Digs Dog Walks

Blizzard =Fun for Hattie:)

Elements of a reliable recall…just in case your pup needs a tune-up! 🐕‍🦺 Your dog responds to the cue right away…no repeating the cue! 🐩 Your dog commits to running to you and doesn’t stop to smell the roses:) 🐕 The recall has to be tested or proofed with a variety of distractions…no skipping this step! 🦮 The behavior is finished either when your dog sits(or does another behavior next to you but is under behavioral control) or allows you to physically grab the collar for a leash up. 🦴 The recall has a strong reinforcement history and you can selectively reinforce better responses 🛑 A recall should never end with a negative consequence…even if your dog makes you look bad at the dog park by blowing you off:) Have fun with your pups while training the recall…or anything else! Video below shows one of the dog/owner teams I’m working with on their recalls. Still in training but looking good so far! I love the energy/commitment Maddie is showing!!!

Chase is the best and he LOVES to train:). Ran out of gas mid-crawl but recovered nicely!

Congrats to Marie and Lyric for winning the contest!!! Haven’t done a wheel spin in a bit and we had some challenges…but Emma came through!! I’ll post some bloopers in the comments if anyone wants to see them!

Lyric has been having some recall challenges as of late so we’ve been focusing on this the last few walks! She loves to jump the net and that seemed like a nice finish for this rep:). Sorry about the camera work!!!!

I posted a week or so ago about my buddy Charlie and his jumping challenges. He’s making progress! He does find me reinforcing so this is a tough test. On this step we’re requiring him to: -Turn away from the person at the door, return to his handler(Cheryl) and then offer a sit or down. - We want to click /reinforce when he goes back to Cheryl and offers the sit/down. We were clicking the turn away from the guest last time, but we want to get the click closer to Cheryl to increase the value of the handler/decrease the value of the guest - Charlie nicely demonstrated a faster turn away later in the video - I really like this approach for Charlie as he’s slowing his mind down enough to make some good choices!! - We also found a stuffed enrichment item that Charlie LOVES that we can give to him. A bit of a management tool, but it keeps him quiet and he tends to focus on that , rather than guests:) - The sit/downs are his choice and are not cued. Not finished with this step yet as we have a few things to clean up and also extend his waiting time for a click after he offers the sit/down. Nice work Cheryl and Charlie!!

Charlie is a wonderfully energetic pup! He’s not quite 1yo and is a prolific jumper/barker. Needless to say, these common behavioral challenges are something the owners would like to address! What you’re seeing in the video is a step(hopefully in the right direction:) in his “no jumping” training. Breakdown below: - instead of containing his energy by asking him to sit/down in the presence of guests, we’re using it! -I try to cultivate the “turn away” with all of my reactive dogs and Charlie is demonstrating this really well. He’s turning away from me and reorienting to his handler(Cheryl) - I’m playing the role as guest and am doing the classic body turn as he approaches. It’s not necessarily a cue but more of a prompt to help Charlie make the right choice. We’ll have to fade the guest “turning away” entirely but for now when I turn, he turns and burns (energy)! - I really like this step for Charlie because it sets up a repeating scenario where we can reward him for not jumping on his approach. -His mind is also slowing down enough where he is starting think as opposed to simply reacting. It may not seem like much but Cheryl is tossing the treat away from her so Charlie has to get his steps in to get the reward. - We can also give him a stufffed kong or similar toy after a correct response. -kudos to his owners learning as they go and for exercising patience…as Charlie is definitely a tester of patience:) - He let out one woof but he’s also getting reinforced for being quiet:) Next Steps: -Get him used to the sound of the doorbell/knock and eventually turn the presence of a guest into a cue to go to his crate or bed. He is still instantly reacting to the doorbell/knock so we still have to slow his mind down a bit more in order to progress:)

Back-Up Tornado Warning System:)

I never get tired of this! Thanks Lyric:)

My buddy Norton learning how to wave:)

I love training the spin as a first behavior to teach a dog. I usually use a piece of food or a “lure” to teach positioning and timing but the key to using a lure is that you have to stop using food in your hand or fade it out. My buddy Dierks was spinning like crazy the first session but he wouldn’t spin if he realized I didn’t have any food in my hand. I have a ton of tricks to help transition off of the food lure but Dierks wasn’t falling for any of them! If he wouldn’t follow the food, I had to teach him to follow something else…like this curtain holder(literally) turned target stick! Stronger behavior in the end and I can now use the “targeting” behavior to train a bunch of other stuff. Video shows the first time I tried to get him to follow…smart guy:)

I think Norton secretly prays for rain so he can get his spa treatment!

Heisman may know this dog but excitement can sometimes spill over into unwanted behavior. In this case I used “good boy” as the marker and I didn’t need precision and “good boy” has a positive emotional component as I have reinforced the you know what out of it! He responded to the good boy every time but I didn’t reinforce the first one as he re-engaged with the other dog. I’ve seen his behavior escalate quickly so I was only looking for him to display a ”lesser” response and the whining was A-OK with me! Over time I’ll require him to look back at me before I mark the behavior but this was pretty good:). Best part is Baby waiting patiently for it to rain treats!!

Fault! The net had the assist but the nets were about 6” lower last time we did this. Gotta love empty tennis courts!

Hattie gets some publicity 2 days in a row! Her owner has some health/mobility challenges AND Hattie has started chasing squirrels…not a good mix! I’ve just begun formal training with her but to do that, I have to establish some communications. This quick video shows how to condition or teach a marker signal to Hattie. A marker is signal that “marks” the correct behavior and keys Hattie know that some good stuff is on the way! I like to use a whistle but you can use a clicker or a concise word like ”good” or “yes”. To start, grab 5 pea-sized pieces of food and simply blow the whistle(or click or whatever you choose). When the food is swallowed…repeat until all of the food is gone. Notes: 1. Try to hold the food in the palm of your hand when giving it to your pup. I did this one the 5th repetition 2. Do 4 or 5 sets of 5 repetitions and you should be good to go! To test it, simply wait until your dog is not paying attention and then do a test “mark”. If they focus on you quickly, your marker is trained! Shoot questions my way:)

Bo and Ruby have taken to barking at people and other dogs on the other side of the fence so we’re working on a recall. I’m looking for a fast and energetic response to the recall (whistle in this case) and I’m always looking to improve the behavior. I’m not a fan of the jumping at the end but it’s the lesser of two evils:). Bo went back to bark at the other dog but responded well to the second recall. More repetitions and some extra exercise!

Hi from Heisman! It can be a challenge to train specific behaviors with 2 dogs present but Heisman is up to the challenge! Baby is just out of frame but she’s waiting patiently…a big step for her when food is present:)