Proofing place with Mini & Ace!
Whether it’s the cat walking by or everyday chores like cleaning up, we add distractions and triggers to clarify each dog’s understanding of our expectations. Being able to “park” your dog during down time keeps them safe and out of the way while still including them in the experience. It builds patience, impulse control, and handler respect — preparing them to make good choices in and outside of the house.
Good job, Mini & Ace! 🐾❤️😸
Conquering challenges with Zeke!
He’s a shy pup who’s fearful in new situations and has been reactive in the past. By teaching him new techniques for communication and setting up obstacles that we can help him overcome, he’ll be more prepared for life’s surprises! After getting him moving with ecollar and leash pressure conditioning, we create new paths of least resistance — instead of letting him bail — he learns to solve the problem. With continued practice this increases confidence and resilience.
Good boy, Zeke! 🐾❤️😍
Prong collar intro with Jova!
This big girl arrived with a lot to say! She is reactive towards others (especially dogs) and is a bit anxious/insecure in general. After giving her time to settle in and get to know us, we worked on conditioning her to new communication tools like a prong collar. This allows us to give meaning to the leash using the minimal amounts of pressure. As we apply it to different movement and commands, we begin to form new expectations on and leash and around triggers. Having effective leverage and opportunities to build trust will gradually increase confidence overall.
Good girl, Jova! 🐾❤️🐕
Field trip with Mini & Ace!
We’re applying their new skills in different real-world settings to practice around different distractions. This creates a consistent understanding of leadership and expectations in all kinds of situations. In the store, we practice following along and waiting politely while we shop. At the park, they get to explore more while we practice recall, play, or add confidence building exercises. They’ve been doing a wonderful job and receiving compliments everywhere we go.
Good job, Ace & Mini! 🐾❤️🥰
Pack hike with Ace!
He’s enjoying more freedom around more dogs like our personal crew: Grim, Merlin, and Puffin. They get to have fun just being dogs while everyone stays safe and polite. As we hike, we mix in heel and recall practice along with break time to run and explore. This ensures listening skills and allows us to travel as a team.
Good boy, Ace! 🐾❤️🐶
Mini’s family joined us for her mid-training session!
This gives owners a chance to test the waters with their handling skills, ask questions, and learn how to apply leadership methods to make everyday life easier. Mini was excited to see them and we were able to start setting the stage for more efficient teamwork.
Good girl, Mini! 🐾❤️🎀
Stranger conditioning with Mopar!
Although he’s a friendly boy he can be a bit reactive and tense when unfamiliar guests arrive. We start by having him on “place” while we answer the door. At this time, unwanted reactivity would be corrected. We instruct our guest to ignore him and continue giving him feedback for his choices like food rewards for not reacting.
After getting him moving comfortably, he’s given permission to approach and enjoys plenty of butt scratches! Walking together continues to break the ice as they get to know each other. We also practiced having our guest move him away from resources — a trigger that’s caused him to snap at people in the past. Now things can be safely removed from him without a fight.
Good boy, Mopar! 🐾❤️🍬
Introducing new dogs together! 🐶🐶🐶
Instead of allowing dogs to rush up, become chaotic, or overwhelm each other — we facilitate meetings with leadership and personal advocacy. Mini the Great Dane pup, is the new kid on the block and has a lot of energy and body movement. Mopar the yellow lab mix, is more chill and submissive. Ace the tan dog, is anxious around new dogs and will become aggressive if bullied.
So how do we integrate dogs of various sizes, ages, and temperaments? The first step is co-existence — sharing the same space without direct interactions. It’s where we establish leadership, controllable energy, and good choices.
From here we can bring them closer together, by walking them by each other on leash, while continuing to ensure good manners and prevent direct interactions. This gives them time to adjust to each other’s movements while still having a job to focus on following their handler.
When interactions are allowed (“break”), we keep leashes loose while dogs sniff. Only a few seconds are allowed at first before we guide them away to create space so everyone has time to breathe and relax before putting the spatial pressure on again. While we create this ebb and flow of energy and movement, we continue to evaluate compatibility and adjust leadership/guidance given.
