Wiggle Mutts Dog Training

21/11/2023

Alright, who wants to try this with me?
I absolutely love talking to my personal dogs all the time so I’m not sure if it’s something that I will continue to do, but it’s certainly worth trying.

Ps. I might need to literally tape my mouth shut though so I don’t forget to be quiet. 🤫🤣

20/11/2023

Tater and Better Chance Rescue alumni Daisy went on an outing this past weekend, and of course we had to take Daisy’s first Christmas tree picture. Thanks for joining us! We can’t wait to see Daisy continue to grow into an even more amazing dog! 🧡

17/11/2023

Sammy aka Gomer is doing fantastic! Last night he got to meet my second personal dog Banana. He can be a bit pushy and overbearing with his greeting of new dogs so he would likely do best with another tolerant/playful dog, but once he gets over his initial excitement he has been totally fine with both a 17lb tolerant/un-playful male dog (Tater), and a 34lb tolerant/playful female dog (Banana). Next up on his meet and greet agenda is Diesel the 90lb male Rottie and Bella, a 50lb female lab/shepherd/pit mix who is still looking for a home through Better Chance Rescue 🧡

Ps. If you catch the comment in the video about him never meeting my other personal dog Wiggles, it has nothing to do with Sammy and everything to do with Wiggles. Wiggles is my forever management dog who is EXTREMELY dog selective and requires VERY VERY slow intros with any dog that we think might possibly be a good fit, and after getting to know Sammy, we just don’t think he is going to be a dog that would be readily accepted by Wiggles so we’ve made the decision that it is in everyone’s best interest to keep them separated.

16/11/2023

Sammie aka Gomer was very excited to finally eat his dinner last night! His first 3 days are officially over!!! 🧡

15/11/2023

Gomer has officially decided that life with both of his Aunties is pretty awesome!!!
I’d like to think I’m the favorite because I shared my cheese quesadilla with him, but I have no doubt he’d still trade me in for a tennis ball in a split second if he could. 🤷🏻‍♂️🤣

15/11/2023

15/11/2023

🤣🤣🤣

14/11/2023

Burnout with hard dogs is real!!!

It’s okay to take a break. It’s okay to do the bare minimum while you recover and take care of yourself. It’s okay to not like your dog every single day. It’s okay to crate your dog when you mentally and emotionally can’t handle their shenanigans. It’s okay if you don’t feel up to training today, this week, or this month.

I promise….it’s OKAY!

14/11/2023

Here is the FLYER!

Share everywhere!

No appointment needed

First come, first serve

Vaccine microchips and deworming!

14/11/2023

Black dogs are incredibly hard to photograph, especially at night, but we do our best. It’s okay though, it just gives us a good excuse to go on another adventure in the daytime right?

14/11/2023

Gomer’s first sniffari outing - Pt. 2

14/11/2023

Gomer’s first sniffari outing - Pt. 1

Gomer aka Sammie (Full name Sammich 🥪) got a chance to explore some of the sights, sounds and smells of Tempe Marketplace tonight with Tater. He was very excited to get to go on an adventure, and since there was minimal human traffic and plenty of space, he got to explore just about anything his heart desired!

14/11/2023

It was a busy Veteran’s Day weekend! 🐕‍🦺

- Veteran’s Day parade and first parade ever for Banana
- First visit to a paintball field and a nap for Banana while mom went to work
- Socialization outing with Banana, Tater, and Better Chance Rescue alumni Meadow
- Met and took home Gomer
- First trip to Costco for Banana

13/11/2023

Reason #4,832 why I love Tater…He is a great tester dog for new dogs. Tater doesn’t like dogs in his face but he couldn’t care less about a new dog being present which makes it far easier to keep everyone safe when you only need to focus on one dog.

We’ll be taking dog intros with Gomer very slowly but he’s off to a great start so far.

13/11/2023

Meet Gomer!

This poor boy has spent the past 300 days in a cramped county kennel, but his volunteer friends did everything they could to make his time there as comfortable as possible. Thank you Amber and Trish for taking care of this sweet boy for so long! I still can’t believe he had only 1 meet and greet during his entire stay!!!

Gomer is a sweet senior boy who will eventually be looking for his forever home through Better Chance Rescue but we are definitely going to give him a chance to decompress first. He was listed as needing to be an only dog at county but he has lived with another female dog previously, so we will be re-evaluating his behavior around other dogs after he has some time to chill in a home environment for a little while.

