#client dogs

[molosseraptor]

another monthly groom and yet another lesson about the kindness of dogs. he’s forever patient in my quest for perfect feet.

[enrichmentformaverick]

The baby levels in my house are off the charts right now!!!

This is Zoey, one of my client dogs who is staying with me while her people travel. She is a 2y/o havanese and is sooooooo cute and sweet. She actually did fall asleep draped over the back of my chair 🥺

[trainer-aer]

My newest dog training client is literally the most well behaved 4.5 month old golden retriever I've ever met like I almost can't believe they're describing the same dog when they tell me all of the things they're struggling with like damn guys I hope my puppy is this good when she comes home

Anyway, his name is Macaroni and he is PERFECTION in a dog like I'm legit a little jealous of him I keep telling them how lucky they are that they got such an easy puppy!!!

[pbgvparty]

I am 100% not a groomer, but one of our client's dogs needed a groom pretty badly. I had experience shaving dogs before (Rocky was a shave down dog), so my manager asked if I'd be willing to help.

It didnt turn out too bad! I used a 1/16" guard pretty much all over, and scissored the face, feet, and tail.

It went pretty well, especially since he was sedated 😅

[newenglandpups]

Take two...

So I wrote this whole long thing about this gif and then tumblr just like deleted it because of course it did. Gonna try to keep it short this time.

These two poods are dog walking clients of mine that I was only supposed to be seeing on a temporary basis while their owner recovered from surgery. But she ended up needing a more invasive operation than was planned so I've been walking them 5 days a week for the last several months. They're two of the biggest standard poodles I've ever met and both have some issues with on leash manners. Because of her surgery, it's been very important that both poods learn to walk slowly on a loose leash and learn to yield to leash pressure instead of pulling into it. Simba (the grey) also has some issues with reactivity to small animals and would start lunging and jumping around at the sight of even a bird sitting on the ground. Their owner had become not only frustrated by them but nervous of walking them because they've pulled her down before and after her surgery, she cannot risk getting injured again. She had the mindset that this was a hopeless endeavor because they'd "gotten away with murder" for so long. She's also convinced they "don't respect" her and will never listen to her.

This gif is from a clip of me walking them today. Look at that loose leash... not even clipped to the front of the harness either. We were walking by a big trigger area for Simba, a small pond in their neighborhood frequented by ducks and rabbits. There's also lots of construction going on nearby, as well. After getting the dogs on a better daily schedule that includes lots of mental enrichment and working on their leash manners, they've improved by leaps and bounds. Here they both are, walking so nicely I was able to walk them with just one finger holding each of their leashes. I took this clip to show the owner that it's not hopeless and it can be done. Next week, their owner will be joining us for walks so she can learn some better handling and management techniques to aid them on their walks. The hope is by August, she will be able to walk them again on her own.

[molosseraptor]

I need to brag on this guy because I'm just so incredibly proud of how far he's come.

In a little over a year of regular work, this dog went from unable to be inside a building that wasn't his house, unable to be in sight of a strange human (and definitely not touched), and was on the verge of being returned due to all his health and behavior issues to this guy. This guy who had his first Conformation show today. A show where he let strangers touch him inside a building surrounded by other strangers on a scary slippery floor and even made actual human friends. He wagged his tail at the judges! I don't even recognize this guy.

He had some scary health issues as a puppy that involved a lot of medical care and non-consensual touching both by vet staff and his family out of necessity. As a dog who is also dealing with some genetic temperament issues, this was probably the worst possible start to life for him. He was immunocompromised and unable to go out in the world at all during this critical time of development. He only went to the vet, where it hurt and was scary, and only saw his family and the vet staff, who would always be doing scary things to him, so he had no trust in people or places or anything at all.

His person is a long time dog sports handler and, prior to us working together, used to be a very "traditional" trainer. Her typical methods weren't working for him and there were some scary incidents before she reached out to me last July. Us meeting was a last resort before she officially made the decision to return him to his breeder. There was a lot of work that needed to happen to repair their relationship and it's still a work in progress, but between scentwork and the lessons we've done it's really come around.

In the time we've been working together, he's now been able to successfully trial and title in a few scentwork venues, go to the vet and get vaccines/microchipped without sedation or medication, attend a few large dog shows and events and now compete himself, make a group of human friends, and basically do anything we've asked of him so far. A huge amount of training and even more management and environmental curation has created this success, but the biggest win is that he's learned to trust us to handle things and keep him safe.

Even when he's being asked to do things that are hard for him, like moving his feet or touching his head, the judge examining him, or just simply walking through narrow spaces, he is checking in with me, allowing me to handle it, and able to actually relax out in public in and out of his crate because he doesn't feel like he needs to constantly be watching his back for triggers. I'll handle all that. He just needs to eat cheese and have fun.

That wagging tail at the judge after nailing a perfect free stack on his down and back is everything to me.

[molosseraptor]

this sentient stuffed animal is going to be with me for the next week or two to work on socialization and exposure and some baby show/sport work.

he’s already had an excellent start in life with his breeder and that work has been continued by one of my dedicated long term clients so he doesn’t need much help from me. They live very rural and my client doesn’t drive and their partner works out of the home, so I get to help show him more of the world than they would be able to during this critical time.

if there’s anything you guys want to see, let me know! I’ve been lazy about filming, but I’ll have to film for my clients anyway so it’s easy to add stuff on.

[molosseraptor]

look who’s back and looking like a real guy!