Let your dog do tricks more often!

When Suzie first came to live with us, she was the only one - so I could spend a lot of time teaching her silly things like roll over and play dead and crawl. She also got really good at balancing a treat on her nose and waiting until I gave the signal to toss it in the air and catch it.

But when you get 3 dogs in the house, it becomes more difficult. They distract each other, and my little Pepper starts to bark at the top of his lungs. I don't know what it is with him - any time someone else gets attention, he barks. You have to tell him to come over for some attention of his own.

Anyway, last night everyone went out for their evening potty run, and Suzie came in first. I asked her if she wanted to play until the others came in, and she got so excited she didn't know what to do first!

We did the treat balancing thing, and then moved to the carpet where she could lay down more comfortably. (Aren't I silly?) As soon as I told her to lay down, she started laying down, almost playing dead, rolling over, and crawling all at the same time. It took me a couple minutes of telling her to pay attention before she'd calm down enough to do one thing at a time.

Did I feel guilty? You bet. I should be playing with her like that every day because she enjoys it so much. Now the trick will be to send Pepper and Ralph somewhere else without them getting their feelings hurt...

Obedience training: Start early!

Puppies are so sweet and playful - it's easy to forgive just about anything they do.

But failure to teach them manners from the start is not doing them a favor - in fact, it's the reason that so many young dogs end up in shelters. What was adorable in a ten pound puppy is obnoxious in a 40 pound "teen" and even worse in a 60 pound adult dog.

So begin teaching that puppy right away. His attention span will be short at first, but just keep working on it.

In my opinion, the first thing to teach is "come" and the next is "leave it." Both are easier to teach on leash, but you can do it with a dog who is loose in the house with you.

Start by always using the dog's name when you want his attention. When you say the name and he gives you his attention, administer a small treat and praise him. Then proceed to calling him from across the room. With a leash you can give a little tug toward you. But always remember to use his name along with "come."

Give more treats, and more praise, saying "good come." Just saying "good dog" won't get the job done, because he won't associate the praise with the verbal command.

"Leave it" takes a bit of patience, because you never know when he's going to get into something he shouldn't. You can set up "obstacles" if you're on leash, however. Then just pull him away from it while saying his name and "leave it."

In the house, if you see him getting into something, go pick him up and take him away from it while telling him the command. Before long, when you say those words, he should stop in his tracks and/or drop whatever he's picked up.

Your tone of voice plays a role too. I remember being in obedience class and seeing some people who just couldn't get their dogs to respond. Most of them used little polite voices when giving commands - and that doesn't work. You don't want to yell at your dog, but you do want to sound firm - authoritative, even.

I'm not quite sure what you do about a puppy getting into things when you aren't there to stop him. Somehow I think the best idea is to move temptation out of reach. After all, a puppy is still a puppy, and curious about everything in his environment.

My neighbor is head over heels in love with his puppy, and up until today was forgiving of her every error. But today he forgot to pick up his toys before he went outside... and came back in to find the remote control chewed up.

He's a bit upset with his darling - you know how men are about the remote control!

Fearful owners = frightening dogs!

Yesterday a friend and I went horseback riding.

On the way back we met a man and a beautiful German Shepherd on the path, and the dog looked none too friendly. It's hard to describe his body language, but it was threatening. The man with him recognized that and reached for the dog's collar - whereupon the dog whirled around and snapped at him!

The man jumped back and made no further attempt to contain the dog, so I put my palm toward him and told him to stay back (in my sternest deepest voice) and then eased slowly past him. My friend did much the same and we got safely by.

I really wanted to go back after we put the horses away and suggest that the man and the dog should be at an obedience class - because if he's allowed to continue that behavior, he really might hurt someone. Maybe even his owner.

The dog definitely had the upper hand in that relationship, and had he decided to come after the horses, I don't think any commands from his owner would have made any difference at all.

It's a shame - he's a beautiful animal.

Yours for happy and safe canine companions,
Marte

Step #1 in Dog Obedience Training

This will sound so simple that you'll wonder why I'm telling you - or maybe not.

When we started classes, the first thing our instructor had us do was begin conditioning our dogs to stop and look at us when we spoke their names. We were to choose one name and use it consistently.

None of this stuff like I do now with Suzie. I call her Suzanna, Suzie Q, Sue, and Sue-Bell - and now that she's grown, she knows those are all her names. But we started with Suzie in class.

We were to use their names first before giving any command, so that they knew the words were directed to them. Later on you can yell "Leave it" and all of your dogs should respond at the same time, because they know those words are always for them. (If you forget and use the same command when your toddler is reaching for your new crystal vase, your dog will get confused!)

In order to reinforce the idea that your dog should give you attention every time you speak his or her name, you give a little treat when you get that attention immediately.

Our trainer recommended spending time at home on this - keep a few treats in a pocket and hand them out every time you call the dog's name and get immediate response.

Remember that the dogs are used to you talking all the time - and most of the time you're talking to someone else. If you say their name first and they pay attention, then they'll know what you're about to say is for them.

Unless you use their names first, please don't expect them to know that you're telling them to "come" when you've been saying that to the kids all day. (Just think how many times you say things like "come wash your hands," "come to the table," "come see what's outside," "come say Hi to Grandma," etc. etc. etc.)

Yours for happy dogs,
Marte