Happy Easter from a whole bunch of bunnies!

April 21, 2019 by Ashley

It was a very exciting Easter for us this year. Just days before we had a litter of 7 pups: 5 females and 2 males.

This litter was a Dutch Shepherd x Belgian Malinois batch of fur missiles who are already adorable as could be.

Our little one Riley had mixed feelings about the birthing process but now is smitten with them all and convinced they are all “hers”. Although we keep reminding her that just isn’t the case, she keeps reassuring it is.

Almost half the litter is already spoken for and we have placed a hold on reserving pups until the 5-week mark so we can make our own pick when personalities begin to really erupt. Don’t tell Riley but we are in fact keeping one pup from this litter, a female.

So far this is what we have as far as gender and colorings:

Yellow (F): first born and smallest of the pups. She is black with a white chest and white paw.

Lime Green (F): almost entirely black.

Pink (F): the third almost all black female with a slightly wider nose bridge than her sisters.

Purple (F): the last to be born. She has a brown and black body with a copper orange head.

Blue (F): the fluffiest of the litter and the lightest in color.

Orange (M): Brindle boy with beautiful coloring.

Teal (M): male version of the purple pup. Brown and black body with a copper orange head.

Stay tuned for more puppy updates. We will do our best to keep the basket picture theme but imagine it will become quite hard quite fast to fit them all inside of it!

How to get your dog to listen to you

February 16, 2019 by Case

When people see what our trained dogs can do, they are shocked.

The looks are priceless when our Dutch Shepherd jumps up onto the railing of a dock and walks across it. You see people’s face look at the dog and then down at the water which is a nice 10-15 foot drop in places.

“Oh my gosh, how do you get your dogs to do that?!?!?!”

The truth is, it’s pretty simple.

Simple, doesn’t mean easy.

So how do the dogs do it? They know we don’t ask anything of them we aren’t willing to do ourselves.

We have built a bond with our canine companions through training and spending time with them. We don’t bribe them with treats or trick them into the behavior we want.

If I want to teach my dog to jump onto an elevated surface, I start on the elevated surface and call the dog to me. I show the dog I can stand or sit on the elevated surface and that he can too.

Initially, they may have some reservations and stress but they overcome that to be with their handler.

Now imagine the difference between the above method versus standing next to your dog and encouraging them to jump on to the elevated surface while you stand on the ground.

Flip roles for a second. If your dog told you to jump up on top of the dock railing and attempt to balance on it, would you? Would you be more inclined to do it if they were already up there? So may say maybe not for a dog, but I bet you most people would if it was a human friend who had climbed up on the railing first and was asking you to follow them.

Transfer this idea to a workplace setting. You have a boss tell you to do something you know they aren’t willing to do themselves. How do you feel about having to complete that task?

How would the situation be different if you knew the person asking you to do it is willing and able to do it themselves, but they can’t because they are tasked with another mission that is critical to success?

Leading from the front isn’t just for humans. Try it with your dog and you will surprised by the results. It appears our 3.5 year has it figured out with leading the young pup across the ramp.

Don’t ask something of your dog you aren’t willing to do yourself.

3 reasons you should train your dog

January 20, 2017 by Ashley

Today’s post from apex-k9.com discusses three reasons you should invest your time in training your four-legged furry companion.

1.Training your dog further strengthens the bond between canine and handler

The more time you spend working with your dog, the better the communication. You will begin to pick up on subtle clues as to what your dog is feeling and telling you. The same is true for the dog. He or she will learn to read you even better. Through this work, the dog becomes more trusting and obedient, allowing for ever advancing work.

2. The dog is better behaved when company comes over

How many times have you had people come over and put your dog in a crate, locked them in a bedroom, or kicked them out to the backyard because you didn’t trust them not jump up on your guests or cause a disturbance? Wouldn’t it be so much better if the dog was able to remain in the room lounging on its bed without embarrassing you or annoying your guests? Spending the time training your dog so that obedience is not something you hope for but rely on not only impresses guests but keeps your sanity in check, allowing you to more readily focus on your visitors instead of fretting about your dog.

3. You can experience more with your dog outside of the home

I love taking our dogs with me anywhere I can. Life is so much better with a dog at your side but the only way you can feel confident taking your canine companion out in public is if you invest in training them. No one likes a rowdy dog that pulls, and barks, and doesn’t generally behave. Plus, how embarrassing is it when your dog is the one in the doghouse? Train your dog with these basics and you’ll open up a whole new world for you and your furry friend.

Leash etiquette
Sits, stays, and downs
“leaving it” – which, in our opinion is the most important

It only takes a little bit of time each day to work on basic obedience with your dog. With that said however, don’t limit yourself to just training during “training sessions.” View every experience with your dog as a training opportunity and you will have a dog that will be a joy to have around and will also impress people that cross your path.

Dog training is a life long art. Below is a picture of our little one “training” at 14 months vs her training at 3 years.

