D O G Board N' Train

09/14/2024

WOW! Thank you all so much for the wonderful birthday wishes! I'm so lucky to have spent the day with my Drogon training blind crosses with Melanie Miller and now in RI competing under Zach Gulaboff Davis and Roger O'Sullivan! Drogon gifted me with another DQ :)

08/13/2024

We're back with another cute video featuring Duke the Newfie! We took Duke's off-leash skills to the next level today with an off-leash hike with his friend Kiddo! Duke practiced off-leash heeling with the distraction of another dog running around. Then we broke for a romp in the woods to practice recalls from play. Duke did a great job and learned a lot today!

08/11/2024

This is what fun looks like! Duke the lovable Newfie is here for training in our Rockstar program and he loves playing with his friend Kiddo in the field! Due to the off-leash level of obedience Duke has been trained to, he's able to enjoy the freedom to run and play and he'll always come back when called! Duke is a Rockstar in the making for sure!

We have openings for September, visit our website at https://dogboardntrain.com/dog-training-hudson-valley/ to learn more!

07/26/2024

It's official!!! I'm so looking forward to this year's AKC Agility Invitational!!! Drogon #1

07/17/2024

Drogon is the #1 Malinois for the 2024 AKC Agility Invitational in Orlando FL this December! This is will be our third year attending this event and it's one of my favorites! Congrats to all who made the top 5 in your breed and see you there!

06/04/2024

🐾Everyone welcome Jake to D.O.G. Board n' Train!

Jake is our newest 🌟Rockstar🌟in training. At 6 months old he is here because he is jumping, nipping, and destroying household items like boxes and shoes. With us, he will be learning basic and off-leash obedience, real-world skills, and everyday manners so he and his two-legged family can have the tools and foundation to live harmoniously together.

He is a wonderful young dog with all the potential to be the Rockstar we know he is. He is nicely food motivated so we are getting things started with food games and fun. We are very excited to work with this sweet boy!

05/25/2024

This lovely girl Ellie came to us for training in February of this year. Ellie's owners were having trouble with her pulling on the leash and struggled to take her for walks. Between the pulling, barking all the time, and jumping on people, Ellie and her owners were all feeling the strain and they decided to enroll her in our Rockstar program.

While in the Rockstar program, Ellie learned many skills including:
🐾Walking calmly on leash in a heel command, so no more pulling!
🐾How to do a down even in busy places such as Warren Street in Hudson with dogs and people walking by.
🐾How to go to a place cot and stay there while people come in the house or when she gets overaroused.
🐾How to come when called, every time!
🐾And how to wait patiently at doorways and thresholds so there's no more dashing at the door.

Not only did we teach Ellie how to do these commands but we also taught her owners how to work with Ellie to get the same results we do. Now, a few months later, we received an amazing update from her owner,

"Ellie is doing so well, she has really taken to her lifestyle. She has become a frisbee addict and can't get enough zoomies out in the yard. She is very responsive to her commands, with or without the collar and once in a while even places herself, lol. She spends any daylight time she is in the house up in the window which is new because before you guys we never showed her it's a bay window and kept the curtains shut. 😄 She is extremely behaved up there. If she happens to overexcite and bark that's when she will just see herself to place."

If you think you'd like your dog to be a Rockstar too, check out our website at https://dogboardntrain.com/contact/ to contact us.

05/23/2024

This very pretty GSD name is Aya. She came to us a bit earlier of age than most pups due to her early signs of reactivity We wanted to get a jumpstart on working with her anxiety of other dogs. We first introduced her to Drogon, a pro at putting nervous dogs at ease around other dogs. He loves to play keep-away with his toy so he never runs up onto another dog. It went splendidly. Then, we had Geralt come out to meet Aya the next day. It was pretty funny when she barreled over to him like a long-lost friend, only to discover when she was close and smelled him, that this was NOT her best buddy, Drogon. Aya literally screamed and ran off. Geralt convinced her that he was a great playmate with a different style from Drogon and in this video you see Aya deciding that she could get a more physical play style with Geralt than she had with Drogon. We'll post another video in the comments with Aya learning how to calm down and enjoy hiking with Geralt on a walk in the woods.

05/17/2024

Drogon received an invite today! 2024 AKC Premier Cup!! I don't know how they decide who to invite or their qulifications are. Does anyone know?

12/23/2023

Until a year ago, I was a trainer with a very force free approach. I didn’t believe there was a place for aversives in dog training. I didn’t have a dog that required them. Lucky me!

Until I got this chap. My very much adored kelpie, Evo. Bred to move HUGE flocks and herds of livestock out in rural Australia. A hard-headed dog, with a mega independent streak.

I worked hard with him. I’m a trainer. I laid my foundations, as I have done successfully with my other 4 dogs before him. They worked, to a point. And then, they didn’t.

