I want to take a moment to talk about the indirect benefits of precision obedience and sport training work.
We see a pretty significant trend in our training clients. Those who pursue training work not only as a means of solving typical problems, but as a hobby and activity, see better results. Owners who pursue ongoing education, dog related activities, and dog sports always see the greatest positive change in their dogs' behaviors.
This is especially true for owners who are working through more significant problem behaviors, such as reactivity, fearfulness, and mild aggression.
Why do we see such a strong correlation? I believe it comes down to a strong history of relationship building and strengthening of communications systems.
When we work with our dogs to achieve low stress, high precision goals, two major things happen.
1. We are forced to strengthen and diversify our methods of communication with our dogs. As we creatively problem solve for novel tasks, we expand our skill set as handlers to show our dogs what we would like them to achieve and motivate them to engage in the work.
2. We improve our relationship with our dogs by building a history of collaboration and conversational training. The end behaviors are not the critical piece of this work, but the skills, habits, and emotions that we build within our dogs are.
Through obedience and sport work, your dog builds trust in your direction, respect for you as a leader, and a habit of seeking feedback and interaction from you over the environment. By working collaboratively with you under low stress, your dog learns to seek out engagement with you and trust you to direct them towards comfort, safety, and rewarding experiences. A dog is used to following direction and working collaboratively with you in the minor, low pressure moments and is more likely to fall into that habit in the higher pressure, high arousal scenarios when they are struggling. By intentionally building a long history of being a
Summit K9 Training and Daycare
Get the most out of your relationship with your dog through Summit K9's Training and Daycare Programs!
It is our mission to empower owners to more fully integrate their dogs into their daily life. Whether you want to take stress-free strolls around the neighborhood with a dog that doesn't pull, visit to pet friendly cafes and breweries with a calm companion, or enjoy safe off-leash hikes with a dog that always comes when called, we have a program for you!
Join our training and walking programs if you want a dog that:
✅ looks to your for direction and listens to your cues.
✅ can settle and relax on cue.
✅ comes when you call them.
✅ is physically, mentally, and emotionally fulfilled.
✅ walks nicely on a loose leash.
✅ reliably follows your cues when off-leash.
✅ is properly socialized to new people, dogs, and other distractions.
✅ relaxes during grooming and nail trims.
✅ has a well rounded skill set that prevents problems before they start!
Dog training is not one size fits all, and we frequently customize programs to help clients achieve their goals, taking into consideration the needs of the dog, schedule of the client, and budget.
Though we offer a variety of services, our main programs include:
• Private Training
• Day Camp (training oriented daycare)
• Hybrid Board & Train
• Group Classes
• Scent Detection Classes
• Workshops, seminars, and events
Visit summitk9training.com to learn more about our programs and services. Register and take the first step to a happier, healthier, and more adventurous life with your dog!
Looking for a way to provide your dog with more exercise, socialization, and mental enrichment WHILE gaining rockin' obedience skills? We are currently accepting applications for new Day Camp participants! Learn more about the program and schedule a Day Camp Consultation on our website to join in the fun 💫
🐶How does it work?🐶
Dogs enrolled in day camp are dropped off at the Summit K9 facility in the morning during the specified drop off window. While at camp, dogs are worked individually and in groups throughout the day, building key training skills, enjoying physical and mental outlets, and learning effective inter-dog socialization skills. Between sessions, dogs rest in kennels to allow them to relax and reset!
The number and length of activity sessions will depend on the target skills/activities set for the individual day and dog, and will vary. On days where dogs receive more structured obedience work in the early portion of the day, we will provide more unstructured play or enrichment time to create an enjoyable, balanced, and well-rounded experience for the dog. Occasionally, Level 3 and 4 dogs may be taken on off-site field trips for real world practice! At the end of the day, dogs will be picked up by their owners during the specified pick up time window, and will receive a brief update on how the day went.
During their time at camp, dogs will rotate through sessions that focus on:
🌟 Training & Skill Building
🌟 Conditioned Relaxation & Rest
🌟 Socialization & Play
🌟 Enrichment & Mental/Physical Exercise
Rather than providing a traditional, free play version of daycare, the Summit K9 Day Camp program subscribes to a more structured, training-based model that ensures the highest level of safety, comfort, and enrichment for enrolled dogs. Dogs in this program will receive far more than a few play sessions with other dogs throughout the day.
