Barks and Recreation

05/20/2026

I have some exciting news! I've been working on getting everything set up for custom painted gear including buckets, food bowls, tumblers and spray bottles for everyone to be able to order. It's here! Head over to the website to be able to order BarksandRecTraining.com

I'm able to completely customize these items with colors, dog's names, kennel names, logos, sparkles, pearly or metallic colors. Keep an eye out over the next several weeks for ready to ship items, as well! I'm excited to get creative!

If you want a chance to see some in person, there's a bucket and spray bottle over at the raffle table at Spokane Boxer Club tomorrow! Grab some raffle tickets to support a great club and win some cool stuff!

05/15/2026

Speaking of reward, reward timing is super important. We have to constantly be thinking about if our reward is communicating that they did the right behavior.

Dogs are masters at pattern recognition. Think about the amount of times you wonder how your dog just knew it was time to go for a walk before you even reached for their leash. You probably already put on comfy walking clothes, the same sneakers you walk in every day, and maybe even said a few words that you really only say before a walk. You probably didnt realize you were setting a subtle but very consistent pattern. Does your dog react the same way when you put work clothes on and follow that pattern? Probably not, a walk was almost never the next thing to happen in that pattern.

It's our job to establish predictable patterns for them to recognize when we are training for specific behaviors. For example: sit + b***y on the ground = a reward. If we don't deliver that reward in a timely manner, the pattern is broken and our dogs don't deliver a consistent sit when we ask them to sit.

As they figure out the patterns for behaviors, we can challenge their understanding with asking them to sit for a longer amount of time or with more exciting things happening around them, but we shouldn't miss our opportunity to reward them sitting right when it happens!

05/14/2026

Are you rewarding your dog enough? It's really common for us humans to expect a little too much a little too fast and forget to reward our dogs often enough. The result can leave us frustrated and confused why our dog isn't doing something they know how to do.

Reward isn't just about building understanding of a behavior. It's about motivation. It's our job to be our dogs coach and cheerleader when we work with them. We humans aren't so different from our dogs, either. A coach that doesn't offer guidance and cheerleader that isn't energetic can even take away our motivation. A small comment recognizing we're working hard can change our whole mood and encourage us to keep going.

You might ask how often you should rewarding your dog, then. The answer isn't definite. However, dogs usually need reward more often for motivation at the beginning of training sessions, starting new behaviors and if you are in more distracting environments. If you find yourself struggling, try rewarding good behavior more often.

05/06/2026

I had a great day with the dogs and their humans yesterday! I missed getting a picture of Rip and Sky. Everyone blew me away with how they all have been putting in the work! Each one of them is in a different spot in training but every single one of them showed off at least one skill they were able to improve on. I'm proud of all of you guys!

05/03/2026

Training consistently really is the magic secret to having a dog that does what you ask at any time. It's much like brushing our teeth; brushing only helps to keep your teeth healthy if you do it every day. Skipping multiple days and then brushing extra well doesn't make up for missed days. We also brush our teeth no matter how old we get. Training is no different. Skipping multiple days of training and then trying to fit in long sessions simply won't get the same results as short sessions as many days a week as possible.

Even this sweet lady, Claire, gets a turn during training time. She might get away with a little more than she used to. She's earned it, right? We still practice important skills regularly at 11 years old. Not just because I want to her to walk nicely on a leash or sit when I ask, but because we built our relationship through training. She genuinely loves to be out spending time with her human! Even though she's a senior, she still wants to be included in all the fun activities!

05/01/2026

Have you gotten in a training session today? It doesn't have to be a long session dedicated to rehearsing your dog's whole list of behaviors. In fact, short sessions of 5-15 minutes are often much more impactful for our dogs. Even more impactful is to integrate your training into your regular life. Simple things like I've listed do more than teach your dog obedience, they build a reason for your dog to engage with you!

Some of the things on this list will take a few focused training sessions to build your dog's skills. We get consistency when we practice regularly and setting aside time for focused training sessions can be difficult to keep up long term. Applying training in our everyday life gives us the chance to work on multiple behaviors in a small amount of time during tasks we were already doing.

Walking on a loose leash to get the mail opens up opportunities for your dog to practice waiting calmly while you leash them up, waiting politely at the door until invited through AND walking on a loose leash.

So, get your training reps in as many days as you can! It won't take long for you to be excited about your progress!

04/27/2026