WELCOME TO MILLIE THE 10 WEEK OLD LABADOODLE WHO JUST JOINED HER NEW PACK LED BY DANI WITH OLIVER THE WESTIE AND TRAVIS THE BOXER/ROTTIEWHAT A GREAT LOOKING GROUP.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
MILLIE HAS A NEW HOME
WELCOME TO MILLIE THE 10 WEEK OLD LABADOODLE WHO JUST JOINED HER NEW PACK LED BY DANI WITH OLIVER THE WESTIE AND TRAVIS THE BOXER/ROTTIEWHAT A GREAT LOOKING GROUP.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
ULTRA SUPER SIT
This was written some time ago by Dr. Ian Dunbar who is my favorite. I've taught this to students in classes and dogs that I train and I find it to be a very useful tool. Try it, I'm sure you'll find it to be a "keeper".
Ultra Super Sit
Four Steps to an Emergency Distance Sit
With a little practice you can develop and absolutely rock-solid, long-distance, sit-stay that can save you from most dangerous or embarrassing situations your dog could get into.
The secret to off-leash control is to thoroughly integrate fun training into all of your dog's off-leash activities. Total integration of training and play should be your aim from the very start. Interrupt your dog's off-leash activities every minute or so. Every time you interrupt an enjoyable activity by instructing your dog to sit, for example, and then allow him to resume the activity, you are reinforcing the dog's prompt sit with a powerful reward. The more you interrupt your dog's play, the more you may reward him for sitting promptly.
First practice the following exercises in safe, enclosed areas. This can be when your puppy is off-leash in your house or yard, when he is playing in puppy classes, during puppy parties, or when off-leash in dog parks.
1. Every minute or so, run up to your puppy and take him by the collar. Praise the pup, offer a tasty food treat, and then tell him to go play again. At first try this in a fairly small area, such as your kitchen with no other distractions. Then try it with just one other puppy present. If you have difficulty catching your pup, have the other owner grab hers at the same time. Then try with a couple of other puppies present. Gradually increase the number of puppies and size of the area until your puppy is easy to catch when playing, for example, in your fenced yard. Use freeze-dried liver treats during this first exercise so your pup quickly comes to love having his collar grabbed.
2. Once your puppy is easy to catch, dry kibble will suffice. Now, instruct your puppy to sit each time after you take him by the collar. Use the food to lure the puppy into a sitting position, praise the pup as soon as he sits, offer the piece of kibble as reward, and then tell him to go play.
3. By now your puppy should feel completely at ease with your running up to reach for his collar. In fact, he probably looks forward to it, knowing he will receive a food reward before resuming play. You may find your puppy sits in anticipation of the food reward. This is good, because the next step is to instruct your puppy to sit before you reach for his collar. Run up to your puppy and waggle a piece of kibble under his nose, and once the puppy homes in on the food, use it as a lure to entice him to sit. Praise your puppy as soon as he sits, offer the kibble as a reward, and tell the puppy to go play.
It is vital that you do not touch the puppy before he sits. Some owners are impatient and physically sit the dog down. If you have to rely on physical contact to get your dog to sit, you'll never have reliable off-leash distance control. If you are experiencing difficulties, go back to using freeze-dried liver.
4. Now that your puppy sits promptly as you approach, you can teach him to sit from a distance. Again try this exercise around the house without distractions before trying it with other puppies present. Sit in a chair and without moving a muscle, calmly and quietly say, "Puppy, Sit." Wait a second, then rush toward the puppy saying, "Sit! Sit! Sit!" in an urgent tone but without shouting. Praise your puppy the moment he sits, take him by the collar and let him sniff the kibble. Then quickly take one step backwards, and instruct your puppy to “Come” and “Sit.” If your puppy sits promptly, offer the piece of kibble as reward and then let him resume playing. As you repeat this over and over again, you'll discover that fewer and fewer repetitions of the instruction to sit are necessary before your puppy complies. Also, with repeated trials your puppy sits sooner and sooner and with you farther and farther away. Eventually your dog will sit promptly at a distance following a single softly spoken request.
