Next Level Obedience

17/08/2024

The puppy had his first visit to 'goodtreats yesterday. He approves! :D

17/08/2024

There are many ways to teach the same rules, but the ripple effects of these different ways of teaching are anything but the same.

The wise owner or trainer chooses their approach based on multiple layers of benefit for the dog and humans, not just the superficial, the obvious, the “virtuous”.

And for those who would respond, “That’s just about what works fast”, “it’s the quick fix”… no silly, it’s about the deeper “fix”.

Sadly most have no grasp that a deeper conversation or deeper “fix” is even possible or occurring.

17/08/2024

Chloe starting to learn a bed command

16/08/2024

Meet Burton! He's a young pup still, eager to learn all the puppy basics. In our first lesson together, he was pretty convinced that if his human asked for eye contact, she also wanted a kiss in the face!

16/08/2024

Smoke did a great job walking alongside Dagmar this week. Movement makes it much easier -- as long as they both keep moving forward, you can see how loose and relaxed Smoke is!

14/08/2024

Isla got her first lesson in anti-resource guarding this week. Resource guarding is the term we use for when a dog uses aggression to protect a valued possession from her person. In this case, Isla has a pig ear that she thinks is delicious! Resource guarding is easy to prevent with puppies, but very difficult to fix in adults, so it's important to address with young puppies early on!

10/08/2024

If your puppy is bonded to you, she should follow you something like Willow follows her person. Willow had never been in this place before, and it was fenced in so her human was willing to let her completely off leash. You can see, under no commands, Willow regularly catches up with her person.

There comes an age when puppies get old enough and decide to go explore the world on their own, but up until that age, they should be naturally checking in with you and wanting to be near you. If you can't trust your puppy to try to keep up with you and see what you're doing regularly, then you probably need to work on your relationship with your pup.

10/08/2024

Miss Willow thinks she's queen of the castle! She took no encouraging to climb up to this platform all by herself. Isn't the picture of her looking down at her human so cute?

08/08/2024

Ramen is learning "stay." It's a great self-control tool and very useful in real life!

07/08/2024

Smoke did a great job this week just hanging out on the couch while her older brother (Buddy the Beagle) got to learn some new things. We're still working towards peace in their house so they can hang out in the same room together without being in danger of a dog fight!

06/08/2024

I've talked with a few dog owners lately about healthy dog play. Here's a sample of what good play looks like, with a breakdown of what good things I'm seeing between my two dogs.

-Sideways movement, lots of curved spines and turning around instead of straight frontal attacks
-Exaggerated movements. Pounces are big and mouths are unnaturally wide open. It's a dog's way of saying, "See, I'm just pretending!"
-Play sneezing. In a context like this, sneezing probably isn't because the dog got something up her nose; rather, it's a way to diffuse tension.
-Play bows. Both dogs regularly bow and smack their front paws on the ground in an abbreviated bow.
-Position trading. Each dog ends up on the bottom ("the victim") at least once, and that's intentional and willing. You can see each of them willingly roll onto the ground for the other to attack.
-Loose bodies. It's harder to see on video than in person, but their mouths are loose (no tight lips) and their tails and ears are natural, not stiff.
-Shake off. At least once, the puppy shakes off to relieve a little tension.
-Perhaps most important, they both keep initiating. They pause often, and every time they both go back for more. One is not trying to get away from the other.

I'm sure there are more things, but that's what I see at my first pass. Let me know if you spot any more good play signals!

06/08/2024

Happy National Assistance Dog Day ! Do you know the difference between a service or assistance dog and a therapy dog or an emotional support animal? Do you understand the importance of not distracting as assistance dog ? If distracted, the dog can miss a seizure cue or change in blood chemistry ,which can be life or death issue . The chart shows the differences of each .

02/08/2024

When I say puppies should have a lot of freedom on walks, this is what I mean! If your dog is under about 7 months old (ages vary of course!), he probably is not ready to walk politely on a leash. Notice in this video how much my puppy starts, stops, runs, sniffs, chases, and otherwise DOESN'T keep a reliable pace. This is normal and good! He is still learning how to engage with the world.
If you aren't comfortable walking your puppy off leash like this, get a 50+ foot long line and pretend he's off leash. Find a park, a field, a forest preserve, some sort of green space, and make that your normal walk.

31/07/2024

Venom and Penelope! Such happy, sweet girls.

30/07/2024

I keep finding all these beautiful green spaces through my clients! Who know Sycamore had so many forest preserves and quiet walking paths? I love it!

30/07/2024

Copper is growing up! He's about 7 months old now and ready to learn how to walk politely on a loose leash. We've put a lot of foundation pieces in place already, and he absolutely loves to work, so this should be pretty easy for him to learn.

27/07/2024

This is an excellent case study in the puppy socialization period. Isla (brown puppy) is still in her socialization period, the magic time between 3 and 20 weeks old when curiosity is stronger than fear. She encounters a brand new object in her environment and jumps all over it.

Ozzie (black and white puppy) is a little older than 6 months old, so his socialization period is over. You can see he is significantly more tense about the strange object and he does not want to touch it, even though he is trying to do what his human is asking from him.

Does it matter if your puppy is willing to climb on a wobbly board? No. Does it matter if your puppy is confident enough to engage the scary world and think they can conquer it? Absolutely! If you don't understand the socialization period or need help taking full advantage with your puppy, please ask!

24/07/2024

Bad pictures but good training session! Chloe is beginning the transformation from dragging her humans around to walking politely on a loose leash.

24/07/2024

Ramen's first introduction to the recall command. He is such a happy guy!

22/07/2024

20/07/2024

What is that kind of fox that leaps up and pounces on prey? I guess I lost my Vizsla puppy and got that fox instead.

19/07/2024

Here's what you can't see: my Dagmar is parked only a few feet behind me. Ozzie did a great job working despite the exciting distraction of a strange dog he had never met, which is exactly what I want to see in a puppy his age. Great work, Ozzie!

18/07/2024

Willow trying out some puppy equipment for the first time. Great job, little one!
I make most client dogs do some of the this physical interactive work (climb on stuff, go through tunnels, smack their paws on stuff, etc.), but my favorites are the puppies because they have so much fun with it. You can see in their faces the initial apprehension and then the discovery that these new things are fun and not scary!

17/07/2024

In the creek today to beat the heat! The little guy finally (for the first time!) decided to give the water a try. Hooray!

16/07/2024

PSA ‼️⚠️‼️

13/07/2024

Meet Isla! She's only 3 months old and she's a powerhouse already. I get to work with her and her big brother on all the fun puppy things. Don't worry -- I'll get some pictures of him to share too!

13/07/2024

Olive and Remy did so well on our fieldtrip to the park! They were unsure about the playground at first, but when their people went up the stairs, they decided it must not be too scary.
I love taking anxious dogs to playgrounds because it's a weird new environment they have to interact with in a low pressure way. It's an easy place to get both dogs and owners having fun and thinking outside of themselves a little bit.

11/07/2024

Yadi (along with his older brother) is learning to wait all the way back in the kitchen while his owner opens the front door. Yadi has some fear aggression, so we are not even going to give him the option of greeting guests at the door. He's picking up on these new expectations so well!