K918 Dog Training

08/27/2022

08/26/2022

08/25/2022

08/24/2022

08/23/2022

08/22/2022

08/20/2022

08/19/2022

08/18/2022

This is still so wild to me….

I thought moving to Oklahoma 7 hours away from home to go to college at the ripe age of 18 was the scariest thing I had ever done. But it turns out quitting your secure full time job to chase your dream is SO mich scarier.

There are still days when I doubt myself & wonder if I’ll really succeed in this business, I don’t always know what I’m doing or how I’m going to hit my next milestone.

But I show up every day & I try.

I try for the owners who feel like there’s no hope with their dogs.
I try to make my parents proud of what I’ve accomplished.
I try for the little 6 year old girl teaching her Jack Russell to play dead in the living room (thats me 🙋🏼‍♀️btw!)

Thank you again to every single person that has supported me along this journey.

And if you have a life long dream YOU want to chase, stop worrying about failing, that’s going to happen no matter what. Go out & do it anyway, learn from those failures, pick yourself back up & try again.

08/17/2022

08/16/2022

08/11/2022

Dutchie/dobie looking for a home in Florida! Share if you can!

07/22/2022

POV you’re a ball on the ground and one of these guys is about to snatch you up.

Which one are you choosing?
Team Champ🦮
Team Roman 🐅(tiger emoji looks most like him)

06/20/2022

The quickest way to undo all the hard work you’ve been doing & ruin the relationship you have with your dog?

DOG PARKS…here’s 4 reasons why

1) If your dog doesn’t get attacked, you got lucky. Dog fights happen here more often than you think
2) Your dog could be exposed to a mess of sicknesses or diseases
3) You’re teaching your dog that other dogs are more interesting than YOU, pretty soon they’re dragging you across the street on your walks to see every dog that walks by
4) Or worse, they develop leash reactivity because now they’re pissed you won’t let them go play with the other dogs

A well socialized dog is not one that wants to be best friends with every dog or person you encounter, it’s one that can acknowledge their presence but remain neutral around any dog or person.

Train or play with your dog OUTSIDE of the dog park, they’re great distractions you can use to level up your training.

06/14/2022

Food is okay, but I have found play to be way more successful. A stressed dog may not take food, now how do you reward them?

Why does play work so well?

🐾Builds a relationship with the owner
🐾Play is fun, who doesn’t like to have fun?
🐾It allows the dog to let loose & move around
🐾 It keeps them occupied on an activity WITH you
🐾 Takes their mind off whatever is so scary to them
🐾 Allows them to achieve something (a bite, a catch) which is empowering

Most importantly it releases a spike of dopamine in their brain. when used correctly & efficiently play can actually make dogs enjoy (or at least not mind) being around something that once terrified them.

Have a dog that’s terrified of something in this world? I HIGHLY recommend building their play drive rather than their food drive.

06/13/2022

One of the best things you can teach your dog or puppy is how to have an off switch.

No living creature can sustain being high energy alllllll the time, eventually they will crash. Most dogs turn into turds when they’re over tired.

Place is great when you CAN supervise, but if you have to jump in the shower, clean up the house, do anything where you can’t keep eyes on your puppy like a hawk they need to go in the kennel.

06/12/2022

I would say this is as open minded as it gets when it comes to training tools! I really did use a frying pan to teach him this as a puppy. Right in the middle of my apartment living room in Little Rock Arkansas…we’ve come so far🥲

Training gear can be expensive, but don’t let that hold you back from training your dog.

GET CREATIVE!! Find things around your home you can use in new ways.

What are the weird tools you’ve used for training?
I can always use a good laugh😂

06/11/2022

You want your dog to walk next to you on walks right? Well then we gotta TEACH them where they should be!!

This is my “touch” command that I’ve been working on with Roman since he was a puppy. THIS is why he walks so well on leash.

