Heart Like a Dog

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

Off-Leash Behavior and Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers: Day Two

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Day two of the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers is here.  Don’t worry, I’m going to give you all the information you need for a chance to win another awesome prize, but first I wanted to chat a bit about Delilah’s off-leash behavior in last week’s Nosework Class and some insights I received from our trainer, Arianne.

Free to be me

So you may recall, Delilah loves the nosework game, and she’s very good at it.  Typically I drop the leash when I release her, but seeing as there was only one other team in class last Tuesday I decided to un-clip her leash.  And in that moment, my lovely dog who typically shines in the classroom setting, took off for my trainer’s treat bag.  I called and coaxed and was totally ignored.  So I went to her, clipped her and brought her back to our spot.

Arianne said, “Interesting.”

We decided we will try it again.  And we got the same result.

Arianne said, “Let’s try it with a check cord.”

I revved her up, dropped the cord and off she ran to Arianne’s treats again.

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The next time it was our turn, Arianne suggested I keep hold of the check cord and drop it, IF and ONLY IF Delilah took a step towards the hide.  If Delilah made like she was heading to the treats, I was to step towards the hide, if Delilah responded, I could drop the line.  If Delilah did not, I was not to release her.

This time as she made to head towards Arianne’s treats, I took a step towards the hide and she followed, so I dropped the line.

On our next turn, we removed the check cord and replaced it with what basically amounts to a leash handle.  Just a clip and the handle.  Same deal, if she moves towards the hide I can release her.  This time, she went for the hide.

On our last turn, I removed the leash and kept a hold of her by her collar.  As soon as she indicated she was going for the search, I released her.

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It’s a simple answer.

That was a brief summary of what we did in our class last week.  Are you confused?  Are you wondering just what the connection between Delilah and the un-clipping of the leash is?

It’s the connection.

Simply put, when Delilah is on the leash, she feels like she must engage with me, when I un-clip the leash, in her mind she’s a free dog and no longer “HAS” to engage with me.  Basically the leash keeps us connected and once that connection is lost, Delilah thinks she can do what she wants.

Delilah forgets who her Mama is and how much her Mama likes a challenge.

Arianne and I will continue working on this, and I have hopes that at some point I will indeed be able to trust Delilah off-leash.  Until then, I’m perfectly content to keep her on leash.

Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers

Win custom printed dog themed wrapping paper from Gift Skinz in the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Giveaway Event It’s time for the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers hosted by Kol’s Notes, Heart Like a Dog, My Brown Newfies, My GBGV Life & Terrier Torrent! 24 giveaways in 24 days, plus a grand prize worth more than $800 – who wants to win? Today’s giveaway is sponsored by artist Gift Skins. You could win custom printed wrapping paper featuring your favourite furball. Click here to check out the Advent Calendar and enter today’s giveaway!

December 1, 2013-The Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers and You Make Me Smile

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Holy Woof, can you believe it’s already December 1st?   I for one am super excited, because December 1st means one thing and that is the 1st day of 24 days of awesome!  Yes, one of the biggest blogging events of my year is here!!

Before I give you all the links I wanted to share my “You Make Me Smile” photo.

Delilah - Lolly Delilah, when you insist on being a lap dog, even with company, you make me smile.

I took this photo yesterday morning as my sister and I were sitting having coffee.  Delilah frequently climbs up on Hubby’s lap on the couch, but I was quite surprised (as was my sister) when she made herself at home on my sister’s lap.

She is a silly, lovable lab. And she makes me smile.  Your turn, what do your dogs do that make you smile?

So now without further ado, here is all the information you’ll need to enter today’s drawing.

Win a whimsical, modern custom art piece of your pet from AJ Emm in the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Giveaway Event It’s time for the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers hosted by Kol’s Notes, Heart Like a Dog, My Brown Newfies, My GBGV Life & Terrier Torrent! 24 giveaways in 24 days, plus a grand prize worth more than $800 – who wants to win? Today’s giveaway is sponsored by artist AJ Emm. You could win a whimsical modern custom art piece of your pet. Click here to check out the Advent Calendar and enter today’s giveaway!

Follow – Up Friday, November 29, 2013

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-up Friday, the blog hop that wraps up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop

Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop

 

This week I’m flying solo, so let’s get right to it.

Where have you been?

So it’s a mixed bag of nuts.  Some of your dogs wait up and some don’t.  Just like mine.  One waits, the other does not.  Maybe Delilah is just warming the bed for me?  Yeah, I’ll go with that. 🙂

Strange Doin’s

You guys are so kind, but it’s the hair, definitely the hair.  I almost never have a frown on my face. But when I do, well I probably resemble him more.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 

Genevieve said, “Were the kids dressed up like Pilgrims?”

No.  The young man we met had a nice shirt, pants and tie along with a hat, while some of the girls were dressed in gowns/fancy dresses and one young woman looked like something from a Dickens play!

And you’re welcome.  I know most of you left here singing, “I’m Mister Heat Miser, I’m Mister Sun.”  LOL and if you didn’t then well you will now. 😉

Thanksgiving Treats

Well first off the dog’s treats.  I used roughly two large apples, a quarter cup (or less) of oat flour and a good shake of cinnamon.

For our apple crisp I was looking to incorporate some pecans in the crumble part.  Here’s a picture of the finished crisp.  I will give the entire recipe and how I did it in a future post.

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And if any of you tried this recipe, I’d love to hear what you thought.  Hubby who loves his dessert says this has to rate right up there in the top ten.  It’s very tasty.

Oz said, “I need to share this recipe with my Aunt who has Celiac and must be gluten-free! She gets upset around the holidays because of all the tasty desserts and treats that she cannot have.”

I hope she tried it Oz, I know how hard it can be, especially around the holidays!

Jan K asked, “Does it have to be almond flour or could I use another kind?”

I imagine the almond flour is probably the best IF you are making it Gluten Free.  Some of the GF flours have very strong tastes, so I suggest either the almond or oat flour.  IF you want to make it and aren’t worried about gluten you could probably just use regular flour.

Class Clown

Kristine said, “Wow, if I didn’t know better, I would wonder if Delilah had been conversing with Shiva.”

That wouldn’t be the first time this thought had crossed my mind Kristine.  I’ve often wondered if they weren’t somehow related. 🙂

 Donna asked, “Did you mention to Arianne that Delilah is a LAB? LOL!”

Oh yes Donna, that came up. 🙂

While I think there is an entire post on this topic, I will say this.  Delilah running off really had nothing to do with the food.  How’s that for a tantalizing hint? LOL



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