SuperPup STEAM Scouts

Watch and listen along as I explain how we get started on a walk and what we practice so Pugsly can have tools to use when we see things he’s excited about, helping him make the best choices!

Pugsly worked on a bunch of fun new skills, here he’s learning Hand Targeting while practicing taking food delivered to his mouth and later tossed food to help teach him to move even further towards the hand target! He’s such a smarty pants, what a fun and silly boy!

Sometimes you gotta get a little silly! Play can be a wonderful tool to check in with a dog and ask how they’re feeling in an environment. Dogs that are too worried aren’t going to play! It’s also a way to communicate that things *are* ok and it’s a safe place for everyone. Trace joined in on the silliness for a little while before deciding the location was a little too worrisome and needed a watchful eye. We spent a lot of time watching the environment and getting some snuggles. By the end he was happily eating some cookies and relaxing in the grass. What a good boy!

Extremely proud of Otis for being so brave during his Staycation! He’s pretty worried about humans and we’ve been slowly building a relationship through quietly hanging out, food, and easy cues he already knows. This morning we were able to play tug and practice some nose targeting - I left my target stick at home so we made due with a watering can. 🤣 Play can be a Huge Deal for nervous dogs - it’s a whole different head space to get into and I love to see even short moments of fun, silly behavior.

⭐️ Sound On ⭐️ A big part of remedial socialization can be learning appropriate ways to play together! Here Nausicaä is playing with Finn and a little with Pearl, setting appropriate boundaries as a smaller dog with much larger dogs. In the second clip you can see Naus tell Finn “no, I’m not playing right now, please leave me alone” and he does a beautiful job of figuring it out, moving away, and shaking off as a lovely post “conflict” resolution behavior.

Leash Ups with Rigby and Cooper!

Today on the calendar I had planned for a training outing but the weather was So Good I couldn’t bear being inside. So we did things a little differently and instead went for a Hike Skills Outing! With the weather getting nicer we’re more likely to run into people out and about *and* I want y’all to be able to benefit from these skills in your own hikes. We’re always reinforcing things like Recalls, Stationing for pictures/waiting for other dogs to show up, Loose Leash Walking, etc but today we Actively focused on those skills rather than passively adding in that reinforcement. Here are Glimmer and Trace working on Leash Up! They’re tethered so they can’t make any unwanted choices and instead get a chance for easy treats!

Must be one heck of a good smell

Rigby and Brandt doing some really great work together.

Training Outing with Olive - one of our new Scouts!

Sometimes dogs have really restricted diets and it can be hard to find anything they think is “worth it” for training. Finn is a brand new Scout so we’ve been playing around with some options he might fancy. Today’s diy squeeze pouch of prescription wet food was a hit!

Trace, Frankie, Nyx, and Naus It’s a very short clip because, while I *thought* I had put together a crew that would be relatively chill and go off and do their own thing… It was not that. 🤣🤦🏼 So there was a Lot of management and a lot of reminders to Listen when dogs tell you they need space and to Remember How Large Your Body Is and the face that You Do In Fact Have Breaks. Trace was the MVP for handling everyone’s over the top goofy vibes and shaking it off.