is biting and mouthing .
There are some things that you can do to lessen the amount of biting that you experience, however you cannot suppress the puppy’s desire to bite entirely . You need to give your puppy outlets to get all of that energy out of them.
You can see in the video that I have a rope toy tied to a long piece of rope. I do this for several reasons.
Because the toy is tied to the rope rather than in your hand, it allows all of the biting in lunging to be directed away from your hands and body.
You also have complete control over the toy and can animate it to make it more interesting. A toy bouncing around on the ground that you can actively play Tug-of-war with is going to be more interesting than a toy rest.
I think Maple might be asking her parents for a goat when she gets home from her board and train! Let us know about your dogs’ interspecies friendships in the comments!
Dogs enjoying watermelon
The dogs enjoy their watermelon snack.
What type of foods besides meat does your dog like?
Recall Training
Happy with my current progress with one of my day training students.
If you listen to the video you can here how I typically give my recall cue. It’s short and specific. I want it to sound different to the dog than how I would normally talk to them in other scenarios.
If I can’t get this type of response in low distraction situations such as a fenced in yard, then I’m not ready for high distraction environments.
You have to build a recall in phases and take great care in your training progression throughout the different phases.
Whistle recall Demonstration
Whistle recalls are often more effective and easy to train with a little dedication.
Get in touch with us if you would like to start training a solid recall with your dog!
Here is a quick video of me dealing with Meadow’s excitement in the morning while I’m preparing everyone’s food.
2 videos taking a year and a half apart. Progress takes time. #rescuedog
Working with my motley crew
Short behind the scenes video of training two board and trains to learn to remain calm on a dog bed.
Nothing too exciting here as a lot of dog training that is truly beneficial doesn’t get a lot of attention on social media.
A few things I will add that you might not pick up from the video is that one dog is on leash and one is off leash. This is because the dog on the right has been in training longer and more advanced.
Also notice that the dog on the left is panting. When you are starting to increase the length of time on your stays, it’s better to do so after the dog has had a little exercise rather than practicing when the dog is full of energy. This helps set up everyone for success.
Looking at the comments on my last post, you can see that different dogs enjoy playing in different ways. Some dogs may enjoy playing with toys, some dogs enjoy search games, and some may enjoy simply playing with their owner through various games that the owner and dog have created themselves.
One reason why I bring up play is because it is often not utilized enough in training. Even in the training industry, we often use food to reinforce behaviors but sometimes overlook play as a way to encourage and motivate certain behaviors we are looking to train. It is also very useful in changing emotional associations for problematic behaviors like leash reactivity.
Here are just a couple of topics on play that I sometimes discuss with clients in lessons.
1) Understand that you can use play to strengthen and improve behaviors that you would like your dog to become more proficient at. For example, let’s look at Recall, aka come when called. What if instead of starting a game of fetch, find me, or roughhousing, you taught your dog that coming to you is the predictor that begins the game?
For example, instead of picking the ball and starting the game of fetch, hide the ball in your pocket and then surprise the dog with a game of fetch after you have called them to you.
If your dog likes to be chased, then call them to you and then chase them after you called them to you. Then call them to you again and then chase them again. This way, you show your dog that coming to you starts the game rather than avoiding you starts the game.
2)If you have a fearful dog, incorporating play can be a real game changer in your relationship. Why? Because when a dog is afraid, they will not play. They may take food when they are afraid, but they will not play. If you can slowly start teaching your dog to play with you, it will be extremely useful in bringing them out of their shell with you. This may take some time especially with a newly adopted dog that has come to you with a lot of
Enjoyed the group walk today. So much improvement with these dogs!
Tip for maintaining your Recall (Come)
