Okay Lady K-9 Training

08/07/2025

Izzy came for training a little over a month ago. Since she has gone home, her owners have continued working with her. While they have done an excellent job keeping up with everything Izzy has learned, Izzy is quick to pick up on patterns.

Dogs look for patterns and learn accordly. That's why repetition is such a great tool for teaching - especially when it comes to particular habits that you want yourndog to have. However, there are times when doing the same thing over and over can back fire.

The pattern Izzy has leaned at home is: lie down and wait for your handler to turn around and face you, because at that moment, he's going to call you. This has led to her breaking command instead of waiting to be called. This is a misbehavior. It's a behavior that has been mistakenly taught.

To fix this, the pattern must change - and often. Change #1: Every time Izzy broke command, I immediately took her back to the starting place. Change #2. Once she understood to wait, instead of calling her to me, I rewarded her by throwing the ball away from me. Change #3. Instead of rewarding her after the first time I turned around, I began walking away again and rewarded her the second time I turned around.

What isn't shown in this video (it would be too long) is that after a while, I did call Izzy to me occasionally. When your training causes misbehavior, begin mixing things up.

07/31/2025

Okay Lady K-9 Training was featured in an article in the August edition of the Fayetteville City Lifestyle Magazine. Check it out! https://citylifestyle.com/articles/the-well-trained-pooch

07/10/2025

www.okayladyk9training.com

06/29/2025

Board and Train is a lot like summer camp for your dog. While wirh me, your dog will learn handy off-leash commands, house manners and good habits, and will begin to make changes to those behaviors that are less than desirable.

You will learn how to get the same great results that I'm able to get through owner sessions, informative reading materials and videos, and through the ability to follow along with your dog on social media. You'll get support for the life of your dog post-training, too.

Want to learn more? ➡️www.okayladyk9training.com

06/24/2025

This is the last week to take advantage of this sale.

Transform your family's life with expert dog training. I partner with owners amd families to unlock their dog's full potential, creating a more peaceful and loving home. There's no greater joy than seeing families thrive with their dogs. If you're struggling, know that help is available. Contact me to explore customized training solutions tailored to your dog's specific needs. www.okayladyk9training.com 🐾💕🐶

06/03/2025

Apollo's owner needed an emergency stop for him. He's a pretty clingy boy and while he's happy to leave her side to explore, his preference is to be close soon after. There had already been an incident where he was ahead of her, and she needed him to stop as she took care of a situation she didn't want him involved in.

Since Apoolo has done a great job learning during Day Training, we extended his program and got to work. Up until this point, anytiem Apoolo was given the command to lie down, he would walk up to his handler and lie down at their feet. Every. Time. So this is NOT where started. The first three sessions focused solely on the STOP. I had him stop nearby, gradually increasing the distance over time. After that third session, Apollo had a pretty good understanding of the requirement. On session 4, I added the Down command, and wouldn't you know, he didn't even try to come to me to lie down. He laid down right where he stopped.

Today's lesson is the final one. We worked at the greatest distances yet and in differing circumstances.

05/29/2025

11/04/2024

Having marker words in place is very helpful when it comes to communicating with your dog. Words like good and/or yes, can help your dog understand what you want him to do. Words like wrong/no can tell your dog what you don't want him to do. These words, when taught and used correctly, can very precisely indicate to your dog the very moment in time that he did something. It's much like taking a snapshot in your dog's mind that he can look back on to use as a reference in the future.

Creating a positive marker word is best done in a quiet setting. By simply saying a word you want to use (I use good), and immediately following it with a high value treat repeatedly, your dog will begin to look for a treat each time he hears the word good. Over time, the word alone becomes rewarding, but that's a topic for another post.

www.okayladyk9training.com

10/14/2024

Struggling to get Instagram to sync with Facebook again. If you want to see what I'm doing with pups today, the videos will be on Instagram Stories.