Sit Stay Succeed Dog Training

04/07/2025

Happy Monday! It is time to start thinking about our monthly socialization walk! This month we will be meeting in Boydton at the To***co Heritage Trail trailhead. Start time is 830am, so please arrive a few minutes early. Date of the walk is Saturday, April 12, 2025.

If you have not walked with us before, you *must* pre-register. We will need proof of rabies for adults (core vaccs recommended) and proof of all core vaccs + rabies for puppies under 1 year.

This walk is perfect for overly social dogs who are working on manners around other dogs as well as for dogs that need to build a little confidence around other dogs. Aggressive dogs would not be a good fit for this program and would instead benefit from 1-2-1 (private) lessons.

Participants must use a 6ft lead (no flexi leads) and must not allow their dog to meet any of the other dogs. This is not a play group or a group for your dog to make friends (though you may meet a new human friend or two!). It is structured to help desensitize your dog around other dogs while remaining under threshold. One dog per handler.

The fee is only $15!

Please let us know if you are planning to join us, or if you are new and would like to see if your dog would be a good fit.

See everyone on Saturday! Tail Wags!

04/03/2025

Expecting your dog to "just get over it" when faced with a new, scary trigger is not fair for your dog. If we then force our anxious, worried, or fearful dog to be continuously exposed to whatever the trigger is, there is a good chance he will shut down. This is called learned helplessness. Even if, in the future, your dog seems to accept the trigger, in reality his emotions were never addressed properly and therefore his initial feelings about that trigger never actually changed. Rather, he feels like there is nothing more he can do to change the situation so he essentially gives up. This does not mean your dog has accepted or is "ok" with the scary trigger. Furthermore, your dog will not attempt to change the outcome, even if a solution is present. It can take weeks, months, or even years to address and "reverse" learned helplessness. Even then, your dog may never feel completely comfortable in the presence of the trigger.

What does learned helplessness look like? It looks, to the untrained eye, like compliance. When a dog is first exposed to the trigger and is not given a way to escape an unfavorable outcome, he will go from big, obvious reactions (either fear or aggression) to what appears to be acceptance. Then, the dog stops trying to get away. He may be standing with his head down, in a stoic manner. He may even lie down and curl up. You will likely see a variety of calming signals: lip licking, blinking of eyes, turning away from the trigger. He may stiffen his body and avoid eye contact. These are all signs of stress. This is not how we want to treat our dogs.

Important to note: sometimes flooding can increase the dog's negative reaction to the trigger. It can intensify the dog's fear and cause additional fear related behaviors. Again, this is absolutely not fair to the dog.

Instead of flooding, use systematic desensitization and counter conditioning to create positive emotions responses to the trigger. Help your dog feel better about the situation, rather than feeling like he has no choice but to give up.

04/01/2025

🐶🎉 April Fools? Not When It Comes to Dog Training! 🎉🐶

We love a good joke, but here’s something that’s not funny — when your dog steals your sandwich, ignores your calls, or jumps up on visitors!

Training isn’t about tricks, it’s about building a better bond with your dog. Whether you're dealing with jumping, pulling, or just want a well-mannered companion, we are here to help!

Don't be [April] fooled into thinking they’ll “grow out of it” — let’s train smarter, not harder! 🐾

Book your session today and turn the chaos into calm. We have a couple spots still open for April.

[email protected]
www.sitstaysucceed.com

03/30/2025

50-60% of all dog bites are to children, and 61% of those bites are to the head and neck, especially of toddlers.

We expect our dogs to be perfect. To be patient. To be tolerant. To have a sense of humor even. But that isn't fair to the dog (who is absolutely allowed to have feelings on the matter), nor is it safe for those interacting with him. At no point is it ever safe for your child to sit or lay on your dog. Poking your dog in the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth are also not ok. Kissing on the face is not ok. Playing with your dog's food while he eats is not ok. Hugging is not ok.

The biggest problem here is that your child does not understand dog body language. They don't know when a dog is past his tolerance level or not. They don't know how to respect your dog's space. They don't know when to stop. Just as concerning, however, are the number of parents who also don't understand dog body language and continuously put their dog into uncomfortable scenarios with their children. And, likewise, potentially putting their children in danger.

Always, always monitor your child's interactions with your dog. Never leave them alone together. In fact, when your child is very young it may even be prudent to keep them completely separate via doggy gates, x-pens, and/or doors. Never allow the aforementioned behaviors and absolutely brush up on dog body language.