I was fully prepared to give him a breed-appropriate outlet. Alongside the other work I give my dogs, I have my own sheep, meaning I can work my own dogs regularly on stock. However, my small flock of flighty sheep was far too jumpy for him to work, and he was becoming dangerous out and about in any sort of proximity to sheep.

So, you may say, just keep him on a lead! Problem solved. Well, not really.

Management can and does fail. I have heard it from countless clients. I have had it fail myself.

I also live, with sheep on my property, and surrounding it on 3 sides. Everywhere we turn, there are sheep. There’s no avoiding them.

Keep him on a lead in the garden? We have a large garden and keeping him on the lead would be unfair. He’s an incredibly active, working bred dog, who would end up spending his entire life on a lead.

We also encountered prey drive issues out and about, particularly around deer. His recall was fantastic, but once we moved, our walks were either full of deer, or sheep and he could rip a long line out of your hands to chase something particularly tempting.

So, I decided to bite the bullet and e-collar train. Controversial, particularly online.

But, the absolute best thing I ever did.

The alternative solutions I had suggested were:

Keep him on the lead - I buy good quality leads, but they have failed on me before
Move house - we’ve moved to a dream house, not an option
Avoid places with sheep etc - hard when they’re in the garden
Long line - he could still pull a long line out of reach
Train him - he was trained to a very high level and we had reached the limits via force free methods.

Management fails.

I went through the process of conditioning him properly to the e-collar. I spent ages ensuring I got it right, he understood what was expected and that he knew how to switch it off. I invested in a pricey bit of kit, and I went about it by the book.

It’s transformed his life.

He can romp around the garden, he can walk through my sheep without batting an eyelid, he can walk off lead on the hills and he can enjoy walking in the forest even when deer run out in front of us.

For him, that wasn’t ever going to be an option without it.

Nothing was more reinforcing than chasing.

And it was going to get him killed. He’d have been shot, or hit by a car, or lost. All because I wouldn’t open my mind to using different tools.

Am I suggesting every dog requires one? Absolutely not. But there are MANY cases where they save lives. It’s both saved and enriched his.

He’s happy, he lives his best life. He hikes everywhere with us, he’s well mannered and fully reliable off the lead. He knows the rules, and that’s the key.

He’s not suppressed. He can still go off and be a dog. He tears around the garden with our other dogs, he sniffs and does dog things. But he’s safe when doing it all.

I see a lot of judgement towards these tools from people owning dogs who would never require these tools. That’s great. And that’s also not a problem. But it is completely unfair to demonise the use of a tool which you haven’t taken the time to fully understand. I was 100%, without a doubt, against them before I took the time to understand how they worked and how they were used.

It’s imperative that they’re used with a trainer well versed in using them. It’s also crucial that the equipment used is good quality and not something cheap from Amazon or eBay. It’s an investment, but one that is so necessary for a lot more dogs than you might realise.

Take the time to understand others’ points of view. There is truly not a one-size-fits-all approach in dog training and my change of opinion has opened up a whole new world for all of my dogs ❤

Photo by Saffy Leyfield Photography

12/05/2023

11/07/2023

Here's Masha, the beautiful Bernese Mountian Dog, showing off her place and down skills! We've been working with Masha in different locations to increase her impulse control around various distractions. This smart pup is well on her way to becoming a Rockstar!

10/23/2023

Check out Muchacho showing off his skills with the place and down commands!

The place and down commands are two very useful commands. They are both extremely versatile and have a wide range of benefits, including:

🐾Teaching your dog to settle and relax. The place and down commands are a great way to teach your dog to calm down and relax on command. This can be helpful in a variety of situations, such as when you have guests over, when you are eating dinner, or when you need your dog to stay out of the way while you are doing chores.

🐾Improving impulse control. The place and down commands can also help to improve your dog's impulse control. When your dog is able to stay on place or down even when there are distractions, it shows that they are able to control their impulses and make good choices.

🐾Preventing unwanted behaviors. The place and down commands can also be used to prevent unwanted behaviors, such as jumping on people, barking, or stealing food. For example, you can teach your dog to go to place or down when the doorbell rings to prevent them from jumping on guests.

10/18/2023

By working on commands in different locations, Tank learns to ignore real-world distractions such as dogs, people, and the occasional scary clown!

10/11/2023

Meet Aiko, our newest Rockstar in training! We're so excited to help her learn new skills and become the best dog she can be.

Aiko is a Golden Doodle, and is 6 months old. She is a very playful dog, and we're looking forward to getting to know her better!

Check back later for training updates! Or, if you want your pup to be a Rockstar too, check out our website at https://dogboardntrain.com/dog-training-hudson-valley/ for more information.

10/08/2023

Here's an update on the Rockstar in Training, Tank! He's been working hard and learning a lot while having fun of course! Check out his skills with the place command! More updates to come so check back soon!

https://dogboardntrain.com/dog-training-hudson-valley/

10/07/2023