Pupdates From Some Minor Dog Training

Pupdates From Some Minor Dog Training Updates for Some Minor Dog Training's Board-and-Train Program

05/30/2026

Charlie is an anxious Mini Dachshund, and every day we do this same exercise around a palm tree in the exact same way.

To most people, it probably looks like a simple Place drill. We walk together, she goes to her cot, and I circle around her before picking up the leash and doing it again. But there's a lot more happening than obedience.

Even though Charlie knows the exercise, I start every session holding the leash the entire time. That's because confidence isn't built by testing a dog. It's built by setting them up to succeed. Once she's settled into the pattern, I start removing support. On the second repetition, I drop the leash while we're walking and the cot is already in sight. On the next one, I drop it before she can even see where she's going. Little by little, she takes on more responsibility, but only after she's shown she's ready for it.

About halfway through this session, something unexpected happened. I stepped on a stick, it snapped loudly, and Charlie jumped. For a dog like her, those moments are important. In the past, a surprise like that could have completely derailed her. She might have fixated on it, tried to leave, or struggled to re-engage.

Instead, I simply guided her back to the task and continued the exercise. No big reaction. No stopping. No rushing to reassure her that everything was okay. Just back to work.

On the very next repetition, you can see her notice the stick. She gives it a little extra space this time, but she doesn't fall apart. She doesn't abandon the exercise. She doesn't get stuck worrying about what happened. She acknowledges it and keeps moving forward.

That's the part of training that often gets overlooked. The goal isn't to create a dog that never gets startled, stressed, or uncomfortable. The goal is to create a dog that can experience those things, recover, and continue functioning anyway.

For anxious dogs, that's often where the real progress happens. Not when nothing goes wrong, but when something does, and they learn they can handle it.

Because the world is full of sticks. 🤣😉🐶❤️

05/26/2026

Charlie has been doing so well!

The weight loss, healthy diet and exercise had given her a TON of renewed energy, and her mood has done a complete 180! We still have a lot of work to do to help this silly girl continue to gain confidence, but today we are focusing on refining her "puppy push ups".

Puppy pushups are typically "sit", "down" and "stand". Due to Charlie's weight, we have been focusing primarily on "sit" and "stand" to help strengthen her thighs and hips, while keeping in mind her comfort as "down" is currently uncomfortable for her on cue. No problem!

She is learning "sit" and "stand extremely well! And one of the ways we help her really understand these cues? Using them during play!

You'll see that we start the session very structured with clear expectations, but we reward all her hard work with a game of fetch! The catch? Every time she brings the toy back, she has to sit or stand (on cue) before we throw the toy again and continue the game.

This game not only will help reinforce her sit, stand, and recall, but also help her build confidence and emotional regulation by going from excided to composed repeatedly as part of the game

05/26/2026

Tishi went home about a week ago, and today, during one of our follow-up in-home sessions, we worked on something that is going to be incredibly important for his family's long-term success: calmly walking next to the baby's stroller.

For many dogs, this might seem like a simple exercise. For Tishi, an anxious, reactive Chow with a history of aggressive behavior, it's much more than that.

The goal isn't just teaching him where to walk. It's teaching him a new mindset.

We want Tishi to learn that when the baby is present, his job is to calmly follow, stay connected to his handlers, and respect the baby's space. Not investigate the stroller. Not crowd it. Not make decisions for himself. Just relax and move with the family.

Structured walks like this create predictability, and predictability helps anxious dogs feel safer. They also give the owners an opportunity to practice clear communication and reinforce the boundaries that help everyone coexist safely.

Every calm step next to that stroller is another repetition of the behavior we want becoming more familiar and more automatic.

For dogs like Tishi, progress isn't just about obedience. It's about building new habits, new expectations, and a new way of moving through the world with their family. 🐶❤️

05/22/2026

Charlie is continuing to build her skills on this rainy day.

Today we're not only building on her skills but are now starting to help with her socialization and neutrality exercises. Having structured snack time with other dogs is difficult, not only to hold the "place" command but to relax enough to chew on her treat.

Was a beautiful moment for this anxious girl who has been very reactive toward other dogs in her past!

05/20/2026

For Charlie, this exercise is about much more than preventing door rushing.

Charlie is a very nervous little Dachshund who tends to worry about new people, sounds, movement, and changes in her environment. Today we used her "Place" cue near the front door, both to practice impulse control around a high-excitement area and to work on one of my favorite confidence-building exercises: Neighborhood TV.

