Motivating Different Personality Types

I get all sorts of dog personalities in for training. From Shy to Bold, dogs are unique individuals just like people. The type of dog you will have in front of you will be impacted by Genetics, Breeding, and Social Development.

To start dogs learning, I need to understand where the dog is coming from and teach within that scope of their personality. Is the dog scared and afraid to try or so bold and brassy you can't keep up with them? Sometimes it is easy because the dog is willing by nature to learn; Sometimes a bit harder because the dog has not learned how to learn as a puppy.

No matter what their personality, one thing that I have found to help most dogs is movement. Don't dogs love to run, jump and play? I incorporate activity to accelerate learning. Jumping helps motivate most dogs of any personality. It's Exciting and Fun! Getting emotions turned up to Happy, will get the dog doing better faster.

Want a Happy dog? Move with your dog by having them jump over something; You and your dog will have Happy Attitudes when training is playful and fun.


Out of the DogHouse LLC website www.ohiodogtrainer.net
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070

A Special Field Trip

So what do you do when you have weeks of freezing weather and you need to proof your recall? You gladly accept an invitation to practice at an indoor riding arena!

My good friend, Michelle, invited me out to her barn to use her indoor riding arena. What a great opportunity for me to bring the pups out for a training session.

Not only was this a terrific place to practice Off Leash Recalls but the better, bigger, bonus was socializing the dogs to sights and sounds that they probably hadn't been around before; A new environment that included horses!

Michelle's barn is not only beautiful but immaculate! She uses a special sand for the riding arena; good for horses and the dogs! The dogs had a blast racing in a full out run across the arena. This is something they haven't been able to do outdoors lately because of the sub-zero temps here in NorthEast Ohio. After a bit of "Shake Your Sillies Out", we got down to work doing recalls and obedience.



Thank you, Michelle, for the awesome time and your help!
Here is a slideshow of our adventure!



Out of the DogHouse LLC website www.ohiodogtrainer.net
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070

Trick Day Wednesday

Hey! It's Trick Day Wednesday! Time for some middle of the week fun!

Lots of folks teach their dogs tricks. Mostly, I hear they taught them "Paw" or "Shake". Sometimes they say "Rollover" or "Play Dead". If you haven't tried to teach these tricks to your dog, just ask, I'll help you!

But in the meantime, let's have some fun teaching our dogs to spin in a circle. Some dogs may naturally do this trick already by chasing their tails. I wonder, if when they are spinning, they feel like children twirling? I think dogs do it because they enjoy spinning or chasing. But if your dog spins uncontrollably as in OCD behavior; Stop them. That type of spinning is not healthy.

The best time to teach tricks, as with obedience, is when your dog is hungry. Use your pup's mealtime to train. Don't put the full bowl on the floor in front of them or it may be gobbled up before you have the chance to try anything. Set the bowl on the counter and grab a few pieces out for each attempt.

When you begin to train this trick, keep in mind  what it will look like when your dog can do it successfully. What will you call the trick? What hand signal will you use? I wanted to teach Daisy to spin in both directions so I named them "Clock" to go to her right and "Counter" to go to her left.

You may be thinking, great, just another Silly Pet Trick. Well, maybe, but if you are doing agility with your dog, it is important for your dog to understand directional turns. This is a great way to start.


Tricks are a lot of Fun! And great brain builders. I am all for a Smart Dog, you too, I bet!

Out of the DogHouse LLC website www.ohiodogtrainer.net
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070

Ticklish Toes

Recently I was helping another dog owner with her dog's nail trim at the groomers. The groomer, Pam, who owns Shaggy Dog, here in Chardon, said that sometimes dogs' feet and toes can be ticklish. I hadn't thought of that?! Makes sense because we know that a lot of dogs have a "Sweet Spot" when we scratch them; why couldn't they be ticklish too?

I did read why dogs start to scratch when we hit that Sweet Spot. It is because of their Scratch Reflex. Dogs shake or kick their legs when you scratch them because of a completely involuntary reaction. When you scratch that Sweet Spot it activates nerves under the skin that are connected to the spinal cord which relays messages to leg muscles to kick in an attempt to relieve the itch. Since you are already scratching you are relieving the itch; therefore the dog only "Air" scratches. Ticklish toes must be the same way?

Dogs' feet are suppose to be sensitive to protect themselves. So it only makes sense that they have a lot of nerves down there. But with ticklish toes, a dog will more likely try to pull their foot out of your hand when you are touching them. They may be annoyed or irritated by the tickling feeling.

This is where things can get troublesome, especially when you are trying to trim your pup's nails. Now of course, your dog just might not like having their nails trimmed because they are afraid. Both are situations of sensitivity and with this practice that I will show you in the video clip, your dog can learn to at least tolerate paw handling and nail trims.




Start out slow. Do one paw and see how your dog reacts; be sure to squeeze and use gentle pressure on each toe nail. From there you can choose to do the next paw. By being deliberate and purposeful, not ticklish or silly, your dog will know and learn that you are trying to help them by doing what is best for them.

Out of the DogHouse LLC website www.ohiodogtrainer.net
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070