Pike's Dog Training

01/08/2024

Lovely Luna is always up for more of this wonderful training game

18/07/2024

Who can not love this Bulldog's adorable face??

17/07/2024

Team Luna is doing so very well!
My old cellphone camera is not quite up to the task of capturing this Aussie's speedy long hallway back and forth recall :)

12/07/2024

I highly recommend Dr. Chris Pachel (Portland, OR) for difficult behavioral cases.

All consultations are conducted in person (at our Portland office) or virtually (for current clients) via video or phone conference, and include a written summary of information and recommendations covered, provided to both client and referring veterinarian.

10/07/2024

Adorable, 11 months young, Australian Shepherd Luna is all ear during our first lesson today :)

27/06/2024

Beautiful graduation lesson with team Nemo!
He did so very well on the Bayfront with its many sounds and sights that allowed for his handler to very gently and gradually stretch his comfort zone.
Super well done!!

20/06/2024

Young and playful American Bulldog Touey is beautiful, smart and so much fun to work with

14/06/2024

Team Luna graduated with flying colors from the Basic Manners Curriculum today!

Way to go Luna from being a shelter dog just 3 short months ago to living the best life on the coast with your wonderful handler

14/06/2024

Nope - not cute...

Let's talk about this photo. It's cute, except it's not. I see a dog who cannot get up without telling the child to get off. How do you think a dog is going to do that?

The 7 Golden Toddler Dog Rules:
#1: If a dog walks away from you, you DO NOT FOLLOW.
#2: Always leave room for the dog to walk away from you.
---that right there is 90+% of dog bites eliminated---
#3: We do not climb on the dog.
#4: We do not grab or pull on the dog.
#5: We do not hit or throw anything at the dog.
#6: We do not touch the dog's food.
#7: We do not go into the dog's kennel.

I promise these are not overly difficult concepts for littles, nor will they rob a kid of their bond with the family dog. It will deepen that bond, while keeping everyone safe.

"Oh, it looks like Moose is walking away from you. She is saying she wants a break. Let's play with this instead!"

"It's Moose's dinner time! Let's give her space to enjoy her yummies."

"That is Moose's room(kennel) and only she is allowed to go in there."

"If Moose wanted a break, could she walk away from you right now? No she really couldn't. Let's move away from the play house. You can keep playing but now she can leave when she wants a break."

In conclusion, ***parent your child or your dog will do it for you, and you will not like how they do it.***

31/05/2024

Awesome team Luna had a great Nye Beach outing today

31/05/2024

Excellent demo of how we often confuse our dogs with visual cues that don’t match the verbal cues.

30/05/2024

Lovely adolescent Labradoodle Nemo (with his sister Ocean) who could do training all day long

16/05/2024

Congratulations to team Gizmo for graduating today with flying colors (literally and figuratively!)

10/05/2024

Gorgeous Luna - who was recently adopted from our local shelter - hit the jackpot with her gentle and intuitive handler. She is an energetic but also very soft dog who thrives under force free training methods.
Luna loves to work and show off what she has learnt

02/05/2024

Always worth listening to two of my most favorite teachers!

05/04/2024

Point 3 especially is so important. A second critical development stage where lots of positive experiences are just as important as they were during the early puppy stages.

ADOLESCENCE:
As dogs go through adolescence, it’s safe to say things turn a little topsy-turvy! 🙃

If you’re currently at this stage and feeling like you’ve taken one step forward and two steps back, don’t panic! During this stage of life, there’s a lot going on in their busy little brains.

Here are three facts about the adolescent brain 🧠👇

1. The inhibitory neurons of the amygdala that help to dampen down emotional responses don’t fully mature until the END of adolescence.

2. Communication between the frontal cortex and amygdala, which is essential for skills training, decreases during adolescence.

3. Extinction memory is impaired during adolescence, so if your dog has a bad experience it’s much more likely to lead to a ‘hard wired’ fear memory.

Have patience and compassion as you support and guide your dog through this vulnerable period of brain development.

05/04/2024

So important to know about the adolescent dogs.

