PEI dog training

Reactive German Shepherd Training

February 7, 2023 By Duke Ferguson Leave a Comment

Lewis came to us as a typical reactive German Shepherd. His owners were in need of help and decided to enroll him in our Board and Train Program. This is where a dog comes to live with a trainer for a month minimum to get fully trained both on and off-leash!

Lewis has now finished our Board and Train Program and is living his best life! 🤩🙌

His owners have been loving having him back home. Here is what they had to say 🥰:

“This is Lewis my four-year-old German Shepard. I absolutely love this guy!

Lewis is your typical GS a loyal, loving dog to me, my husband, and my kids, I was shocked and dismayed how reactive he became and how he scared people with his fierce barking and lunging especially toward cars and strangers. I thought to myself, will he bite someone?! I had no idea how to change this behavior.

A friend told me about Unleashed Potential in PEI and there I met Sara Bryanton. In a few months under her amazing care and training, Lewis returned a changed dog. Now when someone new approaches us, Lewis will stay in a sit command and calmly wait while I chat.

How can this be the same dog?! I’m still shocked that he listens to me lol. I have been bringing him to work daily and continue to socialize him. He’s such a happy guy because he gets to go everywhere with me.

My heart is about to burst I am so proud of him and of the incredible work Sara did with him!

Thank you so very much. Our lives have changed for the better!”

– Owner Patricia

Thank you for the kind words! We sure will miss having this big loving fella around!

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PUPPY SOCIALIZATION | Building Confidence in Your Dog

March 4, 2022 By Duke Ferguson 2 Comments

A 5-Step Puppy Socialization Exercise to Build More Confidence in Your Dog!

If you’re looking for ways to socialize and build confidence in your puppy or an older dog of any age, then this video is for you. Watch as I take you inside one of my private training sessions and introduce you to a very powerful, next-level socialization exercise that many quality working kennels will do with their dogs. You’ll see a vibrant 16-week old pitbull puppy named Echo as she goes through all of the steps that I’m going to teach you. This is the first time she will experience this form of socialization.

I’ll teach five levels that you can add on and keep the momentum going as your dog becomes more and more confident. This puppy socialization exercise is very simple and very fun. It is also an extremely powerful way to have your dog learn to try hard on its own and become more confident.

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Steps to Socialize Your Puppy

Step 1: Introduce the kiddie pool or something that can contain bottles or other safe objects. The pool is empty at this point, you just want your puppy to experience the difference in texture and sound. We let the dog explore with a loose leash. Drop pieces of kibble or high-value treats in the pool as your dog is in it. Make it a great place to be!

Step 2: Let your puppy jump out and add some empty water bottles to the pool making sure to leave lots of empty space. As your dog jumps in, drop in more pieces of kibble, let your dog search around for the food. The sound of the moving bottles will be a different experience and this is part of socialization. The food is a reward and the dog learns to overcome the stress of the moving bottles.

Step 3: Add even more water bottles to the pool. Enough that the dog must push through some bottles in order to get the food.

Step 4: As your dog is searching for food, tap the side of the pool to add some distraction and offer reassurance through some gentle petting and praise through touch. This helps build confidence because you as the handler are giving that support in this new environment.

Step 5: The last step of this exercise to build confidence in your dog is to move around the bottles as they search for the food. In this case, I’m using a stick to move around bottles and randomly tap the pool. This is another form of distraction and it socializes the dog to all sorts of sounds, textures, and situations.

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Recommended Products for This Exercise:

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Puppy Socialization should be fun!

This can be done with older dogs too, it’s a great way to develop that trusting relationship between you and your dog. It’s our hope that this video will help you think of other ways you can socialize your dog. Get creative and remember always start off slowly and add another level as your dog is comfortable. Use these exercises as an opportunity to train your dog using his kibble as a reward. Throw that food dish away and get a treat pouch and feed your dog while you train!

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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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Gain More CONFIDENCE in YOU and YOUR DOG | Coaching

November 18, 2021 By Duke Ferguson 1 Comment

Gain More Confidence in You and Your Dog

Are you lacking confidence in yourself and your overall life? Is your dog training and relationship struggling as a result of your confidence level?

In this video, I teach four ways to build more confidence in you and your dog.

Dog training is best when you as the handler are confident in your skills, and you can help your dog overcome stresses and, therefore, grow.

