We talked about this at training yesterday and it’s been a constant source of….conflict… for me. How should young and enthusiastic dogs be greeting people? If the dog is super enthusiastic and frenzied….is it ultimately best for them to be meeting and socializing? Will enough of that calm them down…eventually? Read more…
Four times this week the topic has come back to training enthusiasts needing to be better at breaking down behaviors into separate components. Once you’ve trained a behavior, you often have one (or more) ideas on how to teach it to another dog. Being able to take a behavior you Read more…
We go over this almost every other week. Usually with young dogs who just discovered the joys of the countertops. We recently had a dog in class who had been exploring and successfully finding snacks on counters for over four years. The family had the dog wear a bell so that they Read more…
Griffin is learning to identify a certain odor. When he finds it, he is supposed to lie down with his nose pointing. In some circumstances he really wants to dig or retrieve. Other than that piece, his indication is getting to be quite strong and fairly reliable. One piece we Read more…
This week I had multiple students tell me that their dogs are great in training but not in “real life.” It’s actually not something that comes up too often, usually the dogs are better in “Real Life” than I would have expected. At the same time it is a complaint Read more…
Re-orienting through doorways: Practice at interior doorways (bathroom to hallway, bedroom to hallway, etc) before doors that go outside. Use the least exciting exterior doorway to start with, then move to the more exciting doors. Go through the door with your dog, after you step through, pause. Wait for your Read more…
I first saw this book mentioned in early June. I bookmarked the one seller page. And then after hearing a few more mentions of it, Bob Bailey again saying it would be quite useful…I had to get it. He’s someone you have to listen to. (…while creating that link, Read more…
Last night was yet another 4-H judging opportunity. The club I work with hosted a fun match, we had about 10-15 kids attend, I did all the showmanship, obedience, and rally judging and it went a bit smoother than expected thanks to some great helpers and ring stewards. Yet again, Read more…
This has apparently been the theme for the week, with another call last night. Multi pet households can be difficult, and especially when multiple species are involved. The problems tend to fall into a few categories: – Conflict between animals: Primarily dog-dog or cat-cat. It can be anything from Read more…
This weekend was a seminar by Cara Shannon, day one was on her scale for evaluating dog bites (dog human and dog-dog) and day two was on how she runs her leash reactivity classes. Overall? It was much better than I expected, I was very impressed with how great Read more…