Wag More Dog Training

Seriously, how often does your dog blow you off when you say their name? Do you sometimes feel like they don’t even know it?! Then checkout the online course to master their Name Responsiveness PLUS much more, including: 👉🏻 Impulse Control 👉🏻 Implied Stay 👉🏻 Sit, Down, BREAK! 👉🏻 Place 👉🏻 Leash pressure 👉🏻 Troubleshooting

A couple things: 1. Don’t make your life more difficult by adding ANOTHER creature to your household that is going to need time and dedication if you’re still struggling with the first one. 2. Dogs feed off of each other, so it’s easy for the new dog to learn bad habits the OG already has. 3. Puppies are like little sponges!! Your life will be insanely easier if your adult can HELP teach them commands and how the world works. 4. An age gab of 1-2 years is ideal while dogs are still maturing (most dogs continue to mature until 3 years old) 5. Avoid multiple puppies at once AT ALL COSTS!! Google “Littermate Syndrome” to learn why…

Why is this important? 👉🏻 Not only does it ensure you can keep your dog safe in the event of anything else popping up on the trail (another dog, person, bikes, runners, wild animals, environmental dangers, horses, etc) it’s just plain responsible and RESPECTFUL to those around you! When you’re dog is out and about, you should@always control regardless of whether they’re wearing a leash or not.

First off, MOST puppies inhale their food! Which obviously isn’t healthy… so these kinds of feeding methods help slow them down (and give you a couple minutes of peace 😅) ALSO! These games and brain teasers help build problem solving skills, focus, patience, impulse control, and mental stimulation that contributes to a more well rounded dog! AND! The interactive games that involve YOU help create a stronger bond and higher value in your relationship. Take a little time to get the most out of your puppy’s (or adult dog’s!) meals!

A week ago, this interaction would have sent 5 month old GSD Shadow squealing away! After spending time with a healthy pack of dogs, he can now read the signs and take a minor correction like without getting his feelings hurt! I LOVE watching dogs interact like this, it’s amazing how truly accurate they are with their communication. *I am ALWAYS monitoring and ready to intervene if necessary.

Basil is a 15 week old Cattledog and we’ve only done this exercise a couple times. It has quickly become one of his FAVORITE games and improved his focus immensely! You can do this with all kinds of behaviors you want to encourage from your dog, reach out to learn more!

One of the biggest mistakes I see made when working with treats/food is that the dog gets rewarded when they’re fixated on the food RATHER than their person. In turn, this leads to dogs who “only listen when I have a treat” because they’ve been conditioned to look for the treat! If you teach your dog that positive things come from eye contact and actually checking in, they learn to work for YOU rather than the bribe of food!

Part of creating really solid obedience with your dog is not only proofing in different environments and around various stimuli, it’s about making it FUN!! When your dog has an enjoyable time doing stuff with you outside of the home, you continue to be the most valuable thing in their world. And if you’re the most valuable thing to your dog, you’ll never have anything to compete against! 🤩

Does your dog know the meaning of “Heel” ? For our client dogs, it simply means “follow me at my side” so they aren’t in front of us, pulling, or making their own choices. It just means that their time for freedom is on pause and it’s time to go where their person wants to go at the pace they wanna move. It’s all about that give and take!

*disclaimer* The puppy is FINE and rough housing like this is ok so long as it’s monitored. Part of being a puppy (which both of these dogs still are) is learning bite inhibition and how to play at different levels. The adult shepherd that stepped in helped clarify to both of them that the okay was unacceptable. IF I thought for a second that the puppy was in danger, I would have stepped in, which I often do when I see things escalating. The little pup is a sh*t, so don’t feel bad for him haha. He keeps going back for more and will instigate his friend here to keep going. If you’re familiar with ACDs you know 😂 What social cues do YOU see from the individuals in this video?

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that puppies are always on the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to hierarchy within your pack of dogs. As babies, and even as maturing adolescents, they are learning how the world works by watching and by the actions of those around them. So learning that one dog may not mind sharing their toy while another dog DOES mind, helps build a more balanced puppy that looks for visual social cues instead of just acting on impulse. Neither of these adult dogs have done anything wrong, nor are either of these social interactions better or more important than the other. Part of socializing our dogs at a young age with various balanced adults (that you KNOW) helps create a well rounded puppy! ***I want to emphasize it’s not up to your dogs to entirely raise YOUR puppy, it’s important for you to monitor and intervene as necessary to make sure your adult dogs as well as your puppy feel supported if behavior is unacceptable.***

NEVER scold your dogs for this if/when you bring home a new puppy. This isn’t bullying behavior, Dipa isn’t going out of her way to control or be mean to the puppy, she’s simply communicating her personal boundaries. it’s important to let dogs set these boundaries and teach puppies what an appropriate correction looks like to help them become more balanced in the future. When dogs correct like this, they are extremely accurate and there should be no physical harm done. Dipa wanted to hurt her, she very easily could have! The whole point of body language, facial expressions, and other visual social cues is to prevent any kind of altercation between two dogs. Letting well balanced adults teach this to puppies at a young age is beyond important! So don’t ever correct your big dog for these kinds of things, or you can very easily create insecurity and resentment in your relationship as well as the relationship between those two dogs.

Social cues in dogs are often subtle, but this one is pretty obvious! Dogs should halt play or direct interaction if another dog is in distress, but I’ve seen plenty of pups out there that don’t get the message!

Hey. I see you. Keep going.