Crooked Paw Dog Training Co.

05/13/2023

Catch us at Paw-ty in the Park from 11AM-3PM TODAY!

We are 13360 Clayton Rd with a bunch of great ventors including STL Care, Taco trucks, and much more! 😊😊

04/05/2022

02/20/2022

Welcome Maeve to the CPDT Pack!

Shes a 5 month old stray from the South and pretty under socialized. We will work on building her confidence and then getting into some obedience and advanced obedience.

She will be a part of my personal pack and used as a demo dog to help train your pets as well!

02/13/2022

Crooked Paw is moving to Saint Louis, Missouri!

Thank you Chicago-Land area for being phenomenal people to work with. It has been a pleasure helping you achieve your dream dogs and making friends along the way 💓

Our last day of training in Illinois will be March 25th, 2022.

Our first day of training in Missouri will be July 2nd, 2022. (We will be located around the Skinker-Debaliviere area)

Of course, we will still be just a text, call, or email away if previous clients need anything. Don't be a stranger!

02/08/2022

Dogs perspirate through their pad pads.

So, if you notice that your dog is leaving paw prints around the house, they probably didnt step in something, it is most likely sweat!

Dogs can sweat for many reasons such as:
- being anxious
- being overstimulated
- being overheated
or
- in trying to prevent their paw pads from drying out

Watch our for your clammy paw-ed friend and try to eliminate the stressors that caused their sweaty paws!

02/03/2022

Recall when teenagers would use salt and ice and see how long they could keep it on their skin... before they got literal burns?

Well the same can happen to our dogs' paws!

Be careful taking your dogs for a walk these next few days! Everyone is salting and the snow/ice is abundant.

You could walk, or you can be like Herc and just take the day off.

02/02/2022

PSA to all past, current, and future clients:

If you have cute videos or pictures of your dog(s), I LOVE to see them! Always send them my way!

02/02/2022

Oliver update!

I worked with him for 4-6 weeks in the shelter on just leash walking with a 20 ft leash and exposure to humans. He was petrified of everything. He never looked up for eye contact and would starve before taking food from you. He was almost given to a feral rescue.

Today, he finally takes food from my hand! AND enjoys tons of love and affection. His family has done so well with him!

Cases like his are so rewarding and I am so grateful to be a small part of his journey. ❤

02/01/2022

Confidence building and exposure are EXTREMELY important for your dog. And this is what we mean by it.

Take your dog to a park and guide them through the playground, up and down obstacle, down small slides, through tunnels, etc.

We want to expose them to different environmental situations and reward their successes AND failures. This encourages them to try new things, be less fearful of the world, and not shutdown when something new happens around them. Overall, they become more confident and tolerant of their environment.

Do your dog a favor and expose them to the real world!

02/01/2022

Kona's first interaction with someone she was previously aggressive towards!

Her fear based aggression is being rehabbed through what is called counter conditioning. She has a conditioned response to be aggressive when uncomfortable and fearful. So, by providing new positive associations to things that were weird and uncomfortable, we can condition a new response, one that doesnt involve biting 😅

No other technique can provide this outcome: a happy pup!

Look at her! Light tail wag, soft eyes, ears back. I'd say she probably isnt aggressive anymore. 😉

01/20/2022

More coming well called from Charlie!

We've moved from just doing it inside without distractions to in the front yard with cars, people, dogs, and leaves as distractions!

His owners have definitely built a great relationship with him, look how fast that recall is!

01/16/2022

How is your recall coming along?

Probably not as cute as this one 😍

01/15/2022

Kona is typically very aggressive towards people and dogs, and actually has a few bites in her history.

Today we took the muzzle off and sniffed some people 🙏 Lots of great progress with her!

We are working on using basically no leash pressure, counter conditioning her reactive response, and letting her open up on her own.

You can see her ears are back, mouth open, tongue out, no hard stares, checking in with mom, loose body, head low and relaxed... I'd say she is opening up pretty nicely!

01/09/2022

Nala is doing so well keeping calm around her cat siblings.

She typically gets very worked up around cats and has even bitten her owner trying to go after them.

Now, she is learning that seeing a cat doesnt always mean she can go run up and play with then.

Good job Nala!

