Building Focus, Precision & Independence
Service dog training is all about breaking complex tasks into manageable skills—and one of the foundational skills is targeting. In Week 2 of Crazy2Calm’s Service Dog Foundations Class 2025-09-10 18:18:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Last week, Crazy2Calm Coach Penny hosted an informal kickoff meeting for the Service Dog Foundations and Puppy Training Class and it was packed with helpful information for both new and returning members.
Whether you're just starting out w...
2025-09-10 02:38:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Panel Led By Pine Irwin
Panel Experts Penny Beeman, Amanda VanTessel, Rene Smith, Scott Stauffer
... 2025-06-19 06:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Let’s build on the idea that dogs can learn context and make good decisions—even when the reward isn’t immediate.
One of the most powerful tools in a service dog handler’s toolkit is the ability to teach delayed reinforcement—the idea that rewards don’t always come right away, but they are...
2025-06-05 16:34:49 +0000 UTC View Post
We want to take a moment to remind you that dog training is not linear, or it does not follow a straight line. We may think that we’ve conquered a training challenge or solved a challenging behavior only to have it pop back up again. Do not get discouraged when this happens! Simply back up to training basics...
2025-05-19 19:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Today we are going to be looking at various methods of communication between dogs and humans. This may include different types of vocalizations that dogs do including that loud alert barking that is driving you made, shorter frustration barks, happy roo-roos when something they love is about to happen, or...
2025-05-18 19:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
We learned about examining and managing the environment so now we are going to learn about using reinforcement correctly to make learning easier for our dogs. We know that if our dog is experiencing a high level of arousal, based on fear or over-excitement, their listening ears turn off. It can...
2025-05-17 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Today we are going to take a look at those distractions that are beyond our control and how we can use movement away from the distraction to reduce barking. Things such as the garbage truck, school bus, or mailman are totally out of our control. They may follow a schedule that we can predict, but w...
2025-05-16 19:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Day 1 - Setting Your House Up for Success
The very first step in working on barking issues is to determine the environment where the barking occurs and implement management resources to reduce or prevent the barking as much as possible during the training period. This could be anything from placing a physical barrier in place to keep the d...
2025-05-15 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
The C2C Canine Coaches have put together this workshop to help all dog owners
The Barking Mad with Cookies Workshop will take place via this group & the Barking Mad Facebook Group. All you have to do is join as ...
Crazy2Calm Canine Coaces want to personally invite you to a really special event we are hosting-
the first-ever Service Dog Handler Symposium, happening online
June 19–22, 2025!
This four-day event brings together an international lineup of
trainers, behavior consultants, and SD handlers (includin...
This video demonstrates how I start to play Find It games with a dog who has never played before. Be sure to start with something easy such as dog treats your dog loves which allows them to get that rapid reward by eating what they find. The switch to a common household item that has a strong scent; empty spice containers, small containers that...
2025-04-09 20:17:07 +0000 UTC View Post
We hope you have enjoyed watching these weekly recordings created by Canine Coaches, Penny, Cindy, Kristi, & Tammy. It's been a fun project of using TEAMwork to show you how a trainer interacts with their young puppies and includes socialization to scents, sounds, sights, taste, & touch into their skills & manners training.
Thi...
2025-03-27 20:34:38 +0000 UTC View Post
The number 1 distraction among those who registered is other dogs and today's information is focused on that issue! At almost 2 yrs old, Azul's biggest distraction is new dogs entering into our environment so we practice remaining calm often. Check out today's video for more information about training exercises you can do with your d...
2025-03-27 15:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post
This week we worked on several foundations that build up to teaching our young dogs how to focus around distractions. Once fully understood, these games are often used while playing other games to train new skills to older SDiT's.
Look At That - Commonly referred to as LAT
Look At That "LAT" gives the dog something t...
2025-03-26 20:46:20 +0000 UTC View Post
On Day 3, we take a look at the distractions our dogs get most amped up about and how we can set up training sessions in the environments where are dogs can be most successful then slowly building up to more distracting environments.
U-turns are important no just to teach proper heeling/loose leash walking and to avoid unwa...
