 A Friend in Need (1903) By Cassius Marcellus Coolidge
I have a print of this painting hanging my office. It’s there to remind me of a wise trainer I was fortunate enough to train under. He is often heard repeating the following quip: "If dogs could play poker, we’d all be broke." Some days I think we should adopt that saying to be our motto. Oh, if people only knew how skilled their dog is at reading them. How effective their dog has gotten at getting what he wants. How easily he has learned to manipulate situations to his advantage. Seriously, we would absolutely lose a game of poker to our dog. Here are a couple of examples of dogs trying to play us. Recently, Kaytie, one of our trainers, was riding in her car with her new puppy in the backseat. Every time Kaytie looked back at the puppy, the puppy seemed to be asleep. When Kaytie would look away, she would hear a noise coming from the puppy. It took a little while before Kaytie found that the puppy was hiding a tissue under herself and chewing on it when no one was looking. Sneaky little girl. The other day, I was walking one of our training dogs at a local park when a strange dog started to approach us. Our dog wanted to go to greet the strange dog. I told her no and tried to walk in another direction. That’s when our training dog, with a flair for the dramatic, flopped on the ground, rolled on her back, and started screaming like a 2-year old child. There was nothing pulling on her, pushing her, or even touching her, yet the dog was literally screaming. Thankfully, this dog’s tantrum was not my first experience with "puppy tantrums." Otherwise, I might have been worried that something was wrong. I stood there calmly and waited for our dog to finish with her tantrum. After a few seconds of screaming and rolling, she turned to look at me, saw that I was unaffected by her antics, and then she got up and walked nicely with me. I’ve watched dogs throw tantrums ranging from mild to intense for the simplest of requests. The important thing is to wait the dog out and not give in. If you can’t get your dog to follow your leadership in the little things, you can’t expect them to listen to you with the big things- like aggression. As pet parents, we need to be willing to lead our dogs. Not because we are on a power trip, but because we are the parents and we know what’s best. Just like with children, when we give in to tantrums, we both lose. The dog may get his way this time, but he has lost respect for us as his leader. And we lose the ability to ask our dog to do anything, unless he feels like it. The best way to show your dog that you love him is through leadership. Do you know how to be your dog’s leader? We would like to help you. The first step is to schedule your free, no obligation evaluation. Click here to schedule your evaluation online now. You pick a day and time that works best for you. A trainer will meet with you and your dog (and anyone else that you would like involved in training) and go over some history, find out your training goals, and discuss training options. We can usually provide you with some free tips to help you start seeing immediate results. You can find out more about all our training options and get any questions you have answered. There is no pressure or obligation to buy anything. Here is the link to schedule your free evaluation: https://www.cleverk9mi.com/schedule-evaluation-session.html Happy Training!
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It’s no big secret that I love my clients, both the dogs and their owners.
It doesn’t take me long to find something endearing in all of them. I look forward to their appointment times just because they are fun to spend time with. Even though I wholeheartedly enjoy so many of my clients, I try really hard not to choose favorites. That being said, there is one client that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. This dear woman researched and poured over different dog training methods and styles for over a year just looking for a way to help her dog. Nothing she found seemed to be the answer. Nothing really worked. Then, a few weeks ago, she walked in my door for a free evaluation. She signed up and got started right away. And are we having fun! Half of the session is spent laughing. One of my favorite parts of our time together is when she says, "That makes so much sense!" We have been systematically working through the Great Dog in Eight Weeks lesson plan, each week building on the previous. And each week, as the lessons build on the one before, my endearing client seems to have more and more "Ah-hah!" moments when the process is suddenly so clear. I just love that! Yes, dog training is logical. Yes, there is a process that helps your dog understand what you want from him. Yes, it is possible to see a lot of change in a short period of time. It is so much fun watching both the client and the dog as they grow. We would like to help you. The first step is to schedule your free, no obligation evaluation. Click here to schedule your evaluation online now. You pick a day and time that works best for you. A trainer will meet with you and your dog (and anyone else that you would like involved in training) and go over some history, find out your training goals, and discuss training options. We can usually provide you with some free tips to help you start seeing immediate results. You can find out more about all our training options and get any questions you have answered. There is no pressure or obligation to buy anything. Here is the link to schedule your free evaluation: https://www.cleverk9mi.com/schedule-evaluation-session.html Happy Training! Before coming into work yesterday morning, I made cupcakes.