This clip is from my UPX Live Zoom coaching session on gaining courage and confidence for you and your dog.

As a certified professional dog trainer and high-performance coach, I believe it is essential to understand that how you show up personally affects all aspects of your life and your dog’s life, including building confidence and a better relationship with your dog.

From my experience, having a good coach helps me overcome many serious struggles in my personal life and in my overall professional life, I truly and fully believe in combining personal development with all we do…ESPECIALLY dog training. They need us at our best so they can be at their best.

Dog training and high-performance coaching is a super-powerful combination as I have found out this year in my Unleashed Potential Experience “UPX” Live Training & Coaching Program. It’s much more than just dog training and behaviour shaping, it’s training & personal development for YOU and YOUR dog.

Want to gain more confidence in yourself and in your dog then this video is for you, hit play and I’ll share four ways to gain more confidence in you and your dog!

If you know 3 friends who would benefit from this please share it with them, I want to help as many people and dogs as I can become more confident, and you can help me help others build more confidence and live a better life.

If you enjoyed this video, please Subscribe to our YouTube channel (P.S. Click the bell icon to get notifications when we post a new video). I am consistently coming out with new videos and love your feedback.

what did you love about the video?

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4 Ways to Gain More Confidence in YOU and YOUR DOG

1. Increase your skill: Competence builds confidence.

Increasing your skill level is very important when you have a goal, and you’re not confident to do it. It’s showing up, having a little bit of understanding and just going to do it. Therefore, learn that new skill and then apply it. Tell yourself, you’re going to crush this fear, and you’re just going to do that one thing to move forward, and you do that. Even that one thing.

2. Don’t wait for a reason. Get a coach, take action and gain some momentum.

Please don’t wait for a cause in a sense; you have goals, you have dreams, you have visions, whether it’s for your dog or in other aspects of your life. This vision can be for your finances, your relationships, your business, health, hobbies. So, confidence isn’t something that usually comes, right? We have to grow. You have to kind of say, okay, how do I get this? A good coach will help you get clarity and hold you accountable so you can gain momentum.

3. Set the intention and permit yourself.

I’m just going to be more confident because I’m stuck. And I’m going to quit being stuck in the mud. Give yourself permission, set the intention and do it. I know that’s a big statement, and I know how hard that is. I have done it. That’s taking a step forward to crush that fear.

4. Have faith! Know who you are, where you came from, and what you want.

Think, “I know who I am and I know where I have been.” Sometimes it is uncomfortable. Sometimes you’re going to seek that comfort. So that’s why maybe you’re staying in the comfort of your own home or not pushing the envelope because of distractions or issues with a dog or whatever it is. A lot of us look to credentials. You may think, “I don’t have the credentials, so I can’t do that.” “I don’t have the certification or the course…I don’t do that.” Don’t stress about that stuff. You have to learn. Life is learning. So by knowing who you are and knowing what you want and then deciding, you’re just going to do it. You’re going to crush that fear.

Want to join Duke’s live bi-weekly dog training and life coaching membership? Click here or the image below for more details.

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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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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PEI dog training

A 5-Step Puppy Socialization Exercise to Build More Confidence in Your Dog!

Steps to Socialize Your Puppy

Recommended Products for This Exercise:

Would you like FREE puppy training or dog training advice? OR to just learn more about Duke’s philosophy on dog training?

This mini-series is not found on YouTube. Get Access Now You will love it!

Gain More Confidence in You and Your Dog

4 Ways to Gain More Confidence in YOU and YOUR DOG

1. Increase your skill: Competence builds confidence.

2. Don’t wait for a reason. Get a coach, take action and gain some momentum.

3. Set the intention and permit yourself.

4. Have faith! Know who you are, where you came from, and what you want.

Want to join Duke’s live bi-weekly dog training and life coaching membership? Click here or the image below for more details.

FOLLOW US!

Would you like FREE puppy training or dog training advice? OR to just learn more about Duke’s philosophy on dog training?

This mini-series is not found on YouTube. Get Access Now You will love it!

Train Your Dog Using Raw Fish

Watch as I prepare and train my dogs using raw fish

Steps to prepare raw fish for training

XDOG™ Supplements I Use and Recommend

FOLLOW US!

Would you like FREE puppy training or dog training advice? OR to just learn more about Duke’s philosophy on dog training?

This mini-series is not found on YouTube. Get Access Now You will love it!

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