What do San Diego Trained Dogs do in Taos, New Mexico? They get to go pretty much everywhere off leash! It’s very dog friendly here in Taos, and with a well trained dog, off leash is certainly an option.

Going to the mountains when one is used to the beaches of San Diego means climate change and special precautions should be taken for things like hypothermia. Boots for feet can help with a dog that is used to the warmth of hanging out on the beach.

We’ve heard from several of our K9 Campers over the holidays and found that simply put, the dogs who have some solid training get to do more things. The dog photos that have come back to us are priceless.

The difference in having a dog stop at street corners, stay with you and not pull on a leash, and that can be obedient in the presence of other dogs and people, get to go lots of places and have a much better life.

The joy of watching the dogs learn to retrieve a frisbee, and then take it to the next level and find the frisbee in the deep snow, or amongst many dogs at the beach comes with knowing that off leash, they will listen. It’s so much fun for you and the dog.

Our tip for getting this kind of behavior quickly is by remembering your dog thinks in pictures. So always follow through with the entire picture… most people stop before the dog completes the task. Or they give the dog more than one task. Simply put, complete one task all the way repetitively… and you are on your way.

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Honestly I think that is one of the reasons we have dogs… they make us smile… and they make us smile in the most interesting of times. Tonight we bring you our version of dog behaviors that you don’t have to train for… the behaviors that you just enjoy about your dog.

We have a great video with a dog named Tommy and the fun he has with something as daunting as snow shoveling. Wait till you see the bubble blowing episode….

While training is a fantastic thing, and we believe that it truly is the thing that develops a strong fulfilling relationship with your dog… having time to watch how a dog can make the littlest thing fun, is important to that relationship as well.

Most dogs end up giving back to us the most just by making us smile on a daily basis. Knowing how to make something “fun” out “simple” is a cool thing to study, really.

We’ll be on live at 5 pm PST, 7 pm CST Wednesday. Go to this link and watch! And the really cool thing we would like you to do is join in. There is a place where you can type in you dog funny stories or cool things they have done. Or you can use it as an opportunity to ask how to train for something with you own dog.

Anyway… go ahead… click the link and be there tonight Live at 5 (pst) Dog Trainer Guru Chicks.

Buddy, an Am Staff, came to camp as a very strong young dog.  A puppy still really.  He just turned a year old, but never the less is incredibly strong.  Too strong for his family to hold onto the leash and take him for the much need exercise he requires.

He’s just about done with dog training camp and he’s done so very well.  He has hung out on the trails in Encinitas, parks in San Marcos, and gone on nice walks on the beach here in San Diego.  He’s been learning to play ball in a “nice” way.  A dog like Buddy sometimes doesn’t get how strong he is being with other dogs… he’s built sort of like a little tank and sometimes over powers other dogs and people’s arms while at the end of a leash without even knowing it!

It really is all about focus.  Getting your dog to focus on what to do rather than things that they shouldn’t be doing is the key.  In Buddy’s case he has a somewhat extreme case of A.D.D., like many of us!

K9 Coach Camp teaches dogs to focus first than leads them into the behavior that is all good.  Its really a much better way to be.  Getting rid of all that negative language… like NO, Stop THAT… Bad Dog, No, no, NO….  Ya know that kind of thing.

Instead, when a dog is taught focus and to concentrate on doing a few simple tasks, like walking nicely on a leash, being able to “sit”… no matter what is going on around the dog, or hold a “place” which means to stay even if the door is wide open the whole story changes for every one.

First, it’s much more fun for everyone.  Second, the idea of having a well trained dog changes everyone’s feelings from “what I wish I had”, to “I have exactly the very cool dog that I thought I was going to get.”

A happy well trained dog is priceless.  In our times of unrest, having the dog wag no matter what is so endearing…. giving the gift of teaching your dog a few obedience tricks is well worth the joy you get back.

As we are cruising back into San Diego after a 4,000 mile road trip in 14 days with 3 dogs in an RV, reflections of the trip are not only already such great memories but some very interesting learning experiences as well.

We were very proud to have our friends tell us how great our 3 dogs behavior was. How awesome it was that we could let them out with no leash and not worry they were going to run off into unknown territory. How great it was that we could introduce them and not have them jump up and leave some nice paw prints on dinner attire. And how fabulous it was that they would quietly hang out in their kennels while we went to dinner with friends.

We were able to do so much with them simply because they have some basic training and dog manners. We took them to a park and taught them the new game of frisbee without worrying they were going to take off after someone’s neighborhood cat…. ya know, dog things like that.

What was even more amazing to us was how miserable it would be to have dogs that are untrained. How it honestly can effect friendships. For instance, we stayed with some friends who have four dogs. Sounded like great fun in the beginning. Dog people hanging out with dog people… until we realized what kind of a nightmare we had walked into.

First the dogs start barking at the sight or sound of anything, jump up on us and simply will not get down. Then there was the idea that we should take them all out, get a little exercise. Oh my, what a nightmare that was. Put them all on leashes… some sort of front harness contraption that’s supposed to stop a dog from pulling. How funny was that… watching these people trying to hang onto these dogs as they proceeded to drag the owners down the street towards the park.

Wait, let me back up though… lets talk about trying to even get out of the house. One has to barely crack the door, hold all the dogs back and slide out without one escaping, while the owners stand there and basically do nothing simply because this is “normal” behavior to them.

Anyway, lets put it this way, it ended up being a very long 3 days, we couldn’t really “do” anything with the dogs, it became obviously a very stressed situation for everyone, and we did hear the comment more than once… “it’s hard to get friends who understand the dog thing”!

What’s sad about all of that is it would just take a little very basic dog training for these people to gain back many of their friends or make some really great new ones.