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Obsidian K9 Academy ©

Obsidian K9 Academy was founded in 2017 and is the biggest international dog training family on the face of the planet.

Obsidian K9

The Lodge
Selby Road
Doncaster DN6 0ET
07401146598
gray@obsidiank9.com
Monday - Saturday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

obsidiank9academy

You Never Stop Learning Dog training, like pretty

You Never Stop Learning

Dog training, like pretty much every other aspect of life is an ongoing process that has no well defined end goal. Every day is a school day and those that see it like that will always have better results than those that think they are done learning.

I get messages all the time saying something like 'I love your content but don't need the academy because my dog has no issues'.... Right? My dogs have no issues either but I am constantly striving to be a better owner for them, a better handler, a better trainer.

I can always add more enrichment to my dogs lives, and they deserve me to give them absolutely everything I can, including furthering my knowledge and ability within training.

I would bet good money that most professional trainers spend more time and more money travelling around to continue learning, than most normal owners do and it's purely because we understand the value of progression more.

Every single day you can learn something new to give your dog a better life, so why would you not want to? Every day I learn something, every day teaches me something and every day I continue to improve.

The day you stop learning is the day you die, and until then you have to keep on the grind stone! It can be hard for sure, and it can be tough to be told that what you thought you know is wrong, but that's all part of it!

Keep learning, your dog will thank you for it!
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Most Improved!! Today we had Yaz and Roxy in for

Most Improved!!

Today we had Yaz and Roxy in for a full day session here at the facility and we had an absolute blast!!

Story Time - Yaz was a member of my normal academy, working through some behavioural issues with her dog, she was a keen watcher of the live videos, always involved, always chatting and when Evo first opened she jumped at the chance to join.

The first month Yaz was in Evo, Shane (The other trainer) and I used to say 'what on earth are we going to do to help her'. She was constantly rushing, all over the place, thought she was great when she wasn't, couldn't train anything, nothing was good and it was a general train crash.

MANY people when they hit harsh criticism crumble beneath it and then never get back on the horse. We put Yaz through some hard reality checks about her ability and she has done nothing but thrive.

No doubt at all she is my most improved Evo member. She has grown as a person, as a trainer, as a handler. She has gone from not being able to teach anything well at all, to having some really solid foundations across the board and I couldn't be more proud of her.

Yaz took the criticism on the chin and fought through it and today we've spent nearly nine hours training all our dogs and she's immensely valued. We've done obedience all morning then tracked all evening and Roxy is a completely different dog as you can see in the video.

So no matter where you are today, LEARN more and you can become much better. Yaz couldn't train anything well at all, and I would imagine over the next month or two, I will be giving her, her first Evo collar and well earned it will be.

Well done mate you are absolutely smashing it out the park!
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@gotham_city_parrots
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Foundations First Today we had Nellie in for her

Foundations First

Today we had Nellie in for her first and last session here at the facility and she absolutely aced it! This little dog just loves to work, loves to please and just needed some communication to better her behaviours!

Her biggest issue was pulling on the lead which any decent trainer should be able to fix in no time at all, and as expected she was walking like a saint within ten minutes.

All Nellie needed was a bit of guidance and some communication that she actually understood. Our dogs don’t speak English so harping on at them won’t help.

We brushed over some other problems whilst chatting and it was clear that there were just a few fundamental principles missing from her life and her behaviour then would fall into place.

Her owners are going to go home now and continue the work we did today to make sure it becomes a habit and also fix them fundamentals within the online a academy!

Well done guys, great work, lovely dog!
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Occupy The Mind!! Today we had Vinny in for his f

Occupy The Mind!!

Today we had Vinny in for his first 1-1 session and he absolutely smashed it! Matt had been to another trainer who told him that Vinny was unhinged and a liability which could not be further from the truth!

Vinny is a ten month old, goofy, happy, full of it Doberman... Not remotely unhinged or worrying in any way, shape or form. He came today to look mainly at his dog reactivity because Matt has done some great work with him in my online academy but keeps bumping into this problem!

