Balance Trainer based out of the Rushville/Shelbyville area
(1)
I haven’t posted on here in quite a while and with me taking over Walker’s K9 Services, I think I’m going to shut this page down by the end of the week. Thank you to my followers & if you haven’t already, please follow the Walker’s K9 Services 2.0 page for continuous dog training updates/advice!
The plan was to work Evie and Trauma on/off for 30 minutes each…well, Trauma decided 30 minutes was enough for the day🤣 I think Evie has decided that Trauma is too much because she tried to climb into the front seat with me while he was screaming his head off😂
Something new, we just added two new additions to the Corum Pack! Both 4 month old Belgian/GSD cross brothers. In about a year, these guys will being doing protection work and at least one will be going to a new family, so be on the lookout! I highly discourage anyone from getting two puppies close in age because of the high risk of littermate syndrome, however, I’m a professional and I know how to prevent that. Although they’ve been together for four months, they are no longer allowed to come in contact with one another with both of their crates being set in different rooms.
Be very careful who you decide to use as a trainer & vet them properly. I just came across this in a Facebook group and I am absolutely appalled!! This is the type of advice that gets your dog killed because it makes them MORE aggressive, not less. This is the exact same situation that happened to Beau and it did NOT help him, it made him worse and more fearful. It disgusts me to think that anyone would give out this type of training advice.
It's occurred to me that I have never told Beau's background story fully. I originally had commented some training advice on an aggressive dog in a Facebook group when I got a message from a woman asking if I would be willing to at least foster her dog--we see how good I am at "just fostering" LOL. She adopted Beau when he was about 8 months old from a couple who lied to her about his behaviors, stating that he was in no way aggressive. She and I both agreed that was not the truth and they had to have been covering up for the things that they had done to him--carrying all the classical signs of an abused dog. Because she is a wonderful woman with an amazing family, she and her son dedicated themselves to helping him overcome his fears. She really has done an amazing job with him, trying to new methods and listening to others' advice to see what was going to work with him. Unfortunately, the word "dog trainer" is not a certification and anyone can pose as a trainer. A "trainer" offered to help her with Beau as she had experience with fear-based aggression. Throughout this "training session" she actually made him worse from shoving a broom in his chest to forcefully invading his safe space. At one point, she had even improperly used a training collar and choked him out until he passed out and then laid him at his owner's feet. The "trainer" called several times saying she'd provide moral support when he was eventually "killed" but instead of giving up, this woman and her son persevered and tried harder to help him overcome these new traumas. They kept working until they realized that he needed something more, but in her state they would've put him to sleep if they surrendered him to the humane society. By chance, we met in that Facebook group and she drove 8 straight hours to Indiana to bring him to me and not many people would do that. We need more owners like her out there.
Everyone who’s been wondering why this page has been so quiet recently, well, here’s why. I’ve been heavily focused on learning to be a business owner and integrating myself into a leadership role at Walker’s K9 Services. This page may or may not stay active past April, depending on a variety of factors but I really hope you all will follow Walker’s K9 Services 2.0 page and continue to stay apart of this journey. Thank you all so much for your support and I hope to see you in the near future!
Why do I still go to the dog park if I don’t support dog parks? Simple, I have a small fenced in backyard and I only go if there are no strange dogs coming in/out. Many behaviors issues start at the dog park because a lot of owners haven’t trained their dogs properly or have wrongly decided that their aggressive dog is safe enough to be around other dogs. Dog parks can be used safely ONLY if you are around dogs you know very well & all dogs are properly trained, otherwise, it’s a recipe for disaster. Three of these four dogs are mine and one is my parent’s. All dogs I know thoroughly & all dogs are properly socialized and have good manners.
Some off leash work with Beau today; in order to safely have your dog off leash, the obedience must be immaculate. For example, a teenage girl kept calling trying to call Beau over to her but he continued to ignore and engage only with me. We’re still working on prey drive—he loves to chase squirrels—but practice makes perfect! If you’re thinking about starting off leash training always begin in a fenced in area!
I apologize for the inactivity for the past couple of weeks, but I will have some exciting news to share with you all. If you already know, please DO NOT mention anything here or anywhere.
A little bit of fun at the dog park this morning🤣 of course everyone has to chase Evie because she loves a game of chase—also the first time Beau & Evie have been out together & it’s gone very well
How do I deal with resource aggression? Easy, immediately and sternly. Miss Evie decided she didn’t like that Winston was eating in his bowl while she was eating in his so she tried to grab him twice (not severely at all, moreso trying to assert her dominance). I set up the scenario again so I could be ready to correct the behavior. Sure enough, she did it again and got a very low level stim from the e collar and I got loud and stomped my feet to make a big deal out of it. And guess what, it didn’t happen again. Moral of the story, nip the behavior in the beginning before it gets worse and you’ll save yourself some stress.
Evie ran at 3.8 mph, Winston at 5.5 mph, and Beau at 5.4 mph!
I support spay & neuter at appropriate ages, unfortunately, most owners are irresponsible. Why I don’t recommend neutering until at least 2 years of age, especially those with working dogs:
https://leerburg.com/neuter.htm #:~:text=Neutering%20before%202%20years%20is,affect%20the%20dog's%20working%20ability.
