Training That Clicks

04/10/2024

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03/15/2024

Welcome to our B&T program, Ranger! This year old handsome boy is staying with us while his owners are traveling. We will be working on reinforcing his basics, building confidence, and beginning to address his leash reactivity. We’re so excited to have him stay with us! 😍

03/05/2024

“That’s a big dawg!”

Socialization. What does that really mean?

We know that we’re supposed to “socialize,” our puppies, but do you know what proper socialization looks like? Here’s a few tips to help set your puppy up for socialization success:

👉🏼Make a list of all of the things you want to make sure your puppy feels confident around. That list should includes different kinds of sounds, visuals, and tactiles. This may include items such as fireworks, other animals, and different kinds of surfaces. There’s great resources for socialization lists online, or feel free to reach out to us for help!

👉🏼Be prepared. Bring different values of treats, water/bowl, a mat, your puppy’s favorite chew. Make sure they’ve gone potty and that their needs are met.

👉🏼Make sure your puppy is having a positive experience. Forcing them to interact or experience things may likely cause them to have a negative reaction in the future.

👉🏼Work towards building neutrality. While we want our puppy to feel confident seeing/experiencing all kinds of new things, and sometimes that means allowing them to get closer/interact with different stimuli, your goal should always be to have your puppy choose to interact with YOU!

02/29/2024

Frankie’s first day of school 📚 was a blast! She handled a lot of “firsts” like a pro! And took a well deserved nap after 😴 We trained alongside the rest of the getting ready for our upcoming golf tourney ⛳️

02/28/2024

02/27/2024

Calling all bookworms and animal lovers! 📚✨ Join the Huey's Heroes Reading Program every Wednesday at AFV from 3-4:30pm. No reservations needed – just bring your favorite book and share the joy of reading with our shelter pets. Weekly prizes await! 🐾🎉
📍 Location: Animal Friends of the Valleys
⏰ Time: Every Wednesday, 3-4:30pm
📚 Bring your own book or use provided books

02/27/2024

02/26/2024

Frankie rocked our photo sesh for our upcoming golf tournament! I think the vest suits her well 🤓

02/26/2024

🌎🐾 World Spay Day! 🐾🌍

Animal Friends of the Valleys is proud to celebrate World Spay Day by once again offering vouchers for spaying and neutering your beloved pets. 🐶🐱 Applications for vouchers will open at 8 am on February 27, 2024, and will close at midnight. 🕗🌙

Please note the following qualifications:
- Limit of 2 vouchers per household
- Only 1 pet per application
- Client and pet must reside within our service area: Temecula, Menifee, Murrieta, Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, and Wildomar
- Applicants must not have received a World Spay Day voucher in 2023
- Vouchers are for domesticated pets; please do not apply for feral cats
- Must provide a valid email address to receive the voucher

Ready to apply? Fill out the application form here: [Voucher Application Form](https://form.jotform.com/240565301453146)

Don't miss this opportunity to help control pet overpopulation and promote responsible pet ownership in our community. 🏡 Apply for your voucher starting February 27th and make a difference in the lives of pets and their families! 🐾💙

🐾🐕

02/25/2024

Post first bath 🛁

02/22/2024

Dodger, a chihuahua mix, has spent his two years of life living in fear of everyone, except his family.

At our initial consultation, I spent about 2 hours explaining and demonstrating the process of counter conditioning and desensitization (which is used to help dogs overcome scary stimuli in their environment.) As we neared the end of the consult, Dodger started offering me this head down behavior (so naturally, I began reinforcing it.) Even though this wasn’t an intentionally taught behavior, it immediately helped build trust between Dodger and myself.

Capturing behaviors (reinforcing a behavior your dog naturally offers you) can be a fun and less stressful way to teach your dog new behaviors, and assists in building engagement and trust with the learner.

02/19/2024

Hi, I’m Frankie! 🐕‍🦺 I’m a 9 week old service dog puppy in training! Here’s some of the things I have been working on 📚 during the first week in my new home 🏡:

👀 Giving eye contact to receive things I like, such as my food, treats, affection, or for the door to open!
🙉 Not being a howler monkey when I’m in my x-pen.
💦 Leaving the water bowls for drinking, not swimming!
🚽 Using my litter box or going outside when it’s time to go!
🛌 Taking naps in my crate so I’ll have a safe place to be while Mom is busy.
🧘🏽‍♀️Laying calmly on my mat while I get fed my meals.
🚗 Going for rides in the car so I can learn the car is a fun place to be!
🐈 Meeting my new housemates, two kitties! And learning not to chase them.
🪵🌿🪨 Exploring different surfaces, so I can learn that they’re not scary when I put my feet on them.
🏙️🏜️🏔️ And one of the most important things, socializing! My mom is taking me to see a lot of new things so I can learn to be a confident puppy and be able to focus on my Mom when I’m around them!

01/17/2024

Sibling love! Niko & Sasha are a dynamic Great Pyrenees bro & sis duo who welcome everybody with slobbery kisses 👅 and even a hug, if you allow it!

Great Pyrenees are a livestock guardian breed, so they were bred to very independent thinkers 💡 and make decisions on the fly when in the fields protecting their livestock 🐑. While these two siblings live in a pet home, those characteristics still hold very true!

To meet their needs and keep them engaged in their training sessions, we keep sessions short and sweet- with lots of breaks and affection 💕 in between! Niko often prefers physical affection and verbal praise as a reinforcer (along with some tasty high value treats, like chicken 🐔,) as well as the ability to get out and sniff 🌱. Sasha prefers tasty treats, but also thrives off of verbal praise and physical affection as well. It’s important to learn what types of reinforcers your dog enjoys, as it is very dependent on the learner 📚.

01/16/2024

9 week old C**t is ready for a nap 😴 after his first session! This adorable boy has goals of being a therapy dog 🐕‍🦺 for first responders 👨‍🚒 👮‍♀️ when he grows up! We are so thrilled to be a part of his training journey! 🫶

01/12/2024

This is Doug Seus.

He trains bears. For film and TV.

With no electric collar. No prongs. No corrections.

Just rewards.

Like whipped cream.

Now tell me your dog needs to know who is alpha.

Or needs a slip collar.

Vital Ground Foundation.

10/30/2023

We’ve been exploring some new hiking areas for one of our new services we’ll be offering soon… (stay tuned) 🐕

And we have some exciting news- we are relocating! We are moving our training business to Wildomar, Ca! 🥳

We will still continue servicing many of the same areas for private in-home sessions, so feel free to reach out if you have any training needs. 🦴

We will also be adding a lot of new training options (as well as bringing back client boarding and our very popular board and trains!) 🐶

We are excited to transform our 9 acres into a paradise for the dogs! 🤩Can’t wait to share the progress with you all! 🐾

09/20/2023

In dog training, not every day is going to feel like a success. There will be good days and tough days (or even weeks,) and that’s okay because LEARNING ISN’T LINEAR.

As a dog trainer, I too, feel the tough days or weeks my clients sometimes experience with their dogs. Some days, those tough times seem to overshadow the successes. But it’s part of my job to not only remind myself, but my clients, to not overlook the progress their dog is making throughout their training journey.

Success won’t always be obvious. Often times, it’s simply a good choice our dog has made when faced with a difficult decision. In this case, an adolescent pup, choosing to nap on her mat instead of harassing her older labrador sister.

If you have been struggling with your dog’s training progress, this is your reminder- celebrate the successes! 👏🏼 🎉🎉🎉🐾