Working With Anne Nichols: A must have trainer

Aspen and I have been terribly busy the month of June... I can't believe it's almost over!! I'm going to do a little catch up and focus on the topic of training.  The first weekend in June we had a chance to work with Anne Nichols.  She has been a trainer for...I think her whole life.   She has also owned the Bernese Mountain dog since before I was even born!!  Needless to say she knows dogs.  


We first met her briefly at a dog event, then more recently we saw her do a demonstration with her 4 month old bernese mountain dog A'kash.  It was so AMAZING that such a young dog can learn so much. That is what prompted us to seek some advice from her.  Unfortunately she does not live as close as we would like but we did manage to make a session with her in June and will hopefully have a chance to do some more work with her.  Next time we will drag Ray along to get some great photos to share :-)


During our session she was able point out some things that I was doing wrong... ie grabbing for the treats too soon and giving Aspen entire sentences to process. She also gave us some ideas of games to play to help confidence build with him. She saw things in his behavior that I didn't.  She was also able to give us some good advice on health as well. For those of you that do competitive dog stuff she competes with her dogs.  Anyone looking for a trainer for any reason I suggest you give her a call or shoot her an email (ALL DOGS NEED TO BE TRAINED EVEN LITTLE WHITE ONES :-P * see pervious post on little dogs). Here is her site to get contact info http://www.becomedogsavvy.com. Honestly don't be afraid to contact her regarding health questions... she has been around the block and know tons about health issues.  There is help out there you just have to look in the right place.


She does both house calls and phone consultations for those that live too far away or just have questions.  So where ever you live she can help you problem solve.  My hope is if I get enough people together down here in Rochester we might be able to convince her to do a group class.  I think rally would be really fun!!  So if interested surely let me know... it doesn't just have to be the bernese mountain dog. She works with all dogs and all ages!!  I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday and are having fun training their dogs!!

Adventures with Aspen: For the Love of a Stick??

As many of you know we have been working with Aspen on his "people" skills so to speak.  Well today we made a trip to the park and here is what we did...

We stopped to admire some goslings at silver lake park.  Aspen did want to go in and say hello but he refrained.  THANK GOODNESS!!

Next we stopped and played some hop scotch.  Okay fine I played it and Aspen watched.

Then we found these cute circle things :-) I'm not sure what it's for but it's cute.

And finally we went to the skate park... Aspen doesn't like strangers, he doesn't like strange riding things that make lots of noise. His reaction was very stand offish and nervous about all those loud skate boards.  He was panting heavy and was very distracted looking in every direction, but an interesting thing happened at the park.  I grabbed a stick.  You wouldn't think anything of it but my dog made a complete 180!!! His tail went up and a look came into his eyes..." give me that stick!!"  He was chasing me and playing tag-a-war.  It was short lived but it gave me a glimpse into the future.  He can do this... we can do this together. These moments are what keep us going and reminds me how much I need to look outside the box when working with him.. who would have guessed for the LOVE OF A SICK :-)

Camping Trip

Once school is out and it gets a bit warmer we have planned a camping trip to Tettegouche State Park with Aspen.  We love hiking around and incidentally so does he.  What would a hiking trip be without a pack to carry poop bags, water, treats.... Here is Aspen sporting his new Palisades Pack  from REI.  It has two water blatters and plenty of space for the rest of his stuff.  One of my berner friends from the club also has this pack for one of her berners.  She said it's good :-)  She was also kind enough to send me some info on hiking with your dog and I thought I'd share a bit.  When you get your pack you need to let your dog get use to it.  Don't let the first time you put the pack on your dog be the hiking trip. Make sure that the pack fits snug but not too snug. Also any bit of weight needs to be built up to.  We will start training once the weather gets decent around herd. Might I add isn't he cute???   

We are going the we 13th, 14th and 15th of May.  This will be Aspen's very first camping trip.  We tried to go last year but it was just too warm out. That is certainly something to keep in mind when out and about in the summer... they don't do well in extreme heat.  May should be just right though... with cool nights.  He is going to be sleeping in the tent with us so wish us luck and check back for more photos of our trip!!  

The problem with little dogs..

I really like all dogs but I don't particularly care for small dog owners.  Here's why... people who get small dogs get them for a reason.  They don't want pet ownership to be work. NEWS FOR THOSE FOLKS IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!!   I have found there is a major lack in training with smaller breed dogs!!  Just because your dog is small does not mean it doesn't need manners.

For example, Aspen and I were on our way to his grooming apt.  I had a paper due that day so we were going to be exactly one time.  As I pulled out of the drive way a small white dog darted out of the drive way next to ours and began chasing my car.  Half way up the culdesac I put my car in park.. I couldn't see him and I really didn't want to run him over.  When I got out our neighbor slowly walked out.  When she tried to pick him up he would run away and continue to bark.  She told me oh he is so cute!! Then she laughs at his several attempts to get away.  I thought to myself WHAT??  This is NOT cute it's very annoying/hazardous and now because we had to stop to avoid running him over I am inconvenienced with being late.   I told her several times I was very afraid I was going to run her dog over but I just got the impression that it went in one ear and out the other... sigh!!

A dog that is not reliable to be off leash is dangerous plain and simple.  It's almost worse for the smaller dogs because you can't see them.  Imagine if I had accidently run him over I would have felt awful!!  I would have felt awful because of someone else's carelessness with their dog.  This has to stop!!  People with little dogs get out their and train your dogs and if you dog is no reliable get a fence!

Above is Aspen's cousin Kirby( a half pomeranian half poodle)  I give my sister a hard time about getting a little dog but he is very nicely trained for a puppy :-)