This first exercise is meant to teach the dog more awareness of her body, particularly with her legs and where they end up. The goal is to get her to step in, over, and in the three boxes.

This second one is meant to help condition the dog to running through a tunnel. Tunnels sometimes have a shoot at the end and the hanging towel mimics that.

Some upcoming homework assignments include teaching the dog to go around an object and to balance on a wobble board.

This is such a nice way to keep your dog entertained, especially during the brutally long and cold winters here in NYC.

More to come…

Then, there are the lows. They happen less frequently, but they do happen just like with any other job. There are certainly non-compliant owners who expect a dog trainer to have a magic wand. In the past I’ve also had to deal with those who thought a problem could be solved by throwing money at it and nothing else. There are also those difficult cases, so many of those difficult cases that make me want to turn my brain inside out in search of solutions for super tricky behavior problems. My brain, it hurts sometimes. (Grin.)

It’s those rare (but they do exist) times when I find myself on the verge of turning completely cynical that my clients surprise me and really prove to me what awesome changes can be made in a dog’s behavior if they dedicated themselves to helping their pups. I know that in many cases owner commitment alone is not enough to “fix” a dog’s problem if other factors like an inappropriate environment or genetics come into play, but without dedication resolution is almost always unattainable. How can a dog be helped if those closest to him won’t try? I love those clients who try and try hard.

Recently I had one case that had me concerned from the get go, but turned into a situation where the dog made amazing progress because of the owners’ efforts. Books, a 4 month old dachshund who moved to Brooklyn to live with his owners, Jessica and Vinay, at the tail end of his critical socialization period would growl and air snap at anyone who showed an ounce of interest in him. He had trouble walking down the busy streets of Brooklyn. I was quite concerned that I would have to break my clients’ hearts by telling them that Books would not thrive in the city where living amongst strangers is the norm. We quickly went to work, saying we would evaluate his progress in a month’s time. I introduced to them various behavior modification techniques, primarily Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT), management techniques, and a number of calming products such as DAP. Jessica and Vinay committed themselves 100% to helping Books gain the social skills he desperately needed to become a well-adjusted dog living in New York. During that month, Books received many visitors in the home who were instructed on the appropriate ways to interact with him. His owners were doing their homework and they were serious about doing it well. They even got upset with friends who violated the rules of how to behave around a scared Books. A month came and went and at the end there was no question that Books was going to stay. There was much work still to be done to continue modifying his behavior as well as maintaining what skills he’d learned thus far, but the transformation I saw within such a short period was just absolutely rewarding.

Ultimately, I suspect that Books was not genetically predisposed to be fearful, as his biological mom is a therapy dog. However, he was definitely under socialized and arriving to New York after 8 weeks of age didn’t help his situation. He quickly learned that growling and air snapping were very effective strategies to keep people out of his space. Thanks to his dedicated owners, he’s learned other healthier ways of coping and to even enjoy the company of humans.

A few weeks ago, I received some photos of Books interacting with one of Jessica and Vinay’s friends and a lovely note to update me on his progress:

Books has been making lots of new friends – dogs and PEOPLE! He’s doing much better in the apartment when people come over – he actually gets excited and wags his tail when the doorbell rings and will run out in the hallway to greet the friends when we open the door.  Here’s a few photos of him playing fetch and snuggling with my friend Tieneke.

Jenny Chun, CPDT-KA, PMCT-2 is a dog trainer in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC specializing in helping newly adopted dogs integrate into their new homes.

Contact: jenny@givepaw.com || 347-393-9162

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GivePawDogTraining

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GivePaw

Last weekend my husband, Lucy, and I took a trip down to Lancaster, PA to visit some family and to spend a nice long weekend away from the hubbub of New York City. Aside from going on numerous hikes through various state parks, we visited The Wolf Sanctuary of PA. The sanctuary sits on 22 acres of natural land situated in Lititz, PA and operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. They currently provide food, shelter, and veterinary care for about 40 wolves.

