Buffy is here practicing her loose leash walking, as well as her automatic sit when we stop to wait for cars. As you can see, we're working in a very small area. All too often, we want to bring them into a place with a lot of distractions and try to get them to walk nicely on a leash, but we've skipped the fundamental part, which is being able to walk around minimal distractions. Think of it like how we teach children in a classroom before sending them out into the real world. For this exercise, this is our classroom. As she becomes more reliable, then we can start increasing the distractions.
The key to loose leash walking is that the dog never knows which direction we're going, so they're forced into a position where they always have to watch us. As you can see, we're going in random directions, and her job is to simply watch and follow, which she's doing fantastic with.
Buffy is an extremely intuitive and sensitive dog. She's extremely reactive when her parents are around, but as soon as they leave you can see the "real Buffy." She's timid, anxious, and easily startled. THIS is why she's so reactive around her parents, but not so much when they're gone. So we want to create a very structured environment for her, with very clear expectations. This is the foundation to building her confidence. In this way, her entire life is predictable to her, so she doesn't have to worry about handling anything on her own. That's how we're going to build trust and confidence, which we can then use to expose her to new things.
Buffy is doing so well. She's got her issues, but don't we all? 😂😉 We're very proud of her. 🐶❤️
Dune has been working hard on his "Place" skills, and is doing great.
Dune isn't big into treats. We're still trying to find what works best for him in that area, but we've also discovered that he LOVES play. He doesn't necessarily want to tug or anything, he just wants to chase it while we move it. So that has been our reward for showing his growing impulse control. "You show us that you can control yourself for a few minutes, and then you get to play for a few minutes!"
Impulse control exercises like this are extremely important for any dog. Regardless of whether it's a human or a dog, we all have to do things that we don't want to. It's just a fact of life. He doesn't want to stay there because he wants to play. So we build a system of work and play, so he finds impulse control rewarding. One thing I always tell people about impulse control is that it's built up over time. We don't expect a 5 year old to have the same level of impulse control as an 18 year old. That's why we give them snack times, and nap times, and other breaks, so they can get that energy out. But, by the time they're 18, we KNOW they can control themselves for at least a few hours. That wasn't an accident. We got there because, every year, we asked them to sit still for longer and longer periods of time between breaks, and eventually we got rid of most of the breaks altogether. We want to do the same thing with our dogs. So, even after they're experts at Place, we still want to practice these things, making them increasingly more challenging, and asking them to wait longer in between breaks. That's how we build impulse control.
You'll notice that, in the beginning of this video, he gets off Place. I asked him to get back on, and when he didn't, I just used the leash to help guide him. And, after that, he didn't have any more problems. That's why we want to have the leash on during training exercises like this. He can just drag it around if we don't need it, but dogs get better at what th
Dune is here working on his recall (come when called), as well as his ability to sit when he gets to us (instead of jumping). This is one of the most important things a dog can know, so we try to incorporate it into as many things as possible.
For this exercise, we're just calling him, rewarding him, and then releasing him again. This is because, for many dogs, the only time we ever call them is when we're going somewhere, or want them to come inside, meaning that the recall becomes a cue to end the fun. So, if a dog doesn't want to the the games, then they simply won't come. But, if 9 times out of 10, we're calling them, rewarding them, and then letting them go play again, they won't be suspecting anything during that one time out of 10 that we're ACTUALLY trying to the the game. This is so important.
You'll notice that, even though we're in a confined area, we still have him on leash. And that's because dogs get better at what they practice, so we don't want him to practice ignoring us. If he does, then we can simply step on the leash or pick it up (depending on the situation), so he learns that when we call him, either he comes to us, or we're going to get him and bring him back to the same spot anyway, so he might as well come the first time and get rewarded.
Dune is doing so well! We're still trying to find the right treats for him, but he definitely loves freeze-dried beef! 🐶❤️
Boomer is here practicing his Existence Socialization, and his "Down" cue, around heavier distractions, like ducks and people. He's doing so well! You'll notice that I'm still getting down on the ground to work with his "Down" cue, but we're getting there! For a reactive dog, the ability to lie down around distractions is a big deal, so we couldn't be more pleased with his effort! He's such a great dog! 🐶❤️
Buffy is a very anxious dog, but she loves to work. We're spending the time this morning to reintroduce known commands, gauge her level of retained training and put together our training program. This happy girl has some behavioral issues, reactivity and anxiety, that we will be helping her through over the next couple months.
Dune's first day here has been a lot of bonding, as well as seeing where he's at in his behavior and obedience. He's got a couple small things we have to nip in the bud, but a lot of it is puppy stuff. He does need some confidence building outside, especially at night, but he's super playful, super fun, and super smart. 🐶❤️
It's not "all work and no play" over here. We like to incorporate training into play. So, alongside our regular, structured sessions, we are working on those same skills during playtime. For Bailey, we're working on his impulse control, his ability to sit and stay during high intensity situations, and his "Drop It," and his recall (come when called). So, you can see how playtime is a great time to get in those important repetitions of certain behaviors. 🐶❤️
Bailey is doing a lot better with his loose leash walking. He still gets easily over excited, so we're spending a lot of time with structured exposure to the world, so we can desensitize him. He's doing fantastic around other dogs, until he starts walking, so that's what we're spending a lot of time on: Walking around dogs. It's challenging for him, but he's doing great! We're so proud of him! 🐶❤️
Boomer is doing great with his loose leash walking. With a reactive dog, we want to remember to work WITHOUT distractions, so by the time we confront them the dog will be an expert. So we're working on a nice, focused, structured walk in this video.
Boomer has already been working around other dogs, but WALKING around them is a different story. So we're working on building our own value when outside on the walk, so he'll actually WANT TO focus on us. As he gets better, we'll be adding more and more distractions. We're so proud of him! 🐶❤️
Bailey is here practicing his loose leash walking with mild distractions at the park.
Bailey is a super smart dog. And, just like with smart kids in school, if they're not challenged enough mentally they'll start acting out. Bailey's version of "acting out" is reactivity. He gets bored, he gets excited, and when he can't get to what he wants, he gets frustrated and starts reacting. So we've been spending a lot of time building his focus when outside.
He's doing A LOT better than he was, now that he's learning to calm down and focus, but this pup still has a ways to go. We're so proud of the progress he's making, though. 🐶❤️
Loki (the black one) is a friendly dog, but he can be a bit intense. Yuki (white dog) is an extremely anxious dog. They know each other, and have worked around each other, but this is the first time they've had unleashed free time around each other, so neither one knows how the other plays.
Despite the fact that there are times when Loki wants to play, even his play style is a bit much for Yuki. So we want to advocate for Yuki anytime we see her getting uncomfortable. As you can see, when Loki gets a bit overwhelming, and we remove him, Yuki immediately calms down.
We never want a dog to feel like they have to handle things on their own. If they do, then they will handle things the way dogs handle things: With their bodies and their teeth.
So when we advocate for Yuki, we're proving to her that she can trust our judgement, and trust us to protect her, which builds her confidence and strengthens our bond. Meanwhile, we're teaching Loki how to recognize that nervous body language and respond appropriately.
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Boomer is doing so well! When dealing with reactive dogs, threshold manners are extremely important. We want to teach them to control themselves and focus on us.
For many dogs, they never get to experience the outside world unless they're going somewhere, so the outside is a very exciting place. For a dog like Boomer, whose reactivity is mainly due to excitement and frustration, we want to minimize that excitement. Respecting boundaries and thresholds are an important part of that. We're teaching him how to slow down and focus on us. 🐶❤️
Updates for Some Minor Dog Training's Board-and-Train Program
