The following content may be disturbing for some viewers, as it covers the tragic demise of Crocky.
In the short time he lived in our home, he spent a vast majority of his time being carried around or cuddled by one dog or the other, with Nyssa often opting to abandon Cooper in favor of her new, blue, best friend. Crocky's only alone time was while a squirrel mercilessly taunted his soon to be murderers from the safety of a tree in the yard.
Crocky knew love and life for a lengthy 22 hours and 51 minutes before being brutally disemboweled by my two vicious beasts.
In order to spare you the full horror of this heinous attack, I've trimmed Crocky's final 5 minutes down to a mere 70 seconds, and placed his final photo in the comments.
Crocodile tears will be shed by all.
Beginning loose-leash walking outside.
A quick note: if your dog is losing interest, either increase your rate of reinforcment (give treats more often) or increase the value of the reward you're using. That means when working outdoors, if you're using kibble or something else that's not very exciting, switch to a meaty treat or anything else your dog will do cartwheels over. Duck jerky is usually a big win, even with my picky eaters.
Door Dash Training with my little buddy Harley.
Yesterday, I noticed that Koda (who is shockingly STILL available for adoption after nearly a year in boarding!) had an issue with excitedly jumping on people when they sat down on the floor. To help him with this, I taught him to lie down when I squatted down. When deciding to teach this, I neglected to factor in that I'd be doing 9,723 squats. By the time I recorded this, I was really struggling to get back up. Send help, I can barely walk today. 😂
K-9 Freekz Rescue
West Villa Animal Hospital
#positivetraining
I could cut this short and just show the wins, but I love this session with Koda. He's not 100% on things he's just learning, and sometimes he goes back to old behaviors (the jumping) but we're having fun and he's happily working hard.
If you know anyone looking for a high energy dog who loves to learn, please reach out.
K-9 Freekz Rescue
West Villa Animal Hospital
#positivetraining
Never underestimate the usefulness of teaching your dog to relax. Some dogs really struggle with finding an off switch.
This boy, Koda, is one of them. He's currently in boarding and he is up for adoption or fostering through K-9 Freekz Rescue. I introduced him to this mat and clicking for shifts into relaxing the same day I recorded this. This was only our second 5(ish) minute freeshaping session on "Settle" during our time together that day. (with frequent breaks for play, drinks, outside, and working on other skills.)
If he can learn this well in boarding, imagine what he'll be able to learn in a home where he feels safe.
Meeting Koda-K9 Freekz Rescue Foster
What an amazing day! We raised over $25k for K9 Freekz Rescue in three hours at the Jordan's Way fundraiser. Then I went to meet one of our fosters who is currently in boarding because he's 'a little crazy' - and he was wonderful.
Meet Koda, he is a giant ball of energy, but he's also very easy to teach. I have very high hopes for this boy!
Now to go wash the egg out of my hair!
*If you missed it and want to see the egging, and a LOT of other shenanigans, the link is still live for 7 days. And yes, if you wanted to donate but missed the 3 hour window, you can still donate: https://www.facebook.com/donate/1460924954439204/562425332651769/
My dogs using a do-it-yourself dog nail file from https://scratchpadfordogs.com/
I get asked often how to get dogs used to nail trims. Ideally we'd start with them as young puppies, making the sight of the clippers an association with something wonderful, but most people are asking for their adult dogs.
Maybe they've never seen clippers before, maybe they've been quicked several times, or maybe, like me, you taught them to sit still before learning positive training, so it's still scary for the dogs even though they are willing to sit still.
You can slowly work on cooperation and counterconditioning, or you can teach something completely new. I opted for something new with my dogs since nail trims are scary for them.
. We've trained the front paws, back paws will be soon. This is called a Scratch Pad and I got mine here: https://scratchpadfordogs.com/
(I love that the company includes instructions for how to train your dog to use it, fear free.)
It's something I'd never thought of until I saw someone recommend it in Cooperative Care with Deb Jones ...it's been an excellent purchase. (That's a great group if you are wanting to teach your dog how to 'opt in' to grooming, vet checks, etc.)
This is a short session with my girl, Nyssa. My boy, Cooper, is helping and supervising, while my husband provides commentary and recording. 😁