Do you have a dog who is exhibiting anxious behaviors?
The best way to help the dog is to be a strong leader! 💙
Odie would like to wish you all a Happy Halloween!
Be safe and don't do anything Odie wouldn't do. After all, she's watching you. 🙃
Are you training with the word "stay"?
If so, stop! 🛑
There's a better way! 💯💥
At MSK-9, we use the implied stay! This makes for much cleaner results, better impulse control, and one less thing our clients have to remember to say!
The old school "stay" can go right out the window! 😉
Jack💙
I've been wanting to call him Joe for almost a month, he looks like a Joe to me, so I'll refer to him as Jack Joe 🤣
Anyway, Jack is here for boarded training! He was adapted by his currently family after being rehome a few times before due to separation anxiety and crate anxiety. One of the previous owner surrendered him after Jack ripped a claw out trying to escape the crate.
At intake, we discussed this. I knew it would be rough, but as soon as the owners walked out, Jack literally busted the door of the crate and was pushing through.
Jack was transferred to a different crate, where he continued to panic the entire time I conducted another intake. He bite the door, made his gums bleed, panted and drooled all over the front of the door but he couldn't get it open. He barked loudly then entire intake and was nervous until I opened the door to load him in my car.
Jack is not a Behavior Modification case, but we've been working a lot of boundaries with the crate. He isn't thrilled about being in it still, but at least he's safe and resting.
Just a bit more work to do before he goes home!
Introducing Louie!
Louie was initially assessed as a Behavior Modification case. He was very reactive on walks to random objects, people and other animals. He would growl and lunge at people, and has bitten another dog.
We we assessed him, we could not recreate anything to suggest Behavior Modification was needed, so he enrolled in our obedience program.
The first video was taken prior to training and sent to us. The second was on the morning of Day 2 of his training program with us. What a major difference in just over 24 hours!
Viewer discretion is advised.
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This is Ash. Ash is a 115lb Malamute who originally came for Complete Obedience. At his intake, Ash growled at our trainer, Amber, because he was asked to crate up. He refused to crate, and began snarling when his owners left. Amber acted quickly and used a door to separate her from Ash and reconfigured transport logistics.
We gave Ash every benefit of the doubt, hoping he would settle in over the next 24 hours. However, once we got Ash home with us, this was the behavior that was seen. Unfortunately, Ash did not qualify for obedience but instead Behavior Modification (rehab), and was sent home this morning. He will likely be returning for rehabilitation in the future.
His owners gave permission for us to use the videos as an educational opportunity.
This is a very classic case of what fear aggression looks like. Ash was very nervous, fearful and outside of his comfort zone. Instead of decompressing as time passed, he actually progressed to being willing to commit to a bite versus simply making noise. Ash has a very poor response to pressure, meaning that when asked to do something that isn't his idea of a great time, he responds with teeth.
We see cases like this every day. Ash's owners are phenomenal and love their dog so he is absolutely safe, but so many other people out there would have such negative opinions about is best for dogs like Ash moving forward.
Most of the time, dogs like this are rehabilitated and trained just fine. But sadly, countless dogs around the world are being condemned to death, rehomed, given up on, surrendered or pushed aside because the right training program was not looked into. (FYI - you cannot "cookie" your way out of this one - trying to give Ash a treat would have been absolutely useless. In fact, we tried, he snarled🤷♀️.)
All dogs need structure and boundaries implemented into their daily lives and routines.
The only 4 states of mind a dog can be in at any given
Ruby is a 6 month old Golden Retriever puppy here for Complete Obedience boarded training.
Ruby was nearly impossible to walk on a leash, was over-stimulated by everything in the environment, and was scared of parking lots.
In this video she is off leash heeling (no leash in hand, just tethered for safety purposes) and learning the ecollar. Also check out that gorgeous distance with her down/stay!
How fast do your dogs call off of something when you ask?
Can you stop them literally in the middle of play if it gets too rough or over-stimulated?
We get this question often - will my dog be a robot after training?
No! Not if training is done properly!
This is what dog training should look like. This 3 second video is powerful and speak volumes regarding what we do with the dogs we work. We work extremely hard to steadily produce obedient, well mannered, and well behaved dogs WITHOUT changing temperaments or removing your dog's personality. We love the goofy, playful side 🥰 but just like a light switch, we should be able to turn off play/over-stimulation the very second we ask. Because there's a reason we ask it. 💛
#Mississippik9
Calm before the storm.
Wind is kicking up here, but nothing to extreme yet. Daily sessions and play times have been cut short today due to the severity of the impending weather. We have 16 currently dogs in our care.
