Episode #130 Dancing With Dig

Juliette, a BAXTER & Bella client, joins Amy on the podcast today to talk about her dog Dig and her training journey of teaching him to dance! You may follow Juliette and Dig on Instagram @dancingwithdig. 

Transcript

Amy: 0:00

This is the puppy training podcast episode 130 Dancing with Digg. This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the puppy training podcast, and I'm your host, Amy Jensen. Hey, everybody, welcome to the puppy training podcast today. I'm very excited about our topic. It's kind of a fun, new adventure that we're talking about today. So I have one of my clients here with me, her name's Juliet. And she's just had a fun story. And I asked her to join me today to share it with us. So welcome, Juliet to the podcast.

Juliette: 0:46

Thank you. I'm really glad to be here. Thanks for the introduction. My name is Juliet and I am a longtime client of Amy's I've been listening to this podcast for two years. So quite an honor to be on it. But yeah, I'm a mom of three. We got degree two years ago degree is our old English Sheepdog. Poodle mix. And he is our COVID dog. And I found Baxter &. Bella, fortunately, before we found degree,

Amy: 1:14

that's awesome. Well, I know we've worked with you for a while. And I've just been so amazed at your progress and excited about it, because one of the things that Juliet does with degree is they dance. So we're going to dive into that a little bit today. But before we do that, I just want to know what your training experience has been like overall.

Unknown: 1:32

Okay, well, I'm not new to dog ownership. But Diggory is my first dog that I've raised as a puppy completely on my own. As an adult, we used to have dogs when I was like growing up as a child. And I just always was the one I have, I have a family of three older brothers. So a family of four and I was the youngest, but I was always the one on the back patio, figuring out what I could get the dog to do, really just shooting blind, really enjoyed that working with an animal. And I remember just being interested in the dog space, and finding Amy was a real blessing. Because I love the way that you take training and you make it so you make it very easy to follow and you put it you know, I don't know if you'd use the word as systems, but you make it into systems that make sense. And that you can find a way to work these systems in within your life, which is really necessary for us having three kids and homeschooling during COVID. And we just wanted a really well behaved dog. So we started listening, and I kind of did, I kind of did everything. I'm real rule follower.

Amy: 2:38

Me too. That's probably why we get along so well. I love lists, and I love organization. So I'm glad that it worked out for you. Um, you mentioned you have three children at home, right? Yeah. So what is your favorite part of having a dog in your home currently?

Unknown: 2:53

Oh, man, I mean, one of the best. The best goals that you gave us was to think about what you want your dog to do instead of what you don't want your dog to do. And I wanted him to be calm around with our family. And so that was something I could we when we got Diggory, Jude was one and a half. So not quite at the point to be able to participate. He was a great trigger, though. So we had that built in trigger. Audra was five and tag was seven. And we just said I we could enlist them to help and say anytime you see Diggory in a down, calmly walk up to him and drop a treat. I think I'm one of your podcasts, you said dogs will just start to think Wow, it's really cool. If I lay down kibble falls from the sky. And so that is a behavior that degree really offers regardless of the environment of our home, which is rarely calm. And it's just one of my favorite things that my kids can be in a flurry of activity, and literally can be running around him and he'll kind of just be laying down kind of waiting for somebody to come drop him a treat. And my kids, especially my oldest son really connects physically with the degree and so anytime you Oh, it gets down and sits next to him, puts his hands through his fur and I just love that. With your program and your expertise, we've been able to cultivate a relationship where tad can do that and the dog can accept it without being mouthy with that initiating into a wrestling match. He's not perfect. I mean, certainly sometimes tan can push the limit and then degrees like game for it. But that's been one of our favorite things is that he just kind of goes to that auto down. And for those of you listening are like what's an auto damage just means the dog will come in and lay down automatically without being asked. Yeah, we

Amy: 4:29

stress that a lot in our program is getting these dogs to do things automatically so that we're not always saying do this do that. That can be exhausting, especially for a mom with kids. I have three kids myself. And so I find the more my dog can auto manage themselves, the better right the easier it is for everyone in the home.

