Tag Archives: puppy training

a recent session at our Dog Gym

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It’s kind of a relationship thing.

I work with my dogs every day, and work holds many definitions in our household. It can be any variety and/or combination of dog sports, hiking, yard work, fetch games, play with a purpose, family room tricks, nose work, find its, etc. Always varied, always creative, always something that my dogs and I look forward too. And it’s everyday. My dogs deserve this from me at the very least. Besides work being exercise that we all need, it is also glue for our relationship, relationship in motion so to speak.

Our YouTube channel NANCYSPORE has a glimpse into some of the things I do with my dogs, I think I have over 180 public videos posted on there. Some are for my own reference, some to support our clients during their classes, a few are tutorials, and some were posted because of a request to see something in action. I’ve loved doing all of them.

Anyhoo… here is one that I posted last night. A friend that I met on line a few years ago wanted to see what’s up with my training these days ... Happy to oblige, we had some fun!

Nancy, who is grateful for great partners!

 

 

a family affair, with friends and furry loved ones!

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Our facility is fully open now! Well it has been for about a month really, but we were working out some kinks and finishing up the office. We had our official Open House yesterday! While I have attended open houses over the years, my favorites being hardware store openings, I have never had the pleasure to host my own.

It is simply the coolest feeling ever to open your doors, invite people to come on over, and step aside to allow them to enjoy it. We put a lot of thought and heart into our new space, and while it’s personal to me,  and a space I love, it’s totally different when you open the doors and let everyone make it their own, for their own reasons. Every single person that walked through our doors had a smile, and kindness to share. It was awesome, and as one person said, refreshing!

And this is what I hoped for. A place where people and their dogs can come and enjoy their time working together. A place that feels good from the moment you walk in the door. And as I have always said, and I hope our new space is a direct translation of these words, “learn as much as possible, have fun, and do more!”

Thank you to Bridger Feeds, Petcurean, FitPAWS, Eagle Ridge Ranch, and our Scent Project! It is so fun to give things away!

I was visiting with people all morning and tried to get to my camera but never made it. So here are the final photos and the final touches … Nancy

if your new to following the story on our new facility, click here to read, and see the photos of where we started, the progress, and what we now have!

we made the newspaper, and a successful sale!

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Our new Dog Gym made the Sunday Bozeman Chronicle! I’m always a bit hesitant to give interviews, you just never know how it will be translated and rewritten.I do about two per year for newspapers and magazines, some come out great, and others make me cringe. This article was pretty accurate and to the point, yay! Thank you Amanda. And some beautiful photos by Adrian Sanchez Gonzalez.

Such a busy and exciting weekend!

As everything goes, it doesn’t happen without family and friends support and handwork. Early mornings and late nights, laughter and coffee. But we did it! And it was awesome to see friends from the dog world from years ago, that either stopped by to buy, or just to have some early morning coffee and chat.

Kenny Hess with Petcurean stopped by and dropped off sample dog food for our sale, it was awesome! They are going to be sponsoring our puppy and competition classes. Thank you!

Liz, Sharon, Piper, Spore and Renn helped through the whole Used Dog Gear Sale, thank you isn’t enough. It was our first, and because we had such amazing response we will most likely have them annually. People were able to sell gear, others picked up great deals, and we had a few other dog training facilities come and buy a bunch. We opened at 6am, and sold half of everything by 6:30am. It was awesome. Smart phones and Facebook actually put a new spin on things. We did sales even after we closed. What was left was posted, and we still have gear going out and being picked up this week!

I am proud to say I now have one shed free of stuff! woop!

Start saving your dog gear fro next year!

Nancy

but I heard this breed makes a great family pet …

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Here comes a bounding blur of a fur ball. Running right at me, apparently not even looking for obstacles to avoid, like knee caps. Tongue flying, legs trying to keep up with the momentum, and I just can’t help but smile. As my friend Cat B. says, and I have quoted her so often over the years, when a dog is playing, their whole body smiles!

This particular fur ball was a sixteen week old Bernese Mountain Dog. Her owners weren’t smiling, in fact they were on the verge of tears, and their stress was palpable. They had been told that BMD’s make great family pets, so on that recommendation alone, without further research into dog ownership, they got a puppy. A puppy for their three young children and busy household.

Any time there is a write up on a breed, whether it’s in a breed book, a dog magazine or on a breeders website, it acts the same as a dating service. They touch on what the adult mature dog should be like, and try to promote the positive attributes.

Tri color with thick luscious coat. Built for work but enjoys laying around the house on hot summer days. Easy going and social, with a sense of humor. Weighing in between 75-100 pounds, not giant but substantial and eye catching. Enjoys walks, romps with friends, dog sports and farm work. Great family dog.

What these write ups forget to mention is the puppy thru adolescent thru young adult stages. And the very real fact that once you get a puppy, that is supposed to be a great family dog, it takes roughly 3-4+ years to reach maturity. As Sheldon would say, BAZINGA!

When this particular family asked me if there was something wrong with their puppy, I said no, I would snatch her up in a heart beat. This puppy was so cute, charming, and appropriate for her age. She was social but not in your face, playful with playmates, good balance, had nice settle, not too mouthy just puppy stuff, and wanted to engage and work (yay!). Lovely on all levels, but not a mature dog, she was a puppy! And puppies make puppy choices, which aren’t always wise or well thought out.

