ERIE DOG CO

12/23/2024

12/23/2024

An open door is not permission to exit! 🙌
We teach our dogs the DEFAULT command to wait for permission before exiting the CAR, the HOME and the CRATE. When I say default, that means I do not want to rely on guests or children commanding the dog to wait…. Instead, we make this a default behavior and teach the dogs that they never have permission unless we invite them. We teach the dog the correct choice to make without any input from the handler. Why manage your dog when they are completely capable of managing themselves?! 🙌 We also never release dogs until we have sustained eye contact and a calmer mindset. This builds impulse control, handler engagement , teaches dogs to respect thresholds and boundaries and most of all, this keeps your dog safe (no bolting out the door into traffic!)

12/17/2024

So proud of my clients that are putting in the work! Chinook has come so far in the last 2 weeks! No longer in flight mode and she’s enjoying building her confidence and growing her comfort zone working around other dogs! ❤️

12/11/2024

Although a scruffy haircut is cute- when it’s impairing a young dog’s vision, this will impact their visual tracking, which affects their coordination, their balance, their movement, their body awareness, the frequency of startle responses and impairs their communication.

This deficit is what we call a “LOW Proprioceptive Quotient.”

Why is this important? Well, Low Proprioception means the dog’s body and mind are NOT connected. And this creates a deficit in their LEARNING CAPACITY.

A dog’s learning capacity is their ability to learn new information, absorb and retain new information, sequence, generalize, extrapolate and problem solve.

To summarize, problems within the physical structure and deficiencies in the dog’s movement will directly affect the dog’s focus, engagement, and overall performance and attitude. THIS IS WHY VISION IS MASSIVELY IMPORTANT!!!

So, if I have a dog with a low learning capacity that means I need to work on building their proprioception. In some cases, it means that they need their nails trimmed to improve movement and a haircut so that they can see.

I always want to be looking at the entire dog and making sure that they are set up for success.

I’ve been working on visual tracking for 10 days with minimal success, so I urged the owners to let me trim his face. Plus, he is very uncooperative for grooming and I wanted to train him for that activity, too. I know the owners weren’t too thrilled with the face trimming I gave him during puppy training, but I again urged the importance of how vision affects his learning and his development, and if we really want the best for the dog, we have to remove the obstacles of learning.

I’ve been working on Brewster’s visual tracking to CATCH A TREAT for 10 days now and he hasn’t caught one piece. Not one. And with a haircut, immediately he’s catching 20 treats in row. Check out these before haircut and after videos of catching treats.

Now that he has visual tracking, I can work on increasing his proprioceptive quotient which will improve his learning capacity!!

12/08/2024

Leo 🐈 knows that Brewster 🐩 wants to chase him.

And Leo 🐈 knows that Brewster 🐩 is parked on Place.

Leo 🐈 knows that Brewster 🐩 loves the slatmill.

So. Leo 🐈 is teasing him 🐩 and sitting on the slatmill. 🤣🤣

I can’t make this up! Ha! 🤣These animals crack me up!

12/05/2024

Welcome Chinook!! She is a sweet and sensitive puppy, keenly aware of her surroundings and a little bit unsure about the bustling busy suburbia life. I’m looking forward to building her confidence, building her social skills, growing her comfort zone and teaching her all of the life skills necessary to navigate this crazy world. She’s learning how to walk on leash, to come when called, to respect thresholds such as the door and gate boundaries, she learning to accept handling and restraint (see the video in this post) and I am so excited to watch this girl blossom.

This precious puppy is from my favorite rescue, Lightshine Canine Rez Dog Rescue. There’s something so special about these Rez dogs that I had to add one to my pack 4 years ago (Rigby).

Can you believe that Chinook’s family has fostered over 30 dogs for this rescue! They have a heart of gold and Chinook really hit the jackpot with her new family, including their 8 year old Lightshine dog, Lakota! Of course, I can see why Chinook is the Chosen One. 🥰 She’s an old soul with a sweet, curious disposition, she’s an exceptional cuddler and I’m looking forward to helping this girl feel safe and reach her full potential! Aright Lightshiner, It’s your time to SHINE! Let’s do this!💓🌟

12/04/2024

Dopamine drives behavior!

So often, people allow their puppies to drag them to every stranger and jump on the person, and once the dog is bigger and stronger, they suddenly want to extinguish this behavior they have been allowing and reinforcing.

It can take a lot of work to break this habit because there is a big dopamine dump that happens every single time the puppy practices this, and DOPAMINE DRIVES BEHAVIOR!!

Puppies don’t grow out of this behavior… they grow into it. So it’s best not to create a bad habit of a competing reinforcer that we’ll have to extinguish later. Instead of changing the rules on the dog, we start by establishing the puppy rules based on what we want our adult dog to be doing. And the rule is that our dogs need permission to go greet a person or dog.