As soon as I saw the reactivity it was clear that it wasn't really reacitivity in the behavioural sense. Vinny wasn't really barking AT the dogs, he was barking in the presence of the dogs, and they are very different things. In this guys case he was already hyper aroused by life itself and then bringing another stimulus in just sent him over the edge!

Straight away I knew the plan of action was to occupy his mind more. He needed a dog, and never will be a great, calm pet dog. It's just not who he is. All of our dogs have a genetic predisposition and when you work WITH that instead of against it, life becomes much easier.

So we had a look at his behaviours and driving forces in life and he loves to play tug of war, he loves a ball, training, obedience so I invited Vinny and Matt into Obsidian Evo. Evo is our club where we try to build the grail protection dog!

It's very rare that I get a behavioural client in who ends up on our sport programme, but you have to look at what the dog in front of you really needs, rather than just going onto auto pilot dealing with all behaviour the same!

Super impressed with this lad. He is a really nice example of the breed, super driven to work and I am excited to see how he goes within Evo!

Well done guys! Great attitude, great work, let's get at it!
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Commitment To Change (Before and after video in th

Commitment To Change
(Before and after video in the comments)

Today we had Daisy in for her first session and I’ve got to give her owners all the credit. Now lockdown restrictions on travel have lifted they travelled over 700 miles round trip to train here today. They set off Sunday and are no doubt doing whatever it takes.

Daisy has bad reactivity to people, traffic and dogs so we had a triple threat to address today which is always lots of fun!

We started off looking at her human reactivity and the biggest issue was handler error giving mixed communication through the lead which makes a huge difference to the quality of dogs behaviour. We started some counter conditioning exercises and got stuck into communication and she was awesome.

Then we looked at her traffic reactivity and to be honest that was the most mild of the three so similar methods to address that and we were well on the way. Her owners have also been drilling this in my online academy and it certainly shows!

Last up we looked at her dog reactivity with Eden and then with Flak and towards the end of the day her responses were hundreds of times better.

What’s important to remember is that seeing a trainer doesn’t permanently fix problems. Owners have to go home and continue to work on said behaviours to ensure they stay good moving forwards.

There’s a long way to go but the improvement today was immense! Well done guys! Really really enjoyed working with you!
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How To Build A Wall Dog training can be seen like

How To Build A Wall

Dog training can be seen like building a wall. How do you build a wall around your garden? Well, you lay brick after brick until you have a complete wall. But you can't lay a brick until the brick prior has been laid because there's nowhere for it to go. The brick in your hand needs another brick to sit on... You can't lay the last brick first... That's just not how it works.

And dog training is no different at all. You can't train the last, most advanced things without having the things before it... The foundations. The issue is that the foundations can be difficult for a couple of reasons.

Foundations are hard to lay in dog training because often they are the first thing that people need, and they don't have the knowledge on how to lay them so they have to ask for help... And asking for help in itself can be hard. It makes people feel useless, feel weak, feel not good enough and that couldn't be further from the truth.

ALL of us dog trainers ask for help on a regular basis, whether it be from other trainer friends, or from books, or even from our clients! We all need help and that's normal.

The second reason that building foundations is hard is because you have to actually get going. To build the wall, you've got to mix the mortar, buy the bricks, buy the trowel, you need a masons line and a bunch of other stuff... But you need it to build the wall!

So you've gotta get going, and you've gotta accept that the start is the foundations. The flashy heel work, the immaculate recall under high distraction, the tracking, the scent work, all that jazz comes loads later.

Build the wall - It won't build itself!
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You Can't Train Your Way Happy As a professional

You Can't Train Your Way Happy

As a professional trainer and someone absolutely obsessed with how our four legged friends learn, behaviour and develop people seem to assume,e that I think training is the be all and end all... and it's just not.

And the fact its Saturday night now and I am writing a post is just a little note that triggered this. I am sat in my studio with my two dogs, just enjoying them. Just enjoying having my dogs with me. We're not training anything, we're not training FOR anything, we're just existing as three beings under the same roof.

Of course it's ultra important to have training goals and training is a huge, huge part of my life. I train for fun, I train for work, I train to compete and that will never change. It's important that you train. It's your building block of communication between you and your dog.