From now on, whenever your dog is off-leash, repeatedly and frequently interrupt his activity with numerous short training interludes. Ninety percent of the training interludes should be as short as one second. Tell your dog to sit and then immediately say, "Go play." Your dog's quick sit is proof that you have control, so you needn't push it.
You needn't prolong the sit stay. Instead, quickly tell your dog to go play so as to reinforce the quick sit. In one out of ten training interludes practice something a little different. Once your dog sits, instruct him to sit-stay or to down-stay. Or walk up to your dog and take him by the collar before telling him to resume playing.
Ultra Super Sit
Four Steps to an Emergency Distance Sit
With a little practice you can develop and absolutely rock-solid, long-distance, sit-stay that can save you from most dangerous or embarrassing situations your dog could get into.
The secret to off-leash control is to thoroughly integrate fun training into all of your dog's off-leash activities. Total integration of training and play should be your aim from the very start. Interrupt your dog's off-leash activities every minute or so. Every time you interrupt an enjoyable activity by instructing your dog to sit, for example, and then allow him to resume the activity, you are reinforcing the dog's prompt sit with a powerful reward. The more you interrupt your dog's play, the more you may reward him for sitting promptly.
First practice the following exercises in safe, enclosed areas. This can be when your puppy is off-leash in your house or yard, when he is playing in puppy classes, during puppy parties, or when off-leash in dog parks.
1. Every minute or so, run up to your puppy and take him by the collar. Praise the pup, offer a tasty food treat, and then tell him to go play again. At first try this in a fairly small area, such as your kitchen with no other distractions. Then try it with just one other puppy present. If you have difficulty catching your pup, have the other owner grab hers at the same time. Then try with a couple of other puppies present. Gradually increase the number of puppies and size of the area until your puppy is easy to catch when playing, for example, in your fenced yard. Use freeze-dried liver treats during this first exercise so your pup quickly comes to love having his collar grabbed.
2. Once your puppy is easy to catch, dry kibble will suffice. Now, instruct your puppy to sit each time after you take him by the collar. Use the food to lure the puppy into a sitting position, praise the pup as soon as he sits, offer the piece of kibble as reward, and then tell him to go play.
3. By now your puppy should feel completely at ease with your running up to reach for his collar. In fact, he probably looks forward to it, knowing he will receive a food reward before resuming play. You may find your puppy sits in anticipation of the food reward. This is good, because the next step is to instruct your puppy to sit before you reach for his collar. Run up to your puppy and waggle a piece of kibble under his nose, and once the puppy homes in on the food, use it as a lure to entice him to sit. Praise your puppy as soon as he sits, offer the kibble as a reward, and tell the puppy to go play.
It is vital that you do not touch the puppy before he sits. Some owners are impatient and physically sit the dog down. If you have to rely on physical contact to get your dog to sit, you'll never have reliable off-leash distance control. If you are experiencing difficulties, go back to using freeze-dried liver.
4. Now that your puppy sits promptly as you approach, you can teach him to sit from a distance. Again try this exercise around the house without distractions before trying it with other puppies present. Sit in a chair and without moving a muscle, calmly and quietly say, "Puppy, Sit." Wait a second, then rush toward the puppy saying, "Sit! Sit! Sit!" in an urgent tone but without shouting. Praise your puppy the moment he sits, take him by the collar and let him sniff the kibble. Then quickly take one step backwards, and instruct your puppy to “Come” and “Sit.” If your puppy sits promptly, offer the piece of kibble as reward and then let him resume playing. As you repeat this over and over again, you'll discover that fewer and fewer repetitions of the instruction to sit are necessary before your puppy complies. Also, with repeated trials your puppy sits sooner and sooner and with you farther and farther away. Eventually your dog will sit promptly at a distance following a single softly spoken request.
