Posted on

Crate Training: The First Night

Bringing home a new dog, regardless of its age is a very exciting time until it comes to bed time!

With new puppies, owners often face that dreaded first night together where a puppy may cry or bark when isolated from their family.

With an older dog, it is tempting to leave them out solo to test the waters – an adult dog can’t cause too much havoc, right? Sometimes this backfires and you end up waking up to quite the mess.

So regardless of your dogs age, you face the same questions that first night with your new companion.

  • How do we get your dog to settle through the night?
  • How do we lessen the pet guilt we feel over doing it?
  • Do we let them cry it out, or let them sleep with us just this once?  

For starters, its important to understand that crates can offer both safety and comfort to dogs, so there is absolutely nothing wrong with using one. Safety is important for young dogs or dogs who are generally destructive, and comfort can be taken from the crate as it serves its purpose; a bedroom for your dog. Most dogs crave a den like atmosphere and quiet space naturally when winding down, however as they build their bond with their humans they also want to be close to us. Crate training is thus often made to be the ‘barrier’ for dogs and their humans and this can cause distress and anxiety when they are being forced in there away from their people.

On that first night with your new dog, be sure to set up their sleeping pen or crate in your room. At least for the first few nights, they should be reassured of your presence. In the long term, having your dog crated elsewhere is absolutely possible and in most cases preferable, but those first few nights with new puppy are not the time to test it out.  We have to remember that not only is this a big change for you and your family, but for your dog as well. It is likely the first time your puppy has been without it’s mother and siblings, and for older dogs it is likely the first time they have been in a home or have been outside of their foster home. It can be distressing. So set up a cozy area next to your bed, and make the environment comfortable by adding items your breeder or foster home sent home with you and that smell like their previous home.

Once you are ready for quiet time, lure your dog inside of their crate or pen and feed them a few extra treats in there as you close the door. If it is a wired crate, you can continue feeding through the wires. If it is a mesh or fabric crate, you can keep the sides opened up to reach in and feed them. Don’t wander too far, and plan to stay in that room and head to bed with them.

It is easy to feed and comfort your dog in these fabric crates!

This is where you may hit a road block. Most dogs do not have an issue with a closed in space; its our absence that we need to start training for.  This is why you will remain in the room, close by. Ideally your crate should be so close to your bed that your arm can reach out and touch it. Plan to reassure your puppy and wake up through the night to let them out to potty, but this is what makes this sleep training trick that much easier! You are right there for them to let you know they need to go, and to comfort them easily back to sleep, avoiding a crazy and playful puppy at 3am. You simply lure them back inside, close the door and are within arms reach if they need you.

Its pretty similar to the child who has nightmares and opts to sleep with their parents – eventually that goal is for the child to sleep solo, but there is nothing wrong with offering comfort while they adjust to their new reality.

DAY TIME CRATE TRAINING

During the day is when you can make some headway on crate training appropriately. First, starting with duration (how long can your dog hang out in there quietly?) before adding distance (how far can you go from the crate before your dog panics?)

Examples of scenarios when you can practice these sessions include

  • when you are cooking, move your crate towards the kitchen and have your dog hang out in there while you are in view. You can toss a few rewards for calmness or offer a frozen kong to occupy them, but otherwise she is learning to relax , confined, in your presence
  • if you are tidying up the house or a particular room, placing your dog in her crate while you move around the room casually can help start to build some tolerance for your absence. You can reward her calm behaviour as you move about too!

If you work from home, this set up is easy to implement in your routine but if you don’t we recommend having friends come and help you out with your new pup for pee breaks or hire a dog walking service to keep routines consistent for you. Regardless of your work routine however, crate training should be happening outside of the hours where you leave your dog alone. This is especially true if your dog dislikes it from the get go or needs more motivation to enter it. Training should be done on weekends or evenings.

Surviving that first night is something to be proud of! Rest assured most dogs settle into their new routines quickly and without fuss, but setting them up for success by slowly moving them away from your bedroom will get you on the right path faster and with less trauma (on both ends of the leash).

Need some visuals of what a training scenario may look like? Check out our video!

Bailey learning to tolerate some distance while relaxing in her crate. Keep your training sessions short and successful.


Posted on

Winter Blues Got Your Dog Down?

Winter in Canada is long and whether you have a young dog or an older one, it can be a struggle to keep your pup busy in the months of constant cold and ice. Long runs and hikes are usually cut down significantly in inclement weather but this can cause an increase in the level of energy our dogs exhibit. So, what can we do to keep our sanity and keep our dogs happy and fufilled?

