First of all, can we all say ‘Hallelujah’ for a non-rainy day!  It was a beautiful Sunday to meet up with Birmingham dog lovers at Loch Haven Dog Park in Hoover.  It was great to meet everyone and their fur babies outside the Instagram world. We want to thank Birmingham Bloggers for connecting us with this event and CahaBones and Kim Crenshaw for taking part.

  

CahaBones had a table set up with several of her delicious treats.  Of course, we couldn’t help but purchase several bags for our doggies (especially the Blueberry Coconut).  If y’all don’t know, CahaBones is an all natural, all Alabama ingredient dog treats.  Melissa, who is the wonderful mastermind behind CahaBones, has tons of various spent grain and grain free treats.  Our dogs give both paws up to CahaBones.

The majority of the time was spent with our Q&A session with Kim Crenshaw.  (She even showed a little bit of agility training with her dog Velocity which was super cool)  For some of you that might not know her background, she is a nationally ranked trainer and animal behaviorist with 25 years of experience.  She has national titles in obedience, agility, rally obedience, tracking, canine good citizen, herding, versatile companion dog, and therapy training.  Kim had great advice to give to several of our dog owners.  Here are a few tips from the Q&A session with Kim Crenshaw:

-If you are trying to correct a behavior, use a vocal command combined with the action.  For example, if you’re using bitter apple spray for your dog to keep him/her from nibbling, chewing, licking, or biting, make sure you are using a vocal command and spraying instead of just spraying your dog.

-Your dog’s safety should be your ultimate concern.  It’s okay to remove your dog from a situation you think is unsafe.  For smaller dogs, she even suggested picking him/her up.

-Remember, you are the pack leader of your household not your dog.  If you’re having issues of obedience, you need to reestablish dominance.  You can do this without ‘breaking’ your dog.

If you want more information about dog training or agility courses, here is Kim Crenshaw’s contact information:  kim@bhamdogtrainer.com.

We can’t wait for another meet up with our Birmingham dog community!  Thank you for coming out and enjoying the beautiful weather with us.