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Thinking K9

Thinking K9 teaches you how to create harmony between you and your dog. Thinking K9 focuses on you building a relationship with your dog.

Helping you develop clear communication between you and your dog for an enjoyable life with each other.

08/13/2023

Sweet girl who is featured in our handling tips highlights is off the long line and starting to really engage with people! 💜

08/04/2023

Fate (black and tan) is here because she was severely under socialized, or what I call and extreme fear dog. She hadn’t had a lot of exposure in life. Here in baby steps we introduced her to the car, riding in the car (pup cups) and then going on an adventure! She did so good! When we work with these fear dogs, we try stuff and let them tell us how they feel about it. 1/2

05/04/2022

Some really big forward steps from Leia!!

Fear dogs do not usually tolerate being touched on top of their heads. It’s usually better to start by touching under their chins.

As seen in the previous video we have been working on under the chin with Leia. Then I was able to touch on top of her head!! Which is a really big deal.

She is moving confidently in to me and she doesn’t back away after being touched! Not does she snap at me, another cure from her that we are stretching her comfort zone too fast.

Super excited to see this calmness and engagement!

05/04/2022

04/29/2022

Both Hope, the chihuahua and Leia the shepherd mix, are extreme fear dogs. They are here to learn how to live with us humans calmly.

We did some leash work today.

Hope has worked with me on leash previously, but it’s been awhile because we had some major setbacks from our trip to WI. So it was very nice to see her be able to cope with the leash and my proximity as well as she did.

Leia is likely a littermate to Luke or cousin born around the same time. She also, like Luke, had never had a leash on before they were caught in February.

Today was her first formal work session as we’ve had to address her broken leg and the healing involved until now.

Super happy with today’s session with Leia as well!

04/17/2022

Often when people are working with fear dogs they want to just “love them” better. And they can spend a lot of time trying to get the dog to take a treat or let them pet them so the human can show just how much they love the dog.

But, that doesn’t feel very “loving” to a fear dog. It feels scary and threatening. And they can resist those actions so hard. They try to move away and they actually become more and more distrustful as the human completely misses how they are making the dog feel worse, by “loving them” better.

Working with these fear dogs is a dance. It’s knowing when to lead and when to follow.

By allowing Luke to process moving into the house at his own speed, we actually let him move forward at the fastest pace he could. If we moved in and tried to force treats and “love” on him, he’d retreat and it would take longer for him to adjust.

Part of the dance is learning when a dog is ready for you to reach out with affection and treats.

When he was first in the house and laying very still, looking concerned and sad, was the time to let him be. Not try to “reassure” him he’s ok. (Because it’s not reassuring to him!) No talking, no touching, just maintaining a calm energy and going about life.

When he starts to show he’s acclimating, by moving more, engaging with other dogs or even people, smelling the room or even playing/chewing toys, that is the time to then see if he’s receptive to affection and treats.

And if he’s not, no big, just keep living life and watching for opportunities to see if he’s ready yet.
Part 1/2

04/16/2022

One of the ways we work with fearful dogs is to sit on their leash. And ignore them. We don’t talk to them, we don’t tell them what to do.

We let them process their emotions and work through their concerns for themselves. By giving them a safe, calm environment where they can try a variety of behavior and figure out what feels best.

They live so much in their fear that often the quickest way for them to get past it, is to provide the environment and calm energy and then let them work it out on their own. No words, no touching, no telling them what they “should” be doing or feeling.

They can’t “hear” us when they are in that state of mind and often all we do is continue to stress them out when we try to tell them “it’s ok”.

Luke is a fearful dog who hadn’t had any exposure to the world prior to coming here. He lived an isolated life in his pack of 20+ dogs.

He quickly figured out that this wasn’t a situation to panic over and then he settled in for a nap! And has continued to make great progress while he’s been here!

04/15/2022

When working with a fearful dog it can be very helpful to have a confident dog along to help reassure the fearful dog they will be ok.

This is was Luke (blue collar) and Hank’s (green collar) first walk with us and Peony came along to help give them support and confidence! (Hawk did too, but he’s not pictured.)

Fearful dogs learn more quickly from other confident dogs than they do us. There is a mutual language being used between the dogs vs the learned communication that has to take place for your dog to understand you and vice versa.

It is also a big deal that Luke is using his nose during the walk. It means his brain is unlocked and engaged. A dog experiencing fear/stress will not use their nose. So we love to see these guys smelling! Even if it’s a stinky dead fish! ☠️ 🐟 💜

04/14/2022

This sweet boy was running loose with no name as a *”stray” with 23+ other adult dogs and 25+ puppies on five acres. And the surrounding neighborhood.

Seven weeks ago he landed with us and he has done so well!! Last night we went on an adventure to Lowes!!! Such a HUGE step!

