Meet Daphne. Daphne is a 2-year-old German Short-haired Pointer Mix. She and her owner Emily are Dog Training Now’s July 2018 Client of the Month. This beautiful pup is a recent graduate of our 20-Day Advanced Off Leash Day Training program. Daphne came to us nearly every day for a month, and we all fell completely in love with her as she perfected her new skills! We’d love to tell you her story.
If we had to describe Daphne in one word, we would have to use three words, and they would all be “Stubborn!” She’s a brilliant dog, and a lover of all people, but if Daphne didn’t want to do something when we first met her, you’d better believe she would make us earn it! Emily says “I always knew she was very smart, but I wanted to be able to tame her stubbornness”. Otherwise, she was a leash puller, a jumper, a counter surfer, and wouldn’t come when called. A loving pup, but quite a handful!
Daphne as a puppy!
Emily enrolled Daphne in our 20-Day Off Leash Day Training Program. Nearly every day in the month of June, Emily and her family would drop Daphne off with us in the morning, and pick her up at night to see what she had learned each day. In between, we worked on building a strong bond with Daphne and help her understand that humans are going to treat her with respect, but that she’s got to return the favor!
During the first 10 days of the program, we made sure that Daphne learned all of her skills on a leash. We can’t possibly expect Daphne to succeed off leash if she doesn’t get a fair chance to learn first! She learned to walk nicely on a leash, to heel and automatically sit when we stop walking, sit, lay down, come, and to stay on her place. Emily mentioned that “My first impression (of Dog Training Now) is that everyone cared for the dogs and were dedicated to making Daphne the best version of herself. Over the course of her 20-day training, this proved true! I noticed a change the first day I picked her up from school when she walked without pulling”.
Daphne taking a training break!
During the final 10 days, we really pushed Daphne to show us that she could perform off leash. We asked for a solid heel right by our side, even outside! We asked her to come to us no matter what type of distraction she was engaged with, and no matter how far she was from us. We asked her to go to her place without us having to walk her there. Wow did she do a great job! With a dog like Daphne, bonding with her and showing her respect gets so much love and respect in return! It leads to amazing results! Check out Daphne in action here!
Even better, Emily is absolutely beaming with pride for her pup. “I am so proud of Daphne! I must say that ten times a day now. She responds to all of her commands perfectly the first time every time. She’s a much calmer dog now. She knows when it’s ok to play and when it’s time to chill. I love showing off her good behavior to everyone!”
Daphne’s chill time
“I’ve had people ask if Daphne is a therapy dog! She’s so well behaved out in public. I’ve brought her to restaurants and outdoor concerts — she sits next to me perfectly the entire time. Whenever we’re out and about she always gets compliments on what a good girl she is”, adding “She’s doing great with training at home. I’m starting to teach her how to fetch the newspaper now!”
Daphne enjoying the breeze
We’re so proud of Daphne, but we already miss her so much! We can’t wait to see her again!
We love teaching dogs their skills off leash, and we’d love for your dog to be next! If your dog has already done a 2-week program with Dog Training Now, you’re only another 2-weeks away from an off leash dog!
Hiya Dan, Thanks for such an informative blog post. I recently became the mother of an 8 week old puppy retriever. He is great however there are a few things that need to be ironed out before it gets out of hand. A few of the things you mentioned here, really describes his behaviour.
I would take up a professional for the help but they always seem overpriced and really expensive. I recently read a blog post about an online training course that seemed really genuine:https://www.retrieversareus.com/brain-training-for-dogs-review. But Im not sure it is and I wanted an experts advice on wether I should explore this avenue first before throwing cash into professional assistance.
Would really appreciate any help you can provide as its now something that I need to take action on. Thank in advance Dan!
Becky,
Thanks for writing! I’m definitely a big believer that any kind of training is better than nothing! I am certainly not opposed to self-taught training such as the website that you suggested. That said, as a professional trainer, I work with dogs every day, and the one universal truth is that all dogs are individuals. So it’s sometimes hard to imagine that a “this is how you train your dog” website will have the desired results, because not all training methodologies work for all dogs, and an experienced dog trainer will have handled enough dogs to know what is and isn’t working before it causes any unnecessary stress to the dogs. Those are my two cents!
Thanks,
Dan
Great Dan, thank you so much as you have managed to clear up the few things I was asking myself before going ahead. Really appreciate your time and ill maybe come back and let you know how it goes too. Thanks again