Wasatch Canine Camp Newsletter

Everyone please note that the small breed and puppies Pack to Basics ™ class will be moved to 4:00pm starting January 23rd.  Mark this on your calendars so you don’t forget.  Sorry for any inconvenience.  Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns.

This is Gypsy, she is a female Pit Bull and is around 9-10 months old, spayed, and about 40lbs. She is the absolute sweetest girl you’d ever meet! She is so sweet and gentle. She has her Canine Good Citizen Certification, and could definitely even be a therapy dog some day. She knows sit, lay down, wait, and she’s potty trained. She is very affectionate and will sit with her head in your lap. She is always looking at your face to see your reaction and is very responsive. She is very easy to train. She is very good on walks, does not pull walks beside you. She is great with other dogs and kids. She is current on her vaccinations. She will come with her collar, leash, no-pull harness, dog bed, food, chew bone, kong, fleece doggie jacket, and anything else that was hers will go with her. Adoption fee: $50

Please Contact Brittin and Todd Mower at 801-554-3585

(the video below may look like a video, but it’s actually just a picture of Gypsy, sorry for any confusion)

video management, video solution, video streaming

For the past few weeks I have been training some dogs for an upcoming movie called “The Kane Files.”  My dog, Jake, and another German Shepherd named Harley are the dogs I have been training for the movie.  Heather Beck (the lady that certified me) has also been training her German Shepherd, Kia, for the movie.  It’s been such a blast working with the dogs and the actors.  All of the dogs are police dogs for the movie, tracking a guy on the run from the police.  Jake has the most scenes in the movie, and has a few close ups as well.  Below are some pictures of the set, and the dogs working during some of the scenes.  Enjoy!

This is Beto, a one year old Boxer, and this video is of him during our socialization class on Halloween.  There are five other dogs in class with him: two Lab mixes, two Dobermans, and a Pit Bull.  He definitely had a blast in class yesterday.  Enjoy the video!

video management, video solution, video streaming

Yesterday was Sugar’s 18th day here, and she is doing very well.  Right now I am mainly working on her being able to focus on her handler when there are high distractions around.  She is struggling a little bit when there are distractions around, but each day she is getting better.  The main thing she is struggling on right now is the first 5 minutes around the distraction, whatever it is.  After she gets past those first few minutes her focus is amazing.  The video below is short, but its to show her focus around distractions once I have her focus.

video management, video solution, video streaming

Today we had our doggy Halloween party.  For those of you who couldn’t make it, we sure missed you, but we still had fun!  All the dogs came in their costumes and we played a dog mummy game, hid treats in the yard for them to find, ate food and just hung out.  It was definitely a fun party.  Enjoy the pictures below!

Today was Sugar’s 12th day here on my Boot Camp program.  She is doing so well!  If you watch the video below you will see just how awesome she does off leash with just basic commands, and she stays right by my side.  As the end of the video I am teaching her the “place” command for the first time, and she really struggles with it.  I will continue to teach it to her so that she can perfect it.  After she perfects the “place” command I am going to start working with her around distractions, which I think will be the hardest for her to avoid.

We are proud to announce that our female German Shepherd, Sasha, gave birth to seven beautiful puppies this morning.  They are doing great, and she is a very loving momma.  To see pictures of the puppies and to learn more about them, click here!

This is Sugar, she is a 2-year-old Golden Retriever who is here for board and train.  She is very hyper active and needs help learning focus and learning how to slow down.  Right now I am starting her on obedience and teaching her to understand the electric dog training collar.  Below is a video of her second day on the collar.  She is doing awesome!  Keep checking back to see her progress while she is here.

You’re invited to this years doggy Halloween party! Instead of having socialization class on Saturday 31st we will be partying! You are encouraged to dress up your pooch for the party. We will be having games, food, contests and more! Well behaved dogs on leash are welcome.

If you have any questions about the party, please contact us at 801-735-1978 or email bbarnes@wasatchcaninecamp.com. Please RSVP to this event so we know who to expect!

Date: Saturday, October 31, 2009
Time: 1:00pm – 3:30pm
Location: Where we have Pack to Basics
Street: 9808 N 4600 W
City: Pleasant Grove, UT

- Never adopt a puppy before they are 8 weeks old, or they will miss out on crucial development that only their mother and litter mates can teach them.

