Hollings graduation
This dog, I can’t even… Kylie and Brendon reached out for help with their new rescue, Holling. When I first met them, Holling had not learned his name, had zero recall to speak of, and was over excited about everything but his people.
Here he is after a month of work: what a complete 180!!! We have moved to avoidance conditioning whereby if Holling comes on command, he can avoid having to feel the stimulation from the collar altogether. Brendon didn’t have to press the button on any of these recalls!!!
I am so impressed with the work that Brendon and Kylie have put in with this dog and I couldn’t be prouder!! Well done, you guys!!
Here’s to a safe and happy life with plenty of off leash freedom!!
I LOVE getting updates from former clients! Here’s that sweet boy, Riggs, and his newfound life of freedom and safety! This is Laura’s post about their life so far:
“He’s so fun to take places! Like he listens so well when I call him on the e collar, and so I feel like I can take him almost anywhere with me and he’s going to be fine. He’s my best friend 🫶🏼”
Thank you for the update, Laura!!
Mazzy off leash
Nothing gives me a greater thrill than to get updates from former clients. I worked with Sharon and Mazzy about a month ago and just received this message:
Hi Bonnie - Thank you so very much for your time and work with Mazzy and me!
She’s been off-leash just a handful of times so far (more due to my comfort level, but that does get better with each time), but she does fantastic and I’m feeling more comfortable and confident with her now. Both around our small yard and elsewhere.
The first time hiking she stayed very close to me the whole time, but today we had more distractions with water and flowers and such. I never had to buzz her and she instantly turned to me when I used her command. Thank you so much! This is what I was hoping to achieve and be able to do with her. 🙏 🐾”
And this is why I do what I do; to give dogs and owners so much more freedom while still keeping them safe. I’m thrilled for these two!!
Structured walk with two dogs.
Kris reached out to me for help with her two large dogs, Gemma and Bella, whose combined weight would overpower her when they would react on walks.
So we introduced both dogs to the prong collar, taught them the language of the collars and here’s the end result!!
Kris has really nice leash skills and was able to effectively communicate with each dog independently of the other. I see a lot more easier walks in their future!!
Woody’s e collar graduation
Woody recently stumbled upon the absolute best situation for himself when he found his way to Bryttny’s farm after he got loose one day. When his owners said they didn’t want him anymore, Bryttny adopted him.
He’s a cool little dog but would run off, which is probably how he ended up at Bryttny’s in the first place. Bryttny and her family do a lot of hiking and would like to take Woody with them but would also like him to have freedom on those hikes so we taught him the language of the e collar.
Here he is on his graduation day after five training sessions. I always recommend having your dog drag a long line until you’ve both had lots of successful recalls. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
I see a lot of hikes in Woody’s future!!! Happy trails, sweet boy!!
Laura recently adopted Riggs, a 6 month old beautiful Golden Retriever. She would like to be able to take him anywhere and eventually be able to run with him once he’s old enough.
Here he is learning the structured walk for the first time. Laura has really nice leash skills and Riggs picked this up quite quickly.
These two will practice the walk and continue to build their relationship until we start work with the e collar in a few weeks.
Once we have all those pieces in place, Laura and Riggs should be all set to live an active and fulfilling life with lots of off leash adventures.
I can’t wait to watch their progress!
SPEAR!
Spear just graduated from e collar training yesterday. And then I get this update the next day:
“this is without buzzing him with the e-collar. we’re definitely working toward recall with that first come, but this is so great! i can’t thank you enough for teaching us how to give Spear his freedom, Bonnie! 🥹🫶🏻”
Seeing sweet Spear, who’s never been able to be trusted off leash, racing around but now with a solid recall, having the time of his life is everything. ❤️❤️
Elsa’s graduation
Aalok and Neha reached out to me for some e collar training for their dog, Elsa. This is her graduation!!! Aalok and Neha really put in the time and the repetitions training Elsa to the e collar and it really shows!