So how do we shape this behavior- I like to back up and recall the dog. And reward her with praise and food. It’s also a perfect opportunity to build muscle memory for the U-turn flip with recall, because let’s face it- when you need your dog to come when called, they’re probably running away from you!

12/04/2024

Welcome Eloise!! I’m so excited to raise another fantastic dog with this client! Her last dog, Isla, was incredible and set the bar SO high, and I just know that Eloise will be another cherished dream dog. 💕 She has such a calm, sweet disposition, and is so very smart. I am in love!! 🥰

Eloise is off to a great start and I am so impressed with the work my client has done so far with her crate training and potty training. Here’s a quick video of her nail trim today and of course, that precious golden face! Thank you to my repeat clients that trust me to bring out the best in their best friend!! Teamwork makes the dream work! ☺️

12/04/2024

I’m so thankful for my repeat clients! I trained their dog Sampson many years ago, and when he crossed the rainbow bridge, my clients reached out to let me help pick their next puppy! This is Brewster! He did our puppy program a few months ago and now he’s back for his board and train! We’re having loads of fun and I can’t wait until he’s off leash trained and we can hit the trails! This boy loves to move and is so outgoing and playful! He’s doing great with his loose leash walking, settling work, threshold training, crate training, and he LOVES the slatmill!

11/28/2024

“Rory” the Red Setter graduated from Erie Dog Co’s board and train and he is now living his best life! 🦆 🐕

When he arrived for training, he was disengaged from his handler, pulling on leash, constantly following his nose, lacked impulse control to chase prey animals, couldn’t sit still for a minute, and was just a goofy boy that did whatever his instincts desired.

Training really brought out the best in this dog and I am beaming with pride at the beautiful fulfilling life Rory now has because of it!

With a solid foundation of communication built on clarity, consistency and reliable behaviors, Rory can now safely work in the field and be a asset to the team!

And a huge shout out to our Remote E Collar Training!! Being able to give precise and clear information to a dog that is across the field, and be able to influence his behavior around intense temptations, while staying safe around gunfire, is priceless!!

Thanks for sending me this update!! I love seeing the magic that continues to unfold for months and years after training occurred. Great training really is the gift that keeps on giving!

10/19/2024

Welcome Ollie! This wild child is a ton of fun but he thinks he can play with humans just like he plays with his doggy friends. I’m eager to extinguish his mouthing (no teeth on flesh!) and eliminate jumping on humans; He’s literally rebounding off of me 😅! Of course, there is plenty of human training with the board and train, and his owner will be learning how to communicate with intent, how to enforce clear rules and boundaries, and be the calm, consistent and assertive leader that Ollie needs in order to interact safely and learn to respect humans. I’m looking forward to helping him be a calm, polite and attentive companion both on and off leash. Welcome to the Erie Dog Co family, Ollie! We’re so happy you’re here! Let’s do this! 🙌

10/19/2024

Welcome back Hopper! He completed our puppy training program in the critical learning phase (before 16 weeks) and it’s incredible to see the impact of early intentional imprinting and proprioception in the plasticity stage! He just completed the first week of his 4 week Board and Train program and I am beyond impressed with his learning capacity. His ability to learn new information, retain information, problem solve, generalize skills to different environments and handlers, and of course, his ability to make good choices! Kudos to my clients for following ALL of my advice! Seriously! Teamwork really does make the dream work! 💙

10/19/2024

In the middle of our walk, we make sure to practice our SETTLING WORK. Teaching a dog to physically and mentally relax on cue creates a balanced mindset. We don’t want the outside world to ONLY represent movement and excitement. It can also represent stillness and calmness. Movement is easy, stillness is hard! 💋

10/15/2024

I wholeheartedly trust my veterinarians with my pets’ lives, and I support their stance to vote NO on Proposition 129!

From Dr Bonnie Abbott: “This is on the 2024 Colorado ballot. I urge all pet lovers to vote NO on Prop 129!

This legislation is not the solution to increase access to vet care and will create many more problems than it attempts to solve. We already have Registered Veterinary technicians who just this year got license and title protection. Previous to 2024, anyone could call themselves a veterinary technician. Our industry is limited in our ability to care for more pets by record low numbers of skilled technicians. Turning out VPAs would not likely help this situation. We should be focusing on increasing the numbers of technicians in the field and elevating their scope of practice. Having minimally trained VPAs performing surgery with potentially minimal supervision is dangerous for pets.

It may increase access to substandard care at corporate vet clinics and some shelters, but it is unlikely to result in lower costs to pet owners. Less trained VPAs may end up referring cases to specialists that a veterinarian would have been able to manage.
Just say NO to Prop 129!”

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