Heart Like a Dog

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

Training, training, training…Day One Hundred and Twenty One

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Yesterday after I posted my blog, one of my friends left me a comment on my facebook page asking if I wanted to come and train her dogs.  Of course I would love to!  But at the moment finances prevent that.  The fact of the matter is that my dogs are fairly well-trained, but we are constantly, constantly training them.

This doesn’t mean that we do nothing but train our dogs; what it does mean is that when we are in the kitchen cooking something and the dogs are hanging around, we make them sit.  While we are preparing our plates, they are on their mats in the living room in a down position (at least Sampson is.)  When we are on the trail, we will call them to us and have them sit.  When someone comes to the door we (try) to have them sit at the top of the stairs to allow our guests inside.  Practicing your commands is also good if you are struggling with training your dog to do something in particular.

One of my friends has a dog that jumps on them, specifically when the dog wants to go out and they are trying to rise from their chairs.  I suggested she have the dog sit while she attempts to rise; if the dog jumps up, then my friend should sit back down and repeat her command.  Trust me; it won’t take long for the dog to realize “Hey…this isn’t working for me.”

Case in point, Delilah is a jumper, normally she doesn’t jump on people but when she gets excited (like when we are feeding her or coming to the door to let her inside) she jumps up and down like a Jack Russell Terrier!  Truthfully, we think its funny because she bounces backwards when we are bringing her food to her; but it really irritates me at the door, so I’ve started making her sit when I start to open the door.  If she starts jumping, I bring my hand back to my side and wait until she sits and then we try again.  I did this for about a week and this morning; she sat while I opened the door.

In my opinion, training is physically as well as mentally stimulating to your dog; and they should be stimulated both mentally and physically.  Besides…the more you train them the better they listen. Then in an emergency situation when you say, “Come” or “Sit” it will be automatic for your dog, and less stress on you.

That's right, I'm sitting; you got something to say about it?

Practice what you preach…(Day One Hundred and Eighteen)

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Back a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog about dogs and new experiences, today I had to practice what I preached.  We headed out on the trail after work and had just jumped off the main trail onto the orange trail; the dogs were racing ahead of me and I heard a strange noise behind me.  Naturally I turned, and saw two bicyclists heading down the way we had just come.  I figured we were safe. Wrong!  The bicyclists  turned onto the yellow trail and crossed directly in front of us on the orange trail! 

We’ve encountered bicyclists before on the rails to trails; which is more of a flat, well-worn trail; but it never even dawned on me that people might actually take their mountain bikes into the woods!  So I called the dogs to me and after a tense moment when I thought one or the other of them were going to take off after the bicycles; the bicyclists had passed.  I turned around and headed back the way we had come to try to make sure that we didn’t run into them again.  I diverted their attention by taking them on a new trail; where they had lots of new scents and places to explore.

I’m not really sure how I should prepare the dogs for encountering bicycles on the trail; but I need to pay attention and be aware of what goes on around me; I need to work on getting the dogs to return to me regardless of where we are or what they are doing. 

Investigating a new smell.

If I could talk to the animals…(Day One Hundred and Seventeen)

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Vernon had a Health Fair today.  I started out at the table for the Vernon Trails system and had a lovely discussion with the Scott and a lovely older woman.  I expressed my desire for dog friendly trails where my sweeties could run off leash. 🙂

 I was excited to attend the fair as there were a number of workshops I wanted to participate in.  One of these workshops was “Creating a Bridge Between People and Animal” by Deborah Ravenwood.  If you haven’t guessed it; the workshop was about communicating with your animals.  By taking this workshop I discovered that a lot of the communication is really just speaking to your pet and trying to envision communicating your message.

When I got home I had a few chores to take care of before I could leave to take the dogs on their walk.  One of the tasks was cutting up and packaging the dogs raw meat for the week, naturally I had two very interested onlookers.  Sampson is very good (of course) and usually lies somewhere in the kitchen or right outside, Delilah on the other hand likes to be right at my heels; licking the floors and cabinets and waiting for me to drop something.  I decided I would try my new-found communications skills.

I walked Delilah over to the edge of the kitchen and said, “Delilah, I promise if you sit here until I am finished, I will let you lick the spoon.”  Then I walked back to the task at hand.  Five minutes later, she was STILL sitting there!  I was finished and so I let her lick the spoon. OMG!

I tried this again while I was doing dishes.  I brought her to the same spot and said, “Delilah if you sit here until I am done with the dishes, I will give you a cookie.”  She sat for a minute and then moved over into the spot that Sampson usually occupies, but she sat until I was done.  (Except for a quick relapse when I opened the cabinet to throw out the garbage, she rose and I said, “AICK” and she sat back down.)

Delilah sitting and waiting for her cookie.

She sat until I was done and then I gave her three green beans!  Of course when I left the kitchen she went in and licked the floor, cabinets and oven.

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