Heel work with Blu!
In just a few short days, after many repetitions, this is where we are! She is finding heel position by herself and her engagement with me is lovely and growing!
Disclaimer to new followers***
Prongs are not my go to. Since she is here for a very short time, I wanted to condition her to one so that while her parents are learning their leash handling skills, she cannot blow them off and keep practicing bad habits. As this video shows, the leash is in a “U” shape 99.9% of the time meaning the prong collar is not engaged/in use. I do not use the prong as a teacher, the dog must first understand the desired behavior of obedience, and then corrections can follow after that knowledge has been seeded.
As always, the best tool we harness as owners is clear communication and the relationship we have with our dog!
After every board and train (short or long term) owners MUST attend graduation and follow ups are recommended but optional. During graduation, any tools that are sent home are gone over in detail (proper fitting, proper use, the purpose of the tool, etc).
Full video 🎥: https://youtube.com/shorts/Ay3O3yHW7UQ?si=R_ZapRWdBsrtItcB
Blu’s first session!
I could type a novel on this session alone. Incredible first session all around. Lots of thinking and realizations for Blu!
I introduced the marking (yes) and release (ok) system to her immediately. She picked up on this very quickly which bridges beautifully into adding even small bits of duration in the first session.
In the beginning of this video, there was some confusion from her on what I was asking (the barking, scratching, backing up, etc). I fixed this by doing quick reps with high reward and explosive releases with play.
I also introduced intermittent rewards and leash pressure to her in this session. As we were working I quickly realized that she did not know how to turn off leash pressure or what it meant, so you will see me pairing it with her sits (adding something new to something old). Crucial for fixing her issue with pulling in a short time period.
She was very unsure about passing the plane of my body in heel at first as well, which is why I was tossing treats behind me, once she was comfortable, getting into heel position was much more fluid.
Full video 🎥: https://youtu.be/_auIGYoQuaY?feature=shared
Fixing aversion and response time in downs.
Koukla, although powerful and pushy, is also a very sensitive girl. At one point when I started adding in corrections for downs (this came after she already understood expectations for the command), she started having a slight aversion to downs and her response time to the command was sluggish.
I went back and started doing some fun, high reward quick reps with her to fix this issue.
Posting this as a reminder: training is not linear. You will train something new or fix something and other problems will arise, dogs will have bad days, and in the beginning, there will be lots of hills and valleys of what success looks like. Progress is always the goal of every session.
Fixing a few things with Koukla:
Not bashing into me on recalls
Recalls from varying distances, but luring her into a front sitting position. We did this backtied at first (controlled) and then bridged over to being on a free leash.
Lots on low ground play as a reward for recalls.
Not jumping to get into heel position
Hundred of low stationary reps. This started to create an issue of her wanting to down when getting into heel position, so we went back and fixed that too. There were lots of moving pieces with this. Fixing an issue, created a new one to fix.
Lots of low ground play.
This is a very small snippet of steps I took to fix these issues. We were drilling these things daily for almost a week.
Full video 🎥: https://youtu.be/CZqqICfp4RI?si=uhgMok0BsvftbihZ
Heel work with Koukla!
Coming in as a major puller, this was such a nice point in our training to finally see! The engagement with me and her putting all of the pieces together (finding heel position on her own, correcting herself with minimal help from me, auto-sits) was beautiful to watch unfold, and capture in this video in real time.
At this point, I was still having a small issue with her wanting to jump and rebound off of me to get into heel position, so back to the basics we went to correct that behavior. Tons of low luring and playing close to the ground to reinforce “all 4 on the floor”.
Full video 🎥: https://youtube.com/shorts/4IdstSnDq3E?si=BmQc-LLD8Jv4OahL
Koukla pupdate 1
This session was about 4 days out from her first session. In the time between these videos, I spent a ton of time rewarding her for being all 4 on the floor and rewarding her for offering calm behaviors and interrupting her chaotic ones.
She and I also spent a significant amount of time learning to play together because another issue she had with her owners was as soon as there were distractions, she was unable to focus on anything else. I wanted to be able to tug and play with her later on in new environments to get her re-engaged with me and also be able to use toys as a secondary reward.
In this session, she is much calmer, her actions are more predictable and we are communicating much more clearly. ✨progress✨
Full video 🎥: https://youtu.be/6s7ohiK93s0?feature=shared
Koukla pupdate day (she has graduated THAT’S how far behind I am in posting, BUT her transformation has been amazing! And I still want to share)
Koukla’s first session!