From now on, whenever your dog is off-leash, repeatedly and frequently interrupt his activity with numerous short training interludes. Ninety percent of the training interludes should be as short as one second. Tell your dog to sit and then immediately say, "Go play." Your dog's quick sit is proof that you have control, so you needn't push it.
You needn't prolong the sit stay. Instead, quickly tell your dog to go play so as to reinforce the quick sit. In one out of ten training interludes practice something a little different. Once your dog sits, instruct him to sit-stay or to down-stay. Or walk up to your dog and take him by the collar before telling him to resume playing.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
No Secrets From Your Dog
No Secrets
A while back I received a phone call from a lady who had a dog management question relative to transporting two dogs north. We discussed her questions and when we finished she said her friend had said “If you talk to Art could you ask him about my problem with Chico?”
It turns out Chico is a four year old miniature Schnauzer. The friend has had the dog since a puppy and they live alone with no other pets. The problem is the dog has recently urinated several times on the pillows on her bed.
I asked if the dog had any signs of incontinence or appeared to strain while urinating or dribble following urinating. These can be signs of kidney problems and should be addressed by your Vet immediately. The answer was no to these questions which I suspected because the pattern of the urinating she suggested is almost always a psychological problem not physical.
I went on to explain that when dogs start to suddenly urinate in the house when they had no previous history the usual cause is a change to the dog’s environment. Had there been house guests to the house ? Had someone visited with another pet who had the run of the house? Had furniture been re-arranged or replaced? You see dogs are not particularly comfortable with changes in their lives much like many people.
They know where things are and they even have a tendency to “mark” the same trees or posts when out on their daily walks.
When their environment is altered they will go about “reclaiming “ their space and possessions. If a visiting dog laid down by their master’s chair for an extended time and left a scent on the chair leg it is conceivable that a dog would feel he had to “mark” over the other smell in order to reclaim his chair and space. When your dog insists on marking every tree, bush, and post on the daily walk, he is telling the world of other dogs that he has “passed this way” and is leaving his mark.
This is a round about way of explaining to the lady possibly why the dog urinated on the pillow. If he was accustomed to sleeping in that area and for whatever reason he was denied that privilege then he was simply reclaiming his territory.
At this point the lady let out a shriek and laugh and proclaimed, “I knew she was seeing a new fellow, but I didn’t think she was sleeping with him.”
A while back I received a phone call from a lady who had a dog management question relative to transporting two dogs north. We discussed her questions and when we finished she said her friend had said “If you talk to Art could you ask him about my problem with Chico?”
It turns out Chico is a four year old miniature Schnauzer. The friend has had the dog since a puppy and they live alone with no other pets. The problem is the dog has recently urinated several times on the pillows on her bed.
I asked if the dog had any signs of incontinence or appeared to strain while urinating or dribble following urinating. These can be signs of kidney problems and should be addressed by your Vet immediately. The answer was no to these questions which I suspected because the pattern of the urinating she suggested is almost always a psychological problem not physical.
I went on to explain that when dogs start to suddenly urinate in the house when they had no previous history the usual cause is a change to the dog’s environment. Had there been house guests to the house ? Had someone visited with another pet who had the run of the house? Had furniture been re-arranged or replaced? You see dogs are not particularly comfortable with changes in their lives much like many people.
They know where things are and they even have a tendency to “mark” the same trees or posts when out on their daily walks.
When their environment is altered they will go about “reclaiming “ their space and possessions. If a visiting dog laid down by their master’s chair for an extended time and left a scent on the chair leg it is conceivable that a dog would feel he had to “mark” over the other smell in order to reclaim his chair and space. When your dog insists on marking every tree, bush, and post on the daily walk, he is telling the world of other dogs that he has “passed this way” and is leaving his mark.
This is a round about way of explaining to the lady possibly why the dog urinated on the pillow. If he was accustomed to sleeping in that area and for whatever reason he was denied that privilege then he was simply reclaiming his territory.
At this point the lady let out a shriek and laugh and proclaimed, “I knew she was seeing a new fellow, but I didn’t think she was sleeping with him.”
