Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Dog training and positive reinforcement (Day One Hundred and Three)

By

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the key to training a dog is repetition.  Remember when you were learning your multiplication tables in school, you repeated it over and over again.  1 x 1 is 1; 1 x 2 is 2. It works the same way for dogs, thankfully they don’t have to learn multiplication though!

Finding the right dog trainer is imperative to the health and well-being of your pet; when you are searching for a dog trainer, many people forget about themselves.  Finding a dog trainer that you are comfortable with and you can work with, is equally as important for you and your dog.  Let me be very clear, I will not do anything with/to my dog that I think is wrong, or that I am not comfortable with.  Even if you have never had a dog before, if you think it is wrong or will hurt your dog either physically or mentally, don’t do it.

When we first started obedience class with Sampson at 1st Command Dog Training, there were two trainers; Chris and Sara, by chance we got Sara and am I ever so grateful for that.  Not that Chris is a bad trainer, but Chris is a very strong, determined woman and coincidentally so am I.  Chris will say, “You need to do XYZ for that dog;” but that doesn’t work for me.   Once she told me I might want to try Sampson on a low-calorie dog food;  I looked her dead in the face and said, “I don’t want to.”  The girls in the shop were giddy after that confrontation and it took a while for Chris to even look at me again.

Sara on the other hand will say, would you like to try a choke collar on Sampson (no, I would not, I do not like choke chains.)  Sara will let it rest, Sara is also open to hearing what I have to say and actually considering it.  She also doesn’t mind if I try different training methods that she is not teaching.  Such as the positive treat reinforcement I am currently working with Delilah on.

Thursday night as we were driving home after obedience class, Chet said maybe on Sunday we can take the dogs down to Valley Falls and try them off leash.  I have been sick about it ever since.  I don’t really think he gets the concept of off leash, he wants the dogs to stay within about five feet of him the entire time; when they run farther ahead, he calls them back and if they don’t come he keeps calling, I can hear the anxiety in his voice and I’m sure the dogs can too.   However, I really did want to get them out today, so I packed my pocket full of dried chicken and grabbed what was left of the roast beef and we walked up the street to the park.

As we exited the driveway, we noticed a small group of four kids heading up the street to the park; the pain in my stomach intensified.  We got to the park, let the dogs off leash and began our trek in; two of the girls ran past us.  My dogs did not chase them.  That was incredible!  The last time someone ran past us on the trail, Delilah ran after the poor kid; who kept looking behind her as she ran, all the while I’m shouting, “She won’t hurt you!”

The kids went straight up the path into the field, so we banged a right and headed up the other side and to the trails; just as we took a left to head into the really wooded area; a man and woman with two labs (a chocolate and a black) came down the hill.  Naturally the dogs have to greet each other, thankfully for us their dogs were off leash as well and as it turned out, Sampson, Delilah and I had met the dad previously.  It went fairly well until they departed down the hill and we headed into the woods; Delilah went with them.  I called her and I kept walking, but she didn’t come, just as I turned around and headed back, here she comes!   

We hiked through the woods and as we were approaching the field, we could see two of the kids on a rock in the woods; Chet heeled Sampson and I clipped Delilah on the leash just to be sure we wouldn’t have anymore mishaps.  Once we got out into the field we could see that the kids had now all come together and were sitting in the middle of the field, since we usually walk the perimeter I let Delilah off leash again.  The dogs did amazing; I said to Chet, “I’m almost afraid to say it for fear of jinxing us, but I’m pleased that the dogs are ignoring the kids.”  Indeed they were, they simply ran along the edges of the field, sometimes venturing gently into the woods, but staying right where they needed to be.

As we exited the park, I asked Chet, “So how do you think she did?” 

His response?  “Awesome.”

Dogs and Children (Day One Hundred and Two)

By

A number of years ago, Hubby and I went to a house party; the hosts were people we use to bowl with but didn’t see frequently; in my opinion we didn’t have a lot in common, but Hubby wanted to go, so I went.  I wasn’t having a particularly fun time, but Hubby was so we stayed; because it was a birthday party there was a keg and one of the things that really bothered me about this, was that some people had their children there.