Though this program is open to all dogs, and would provide excellent enrichment and training wo
Alright guys, we have a whole bunch of very exciting new group classes launching over the next few months!
Upcoming classes include:
⭐️Loose Leash Walking Mini Course
⭐️AKC STAR Puppy
⭐️Bombproof Base Training
⭐️Off Leash Obedience - Foundations, Intermediate, & Advanced
⭐️Reactivity Reboot 1 & 2
To learn more about each and register, please visit our website at summitk9training.com/groupclasses.
Space is very limited, so be sure to register early in order to reserve your spot!
ANNOUNCEMENT: We are now accepting NEW Day Camp clients!
🐾Self schedule your Day Camp Consultation on our website today🐾
BookSummitK9.as.me/daycampconsult
How does it work?
Dogs enrolled in day camp are dropped off at the Summit K9 facility in the morning during the specified drop off window. While at camp, dogs are worked individually and in groups throughout the day, building key training skills, enjoying physical and mental outlets, and learning effective inter-dog socialization skills. Between sessions, dogs rest in kennels to allow them to relax and reset!
The number and length of activity sessions will depend on the target skills/activities set for the individual day and dog, and will vary. On days where dogs receive more structured obedience work in the early portion of the day, we will provide more unstructured play or enrichment time to create an enjoyable, balanced, and well-rounded experience for the dog. Occasionally, Level 3 and 4 dogs may be taken on off-site field trips for real world practice!
At the end of the day, dogs will be picked up by their owners during the specified pick up time window, and will receive a brief update on how the day went.
During their time at camp, dogs will rotate through sessions that focus on:
🌟 Training & Skill Building
🌟 Conditioned Relaxation & Rest
🌟 Socialization & Play
🌟 Enrichment & Mental/Physical Exercise
Rather than providing a traditional, free play version of daycare, the Summit K9 Day Camp program subscribes to a more structured, training-based model that ensures the highest level of safety, comfort, and enrichment for enrolled dogs. Dogs in this program will receive far more than a few play sessions with other dogs throughout the day.
Though this program is open to all dogs, and would provide excellent enrichment and training work for stable, outgoing dogs, this is also an ideal program for dogs that may otherwise fail to thrive in a more traditional daycare setting.
This program
We are happy to announce our upcoming March group classes! After a brief hiatus from offering group options as we transitioned to the new facility, we are excited to be jumping back in with our Reactivity Reboot, Fundamentals of a Great Relationship, and STAR Puppy classes.
All current classes will take place at our new 3,300SF space at 1555 Brooks Avenue in Rochester🐾
Visit summitk9training.com/groupclasses to learn more and register!
We are very excited to announce that we will FINALLY be offering an Introduction to Canicross Workshop this October!
What is canicross, you ask? Canicross is a joring sport, like mushing, skijoring, and bikejoring, during which a dog wears a specialized harness to pull the human during a run. Not only is it a fun way to stay in shape, but it is a great way to bond with your dog and provide them with a much needed physical and mental outlet!
During this workshop, we will:
- Size you and your dog for appropriate entry level gear for the sport (we will have gear for you to borrow, no need to purchase before giving it a try!).
- Teach you how to teach your dog to pull during runs without negatively impacting your normal loose leash walks.
- Teach you the basic essential commands for safe and successful communication with your dog during runs.
- Discuss canicross safety and trail etiquette.
Participants in this workshop will meet at Buckland Park in Brighton on October 22nd, 2022 at 8:30am. Registration is $20 per person. Space in this workshop will be highly limited, so sign up soon to ensure that you receive a spot.
Follow the link to complete your registration today!
https://form.jotform.com/213405043599052
I have a confession.
I've been neglecting Rocky's grooming needs a bit.
I try to keep up with all of the care for my various pets, but day to day life has a habit of getting in the way. But the good news is, it's never too late to jump back in!
Some dogs can maintain a good nail length with longer breaks between nail trims, but alas, my dog is not one of those unicorn pups. This dude's quicks will grow out ridiculously fast. At this point, we are in serious need of rehab, so I have to double down on touching up his nails a couple of times per week with the dremel. Once he is back to an ideal length, I will likely return to dremeling only once every 2-3 weeks for maintenance.
