Monday, June 15, 2009

Testimonial From Jaguar Woman



Dana is seen here practicing directional casts with her dog Xena.

Here is a testimonial from Dana of www.jaguarwoman.com

(Please scroll down for one of Jaguar Woman's fabulous digital paintings of a Golden Retriever!)

"Fast Pup Dog Training is the training system I'm enrolled in with my big, 90-lb. Shepherd mix, Xena. I'm about 4' 10 1/2" and 62 years old and she's an energetic, rambunctious girl who wants to gogogo! She's also my personal bodyguard who is with me 24 hours a day, so I want her with me wherever I go, in many circumstances. I also want to be very close to her emotionally and have her under easy voice control. I don't want to wrangle or wrestle or repeat myself!

Over the course of her 7 years, I've I've used a variety of training methods to accomplish both good discipline and strong emotional bonding, but nothing has given me the confidence and freedom that Kate's methods have. In a short time, I've gained a rapid increase in both confidence and easy control with Xena, especially off-leash voice control reliable long term sit/stays and distant recall. I know that I can place or move her where I want, past many different distractions, without having her lose her focus on me.

Her enthusiasm grows and she just gets happier with her work outs. Because the results happen so quickly, my own enthusiasm grows too. She actually gets to do more because she has more control over herself. She's using her mind, not just wildly dissipating energy and adding to my bicep tendonitis, LOL. With or without a leash, she's always at my pace, on the flats, over rocky terrain, or on a staircase. She's still getting even more focused physical workouts, and we both feel more confident in different environments. Hence, we're even closer emotionally, which is the ultimate goal: we get to go places and do a lot more together because I have no concern about losing control of my dog in new situations and embarrassing ourselves or offending people or, even worse, creating danger. She pays attention to me because it way more interesting and fun that way.



"Xena"



When I call Xena for her training, she's very eager and runs right to me and sits down in front of me with her happy face on. Xena and I can't say enough about this training and my other 5 dogs (all Chihuahuas) are standing in line for their turn! Maximum happiness is our goal. Dogs and people can't have it without confidence and self control, eh?"



Visit www.jaguarwoman.com for more wonderful digital paintings.





Fast Pup Dog Training at Meeker Days


June 19, 20 & 21, 2009

Friday 12:00 -- 9:00
Saturday 10:00 -- 9:00
Sunday 10:00 -- 5:00



Tacoma dog trainers, Kate Johansson and "Fast Pup Dog Training" will have their dogs at the 70th annual Meeker Days Celebration this weekend in Puyallup. Please bring your dogs by to say "Hello" at our booth and watch for us with our dogs. We would love to meet you and your dogs.

Kristie Baird of Dock Jumping Labs

Kristie Baird, from www.dockjumpinglabs.com and Fast Pup Dog Training have formed an alliance. www.fastpupdogtraining is sponsoring Kristie and her champion Dock Dogs competitors, Buddy & Henna. Kristie is also training her youngest dog, Mossy, for retriever training with Fast Pup Dog Training.





Here are some of Kristie and her dogs' accomplishments:

Buddy's is the 2008 Big Air Super Elite National Champion. Here are some of his other titles:

~ #1Ranked Chocolate lab in the world for 2008
~ #1 Ranked DockDogs Regional Big Air Dog 2008
~ #1 Ranked DockDogs Regional Extreme Vertical Dog 2008
~ Northwest Challenge Extreme Vertical Oregon State Record Holder

Henna is the 2007 Extreme Vertical Cadet 2nd place National Champion and ranked in the top 3% for Big Air worldwide in 2008.


Kristie is shown her with her dogs Henna, Mossy and Buddy. Currently (this week) we are working working with Kristy and Mossy on "Swim By."






Friday, June 5, 2009

Dog Training Testimonial from Jim & Cindy Olson

When our black lab puppy Rainy was five months old we decided that we were not doing well with obedience training so we contacted Kate Johansson , we had seen her several years earlier at a sportsman’s show. We had a lab previously that was trained for hunting so we were familiar with electronic collars and invisible fence collars. When Kate offered to add retriever training to our obedience training, we decided to see if we could avoid sending Rainy to “doggy boot camp” otherwise known as professional gun dog trainers. My husband was not sure the concept would get the job done but he has since changed his mind. Yeah, no two months of boot camp for Rainy!

We started a regular routine of retriever training in January 2009 and Kate has been training Jim and me on how to handle a dog as well as working with Rainy. We have since realized that professional trainers, the “doggy boot camp” kind, do not spend much time with the owners to show them how to handle their dog. There seems to be a whole new vocabulary when training a retriever and all three of us are learning it together. I have also come to understand that obedience is a key ingredient of retriever training so we can do both types of training at the same time.

Dog training has been a huge time commitment for us but we both like being outdoors and watching the dogs work, ours as well as everyone else’s dogs. Working with Kate has given us the opportunity to do that on a regular basis. We could stop now and I would have fulfilled by goals, basic obedience and no boot camp, but we are now addicted to training. Rainy got her first Junior Hunter ribbon at about nine months and now Kate and Jim want to continue the chase for more ribbons. Time will tell ----

Cindy, Jim and Rainy Day Keepsake
June 2009

Training Rainy Day Keepsake


As a dog trainer, I love working with dogs. Problems are always fun to solve and any day working with a dog is way better than going to an office. As a retriever trainer, there are dogs I love to work with and dogs I LOVE to work with. My own Rosie is a dog I LOVE to train. And so is this little lab, Rainy Day Keepsake, owned by Jim & Cindy Olson. Rainy has intense drive and a BIG desire to please. She is also very smart. Show her something once or twice, and she just gets it. Right away. This is the kind of dog that everyone who competes in hunt tests or field trials wants to have. A dog like this is very difficult to come by even when you know exactly what you are looking for. The dog could have the best pedigree in the world, but until you start your force fetch and yard work program at 6 or 7 months of age, you won't really know what kind of a dog you have. This dog is a very special girl and I always look forward to our training sessions. Rainy is blessed by having picked her owners very carefully. Jim and Cindy are very dedicated to a regular schedule of training. Every Friday we do yard work and drills. Cheating singles, "two along the shore," baseball, pattern blinds, etc. Then on Saturday or Sunday we go TRAINING! Big stuff on prairies and fields or large ponds. It is a huge pleasure to have owners who are dedicated and who are willing to show up no matter what the weather. This team will go just as far as they want to. And I am looking forward to seeing their success.

Kate Johansson