For the most part the kids were inside the house, while the adults were outside but the host’s dog was also inside the house, and there was no adult supervision in there.  Sometime after midnight, a four-year old boy just about had his face ripped off by the dog, of course no-one actually knows what happened because they were all outside and most of them were drunk.  Seeing as I hadn’t been drinking, I offered to drive the mother and son to the hospital.  I cannot remember how many stitches that child had in his face, (I did see him a few years later and there was no scarring)  but I do remember that the dog was destroyed.

The memory of that boy and dog has haunted me for a while, which is why whenever there are children around my dogs, I am right there too.   I do not want  to place my dogs in a position where they feel threatened and feel the need to defend themselves.  I am also conscious of teaching the children who are around my dogs, to be kind to my dogs and treat them with respect.

Today my little grandson was over and Delilah had a spurt of energy and wanted to play with the ball, naturally my grandson who just turned three wants to throw the ball. I will not allow him to take the ball from Delilah, instead I sit on the floor with them and act as the intermediary;  when Delilah is ready to relinquish the ball, I hand it to my grandson and he can throw the ball.  In my opinion, this is a win-win situation, I get to spend time with my grandson and my dog, and I am teaching my grandson to respect animals.

Positive Reinforcement (Day One Hundred and One)

By

Last night at obedience class I decided to try something new with Delilah; she is highly motivated by food so I filled my pocket with dried chicken and off we went.  I am very glad I did.  We had a full class with a couple of new people and dogs; and there are a number of very BIG dogs, one of the big dogs (Gunner, a Giant Schnauzer) has a tendency to “punk” the other dogs.  Simply stated this means, he will lunge at another dog while he is growling.   This scares me because he is a very big dog; and if he “punks” Delilah, she will go right back at him; generally his parents are right on top of it and rein him in, but it still worries me.  I try not to be positioned next to Gunner.

This is a Giant Schnauzer, look where his head is.

There are a couple of other dogs that tend to get aggressive on their leads and that is why they are at class, to learn how to behave around other dogs; one of these dogs is Zoe.  Zoe’s mom Marcy admits to being nervous with Zoe and her aggressiveness, so she has her on a gentle leader.  (If you are unfamiliar with a gentle leader it fits around the dogs muzzle and is designed to keep the dog from pulling, it is also supposed to make it easier for you to make corrections with your dog.)   

Last night one of the new dogs that came in was Vinnie, I thought Gunner was big but Vinnie is enormous, he is an English Mastiff and has to weigh at least 150 pounds!  I saw Vinnie coming in and I positioned me and Delilah between Chet and Sampson and Zoe and Marcy.  Vinnie didn’t seem at all aggressive but we had a huge class and moving room was tight.

An English Mastiff, now look where his head is!

While we were in a sit, Zoe punked Delilah, and this is the best part, Delilah did nothing!  Marcy was puzzled because neither one of us saw what prompted Zoe to do this, then Zoe did it again and again neither one of us saw what prompted it; but this time Delilah responded.  Since they were both on leash, it was very quickly under control.

Sara decided we were going to do weaves, so we had to put our dogs in a “sit” while we took turns walking our dog around the room and weaving in and out between the dogs.  I was a little anxious about all these dogs walking so close to Delilah and so I took one of the treats out of my pocket, held it in my hand and placed my hand down near her mouth.  Immediately she started licking at and nibbling the treat, she was so engrossed with my hand and what was inside it; that she paid not one bit of attention to any of the dogs walking around her!  Our turn to walk came, (we were last) and we passed with flying colors! 

Now Sara had us repeat the exercise with our dogs in a “down” position; Delilah’s eyes were fastened on my hand, which was in my pocket.  I would pull a treat out, she would lick and nibble, then I would wait a few seconds and pull another one out and so we managed to make it through the weaves with no incidents on our part.  For the rest of the class, Delilah’s eyes were on my pocket and nothing else, the only problem was she was so obsessed with the treat, that she kept walking around behind me to see if I had something in my other hand!

Sometimes when the class is large, some of the people make a second circle, inside the outer one and they work their dogs in there.  This is really a great exercise for the aggressive dogs because they not only have dogs in front and behind them, but dogs will be passing them on the side. After the weaves were done, Sara worked Zoe in the middle of the ring.  Chet and I happened to be in the outer ring and Sara noticed that Zoe was only tugging when she came near Sampson and Delilah.  Sara seems to think Zoe is becoming comfortable with us and our dogs, Sara thinks this is good and perhaps there will be a time when we can let Sampson, Delilah and Zoe off leash together.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...