Cranium Dog Training

02/07/2023

New blog!
Do you have questions about reactive dogs? Read the answers here:
https://www.craniumdogtraining.com/post/reactive-dogs

24/06/2023

How do you exercise your dog? 🐶🏋️
Do they all require leashed walks around the neighborhood or are there other ways to meet your dog's needs? 🐩🚶
Find out in the new Trainer Talk post:
https://www.craniumdogtraining.com/post/how-do-you-exercise-your-dog

23/06/2023

🐾 Here's to all the recovering reactive dogs 🌟🐶

🌈 Stay positive and keep up the good work! ❤️

🐕 Reward good behavior, be patient, and have empathy. They aren't giving you a hard time, they're having a hard time! 🐕‍🦺

🥰 Let's create a loving and safe environment for our worried wonderdogs! 🐾💕

21/06/2023

New blog post!
Ever wonder what dog trainers do for work? Yes, we handle many many behavioral cases but we also provide support for new pet parents and families who haven't quite welcomed a new dog into their home yet. 🐾

https://www.craniumdogtraining.com/post/dog-trainers-do-more-than-just-train-your-dog

15/04/2021

Myth number 2: You shouldn't let your dog on furniture.

The truth: There are good reasons to not let your dog up; he's resource guarding, he's unruly, you don't want dog hair on it or he doesn't know your need for personal space. However if none of those are in play, it doesn't make a difference. The important thing is that you teach your dog a non-confrontational way to get them off the furniture when you need them to move.

If you choose not to have them up, provide plenty of soft dog beds and redirect them to the bed every time they try to get on furniture.

For those of you struggling with this or many other issues, send me a message and let's talk about your pooch.

12/04/2021

Happy Pet Day everyone! Get out there and spoil your furbabies.

Murphy here is enjoying a licky mat with frozen peanut butter. Stay cool everyone!

05/04/2021

Happy Easter from the easter bunny! 🐇

Stay safe out there 🐶 🐾

26/03/2021

Let's bust some behavior myths!

#1. It's okay to pet your dog when they come up to you for it!
Just as Delilah shows here, our dogs often solicit our attention by sitting so they are touching us or setting a chin on your knee. As long as you like whatever behavior they choose, by all means PET THE DOG!

30/09/2020

Reward your dogs!

Pairing only 60% of clicks with a treat didn't make dogs learn more or less quickly, but it did affect how happy they felt during training. In contrast, pairing a treat with every click was associated with more optimism and less emotional reactivity.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10071-020-01425-9

22/09/2020

This is so important for preventing bites! Just because little dogs are small doesn't mean they want a boost into your arms, especially if they don't know you. Be respectful to little dogs, and train your own little ones to accept being held so you aren't causing unnecessary stress.

I’m little and adorable and I might bite you. Because you pick me up and sweep me into the air when I least expect it and it scares me and I hate it and no matter what I do I can’t seem to stop 2-legs from doing it to me all the time like some […]

20/09/2020

There is a new post! Read up on what you need to do when your dog is misbehaving at home.

https://craniumdogtraining.com/dont-give-your-dog-a-timeout-give-yourself-a-timeout/

Timeouts are taught in many different forms in dog training, but the idea is the same. They are used to teach the dog that what he did wasn’t appropriate and now he will be shunned for a short while. Trainers recommend anything between a 10 second timeout to shunning your dog for a whole day … C...

04/09/2020

It is so important to pay attention to a dog's comfort level when asking for behaviors! This is a lesson I had to re-learn myself. Sometimes we get so caught up in thinking our dog knows something we don't think twice about telling them to do it.

I took Delilah to Home Depot with me recently. It is a noisy, busy place and she is a dog who doesn't always feel comfortable in that sort of setting. I was at the paint counter and wanted her to hold a down/stay in front between me and the counter so she wouldn't be in the way. Well, she kept breaking and turning around. I guided her back to the spot and she broke again immediately. After thinking for a second I realized that she didn't want to have her back turned from the busy aisle, Delilah wanted to be able to see if we were going to suddenly be accosted by a person or rattling flat cart. I let her turn around and then cued her to down with her facing the aisle and she stayed there with no issue until we were ready to go. It pays to pay attention to our dogs!

18/08/2020

Check out the new post, 5 Things to Teach Your Dog Before Sit! Learn what great foundations in training can do for your dog.
https://craniumdogtraining.com/5-things-to-teach-your-dog-before-sit/

Many new owners, and long time owners, assume that sit is where you start when you begin training a dog. It is completely possible to do that but there are things you really should think about before you launch into training. There are foundations you can place before you commit to teaching a fleshe...

14/08/2020

I was playing a game of fetch with Murphy yesterday and really thought about how I was structuring it. His favorite game is by far tug-o-war but he is much too strong for me to play that with him. He isn't a natural fetcher with good flow in the game but he does love to chase the toy and come back and tease you with it.

I deliberately broke it all down to its basic parts. When we began the game, I had the toy (a Kong wubba in this case) in my hand and Murphy was ready to chase it. Before I let him run it down, he had to hold a sit and stay, then I released him and let him chase it as I tossed it, telling him to go get it! I had a treat in my pocket ready to trade with him when he came back over to me. Rinse and repeat a few times, and he developed a better flow, bringing the toy right to me. It's going to take a lot more trials but teaching him fetch is worth it and while he is having fun with this, he is also getting better at his sit/stay, release cue, go get it cue and his drop it cue.

11/08/2020

Getting a new dog or already have one who is getting into trouble? This new post might help you!
https://craniumdogtraining.com/my-new-dog-ate-my-couch/

The first step of any training plan is to set up the dog’s environment so that she can be successful. This can be small things like picking up your shoes and bags because you brought in a new puppy or keeping food off of the kitchen counters. The idea behind it is that dogs who … Continue readin...

11/08/2020

My Murphy trying to building his soccer skills, maybe he could be on a team some day!

10/08/2020

10/08/2020