Louieās been killing it during his first few days of training! Heās a daycare and train puppy through and through, so while he has a great obedience training foundation from his last trainer, heās also used to being overstimulated constantly. If you know Schnauzers, thatās not how they thrive.
Heās here now to learn that he can actually just watch the world go by and enjoy some peace and quiet without missing out on playtime and appropriate outlets. Heās an absolute rock star and Iām so excited to watch him blossom!
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For every perfect session I have on video, I probably have at least two or three little blooper reels from the same session.
Double cues. Helping the dog with the leash, body language, or a treat. Tripping over air. Looking at the camera and thinking āwait, whatās this dogās release cue again?ā.
I do this every day, granted Iām almost always training newbies, but my sessions with my own dogs come with their own challenges.
Roach has found a new way to throw me for a loop every time I confidently pulled up to a trial, I know better than to say āheās got thisā now.
I made the same dumb little mistake five times in a row yesterday when he was learning a new concept. So dumb.
I have to pause my training sessions and take a breath often, if Iām too hot, itās too loud, Iām hungry⦠weāre working with living animals, they know when youāre not feeling it.
Our sessions should set our dogs up for success, but if theyāre going picture perfectly every time, youāre probably not challenging your dog enough⦠or youāve been going hard for months and youāre no longer practicing new skills.
If things donāt go quite right, itās okay. Keep everyone safe, but itās not the end of the world if your sessions arenāt pretty. Take some space, take a breath, send your trainer a two minute long voice note and rant about what a weenie your dog is, but never be afraid to say āthis is too much, itās time for a breakā.
Our dogs are counting on to put them first.
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As a balanced trainer, Iāve still always got a pocket full of hot dogs and food that I dole out pretty liberally during training sessions. Food is THE most readily available and effective reinforcer for most dogs. It can change a dogās entire perspective on something that they find scary, stressful, or triggering.
This is obviously not one of those situations, and this is what some red flag trainers would lead you to believe teaching with food looks like. I donāt trust any trainer who uses phrases like āthrowing hot dogs at them wonāt solve anythingā or āyour dog should just listen to you because you said soā. It demonstrates a broad lack of understanding of learning theory in general and tells me that the trainer is likely overly reliant on pressure and intimidation. Despite what some may lead you to believe, you can easily teach your dog to listen to you even when you donāt have food, you just need to fade it out strategically after the learning phase. What do you think? Does your dog like to train with food?
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Just kidding, everyone does it⦠even me!
Fun fact, the reason we try not to repeat cues is because our dogs will start to tune us out or we can create confusion when we echo our cues habitually. Fortunately, Roach will never tune out a man in a suit.
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Cooperative care and teaching our dogs to tolerate vet handling on their own is so much fun!
Journey will visit @metro_vet tomorrow to see if sheās a candidate to be a canine blood donor.
Wish her luck!
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This January has been a cold, but wonderful start to the year. Canāt wait to see what the rest of 2025 brings!
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The flip finish.
My FAVORITE piece of the heel puzzle and also sometimes the trickiest.
Itās not entirely necessary, but boy is it helpful.
Hopefully this video helps you! How is your dogās heel cue?
Archieās a very typical, very wild little toy poodle puppy. One things Iāve found with high energy puppies and high energy small dogs especially, is that it can become very difficult for them to remember that thereās a person at the end of their leash as they approach adolescence.
This is where the search cue becomes a super helpful addition to the routine! Iāve used search extensively in the past for building confidence with nervous or fearful dogs, but it can really be a great engagement game if used strategically as well. Playing short training games with your dog that allow them lots of repetitions of engaging and disengaging with you can make training feel like a lot less pressure for everyone as well as build plenty of good repetitions of checking in with you even when there are more distracting things to focus on.
Check out the link in my bio for a more thorough explanation of the howās and whys of the search cue as well as the full video for step one with Archie.
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Itās a good day for an adventure. Have you done something fun with your dog today?
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Have you taught your dog a new trick recently? Roachās training has been getting a little stale, so today weāre learning orbit and sit pretty š¾
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