Saol

MEET SAOL

Everyone meet Saol!!! This handsome fella is a 7 month old Australian Cattle Dog! ...and we just think he is the cutest thing ever, HYPER but a cutie patootie none the less.

Saol is the second youngest dog to come through our Excel program... and we are so excited to watch him grow, learn and be the best that he can be. ;)

Saol just finished the Ruff Life training not that long ago, but his momma thought that we could help fine tune a couple things. Saol comes across as cool and collected when walking on a leash, but when he gets a chance to play with other dogs... well... thats a whole other story. This handsome fella gets a little crazy, and looses his brain temporarily. lol. He has been known to 'dominate' other dogs, which can get him into trouble... so that is one of the first things that we are going to work on. We want to teach him that this behaviour is unacceptable, because we don't want him to get into trouble with a grumpy dog. 

Our goal is to find specific things that grasp Saol's mind, to keep him focused... calm... and wondering what is next. We also want to teach him the types of behaviours that we LOVE, and the ones that we could do with out.... tighten up his obedience and teach him that recalls are the best things ever.

Session 1 of 3

Thursday, August. 7th 2014

Today we went to Saol's mommy and daddy's office to pick him up for his exciting adventure, and to have a quick chat with his mom about some specific things we would like to work on.

Saol was VERY excitable, and jumped up and barked to let us know he was pleased to see us!! One behaviour that Saol's mom wants us to help with is how pushy/demanding he can be with people... so this will be something we will have to work on each time we come to pick him up. Excitement is good... demanding can be less then desirable... 

When we got to the dog park Saol was über excited to be there, and to see DOGS!!! It took us a little bit, but we got Saol to walk calmly into the dog park before we gave him his entire leash for some running around time. 

We tried to do a couple recalls right off the bat, but Saol acted as though he lost ALL of his hearing... crazy when that happens. I guess this handsome fella is going to make us work for our money lol but we are up for the challenge. We are just going to make sure that he has some good drive for food next time ;) 

By the end of the session Saol was starting to get the hang of being a respectable gentleman, he was starting to relax and have fun doing his confidence boosting drills, his recalls were getting better, and his obedience was great!!!

We can't wait until the next time we get to work with this cutie!!!

Check out his video progress below.

(A very BIG thank you to Tammy with Hank and Nelly, and Kona and Yoko for their puppy support)

Session 2 of 3

Thursday, August. 14th 2014

Oh Handsome Saol! You are such a character! 

Today we picked Saol up and he got to ride in the back of the truck. It was like he had already done it in a past life... he hopped right up, got clipped in, and sat down with a HUGE smile on his face for the entire ride. 

Today was a BUSY day at the dog park, and there was LOTS of distractions and situations that we were able to use and learn from! At the beginning of the session it was hard to get Saol's attention, even if we had treats (Yummy hot dogs), and were jumping up and down like crazy people. lol. The world's an exciting place you know!! ;) So we stepped up our game, and not only were we über exciting!!! But we did tons of obstacles WITH Saol to grasp his mind. Our little trick worked ;) and it didn't take long until Saol was wondering what we were going to do next. Wheew!!! I think we are going to need a nap after all of this agility stuff! 

We noticed right from the beginning of the class that Saol's manners had improved immensely with other dogs. It just took a calm "leave it" to get him to stop being to 'forward' with other pooches. We think he finally get's it ;) yay! He was even sweet as pie with the small ones.

This handsome man is so smart! He reminds us of an old soul. Saol is quite particular about what makes him tick.. but we think he really really likes this stuff that 'grasps his mind'. Once he get's it, it seems to work even better then treats, toys or sticks... although those are good things to mix it up. 

We can't wait until next week!! For more adventures of Saol!

Check out his video progress below.

(A very BIG thank you to Greg with Stella, Carmin with Cabella and Bandit and Jasper for their puppy support)

Session 3 of 3

Thursday, August. 21st 2014

Oh what a character sweet Saol is... so calm, cool and collected... it's been fun figuring out what makes this man tick!! At first we tried food, then toys, then sticks, then obstacles (we know he loves those...but that wasn't quite it).. and FINALLY we figured out all it takes is a good old fashion bum scratch and a few kisses. Saol is a ladies' man for sure ;) Just look at that face below. lol 

Today was a fun day at the park with lots of distractions (ie. people, dogs and thousands of grasshoppers), which gave us tons of opportunities to work on manners with other dogs ....which I must say... has come ten fold in 3 short weeks (no more humping or excessive licking), recalls out of exciting situations, leaving awesome smells behind when called, and learning to stay in commands even though there is fun stuff going on around him. We are so proud of this progress thus far.

It's going to be really important that Saol's mommy keeps this man's mind challenged, so he doesn't find ways himself. Saol is a methodical man.. you can literally watch him thinking. He may be to smart for his own good. he he. He knows when we can get away with things, and will push the boundaries... just like all those loving teenagers out there. ;)

We know Saol's mommy will do a great job, as they are a wonderful team!!! We can't wait to watch them grow together.

Check out his video progress below.

