Last Journey K9

26/08/2024

Happy National Dog Day from Sterling, Killian, and Denver! ❤️ Show me your dogs! 👇

19/08/2024

This is so spot on!! 🙌❤️

Our love for the German Shepherd Dog originated from the ideal that they are the complete package. T

02/08/2024

I’ve COMPLETELY neglected this page most of the summer, and in doing so I missed a huge milestone! Between private lessons and boarding and my own trips, I just haven’t paid nearly enough attention to you guys and for that I apologize. I have one last 5-day weekend coming up but after that, we’re hitting the ground running!!

Cheers to all 4,000 (plus) of you that have made me who and what I am today. ❤️🫶

The dogs and I love y’all. 🙌

01/08/2024

I’m really blessed with some incredible private lesson clients who have completely transformed their dogs and their own lives, but this is always a great reminder! 🫶

Work begins before coming to a trainer and after leaving a trainer. You cannot have minimal foundation and then want 8 months worth of training results/progress in 3-4 months And you cannot keep or even move forward in progress and results if you do not follow through at home thereafter. Dog trainers are not wizards or magicians.

17/07/2024

Literally 🤦‍♀️

12/07/2024

🫶

11/07/2024

We are loving having Siren as part of the pack again this week. She’s here for boarding and it’s like she never left, even though it’s been a year. ❤️
(And a picture reminder of what she looked like 14 months ago just so we can all extra appreciate her beauty.)

11/07/2024

This is long but hands down one of the most well-done videos on reactivity and how it’s built/reinforced (usually accidentally). Watching this may help you look back and pinpoint what you’ve done wrong with your reactive dog and potentially how you could help break or fix that cycle!

09/07/2024

🙌🙌🙌

IT'S TRAINING TIP TUESDAY!

I heard the phrase yet again today: “A tired dog is a good dog!” This week’s TTT begs to differ.

Here’s an action pic of my best boy, Fox, working out on his treadmill. I am decidedly NOT trying to “tire him out”.

I’ve met with so many dog owners who are advised by family, friends and other dog professionals that their dog’s issues could be resolved simply by giving the dog more “exercise”. These issues might be destructive behavior, dog selectiveness, even aggression towards humans, but whatever the sin, “exercise” seems to always be the all-purpose penance. I’m pretty sure that this belief system became prevalent when a famous TV trainer promoted the mantra of “Exercise, Discipline, Affection” and everyone just heard the first and last words while ignoring the second one: like eating a sandwich made of just bread after removing the meat in the middle. It echoed through the Dogosphere, with daycares everywhere proclaiming that “a tired dog is a good dog!”.

A more accurate statement might be that “a tired dog is a -tired- dog, and that means he might be slightly less of a pain in the ass when you pick him up after your day job” but that doesn’t fit well on a business logo.

There is so much emphasis on physical exercise for dogs that it sometimes sounds as though owners are conditioning Olympic athletes rather than trying to give their dogs a little fun. I see potential clients who routinely run, swim and hike with dogs who drag them when on leash and run off on them when off leash. Dogs who spend every weekday going crazy at a daycare and every weekend running themselves silly on a beach. They’ve consulted wishful-thinking trainers who try to solve issues of overarousal by creating a -different- type of overarousal (no, Mrs. Smith, simply whipping a flirt pole around in the living room is -not- going to teach your out of control Patterdale Terrier to stop jumping on guests). The dogs are constantly in motion, always being stimulated until they finally collapse at the end of the day and the owner sighs in relief that he has successfully "tired his dog out".
I have two problems with this:
1. Is energy such an enemy that we have to squeeze every last little bit out of the dog as though he's a tube of toothpaste? Shouldn't a dog's level of energy act more analog (a dial) and less digital (a switch)?
2. -Did- the owner actually succeed in "tiring his dog out"?