You don’t have to be this picky when it comes to your dog’s heel position, but I will say it really helps the dogs learn faster if you are a little picky. A lot of my clients say “I just want my dog to walk in this general area when we’re on walks”…which is totally fine, but dogs have a hard time learning this so called “general area.” They will learn better if you teach them precisely where they should be (then you can be more lax down the road)

So to make it as easy as possible on the dogs, I teach them EXACTLY where I want them to be before we even put the leash on.

Lure them into position then ✨BAM✨ reward.
Lure them from a different position then ✨BAM✨ another reward.

Pretty soon you’re dog will learn, “wow every time I stand next to her I get a snack, that’s a great place to stand!”

Next step? Put your dog’s leash on & start walking forward, they’ll probably stick pretty close your side waiting for those snacks!

Save this post! Try it during your next training session & tag me so I can see y’all working!!!

06/08/2022

Am I wrong to say this applies to any shepherd, not the just German flavor?

Or is that just my experience?😂

06/08/2022

K918 Dog Training updated their phone number.

K918 Dog Training updated their phone number.

05/02/2022

If you’re not a Harry Potter fan you won’t get this at all😂

But let me explain what’s going on to all you muggles out there😉

This spell is used to keep the “demons” away & will actually force them away from your space.

Would this come in handy for you & your dogs?🤔

04/19/2022

Check out the amazing results our clients are getting!!!!

Courtney & Garrett are living their BEST life with Tucker now, they're able to take him everywhere with them and he is 100% reliable off leash, even with distractions like squirrels.

Here's something that may surprise you, this was not accomplished through obedience training. Obedience plays an important role in dog training but it's more about the overall relationship you have with your dog. You may train your dog for 1 hour every day, but what are you doing in those other 23 hours? That's the bigger picture.

That's what we specialize in, the big picture.

If you want this kind of life with your dog, give us a phone call today!

04/18/2022

I know how frustrating it can be to deal with any one of these issues, and when you find yourself dealing with more than one? FUGGETABOUTIT!!

You got a dog to enjoy life together right? So why does it instead feel like a huge load of stress was just added to your life when they joined the family?

Trainers are here for you! We don’t post these videos of our dogs doing a fancy heel & living their best off leash life to show off. We want to show you that YOU can also attain this level of happiness & freedom with your dog! You don’t have to feel stuck in your current situation, we’re here to help you achieve YOUR goals, no matter how crazy they may seem.

Get started TODAY by scheduling a phone consultation so we can discuss your goals!

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04/10/2022

Some comic relief for you, but also informational.

I’m a very open minded person & I carry this trait into training as well. For the most part I know which tools & methods work best for majority of dogs, but I’m also willing to try things that are out of the box if/when those don’t work for a specific dog. Dogs are individuals so it’s my job to cater to their individual needs & figure out what works best for them AND the owner.

04/09/2022

The "brains" behind the business 😂😂😂

04/08/2022

I hear owners repeat themselves allll the time! Did you know this is actually TEACHING your dog to ignore you?

04/07/2022

I know some trainers that don't teach the significance of verbal markers, and in my opinion they're skipping over the meat & potatoes of dog training.

These 4 words are called "verbal markers" & I use them on a daily basis, they come in handy for nearly ANY scenario I'm in with my dogs.

I'm able to give them feedback on every single decision they make, which does 2 things:
1. Improves their skill level in training
2. Enhances the relationship they have with me, because they don't have to navigate this crazy world without my guidance...so they trust me MORE.

If you aren't already using markers (clickers work as well I just prefer verbal) I HIGHLY suggest trying them out. It will make things SO much easier for your dog to understand, and will save you some major headaches when your dog is confused and you don't understand why.

04/06/2022

For anyone that has recently gotten or is planning to get a puppy. As soon as you bring them home the training starts!

I would start with crate training first, too much freedom for your puppy is just asking for trouble!

04/05/2022

Want your walks to be relaxing & enjoyable? Start here!