The attached image shows an incredibly uncomfortable dog. The list is not exhaustive, however, so be aware that there are more signs to look out for. Just because your dog hasn't growled doesn't mean he won't jump to a bite, skipping the growling all together. If you ignore the body language for long enough, your dog may feel that his feelings are not being respected and may absolutely go from these behaviors to a bite. Dogs never bite out of the blue unless their efforts to communicate in the past have been ignored. So, always pay attention.

Yes, there are some ridiculously tolerant dogs! But never assume your dog will be the same. And, never assume just because your dog was fine one minute that he will be ok the next.

Ignoring a dog's discomfort with an interaction, trigger stacking, pain, and anxiety can all lead to a dog bite.

It is always better to err on the side of caution. Always!

03/29/2025

Is your dog an escape artist when it comes to collars? We have a few suggestions for you!

First, if you are using a flat buckle collar, consider transitioning to a martingale. This collar is NOT a choke collar. Rather, it has limited closure and prevents escape by decreasing in diameter just a couple inches when your dog pulls away. This way, it creates a more secure collar around your dog's neck, only when you need it. When the dog is not trying to escape, the collar stays the original diameter. This collar is not uncomfortable for your dog and will not cause any damage to his neck. These collars were initially constructed for sight hounds who have long, narrow heads and thick, muscular necks. Regular collars would slip right off of them, but martingales provide safety without discomfort.

Your next option is to use a harness.

First, you do NOT want a harness that has a strap that goes straight across your dog's chest as this will impede the shoulder's movement and can cause damage over time. These are often marketed as "no-pull" harnesses. Instead, choose a y-shaped harness, that goes around the neck and under the chest - when viewed from the front it looks like a "Y". We also want to dispel the myth that harnesses cause pulling. If your dog pulls on a harness, he will pull on a collar, and vice versa. The only way to prevent pulling is to train the dog how to walk on a loose leash.

Next, you can consider harnesses that have two points of contact: a D ring at the shoulders and a D ring at the front of the chest. You can then use a double ended leash to attach to BOTH points for extra security. These leashes do not have a handle. Rather they have a snap at each end to attach to the harness and you hold the leash in the middle. You can also attach one end to the collar and the other to the harness, if your harness only has one D ring. Many leash options exist, but one example is the Multi Function Leash by Blue-9.

Finally, you can consider harnesses that have an extra strap for more peace of mind. An example of this is the Ruffwear Flagline harness. The extra strap helps prevent your dog from backing out of the harness.

Of course, you also want to teach a super solid "leave-it" (if your dog is inclined to chase after critters) as well as a recall (in case he does get away from you otherwise). Remember, practice these behaviors at home FIRST, before you ever need them. Then build up the distractions and difficulty slowly so that when you DO need to use them, these cues will be effective.

The examples provided are a few of our favorites but there are many options out there! We are happy to help you shop if you would like.

03/27/2025

While I didn't capture this at it's most obvious stage (I was slow to get the camera out), pictured is the beginnings of an appeasement grin. More obvious grins are sometimes called submissive "smiles" as the dog bares the front teeth, canines and incisors, which mimics a smile.

However, this body language is not aggressive! The dog will have a loose, usually wiggly body, and soft facial expression. The grin can mean various things, but mostly says, "I mean you no harm!" These "grins" can be used out of excitement, as when greeting a person, or, conversely, when they are anxious or worried to help keep things calm.

This sweet munchkin was uber friendly, super wiggly, and was trying to smile while panting (meeting me was quite exciting). Usually you see these grins with a closed mouth so this was a more unique scenario.

If you are ever unsure of what your dog is trying to tell you, look at all of the body language presented to you. If the dog appears happy and keeps coming over to you to say hello, maybe even offering kisses, then the associated grin is a greeting. If the dog is stiff, with a hard stare, erect tail, and forward stance, the grin is more likely a snarl and means "back off".

Have you seen an appeasement grin before?

03/26/2025

Truth 🥰

03/25/2025

Great enrichment toy! The Starmark Bob-a-Lot is over 50% off for the large size on Amazon! It is a treat (or kibble, if you prefer) dispensing toy with the ability to change the difficulty level.

03/25/2025

Shadow is still available! Please share with your friends. She is not for a first time owner and requires a 5* home. Her foster mom is head over heels in love with this pup. Shadow is a possible shepherd x. She requires gentle guidance to understand how to live happily in your home. This means R+ training (positive reinforcement)! She is quite exuberant and loves to hike with her foster mom. She is a puppy, and is teething, so she requires patience and consistency to redirect her chewing and to instill obedience and connection. She met my shepherd yesterday and showed some initial hesitation but eventually decided that she wanted to play with Mya. Mya is a fairly stoic, senior dog, but isn't a babysitter, so she wasn't keen to engage. If you have a stable, gentle adult dog who likes puppies, Shadow may be a great fit. Again, shadow is a puppy. A very energetic puppy in her landshark phase. An active home would be best, especially as she grows, but she also needs mental enrichment (food puzzles, snuffle mats, bully sticks, training) to help her learn how to be focused and calm. Estimated to be 4.5 months old. Foster located in Chase City, VA.

