Rollover Reggie

Share your progress! What’s something that is going really well for your dog? I’ll go first- Nail Trimming! Rosie is actually excited about nail trims! 👏 I am so happy with this new progress!! This is a 180 flip from the first year of her life! I wish I had a video of how Rosie used to be with nail trims. I can honestly say I’ve never seen another dog that was so scared of having a nail trim. She had never had a bad experience but regardless she was just terrified of the whole concept. I thought we would have to have her sedated just to do a trim. She used to runaway, hide, shake, and avoid me for 30+ minutes after just seeing the nail trimmer. Forcing her to participate would cause her to so stressed she would actually snarl at me (extremely out of character for her). I have had to get really creative with training this. 😅 It’s been a long process. It’s literally taken well over a year of consistent training to get to the point where she actually looks forward to a nail trim! The end of the video is her running to her kennel awaiting her big reward for participating! I plan to make more videos of the cooperative care breakdown for those who dogs who hate nail trims! Anyways, that’s my brag moment this week! What’s yours? Big or little!

A training challenge we’ve been working on! “If you’re happy and you know it ______” Pick a skill your dog knows really well. Slip the cue into the song and see if your dog picks up on it. Rosie did awesome with this the first several times but now she struggles with anticipating a cue so she will quickly run through her arsenal of tricks hoping she’s right. 🤪 I am countering this by rewarding her *duration of doing nothing* during the first part of the song. That has helped tons! I also try to switch up which skills I’m asking for and the order of them so it’s more of a verbal cue challenge and not a memorization game. Give this challenge try! Let me know how it goes!

Rosie Learning Leave It

Take a walk with a Labrador and you will realize how much of the world is edible! 😋 As the snow melts, boundless treasures are uncovered. There are several landmarks on our daily walk- the ice cream sandwich (in the video), two different soggy burritos, a Starbuck cup, a pile of celery, and of course various animal 💩. We’ve been using the “Leave It” skill to help Rosie understand she can’t eat all the treasures she finds. The goal of a leave it for us- is when cued Rosie should disengage from the item and move on. I am happy with the progress she has made. We’ve been taking the same walking route daily for a few weeks now and it’s becoming much easier for her to pass some of these obstacles. 👏 She is even getting to the point where when she sees an item it becomes a visual cue to automatically disengage from it and refocus on me instead.

Who is the Queen of Squeak?! Coco 🐩 vs Clover 🍀 Comment your winner!

Recall Training Tip: Give your dog a novel reward for coming back. This helps keep your recall training interesting for your pup. In the video you can see me rewarding Rosie with a freeze dried minnow. This is a treat she doesn’t get too often so when she does get one- it is a real special treat! Recall practice for Rosie is like playing a jackpot lottery- she is always very eager to come back and see what her next prize will be. It is also convenient to keep a few high value treats in my treat pouch for when my dog does an awesome recall (like calling away from another dog or a deer leg, etc.). I love to be able to quickly reward with something special! 🐟 Remember reinforcement drives behavior- the more your reward something, the more it gets repeated. Happy Training! 🐾 What’s your dog’s favorite novel treat?

I’ve always wanted to teach this trick! 🤩 Rosie has finally mastered “Boing” leaping into my arms. What tricks are you working on with your pups?

Check out this video of Archer the Labrador showing off his Performer level tricks. I’ve had the privilege of evaluating Archer throughout his trickdog journey. He’s got some impressive tricks up his sleeve! I can’t wait to see what tricks he learns next! ❤️ 🐾 Did you know you can earn your AKC Trick titles via video submission? 👀 If you have some tricks ready evaluation message me and I’ll walk you through the process. Repost from @its_me.archer on Instagram. “🙋🏼‍♂️ Raise your paw if you love to do tricks! The trick journey has been so much fun! I earned my “Performer” Level this summer! 🏅 Next to stealing Mom’s stuff, learning tricks is my next favorite thing to do! 😉😁 🤗 Special thanks to my friends Reggie and Rosie’s Mom who has been so helpful & my evaluator along my trickdog journey ! ❤️”

Capturing is a training method you can use to put a behavior that occurs naturally on cue. I have captured several of Rosie’s behaviors. In this video you can see her dig on cue. Why would I put digging on cue? Initially I put digging on cue to help her learn how to use a scratch board (think nail file for dogs…maybe I’ll do a video on this later). It has since become handy in a few different settings such as redirecting unwanted digging and getting cute pictures at the beach. 😆 What behaviors have you taught using capturing?

While working on “Catch” in our Trickster dog class, Riley decided to add his own spin “Catch and Release”. 🐠

What are some of your favorite ways to exercise your dog? One of Coco’s favorites is roller skating! It makes it so she can run for longer because I can actually keep up! 😂 I just love her bounce run. 🐩

Rosie earned her Novice Trick Dog Title (NTD). This is her first official title! ❤️ #domorewithyourdog

Trail Etiquette: #2 Only let your dog off leash (in designated off leash areas) if they have a reliable recall. Reliable meaning they come back 99% of the time. If you were to bet $100 on them returning when you called them, you would win that bet. • Rosie my Labrador puppy does not have a reliable recall around other dogs or people yet- so when we are on a trail where we might run into these distractions, she is leashed. This keeps her successful and helps us be polite hikers. • Bonus etiquette item: If your dog is off leash never let them run up to other dogs or people. This keeps the trail a safe environment for everyone (people who are scared or dislike dogs, reactive dogs, dogs in training, etc.). Please don’t be the person that shouts “my dog is friendly” as your dog does whatever it wants. It doesn’t matter if your dog is friendly- it’s incredibly rude and potentially unsafe. •

Weekend Training Challenge: Look Ma No Hands! • This challenge will test your dog’s understanding of their verbal cues. I recommend picking skills/behaviors that you feel you dog has a solid understanding of. For Rosie I chose Spin, Sit, and Settle Down. • Directions: Hide your hands and ask your dog for a skill. If they perform say your marker word (Yes, Good, etc.) and reward them. If they don’t listen right away, don’t re-cue them right away, instead wait 45-60seconds to give them plenty of time to think it through. If they then offer the behavior say your marker word and reward! If your dog struggles 3 times in a row, switch something up to make it easier for them to succeed! • Let us know how the challenge goes!! 🐶

Trail Etiquette #1- Leave no trace. I’m specifically talking about cleaning up after your dog when they potty 💩. We want to keep our trails dog friendly- help be part of the solution! Tip for success: Carry an empty peanut butter jar (or similar container) in your backpack to put your pups bagged poop in. This will seal in the smell and make it way less gross to pack back home. 👍

Reggie DMWYD Advanced Trick Dog

Reggie earned his DMWYD Advanced Trick Dog title! 👏 The tricks in this video are paddleboarding, dock diving, teeter, bow, and push button. Do More With Your Dog is an awesome organization! They have great resources for those interested in learning tricks. One of my favorite being their “tricktionary”. The tricktionary is a dictionary for tricks. It explains what the trick is and *for most of them* had a video tutorial of how to teach it to your pup. I highly recommend checking it out! 🐶