Wyatt and I are starting to put together a Freestyle routine! That's 'dancing' with your dog to a song!
We practiced chaining a couple behaviors in the backyard. I totally forgot a couple of the steps we had already established and Wyatt got distracted by a butterfly but it's still fun!
He's really already doing SO WELL with the behavior chains and I can't wait for us to have it all put together.
Stay tuned for our progress!
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10 seconds of walking with Wyatt! 🐕
2 observations in these 10 seconds.
First is that he immediately marks. Marking is completely natural for our dogs. It helps them to relieve stress, take in their environment and allows them to have a sense of control. Their sniffing and marking is similar to our social media's. It's a unseen web that connects the neighborhood together for them. Obviously, be polite of your neighbors flowers and such! If you feel like your dog marks excessively, it could be stress related or even a health issue.
Second, is that he is pulling on lead a little bit. This is something that I'm okay with! He's not pulling my arm totally off. We had just turned onto this street and that sometimes puts a little pepper into his step, so he surged ahead out of excitement. I also know that Wyatt and I have a toolkit of cues and behaviors ready to go so I can ask him to be at my side or whatever I need him to do if a distraction were to pop up or I just felt like he needed to calm down a bit. Also, taking in his whole body language, he is overall on the calm side, even with the slight pulling. So I let him pull for a little bit as he is enjoying his walk.
Which is the final point, it's their walk. Let them do doggy things and enjoy themselves. They have 4 legs, we have 2. They're gonna be faster than us and walk ahead. They're brain is hardwired to their noses, they're gonna sniff stuff. Allowing them to engage and enjoy what comes naturally to them is their biggest stress release.
We all have different expectations for our dogs on walks and that's okay! If you feel like you and your pup could use some help on walks, Live Life Ruff Dog Training would love to help!
Check out these new packages options!
There will be more information for each package coming out soon, so stay tuned 🙂
Let Live Life Ruff be there to support you and your pup and every stage! 🐶💚
Wyatt and I working on some proximity and following hand signals at the park this morning. It's a little bumpy but he's doing so good and has come so far!
Wyatt has his surgery coming up so we've been working on getting him used to having a kennel back up as well as his new surgical shirt. He's had a couple of short times in the kennel while he's home alone, he usually has free roam of the living room. He's been enjoying his dinner while wearing his surgical shirt and doing some fun training games. I think it's gonna be more comfortable for him than wearing the cone of shame!
Here's a super quick video of me cueing him into his kennel while I'm sitting on the couch. Then I'm dropping some treats through the top. We did this about 20 times.
Training doesn't need to be flashy or require long sessions! Work it in how and when you can. Setting your dog up for success is a key element. We've been prepping Wyatt for his surgery for a little over a week now.
Excuse us being very late on this trend and my low budget editing but this was too much fun! Who do you choose!?
Thinking of doing book recommendations every month. Thoughts? One dog training book and one 'regular' book!
It wouldn't be a dog training book recommendation without starting with "The Other End of the Leash" by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. it's on every list because it is that good! It dives into our dogs perspective on us and how we can better communicate with them.
For the regular book, "Talk to Strangers" by Matt Dahlia. I could probably fill a book with what this story means to me. I've followed the group Yes Theory for a long time and to have their journey documented in a book is truly amazing. They are a wonderful group doing their best to put good out in the world. If you want a taste, check them out on YouTube.
Leave a comment if you have read these or when you read them! Let me know if you want more recommendations next month!
Welcome February and Happy Training