As you can see, Elsa is dragging a long line behind her while we’re practicing. This is an added layer of safety especially as we’re working an hour away from their home.
Great work, all three of you!!
Spear’s graduation
Jamie and Marty adopted Spear last year but had a hard time keeping him close to home. Spear would follow his nose and get himself into all sorts of trouble. So we started with the structured walk followed by the e collar and this is him today!!
He’s now sticking closer to his owners even off leash while having the freedom to use his nose and be a dog.
I couldn’t be more excited for these three! They’re so pleased with how well Spear is doing that Jamie and Marty are going to e collar train their other dog, too. Now the whole family can go on off leash walks and know they have the ability to keep their dogs safe while still letting them be dogs.
Congratulations!!!
Even the little ones can be e collar trained! Here is adorable little Woody, enjoying his freedom in the snow! Mary put in lots of work this fall training Woody to the e collar and now she can have him off leash while still keeping him safe. Great update, Mary and Woody!!
This is just the second session of escape conditioning for Orion and Jack. Christi-Lynn has been putting in the repetitions with these two and it shows!
Escape conditioning is when you press the button first and THEN call. As soon as the dog turns and commits to coming, the handler releases the button, thus allowing the dog to turn off or “escape” the stimulation.
And bonus points for an actual appearance of the sun!!!
Remember Martha from two weeks ago? This is a short snippet of many successful recalls in their last e collar session with me. Her owners were able to recall her even among families bicycling, off leash intrusive dogs and even a loose cat!
Martha and her family have moved on from escape conditioning and are now on avoidance protocols. This mean if they verbally recall Martha and she complies, she can avoid the stimulation altogether. But if she decides to make a poor decision which could jeopardize her safety, there is a clear and logical consequence which she understands due to all the work and repetitions that her owners have done within the escape conditioning protocol.
Here’s to many happy off leash adventures, Martha, where we know you’ll be safe!!
A short snippet of work with the wondrous Martha! Clay and Liz reached out to me for some help with their yellow lab, Martha, who has a wonderful recall, but only on her terms. We needed to make this non-negotiable for her safety. So we introduced the e collar.
This is only her second session and she’s already way ahead of the game!! We’ll continue to work within the escape conditioning protocol until she has this down solid.
The escape conditioning protocol is when the e collar is pressed BEFORE the command is given. For Martha, we’re working at a level 4 out of 100. When she complies to the command, she “turns” the collar off (owner releases the button). Once she has this down and knows exactly what the stim means and exactly what she has to do to turn it off, we’ll move to the proofing stage.
This is where we’ll present her with really desirable things, like a ball, a squeaky toy or hotdogs and then proceed to call her away from them. She’ll learn that the recall is now non-negotiable and her owners will gain confidence in their ability to recall her from just about anything. Can’t wait to see their progress!!
Look at this little rockstar! Gus is a rescue from Texas and just over a year old. Lauren and Casey recently adopted him and they were looking for some help with his jumping and overall excitement in the house. They would also like to be able to walk their two dogs together which is quite difficult right now due to lack of leash manners.
So we started, as always, with the structured walk. In this type of walk, the dog should be following the handler instead of the other way around. This puts the handler in charge, rather than the dog.
We often see many behavioral issues start to change just with the introduction of the structured walk, as I find it helps the dog realize they’re not, and don’t have to be, in charge. Many people don’t want the pressure and responsibility that comes with being a president or prime minister or CEO of a large company. Neither does your dog. So the structure and clear boundaries are seen as a relief to many dogs and the resulting calmness is great for everyone!
I think Gus and Casey did a fabulous job on their first structured walk!!
This is a video from Butch, Adriana and Keith’s final e collar training session. Unfortunately, Butch was not feeling so great so we cut the session short. But not before they all demonstrated their growing fluency with the e collar. It’s so satisfying to see the dog and handler grow in confidence as they become more comfortable with the tools of training.