Unknown: 4:46

And my daughter Andrea has a bit more of a quiet spirit that my son tad and social just walk up to Diggory and he'll be standing on all fours. And then he'll sit and she's just able to kind of get next to shoulder and pet him and that is See that I'm relating that way together a lot. And that came from the first behavior, we're teaching or shaping. That if you're near a kid or standing next to kid and nobody's doing anything, sit down, and you're gonna get a treat. And so he's definitely got those programs. And he's certainly not a perfect dog. And since in social, you know that I don't want to give that picture because if somebody out there is a rule, follower listening, like, Oh, my goodness, like, you know, that's not the message I'm trying to send, he's a well rounded dog. So we have our challenges with them. But these are some of the beautiful parts of it, too.

Amy: 5:32

Yeah, I love that you're sharing the reality. I mean, that's how it is with a dog, right? Some days are good, especially with a puppy. Some days are good. Some days are chaotic, but you just keep on that focus of what do I want them to do? What do I want this to look like? And as you mentioned, reward them for doing that. And they start to choose that more often. And it evolves into a more beautiful space. But yeah, we have Baxter here. And he's almost two. And he's a good dog, too. And like I said, or like you mentioned, with social media, it's easy to just highlight all the good moments, but yeah, he can get a little rowdy. If he wants to be rowdy. You know, it's, we can use our voice and our body to get him pretty excited and rambunctious. But then on the other side of it, he knows how to just like you said snuggle up with my kids. They've had a long day at school, he loves to just jump in their laps, he's 50 pounds, he thinks he's a lap dog, but ya know, my kids adore it. And they just decompress from their day at school. So we just love having a dog in our home as well.

Unknown: 6:24

You posted recently about challenges that you have with Baxter. And I thought that was such a smart and caring post to put out there so that people can see even you have accomplished so much. I mean, you train service dogs, and you have this incredible company that you're able to let people and a little me like, it's not all roses. I mean, because they're not robots. And yeah, we can get into another podcast you had Oh, my gosh, people are gonna think I'm such a dork

Amy: 6:48

that you're nerding out on my podcast,

Unknown: 6:50

I love your work, just get comfortable with it, and this whole thing will go more smoothly. But you mentioned managing realistic expectations. And that is so true for all of life, you know, but especially welcoming and puppy into your home.

Amy: 7:05

Agreed? Well, I love that you've started dancing with Dave, do you want to explain a little bit about how you got into that?

Unknown: 7:13

Sure, sure. I think it all started with I mean, obviously a dog just needs to get out in the backyard and have some structured time. And so we have three children, my husband is just such an incredible partner that like he's not a huge dog guy. And so like he would be doing breakfast for the kids. And I would be like, Oh, this is a time before he goes to work that I can get in 15 minutes of working in the backyard with Diggory and I, I didn't get degree enough credit, I thought treats were the highway, you know, the highway to payday the expressway to good behavior with dogs. But he would really lose interest after a while even with really high value delivered treats that sort of thing. Almond Butter, I mean to an extent, but then it would kind of Peter off. And so would it be playing in the backyard or we'd be doing fetch, we created a behavior we wanted that he always had to sit before somebody threw the ball for him. Because that's just us being proactive. We have free children ones when and how you cannot run up to us with a ball. So it's gonna sit. And so then I started to think well, what else could he do while he's waiting for fetch? And so I would string real behaviors together. And then I thought to myself, he really does not get tired of playing to work. He gets tired of treats. And so I thought, Oh, wow, what if I, what if we started building new behaviors under this. And so it started the two of you running back to me. And then he would bow he'll be running back to me, he'd come under our legs, he'd be running back to me. And I was teaching him to kind of weave through my life. And it started to feel very connected, it started to feel like a dance. And I called my husband. And I said, Honey, you have to watch this. He like gets so excited to come back and get in the heel position and start our quote unquote, routine, which I have some experience as an actor. And so I would never call myself a dancer, but this dancing with Diggs has evolved. Because it it was a real, you know, at the risk of sounding idealistic, and it was starting to be a real collaboration where he would come running up. And he was game to like, get in that heel position, and start where we are just start walking, you'd weave then we would turn we would jump we would go and it was like this was we were dancing together. Regardless whether somebody could look at it and think it was dancing or not, that's remains to be seen. Well,

