Long overdue Rescue Update:
If you scroll back towards end of Sept. you’ll see the start of this boys visit with me. Adidas is one of the two Pit Bulls pulled from a shelter in southern CA and then came to me for assessment and training. They’d both been pretty badly injured fighting with one another and their history, otherwise, was unknown.
Reebok, the other one, is younger and far more passive. Very much still a puppy mentally and that fortunately allowed him the ability to recover much easier than this kid.
Overall, as sweet as Adidas is to me now, he’s a strong dog that has many of his own opinions on how things should go. He’s also extremely physically capable of throwing his weight around to get what he wants if it’s allowed. From the moment he walked in my door his first instinct was fight anything and everything. Working with a human was null and void and I meant nothing to him (understandably.)
The first 6 weeks were tough and I wasn’t sure we would get anywhere…With any animal, at some point, their genetics and experiences in life may limit the progress you can make. They can’t always unsee the potential “bad” in things just as we can’t.
The videos themselves are simple enough, just working on good choices (moving away from dogs he’s see’s) and practicing that choice in a new place like we’ve done lots of times but the part that makes me most happy is watching him figure out a different relationship with a person. Relaxing and being a little silly with me even though he’s still a bit stressed and unsure out and about. I don’t know that he’ll ever be safely placeable and that’s always a risk when pulling dogs like this but for a moment I let my heart hope he has a person of his own one day.
Genetically and life wise, he’s had this sh*t end of the stick and we really just don’t often have a place in the world for dogs that can’t be safe with other dogs but for now I’m happy with his progress and I’m im
Living in busy neighborhoods can be a blessing and a curse for reactive dogs. Max grew up as an outside only puppy with extremely limited exposure prior to being taken on by his current owner. This led to a really intense introduction to a life Max had no idea existed outside his yard. Cars, strangers, kids, bikes, skateboards, etc. and navigating that plus a new indoor home life was extremely challenging for him. Leading to a few nipping incidents and lots and lots of barking. At. EVERYTHING. 💥
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We’ve spent the past few weeks getting to know him, working on foundational tools so he understands what I want from him, and now that he can successfully ignore many things - it’s time for him to learn to actually engage the things that may make him a bit uncomfortable and learn what to do with those feelings. This session was pretty simple, paying him for interacting with his environment in short bursts.
There are people out of frame and in frame who are distracting and that he’s not entirely comfortable with but he’s keeping his head straight and offering good behaviors. All worth paying him for! Baby steps.
Working on those big boy life skills. Go Dallas!
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#dogtraining #animalminds #sacramentodogtrainer #offleashlife #offleash #puppytraining
Panda is visiting us for a longer behavior modification program. She's a sensitive girl that has taken to anxiously running her day to day household operations and can be very defensive with folks entering her home. We've spent the last few weeks working to get through her very 'unimpressed' take on being here and she's started to loosen up.
During most training videos people see the dogs very close in a heel position for a variety of reasons. There are times I have Panda in that position as well but here I'm giving her a bit of free time to smell and practice her response to verbal cues (it takes work for them to continue "listening" for you - even when distracted and this will matter a ton at home.) Mostly, I'm just pleased to see her relaxing these days. We start sessions with her owner the end of this week and will begin chipping away at the problem behaviors at home!
Barn time for Dallas! New sights, sounds and textures to explore. 🍂🍁🐾
Adidas arrival
When I first seriously started working with dogs I was working in a shelter in southern CA and Pit Bull's were a dime a dozen. Huge numbers were being euthanized and it's still the case today some odd 17 years later. We have two males coming this week (this is the first, Adidas) that were picked up in an abandoned house, emaciated and actively fighting upon pick up. Both are on the mend but still in pretty bad shape and not feeling their best.
While the future remains unknown for them as we're just starting to unpack a lot of his baggage, he has more of a chance than many ever get thanks to a rescue pulling him and investing in further assessment and training immediately. We've got one more coming later this week and we'll discuss each of them as we move along.
For now, if you're interested in supporting a rescue trying to do the right thing and rescue responsibly, check out: Noah’s Ark Animal Haven and Rescue
When any dog has spent a fair amount of its life confined to a leash and behind fences and doors, those first moments where they experience interacting with the world (and me) without a physical tether or boundary - always feel special.
Some dogs zoom about and enjoy the newly ‘naked’ feel and some are like Tabby (GSD in this clip.) A little more pep in their step but it will take a few experiences of it for her to believe the boundaries have shifted. It’s still one of my favorite moments with each dog and won’t ever get old. As complex as dogs and our worlds can be moments like this are wonderfully simple and easy to enjoy.
Blaze (Aussie) and Luna (Doodle) aren’t housemates but they belong to family members that see one another occasionally and in the past they haven’t gotten along. Blaze is finishing up her Behavior Modification program today 🎉and Luna is a couple weeks in to hers. Since they’re both here at the same time we’ve worked on their relationship and have made it to -mostly- neutral for both girls. Luna still -not so subtly- guards the water access from Blaze towards the end but is getting easier to interrupt and less worried about sharing each time they interact. Baby steps!
