Tag Archives: dog
Training, the soul of it all
I always tell my clients EVERY minute of everyday is a training opportunity. Dogs do not put training life “on paws” and only pay attention and learn when you want them to, everything you do, everything you say, and EVERYTHING you reinforce every minute is you training your dog. Make sure that you are always doing what you want reinforced in life or will find some very bad habits creeping up and you have no one to blame but yourself!
For more information on how to have a better life with your canine copilot please contact us today!
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Work time
Fugly and Val relaxing at work.
The last of the winter play time
Update on the dogs
Well so far everyone is hanging in there pretty good. Its been a long winter and while the dogs enjoy playing in the snow i know they are ready for spring just like us. Valentine is doing good, her leg is still in rough shape and I will never go back to colonial in Ithaca NY for an orthopedic surgery again. I have always seen Dr. Ross do great work but Val would have been better off if left to heal without a $4000 surgery. We are slowly trying to continue her recovery even with her turned out leg that just refuses to build muscle. While opening her up again to fix any possible meniscus tears he may have caused during surgery may be in order i do not think we will put her back under for it. She developed some extreme anxiety over her months spent in a kennel rehabbing including severe skin breakouts and anxiety inside kennels. She is now living in a crate free environment and is doing much better after some calming exercises and rehabilitation work to the mind.
Olive is doing good but is slowing down in her old age. Her hips and knees are getting worse which after the xrays we took last year i’m not surprised. She has hip dysplasia and DJD so we are going to make her comfortable and happy. She enjoys laying around on her orthopedic bed chewing on kongs and peanut butter filled bones and that is what she shall get!
Snoopy is his grumpy old self but doing well. He has his moments of puppy like play but it lasts only a minute or two and then hes curled up on the couch again sleeping. He’s almost 12 and besides some arthritis we are doing well medically.
Everyone else is doing great. Kendal is my current demo dog going to all my training sessions, working with some dog aggressive dogs and passing her calm stoic mentality to all who she meets.
I cannot complain, it has been another great start to the year and all the dogs are doing wonderful. Going to bed every night and waking up every morning to a slobbery batch of kisses and anticipated tail wags for the adventures we will enter that day is a blessing!
And then there was thaw
This weekend was a busy eventful one! Saturday I brought my girls and the Family Foundtion School Dog Corp Kids helping Canines first dog down. Delilah will live in one of the dorms with 10 of the dog corps kids and they will be responsible for training and raising her until Life Long Tails places her into a home. The boys were very excited when we got there and sweet shy delilah took right to them. It’ll be a long road but i know this will be a great program for the boys and the dogs!
The girls got some work that afternoon and each performed a great moving subject problem with multiple refinds. I’m stoked, they are doing so good!! We spent the night at Ritas and got a few hours of sleep after much talking. Sunday morning brought our meeting to discuss the Comfed we are hosting in September with Amigo and NJ Sar. The girls were patient and new their time would come!
I did it!
Eme got a nice 35 minute long problem with 2 subjects hiding together. It was the longest she had ever done and despite being very tired, and the subjects not being were they had been marked on my GPS I was able to follow my dog and her alerts and find the boys. She was exhausted but did a perfect refind and indication with a long bark and victoriously got her ball! The problem had been worked 20 minutes prior by another k9 team so she had to work out their scent and the subjects scent which made it even more difficult!
Raina got a short demo problem for a few new people who had come to check out the team. She of course showed off her perfect scent work and full refind. I wanted to set up a longer problem with her so we can start to build some nose time, she can be certified by a year old and i’m sure she will be ready. I set up a good problem which lasted 15 minutes the longest she has worked so far. She preformed great and maintained her refind and indication giving me 2 before i reached the subject.
playing with her subject
We finished the day with 2 HR hides including one that was up about 3 feet. Both girls did great and are ready to move on in their HR training. Next we will put in the indication using boxes that deliver their toy. This allows the dog to sit and wait for the ball while focusing on the source and not on me!