The first issue is easy to understand: dogs, especially big powerful dogs like the Dobes, GSDs and Corsos we see so frequently here, can be rather a "lot" when they are revving high. Trainers often encourage lots of exercise to help curtail behavior problems like anxiety and destructiveness in the house. And some of that may even help a tiny bit. But expecting your dog to be a slightly more interesting houseplant indoors while encouraging him to go full tilt wildman outdoors can be counterproductive. After all, if you teach him that everywhere outside of your house is his world in which to run, play, and chase constantly, without a corresponding level of actual training you are setting him up to ignore you in that environment. How many of you have a dog whose recall command is OK in the living room but virtually nonexistent when he's cut loose in the woods? No surprise there, after all: outdoors is HIS world, remember? You and he are operating on the “ON/OFF switch” model but I bet he doesn’t even have that great of an “OFF” switch when you really need it. Sure, he's getting “exercise” but he’s also learning that the expression of his energy is completely independent of you and that the faster and crazier he goes, the less influence you actually have over him.

But at least you “tired him out”, right?

I’ve got bad news for you, kid.

Why does someone go to the gym?
To get fit.
To build stamina.
To become stronger.

Wait a minute: you mean you don't go to the gym to -get tired-?

Think about how you feel after a jog or a workout, rather than exhausted, you may feel energized. You may want to cool off and rest briefly, but the big picture will show that you will have a higher threshold for the exertion each time you do it. This is what we do with our dogs when their main source of exertion is physical. They may be tired in the immediate aftermath of the exercise, but they usually keep requiring more of it to get less tired. Meanwhile, they become physiologically addicted to mindless play, independent of their humans.

Now think about how you feel after completing a more "mental" task: studying for an exam, doing your taxes, taking a piano lesson. It can even be something more recreational: doing a crossword puzzle, creating a piece of art, building a model. You don't feel "exhausted", but you probably feel -sated-. As a musician, after I work on learning a new piece of music I tend to want some downtime. Maybe TV, maybe listening to a podcast, maybe even just doing a low-key chore.

Most humans consider it a healthy lifestyle if there is a nice balance of both physical exercise and mental exercise. A day in which I go for a long, brisk walk -and- finish up a behavior consult report -and- pick up my bass guitar is a very satisfying one indeed. Our dogs need that same balance.

In addition to the playdates and freeform running around that he gets, what sort of tasks are you giving your dog’s brain to tackle? Asking for "micro obedience" around the house, teaching him a trick that morphs into a useful behavior, turning your long walks into intermittent periods of heel and sit and down, all of these are things that will help your dog "tire out" in a healthy way. Rather than flattened out from physical exhaustion, he can be settled and calm while still being present as a family member.

None if this is advice to stop exercising your dog, but it is a chance for you to think about ways to get that mind of his just as conditioned as his body.

So why is Fox on a treadmill? Like his owner, Fox is getting older. My own restricted mobility makes jogging with him impossible. But he is still very fit as a six year old Doberman and I want to keep him that way. Because I expect him to perform athletically in the training we do, he needs to have very good stamina. I am not exercising him to make him tired, I’m literally doing the opposite! Earlier in the day Fox and I were working on some obedience stuff: not only the usual brief positional drills but also some “extracurricular” retrieves and directionals. That was his “brain workout”. I can attest that when Fox steps off of his treadmill after twenty minutes or so, he is decidedly -not- tired and will often jump back on and wait for me to start it up again. But after our training sessions, he is usually much more laid back and content to just chill out in the office. I try not to anthropomorphize but he definitely seems like he feels accomplished after we spend time working on skills.

Provide that mix of both physical and mental exercise for your dog and watch him become something way better than “tired”, watch him become -balanced-. And a balanced dog really IS a good dog.

See you next week, and Happy Training!

01/07/2024

I am officially “out of the office” until Tuesday July 9th next week. Any and all training inquiries that have not received a response should watch for one next week. Thanks and have a great Independence Day weekend! ❤️🇺🇸

29/06/2024

This little turd (Keeva) has a meet and greet tomorrow. Send the good vibes please! 🥰🤞

28/06/2024

Damn 🙌🙌🙌

There isn't a day that goes by where someone isn't making a comment somewhere on the internet about dog collars. What should be used, what shouldn't be used, why one is better than the other, etcetera.

You would think that one's proximity to heaven is hinged on one's beliefs about collars. I find it pretty odd that the folks condemning a particular collar's use do so not out of any real experience, but by clinging to the mantras of a loud but incredibly ignorant sect of folks who have repeated the shibboleths so many times, they lost the courage to discover the truth for themselves.

