A to Z Dog FUNdamentals

01/08/2024

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” ☔️❤️
~ Vivian Greene
Kinna says that dancing with an umbrella is a lot of fun especially when it’s raining cookies 🍪😁

01/07/2024

Did you know your pooch or pet can become an Olympic Gold Medalist?🏅Join us in the first Do More With Your Dog Pentathlon event that involves demonstrating 10 tricks with a hoop (any size). Kinna is kicking off the challenge with a Platform Jump Through a Hoop ⭕️

More details here: https://domorewithyourdog.com/DogTricks/dog-olympics/
Join our hoopsters: A to Z Dog FUNdamentals

01/06/2024

Happy weekend! Hope your days are as fun as these girlies 🥰

01/06/2024

My hoopsters are ready for the Dog Olympics! The girls even called the mascot Misha of the 1980 Russian Olympic Games to cheer them on! 😍🏆

Join the fun: A to Z Dog FUNdamentals
More details about Dog Olympics here: https://domorewithyourdog.com/DogTricks/dog-olympics/

01/03/2024

Join these hoopsters in the first Dog Olympics Pentathlon Event! More details here: https://domorewithyourdog.com/DogTricks/dog-olympics/
Join our trick group and go for the gold! 🏅
A to Z Dog FUNdamentals

01/02/2024

🏅📣DOG OLYMPICS📣🏅
Get ready for some fun with Do More With Your Dog! Be a part of this historic event by earning any 5 titles during 2024. That includes trick, fitness, stunt, or specialty titles to achieve your Doglympics Gold Medal! In addition, there will be 5 "Olympic series" new titles launched once per month, starting with Hoops Event on January 5th. Who's got what it takes to take it to the finish line? Go for the GOLD! 🏆
Join our trick group and be a part of the FUN: A to Z Dog FUNdamentals 🐾🧡

01/01/2024

Foster Mischa is starting 2024 off right with playing some games and learning 😍
A to Z Dog FUNdamentals

12/31/2023

Happy New Year from my party animals to yours 🤩🐾😍 Peace, kindness, and joy in 2024! Make it a fun year!
- Natalia, Tabby and Kinna 🧡🐾

12/27/2023

It a “couch potatoes” kind of day 😀 Who else has couch potatoes? 🥔🐶

12/25/2023

Great reminder! Enjoy the holiday season with your fur babies and keep them safe 🐾💗

Let’s be sure to keep our fur babies safe this holiday season with all the goodies they will be around.

12/25/2023

Wishing you all a magical season full of joy, laughter, and peace! Warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year! Thank you for your ongoing support. 🧡🎄🐾

12/24/2023

🦌 GAME 12: HUNGRY REINDEER! 🦌🥣
What an amazing job our reindeer have done leading up to the holidays! They really earned a break and a snack! You’re charged to prepare a snack for them while they lay back and relax, focusing on impulse control. You can use chopsticks or a spoon. I’m terrible with chopsticks, so I used string cheese as a snack, being ready to poke it if needed 😆 Your dog can stay in a “down” and/or you can try with a “sit.” You also have a choice of sitting on the floor or serving from a chair. It’s Yer Choice! Have fun playing this last game and use it either as a diagnostic tool or a way to practice and solidify your dog’s understanding of duration “down” with distractions. And remember to give your reindeer their well-earned snack for all the hard work they’ve done throughout our Reindeer Games!
I think my two hungry reindeer Kinna and puppy Mischa passed the challenge and made it to the Nice List: https://youtu.be/o4wnIknCWsM?si=p9zAU9fmQ2l8-zts

12/23/2023

- What dirt? If I can’t see it, you can’t either!
🐾Mischa
😂😂😂

12/23/2023

There’s a magical bond between a child and a dog! Best buddies already 🥰

12/21/2023

Well, this was a loser idea 🤣
*I tried to block off the way to the lower part of the deck.

12/20/2023

🦌GAME 10: REINDEER OBSTACLES! 🦌
While guiding Santa’s sleigh and delivering gifts, reindeer not only follow traffic signs, they might need to overcome many obstacles along the way. Today you’re going to help your reindeer face the challenge by setting up a proprioception obstacle course in your house, garage, or outside. It doesn’t need to be anything elaborate - just use what you have around the house to create a sensory path where your dog will encounter different textures, heights, and spaces going under, over, in, around, stepping, jumping, crawling, etc. You can play on or off-leash and you can build it as long or as short as you wish. Have fun with it and keep building your dog’s confidence!
My reindeer conquering obstacles: https://youtu.be/m8n6UT6iR_k?si=vKihPQFiRCHw0Kia

P.S. Thank you to Katherine Collmer for sharing her cute reindeer Win conquering an obstacle 🙂

12/19/2023

We are off to a great start - morning session with foster Mischa 😃

A to Z Dog FUNdamentals

Morning session with foster Mischa consisted of ItsYerChoice (Susan Garrett’s game for building self-control) and creating value for going to Hit Zone aka pl...

12/18/2023

A little reindeer in training 🦌🥰🐾
Join our Reindeer Games in the trick group A to Z Dog FUNdamentals

12/18/2023

🦌GAME 9: TRAFFIC LIGHT GAME! 🚦
While guiding Santa’s sleigh and delivering gifts, reindeer need to obey North Pole traffic signs! Rules are rules! Similar to the children’s game of Red Light, Green Light, we’ll be playing the Traffic Light Game during which you’ll test your dog’s loose-leash or off-leash skills while experimenting with different speeds of walking and stopping.

