Great work with Annie and her owners this morning! I dropped them straight in the gauntlet on the go home lesson of being surrounded by barking dogs on the street and they both kept their cool...great great great work Annie's owners!
Bear is coming along! He is a very cooperative and social guy. Instead of food rewards I use small breaks of personal play as his reward.
He can get over exuberant and crowd or curve in front of me when walking. I use lots of movement and turns to get him learning his position.
There are leaf blowers and dogs barking around us
Annie is reactive to dogs, especially if they show more excitement and energy. I am working her off leash with Vitello as a distraction. She hasn't seen him before now, he is large, in tact and obnoxious. He also has strong eye contact and has all of the things that can trigger an insecure dog.
She is wierd with the place board at first because she hasn't been on the outdoor one yet, it is a different color and material, all I do is recognize the hesitancy and help her with the leash. Going back to the basics of leash communication.
Early morning drills with Bear. We are adding the word to the action.
Your dog's food is valuable! Look at this guy's enthusiasm to work for it!
Try working with your dog with their food instead of freely offering treats for no reason, leaving the bowl down all day or just throwing the bowl down for them.
Miss Stevie is a smartie pants and is catching on quick! She is working on the repetitions for sit, place and down. These will all continue to be built with more distractions , distance and duration. Right now is just the beginning of getting in the reps, I use the leash when she needs help.
Massimo is working on his field trips this week. While I don't feel comfortable filming him in busy crowded areas due to his safety if he gets spooked, I was able to prop up the camera until the battery died at the park.
Mass believes the sky is falling, anything new and wierd can set him off. His reaction is to explosively flee the situation. Having a large dog behave this way is very dangerous.
We spent lots of time building a communication system on leash to help him when he struggles and provide guidance. With this information he can still be afraid, but can fall back into following the handler instead of running for his life.
He needs lots of exposure and continued reinforcement once he is home to make these new things habits. The worst thing you can do for a fearful dog is baby them and not work them through things.
Meet Lucy! Little Lucy is a young doodle with no major issues and here to work on some obedience. We start with the boring stuff of introducing our leash communication (pressure and release) for her food.
Super short video of Bluey ..My phone stopped recording due to storage. You can also see his guest appearance in the background on place in the Malani video.
I was working on his leash walking I'm this session, using lots of direction changes and stops to keep him focused.
Insecure nervous guys like him need to feel confident in the handler to succeed and know they don't have to control the situation themselves... and it all starts on leash
Malani is a young dog who is busy in the brain and has a lot of gas in the tank. She does the typical insecure stuff with the frantic barking at people and dogs. These strong breeds need a purpose and a job to do or they will make their own.
She has some training on commands but was never taught how to follow the leash.
First I am introducing leash guidance for her food so we can start using the leash for communication instead of just restraint which is all she knows from being on a harness.
She doesn't know how to take food from my hand yet and is blasting it with open mouth and shooting it all over the floor. She is a sweet dog and very smart!
Meet Bluey
He is an adolescent boy, fearful of strangers, reacts with eye contact, he has some separation anxiety and an overall entitled attitude. But man is he cute!
First I introduce the directional leash pressure for his food which will then turn into all of his future obedience commands. I have a bad chest cold and dropped the ball yesterday with filming his first session. His first session was a fight, he resisted any leash pressure. All pups should learn how to move with the leash at a very young age to avoid issues as they mature.
After our session I took him out for a loose leash walk to see the neighbors and get some exposure to the "scary " things
Tana's first dremel session.
I keep my mouth shut and my body language calm. I only use the food reward after she allows the handling. I do short intervals at first to get her used to the process. She gives some resistance a few times and all I do is stay steady with my grip, no words and don't release her until she stops. Most of the time people are too quick to give in to the dog and it teaches them that fighting trumps cooperation. Handling should be started with baby puppies.
Practicing long line recalls with Tana. She is extremely prey driven and loves to smell and it is important she knows how to return to the handler when called.
It is always best to practice your recall in real works situations ( once they have an understanding) with a leash and a way to reinforce the command.
Family dog trainer focusing on foundational on and off leash obedience and relationship building. I know that with high rewards comes hard work.