The concept of mental enrichment is gaining more popularity in the dog training world but it is often overlooked in pet homes. Its almost like we have forgotten that these loving, happy go lucky creatures sharing our beds and homes have minds, desires and talents of their own. No wonder Fido decided to redecorate the living room while you were out with pillow feathers!

All dogs are intelligent and capable.

Read that again when you find yourself red with rage when your dog has chewed up your new baseboards out of boredom during the winter months. Due to their capacity to learn, dog’s brains are always working and absorbing information – even when we would really, really love them not to be.

Picture this scenario: You are just sitting down after a long day and want to relax and dig in to your delivery food. There is a winter storm raging but your home is warm and cozy, so it doesn’t affect you at all. You flop on to the couch to watch tv and in enters a very excited Fido! Fido doesn’t get that you’ve had a long day and need some alone time – Fido wants to play!

So what is an exhausted dog owner to do?

The answer is to increase your dogs mental stimulation through toys, and a handy little rule we like to call WORK TO EAT.

What does this rule involve? Simply put it is the notion that the dog must work for their meals. This is nothing new to them, I promise you, but somehow over the generations of owning dogs humans have forgotten how these creatures ate and behaved before we set the bowl down for them. They scavenged, they problem solved, they learned and adapted in their environments. What was created out of this process was an animal that can adapt and independently problem solve.

There are two ways you can add simple enrichment to your dog’s life. The first includes investing in some form of activity/food toy. This is not a chew toy or a tug toy, but rather a toy that can store small quantities of food and encourages your dog to directly interact with that food. This is an independent activity and shouldn’t require direct supervision unless your dog is destructive or very young – in which case we recommend using these toys in areas that can be monitored, such as your living room, kitchen or in an expen if your dog uses one.

Not sure where to look for these toys, or need some examples?

Some of our favourites! Scent Runners, Wobbler Kong, CleverPet are some examples. These can be purchased at any pet store or online.

The second way you can implement this rule into your routine is through training. You can never practice simple and functional behaviours such as SIT/DOWN or FOCUS enough: meal times are perfect opportunities to practice basic skills. Grab some of your dog’s dinner and train a few repititons of these behaviours using their own meal for rewards. Its a neat little trick and works great with puppies who are still in house breaking mode, or for sensitive dogs who cannot eat a variety of treats. In the long term, your time and effort pays off with better skills while your dog uses their brain to earn their food rather than have it for free in a bowl. It also creates a deeper connection with your dog as well, as you’ll communicate better and your pups purpose of working with you will be fulfilled.

Regardless of which method you choose to use, we recommend using at least one opportunity a day to have your dog use their brain and work for their food. In a routine of structured exercise, training and playtime this rule will help teach your dog lifelong skills such as problem solving, frustration tolerance and confidence around novel objects.

Two of our favourite toys in action

What this tool will not do is lessen negative behaviours or cause your dog to become an Einstein and rule the world overnight…but it will certainly help pave the way for better behaviours down the road and build the bond you both share.

Happy Training!

Posted on

The Purrfect Tips to Train Your Cat

Do you have a newly adopted adult cat, or are you bringing home a new kitten? Are you curious if they can learn the same skills as your dog? Great news: they can!

Cats learn in the same manner as dogs do. The key with training cats lies in understanding their motivations and breaking down behaviours appropriately.

Here are three tips to begin training your cat!

  1. Find what motivates your cat

Some cats are intensely food motivated while others love to play and bat around a toy. Find what works for your cat! If they are heavily food motivated, then treats or even their own kibble should suffice as rewards for training. If they are pickier, opt for savoury treats that can be easily homemade; boiled or grilled meats such as chicken, steak or salmon

If your cat loves to chase and play with toys, then you can easily interchange food and toys in your training. Its important to remember with cats however, that being proactive about rewarding good choices such as scratching their cat posts verses your couch, or using their litter box appropriately should always be occurring. For example if they use their litter box correctly and they love to pay, reward them with a little play session outside of the litter box room afterwards.

A VERY food motivated cat!

2. Opt not to Free Feed

Although free feeding tends to work well with a busy human schedule, it can cause your cat to lose some of its driving motivation for food because its always available! if you are hoping to use your cat’s food for easy rewards, then you are devaluing it by having it out 24/7.