03/24/2025

Building on the "my dog only listens when I have a treat" post (scroll down a few posts to review) let's talk about exactly what constitutes a bribe.

The most obvious scenario is when we are literally holding a cookie out in front of our dogs face. As mentioned in the earlier post, we DO use a similar technique when teaching via luring. We use the treat to encourage our dog to move into a particular position, and then reward when the behavior we want is completed. This can also parallel successive approximation, as sometimes our dog needs the behavior to be broken down into tiny steps. However, we must always phase out the visual prompt (different than a hand signal for a behavior) and transition to intermittent reinforcement (and/or phasing in a different type of reward).

The next scenario is when we take a treat and hold it in a closed fist up against our chest. The treat is not directly in front of your dog's face so you probably think that he doesn't know you have one. But guess what? He does! As you continue to reward from this position your dog will learn that the treats come from your hands, and your hands are in plain sight! This is a common error.

The third scenario is also quite common. Whether you keep treats inside your sweatshirt/jacket/pants pocket or in a treat pouch/fanny pack on your hip it is important to remember that you need to remove your hand from whichever item you are using in between rewards. If you reward your dog from the pouch then immediately grab another treat from it, and leave your hand resting inside of it while you wait for the next correct behavior, your dog will be focused on your hand once again. Yes, your hand is covered up, but as with the prior scenario your dog will figure out quite quickly that pouch + hand = yummy treats. Oops! Many owners make this mistake because we believe that our hand is hidden so our dog must not know a treat is coming. Pups are smart! And they will catch on!

So, how do we reward without it being a bribe?

You have two options:

1) keep your hands flat against your side in-between rewards. Don't grab a treat from the pouch until *after* your dog has offered the correct behavior (this also applies if you are using a hand signal). Yes, this takes a little longer, but we have a workaround for that, too! If you find that you are fumbling to gather a treat and so much time is passing that your dog loses focus, just take a handful of treats and keep them in one hand. Reward one treat at a time until your hand is empty. Then refill with another handful as needed.

2) keep your hands behind your back (if you are facing your dog) or at your chest (if your dog is behind you). This way you are completely removing the option for your dog to make the connection that hand = treat. In some skills you may see me recommend that you utilize both positions while training, switching back and forth, depending on the circumstances. You can choose to use one treat at a time or a handful, as outlined above.

The other skill that you can work on is your dog's focus while in a given position. You can do this with sit, stay, or stand. Take a treat and put it into one of your hands, then move your hand out to the side, away from your body. Your dog's gaze will follow your hand. That's ok! Just be patient and wait for him to refocus on you. Wait until he locks eyes with you (however brief) and then mark and reward! Rinse and repeat from both sides. You can even try both hands at the same time! Do this as a separate training session at first. It will strengthen your dog's focus on you, instead of your hands, because he isn't being rewarded by looking at your hand. Remember, behavior that is reinforced is behavior we will continue to see! If it's not reinforced, eventually the behavior with extinguish.

Another option is to keep the treats somewhere off your body. Each time you mark a behavior you will have to run and grab a treat from wherever you are keeping them. You must reward within 3 to 5 seconds, so don't keep the treats too far away. You can also combine this with grabbing several treats and keeping your hands behind your back.

One final trick, as your dog will continue to look for treats in your hand when you start working on these skills, is to open whichever hand he is looking at, palm toward your dog, and show him that you actually don't have any treats in that hand. Many dogs will get up and walk away because their bribe is gone! But, keep working at the skills listed above, read our prior post about bribes, and don't give up! You will succeed and keep your dog engaged with a little patience.

Which scenario have you fallen victim to? Remember, these are all SO very common. We've all been there at some point in our training career, trainers and owners alike!

03/23/2025

Today is National Puppy Day! Spoil your own puppy by working on some training!

The very best thing you can do for your puppy is to help him understand our rules and how best to live in our world (of course, in addition to providing a safe, comfortable home; proper nutrition and ample water; and mental, physical, and social enrichment...among other things). A puppy with a routine and consistent input on their behavior not only creates a predictable pattern (and puppies love patterns!) but a happier puppy who has stronger bonds with you.