11/11/2023

How many times have you been told your dog is your mirror?

It’s one of the most repeated catch phrases out there in the dog world, but I think it needs to go a bit deeper than that.

If you are an anxious person, this phrase alone would lead you to believe your dog will automatically be anxious as well, right?

But how many people do we know who live with anxiety, and yet their dogs are totally fine?

We see the opposite, too. Fearful, nervous dogs with owners who are solid as a rock.

So what gives?

If your dog is your mirror, it certainly doesn’t seem to work out that way 99% of the time.

I think a better “slogan” would be, your dog will show you exactly where YOU might need some work.

If your dog is struggling with any sort of behavioral issue like fear, even aggression, you might find yourself avoiding the things that need to be addressed, because your own emotions are now playing a part in the process.

What’s best for your dog, might not necessarily seem like the best thing to your emotional needs or wants. And that makes you 100% normal.

If dog training was easy, you would’t be reading this post, nor would we have ever connected in the first place most likely.

The human component is the #1 factor in a dog’s success.

So, next time you’re struggling with a hurdle in your training, ask yourself “are my own thoughts or emotions helping my dog’s behavior, or hurting it?”

Share this post with someone who needs to see it today 🖤

10/11/2023

Better Chance Rescue foster dog Bella would just like to remind everyone that prong collars are for necks not noses. 🤣 She’s also desperately searching for a new forever home that won’t “torture” her by making her pose for goofy pictures. Know anyone?

Bella comes with a minimum of 3 free training outings to help her new family learn how to communicate with her, socialize her to different environments, build confidence, and nip any funny business that might show up in the bud before it becomes a problem. Bella is a young girl and still learning the ropes since she was seemingly never held to any real standard of behavior in her previous home, but we know she will be an amazing dog with just a little guidance and focused attention. 🧡

06/11/2023

Timber, Benny, and Banana all had a great time on their sniffari this past weekend, and Banana even let Benny’s new sister walk her for most of the outing. Great job everyone!!!

Can’t wait to have more of Better Chance Rescue’s alumni pups join us soon! If you are interested in joining one of our outings feel free to message us.

30/10/2023

So happy we got to see some of our favorite nephews today!!!

Dobby came out and joined Banana and Tater for a socialization outing bright and early this morning.

Then Bowser who went to his new home on Friday, and Zeus who was adopted a couple months ago stopped by the Better Chance Rescue adoption event at Bookmans Mesa and of course Zeus had to give me the shake down for the good snacks. 🤣

Can’t wait to see you all again soon!!!

27/10/2023

Advocating for our dogs can feel awkward. Many times in our lives with dogs, we have to advocate on their behalf. Below are a few instances during a recent veterinary appointment with Finch. You're welcome to use them. ❤️

"Finch's body language doesn't look okay to me. Let's take a moment so I can check in with him and make sure this is a good time to proceed with the exam."

"Please don't push Finch into a "sit." He has "sit" on cue. Just give us a moment and a little space, and I will work with him to get him in the position you need ."

When the vet tech said I seemed more nervous than Finch, I responded honestly. "I am nervous *and* uncomfortable with how this exam is going. There is a disconnect in our communication."

20/10/2023

Anyone who says tiny dogs can’t be trained or held to the same standards of behavior as big dogs is lying.

09/10/2023

Meet Nani
This pretty girl is only 10 months old and as sweet as can be. She loves to snuggle with her people and plays well with other dogs. We can’t wait to see what this girl is capable of and help her find her forever family. She’s currently available through Better Chance Rescue. 🧡

02/10/2023

When we say we train based on what YOU want, we mean it! Zeus’ mom wanted him to be more cuddly so we spent some time showing him that laying down and resting his head on us was an easy way to earn more snacks. 🧡

20/09/2023

‼️Important reminder‼️

13/09/2023

Puppy training and enjoying some beautiful weather last night. 🧡

12/09/2023

It’s been a busy week! Puppy training, more public access training for Banana, and volunteering at a spay/neuter clinic in Tuba City with The Parker Project.

Now it’s time to get back to work and training. 😀

06/09/2023

04/09/2023

Feel free to share!

Any time a dog bites someone, people always say “It happened so fast, I didn’t even see it coming!”…and that’s probably true! They didn’t see it coming because they likely didn’t know what they were looking for. So here is a video of Banana and the warning signs she showed in less than 1 second. Can you spot all the things that changed in her body language?