But it's also important you do other stuff. It's important that you spend time existing together, laughing with your dog, enjoying your life, going for a run, playing in the lake... Whatever it is that you and your dog like doing.

See without relationship you have absolutely nothing. Relationship is the foundation to build on and with weak foundations come weak buildings so sort your relationship out. I spend hundreds and hundreds of hours with my dogs NOT training... Just having fun and that's so important.

There's no chance in this world can you train your way to a perfect dog. Training alone won't cut it. Training is just a piece of the puzzle.
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New Box Day!! Massive thanks to CAB Animal Transi

New Box Day!!

Massive thanks to CAB Animal Transit Boxes for supplying and fitting these cages, the quality and attention to detail is absolutely outstanding. I’m really impressed.

Triple cages across the full width took a bit of figuring out for measurements with two of my dogs being big brutes but they got it sorted no issues! Double drawers underneath with dividers that you can move to suit whatever you’re travelling with!

Also went for the optional fans in the back which gives us cooling for the summer months and a spare electric socket at the back doors which could be handy!

Really really happy with the service and the product. I’ve had cages from other manufacturers and they haven’t come close to this. Sure they’re more expensive but they’re worth every Penny!
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#dog #dogs #doglover #dogtrainer #dogtraining #doglover #dogsoftiktok #obsidiank9

Bits and Bobs (Video in the comments) Today we ha

Bits and Bobs
(Video in the comments)

Today we had Blizzard in for his first session and we had a blast! Blizzard and Tod have been members of my online academy for a super long time and he’s wanted to come for a session for ages and today we finally made it happen!

We didn’t really have any specific issues to work on but just some various bits and bobs that Tod wanted to cover which meant it was something different to my usual sessions and as they say a change is as good as a rest!

We looked at Blizzard’s issues with loud noises specifically car engines and discussed counter conditioning which made a massive difference as you can see in the video.

We discussed how to further proof his recall and loose lead walking and which battles to pick and which to leave.

Along with all Blizzards training we chatted protection dogs and protection training and even delved into his dog walking business to look at how it could be improved!

Sometimes dog training is about fixing problems and sometimes it’s about helping people and I love both sides to the coin.
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Talented Dogs Today we had Roxy in for her first

Talented Dogs

Today we had Roxy in for her first session here at the facility and for a really pleasant change we weren’t working on reactivity or aggression or anything behavioural at all!

Simon has been a member of my academy for ages but hes been lurking in the shadows working away quietly. Roxy is a personal protection prospect and will be getting into protection sports this year.

I was super impressed at how much work Simon has done and we got to look at all three phases! Her obedience is brilliant, competition heelwork, positions etc all well on the right track. Her tracking is super early so we looked at that and how to get started properly without rushing or skipping ahead and we did some basic grips in protection to see how her genetics were in that area.

Roxy absolutely smashed it out the park and we’ve offered Simon a place in Evo should he choose to take it. So regardless of which path these guys take, expect some nice work in the future!!

Well done guys!
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Socks!! So it's not often I work a Sunday as I tr

Socks!!

So it's not often I work a Sunday as I try to have them off but I do have Sunday's available for emergencies or those who don't want to wait the waiting list and today we had the lovely Socks in for her first session and she smashed it out the park!

Socks like many before her was reactive to dogs and a little bit funny with people. Both these behaviours were born in nerve, but nothing super severe or serious so it was nice and straight forward.

The biggest issue straight out the gates was Socks' owner judging her for a behaviour before she had even done it. Because she has reacted badly before, there's a tendency to pre-empt behaviour and as handlers we just can't do this, it's not useful to rehabilitation at all.

So we got stuck in with some lead handling principles and improved the communication between dog and handler and then got Eden out and with her new skills Emily absolutely smashed it.

No reactions at all and a great load of work done. Then we went inside, had a chat through other things that were going on and how she can improve as a handler and then got Flak out.

Socks smashed it again, zero reactions at all and we started the head on passes which was Emily's biggest issue. Not one reaction at all. Finally we got Khaleesi out as well just to finish the trio and work on some prolonged exposure and still not a peep from Socks.

