Author: Michaela & Hannah

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How to teach stay

Teaching the stay is easy, but can be time consuming and takes lots of practice. First have your dog on a leash and put them in a sit. Your dog should be in a sit in front of you, say sit and feed, then continuously feed every couple of seconds for staying there. Once your dog is staying for a couple seconds, you can start increasing the time between treats. Once they are staying well even with more time between treats, step one is complete! Always say “okay” or whatever you use for a release word to let them know that they are done “staying”. We choose not to say “stay” because we expect them to stay in a sit until we tell them they’re done sitting, or stay in a down, etc. If you choose to say “stay” simply say,”sit” then “stay” then feed every few seconds like mentioned above.

Now you can start increasing the distance, or time. If you choose to increase the distance first, simple start by having them in a “stay” then take 1 step backwards, then go right back and feed, then repeat. If they’re good at that, you can take 2, then 3, etc. Once they’re good at that you can start increasing the time but staying with them. Once they are good at both time and distance, you can try taking a few steps away and increasing the duration from afar. This will take a lot of repetition and a lot of practice, but if you’re consistent, they’ll get it! Remember, if they ever break their stay, put them right back in the same spot, don’t feed and start over. If they break their stay more than once, you’re probably moving too fast and should go back a few steps to make it easier for them.

A big mistake that people make, is they’ll practice “stay” and “come” at the same time. They’ll say “stay”, walk across the room and say “come”, it will make the dog anticipate the “come” and more likely to break their stay. So until your dog is super solid with both commands, do not put them together. ALWAYS go back to your dog in the beginning before releasing them. That way they’ll know that you will come back for them and be less likely to break the stay. Even once they are solid make sure you return to them at least half the time, so that they don’t think they’ll always be called and start anticipating.

Stay is a command that should be practiced daily, or almost daily, to continuously improve the stay, it’s such an important command!

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How to teach sit

Things you need:

  • A dog
  • A leash
  • Treats

Start with your dog on a leash with lots of treats. Simply take a treat and put it above your dogs head, and their bum should naturally fall, bringing them into a sit. As soon as their bum hits the ground say “yes” and feed them the treat.

Some dogs pick this up super quickly and some need a little extra time. For the dogs that really aren’t getting it, even after multiple attempts, you can use one hand to put the food above their head and the other to gently push their bum down to help them figure out what you want. Again when their bum hits the ground, say “yes” and feed.

Once your dog starts sitting as soon as you raise your hand up, you’re ready to start adding the word “sit”. This could take one session or a couple sessions, depending on the dog. So now you can start saying “sit” then immediately helping your dog into the sit position. After a while you can say “sit” and wait a couple seconds before helping your dog. Eventually they’ll hear sit and know exactly what you want, before you have a chance to help them.

Teaching a sit with leash pressure

Next you can start teaching them how to sit with leash pressure. This gives you a super valuable tool in the case that your dog is distracted, confused about what you want or just doesn’t feel like listening. You don’t want to bribe the dog with food to do everything, otherwise if you don’t have food one day, they won’t do anything until you show them the food.

To start this you will simply pull up on your dogs leash (straight up) and hold until they sit. Most dogs will automatically sit after a few seconds and if they do, say “yes” and treat. If they need a little help you can pull up on the leash while also pushing their bum down. If they already know what sit means, you can pull up on the leash then say sit. Eventually they’ll feel the pressure and sit right down, which is the goal!

Once they know sit verbally and with leash pressure, you can start working on them staying in position longer. Check back for our post on teaching the stay!

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Teaching leave it

Do you want your dog to leave treats and toys like a pro? Do you worry about accidentally dropping something that’s not good for them like medication or a piece of chocolate? Does your dog counter surf? Steal your food? Does your dog generally just not have any self control? If you answered yes to any of those questions, keep reading!

It’s easiest for this trick to start with something big enough for your dog to see easily and preferably something a bit boring to your dog; a crunchy dog biscuit usually works well.

