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dog training tips

Reactive Dog No More!

February 10, 2022 By Sara Bryanton Leave a Comment

One of our Vet Student clients came to us with her reactive dog, Indie, a couple of months ago. They both learned a ton during their lessons and have been on a road to success ever since! The amount of hard work this client put into her dogs training truly shows and we couldn’t be more proud!

 

Reactive Dog No More!

 

“We had our first group obedience class this weekend!

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous going into it. I hadn’t really trained Indie all week due to studying and patient care at school and there would be quite a few dogs present, so I wasn’t sure how it would go.

But as usual, she blew me away. Indie didn’t have one single reaction at group class – she was focused, calm and so dang good, even with other excitable dogs and other dogs working around her. We were able to participate in all of the drills with the other dogs, including weaving through them and their handlers and walking past them.

If you would have told me that we would be able to do this a couple of months ago, I would have laughed. If you have a reactive dog and are struggling – reach out to a trainer. It was the best decision that I made – they helped me with things I couldn’t see, taught me how to handle situations, and continuously supported us through the process. So do better for your dog, do better for you. It’s a hell of a lot of work, but I promise you it is so worth it to see your dog learn that life isn’t so scary and to give you the confidence to help them navigate the world.“

– Owner Maddie

 

You can follow along with their journey on Instagram – @tailsofindie

 

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Filed Under: Testimonials

Place and Recall Training Success with Rescue Dog!

February 8, 2022 By Sara Bryanton Leave a Comment

Place and Recall Training has helped Taco the Texas Rescue live his best life! He and his owner worked, and continue to work, very hard on his training every day. Read below what Taco’s owner had to say about a recent successful outing.
Rescue Dog Standing
“Some huge training wins this morning!
Tacos recall has improved so much with our recent training and incorporating a “place” command. We started playing a game of getting him to place on various steps of the bleachers! Even with dogs running by, he held his position (with the cutest head tilt) until he was released.”
– Owner Lindsay
You can follow along their journey on Instagram – @tacofromtexas

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Filed Under: Testimonials

Off-Leash Recall with German Shepherd | Amazing!

February 7, 2022 By Sara Bryanton Leave a Comment

An off-leash recall with a German Shepherd is possible! Read what the owners had to say below about their German Shepherd, Grace, who was recalled from chasing a fox outside perfectly!

 

 

“If you are wondering if this training works or not, my husband recalled Grace away from chasing a fox at the edge of our property. We have a 1/4 mile snowshoe tracks made around the property.

She started after the fox, then recalled back to a heel and continued on. Hubby said he could see the fox sitting in the woods watching as they continued their walk; Grace watched him back but stayed in the heel.
This wild fox is around the area a lot; they were singing to each other last night lol

This absolutely would not have happened prior to your program. Looking forward to group classes!”

-Owner Nancy

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Filed Under: Testimonials

Train Your Dog Using Raw Fish

October 19, 2021 By Duke Ferguson Leave a Comment

Train Your Dog Using Raw Fish

I get asked a lot about how to use raw food when training a dog. People wonder about the process I use and including how I prepare and actually carry the raw fish or any other raw meat when training.  What a training session looks like and whether or not it’s messy.

There are a variety of ways that you can use raw food to train your dog.  I love the fact that in the spring, summer and fall months I catch my dog food.  I make sure to freeze the fish for three to four weeks to kill any parasites that may be present.

Watch as I prepare and train my dogs using raw fish

 

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Steps to prepare raw fish for training

The best way to prepare the fish for training is to pre-freeze the whole fish, in this case, mackerel and cut it into bite-sized chunks.

chopping up raw fish

It’s easy to cut partially thawed fish into small pieces.  This also keeps things relatively clean for cleanup and training.

 

bagging raw fish for training

Plastic bags are great because they can be cleaned and reused.  You can place the bag in a pocket and easily grab chunks of raw fish.

 

training dog

After you have your raw fish/food prepped and ready in your pocket to the training pouch you can begin your training session with your dog.   5-10 mins are all it takes.  I use a clicker or verbal release to mark a behaviour and then feed with a piece of raw mackerel.

 

training black lab using raw fish

You can build excitement and energy by throwing the food and allowing your dog to catch it.

 

finished training session with raw fish

If after a few drills and you’re running short on time you can end your training session with a ‘jackpot’ where you empty out the bag of raw fish and let your dog enjoy!  The key is to make them work for it.

 

jackpot! silversides with supplements

I also like to add XDOG™ supplements to my dog’s diet.   I’ll do this when I give a bowl of food as a jackpot to help contain the powder supplements.

 

dog in boat with fishing rods

I am blessed to live on a beautiful island where I can fish for my dog’s food.  By feeding my dog mackerel, I get to do something I love every single day.  Fishing is one of my passions and it’s even better when I can take my dog along and build a strong bond and a trusting relationship.   Having a well-trained dog is key to being able to enjoy life together.