We suggest meal feeding your cats, similar to your dog. You will create a feeding routine by doing this, and it will help to structure your training times! A good example of a feeding routine would be to feed your cat two solid meals a day (dry or wet food, morning and evening) and leave out some of that portion for snacks, training and food puzzles during the day. The small portions you leave out will ensure you are having short and effective training sessions.

3. Use a Marker System

If you choose to train your cat, you are going to want to use a marker system. A marker system in training tells your cat when they have done something correct and have earned a reward. It is a tool to improve training skills and communication between trainer and animal. For example, your cat wanders off to their cat tower to scratch for a few moments. You want to encourage and reward this behaviour over her scratching your furniture, so you mark the correct behaviour with a verbal marker – YES! and reward her.

Some trainers prefer to use a clicker as their marker for training, but a verbal cue such as YES can work just as effectively. This allows you to reward behaviour accurately and quickly, and your cat will learn why they have earned their rewards as a result. Without the use of a marker, our training is more likely to be muddled or confusing to our cats.

Ready to get started, but need ideas?

Simple behaviours you can teach your cat that are useful include recall, name recognition, focus and impulse control! You can also reward your cat for good behaviours in the home such as not counter surfing.

Still don’t believe it can be done, or need a visual to help you out? Check out Henry learning to lift a paw in the video below! He has been trained with a clicker and knows basic commands such as Sit, Recall, Mat Training and Target.

Henry learning to lift a paw. A clicker is used to mark the exact moment he performs the correct behaviour.
Posted on

3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Training

Responsible dog ownership requires learning how to effectively communicate with your dog and this requires consistency, hard work and thoughtfulness. Like going to the gym, or training for any athletic event – you get what you put in and reap the benefits of the process as you get better at it. If you do nothing to better your situation with your dog, the gaps in our training eventually showcase themselves in embarrassing or just plain terrible behaviours.

As bleak as that sounds, that doesn’t mean the training process needs to be boring, frustrating, or difficult. On the contrary, unlike marathon training, training your dog doesn’t need to be painful at all. Small adjustments in your training schedule and plans can make the world of difference in learning for you and your dog. By eliminating frustration and poor training techniques while ensuring we are creating realistic and fair training plans – the sky is the limit for our dogs and for us.

TIP #1: Choose your Training Environment Wisely

One of the easiest ways to help improve your training is to choose your training environment wisely!

The environments in which dogs learn play a pivotal role in how successful they are. Imagine trying to teach your dog how to lay down or practice a focused heel. If these behaviours are new to your dog, a quiet and familiar environment would be the best choice to start your training. The fact that your dog is not distracted or over stimulated while learning will help them be successful. Imagine these same new skills being taught at a park you frequent where they run and catch a frisbee or play with other dogs. The learning process would be very challenging in the second scenario.

For this reason, learning tends to be the most successful in the home for new behaviours and skills. This means that a quiet bedroom, basement or even kitchen can be the perfect location to learn for your dog (at any age!)

If your dog is already proficient in skills in the home, great! You can make the environment incrementally more challenging. Your backyard or drive way are great places to continue to build known behaviours in the home and are still relatively boring to your dog. As trainers, we see people expecting too much from their dogs too quickly, and in order to avoid this you need to understand that your dog will learn best in familiar environments before making it more challenging.

A good way to test this theory? Ask your dog to Sit ten times in your home. If they struggle with this then you know where your work is cut out for you before heading out into the real world.

TIP #2: Prep your Area and Gear

Once you have chosen your dog’s training environment, now it’s time to prepare your area! Removing any obvious stimuli in the form of dog beds, couches, or toys will help your dog remain interested and engaged with you. This is especially true if your dog is young, very playful, or becomes easily frustrated. By cleaning up and creating an empty calm space, you will give your dog the best chance to learn with you rather than ignore you.

Next, prepare your gear! This means you should have your clicker (if you choose to use one) and appropriate training gear ready to go. If you are practicing Loose Leash Walking, keep your dog’s harness or leash close by. If you are working on Mat Training skills, have your mat up on a shelf and within reach. If you are working on leave its, or any forms of distraction work, set that up ahead of bringing your dog into the training environment.

The benefits of preparing your space and collecting your gear are twofold. The first benefit is that by preparing your area you must create a training plan in advance. You must have a specific idea of the skills you wish to improve upon with your dog for that session. In the same way that coaches in sports plan your workout, you are planning your dog’s learning, which makes the time spent with them more effective. The second benefit is that it allows us to prepare and predict our dogs interactions with certain stimuli. For example, if you struggle with your dogs impulse control, planning out your training area will act as a preventative measure for inappropriate and predictable behaviours such as counter surfing, stealing treats or chewing on shoes. Since the area will be clear of obstacles that could have otherwise been a distraction, your dog will be more likely to make good choices that fall in line with your training plan.

