Miss Elbie has been in our 3 week B&T for a little over two weeks now. She is working on basic off-leash obedience, leash walking & manners. No major issues for this young lady, her owners want a well-rounded pet!
Communication is key when it comes to dog training. Using the correct words at the correct time is very important. Below I have listed just a few examples of the communication we use and what they mean to us!
Commands: this is a word or a few words given to the dog with an expectation of action from the dog. (ex. “Place” or “go to your bed”)
Markers: these words are marking a moment in time (kind of like a picture begin taken) when the dog is correct or incorrect in their behavior (ex. “Yes”, “good”, or “no”.) Markers are important because dogs move quickly and we are not always as fast 💨. This gives us the ability to “mark” a behavior and apply the appropriate reinforcement. Markers can be used for good or bad behaviors.
Encouragement: words, phrases, noises, or gestures used to express your feelings about your dog’s particular behavior. These are used without necessarily giving an additional command. We interchange encouragement with “additional help”, where the dog needs some sort of feedback but not necessarily another command or reward. We use this with our personal dogs often as well! (See video of Elbie)
Excessive communication: this is where we are doing too much communicating and cloggings our dog’s ability to work out the action we initially asked for. We could possibly be reinforcing a behavior we actually don’t like by mistake with this type of language.
Next time you talk to your dog ask yourself what forms of communication are you using! #alwaystrain 💙🐾
Don’t forget to book your dog’s bath & nail trim over their holiday boarding stay! Shoot us a message or tell us at drop off. We’ll have them fresh & clean when you pick them up 🛁❄️!
Two years ago we made the purchase of a lifetime 🩵. Take a tour with us to see what we have become!
#riversedgecanine
#fortheloveofdogs
The air is clearing🌬️! Time to go outside☀️!
A day in the life of our boarding pups 😍
Hell of a good day in the sunshine getting all of our Board & Train Program dogs out and about!
First video is of Oliver & Lady B doing a realistic on the street pass-by. We like to do these multiple times per week to simulate your normal walks at home!
Check comments to see…
Pack walk photo is next! Moving as a group simulates unity an a safe atmosphere for dogs. Dogs who have trouble with other dogs to then being able to find security amongst others.
Second video is of Barry, Lady B, and Oliver on their walk!
Photos of Georgie, Bentley, Casey, and Gertie!
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When do we take the muzzle off?
A dog trainers favorite answer…”It depends”. However, this is the TRUTH! There are many factors at play when we decided to take a muzzle off, whether it be for socialization or for interaction with people.
I find ZERO benefit in socializing dogs without a muzzle when there is the potential for a situation to get out of hand. Neither dog wins, and both dogs come away with a negative experience. We are not in the business to simply be reactive to a problem, we are in the business to prevent and rehabilitate. If you are only reacting to problems you are part of the problem!
Here are a few insights to when or when not to take the muzzle off.
🐾 Has the dog developed a safe, reliable habit of zero aggression?
🐾 Has the dog interacted with a specific human or dog enough to develop a strong relationship?
🐾 Has the dog had multiple or no instances of actual injury to another dog or human?
🐾 Are these displays of aggression barrier based or interaction based?
In the video you see Maverick socializing with Georgie with his muzzle off but then next video he has his muzzle back on when interacting with Lenny. His interactions with Georgie have always been positive, he never showed nervousness/reactivity/or aggression. Georgie is a female, and Georgie’s play style is very dependent on the other dog. (Video in comments 👇🏻) Lenny on the other hand is a very exuberant player, he brings the action. He’s also a male and Maverick has had little interaction with him outside of this video.
“Free time”
Exactly what it seems. Free time to just be dogs. The goal here isn’t obedience. It is manners and being a good ol’ dog. These “sessions” allow us to give even more insight to your particular dog. Do they have trouble settling? Are they counter surfing and dumpster diving? Do they guard toys? Are they the fun police? Is barking out the window an obsessive behavior?
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Don’t eat the couch ✅
Don’t guard the toys ✅
Don’t harass each other ✅
Don’t steal food off the table ✅
Don’t obsessively bark ✅
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Board and trains programs are not just about obedience. Well rounded pups are our goal 🥅!
I get asked on occasion if I train my personal dogs with the same tools, methods, systems, protocols as their dogs (client dogs).
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The answer is yes. Myself, as well as many many other trainers adopted this lifestyle because we too had/have problem dogs. I found a style and a system that worked and that gave me real progress with my dogs.
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Mordecai is my youngest Malinois at a year old, has just started his ecollar conditioning this week. He is not trustworthy off-leash; I use a long line just like I preach in lessons…btw I hate to have to use a long line. Lila and Drama have been off leash for years, so TRUST me when I say I know it’s a pain in the BUTT to train with one on. However, I know that it’s a necessity when it comes to proper, safe, and fair ecollar work.
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Here is a video of the goofball 💙 practicing some recalls on the trails behind the house!
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Avis, an English Setter, came out for a few extra private lessons to work on cleaning up her ecollar understanding, along with strengthening her retrieve and “whoa” commands .
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Our B&T’s struck her interest 😂
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I truly believe how we feed our dogs needs to vary as much as possible. Historically dogs would spend a large portion of their day hunting/searching/seeking to find food (wolves/African painted dogs/stray packs). Yet, in our captive environment we simply place it on the floor. Our dogs gorge themselves, we remove the bowl, and then they find themselves looking for “sh*t to get into” the rest of the day.
Although I do not think that adding something like a Kong Wobbler will “fix” behavioral issues I do think it’s another piece to the puzzle 🧩 in owning a well balanced dog.
Here are some additional food enrichment options below:
•Kong Wobbler
•Grass Searching (spread food in the grass, like you were feeding chickens, let your dog find all the kibble).
•Traditional Rubber Kongs or Hollow Bones with soaked, then frozen kibble.
•Search Games where you hide your dogs food bowl and teach them to look for it. You can do this over and over with varying amounts in the bowl.
•Obedience and Tricks - hand feeding as a reward for training.
Andddd on her last day here Bear convinces Star ⭐️ to play!! Absolutely love moments like these.
Anddddd after almost 3 week with Nika we have interaction! Kora, the GSD, is also here for socialization with people and dogs.
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Off-leash interactive socialization is only offered in board and train programs due to the slow introduction process.
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#recanine #riversedgecanine #boardandtrain #boardandtrainprogram #privatelessons #overnightboarding #catahoula #dutchshepherd #germanshepherd #germanshorthairedpointer #socialization #dogtraining #dogtrainingofinstagram #offleash #ecollartechnologies
Happy 4th of July everyone! Have a fantastic weekend! Thank you for everyone’s patience this week while I was away; I will be following up with all my voicemails, texts, and submission forms starting tomorrow!
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#recanine ❤️🇺🇸💙
Little update on Oreo! Killing his recalls outside in the creek 🔥. Proud trainer moment!
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Oreo completed our 4 week board and train program at the end of April!