Neighborhood TV is exactly what it sounds like. Charlie relaxes on her Place cot and simply watches the world go by. Cars pass, people walk by, doors open, birds fly overhead, and life happens around her. The goal isn't interaction. The goal is observation.

For a dog like Charlie, that's incredibly important. Anxious dogs often feel pressured to react, retreat, bark, or investigate every unfamiliar thing they encounter. By giving her a safe, predictable spot to calmly observe the world, she learns that not every sight, sound, or movement requires a response. Over time, those once-scary experiences become normal background noise.

We're not just teaching obedience here. We're teaching Charlie's nervous system that the world is a little less scary than she thought. Every calm observation is another small step toward confidence. 🐶❤️

05/19/2026

Door rushing and bolting is a very dangerous habit that Charlie has developed.

Today we worked on two different forms of door manners:

Thresholds: teaching her not to pass a particular threshold without invitation. This boundary is the front door mat. When the door is open, she has to stay behind the door in unless invited to go outside.

This is a great exercise for day to day living including before going on walks, checking the mail and more.

Place: teaching her to hold and maintain "place" with the door open. Because "place" means "get on here and stay until released" we're simply building up the distractions by opening the door. This allows her to build confidence in "scary situations" as well as her owners to advocate for her, allowing her to breath and let Mom or dad handle "scary things".

This is going to be excellent for when she is feeling insecure, when company comes over, when someone is at the door, and more!

✨ Charlie's Health Journey ✨ Charlie came to us on May 6th. On May 7th she was weighed in at 20.4 pounds. For a Miniatur...
05/19/2026

✨ Charlie's Health Journey ✨

Charlie came to us on May 6th.
On May 7th she was weighed in at 20.4 pounds. For a Miniature Dacshund this is very overweight. According to AKC the standard weight for an Mini Dacshund is between 8-12 pounds.

Our goal is to help Charlie to reach 12-14 pounds in order to give her the healthiest life going forward.

With guidance from her Veterinarian we helped Charlie switch over to a healthier diet plan and health plan, and began going on short walks. As her mobility, stamina and her comfort with us increased we introduced more fun, short and low impact exercises.

Today on May 19th she weighs in at 18.6 pounds!

What a tremendous amount of weight shed in such a short time. A lot of this has to do with water weight, switching to a healthy diet with lower sodium and getting multiple short meaningful exercises a day (including play). Her mood is already shifting and she's starting to really come out of her shell. Unfortunately weight can really impact a dog's ability to train, as well as their comfort level, so certain obedience skills (like Sit and Down) haven't been our priority, and that's okay! We work with the dog at THEIR pace in order for them, and their families, to be set up for success and sometimes that means slowing down.

We are so proud of Charlie and are excited to see what this next stage of her adventure brings!

05/19/2026

Charlie is taking time this morning to build on "place", focusing on building distance and distractions as well as duration.

Place is not only an amazing versatile behavior for things like door manners, neighborhood tv, neutrality work but also great for confidence building!

05/18/2026

Charlie is learning how to walk on the treadmill! And so far, she LOVES it!

The treadmill is a great way to give Charlie low impact walks and exercise without having to worry about the heat during the day. This allows her to continue to exercises in short walks at a steady pace no matter the weather as we build her confidence and help her loose weight while carefully build strength, endurance and stamina.

Pairing structured mental and physical exercises with her obedience and behavioral rehabilitation training, we are slowly helping her grow stronger both mentally and physically.

Our goal? For Charlie to be able to spend a happy and healthy life with her mom and dad, for many years to come.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's weigh-in! 🐾

05/17/2026

Sunday is Funday here with the Minors.

Charlie is taking a break from structured exercise, training and confidence building today to relax, decompress and just have fun.

Playing is an essential part in building strong, healthy relationship with a dog and can allow them to blow off steam. As Charlie get more comfortable, our relationships with her strengthen, and her play drive increases we will begin to use play during training in order to help play become a part of a new healthier dynamic at home with both mom and dad.

We want to help Charlie be a more confident, obedient girl, but that doesn't mean we can't still have fun and enjoy our dogs companionship. We just need to make sure we are also providing the guidance and structure our dogs need BEFORE we spoil them, so there is a healthy balance and healthy relationships. ❤️

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