Sensible Canine

02/16/2025

Congratulations to our most recent Sensible Skills group class graduates (minus one adorable english bulldog who missed pictures). We loved having you in class and wish you the best of luck with training!

Sign up is open for our next available class on Monday evenings starting 3/24. Visit our website at sensiblecanine.com or reach out via email to [email protected] for more information!

01/14/2025

After teaching our dogs to settle in different distractions at home, we can take these skills out and about. You’ll want to understand your dog and be accommodating enough not to push this skill in such a way where they feel overwhelmed or anxious. Summit did great being outside during a neighborhood get together and was able to lay down with loud noises in the background and even made eye contact while in place. We practiced for a short period of time before giving her a break back home.

01/08/2025

Learning to lay on a bed and settle in different contexts at home is a great skill to have but can take time to learn based on the dog’s temperament and their learning history. Working with Summit without any distractions, we started with a cue to go to her bed. Next, we worked on incorporating this skill in real life situations at home. We had the dogs work on settling on their respective beds next to the dining table. Eventually, with enough practice, your dogs can learn to lay down in a more relaxed manner and for longer periods of time.

01/02/2025

Patience is an important skill that needs to be taught to our pups since it doesn't come naturally for most of our furry friends. Having multiple dogs in our home, it's important for any four legged family member to learn the skills individually at first and then generalize the skills to working with multiple dogs at the same time. There are various ways we can build on this foundation skill, one example being the use of different value cookies.

12/28/2024

Being in new locations can be a very different experience and the unpredictability can be scary for some dogs. However, we can be strategic with positively and safely exposing our dogs to new locations. Shopping areas where dogs don’t tend to visit as much and during quieter times of day are a good place to start. We took Summit out during a weekday morning to Sierra Trading Post. Using a shopping cart with her puppy carrier to keep her physically safe, we were able to expose her to the sights and sounds of the store. Once she was a few weeks older, I also walked her into a few dog friendly gift shops and let her explore.

12/27/2024

We still have a few spots open in our next Sensible Skills class starting this Monday, 1/6 at 7:30pm. This is our general manners course where we go over all the basics including; sit, down, stay, leave it, loose leash walking, polite greetings, mat work, the always important recalls, and how to have fun while training! All group classes will be held in Lakewood.

If your dog already has these foundation skills, this can still be a great opportunity for them to practice around other dogs and distractions in a safe setting. Contact us now to sign up: https://sensiblecanine.com

12/21/2024

It’s easy to focus on getting our dogs comfortable with people and dogs, but novel objects are also an integral part of socialization/desensitization. A puppy’s first few months of life is the ideal time to provide our dogs with a variety of opportunities to safely explore the environment around them. One thing to play around with is surfaces on which your dog can step. Here you see Summit putting her paws up on a balance pod and climbing up her human brother’s jungle gym.

12/15/2024

Focus and attention are important to teach any dog. From the get go, whenever Summit paid attention to me, she was rewarded with a tasty cookie. This helped to teach her that paying attention with eye contact is a behavior worth repeating. Don’t worry - her brother, Mowgli, got a treat too as soon as I put the camera away.

12/08/2024

Teaching a dog to respond to their name is another important tool when you first introduce them to their new home. Watch Summit’s head turn towards us the first time she hears her name and her tail wagging in happy anticipation of a treat when she hears her name the second time. When teaching these new skills, we make sure to practice at home first with less distractions.

12/05/2024

Looking forward to Yappie Hour tomorrow! Stop on by and say hi!

You don't want to miss Yappie Hour tomorrow!! In addition to our normal Yappie Hour specials ($2 off a human item and $2 off doggie ice cream) we will have the big guy in the house....
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That's right SANTA will be here for you to take FREE photos of your dog with him!
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PLUS a FREE DIY tug toy sponsored by and more special guests with treats: and !

12/04/2024

Come visit Sensible Canine at Colorado Tap House's Yappie Hour tomorow, 12/5 from 4-7pm! Santa will be making an appearance and we will be offering a station to make your own tug toy gift for your furry friends.

12/03/2024

We still have a few spots open in our next Sensible Skills class starting this Sunday, 12/8 at 10M. This is our general manners course where we will be teaching your dog all the basics including; sit, down, stays, leave it, loose leash walking, polite greetings, mat work, the always important recalls, and how to have fun while training! All group classes will be held in Lakewood.
If your dog already has a lot of these foundation skills, this may also be a great opportunity for them to practice these skills around other dogs in class in a safe setting. Contact us now to sign up:

Sensible Canine offers relationship focused, science based techniques and positive reinforcement training for you and your dog that address a variety of manners and behavioral needs. We will help you and your dog better understand one another and to build trust that makes learning fun and effective....

12/03/2024

We want to introduce you to our new furry family member named Summit. Mehak’s home is now filled with puppy energy and the family and we thought we could spend this month showcasing some of the things we have been working on with her. Just like with any new dog in our home it takes time to learn their personalities and preferences, and it’s important to learn to accommodate their personal needs.

One of the first things we teach our dogs is to be content in an enclosed area such as a playpen or crate. This provides them with a safe place to rest when needed and whenever we can’t fully supervise. Here is Summit choosing to go into her playpen while the door was open. We set this up with a comfortable bed, toys, water and food as needed.

12/02/2024

Excited to be a part of Colorado Tap House's Yappie Hour this Thursday 12/5 from 4-7pm! Santa will be making an appearance and Sensible Canine be offering a station to make your own tug toy gift for your furry friends.

11/27/2024

Since we can't control the neighborhood's use of salt or chemicals on public pathways, you can help protect your dog by rubbing a paw protector (like musher's secret) or vaseline on the pads of their paws. This will help avoid chemicals from making contact, prevent snowballs from forming, and keep their paws from cracking when they aren't wearing boots.

11/26/2024

Congratulations to our recent graduates from our Sensible Skills group class! We loved watching all these wonderful pups and their people pick up foundation skills in this 5-week course and most importantly, have fun with training! (A couple of well trained puppers and their people were missing for pictures).

11/20/2024

Whether you live somewhere where you are in charge of shoveling/de-icing pathways or simply have the ability to influence those who do, use pet friendly ice melt to ensure the comfort of your dog and any others that pass through. Harsh salts and chemicals can damage your dog's paws and even their digestive system if they lick their paws after passing through.