Enlightened K9 Perspective

12/11/2024

Why Public Training Matters 🐾

Training your dog at home is essential, but stepping outside into the real world is where the magic happens! 🌟

Life is full of distractions – other dogs, kids playing, squirrels darting, loud noises – and your dog needs to learn how to navigate it all with confidence and focus. By practicing obedience in public spaces, you're giving your pup the tools to:

✔️ Stay calm and focused despite distractions
✔️ Build trust and strengthen your bond
✔️ Safely and confidently interact with the world

Plus, every distraction becomes a new opportunity for growth and learning! Whether it's a busy park or a quiet café, training in real-life scenarios ensures your dog is well-mannered no matter where life takes you.

Let’s set our dogs up for success, one distraction at a time! 🐕💪

11/22/2024

11/20/2024

One of the current fads you’ll hear trainers and online experts pontificating about is “building confidence”. And while we’d all love to have our nervous, insecure, fearful dogs feel more confident, the stuff that’s typically put forth as the “how to get there” path is almost all style and superficial emotional “feel good” stuff and very little true substance, and truly do good stuff.

We get dog after dog after dog who is nervous, insecure, fearful, and we don’t have them running over A-Frames, jumping on top of fire hydrants, or scaling burning buildings.

No, we simply create a predictable, consistent, dependable, lifestyle framework that includes clear and consistently enforced rules. A non-chaotic, structured lifestyle. We teach a clear “yes” and “no”, and ensure the dog values both. We don’t baby, coddle, shield these nervous/fearful dogs—nope, we hold them to the highest possible standard they’re capable of. And at the foundation of it all, we have a clear attitude and belief system that humans should lead and dogs should follow. This underpins all the previous beliefs and therefor actions.

Am I saying there are no other ways to help increase confidence? Nope. What I am saying is that, as per usual, the training community looks past the obvious, the common sense, and the less fancy sounding—which your everyday owner could easily implement—in favor of what sounds like a game changing approach that is so deep, so sophisticated, and so profoundly new and different that unknowing owners flock to it. (I’ll let you figure out why that occurs over and over.)

All I know is that this un-fancy, common sense, glaringly obvious approach to training that we utilize with all our client dogs—does this exceptionally strange thing… it builds confidence. Real confidence. Not tricks and not fun-looking stuff to entice unsuspecting owners. But the real stuff that enables dogs who struggled terribly prior to training to blossom, to find they’re capable of far more than they (or their owners) ever thought, and to learn to enjoy life to a much greater degree.

So before you sign up for a “confidence building” course, first have a look at my list above, and see if there’s any gaps between the list and your life with your dog. You’d be the exceptionally rare owner who doesn’t have any of these gaps in play—which means you’ve got a ton of non-fancy, easy-to-implement work you can do to help your dog transform, and find their best version of confidence.

And that should be awfully good news. ❤️

11/20/2024

Meet Olivia, a Great Dane-Mastiff mix puppy who came to me after a bit of a rough start. Her groomer referred her to me because, frankly, she was out of control—jumping and biting during grooming sessions. Olivia’s size, combined with her puppy energy, made the situation unsafe for everyone involved.

Through focused training sessions, we worked to correct and stop those bad behaviors while building trust. Once those behaviors were under control, we focused on reinforcing good behavior and helping Olivia develop better manners. I decided to take her back to the same groomer for a visit. But this time, I was the one bathing her. The transformation was remarkable—Olivia was calm, cooperative, and well-mannered throughout the entire process. (You can watch her progress in the video attached!)

Interestingly, Olivia isn’t the only one in training—her seven-month-old brother, Charter, is also with me to work on his manners and skills. These two siblings are growing fast, and their training journey highlights the importance of starting early, especially for large or giant breed puppies.

Puppies like Olivia and Charter grow quickly, and without proper training, their size can become a safety concern for themselves and those around them. Early training helps them develop confidence, self-control, and trust, making life easier for both the dogs and their humans.

If you have a giant breed puppy, don’t wait until their size becomes overwhelming. The earlier you start training, the better the results—and the happier your pup will be.

11/02/2024

Crate training is key! A crate keeps your puppy/dog safe from harm, reduces separation anxiety, and aids in potty training. Use it consistently during the first year to set your pet up for success!

10/28/2024

•Pet your dog, all the time
•Talk to your dog, all the time
•Allow your dog to follow you, all the time
•Allow your dog to be on your lap or laying on your feet, all the time
•Pet, soothe, comfort your dog when it whines or barks for attention...or is simply anxious
•Allow your dog to demand affection/interactions
•Be emotionally dependent on your dog to the point that unhealthy dependency and interactions are no longer noticed
•Allow your dog to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants—aka, provide no structure, rules, or accountability
•Foster an environment of chaos, stress, and anxiety
•Refuse to train and pattern calmness
•Refuse to crate train your dog
•Refuse to correct your dog when inappropriate behavior occurs
•Refuse to train your dog how to be independent/alone by using a “Place” command, “Downstay, and/or “away” time in the crate
•Let your dog out of the crate when it whines or barks
•Avoid training or anything that makes your dog temporarily uncomfortable or unhappy—in other words, cater to your dog’s every desire/need, designing your life around your dog, rather than having your dog fit into yours
•And many, many more...

Basically, baby, soothe, allow, enable, disable, lean on, omit teaching necessary life skills, prioritize what feels good for you rather than what does good for your dog, and through this master plan of leadership-free chaos, and systematic cultivation of creating a toxic dependency between dog and human...you’ll ensure that when you leave, your dog will be a true emotional mess, because you haven’t prepared them to be calm, obedient, strong, resilient, robust, independent, and alone.

10/25/2024

"Transform your puppy into a well-behaved companion in just 2 weeks! Our Board & Train program, tailored for puppies 16 weeks to 6 months, focuses on obedience, socialization, and housebreaking. Limited spots available! Call (434.207.6613) to reserve your spot today! Prices are listed on our page"

08/22/2024

Sadie finished a 2 week puppy board and train a couple of weeks ago and now is able to go out and enjoy life with her owner.

06/16/2024

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆 "𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸."

1.𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿

2. 𝗧𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆

3. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵

4. 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 / 𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗴

5. 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗵. 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗼𝗳𝗳, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱, 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗜𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲.

05/12/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/jgmLR8whGTcGur6k/?mibextid=qi2Omg

More information regarding the lawsuit: https://truthaboutpetfood.com/lawsuit-claims-hills-pet-food-and-veterinarians-fabricated-grain-free-diet-scare/WE WRO...

04/16/2024

Someone has to 🫡

The concept that you can train a dog without force is just a lie.

The second you put a leash on a dog and restrict their freedom, you’re using force by definition.

There is a humongous difference between positive reinforcement training (which is part of EVERY dog training program out there) and “force free” which is just a catch phrase that’s used to prey on your emotions.

Of course we use positive reinforcement when we train, but we also use punishment. Why? Because no matter how many new commands, skills, tasks you train a dog…

…it will not stop them from practicing unwanted behaviors like barking and charging the front door, jumping on guests, or eating things off the ground that they shouldn’t.

Positive reinforcement is 99% of our dog training program, but the 1% of corrections we use have a time and place, and often are in place the save the dogs life.

But whether you’re training a dog with food (coercion) or handling them with a leash (force) there is always some part of the training that defies the very definition of “force free”.

The most effective dog training programs should not only teach the dog what is wanted from them, but also teaches them right from wrong behaviorally too.

04/01/2024

04/01/2024