Here’s my thoughts. This has been controversial in the past. So take it as you will. We spend time desensitizing our dogs to other sights, sounds, and smells. So why wouldn’t the noise of fireworks on a screen help? Is it 100%? Maybe, maybe not. But it sure can’t hurt if you do it right! My tips are to feed, train, play with your dog while slowly increasing the volume. Do fun sh*t and don’t make it a big deal! Bonus points if you have surround sound and the floor rumbles a little! I can’t speak from anyone else’s experience but I’ve done the months in advance with every one of my dogs. They can all be outside with fireworks being set off all around the neighborhood and not freak out. I’ve also given them a chew inside their crate so I can enjoy the show solo but I knew they weren’t scared in their crates either. I would love to know if you’ve tried this and was it successful for you? #independenceday #fourthofjuly #dogs
Black Bean
Recall is the most important command every dog should know. Bean is always looking for an escape so recall was and is the first thing we’ve worked on. She comes full force after only a couple of days!
Black Bean
Finally got Miss Black Bean to opt into some training. She’s had some time to decompress and get comfortable with me. Now she’s figuring out how to achieve wins. It’s not super pretty yet but most of the dog training process isn’t at first.
Yes, I’m in my pajamas and it was raining. We still put in some work!
A missing component sometimes is social bonding. During or after a training session, I make an effort to include social bonding. This is if the dog enjoys and allows this interaction, of course. Does your dog enjoy this or is it all business? #dogtrainerthoughts #dogtrainer #dogtraining #bond #relationship #germanshepherd #belgianmalinois #dutchshepherd #foster #fostermom
I truly don’t think this dog would have come out of a shelter in a good mindset if she had sat there for a while.
Here she gets decompression time, play, and we’re starting a little training. Hopefully we can make some progress before someone adopts her. She’s such a gem!
#rescue #foster #adopt #germanshepherd #belgianmalinois #dutchshepherd #herder #fostermom #dogtraining #dogtrainer
Sometimes the rut of just going for a walk or just doing the same thing with your dog can feel mundane and routine. While routine is ok, make sure you allow yourself to enjoy those moments with your dog. Look at your dog for who they are. Do something silly and have fun on that walk. Life is too short to just go through the motions every single day. Make it fun! #wisdomwednesday #husky #siberianhusky #blueeyes #dogmom #dog #dogtraining #dogtrainer
Bonnie
Long post ahead.
I normally add music and shorten my videos for viewing purposes. I do things differently and I never want anyone trying to replicate what they see because I promise you, it’s a whole process to get here.
Here’s the thing about me as a trainer. After working with THE best mentor, my training looks different. (Thank you, Jonas Black)
What you see is a dog not suppressed, escaping any kind of pressure, or “stuck” in a heel.
You see a dog (on a prong collar I might add) CHOOSING to walk next to her Mom and positively reinforced to build a position of value. She opts in, and not because of fear of punishment. The prong collar was never even activated today. Nor did I ever tell her to correct or punish her for swinging out a little far. She fixed herself because of the value built here. We started her loose leash walk with just a clicker and food, no collar or leash of any kind. No one makes her be there, she chooses to be there by the conditioning process I use. It’s simply magical!
This is only the beginning and foundation of her reactivity work. It’s going to be amazing!!
Happy one year anniversary to Dog and Me University LLC as an actual company! Even though I have been training for a few years now, starting a company was a big step!
What a year it has been! Here's a little review for the memories.
🐺 Started in a mentorship with a behavior mod icon. Still figuring out how that happened.
🐺 Restructured how I train, and my programs to better suit the dogs and owners I get to work with. (That was scary!)
🐺 Fostered 4 dogs.
🐺 Long term boarded a bitey meat missile, aka, Chimichanga.
🐺 Helped get two dogs off to another country.
🐺 Got invited to teach in a virtual seminar with my mentor.
🐺 Was given a position to teach in a mentorship with my mentor.
🐺 Preparing to teach a virtual foster school with my mentor in the fall.
🐺 Given the opportunity to teach what I love, scentwork, in the next mentorship round.
🐺 Helped fight the ecollar ban in Europe.
🐺 Helped dogs virtually in Europe since the XL bully breed ban passed.
🐺 Completed 4 scentwork trials. Luna and I earned 6 titles in those 4 trials.
🐺 Attended a detection seminar with the infamous Cameron Ford.
🐺 And trained a ton of dogs!!
It's been a huge year of growth, learning how to run a successful business, and so many exciting opportunities!! I'm incredibly blessed to be able to do what I love and help people with their dogs! I can't wait to see where this next year takes me and to meet all the new dogs!!
