Training Tails with Emily

04/08/2024

Some happy faces from our boarders! We love getting to introduce our dogs to new guests!

02/08/2024

Pearl and June are back! We love having these girls board with us!

18/07/2024

Some of our boarders for the week! We love a houseful of puppies!

01/07/2024

Bessie and Monk have moved to the front yard! for their daily walk, we worked with them on leash manners with distractions, neutral behaviors around one another and ‘watch’.

Bessie saw some people when we were walking and this got a reaction out of her so we practiced redirecting attention away from them to break her focus. It became easier for her to look away from them as we practiced. Monk was a little anxious while working in the front yard so we got him moving and focused on Eli rather than on sister and his surroundings

20/06/2024

Cosmo and Koko worked on socializing in public places! We worked on redirecting their excitable behavior while being exposed to new places and people at Michael's Arts and Crafts!

12/06/2024

Sprout is working on confidence building with ‘place’. SInce she’s so small, she doesn’t always know how high she can jump. We practiced her putting her front paws on it and making that position. Then once she was comfortable with that, I began encouraging her to jump up. Once she knew she could do it, she was happily jumping all the way up and even offering me a sit.

12/06/2024

Everybody got to celebrate Em’s birthday!

06/06/2024

Belle is loving the treadmill! Have to get some energy out on these hot days!

03/06/2024

Practicing down-stays and engagement around other dogs. Ollie tends to be reactive towards dogs while pearl gets super excited to see dogs and attempts to pull towards them. We are practicing neutral socialization for both pups to work on these behaviors

17/05/2024

Blazer is working on his down stay and watch. He has already learned the cue watch so we practiced this a few times and rewarded him for giving me eye contact without a cue. This is a great way to practice engagement with your dog

02/05/2024

“No drop, just throw”

01/05/2024

Cosmo is working on settling on his place. We went for a walk to work on his heel and to get some energy out. Now he’s ready for a nap. Its the perfect time to use a tether!

30/04/2024

20/04/2024

Hi everyone! Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, we have to cancel our training event at Bird Girl Bottle Shop for tomorrow, Sunday April 21st! We look forward to seeing you, as well as sunnier weather, for our next event in May!

04/04/2024

Draco’s first private session went so well! We worked on leash boundaries, drop it, and some bonding activities for him and his human. He is such a smart boy!

22/03/2024

Midday walk and playtime with Birdy! We went on a short walk to work on leash manners and came back to play tug of war. She was not ready for me to go 💔😭

26/02/2024

Keno is a great distraction for his little sister, Kween! While we worked on Keno’s down stay, Kween practiced heel and leash boundaries. This helps both dogs strengthen their impulse control around each other.

25/02/2024

Blazer was a little nervous at the vet so we used this as an opportunity to practice ‘place’. He struggled seeing other dogs and new people at first. After a few reps, he was able to focus on me.

07/02/2024

Ollie and I have been working hard on his reactivity and leash manners. Busy areas are always hard for ollie to keep his focus on me. When I noticed his attention start to go to other more exciting things, I began to redirect him by having him come to me for a reward and keeping it fun! We are trying to make it a good experience for him and that includes fun while training!

01/02/2024

A quick tip for body blocking:

Advocating for your dog's space when in public places can be challenging, especially when other dogs are present! An easy way to keep your dog safe is body blocking - simply using yourself as a barrier between your dog and an unknown dog. Here, Emily and Sherlock work together as I walk by with Blazer on a loose-leash. In this training session, I allowed Blazer to behave organically, consistently trying to invade Sherlock's space to say, "Hello." Emily successfully creates space by body blocking and using body pressure in tandem as we continue on our way!

30/01/2024

Update on our foster pup!
Adoptable through GO Rescue Pet Adoption Center

Mindy has been with us since the beginning of the year. When I first met Mindy, she had no established training, extremely anxious, insecure and unsocialized. The month that she has been with us has been focused around building confidence with us and on her own. When she first arrived, we had to carry her up the stairs the first few days and she would avoid having to go back in at all costs. Now she is walking up stairs without guidance from a leash and walking slowly up and down. She has a good understanding of sit, down, place, watch, and free. We are still building confidence with leash manners. She understands heel and falls naturally at my side, but struggles in public settings.

In this video, we are working on her being near me while in ‘Place’, but not having to interact with me. I used a tether (after exercise and always monitored) to keep her from roaming off the bed and gave her a PB kong to occupy her mind. I tried a nylabone at first but she needed something higher value to make crawling into my skin less appealing. We are still working through some anxiety and reinforcing boundaries.

She has been great with cats! She has a prey drive and wants to chase them. However, it has been easy to redirect her attention back to us. She absolutely loves her people and can be a stage 5 clinger, but she is a cuddle bug full of love to share. She like to demand bark at us while we are playing, but ignoring her and waiting for her to sit has helped with curbing this behavior.

Stay tuned for her introduction to new dogs and the beginning stages of socialization with new environments, people, and dogs

27/01/2024

Meet Blazer the Bernadoodle, a sweet and high-energy guy who's been improving in his training every week since the beginning of his stay in December! Blazer may as well be named the Energizer Bunny with all the battery power he has!

Because he's a big goofy guy, Emily takes the time to work with him in an engaging way to not only work on some behaviors, but to burn up Blazer's energy before structured training begins.

Blazer LOVES to play, as a vast majority of dogs do. He also likes to play cat-and-mouse, "come and chase me" games. Here, the goal is to encourage him to drop the ball without having to chase him around. The reward here is continued play! Blazer has picked up on this concept pretty well, and has had a blast learning!

24/01/2024

Meet Sherlock and Cosmo!

They share a similar behavior in leash reactivity, and we took time today to work with them safely together.

Time, patience, and practice are some of the corner stones of training. However, redirection is the key to getting a handle on a dog's reactivity. Successfully luring a dog away from excitement with something of greater value lessens the value of barking or lunging at other dogs.

Sherlock has been training with us for a few months and has taken great strides in his training! He still requires some redirection at times, though a simple "No" or "Watch" helps me gain his attention again.

Cosmo has been training with us for a few weeks and has also made great improvements with re-enforcement training at home with his Pet Parents! Between his leash pulling and his excitement to see other dogs, Cosmo needs a bit of help focusing his attention on his handler. Emily stays with Cosmo in one place while Sherlock and I walk past, rewarding him when he makes eye contact. Cosmo did great, and was even able to walk past Sherlock without being distracted!

We're so excited to be a part of their growth, and we look forward to working with you and your best furry friends!

18/01/2024

Sometimes training is watching other dogs try the new thing first!

Rookie gets nervous when the treadmill is on (which is the case for many dog’s learning how to use it) so Ollie decided to hop on and show him how it’s done. Seeing other dogs do something new and scary can help build confidence. Ollie made it look easy though all because he wanted his PB kong