Dressing up and decorating is part of Halloween festivities. So is trick or treat And taking photos and movies. Board-and-train dogs will sometimes revisit me for boarding, updating behaviors, or learning tricks. When owners go on vacation, they send their dogs to me for updating skills or learning new tricks. Two very special pooches visit me often enough and feel like my extended family. Nala is a beautiful German Shorthaired Pointer. She loves to stalk birds and lizards and the {Read More}
Retraining and Practicing A Dog Trick
April 8, 2023 By
Training an older dog or a larger dog as an adult is doable. When you have a larger breed dog, though, training certain behaviors is easier done when that large hulk is a smaller sized dumpling. Take the trick behavior many people like to train their dogs, roll over. It’s not an easy trick for many people to train, depending on their dogs. Larger dogs need lots of space and a limber trainer. Even small, stiff dogs, who are uncomfortable {Read More}
Holiday Board-And-Train And Homemade Dog Training Cookies
October 31, 2022 By
I baked Halloween cookies for the dogs in training, which are all the dogs. Always. Dogs are always in training. In other words, even dogs who have been trained need their training reinforced, always. I kick start well mannered behaviors during board-and-train, so dogs and puppies get an installation of basic behaviors. Then, when dogs go home, it’s up to their owners to maintain the basic installation and grow these new behaviors in their own home and peripheral environments. In {Read More}
Should You Feed Your Dog On A Daily Schedule?
June 6, 2022 By
Should you feed your dog on a daily schedule? Yes! And here are a half-dozen reasons why. 1. Who wants to eat stale food? No one. But leaving food out in a bowl makes food stale. Keeping food in a sealed container or bag before it’s time to serve a meal, keeps food fresh and tasty. 2. Food left out attracts flies, ants, and other insects. Flies lay eggs, which turn into larvae. Feeding your dog on a routine schedule {Read More}
Puppy Training Bath Manners
January 8, 2022 By
When Astrid joined the Outsmarting Dogs board-and-train program, she was a 4 months old. She came into the program to learn basic puppy manners. One day, she needed a bath. That’s when I discovered that she was “allergic” to water. She fought the bath and me every step of the way. The owners would have a big problem giving her a bath over the next 10-plus. Pitties are mostly muscle and very strong, and fighting one at bath time is {Read More}
The Fickle Pickle Dachshund
July 24, 2021 By
Bean the Dachshund originally went through my board-and-train program for puppies and graduated with honors. He visits me occasionally for boarding and he beomes Mr. Hyde at drop-off. Not friendly at all and if I dare to pick him up while his mom is near, he would likely display teeth and use them! So I don’t do that. However, when the coast is clear and we are alone, he turns into Dr. Jeckyll and is not only very level-headed, but {Read More}
Housetraining In a Rainstorm
July 7, 2021 By
Elsa went back and forth from Hurricane to Tropical Storm status, but whatever she was during her journey through us, she was a wet weather phenomenon. Even so, I still had a client’s pup, a beautiful super Pug puppy named Luna, who was here for housetraining, and we had to get the morning housetraining job done. This is the 11-month-old puppy’s first morning walk with me during the rain storm named Elsa, and we had to dodge a few peltings {Read More}
Puppy Swoons While Board and Training
May 29, 2021 By
When we do lessons during board and train, puppies concentrate so hard that sometimes they swoon. This Golden Retriever puppy has a great time learning how to sit and enjoys the food rewards so much, he falls off his paws. ———- To send your dog to the Outsmarting Dogs board-and-train camp for motivational learning or for a board-only stay, contact us with your dog training, behavior modification wish list or board-only timeframe with dates to get started. ———- Helen Verte {Read More}
Dogs and Pups Expressing Their Talents and Playing
May 19, 2021 By
Dogs deserve to play. Each dog or puppy I board and train has a different interest. Pups and dogs like to fetch, dig, chase, be chased, hunt, bury, tug, hoard, chew, bark, find, shred, and combinations of all of these and more. One of my dogs likes to squeak toys. The squeaking sound emulates the sound of prey when it’s been caught. I don’t know if that’s what’s turning him on because he oftentimes watches the rabbits dart through our {Read More}
Crocs as Shoes and as A Dog Toy
April 21, 2021 By
This Mini Doxie puppy dog named Bean, graduated the Outsmarting Dogs board-and-train camp with honors. He taught us, too, that the favored shoe of the trainer, Crocs, can be the spitting image of a dog toy!
