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Let’s stop striving for perfection. It’s an exhausting and never-ending endeavor.
Let’s stop striving for a perfect day, a perfect home, a perfect body, a perfect relationship, a perfect dog.
Instead, let’s strive for progress. Let’s strive for effort.
These are achievable, and they allow us to celebrate all of the little baby steps along the way.
You’re never going to reach “perfect,” but you can always make progress.
This is a video I snagged from a lesson last week with Rastus. This dog pulled his owner to the ground and through a parking lot a few months ago. Look at him now!
Change like this doesn’t come overnight. It takes hard work and committment. His owner said that it felt new and weird to slow things down and to think about walking his dog in a new mindset. Remember, we’re training your dog how to walk politely, and we’re teaching you how to lead them calmly on that walk. But after just a few short weeks, this duo is ready to take on the world!
Trust the process. Trust your trainers. I can only coach as far as you’re willing to try. But if you buy into the process and practice what we teach, you’ll see incredible results.
Dogs with impairments are just as trainable as any other dog out there. We may need to alter how we communicate with them, and we may need to get creative with our strategies, but there is no reason why these dogs can’t live full, happy, enriching lives out in the community. Don’t let anything hold you back from training a well-rounded dog!
Playtime can be an incredibly valuable time for you to build your relationship with your dog… if you take the time to set it up.
In this video, Scout is helping me demonstrate the difference between passive and enriching playtime. Anytime we can get our dogs to be mentally and physically engaged, they will get more out of their time with us. We can also use this time to incorporate impulse control and basic commands! This was our morning training session, but Scout was having so much fun, she didn’t even notice!
Let’s talk about portion sizes. How much is your “scoop” of food? A scoop to you might be 8 ounces, a scoop to me two overflowing cups, and a scoop to the guy down the street might be a handful.
In order to make sure that your dog is getting the proper nutrients that it needs, we really need to be looking at portion sizes on the food label. This will show you how much to feed your dog based either on your dog’s weight or kcals per serving. Here’s a more in-depth explanation from the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center: https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/11/what-are-these-numbers-nutrition-math-101/
Don’t guess how much to feed your dog. Age, breed, and activity level are all factors when determining how much to feed your dog. Just like humans, dogs need the proper nutrients to fuel their day. But too much food, and you will start to notice weight gain which could lead to decreased energy, joint pain, and a multitude of other health issues.
If you’re not sure, ask your vet. They know your dog’s health history and will be able to give you the best advice to keep your dog happy and healthy.
Is your dog easily distracted? Does she ignore you whenever anything catches her attention? Start having her work for her food! This will teach her that you are valuable and worth paying attention to. Plus, you’ll be able to get lots of repetitions in for any new skills that she’s working on. It’s a win-win!
I often hear people say: “my dog knows how to sit, so we can skip over this step”. But can your dog sit in a variety of situations, for different people, and around lots of distractions? Your dog may know how to get into a sit, but that is just the first step to teaching a solid command. Once your dog knows how to sit, teach them how to do it anywhere, anytime, and for anyone. Then repeat that for every command that they know. Yes, it’s a lot of work. But the results are well worth it. If you want a dog that you can take anywhere, you need to take the time to develop solid behaviors.
Have you ever heard someone say “you get what you pet”? We’re talking about your dog’s energy and behavior.
Petting is incredibly rewarding for your dog. When you pet your dog, you are essentially telling her that whatever she just did or is currently doing is good and earns her a reward. So if you pet your dog when she is panicked, jumping, barking, or whining, you are telling her that those behaviors will get her your attention. And if she gets your attention through these behaviors, she’ll start doing them more often.
On the other hand, if you pet your dog when she greets you calmly, sits quietly while you make dinner, and patiently watches the mailman walk past, then she’s going to understand that calm behaviors earn your attention.
You can influence what behaviors your dog exhibits simply by choosing when you pet your dog. If you are struggling with your dog’s behavior, start paying attention to when you pet her. You may just find that you are unknowingly rewarding her for behaviors that you don’t want.