Don't walk in front of me...

It's not about who eats first, it's not about who goes through the door first, it's not about who gets up on furniture or who sleeps on the bed.

Maybe it's way simpler than all of that: maybe it's as simple as Friendship. About finding balance and being together the way friends would be together. In mutual respect, in desire to share and connect. 

One thing is for certain - it's hard to beat the loyalty and friendship that our dogs show us. 

There's a lovely quote that goes something like:
"My goal in life is to be the person my dog thinks I am" (unknown)
Isn't that just the beautiful truth?!

Dog treat production: something fishy

Fish treats - fresh out of the oven...

The blog post a few weeks back on "Go get meat!" "Secrets of making Amazing Cookies for training" got so much positive feedback and so many students in classes came in to class reporting they made those cookies and had amazingly willing, keen and happy workers - I decided I need to share another Favourite of Mine. 

This one: Fish Bread or Fish Cookies comes from my dear friend Catherine Thomas - shared many years ago...made and baked countless times since then with many different main ingredients. Any combo of fish, though, definitely seems to be a favourite among most dogs...and well - at least one of my two-legged human kids :-) 
When my daughter was just a wee toddler - she would sneak into the "Doggy cookies" (read: the container where she'd find these fish treats) and take handfuls at a time as a little savory snack. When other kids were eating a granola bar - she'd munch away on Fish bread!

So - there you go: an amazing training treat for dogs as well as a great snack for humans (those who enjoy fish)! Here's How: 

Pick up some canned fish. Look for the varieties that are packed in water and are low in salt/ no added salt. Tuna is definitely a favourite as far as taste - but because of mercury, it may be a good idea to switch it up and use other types of fish also. Sardines and salmon are also winners!!

So, this particular batch, documented in photos here are made with one tin of Sardines and one can of Tuna. Heat your oven to 375 F while you prep your dough.

Start with 2 eggs in a mixing bowl. Dump in the entire contents of the two cans of fish - liquid and all. Then add about 1 cup of water, and enough flour to mix everything into a nice, sticky and doughy ball. I tend to use whole wheat bread flour, as well as oats, but use what you have. 

 As the dough mixes into a ball, add 2 tablespoons of Olive oil (or other vegetable oil).

After mixing it all together, you will have a ball of sticky dough looking something like this (below). Dump it out on a cookie sheet covered with Parchment Paper and flatten it out until fairly thin using your hands. 

Below here you have it, the whole thing spread out over a large cookie sheet. Now you could stick it in the oven like this...BUT - here's a cool thing an experiment revealed...

IF - BEFORE baking - you take your pizza roller-knife and drive back and forth across the whole entire "bread" - first in one direction and then in the other...

 ...so that you end up with this lovely pattern of tiny bits (below). And then - if you BAKE IT like this - you get these wonderful "break-apart-pieces" that are totally MADE for training: you can just take a section of bread with you as you go and the pieces literally will break apart in your hand as you just wiggle the bread around. AND it doesn't crumble much :-)
(If you don;t do this step, you still get lovely bread - but it does crumble a lot more as you break it)

After pre-cutting and driving your pizza knife back and forth twice over the entire thing - bake at 375 F. 
I prefer these cookies baked on both sides...so will stick the cookie sheet in the oven and put the timer on for 25-30 min.. at which point, I pick up the whole bread with my oven mitts on and turn it upside-down (doesn't matter if it breaks in the process - as you can see mine did...). Put back in the oven for another 15-20 min. 

After that - when they come out - you literally have squares breaking off like this (below). See how handy that is to put in your training bag!?
I usually divide the yield into 4-6 plastic freezer bags and keep one out (in the fridge) - and put the others in the freezer. 

Awesome treats, or what?! If you decide to try them - would love to hear reports of how your dog (or child!!) received them? Please comment below - would love to hear!!!

Photo shoot with Keva

I got to enjoy a lovely morning walk with Chris and Keva just a few days back. She's a gorgeous dog! She's a German Shepherd type - sure looks mostly shepherd, but also low content wolf. I first met Keva as a wee little one when she came to Puppy class. Recently she completed the "Manners" program and she sure is turning into a Lovely Companion dog!

The very bottom shot is my own favourite. The intensity of those eyes - yet soft and friendly as she curiously paused for just a brief fraction of a second to check out what I was doing. I really like the expression of that one :-)
Thanks Chris and Keva - and Suzanne, too! Hope you enjoy the photos!!

You are his life, his love, his leader...

