Thank you so much to all of you blog readers for the awesome comments you leave on this blog. Thank you for joining me in celebrating our love for dogs by having positive dialogues that recognize how humour plays a role in engaging conversations.
You are so essential in the delivery of all I share on this blog. Thank you for helping to bring about a positive change in the lives dogs world wide. Please don’t read this message as anything other than a celebration for all each of you do for me!
Today I am grateful for the upbeat outlook of the people I surround myself with in life. I look forward to any comments being left today being those of joy :).
Thanks for sharing this post to us. This will help dog owners on how to take good care of their pet.
Susan: All my life I have loved dogs. I had longed to be a dog trainer or vet since I was a little girl. Unfortunately due to bad choices I made when young, that didn’t happen. However, I continued to love dogs and love trying to train dogs. I want my dogs to have joy in being a dog, and joy in working with me.
Now years later, I have 3 rescues that are very smart. It has taken me a while to get some of their strange behaviors out of their lives from previous owners. I have never been really happy with the other dog training I have come across, it just didn’t fit me. I am so blessed to be led to this site and to learn about training dogs from you. My dogs are very active-3 mixed terriers, one parson russel mix and one wirehaired fox terrier mix and another that no one knows what type of terriers she is. All are smart as a whip and love to be trained. I am very joyful in the opportunity to learn from you and I know my dogs will benefit from it. Thanks Susan! sharon empson
I have not competed for a very very long time but because of your site I am beginning to reconsider. Previously I had Bouviers.Fun and easy to train and live with. I now have English Bulldogs and though they are generally not driven at all, I have used some of your techniques with good success, especially your recalls and sit/stays with distractions of all sorts. So because of following your advice she is now in a Shakespeare play, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and plays the only part Shakespeare evr wrote for a dog. It doesn’t require much, but working diligently on Sit/Stays in every way you suggested was a huge help. When she is on stage, and people are speaking loudly, with exaggerated gestures, she is SOLID! Basically what I want to say is that thinking of training as ALL games has made it so much fun that I am getting involved in Rally with a bulldog!
Thanks for the inspiration!
I am grateful that by embracing a lot of the methods from Say Yes I’ve developed a joy in training and having fun with my dog. While it’s not always easy and I’m frequently confused (“blonde moments” LOL)….it has transferred into a 2nd place with a 195.5 in our first ever obedience trial at the Poodle Club of America National Speciality. We also got a 1st place in our rally class.
My dog loves to work and we strive to embrace the “work = play = work” philosophy.
Wow congratulations Melissa! Good work (or is that play”:))!
I’m incredibly grateful to have found your teaching so early in my dog training career. I’m continually inspired by your amazing abilities; your positive, joyful attitude and willingness to share your knowledge with others. Your core philosophies resonate closely with my own; continually striving for excellence while remembering that at the end of the day, this is just a game we have the privilege of playing with our dogs. I doubt you will ever know how many lives (human and canine) you have affected in such a positive and profound way. Thank you!
Susan,
You bless us with your remarkable insight into dog training. Thank you for sharing what you know with others.
Reading the blog always inspires me to get up and get moving and get training while being the keeper of the joy!
After learning there is a different and better way I have embranced the training of my newest dog and have been inspired to revisit the relationship with all of my current dogs to also discover the joy with each of them.
So thankful to have found the joy in the training itself and enhancing the relationships and though in a remote area, very thankful to find such a great community aka the “Recallers” that also share in similar goals.
I am grateful today realizing how lucky we all are to have the technology so that we can all share as trainers-we can get ideas, and share in victories of people that without this technology we would never have met or talked to, and we get to take lessons, share our struggles with and learn from talented trainers all over the world that we would NEVER have gotten to the chance to learn in times past and we can do all that in our pajamas in our own little corners of the world.
Bit of a giggle. Was discussing with my hubby about my roadie – South Island trip to the Derrett seminars, hubby says “so why are you going to the SI, who’s there that is so important, is GOD coming back?” (meaning Susan)
I then have to explain the difference/similarities between Susan and Greg, he then replies “Oh so it’s Moses” that’s coming this time.
You’re up there Susan and it’s Easter LMAO!
Actually – back at ya! 🙂
Thanks for the excellent and insightful posts which allow me to look at my training and my dogs. Your posts have helped me become a better trainer. For me, it confirms that a titling is not worth more than my relationships with my dogs. I really enjoy all they accomplish but what they are is so much more important. Happy Easter!
Diane
I am registered for Recallers but the link I got was in my SPAM folder and my husband cleaned up when I was out of town for a couple of days. Now when I try to access I get this:An error occurred in the application and your page could not be served. Please try again in a few moments.