Takeaway tip: What’s one thing that you really love, something that’s good for you, a hobby or something that you’re passionate about that you haven’t done in a long time.  What’s taking you from it?  What changes can you make in your life to get back to doing that a little more?

 

XDOG™ Supplements I Use and Recommend

use coupon code UPK915 to save 15%

XDOG supplements

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Filed Under: Duke Ferguson, UPK9 Main Blog

Vizsla Puppy Training | Teach Fetch

March 19, 2021 By Duke Ferguson 1 Comment

Vizsla Fetch Training – Teach ANY Puppy the Game of Fetch Using Food and Toys

This video will show you how to teach fetch using food and a toy with a vizsla puppy. If you’re looking for tips on how to easily train your puppy how to fetch and what you’ve been doing so far isn’t working, this video will show you a bunch of tips on how to successfully get your puppy to fetch!  For puppy training tips, watch this video and set the stage for an awesome retrieve!

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SUMMARY

  • The reason I use food, in the beginning, is that not all puppies or dogs have the drive to play (prey drive) and therefore, we have to ignite that and channel it.
  • When the dog’s mindset changes we can channel that play to toys in correlation with food.
  • Socialize your puppy using food and touch.
  • It’s easy to transition from food to a toy by throwing the toy and when as he’s coming back to you walk backwards, kneel down and reel him in like a fish and pay him with food.
  • To get your puppy to let things go, don’t pull it from him, instead hold the item and make it ‘go dead’.  As soon as he lets it go, you can play again.  He learns, “by letting go, play happens.”
  • Once your puppy or dog learns to fetch items you can then incorporate obedience fetch.  This is where the dog must think and do something for the fetch game to happen.
  • Obedience fetch works both the mind and the body.

VIZSLA PUPPY TRAINING | STEPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL FETCH

using food to build drive

 

arousing the puppy into prey drive

 

puppy goes out to fetch the toy

 

puppy retrieves toy to hand

 

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RECOMMENDED TOOLS:

Liver Bites - Dog Treats
Liver Bites – We use these every day in training 🙂

 

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Full Transcript – 

Vizsla Puppy Training | Teach Fetch Using Food and Toys

[The following is the full transcript of this YouTube video. Please note that this video, features Duke speaking extemporaneously–he is unscripted and unedited. Filmed in one take].

 

Hey there, it’s Duke Ferguson. How would you like your puppy to go out, grab something, and bring it back to you? If you want to learn how to do that…In this video, I’m going to teach you hands-on a little Vizsla puppy. Awesome little guy. I’m going to show you exactly how to get it done successfully with your dog. Be sure to watch the video the whole way through, because it’s jam-packed full of tips. In fact, grab a pen and a piece of paper. You’ll learn little things on socialization, how to get your puppy to let things go, how to get calm grips. And you’re going to see if you watch all the way through a mistake that I made you won’t see it. But I point it out at the end because I noticed it. And I want you to get the most out of this video, what you won’t do.

You’ll get to see that in the video because it’s really easy to not see. If you like this video help me help you click the notification, click the little light, thumbs up, all that cool stuff so that when a video drops, you’ll be the first to know. We have a little puppy. And despite all of the drills we can do, right, I’m going to actually, this guy has got drive. He’s got heart, he’s got everything I’d want to see, look at this. And come right in here too. So I have this desire, right? For food. And he’s got prey drive as well. He’s going to chase stuff and he wants to do things, but some dogs don’t. So in the very beginning, I want a dog to run away and come back. So I play a game.

All right. And the reason I use food first is because not all puppies are not all dogs have drive the drive to play or prey drive. And we have to kind of ignite that and channel it. Even if a dog has very little to no desire to play, we can use food in the beginning and start the play process. And as the dog’s mindset changes and the way they think and the way they feel about it, we can channel that play to toys in correlation with the food. So then all of a sudden with dating, we could call it or with these interactions in a good way, especially when it’s survival and when it’s all good things, but he learns to play. Now, what is play? Play is with toys. It’s interactive with us, but his type of play is wanting to bite and bite.

Even if a dog has very little to no desire to play, we can use food in the beginning and start the play process.

