Blog Archives
Fall Camp #6 Cocowalk
Our fieldtrip this time was to the Cocowalk at Coconut Grove. Its a great place, always full of people, sights and of course, dogs! We visited some great new stores and had a blast walking the dogs around the mall. We played with them on the benches and fountains (not IN!) and just basically let them explore their surroundings and get comfortable. As usual, we got a lot of attention but having a giant breed dog with us certainly helped 😉 the dogs all behaved beautifully and endured the many photographs, and petting from strangers! Its amazing to see how much the dogs have improved, how many have gained confidence and trust around strangers in new environments and can tolerate and keep their leashes nice and loose even seeing strange dogs. We are loving every minute of our time with them!
We’d like to give a special thank you to the folks at Florida Running Company at Cocowalk for their nice warm welcome they gave the dogs at their store. They were very attentive and insisted on learning every dog’s name and breed! Thank You from all of us!
Please email us and tell us how your dogs are doing at home, how they like camp or what changes you see in them – or better yet, post a comment here or on our Facebook Page. I’m sure other campers would love to know!
Fall Camp #6 Kennedy Park: Coconut Grove
We always love to go to Kennedy Park. In the Grove you are pretty much guaranteed to see other dogs, so its a great place to practice leash manners around strangers. Because there’s also an Off-leash area in the park, they get a chance to run off some of their excess energy and meet new play mates. We did some Stay training, working on building duration and adding distance. We also did some Recall training. This was the first intensive Training for “come” and the dogs did GREAT! We worked them one-on-one then had them in small groups to practice. We will continue to work this and “Stay” more in future sessions.
Fall Camp #6 Welcome Earl & Tiny!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TINY & SHEYLA!
FELIZ CUMPLEAñOS A SHEYLA Y TINY!
JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE AU-TINY ET SHEYLA!!
We’d like to introduce two new Campers who will be joining us for the final 5 weeks of camp. A big warm welcome to Tiny the Great Dane and Earl the Boxer!!! Tiny is a big (+100lbs) baby, sho is coming to camp to meet new friends. Earl is actually Delilah’s (our other boxer) doggie cousin and is a handsome, playful fellow. Both dogs fit right in with the current pack of campers and seemed to enjoy their first day of camp quite a bit!
It’s always great to introduce new dogs in the pack, specially new breeds and different sizes. Tiny’s size certainly impressed everybody and turned quite a few heads during our field trips. The differeces in body language from each new dog, also makes for a richer experience for everybody.
Yesterday we also celebrated two Birthdays: Happy Birthday Tiny and Sheyla!!! Best wishes to both of you. Huge Thanks to Tiny’s Mom, Michelle, for the yummy home-baked treats. Everyone seemed to love them!!!
Fall Camp #5 Fun @ The Dog Park!
A picture is worth more than a thousand words! We visited a city park with the Campers and they got to meet some strange dogs and play in the beautiful water fountain! The main purpose was to let them enjoy each other’s company and burn off some excess energy for the visit to Lincoln Road Mall.
Well Trained Working Dogs :-) – updated with video
Yesterday, Sheyla Gutiérrez from the Dog Connection training team was in St. Petersburg, FL filming a commercial with three of her dogs: Minnie the Pug, Fanta the 9 month old Border Collie, and her “borrowed dog” Dealer the 9 year old Border Collie. For Dealer, who’s owned by her friend Annette Alfonso, TV work and even movie work is a fairly common thing, but though Minnie had been on TV shows before, this was her first time working in a commercial. For baby Fanta, this was her first job ever and a chance to show off some of her tricks and test how her training is coming along. All dogs did remarkably well. They had to drive more than 5 hours to get to St. Petersburg, stay at the Hilton Hotel there, then wait in their soft crates (quietly) for their turn during the day. The filming was done in a Park setting, and then inside a house. The park was full of joggers and people, and of course distractions. The house was pretty crowded with people and equipment. The dogs had several different behaviors to perform within these distractions, with Sheyla standing outside behind the camera. Minnie got the best deal, as one of her scenes involved licking peanut butter off of the lead character’s face! Dealer had to walk nicely on leash, while Fanta got to “play dead”. All scenes were finished on time and according to the director’s wishes. This was only possible thanks to the dog’s training! Everyone had a great time and the dogs got a lot of attention from crew and cast alike. All in all, another memorable experience thanks to well trained working dogs 🙂
Dog Connection 