Its amazing how quick my girls are growing up. Eme turned 1 on friday and i just don’t know where the year went! The next few months are going to be hard, we will be doing a lot of nose building long problems and drilling in obedience. Certifications will start soon and mom will need to learn not to be a nervous wreck! Off to get re packed and ready to work the girls again later today!
All done
I think i’m sore!!
Another good weekend done, and boy did this one leave us sore. We headed down to Tech city again in Kingston to work some building stuff. The snow that melted re froze as ice and it is rough out in the woods for the pups paws! The building work was great, it gives a good tight area to work quick refinds and some really weird scent pictures. I was able to run all the “pups” and younger dogs multiple times on problems of varying length depending on their skill level. The girls blew me away like usual. Eme worked some longer hard blind problems and even with other dogs off leash distracting her work still came back and indicated like she should.
Raina off working the scent
Raina did some great blind problems and it was amazing to watch her work the scent. She worked it perfectly with no bad habits in place, you could really tell where the scent was being carried and where it wasn’t. She had some great head pops into rooms and even the stairwell the subject was in.
I got my toy
One of the hardest problems of the day was up on the 4th floor which was essentially the roof. Due to the nature of the building as an old IBM plant the huge cooling fans and big metal fan rooms where a perfect creepy place to train the dogs. Eme worked a great blind problem up there and after climbing 4 huge flights of stairs (perfectly with no hesitation, mom on the other hand had some burning legs!) she was unfazed by the huge metal air ducts she had to search and the bomb shelter like rooms! Once she found the subject she gave a few whines before actually jumping into the airduct but then did a perfect refind, with her machine gun bark!
Dark dark room
It was also mr felix bleu’s first time doing building work and he did great. The boy was knocking down doors to get to his subject and we even incorporated a recall back to Kara during this training. From here on out his find will now end at kara after he has found his subject. She is working on his bark indication and we should be able to put that in pretty quickly. An amazing boy that felix bleu!
I LOVE my ball!!!
It was a great day and the dogs love the building work. Thank you tech city and we will be back!!!!
Tech City Kingston NY
A little of this a little of that
The weekend was busy and the girls didn’t get work everyday like they are used to. Snoopy had surgery on friday and came through it like a champ. He is recovering and doing well. This old man won’t have to worry about any more surgery for a LONG time to come.
Saturday kendal and I headed down to work with a few clients and to get her service dog “test” completed. She passed with flying colors and is just a true testament to what a rescue dog can turn into. She also spent the weekend as Life Long Tails donation dog raising money and raising awareness to what it is we do for helpless animals!!
YAY Kendal!!!
Sunday the girls finally got there day. Kara and Mika jumped in the car and we headed down to the school for some work for the girls and some good dog teaching for the kids. The kids had built a snow cave last week and we were able to get Mika and Eme on the first snow cave ever! Eme did amazing, worked the scent out great, stayed committed, and crawled all the way into the cave to find her subject. We worked on her recall, indication and refind with the snow cave as it gave a different scent picture and environment which always challenges the puppies!
My butts sticking out of the cave!!
She worked a total of almost an hour and still had to play ball all the way back to the truck with the boys. We got our excercise in walking in snow shoes the whole time!!! It was better then falling 2 feet deep into the snow drifts though!
Off to work we go!
Of course Raina needs her time too and she wow’d us all with how well she works!!! She knows her job and she knows when its about to start. I just introduced her vest in and she gets so excited to get dressed.
back talk to mom!
Raina has been lucky enough to get the perfect flawless training method where mom makes no mistakes (yet) and she has yet to have a big hang up. I know its coming, shes only 4 months old, but her nose work is natural and amazing, and her refind and indication to me is phenomenal. Of course shes pretty crazy too!!
mom mom mom i know where he is!!! mom mom mom!!!
The day was a good one. Mr felix blue the newest shepherd that we took in was introduced to cadaver and we did a few short runaways with him as well. He loves food, and loves to play ball, and loves to search!!!