While this sweet boy isn’t an extreme fear dog, he does have some anxiety/fearfulness and he’d never been exposed to anything outside his owner and the land he lived on. Never been leashed, never been named. Never met new people. Never rode in a car. So many nevers that have become a normal part of his life!

The dogs were fed/watered and had more shelter than most hoarding type situations have. Most did receive some interaction with the owner. But they mostly just lived life as they wanted with little human direction.

So proud of this boy and the work he has done to adjust to life in a home and learning about what a leash means. And going out in public!

Two Chihuahuas Rescue has taken this boy under their wing and paid for him to stay with us for a board and train. He leaves this weekend for his next adventures and his happily ever after!

*turns out most of the dogs that were called strays were probably born on the property and the owner didn’t realize it or was in denial. They all look very similar. And are around the same ages.

03/23/2022

Sasha likes to remind us she’s super smart and happy to help herself to any goodies life has to offer!! 😂

Sasha is here due to extreme separation anxiety. She can not calmly handle being away from her humans. To the point of breaking out of zip tied crates.

We are helping her learn that she is ok when left alone and she is providing lots of entertainment with her shenanigans! 😂

Some of her behavior quirks may never totally go away. She is likely always going to take advantage of a situation like this where food was just waiting for her to get it.

But we are already seeing improvement in her ability to self calm when we aren’t right with her! And only time will show us just how far she can go.

03/23/2022

Out for lunch today with a great human friend and these two girls! Sasha (lighter colored girl) has high anxiety which drives her shenanigans. These outings help build her confidence and our relationship, which helps reduce her anxiety!

03/15/2022

Some of the practice we did at Lowes yesterday. P had her moments of being unsure. But we just kept calmly practicing and she was able to find her confidence. I knew she was unsure, but I gave her a moment to work through it internally and find her calm for herself.

If I had outwardly reacted to her insecurity by moving to her with pets and excessive words of reassurance I would have kept her from finding her calm for herself. A skill she needs to develop and use the rest of her life.

If I rush to her or use excessive words to reassure her, I could also give her the mixed message that something IS wrong and she SHOULD be worried.

It’s a dance. Back and forth. Sometimes I do use my words to reassure her, sometimes I do touch her. But I try to stay aware of when and how I do that and what is needed from situation to situation.

03/14/2022

Peony ran some errands with Brent and I this morning. 2 out of 3 of the stores were dog friendly. For the third she and Brent just hung out, while I went inside, and watched life go by… we’ll P watched life go by… 🤨😜

There is a lot of value in just hanging out near a busy location and letting your dog observe life. Learning that they can just chill and don’t have to react to the energy and movement around them.

03/05/2022

Might be a reason she’s hanging out with us for a bit…. 🤔🤨😆😆😆😆

02/12/2022

Spent some time with this sweet boy on Thursday! I had lunch out with his mama and he was so well behaved! Just hung out with us, calmly watching the world go by!

This is the goal of training. Having a dog who can join you in your day to day life. Not everyone is going to want a dog who can go to lunch with them. But whatever your goals are for the dog in your life, we can help you meet them!

02/11/2022

Jordan meeting Red, one of our Street Dog Rescue Az dogs. You can see that Jordan is not getting in close as he did with Hawk, in the previous post.

Red puts out an entirely different vibe.

And Jordan picks up on it. Especially in the last picture!

Which is why it’s so good for puppies to meet a lot of other dogs if possible.

 They learn to read other dogs subtle signals and behave appropriately. And everyone is much happier. Red has his space, Jordan knows to find someone who is happy to see him. Red doesn’t have to get “cranky” to get Jordan to leave him alone. There is no escalation of energy here, it's all calm communication. Just what we want!

This is NOT a negative experience. This is a life skill! Not every dog vibes with every other dog. And it is great for Jordan to practice the skill of listening to subtle body language! It will keep him out of trouble with other dogs in the future!

(Jordan went off to play with Hawk again, he wasn't bothered in the least by this interaction.)

02/10/2022

So many people getting puppies! We have one hanging out with us this week.

Jordan is about 10 wks old. He’s been a great reminder of all things puppy!

Here he is meeting Hawk, one of our personal dogs.

When introducing your puppy to new dogs, it's super important they have positive experiences!

When allowing your puppy to be with other dogs, watch closely. Is it a give and take situation. Are they "taking turns" chasing each other? If one is bigger than the other, is the bigger one respectful of the little or are they squashing them with their feet or pinning them to the ground a lot.

Puppies need interaction with other dogs, of all ages. But it is not helpful if that interaction is w***y nilly and can actually become harmful if owners do not stay aware of what is happening.

And IMO one of the worst things you can do is put your puppy into daycare. Daycare is a party on steroids and no one learns manners or life skills at a party! .

