Mountaintop Agility Dogs

03/01/2025

I saw this great adage and realized it fit so well with this photo by Barking Dog Images!

The story behind the photo: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ATrrgQixE/

02/12/2025

One of the most powerful steps you can take as a trainer is to change your mindset from,
‘How can I get my dog to do it’ to
‘How can I get my dog to Want to do it’—

Stress for dogs, often comes from the teacher, not the task.
For some dogs, the resentment for the phase of work that was forced upon them, stays with them and could have been avoided if the handler had changed their approach.
For example, if you make a new concept difficult, even inadvertently, such as,
having expectations of how quickly your dog should learn, how proficient he should be, the wrong set-up
or if you try to force behavior, it could be that you are creating the stress that your dog then associates with that task.
—At the onset of training, it’s extremely important to differentiate, is the training issue one you can change VS. is it a genetic predisposition, that you can improve and manage but not organically alter.

Trying to force a dog to ‘push through’ an issue that stems from their genetics (ie too much eye, inherently wide, inherently fearful etc) is almost always to the detriment of the dog.
Instead, this is when you need knowledge and experience to help your dog or the self awareness to seek help from an expert.

Just like people, dogs can get bored when you do the same thing too often,
frustrated when it’s too arduous or disheartened when too often being told ‘you’re wrong’.

Instead of trying to accelerate your dogs training timeline, focus on your consistency, development and improvement as a teacher.
It's your continuous effort to adjust to your dogs response and body language that will help your dog become the best he can be.
Handlers sometimes find themselves waiting...for the day when they, win the competition, succeed at “X” , are acknowledged by their peers, or other.
Don’t let the pursuit of tomorrow diminish the joy of today, for you or your dog.
macraeway.com

02/11/2025

02/07/2025

There is a saying, every time you point a finger, 3 fingers are pointing back at you…I believe this is especially true in dog training.
Trainers sometimes get caught up in their own expectations and if they don’t have positive results, it’s a shortcoming of their dog.
They put their desire and vision of success, ahead of how their individual dog needs to work to be his or her best.
Their dog—‘didn’t have enough drive, a “good dog” should be able to handle my pressure, he never liked to do X’, etc.
But more often than not, it was the method and how they executed it that never gave their dog a chance.

When agenda or ego guides the training, it can lead to shortcuts and bullying.
Dogs can be trained successfully with many different styles and techniques but there is a huge difference between a dog that has been trained with the focus on correction,
versus dogs taught with a constructive, adaptable ideology taking into account individual amount of desire, eye, excitability, maturity, feel, etc.

When the work is enjoyable and intuitive, it becomes your dogs idea to want to please.
This is true both when training young dogs and when competing at trials.
When conditions are hot, humid or difficult and you need your dog to try, dogs that are mentally invested are the ones who give their heart.
You can just train or you can partner.
macraeway.com

02/06/2025

Chako and 44 other amazing pets (including puppies) are available for adoption!

Chako is a sweet 6-year-old, 12lb Chihuahua mix looking for his perfect human! This little guy came from a dog and cat hoarding situation, so he’s fantastic with other animals but can be shy around people at first. With patience and love, Chako will slowly come out of his shell—and once he does, he’ll be your most loyal shadow, following you everywhere and showering you with cuddles.

Chako would make a wonderful apartment dog but will thrive in any loving home. If you’re willing to give him the time and space he needs to feel safe, Chako will reward you with endless love. Could you be his forever person? 🏡💕

The adoption fee is only $150 and that includes the spay/neuter, microchip, and initial vaccinations. If you would like to meet this sweetheart, please go to https://ootwrescue.org/adoption and fill out an adoption application. You can also go to this link to see our other amazing available adoptees.

02/06/2025

2025 Events at White County K9!

01/16/2025

NO CLASSES JANUARY 20 UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!
The weather still looks bad next week, with daytime highs below freezing Monday and Tuesday. No mention of much precipitation yet.

01/13/2025

When training isn’t going well, the first instinct is often to try to change your dog.
But the answer is more often found in changing yourself—

Blame is easy.
And handlers often assign responsibility to the wrong source. They may rationalize:
it's limited time (frequency/duration of training sessions)
the sheep
something that happened off the training field
their dog’s innate ability
temperament, or other.
The cause they attribute (often unconsciously), eliminates their accountability.
This includes, “It’s me”, if said with resignation.

Change can be hard.
It can feel frustrating, counterintuitive, messy and almost always requires admitting you’ve made mistakes and need to alter course.
It’s uncomfortable.
But when you’re humble enough to evaluate your mindset, your training method
your commitment to continue learning
and be accountable,
you’ll find the answer is within yourself.

One way to get started is to revisit the challenges you are facing. Evaluate how you can develop to become a better, more intuitive teacher.
View training obstacles as a catalyst to gain knowledge, develop skills, and grow.
Reframe frustration and fear of failure; instead of “I have to change” embrace the opportunity, “I get to change”.

If self discipline is difficult, you need motivation or if a training issue is outside your experience level, recruit help.
With technology, even when you’re unable to travel, you have access to experts and can immerse yourself in knowledge.