Adriana and Keith also reported that his prior reactivity in the car has now dropped dramatically and they can stop it with a “nope” and a tap on the e collar. I find that this type of work shows the dog that THEY don’t have to guard the house, the car, the owner; because the owner has stepped up and taken the leadership role so the dog doesn’t have to. Quite often you get a sense of a feeling of relief from the dog because all of that responsibility has been taken away and placed on the shoulders of the owners, where it belongs.
Happy trails , Butch, Keith and Adriana! Great work!
Even the little ones need structure! Little Elna here has a fantastic owner who has worked really hard to get the relationship they have today. But, unfortunately, Elna was attacked at a dog park at one year of age so has developed quite a bit of leash reactivity and will pull massively. (And yes, Kendra no longer goes to dog parks…and you shouldn’t either!!)
So we introduced the prong collar, taught her the language of it, and she’s trotting along like a little pro! The structured walk will help set up the relationship to be more successful when encountering other dogs because Kendra will be in charge, not little Elna. Sometimes that shift is all you need to effect a lasting change.
We’ll see how she’s doing when she comes back in a couple of weeks!
Adriana and Keith found me through a chance encounter in a parking lot when Adriana was walking Butch, this big handsome dog you see here. He suddenly lunged at me and I saw Adriana do a really good job at trying to control Butch; so I offered to walk by again to give her an opportunity to practice. We got to chatting and found out she had worked with Paula Bergeron, who, unfortunately for all of us, has moved to Maine. (We miss you, Paula!)
So they made an appointment to work on Butch’s reactivity, recall and car manners. They have a good foundation from starting with Paula but need some things tightened up here and there. We’re starting from the beginning with the e collar to work on recall first.
Once Butch and his owners are fluent in the language of the e collar, we’ll use those newfound skills to address his reactivity and his car manners. I’m looking forward to seeing their progress!!
Remember Beau, the big handsome dog that was more than a handful? After many repetitions and a lot of practice with his owner, Sage, he is now fully e collar trained. He also walks beautifully on his prong collar.
What I noticed today is how much he has changed mentally. He used to fixate on EVERYTHING. Dogs, people, leaves, bushes, literally everything. His level of fixation has dropped by about 75% and he is much more in tune with Sage.
Sage also shared with me that she used to dread walking him because he was so strong and checked out due to his fixations . Now she says that she loves walking him!
I love to see what structure can bring to the relationship between a dog and owner. And I love being able to facilitate that change!
Happy trails Beau and Sage!
Remember Beau, the handsome pit mix learning the structured walk? Here he is starting his second week of e collar training.
We’re starting off in escape conditioning, which means Sage is pressing the button on the remote FIRST and THEN calling Beau. After many repetitions, Beau learns that if he turns and recalls when he feels the stim, he turns it off or escapes it because Sage is releasing the button the moment Beau turns.
Our next step will be proofing where we’ll start to challenge Beau to turn away from desirable things, like a ball or a squeaky toy or hotdogs by slowly dialing up on the Ecollar to the level that Beau would rather turn the stimulation off than get the toy.
After we have lots of practice on this step, we finally move to avoidance, where if Beau turns and comes as soon as he’s called, he doesn’t have to feel the stim at all and can thus avoid it.
I hope this explanation helps. Please reach out if you’d like to do this type of training with your dog!
This gorgeous GSD, Otto, started his training with me about a year ago and then completed a board and train with Paula Bergeron and was really doing well.
But his owners had noticed that his behavior had been starting to slip and he was starting to push back on his boundaries. So they came back for a refresher. They had stopped doing as much structured walking as Otto needs, so we tightened up their walk with some leash adjustments.
We also reviewed how to use the treadmill to release some of that energy that a two year old GSD has in abundance.
And then I just reiterated how structure is so important in a dog’s life and how it helps them to live in our human world.
It’s always great to see former clients again! If any of my other former clients feel in the need of a tune up, don’t hesitate to reach out!
