Cross Tier K9

04/24/2024

01/02/2024

12/26/2023

BILLINGS, Mont. - The Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter says they were able to clear their shelter just in time for Christmas. YVAS says every adoptable pet was able to find

09/30/2023

New Episode Drop!!!
Check out the newest episode of The Dog Dialectic Podcast !
https://www.airbornek9.com/podcast

09/22/2023

On Sept 20th, one of Cornerstone K9’s own beloved Shepherds, Ryn, started showin… Haylie Kremnitzer needs your support for Help with Ryns Emergency Vet Visit

09/15/2023

Contact us for more details.

October Hard Surface Tracking workshop.

Working Spots: $1200 per team
Audit spots: $800 per person

This 5 day course is designed around K9 teams with limited to no experience tracking humans across asphalt, cement, and other hard surfaces found in urban environments.

Tracking theory
Hands on training
Trouble shooting
Transitioning to varying surfaces

09/03/2023

Compartmentalized training
Successive Approximation
Systematic Desensitization

Sometimes, behaviors are complex or issues themselves are complex. Breaking down the problem into fundamental compartments is often helpful.

This is a behavior mod dog where the solution wasn't clear. We needed to identify all of the controllable variables that revolved around the situation and go from there.

We like to start dogs on "easy mode" most of the time. We ask, "What is the easiest compartment for the dog to grasp?" and then work that angle until we have consistency. Then move on to the next compartment. This can be a form of successive approximation.

In this instance, we need to build time away and around this dog to systematically desensitize them to being alone and being in their kennel. This particular struggles with our typical approach, so we had to move on to a more analytically based method.

09/03/2023

On-Leash
Off-Leash
Obedience Training
Personal Training
Aggression Issues
Behavioral Issues

30% off all services for the entire month of September!

High Level dog training designed around your dog and your schedule!

08/24/2023

Meet Lilly, our new foster from Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter

She is very very fearful, very avoidant, and submissively pees a lot, so we're gonna work on that with her!

08/24/2023

Are you having problems with your puppy? Are you struggling with potty training? Struggling with crying over night? Shoot us a message, we'd love to help!

08/23/2023

Everyone welcome the newest member of the team: Jinx (binx chenil du loup des bois)

08/20/2023

On Tuesday we're adding a new member to our dog team: "Jinx" Binx Chenil du Loup des Bois. Right now, she's a feral potato, but we're looking forward to watching her grow.

Chenil du Loup des Bois
Garrison Family Pet Transports LLC

07/20/2023

UPDATE: ADOPTED!

When looking at this smiley pup's photo, it's hard to imagine that this was not always the case for our Bubbul Baff.

Bubbul, a 2-year-old Shar Pei mix, came to YVAS in late May after her owners could no longer care for her. Upon arrival, she was very scared and seemed overwhelmed by the unfamiliar surroundings. Our patient staff & volunteers spent the following weeks building her trust, but Bubbul still needed that extra boost. Enter Cross Tier K9 - who generously donated three weeks of their time & expertise to transform a terrified shelter dog, to a more confident pup with a new lease on life. Bubbul's story stands as a testament to the power of compassion and understanding - and we are grateful to all those who have been part of her journey. 💕

Bubbul Baff is now ready for the next step of her journey - it is now time for her to find her fur-ever home! She is spayed, vaccinated, microchipped - ready to find her person who will help her continue to thrive. Stop by the shelter anytime today between 12-6 PM for a meet & greet.

Read her full bio here: https://yvas.org/directory/pet/a151

07/19/2023

Meet Sawyer, he's our new foster from

This spindly guy is really cautious around men. We have a feeling he wasn't ever really exposed to human males. He's also pretty sure we're trying to kill him when we move him around by his collar. So, we're gonna start very gently and see how much we can turn him around!

07/19/2023

07/17/2023

Check out this week's episode of The Dog Dialectic Podcast where we discuss the journey from Dog Owner to Canine Competitor to Canine Professional!
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/FOTbWFSbjBb
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So many of our clients come in looking for just the basics, and say that they have no interest in competing or showing in any types of sports with their dogs.
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However, the few that do decide to take that first step beyond simple dog ownership and dive into the world of advanced dog skills and activities often never look back!
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Kelley and Ashley share their journeys to becoming professional dog trainers and competitors and how the adventure can be so rewarding not only for your dog, but for you as the handler as well!
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07/17/2023

‼️2 ‼️of these hungry little hippos are still available to sport or working homes! PM me for more info. Guaranteed stability, workability, sociability and always down for food. That food drive👌

07/16/2023

This sweet girl has been our foster baby for three weeks through YVAS in Billings, MT. She needed work with barrier aggression, basic obedience, and dog neutrality. She has come a very long way and will continue to be amazing in her furever home. Her name is Bubble Baff or "Bubbles" for short. She is approximately 2 years old and absolutely is the embodiment of Chaotic Good. She will need an active family as she is young and has lot of energy. Bubbles is shy at first with strangers but warms up fast. She is also great with kids, although isnt fully aware that they easily knock over when running Mach 10 through the house with excitement 🤣 Please help find this sweet lady a home by stopping by YVAS or sharing this post!

