TIP #1: FOOD AS A TOOL So many times my clients will ask "so I have to take food on our walks?" Nobody thinks twice when they get out the leash or harness. Unfortunately many use prong or choke collars, too. These are all tools to help us control our dog. So why not think of food as a tool? If that's going to help your dog learn to walk nicely on a leash isn't that a tool? Let's trade those painful collars for a treat bag. Your dog will thank you. TIP #2: HEARING LOSS HELP The thought of a hearing-impaired dog wandering off and not being able to hear your calls is frightening. Here are some things you can do if your dog's hearing isn't what it used to be: 1. Use hand signals. Every time our dogs reach the old-age-can't-hear stage I appreciate having taught them basic hand signals as well as verbal cues. Since dogs communicate primarily through body language, hand signals are easy to teach, especially if you do it when your dog can still hear well. 2. Run interference at home. If you have a multi-dog household, one or more of your other dogs make take offense when your geriatric pal doesn't respond quickly enough to their signals - because he doesn't hear them, and therefore doesn't look and notice their body language. Manage your household to prevent encounters that cause tension due to his lack of hearing and subsequent lack of response. - The Whole Dog Journal
"There is no way I’d be touching a wolf, fox or coyote using the methods I learned back in the 60s and early 70s because if I did, I’d either be dead or they wouldn’t come near me. Dogs and horses are about the only animals that you can punish who will forgive you for it so they seem to take the brunt of it and that’s a shame. Just because you can do it doesn’t make it right." - Ken McCort Today Zoey learned Come When Called. We first played recall games inside, then went
out in the backyard. For an 8-month old, she has a great recall! This is Cooper. He's an 11-month old German Shorthaired Pointer and over the next few weeks he will be learning his manners. TIP #1: DESTRUCTIVE CHEWING If you give your puppy the run of the house and he learns to chew on carpets, sofa cushions, and coffee table legs, you will likely end up with a dog who chooses to exercise his jaws and teeth on inappropriate objects for years to come. You'll find yourself crating him frequently even as an adult dog, or worse, exiling him to a lonely life in the backyard, where he can chew only on lawn furniture, loose fence boards, and the edges of your deck and hot tub. Instead, focus your dog's fangs on approved chew toys at an early age and manage him well to prevent access to your stuff. In this way, he'll earn house privileges much sooner in life. - The Whole Dog Journal TIP #2: BREAK THE CHAIN A behavior chain is an event in which units of behavior occur in sequences and are linked together by learned cues. Behavior chains are needed, say, if you want to train your dog a complex task like getting a beverage out of the frig. But they can also cause problems, too. For instance, if you always ask your dog to sit before you cue him to down, eventually he will 'chain' them together and the Sit cue will cause him to automatically lie down. If you want to break an unwanted behavior chain you could insert a gratuitous pause between the cues/behaviors or, using the Sit/Down example, you could ask your dog to lie down from a standing position. |
AuthorJeff Dentler, CPDT-KA, IAABC-ADT, FFCP, CTDI Archives
April 2024
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