Hello working world!!!
day to day fun
My posts normally occur after my weekend of working dogs but while trying to kill time before training starts i figured i would give an update on the rest of the canine co pilot pack.
Everyone seems to be doing well, even with the cold temperatures lately and the crazy amount of snow and ice. Our day to day training and fun includes obedience outside and inside, group downs and stays, and Simon says games. Kendal has been working on her obedience so that i can get her tested for her PAT (public access test) and then once she is my service dog move her into certification for therapy dog as well. While Kendal tries to just be a funny clown of the house she has a serious working side as well and knows when she is out with mom she needs to be in tune and responsible at all times.
hum the world seems different from this view!
As a Life Long Tails rescue Kendal is the perfect picture of what a rescue dog can achieve if given the appropriate training, time, and owner. Kendal is also Life Long Tails donation dog and canine mascot.
Shepherds playing in the snow in the backyard
Unlike so many trainers out there our dogs love training time. It is not a time when they get thrown on the ground, alpha rolled, beaten, yelled at, or dominated. It is a time when we get to have fun together, learn together, and communicate in a revolutionary new way. This is what ensures the ultimate relationship, amazing obedience, and a bond that never dies.
Is this really my life?
Sometimes i stop and think, wow am i living a dream or is this really my life? Everyday is a new experience, a new lesson, a new opportunity to learn more about how best to communicate and live with dogs and exercise that every second of every day. I really do live a dream, and this weekend was a great one!
Friday was a fun day at home depot with kara and mika training and working obedience. Rainas SAR training is progressing so fast, now that i finally have a kink free method of back and forward chaining and a smooth way to teach nose work, recall, and refind, while also working her indication for a bark outside of the search work. I realize how quick she will be up and going now that i know how to do it perfectly for these shepherds.
Raina loves to tug
Eme is also doing great and while working two dogs this close in age is tough its worth every second.
Eme after her SAR problem
Saturday brought a training session with a client which was powerful and successful. It is always the best when i get to see another pack of dogs improve because of what i am teaching. It helps remind me that my understanding of canines is correct, and my communication and my foundation that i lay prior to working with a dog is what really gets them started on the right track. I’m happiest when i get to teach someone else how to have a canine co-pilot for life!
Saturday was another pack visit day, we worked on some Life Long Tails grants and got the website updated and looking pretty. We also went out and did a short problem with both girls so the other members of the rescue were able to see how it all works. April was nice enough to hide and flank me and nick did the same even though he couldn’t feel his feet!
Ok whats next?
It was another good successful find with both eme and raina getting some practice with new subjects.
Getting ready to start
Sunday came quick and 6am found the girls and I, kara and mika, and stacey in the truck headed to an old IBM builing at Tech City in Kingston. We had access to 3 floors of empty building to work some SAR problems. This was Eme and Raina’s first time doing any building work and i was BLOWN AWAY.
Eme was quick to catch on and we did a few short run aways to get her into the scent picture of a building. Air flows VERY differently in buildings especially when there was some heat and duct airflow. Eme blew through problems and delivered a perfect refind, bark indication as long as i asked, and show me back to the subject. There was NO light what so ever and the dogs were asked to work in PITCH BLACK. Eme would body slam the doors to open them and clear the room as soon as i asked her to “check” She took direction perfectly but also worked independently on her own. We worked some longer problems with her and she stayed frustration free, giving me no false indications, only pin pointing the subject, coming back to me to tell me and bringing me right back.
and....... SEARCH!
Raina was baby steps but by the end of the day she was doing short blind problems with her recall back to me. We started out by placing subject in the door to the dark room and making her bark to get in and get her reward. Then we moved to short run aways like that, then to longer run aways where she had to actually search a few rooms. Then we would place a subject and give her 3 rooms to search to find him. It was so great to see a young dog take to working scent in a difficult environment. You could hear her stack her breaths when in scent and you could watch her follow the scent cone into the subject!
Focused and ready
Elite Instinct K9 Training 