Freedom Dog Training Academy

Check out 4.5 month old Lucas rocking his long line training.

At the end of the day, boarding dogs Sandy and Sky enjoying some time chilling in our living room.

It’s just as important to hang out with your dog as to do movement in training. Sirius and walked around the part for about 30 minutes and now we’re hanging out watching the world go by. This is an important skill that could be used * while watching your child play a sport * visiting a dog friendly outdoor restaurant in the summer *stopping to shop at a stall at the local outdoor market * and many more things. I have not told Sirius to down and she is not in a command. We’re just hanging out.

It’s been a beautiful day! We’re you able to get out with your dog today?

Figure eight fun!

Although we talk a lot of helping dogs through relaxation, rewards and perception modification and not using obedience to fix behavior issues, we do teach obedience. We do obedience cause it’s fun to work on with dogs. At a private lesson today, we had some fun with figure eights. Great job to all the dogs and people! freedomdta.com

Bri relaxing

Our Let's Relax! workshop is coming up at the end of the month, March 25-26, 2023. The workshop focusses on teaching the TBTE Relaxation Triad. Here is an example of how this can help your dog. Bri came into training a nervous, pacey dog. She couldn't settle or relax, would pace all around the house and didn't have much of an appetite. After some training working on the TBTE Relaxation triad she is learning that relaxation feels good comapred to being nervous. She is not in a command here. I have not told her to lay on this bed. Rather she is loose in the house and has chosen on her own to lay down and relax. Learning to relax is a skill the same as learning to sit or walk on a leash. We need to teach the dog. We want to help owners and their dogs. It's nerve wrecking for an owner to have a pacey, nervous, anxious dog but it also doesn't feel good to the dog to be that way. We can help both owner and dog feel better together. If your dog needs help in learning how to relax come join us! https://portal.busypaws.app/customers/freedom-dog-training-academy

Ozzy being a good boy!

Our Stop That! workshop is coming up next month on April 1 and 2, 20223. We will be teaching many skills on teaching your dog to stop doing behaviors you don't want. One example is teaching your dog to stop running out doors. This include includes any threshold from coming out of the crate, gates and doors in houses and cars. Here is an example of how the foundational work of working on doors can become more advanced. I was doing some yard work with a Ozzy, a board and train dog, out and I needed to take some sticks out of the training area to where the burn barrel is. Ozzy understands that he is not allowed to go out the gate unless certain conditions are made so I don't need to tell him not to go through as that is his default choice. It's so nice to not have to worry about opening a gate or door and having a dog assume they can go through unless they are told not to but they assume they can't and are waiting for permission. Also important is that Ozzy understands that just cause the gate opens doesn't mean he'll necesarily be going through it. He does an awesome job! Sign up for our Stop That! workshop and other workshops by clicking here! we love to have you and your dog out for the weekend! https://portal.busypaws.app/customers/freedom-dog-training-academy

Does your dog fixate on things on their walks?

There are different ways to approaching training a dog. I, myself, have tried various methods over the years as both a regular dog owner and as a professional dog trainer. In this video, I talk about different approaches to working on when a dog wants to fixate or stare at things, people, dogs or critters. This is an example of a post and video from our online courses. Our online courses can be taken on their own (with our Exclusive Client Support Group included to ask questions and share with others) or used as part of private lesson or board and train. We love to give our client support during and in between sessions.

One of the things we'll be covering in our Stop That! workshop is how to teach your dog to stop running out of the door. This video clip is from the first few days of a board and train with a 5 month old Rott puppy. He does make a brief try to out the door as his initial reaction to a door opening was to barrel right through. Even with his mishap of forgetfulness, you can see him remember, "oh yay, I do a new thing now". We teach dogs to have what is called a negative assumption about going through doorways. This means that the dog assumes they cannot go through the doorway until certain conditions are met. Most trainers teach what is considered a positive assumption. Meaning that that the dog assumes they can go through the door unless you tell them not to or to do something else such as sit. Overtime this skill that the puppy is learning will advance as far as being able to open the front door, get the pizza from the delivery person and no dog runs out or bringing the groceries in from the car and you can leave the door open when unloading and no dogs escape the house. The Stop That! workshop is April 1-2, 9am-5pm each day. It's a small workshop with only four working spots and four auditing spots so everyone will receive plenty of help! You can sign up from our event link here. https://www.facebook.com/events/2474397416042196

Freedom!

Does your dog love to run and play? But is your dog pushy with other dogs or will run off and not come back? Miss Rio used to run off and play keep away and when another dog decided they didn’t wanna play with her she would just bark at them. Here she has a really nice run with Doc and a really nice pause at the end. Both her and the other dogs are much happier.  Want to feel like you let your dog have fun and not be worried? Let us help! freedomdta.com

Ducks? Who cares!

Ducks? Who cares? What does your dog do when they see ducks, rabbits, squirrels or other distractions? Rio LOVES ducks! We’re worked on him being emotionally flexible. So when it’s not time to retrieve it he’s not allowed to chase something he’s not upset. He takes it in stride. freedomdta.com

We took a walk this morning. Such wonderful weather. There are beautiful ponds here but the dogs can’t swim in them as there are gators. We saw out first gator sitting just above the water line. We were a safe distance away.

Door Manners

Teaching dogs to not rush through doors and wait their turn is an important skill. This also applies to coming out of the crate and not rushing out of a car. So nice not to have to feel like your dog will jump out of he car and run away. Notice I didn't say anything to the dogs when I walked through the training room door. I didn't tell them wait or stay or anything. The behavior is taught to be automatic, as part of a habit. Chris is my 9 year old border collie I got at a year old. Rio is a 6 month old goldendoodle who has been with me for a month and Doc is my 6 year old Malinois who I got at 18 months old. Great job this trio did!

What does leash walking look like with your dog? Here is 6 month old Miss Rio finishing up her long line leash walking foundation. She's walking nicely on a 15 foot long line. It will be an easy switch to a 6 foot leash.

What does it look like when you walk out your front door without saying anything and FedEx delivers a package? Would you prefer your dog(s) were more like this? We can help! freedomdta.com