I get many emails asking if they should neuter their dogs. Neutering animals is an important income stream for many vets, which is why so many vets will advize you to neuter. The fact is unless your male dog is a monorchid (only has one testical) you should not neuter your dog (male or female).
Got a little bit of a training session in today while we were out buying dog food
Every dog got their own kong filled with treats tonight; all dogs are kept separate to avoid fights over resources as Beau is a pretty big resource guarded. I think Beau is probably the most excited to get an enrichment activity 🤣
All three dogs walking on the treadmill!! Evie’s previous owners reported that she would walk through but was scared when it turned on and would dart off of it. Unfortunately for her, I’m more stubborn than she is & we got her going on it!
Beau is working on the treadmill now! I say he might be doing better than Winston 🤣
Thought the weather was perfect to try something new! I’ve got Winston running on the treadmill which was about as easy as I thought, now we’re teaching Beau & Evie.
Say hello to the newest member of the pack! She’ll be the last addition to the pack for quite some time but I couldn’t say no to her! This is Evie, a 3 year old, high drive dog that we’re pretty sure is a GSD, Belgian malinois, terrier cross. She’s going to be a sport dog but first we’re gonna work on those manners and off-leash recall.
In honor of shelter dogs, I’d like to offer each client who has adopted a dog from the shelter 25% off of training services for whatever behavioral issues there may be. The only thing you need to do is to show proof of adoption from any animal shelter (rescues not included) & set up a time for a consultation/training session!
An off day of just letting dogs be dogs
Another pass!! We’re on to advanced obedience next!
Dog Bite Prevention Tips:
https://doggonesafe.com/
Fear is the easiest things to condition in dogs and the hardest to resolve. Fear can come from many places, many of which we don't control. This infographic is my most downloaded and shared resource. Download your copy here: http://rescuedbytraining.com/fear-in-dogs-infographic/
and for a deep dive into each of these, read the accompanying Fear In Dogs blog series here: https://rescuedbytraining.com/tag/fear-in-dogs-series/
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Corum’s K9 Academy posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to Corum’s K9 Academy:
Why do I still go to the dog park if I don’t support dog parks? Simple, I have a small fenced in backyard and I only go if there are no strange dogs coming in/out. Many behaviors issues start at the dog park because a lot of owners haven’t trained their dogs properly or have wrongly decided that their aggressive dog is safe enough to be around other dogs. Dog parks can be used safely ONLY if you are around dogs you know very well & all dogs are properly trained, otherwise, it’s a recipe for disaster. Three of these four dogs are mine and one is my parent’s. All dogs I know thoroughly & all dogs are properly socialized and have good manners.
Some off leash work with Beau today; in order to safely have your dog off leash, the obedience must be immaculate. For example, a teenage girl kept calling trying to call Beau over to her but he continued to ignore and engage only with me. We’re still working on prey drive—he loves to chase squirrels—but practice makes perfect! If you’re thinking about starting off leash training always begin in a fenced in area!
A little bit of fun at the dog park this morning🤣 of course everyone has to chase Evie because she loves a game of chase—also the first time Beau & Evie have been out together & it’s gone very well
Evie ran at 3.8 mph, Winston at 5.5 mph, and Beau at 5.4 mph!
Every dog got their own kong filled with treats tonight; all dogs are kept separate to avoid fights over resources as Beau is a pretty big resource guarded. I think Beau is probably the most excited to get an enrichment activity 🤣
All three dogs walking on the treadmill!! Evie’s previous owners reported that she would walk through but was scared when it turned on and would dart off of it. Unfortunately for her, I’m more stubborn than she is & we got her going on it!
Beau is working on the treadmill now! I say he might be doing better than Winston 🤣
Thought the weather was perfect to try something new! I’ve got Winston running on the treadmill which was about as easy as I thought, now we’re teaching Beau & Evie.
Another day of training; working on off leash stays specific to each dog & I think they did pretty well!
He’s still in the process of learning an implied stay and an extended off leash stay—it took us a while, however, we eventually got to 10 minutes!
Working on some off-leash recall today; it took about 7 tries to get Beau to understand that just because I walk off doesn’t mean he follows. Winston, as always, maintained a perfect stay even when Beau moved. Always end your training sessions on a positive note and never give up, make your dog do what you’re telling them no matter how many times it takes!
Can you walk both dogs at the same time with one being off leash😉 this is what perfect control looks like and this is why we train
Our first bath! Muzzle went on because I’ve been told he wasn’t a fan of baths, which is apparent from the way he’s panting (sign of stress). He even got his nails clipped (which was a battle). Afterwards, I got him some nuggets & the wonderful employees at JustRite gave both of the dogs… a hot dog!
I decided to take both dogs to the park today so they get used to being around one another; I was pleasantly surprised when they started chasing each other around, because Beau wasn’t sure of Winston at first & was growling at him on Friday. But we’ve gotten past that! Beau made sure to let me know that he liked running around in the dog park by giving lots of kisses!
This is something I’ve been working on with Winston, as he struggles with it…he is amazing at laying down when told from a distance but being told to return to a sit while he’s currently laying down is harder to do from across the room. Practice makes perfect!
Doesn’t like me near his kennel…clearly. But that will change, we’re going to work on trust and making my approach to his kennel a positive one! Working with aggressive dogs is by no means pretty!
We’ve learned most of our commands in French, we just need to work on spin…he may have been a little upset I wasn’t throwing the ball🤣
Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service?
