The Clever Dog Dog Training

14/02/2025

- Here is a blog I wrote in February 2022, very apropos for today's celebration.

https://www.thecleverdog.net/post/love-your-dogs

Love your dogs. We all love our dogs, and we can build that loving relationship by learning how to work together. With The Clever Dog’s new methods of dog training, your dog gets to learn to speak a little human, and you get to learn to speak a little dog - and it’s SO much fun!Love your dogs. T...

30/01/2025

It's Wacky Wednesday!

24/01/2025

If you aren't on John's email list, here is the January newsletter that just dropped.

https://conta.cc/40t1h6P

Email from The Clever Dog Training Focus on the "Touch" game   The Clever Dog Training January 2025 Newsletter Hand Targeting Hello John, One of my favorite behaviors to teach a dog is hand targeting

19/01/2025

If you have a few free minutes, or are snowed in today, check out my blog. It's an interesting perspective on training, and some funny (true) stories as well!
OH - and feel free to leave comments...

15/01/2025

We all make mistakes like this (Happy Wacky Wednesday...).

12/12/2024

Wacky Wednesday!

04/12/2024

Wacky Wednesday after Thanksgiving

22/11/2024

Joe was a little late for our dog training session this afternoon because he got stuck at work. He didn't have time to put his treat bag together before we started the training. "No problem," I told him, "Gotcha covered. I've got a full bag of pork chop treats that I just cooked and cut."

We started the walk (with his dog Joy) on this cold afternoon, and Joe asked if I could hand him some pork chop treats. I said, "Here they are, but just be aware they are cold! I had them in the freezer all night," and I gave him a handful of the frozen pork.

As soon as he held them, without missing a beat, he said, "Ahhh... Chopsicles."

21/11/2024

Happy Wacky Wednesday! (wait... is it Thursday already?)

05/11/2024

Cooking 5 pounds of pork chops treats for the rest of the week. These pork chops are 2" thick!

01/11/2024

- Here is the link to my October Newsletter Note.

My newsletter notes get posted to the blog on my website.

If you don't get my newsletter you can read my note here about working with breeder dogs that have come out of puppy mills.

I’m working with several dogs now who were rescued from puppy mills. These are not puppies, but rather dogs who were born in a puppy mill, and forced to be breeder dogs. Their lives and living conditions were terrible. They lived in cages in a barn, and probably never stepped outside of that barn....

30/10/2024

It's Wacky Wednesday!!! Happy Hallowe'enie!!!

29/10/2024

Its Meet the Dog Monday!!! And today's dog is an Appenzeller named Checkers. Checkers is very over exuberant in certain situations, and he did not like his feet being touched, making it difficult to trim his nails. So we started with a scratch board, which seemed to be easy for him. But it really only worked for the front feet, and I wanted him to be able to relax and have his nails dremeled. I like the dremel more than clippers because you can gradually take the nail down, and there's less chance of cutting the nail too short and hurting the dog.
My plan was to have Checkers to want his human parents, Audrey and Steve, to handle his feet, then to be able to touch the dremel (turned off) to his nails, and then finally buzz the nails down to their desired length. We reinforced these actions with a marker word (yes) followed by a treat.
It was a process, but we made it fun for Checkers, and as you can see, his friend Caper is watching from the gate. She wants hers done next!

25/10/2024

Wacky Wednesday (on a Friday – sorry, I missed it).

23/10/2024

Science of dog aging

22/10/2024

Meet the Dog Monday

I got a call to help with Daisy, a Maltese Yorkie mix, who was rescued from a puppy mill, where she’d been a breeder dog. Breeder dogs in puppy mills often live their lives in small crates in a barn, and never see the outside world. Daisy would run away from her new adopted humans (Cathy and Scott). She was fearful of everything, would not take treats or let anyone get close, and would totally shut down if a leash was put on her.

Fortunately, Cathy and Scott have another dog named Jazzie, whom Daisy can follow, be comfortable with, and learn from. While Daisy observed from a distance, we practiced sits and downs with Jazzie. Daisy watched… and and started to sit when Jazzie sat! We told her “Yes!” and tossed a treat to her when she copied Jazzie’s behaviors. She started to enjoy that game.

Cathy and Scott work so hard to help Daisy adjust to her new life. Every week, Daisy becomes more comfortable with the training, and with wearing the leash. We started in the back yard, and made it a point to have good things happen every time the leash was on. She’s also starting to potty out in the yard more. She’s begun sniffing and exploring outside, she's starting to play with toys, and generally learning how to have fun and be a dog.