01/06/2022

This is your reminder to go play with your damn dog!

Spend the next 10 minutes and do something they enjoy: playing tug, throwing a ball, eating out of a slow feeder, using a flirt pole, eating an ice cube, rough housing with your hands, riding a skateboard (yes, a few of my clients can do this haha)

They only live once, we only live once.

Let's fulfill our dogs needs and enjoy the time we have with them.

01/06/2022

*Dont repeat yourself*

A lot of my clients want to repeat their commands if their dog doesnt listen on the first time. Dont do it! Your words lose value if you have to repeat them 1,284,838 times before they listen. Then, they get used to not listening on the first time.

Here, we know that Wilson knows the command sit. We've been practicing it for the past 10 minutes AND I have practiced this with him 2 prior times on different days. We all know he knows the command at this point.

He isnt listening during this rep because he is trying to figure out if there are any loopholes in the command, not because he didnt hear us the first time.

"Can I not listen and still get the food?"

"Can I just look at him and get the food?"

"Can I stand REALLY still and still get the food?"

He wants to find the easiest route to getting a treat.

So our job is to say, "yo, there are no loop holes, you just have to follow the command" since dogs dont know english, we just use patience to convey this. Here I am just standing still, NOT REPEATING THE COMMAND, and waiting for him to follow through.

01/04/2022

Have you seen a calm jack russell terrier?

Well, dont blink, or you will miss Georgia being calm! 😂 She is working on it!

Georgia struggles with separation anxiety, just like every other COVID puppy (now COVID dog!).

So we are working on creating security and calmness when we leave her sight.

Great first session!

12/23/2021

Recall (coming when called) is something I work on as soon as puppies are brought home. Even at 8 weeks old you can practice it.

Puppies naturally want to follow you, so we take advantage of this and make it into a command. We ingrain this in their brain young so it sticks with them through adulthood.

PS isnt Charlie ADORABLE

12/22/2021

Do you have a dog that darts through your front door, back door, bedroom door, etc?

This is a rude behavior that I like to get rid of. Some people think it's a dominance thing, but most dominance theory is pretty outdated.

I find that most dogs are just too excited and want to get out as fast as possible, which is understandable!

Instead, I like to teach dogs to wait at all thresholds or boundaries and wait to be released.

Aki is a pro and even gives some solid eye contact at the end!

12/14/2021

NEVER FEED A COOKED BONE.

Cooked bones splinter and and tear the insides of your dog.

But FRESH ones, like straight off the cow fresh, are AMAZING.

Stay away from boring nylabones, BBQ flavored s**t at petsmart, and rawhides.

Go all-natural!

Plus they are cheap! Like 4 bucks from a butcher! Just ask for a femur bone (or stew bone)

🐶🦷️ A consistent raw diet and a meaty bone once a week can do wonders to keep your dog's dental hygiene in great shape!

11/28/2021

Dog Food Advisor is a great resource.

It provides a quality rating out of 5 stars and breaks down every ingredient on the food label.

This is what we use to determine if your dog's food is of good quality or not!

Color is added to dog food to attract YOU. Not your . Avoid pet foods made with artificial dyes. They're not worth the risk.

11/27/2021

If you are on of my clients we have talked about this before!

Dogs need to be taught how to relax, many dont want to do it willingly. This is a great example of what happens when we dont teach it.

Dogs will hold and naw on an object to self stimulate like this lab. This is not an emotional support ball, it is actually an addiction to play and is extremely unhealthy for their mind and body. This can lead to many other behavioral issues.

11/26/2021

What do you get on Black Friday?

We stock up on dog toys from Menards!

11/25/2021

Happy Thanksgiving!

Remember to watch your dogs around the Turkey today. It's just as tasty to them as it is to us!

Cooked bones from turkeys crack and splinter very very easily and can wreak havoc on your pets insides.

Instead, try giving them a slow feeder with food frozen inside or an appropriately sized Kong so they can partake in Thanksgiving feasting as well!

11/24/2021

Does your dog not come inside when you call them?

Think about it: your dog is outside having the time of their life. They have everything they could ever want AND MORE... green fluffy grass, crunchy leaves to eat, birds to chase, things to sniff, their favorite sun bathing spot!

