Canine Country Academy

07/16/2025

How would your dogs describe the other dogs they live with? (Include group photos)

🤪 acquaintances

😎 friends

😍 siblings

❤️ besties

07/15/2025

Barn Hunt Classes starting THIS Sunday, July 20th - Beginners, Novice, and Open level teams are welcome to attend. These are 4-week classes that meet for 1 hour each week.

8 AM

9 AM *Two Spots Available

$210 for the class per team, limited to 4 teams

Register here: https://caninecountryacademy.dogbizpro.com/public/registration/index.aspx

07/15/2025

Your dog(s) are doing their best to communicate with you. They do this a lot with their body language.

There are dog lovers who have had dogs their entire lives and do not know about Calming Signals. These are signals dogs use to: 1) keep the peace, 2) communicate they are uncomfortable and calm themselves, and 3) calm someone else.

Calming Signals are easy to learn once you know what to look for. We often communicate this to our students when working with fearful dogs as well as in dog-dog play interactions. While there are too many signals to remember on a daily basis, we recommend focusing on your dog's primary 3 you see regularly.

These may include:
- shaking off (part or their whole body)
- licking their lips
- yawning
- showing the whites of their eye
- play bowing
- lifting a front paw
- walking in a curve

It's important to note what happened just before the signal to understand if it's truly a calming signal or just them moving through life.

For example, let's say your dog is in a new environment and starts yawning. It could be that they are tired or that they are stressed being in a place new to them. If they tend to be uncomfortable in new places, it's likely stress.

Understanding the full picture can help you support your dog when they are, in fact, stressed or uncomfortable. You can create positive associations with going to new places, seeing new things, etc. When your dog knows you understand their communication, you will also take your relationship to an even deeper level.

To learn more about these signals, please read On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals by Turid Rugaas, available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4nUERqk

07/15/2025

Would a walking partner help you get out to walk your dog? We are finding that our walking league members appreciate the accountability of a hosted walk at local parks. If they had to get out in this heat solo, they might just stay inside. 🤣

There are 3 more walks left this month.

That last walk might get cut short due to the extreme temperatures.

$20/month for as many walks as you can attend.

Check out the details here: https://www.caninecountryacademy.com/dogwalkingleague/

07/15/2025

Come get some adorable photos of your dog this Thursday!

🍩🐶 DOGS & DONUTS🐶🍩

Join us this Thursday, July 17th for Dogs & Donuts our next Pet Portrait Event—perfect for getting a new favorite photo of your favorite dog.

✨ What’s included:
✔️ A short-and-sweet professional photo session on a fun donut themed backdrop
✔️ One high-res digital image of your pup

📸 Just $65 — spaces are limited!
This is a one-day event and spots are filling fast.

🔗 Book your time now: https://cmbryson.com/pet-portrait-event

07/13/2025

Dogs love finding "lost" people. We had 8 teams join us for practice this Saturday that ranged in age from 1 year to 12 years. The people had a wide range of ages, too. 🤣

The dogs learn how to take in a specific human odor and then sniff them out based on a foot trail. They have to ignore things like animal odor, people and dogs walking by, and more.

The people learn how to better read their dog's body language and let them lead the search. Very cool!

What do you think your dog would think about Mantrailing?

www.caninecountryacademy.com/mantrailing

07/12/2025

Remember when Traveller attended the Intro to Mantrailing Workshop last month? He attended his first practice session and rocked it this morning!

Traveller took the lead in finding the "lost" people. As a bird dog, he wasn't even tempted to hunt for other things during his turn. He focused on the human scent.

What a great team!

If you'd like to learn more about this sniffing activity, join us for the next Intro to Mantrailing Workshop on Friday, July 18th, in Lawrenceville.

https://www.caninecountryacademy.com/intro-to-mantrailing/

07/11/2025

These cuties enjoyed an almost 4-mile walk at Harbins Park as part of our Walking League. We got out at 8 AM to have less heat and humidity.

A group walk is a great option to practice known skills, have appropriate socialization, and get your bodies moving.

To learn more about our walking league: https://www.caninecountryacademy.com/dogwalkingleague/

Only $20 a month per family.

07/10/2025

Our barn hunt instructors teamed up to create the current course. It's awesome! Sara Beth made the design. Ariel cleaned out the gross bales of hay and made the course come to life.

There are so many hidey holes and layers to search.

(Pictures before fluff added.)

07/10/2025

Shhh...Briggs is practicing settling while in a new place. A very valuable skill for all young dogs.

Good boy!

07/09/2025

This might sound silly, but journaling is a powerful tool when it comes to dog training, dog sports, and behavior modification.

Hugo, pictured here, has been an active student for the last year focused on his chaos goblin behavior. He's a complex dude who struggled with his emotional regulation, appropriate mental stimulation, and connecting with his caregivers. As a young teenage dog that was already large, his frustration outbursts were unsafe.

His caregiver, vet, and trainer joined forces to implement a plan that was ever changing to make progress in all aspects of his behavior and training. We needed to approach this big goober layer by layer to help him get all his needs met, limit his undesirable behaviors at home and in the world, and get to a place his caregivers could enjoy him.

What has helped Hugo?

1. Regular outings to novel parks at low stimulation times (few people, no dogs)

2. Low doses of behavior medication to help his young developing brain process better

3. High amounts of management, such as his own puppy safe room, that he could decompress in and give his caregivers a break.

4. A double clip harness and leash for outdoor adventures.

5. Loads of patience understanding what he needed and being flexible in making adjustments to support him.

6. Understanding what behaviors were "normal" adolescent development, just his personality, and what was inappropriate behavior.

7. NOT using harsh tools or punishment to change undesirable behaviors.

Since Hugo has been doing some form of day training for the last year, going from weekly to every other week, we have essentially vlogs of his behavior journal to look back on his progress. He has come leaps and bounds since July 2024. By having this documentation, we can see what's going well and what's not in his training journey. We can appreciate the highs and assess the lows.

If you are feeling overwhelmed in your training and/or behavior journey, we highly recommend journaling in some form to see the full picture.

Congratulations to Team Hugo for all of the progress!!!