A collar is a tool, just like a leash, a crate, a dog bowl, or any other device we use. The collar itself isn't really the problem. The perception of the collar as 'cruel' or 'inhumane' is.

There isn't a device out there I haven't used. There are some I prefer, and even of those, some I use only occasionally. I am thankful I have them in my arsenal of tools.

My selection process starts with using the most 'basic' tool and judge from there. Decisions are always based on the animal in front of me, the goal, and the conditions under which the dog will be expected to perform when handled by someone not *me*.

This becomes an important distinction. Especially when the owner is a tiny woman or senior who happens to own a young dog that promises to achieve a certain size or a large dog that has grown up thinking it was the Emperor of the Universe.

I work with people of all ages and abilities, and what becomes exceedingly apparent is the necessity of helping them (the owners, not the internet experts) effectively control their dogs with maximum efficiency and authority.

I am not above putting a Starmark collar on an enthusiastic puppy or a micro-prong on a toy dog. I will counsel an owner to consider an e-collar for quite a few different scenarios, especially if there are dexterity and ambulation issues.

The tool itself isn't the problem. If people would smarten up, start their dogs' training earlier, and not wait for undesirable behaviors to emerge and strengthen, we wouldn't have half the tools we currently have. I wouldn't spend a ton of time Frankensteining a couple collars and cludging together something for a specific client to help them with application and control.

Many folks disregard the *owner's* need, fixating only on their misguided interpretation that a given device is 'cruel' when in fact, the vast majority of collars were originally designed to make training ~less~ confrontational.

Humans' misuse doesn't make the device less effective, regardless of how it's design is interpreted by folks who can only see the forest, and not the variety of trees within it.

The human equation is the unknown quantity, with their petulance and infantile lack of emotional control, and their dimwitted willingness to blame the dog's 'stubbornness' instead of their own ham-handed insistence that the dog perform to some exceedingly lofty expectation after a repetition or two of any given exercise.

Humans are the ones that made that dog that way. They continually justify their smug superiority with unreasonable physical handicaps and call it preservation breeding. They pursue unnatural aesthetics while disregarding temperament and trainability (both influenced genetically, regardless of what pseudo-science is saying), and leave the mystified owner in a cesspool of nonsense and conflict.

They have no place to turn. The information they find is contradictory and full of half-witted nonsense that leaves them confused and uncertain.

Owners are blamed for their dog's behavior, but aren't offered solutions that would remediate that issue clearly, quickly, and without fallout. They are made to feel shame for their choices, when all they wanted to do was get help.

Cruelty is everywhere. The human that chooses to kick, beat or slam a dog against a concrete floor didn't use a tool. He used his arms, hands, and feet. The girl that bludgeoned several dogs to death didn't do it with a collar. She did it with a blunt instrument.

Having the latitude to help people is the grand design of every tool known to man; to facilitate convenience, or to create additional control without having to expend additional effort.

Any of us over a certain age should remember what it was like driving some tank of a car without power steering and power brakes. Many of us recall the 'mom arm' because shoulder restraint sat belts hadn't been invented yet.

Every thing out there is a derivative of some other thing, and dog training tools are no exception. Some form of slip-type training collar has existed since Xenophon or before. Prong or pinch type collars have existed for over a hundred years, and electronics have been around since the 50's

Tools are and can be innovative. They are a gift that helps us communicate with our dogs in a succinct and graceful way. Learning about them requires more than an opinion on social media.

I deplore intellectual laziness as much as I deplore cruelty. Tools aren't the enemy. Ignorance is.

26/06/2024

Old lady Sterling helped me with my private lesson this morning. Fuzzy (brown) and Bear (tan) are 4 and 2 year old Goldendoodles who came to me for “being doodles”… unruly, overstimulated, and out of control. Today was lesson 4 and both dogs are ecollar conditioned, staying on place, coming when called, and learning some much needed socialization that they lacked as puppies. I’m incredibly proud of their family and their progress and have grown to really enjoy these 2 pups. ❤️

Private lessons are booking into mid July currently and are limited. Board & Train spots are booking into mid August and extremely limited. Don’t wait for your dog to ruin your whole summer, private lessons are a fun, affordable, and easy way to quickly achieve a much more enjoyable dog! 🙌

22/06/2024

I wish I could recreate or at least pin this video. May website literally says “if we sound like a good fit, please fill out this form” and then “if I deem us a good fit, I will reach out”. All my negative reviews thus far are from folks who didn’t hear from me and this is exactly why. If we aren’t gonna vibe and I can’t teach YOU, I can tell early on (I’m a people person, guys) but I also will not waste my energy on those folks. I reserve all my energy for the dogs and people who I know will benefit from it most. ❤️

21/06/2024

This might be my favorite post I have ever read. 🙌

I don’t get any more gratification from helping an adopted or “rescue” dog than I would from a purpose-bred dog or a purebred dog. Having helped them suit their situation better is the only goal.