Finally, we allow more freedom of choices while continuing casual movement and advocating for their space as needed. No one is left hanging to fend for themselves! Heavy play is not allowed indoors or with new acquaintances as this can lead to rude behavior and chaos; fair play can come with time. Communication and safety tools (ecollar/leash/muzzle) are used to ensure clarity and control while handling multiple dogs.
By proving to each dog that we will be there to keep them safe and polite, they all can feel safe knowing they have reliable leaders to trust and depend on if conflicts arise. The results are relaxed and happy dogs and people mingling together p
Ace’s family joined us for his mid-training session!
They each got a turn to use new tools and techniques. Having consistent communication with handlers means more consistent responses from the dog. We also practiced polite greetings, working through excitement, holding duration commands like down and place, along with recall and heel practice outside. He even got to show off his new treadmill skills.
Good boy, Ace! 🐾❤️🐶
Deterring jumping and teaching polite greetings with Mini!
She’s a giant pup that (true to her breed) thinks she’s a little lap dog. 😅 Pawing and jumping on people can be dangerous, especially when the dog outweighs most kids and some adults. As shown, she had no hesitation to clobber and climb all over us — she even tried to start a conga line! 😂
Through play, we can provide opportunities to give valuable feedback for her choices like an ecollar correction when she jumps on someone or affection/continued play if she doesn’t. Setting up enticing scenarios and allowing the dog to mess up is an essential part of learning! Mistakes happen — it’s how we deal with them that’s important.
We can introduce new communication tools like a prong collar while mixing in play by permission. Shifting between intense play and calmer directions helps her learn how to better regulate her energy so she can chill out when needed and still be her goofy-self during free time.
We’ll be continuing to setup and proof her choices around people! She’s already responding to feedback quickly and making healthier choices (that can be rewarded) because of the newly provided information. Consistency will be key to extinguishing this unwanted behavior as she matures.
Good girl, Mini! 🐾❤️🎀
Store trip with Ace & Mopar!
Going into a place you’ve never been to before with new people, other animals, strong smells, quick movements, surface changes, sudden sounds, etc… can be a bit overwhelming for some dogs leading to reactivity/stress/fear.
Instead, we teach dogs a language they can understand that we then use to provide direction and clarity in a multitude of settings. The predictability and simple directions mean they can sit back and enjoy the ride while we act as their personal tour guide and security guard. 😉 It’s such a pleasure watching each dog’s self-growth as they shed their worries and replace it with confidence and curiosity.
Good boys, Ace & Mopar! 🐾❤️🐶
Box feeding with Ace!
This exercise helps build the dog’s confidence, tolerance, resilience, and commitment to their task by desensitizing them to noises/movement/touch that can be triggering for anxious/fearful dogs. It nurtures a stronger mindset, prepares them for other challenges, and can be used to help handling or vet visits go more smoothly.
The box itself can reduce visual stimuli, and with training, leads to increased focus on a target in the box. This gives them a default task to do. The target can be a small item like a plastic food top or the food itself (see alternative method). Distractions/triggers are eventually added and the dog begins to associate tolerance as a precursor to a reward.
Simply put, this is how we start box feeding:
1. Put food/treats on the floor around the box.
2. Allow the dog to investigate and find the food.
3. Place the food on top of the box.
4. Allow the dog to investigate and find the food.
5. Place the food inside of the box.
6. Allow the dog to investigate and find the food. If they are too fearful, repeat steps 1-4 or try putting the box on its side. A little hesitation/weariness is normal at first. Allow the dog to build up courage without adding too much pressure/encouragement.
7. Continue to toss food while their head is in the box. Target can be added.
8. Slow down food rewards to build focus on the box/target. Stopping reward flow if they break focus/move away and continuing to reward once they are back on task.
9. Gradually increase the duration before the reward. This will build the time the dog stays committed to the task before they get the reward.
10. Add a distraction before the reward while the dog stays focused on the task. This should be done very gradually at first with increased difficulty overtime.
Ace is having fun figuring this new task out! It’s helping to make other challenges easier and build his self-assurance. Mental fitness is just as important as physical and can help heal behav
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