You wouldn’t want to work without being paid would you? Well your dog doesn’t either! As much as we like getting things for free, every behavior our dogs do serves a function or purpose for them and we can’t expect them to give up the behaviors that benefit them for free, just because we want them to or view those behaviors as bad or inappropriate (a human social construct that dogs do not understand). However, we have lots of options to pay our dogs for doing the behaviors we want them to! This includes toys/play, treats, praise/pets, and even freedom! In the video, I show some of the ways I reward Mavi for engaging with me and each time she responds quickly and enthusiastically regardless of what I give her in return! Need help getting your dog to engage with you? Reach out today to set up a session!
One of our resident dogs, Wyatt, turned 11 today and is here to remind you that old dogs can learn new tricks!In Wyatt’s life he’s learned 60+ tricks, obedience, dabbled in sports, and worked through anxiety and reactivity. It’s never too late to start doing more with your dog! 🖤
Sienna meets the Cato Plank!
Sienna is a 6 year old Golden Retriever who spent the first 5 years of her life at a puppy mill with little to no socialization, training, or exposure to regular dog life. Due to this she is very skittish and weary of new situations, objects, and sudden movements or noises.
Recently she was introduced to the Cato plank (without the tilt) as a confidence building exercise and it only took her a couple minutes to become comfortable and willing to step fully on the board!
*and a bonus, Mavi (in the background) got to practice waiting her turn to train which is a very valuable skill in multi-dog households!
Mavi is an Australian Cattle dog so it’s no surprise she has a natural drive to herd, however, she has taken to obsessively chasing our cats which is quite stressful for all involved. To combat this, Mavi has been taught a place command where she is expected to stay on her cot until she’s released. While on her place, she can do whatever she’s most comfortable with (sit, stand, lay, etc.) and I don’t mind if she watches the cats (our young cat is particularly good at testing her). Ideally, she will eventually take to relaxing on her cot and spend less time looking for the cats but the first step is learning to stay on her place regardless of how tempting the cats may be!
Here at It’s A Bark, we don’t suppress natural behaviors such as herding or chasing, instead we give our dogs the proper outlets for these behaviors and the guidance they need to work through their impulses when these behaviors aren’t appropriate.
Wishing the pocket rocket, pint sized powerhouse, kick-ass cattle dog, a very happy third birthday 🥳
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This video doesn’t do her justice for just how amazing she is, yet it’s a very special video to me because if you couldn’t tell, we aren’t in the back yard! We’re out at 2 brand new locations to Mavi, doing tricks off leash and having fun, which if you had told me last year that we would be here now, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m so proud of how far we’ve come in the past couple months and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us.
Happy Birthday Mav, here’s to many more 💜
Wyatt is one of my personal dogs who struggles with anxiety and dog reactivity, but here he is today doing some obedience around a barking dog!
You can see he is still clearly uncomfortable being left alone with the dog as he looks to me to keep him safe,
but he works through his fear and keeps his focus.
Reactivity is something we constantly have to work through and some days are better than others, but with structure and guidance Wyatt has come a long way!
Mavi is an anxious girl who has trouble settling and is easily overwhelmed in seemingly calm environments so today we worked on staying on her “place”.
I sent her to “place” once I noticed she was getting overwhelmed and she got to stay there until she was finally able to relax which took about 10 minutes!
At the start of the video you can see she is restless and panting and towards the end you see her stop panting and then finally get comfy and lay her head down which is what I was looking for before she could be released from her place.
Say it once!
One of the most common mistakes in training is repeating commands or saying too much at once.
Give your dog a single command and say it clear, if they don’t respond within a couple seconds say it one more time. If they still don’t respond, then your dog does not understand what you are asking and you will need to take some steps back to retrain the command!
These two dogs have been known to get into scuffles with other dogs and have gotten into a few with each other.
After a proper introduction walk they were able to show lose body language and ignore each other.
They still are not perfect around each other or other dogs but these are big steps towards dogs that can coexist!
Mavi’s reactivity
This is Mavi!
She’s a very nervy and reactive dog. She has made leaps and bounds since we first started working on this but humans running (especially males) and dogs have been a hard one to beat.
Well this is her today, a group of runners came by us on a tight trail and she remained calm, cool, and collected.
And YES, that is a man running with his dog, all of her triggers packed into one, and all she did was watch.
She still has her faults and struggles, but today was a very good day & we are so proud of how far she’s come ❤️
Wyatt’s Reactivity
Wyatt has been a very anxious and reactive dog nearly all of his life.
He used to whine, bark, growl, drool, lunge, and even bite if dogs got too close, and as his handler at 5’ 2” 120lbs, he was very hard to keep a hold of.
This is Wyatt today, walking past a dog who is quite literally losing its mind over him (be sure to turn your volume on) and he doesn’t even look.
I never thought we’d be able to get to this point, but my dog is living proof that anything is possible ❤️
Animal behavior specialist & trainer 