Things needed:

  • A leashed dog
  • A large crunchy dog treat
  • A bunch of small treats

It’s important for this exercise that you act as if the large treat is not edible. Whatever you do, do NOT let your dog eat the large treat. Start by having your puppy in a sit or a down and place the large treat in front of them and say “leave it”. They will naturally go to reach for the treat and you’ll put your hand over top of it and say “no, leave it”. When they leave the treat even for a second you’ll take one of your small treats and reward them with that. Then continuously feed small treats as they continue to “leave it” with the large treat. When you’re done with the exercise pick up the large treat and release your dog. Practice this at least once a day in short sessions. At the beginning, you may need to cover the treat with your hand many times before they understand. If your dog is having a really hard time, try moving the treat slightly further away from the dog to help them succeed at this exercise.

As your dog progresses you can start dropping the cookie and saying leave it instead of placing it down. You can progress by placing it closer to your dog or you can make it even harder by using yummier treats that are irresistible to your pup.

Next Step

To make it harder, you can start getting them to “leave it” with balls and different toys. Start by just gently dropping the ball and saying “leave it”, have the dog on a leash so you can stop them if they go to grab it. When you can say leave it and drop the ball without any movement from your pup (other than them looking), you’re ready to make it a bit harder.

You can progress to tossing it a few feet a way, and eventually throwing it as far as you want. If you move through they steps slowly and make sure they fully understand before moving onto the next step this is a fairly easy and one of the most important things you will ever teach! This will help them to not chase birds, squirrels, cars and even other dogs!

We use this command every single day. Whether you drop something your dog shouldn’t eat (like a pill or a grape, etc), or you see something on the trail that they shouldn’t eat (garbage, road kill, etc) or your dog spots a bird or a rabbit that they really want to chase.

Our dogs will leave anything we tell them to including their favourite ball, their best friend, or a bird mid chase, and that is the goal!

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Growing Panda’s hair

Every month I will share how our experience is going with growing Panda Bear’s hair out. He’s a 7 year old havanese, who’s had many different hair styles in his life, but never had it fully grown out!

For those of you who don’t know, a Havanese is a toy breed of dog usually ranging between 7-13 lbs, although it can vary. Their hair can range from silky/straight to wavy to curly. They don’t shed, therefore need to be groomed on a regular basis to keep their hair tangle free and in good condition. Most people will get them shaved or trimmed, but if they are shown in the conformation ring they must have their hair grown out nearly to the ground and untrimmed. They are part of the Bichon family which includes breeds such as the Bichon Frise and Maltese; unlike those breeds, they come in a variety of colours. Their temperament is happy, outgoing and very trainable, these dogs love to entertain and are often referred to as velcro dogs because they love to be with their humans.

Panda Bear is a 7 year old Havanese, he is not registered, nor is he well bred, but we love him to death anyway! I got him as my second havanese, when I was about to graduate high school, before I knew anything about well bred dogs and good breeders! He is curly coated, which is unfavourable in terms of showing, as it is much harder to grow and keep maintained. He’s slightly large for his breed, weighing in at 14 lbs.

Panda has allergies that we are constantly trying to get under control with a raw food, chicken free diet, fish oil, other supplements and special medicated shampoo during bath time. He has been unintentionally growing his hair out for a couple months since I couldn’t decide what to do for his haircut this time. His allergies have been flaring up a bit lately, so I have decided to start his weekly bath routine up again. I think I’ve finally lost my mind, because I’ve decided this is the perfect opportunity to grow him out and see how it looks!

Weekly grooming routine:

What you’ll need:

  • A willing dog
  • Shampoo, conditioner and detangler specially made for dogs
  • A bath or sink depending on the size of your dog
  • A grooming table or somewhere safe to groom your dog
  • A slicker brush and comb
  • A high velocity dryer
  • Clippers and a 10 blade
  • Thinning shears, straight shears and curved shears
  • Lots of treats

I always start with the bath so he’s clean and dry before I start the grooming process. I use a generous amount of shampoo and scrub him well paying special attention to his itchy areas, such as his paws. I allow him to soak in medicated shampoo for 10 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and use a generous amount of conditioner. I then allow him to soak for a few more minutes before rinsing him a final time. Once rinsed I wrap him in a towel and bring him back to my grooming table to get blown out. Before I start drying him, I spray him with a detangler.

