I’ll admit…we’ve put this off with my agility students. The dogwalk we have is not adjustable. We’re not yet in a situation where it’s an option to purchase or make an adjustable dogwalk. The instructors have come up with a few ways to transition dogs to the full height dogwalk. Read more…
I’ve only read the first edition and not the newer addition of Evolution of Canine Social Behavior by Roger Abrantes. While I was reading this class I was taking an animal behavior class. It was fun to see the Abrantes book go right along with the topics in the class. Read more…
I had morning lessons and only made it to the afternoon session. It was SO worth it Debbie Gross Saunders was speaking about Warm Ups, Cool Downs, and Stretches. A lot of the information I already knew from reading books and articles. It had been overwhelming to know exactly what Read more…
Last summer Griffin was lame multiple times. We finally got a diagnosis of Lyme. We treated him. He got a lot better. But things still weren’t quite right. After another episode of lameness a few weeks ago we re-checked for lyme. His values were much lower and so that was Read more…
Michele Pouliot has done presentations at ClickerExpo about using platforms to teach behaviors. I haven’t yet been able to go to that presentation (or to watch her new DVD on the topic), but I have been utilizing platforms in my own ways! We warmed up with go-outs to a platform. Read more…
Many people are more likely to be drawn to the dogs that are insisting on social contact rather than the dogs doing their own thing or actively avoiding contact. We like to interact with dogs by petting them and having the dogs be near us. Unfortunately, a lot of the Read more…
I never went to this session by Alexandra Kurland at expo. But last spring I read this fabulous blog post has -greatly- impacted my training. If we aren’t getting a behavior immediately offered after the click, I’ll break it down and use a smaller criteria piece until we’re back into Read more…
Ideally, all the dogs would perfectly learn all basic manners, all husbandry, and additional tricks. But, I’m the only one that does training, I’m only there for one shift, about two hours, per week. With about 20 dogs in the ‘big dog kennel’, and with cleaning having to get done… Read more…
At the obedience seminar last weekend we had a whole afternoon on heeling. The really interesting part, is that while I can also talk about heeling for hours, I would have set up completely different activities! Some of the activities in that part of the workshop were teaching the dog Read more…
My adorable retriever! Notice the loose leash This is another of the too-many books I picked up at the used book store. I do want to say that the last three times I’ve gone, I walked out without purchasing anything! Retriever Trouble-shooting by John and Amy Dahl is meant to Read more…