This is a great game to involve kids in. If you have a helper, you can have them face away from you and call out Green, Yellow or Red light in an unpredictable manner. When they say Red Light, they can turn around to face you - if you and your dog are caught in motion, you go back to the starting point. If there’s no helper, you can just call it out yourself or think of it and mix it up as you go forward.
Game in action: https://youtu.be/rye0Yo2vX-4

12/18/2023

One full day with our foster puppy Mischa has been busy and amazing! Wow, I forget what’s involved with a puppy. But we had so much fun! See for yourselves - A Day in the Life of a Foster Puppy 😁
It’s a bit lengthy but it’s a whole day of fun learning and playing games.
https://youtu.be/JLkMTOOZyHE?si=shje8z1hUf3XqnKu
A to Z Dog FUNdamentals

Foster puppy Mischa is staying with us this weekend. She’s an amazing little puppy and big things ahead of her! We made sure her stay was fun and educational...

12/17/2023

Morning with the puppy 🐶 We walked, we played/trained, we ate. Mischa quickly figured out a good place to hang out while humans are having breakfast and working on the relaxation protocol 💕 Such a good puppy!

12/16/2023

The girls have a little foster visitor for the weekend. Meet puppy Mischa 🥰 The house is very safe with a German, Belgian and Dutch alarm activated! 😆

12/16/2023

GAME 8: REINS WORK! 🦌
The sleigh is ready to go, but are the reindeer ready to steer it? Let’s see how they do when they have their reins on. Leash up your dog and practice walking together while building up to different distractions. One caveat is you may not hold the leash in your hand (throw it over your shoulder). You can play indoors (easier) or outdoors (more challenging) - the main thing is to set your reindeer up for success and then layer up the challenges.

Working reins with my two reindeer: https://youtu.be/KTRg8N_lgTA

Join the fun in our trick group A to Z Dog FUNdamentals

12/15/2023

The girls are getting ready for the holidays. Both are trying to be nice 😊🎄🎁
A to Z Dog FUNdamentals

The dogs are getting ready for the winter holidays by getting the gifts ready. Tricks: duration hold, paw wrap around an object and paw on a box. to Z Dog ...

12/14/2023

🦌 GAME 7: COME, REINDEER! 🦌
While the reindeer were playing in the snow, Santa was ready to get going, so he called the reindeer to “COME!” In this game, we’ll test the skill of coming when called with distractions and put more value into unusual collar grabs. Start by warming up with the regular recall and a collar grab: call/release your dog - take them by the collar - say your reward marker word ("cookie") - then deliver the cookie. You can call/release your dog from a crate, their dog bed, or randomly throughout the day. Then try introducing different variations. You never know what Santa might be doing when he needs to summon his reindeer (sitting in a sleigh, carrying gifts, or having a snack)! Be spontaneous and have fun! Remember to praise & reward your “reindeer” for coming and for each collar grab.

Calling my reindeer examples: https://youtu.be/1lvKLJ3datY

12/12/2023

🦌GAME 6: SNOW MUCH REINDEER FUN!☃️

As the reindeer were loading the sleigh and inspecting the gifts, it started snowing! Of course, they had to take a break and play in the snow! We barely get any snow in our part of the world, so we’re making our own snowball fun! If you have real snow, that would be awesome to come up with some reindeer games outdoors. For the indoors, all you need is some crumpled paper to make “snowballs.” We’ve included different ideas of the fun you can have. I’m sure you can come up with even more! Please, share and have SNOW much fun!!! ❄️

Some game ideas with "snowballs:" https://youtu.be/vLxumSE1FxE

12/10/2023

🦌 GAME 5: WHAT'S IN THE GIFT BOX! 🎁
The reindeer are prepared, the sleigh is inspected - it’s time for the gifts to go in. Shhh! Don’t tell Santa that we’re going to take a peek inside! 😉 This game addresses the goal of adding duration to the controlled behaviors (sit/down) among distractions. Using any box (gift, pizza, or tissue box), you will test your dog’s sit/down stays while you open the box and investigate it. To add a level of difficulty, the box can be filled with treats and/or you can include repackaging the box, so Santa doesn’t notice. You can sit or stand during the game - you decide. Feel free to reinforce your dog for holding the position as you’re shaking, unwrapping, and/or investigating the gift box. If you’re working on building duration, you can also release and reset the dog more frequently throughout the game to help them be successful. Set it up and see how it goes - all in all, it’s just information!
Here're my curious reindeer: https://youtu.be/E1LQAwcFNVo
A to Z Dog FUNdamentals - our trick group 🐾

12/10/2023

The girls did some holiday shopping 🛍️ Guess who was naughty and who was nice! 😆🐾

December challenge of holiday tricks: naughty or nice. to Z Dog FUNdamentals

12/09/2023

Holidays and celebrations are upon us! We all want it to be fun and stress-free time for us and our 4-legged companions. This podcast has great tips on how to proactively prepare for the holidays whether you have company over or if you’re traveling with your dog.

https://youtu.be/yXjSCsyx2eU?si=HiStkTdnuvATPZ6

Whether you're hosting festivities at home or planning a visit, we’re covering tips to keep dogs, kids, and guests safe to have the best ever celebration dur...