Guess what we just added to our training tools? A wobble board!
A wobble board is a great cross-training tool to help dogs develop motor-skills and improve their core strength as they works to maintain their balance on the board.
A wobble board is a good way to maintain strong joints, range of motion and mobility, but it is more of an advanced training tool.
To start, put your foot underneath the board to stabilize it and reduce the amount of wobble so your dog gets used to the instability of the board. Then you can slowly reduce how much stability your foot provides while always making sure your dog is comfortable before moving to another level.
We went to the USDAA Cynosport Dog Agility World Games this weekend in Murfreesboro. It was a fantastic time and saw some top canine athletes.
Of course, we also loved seeing that any dog breed or size can do a sport such as agility. You can certainly tell the dogs love this sport!
If you have a puppy like Dane who LOVES to use his nose, why not add a little challenge when feeding him?
Fill up a kiddie pool with empty bottles and scatter his food around inside. This will engage his brain as well as his nose as he searches for his food.
Bonus training skills - this also builds a puppy's confidence as he gets used to the noises the bottles make, the feel of the bottles touching him, and increases his hind end awareness by him having to focus on his back feet placement.
Louis is still a puppy and loves people, but he gets a little too excited when greeting people and wants to jump up on them.
Proper greeting manners is something we work on with our board and train dogs. We get them out into everyday situations and work with on how to properly greet people.
Training Tip - we always let new people know we're working on training with our dog. Before letting them pet your dog, ask them to only pet your dog if all four feet stay on the floor. Once they realize you're in training mode, most people are happy to help your dog work on his greeting manners.
Working with ZuZu on her loose-leash walking. While "free" walks are great to let a dog explore, it's also important to train on loose-leash walking as well. This skill is great for keeping your dog safe when you're out at an event, when you're approaching other dogs or people while walking, or even just maintaining control when in new environments.
Training Tip - each time your dog "checks in" with you (turns to give you eye contact), reward them with a treat or praise. This positively reinforces your dog's focus to be on you for direction.
With obedience training, you've got to get the reps in. It's a lot of repeated training sessions over and over. Only then can you layer in duration or combine behaviors together for more complex training.
Of course, you have to progress at the dog's speed and not rush training. That's why our board and train program is great to get those reps in since we're with the dogs day and night, seven days a week.
If your dog needs those training reps, just let us know how we can help!
While our board and train dogs are always training, it's good to incorporate a little fun into the training program.
Adding a little agility training along with obedience training is a great way to add some variety and fitness into your training program. It also keeps the dog's mind engaged in the training by keeping them focused and engaged by wondering what is going to happen next.
In between training sessions, it's good to build other skills with puppies. Dane, a 5 month old Beagle, is learning to go through a tunnel. While it is fun and gives him a break from his regular obedience training, it's also letting him develop confidence at the same time.
The tunnel provides a different texture under his feet, the fabric touching his back, the sound of the material moving, and having the end of the tunnel partially closed all expose him to different sensory stimulus, which will help him when he goes into different environments with his pet parents.
We're continuing to build on Dane's obedience training by building duration on the "place" cue. Having good "place" and "stay" cues are good foundational skills for any puppy to have.
(Of course, a little extra "petting time" at the end of every training session is a great perk of the job!)
Did you know a person's blood pressure goes down when petting a dog? And so does the dog’s.
While we've never measured it, we definitely know the benefits of petting for both us and the dogs in our board and train program!
Working with Dane, a 5 month old Beagle, on his loose leash walking. Even when it's raining, we still manage to get in some outside training sessions. The rain doesn't seem to bother Dane at all!
It's good to train in a variety of locations. It helps dogs learn to listen with different distractions and in different environments. Also, just because a dog knows a behavior in one environment, doesn't always mean they'll know it in another.
We train dogs at our location, but we also take them to a variety of locations in order to help them generalize the training they're learning so they'll be able to listen and respond no matter what is happening in the environment around them.
In this video, we're training Piper at a local state park and working on various obedience training while cars, kids and activities are happening all around her. Piper is such a well-balanced dog and she's doing great!
We're working with Dane on his place and stay as part of his obedience training. Since he's still a puppy, these behaviors lay a great foundation to start building his obedience skills.
Sometimes it's good to incorporate play into your training to add variety. ZuZu is working on some obedience training while also combining a little obstacle course work we set up for her.
We're working with Dane, our current board & train, on the drop it/leave it cue. He's still a puppy, so he loves to play tug. That makes it the perfect opportunity to combine training time with a little play time. (And the rain doesn't seem to bother him at all!)
We always work in plenty of time for play in between training sessions. I think ZuZu and Oliver are enjoying their play time!
Dogs can sometimes react to unfamiliar noises or sudden motion. Exposing your dog to new situations can work to desensitize your pups to unfamiliar places and activities, but it's important to do so in a safe, controlled and planned process.
In addition to our obedience training, we can also work with your pups on environmental training by exposing them to a variety of sights, sounds and locations so they can be calm and confident when you want to take them out into real-world situations.
It's great for our board and train dogs to have time to explore with their noses. We always schedule some break time for them in the morning to check out the backyard for what new smells have shown up during the night.
Meet Piper! She joined us a couple days ago and loves exploring the backyard with her brother Louis.
Although we work with them on training, it's important that dogs also get some downtime to just explore and sniff.
Building Your Dog's Confidence with a Kiddie Pool (Part 5)
Day 1 / Session 5
As Oliver's confidence builds, he easily gets the front half of his body into the pool to get at the kibble in the center. And then quickly graduates to getting completely into the pool. At that point, we want to verbally praise him for this accomplishment. The final shot of him calmly sitting inside the pool and being totally comfortable in there is our measure of success!
Of course, confidence building doesn't end here. You can repeat this process every couple of days or move the pool into a different location and repeat the process. It will be quicker for your dog each time, keep building confidence, and letting him realize that change is okay.
