Six Tips to Help You With Dogs … And With Life
It’s not always easy on the road to success with your dog. Sometimes we are dealt dogs who are more difficult, sometimes work schedules get in the way, sometimes family life is busy, but we still need to make time for our dogs … and ourselves, in order to succeed. Here are six simple tips…
Three Simple Tips To Help Change Your Dog For The Better
Do you have a dog who thinks that they pay the mortgage, therefore they make the rules? Do you have a dog who is pushy and demanding … basically an annoying pain in the butt? Do you have a dog who doesn’t understand self control and needs constant entertainment? Here are THREE easy things that…
No One Is Perfect
We all know it, right? That there is no such thing as being perfect? Your kids aren’t perfect (no matter what you think), your in-laws definitely aren’t perfect (no matter what they tell you), and you, well, I hate to say it, you are not perfect either. I don’t mean that you aren’t perfect just…
Does Your Behaviour Affect Your Dogs Behaviour?
I want to tell you a story. Brace yourself. It’s not very exciting, but it is important. This story popped into my mind when our friends at High Fives for K9’s posted this little ditty on Instagram: “what if who your dog is, was directly dependent on who you are?” Read that again, and let…
Do You Do Stuff That Your Dog Likes?
Hang on, let me clarify. I don’t mean eating rabbit poop with them, or rolling in dead things or items of that nature, that would likely make you a psychopath. I mean, do you do stuff with your dog that is natural, that they actually enjoy? Things that dogs enjoy naturally are sniffing, eating rabbit…
Does Your Dog Deserve to be Off Leash in Town?
That is the question, so what is the answer? Some of you may not be fond of my opinion, however, I think it necessary to go through the process of my conclusion on this. I will start off by saying it IS NOT your right to have your dog off leash, especially in an urban…
So You Want A Working Breed?
Let me define my meaning of working breed, because I’m not talking about just the typical CKC classification of working breeds. I’m talking about dogs that truly work, need a job, or are very high drive. This will include most terriers, the ckc working group, some hounds, some mastiff types, some herding breeds, field bred…
Amazingly Awesome Crazy Puppy Antics
I really wish I had a paparazzi film crew that would follow me around and get those darn moments I miss, on film. It’s too hard to video and deal with a crazy puppy, plus another dog all at the same time, so you will have to bear with my colourful re-enactment by the written…
What Is Rally Obedience?
Rally Obedience is a fun, encouraging and welcoming dog sport that is sort of like a cross between Obedience and Agility. Instead of a judge telling you your next move, Rally, for short, consists of a course, with stations, not unlike a numbered agility course. You are required to heel the course and perform all…
Dog and Puppy Training in Milton
First I would like to say a warm welcome back to all of our current and coming Smart Dogs Canine Training students! Thanks for hanging in over the lockdown, and we hope everyone is well. We are back on schedule with classes and privates, and I thought I would just remind everyone what is available.…
Follow The Lure
A fun, easy and enjoyable way to teach puppies how to learn is to introduce them to following a food lure. Food is by far, the easiest way to teach new concepts to your puppy like sit, down, stay, place, heel etc. But puppies don’t all come knowing how to follow that lure, or even,…
Occupy Your Puppy
We love these treat dispensing balls for some entertainment. You can use treats or feed a meal with them. They provide mental as well as physical stimulation, teaching your puppy problem solving skills, how to use their nose and can even entice picky dogs to eat. These are great, in addition to other exercise, during…
Do Not Get A Puppy If …
My younger sister works in a vet clinic. They had someone (and I use that term very loosely) bring in a 16 week old puppy who was vomiting and would not eat. After examination, the doctor felt that there were “items” in the abdomen, so suspected that he ingested something that he shouldn’t have, and…
Simple Exercises in Self Control for Puppies
A dog with self control is an easy dog to live with. A dog with self control doesn’t steal your belongings, doesn’t bark or whine for attention, doesn’t become a demanding mess and doesn’t require 24/7 supervision. However, puppies do not come fully programmed with self control. Of course some puppies are hardwired with more…
Puppy Equipment Help
We all need to teach our puppies to accept leashes, collars, jackets, harnesses and other items that we may have to incorporate into their daily routine. Often time people struggle with these because the puppy’s focus is on the equipment, fixating on it, and worrying about it. It can make leash training, collar introduction etc.…
Don’t Let Crazy Work
Crazy shouldn’t work ever for puppies … but it does. And why does it? Because we accidentally reward it. An example is a puppy gets excited, squirms and squeals in your arms, bites a bit and you put her down. This is what the puppy wanted, they wanted out of your restraint, therefore we rewarded…
Things To Occupy Your Puppy
Borrowed this from a breeder, and love it! For drivey puppies who like to tug, this can satisfy urges without involving your hands. Should be played only under supervision (considering the hanging rope), but if you’re working in the same room, an awesome idea for a few minutes of fun for your puppy (or adult…
Do You Act Like A Toy To Your Puppy?
A big reason why children get nipped and bit by their puppies is because their movements and mannerisms can look and act very similar to a toy, a game or another puppy. What do I mean by that? Dangling hands and feet, fast moving appendages, squeeking, squeeling, running, basically all the things young children do…
Puppy Play
How we play with puppies can either set us up for success or set us up for failure in all aspects of puppy raising. Often times it’s a certain type of play with puppies that teaches them biting, jumping, scratching and over the top “crazy” behaviour is ok. Certain types of play teaches our puppies…
Should You Get A Puppy?
With the significantly large number of people who have purchased puppies over the past few months, we felt it important to put together some free tips to help those who might be struggling. We will be posting some quick videos over the next little while In regards to the more common “puppy problems” that families…
Does Class Time Equal Play Time?
