Welcome to the February 2022 edition of ZENFUL Dog of the Month featuring Maverick! Maverick is a very intelligent and vocal German Shepherd from Northern Québec who was adopted into Mike and Francine’s family.
Maverick
Age: 13 months old
Meet Maverick’s Immediate Family:
(Maverick’s Dad): Maverick reminds Mike of his childhood dog—he was very excited to adopt a puppy and he always wanted a German Shepherd. Maverick loves joining Mike for multiple walks around their property every day. Maverick strongly believes that he should go everywhere Mike goes and is very upset when he doesn’t.
(Maverick’s mom): Francine was just as excited to adopt a puppy but had some concerns about her precious kitties—Bear and Willow (and still does). Francine is sure that Maverick must have thought his name was “No Cat!” for the longest time. Maverick and Francine love to practice all of the new tricks and training they learn at ZENFULdog.
(Maverick’s two cat-siblings): Bear and Willow want nothing to do with Maverick but he is desperate to play with them. He is still trying to win them over, so maybe one day.
Maverick’s Extended Family:
Maverick has a large extended family with 9 grandkids between the ages of one and twelve. He loves them with all of his doggie heart. He is ecstatic when he gets to play with them when they come to visit and when they drive to their homes, he barks as loudly as he can to let Mike and Francine know they’ve arrived.
It had been quite some time since Mike and Francine had a dog in their family and Maverick quickly took a huge place in their hearts. They work from home with an empty nest, so Maverick is always with them and he makes a great companion. Mike and Francine bring Maverick everywhere they go—including camping. They are planning a long road trip for next summer and Maverick is, of course, part of their plans.
Francine describes Maverick's Personality: “Maverick is loud, boisterous, lovable, funny and so very loving (especially when he says hello in the morning with his ears way back and wagging his entire 90-pound body all the way to his tail). He is also very, very energetic and very, very, very intelligent (maybe a bit biased here)!”
Francine Shares The Most Unique Thing about Maverick: Maverick likes to watch television: “His favourite show is “All Creatures Great And Small.” He is the best ‘head tilter’ when he hears the animal sounds on that show!”
Maverick's favourite Treats/Foods according to Francine:
Maverick’s favourite treats are whatever Kendra has in her pockets.
“He also thinks he will like anything that we’re eating but can come to discover that isn’t true. I dropped a chunk of cauliflower on the floor one time and Maverick did not even wait two seconds before he had cauliflower in his mouth. He looked at me with a disgusted look on his face but didn’t want to give it back (not that I really wanted it anymore) so he ate it anyway but I really don’t think he enjoyed it.”
Maverick’s Favourite Activities:
Playing ball, playing ball and playing ball!
Funny Story: Maverick enjoys going to see his friends at doggie daycare once a week so his parents informed the daycare provider that Maverick likes to play ball. The daycare sent them a video of them throwing the ball for Maverick and Maverick looking at them with the expression of “Why are you throwing that at me?” He never attempted to retrieve the ball.
Maverick loves hide-and-seek and he is pretty good at it. He can seek people out rather quickly.
Maverick loves sticking his head in fresh snow and it’s never too cold for him—maybe because he comes from Northern Québec.
How Maverick Unwinds After a Full Day of Activity: After supper, Maverick insists on a game of playing ball. Then he finds the coolest place in the house to stretch out, groan and let out the biggest sigh ever.
If Maverick had a human voice: Francine thinks that if Maverick had a human voice, he would sound like Dwayne Johnson—The Rock.
Maverick’s Training
Maverick is a work in progress (like all of us) and his family strives for success with him by joining Kendra’s classes, sessions, groups, trails and socials! Maverick has done incredibly well and made a lot of progress since training with ZENFULdog. His parents, and Kendra, are very proud of him and his progress.
Francine Tells Us How Training has Shaped Maverick: “The best thing we have ever done was bring Maverick to ZENFULdog! Training has taught Maverick many new skills but it has mostly helped us in understanding his journey and working with him to succeed. With Kendra’s patience, understanding, experience and knowledge, we quickly learned that we needed to work as a family to succeed!”
Maverick’s Biggest Training Challenges: A big challenge for Maverick’s family is helping him to contain his excitement when he goes on trails with ZENFULdog Cani-Trail Club.
On trail walks, Maverick wants to be friends with every dog. He also wants to be in the lead but then circle back to say hello to everyone again—in case they already forgot him. Then he goes back in the lead and repeats this cycle over and over again all the while declaring loudly that he is there by barking at the top of his very big German Shepherd lungs! This, of course, results in very exhausted pet-parents at the end of it all and everyone knowing exactly who Maverick is when he arrives. His parents continue bringing him every week and trying different tricks to help him succeed.
Francine describes Maverick’s Biggest Training Success: “Maverick’s biggest training success has been his ability to focus on skills when he is in a small group of dogs. We definitely need to keep working at it but we do see improvement. The first time I brought Maverick to training at ZENFULDog, he was too excited to remain with the group and I brought him for a walk on the trails instead. Now, Maverick still has to say hello to everyone but then he is able to move on and focus on what he needs to do.”
Maverick’s Most Rewarding Training Moments: The most rewarding moment since training for Mike and Francine was witnessing Maverick’s ability to be kind and gentle with all of the little ones who visited their home before Christmas. Francine was worried about having people in their home with Maverick—especially little ones. Happily, he did not need to be on a leash and when he was tired, he took a nap.
Kendra adds: “Maverick is an amazing dog who is very friendly, sensitive, intelligent and gorgeous. The first day I met Maverick was during a large group class—he found the experience overwhelming and I can only imagine so did his pet-parent. I had my wonderful assistant-trainer take Maverick and pet-mom for a decompression walk on my trails to help him relax. It is such a fine line to ensure that a dog and pet-parent do not feel like they have failed in some way when I ask them to leave a class—but for their success—some time to relax was paramount for him to be in a state mentally and physically able to learn. German Shepherds are a high-drive working breed and therefore incredibly sensitive. He just needed time to feel comfortable so he could use that drive to learn and have fun doing it.
I was happy to see them come back the following week, with pet-dad in tow to work as a team. With some tips and help before class, Maverick started to decompress and connect with his pet-parents. It's such a beautiful moment to see both a dog and his parents look at each other in what was once a stressful situation and go—there you are, I see you and I feel good. They started rocking each next class more than the last. They are incredibly committed to continuous education and socialization. They come for private sessions, group classes and are regulars on the trails with our Cani-Trail Club. I absolutely love training with them and watching them grow as a team. They have blown me away with their unique relationship with their dog—their growth and connection—I am very proud of them.”
A very special “Thank You!” goes out to Francine for providing so much of the content for this feature. Don’t forget that you can follow ZENFULdog Training on Facebook to stay connected to your like-minded dog-loving community every day.
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