Adventure Tails Dog Training and Enrichment

07/29/2024

New class! CGC Prep!

Come level up and test your skills! We will be holding CGC tests at the end of the course.

Register here:
https://pocketsuite.io/book/adventuretailsny/item/canine-good-citizens-prep

email [email protected] for more info

07/29/2024

Learn the basics in a small group class!
We will teach you how to tap into your dog’s motivation, establish clear communication, develop handling skills and teach basic behaviors.

This class is appropriate for new clients or clients who have graduated from private training programs who are looking to continue their practice.

This is also a great start for anyone interested in attending more advanced group training opportunities in the future - we will teach you how to navigate the group environment with a small class size to start!

Register here: https://pocketsuite.io/book/adventuretailsny/item/obedience-foundations
email [email protected], or call/text 518-500-3174
for more information!

07/29/2024

New puppy class starting August 14!!

-Emphasis on exposure and socialization
-Learn how to set up for success at home
-Learn about play-based training
-AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Program testing

Register here: https://pocketsuite.io/book/adventuretailsny/item/puppy-class
or email [email protected] for more info

05/20/2024

New Class!

Learn the basics in a small group class! We will teach you how to tap into your dog’s motivation, establish clear communication, develop handling skills and teach basic behaviors.

This class is appropriate for new clients or clients who have graduated from private training programs who are looking to continue their practice.

This is also a great start for anyone interested in attending more advanced group training opportunities in the future - we will teach you how to navigate the group environment with a small class size to start!

Registration link in comments. Feel free to DM, email [email protected], or call/text 518-500-3174 for more information!

04/24/2024

‼️ANNOUNCEMENT‼️

We are expanding our signature service, off leash group hikes!! This means we are taking applications for new dogs!!!

WHAT IT IS: In group hikes your dog gets to experience true enrichment - exploring the woods, using their nose, moving freely alongside their own kind, navigating obstacles, satisfying physical activity, splashing in the water and rolling in the grass. All of the sensory experiences they crave while also practicing strong recall, social skills and trail manners!!

HOW IT WORKS: We pick your dog up at home, drive them to the woods with their friends, run them for 45-60 minutes, then drop them off back at home. Services occur between 9-5 Monday-Friday

We are looking to add to our current routes in Guilderland/Altamont and establish new routes in Bethlehem, Voorheesville, and/or Albany (Roessleville area) based on demand! Tell your neighbors!

DOGS must be:
-Social
-Good in the car
-Motivated by food, play, or to stick with a group

If interested DM or email [email protected]!

10/15/2023

Welcome to board and train, Suzie! Susan girl is a 3 y/o Bully who came to us all the way from NJ! She’s here to address her “selective hearing”, excessive jumping and occasional menacing on leash when passing other dogs.

Suzie is slow to open up fully but I have gotten some glimpses into her 0-60 style zoomies at inopportune moments, and I have felt the conflict in her when I attempt to open up the door for her madness in play. This difficulty with transitioning from one state to another, and almost the intentional bottling up of her inner crazy, is the crux of the issue and a huge reason why there is a felt sense of disconnect in her training.

In her mind, she is not sure how to “be right” when she’s in wild mode. In the past she has run off from her owners and just frustrated the heck out of them (and sometimes her housemate dog, Keke, as well!).

Moving forward, we are figuring out how to tap into that *ON SWITCH* and establish real teamwork together! Once she learns how she can be her FULL self and still cooperate with her handler the world will open up for her and her family!

01/12/2023

Decided this picture needs a permanent place here because it makes me very happy

The dogs of Adventure Tails:
Moda, Bruce, Ace, Greta and Sev

10/05/2022

She is certified, baby!!!

Couldn’t be more proud to announce I’ve officially joined the TWC professional community.

This program came into my life at the perfect time and gave me a much needed push into a new chapter of my career as a dog trainer and investment in personal growth and achievement.

Thanks to the entire team for sharing this beautiful work

07/07/2022

Surprise: Dog trainer gets herself a Malinois puppy for her 33rd birthday

Introducing J’Moda Ot Vitosha aka Moda Alfred LaMorte

Thank you so much Ot Vitosha Malinois & Premier Protection Dogs for this perfect puppy. She is an actual dream come true.

06/07/2022

Rani is a 3 year old spayed female German Shepherd who will soon be ready to start the rest of her life in a new home as an active pet dog.

Rani has been with us since early Spring to address her weight, confidence, and obedience skills. She has dropped some lbs (still needs to drop quite a bit more!) and has really started to come into her own.

Like many young Shepherds without proper outlets for genetically appropriate behavior, Rani came to us as an “anxious/reactive” dog. Now that she has gotten a taste of a more appropriate lifestyle we are seeing a new side of her.

Rani is a silly, affectionate, playful, loyal and adventurous dog. She is selectively social/neutral with dogs (although she will make some noise over her possessions, surprise surprise 🙃). She is social/neutral with people and working on feeling more comfortable in novel environments (so far the field/creek have gone from scary to very very fun).

