What a busy winter so far!
Despite the wet weather and cold mornings we have had quite an array of services going to meet the needs of such a wide array of clients, from private sessions, doggy daycare and obedience classes to our new puppy academy and junior holiday program, we have done it all !
Obedience Spotlight Obedience classes have been in full swing and dogs are moving up so fast that our level one looks oddly quiet for the first time ever!!! not that that will last haha so we are enjoying the space while we have it... Here we have a little spotlight on some promising pups! -First up we have little olivia with her lab izzy who is on a strict diet! if you thoit motivating your dog was hard I challenge you to do so with a food driven dog that isn't aloud food! a tremendous well done to olivia and her family for making a difficult situation so easy. -Next we have the best due around Milo and Dotti! these two mischievous pups and their owners are doing so well training not 1 but 2 high energy dogs at the same time in the same home.... this could be a nightmare but this fabulous due are making such fantastic progress and i can't wait to see where they end up :D
-In the last photo you'll see a delightful little staffy daliah. This young lass is moving up at such a quick pace that if I blink I will miss it. It's amazing how much you can get from a high energy super loving dog who would most definitely enjoy attention from anyone and everyone if given the chance! what an amazing achievement so far.
Level 4 Obedience Our level 4 class is right in that sweet spot of tipping into fully graduated dogs! ALMOST..we have a small ways to go but i can definitely see such amazing progress in so many of our level 4 dogs. Just remember - That age and breed isn't the issue! practice is... - If we don't practice the behaviour we desire then we will never reach it.. - If we practice behaviours we dont like they will continue.. - If we stop practicing because it's easier to give up.. you are failing your dog, that's the harsh reality.
Mini Mutts! School Holiday Program We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to host our very first school holiday program at Mutts and i couldn't be more grateful to have had such invested kids and parents for our first go at this. These kids and there k9 friends have been such a delight to work with that we are excited to say that we will be doing this again! (and perhaps for some internal adults depending on interest and over a different time schedule due to work and other commitments they may have) During our program our mini handlers were able to grasp the concepts of breed traits and genetic needs, periods of development, obedience commands, reinforcement, rewards and dog behaviour so well that they were able to demonstrate this as instructors in our level 3 and 4 class as well as in front of there family and friends at graduation. Making everyone so proud! Our 5 day mini handlers had the extra tasks of training cool tricks through problem solving with there k9 friends during their complex skills and demonstrating scent detection. If you haven't already seen our videos and pictures here is a spotlight on our amazing mini Mutts in action!
Here we have handler and k9 companions.
Olivia and Lab (Izzy), Talia and whippet (Molly), Gimima and JR (Murphy), Emily and Saffy (Thor), Izabelle and Lab (Leo), Dominique and Bull arab x (Rogan)
Welcome aboard our new play date pups and dogs :D
Miss lola the boxer (miss jump alot)
Miss shadow the lab x smithfield (legit lives up to her name and becomes your shadow)
Mr Hunter the Springer spaniel (lover of food and belly rubs)
Miss Poppy the border collie (miss endless energy)
Mr Bad boy bradley the Multiuse (sir bark a lot)
Miss Cookie the JR (miss i need constant cuddles)
Miss bonnie the spitz (miss invisible)
Miss Tiki the JR (Miss look at me)
A New Mat-scot last but definitely not least ! Welcome TUX... our newest "Mat-scot" 🤣 Tux is the newest addition to the Mutts family and You'll see him out and about doing his best to become a prime example of a good boy. We hope to move into the serious side of competition with little Tux whether it be Conformation and agility or perhaps flyball we are not sure yet but as long as he loves it i'm sure he will succeed. Our first steps with Tux - Puppy proofing the house!!! i forgot how enticing the most simple things can be... - Adding a harness so walking on a harness isn't new when we train/structure our walk - Removing the food bowl... Probably the most important thing for me is bond and value between me and my dog. Tux works for every meal practising handler engagement, lured positions and movements (no labels), and lots of calm behaviours around dogs, cats and kids! The aim I have from hand feeding him, is to create a strong bond between Tux and Myself and to implement how important I am by being the only source of real value. This is also a great way to get your dog to start problem solving as you can see when I try to pop Tux into a stand, together we work it out. (Videos at bottom) (We will be doing our best to upload videos and photos of our training and socialisation journey for others to learn from.)
Now I know a lot of owners will say they don't have time to do this and I can fully understand and mostly agree because I know what it's like to add this to a full time job and a young family 😥. When I have days/times that im unable to do my feeding this way i use a kong, kong wobba OR a shell pool with tasks filled with treats so that no matter what he has to work for it! This also helps tire out little Tux and when you have a high energy breed or just a puppy in general your better off putting that energy into a task you like instead of letting it present itself in a destructive way such as chewing up the couch or digging up the yard.
Here are some videos of what it looks like when Tux works for his food. Im sure ill get better at these but you can definitely see his little brain and body working after only having him for 3 days. There is no talking/commands yet or over excitement when he does what i'm looking for and we do our best to practice this alone and under distraction as you can see when Mr kahu thinks its rude to withhold not only treats but the puppy away from him haha... (no interaction will be had with adult dogs that he does not live with until Tux proves himself ready) After our sessions we go potty AGAIN and then he sleeps it off.
As you can see in the second video he is becoming quite tired and this is where I stop, even if he hasn't completely finished his whole meal, as I don't want to overdo it and have him dislike working. His a chunky boy so he is okay to miss a couple of bites 🤣