*I always use lots of treats during grooming to keep him happy and make grooming a positive experience.*

I dry him with my high velocity dryer, this is his least favourite part of grooming, so I use the majority of his treats during this part. I make sure he is extremely dry as it straightens his curls and allows me to brush him out easier.

Once he’s dry I start with the slicker brush all over his body. Then I take my comb and comb out all of his hair, starting at his head, and going to his tail. There should be no hair untouched and there should be no tangles at all.

For trimming, all I do currently is his sanitary trim, trim by his eyes, shave his paw pads, and lightly shape his feet; then I trim and grind his nails. Once he’s done, I give him more cookies and let him go about his day!

Subscribe so you don’t miss any posts! There’ll be monthly updates on how Panda’s hair is looking, let’s see how long it can get before I give up and trim him!

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Thanksgiving dinner, dog style!

Our dogs are like our children, we spoil them like crazy because they are our lives. It only makes sense that they should celebrate holidays too, right?

As you saw from our last post, we made puppy pumpkin pies, and they loved them but we wanted to do more. We had some leftovers from our dinner that we decided to split them up on 7 little plates and give our dogs a special dinner too.

We believe that “human food” in moderation is just fine for your pups, but be sure not to feed them food that can be toxic for them, such as onions, grapes, raisins, chocolate, etc.

They were eager to try their meal, as you can see! Their plates were made up of turkey, a small bun, a mixture of carrots, stuffing, and sweet potato and of course their puppy pumpkin pie! It was just as much fun for us to watch them all choose their favourite from the plate as it was for them to actually eat it.

We put a lot of training into our dogs, we make sure they don’t act like complete spoiled brats, we make sure they get healthy food and tons of exercise, but sometimes it’s not about training or anything else; it’s just about enjoying their company and giving them more than they could ever want. There’s a reason people call them their “fur babies”, because they are like our children!

Enjoy the photos and let us know what your pups got for thanksgiving!

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Puppy Pumpkin Pies

It’s almost thanksgiving! Last year we made our dogs some puppy pumpkin pies, they were a huge hit for the most part. However some dogs thought the crust was a little plain and didn’t want to finish their pie, so naturally we came up with a new and improved recipe for this year. Let me tell you, they LOVED these pies, every last crumb was devoured; then they begged for more! These are healthy, natural, human grade, good for dogs with belly issues and allergies , not to mention absolutely delicious. Ready to make your pup a delicious treat?

What you’ll need:

  • 1 cup of oatmeal
  • 2 cups of flour (you can use any type)
  • 1/4 cup of apple sauce
  • 1 tbsp of cinnamon
  • 2 cups of pumpkin puree
  • 1 large sweet potato (cooked)
  • 1 banana
  • 1/4 cup of coconut oil melted
  • 1/4 cup of yogurt (we used a coconut yogurt alternative)

Pie Crust:

Preheat the oven to to 425 degrees.

Combine 1 cup of oatmeal, 2 cups of flour, 1/4 cup of apple sauce, and 1 tbsp of cinnamon , 1/2 cup of water and mix together, then add more water 1 tbsp at a time until it makes a pie crust texture.

Roll out on a floured surface, and use a round cookie cutter to make circles. We used a mini muffin tin to shape, it makes about 24 mini pies, or 12 regular size (cupcake size) pies.

Grease the muffin tin with a bit of coconut oil, then form a mini pie in each section.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Pie filling:

While the crust is baking, you can get started on the filling. You can either use a blender for this or mix by hand.

If you haven’t done so already, cook your sweet potato and mash it up, and put 1/4 cup of coconut oil in the microwave to melt.

Mix together your mashed sweet potato, 2 cups of pumpkin puree, 1 mashed banana, 1/4 cup of coconut yogurt and 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil.

