Ruby the four year old lab was in last week for a crash course on leash walking and relaxing in the down stay! Absolutely loved working with this sweet girl! She learned to relax on the leash and in the down-stay. We worked to diminish jumping and any food stealing. Confidence building on the leash as well as some discipline! Such a difference from her consult where she laid down and didn't want to budge for a walk! Good girl!!! She is back with her family now after we got to enjoy her for her vacation. This girl is welcome back anytime. What a doll. Love her!! ❤️
Boarding dogs Tedi and Sully had a couple training days added to keep them busy this week as Sully is a ten month intact male and having healthy outlets for that energy is a must! His owners are keeping him respectful and very well taken care of with so much exercise and socializing! I rarely allow intact males here because they can struggle with over-arousal and pushing boundaries, which makes all the other dogs upset. But this guy is kept on his best behavior which is clearly evident. It has been a fantastic week with these two and we were also so happy to have Bella and Sierra join us for all the fun! Good dogs! ❤️❤️
Boarding dogs Arlo, Penny and River in this last week have been getting along so well with my family. Sully and Tedi made a visit for daycare adding to the fun. What a fantastic week with such great vibes. Good dogs. ❤️☺️
It brings me great joy to see my old shepherd Loyal playing tug with Sully, a young chocolate lab. His owners are dog enthusiasts and long time clients. Sully knows the same tug rules as our dogs to only bite the tug. When learning to play here: if anyone starts getting too competitive/vocal I ask for a drop and then allow play again soon after. But these guys are already doing fantastic.
Loyal needs steady encouragement from me (e.g. good dogs) to get started playing with a dog other than his siblings. I love to see him lose the tug and still play by the rules and only go for the tug. Sully has been a great addition to our group to get more dogs playing tug. Good dogs!!
Best play day ever!!! 😍 Love these guys. So much play and good vibes! 😁❤️
Some of Gus's bests!
Little Gus here has been a fantastic trainee this week! He is a regular for our play days and his family added some training along with his vacation boarding. The main emphasis being on calmer greetings without jumping. We especially worked on stays during high energy moments, recalls and getting touch with all four on the floor. He absolutely loved working at the dog park and followed so nicely! What a great job his family has done on all his obedience! It was very fun to progress on everything while having a blast.
Special mention to Sophy who earned a few quarters by teaching Gus not to jump on her when receiving touch. He is now SO much gentler with her, comes to her and super sweet about wanting her attention. He always loved her but had a difficult time holding back his excitement!! 😄 Good boy Gus!!! 🥰❤️
This is how i like to see dogs sniffing each other's faces: Relaxed, friendly wag, and sweet expressions on. 👌👍 Sometimes I think I should change play day to "casual social" or "doggy mingle" 😆 What do you guys think?
Forgot to add this clip of Sophy enjoying our regulars on play day today. Very sweet pups ❤️❤️ These dogs grew up with Sophy, most of them since she was a baby. Now I have a second baby as she gets to see everyone again 🥰
It was a super fun day hosting our play day Wednesday once again! We loved having everyone over 🥰
A fun little impulse control drill to practice!
Most of you know I'm about ready to pop with a baby! I appreciate everyone being so understanding about my needing to take a break from running K9 Satisfaction as I prepare for this new little life!
That being said, one of our close regulars recently got a new puppy and we needed to have him over for a few hours! Please welcome little Sully the chocolate lab who was thrilled to come for a fun play and social visit. His family is ahead of the game teaching him all his basics, manners and potty training. This guy will be such a fantastic addition to all our regulars for daycare and boarding. Looking forward to seeing him more after my maternity leave 🥰
Over the years I have heard the common misconception that playing tug with your dog is "bad".
This can be true to some degree if you are really heightening the play in a competitive way or don't have any control of when/what the dog can bite. The former can confuse the dog leading to a conflict, whether with you or just with people outside his immediate friend bubble. The latter can create a dog who grabs anything you have, whenever they want, won't let go, bossy barks and guards items. But having a balanced game of tug is actually a very healthy outlet and can be done with any breed of dog.
Here is a great example of an "end result" obedience that your dog should be capable of doing if needed. Here Bliss our Malinois/Shepherd mix demonstrates the "drop", "bring it here" and "down" while playing with my four year old daughter Sophy. Getting this result looks different with every dog, but the foundation is a fun relationship building outlet for you and your dog. Playing this way also helps teach impulse control, solid listening skills and giving up possession of items all while having fun!