Friday, April 20, 2012
ONE A DAY
ONE A DAY
A while back I received an e mail that invited me to find my house. I had no more than entered about a dozen letters and up pops a Google shot of my house. Now I know many of you won’t find this unusual except I live in a village of less than 5,000 people on a lake in west central Mexico. My point is everything is geared to instant results. We have “one a day” for everything from vitamins to energy drinks, instant diets, and on and on, ad-nausea.
Well this is probably the way of the day except you see I train dogs and it plain doesn’t happen that way. I get people who’s second question is “How long do you think it will take?” But in an attempt for an old timer to get on the band wagon I’ve developed a “one a day” answer to dog training. That’s right I’m going to share a system that will enable you to do a pretty acceptable job of training your dog and it’s only going to require one five minute session a day. Ready? Let’s go.
As in all our training efforts the first thing we have to do is decide exactly what it is we want to teach. No sense just starting out without some kind of a plan. Okay next you break this down into the smallest teachable and learnable component.
Still with me? Great, let’s teach our dog to come. In easy terms the come or recall requires the dog, upon hearing a verbal command and/or receiving a hand signal, to move from a detached position to a position in front of the trainer and to sit. So what would be the “smallest teachable and learnable component?”
Here’s where some folks get off on the wrong foot. They expect “puppy- poo” to jump up and run to them from ten or twenty feet away amidst any sort of variety of distractions and for no good reason except you called him.
Rule #1 Nothing is Free in the World. Translation, there must a REASON for the student to perform the task. This is called MOTIVATION. This can be positive motivation or negative motivation. We use positive motivation because the student is anxious to repeat the task and with negative motivation the student is less than enthusiastic about repeating the task.
At the early stages we use food but we can proceed to toys, balls, etc. as we develop the dog’s prey drive. The process is very simple. We “Lure” the student into position and when he has assumed our desired position we “Reward” him by opening our hand and giving him the treat.
Okay, back to our exercise. In order to instill the basics we simply want our student to move from 3 or 4 feet away and to come to us and sit. So it goes like this. Choose a very quiet environment with no distractions. No other pets, people, cell phones, TVs etc. Take a tasty treat about ¼ inch square and place it near the dog’s nose and beckon him to a position between your knees and when he gets there put the treat near his nose and move his nose up and back between his ears in a direction toward his tail. When his bum hits the floor open your hand and give him his reward for performing a COME, SIT.
As soon as the two of you get the process going smoothly you practice from a distance of NO MORE THAN four feet. Always ending exactly the same way. Beckon to you as you say “puppy come” and then moving his nose up and back as you say “Sit”. That’s it. Whole deal takes less than ten or fifteen seconds. Repeat five times, give puppy a short break and repeat another five times. Total time, less than two minutes.
Do this little exercise ONCE A DAY everyday for a week. Don’t hurry to extend the distance. Next week repeat but go for six to eight feet. Same simple five times, little break, five times more. Each week go a little further but never enough that he doesn’t respond immediately. About the fourth week have him come from behind the sofa then around the counter etc., gradually changing locations until he is rock solid on this simple basic.
If you will do this “one a day” exercise for six weeks a day your dog will blow you away with his awesome recall. Total time, 2 minutes a day X seven days X six weeks and you have 84 minutes. That’s right, not even two hours. Pretty cool eh?
The neat thing about this approach for busy people or just plain folks who don’t want to commit a bunch of time to training Fido, but they know he needs some schooling, is you can teach a new task or sharpen a skill that may be a little rusty. If you have an extra two minutes a day you could double your results.
Danielle Hardy wrote “Those who actually achieve a level of mastery are obsessed with learning, growing and improving.”
You probably read the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell . This is where he repeatedly refers to the 10,000-hour rule as what separates those who end up with great “talent” from everyone else—essentially they just out-practice everyone else.
The whole thing depends on you not Fido. If you do two simple, short minutes a day you can achieve any result you want. If it doesn’t work it’s because you didn’t persist.