Then you call them inside... all this fun ends...

So of course they are going to want to stay outside! At the end of the day they are dogs and want to do dog stuff. So instead of forcing them to come inside with a strict recall, I teach a very sloppy command that does not require them to follow through 100% of the time. Not because they completely disregard us, but because most of the time they are innocently wanting to sun bathe or do one more lap around the yard and unless I am on a time crunch, I want them to do one more lap and enjoy themselves.

So, I practice this exercise very loosely:
1. Call name/"Let's go"
2. Open door to go inside
3. Click as soon as they are inside
4. Throw food and let them go back outside
5. Repeat

Step 4 is crucial, this let's them know the fun isnt ending, it is only temporarily stopping

11/18/2021

Soak up these warmer days while they last!

Roo loves playing ball and wrestling with her dog pals in these green fields.

11/14/2021

Start clicker training! (Part 1)

It is super easy, fun, and speeds up the beginning of training.

Many people, when they train, tend to have different tones, multiple words, and different length of words for the same reward (yeah, yes, good, good boy, good job, you are such a good boy, etc) and and it can get messy and confusing for your dog.

Stick to something quick, simple, and consistent across every person that trains with them: one click.

First you must get them conditioned to understand that a click = food, which is SUPER easy.

1. Click the clicker once
2. Pause for one second
3. Throw the food away from you and your dog

It is vital that you pause in between.

Then you will start to see something great: they start anticipating food. After a few minutes you will notice them looking at your hand and the clicker right after you click, waiting for the food to come next. You can see this about halfway through the video. Henry's head shifts, his ears pop up, and he is ready for his reward!

Once you have gotten here, you can start using the clicker during your training!

*CLICK* *PAUSE* *THROW*

11/14/2021

Start clicker training! (Part 2)

The most important part of clicker training it that you mark at the correct time.

Dogs take a mental snap shot of the EXACT moment that you click.

Here you can see Henry getting frustrated and giving me all his recent favorite commands: scratch your nose, play dead, and paw haha. It was too cute to edit out.

Anyway, you can see I clicked at the wrong time when he was coming up from playing dead. So, the next rep he did he went straight back into playing dead, thinking that is what I wanted.

After luring him back into a sit and clicking at the EXACT moment his butt hits the ground he quickly understood playing dead wasn't what I wanted.

- If you want a dog to sit: click as soon as their butt hits the ground
- If you want a dog to lay down: click ass soon as their whole body lays down
- if you want a dog to go to place: click as soon as all four paws are on place

Do not click for half-assed behaviors or you will get half-assed commands!

11/01/2021

Meet Tuesday!

She is a full grown, almost 2 year old, rot bulldog mix.

I recently went to meet Tuesday and spruce up some of her commands so she can find her forever home.

BUT

She is honestly great! She responds really well to her basic commands and does incredible with everyone and everything around her. She is docile, friendly with dogs and people of all sizes, gentle, happy-go-lucky, cuddly, has a squishy face, has bursts of energy here and there but does enjoy her naps, rarely barks, walks very well on the leash... do I have to go on? She is basically the perfect family dog!

She came from a home where the owner had to cage her for 10-12 hours a day due to his work schedule. So, she needs someone to just bring her into their family and show her what a good life is!

If you or someone you know is interested in this squishy cute pup, please contact Debbie, who is currently fostering her at: 815-258-0003

The new owners of Tuesday will also be given 2 free, hour and a half (1.5 hour) long, private lessons through Crooked Paw to aid in her transition into her forever home.

10/31/2021

These are my personal dogs, Henry, the smaller one, and Huckleberry, the larger one.

This is a great example of how dogs can pick up things from one another. I have already taught both of them a pretty formal retrieval so they are familiar with this type of command. However, I am changing it up and asking them to retrieve a towel.

Dogs are not the best at generalizing so changing to a towel, or any other object, can be difficult.

I had been working with Henry for 5-10 minutes already with Huckleberry at "place" just watching. He was very eager to join and get food! As soon as I released him, he already had seen multiple repetitions of what Henry was doing to get food and automatically did the same.

Next, I have to shape this command so Henry doesnt think he has to kill it every time 😂

PS: Henry's leg is fine, he is part basset hound!