4 Easy Steps to Potty Training Your Puppy!
Dog Training Tip #3 – Use food to train
Use food like a pay cheque for training
Dogs are bred to work! 90% of pet dogs live an unfulfilled life as they are never given a job. We do everything for them without them ever having to earn anything. No different than people who are handed everything to them, dogs who live an unfulfilled life are usually bratty, entitled and pushy. An easy way to have your dog work is to work for their meals. Your dog will still be getting the same amount of food, and will appreciate their new job! You can use food for obedience, while walking, to work on the place command, in a food toy like a Kong Wobbler or using the “Feeding the Chickens” method (see second picture below – kibble scattered through the grass). By providing your dog with purpose he will naturally be happier and better behaved! So give it a try! Try for at least one whole week to get rid of the food bowl and have your dog earn their pay cheque! I guarantee you will see a difference in your dog’s behaviour for the better!
“Don’t worry he’s friendly”!
What to do if a dog runs up off leash
We’ve all been there…walking our dog, minding our own business….and all of 
a sudden there is an off leash dog bee-lining it straight towards us. The owner is somewhere, only to be heard yelling “don’t worry, he’s friendly”!
What do you do?
A) Allow the rude dog to rush up to your dog, and hope for the best?
B) If you have a small enough dog, pick him up?
C) Run the other way and hope the dog loses interest?
D) Advocate for your dog and do whatever it takes to make sure that dog does not end up face to face with yours?
95% of the time option A is happening. 99% of the time option D is what needs to happen. So how do we do this?
First, know the other person will likely be offended. I live in Stoney Creek, and we have a lot of old school European families in our area. Many of them don’t walk their dogs but allow them off leash on the front lawn. One time a Boston Terrier ran across the street barking and growling at us…I got in front of my dog and yelled “GET” while swinging my legs (NEVER made contact, the dog was a good 5-10 ft from me the whole time…but even if I did make contact, would be better than the dog fight that could have happened had I not). The dog’s owner was PISSED, and told me not to kick his dog. Well I was even more pissed that he allowed his dog who clearly had no manners as well as zero listening skills, off leash on a busy road and running up barking at us. After giving him a piece of my mind we went on our way. I haven’t seen the dog out off leash since!
As your dog’s person, you need to advocate for him. If you don’t know the dog approaching assume he is NOT friendly (even if the person claims he is). Get a walking stick, Pet Corrector, umbrella or just swing your legs and yell like I do! I promise you, it is not worth the risk allowing strange dogs to run up barking at your dog. If you want to socialize your dog, do it off leash with dogs you know. While you are walking, on leash is not the place to socialize! Even so called friendly dogs can end up in a bad situation if on leash.
And to those who allow their dogs to run up to other dogs…stop, just STOP. It’s rude and you are putting the person and other dog in a very stressful situation. Too many people are scared to walk their dogs due to the number of off leash dogs running up to theirs. Be a good neighbour and leash your dog!
German Shepherd Puppy Training
Lisa and Matt contacted us to help with their young and energetic working line German Shepherd.With two young kids in the house, a senior Chocolate Lab, and busy lifestyle they needed some extra help getting Bear trained so they could enjoy him rather than be frustrated with him. They signed Bear up for our 8 week Freedom From the Leash program to get him trained and able to be off leash. Bear is a lovely young dog who simply didn’t know how to calm down. You can see in the below video the stages he went through to learn the art of “calm on command” by just relaxing on place. Many young and high energy breeds never learn how to “turn off” that energy and their owners think they need more exercise. While exercise is ABSOLUTELY important, some dogs even with all the exercise in the world still don’t know how to relax. So we taught Bear how to relax, as well as taught him to walk nicely on leash and gave him new found freedom by training him to be off leash so he can run and burn some of that energy off!
Bear learning the art of being calm
Bear learning to walk nicely on leash
Bear off leash
“Katherine is hands down the best dog trainer we have ever met and we have met many over the years. She loves dogs and they love her! She transforme
If you need help with your young energetic dog, we’d love to help!
Dog Training Tip #2 – Food Matters
What you feed your dog matters!
Before you begin training, make sure your dog is eating a healthy diet. They learn best when the
y feel their best, and it will only make training easier. No different than sending a kid to school on a diet that consists of only fast foods, dogs require a healthy and balanced diet to thrive. Unfortunately, the big name kibbles (ie. Purina, Iams, Hills etc.) are not quality foods. We suggest that you visit www.dogfoodadvisor.com and check to see how your dog’s food ranks. Anything lower than 4 stars needs to be thrown away, as that is the McDonald’s of kibble. Some brands of kibble we suggest are Acana, Orijen, Nature’s Variety, or Carna4. However, we feed our own dogs a complete raw diet and strongly suggest looking into it. Dogs who are fed a raw diet tend to see the vet less often, have shiny and healthy coats, shed less, have clean ears and eyes, and less likely to suffer from allergies.