Take 15 Day 11: How do you keep yourself moving forward with your training goals and hold yourself accountable for the long term?
For me, dog sports have been an awesome container to keep me moving forward even when life is happening or I'm not sure what to do next. Dog Sports have an obvious training progression, as well as pressure and support from peers. Dog Sports also take a lot of skill, and skilled people tend to be involved. In sports, you can find mentors who will help you take things to the next level. I can see a huge difference in my skill level compared to when I was training on my own in a somewhat directionless format. Whether it's joining a sport community or finding group classes or just getting together with like minded people, there is power in numbers! I highly recommend that you find some kind of accountability network- which is one of the reasons we started Take 15!
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Take 15 Day 7! If you're working with multiple dogs this year for Take 15, you can save time by doing them all at once! The best way to go about this is by "proofing" already known skills in new contexts or environments. It's may also be possible to train new skills while other dogs are in a stay or on a station. A lot depends on where each dog is at in their learning. Kimbo, Abbey, and Molly are working on triple dog obedience doing some simple drills during their very first exposure to each other. 😍
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Take 15 day 6! This past weekend at group class someone asked me how to best facilitate play with their new dog, so I thought I'd share a few tips. Of course, play is an art and cannot be boiled down to any one thing, but here are a few things that can get you on the right track:
🐕 Play a game the dog actually wants to play. Many dogs do not enjoy "fight" games such as tug, so consider chasing games, treat tossing, etc. Play can't happen unless the dog has desire!
🐕 Create quick wins! Your dog needs to feel like playing with you is worth it. Play is only fun when it feels like winning is possible.
Here is some fun footage of us goofing off with Oscar at bitework. We're creating some urgency and desire by holding him back and limiting his options.
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TAKE 15 DAY 4! When thinking about activities to do with your dog, consider what is most fulfilling to them! Percy would rather bite than go on a walk or do anything else. For her, biting is a biological need. When we address these kinds of needs, this is called "biological fulfillment." It's important to remember that our dogs may have goals and needs of their own that are different from ours as humans. As you make plans to spend time with your dog, think about how you can best balance your own wants and needs with your dog's wants and needs. Often, you can address both at once! Bitework is a great way to fulfill my needs for training and competition, while her need to carry our species specific behaviors is met at the same time.
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🥳🎉 WOW! I can't believe how much we accomplished in 2024. To date, it was the year with the most expansion and development for us. It had extreme ups and downs but we are proud of all our accomplishments this year, including more community service, the introduction of our group program, involvement in dog sports, introduction of community pack walks, operational improvements, and more. Most of all, we're SO grateful for the people we shared 2024 with, both friends old and new. What a blessing it is to be in this special line of work! Folks, 2025 is going to be EVEN BETTER. We're so ready to take this thing to the next level, and we hope you're coming with us 🙌💪🔥 Happy New Year to our beloved clients, club members, and dog friends.
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Pack walks can be great for dogs, but they can also be stressful or dangerous if you're not prepared. Here are 5 ways to make sure your packwalk is fun and safe:
🐾Familiarize the dogs individually before throwing them into a big group. Kimbo, Abbey, Ruby, and Persimmon have all met before this day in different combinations. It's very helpful to understand how dogs "vibe" individually before going into a group.
🐾Use correct equipment! Some or all dogs may be wearing an ecollar, muzzle, or drag line. If dogs are offleash, make sure you take a few leashes just in case you encounter a difficult situation. If using ecollar, be sure to have remotes in hand so you can react quickly as needed.
🐾Location, location, location! Walking or hiking on neutral territory is key. When there is plenty of new stuff to explore there is nothing to fight over. Having plenty of space when interracting with a big group of dogs is ideal. For this walk I chose a space where there was plenty of room to run, I could see everyone and keep track of them, and we were unlikely to encounter unfamiliar dogs.
🐾Have voice control over each dog in the group. Each dog should have a reliable recall, a command such as "Leave It", and a command that can isolate their behavior such as "Sit" or "Heel" if you need to keep them near you in an urgent situation such as if you see another dog and person approaching.
🐾Keep things moving! It's really important to maintain the "flow" of a pack walk. Most disagreements, scuffles, and fights happen when things stagnate. Dogs are most likely to give each other space and mind their own business when the pack is moving forward and they are focused on investigating new things and on keeping up with you. In this case, two of the dogs pictured are very intense players and also try to micromanage others at play, so preventing play and encouraging roaming was important.
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The most important feature of teaching a recall is making sure the dog knows it's never optional- so how do you teach that?
During training, you must show the dog that they will inevitably come back, without much delay, any time you give a recall command. The only way to do this is to reel them in or prompt them with a leash should they not head back to you right away. With a leash you, can create a fairly immediate habitual response. A long line is the best option to create the illusion of an off-leash experience. Once your dog knows what to do, you can let them drag the long line (just in case) until you are positive they are reliable without the safety back-up of a leash. The big secret to recall is simply to never allow your dog to blow you off while in training- perfect practice makes perfect!
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Clarity is the basis of a healthy relationship!
When both participants in a relationship have predictability, consistency, and communication in common things can flow. Confusion and inconsistency lead to frustration and conflict. It's not only helpful for dogs (and people) to know * exactly * what we want from them, but also how long we need them to do it. More information is always better.
When teaching any skill, it's important to understand that each behavior has an initiation (beginning), duration (middle), and completion (end). Establishing this concept for a dog is very easy when teaching a dog the "Place" command. It's important that dogs understand that they cannot just break a sit, down, heel, or place command whenever they want to- obedience is unfortunately not optional! Setting a clear expectation with dogs that you will release them when it is time with a word such as "break" or "okay" helps a dog to relax into behavior and be open to guidance during training.
Callie is doing a great job at staying under command until her handler calls her off the platform!
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Effort always supercedes talent. Those who show up are the ones that get somewhere.
GRC club dog Indy has always been a bit baffled by the springpole and wouldn't bite- but her owner has never lost hope and even set up their own springpole so they could practice at home (pictured). I'm so proud to say that over the past few months this team has made excellent progress in both obedience and springpole, and I'm so excited for their future. It meant the world to me to get this video update!! Remember, if you're struggling with your dog, keep trying! Both my own dogs and client dogs have surprised me-your dog is probably capable of more than you know!!
Feat: @olliescollees
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