Today we re-open registrations for Puppy Peaks, but just for the holiday season. Over the past two months we have had many requests to re-open the program so today is your day! When I thought about what to write for the blog, I thought who can I convey what Puppy Peaks is all about to people who currently have no idea. You can get a real feel by checking on the video that is in the webinar currently posted at the Puppy Peaks website. There I document through clips that were posted on Puppy Peaks, how Swagger went from a dog focused, motion sensitive, independent young puppy to a work obsessed, totally focused young man that barely notices ANY distractions in his life!

This is one of my favourite clips from the video (thanks to Lynda Orton-Hill for grabbing the camera when she saw me training with Swagger here).

Puppy Peaks is an on-line video based program. You sign in and watch me train my puppy Swagger. In a nutshell that is what it is. At first I wasn’t going to “dog train” or “teach” in any of the video clips as I wanted the program to be about just you the viewer just  “watching,” kinda like a reality based TV show but with good content:). But once we got rolling, I couldn’t hold back so there is a lot of teaching done on the Puppy Peaks video clips.

My goal when designing the program, was to give you a chance to see me not just “train a behaviour” . . . any shaping DVD can give you that. I wanted you to be able to watch me struggle, plan, change my plan and work through the challenges that a young puppy can present to each of us. Puppy Peaks isn’t a “class” where I tell you put your hand here and the treat there. Rather it is an experience. Watch me train, imitate my training. Evolve your training. By watching and re-watching my mechanics over and over it becomes easy to learn them for yourself.

The idea came from students asking to be “a fly on the wall”  living in my home to learn how to train. They wanted to know how I made the decisions that I do for my dogs, what to do if I am face with a situation of fear, aggression, shut down . . . all of which are things I face and document in Puppy Peaks.

It is easy to say you want to train dogs the way I do, but another thing entirely knowing how to make that happen for you. Many times there is a “paralysis” that happens with trainers trying to be “positive” when the dog makes a poor choice. People are unsure what to do next. Puppy Peaks shows you how I swiftly make decisions and how I control the access to my puppy’s reinforcement first and foremost in any situation.

Puppy Peaks brings “Do-Land” to life for you. It shows you I am human and too can get frustrated at times. It shows me playing training games in my PJs first thing in the morning. Where else do you get to watch a successful, experienced dog trainer raise a puppy from 4 weeks of age all the way up until he is ready for competition and barely it all for the world to see (figuratively of course:)).

Okay enough from me, here are some comments from current Puppy Peak owners;

Today I am grateful for the amazing supportive community of people on Puppy Peaks, or the “Peakers” as they refer to themselves:). A great group of people to interactive with each week! If you would like to join our community or learn more about the program just follow this link to www.puppypeaks.com