Lots and Lots of rain over the last few days...I actually had to drain 5 inches of water out of the pool today from the rain....dogs and I worked it hard today and we had a special visitor...for all of you  who follow my blog you will remember Lyric..he was one of my rescues that went to a great family..he came back for just the day...we had a great time..he jumped into the van and off we went...



Lyric hanging out with Bella, who is with me for a 1 week board and train



todays rain did not stop my 8 dog pack from going for a 3 miler..and yes 7 of the 8 are mine...lyric is along for the ride




If you are wondering why Bella has her back to the camera...i gave her a command...the command is "Amish" and if you are familiar with the Amish folks then you know that they do not like to be photographed




Lyric after a long rainy walk



My team at an opening of a health and wellness spa

        

Download | Duration: 00:13:09

I was a guest on the Patricia Raskin Radio show the other day. The above is the clip..it runs 13 minutes. I am on the first 10 minutes though...it was a great time.

        

Download | Duration: 00:53:00

You can download the above podcast of my June 27th show to your Itunes or just play on your computer immediately

        

Yeah we saw some sun today.....and we made the best of it...not that I could care about rain, cold or sun...but it is nice to see the sun out..and the kids can't go in the pool with the rain coming down....so along with a full schedule today....i found some time to hang out with the kids and watch them swim today...



Romy wondering why she gets stuck with all of the dishes




Clover trying to get Storm to jump into the pool...



Max just watching all of the dogs swim while he enjoys his ball from the comfort of his pool couch



This morning on my radio show I had on Dennis Tabello from Defenders of Animals
on as a guest


Max and Uma act as nice distractions as we work on downstays...the big dog in the middle does not do well with other dogs at all....we made some progress with more to come in the weeks coming



on the of best things about boat ownership is taking your dogs on for the ride...what happens when you just adopt 2 dogs and you just started training them...don't know if they have ever been on a boat or even seen water...one is a little/lot nervous about things....
we use the training that we have been working on land and put them to use at sea.....
Downstays on the dock so we can load up the boat with supplies and not pay attention to other boats, people or dogs





and the Place command for on the boat...this was day one/minute 1...it is going to be a great boating season for these dogs and their owners

        

The best trainers that I have access to are my kids and my dog pack. They help rehab and train so many dogs on a daily basis...it is so great to watch both child and dog work with other dogs.







Big huge Roca, who came to me with some of the biggest resource guarding issue and aggression issues has totally transformed...he loves finding the smallest person or dog and is drawn to them.....Romy and him both work on his social issues...making sure he does not jump on kids or steal things from them.


Roca helping out with Frankie who has issues with other dogs



Roca helping out Chino with a nice calm down stay



Chino working on his down/stay while my client plays with Uma....this is huge.... Chino just learned a down and he is doing a down/stay
wiht a high level of distractions

        

this is the podcast for the What Would Jeff Do? for Saturday the 20th of June 2009

Download | Duration: 00:42:50

you can download this and save it to your Itunes or play it from the website

        

Awesome start of the training day.....had some off leash recall training on the beach.....warm sand, perfect waves, topless women...well...2 out of three....it was heavenly...the best part was the client..who has not been able to have their dog run off leash on the beach that they live next to....what fun is it to having a house by the beach if you can't run your dogs on it...well today we changed all of that...



what is that.....is that the look of 4 dogs that have had "their true spirit unleashed"     yes it is....running off leash down the beach




fetching balls in the ocean...fighting the undertow is one of Uma's favorite pastimes





Roca taking it all in...



Uma crashes through waves and fights the undertow to get to a ball...nothing stops this dog..ever

        

Another client finished my training program...it has made a huge transition in the lives of the whole family and the level of stress that was happening on a daily basis..



Testimonial

Jeff – we want to thank you for all the great work that you have done with Ace.  He is noticeably a changed dog, well behaved, and enjoyable to be with. 

When we first rescued Ace in October 2008, we thought that we were doing the right thing by enrolling him in one of those franchise dog training programs that uses clickers and constant treats.  Needless to say, that experience did nothing to teach Ace the basic commands and behaviors that he needed to be a well balanced dog.  If anything, the constant food rewarding made him more excitable and resulted in a constant desire to be treated.  Although at times he was a quiet, lovable dog – his constant barking in the car, jumping on visitors to our home, begging for food at our dinner table, and overall poor social skills had us to the point that we were ready to give him up.  Although desperate, we were still willing to find a solution.

