This is what a short training session looks like with Coco. I start with a starting cue “Are you ready?”. Then we go till all the treats are gone (10ish treats). I use her marker word and reward each behavior. Then we finish up with a finish cue “All done”. Some sessions may be focused on one particular skill other times we will work through a variety of skills. Lately I’ve been doing 3-4 of these short sessions at a time. In between each session Coco waits behind the gate and Rosie gets a turn. 
Coco’s Paws Up
Coco showing off one of her favorite tricks- Paws up! We have been working on sending her at a distance to paws up. She’s doing great with it! And most importantly thinks it’s a lot of fun! 😆
Happy to report I am doing much better health wise. 😅 The past month has been ruff! It was really just one thing after another. I ended up getting my wisdom teeth removed and that seems to be what triggered my immune system’s bad reaction. I am on the mend and getting back into the swing of things. I greatly appreciate all of you being flexible with rescheduling and such. 💜 I am working on the schedule for future events/classes/clinics and will let you know once it’s posted!
Body Language Breakdown 1
Learning how to read and interpret dog body language is such an important skill! Understanding dog body language will help you prevent negative interactions, strengthen your bond with your dog, and help keep your pet healthy and happy.
The scenario in the video has lots of good body language to see! Shane the collie gives a very kind correction to Rosie the puppy. His stare down was his way of telling Rosie he did not want to play nor did he appreciate having his tail pulled. Rosie responded to the correction very well. She backed up, calmed down, and gave him some more space. I redirected Shane away and then they were both able to carry on.
Want to learn more about dog body language? There are tons of good resources out there. Message me and I’ll send them your way. 🐶
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!
