Instinctual Canine

08/16/2023

What are "walk & trains" and why I do I offer them?

As much as I love private lessons, in our lessons my attention is just as much spent on you, the human, as it is your dog. And the entire time I'm working with your dog, I'm also teaching you. Walk & trains are a great option for dogs who are struggling with leash manners because they allow me to come pick up your dog and take them on a walk while you work (or relax... everybody needs a few minutes of quiet). During the walk I can give your dog my undivided attention which allows me to really pay attention to their behavior, get to know them a little better, and train them without needing to focus on doing a presentation at a the same time. This means I can get more work in with your dog during a shorter amount of time.

Django and I had a great walk & train last week! We walked to City Park and hung around outside the museum as well as through his neighborhood. Django is an adolescent GSD who's always scanning his environment and has a hard time just enjoying his walks, and dogs are a big struggle for him to pass. He did fantastic on our walk though, passing multiple dogs without any reactivity. Go Django!

08/15/2023

Look who I have with me for a field trip today…. Jasper! We’re going to work on his leash manners and *not* walking up to strangers to say hello as we pass.

08/10/2023

I've opened up a few slots for photo sessions this Saturday. Availability is limited so save your spot here!

https://calendly.com/instinctualcanine/dog-photography-photo-session

08/05/2023

T-minus 2 months! While I'm a little sad to say goodbye to the mountains I've come to love I'm even more excited to return to the beaches that raised me. Cape Cod here we come!

08/04/2023

Look who I got to see for a refresher today…. Little Rosie’s not so little anymore! 🐾

07/30/2023

New student! Look at little miss Skye 😍 isn’t she just darling?! She’s 12 weeks old and started her first lesson yesterday!

07/21/2023

There's a new puppy in for training!

Gino is an 8 week old Italian Greyhound pup who's here to remind everyone that you can start training as soon you bring your pup home. We'll be focusing on potty training, crate training, socialization, and building a foundation for learning that his humans can use throughout puppyhood, adolescence, and the rest of his life.

Stay tuned!

07/20/2023

Say hello to Mika!

Mika is an 8 month old boxer who just started private lessons with a few goals in mind. Those who know her get to see her sweet side, but the neighbors and everyone they pass on walks see a different side of her.

At only eight months old, this girl can pullllll. And when she see's someone or a dog, let's just say she has a very intimidating bark. Like most puppies, she has a habit of playing with her teeth. Unfortunately though, she's broken skin before by accident so getting her excitement levels under control is vital.

Her first lesson went fantastically, stay tuned!

07/19/2023

Meet Nala!

Nala started private lessons recently to work on building her confidence. Inside her home she is sweet, playful, and loves to learn. Outside her home... the world is a very scary place.

Luckily for Nala, her human is incredible and has already done a fantastic job at building a solid foundation for training. This means that I get to come in and jump straight to some fun stuff. In our first lesson we worked on building engagement, rewarding for some brave choices, and even got to begin to lay the way for some housework games. Next lesson we'll bump that up a notch and teach her how to use her nose to build herself up and conquer some challenges.

07/03/2023

And we’re back! Grimm and I are done playing hermits in the forest, are working on returning all messages and will be back to work tomorrow!

07/01/2023

The two sides of Grimm 🐾

06/23/2023

06/15/2023

Congratulations to Zeus for passing both the AKC Urban and Community Canine tests!

06/13/2023

Eternally grateful for how full my schedule has been, but I’ve been slacking on training my own dog 😬…. Luckily Canine Insight let us join her group class last week! Grimm got some much needed practice holding a down around distractions. Yes, there’s food next to him as a distraction but the real distraction was that his favorite human (other than me… of course) was teaching class.

If you’re in the Springs and need a trainer, Grimm and I highly recommend reaching out to Sam!

06/11/2023

Another fun day of photos!

06/08/2023

"He's afraid of X, so he must have been abused by/with X."

In rescue, a lot of dogs come into care with unknown histories. Many of these dogs present with specific or generalized fear and anxiety.

It can be easy - so, SO easy - to attach a story to their behaviour. In fact, it's becoming increasingly common for people to adopt dogs BECAUSE of their story. The more tragic, the better.

The problem with this is that it tends to freeze dogs into their neuroses. Their owner becomes so attached to the story, so emotionally invested, that they themselves cannot move past it. When the owner gets stuck, so does the dog.

Then the story becomes an excuse.

He's aggressive to the postman because one must have abused him.

He's leash reactive to other dogs because he was a 'bait dog'.

He runs from us when we grab the fly swat because someone has hit him with it.

In most cases, these behaviours are caused from a lack of experience in the critical period of socialization. Their inexperience can present itself as fear, anxiety, stress and aggression; mechanisms they develop over time to cope.

But what exactly caused their rescued dogs behaviour is irrelevant. It's a fools errand to try to figure it out; an addictive oxytocin-fueled quest to justify a lack of action.

He's afraid of men? Make men = good things. He runs from the fly swatter? Pick the damn thing up and throw the dog a handful of steak a few times. See what happens.

When we adopt a dog, we're making a commitment to BETTER their life. Holding on to their past is doing the opposite. Show them they're in a better place by overcoming their problems, not nurturing them.