We’ve had a humid streak in the northeast for the last few months. It’s actually been so bad that I’ve had to keep the dog’s walks to about 30 minutes. Much more than that and we are all just about ready to drop. Even on those mornings when we’ve been able to get out early, the humidity really does us in.
Friday night we got some big thunder storms which thankfully drove the humidity away.
Hubby and I take turns sleeping in on the weekends. Unless Hubby has to work on Saturdays, that is his day to sleep in, while mine is Sunday. I love sleeping in on Sundays.
Yesterday was no exception. I’m not sure if it was the cooler, fresh air pouring in through the open windows or the Xanax I took just before bed, but I slept pretty darn good; only pulling my lazy butt out of bed just before nine.
It was so nice yesterday morning I couldn’t wait to get out with the dogs in the cool morning air.
As I’ve noted before, I’m calling the dogs back to me quite frequently.
What I found out yesterday is the Here command can be used for more than one purpose.
Delilah loves to roll in things, especially when she’s in the soccer field.
Usually it’s a clump of fresh-cut grass, but you never know with Delilah. I’ve caught her rolling in worse.
I can tell she’s on the scent of something and I try to distract her, but some days it’s just inevitable that Delilah will roll in something.
Yesterday was one of those days.
She was just too quick for me. Maybe it was the after effects of the Xanax but before I knew it there Delilah was rolling around on the ground.
Here, I said reaching into my treat bag.
She immediately stopped what she was doing, jumped up and ran over to me. 🙂
Focusing on just one command has been beneficial to the dogs but it has also been really good for me. It is far easier to remember one command rather than here, come, leave-it, wait, sit, down.
Well you get the point. 🙂
Exactly! Who cares what command, as long as they come back to you.
I saw on a video once the girl was explaining click training and made a comment regarding the name of the command, she said that the word doesn’t matter at all, the dog learns the behavior and then associate it with a word, which as she showed, can be watermelon for sit, the dog doesn’t know that sit means well, sit.
I’m with you on preferring simplicity. I’ve heard so many times that dogs can retain 200+ words, but what about how many words I can retain? Glad you had success in stopping a potentially disastrous roll–those can be really gnarly!
Hey Sampson, Hey Delilah, Jet here. Hi Miss Jodi.
Guess what? Mom learned the less words/better thingie when she parented a very little Rachel! Mom is known for talking A LOT… wordy is what some say… so, yes, she works hard to use short, direct commands, with us, to… sit… wait…
She’s not half as talented as you with training though!
I wish my dogs would obey my “Read my mind” command.
I know what you mean, to many command words can get confusing. On more than one occasion I have fumbled through our commands, wait, leave it, no I mean here, no I really mean down:)
Bravo! I’m glad you’re seeing some benefits to working with her, because goodness knows you’ve had some frustrations.
We’ve only had two bad rolling-in-things incidents. The first looked innocent enough, until Silas stood up covered with yellow spots. Uh-huh. You people with dark colored dogs just don’t realize what they’re doing. The second was when Silas rolled around ecstatically in some grass that he turned out to be really, really allergic to. In less than a minute his head looked like a cauliflower.
Simple really is better isn’t it? Poor Cali gets “let’s go”, “come on”, “Cali COME”, and various other commands . .it’s a wonder that she responds at all! If you put your hand in a pocket, she is there in a flash! Glad you got a break in the weather! It was 60 when I got up this morning – such a welcome change!!
Awesome! The fact you were able to call her away from something she obviously loves, is a huge step! I can’t even get Shiva to ignore birdseed, not even if I wave around a bag of cheese. You have been working so hard with Delilah and I am so glad you are seeing so much success. Good job.
It really sounds like focusing on the one command is helping move things a long. Congrats! I bet Delilah is going to be as reliable as Sampson off lead before you know it.
Haha I took my boys to dog school 7 years apart with 2 different teachers. I mix up my commands but I figure they are learning more that way! LOL
LOL now we know the key to easy dog training…just one command! LOL But seriously, it really sounds like you have found the key to getting a good recall on Delilah. Not to mention the added benefit of not having to worry about her rolling in something! 🙂
Speaking of words, what was I thinking naming one dog Thund-er and one dog Freight-er. Too many er’s and I am now mixing them up! CRS
I agree Jodi – I get so confused with all the words Mum expects me to know – simply “Good Boy” would do!! Tee Hee
I hope you’re having a fun day,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Wow, calling her away from rolling in stinkies? Impressive.
Simple is good. And we humans so often forget our dogs don’t speak English. I’ve read of dog trainers who try to get other human students in a class to do a behavior just by using names of vegetables. It’s apparently very eye opening to see how hard it is to figure out what someone wants from you when they keep yelling “carrot.”
Reading that made me more impressed than ever what dogs figure out. 🙂
Wow! Well done Delilah! (and Jodi).