04/04/2022

Pick your poison!

04/03/2022

Not discriminating against short dogs, buuuut this tool is less than ideal for you!

04/02/2022

I’ve learned that you really need to have thick skin if you’re gonna play the reindeer games on Tiktok…

04/01/2022

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SUCKAS!!!

04/01/2022

5 foods that are harmful for dogs!

03/31/2022

I think Kyle is also glad I no longer want 10 dogs at a time😂

03/30/2022

Also taking a much needed vacation next week to one of my favorite cities ever….NASHVILLE!!!

03/30/2022

Taking quotes out of context is a great hobby👌🏻

Jerri said this in our trainer group message, you may not even remember saying it but it made me laugh out loud😂😂
Gotta love having a mentor that’s completely honest!

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03/21/2022

I heard Dr Phil say this on an episode of his show lately, he wasn’t talking about dogs, but boy does this statement apply to them.

If you are struggling to stop a certain behavior one very critical thing you need to remember is…the more often you allow your dog to rehearse that behavior, the better they get at it. Practice makes perfect right?

Reactivity
Leash pulling
Resource guarding
Anxious pacing
Lunging to create space
Jumping
Biting

Be proactive in your approach & try to PREVENT the behavior in the first place (easier said than done in some cases I know)

Are you struggling with any of these? Or something else? Let me know down below!

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03/20/2022

LET YOUR DOG MAKE MISTAKES!!!

I know it can seem frustrating when your dog makes mistakes during training, but understand that it’s NECESSARY for them to make those, it helps them learn.

Don’t get emotional or upset about it, let it happen then simply get them resituated & try again. This video is a great example of that. Kaizer got all the way off the place bed but his owner stayed calm then used some basic body pressure to get him back up there.

If you micromanage every single move your dog makes they will never get the opportunity to make a mistake & learn from said mistake. Because we let Kaizer make a mistake he learned from it, then on the second attempt he was able to succeed.

Yes we have to teach what we want, but in my opinion correcting a dog (AKA making a dog correct again) is just as necessary to the teaching process.

How can we expect them to know the consequences of a certain decision if they never get to execute that decision in the first place?

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03/15/2022

On this week’s episode of MTV Cribs!

The sad thing is most people have no idea what show I’m even talking about.

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03/14/2022

Hands down the most important step in dog training.

As a former elite athlete I know how important it is to have a great coach, & how trusting that coach will set you up to succeed in competition. I’m realizing more each day how true that is for dogs as well.

I’ve learned this the hard way a few times, I’ve even taken a couple (mild) bites from it, but they were learning experiences none the less.

I understand it from the dog’s perspective. Why would I risk my life doing this skill for a coach that I just met? Is it worth potentially breaking my neck? No. But having a coach that knows me on a personal level, one that’s in my corner pushing me to do new skills because they KNOW I’m capable of it, because they invested their time to help me get better as an at athlete…thats a coach I’d do anything for. That’s the relationship we should have with every dog we own or work with.

Tools are great, but they won’t help you at all if you don’t have a solid relationship first. Get your dog to WANT to be around you rather than HAVE to be around you.


PS - Speaking of relationships I’ve really been missing being on a team recently - running a business by yourself can be very lonely sometimes. The team has really filled that void for me & I’m starting to get to know my new TEAM more everyday. We’re all a little insane but in the BEST WAY! I’m so thrilled to be part of such an amazing group
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02/21/2022

BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CREATING A DOG MODEL.

Step 1: teach a sit-stay or a down-stay.

This handy skill will allow you to pose your dog in front of any wall mural, photoshoot backdrop or scenic monument you can think of.

Much easier than trying to snap a photo when your dog will only sit still for .25 seconds.

02/19/2022

Let’s pretend your dog only had the mental capacity to learn one single command, which would you teach?

I’m genuinely curious! Which one do you feel is most important for you & YOUR dog?