Whew! This girl came in so chaotic, a real bull in a china shop 😂. Jumping up on people and running and crashing into them has been a real issue for her owners, so we started correcting that right off the bat, laying the boundary that that was no longer an acceptable behavior.
She also very easily overstimulates and gets the zoomies and just becomes chaotic with her actions, which I realized during this first session.
The positives! She is heavily food motivated, like most pit/bully breeds. That made luring into positions extremely easy for her and reinforcing the good things she was offering a breeze! She already had a basic understanding of a few commands that I was able to see and start building on from the beginning. She’s a very confident, happy girl.
In this video, you’ll hear me saying “Ella” for her recall command. It’s something that her owner wanted to implement, however, as we continued, it wasn’t clicking for her. Most likely because it had been used many times with no real meaning behind it. When we switched to “come”, she picked up on that very quickly!
Full video 🎥: https://youtu.be/c3I0iBSDYUA?si=EnDGo1v2Hnse6dhW
All of the dogs get walked 1 mile twice a day (weather permitting/depending on the dog’s physical capabilities as well).
Not only are the walks for sniffing, play and exercise, we also use them to practice skills like recalls, shaping check-ins, duration stays, heel work, etc. These daily structured walks play a huge part in them earning and learning how to be off leash!
Board and train Miles second session!
This guy picked up on the basics super fast! Compared to his first session, his engagement has improved, his offered duration has improved, and he nailed his down command with no luring💪🏻
Full video 🎥: https://youtu.be/FiVDhworhjY?si=KessYkua9yQ8ANF4
The start of a long strand of pupdates!
Board and train Miles first session!
Since I haven’t posted in a while (I’m so behind!):
I ALWAYS video first sessions. Why?
🐾 Are there any major behavioral issues or odd behaviors?
🐾 What does the dog already know? If anything.
🐾 Is the dog confident? Shy? Fearful? Overstimulated?
🐾 What type of reinforcement does the dog find most rewarding? Most of the time, food is the answer, but occasionally, I get a dog who prefers toys or praise. Regardless of what they prefer, all are used throughout training for different things.
🐾 Will the dog play with toys?
🐾 Is the dog engaged with me or distracted by the environment? Do they toggle between this?
🐾 To pinpoint unwanted or problematic behaviors early on.
What did we learn from Miles in this session:
Food motivated ✅
Confident ✅
Knows the motion of sit✅
Lures nicely with food ✅
Is happy to work ✅
Picks up on things quickly ✅
Problem areas:
Engagement ❌ very nice when I’m actively working, but prefers to engage with the environment if my attention is off of him. You’ll see in the video, at one point I’m just standing there, simply marking and rewarding his engagement with me. He picked up on this pretty easily.
Impulse control ❌ we have some work to do here. Miles has a ton of energy, he just needs a place to put it.
Standing on his back legs/jumping ❌ this has most likely inadvertently been rewarded overtime, but we will fix it!
Full video🎥: https://youtu.be/LCqjKCEotHY?feature=shared
Board and train Lily has made huge strides in her confidence in new environments.
Last week when her owner and I met at TSC, Lily was very nervous and overwhelmed (wouldn’t take food, overly focused on the environment, visibly wasn’t comfortable, shying away from people, etc), even though TSC was relatively low stimulus for that session.
Over the past week, we have gone to multiple locations and just PLAYED! Played in the parking lots, played in the stores, played in people’s yards, played on the side of the road, played in high and low distraction areas….just played. The video below shows the results! Do not underestimate the power of play or the bond it builds between you and the dog. As I’ve said many times before, the relationship you have with your dog is the best tool you have. It’s not the leash, the harness, the collar, the ecollar, (insert whatever other tool)….it’s YOU!
Lily’s mom has been very consistent with visits and learning for herself and has also made so much progress in her handling skills, mitigating problems, understanding her dog and her dog’s needs, and her confidence in the ability to do that has grown as well!
Full video 🎥: https://youtube.com/shorts/a9XMftsc114?si=eq6K8to98TXY2EIA
Board and train Stella has come SO far on her heel work!
When we first started, she was so distracted outside that I was getting no engagement or eye contact and she constantly wanted to chase after every little thing that moved, she was demand barking, laying down and refusing to walk, and pulling.
Teaching heel as a stationary position is SO important. Making heel fun is SO important. Making yourself valuable to the dog is THE MOST IMPORTANT. We have to be cooler than the leaves, squirrels, other people, or anything else they may encounter.