Most dogs don't WANT to react, they are doing so because of a driving emotion or a habitual behaviour. Figure out the root and address it and the reactivity subsides.

Massive well done Emily not only on your work today but the ongoing work you've done in the Academy too. It really shows!
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We Don't Train Dogs, We Train People (Video in th

We Don't Train Dogs, We Train People
(Video in the comments)

Today we had Zak in for his first session here at the facility and he was a bunch of fun to work with! Super eager to work, super keen to learn but a bit stressed in himself in general, all because of a lack of communication from his owners!

Zak is reactive to dogs and he's pretty big so that reactivity is definitely a headache for his owners and one they haven't really been able to get any good lasting progress with so I wanted to try pick apart what was really going on.

It was clear straight away that Zak's handlers weren't communicating well with him and his rules were a bit blurry and murky so he wasn't entirely sure what was going on. I took his lead very briefly to show them some better principles around handling but then gave it back as soon as possible.

See as dog trainers, it's only a very small part of our job to actually train the dog. At the end of the session, clients need to go home, back to their busy lives and we need principles and plans in place to ensure they succeed back home, away from the facility.

Zak absolutely aced it. We had Eden out, doing heel work, barking for his ball, no issues from Zak and then we had Khaleesi out playing tug, doing obedience, still nothing from Zak.

Zak stopped reacting the second the communication was clear and the second his owners knew how to properly produce that communication.

Massive well done guys! Glad to have helped all three of you!
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One Step At A Time! (Video in the comments) Toda

One Step At A Time!
(Video in the comments)

Today we had big Chief in for his first session at the facility and he aced it. Chief had been to a few trainers and his owners were quite concerned about his aggression after being told he was truly aggressive which absolutely was not the case.

Chief had issues with both dogs and people and as soon as he got out the car he was kicking off at me so we decided to start with his human problems because it was a more relevant problem for his owners so it seemed wise to start there first!

Chief's behaviour was absolutely driven in nerve and then his behaviour had become habitual over the years. There was a direct association between humans being near him and him barking and lunging at them.

Very often when dogs are exhibiting behaviours like this they are doing it because it works for them. Someone approaches, they bark and peel their face back and then the people go away so it was just a case of teaching him that this doesn't work and won't bring him anything good.

We drilled some operant conditioning principles and started correcting the behaviour so he picked something else and he did awesome.

Then we put him away for a bit and discussed what the plan was moving forward when he went home and allowed some latent learning to take place then got him back out and as you can see in the video he made a massive amount of progress today!!

Now it's time for his owners to get back home, get to work finishing this off and then we will see him again in the future to work on his dog to dog issues!

Well done Chief! Great work guys!
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Engagement is Everything So this is a topic I har

Engagement is Everything

So this is a topic I harp on about almost more than anything in the world and it feels so repetitive but it really is that important to get right.

Engagement is your dogs desire to work with you... not for you, with you. How much do they wanna do, how much do they wanna be in your company, how much do they wanna listen? It’s the fundamental building block of everything that follows and it’s super easy to achieve IF people are willing to do the work. It comes from two basic pillars.

Hand feed - My dogs don’t eat from bowls and nor do any of my academy members dogs. We train for their food and if they don’t want it, that’s fine, we try again later. My dogs are always mega excited to work because for them, it’s dinner time!

Take the food, first thing and measure it out then throughout the day just so some little sessions with your pocket fulls of food. Make a coffee and call the dog over, reward. You become a walking cash point.

Prison Phase - Dogs have an awful habit of self rewarding on pretty much anything they can, whether it be finding something to chew, playing with toys alone, finding food. Make the best thing YOU.

No free playing with toys, no eating from bowls and your engagement will increase no end!!
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Little Mischief!! Today we had Mischief in for he

Little Mischief!!

Today we had Mischief in for her first session here and we've had a blast! Owen and Mischief are long term Academy members and members of Obsidian Evo as well. Obviously no behavioural issues so young because Owen got everything right from the beginning but he's here to learn and improve to give Mischief the best life he can!

Today we've done some heelwork, some engagement work and some large article search. We've trained around other dogs because she's showing the smallest amount of interest so important to get that nipped in the bud.