On the bright side, such frequent trims mean that we can usually complete the task in less than five minutes, thanks to our previous training prep for grooming tasks!
There are many ways to set up your dog for trims. My preferred at-home set up with Rocky is on a place cot. I like this system, since it allows me to position him in a comfortable location and work with him on his back/side so I can look at the nails from the bottom. Since he has black nails, it can be very challenging to know if I am trimming too close and "quicking" him from the top side of the nail. By positioning him in a way that allows me to look at the nail from below, I am able to see enough to trim very short without accidentally catching the sensitive quicks.
To achieve the set up shown in the video, we worked on the following key components separately, and then combined them over time as we found what worked best for us:
- A "place"/"go to bed" cue to the cot
- A "down stay" position on the bed
- A position that I formally call a "floop" position, where Rocky lies on his side and relaxes his feet
- Desensitization to body handling
- Desensitization to holding his feet
- Desensitization to the dremel (Rocky was pretty comfortable with this to start, which made my job easy! Many dogs need a bit of careful work befo
What does a healthy dog-human relationship look like?
To the average dog owner, a "good" relationship with their dog is simply defined by the level of affection their dog gives them. Though it is a great sign if your dog values you enough to choose to interact frequently, affection alone does not equal a healthy relationship.
We recognize this all the time in people. Love alone does not create a healthy balance, and in some cases, it can even hinder it.
So what defines a healthy relationship? Well, that's subjective, but in my experience, it comes down to a few key components, whether we are discussing human-human or human-animal relationships.
Communication, trust, and mutual respect.
Good training work built on the foundation of a poor relationship will never flourish in the same way that good training work paired with great relationship building will. You may be able to get your dog to work for you, but it won't have that x factor that truly beautiful dogmanship has.
So how do we build a better relationship with our dogs?
We first ask ourselves some key questions:
💛 Have I created a system of communication that allows me to work in harmony with my dog and set fair expectations?
💛 Am I evaluating their behavior and opening myself to what they are trying to tell me?
💛 Am I setting clear and appropriate boundaries that ensure that my dog understands what is expected from them?
💛 What have I done to earn my dog's trust?
💛 Do I advocate for them when they are struggling?
💛 Am I creating structure in the home that fulfills my dog's needs and provides them with a relaxed state of mind?
💛 Am I making training decisions based on reading their responses, rather than my own biases?
And most importantly:
💛 Am I making decisions for my dog based only on my own desires and feelings, or am I taking theirs into account? Or on the opposite end of the spectrum, am I assigning too much priority to my dog's desires, at the expense of my own?
A little sneak peak into Day Camp!
This is a very shortened version of a day camp structured session, demonstrating most of the key skills that we prioritize and implement with every dog entering the program. Note the calm and quiet crate skills, respect of thresholds (waiting for name cue to exit or enter their crate), reliability of stay positions with low to mid level distractions, neutrality to the other dogs, and loose leash walk skills as a group. We are still working on speed and responsiveness for the group sit, but that will come with time, consistency, and repetition!
This is a rock star crew of client dogs, with many of these pups having been enrolled in our programs for anywhere between 4 months and 18 months. This level of reliability in behavior is what we are striving for with every dog coming through the program. Though this video is limited to the area of the van for recording purposes, during usual sessions we will work in a variety of locations, occasionally making our way through city streets or going for longer group hikes. We make a point to get the dogs used to working in as wide a range of environments and scenarios as possible, to prepare them best for real work obedience work with their owners!
And don't worry, we mix it up and give the dogs plenty of low key fun time as well. Look in the comments to see Luna and Skye rockin' their long down and recall!
Teaching the Day Camp dogs to relax ANYWHERE ☕
See the full video on our YouTube Channel by following this link! https://youtu.be/JOjFyTbxAJA
B a l a n c e
As trainers, it's our job to motivate our clients to put in the work to teach their dogs how to be the best version of themselves. The version that can relax and stay focused during challenging situations, and that had the skills necessary to enjoy the highest level of freedom in their day to day lives.
