Meet Archie

If you follow our Facebook or Instagram pages, you may have already seen posts about Archie.

​If you haven’t, let me tell you about this little guy.

He’s mine. I’m absolutely in love. He’s a spunky little bundle of fluff.

Being the crazy dog lovers that we are, my husband and I decided to add another dog to our pack.

We have adopted dogs into our family in a lot of different ways.

Half of our dogs are rescues, and the other half are from breeders.

This time we decided to go with a purebred, Mini Australian Shepherd (American Shepherd) because we knew what traits we were looking for, and Archie is it!

I’d be lying if I told you this past week was easy.

We are back in the throes of young puppy days.

That means whining and crying in the middle of the night, potty accidents on the floor, sharp puppy teeth nipping at our hands, and inconvenient trips outside to teach the little guy where to go potty.

Archie is a smart little guy.

He’s picking up on training quickly.

It has been a week, and he has learned to be quiet in his crate- sometimes.

He knows to relieve himself outside, though he doesn’t always make it.

He knows how to sit and down on command.

As trainers, we know that teaching Archie all that stuff is important, but the most important thing we can do for Archie is to make sure he is properly socialized.

The thing is, puppies have a very short window of opportunity when it comes to socialization.

Puppies are open to accepting new things when they are between 3 and 16 weeks old.

After that window, training a dog to accept new things becomes much more difficult.

For the next few weeks, our most important job will be to make sure Archie has positive interactions with as many different people, places, and friendly animals as possible.

It’s our job to make sure Archie can be confident in new situations so we will be setting a strong foundation through proper socialization.

Dogs that don’t get the chance to get out and learn about the world when they are very young often develop fearful behaviors.

They don’t have to have ever had a negative interaction with something to develop a fear of it.

Just lack of exposure is enough for dogs to be afraid.

The problem is that fearful dogs can develop aggression.

In fact, fear-based aggression is the most common type of aggression that we see.

It’s sad for everyone when a dog is fearful.

If you have a young puppy, now is the time to prepare your dog for the future.

Make sure your puppy gets to meet tons of friendly, new people of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds. 

Make sure to take them places where they experience an array of new sights, sounds, and smells. Introduce them to unusual things.

Build their confidence and their world.

It’s exciting to see the world through the eyes of a young, playful puppy.

Enjoy it.

If you have a dog that has already shown signs of fear or aggression, contact us.

We would love to help you and your dog experience the world in a new, confident way.

Let us show you how.

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!