We've trained Flak in heelwork and engagement, Eden in heelwork and Khaleesi in large article too. Owen ultimately came to learn more about what he can do to improve and how he can build the grail dog that he wants to build.

I wish more people had this attitude and went to see trainers BEFORE problems came up because it's so, so much easier to fix things that are not yet broken. Prevention is better than cure and all that jazz!

So many people wait until they have a behavioural issue, and then they let said behavioural issue get worse and worse for months on end. By that point things get a lot harder to resolve.

Massive well done Owen and Mischief - Excited to see this one in a year or so!!
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It's All In How You Raise Them? This is one of th

It's All In How You Raise Them?

This is one of the most dangerous sentences in the dog world and it's something I really want to extinguish, with actual reasons why it's false.

People (usually Shirley in her Fur Mom Facebook group) keep harping on about 'There is no bad dogs, only bad owners' and whilst there are many bad owners, there's two extremely important words that are being overlooked.

Genetic Predisposition

All dogs, have a genetic predisposition and it dictates what their character will be like, with or without external input and there are a few breeds that have stand out traits, but one of them is the APBT.

The APBT was bred over hundreds of years to fight bulls, and later other dogs. A true, game bred APBT will be genetically inclined towards dog aggression and no amount of love or training will completely rectify that. The 'Pibble' world will have people believe otherwise, and that's why nextdoors Spaniel ends up being a tasty brunch.

Genetics are an extremely important factor in dog training and it absolutely is not in 'how you raise them'.

There are many other examples of this in other breeds too. Greyhounds are genetically inclined to run and chase small fluffies, Mali's are (usually) incined to bite things because it's fun, Patterdales are inclined to hunt... It's the reason a lot of people are having issues with their dogs that have 'come from nowhere'.

Now, before we get the 'Pibble' army crying at me - I LOVE the APBT and if the UK legalised them I would own one in a heartbeat but being completely ignorant to their genetics is foolish and dangerous. If you understand their genetic tendencies they are brilliant dogs!

Stop being a fur mom, and start understanding that dogs are bred inherently for certain traits. Once you accept that you can either encourage or manage the traits, depending on whether or not they are desirable to you.
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#dogtrainer #dog #dogsofinstagram #gsd #germanshepherd #business #dogtraining #businessman #rottweilers #rottweiler #k9 #k9 #dutchshepherdsofinstagramunit #protectiondog #StopAtNothing #family #kingk9 #children #training #doglove #obedience #dogstagram #RaisingTheBar #ObsidianK9 #dogtrainingtips #

It Can Usually Be Resolved (Video in the comments)

It Can Usually Be Resolved
(Video in the comments)

Today we had Magnus in for his first session here at the facility and it's always cool to see a nice Kerry Blue Terrier because it's not something I really see all that often!

Magnus came today because of his reactivity to other dogs, but after a brief chat to his owner it was clear that (as usual) the issue lay with her more so than with him. Inadvertently she was CAUSING the reactivity and then fuelling it with the stories of the past. Magnus has bitten another dog, and a few trainers have told her that he couldn't be helped and that he would always be this way.

I had a quick look at him and very very quickly he was laid on the floor, chilling out with Khaleesi, no issues whatsoever. She was so shocked and relieved that there was hope that she cried which is always amazing to see because the vast majority of dogs really can be helped.

The best part of working with Magnus and his owner was how excellent all the foundations were. His engagement was spot on, his obedience was lovely and he was eager to work. Magnus is a therapy dog and has worked with the Women's Institute a lot as well as helping children who have cynophobia.

Today we worked hard with Magnus and had him out around Khaleesi, Eden and Jack and he even came in the house with Jack no issues whatsoever. Sometimes we can lean too much on something that happened in the past and judge our dogs for it for too long.

Magnus just needed some direction in his behaviour and some tweaks to the way they were living life and now we are good to go. As you can see in the video he is beautifully engaged with his owner and there's no issues whatsoever with him reacting.

