DOGRU

15/04/2023

21/03/2023

was awesome this year!

01/07/2022

Indy is turning 2 in August and this is the FIRST real neighborhood walk I’ve ever gone on with him. Why? He was a pretty reactive puppy. We did park walks and training and gradual desensitization in parking lots and then stores. He’s helped me out with clients and at lessons and I’ve worked SO HARD with him. And now? We walked… we walked right past people within just a couple feet and the closer they were the closer he wanted to be next to me but not a peep out of him. He sniffed. He did his business. We saw a couple dogs and even a big American bulldog barked at us through a fence 30 ft from us. He perked up and looked and then … we moved on. He was perfect. He wanted to detour to the beach but we weren’t allowed yet.

Anyway I just wanted to remind people that you do NOT need to face your challenges head on. You can came at it from all different angles and you can learn (or teach) the mental skills needed to handle different situations without actually being in those situations. And often that’s actually the easier way. He’s still a territorial ACD in the house but when he’s out … he’s just ( as someone said to us on our walk) “ a beautiful dog”.

21/05/2022

Phoenix is the best angel ever. I wish I could just repeatedly have clones of her the rest of my life.

25/04/2022

Is this a cattle dog thing or what? They go from this and then their paw comes up on my lap and then they sneakily climb into my lap. Lol. ❤️

25/04/2022

Saved this little guy’s life today!

22/04/2022

Happy tired dogs! 2 are my board and train dogs. We get LOTS of playtime every day. Once social needs are met it’s a lot easier to focus on training, even around other dogs.

20/04/2022

Discussion: why clicker training doesn’t take longer than more traditional training.

29/03/2022

How do categorize myself as a trainer and why I will never use pain or fear to train ( may not be exactly what you think)

04/02/2022

The operant training mindset. The most effective way to train.

04/02/2022

So many times clients joke with me that ( as if it was surprising) that I am training them and not the dog. And in my head I think “of course!”. A dog is just living their life how ever they feel like it. They don’t have any agendas. The skills comes from the human knowing how to direct that behavior to something mutually beneficial. So of course when a human goes to a trainer they are benefitting from someone who has experience directing that behavior. But remember there are a lot of ways to change behavior and some trainers have more experience than others.

02/02/2022

Just some quick thoughts to think about using luring as a training tool.

01/11/2021

Super blurry picture but this was a HUGE deal for Indy. We went and hung out at the neighbors house while trick or treaters came up to the bottom of the steps for candy. I was a bad dog trainer mom and didn’t bring toys or food but he had the support of his best dog friend, and human friends and with quick, positive, verbal redirection and tons and tons of cuddles we made it through with only one bark for a couple dozen trick-or-treaters. I was so super proud of him and honestly myself and how through my hard work with him, socializing and building trust, I was able to create a positive experience even without food or toys. ( granted I would have brought some if I could go back in time but honestly I think at this point having less excitement about the food may have helped him settle better) what helped the most was setting up a social setting with trusted acquaintances which helped set the scene for him.

22/10/2021

Here I’m talking about how the genetics of your dog can creat a base personality that can have an effect on how easy it is to socialize your dog especially when they are older with more experience.

09/09/2021

How I handle training with distractions. Particularly with how it relates to heeling.

06/09/2021

Here I talk about heeling with a Serivce dog. It doesn’t have a lot of strict criteria like competition heeling but we still need to teach the dog clear criteria and generalize gradually!

02/09/2021

🎶Look at this stuff. Isn’t is neat. Wouldn’t you say my collection’s complete! 🎶😍🥰waited 3 years for a green one to complete the square!