Tim Cutterson, Dog Training

Tim Cutterson, Dog Training Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Tim Cutterson, Dog Training, Dog trainer, Vacaville, CA.
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Owner/trainer at My Clever Canine Dog Training

Professional dog trainer, specializing in high drive, precision training.
3-time National champion and 6th in world in Schutzhund/IGP

08/14/2026

Gator (GSD) is now 9 months old, and I’m finally starting to enjoy him!

As his play develops, I noticed there are certain things I like to do which I’ve also done with my previous dogs:

1.) ALWAYS reward the formal out.

Anytime I say “out”, I want to build a sharp, clean release. To accomplish this, I think it’s extremely important to REWARD the out, instead of taking the toy away from your dog. If I’m going to take the toy away, then I use my informal “leave it”. I realized through doing this with Gator, that I basically NEVER take the toy away when I say “out”, even when my dog is older, as shown with Croc.

2.) Jump up to my hands with the toy

I want my dog to be obsessed about shoving the toy into me. I don’t want them just bringing it back, I want them DEMANDING me to fight with them again. I teach this by shaping, so in the early stages they might just bring the toy close to me, but over time I want them to be pushier about it. And not just jump up aimlessly, but to actually bring the toy to my hands.

3.) Don’t just hang there, try to rip the toy from me!

When we’re tugging, I generally make my dog WORK before I give it to them. I don’t want them just hanging on it, I want them saying, “Give it to me!” I think this builds more drive and intensity in the play. I don’t care if it’s pulling, thrashing, or just BITING HARD, but do SOMETHING. Gator is a bit of a lazy dog, so I think it’s extra important with him.

05/20/2026

Another club trial in the books ✔️

Congrats to all our members who trialed last weekend. Some awesome performances👏 👏👏 Super proud of ya'll!

📹 Hannah McDevitt

05/19/2026

Some behind-the-scenes of Croc’s last video. This was DEFINITELY the most challenging one we’ve done 😅

HUGE thanks to everyone who helped with it!

Bridget Bloesch
Jonathan Aranda
Mesa Troxel
Phil Ryder (for hooking me up with the police car!)

05/13/2026

Croc's police career was short-lived 🐊👮‍♂️🐕

05/12/2026

New Croc video coming out tomorrow... 🐊 🚔

HUGE congrats to Dr. John for yet another top 3 placement at WDC, and another time on the podium with Brocca. He and Bro...
05/04/2026

HUGE congrats to Dr. John for yet another top 3 placement at WDC, and another time on the podium with Brocca. He and Brocca have had an incredible career 🏆🏆🏆

04/10/2026

Obedience recap from last weekend:

I love the obedience phase. It’s the one I take the most pride in.

And, Croc has NOT been an “easy” obedience dog.

He’s not the fastest. He’s not the twitchiest. And, although it looks like he loves me, he’s not a particularly pleasing dog.

But that's what made this performance even more gratifying.

I’ve been working hard for years to figure him out, and I’m so happy to see things CAN come together.

-- Heeling emotion/position was good, although he did whine/bark a few times throughout the routine, so I had him a little out of balance. I think it was partially due to having long down first, and, it was dark/rainy, so I think these factors threw him off a little.

-- About turns. I posted a video a few months ago about switching to the around about-turn. I was happy with how it turned out. Still need to smooth out my movement, but he's fast and tight.

-- I was VERY happy with the speed of all his recalls, finishes, and retrieves! He's not the fastest dog out there, but, for him, the balance of speed and precision was super.

-- Motions weren’t his sharpest (especially his stand, which is still work in progress but better!). However, the focus leaving him was good.

-- Fronts. If you’ve been following my front journey with Croc, you know that’s something I’ve been working on for a while now. I was overall happy with them! He was straight and much closer than before. The only bad one was the A-frame. On that front, he reverted to his old behavior and sat too far away. But, all in all, I think we’re making progress.

Thanks Brad Doran for the video

04/09/2026

Croc’s protection at AWDF

91 points

If you shut the sound off, it looks quite nice!

Croc was extra vocal on the sleeve for this trial. It’s an issue I’ve struggled with for a while now, and I don’t know if it’ll ever go away completely.

But, I’m proud of how much we've been able to accomplish with the Croc-a-doodle in protection.

Thank you, Marko, for the awesome work you’ve done with him. He wouldn’t be anywhere near how strong he is without your work.

And thank you, Nick, for helping me the couple weeks before prep him.

Thank you to the awesome work of the trial helpers Josh Frizzel and Tyler Knarr.

There are so many others to thank, so I'll try tagging everyone else.

Thank you to all the helpers who have worked with him.

Marko Koskensalo Nicholas Bethard Mario Sergio Gomes Mesa Troxel Denis Krigbaum Patrick

04/07/2026

We failed tracking last weekend at the Nationals 👎

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Vacaville, CA

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