Being able to guide that dog and it’s ownership into a better frame of existence is the job. My feelings about it are limited to my success and how I can improve for the next one.

I tell owners, whether their dogs were bred from the finest bloodlines, or hauled across state lines on an illicit ‘transport’ that we train the dog at our feet, not the one in our head. I am simply the conduit to nurture that relationship. My satisfaction comes in the form of having been able to help, successfully.

I don’t understand the “adopt, don’t shop” trope, and I have never supported it. The notion that one dog is somehow more deserving than another is fraught with untruths. Whether a person chooses a dog from a well-bred litter or from another source where provenance is questionable, dogs require care and affection, regardless of their pedigree. Buying a dog from a rescue or shelter is a matter of preference, it should never be an ‘only’ option.

My favorite dogs to work with are the bold, confident youngsters that are willing to try anything. They model the behavior I deliberately select for my own dogs, and the behavior I would like to see in all dogs.

My greatest successes are helping dogs that lack that quality to gain it to some degree, and live fulfilling lives without fear. Or at least, much more confidence. Fearful dogs are challenging. Whether through genetics or experience, humans made them that way.

I don’t understand the preference to have to work harder for something. I prefer an odds-on chance for success by starting with raw material that is going to make my job easier. If I personally had a choice between the purpose-bred pup that I could mold like clay, or the dog that has been passed from pillar to post, my decision favors the former.

As a trainer, I don’t have the luxury of telling people what dogs they *should* buy, I am obligated to help them where they already are. They chose their dog for a reason. My job is to help them with the dog at their feet, not the one in their head. Nor the one in my head.

The litmus test for folks is to put their prejudices aside and just train the dog in front of them. Not everyone is suited for a puppy. Not everyone has the temperament to work a dog with behavior issues. Not everybody has designs on performance events with their dogs. We are all going to be limited by our experience, our willingness to invest time or money or both, and our interests.

The dogs we own require our attention. Whether they were scraped off the streets of some third world country and brought here, purchased from a top performance breeder with the lofty ambitions of a world stage, or bought out of the transport’s trailer at some road stop on interstate 95, the owner enters an unwritten contract to care for the needs of that animal.

Be sure that you are prepared for all that entails.

17/06/2024

I and many other trainers often talk about how sometimes a dog just HAS to, whether they like it or not. This should start as a puppy, when the puppy tries to protest a harmless act or item, especially using its mouth, and being shown that is not an option or a way out.

I just watched this play out in real life.

As many of you know we had extreme weather last night including reports of tornadoes in Kalamazoo. A friend posted about the touchdowns and I s**t you not, a comment on there said…

“No basement for me, got 2 unwilling Dobermans”.

Good lord. One, MAKE the damn dogs go downstairs. Two, do NOT compromise your safety for your spoiled brats of dogs that you created.

Just crazy. The world has truly gone mad when it comes to dogs, in far too many ways.

For those of you with common sense, please stay safe out there. Here’s a photo of all 4 dogs plus a Board & Train hanging out in the basement being good citizens, as it should be.

16/06/2024

So very very true. 🙌

"My dog doesn't like car rides."

"My dog hates the vet."

"I can't cut my dog's nails."

"S(he) won't eat her food unless I add a little [human food] to it."

"My dog hates other dogs."

"S(he) will *be fine* once s(he) gets used to you."

"My dog is afraid of [thing/place/person/etc]."

"My dog hates the crate."

"My dog can't be left alone."

With precious few exceptions, all of these things are completely avoidable, so they never happen or can be fixed with appropriate effort.