When introducing your puppy to new dogs, it's super important they have positive experiences!

When allowing your puppy to be with other dogs, watch closely. Is it a give and take situation. Are they "taking turns" chasing each other? If one is bigger than the other, is the bigger one respectful of the little or are they squashing them with their feet or pinning them to the ground a lot.

Puppies need interaction with other dogs, of all ages. But it is not helpful if that interaction is w***y nilly and can actually become harmful if owners do not stay aware of what is happening.

And IMO one of the worst things you can do is put your puppy into daycare. Daycare is a party on steroids and no one learns manners or life skills at a party!

02/10/2022

Excited to announce our Fearful Dog Workshop in March!!

This is an all day workshop for you to bring your fear dog to. Learn how to build their confidence and get hands on help with specific issues you are experiencing.

If your dog is not able to be in public yet, there is an option for auditing the workshop. Meaning you can come and watch what we do and ask your own questions as part of the day!

Message us here or email for more details and with any questions you may have!

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Some really big forward steps from Leia!! Fear dogs do not usually tolerate being touched on top of their heads. It’s usually better to start by touching under their chins. As seen in the previous video we have been working on under the chin with Leia. Then I was able to touch on top of her head!! Which is a really big deal. She is moving confidently in to me and she doesn’t back away after being touched! Not does she snap at me, another cure from her that we are stretching her comfort zone too fast. Super excited to see this calmness and engagement! #dogtraining #TK9dogtraining #thinkingk9 #communicationdevelopsrelationships #patientpersistentpractice #trainingmakesadifference #trainingmakesadoghappy

Some really exciting progress from Leia! Letting us touch her is a very big deal. This girl wanted nothing to do with us touching her two months ago! She was and still can be very snappy and is potentially willing to back that up with a bite. She knows what I am going to do here and she is still allowing it. So huge! #dogtraining #TK9dogtraining #thinkingk9 #communicationdevelopsrelationships #patientpersistentpractice #trainingmakesadifference #trainingmakesadoghappy

When working with a fearful dog it can be very helpful to have a confident dog along to help reassure the fearful dog they will be ok. This is was Luke (blue collar) and Hank’s (green collar) first walk with us and Peony came along to help give them support and confidence! (Hawk did too, but he’s not pictured.) Fearful dogs learn more quickly from other confident dogs than they do us. There is a mutual language being used between the dogs vs the learned communication that has to take place for your dog to understand you and vice versa. It is also a big deal that Luke is using his nose during the walk. It means his brain is unlocked and engaged. A dog experiencing fear/stress will not use their nose. So we love to see these guys smelling! Even if it’s a stinky dead fish! ☠️ 🐟 💜 #dogtraining #TK9dogtraining #thinkingk9 #communicationdevelopsrelationships #patientpersistentpractice #trainingmakesadifference #trainingmakesadoghappy

Might be a reason she’s hanging out with us for a bit…. 🤔🤨😆😆😆😆

Off leash walk this morning. A rare occurrence where it’s so cold you can see Peony’s breath! (Germans Shepherd mix.) (Opal- white pit mix, Sheena - brown hound mix.) #offleashwalk #trainingmakesadifference #trainingmakesadoghappy #thinkingk9 #patientpersistentpractice #dogtraining #TK9dogtraining #communicationdevelopsrelationships

Getting out the door for a morning walk. #dogtraining #TK9dogtraining #thinkingk9 #communicationdevelopsrelationships #patientpersistentpractice

Here’s a how not to behave video!!! Sheena showing off her great training!!! Just kidding!! 😂🤣 We planned for and were prepared for this, and made sure we had her greet me in a open space with no other dogs loose. We knew she would be over the top after my being gone a month. She actually was calmer and quieter than I expected. Once she had time to expend her excitement, then we asked her to behave. And then we released the calmer dogs to say hi. (They were contained specifically for this moment, not because we keep them crated all the time.) Know your dog and the situation you are in. There are times for exuberance and times for good behavior. With the holidays here, knowing your dog’s personality and abilities will help you set them, your family and guests up for success. Not every dog needs to participate in every gathering happening in their home.

We are on the road! Heading back home to AZ from WI! 🚗 🐶 🚙 🐶 #dogtraining #TK9dogtraining #thinkingk9 #communicationdevelopsrelationships #patientpersistentpractice

What I call the “magic” hour when outside. The time the sun is setting the world is settling. The light is amazing and there is just a peace about it. The dogs were loving it too!

Thinking K9

08/13/2023

08/04/2023

05/04/2022

05/04/2022

04/29/2022

04/17/2022

04/16/2022

04/15/2022

04/14/2022

03/23/2022

03/23/2022

03/15/2022

03/14/2022

03/05/2022

02/12/2022

02/11/2022

02/10/2022

02/10/2022

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