That’s a normal puppy. So one of the things I like to teach for the majority of dogs, especially with a hunting dog, I don’t want to play tug of war with a hunting dog, right? Fetch. I’m telling you to fetch. If you have a dog who has the desire to want to go and get it, I can have him run after the food, tell him to fetch. And he comes back to me and I’m already socializing him to come through here, he’s already standing. And Darren, you can do this as well for, with him, right? But if a dog is engaged with the food, he can’t bite you. So now I’m not getting bit. So this is all part of socialization. You’ve got a big, scary guy leaning over a dog. All right. He learns to do these things. He’s getting a ton of…break, and I can just throw it. Now,

where does this have to do with retrieval? He comes back, well, you need a dog to go away and you need a dog to come back. He’s learning to go after this. Let’s say, and you wouldn’t have to do this. If you had a dog with prey drive, I would start this with any dog. Um, regardless, but the dog that doesn’t like the toys, this is definitely your start. So you just throw it out. Okay. They have their marks established. What do they do when they want the food? They come back to you. So you’re already actually priming a recall. The dog comes. Simple. I’ve done nothing but talk. So, once I do the food and I know I don’t need to with him, okay, I’ll go with a little toy. Right? And I want to teach him to fetch something. So the first thing you need to do, right?

And especially, listen. If your dog is grabbing things for your attention and chasing you or getting you to chase them around, you know, and doing things, you’re already training them to do that. So I’m going to get his attention. He’s aroused. You see where he wants this and I’m going to throw it and I’m going to get the lead and I’m going to walk backwards and I’m going to kneel down and I’m going to reel him in like a little fish. Look at him. Hey, okay. Good job, buddy. Good job. And if he wants to hold on to that, come on, right in here. I’m letting him you can hold onto that little buddy. And then just calm. And then I just hold the toy and I wait, I let it go dead. I make it go dead. I just bring it in see. He wants to play on it.

Good. And then we’ll play again. As soon as he lets go. Okay, I’m going to start teasing them again a little bit. And I’m going to just throw it now. Why? I didn’t say fetch. Good boy. Hey, look at this right to me. Okay. That’s natural. Okay. I’m holding him there. And this is learning to go get something and bring it back to Duke. And, Oh my gosh. I get paid. If that guy had his treat pouch on and could feed me here. So he learns, especially if your dog likes it, I like to play to chase this. I like to pick it up and bring it back. That’s a God sent. If you have a dog like that, the thing is, what if they don’t you shape it the same way. So if your dog doesn’t like it, which he does, but for example, I throw it.

The puppy is learning to go get something and bring it back to Duke. And… oh my gosh. I get paid!

I know, he goes and he gets it. I have the leash and I’m going backwards because I want him to come and follow me or chase me. And I put my hand out already to get it from him. Right. Usually, it’s the left hand. And then I’m going to say what a good boy you are. Thank you. And I’m going to give them a piece of food. Do I have to give him the food? No, but it’s double reward probably more than double reward. Cause I tease him here. He’s aroused. He’s like, Hey, but this is a dog that likes to bite your pant legs and hump you and do things, which is a normal, strong little puppy. Okay. Fetch. Now, why did I say fetch? Because I know without reasonable doubt, that thought was going to go get it. Guaranteed. Good job, man.

And then I bring him in and I just let him hold it. I don’t take it right away. Good job. Way to go. Okay. And he lets it out on his own. He spits it out on his own. If I want them to have good grips. Fetch. I’ll build that. Him, I don’t care he’s soft grips. Just don’t let it go. So notice I’m pulling him in and he’s trying to go that way. That’s where I go the other way. Hey buddy. Hey buddy. Let’s go. And the reason why this works, obviously he has to come with me with the leash, but in the beginning, I threw food. He came back, I threw food. He came back. Now I throw good job, buddy. I throw this…little throw and he comes back. Right. He tries. And if he wants to run away and I’ll let that happen right now.

But I would say two fetches ago. Yeah. Is a good time to end this session. I’m a little bit long now. Cause he started going to go the other way. He was successful. Always end on success, where he wins and you win. You got what you wanted and when he wants one more fetch, stop it, only do one or two. I know I did a lot more for this, um, this video two or three fetches. And then when the dog says, yeah, I want one more. And then they got a lot of energy four fetches, five fetches. Now when you have a fetch game and they like it you’re burning off physical energy. The next thing I want you to do is to incorporate obedience training, which meaning thinking dog. Your terminology for obedience might be different than mine, but obedience training, meaning the dog says, I want the ball.

Now when you have a fetch game and they like it you’re burning off physical energy.

I want the retrieve, but I don’t want my dog senselessly, just running back and forth to become an athlete and still reactive. So I just wait and they do something. They sit, they lay down and they pay attention and I release them. “Break” and I give them a reward which you’ll see in other videos, but that’s called obedience fetch. The best thing you can do for your dog relationship burning off energy and everything. Hey, I hope you found this video of value. If you did, let me know your biggest takeaway down below. If you’d like to sign up for my free mini-course, there are six videos you can sign up for in the link down here. And if you’d like to learn more about obedience fetch kind of get the concept. I have a video right here and you can click that into that as well. So I hope that’s great. Thanks for watching. Make sure you subscribe, click the like and do all that cool stuff so that I can connect with you again. See you soon.

Filed Under: Duke Ferguson, UPK9 Main Blog

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