Wasatch Canine Camp Newsletter

Today I had a puppy training session with a 6-month-old German Shepherd named Forrest.  Today we started working on stay with him around distractions.  He’s never worked around distractions before, and you can definitely see that in the video.  During the first half of the video, he gets up quite a bit and has to be corrected several times.  About halfway through the video he figures out what he needs to do, and stays put in his stay while Alan and Lilly are able to walk around him twice.

Today was Moose’s 18th day here with me for the Boot Camp training program.  He is doing awesome here!  He is here to work on obedience training, off leash reliability, manners, and dog behavior training using the electric dog training collar.  The first video below is of his 10th day here with me, and in that video you will see he is still on leash with the e-collar.  Usually at that point in the training, most dogs are already working off leash.  That is what he really struggled on the most.  Anytime I took him off leash, he would bolt to the nearest shade (even early in the morning, or late evening).  He is just so lazy and wants to be cool at all times.  It was almost like he couldn’t take any heat at all.  I kept working him, and pushing him to get off leash, and just about a couple days ago he figured it out.  It was almost like a light switch clicked on in his head and he finally figured out what he needed to do to work off leash.  Ever since then, he has been doing amazing!  I am really hoping that he can go home this weekend.

The second video below is of today’s training with him.  Today was his first day off leash with another dog as a distractions around.  I think he did great!  Before we started filming he did try to play with Daddy for about 30 seconds, but then he focused on the training and did great.  I’m so proud of this boy!

Today was Moose’s 6th day here for the Boot Camp program.  He is doing pretty well.  He is understanding the treadmill great, he’s getting along well with my dogs, doing great with potty training (not like that was an issue with him, like it was with his sister Zoe), and overall is learning quickly.  He is definitely acting a little shy towards me and my husband.  When I am working with him, he keeps his distance the majority of the time.  If I take him off leash at all, he runs to my car and lays down next to it, because he wants to get in it.  With my husband he just shy’s away from him and avoids him when he calls him.  I know Moose’s father very well, and how Moose is acting is a lot like his father.  Harley (Moose’s dad) is a very mellow and sweet guy, but he can be a little shy (not so much towards people or dogs, mostly towards new situations, noises, etc).  Moose definitely got a lot of Harley’s characteristics.  That doesn’t mean he can’t build confidence and get better, it’s just going to take some time.

Today I took Moose with me to Petsmart, so that I could do a bit of human socialization with him.  He did great!  He was curious about everyone and every dog there, was very polite, and listened very well when I gave him commands.  I liked seeing this confident side of him, that I don’t normally see when we’re at home.  I am hoping he will get better around me and my husband the more we use treats with him.

The video of him below is one my husband took yesterday of me working with him.  As you will see, he follows well, and obeys very well, but he isn’t into the training.  I am going to start working with treat rewards with him to build some interest in working with me, and also to help boost his self esteem.

Moose practicing the "place" command

On Saturday I got Moose, a 5-month-old German Shepherd, in for the boot camp training program.  Moose is Zoe’s brother, if you remember her.  Moose is here to learn some manners (he occasionally jumps on people and can be a little mouthy at times), how to ignore cats (he always wants to chase them and play with them), off leash reliability, and advanced obedience around distractions.  He is doing well so far.  Yesterday I taught him the treadmill for the first time, and it took him quite a while to get used to it and walk on it properly.  Now, he does awesome on the treadmill, which is the first video below.

Today was his first time working on the electric dog training collar (which is the second video below).  He did a pretty good job, considering it was his first time on the collar.  He did a lot better than Zoe did with her first time on the collar.  He definitely reacted very normal for any dog’s first time on the e-collar.  He kept his distance from me, and was at the end of the leash the majority of the time.  There were a few times that he would come and walk by my side, which is exactly what I want, but then he would wander off again.  He’ll definitely get better the more I work with him, until he gets to the point that he can work off leash by my side.  Be sure to keep checking back to see his progress!