Good Vs. Evil = Prim and Proper Vs. Goofy and Fun

(A very BIG thank you to Chloe and Erik with Toby and Juniper, and Kona and Yoko for their puppy support) 

Lexie

MEET LEXIE

Everyone meet sweet Lexie! This beautiful girl is a Bullmastiff x Bouvier. She is also a Calgarian now ;) but is back visiting some family in the Okanagan. Lexie came through training a few years ago, and is back for a little one on one attention with Monique.

Lexie is a sweet, sensitive and well behaved girl that has a few issues that her mommy would like us to help her with. This beauty has some issues with separation anxiety, most likely due to her lack of confidence. She likes to pull on the leash, and needs a wee-bit of fine tuning on her obedience. Lexie's mommy also wanted us to make sure that she was okay around bicycle tires, as she had a little chase one day when out with the dog walker. (Who wouldn't want to chase a bicycle... they are fun and exciting... right?!?!) ;D

We will be really focusing on bringing Lexie's confidence up enough that she is well on her way to being "bomb proof", and teaching her the command "place" where she will learn to be calm and relaxed. 

Session 1 of 3

(Thursday, July.17th 2014)

Today we met up with Lexie's Dad/Grand-dad in town. He had specifically brought her in for training today, to see what kind of fun new behaviours that we could teach her/work on. We noticed right off the bat that Lexie looked a little nervous, but she is such a love... and came right over for attention. It had been a while since we had seen this pretty girl... but she recognized us right away. What a cutie! because there were some specific behaviours that we wanted to work on with Lexie today, we decided that it would just be some one on one time... with no other dogs. 

When it was time to load Lexie into the truck, she jumped in with little to no concern. Which was a great start to our session. We decided to take her to a very mellow part of town where we could work where there was little to no distractions to start. At first we just got her walking nicely on leash, and got to a point where we could drop the leash on the ground and still have her pay close attention to us! This girl is such a smart cookie ;) 

Next we decided we would teach her a "Place" command. This command will teach Lexie to go to her bed/blanket...etc. and either stand, sit or down. (That part is up to her). We expect that she stays in this place and is calm and collected. We made sure that we varied the command to ensure that it does not matter if it's 2 seconds or 2 minutes. Either way.... she should still remain in a calm state. Miss. Lexie picked this up so quickly, but was not "diggin'" the treats... so we started to reward her with a stick... we think she enjoyed that ;) Her ears perked up, and she ran multiple times for the stick when she was released. She was having a good time... which is so important! We even got a ton of distance from this pretty girl, while she stayed calm as a cucumber!

Last but not least we wanted to work on teaching Lexie that bicycle tires should be respected not eaten... as that can be more then dangerous for both rider and dog. She started teaching her to give the bike space while in motion, and then we started to incorporate weaves and circles... and taught her how to get out of the way. She did fantastic... and she even looked like she LOVED running beside the bike. This might be a new hobby for Lexie's mommy to pick up ;)

We can't wait to watch this beautiful girl become a calm comfortable secure pooch ;)

Check out her video progress below ;) 

See you all next week for the adventures of Lexie!

Session 2 of 3

(Tuesday, July. 29th 2014)

Oh Sweet Lexie. We really watched you  come out of your shell today!!!

Today Lexie's dad/grandpa dropped her off at the dog park. She was quite unsure about the situation and it took a few minutes to get her focus instead of looking back to see where he went. She had no idea what she was in for today... but we had some pretty fun plans for her. We had six doggies and their owners at the park to help with her training. ❤️

We noticed that Lexie's Sits/Downs are amazing, but her recall is defiantly on her terms. We want to teach this pretty girl, that recalls are fun and it's important to come back when called.

It took about half of the class, but FINALLY Lexie started to get what we were teaching her. It was almost like a light bulb went on. Her demeanour totally changed, and she started to play with the other dogs, swim and have fun. It was so great to see!! You can defiantly see it in her video below!! 

We can't wait to see this pretty girl on Thursday!! 

A VERY big Thank you to Laurie & Mar with Jasper & Bandit, Laura with Ruger, Sabrina with Matthias, Sarah with Ripley and Kona for their puppy support!

See you all soon, for the adventures of Lexie.

Session 3 of 3

(Thursday, July. 31st 2014)

Oh Miss Lexie! You have sure come out of your shell!!! It's so nice to see this girl finally relax and have fun PLAYING!!!!! and leaping and bounding with excitement. She is SUCH a cutie!!!! We are going to miss this girl dearly!!

Today we had Lexie's dad/grandpa come to the class and teach him all the new stuff that Missy Miss learned during her sessions with us. They BOTH did so great! It was really neat to see this team work together. Lexie was super excited to do her confidence boosting drills, recalls, and swim and play with the other dogs. We think she LOVES her new found niche... and she will do so great when she goes back home to Alberta.

Lexie's mom is going to have to do lots of confidence boosting drills to keep this girl smiling and happy!! Lexie very much needs jobs to do to keep her feeling good about her self. She just LOVES to please!!! Learning how to keep recalls fun will also be an asset!! (So lots of love and yummy treats), and last but not least... lots of play time with other pooches!!!

We will miss this girl so much!!! But we know she is going to excel with her new training!!! 

Keep up the great work pretty girl!!

A VERY big Thank you to Tammy and the girls with Hank and Nelly, and Carmin with Cabella for their puppy support!

Check out how great Lexie and her Dad/Grandpa work together in her final video below!!!