Pre schoolers and puppies are just about the same on the wise choice scale. If you wouldn’t leave a pre schooler in charge of your home while you go shopping for the day, chances are you shouldn’t do it with a puppy either.

The problem, and where the source of the stress was coming from, is that this family was never prepared for the first 3-4 years of this dogs life. They some how were expecting the adult description of this breed to apply to a young puppy, and had not considered the enormous amount of time, structure, and management a puppy takes.

To all of our potential puppy homes I share our puppy tips first, just to make sure they are aware of the work ahead of them, if they want to grow a well balanced family dog.

This is not uncommon at all, this happens all of the time, literally all of the time, no matter what the breed of puppy is. Well meaning families, trying to make a good choice, but didn’t quite get all of the information. Working with a trainer before getting a puppy is, in my opinion, a good thing. I’ve found that it can take a great deal of the stress away, and helps with having a support system.

So, here is to the bounding little fur balls, may your families understand this important stage in your life, and rise to the occasion. Growing a puppy takes time, patience, guidance, and love.

Nancy

Building the Therpay Dog & Canine Crisis Response Team – DVD release

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YAY! my third DVD was released today. Produced by the wonderful team at Tawzer Dog. A huge thank you to my clients and friends who brought their puppies and dogs in for filming. They were awesome. Some awesomely scampy, others awesomely calm!

” …Building a Therapy Dog or a Crisis Response Dog from puppy on thru adult isn’t always as straight forward as it may seem. It goes beyond the basics of sit, down and come. Puppies, adolescents, and young adult dogs have special considerations during certain developmental stages. Handlers that have the goal of being part of a working dog/handler team learn how to keep things real and work through all of these stages while becoming better at observation and handling.

Starting with small group puppies, this video shows new handlers and their puppies working through some less obvious challenges, working with short attention spans, working with distractions, handling to encourage team, socialization, and play.  Live handler instruction demonstrates the important components when building a working team.

The adolescent team exercises and training shows the more fluency and understanding in the team. Adding duration, distractions and more settle. Working through the challenges of sub fear stages, sounds sensitivity, over exuberance and more.

Young adult teams learning more specific behaviors, truly working as a team. The challenges for these handlers are distractions, some exuberance, and curiosity.

Finishing with two working teams walking through a down town area with everyday distractions. Fluency and relationship are seamless and tangible, and all of their hard work through the early years with challenges is paying off.   There are short interviews at a local bookstore that again keep the goal of becoming a working team very real…”

PREVIEW CLIP

oh she’s just doing that border collie thing … but she isn’t a border collie!

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Last night we had our Monday Night Walk from our new facility. There is an awesome trail system built and maintained by the Gallatin Valley Land Trust that meanders through homes, along the creeks, through the woods and beyond, simply awesome!

We had a great group last night. Vicki who lives in the neighborhood was our tour guide on this trail and took us to a wonderful swimming hole to cool off!

All of the trail systems in Bozeman are on leash, the signs are everywhere so it isn’t hard to miss. As we rounded a corner in the woods, a young lady was texting and didn’t see us coming, but her American Bull Dog did and went into a low predatory crouch and was stalking towards us. When I stepped in front of our group and asked her to get her dog, she responded with not only my dog is friendly, but went so far as to say, she is just doing that Border Collie thing. Minor jaw drop from me. She was actually nice when I explained that we had four dogs and needed to pass safely, and she put her dogs leash on right away.

Once her dog was on leash and we passed them I felt that I needed to explain to our group why that was inappropriate and why they need to be their dogs advocate first. I know I am a Mother Hen in this way, I own that, but bottom line, an American Bull Dog is not a Border Collie, and even if this young lady had a Border Collie it would still be wrong. A predatory stalk on people or other dogs is called locking and loading, it is the same gesture as pointing a gun at someone. It is meant to intimidate and cause fear. It is not a friendly gesture, that’s why stock animals move for Border Collies, it isn’t like saying please in any way shape or form.

NOTE – Always be your dogs voice when out in the human world, stand up for them and create a safe environment for them, even if it means that you need to ask someone else to be more responsible with their actions. Your dog deserves this effort!

We passed bicycles, joggers, baby strollers, about four other dogs. Polite trail users get a huge Thank You from me!

Get out, do more, be polite, and be your dogs advocate!

Nancy

Top 10 tips for puppy owners

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This article received a DWAA nomination, February 2013!

There are more tips than this, but these are the Top 10 that have come up over the past nine years, working with almost 400 puppies each year.

A helpful reminder to puppy owner’s who want to grow their puppy into a balanced and loving adult dog. Whether you’re goal is competition, hiking, awesome family pet, or beyond.