The final step in prepping your area is having your training rewards ready to go – whether this is a toy or food. There is nothing worse than having your dog perform a correct behaviour only to have the reward not be immediately given the precise moment she correctly behaves. This creates confusion. Take our word for it when we say ‘meal prepping’ your dogs training treats ahead of time and having them on hand is worth it and will improve your dogs learning.

Tip #3: Celebrate Your Dog

Celebrating your dogs goofiness, smarts and success are often an overlooked part of dog training but is essential to the training success of of your dog. Unfortunately we are often too quick to see and pay attention to the flaws in our animals. If Fido decides to counter surf, we yell, scold and clap our hands and make it a big deal – if Fido quietly lays outside of the kitchen limits, we are just naturally less inclined to give this as much attention.

Why? Well we are wired to see acts of excitement, novelty and loudness quicker than quiet ‘good choices’ but it is in these exact moments where we should be celebrating our dogs and rewarding them. Rewards can come in the forms of food, toys (a game of tug for example) or access to environmental rewards (such as outdoor playtime or sniffing particular areas on a walk). Studies have shown that play after training sessions increases the dogs ability to learn and retain material – so play! Celebrate your dogs progress and lighten up the mood.

BONUS TIP#4: Leave your Phone at Home (I mean it!)

The final little tip to improve your training is probably the most challenging – and yes, you read it right: Leave your phone at home. Turn it off. Silence it. Stay off it when interacting with your dog. Consider your training time with your dog the same way you consider a meeting with a boss or a co-worker. It would be plain rude to whip out your phone mid-meeting and text away, or receive a phone call. As tempting as it is, leave it out of your sessions.

The temptation of having our cellphones readily available to us destroys training techniques and can create confusion in your dogs learning. Imagine your dog performs a behaviour correctly, only for you to check out of the session to check your most recent messages? You leave your dog hanging and overtime create a dog who wants to check out just as much as you do!

Be fair to your dog. In reality, training should take minimal time (five to ten minutes tops a session) and instead should be considered quality time. You don’t get this quality by constantly checking out to check your phone – in any relationship, canine or otherwise.

ARF Dogs Ebony and Mazie learning skills in a new environment


Obedience does not need to be a boring or a strict affair. By implementing small changes to your training schedule, environment and plan you will create good habits, create cleaner training techniques and maximize the your bond with your dog.

Happy Training!

Posted on

The Triangle Game

Looking for a fun and quick way to get some training done in your busy day? Try this little game!

Pick three behaviours your dog needs to improve on – for example, sit, down, and a leave it.

Choose a quiet area to train, such as your home or your yard. Don’t pick heavily distracting environments unless your dog is advanced and you are proofing behaviours in a specific area (if you don’t know what this means – practice at home!)

Use three pylons or visual markers in your chosen training zone and use these markers as ‘stations’ to practice 3 repititons of each behaviour noted above.

Repeat the Circuit 3 times – if you are a gym junkie, you know how this works! If you aren’t simply repeat the pattern (which will follow a triangle!)

Example : Practice 3 Sits, move along to your second pylon/visual marker, and practice 3 Downs, move along to the third marker and practice 3 Leave It’s. Repeat this pattern three times, following the shape of a triangle.

Need a visual to help you out? We have you covered

Different behaviours, harder environment – SAME GAME!

Before you know it, you are done! This training exercise is easy, simple and requires minimal time and effort. It allows you to narrow down the behaviours you are working on and gets your dog interested and excited to work with you – which is our ultimate goal.

Some tips to ensure success:

– Make sure you are working in an environment your dog can succeed in (so if this means starting at home, so be it!)

– Make sure you are working at the level your dog can succeed at  (so if this means you are luring a SIT, then do it! Do not spoil your verbal cues by repeating them or using them too early – it creates more work for you so don’t do it. If you have a second person watching you train, have them call you out when you repeat yourself. We do it without thinking and this will help you clean up your training naturally)

– This game is meant to be fast to benefit you and to get your dog engaged with you – don’t fail them by not having treats or your clicker and appropriate gear ready. A large part of the success of training is ensuring the environment is set for learning.

Give it a go and let us know how it went!

Happy Training