A while back I received an e mail that invited me to find my house. I had no more than entered about a dozen letters and up pops a Google shot of my house. Now I know many of you won’t find this unusual except I live in a village of less than 5,000 people on a lake in west central Mexico. My point is everything is geared to instant results. We have “one a day” for everything from vitamins to energy drinks, instant diets, and on and on, ad-nausea.
Well this is probably the way of the day except you see I train dogs and it plain doesn’t happen that way. I get people who’s second question is “How long do you think it will take?” But in an attempt for an old timer to get on the band wagon I’ve developed a “one a day” answer to dog training. That’s right I’m going to share a system that will enable you to do a pretty acceptable job of training your dog and it’s only going to require one five minute session a day. Ready? Let’s go.
As in all our training efforts the first thing we have to do is decide exactly what it is we want to teach. No sense just starting out without some kind of a plan. Okay next you break this down into the smallest teachable and learnable component.
Still with me? Great, let’s teach our dog to come. In easy terms the come or recall requires the dog, upon hearing a verbal command and/or receiving a hand signal, to move from a detached position to a position in front of the trainer and to sit. So what would be the “smallest teachable and learnable component?”
Here’s where some folks get off on the wrong foot. They expect “puppy- poo” to jump up and run to them from ten or twenty feet away amidst any sort of variety of distractions and for no good reason except you called him.
Rule #1 Nothing is Free in the World. Translation, there must a REASON for the student to perform the task. This is called MOTIVATION. This can be positive motivation or negative motivation. We use positive motivation because the student is anxious to repeat the task and with negative motivation the student is less than enthusiastic about repeating the task.
At the early stages we use food but we can proceed to toys, balls, etc. as we develop the dog’s prey drive. The process is very simple. We “Lure” the student into position and when he has assumed our desired position we “Reward” him by opening our hand and giving him the treat.
Okay, back to our exercise. In order to instill the basics we simply want our student to move from 3 or 4 feet away and to come to us and sit. So it goes like this. Choose a very quiet environment with no distractions. No other pets, people, cell phones, TVs etc. Take a tasty treat about ¼ inch square and place it near the dog’s nose and beckon him to a position between your knees and when he gets there put the treat near his nose and move his nose up and back between his ears in a direction toward his tail. When his bum hits the floor open your hand and give him his reward for performing a COME, SIT.
As soon as the two of you get the process going smoothly you practice from a distance of NO MORE THAN four feet. Always ending exactly the same way. Beckon to you as you say “puppy come” and then moving his nose up and back as you say “Sit”. That’s it. Whole deal takes less than ten or fifteen seconds. Repeat five times, give puppy a short break and repeat another five times. Total time, less than two minutes.
Do this little exercise ONCE A DAY everyday for a week. Don’t hurry to extend the distance. Next week repeat but go for six to eight feet. Same simple five times, little break, five times more. Each week go a little further but never enough that he doesn’t respond immediately. About the fourth week have him come from behind the sofa then around the counter etc., gradually changing locations until he is rock solid on this simple basic.
If you will do this “one a day” exercise for six weeks a day your dog will blow you away with his awesome recall. Total time, 2 minutes a day X seven days X six weeks and you have 84 minutes. That’s right, not even two hours. Pretty cool eh?
The neat thing about this approach for busy people or just plain folks who don’t want to commit a bunch of time to training Fido, but they know he needs some schooling, is you can teach a new task or sharpen a skill that may be a little rusty. If you have an extra two minutes a day you could double your results.
Danielle Hardy wrote “Those who actually achieve a level of mastery are obsessed with learning, growing and improving.”
You probably read the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell . This is where he repeatedly refers to the 10,000-hour rule as what separates those who end up with great “talent” from everyone else—essentially they just out-practice everyone else.
The whole thing depends on you not Fido. If you do two simple, short minutes a day you can achieve any result you want. If it doesn’t work it’s because you didn’t persist.
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