During our tour of the facility, we got to see a lot of the wolves up close. Some of them were actually wolf-dog hybrids that were rescued from less than ideal situations. One was from a woman who along with her husband got a hybrid as a pet. When they divorced, she moved with the wolf dog into a tiny apartment that he proceeded to destroy. To remedy the situation, she started bringing the dog to work and leaving him in her car… that he also destroyed. Another hybrid ended up in this sanctuary because he was being kept as a pet in an apartment in New York. Some of the wolves were actually rescues from wolf puppy mills. This was quite surprising to me as I’d never heard of anyone factory-farming wolves even though dog puppy mills are highly prevalent in Dutch Country.

My visit to the sanctuary was a lovely experience, as I’d never seen a wolf up close before. Being a dog trainer, I definitely felt like a kid in a candy store seeing that our dogs are descendents of Canis Lupus (the Grey Wolf). * Much to my delight, the sanctuary provided visitors with a handout on wolf body language that was very useful. During the tour, we witnessed a few squabbles between the wolves during instances of resource guarding and it was interesting to watch them resolve conflict.

We plan on another visit during the winter. We hear from the staff that the wolves are way more active during the snowy season. I can’t wait! Also, for those of you interested in checking out some wolves, but who aren’t too keen on driving 4 hours, I hear there’s an awesome place in New Jersey called the Lakota Wolf Preserve.

* I do have to say though that captive wolves behave quite differently from those in the wild and our dogs are quite different than wolves in both looks and behavior. The dangers of treating our domesticated dogs like wolves, especially basing our training methodology around wolf behavior is for another blog post entirely.

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Jenny Chun, CPDT-KA, PMCT is a dog trainer in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC specializing in helping newly adopted dogs integrate into their new homes.

Contact: jenny@givepaw.com || 347-393-9162

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GivePawDogTraining

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GivePaw

When Lucy and I met Jenna Leigh Teti yesterday, I was excited to get some great shots that I could use on the site as well as in promotional materials. When I got the photos this morning, I was thrilled with the results. They weren’t just great photos. There was something more in the end product. I have a gazillion pictures of me and Lucy together taken throughout the years and none of them possess what Jenna was able to capture in just one short hour. Every picture tells you a little something about our relationship and you can tell how smitten I am with my old gal, Lucy. (Hopefully, you can also tell how smitten she is with me!) It takes special talent to be able to do that, but perhaps it’s not that surprising since Jenna’s first word as a child was, “Woof!”. Clearly, she’s got a special connection with  our furry four-legged partners in life.

Jenna is a fellow Park Slope resident and photographer specializing in candid and environmental portraits of dogs, cats, and children. She also does pro bono work for our local shelters, so that her lovely photos help draw the attention of potential adopters. If you visit her blog where she features a lot of these adoptable dogs, you’ll notice that each dog’s personality is captured through her lens. Just the other day, two dogs that had been in rescue for an entire year without interest from prospective homes got adopted with the help of their new profile pictures. Jenna also likes to acknowledge and reward those who have adopted pets by offering 50% off of the session fee and an additional 50% off of prints for those who’ve adopted from the rescues she partners with.

Jenna currently shares her home with her three-year-old French Bulldog, Bandit. I’m excited to work with her in the upcoming days to brush up on Bandit’s manners as well as to teach him some tricks and fun games.

Can you feel the love?

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Jenny Chun, CPDT-KA, PMCT is a dog trainer in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC specializing in helping newly adopted dogs integrate into their new homes.

Contact: jenny@givepaw.com || 347-393-9162

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GivePawDogTraining

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GivePaw

Puppy Kindergarten Graduates

Friend and colleague, Rikke Brogaard, and I just wrapped up our first round of dog manners classes at Monster Mutt Doggie Daycare in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. We are so proud of how far our students have come since the first night we met them. The best part is that all the dog owners have learned great techniques to work with their dogs as they continue to develop their relationships. They have a better understanding of how dogs think and learn and they’ve learned to use positive reinforcement as the main way to teach.