We have not observed any on-leash “reactivity” since bringing her home. She is working on her obedience skills on and off leash and will be trained in basics before going home.

Rani came to us with issues around confinement and separation. Through lifestyle adjustments she is settling comfortably when alone in the house and confined to a space. She is also settling at liberty in the house when out of sight from her people. In the coming weeks we will investigate crating more. She is housebroken and non-destructive.

Rani’s follow-up training and support will be provided for free for the rest of her life. Her long-term success will be contingent on finding an owner who loves the same things she does (and we do!) - being highly interactive, playing, and exploring the woods.

This is a very sweet Shepherd, I am excited for her future and for whoever winds up keeping her. If interested, please contact me at [email protected]

03/31/2022

This past weekend I traveled to Florida to test for ‘s Training Without Conflict certification program, which I had been working through since January.

It was an incredible experience that truly exceeded my expectations. I learned so much, made new friends, and feel very proud of myself (also I want a Malinois).

If I pass the written portion, I will be assigned a practical exam to complete before certification. My fingers are crossed, but worse comes to worst I get to go back and learn more! 🤞

01/31/2022

Juna the pocket rocket herder is entering her second week of Homeschool!

Juna is an approx 2 year old rescue whose owners sought training to address her reactions to seeing strangers and other dogs out in the world. She has been known to fixate, hackle, blow up, or cower and urinate.

Juna is a firecracker! She is super fast, smart and never quite “turns off”. Her owners had been told she was aggressive in the past, but turns out she’s just a herder!

We have been focusing on how to work WITH Juna to direct her drives and instincts, build her confidence while also creating strategies to manage her in the house.

I am having the best time working with this BIG dog in a TEENY body!

01/26/2022

Woodrow is nearing the end of his 3 week Board and Train and I finally got a picture of his game face.

Woodrow’s training goals were to improve his off-leash engagement and recall so he could enjoy the acreage he resides on. He had been disappearing to go visit the Beagle down the street (I mean, who could blame him?)

By focusing on play first, and especially teaching a cooperative game of fetch, Woodrow was quickly able to start enjoying the world off leash safely (even when surrounded by other dogs and deer tracks). His obedience and house manners have also come a long way! Oh, and he drops toys!!

Training Woodrow and working with his owners has been a dream. They were both so ready to make the adjustments and get on the same page. I’m excited to see how they continue to grow as a team!

01/02/2022

I may not have utilized my 2021 planner past the first few pages, but it turns out writing down annual goals really works!

✅ Created the space in my schedule to offer training programs that I am excited about

✅ Exceeded expectations for growth

✅ Found the land and vehicle set up needed to safely expand group hiking services

✅ Passed SR with Bruce!!!

✳️ I THOUGHT Greta earned Dock Junior but I think this was a premature check, I may be mistaken. She made 5 qualifying jumps but some were at national level events and some at a club level event. I’m new and it’s confusing, still proud.

✅ I made SO MANY dog friends, created connections, expanded my network, showed my work to peers and mentors, took critiques, and grew in confidence and skill

Our business had a real glow up in 2021 thanks to amazing clients and friends. Here’s to 2022 and checking off a new list of goals 🥂

12/25/2021

Merry Christmas! May you be warm, safe, and surrounded by dogs.

12/21/2021

In honor of the last day of Fall, a photo dump 🍁

Our group has grown in more than just numbers these past few months and I could not be more excited for what’s still ahead of us.

Snowy season, here we come!

12/12/2021

Learning how to run this small dog business has been a predictably rewarding experience. I am doing what I love to do and I get to work for myself. This was expected from the start.

Something I did not expect was having the opportunity to meet a knowledgeable and driven young person like Zaria Caprio. Since we first crossed paths in the spring it has been such a joy to watch her grow with her puppy Severide and rise to the occasion every time I needed a helper in training and handling my own dogs and client dogs. It became apparent quickly that even though I wasn’t planning to take on staff, it would be a mistake to miss out on this young woman. She is responsible, kind, intelligent and has such passion for her work with dogs.

I’m so excited to officially welcome Zaria to the Adventure Tails team. She is currently providing enrichment services in the Altamont area and is taking new clients for small group and/or individual play time, leash walks and field trips. Contact us at [email protected] if interested and keep an eye on our stories for added service areas in the future!

Photo credit: Cristie Jo Photo

10/02/2021

Brucey boy hung out with some lady Shepherds and passed his CGCA and CGCU last night! Thanks All Ears K9 for the fun time testing!

Frida and Carson both passed their AKC Canine Good Citizen Advanced and Urban tests tonight! Thanks All Ears K9 and Adventure Tails for a great night!

09/28/2021

An accurate visual representation of our third and final dock competition of the season. Greta earned her Junior Dock Dogs title and jumped her personal best of 13’5 - which put her in 3rd place for junior in her first wave and got her into finals!

I’d like to just end the post there but for the sake of transparency - we really had a mixed bag day.