 "He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

    - Unknown

It's a beautiful quote, the one above. It came to me as I was deciding to post these images and looking for words to go along with them. What do you say beside images that already tell such a story of connection?

I adore seeing connection between people and their dogs. It's a a true gift - that goes both ways.
And isn't that ultimately what dog training is all about? Developing and strengthening the relationship, finding ways to connect, deepening the bond, making ourselves "worthy" of our dogs and multiplying the reasons to connect and Be Together. That's always been the idea behind the training we do at Wags.

It doesn't have to be elaborate or complex - sometimes the reasons for training and developing skills can be pretty simple and every-day. At the end of the day - It's the Journey that matters - perhaps not so much the destination... It's a good thing to ponder and be thinking about: "What's in Your Journey?"

Dog Days of Summer

Meet Summer. Yeah, that is this adorable German Shepherd adolescent-girl here. I originally met her and her peeps; Susan and Felix, through Puppy Foundation Skills class, where she started at an early age. 

Just a few days ago, I met up with Summer and Felix for a lovely outing and photo shoot. There were a few specific images I was looking for to add to my photo gallery and library, and the very cool thing looking back through the images was how well many of these images illustrate one of the things I keep preaching to students all the time: develop PLAY with your dog!!! With good skills and a keen player, there are so many training challenges that become easy and fun to work through - but more than anything, Play develops such a fantastic bond and relationship! It puts the emphasis exactly where I believe it should be: right in the middle between you and your dog - in something that you do Together. 

So, here are some of the photos from our photo shoot just the other day. Hope you enjoy! THANK YOU Felix and Summer for being awesome models! Thank you Susan and Felix for doing such an awesome job getting this girl off on such a great start! And Thank you for teaching her how to play with you! It is a gift that will stay with her (and you) for life :-)

I LOVE seeing the intensity in the play! It is just simply gorgeous and it is easy to see just how much fun she thinks this is, too! In the image below she is frozen - ready to pounce the moment she is given permission! Can't you just feel the intensity?

See the impulse control Summer is showing in the photo above, too? Love it! And she's 5-or-so months old!! 
Closing off with a beautiful portrait of a very beautiful soul. OH Those Eyes!

Working with Reactive Dogs

I was intrigued already the first time I heard about BAT - Behaviour Adjustment Training for reactive/ and leash aggressive dogs. It was about 3 and some years ago. BAT is a relatively new method that has taken off in just the last few years. It was developed by US-trainer Grisha Stewart  (formerly located in Seattle - recently relocated to Alaska...) and the hype about BAT went fast around the globe after 2009 when she first started spreading word about it in the dog training world...for more; check out the official Functional Rewards site.

While many of the concepts within BAT are not new at all - I personally felt that BAT added a very nice and fresh, new spin on working with these - often "difficult" dogs. What I have felt from the very first get-go and my own trials and experiments with putting BAT into practice, has been that it is based on a lovely premise of "can do" - as opposed to the many techniques out there, that may look great in books and on paper but are not very doable and practical in real life. And my experience as a trainer is very much that if *I* find something complex and not very doable - certainly my clients will not be very successful implementing that program into their lives! But, as mentioned - BAT is different, and stands on a strong idea of DOABLE - and I love BAT for that!

My own journey into learning more about BAT and starting to really use it began through watching video seminars and reading the BAT book and articles - and then experimenting with my own dog Pinot, who definitely is extremely space sensitive and has the potential to be quite reactive in certain situations. She was my initial guinea pig. I sure liked what I saw and experienced first-hand! That lead to setting up BAT trials in private sessions and pairing people in semi-privates to work on BAT concepts in pairs. I kept feeling impressed that these ideas are ones that everyone "gets" - not just the handlers  but also the dogs, who were happy to work under threshold, without explosions - as long as we just set things up for success! How lovely! 

Last winter and spring I started a Pilot Project and had an "Official Guinea Pig Group" and through several months gained some really valuable insight into logistics of a BAT group and how I might best implement a BAT class. And voila! This is where we are today. 

No one loves it when the their dog explodes and goes into big displays of often embarrassing behaviours (embarrassing to the owners). After a BAT session - the most common scenario is that everyone feels empowered after a full session of working with several different dogs - yet no (or extremely few) explosions or overt displays of leash aggression. 

Here are a few photos from yesterday. Yey for the troopers who came out in the snow! It was a very snowy (and gorgeous) afternoon. Fantastic training with all the dogs! I`ve had a lot of new people ask about BAT and how it works - so this is an attempt to explain a bit more  through pictures...

