Great day for all the BOOP dogs!
Teaching Finnegan to take care of some chores around the house.
I honestly love having him follow me around when I'm working around the house. I forgot how much fun it can be to have a sidekick checking out your every move and interested in every new thing. Even if he has no intentions of making things easier for me 🤣
A day in the life.
Fulfilling dogs. Setting rules, boundaries, and limits that dogs thrive within. Calm and consistent feedback. Play that builds our relationship. A ton of fun!
Royce only made a brief appearance in this, but check him out being our demo dog! Proud of that big knucklehead.
Day 1 Place work.
I'm not looking for perfection. I'm looking for good choices that I can mark and reward.
Leo here has a lot of energy and loves attention. Being on the Place and being ignored is hard for him, but I know he can do it. I also know it's one of the best things for him.
He broke Place a few times yesterday, and each time I just calming directed him back to Place. Mistakes are going to happen. It's up to me to be consistent with the feedback I give when that happens. I don't get loud. I don't rush towards the dog. I don't give a big correction. I just calmly show him he made a bad choice and direct him back to where he needs to be.
I'm also setting the dog up for success by doing some training and/or playing before working on Place. Bringing Leo straight out of the crate and asking him to Place for 10 minutes isn't reasonable.
1. Set your dog up for success.
2. Mark and reward the behaviors you want. Mark and reward good choices.
3. Provide consistent feedback when a bad choice is made.
Nothing better than goofin with my buddy Royce.
I love getting these two working together!
We walked to park last night. Linc played some soccer and ran around while I was training with Finn. Linc took over for the walk home.
I love how Finn respects him. He could easily be a handful and pull him all over the place. Linc has really started to be interested in training, so he has the perfect buddy to work with.
There's also something special about asking a kid to be a leader. They have to think differently. They have to keep their focus on the dog. I'm asking him to reward good behavior just like I would, and work through things that didn't go well. It makes them think more about We and Us, rather than just Me.
Dog training, boarding, and daycare! Come check us out! Your dog will love it!
Andrew Kurtz. Professional Dog Trainer. Amateur actor.
Cut!
Enjoy this behind the scenes footage 😆
In all seriousness, I'm so excited to be running training programs with Top Dog. Great people who take great care of their dogs and families.
Sweet Winston showing off his loose leash walking. There was a lot of activity in the neighborhood today, sometimes the loud noises from the landscaping crews can make him a little nervous. So we take our time, let him observe instead of hurry away, and show him that everything is alright.
I felt like things were really starting to click for George, so we did his whole session today on the flexi and flat collar. He showed me exactly what I was looking for!
Royce has me singing today! 😆
Gonna help this guy find his brakes...and a great home!
Ranger Finn at my favorite little metropark.
What's your recall looking like?
Shark Tracking!
He's getting good. We're going to start on longer, tougher tracks in different environments this week. Maybe today if the weather plays nice.
I love watching him work.
Full video of the track over on my YouTube channel!
Some more stinky sock tracking for Finn.
Puppy Love
Puppy interactions are always fun. Finn is very forward, so he needs to work on his manners. Pinot loves the attention, but not THAT much attention. So getting Finn to settle and let Pinot come to him creates more balanced interactions instead of Finn constantly chasing Pinot. She still has the freedom to create space if she wants to and I won't let Finn go crowd her space. Then she can re-engage if she feels like it.
Play is so important for these guys!
Meet Pinot!
She's a sweet and spicy little thing that's here to work on some of the typical puppy things; play biting, jumping, leash manners. We'll also keep building her confidence as she's a little shy and insecure. So expect to see us on a playground this weekend doing some puppy parkour!
Finnegan is doing his best here not to run over and tackle her to start a wrestling match 🤣