But in pursuing better training skills, it can be easy to neglect budgeting down time with your dog. It's important to find ways to balance things out with down time together without the added stress and expectation layered into formal training sessions.
The key here is to find things that you both enjoy that set you up for easy success. For Rocky and I, this usually means off leash hiking (with an e-collar for a safety backup!) or canicross running. If we feel like it, we may throw some fun obedience or trick work in the mix, but just for fun and to mix things up! For recovery sessions like this, we always choose somewhere quiet without a lot of dogs and people close by, so we can relax without having to worry about having a tough reactivity day or having an off leash dog put a dent in the fun of our session.
For dogs that aren't 100% off leash reliable yet, this is where a long line comes in handy! Before Rocky was off leash obedient, we used a 30 foot line that allowed him to freely explore without the risk of taking off. Before his reactivity was under control, we would usually go to private land that we had permission to take walks on, rather than an unpredictable public space. If you have a dog that doesn't like to pull, you can choose any number of activities outside of mushing sports. If Rocky was toy driven, we might replace that with a fun game of fetch or tug instead!
This type of work is not only important for your dog, but for you! Always expecting to make obedience gains whenever you are interacting with your dog can make training stressful, and can make you avoid training sessions or hand that stress off to your dog. By mindfully l
... and then I wonder why I'm so exhausted after Day Camp 😅
Summit K9
Get the most out of your relationship with your dog through Summit K9's Training and Walking Programs!
It is our mission to empower owners to more fully integrate their dogs into their daily life. Whether you want to take stress-free strolls around the neighborhood with a dog that doesn't pull, visit to pet friendly cafes and breweries with a calm companion, or enjoy safe off-leash hikes with a dog that always comes when called, we have a program for you!
Join our training and walking programs if you want a dog that:
✅ looks to your for direction and listens to your cues.
✅ can settle and relax on cue.
✅ comes when you call them.
✅ is physically, mentally, and emotionally fulfilled.
✅ walks nicely on a loose leash.
✅ reliably follows your cues when off-leash.
✅ is properly socialized to new people, dogs, and other distractions.
✅ relaxes during grooming and nail trims.
✅ has a well rounded skill set that prevents problems before they start!
Dog training is not one size fits all, and we frequently customize programs to help clients achieve their goals, taking into consideration the needs of the dog, schedule of the client, and budget.
Though we offer a variety of services, our main programs include:
• Private In-Home Training
• Day Training
• Mobile Day Camp
• Group Classes
• Pack Dog Walking
• Solo Dog Walking
• Dream Puppy Consults
Visit summitk9training.com to learn more about our programs and services. Register and take the first step to a happier, healthier, and more adventurous life with your dog!
M I N D S E T.
This pas week, we started up our Mobile Day Camp! There is such an interesting group of dogs in the mix, all with very diverse drives, personalities, and owner goals. Miner, a __ year old German Shepherd, has been struggling a bit with calmness, focus, and engagement. Here, he is exhibiting excessive arousal in the crate due to his anticipation for work. This type of behavior is not uncommon in the breed, but it can cause distinct problems. Like human anxiety, this is not a healthy state of mind for the dog to maintain, even though the root cause of the anxiety is excitement, which we generally consider a "good" emotion.
This behavior is not anxiety about riding in the car or being in the crate. How can we tell? He exclusively exhibits these behaviors (vocalizing, spinning, pushing at the crate door) when I open the door on his side of the van, at which point he sees a potential opportunity to work. When his turn ends, he happily jumps back into the crate without issue and is quiet while in the car without the doors open.
What I am looking for here is for him to quiet, relax, and wait for me to put on his collar and verbally release him from the crate. I wait until he shows early signs of self soothing (lying down, yawning, letting out a big sigh, quieting down), even if it is just for a moment, and those are the moments that I initiate the unloading process. If he returns to the earlier outlet behaviors (vocalizing) or tries to push his way out of the crate, I close the door and repeat the waiting game. His reward is a release from the crate.
I do this every time that I take him out of the crate, no exceptions. At this early stage, I am willing to accept small improvements, but as he begins to understand the new system, I will expect longer and more distinct calmness prior to release. By doing this, we are encouraging him to practice self calming behaviors and practice finding a healthier state of mind in order to receive his desired reward (i.e.