#dogtrainer #dogtraining #behaviormodification #learningandgrowing #happyanniversary #business #entrepreneur #womenentrepreneurs #dogs #ilovedogs #scentwork #nosework #detection #travel
Annie worked on the farm today! She's looking for her hope to be a good girl. 🤭
Just kidding. She actually did AMAZING!! Super proud of her! She worked around other dogs and horses! It's not her first time here but it's her first time testing her training around all of these exciting things! She's a very excitable girly.
Unedited and pure gold. Super proud of this boy. He's got a few things we're working on. Working around kids is a big one.
Bringing a new dog into your home whether you are fostering or just adopted can be challenging. Especially with an older dog that has lived life a little on the rough side. With careful actions, you can cultivate a beautiful loving relationship by starting off on the right foot.
1. Leash the dog in the house.
This way, you are able to communicate and give guidance without a lot of confrontation. You can easily utilize your leash to get them off of furniture, off of people, or guide the dog to an area they are allowed to be in.
2. Utilize the crate for decompression or start the crate training process.
Some dogs come already crate trained, but the majority of them don't. So this may be tougher for some dogs. I encourage you to feed in the crate and give something of value if starting a crate training journey. Walk the dog until they are swamped and let them rest there. A dog coming from a shelter/rescue or other stressful situation is going to need time to decompress. A crate is a safe, quiet way to allow that.
3. Long line potty breaks potty breaks in case the dog goes into flight response.
If you have a fearful or nervous dog, potty breaks can get be a little scary. You don't want to turn a dog loose in the fenced-in yard because you will play a game of chase. But a short leash might make the dog too nervous to go. I always suggest a long line so they have a little freedom and you are still attached.
4. Do not rush interactions with other pets in the home.
This is especially true if you are fostering a new dog that has not been tested with other animals. Take leash walks together, starting from a distance. See how the energy is between the dogs. There is no rush to have dogs interacting. They can exist in the home until you are comfortable with their calm existence. Crate and rotate or create a barrier so they can exist in the same room without interacting.
5. Build a relationship with value by hand feeding. You can simply present food by hand or utili
My foster Burrito is doing great! He is learning all of his basic commands very quickly. I can't wait for the weather to warm up this week so we can get started on some things outside.
He gets neutered this week and should go up for adoption fairly quickly!
This is Burrito. He was in a very rural pound without heat, without medical care, and where food was a privilege. He was incredibly stressed out, spinning, and never left his kennel. Thankfully, rescue has been there to help as much as possible, and with a group effort, all dogs made it out of there! There's no way they would have made it through this extreme cold and snow.
Burrito will be with me for a little bit, and he's already a pleasure! We have a lot to unpack from the situation he's been in, but he's the sweetest, most loving little guy. I've never seen a dog more grateful in my life.
#rescue #adopt #foster #saveadog
Play ✅️
Walk/training ✅️
Fulfilled and relaxed ✅️
Greywolf update. I honestly don't have a lot to update on. He's a difficult case, and progress is happening, but it's very slow. I wish I could make it go faster, but I can't. I can only go at his pace.
He's a big boy, but he's still very much puppy in his brain. He has some maturing to do. He's doing great with leash skills, but the outside work is still very brief. I don't have a lot of recordings because I am very much hands-on with this one.
He is a dog that will need more rounds of training, and that's OK. His Mom is putting in the work. It's just going to take a little longer. We're very focused on his mindset at this time. He gets over aroused very, very quickly.
That's the hard reality of training, I can not guarantee how fast a dog is going to learn or unlearn anything.
#dogtraining #dogtrainer #reality
Luna and I had a big weekend! We attended a 2 day scentwork trial in Louisville, KY. That celebratory post will come later.
I wanted to talk about this first. You see, Luna unlocked a fear of barking dogs during her critical development period as a puppy. We worked with a trainer that really did some damage.
I've been working to fix those neuro pathways since. We've put in a lot of work for her to not care about other dogs, especially dogs barking around her or at her. On Sunday, there was an Australian shepherd that was extremely reactive towards her. What did Luna do? She just looked at me instead. No reaction to that dog at all.
This is immense growth on her part. This is a representation of all the work I've done to build and gain her trust. This didn't happen over night, it took time to really just be indifferent to extra stimuli.
With all the dogs walking by, people walking by, dogs barking everywhere, Luna was able to relax and trust me that nothing would happen to her. I'm so incredibly proud of her, and us as a team!
This is what I teach to my clients with reactive dogs! To get here. This is the always the goal. It takes time but it is so worth it!
I'm really proud of this guy today. This is just a video of him being a goof but his training is coming along really well.
His Mom is putting in the work, things are starting to click with Greywolf, and he's much better when I come in. We still have a long ways to go but Mom is happy with the progress, and so am I. We're only half way through his program and she already wants to keep me longer.
I love when clients realize how fun it is to teach their dogs life skills and want to continue because they want more for their dog. They're a fun team to work with.