07/16/2023

THE DARK SIDE OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT…
‘FAUX COUNTERCONDITIONING’

Over the years, I’ve had several different horses come in for training, who, in spite of extensive positive reinforcement training, were still struggling with a lot of anxiety in their day-to-day lives.

By no means was this due to a lack of quality training.
These horses were ‘performing well’ within the context of a formal session, some with very experienced and educated trainers.

But outside of that context, they were reverting to almost feral behavior, and highly reactive, even with the same stimuli.

After years of training, they were plateaued in their ability to navigate the domestic world safely and be handled safely.

The assumption would be that their reactivity was a response to being ‘over threshold,’ or not generalizing, but in my search for answers for these horses, and in visiting with other trainers, including the dog training community, I became familiar with the idea of ‘overshadowing.’

The animal isn’t merely over threshold, or not generalizing, they were never OK with things in the first place.

Zoos are often used as the poster child for the implementation of successful positive reinforcement, but it’s Barbara Heidenreich’s work in particular, with ‘positive reinforcement gone wrong’ in zoological settings, that really opened my eyes.

Sometimes what we think is counterconditioning, is actually overshadowing, meaning the food reinforcer and associated behavior are masking the animal’s true feelings and behavior around a stimulus.

If the context changes, or the food reinforcer isn’t present, the animal shows us how they really feel about that stimulus.

A good example is counterconditioning haltering.

I use this all the time, and it works great, and I know it’s working if I can halter without the food reinforcer present, because it means the horse actually has a neutral or positive association with the halter.

If the food reinforcer isn’t present, and the horse shows a fear response, I know that I was merely overshadowing/masking their true feelings about the haltering process.

There’s a lot of discussion about learned helplessness in relation to coercive training and pressure and release, but overshadowing is just as prevalent.

Make no mistake, this happens even with top R+ trainers in the industry, but there’s a stigma about discussing it openly, and admitting that positive reinforcement can go wrong.

Positive reinforcement is just as vulnerable to human error as any other form of training.

There is a learning curve, and novices and even accomplished trainers can make mistakes that are dangerous to animal and handler.

What’s frustrating is that the pro trainers and amateurs who’ve reached out to me about the accidents and injuries they’ve had due to overshadowing, they don’t feel safe having a public discussion about.

I think there’s a fear that admitting to these accidents and injuries will somehow hurt the acceptance of positive reinforcement in the mainstream, or that they’ll be attacked by their peers.

This lack of transparency is not just hypocritical, but dangerous.

The truth is, the only way positive reinforcement is going to go mainstream is if we can be transparent about it.

Like any approach, checking in with our animals, and making sure our training is cognitive and emotional, and not just behavioral, is incredibly important.

I think this article does a great job of explaining some of the things myself and others have observed with overshadowing, as well as how to address it…

https://thecognitivecanine.com/when-well-executed-counterconditioning-plans-fail/

“Talk to ten qualified trainers about their experiences using counterconditioning and desensitization (CC/D) in the field and you’ll likely get ten different responses.

But what might surprise you is how many of them will somewhat bashfully admit that these protocols fail just about as often as they succeed–if not more so.

Less-experienced but well-read trainers will scoff and assume the protocol wasn’t carried out well; that pieces were missing, steps were skipped, etc.

Certainly this is the case some of the time, but what about when a well-designed expertly-executed CC/D protocol fails? Why is this happening?

Something *is* flawed. It may not the plan in the traditional sense, or the ex*****on.

It might be that our currently held information about CC/D is what is slightly off, and it might be that traditional CC/D protocols are less-capable than we thought…”

By the way, that’s me in the picture, shaping forward movement off a hand target with a ‘reverse round pen.’

I love training with positive reinforcement!
I’m NOT anti-positive reinforcement, and I spent several years using positive reinforcement exclusively, no pressure and release at all.

Every behavior I train now, I know I can train with positive reinforcement, but I choose to mix to best adapt to each individual and situation.

NOTE: If you plan on a reverse round pen setup like this, make sure you use rails from cone to cone that tip over and NOT rope as it’s a drag hazard.

07/16/2023

07/11/2023

Throw back to when Rookie Monster was just a fluffy potato!