These two videos are the last videos I took of Zoe before she went home last Saturday (sorry it has taken me so long to get these posted).  Zoe did so great here for the boot camp program!  The first video is of her first time working on the place command off leash with two dogs as a distraction, so she does mess up a few times.  The second video is of her walking off leash by my side.  She ended up doing so well with both of these training exercises by the time she went home.  I am so proud of her and her progress.  She was very willing to learn, and very fun to work with.  The only thing I just couldn’t get under control with her, was her potty training.  She is just such a difficult dog when it come to potty training.  She doesn’t care if she lays in her pee/poo, she doesn’t care how big or small her kennel is, it doesn’t help to feed her in her crate (so she gets the idea of ‘I eat here, not go to the bathroom here’), and it didn’t matter what type of feeding/water schedule I had her on.  Any time she was in her crate she would have an accident.  It was something I could never figure out with her (and neither could countless other trainers I spoke to about it).  Her owners understand and are willing to work with her until she does understand that her kennel is not where you go to the bathroom, which is good that they are very patient people!  Overall, I think Zoe did so awesome here, and she is definitely going to be missed!

Today was Zoe’s 14th day here with me, and she is doing great!  I have her here for the boot camp program so that she can learn obedience training, off-leash reliability, potty training, and dog behavior training using the electric dog training collar.  She is doing pretty good with just about everything except for potty training.  Her off leash reliability is coming along great, and so is her obedience training (see video below).  I am now teaching her the “place” command, and working on everything she knows with distractions.

For about a week and a half she hasn’t had any accidents in the house (remember, I have been having her out in the house with me, and going everywhere with me so that I can keep on top of her potty training), and so I have been slowly integrating the crate back into her schedule, and there is still not much of a change with the crate.  After just a few hours she will almost always have an accident in the crate (I know she can hold it, because she can go twice as long in the house without having any accidents).  There is just something about the crate that makes her think it is okay to pee in there.  I am hoping things will start clicking with her and that she will stop peeing in the crate soon.  I will keep you posted!

Today is Zoe’s sixth day here for the Boot Camp training program.  She is a 4-month-old German Shepherd, and she is here for dog behavior training, obedience training, potty training, treadmill training, and off leash training using the electric dog training collar.  In my last post I wrote about how much she is struggling with potty training.  For the last 4 days I have had her on a very strict potty training schedule, and have kept her with me always, instead of putting her in a crate.  In the last four days she has only had one accident in the house, which is awesome compared to how awful she was doing in the crate!  She is also sleeping through the whole night without needing to get up in the middle of the night to go potty.  I am so pleased with her progress so far!  I am going to slowly integrate her back into her kennel, because once she goes back home, she will need to be in her kennel during the day while her owners are at work.

Below, are two videos of Zoe today.  One is of her on the treadmill, and the other one is of me working with her on the e-collar off leash.  She is learning so fast here.  I’m so happy to see her off leash on the color so quickly, considering how young she is.  She’s going to do so well here once she’s done!

On Saturday I got Zoe, a 4-month-old German Shepherd, in for Boot Camp.  She is here to work on potty training, manners, and dog obedience training using the electric dog training collar.  She is doing pretty great here, considering it’s only been a few days.  The main thing she is struggling on here is potty training.  She’s probably had about five accidents in her kennel in just two days.  She’s a pretty difficult puppy when it comes to potty training.  With most puppies I would put them on a very strict feeding/water schedule, make their crate just big enough for them to stand up and turn around, and take them out regularly.  Zoe is a little different, and this schedule doesn’t work well for her.  I am doing things a little differently with her to see if it helps her understand potty training better.  Basically I am keeping her in the house with me at all times.  She’s still on a strict feeding/water schedule, and I am still taking her out very frequently, but now that she is in the house with me and I can monitor her a lot closer, she is doing a lot better today.  She has only had one accident in the house today vs her 2 or 3 yesterday in the crate.  I am hoping this method will work a lot better with her, and that she will learn very quickly that she needs to go outside, instead of inside.

The video below is of her first time on the electric dog training collar.  She responded very normally for a puppy’s first time on the e-collar.  She was very distracted, and was at the end of the leash just about the whole time.  She will definitely get better the more she is here.  Keep checking back for more videos of her and her progress!

I have Daisy, a Shih Tzu mix, here for boarding this week.  She is a sweet girl, but is very shy around other dogs, and can be a little too submissive around certain people (which causes her to submissive urinate).  The first video is of her first night her, plus her first time on the treadmill.  The second video is from a few days ago during feeding time for the dogs.  You can definitely see an improvement in how trustworthy she is towards my dogs.

