Thinking K9

Directions

Thinking K9 Thinking K9 teaches you how to create harmony between you and your dog. Thinking K9 focuses on you building a relationship with your dog.

Helping you develop clear communication between you and your dog for an enjoyable life with each other.

Sweet girl who is featured in our handling tips highlights is off the long line and starting to really engage with peopl...
08/13/2023

Sweet girl who is featured in our handling tips highlights is off the long line and starting to really engage with people! 💜

Fate (black and tan) is here because she was severely under socialized, or what I call and extreme fear dog. She hadn’t ...
08/04/2023

Fate (black and tan) is here because she was severely under socialized, or what I call and extreme fear dog. She hadn’t had a lot of exposure in life. Here in baby steps we introduced her to the car, riding in the car (pup cups) and then going on an adventure! She did so good! When we work with these fear dogs, we try stuff and let them tell us how they feel about it. 1/2

05/04/2022

Some really big forward steps from Leia!!

Fear dogs do not usually tolerate being touched on top of their heads. It’s usually better to start by touching under their chins.

As seen in the previous video we have been working on under the chin with Leia. Then I was able to touch on top of her head!! Which is a really big deal.

She is moving confidently in to me and she doesn’t back away after being touched! Not does she snap at me, another cure from her that we are stretching her comfort zone too fast.

Super excited to see this calmness and engagement!

05/04/2022

Some really exciting progress from Leia! Letting us touch her is a very big deal. This girl wanted nothing to do with us touching her two months ago! She was and still can be very snappy and is potentially willing to back that up with a bite.

She knows what I am going to do here and she is still allowing it. So huge!

Both Hope, the chihuahua and Leia the shepherd mix, are extreme fear dogs. They are here to learn how to live with us hu...
04/29/2022

Both Hope, the chihuahua and Leia the shepherd mix, are extreme fear dogs. They are here to learn how to live with us humans calmly.

We did some leash work today.

Hope has worked with me on leash previously, but it’s been awhile because we had some major setbacks from our trip to WI. So it was very nice to see her be able to cope with the leash and my proximity as well as she did.

Leia is likely a littermate to Luke or cousin born around the same time. She also, like Luke, had never had a leash on before they were caught in February.

Today was her first formal work session as we’ve had to address her broken leg and the healing involved until now.

Super happy with today’s session with Leia as well!

Often when people are working with fear dogs they want to just “love them” better. And they can spend a lot of time tryi...
04/17/2022

Often when people are working with fear dogs they want to just “love them” better. And they can spend a lot of time trying to get the dog to take a treat or let them pet them so the human can show just how much they love the dog.

But, that doesn’t feel very “loving” to a fear dog. It feels scary and threatening. And they can resist those actions so hard. They try to move away and they actually become more and more distrustful as the human completely misses how they are making the dog feel worse, by “loving them” better.

Working with these fear dogs is a dance. It’s knowing when to lead and when to follow.

By allowing Luke to process moving into the house at his own speed, we actually let him move forward at the fastest pace he could. If we moved in and tried to force treats and “love” on him, he’d retreat and it would take longer for him to adjust.

Part of the dance is learning when a dog is ready for you to reach out with affection and treats.

When he was first in the house and laying very still, looking concerned and sad, was the time to let him be. Not try to “reassure” him he’s ok. (Because it’s not reassuring to him!) No talking, no touching, just maintaining a calm energy and going about life.

When he starts to show he’s acclimating, by moving more, engaging with other dogs or even people, smelling the room or even playing/chewing toys, that is the time to then see if he’s receptive to affection and treats.

And if he’s not, no big, just keep living life and watching for opportunities to see if he’s ready yet.
Part 1/2

One of the ways we work with fearful dogs is to sit on their leash. And ignore them. We don’t talk to them, we don’t te...
04/16/2022

One of the ways we work with fearful dogs is to sit on their leash. And ignore them. We don’t talk to them, we don’t tell them what to do.

We let them process their emotions and work through their concerns for themselves. By giving them a safe, calm environment where they can try a variety of behavior and figure out what feels best.

They live so much in their fear that often the quickest way for them to get past it, is to provide the environment and calm energy and then let them work it out on their own. No words, no touching, no telling them what they “should” be doing or feeling.

They can’t “hear” us when they are in that state of mind and often all we do is continue to stress them out when we try to tell them “it’s ok”.

Luke is a fearful dog who hadn’t had any exposure to the world prior to coming here. He lived an isolated life in his pack of 20+ dogs.

He quickly figured out that this wasn’t a situation to panic over and then he settled in for a nap! And has continued to make great progress while he’s been here!


04/15/2022

When working with a fearful dog it can be very helpful to have a confident dog along to help reassure the fearful dog they will be ok.

This is was Luke (blue collar) and Hank’s (green collar) first walk with us and Peony came along to help give them support and confidence! (Hawk did too, but he’s not pictured.)

Fearful dogs learn more quickly from other confident dogs than they do us. There is a mutual language being used between the dogs vs the learned communication that has to take place for your dog to understand you and vice versa.

It is also a big deal that Luke is using his nose during the walk. It means his brain is unlocked and engaged. A dog experiencing fear/stress will not use their nose. So we love to see these guys smelling! Even if it’s a stinky dead fish! ☠️ 🐟 💜

This sweet boy was running loose with no name as a *”stray” with 23+ other adult dogs and 25+ puppies on five acres. And...
04/14/2022

This sweet boy was running loose with no name as a *”stray” with 23+ other adult dogs and 25+ puppies on five acres. And the surrounding neighborhood.

Seven weeks ago he landed with us and he has done so well!! Last night we went on an adventure to Lowes!!! Such a HUGE step!

While this sweet boy isn’t an extreme fear dog, he does have some anxiety/fearfulness and he’d never been exposed to anything outside his owner and the land he lived on. Never been leashed, never been named. Never met new people. Never rode in a car. So many nevers that have become a normal part of his life!

The dogs were fed/watered and had more shelter than most hoarding type situations have. Most did receive some interaction with the owner. But they mostly just lived life as they wanted with little human direction.

So proud of this boy and the work he has done to adjust to life in a home and learning about what a leash means. And going out in public!

Two Chihuahuas Rescue has taken this boy under their wing and paid for him to stay with us for a board and train. He leaves this weekend for his next adventures and his happily ever after!

*turns out most of the dogs that were called strays were probably born on the property and the owner didn’t realize it or was in denial. They all look very similar. And are around the same ages.

Address

Buckeye, AZ
85326

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Thinking K9 posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share