- Puppies need at least 18 hours of sleep a day until they are 8-10 months old, if they are being extra grouchy or hyper, then they need a nice long nap.

- Never expect more from your puppy than you would from a baby.

- Puppies start teething at about 4 months old, be sure to give them plenty to chew on, or they’ll find their own stuff to chew on!

- If your puppy is doing a behavior you wouldn’t want them to do when they’re older, then don’t encourage it!  I know jumping up is cute when they’re a puppy, but do you want a dog that constantly jumps on you when they get older?

- Puppies almost always poop after waking up and after eating.

- Puppies get tired after about 10-15 minutes of stimulation, and then they need a nap.

- Crating your puppy is the best way to teach them to hold their bladder, and to “go” outside.

- Never be harsh with your puppy.  Puppies need constant encouragement and positive reinforcement.

- If you are having trouble with your puppy now, chances are you will have trouble with them as an adult.  Do your research and find which puppy training class will fit you and your dog the best.

Please mark on your calendars that there will be no Pack to Basics ™ on September 12th.  We will resume class the following week on the 19th.  If you have questions, please let me know: bbarnes@wasatchcaninecamp.com or call me at 801-735-1978.  Thanks!

Today was day 15 for Della, the two-year-old Pit Bull that I have here for board and train.  She is doing awesome!  Right now I am working on her obedience training, teaching her sit, down, stand, and stay, all done off leash.  She is doing awesome with just about all of those, except stand.  She struggles with that a bit, but each day she is getting better.  Next I will be teaching her the place command, and also working with her to perfect all of the commands while other dogs are around.  In the video below you will see me going through each command, you will see her struggle at some points, and do perfect in others.

Today is the 12th day for Della, the two-year-old Pit Bull.  I have her here for board and train for obedience training, aggressive dog training, and dog behavior training using the electric dog training collar.  She has been doing extremely well the past few days.  She is starting to use her energy only when I am working with her, or exercising her.  Her energy was off the walls when I first got her here, and now she is slowing things down and relaxing.  Now that she is slowing things down she is starting to focus a lot better.  At first it was really hard to get her to focus on me for longer than a few seconds, but now, when I am working with her, I have about 80% of her focus.  She is doing better every single day, which is just great!

Below is a video from today’s e-collar training session.  Scroll down a few posts and compare this video with her very first time on the e-collar.  Isn’t it a huge difference?  As you can see, in the first video, she just has so much energy and wants to sprint back and forth with all her might, because she doesn’t know how to handle her energy.  In this new video you can see that she is starting to use her energy properly by focusing on me and concentrating to stay by my side.  There are a few instances where she bounds off in another direction, but she stops quickly, and brings her focus back on me.  I am hoping that in the next few days she will be able to be by my side 90% of the time, with a few of my dogs around.  She’ll get there!

Below is a video of Della and her second time in Pack to Basics ™, and she did so much better!  She was still a little out of control as people were coming into class, but she was easier to settle down, and didn’t get as intense.  She is doing so much better on her everyday training, too.  She is starting to slow things down, rather than try to do everything 100 mph, and she is starting to follow me when I am working with her on the e-collar.  I am hoping that near the end of this week I will be able to have her off leash around distractions.  Enjoy the video!

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People don’t realize it, but group dog and puppy classes actually hinder your dog from learning.  Almost 50% of my clients (mainly my puppy clients) are dog owners that need help with their dog who actually got worse after attending a group dog training class.  Why are these classes so bad?  First of all, they are based solely on high energy interaction between humans and dogs.  The humans that interact with your dog/puppy in the class are taught to talk in a high pitched voice and use many treats to keep the dog excited and focused.  The dogs involved in the class are always very excited and high energy, which then causes a ripple effect to all the dogs around it.  This high energy in the class, not only causes stress between the dogs, but also teaches each dog in the class that when placed in a situation with many distractions, they should respond with crazy, out of control energy.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love using positive reinforcement when working with a dog, but there is a difference between calm affection (which is what I use), and high energy affection.  The former is just a better way to communicate with your dog that you want calm energy in every situation, instead of crazy, off the wall energy.

