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https://wandering-wildflower-28736.myflodesk.com/nuhkseknmw

Free and Balanced K9 Training, Darrington, WA (2026)

12/22/2023

Stop rewarding your dog for everything they do right or you’re always going to have to have it with you

When your dog always gets rewarded for the same behavior, they become dependent on that reward other wise they won’t do what you’re asking them to do. This gets tough for most owners because there are going to be times when you want or need your dog to listen to you but you don’t have any food with you to reward them with. You might get away with that one time and still get the desired result but if they are dependent on the food, they will catch on quick that you don’t have anything with you.

Using food for rewards is the easiest and most convenient way at to reward your dog so I definitely think you should keep using it in your training, it’s just time to start challenging your dog more and gradually rewarding them less

Fading the reward is pretty simple if you can keep track along the way. When you are working on a command like sit for example, you probably feed them every time you say sit and their but hits the ground. When you’re fading the food, you will want to start delaying the reward by 1-2 seconds. That means their butt needs to stay down for that long before you reward. Each time you say sit, challenge them to wait longer. Every 3-4 times, randomly reward them sooner to help prevent frustration or anticipation.

You can learn more about fading food in my Foundations Course

The Links in my bio

12/18/2023

Your dog is more than a machine with some buttons that turns multiple ingredients into a fast and hearty meal

Your dog has their own perspective and emotions driving their behavior

This is why they bark, don’t listen or take treats when your trying to train them, learn at their own pace or cause stress in the neighborhood and with your guests

But by treating them as individuals who need their own plan and time frame for training to accomplish the goals you have, you’re going to see your hard work pay off and the training get easier and last longer

Foundations will get you there

Link in bio 🐾

11/27/2023

The leash causes a ton of frustration when your dog gets into a fight or flight situation

When your dog gets scared of something like a person, another dog, large truck, or some random object, they have never seen before, they might either try to go after the thing in order to keep it away from them, or try to run away from it. When they discover that they can’t do either of those options because of the leash, that emotion starts to get frustrated and kicks that fight or flight response into overdrive so their behavior becomes more intense

The leash has to be on them though otherwise they might hurt another animal or person or run away and get hurt by a car or other animal

If your following the leash laws then you are doing a wonderful job as a dog owner, you are being very responsible and keeping other people and animals safe

Now it’s time to help your dog overcome that fear response after they start associating the leash with the scary thing so they don’t start practicing redirecting their frustration onto it or worst case, onto you

Start by practicing their leash manners away from anyone or thing that’s going to trigger them. This might be inside the house or backyard or driving to a private place you can rent like Sniffspot

Your going to start pairing the leash feeling with food so they know when they feel the leash tighten, they can turn around to you and get yummy food. Also add in slow backwards steps to this so even if you are pulling backwards on it as you are taking distance, they know they can still make the choice to turn around to you

You’re going to teach them that their name means turn around and get some food

And you’re going to start being aware of when they see something so you can say their name before they get too frustrated and react

During your next walk or hike, make sure to bring extra, extra high value foods so if your dog is still learning the steps above, you can still get them out of a pinch and keep their frustration levels low.

Want more help with your dogs leash manners? comment LEASH below

11/06/2023

Food doesn’t amp your dog up in training, that’s caused by their desire for it and the way you deliver it to them

A lot of dogs love to chase things, it kicks their prey instincts into gear, so if they love food as well, now you have an over the top excited dog who can’t wait to get that food from you

I see so many people stop using food in training because their dog seems to get more amped up by it and that can create more jumping, mouthing, demand barking and bitten fingers from trying to get the food, not fun

Even though it’s tough when you bring out the food, at least your dog likes the food and is willing to work for it, that’s half the battle right there, now you just need to work on slowing your delivery method down

Which means you need to stop letting them chase after their food

11/02/2023

My clients foster dog is a huge barker when new people come over. She usually lets the dog do that behavior in hope that she will see her guests are friends, but that hasn’t been working and the dog is pretty intimidating. I noticed she is a scared but territorial dog at heart.

A scared dog can’t always make choices when they are reactive, their brain is too hyped up with chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol that add more stress to the situation and nervous system, so I needed her foster mama to step in and calm her down before she could make good choices

Within 10 minutes we had her calm and learning new things from me instead of her barking at me and retreating like she was when I walked in, just by using food scatters, preventing her from going up to me again and encouraging words. Now they have a fun and effective process of getting her calm as soon as someone comes over because even though she did great with me, she needs to see more new people in order for the training to generalize. Having a big, loud barker charging guests is scary but can be solved pretty quickly with the right process and consistency.

Need help with your reactive or fearful dog? You know where to find me 😉

10/26/2023

Not all obedience behaviors help your dog calm down, there are certain ones that usually amp them up more

Your not looking to amp them up though, your dogs already really good at getting hyped up, the littlest bit of attention will usually do the trick, especially when your adding food to your training.

What you’re trying to accomplish with your training is calmness in their life and yours, especially when out and about in the world

The obedience behaviors you want your dog to know well, like Sit and Down are s that are going to help them calm down even more in public. Place is great at home but you could use in in public so long as it’s comfortable for them, don’t place them on an uncomfortable rock and expect them to stay there for a long time please, that’s not cool.