Finally, fill your pie crusts, top with a small dollop of yogurt and sprinkle with cinnamon and they are ready to feed!

You can store them in the freezer to thaw before feeding, or store in the refrigerator if you’re planning to use all within a couple days.

We purposely make too much filling, because it makes a perfect Kong filling, and a great meal topper! Enjoy! Comment and let us know how your pup liked them!

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How to create a dog that loves to learn

Marker, Praise and Release word, and how to use them!

During training we use three different, very important words. These words and method of training will help your dog not only learn faster but also enjoy every second of their training time.

If you clicker train the clicker would be your “marker word”. We use the word “yes” as our marker word, but there’s tons of words that you can choose. Choose something that is easy to say but not something you say often. It’s important that once you say “yes” reward the dog. “Yes” means “that is perfect, exactly what I wanted, you’re a genius!” so whether you’re using food or toys to reward, you must reward after using your marker word to show the dog that they did something right. You can choose whatever word you’d like but for the remainder of this post I will be using our word “yes”.

We also use a word or words for praise. This tells the dog that you’re getting close to what I want, and you’re doing good. Praise is important because it will keep your dog trying when the tricks and commands get harder. When you praise the dog, you’re telling them that the reward is coming soon, and typically they’ll try harder once they hear the praise. My main praise word is “good girl” but for the praise it’s all about the tone of voice you use. So just talk to your puppy and say whatever you want to them while they’re doing good, then when they do great you can say “yes” and feed. Just make sure you say the praise before the marker word to have the “try harder” effect on the dog. I tend to tell Petunia that she’s a genius, that she’s the “best puppy in the world” etc. Anything you say in a happy tone will tell them that they’re getting warmer to what you want!

The release word is also important. This is the word that you’ll say when they are finished a command. If you have them in a sit/ stay and you’re ready for them to move again, it’s time to use your release word to release them! We use the word “okay” but you can use anything. Some people use “free”. The important thing about the release word, is that you need to always use it when your dog is finished, otherwise they’re “stays” and everything else will start to get sloppy and unclear; you want everything to be very clear. That’s how dogs learn faster, when everything is very clear!

Marker Word

So let’s get started with teaching the marker word.

What you’ll need:

  • A hungry dog or puppy
  • Yummy treats

This part is easy, and your dog will very quickly catch on and have fun learning this. One or two sessions is all it will take for this. Simply be with your puppy and say “yes” then immediately feed your puppy. At first your puppy will be confused but be like”oh food, yay!”. Repeat over and over until your puppy hears “yes” and looks to you for food. Eventually your puppy will get excited when they hear the word “yes” and that’s when you know they’re ready to move on and start teaching other tricks using their marker word!

Praise

Praise isn’t something that necessarily has to be taught, but rather something that with everyday training they’ll get used to and learn. When you’re training everyday tricks, start praising them more and more before you feed and they’ll learn very quickly that when they hear praise, the reward is coming soon!

Release Word

The release word is an important one to teach, typically they’ll learn the release word first when learning a stay. Whenever we put our dogs in a sit, or down etc they know that they have to stay there until we release them, no matter what! We call this an automatic stay. This means, our dogs don’t really know “stay” but rather anything we say to them is considered a stay in that position until told otherwise.

So start with your dog in a sit and imediatley reward. At first you’ll reward every second, and once you’re out of treats (about 5-10 small treats) say your release word and allow them to move.

At first you have to make the word VERY clear, so you can say “okay!” and clap your hands, throw a treat, anything to make them move out of position.

Eventually you can space the treats out a bit more (every couple of seconds), then eventually less and less until they can stay for longer periods of time before you release them.

We also use the release word when feeding them supper, they can’t eat until we say “okay”, releasing them from their kennels (they are expected to stay even after we open their door), and for literally everything in their everyday life!

With the help of these training tips you should transform your dog into a very eager to please canine citizen who loves to learn and work with you!

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Savory & Sweet Kong recipe!

