The pups and I have a morning routine.  We get up, I take care of the other animals, and then Kiyo, Toka and I go hiking.  We live in a lovely area, so we walk through and past some amazing scenes.  Just yesterday we saw a adolescent mink attempt to take out a baby rabbit. We foiled the effort, since the mink saw the dogs coming & decided breakfast could wait.

When we get back, I let the dogs rest for a bit, and then they enjoy their morning meal.  After that, we have short working sessions.

I set up my iPad to capture the excitement and enthusiasm Toka has for these training sessions.  This was shot on an ordinary day before an ordinary training session.  If anything, Toka is a bit subdued because it’s already quite humid out.

Apologies for the poor quality of the video.  The backlighting is bad because of the sunny day, and the audio is hard to hear.  I have a fan running on the porch because the dogs like to sleep out there, and I want them to keep cool.

I hear a lot of people (especially Akita owners) complain about how “stubborn” their dogs are.  It’s not the dog…..  Trainers have to learn how to work with or work around what characteristics the dog has.   If I can work with a dog to be this happy about working, pretty much anyone can.  This is all through positive reinforcement training, to boot.

Oh, and because he’s deaf, Toka can’t hear the enthusiasm in my voice.