That Off-Leash Freedom ❤️ This is why I do what I do. Grateful for dedicated clients like this.
That Off-Leash life 💕 This is why I do what I do. So grateful for dedicated clients like this.
“So last year at the same time, we came to Idaho. We let Annie off the leash and she took off for 15-20 minutes before coming back. This year is way different. “
Loose leash walking is a skill that needs work and practice for most dogs. Especially reactive dogs. This morning we ventured out to McKinley Park to work around lots of distractions before it got too warm. Ms Crunchie needs the repetition on her home turf as her owner walks her here often and it’s one of the busiest parks in the area. Even though it might look like there’s nothing going on between Crunchie and I as we walk, that “quiet” you see is a hard earned relationship between us. Lots of new skills learned on her part, practice and consistency on my part. Now it’s time to start building it with her owner as well!
Ms. Momo out and about yesterday starting to put her basics together around more distraction. She can be pretty sensitive to any perceived pressures - these can be as simple as changing to a long line vs. a regular leash. She wasn’t a fan of the dragging at first (understandably.) Or if my timing on rewards wasn’t fast enough she might push me (physically with her feet out of frustration) or struggle harder to complete the next repetition. Slowly introducing small things your dog may find difficult and practicing how to work through it tends to raise their confidence much like it would a child. Problem solving isn’t always innate. All these little sensitivities of hers are what lead to some of the resource guarding triggers so taking them apart piece by piece is important. Progress!
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#animalminds #dogtraining #sacramentodogtrainer #corgi #cute #behaviormodification
Blooper Reel 🫠🫣🙄🤪 Puppy lab brain is uh… always an adventure. Bam is slowly learning personal space is a thing but that’s with A LOT of help from me with physical cues, verbal cues and environmentally as well.
We’re now in a phase where we’re starting to remove some of the help (IE: not saving him from being tangled in the long line as he’s done this 473828 times by now and has generally become pretty good 98% of the time at not clotheslining himself or winding himself up BUT without his training wheels at times he still fails and it’s important he learn how to work it out.) So once he fails I go back to helping. Moving away from him and encouraging he follow me, turns help engage him again and he begins making better choices. If you watch it from the outside sometimes training looks messy but we try to make the best of those messes so the dog still gets something out of it.
Some cute morning bulldog squishiness 🤭
#animalbehavior A little more practice for Momo with food and other dogs. Sola is still very controlled but I’m allowing for more movement from Momo in between cues and sloppily throwing the food to encourage her to get up and move around between repetitions. She’s still making good choices and we’ll begin adding other dogs into the mix shortly.
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#animalminds #dogtraining #sacramentodogtrainer #corgi #behavior #animalbehavior
Bulldogs + stay… their favorite obedience exercise. Food happens and they don’t have to go anywhere. 🤣😴
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#animalminds #sacramentodogtraining #dogtraining #dogtrainer #bulldog
Bulldogs+Stay… It’s their favorite exercise. 😂😂 Food happens and they don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. It’s a hard life.
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#animalminds #dogtraining #sacramentodogtraining #bulldogs #obedience #boysgotskills #skillsofdoingnothing
This is just a quick clip of how I begin assessing some of the resource guarding cases I see. In some instances I might not be as casual and have a lot more safeguards in place but I’m familiar with Momo’s history (severity of the fights and bites that have occurred, as well as details on the locations/environments, etc.) and this lends to how I begin testing the waters. In the past week I’ve seen how much she inhibits and offers good choices when in a new environment where she feels the need to appease and make friends. That shows me that not only is she capable of learning a more appropriate response but that she can CHOOSE to do so if the environment is conducive to it. Some cases that are largely genetic, severe or unpredictable involve dogs that are so impulsive that the aggressive response has very little thought process to it. It’s an ingrained knee jerk response and obviously this is significantly harder to address, if it’s even safely manageable.
Cases like Momo’s here have more of a learned element to it. Many times it’s a process of a dog learning advantageous behaviors through repetition. It might start small with a little snarky behavior here and there. Not all dogs find arguing and fighting aversive enough to deter them from that dropped piece of chicken, etc. This is where having a history on the dogs behavior is truly helpful in deciphering how much progress can really be made in these cases. So far, so good, for Momo!
When testing out the ‘follow’ function on your new gimbal, find yourself a twitchy brown dog for it to focus on! Makes me dizzy just watching her sometimes. 🤪🤣 #animalminds #malinoislife #crazygirl
Momo getting an introduction to the place bed. Keeping it simple and making it fun for her. It also allows us to practice the beginning steps of recall, using a release cue, sit and down and getting her better at following a lure.
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#animalminds #corgi #basicobedience #sacramentodogtrainer #sacramentodogtraining