Second of all, almost all group classes revolve around “play time.”  When the group class training instructor tells the owners that it’s time for play time, what usually happens is, the dogs get let off  leash to play with one another (which is always good for socialization), but then the owners usually talk amongst themselves, or to the trainer.  This leaves the dogs to play how ever they want.  This is where the problems start.  Usually what happens is a very outgoing and playful dog will corner a very shy and uncomfortable dog and try to get it to play.  This will send the shy dog into to either shut-down mode, or into high stress mode, causing the shy dog to snap at the other dog.  This situation almost always happens and has the possibility of turning both these dogs into aggressive dogs, because they then learn to not trust other dogs.  80% of the time, a situation like that will go unnoticed, and uncorrected, which is why later in life it only gets worse turning into aggression.

Now let’s think about the class from the trainer’s point of few.  Let’s say each class holds 10 dogs, whose owners paid $100 each, that’s $1,000 to the trainer for each class they hold (pretty good deal, if you ask me).  That $100 gets the owners six classes with the trainer, each class lasting an hour.  So, from the trainer’s point of view, they are getting an extremely big paycheck for six hours of work.

From the owner’s point of view they are getting a great deal on low-cost dog training, because they are getting six sessions for only $100!  That’s a steal of a deal!  But, you have to keep in mind, that each class has nine other dogs in the class, and each class only lasts one hour.  If you calculate the amount of one on one time each owner is getting per class, it’s only 6 minutes, and in the whole 6-week course, they are only getting 36 minutes of one on one work with the dog trainer.  When it’s broken down like that it doesn’t really seem like it’s worth $100 now, does it?

Now it’s time to look at private dog training for a puppy.  For my puppy training classes I offer three sessions for $200.  Each session generally lasts about 2 1/2 -3 hours, and I come to your home to work with you one on one.  Over the course of the three sessions I will have worked with you for about nine hours.  That’s nine hours of 100% one on one time with you and your puppy.  Not only that, but we would go over obedience, potty training, leash training, proper nutrition, proper schedules to keep them on, dog psychology, proper socialization, and anything that you want to specifically work on with your dog.  I bet now you’re thinking that this sounds like a much better deal then to spend a $100 on something you’ll only get 36 minutes of one on one training time with the trainer.

Basically, with group training class you’re paying a lot for a small amount of one on one work, you’re getting a potentially aggressive dog, teaching your dog to respond to every situation with excited/high energy, and accomplishing little obedience work with your dog.  With private training you’re getting loads of information, at a fair price, hours of one on one work with a certified professional, plus a happy-go-lucky, relaxed, obedient dog.

Today I started Della on the electric dog training collar for the first time.  She responded pretty typically to the collar for a dog with her energy level.  She was very excited to be at a park, and distracted by just about everything around her.  As you will see in the video below, I have her on a twenty foot line and she fully takes advantage of the line, sprinting back and forth.  She definitely doesn’t have a very good focus level when it comes to whoever is handling her.  Usually it takes about 5-10 days for dogs like her to really start understanding the collar and start focusing.  I will definitely keep daily videos on here so you can see her slowly progress to the point where she will be by my side every second, with 100% focus.  Keep checking back!

Today was Della’s first day in Pack to Basics ™.  Now, if you remember, Della has an extreme level of barrier frustration, meaning, whenever she is on leash, or confined in any way, and another dog is near her, she will go into the red zone (the highest level of aggression).  It is extremely hard to snap her out of it when she goes into that state of mind.  Pack to Basics ™ is the perfect class to help her get past the barrier frustration that Della has.  As I was waiting for people to come into class I had Della on leash by my side.  Della was perfectly content to be by my side, until the other dogs started to arrive.  With each dog that came into class, the worse she got.  I had a muzzle on her, so it helped her not get as intense, but it was still very hard to snap her out of it.  It took about 15 minutes for everyone to arrive to class before we started, and it took just that long to get her relaxed and under control.  Once I had her calmed down and under control, she was very content to socialize and be pleasant in class.  She had only on scuffle with another dog in class, but she stopped very quickly, and moved on.  She is doing very well with her training so far, but definitely still needs consistent work everyday.

Below is a video from today’s little bit of socialization I did at home.  Cinnamon is a 4-month-old Cokcer Spaniel that was here for day drop off training, Pooka is a mix of some sort that was here for boarding, Della is a Pit Bull that is here for Board and Train, and Missy is a dog I am trying to find a home for.  Enjoy the video!