When I understood it was my responsibility to honestly assess my dog and change my teaching approach to best match his individual characteristics (including amount and type of eye, excitability, maturity, temperament, self confidence, etc.)
it was a game changer.
Instead of expecting him to figure it out or adapt to my style, I needed to learn how to adjust to him.
While the principles stay the same, the individuality is paramount; for both training and for partnership.
The more I work on myself, the more my dogs improve.
macraeway.com

01/08/2025

**Classes will NOT resume until at least January 20th, due to possible snow/ice and frigid temps late this week and early next week.

**Please let me know whether or not you plan to continue in your current class!

** if you are interested in a new foundation class (either Tuesday or Wednesday nights at 6:30), please let me know.

01/08/2025

01/06/2025

12/27/2024

What a great article! We are all guilty of some of these. Over the years, I’ve learned to do much less “fixing.” It’s almost always our fault anyway.

Poisoned Praise

Lately I've been pondering experienced handlers who seem to be doing all the right things -enthusiastic markers, good technical personal play concepts, no obvious or heavy-handed corrections, good core training techniques- yet have dogs having a hard time.

From dogs who shut down to dogs who look bored to dogs that start to view the games we play with them as chores to slog through.

I'm not stranger to this myself. So what gives?

I believe a large factor (if not the largest factor) is poisoned praise. That although we've done all the right technical mumbo jumbo, that our dog doesn't believe our praise. Somewhere along the line we've poisoned it.

How? It comes in many forms, but these are the most common versions I see -and almost always there is a large combination of elements at play.

1) Frustrated handlers dealing out frustrated praise. We are trying to pass off a lie and they know it. If our praise feels like cloaked frustration, that's the end emotional result.

2) Drilling Skills. For all but a few dogs repetition kills enjoyment yet many of us continue to train and train and train to get something "right".

3) Focusing on Specific Skills too Early. Before we can truly get skill we need attitude, teamwork and communication. Many experienced handlers want to rush into skills. If you don't allow the dog to cultivate desire first, you're gonna have a heck of a time getting a great performance.

4) Obligatory Praise. As handlers we know we should reward our dogs. However if praise, treats or tug feels like a chore to the handler, the dog feels that in the communication. Just another chore on the training front today. Thanks.

5) Praise is Pressure. I could write a whole post on the topic, but in a nutshell as we advance skill sets praise comes with a level of pressure. When we earn an A on a paper we feel we should be able to earn similar again. Less than an A can make us feel defeated, even if we weren't prepared adequately. If we keep pushing the envelope on skills, sooner or later you are going to find a dog who has some level of pressure stress. Where pressure lives desire and joy get worn away. Couple this with the fact that there is handler pressure too and the dog praises us with the wanted behavior, the team can quickly be dealing with a heck of a lot of pressure.

6) End Goals are Prioritized Over the Process. Especially for handlers well into their sports, there is a conscious or unconscious push towards the end goal -getting on that competition floor. It motivates you, but it often also takes you out of the moment when you train your dog. Plan away, but not being present with your dog is a very, very good way to create disconnect and make your praise seem hollow and fake. Don't go through the motions.

7) Making Mountains out of Molehills. People -experienced or not- have the very odd ability to find a single great session amazing while completely unravelling with one off session. We all have set-backs, but I promise just like a few great repetitions isn't actually as amazing as you think it is, nor is a couple of bad repetitions as detrimental as you may believe. What we communicate is what's going to hold water long term. You don't need to be super duper happy about the set-backs, but save your mental breakdowns for when you're not playing with your dog. Honestly, it's just dog sports. You're not curing cancer.

8) Not Taking Time to Play. Interact like you mean it. Play for the sake of playing. Quit training and have fun (a lot of handlers truly don't know how to mentally entwine the two). Build muscle memory for joy, desire, messy speed. You can refine it later. You obviously have the skills to teach "stuff". Now teach yourself to have enough fun that your dog believes you.

9) Quest for Perfection. We all want our dogs to do it right, but I promise the quickest way to strip desire in a dog is to make them go back and fix their work. God what a chore! Like a teacher over your shoulder telling you the moment you get something wrong. What a nag! Keep flow. Keep momentum. Keep speed. Keep desire. Those are way the heck harder to train anyway. Don't worry at some point you'll have enough steam in the tank to fix things, but until you actually have that, keep moving. Poor finish -keep moving! Missed a jump -keep running! You do not need to make it "right" all in the same session.

10) Time Lines. Deadlines create pressure. If we want X by Friday, unless it's already close to ready, I will need to strip desire in favor of simply "getting it done". There are times I may need to do such, but if more than 10% of my training is rushed, that rushed feeling is going to start to poison things. Rushing kills the process, which kills joy. Marie Kondo would feel we should throw it out.

If you think you may have poisoned your praise I encourage you to take a training break. A couple of weeks or even a couple of months. Enjoy your dog. Begin to grow a new praise system -one they believe and buy into. Allow them to show you how brilliant they are and have them believe it. Let them be cheeky.

When they have some fire in their soul, then you are ready to try again, going slow, relishing each session as two teammates who at the end of the day really enjoy time spent together.