Sure, we could strip all the rules and let our puppies go wild and crazy! But your puppy won't figure out your expectations on his own. He won't grow out of nuisance behaviors and he won't understand why he can't eat your shoes or potty on the rug.

Training has absolutely nothing to do with dominance or expecting your puppy to he a robot. No living being is a robot and we shouldn't expect perfection. Are you perfect? At everything you do? Every single time? What we can do, however, is offer gentle guidance, positive reinforcement for behaviors we prefer, and instill management protocols for behaviors we don't prefer. Give your puppy some grace (especially if he is an adolescent) and remember that mistakes will happen. It's important to look at mistakes, each time they occur, and ask your why they happened. Usually, it is our own fault. We didn't take our puppy out on a consistent bathroom schedule, we allowed our puppy to go out of our sight, we didn't teach our puppy alternative, correct options for chewing. Learning is important for both of you!

So, teach a new trick today! Support a teething (and calm) puppy by offering bully sticks while he learns to settle on a mat! Work on proper greetings for visitors! Teach your puppy that sitting is more rewarding than jumping! And then do these things, and more, every day beyond today.

If you need assistance with your puppy, we can help! Shoot us a message at [email protected] . We look forward to working with you.

Share your favorite puppy photo in the comments below!

03/22/2025

Limited time ---> for every Kong purchased one will be donated to a shelter

https://drivergear.vw.com/vw-retail/Kong/p-DRG-VWXKONG?utm_source=VWdotComKongPage&utm_medium=VWdotComKongPage&utm_campaign=VWxKONG25g&fbclid=IwY2xjawJL6PJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQ1r5Wkj9ZYFMSpi13iSnHehVlphxZSpP742yNbcRGBAkNznwJHjEd97nw_aem_ymfPNG-jaHlIRM1F9ERWtQ

!The KONG for a CAUSE

03/21/2025

My dog only listens when I have a treat!!

Is this your situation? Let's chat about reinforcement and building strong, reliable behavioral responses.

First, we need to identify what went wrong. The most common reason for a dog to only respond when a treat is in front of him is because you never changed your reinforcement schedule. More on that to come. But, there is a definite order to how you should be training your dog. If you only ever hold a treat out for your dog to see, then ask for a behavior, we are actually bribing him, not necessarily teaching him. Now, when we are first training a new cue, we may use luring, which does require putting a treat in front of your dog. However we want to phase that out as soon as possible! The order of operations, so to speak, should be: cue (ask for a behavior verbally), hand signal (if you have one), mark the correct behavior, and then reward. The treat should arguably appear out of nowhere. You must execute perfect timing on your mark, and you absolutely must reward your dog each time in the early stages of learning. Think of a reward as paying your dog for a job well done.

Now that we know the why, how do we address this issue? If you have poisoned or overused the cue word (two additional reasons a cue may not work without a super yummy treat in sight), you may have to start over with a different word and re-teach the behavior. If you are still in the early stages of training, address your reinforcement schedule. The reinforcement schedule is basically how frequently you reward your dog. In the beginning you want to reward every correct attempt, or, every successive approximation (smaller increments of a behavior, used when shaping instead of luring) of a final behavior. You must be consistent to help your dog learn. As he shows that he is understanding your cue(s) you will want to move to a variable reinforcement schedule. This means that you do NOT reward each successful behavior, but rather, you offer rewards at random intervals. So, you may reward the 2nd correct attempt, then the 5th correct attempt, then the 1st correct attempt, and so on. This works to actually strengthen the behavior as it 1) prevents extinction, and 2) keeps your dog's motivation up as he knows that eventually a reward WILL come. In difficult training scenarios (such as when you increase distractions) you may have to temporarily move back to a continuous reinforcement schedule by rewarding every attempt.

So, now that you are on a variable reinforcement schedule you should see strong behavioral responses to your cues. You can slowly increase the time between each reward, but, the key is to never completely stop rewarding. As mentioned above, think of a reward as payment for a job. If we completely take away a paycheck, why would your dog continue to offer the behavior? Would you work for free? However this doesn't mean you have to use treats forever. If your dog is responsive to a particular toy, physical affection, or even the environment, you can use these options for a reward. The caveat here is that your dog determines what is rewarding, not us. This means that if your dog doesn't have strong play drive or enjoys physical affection, but has a strong response to treats, then it would be most beneficial to continue to use treats. This also means that in some scenarios we have to increase the value of a reward, as when we are making the training scenario more difficult. So, where in some cases a good scratch might work, in others you may have to use hotdogs or boiled chicken. Or, whatever your dog loves the most.

If you need help teaching new behaviors or proofing current behaviors, shoot us a message!

