Yooper Paws of Love is dedicated to providing training with love to you and your 4-legged friend!
My mission as a trainer is to EDUCATE owners to ENGAGE better with their dogs to EMPOWER them to function as an effective team together. As a trainer, I help families & their dogs learn to enjoy each other’s company by developing a teamwork and games based approach to dog training that is as individualized as the family I’m helping!
Do your dogs get Christmas presents? A stocking? I want to see photos of what you do to help your pup celebrate Christmas.Our dogs get to unwrap a present. Yes, they shred the paper to reveal some fun new toy then get to play with it. And they usually get some new treats too.
Whatever your holiday traditions, please share your photos or videos with us!
For this Photo Fun, you can wrap a few treats in a scrap piece of wrapping paper or newspaper to let your dog practice their unwrapping skills before the big day. If you have a young pup, you could practice this, then amaze your family members as your pup unwraps their own Christmas presents on the big day!
Does your dog take a treat nice and easy so they could be trusted to take candy from a baby? Or does your dog take treats like a baby shark?
This is also a great way to teach children the proper way to hold a dog treat. As not all dogs they encounter will have a mouth that is gentle. So teaching them this safer way to hold the treat out for a dog is a great thing to do if you take your pup to visit schools, libraries, the park or other places where you encounter lots of kids.
Tips:
* Work with 1 dog at time to teach!
* Lay hand flat so dog has to take the treat off your hand. This allows you to close your hand if you think your dog is being too hyper and not really focused on what you are trying to do.
* Hold your hand low, well below the dogs nose so they are reaching down instead of up for a the treat.
Once your dog has mastered the concept, you can change how you hold the treat. Can you lay the treat on your lap? How about a shoulder? Do you dare hold it in your mouth? What other ways can you demonstrate your dog's Gentle Mouth?
Don't forget to send your photos or videos to yooperpaws@gmail.com for a chance to win prizes. Prizes will be announced on the Yooper Paws Facebook page.
As everyone celebrates the 4th of July, called Independence Day if you live in the U.S.A, I want to spend the month focusing a bit more on Service Dogs and how they help give disabled people more independence then possible without a Service Dog. I will also be writing on why we should teach our dogs to be independent and how we can train them to think for themselves in ways that make our daily lives easier.
Most people who will read this blog already know that Azul is my Service Dog. But many do not know all the things he does for me and all the things that are possible for me because Azul is there to do his job. I often speak openly about my disability which is caused by various autoimmune diseases and syndromes but I don't often discuss my daily struggles. Like most people, I chose to focus on the positives in life so discussing my health that often fails me seems like more of a negative. So in the posts where I am raw about the daily struggles I face, I'm not looking for sympathy but trying to further understanding of how autoimmune diseases impact not only my life but the lives of many of my family members and friends.
To focus more on the positive side of things, I'm also going to post about various trainings that I offer, both free and at a low cost to clients, so that if you are trying to train a pet or a Service Dog you can see that help is available. This monthly blog theme is designed as one of my many free resources to help owners with dog training starting with the January theme: Planning for Success. Yooper Paws also has a Facebook Page and YouTube Channel that offer free resources as well as several groups with specific goals or topics in mind. On the paid side of things, I offer several virtual classes to help you understand the various life stages a dog goes through including the puppy & adolescent stages that are the hardest to survive as a dog owner. My Service Dog Training & Support program is basically my mentoring program for those trying to train their own Service Dog and this is my biggest service offered!
Last but not least, this wouldn't be a theme of the month without free info about dog training! So the majority of the posts this month will be about training our dogs to be the best they can be. I often talk about teamwork with your dog which might seem like that goes against the idea of independence but I'll be showing you how working as a team can help your dog to be independent and capable of making daily choices that help make life easier for everyone in the house.
I hope your as excited about the July: Independence theme as I am!
It's going to be a great month!
Just for fun, here is a video of playing Peek-A-Boo with Azul
Add some fun to your Holidays with the 12 Dog Days of Christmas Photo Challenge!
Yes I know typically the 12 Days of Christmas begins on Dec 25th and goes after Christmas, but how many people really want to spend the time after the 25th getting in the Christmas spirit. So I've decided to do this fun photo game leading up to Christmas. The game will be simple:
1. Follow the Yooper Paws website at http://www.yooperpaws.com/ or Like the Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/YooperPawsOfLove/ to see the daily posts.
2. As you have fun playing with your dog, getting them to do the 12 Days of Training, take pictures and post them to our facebook page or email them to us at yooperpaws@gmail.com
3. Invite your friends and family to join in the fun!
On the first day of Christmas my doggie did this for me, sat in pretty Christmas scene!
I choose this for Day 1 because this is something easy almost every dog on the planet already knows how to do...Sit. And who doesn't like taking Christmas pictures of your pet. If you didn't, you wouldn't be participating in this fun Training event.
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