Again, I donât recommend anyone try this đ because high energy activities and games involving two dogs and one high value toy can get ugly quickly if one decides theyâd rather play alone. But Vitani is a very unbothered, carefree puppy who I knew I could trust while Loki tried to figure this game out.
Lokiâs extreme anxiety has been a challenge because it felt like everything I tried either aroused him too much so he couldnât focus on the objective, or the environment was too stressful and he wasnât about to engage with me. One thing I like to do to get anxious dogs out of their shell is playing with other dogs, but because Loki was under socialized, his communication and social skills with other dogs was severely lacking, and my personal dogs werenât interested in associating with him (other than my one intact male, but Loki has one-sided beef with him). Iâd experimented with putting him with Vitani in the past, but he honestly didnât seem interested in playing with her, so I shelved that ides for a while. But recently theyâve started to play really well together, so after letting them play amongst themselves for a few minutes, I decided to try something.
I knew Loki had prey drive, and I knew he had interest in play because he would do it with other dogs, or heâd possess a toy and throw it around by himself. But for the life of me I couldnât get him to play a really solid game with me (tug, fetch, etc). I figured he likes Vitani enough that if he saw her running around after a toy, he would start out chasing her and eventually make the connection to chase the toy as well.
It didnât make it into the video but there were a couple times where he tried to take the toy right from her mouth (which she didnât care about). Once I saw that definite interest in the game and less on her, we were off to the races.
Also, Vitani did get to play her own solo game after Loki was done đ
___________
#dogtraining #dogtrainer #obediencetraining #pu
When I tell you every rude or annoying interaction Iâve had while training dogs out in public was with adults who felt they were somehow entitled to pet them.
I find it interesting that we spend so much time and effort teaching kids manners but at some point decide that adults donât need to be held to the same standard.
The sidewalk isnât a petting zoo, and dogs arenât inherently eager to be touched by strangers. It costs nothing to ask and even less to not get offended if I say no.
If a child can do it, I promise you can too
____________
#dogtraining #dogtrainer #obediencetraining #puppytraining #behaviormodification #dog #puppy #pets #petstagram #dogsofinstagram #ilovemydog #instagramdogs #dogoftheday #doglover #instadog #topdogphoto
As long as dog training continues to exist, people will continue to argue about what the âbestâ method is. But the thing is, like humans, dogs are all individuals with different genetics, backgrounds, temperaments, and baggage that affect the way we should be training them.
For this session, I utilized multiple âtoolsâ when working with my malinois Vitani:
1. A prong collar. Vitani does not like to drop the ball when sheâs in a high state of arousal. For a lot of dogs, simply making the toy âgo deadâ (handler drops it, keeps it from moving, etc so the dog loses interest) works great to develop an out command. Not for dogs like Vitani. Sheâs very naturally possessive, which is great since sheâs training in protection sports. But because of that, she wonât drop a ball or tug on her own. Sheâll carry it around for as long as she physically can, and then some đ so I use a light pop on the prong to get her to drop it. Does it cause her a brief moment of discomfort? Yes. Is that okay? Also yes. You can see thereâs no loss of enthusiasm from her, because the correction is applied at a low enough level not to break her spirit.
2. A flexi leash. Yes, the flexi is attached the prong collar! The flexi allows her to get distance from me and do victory laps at her own pace.
3. The reward ball. Vitani loves few things more than a ball on a rope. The purpose of this session was to get a little more speed in her down position, and the ball gets more excitement out of her than a food reward will. But, I also had food on me from our previous session working on more precision.
Multiple tools for multiple purposes to get a desire result. â¨balanceâ¨
_________________
#dogtraining #dogtrainer #obediencetraining #puppytraining #behaviormodification #dog #puppy #pets #petstagram #dogsofinstagram #ilovemydog #instagramdogs #dogoftheday #doglover #instadog #topdogphoto #belgianmalinois
If leash training, recall, and relationship building are basic math, off leash reliability is algebra. A lot of people want to start with algebra.
___________
#dogtraining #dogtrainer #obediencetraining #puppytraining #behaviormodification #dog #puppy #pets #petstagram #dogsofinstagram #ilovemydog #instagramdogs #dogoftheday #doglover #instadog #topdogphoto
Took some dogs to Home Depot to escape the ridiculous winds today. It was an especially big day for Loki since it was his first big training field trip, and he was able to work through a lot of his fears, especially men. Overall a successful day đ§Ą
___________
#dogtraining #dogtrainer #obediencetraining #puppytraining #behaviormodification #dog #puppy #pets #petstagram #dogsofinstagram #ilovemydog #instagramdogs #dogoftheday #doglover #instadog #topdogphoto
I train most dogs to walk on the left side, but that gets awkward when youâre passing other dogs on the sidewalk, or if you have a dog whoâs nervous about things like oncoming people. Teaching them to switch sides mid-walk is a great way to make everybody feel a little more comfortable and avoid clutter on the sidewalk as well
________
#dogtraining #dogtrainer #obediencetraining #puppytraining#behaviormodification #dog #puppy #pets #petstagram #dogsofinstagram #ilovemydog #instagramdogs #dogoftheday #doglover #instadog #topdogphoto
Weâve done zero training the last few weeks while Vitaniâs been on crate rest, and right before that we were working through one of her biggest distractions, which is other people. This woman was walking around the park and any time she got within 40 feet of us, Vitani wanted to blow me off to go say hi. Iâm thrilled to see the small amount of recall work we did before she was sick has stuck with her 𼳠no rewards on me - just the stellar relationship I have with this baby dog
Does your dog take off running when you try to play with them? Itâs possible you guys are playing two different games.
Donât get me wrong, social media is a great place for professionals to showcase their skills and for dog owners to see dogs like theirs getting help. But it often doesnât stop there. Thereâs a lot more to fixing leash pulling, jumping, or aggression than what you see in a 30 second video. âI tried this and it didnt work.â Well probably because more work was done than what you just saw, and trying to replicate it will almost always lead to failure. And also, that dog is not your dog. Itâs not a âone size fits allâ situation. Your dog is an individual and itâs up to you to find what helps them be successful, not give up or make excuses after trying to put a round peg in a square hole.
â˘
#dogtraining #puppytraining #obediencetraining #behaviormodification
Feeding the thanksgiving crew đŚ
If youâre going to muzzle train your dog, a majority of the times itâs on should be positive and fun. If it only goes in stressful circumstances, it will always be a stressful piece of equipment
The âI hate doodles, theyâre awful to work withâ whining from trainers and groomers is beyond old. Your bills would not be paid without these dogs, and itâs not like theyâre harder to train than the german shepherd with a bite record youâre totally cool with. I hope youâre referring all the doodles out to someone else since you find them so challenging.