Luckily, we attended the Providence Pet Expo earlier this year and witnessed your demonstration on the basic commands of “heel”, “stay”, “down”, and our favorite, “place”.  When we saw how well the dogs were performing their commands, especially the one dog that you had just started working with a few days earlier – we knew that you would be the right trainer for Ace.

We’d like to share with your readers and potential clients that you are a no-nonsense, straight talking, professional, results oriented ( and yes, sometimes with an irreverent sense of humor) trainer that not only helped our dog but also changed our behavior in how we think and act every day with Ace.  After your first session with us, you had Ace demonstrating the “heel” and automatic “sit” commands after one 20 minute walk around our neighborhood.  Best of all, after about 5 minutes, Ace was staying in ‘place” quietly and not bothering with us as we discussed what our upcoming training sessions would consist of.  To top things off, the training with you has been fun, albeit disciplined work.  If you have a question, Jeff is also quick to return phone calls, respond to email questions, or you can even call into his Saturday morning radio show.

For anyone with concerns with training (prong) collar training methods – don’t be.  We have a small 17 pound dog and he did just fine and is actually calmer when he has his training collar on and working.  Because of Jeff’s successful methods (and believe us, even though Ace is a small dog he brings a large dog assertiveness as Jeff can attest to), Ace is now well behaved and we get constant praise from strangers because of his good behavior when we take him to crowded places like arts festivals busy with people, strollers, little kids, and dogs.  Our neighbors comment on how well behaved Ace is during our daily neighborhood walks, especially as he sits or lies there calmly in his “stay” or “down” commands as they pass by with their dogs.  Ace’s daily 4 mile power walks have also helped keep us in better shape too!

So if you want to change your life and the life of your dog and commit to hard work, new behaviors, and great results – we strongly recommend Jeff Gellman and Solid K9 Training!


Judy and Peter LaCross

to see more of my testimonials go to my Testimonial Page

        

Rain doesn't seem to affect my training schedule or exercise schedule with the dogs....



This morning on the Blvd...7 dogs going strong...and yes they all heel on my left



Romy and Clover celebrating some good training with Jackson....I am really concentrating on being really active around Jackson...he is with me since he bit a child in his family....so we are making sure that he will not even think of that again....


Romy working on a proper Heel with Jackson....she almost got it....she needs to learn how to pop the leash better...she is only 2 but she has grown up with all of the basic commands for dogs...both my 2 youngest kids understand dog training


Clover running and running around Jackson to distract him from his sit/stay.....did not do it....Jackson stayed


this is a 7 month old dog that has just finished my basic training of 7 hours...and a off leash walk down the street with dogs all over the place....doing some great off leash recalls, sit/stay, down/stay and heeling

        

Today was a busy day.....starting with the morning dog feeding and chores then off to clients....dogs don't care about Fathers Day, So I was spending the day with what I love to do...my family and working with dogs....

One of the many lessons that reminded me of my dad happened between Clover and I...we were bringing the clean laundry back to the kennel from the house and I took one basket and Clover took the other...after picking up the laundry and realizing that it was heavy she told me she could not carry it....I told her "you just did carry it" she told me that she could only carry it a little bit since it was so heavy...so I told her "then carry it a little bit at a time until you reach the kennel" she did 1 foot at a time until she made it into the kennel and she was so happy that she did it..I cannot stand the phrase  I Can't Do it I hear it way to often with people especially children.





If you are not familiar with the word Shlep, this is a good example of what Shlepping is.

So....never say I Can't Do It, not only is it negative thinking it is bad energy.



Clover helping Pete and Jackson with their downstays/ both of these dogs are with me for rehab, they both bit chldren in the past



Clover running and running around Jackson to help as a distractions



Clover practices one of her new tricks with Jackson...she inserts her arm into his mouth and then pulls it back out..next week she will try to put her head in his mouth....it is a good way to work with dogs on their bite inhibition




Keeping the family spirit alive for Jackson....he will most likely be going back to a family when he is done with his rehab...



Story time for the dogs...Clover is actually telling all of the dogs a story...they seem to be listening or at least they are humoring her...what they are not doing is bothering her or jumping on her...it is important that dogs respect all humans as pack leaders and allow children to walk among them without getting in their faces....good manners is just as important as obedience training