The Heeling Post:

January 14, 2017 by Ashley

Man’s best friend for teaching your dog to stay close

Hello again from us apex-k9. We hope everyone is having a productive 2017 so far. Today’s article is about the heeling post.

William Koehler, creator of the Koehler Method of Dog training, uses the heeling post to teach the dog to stay with the handler when in close proximity to objects or poles. Its a really simple set up. Start with the dog on lead and walk towards a pole, leaving just enough room for the dog to stay on the same side you are. If the dog decides to go on the other side, the lead is wrapped around the pole and the dog gets a self-correction. As a result, the dog quickly learns to stay on the same side as the handler after only a few repetitions of this exercise.

I worked with a 10 month old Great Pyrenees today. He has very little leash time but we worked on the heeling post. It took him exactly three tries to figure out that he should stay on the same side as me. After that, he nearly pushed me out of the way to stay on the same side.

Besides being a great tool for teaching the dog to stay next to you, it amazes me how quick dogs learn things. I truly believe they are lot more clever than most people give them credit for.

Until next time, view everyday as a training day!

Working Agility

August 31, 2016 by Ashley

JL and I did some agility work after a quick run to the Port Orange City Center. In the video you can see us “hupping” on to an obstacle about shoulder height high. We did this a number of times. Each time I worked to changing the exercise just slightly to add new angle of attack and a different type of stress. If you’re interested in why that’s important, you can read more about it here in this article.

When you’re training your dog, you want to strive to be able to send your dog from out of position. What this means is basically not having to use a lead or to have to stand directly next to your dog in order for them to be obedient. It doesn’t take much work to lead them to the obstacle and encourage them to jump up. What takes practice and repetition is going away from your dog and having them go to the correct obstacle.

At the start of the video we warm up with me directing the dog with the lead. Towards the end of the video you can see change position from being directly next to the dog to diagonal in relation to the obstacle. Start small and work your way up.

Hopefully you enjoyed this agility video that gives a quick glimpse into the athletic ability of the Dutch Shepherd breed.

Teaching a Dog to Load Up

August 4, 2016 by Ashley

The video below shows me training my 2 year old dog learning to enter the vehicle through the open passenger window. You can tailor these steps to have them enter the car through the trunk, an open door, or a window.

As with all training, start small and work your way up. You want a firm foundation before you move to the next step. If you move forward before you or your dog are ready, it makes it even more difficult to progress to higher levels.

The “Tacticool” Load Up

Prep

Scout practicing the "load up" without me holding the lead — Teaching the “load up” through a window.

JL practicing the “load up” without me holding the lead

I decided it would be a wise idea to put some sort of protective barrier up to prevent scratch damage to the paint. The best I came up with was a thick towel. It was a very good idea but I should have placed a towel on the hood as you will see from the outtakes at the end of the video. Lesson learned: your dog is full of surprises.

As I talked about in a previous post, I use a 6ft lead and a prong collar.

Phase 1: On-lead

Since JL has an understanding of jumping on and over obstacles I began with her in a “foos” facing the open window a few feet away. Before attempting the load up, your dog should be able to “hup” on objects on command. Standing next to JL, I gave the “load up” command and moved towards the open window. She’s smart dog and knew instinctively she had nowhere to go besides through the open window. As she went through it, I gave her a “Good load up” matching the tone of the issued command like we talked about in this ~~post.~~

We did this a number of times, increasing the distance progressively until I decided it was time to go off lead.

Phase 2: Off-Lead

There isn’t much difference between Phase 1 and 2 except now she doesn’t have a lead on. You start close and once again work your way out. If you have trouble and the dog balks or clowns around immediately go back to the lead and work with it for a while before attempting o ff lead again. Don’t give the dog the opportunity to become accustomed to disobeying you off lead. Be consistent.

Phase 3: Out of Position

Placing the lead through the open window

Now comes the fun part. Put the dog back on-lead. Place them in a “sit” in front of the open window. Put the end of the lead through the window and have your dog wait while you walk around the car to the drivers seat. Pick up the end of the lead and give the “load up” command. Once the dog is inside the vehicle, unload them and set up the exercise again. Do this a couple times (yes, this can also be good exercise for you) until the dog has a good foundation.

Now its time for the test. Set your dog up a few feet from the car. Take off their lead, (yes you heard me, its time to take that lead off). Put them into a “wait” while you get into position in the car. When you are ready, give them the “load up” command.

Voila!

Your dog should have just done an off lead load up. Congrats! And no worries if they didn’t get it right this first time. Go back on lead and do it until you are both comfortable and then try again off lead. Be patient!

Now of course its time to elevate both your dogs and your confidence by increasing the distance. Have fun with it!

Let me know what else you would like to see and be sure to leave your email in the space on the left side of the page so you can be alerted to when new content comes out. Thank you! Now enjoy the movie.