Alpine Dog Training

01/17/2023

01/09/2023

How to be a better loser:
I am the first to tell you, I compete to win. That’s nothing to be ashamed of either. This last year, I’ve had to learn how to lose a lot. Here’s a few tips when your day doesn’t go as planned:
1. Reward your dog, even if you feel they failed you. Getting mad and with-holding the reward isn’t fair. I guarantee you, your dog did the best they could under the circumstances. If you are mad at your dog, take them straight to their crate until you calm down.
2. Only allow yourself to feel emotional for a pre-determined period of time. Once the time is up, it’s time to move on.
3. Help your dog in the ring. Don’t leave your dog hanging! Give a second command or move on. You’ve probably already been disqualified anyways, so why create more stress?
4. Use it as data. All showing is, is the test of your training. What did you miss? What went well?
5. Turn it into fuel. Light the fire with your losses and disappointments. Create momentum. Learn & be better.

01/08/2023

Congratulations to Carol & Bentley on their perfect score in Rally Novice yesterday & a 197.5/100 for Beginner Novice today! Bentley took puppy class with Alpine, it’s been awesome watching this team crush their goals!

01/04/2023

Your dog isn’t going to rise to the occasion. He will fall to the level of his training.

01/03/2023

New Blog! Learn all about Drive State⬇️

https://alpinedogtraining.com/blog/6afdl3wzo1ippo1w96gm1jg35z7tqh

01/02/2023

New year, new goals!☀️
One of my non-show goals this year is to take my dogs on more off leash/long line outings. Did you know that regular exercise in nature can help mitigate behavioral issues? Not fetch, but actual sniffing/walking in nature. Give it a try, it’s good for you too!
*Check out SniffSpot if you don’t know where to take your dog🐶

12/30/2022

We work with all ages😉
Check out sweet Chesney and his little human🤍

12/29/2022

I saw a post in a competition group I’m in about making it easier to obtain an OTCH. Here are my thoughts:
For my non-competitive friends, an OTCH is an Obedience Trial Champion. After obtaining multiple titles to get to this level, you must then earn 100 points with a minimum of three 1st places. Points are only earned by beating fellow competitors and placing in the top 1-4 placements as well. It is prestigious and extremely difficult to achieve.

All other sport venues, apart from herding and breed, do not require you beat anyone but yourself to obtain a championship. You don’t even have to place as long as you have a qualifying score. As someone who competes in multiple sports, obedience is my favorite and here is why: I LOVE how hard it is. I love how tight the scoring is. I love the competition. I love it most because you really do have to be the best to succeed in this sport. Most say it’s boring, and I completely understand that. To me, that is the challenge, to make it fun for my dog. And I’ll be 100% honest, I put WAY less work into the other sports I do because I don’t have to work as hard at them to do well.

I can only hope we do not change the criteria to obtain this. My generation settles for mediocrity. That is certainly not what I want to strive for. While I want the sport to grow, I think there are other ways to make it more welcoming.

12/28/2022

What are your 2023 goals?🙂

12/25/2022

Merry Christmas from team Alpine!🎄

12/21/2022

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt

12/19/2022

Max’s mom got a special picture of him💙

12/19/2022

Congratulations to these new AKC STAR Puppies❤️🎄

12/18/2022

Well-trained, not well-behaved😉

12/17/2022

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment”
-Jim Rohn

12/14/2022

Bring your A-game with these tips:

12/13/2022

A little proofing at Lowe’s💜 Just over 3 weeks out from our next show.

12/11/2022

All behaviors are priced differently by the dog.
Your dog determines which behaviors are expensive or require a high value/frequent reward. Your dog also determines what behaviors are cheap. For some dogs, sit is a fairly cheap behavior. For most dogs, come and leash walking are usually pretty pricey. What does this mean?
It means that in order to maintain a reliable recall, you will probably have to reward it frequently and reward it well. How long would you perform well at a high level job without a paycheck?
What behaviors does your dog find expensive? What behaviors does your dog do for little, or no pay?

12/09/2022

New Vlog is up!
It’s important to break down your dog’s preferences, strengths and weaknesses. In this video, I break down each of my dogs and compare them. This allows for the best approach for each dog you’re training.

https://youtu.be/LJ_q5gRRB3Q

12/03/2022

First Vlog in the books! In this video, I address why a break isn’t the right choice for me right now & a few training clips🙂 If you’d like to see a certain training tip or have a question, let me know in the comments 🐶

12/01/2022

Successful people and unsuccessful people feel the same thing. The difference is, the successful people do the tasks anyways.
-Brian Tracy

11/30/2022

I’ve been in quite the training slump in the last few months. I’ve definitely lacked motivation to train because of the slump I’ve been stuck in. You’d think with three dogs, one would consistently thrive but unfortunately, that’s just not how it goes when you’re working with living creatures.
Taking a break isn’t an option I want to consider. In the end, you have to put in the repetitions at some point. To me, that might as well be now. I’ve had to rely on my discipline and consistency until my motivation has finally started to return. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Without these slumps and hard sessions, we wouldn’t appreciate the success when we finally achieve it. It makes it that much sweeter!

11/26/2022

I highly recommend taking this course if you have a sensitive dog that you compete with. I took this class with Smitten earlier this year and it completely changed our relationship, not just in training but in life as well. I am better at analyzing her, knowing how she’s feeling and adjusting to help her succeed.

Online dog training classes for obedience, rally, agility, tracking, nosework, dog behavior, freestyle, and foundation skills.

11/24/2022

Happy Thanksgiving from the Alpine pack🦃

11/23/2022

Need some motivation for a training session? Swipe⬅️ & Save for later!

11/22/2022

Unsolicited Advice
If you’ve ever owned a dog, you’ve probably received unsolicited advice. Especially in the sport world, unsolicited advice is handed out like candy. Sometimes it’s helpful with good intentions behind it, sometimes the intentions may not be pure. Whatever the case, here’s a few tips in deciphering and handling unsolicited advice:
1. You know your dog better than anyone on the planet.
2. You know your journey and your goals better than anyone else
3. If you don’t want to be like them, don’t listen to them