If you are the application owner, check your logs for details.
How do I get back on please?
@Ellen contact jason AT webmanna DOT com I know he will be able to help you but today with the big Amazon Cloud server crash our entire site as been down.:(
Amazing shot of Feature! What joy she has 😉
Thank you Susan for all the effort you put into letting us into your dog training knowledge bank.
Not only has your positivity influenced my dog training but it has also influenced my life.
Your positivity is infectious and for that I’ll be forever greatful!
Thank you for the emphasis that you put on joy.
I love my dogs and training them the Say Yes way is the only way for me. So much fun! Immensely grateful that you share your brand of fun so willingly. You are leaving an amazing legacy.
What a great photo of Feature – pure joy!
The criteria/joy post has made this change to my training … whenever I see ‘poopy face’, I say to myself “fix it”, and take some action … usually it’s something as easy as ‘good boy’. Every day is game day. Every game is fun. Every day is fun.
I think you have alot of joyful people surrounding you because joy radiates from you.
Your work and how you choose to live your life have had a profoundly uplifting effect on my life for which I will forever be grateful.
I am deeply grateful, too, for the multitude of positive people that support you in your endeavors and also are so sharing: Awesome Lynda, Jason the Web Wunderkind, at least three guys named John, and so many others. Not just talented folks, but also very kind.
Good on you all.
I’m new to training and I am so grateful that I have you as a resource for my foundation work. Your “Joy” blog was wonderfully clarifying for me. Suddenly my intent has shifted. I start my day with a dose of Susan. It’s good medicine!
Me too, Deborah…I take my first cup o Joe upstairs to my computer and turn on Susan news…much more informative – no hype, just solid Joy!!
Susan,
The thank you goes to you. Not everyone would or does share the information that you do with us. You are great, you encourage all of us to be better dog trainers, but more importantly, you help us to have a better relationship with our dogs. For that, words can’t say enough.
Firstly, I am in awe how as a great coach and a great teacher, you get us to seek, to work for, and to earn our rewards.
You take the time to make everyone feel special and the joy you take in our successes (small or big) give us pride and value.
Plus, I can’t believe you got me on facebook! and the discovery that there are many people here I can share with.
LOL! Am I taking “daily life” too seriously? last night I woke up in the middle of the night deciding that as Bo loves to chase I must replace “I am the cookie” with “I am the tennis ball” !
As Easter said, I too am grateful for the internet enabling me to be able to take this Recallers course. You have opened my eyes to such a Joy in training my BC, that even those frustrating days have Joy as I’m learning those days are great feedback days for me! Your quote “Know what you have, Know what you want – and inbetween is your traning” (not exactly word for word) had such an impact on me, Susan. I carry that thought with me every day. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You….
In addition to what you write in your thought provoking blog posts, Susan, your photos give me so much joy. Today’s photo really cracks me up. I love the look on Feature’s face. She is having a ball in more ways than one. 🙂 Thank you for the thoughtful combination of words of wisdom and beautifully expressive photos you generously share with us. Love them!
I appreciate all those creative videos you post, too! 🙂
I am one of those “old time trainers”, but because of my passion for dog’s I have changed my way of thinking about dogs and dog training. I now look at dog training from the dog’s view point. I am learning what my dog is trying to say to me, and then I figure out how to help him. For me it boils down to making dog training fun for both the dog and their owners.So much fun in fact that they can’t tell if they are having fun or training.
Thank you for you “Joy” blog. Such a great message. My training journal has “Find the Joy!” written on the front now, just as a daily reminder.
Thank you Susan for the work that you do.
Your recent blog post about Criteria/Joy, as well as your Recallers course has made a huge impact on me and the way I think about dog training. I’ve noticed the changing attitude of my dog based on the constant bits of fun I can inject into our days, and things are only going to get better. Even on grey days like this I celebrate all our successes.
Cheers to you!
I was just talking to a friend about how we see training in a different light than many of the “old time” trainers. It is so much fun for the dogs and trainers when everything we do is in the form of a game.
I’m grateful for the existance of Internet which has allowed me to learn about positive dog training, something very very hard to find in my area. Grateful to be able to share my experience with people around me and help improving the life of dogs and there humans. Thankful also for a wonderful conference of a vetarinary that I went to last night on alternative possibilities to heal animals and prevent illness. Life is so beautufil.
Thanks Susan for this upbeat message and for letting us realise all the positive things that surround is in our life.
It’s just so fantastic to see how many people you have influenced with your philosophy of positve reinforcement training. Your blog and recallers program shows us that we don’t have to dominate or play on our dog’s fears to have a great well-rounded happy pooch. (You should replace that guy on NGC) You ARE the Cookie Maker.