2025-03-26 15:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
On Day 2 we are going to be talking about the emotions our dogs feel, understanding those emotions and applying training sessions correctly to help change our dog's negative emotions into positive emotions. This video is a bit longer, but it's super important to understand...
2025-03-25 15:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Welcome to Day 1 of the FAD Mini-Workshop!
Today we want to go over the idea of FOCUS and what it means to us, as well as get you used to the basic format of this workshop. Every day we will have an informational video created by the crazy old ladies of dog training, Cindy Campbell & Penny Beeman. The...
2025-03-24 15:00:17 +0000 UTC View Post
This discussion to geared toward dog owners who are training their own assistance/service dog in a way that will help them consider their dog’s emotions and learn to increase their teamwork. Yooper Paws of Love and Cindy Campbell Dog Training are pleased to be collaborating with Andrew Hale to di...
2025-03-20 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Follow the Leader
This task is based on a Forward Momentum Pull (FMP) One of the biggest issues I face with FMP is training the pull strength I want the dog to pull for different situations. Speeds often need to change rapidly in public settings and large crowded environments. By enlisting the help of a...
2025-03-19 17:25:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Teaching forward momentum pull can be done in a variety of ways. The previous post titled Mobility Tasks: Forward Momentum & Counterbalance provides a detailed conversation about the safety of these tasks. We did want to remind you to be sure that you are keeping safety of your dog in mind when developing this task.
In this video, Bell...
2025-03-17 21:18:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Default behaviors are any time the dog does a specific behavior such as laying down when something in the environment cues the behavior instead of a verbal or hand signal cue. A good example of this is asking the dog to wait at the door for a cue to go through the door. Touching the door knob becomes the cue for the dog...
2025-03-13 15:59:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Many SD Handlers with a Mobility Assist SD can use the help provided by a dropped item retrieve. Honestly this is one of the simplest tasks to teach as it is much like the practice sessions we have when we are training and playing the Drop, Grab, & Treat Game. The big difference in this as a task vs the game, is that in the game you basical...
2025-03-12 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostRetrieve tasks is a general term that can be split into multiple directions based on the needs of the SD Handler. Once your dog knows how to retrieve you can build up that skill to include picking up dropped items, teaching the names of commonly requested items, building distance away from the handler that the dog can go to do the task, and buil...
2025-03-11 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Here is the video replay for Week 3.
In this session we discussed the importance of Puppy Routines that fit your day to day schedule. This includes potty routines, nap routines, settle on a mat, training routines, and much more.
Here are the games that we played:
Pattern Game 3, 2, 1 Treat -
Tammy ...
2025-03-10 20:07:28 +0000 UTC View Post
This week we started training some very important behaviors that will build up to harder behaviors as the puppy grows older. Most of the behaviors are part of one or more of the other collections in the SDiT Puppy Collections so we will link them here.
We discussed the importance of doing some socialization around sounds with your puppy. C...
2025-02-26 21:38:41 +0000 UTC View Post
There are lots of ways to potty train a puppy. And yes it's possible to do completely Force Free! This means that you don't punish the puppy for accidents and you reinforce going potty in acceptable places.
The first step in this is management! Pup is under constant supervision inside the house, or in a safe place such as...
2025-02-24 20:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
We have some pups in the group that are nearing the end of their socialization phase (under 16 weeks) and entering what I like to call the pre-teen phase from 4-6 months.
Somewhere from 4-6 months old, puppies experience a short period often known as a fear stage. During this time new or novel things are often scary to a pup. ...
There are alot of things to consider when preparing a pup for service dog training. In other posts I've shared info about socialization for all the senses and my socialization checklist. So for this one I'm going to focus on puppy visits to public places.
First and foremost, safety first! At this stage you can only visit pet f...
Socialization is not only meeting and interacting with new people and dogs! Socialization should include all the senses; seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, & smelling everything in their world! I’ve previously talked about exposing the puppy to new environments to make their world a bit bigger and this is the way that I do tha...
2025-02-21 17:36:35 +0000 UTC View Post