We’d go crazy without our Kong’s, especially during a heatwave when our dogs can’t play outside as much during the day; These frozen treats keep our pups cool and occupied when they have to stay inside!

We like make new recipes multiple times a week to keep them fun and exciting, while adding different health benefits with our ingredients! The fact that these have all healthy ingredients, mean that they can have them multiple times a day if we wanted, and they wouldn’t cause issues.

Keep in mind that our dogs are very used to new treats, for dogs that aren’t, they should be introduced to new treats slower and use a moderate amount of filling.

Ingredients

  • 1, 13 oz can of wet food (You can use whatever brand your dog is used to or you’d like to try)
  • 3/4 cup of apple sauce
  • 3/4 cup of pure canned pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup of coconut oil, softened
  • 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup of raw honey

Mix all the ingredients together and fill into Kong’s or any interactive toys you have. We freeze overnight and they’re ready to go for the next morning!

We love Kong’s because they’re the tough, easy to fill and use, and the one pictured above has lasted us years!

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Teaching the lure

Teaching a puppy to lure is simple, and can be done in one or two session in most cases; but this is a skill that you can and will practice daily will your puppy over their lifetime. Start by holding a piece of food by your pups nose and move it slowly to let your puppy follow it. Once they catch up to your hand for a couple steps say “yes”, feed them the food and start over.

At the beginning make sure to feed them after a couple steps, so they don’t give up; if they give up you’re moving too fast, so go back to the beginning and feed after one or two steps. Once they know what they’re doing, you can start feeding them less often to make it more difficult. To progress you can start luring them over objects, under objects and in patterns.

We use luring to teach most, if not all of the tricks that we teach, so this is important for the puppy to fully understand!

For puppies that love eating, simply do this at meal time with their own food, after a couple meals they’ll likely understand luring. For pickier puppies get the good stuff out!

Things that even the pickiest puppies like are:

  • Cubed Cheese
  • Chopped hot dogs
  • Boiled chicken or other meat
  • Dehydrated liver
  • Roll over dog food cut up
  • Or any other treat your dog loves!

Have fun, and let us know how your puppy does!

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How to teach look

Does your pup get easily distracted? Do you ever wish they would pay more attention to you? Are they reactive?!

Teaching look is quick and easy, but this command is so important. This is how you can very quickly get your dogs attention. The more you practice this command, the better!

This command is perfect for reactive dogs. When you see a trigger for your dog, (this can be a dog, person, bike, etc) you can simply ask your dog to “look” and you should easily get your attention. You can praise and reward them when they look and slowly you’ll get a less and less reactive dog. They’ll learn to look at you rather than the thing they’re trying to react to, and eventually when they’re unsure, they’ll look to you, ready for their next command! Australian Shepherd’s are naturally reactive dogs, it’s in their DNA, so we’ve worked extra hard on making sure they aren’t reactive by teaching them “look” and automatic “looks” among other things!

So start with your dog and a bunch of yummy treats.

Say “look” and put the treat by your eyes. When they look up, say “yes” and reward.

After a few tries you can start saying “look” and wait a few seconds to see if they look at your eyes. If they look at your eyes, immediately say “yes” and feed; If not, bring the food up to your eyes again, then say “yes” and feed.

As soon as they no longer need the help of the food by your eyes, congrats, they know “look”!

We also reward often times when they make their own decision to look at us. If i’m walking with one of my dogs and they look at me for no reason, i’ll tell them how amazing they are and reward. Rewarding them for making their own decision, creates a more attentive dog!

Bonus

Once they know look, you can make it harder by saying look and having a treat somewhere other than your eyes and wait until they make the right decision to look at your eyes instead of the treat. As soon as they look at your eyes for even a second, reward!

You can try this with toys and anything else they like as well.

Once they’re good at that you start adding duration, first start 5 seconds, then 10, etc to see how long they can look at you for without looking away.

If they cannot do these, they need more practice before adding in the distractions again.

If you can say “look” and throw a toy or treat while they remain looking at you, you know they have a super strong understanding of the command.