Massive well done guys!
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#dogtrainer #dog #dogsofinstagram #gsd #germanshepherd #business #dogtraining #businessman #rottweilers #rottweiler #k9 #k9 #dutchshepherdsofinstagramunit #protectiondog #StopAtNothing #family #kingk9 #children #training #doglove #obedience #dogstagram #RaisingTheBar #ObsidianK9 #dogtrainingtips #workingdogs #dogswithjobs #dogsonadventure #outdoorswithdogs #sableshepherd

Handler Errors! (Video in the story) Today we ha

Handler Errors!
(Video in the story)

Today we had Kacey in for her first session here at the facility and she just might win the award for most ridiculous ears known to man but she was a dude, learned insanely fast and was great to work with!

Kacey was a bit reactive to people and really quite reactive to dogs, however the vast majority of her problems were caused by her owner. See in dog training there are two ends to the lead and quite often my job is about training people much more than training dogs.

Kacey would escalate her behaviour very quickly from calm to not calm at all, lunging and barking which made her owner tense and start pre-empting the next reaction. When you have pre-emption behaviour as a handler you can actually start teaching your dog TO react.

The common one I see is that owners wrap the lead around their hand when they see a dog. Your dog feels this and then starts associating the lead being wrapped and tightened with another dog approaching which isn't what you want at all!

We worked hard on Elizabeth's handling skills through the first bit of the session and got her correction and reward methods a lot sharper because they were a bit all over the place. Then we got Eden out and she was awesome, handling much better and the results were much better too. To finish we had Flak out doing a full heel work session and then Khaleesi as well to make sure we had good prolonged exposure around a multitude of different dogs.

Overall a massively productive session and no doubt her reactivity will be fully sorted in no time at all. Sometimes you have to look at the other end of the lead!

Well done guys - Really enjoyed it!
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#dogtrainer #dog #dogsofinstagram #gsd #germanshepherd #business #dogtraining #businessman #rottweilers #rottweiler #k9 #k9 #dutchshepherdsofinstagramunit #protectiondog #StopAtNothing #family #kingk9 #children #training #doglove #obedience #dogstagram #RaisingTheBar #ObsidianK9 #dogtrainingtips #workingdogs #dogswithjobs #dogsonadventure #outdoorswithdogs #sableshepherd

Keep Improving Einstein famously said 'Intellectu

When Ethics Meets Training Today we had this love

When Ethics Meets Training

Today we had this lovely old girl in for her first session and what a story she has to tell. Paige was put into rescue at two years old and remained there for SEVEN years, sat in a kennel, with nobody wanting her until her owners came about and took her home.

Obviously spending this long in kennels means dogs have years and years of time wasted where they can't either experience life or learn appropriate behaviours that they may need as the years tick by. She likely sat in a kennel and watched other dogs go in and out all day long which has created barrier frustration.

Now - You absolutely can teach old dogs new tricks and we did that today, but it was important to me that I told her owners that there was only limited work we could do with Paige. Her joints are tired, she's no spring chicken and she's had a lot of years locked in a kennel so she's never going to be perfect.

The last trainer they trained with advised them zero reward and throw a prong collar on her and correct her for all bad behaviour which is absolutely not the path I wanted to go down today. This lovely girl wasn't insanely reactive or dangerous or anything of the sort and I want to make her last few years as joyous as possible.

We looked at ways we could interrupt the behaviour and start playing around with other ideas to build new associations to other dogs and by the end of the session she was literally laid on the floor with Jack my Shih-tzu not taking any notice of him at all.

When dogs have had a hard life like this, and only have limited time left it's mega important to me that we make training not feel like training at all. She needs to enjoy her golden years and whatever progress we make is a bonus.

Massive well done guys! Got yourself a lovely dog there!
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#dogtrainer #dog #dogsofinstagram #gsd #germanshepherd #business #dogtraining #businessman #rottweilers #rottweiler #k9 #k9 #dutchshepherdsofinstagramunit #protectiondog #StopAtNothing #family #kingk9 #children #training #doglove #obedience #dogstagram #RaisingTheBar #ObsidianK9 #dogtrainingtips #workingdogs #dogswithjobs #dogsonadventure #outdoorswithdogs #sableshepherd

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