I specialize in helping family dogs blossom in their environment. Simple things done when the puppy is young can really set them up for success with your family. Raising puppies and kids together can be challenging but so rewarding. My dogs were all adults when Sophy came into the picture which is a slower process but even more rewarding seeing them bond, love and respect her.
Thanks for watching. ❤️❤️
Thank you to all my regulars who joined play day today! Everyone was so good with our new board and train Winnie who had a blast meeting everyone! What a nice group ❤️❤️
Penny and Arlo are back for a weekend of vacation boarding and being such good dogs! Solid on their stay, sweet/polite mentality and listening so great off-leash. They get to enjoy our big backyard for some extra playtime during their stay since they are so well behaved. I love to see my regulars come back with such great listening skills and social manners. These two are very fun to have around 🥰❤️
*Just a video of our casual hang out time in the backyard with a demonstration of their fantastic recall and some ball play with my dogs.*
Arlo and Penny finishing up their training program here and have done some amazing things! Very fun pups to work with and now having much better listening skills and manners. Absolutely love these guys!
Some of the main things we worked on: reliable stay proofed against the other dog's name, on leash manners, off-leash control, building Arlo's drive to retrieve while also teaching Penny to wait her turn patiently, Penny to have a reliable recall while building up her engagement off-leash, Arlo going in his crate to relax, Arlo relaxing whenever his human is out of the room, going from destination A to B when told, no attacking vacuum or the human pushing it, relaxed behavior around kids pushing things or on wheels, Arlo getting more comfortable around new dogs while also keeping his play gentle, letting other dogs get affection without barging in 😂, keeping four paws on the floor even when greeting new people and Arlo getting more comfortable around kids!
These guys were amazing though and had fantastic attitudes about learning. Love to show off all the different things we did. Have fun watching! 😁❤️
Arlo's shining moment in group class today as he mastered the dog walk and A-frame by only his third time! The first time he was shaking scared and froze up on both of them, by his third time he felt like a pro! What a good boy!!!!
I also include how relaxed into everything he became by the end of class. He was starting to get tired but was still working like a champ. He didn't need any prong collar work the entire class (I had it on him just in case but only had the flat martingale collar attached to the leash) just lots of praise/food/pets and he wanted to work! He focused on me fantastic and was one of the best dogs there. I was able to drop the leash no problem. Super proud of this guy today! 😁❤️
Meet Arlo the one year old lab!
Here are some of his bests from this first week of training. Arlo is in for a four week training program due to some bossy nipping towards mom and to get all the fun perks I offer through off-leash control. He is an amazing dog, but can get triggered particularly by his sister Penny when she starts bossy barking at mom or the vacuum. But instead of going after the vacuum he tries to one-up his sister and go after mom instead.
But with some necessary discipline and plenty of counter conditioning he shows true potential to stay stable all the time. He is extremely sweet and compliant in general, he loves to work! His main areas of focus are creating some needed independence (he has seperation anxiety and likes to follow and stay right by his human), establish solid obedience off and on-leash (especially going in his crate when told) and make sure he is solid around dogs barking and vacuum cleaners! Special attention to "no jumping" as well since he would typically jump on her back and start nipping. He generally has great obedience though and loves to please!
He is doing really well socially here riding off the other dog's calm vibes. His relationship with Penny will be great to work on when she comes in next week though as they can escalate their play and energy when together. She will be joining for his last two weeks here to make sure she is solid on all her obedience too and no more bossy barking! 😁
As for the vacuum cleaner we started off with counter conditioning (feeding food around it) and he still tried to sneak nip mom so we upped it to solid-down stay with correction when getting out of down. Quickly he is at the point I'm letting him "free" to roam around the vacuum (seen in video) and I would just correct if he went after me or the vacuum and then redirect to go lay down. He is showing very normal avoidance (moving away from) to the vacuum cleaner now instead of being forwardly aggressive towards it/me. Lol!!! Good
Some of our play day social today ❤️❤️
Our little doggy social today 🥰. Everyone was so good today!
FYI, the audio didn't record in the last couple videos because I was on hold while recording. Lol! I couldn't miss out on recording some cute play and kisses ❤️
Stirner our border collie loves working and is learning to work for our four year old daughter, Sophy! Super fun to have Sophy take over and she knows exactly what to expect of him. Stirner will follow her everywhere off leash to play some fetch and get some pets! ❤️