These first two images give a little snap-shot of what BAT is all about. In the above photo Chief T is assessing another dog/ looking ahead. In contrast to many other training methods that encourage the handler to always cue the dog to look AWAY from whatever is "scary" or "threatening", BAT allows and even encourages the dog to make this assessment and look at the other dogs. 

Because we make our very, very best effort to always work the dogs under threshold (perhaps playing with distance a lot initially and starting the work as far away from other dogs as need be) - we can very quickly get to a point where you will allow the dog to make this assessment of the other dog and then WAIT for a choice from your dog to offer some other - more socially appropriate behaviour, something other than reacting. That's what's going on in the photo below; he`s done assessing and has made a choice other than reacting. Look at Chief T - isn't that just gorgeous and elegant?! A choice he made on his own - without prompt or cue. It's truly elegant to watch this process in real time!

We also incorporate some other skills into the BAT sessions once the dogs are ready for that - below playing a variation of "Monkey in the middle" where one dog is holding a sit next to their handler while the other dogs provide distractions in their movement and passing / coming and going. Great skills to develop and build regardless of whether dogs are reactive or not :-) 

 Working on politely passing one another / no lunging here! Great training :-)

Below, Casey (to the right) has just made a lovely choice to offer a polite signal and she is being rewarded with increased distance and a happy dance in reverse giving her SPACE from the other dog (and praise) and the main reward for making that lovely choice.

At its best, watching a BAT session is about as "exciting"as this -it`s pretty calm and the dogs look relaxed enough that you would have the right to say "Well, THOSE dogs are not reactive".  And that`s part of the point. Practicing what we want to see more of! 

Sometimes people have this idea that in order to be able to help with reactivity or leash aggression, we must see those behaviours in the training sessions. Not so! In fact - on the contrary! A reacting dog is not a thinking and learning dog - but these dogs are. Well below threshold and able to think and learn - we`re definitely starting to see and hear great reports from the BATters who have been coming out to a few sessions now!

If you`re interested in learning more or a local wanting to join in Canmore and Banff area - you can get more info about Wags` BAT sessions here. Or fill in the contact form and ask about our outdoor BAT sessions! Would love to hear from you!


On that note - and until next time; Chief T wants to have the last word and say GIMME FIVE! 

If you can't identify it - you can't reproduce it

This past week I have spent completely immersed in the world of things visual. First off, of course I have been trying to stay afloat with keeping my eye on (pardon the pun) regular class work, registrations and reading and responding to the many emails that land in my inbox every day. 

But beyond that, I've been hard at work editing all the fun images we shot of Elroy the week before. 

AND; here's the really visual:  I took part in a training course - all about Photoshop. My brain is actually about to burst - information overload is a huge understatement...I've been staring at images and learning and absorbing all week long - and there's no denying it: I am super excited about new ideas, new knowledge and tools discovered!  (It's been a long time since I formally updated my knowledge about this tool).

What really struck me, though is just HOW closely related the two loves of my life are (well, there's Hubby too - so that would make it three loves, but you get the idea!?) Dogs and Photography - and to make it clear: the Man, of course (maybe not in that order?)

One of the instructors in the Photoshop course was explaining to the group about the importance of REALLY SEEING - not just looking, but actually trying to see and understand. The specific discussion was regarding composites and how to combine images, layers and effect so it looks natural and the instructor was giving tips for how to achieve good end results - urging the students to Really LOOK. If you can't identify it - you can't reproduce it. In order to know how to make something - you have to understand what it needs to look like in the end to get to the end result. 

Wow! It's exactly the same as in dog training! Isn't it? If you can't paint a visual picture of where you want to go - how can you describe steps to get there? or identify gaps when you get stuck?

When wanting to achieve something specific with your dog - whether teaching a performance behaviour or working on fixing a problem -  I think this is so valuable (maybe so obvious but easily forgotten!) -- what we can all benefit from is to slow down for a moment and think in reverse and describe, in great detail, what you see (where do you want to go?) and what that particular behavior looks like - and then start adding the layers - just like in Photoshop!

There's a fantastic great quote that I absolutely love (and I am very sorry I don;t remember who said this?) but it rings so very true and I will leave you with this thought to ponder:

"If you don't know where you're going ~ Any road will take you there" 

Photo shoot with Elroy

The journey to create more images for photo galleries, a new website as well as for illustrating articles has started :-)
Meet the handsome Elroy. Here are just a few of the photos from our morning last week. Thanks Jen and Elroy for coming out and being such awesome models!

I think this is my personal favourite of them all - what beautiful connection!