Adult Basic Manners Graduates

Our next round of Puppy Kindergarten class (8pm) and Adult Basic Manners class (9pm) start August 9th, 2011. If you want to improve your communication with your pup and want to do it in a FUN way, sign up now!

Check out the video of Ludo and Domo playing. Ludo, the Welsh Terrier, was nervous in week 1 and wouldn’t interact. The video was taken in week 3 and she was like a whole different dog!

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Jenny Chun, CPDT-KA, PMCT is a dog trainer in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC specializing in helping newly adopted dogs integrate into their new homes.

Contact: jenny@givepaw.com || 347-393-9162

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GivePawDogTraining

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GivePaw

Click on images to enlarge.

***
Jenny Chun, CPDT-KA, PMCT is a dog trainer in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC specializing in helping newly adopted dogs integrate into their new homes.

Contact: jenny@givepaw.com || 347-393-9162

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GivePawDogTraining

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GivePaw

***
Jenny Chun, CPDT-KA, PMCT is a dog trainer in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC specializing in helping newly adopted dogs integrate into their new homes.

Contact: jenny@givepaw.com || 347-393-9162

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GivePawDogTraining

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GivePaw

PUPPY & ADULT BASIC MANNERS:

These two classes are great for both socializing your puppy or adult dog and teaching him fun and useful skills that will give you a common vocabulary you can use with him. It will help establish and build a bond with Fido and you will learn that training can and should be FUN!! Your dog will learn all his basic manners cues (Sit, Down, Come, Stay, Leave It, Drop It, etc) and you will learn how to better read your dog and know what is going on inside his little noggin’. We’ll also address common issues (jumping, mouthing, housetraining, chewing, barking, etc). Puppy Kindergarten is for all puppies under 6 months old. Basic Manners is for all mutts over the age of 6 months. Class size is limited in order to guarantee all the individual attention you and your pup need. Classes run one hour per week for 4 consecutive weeks unless otherwise specified.

INTERMEDIATE GOOD MANNERS:

Intermediate classes are open to dogs that have taken our basic or puppy class, or that have been evaluated and deemed ready for intermediate training. This 4 week course takes what you and your dog learned in basic class and builds on that knowledge. We work to proof the stay and coming when called cues and we teach the dogs to respond even with distractions around. Dogs are not born with a lot of impulse control and self-control so this is a great place to practice. We will also have time to work on a little more “real life” stuff and even games. Class size is limited in order to guarantee all the individual attention you and your pup need. Classes run one hour per week for 4 consecutive weeks unless otherwise specified.

To sign up for one of the classes, please visit the Monster Mutt website and download the registration form.

All classes will be taught with positive reinforcement methods and are meant to be both educational and FUN! See you in class!

***
Jenny Chun, CPDT-KA, PMCT is a dog trainer in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC specializing in helping newly adopted dogs integrate into their new homes.

Contact: jenny@givepaw.com || 347-393-9162

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GivePawDogTraining

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GivePaw

"You will give me the cheese...give me the cheese..."

Provide your own creative caption for this photo!

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Jenny Chun, CPDT-KA, PMCT is a dog trainer in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC specializing in helping newly adopted dogs integrate into their new homes.

Contact: jenny@givepaw.com || 347-393-9162

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GivePawDogTraining

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GivePaw

Hiking off-leash through Gerritsen Beach

I finally had a day off to spend with the family and got to enjoy some much needed downtime.

When Lucy was younger and more energetic, we used to take driving trips to places like Bear Mountain and actually go hiking. Nowadays an hour of moderate exercise tires her out, so we started a new tradition.

Mmmm... so many new smells here...

We go on Google Maps and seek out a large plot of green space in New York City and we just go. We go not knowing what we’ll find. Yesterday we ended up at Gerritsen Beach in the southeastern part of Brooklyn. This morning she’s still tuckered out. She’s sleeping on the couch as I write…

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Jenny Chun, CPDT-KA, PMCT is a dog trainer in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC specializing in helping newly adopted dogs integrate into their new homes.

Contact: jenny@givepaw.com || 347-393-9162

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GivePawDogTraining

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GivePaw