K-9 Magic

Indy is getting her K-9 push-ups in. I usually teach my dogs sit first before moving to down. As we do downs, many times they will forget what sit was. I also want my dogs to have a fast sit or down. I find this exercise helpful for practicing both scenarios. When you first start you want to keep things short and reward every iteration. As your dog gets better at it you can ask more of them and randomly reward. #dog #dogs #dogobedience #germanshepherd

As your dog advances it can be a lot of fun to put together combos thst challenge both you and your dog. Here Ellie is working on a directional and agility combination. #dogagility #dog #dogs #labradorretriever

Indy practicing down in motion

The first and most important command I teach my dogs is attention. This an exercise I start with. I have treats in my hand and my dog knows it. I hold the treats out away from my body. My dog gets rewarded for making eye contact with me instead of my treat hand. #dogobedience

When we play two toy sometimes Teddy doesn’t bring his first toy all the way back to me. I wait him out and won’t let him have his second toy until the first toy is next to me. It doesn’t long for him to figure out to get me to throw the second toy the first has to be next to me…

Two identical toys are a great help for dogs that are having toy sharing challenges…

Ellie doing what Ellie loves to do… finding people.

I smells a human. Love watching the dogs work 🥰

Slow-mo is so funny lol#searchdog #sardog #dogsofinstagram #workingdogs #germanshepherd #dog #germanshepherdsofinstagram #germanshepherddog #gsd #gsdpuppy #gsdofinstagram

Happy girl lol#dogsofinstagram #workingdogs #labradorretriever #dog #labrador #labsofinstagram #labradorsofinstagram

While I appreciate Teddy’s excitement to go do his job, it’s gotten a bit much pretty fast as he’s been learning how to find. He really likes his job which is a good thing, but he needs to learn control. Here, I’m working on getting him to be more calm and collected before he gets released to go find. I keep my patience and wait him out. I try to talk to him in a soothing voice. I don’t give in, because that would be rewarding to him if I just released him while he was having his fit. Once he settles a bit he will get released to do his job which is what he really wants. He will gradual learn settling will get him what he wants faster then the temper tantrum. Now if he would only bark like that when he finds instead of before he starts his problem. Lol#searchdog #sardog #dogsofinstagram #workingdogs #germanshepherd

Pups first doggie Sundae. He saved the biscuits for last. Aww 🥰#dogsofinstagram #workingdogs #germanshepherd #dog

Day 1 on directionals.. I start then close together then we move them further and further apart as the dog catches on. Eventually I use different objects and sometimes have no object and just practice directing them around. It’s a practical item for their work but it’s also a lot of fun to play with. 😀#dogsofinstagram #germanshepherd #dogtraining #dog

And the other girl giving lots of hints to open the door so they can get a ride to their work. 😎 #dog #dogsofinstagram #labradorretriever

Miss Indy having some scent work fun. #dogsofinstagram #germanshepherd #dogtraining #workingdogs

Pinpointing scent. So neat to watch dogs figure out where it is coming from. ❤️

An easily motivated dog is easier to train. ;-) Play is critical for working dogs so we work to bring out the dogs play drives from a young age.

Good stays make life so much easier 🙂

Today was tree removal day here...and a perfect opportunity for Teddy to get exposed to loud noises and heavy machinery. We kept our distance to avoid hazards. I made like it’s no big deal and Teddy was curious, but took it all in stride. If Teddy had acted scared we would have backed further away and done basic obedience excercises he is solid on so he could get rewarded and get used to it. If a dog is scared and we make a big deal out of it and try to baby them, we are rewarding them for being scared and teaching them they were right to be scared. It’s much better to get them to a distance they can think, then do easy and fun excercises they get rewarded for. It helps to build their confidence. As confidence grows, they can gradually move closer.