Keep in mind that it took less than 2 seconds for her to go from focused on me, to being startled by a child, to making the correct choice to look to me for safety and guidance instead of defending herself. The child did absolutely nothing wrong in this scenario and in my opinion neither did Banana. This post is simply meant to help educate people on some of the things to look out for ESPECIALLY when allowing children to approach strange dogs, but it should also be applied to the family pet as well. If you see signs like these, that is your clue to do something and do it FAST! The reactionary part of the brain is always faster than the thinking part, and not every dog will be able to make a good choice fast enough to prevent harm in the moment. Protect your children and protect your dogs…especially the breeds that already have to fight stereotypes on a daily basis.

02/09/2023

“Your dog should never be a problem to someone else.”

30/08/2023

Training definitely doesn’t always go according to plan. Sometimes the ones that seem like they will be easy end up being the hardest and vice versa. 🤣

29/08/2023

This video makes me laugh every time. It’s like I can see Banana saying “Okay mom, I came, I saw the fishies, I’m ready to go home and get away from the screaming kids and the toddler who keeps trying to touch me now.” 😂

Banana is still very new to public access and nervous around children so taking her to Odysea on a weekend probably wasn’t my best idea, but she did great and without taking time off work, weekends are really our only option currently. We’ll be back soon, hopefully with friends, to just sit and take in the environment while practicing her ability to focus.

28/08/2023

Meet Dobby The Desert Dog!

Dobby is a sweet little guy who’s Mom and Dad wanted a little help establishing rules and boundaries. Today we worked on leash training and impulse control so he wasn’t climbing all over Mom and Dad during meals. Look at this good boy sitting nicely the whole time Mom was eating! Great job guys!!! 🧡

02/07/2023

Doing a little hand feeding and fun training with Tater on my lunch break today. Tater has been taught “Touch” previously and we have used that command to build it into many other things like this fun game here!
What started as a game of “Touch and Toss” where the only way Tater gets another piece of food tossed for him is to touch my hand, has been morphed into a recall game to increase his reaction speed. The faster he comes back and touches my hand, the faster he not only gets a higher value treat for that, but he also gets another piece of kibble tossed if he is still interested in playing the game. In the video you can hear me ask a few times if he still wants to play and the way he knows to tell me “yes” is by touching my hand again. As you can see he is extremely food motivated, but even a food motivated dog will get tired of the same thing over and over so be sure to keep your games short and fun!

13/02/2023

Worst commercial ever! Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT get your dog a “friend” thinking it will fix their separation anxiety. Unless you adopted a dog who already had separation anxiety, it is the actions of the owners and their relationship with the dog that is the cause of the dog’s separation anxiety. Getting the dog a friend will not fix it. The owner/dog dynamic is what needs fixing! Getting the dog a friend without fixing the owner/dog dynamic first will quickly lead to the owner having two destructive and anxious dogs on their hands.

The story of how Amazon helped a family's beloved dog triumph over loneliness. Learn more - https://www.amazon.com/b?node=73382377011

06/02/2023

Ever wonder what happens when you hire a trainer to crate train your puppy? First some playing or training to tire them out, followed by a whole lot of the picture on the left, probably some paperwork, maybe some training with other dogs, and hopefully a snack break for the trainer.

Crate training is vital to preventing separation anxiety as puppies get older when it becomes a much harder behavior to change. If you want to crate train your puppy, all you’ll need is a crate, a tired puppy, some patience, a good movie, and some snacks. You got this!

If you’re looking for an adorable little girl to add to your family, CC aka Candy Cane is available for adoption through Advocate for PAWsibilities.

31/01/2023

Wiggles and Tater went to Tempe Marketplace this past weekend to show one of Advocate for PAWsibilities’s currently available dogs, Zero, and AFP alumni Banana how it’s done. Now we only have one thing left to settle…who was the best dressed?

20/01/2023

Penny is one of Advocate for PAWsibilities’s alumni who was adopted at the end of last year. Her Mom has always wanted to be able to teach her dogs to ”Sit pretty” so when I went for a visit yesterday we decided to try it out. It will likely take her a while to build up the muscles she needs in order to maintain her balance for longer periods of time, but she has a good foundation. Now it’s time for practice, practice, practice!