03/20/2025

Have you ever had a dog do this?

Our first dog Dakota, was the queen of head-in-lap + puppy-dog-eyes. She was extremely social and loved attention, but was very well-mannered and would go lie down if asked. If she was feeling sassy, instead of coming over to me, she would sit about 6 ft away and look at me. Then she would wave at me (one of her tricks). If that didn't work and she really wanted to turn on the charm, she would lay down on her side, place her paws over the bridge of her nose, and would peek over her paws at me. Always wagging her tail (this was also a combination of tricks that I taught her.).

Kaiser would sit about a foot or two away and stare at me. Then he would do what I called a "happy-hop" (where he would hop about an inch or so off the ground) with an accompanying "w-o-o-f". He literally woofed the word woof 😅 This was usually for food, play, or to go outside to potty.

Mya stares deep into my soul and then places her paw on my leg. I never taught her "shake" so this was something she figured out on her own. She is quite polite about it, and is always very gentle. As with her brother, this is either to designate she is hungry or needs to potty (or, wants a sniffy game).

What does your dog do to elicit attention??

03/20/2025

Today is Dogs in Yellow Day. This day helps bring attention to dogs who are anxious, nervous, or fearful and require space while out of the home. You may see a yellow leash or leash cover, a yellow lead, a yellow harness, or maybe a yellow cape, bandana, or ribbon. These items tell you that the dog is, or can be, uncomfortable in certain situations so it's best to give them a wide berth. Don't allow your dog to approach and give the other dog and handler space. It doesn’t matter if your dog is friendly. Respect the space of the other dog and the fact that the handler is doing their best to advocate for their dog. These dogs deserve to go out on walks just as much as any other dog. Try to be patient and understanding and if you cannot move out of their way, either ask before approaching or ask how you can best help the situation. If you are unsure based on the yellow you are seeing (maybe the owner simply likes the color and bought their dog a yellow fashion collar, or they use a yellow leash for high visibility) then all you have to do is ask.

Have you seen any dogs in yellow? How did you react?

03/19/2025

Reward the behavior you want to see! Reward reward reward! Every moment is an opportunity for learning, so what behavior do you see, what behavior do you want to see, and how are those behaviors being rewarded? This will affect what behaviors you see in the future. This also goes for behaviors that we either unintentionally reward as well as behaviors that are being rewarded by something that isn't you.

What is reinforcing for your dog?

Positive reinforcement training isn't simply throwing cookies at your dog.

First of all, reinforcement comes in many forms and it is your dog, not you, that decides what is actually reinforcing (as well as what is reinforcing in any given scenario, as some behaviors require better rewards than others). Yes, treats are the most common reinforcement, but you can also use toys, affection, the environment, or praise depending on the dog.

Secondly, you have to communicate with your dog so that they understand why they are getting that reinforcement. How do we do this? We pair a marker (either verbal or with a clicker) with a behavior, and then you follow that up with a reward. Timing is important here, as is consistency. The clearer you are with your communication and the more you reward for any given behavior, the easier it will be for your dog to "get it". We like to use a verbal marker: "yes!" as it is always with you (you don't have to find or fumble with a clicker). So, any time you see behavior you like, mark it, and reward!

What does this look like?

- reward the behavior you want, any time you see it
- manage the behavior you don't want
- train alternative behaviors for those you don't prefer
- create a behavior pattern by being consistent

All animals learn via positive reinforcement, so if you feel like your dog isn't getting it, look at your timing, your consistency, the reward itself, and any factors that could be affecting learning.

Need help? Shoot us a message!

03/17/2025

Happy St. Paddy's Day! How are you training today?

(Photos from a year ago, when our wubby boy was still alive)

03/13/2025

There are so many reasons why our dogs behave as they do. But, it is never because they are stubborn, naughty, dominant, or doing it on purpose or to spite you. Dogs simply don't have the mental capacity to think this way. While it can be complex, with a little detective work we can uncover the root behavior (or the "why"), which will then allow us to effect lasting change through training and behavior modification. The reasons for behavior can differ from dog to dog, so this is why we require a detailed consultation prior to starting any training sessions.

Some reasons for the behavior we observe are:

Genetics
Overstimulation
Current emotional state
Pain or illness
Environment
Unmet needs (mental, physical, social)
Prior experiences
Inappropriate or inconsistent training

Sometimes the "why" can be a combination of these reasons. In fact, it's quite common to have more than one reason.

Once we figure out the why (or "whys") then we can start training. Otherwise no amount of training in the world will be effective.

Does your dog have any behaviors that you do not prefer? What do you think the "why" is for them?