All dogs are being moved to the tornado bunker area shortly and will remain there until an all clear is given on the weather. We anticipate the arrival of the worst weather around 5-6pm and will have all dogs safely in their designated areas beforehand.
We have extra dog food and water storage, as well as gas and a generator in the event of a power outage.
Please stay safe everyone!
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NCA WEATHER UPDATE: 8:45pm
We pray this message finds you all safe and well. At approximately 7:50pm, we received a tornado warning and information of a touch down in our area.
I would like to thank all MSK-9 staff for moving quickly and efficiently, as we made it to the underground bunker with all dogs in under 30 seconds. This is the reason we practice drills and safe handling protocols.
This warning has been lifted and all dogs and people are safe. But many of our clients and friends are now under their own warnings. Get somewhere safe and rest assured your dog is safe at MSK-9.
We hope you are all safe as well. We will continue monitoring the weather as necessary.
Let's talk about bad behaviors.
Jumping, nipping, counter surfing, pulling on the leash, etc...
Would you rather deal with bad behaviors for the lifetime of the dog, or, put simple, non-emotional corrections in place once or twice to shut it down for good?
Introducing Roux and Stella, two Poodle sisters here for Complete Obedience training. This video was taken just days after intake, when both exhibited jumping and a major lack of impulse control.
First two clips are before correction, last one is after.
One minor correction on the remote collar was enough to shut down the bad behavior.
Amazing, isn't it?
Have you ever been told to “redirect” your dog with a treat while it is doing something is shouldn't be, or potentially even something dangerous like lunging on a leash, growling at a passerby or even guarding its toy/food from YOU?
Have you ever thought to yourself "wow, did I just let this get worse?" Or even better "did I make this worse!?"
If you have, you’re not alone. We all know what the narrative is out there - "you're a bad person for correcting your dog!" The simple fact is that everyone else is the world will make you feel "guilty" for correcting your dog.
We've had SO MANY clients come to us and say: "but my mom said...",
"my brother thinks that I should..."
"my neighbor told me that remote collars are torture devices because..."
"my son said I shouldn't use that tool because he thinks..."
Insert all random opinions above.
But here's a little secret - your dog is not anyone'sresponsibility but your own. Your dog's behavior is not theirs to fix. What's more:
It's not THEIR lawsuit if your dog bites someone or something. It's your new, expensive endeavor.
It's not animal control showing up at THEIR house. It's yours.
It's not THEIR vet bills if your dog gets hurt.
It's not THEIR hospital bill if your dog bites your child or you in the face.
Simply put - your dog is YOUR responsibility from the day you bring it home. And when something bad happens, everyone who once had an opinion suddenly gets really quiet.
The way we see it - opinions are like butt holes, everyone has one. The only one you need to worry about is yours.
So let's break it down.
Do you want to deal with undesired or even dangerous behaviors for the rest of your dog's life, OR, would you rather it stop?
We hear "Amber, I really want to stop it but I've tried everything!"
No you haven't - if you had, something corrective would have worked.
When you think about it logically, you’ll understand why “positive reinforcement only” does not stop unwanted behav
Does your dog counter surf? Eat things it should off of the floor, then turn it into a game of chase when you try to get the item?
Rudy did too.
The trick to working things like this is to literally set it up as sessions.
Our philosophy is to set them up in a way that it is safe to fail, before you really do drop something on the floor that's unsafe for them to have, and then don't know what to do if the dog gets ahold of it.
In this session, Rudy is choosing to go lay down calmly despite all of these safe-fail items strown out around the dining room. We have bread, treats, plastic bottle, a rag, a straw, and a shoe.
Excellent choices, Rudy!
Introducing Henry!
This was filmed at his intake for boarded training today.
We can all see why he's here for training. 🤣 Stay tuned for progress!
Ruby Roux takes her "yes" marker super seriously!🤣
Franki is a precious little pup here for boarded training.
Her owner's biggest issues were not recalling when asked, barking nonstop, bolting out of open doors, jumping on people and excited peeing, and picking literally everything up off of the ground.
We've worked Franki pretty hard and she is doing so well! In this session, the front door is propped open, we practiced not hoovering up treats from the ground, and recalling to a pretty auto front sit, then releasing on command!
Way to go, Franki!
Breezy working on placing (off leash) despite sticks being thrown around her as distractions!
Excellent job, girl!
This is how legends are made!😉
Rouge, 4 month old puppy working impulse control, holding down/stay while treats are tossed as distractions!
Can your puppy do this?! 😍
What a beautiful Friday morning!
Training alumni, Bella, is back for boarding while her parents are on vacation! She's having a vacation of her own! Getting some energy out and exploring the farm since it's her first stay at our new house!
Have a great day, everyone! We know we will!