So your probably thinking “I already have my dog sit and down in public and they are still not calm”

The trick is having them be calm enough to listen one time and then build up their duration while staying put around different distractions. Next thing you know, your dog is listening the first time you ask and staying calm, which is pretty cool to watch

10/16/2023

Teaching a sit is helpful but if your only telling them to sit during exciting walks or in public places where you want them to be calm, you’re going to frustrate you and your dog, not calm them down.

So turn to spending time on choice based activities instead that makes them think and choose what delivers more value to them.

Because your dog will be having to think for themselves, it’s going to calm them down, which helps you reach your goal faster. Once they are calm, then ask for the sit if they are not automatically doing it.

10/13/2023

I’m not quiet about this topic, I want my dogs to be chill without needing to run them or throw the ball a million times in a row. I’m not an athlete and I don’t want athletic dogs, and I know it’s the same for most of you

Plus a lot of dogs are not fully satiated after those kind of exercises. They wear out physically but it’s short lived, or they are more wild afterwards

So I’ve found some helpful activities that are physical but mostly mental to get them fulfilled, and the best part is, it doesn’t take long unless you want it to and if your dog is willing to keep going. These activities will have you moving too but not a ton or at fast speeds, you won’t need to break a sweat.

You just need to get them up, down, over and across different objects and terrain, this helps with balance, core strength, confidence and gets them using their brains

Find them some lengthy stair cases, they are amazing! You can have them go up and down slowly, one step at a time. This can be a great team building activity because your showing them what to do and they will need to work with you instead of impulsively moving, in order to get through all the stairs and hopefully a tasty treat 😋

Stringing multiple activities together is a sure fire way to fulfill your dog in so many ways and build up your team building skills. They have to follow your lead, even after going through the routines multiple times in a row. You can mix in calming activities with fast paced cardio activities. You can slow everything down and or speed it up.

If you want to have a calm and behaved pup without hours of training and physical activities? Working one on one with me will get you there

10/09/2023

I remember the days of being told exercise was the antidote to my dogs behavior problems, and not just exercise but long amounts of exercise

I couldn’t do it, my dog was a nightmare to walk. The bike did help because she was afraid to get in front of it, but not long term

And exercising her for 1-2 hours a day wasn’t possible either, we worked 30-40 minutes away from home and were raising tiny children

Now I barely exercise my 3 large breed dogs at all

We spend 30 minutes max on exercising activities and I change up those activities each day so it’s not the same thing they get used to doing

The hard part about the old school advice is that doing the same activity for the same duration of time created an athlete who needed more and more in order to tire them out

Taking days off and switching activities is more than enough for most dogs so if you find yourself wondering if you should exercise longer, try experimenting with different activities for a shorter amount of time and see what happens. If it’s no where near enough then you know your dog needs something more difficult for a longer period of time

Let me know what you discover ❤️

10/03/2023

Just like for us, it’s a skill set that has to be learned

It also takes consistency if you want to keep the benefits continuing

So instead of trying to keep your dog busy all day with toys, chews, fetch, jogging, biking, walks or constant outside time…

Opt for teaching them to do nothing instead

09/27/2023

Sometimes you move faster through training even if your dog is not ready, and that is why you are not seeing progress.

I was working with a great family to help their dog who struggled to stay out of their space and relax on her own bed. They couldnt eat in peace without her trying to get up close to their food or move her when they tried going to sleep because she didnt want to get off the bed. As we started the training process, my client was following all the steps I showed them but it still wasn’t working to keep their dog happy on her own bed.

What I noticed as I was watching them go through their repetitions, is that their dog was struggling to move through the steps as quickly as her owners were. Shes excitable and smart which can give off the illusion that shes going to be hard to challenge but when shes learning something new and its challenging, it takes her some time to before she’s problem solving on her own and she looses stamina very quickly.

So by experiementing on what pace she needed to go, I was able to show them how much faster she was going to progress compared to letting her loose interest and resist the training. This is because a motivated dog learns faster than a burnt out dog (sound familure?)

Now shes staying on her bed at night time and during the day when they are eating food. Overall they see a much more calm dog who listens more willing than before the training, which means less stressful days where they are constantly trying to make her do things she doesnt want to do or living with behaviors they dont want to live with

Want results like this? Get into 20 Days of Calm before it closes!

09/24/2023

Prevention of behaviors being practiced solves so many behavior and confidence stuggles

But it also takes away your excuses for not putting in anymore effort with training

You can be upset with knowing effort upfront is going to help in the long run but remember, your dog is the one who is left struggling and insecure

Even though you did your part by going to a trainer, spending lots of money and implementing their lessons, doesnt mean your off the hook if it didnt work

your dog is still struggling

And without you willing to shift your perspective and keep searching for another way, they are going to continue to struggle

I completly understand not wanting to take the time to do the training or set up, when training doesn’t work, it can be discouraging, but victimhood cant exisit anymore if you want to make you and your dogs lives better in the long run

When a behavior is being prevented, this means your dog is not getting rewarded for it

This then gives you the ability to reward the behaviors you do want your dog doing instead, which incresing confendence

The how behind prevention usually changes per dog and household but there are some similar concepts like:

1) Taking the time to set up the environement for training

2) Knowing what the wanted behavior is before giving a reward

3) Knowing what your dog finds rewarding and scary

Ive studied all over to be able to give ideas and tips that help as many people as possible, I understand a lot of methods work well for some dogs, but not for all.

Im here to help the all.

Free and Balanced K9 Training

12/22/2023

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11/27/2023

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