Muzzles Up Dog Academy LLC

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Sweet Boogie on his first Lowe’s outing! We don’t do a lot of training on the very first socialization day. Mostly it’s familiarizing with sounds, smells, and all sorts of different people and scenarios, and creating positive associations with potentially scary stuff.

I often use whistle training to lay a solid foundation for come when called. We pair the sound of the whistle with the dog’s absolute favorite treat… Then I hold the (preferably fixed) long line while mom blasts the whistle. Alice is doing great! #DogTraining #WestiesOfInstagram #DogTrainer

Sometimes I do outings sans parents to work on distractions & socialization, as well as other things. My timing is always off just a bit when recording - as soon as he looks at me should be "yes" or "good boy" rather than a couple seconds later, but it isn’t bad enough to ruin our work. The wagon wheel, which we’re doing here, is very good for the beginning of loose leash. Generally we’ll perfect one area and move to another. We were lucky at Skagit Farmers Supply in Stanwood today, because they were busy and had a nice open area for us to work. #DogTraining #PuppyTraining #DogTrainer #GermanShepherdPuppy #DogsOfInstagram

Timmy is practicing public behavior, paired with actual service dog task work. This team has been with us for many years, with a lot of work between them to get to this point, which started even before we met 💞🐕‍🦺

Brinkley, working on her “Stay” cue!

We’re working with Maggie on getting closer to other dogs without the stress. (Please don’t try this by yourself with a reactive dog. It’s important to recognize stress signals, gauge safe distance, and not cross threshold, among other things. Seek out a professional to help if you want to work on this!)

Maggie and Belle get some nice playtime in the shade today!

This is a fairly simple behavior to teach, and SO important, for service dogs especially. We’re practicing a bit today 🥰 This is just the second step of many. The idea is to teach them never to take something they haven’t been given permission to take.  First step got her to this point. Next step will be walking her by something good. Then an obstacle course of deliciousness. 😈

Maggie learns more and more every day, and she’s making lots of progress learning not to react in high traffic situations! 🥰

When training a dog to come when called with distractions, there’s a lot of trouble shooting that takes place. After the basics (which we address together too,) there are four important things to remember: 1 - never show your frustration if they seem to be ignoring you. Always make yourself exciting and fun! 2 - always have a high value reward ready. Your dog will let you know his highest value rewards. Sometimes it’s a meaty or cheesy treat, sometimes it’s a game of tug, sometimes it’s a dance party... 3 - if one thing doesn’t seem to get your dog’s attention, try another! Act silly if you have to. Have a party your dog wants to attend. Make silly noises, clap your hands, dropping down, turn and walk away while patting your leg and chirping...basically make yourself more interesting than the distraction! As you can see here with Hank, we had to try a few different things, and eventually got him...don’t give up! 4 - PRACTICE!! You can’t expect your dog to come to you when you want him to if you haven’t practiced through distractions that you let him return to. If, every time you call your dog to you that means the fun’s over, then he’s never going to want to come to you. Practice for about ten minutes in various places. Call. Reward. Let him go back to the fun. Repeat.

Milo, learning leash manners! Notice when he starts to pull, his mom just stops. And so does he. It helps him reset, and he knows as he walks nicely he gets praised and rewarded!