Top 10 – PLEASE DO THIS

  1. Handle your puppy with safe and trusting human hands. Prepare your puppy for handling of the body, ears, back, belly, and paws. Pick your puppy up from time to time during the day and give them small treats or a nice kiss and then put them down. Holding should be a positive experience. Massaging puppies right before they drift off to sleep is a great way to make touch a positive thing!
  2. Socialize your puppy kindly and considerately. NOTE – you are their voice in the human world, you always choose their environments. When taking your new puppy out and about, introduce them to people (children, men, women, elderly…), places, things, events and other well socialized appropriate dogs (always ask, “is your dog friendly with puppies”). Socialization starts the day you bring your puppy home, not when they are done with their vaccination schedule. Invite puppies over to your home that are in your training classes and have play dates on a regular basis.
  3. Have a managed and structured environment. When you have a routine for your puppy, you eliminate much of the guess work. Potty, feed breakfast while working on play with a purpose or specific behaviors, potty again, possible short walk or socialization outing, potty again, and then crate or have your puppy in a gated managed space for a nice long nap. Repeat throughout the day.
  4. All Food and Rewards should be healthy choices. Saving your left over meat in little baggies and freezing is the Best training reward you can offer. Water should be available from the time your puppy wakes up until they go to bed at night. Not necessarily in their crate during nap times, but anytime they are active and moving about. A dehydrated puppy is not a place you want to visit. If your puppy is thirsty, believe them!
  5. Have items available on the floor at all times for teething puppies. VIDEO. If your puppy grabs onto your hand, exchange with a bully stick or raw bone. Always exchange, even if it feels like you’ve done it for the bazillionth time. Be honest in the fact that your puppy is loosing, pushing and setting teeth until 13 months or so. Always give their mouth a job for a successful teething season!
  6. Always carry rewards in your pocket, always! Because you live with your puppy you are in fact training and teaching 24/7. Everything you do in your home or yard teaches your puppy something new about their life with you. If you see your puppy offer a behavior that you like and want to keep, please reward it. You are giving your puppy awesome information this way! This is not active training, but more life skills teaching.
  7. When actively training new behaviors make sure you have a plan. Take a class or read up on, getting a behavior + marking a behavior + rewarding a behavior. That pattern will take you from the basics all the way to pushing a ball across a field. Be a good consistent teacher.
  8. Playing and interacting with your puppy is vital in growing a socially and emotionally balanced dog. Playing together with toys, hide n seek, recall games, find it, etc. Play with a Purpose is the foundation for structured play, building team, trust, and a great relationship. Puppies should bring out your creative side!
  9. Crate or a fenced manged space is very important for a successful household. It eliminates so much conflict and stress with an active puppy, helps with house training, and keeps puppies successful in a human environment. These managed spaces should be used after you have met your puppies needs (please refer to #3), for down time, or managed time while you are away. In general, a puppy should never be crated more than 3 1/2 to 4 hours at a time. Their crate should be in a space where they feel safe, isn’t to cold or hot, and where they enjoy just hanging out. The families bedroom tends to be that space more times than not.
  10. Love your puppy. Let them know how much you love them. Talk to your puppy, touch your puppy, lay down and cuddle on the floor together. Bonding is a large part of a healthy trusting relationship.

Top 10-  DON’T DO THIS

  1. Rough housing, while fun in the moment, teaches puppies that human hands can’t always be trusted. You are also encouraging inappropriate play with will eventually get you a small ding on your hand or face, and your puppy a good correction.
  2. Don’t take a young puppy to a dog park, this is for health and safety reasons.
  3. Don’t get busy with your day and let your puppy guess what their job is with you. If you give a puppy lots of freedom without supervision they will fail and then you will correct them.
  4. Don’t give junky food to your puppy. No corn, wheat, soy, sugar or food dyes. Read the labels. Don’t restrict water, ever!
  5. Don’t ever grab your puppies mouth and hold it shut and scream NO BITE. Frankly this creeps me out, but it’s just poor handling and will clarify to your puppy that you cannot be trusted. Puppies need to explore with their paws and jaws, it’s up to the handler to provide the appropriate management and items to chew on besides human body parts. Some puppies are more mouthy and grippy than others, in those instances, you will need to be even more vigilant to management and giving your puppies mouth a job with items to chew on.
  6. Don’t ignore behaviors that your puppy offers just because you are not in an active training session. Being a good observer is part of being a good puppy owner.
  7. Don’t demand that your puppy obey your commands, again so creepy. Your puppy is not a minion, robot or thoughtless piece of property. Most puppies that have crossed my path can out reason most people I know. Know the behaviors that will be important in your household and beyond, and make a plan to teach them in a positive way.
  8. Don’t put your puppy in the back yard to entertain themselves while you go about your day. You will teach your puppy that they are on their own and the relationship will not be a strong one. You will also get one if not all of the following; barking, fence running, property guarding, and/or digging.
  9. Don’t leave a puppy unattended in the home while you are working in another room or when you go out. Puppies will make puppy choices and they are generally destructive. Manage first so you don’t fall into correcting later. Don’t use a crate for extended periods of time with a puppy, or as a place of punishment.
  10. Don’t withhold affection or love. To be an authoritarian, bossy and/or domineering will ding your relationship with your puppy. I have never seen an emotionally or socially balanced puppy who grew up in this type of environment. There is no healthy relationship I know of where one living being dominates over the other living being and it’s good to go!

Nancy