Yesterday I had a consultation with a 4-month-old Old English Sheepdog.  She was such a fun puppy to work with.  She is so sweet and mellow, and just wants to please.  Her owners are wanting to show her and maybe do some agility with her.  For now, we are just getting her started on basic obedience, manners, etc.  Yesterday was our first session together, so we started off with teaching her “sit, down, and stay”.  She does very well considering it is her first time learning those commands.  The one I think she will struggle with the most is the “down” command, but if her owners are consistent, they will have a lot of luck with her.  The video below is just a short video of her doing “sit, down, and stay”.

The video below is of Lilly, a 5-month-old Bernese Mountain Dog, walking on the treadmill.

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!

- 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.

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!

This morning I got Pups, a 10 month old Poodle mix, in for board and train.  He is here for dog obedience training and to learn basic manners using the electric dog training collar.  I have only had him for a few hours today, and have so far introduced him to my dogs and started him on the electric dog training collar.  He did awesome when he met my dogs (I will have a short clip of it when I can get it up and running).  He’s very friendly and playful with them.  On the e-collar he did just as most dogs do during their first time on the e-collar.  He just sprinted around, and minded his own business for the first ten minutes or so, and then he started recognizing the stimulation and started responding to it very well.  Usually it takes about five days for dogs to really understand the collar and do well on it, so I really don’t expect much of him yet.  I will keep you guys posted on his progress, and try to keep daily videos up and running so you can really see his progress.

Yesterday I had Henry, a Boxer mix, and Bugsy, a German Shepherd puppy, in for day drop off training. Bugsy was here for socialization and to work more on his obedience. I have been working with him and his owner for a few weeks now, but Bugsy is really struggling on stay around distractions. He did pretty well. His focus level is definitely at puppy level, so it takes him about 5-10 minutes before his focus is even there so he can listen to you. Once you get his focus he is very happy to listen and learn. I worked with him about 2-3 times yesterday on leash work and his obedience. This should help out his owner quite a bit at home.

Henry was here, because lately he has been extremely protective over balls, food, toys, etc. His behavior is not just towards dogs, but any animal. He once bit a horses face because he was going for a carrot that was on the ground. He is never like this with humans, though, only other animals. I first worked on his possession aggression with Jake, and he could have cared less about the ball. Jake has a very confident personality, so I know that was why Henry didn’t want to mess around with him. I then decided to work with Rosco, my submissive Lab. Henry, of course, knew he could take advantage of Rosco and jumped on him the second Rosco got the ball. The nice thing about Henry is he is extremely sensitive, so it didn’t take much for me to snap him out of it, and calm him down. He only snapped at Rosco one other time before he realized he had to share. After that he was great the rest of the day, I was even able to get him to be out while all six other dogs (Jake, Sasha, Bugsy, Daddy, Rosco, and Harley) were playing fetch without any problems whatsoever.

Here is just a little video of all seven dogs socializing yesterday.

This was today’s first Pack to Basics ™ class. It was a really good, mellow, fun class. Francois, the French Bulldog, was in this class and did awesome! I even dropped the leash later in class, after the video, and let him socialize off leash. He did incredible. Enjoy!

This was today’s second Pack to Basics ™ class. Dover was involved in this class and was really struggling. He tried to start many fights, and even got the little yellow lab pup too nervous to enjoy the class. I felt bad for the pup, but that’s what the class is for, to teach all dogs how to properly be around other dogs. You will see quite a few scuffles that Dover starts in the video. I am hoping he will get better soon.

Yesterday I met with a man and his 16 week old German Shepherd puppy. We met to do dog obedience training, leash training, and puppy training. German Shepherds are one of my obsolute favorite breeds to work with. They are extremely smart and easy to work with. Bugsy understood everything we taught him yesterday. His owner was very pleased. He was such a fun pup to work with. We taught him sit, down, stay and how to properly walk on leash. I gave his owner a lot of things to work on for our next session. When working with a puppy you can’t push them very hard, because their focus level is so low, and their distraction level is so high. You have to start off slow with puppies and work your way up. I gave his owner a few things to work on, basically I wanted him to work Bugsy on stay to get him to the point that he can stay for two minutes, with his owner standing at least ten feet away, and with low distractions. If he can get Bugsy to that point, then during the next session we can work with the pup with my dogs as a distraction.