Those whom have taken our classes know that we are pretty strict on our rules that dogs are not to meet or play during, right before, or right after class time, and there is good reason for this. First off, unfortunately, we are never more exciting to our dogs, than the dogs standing next to…
Accidents in the house, is it a house training issue?
I felt it important to write a quick piece on accidents in the house that are not actually house training issues. I have seen these come up multiple times, and it’s critical to treat these most prevalent ones different than a house training issue. The first, and in my opinion, more important one, is dogs…
Crate Training Tips
With the return to school coming up, and the return to work for some, there is a rush to get puppies and dogs happily crate trained before the house will be left empty for a few hours. It is especially prevalent in these COVID times, where many puppies were acquired over the last 5-6 months,…
Keep Your Puppies Safe
There is a time in a young puppy’s life where the most important thing in the world is to follow their new owners around. It’s cute, it’s wonderful to think that these creatures are so bonded to us immediately … but it’s also a short phase for most pups, and can be deceiving. Witnessing an…
Don’t Let Them
I often find people listing off the issues that they are having with their dogs, but not understanding why they are happening, even though the base of the issues is fairly obvious. Of course, we as trainers are here to help them understand and break down any issues, but sorting these truly does, many times,…
It’s never too late or too early to train your dog
There are those out there that will tell you to wait until after a certain age to begin training your puppy, and there are also those out there that still believe that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. How very wrong they are!! The best time to start training your dog is from…
Dogs Want to Have Fun Too
I’ll start by saying dogs want to have fun too. Yes, many of them enjoy their strolls in the park, or hikes in the woods, but why not spice it up a bit for them?Utilize what’s around you to give them a challenge on their walks. Rocks, benches, trees, curbs, playground equipment and more make…
Top 10 Relationship Enhancing Tips for you and Your Dog
1. Set Some Rules/Boundaries Get your family, friends and all those who interact with your dog to have a clear, black and white set of rules for your dog to follow. Those who live with the dog especially should be on the same page as it makes it much easier for your dog to understand…
Of Children and Dogs
NOTE: this is an article from 2018 that I thought would be good to rehash. Note, things are now grossly different from 2018 to 2020, but the sentiment remains the same. If you’ve never watched the movie My Dog Skip, I recommend that you do. If you’ve ever owned a Jack Russell Terrier (or lost…
Top 3 Things To Teach Your New Puppy
And no, the first two are not obedience …There are many important things to teach your new puppy, including obedience training and the very obvious house training, however the three top things that we think are most important are possibly things that you might not have thought of, but are common sense, and easy to…
Easy Way to Teach Your Dog to Focus
Teaching focus, or engagement, is an enormously beneficial skill to include in your dogs education, and can help with certain behavioural issues, leash skills, working around distraction etc. You can use food, toys or play to achieve focus and increase your value in your dogs eyes. I’ve included a couple videos below to help get…
What are puppies made of?
What are puppies made of? Cuteness, fluff, fun, love and cuddles … but puppies are also made of other ingredients as they age. And what are some of the other ingredients, you ask? Needle sharp teeth, attitude, energy, independence, curiosity, an obsession to chew, intelligence, drive, demands, and the list goes on.What puppies are NOT…
Dogs Aren’t Born Knowing Our Language – Dog Training Milton
No matter how well your dog reads you, how well your puppy responds to you, how in sync you are together, dogs are not born knowing the human language. Dogs do not come pre-programmed to respond to English, French, Japanese, German or whatever your native language is. They come pre-programmed to speak dog, and dog…
Puppy and Dog Training is for Life Not Just for 6 Weeks
Every moment of every day is a learning experience for your new puppy or dog. They are learning from their environment, through their actions and from you. They are learning what makes things work, how to problem solve, how to push buttons and how to navigate life. In order for us to have a well…
Dog and Puppy Training in Milton
Our dog training class schedules have been updated! Smart Dogs Basic Skillz 1.0 is the place to start for a great foundation for your dog or puppy. Bootcamp Skillz 1.5, the next level up, gives you the advantages of working all over town, offering real life situations and distraction all while improving upon the basics…
Smart Dogs Basic Skillz Now Available Dog Training Milton
We want all dogs to get training, and we want training to be accessible to everyone. That is why we have made our popular Smart Dogs Basic Skillz class available in an online format starting Saturday June 13th! We’ve revamped our program to serve you better, added more skillz and kept it easy to follow…
Smart Puppy Essentials Skillz 0.5 – Puppy Training in Milton Ontario
We feel that young puppies learn best in their own comfortable home environment. Through our years of training we have noted that puppy classes offer little in the way of retained training. Yes, it offers the social aspect, but that’s fairly easy to do from home, and our opinion on socialization differs from the main…
Do It Yourself Bootcamp – Dog Training in Milton Ontario
We believe that it is super important to get your dog socialized to as many locations as you can throughout your training. Taking field trips to different locations exposes your dog to the sights and sounds of the world that they may encounter on their daily life, and sets them up for success as they…
Smart Dogs Smart Tricks
This is an excellent course for any dog at any age, from 10 week old puppies to 14 year old seniors. This course introduces you and your dog to 13 fun, entertaining and useful tricks! It also includes an introduction to simple obedience and how to use reward markers. Teaching your dog tricks is not…
Welcome to Smart Dogs Canine Training Milton’s New Home
We are excited about using this new platform for the home of Smart Dogs Canine Training, Milton, Ontario! Our new website is much cleaner, easier to navigate, and heck, it was about time for an upgrade. With this platform we are better able to update and interact with you on the web. We’ve revamped our…
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