Quarterback K9 Training

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!! ✨

Scott, Lara, Durango, Lemon & Doc 🐾🎄🤍

A puppy was not part of our plan this year!

Sure, we had talked about eventually getting another dog, especially as Durango is getting older and Lemon is becoming more social, mature & confident. Another dog made sense to welcome into the pack. A dog to benefit from the wisdom and calm energy of Durango, to be a playmate and friend to Lemon. To carry the torch forward from Callie and Edgar and all the other dogs we’ve had in our life.

We’ve always tried to keep the original thread of our pack alive - to have a continual touch point through at least one of the dogs who had lived with the previous pack members. Quite possibly just for selfish reasons but I like to think there is a bit of magic that gets carried forward!

We knew we wanted our next dog to be sweet and social. As much as Lemon has developed socially, she still gets a little worried in some situations, and we knew a more confident friend would help balance that out.

We weren’t in a hurry. We thought about our favorite breeds - retrievers, collies, and of course spaniels. We also knew what we wanted in terms of personality - social, sweet, easily directed, easygoing, adaptable, brave, playful, food and toy motivated with a touch of independence.

And sometimes the universe says, well here you go! ✨

Doc. We love you so much little buddy!! Welcome to our family. 💙

Corrections and reinforcement: Whether you have a puppy who barks in his crate or a dog who growls when new people come into the house, it is not enough to just correct the behavior. Correct, yes - but spend most of your time teaching and reinforcing the behavior that you actually want!

For the puppy, this means progressively conditioning them to be in the crate and reinforcing when they are not barking. For the dog who growls when new people come over, this means progressively conditioning them that when new people come over, nothing bad happens so they don’t need to be growly and will be reinforced when they are quiet and neutral.

Progressive conditioning means starting at the spot where your dog is comfortable. For the puppy this may be walking into the crate and being quiet while you walk 5’ away. For the nervous dog this may mean being in their crate with the new person 20’ away or walking with them 8’ apart.

Then you systematically, over days and weeks, progressively increase the challenge by 1-5% each time. The best way to do this is to practice several short sessions every day.

For example, the puppy can walk into the crate and be quiet while you walk 5’ away. If you walk out of their sight at 6’ they start barking. So, you practice at 4’, 5’, reinforcing that. Then you try 5.2 feet for one second and they are quiet! Great - go back to the crate and they get a piece of food, reinforcing that. Then you try 5.3 feet, 5.4 feet both successful and reinforced - then give them a break and practice again later that day, trying for a bit further each time.

Continued in comments.

The best gift you can give your shy/ anxious/ fearful/ nervous dog? DIRECTION.

These dogs are the ones who capture our attention. They pull at our heart strings. We see them suffering and we want to help. In an effort to make them feel more comfortable, many people remove boundaries and what they see as pressure. Meaning, these dogs are allowed to have free roam of the house and yard, they are allowed unrestricted access to personal space like beds and couches, they are rarely crated and allowed to “choose” where they want to be at any given time.

I get called in as a trainer to help these dogs when they start displaying behaviors like reactivity, resource guarding, inability to settle, not wanting to eat or shutting down completely.

To the surprise of their people, these dogs often start turning around the very first session, with some simple and kind direction.

The command we usually start with is “place.” This is an easy way for dog and person to work together and have success speaking a shared language. Person shows dog how to do something new. Dog may not be sure about it at first, but is reinforced and rewarded for following the direction. When they achieve it, both dog and person are happy! Their confidence and mutual trust gows!

Then we work on walking together, in a manner where the person is leading the dog. The dog learns to follow this person who they are learning to trust. Dog feels relaxed, grateful that someone is taking the lead. Their confidence grows even more.

We also look at structure within the house. We go over how the crate is such a helpful and kind gift you can give your dog. Crating at night and when you are gone, as well as feeding the dog in their crate, can help a nervous dog feel reassurance that the crate is their safe spot within the home, and will always be there if they need it.

We also cover how the best acclimate the dog to new environments. You guessed it - baby steps of directed exposure, setting the dog up for success.

In the absence of direction. the majority of anxious dogs will progress very little, and many will regress. Direction and leadership provide dogs with immense comfort and confidence!