Amy: 9:27

I love that you mentioned that you moved into life rewards with Dick because yeah, we oftentimes like you said start with food because food is simple. Most dogs love food. So we start there, then yeah, we phase that turning into finding things that other things that motivate them right and for dig happened to be toys. That's awesome. Yes,

Unknown: 9:45

specifically, a fuzzy tennis ball. He doesn't like the rubber ones as much stress so funny how they have preferences right? And for fetch more than frisbee, he does really like tug but if there was a prior different ad sets with a fuzzy kind of ball and then tug. And he'll do a little Frisbee. But yes. And I thought I started starting from scratch, I started to recognize that, you know, as we were starting to move into more high level trig behavior, that it was so important to have that sort of enthusiastic engagement that he was offering, with the playing, because at that point, I mean, there's only so much a trainer can do, you really have to have the willingness of the dog, and you have to have his brain working, because they're really smart. And I definitely have learned from disagree, like, Oh, he's not gonna get to it this way, he's gonna get to it this way. And if I can, can be a little sensitive and flexible to that, and shift my idea it's like, but I don't think we would even get that far, if I didn't have that enthusiasm. And that engagement.

Amy: 10:48

I love that point. As a relationship based trainer, we talk a lot about watching your dog and figuring out what motivates them, right, and what they want to do naturally. And you see that as we brought lots of puppies in to train them and, and you know, send them off on their jobs, we've had to redirect their or reassign them, if you will. And their job sometimes because of the things that they just naturally gravitate towards. And like you mentioned, once you find that it is easier to train them to do things because they naturally just want to do it. They love it.

Unknown: 11:18

We I was thinking about teaching degree rebound, because I'd seen other trainers do that. And I thought that would bring a really nice movement picture with him jumping in the air and changing directions, but using my body has kind of, you know, jumps on and then pushes off all in one motion. degree wasn't comfortable with it. And I think I said we started about 10 days ago. So it still could be that we grow into it. But I wasn't really there. It hurt. It's really over 65,000. And I could see him putting it together. Like, I'm never allowed to put my paws on people like What is this madness, all of a sudden, you want me to, you know, do that. And so we were out in the backyard, just doing one of our work sessions where he was really engaged in and with me, and I did the you know, because we've been working inside with the movement. And I thought maybe I'll just throw it out outside where he's really engaged in loves that we're doing this play. And just out of nowhere, he just jumped and did a 360 job. And it was like, oh, like, he was like, I don't want to do that. But I can do this, I get the sense that you want me to jump in turn. You want me to be on you, it seems to end. So it was just very interesting. Because we had never taught a jump and a turn or anything like that we've done turns on the ground and just a straightforward leap in the air and leap over me. And I was so proud of them. I was like, hey, that'll do. You know, and it was like, it's now every time I do the movement, and I just changed it slightly just in case I do want to go back to building that classic rebound. And I mean, that was all him. And I felt like it was his way of communicating. I want to please you I can do this. This is this is this it and I was able to really reward that, hey, we can we can work with that. And instead of so he left that trading session, as did I like feeling like, Oh, we're moving forward. We weren't moving exactly in the direction. I thought we are moving forward. And he still is coming back to the starting line eager to keep going. So that sounds that sounds like a real win.

Amy: 13:15

Yeah, that flexibility that you're allowing and I think adds to the enjoyment of training, at least for me, it does just being more flexible, not so rigid in, like you mentioned, this is what I want to have happen. And then being frustrated because my expectation isn't met instead, it's a partnership, right? And I'm watching my dog and seeing what is he willing to offer me. And he offered you something pretty cool. So I love that you have that flexibility built into it.

