Wasatch Canine Camp Newsletter

This is a video of Saturday’s large breed socialization class.  It was a great class with 26 dogs.  Enjoy!

Today was Crush’s second day here for the Boot Camp training program.  Today I worked with her a bit on the electric dog training collar, but mainly had her included in my Pack to Basics ™ socialization class.  She was really nervous for the first 5-10 minutes of class, but once she was comfortable, she actually started playing with other dogs.  I was really happy to see that, considering she is so shy.  The video below is of her, and other dogs, during the first 5 minutes of class.

This second video is of Crush’s first time on the treadmill.  You can tell she’s unsure about what to do on it for the first minute or so, but then she falls into line and walks really well on it.  She’s a really smart girl, and has figured just about everything out pretty quick here.  I am excited to continue working with her to mold her into a great dog.

This first video is of today’s large breed Pack to Basics ™ class.

This second video is of today’s small breed/puppy class.

Please mark your calendars that there will be no Pack to Basics ™ socialization class on Saturday May 29th.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

Today was Minka’s 12th day in my Boot Camp program, and was also her second time in my Pack to Basics ™ class.  She did really well today in class.  She was very excited as people were coming in with their dogs, and was doing a lot of leash lunging, because of how excited she was.  But, as I corrected her each time she lunged towards another dog, she slowly started to calm down and relax.  By the time we started class she was in a much more relaxed state of mind.

I think she really enjoyed today’s class.  It was a really big class today, about 20 dogs were in the class.  So, she definitely had plenty of dogs she could play with.  When she first came to me for boot camp, she was social, but very rude when she played with other dogs.  She would try to do a lot of over the top behavior (basically trying to stand over the other dog as much as possible), and was a very rough player.  None of those behaviors are necessarily aggressive, but because they are so rude, they could lead to a fight.  She has learned since then how to play and interact with other dogs properly.  She is a lot more respectful, and plays a lot softer.  Every now and then she will get a little rough, but she is very easy to correct out of that state of mind, and clams down a lot easier.  Below is a video of today’s class.

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 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!

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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!

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!

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.

Just a reminder everyone, this Saturday’s Pack to Basics ™ class will be cancelled, I will be out on my honeymoon!  Class will be held at the normal times next Saturday, June 6th.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.  See you guys in a little over a week!

The video below is of last Saturday’s Pack to Basics ™ afternoon class. Ted, the aggressive Red Heeler, and Henry the aggressive Poodle/Yorki mix were included in this class for the first time. They both did awesome! Henry just kept to himself and was very polite. Ted was started off on muzzle and then about half way through I took the muzzle off and he still did awesome! There were a few times where Ted felt like he had to address overly hyper dogs with aggression, but he was easily snapped out of it and moved on. Enjoy!

Just so everyone is aware, on Saturday May 30th there will be no Pack to Basics ™.  Mark it on your calenders so you don’t forget!  If you have any questions feel free to contact us.

Today was Pups third day with us.  He is here for manners, basic obedience, leash training, and to learn to relax in high distraction situations.  Today was his first day experiencing Pack to Basics ™ and he did awesome!  He was pretty excited at fist, but when class started he settled down quickly and interacted very well with every dog there.  There were about three other puppies there as well, so they definitely had a blast playing with each other.

After Pack to Basics ™ I worked more on his obedience.  Since he’s still so new to the training, he still hasn’t shown much improvement.  Usually it can take anywhere from 5-10 days before they really start understanding the training, and I definitely think that’s about how long it will take with this extremely high energy, distracted pup.

I did start him on the treadmill last night, and he struggled quite a bit on it.  For the first 8 minutes or so all he wanted to do was resist.  It was only in the last minute that he really started walking smoothly without trying to jump off or resist walking.  That is one activity I do with him everyday, because his brain is just everywhere at once right now and he just doesn’t know how to focus.  The treadmill is an awesome tool to help him focus a bit longer than he is used to right now.  I am hoping for him to get even more used to the treadmill as each day goes on.

Yesterday was definitely a great day for Pack to Basics ™.  The weather was awesome for once, and both classes were full of awesome dogs.  About 15 dogs showed up for the first class, and five of them were puppies.  The rest of the dogs in the group were just  happy-go-lucky, outgoing dogs that just had fun.  It was a very relaxing class, and was definitely fun watching all of the puppies play together.  In the second class there were 11 dogs that showed up.  This was still a fun group, but it had a few more nervous dogs there than the first one, so I had to keep my eye on them a bit closer so no fights broke out.  There were a few growls and snaps here and there, but other than that, it was a nice and relaxed class as well.  For those of you who missed out yesterday, you missed out on a fun day of socialization!

Here’s a short video from today’s Pack to Basics ™. This was Harley’s first time in class for about a month, and he did pretty good. He did struggle a bit in the beginning, and lunged at a few of the dogs, so I started him off on leash and on muzzle, but after about five minutes I took the leash and muzzle off and he did just awesome! He was back to his normal relaxed/submissive self in no time.