The reason these behaviors appear is because owners never thought they needed to condition the dog to accept these things. At the very first sign of protest by the dog, the owner stops whatever they are doing and the dog registers that protest makes what the dog doesn't like, stop.

The next time the owner reenacts the same scenario, the dog doubles its effort, perhaps even quicker, and the owner stops again.

It doesn't matter what it is, what the dog's takeaway from each encounter, is when I fight, I win.

It could be as simple as holding a puppy, or putting equipment on the dog.

Owners make these things a struggle and heavily reinforce the dog every time they allow the dog to escape or avoid consequence for refusal or failure.

By the time the dog is a practiced adult, there will come a time where these things will need to be done, and either the owner, a veterinarian, some other caregiver, will be the recipient of a fair bit of fury when the dog exercises his memory of fast refusals at the first whiff of conflict, weighing in at adult weights, and having formed adult opinions.

It doesn't take much to prevent these things, but folks have their work cut out for them when they try to remediate these issues after they have been hardened by lack of conditioning.

Your dog is more than capable of learning how to be confined, restrained, groomed, approached safely by strangers, travel, etcetera.

What stands in the way of where you are now, and success, is knowing what to do, how to do it, and the effort necessary to get it all done.

We're here when you're ready.

14/06/2024

Play along! We could all use a good laugh. 😂❤️

Sterling: bullying everyone and not listening to a single person in authority because clearly she’s the leader.

Denver: flirting with all the girls and beating up all the boys.

Killian: following whoever was doing something naughty and playing super innocent afterwards, no matter the crime.

Keeva the foster dog: refusing to get up off the floor in gym class because she’s “too good” for exercise.

11/06/2024

This is not at all my usual post, but I’ve had so many people ask that I guess it is what it is.

While I would never take a foster dog without being capable of doing so, it’s definitely not cheap. She’s currently eating Inukshuk 32/32 to try and gain some weight and muscle. She will eventually be adopted out with a collar, an ecollar, and whatever else her adopter needs. I’ll have months of time, effort, and training into her. Her adoption fee will be $0, as always.

All that said, I’ve had a ton of people ask if they can donate or help in any way. Obviously shares when it’s time to find her a home are the best thing in the world! But for those wanting to help financially, that’s also VERY much appreciated but NEVER expected. For those of you who would like to:
Venmo: (last 4 are 9891)
CashApp: $lastjourneyk9
PayPal: [email protected]

Thank you guys for seriously being the best followers, supporters, clients, and friends that a girl could ever have. ❤️

PS I named her Keeva 🥰

09/06/2024

I’m telling y’all there is nothing better than a well bred, well placed, purebred dog from a breeder that knows their stuff. Ursula (left, 7 year old female sable GSD) and newly named Keeva (right, 1 year old female black & tan GSD) both got to me Thursday for foster situations.

By Friday night I was throwing them out with the pack and by Saturday night, Killian was best freaking friends with each of them. She plays with them, lays with them, whatever they want. She sets healthy boundaries and is fair when she says no. She is just an unbelievably stable dog for a year old puppy and I couldn’t be more grateful to Zwinger vom haus Huro for this incredible dog I will have the privilege to have for many years ahead. ❤️🙌

07/06/2024

Alright folks. Help me name her. 🫠 She’s currently “Chloe” but doesn’t know it (or anything) and she deserves a good, strong, unique name. Drop your suggestions! ❤️

06/06/2024

Most of y’all remember Siren, the Chupacabra looking GSD I sprung from Ionia County Animal Shelter last year. Well I just sprung Siren II. These were her former living conditions. Stay tuned.

05/06/2024

The absolutely gorgeous Miss Riley has been coming to me for Puppy DayCamp for about 5-6 weeks, and over the last couple weeks we’ve been introducing ecollar to help proof recall and she’s killing it! At 6 months old, her parents can soon safely trust her 100% off leash and rest assured no neighboring chickens will be sacrificed nor luring Riley into the road. ❤️

PS how bad ass is that hot pink on her?! E-Collar Technologies upgraded and brightened their hot pink collar and I’m obsessed!!

04/06/2024

Started private lessons with Lucy the Border Collie today! Don’t get me wrong, I’m gonna do it and did it today, but… how do I say no to this face?! 😭😍

03/06/2024

I love that this is still an ongoing study and conversation!