On Sunday Greta started out pretty strong but wavered in her second wave, we got it together a bit in her third but she still did not seem to be having a very good time. Off the dock she was on edge, ultra spicy and harder to handle than she has been in several months. I was feeling pretty low, we’ve had a really great summer (especially at dock events) and I immediately worried that we were experiencing a huge regression.

After her third wave I noticed her snout was lumpy and swollen. She got a few bee stings Saturday morning and apparently she was still working through the reaction. I scratched her from Speed and we didn’t participate in finals.

Two days later, the swelling is still there and we are headed to the vet later. The whole ordeal has really got me reflecting on how selfish, myopic and clinical my initial response to her behavior and performance was on Sunday; MY failing, behavioral regression, lack of commitment, weak nerves, “is this the start of a pattern?!”, etc etc

Truth is more likely that my very good girl felt like garbage, she didn’t want to do the thing because she felt crappy, I made her do it anyway and she did because she’s such a good girl, and she still managed to do well. In turn, she earned me the things I wanted so I could feel good about my training and make a social media post.

This is applicable to more than just sports, I see it happen across the board when someone gets really into working towards a certain training/behavioral goal. It is easy to get laser focus and lose our holistic lens on the living being in front of us.

My takeaway is: I need to always try my hardest to be as good to my dog as she is to me. I NEVER want to feel like I have used her loyalty against her ever again.

… At the same time I am still so proud of our dock season and my very good girl.

08/30/2021

The Dog Gods heard my prayers for a bouncy, goofy terrier/pittie-type dog and blessed me with the dreamiest September Homeschool lineup.

Derby, Roxy and Coco will be learning the ropes with me 3x/week and then we will transfer handling skills to their owners 1x/week.

We love this program because everybody gets to take their time and learn at their own pace. The consistent presence of a trainer in dog and owner’s lives keeps the teams immersed in learning and growing together.

Email [email protected] for more information!

08/22/2021

Bruce earned his SR1 (Social Responsibility level 1)! We have trained with this test in mind for 2 1/2 years. I’m so proud of my dog, myself and our teamwork.

And thanks Ryan for framing our certificate and raising this smelly dog with me! ❤️

08/14/2021

Summer is really flying by this year and updating social media tends to get pushed to the back burner when I’m busy with dogs. Not a terrible problem to have, in my humble opinion.

For the past four weeks we thoroughly enjoyed our board and train dog, Ollie. He is a 2 year old mixed breed who we have known since he was a puppy.

Ollie has strong preferences when it comes to new people so we learned some strategies and obedience commands to help with appropriate behaviors around house guests. He also learned recall, leash walking skills, engagement skills, and house manners. We could not be more proud of the progress he made in his time with us.

Yesterday Ollie went home and it was so wonderful to see him reunited with his family and to show off his new skills for them. We are already missing him but will continue to work with his owners to ensure long-term success.

08/13/2021

07/31/2021

07/21/2021

Finally living our dog van dreams! Now to get to work on a cool set up 😎

06/19/2021

First time back on the dock this year and Greta dove right in.

I hear myself talk a lot about the hardships around owning a reactive/fearful dog. It would be a real shame to ignore the extreme highs of these moments of success.

The wolf looked confident, joyful and ready today. It was so damn good.

06/13/2021

Bruce got an AKC partners registered name and put some letters next to it today!

Treewalker’s What’s That Smell? CGC

Thanks Swarlz Haus Service Dog Training for testing!

05/26/2021

It has been so fun to see the huge improvements in this pointy little dog over the past 6 weeks. When I first showed up at her house she growled at me any time I moved, tonight she pushed for interaction!

Willow, like many young rescue dogs, struggles to fit into our human world. Luckily, she has owners who have committed to learning and working to help her through. I’m excited to see her continued growth.

05/18/2021

Something I love about group hikes is observing how in-tune with the Earth our dogs are.

Every season change is accompanied by behavioral changes. Warmer weather = increased distraction.

From my point of view, the primary culprits are; small critters (prey), smells (things in the woods are now decaying, and scent travel varies based on temperature), and increased foot traffic in outdoor spaces (people are walking themselves and their dogs again).

This increase in distraction is paired with the significant effects of temperature adjustment on our dog’s bodies. Suddenly, they are fatiguing quickly and this is taxing on the system. When the system is overtaxed, impulse control and frustration tolerance are often impacted. It is also worth noting that many dogs experience seasonal allergies as we do.

All of this is to say: Zahra has a leash on because she can’t stop hunting for chipmunks 🙃

Kidding, kidding. All of this is to say: be understanding, be considerate, plan and lead accordingly (if you’d like to, that is).

05/07/2021

Happy Gotcha Day, Hera!

Last year we fostered this sweet golden girl as she recovered from Heartworm. We had her for around 6 weeks and loved her dearly (as did Bruce).

She came over tonight for a reunion and brought along her new brother, Blue.

It was so great to see the confident dog Hera has grown into - and she was so happy to see us and Bruce!

Hera and Greta (the fox and the wolf) both came from Alabama through Rottie Empire Rescue