This was not planned. It was completely spontaneous. It was my youngest son, Theo’s, first day of summer break. During his morning adventures in the kitchen, Theo found Mickey Mouse cupcake liners and an idea sprouted in his head. My little boy absolutely loves to cook. Theo looked at me with his big brown eyes and begged me to make cupcakes with him. I had a hundred reasons why I didn’t have time to bake anything yesterday morning, but none of those reasons were solid enough to hold. So, I found time to bake with my little son. His eyes danced and his smile was contagious as he poured ingredients and watched the mixer turn. Everything was going well ... That is, until the new dog, Luke, stole one of the Mickey Mouse cupcake liners. Theo took that offense personally. The chase was on. Theo ran after Luke yelling to give the paper back. Luke thought that this was a great game and ran so Theo could chase him, all the while chewing on the fun, new paper in his mouth. I joined in to try and get the situation under control. In short order, poor Luke was caught and I was able to retrieve a badly mangled, half chewed cupcake liner from his mouth. I realized a couple of things after this incident: 1. It is time to leave a leash on Luke while he is in the house so I have an easy way to catch him when he steals contraband. 2. It is time to work on Leave it, Drop it, and Come with Luke. 3. Theo is serious about his cupcakes. Do you have a dog that likes to steal your things and then run away so you will chase them? We can help. The first step is to schedule your free, no obligation evaluation. Click here to schedule your evaluation online now. You pick a day and time that works best for you. A trainer will meet with you and your dog (and anyone else that you would like involved in training) and go over some history, find out your training goals, and discuss training options. We can usually provide you with some free tips to help you start seeing immediate results. You can find out more about all our training options and get any questions you have answered. There is no pressure or obligation to buy anything. Here is the link to schedule your free evaluation: https://www.cleverk9mi.com/schedule-evaluation-session.html Happy Training! This week, we had the pleasure of being able to foster and train another dog from Canine Companions Rescue Center.
This time around, we were matched with a 4-month old puppy. And is she CUTE! It’s a good thing she’s cute, because, my goodness, is she a spitfire. Already, little princess and I have had several conversations about her manners. We had a chat about the inappropriateness of jumping onto the kitchen table to steal food. We’ve had several discussions about how it is not nice to bite people’s pants, legs, and ankles when she wants attention. I had to remind her that throwing a tantrum at bedtime will not get her out of her crate. We’ve had a couple long talks about not being able to run outside to play any time she wants to, even when the closest door opens. Also, we’ve had more than one conversation about proper behavior when she’s angry. Mostly, that it is NEVER ok to bite out of frustration. It is especially NOT ok to bite my hands, arms, or my poor watch that never did anything to her. I think she and I are making some good progress, which is bittersweet because the little girl is being adopted on Sunday. I’m going to miss our daily discussions, but I’m thankful that Little Miss is staying in the Clever Canine family. One of our trainers is adopting her, and we couldn’t be happier to have the little stinker stay around. Do you have a dog (young or old) that needs help with their behaviors or manners? We can help. The first step is to schedule your free, no obligation evaluation. Click here to schedule your evaluation online now. You pick a day and time that works best for you. A trainer will meet with you and your dog (and anyone else that you would like involved in training) and go over some history, find out your training goals, and discuss training options. We can usually provide you with some free tips to help you start seeing immediate results. You can find out more about all our training options and get any questions you have answered. There is no pressure or obligation to buy anything. Here is the link to schedule your free evaluation: https://www.cleverk9mi.com/schedule-evaluation-session.html Happy Training! |
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