Unknown: 13:39

Flexibility is so is I mean becoming a dog owner after being a mom made me really realize how inflexible I can be. And it was a really, it was really eye opening when we got degree as a puppy. Wow, I really want things to be right the first time and if they're not, I can be very frustrated and irritable. And it was a big learning experience with the dog because with the dog you realize immediately this is not going to work. And then with my NSL I was able to look back and see where I was my own children I might not have been as graceful or as loving or as allowing them to be flawed. And you know, and so that was it was a was a big moment for our family and my husband. Wow, get a puppy. Huge life lesson. And we make a joke about it. But it was serious.

Amy: 14:26

I agree. They teach me so many life lessons. It's the same at our house. We we appreciate what we learned from the dog and man. They teach us a lot of good life lessons. They're great examples. If someone wanted to get started in dancing with their dog, or teaching them some dance steps, if you will, what would you recommend? Like which behavior would you teach first and why?

Unknown: 14:49

Okay. Three part answer. Gonna be tried to be very specific. Certainly find out what currency your dog is willing to work with the most. So you talk about what do you reinforcer? What are they called trade, they know treats, treats treats for your dog, make sure you have those ready, if it's playing, make sure you're just ready with that mindset. But the handcar yet is was the big one for us because I wanted to teach them how to weave through my legs, and you met the beginning of your puppy training and beginning of obedience you taught us is like what a puppy is running towards you teach him that way, if he would put his snout on your hand with a closed mouth, then he'll get a treat. Because then you won't jump admits you, and you're gonna put him in a seat sit. So we learned that hand arm it early on. And then when I learned how I wanted him to weave through my legs, kind of if you could imagine me standing with my legs a little wider than shoulder distance apart. If I wanted him to figure aid through there, how could I do that, I could put a hand target behind my legs. And then when he came out the back, I put a hand target in front of my legs. And so there's just the reinforcing Aquino's Oh, there's her hand, touch it with the nose, I'll get a treat. And so pretty soon, I was able to drop the treat at all. And now I'm able to drop the lower at all and it's just leave, and he knows that I want him to get his body in and through there. The second the third point, so there's currency hand target in the heel position, which can sound very intimidating to a new dog owner, but let's just talk about the very basic heel position of just him being very happy at your his shoulder to your left hip. You know, when you get out of the routine, and then you're like, alright, he'll, you know is come back, get his shoulder next to me, I have is I have the I have his attention. And so then I'm able to then take my hand target and we go to leaps, we go to back to we've, we go to turn, and I've got him right back where I want him attention on you kind of at that starting on. He is very, very engaged. And I think that you know, I'm still learning how to capture that engagement for more, quote unquote, boring obedience behaviors like when we're at, but he definitely, he definitely is a willing participant.

Amy: 16:59

That's so fun. I want everyone to be able to find you if they want to go watch this because it is pretty fun to see them together, both Juilia and Digory working together. So where can people find you? Where can they follow you?

Unknown: 17:09

Yeah, we're on Instagram, you can it's pretty straightforward dancing with Dig DIG. His name, His full name is Diggory. And that's from the Chronicles of Narnia. But so dancing with Dig and we're still working on some new behaviors now. And just it's fun because we're just stringing them together and then finding something new and putting them in in different orders. And I love it.

Amy: 17:32

I want to thank you, Juliet for being here today. You're so motivating. And I think it's an awesome story. So thank you for sharing it with my clients and listeners. It's just a pleasure knowing you and it's been super fun to watch you and dig progress.

Unknown: 17:46

Thank you so much. You just so appreciate what you do. You're Baxter & Bella, I really do.

Amy: 17:50

Thank you. I appreciate that. Again, thanks for being here today. You guys go check out Julia and dig at dancing with Dig on Instagram. It is a treat to watch. It's super fun to see this duo work together. You can see Diggs enthusiasm for the dancing. And again, just a joy to watch. So have a great week. Happy training. I'll talk to you soon. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other Puppy Training question, visit my site Baxter & bella.com to contact me