Ever wondered why a puppy's behavior seems erratic during adolescence, which occurs between six months and 18 months of age?

The neurobiology of adolescence is fascinating, with some key events that alter both the structure and function of the brain.

During canine adolescence, s*x hormones are changing which effects the animals stress responses. Adolescent dogs have a decreased ability to modulate sensory processing and subsequent behavior.

The connectivity between the frontal cortex (responsible for decision making) and amygdala (responsible for emotional processing) decreases, resulting in less behavioral control.

So what does this mean? This could mean that your dog, who used to come when called, suddenly cannot. This could mean that your dog, who didn't jump up on guests, suddenly does. Your dog that walked nicely on leash is now pulling. Or perhaps it seems like some days your dog responds to behaviors you ask of them, and some days they don't, without any rhyme or reason.

We also see increased risk taking and more sensitivity to fear.

As your puppy undergoes this transition into adulthood their inner world is intense, even chaotic. Many pet owners experience an increase in undesirable behavior and find themselves becoming increasingly frustrated. In turn, frustration and impatience sometimes cause us to act unpredictably.

This adds to your puppy’s inner turmoil. When the inside and the outside are both unpredictable it can be difficult for puppies to adjust.

By understanding this we can gain greater compassion and understanding. When we approach adolescence with patience we can help create a world that is predictable and gentle so our puppies grow up to be their best selves.

03/04/2024

Beautiful youngster Jenna is tired at the end of our lesson today

10/03/2024

Awesome lineup and the price is right!

Here's some more info on the Dog Enrichment Summit I will be speaking at coming up next week. Some of these topics look super fun and I'm looking forward to checking them out!

To answer some questions that have come up:
1 - I've reached out to the host about the SPAMMY emails and she is working with her tech people to mitigate that. When you send out thousands of emails from a new email address...it can look fishy to the different email providers.
2 - It is a free event, but you only have 24 hours to watch the different discussions. If you would like the ability to watch them after the 24 hours, then you can purchase the VIP pass for $37
3 - Because it is more discussion based, the host did not seek out getting approved for CEUs from any organization.

Hope to see you there!

04/03/2024

Intriguing - I never knew!

Wiggly nostrils, anyone?

We humans smell and breathe through the same airway. The air we are smelling is pushed back out when we exhale. Dogs, on the other hand, separate those functions: one nasal path for smelling and one nasal path for breathing. About 12% of the air inhaled goes to a specific area dedicated to smelling – while the rest goes to the lungs. And when dogs exhale, the exhaled air leaves through the slits in the sides of a dog’s nose. This arrangement not only allows for better odor identification, it lets dogs sniff nearly continuously.

Did you know that dogs can wiggle their nostrils independently? They can also determine which nostril took in a certain odor, which is part of how they locate where smells are coming from. Can you see your dog’s nostrils wiggle when they are on a sniffari?

The above information was found in this article.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/dogs-sense-of-smell/

18/02/2024

😀

Happy Sunday! 😃

16/02/2024

Very helpful information.

Titer has become a very important and often controversial term in today’s veterinary world. No laboratory test in my memory has been more misunderstood, misinterpreted, misused, and downright maligned by owners and veterinarians alike. The most extreme example is the rabies vaccination. While this...

28/01/2024

Why doesn’t force free training work?Force-free is taking over the dog training industry. It’s easy to understand why! People love their dogs, dominance or a...

04/01/2024

Congratulations to team Ellie for graduating yesterday

02/01/2024

Wishing you all a wonderful start into 2024

15/12/2023

Team Cosmo rocks!! With lots of support from his loving handler the gorgeous Rottweiler is slowly finding his way from puppyhood - just a few short months ago - into adulthood.

13/12/2023

Excellent outing with dignified Doodle Ellie! She does very well with catching up on urban life with her dedicated and loving handler.

08/12/2023

I am so proud of team Nya and their careful socialization of their adolescent Schnauzer who is feeling much more safe and optimistic around people and in new environments than she did just a few short weeks ago.
Well done and congratulation to graduating today!