Heart Like a Dog

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

I Said No…Day Two Hundred, Eighty Five

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There are a lot of people who work with dogs, who will tell you not to use the word “No” with your dog.

I’m not one of them.

For me “No” is the same things as “ACK” which is a word (sound really) designed to deter your dog from whatever naughty thing they are doing.   It’s a marker really, similar to a clicker which reinforces positive behavior; “No” is a marker which says “that’s not a good choice,” “stop doing that” “look at me for direction.”

I use “No” a lot.

Especially with Delilah.

“No” (when I can tell she’s thinking of taking off on me during our walk.)

“No” (that’s not where you are supposed to be, when I am working in the kitchen and she is under my feet.)

“No” (those dishes are in the dishwasher to be washed not licked clean by you.)

“No” (get your nose of the counter.)

No is a very good marker if it makes your dog stop and look to you for direction.

This afternoon after our walk Sampson went outside to cool off in the pool.

I was in the bedroom and I heard the screen door shut and I knew he was coming into the house soaking wet.  I ran to the closet for a towel and as I did so I saw him step into the house; I said “No, stop.”

I didn’t even say his name, just “No, stop.”

He was waiting for me when I got to him with the towel.

No is a word you can use with your dog.

The Power of Positive Reinforcement…Day Two Hundred, Eighty One

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Today Hubby came with us on our walk, I was a bit nervous because he tends to be very critical of my training methods. Hubby doesn’t believe the dogs should have treats every time they come up to me.  I feel if they get a treat every time they come to me, it reinforces that good things happen when they are around me.

I’m still not really sure if I should give them treats if they come to me on their own accord, but that’s what I’ve been doing and it seems to be working.  The thing I’m finding about using positive reinforcement during our hikes is there are certain food items that are more valuable than others.

So far I’ve used a bunch of different treats, People Crackers, Hot Dogs, Roast Beef, Freeze-Dried Salmon, Ground Beef and Duck that looks like a really long, really fat Slim Jim.  By far the treat that works best for Delilah is Roast or Ground Beef.  She would get about 50 feet away from me, turn around to look at me and if I gave her the slightest bit of encouragement, back she came.   Every time.

I still have her on the check cord which also seems to be working well for her.  Today we walked close by the area she is prone to taking off in.  She turned and took a few steps in the wrong direction and we called her back and she came!

Our walk was cut short because it started raining really hard, but I wanted to reward her for being such a good girl (and also help tire her out a bit) so we had a quick came of fetch in the field.

Wet but happy.

This is a blogpaws blog hop, you can get your code here http://www.blogpaws.com/2011/09/wordless-wednesday-some-reasons-to-get-your-2012-blogpaws-ticket-early.html

Happy Labor Day….Day Two Hundred, Seventy Nine

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Today is Labor Day, which means we had a three-day weekend.  Whooo Hoooo!  It turned out to be pretty good.

Since Delilah ran off on me a couple of times last week, I’ve had her on the thirty foot leash.  This made me hesitant to take them hiking in the woods, I was a bit nervous she would run off and snag herself on something.  So early Saturday morning I took Sampson and Delilah up to the field to play with a bumper.

Delilah was so cute, she took the bumper and it was almost as if she were flirting with Sampson, she ran up to him and pushed the bumper at him then ran away, but she looked over her shoulder at him.  I got my phone out in enough time to get a quick video.

After our walk, my daughters and I took my grandchildren to the local Farm Day, where my grandson got to do a lot of bouncing in the bounce houses.  Then my daughter, niece and a bunch of friends went to NYC to see the Harry Potter Exhibition.  After the exhibit we went to dinner at Hard Rock Cafe and then caught the 10:20 train back to CT.  After dropping everyone off, I got home about 1:45 am.  The dogs didn’t care, they were still up at 6:00 am yesterday.

Yesterday was tough, I finally got my butt off the couch and went grocery shopping, then called my walking bud to see if she and Brady were free.  As luck would have it, she also had Kodak and so the six of us set out walking; in the woods.

Delilah did amazing!  It is almost like she likes having the leash attached.  Even my WB said she’s like a different dog, much calmer and more relaxed.  She did get stuck one time, but we were right there and I untangled her.  She never went too far from us, and a couple of times she looked like she wanted to go, but she returned to us every time we called her.

After our wood hike we went to the field to let them run and play a little.  Two interesting things happened here.  1) While I was giving all the dogs a bit of roast beef, Sampson snapped at Kodak.  This took me completely by surprise, because he has never been a dog that had food issues.  My WB seems to think that Kodak is a dominant dog and Sampson was putting him in his place but it did give me a little concern.  It happened with Kodak and roast beef again today; so I’m wondering if she might be right because so far it only seems to happen with Kodak.

The second interesting thing that happened yesterday was while Delilah, Brady and Kodak were playing in the stream.  Sampson was hanging with WB and me watching the dogs play.  Kodak was trying to mount Delilah and she was doing a mighty fine job of letting him know it wasn’t happening; when all of a sudden Sampson took off after them and chased Kodak off!  He has never done that before either, and I’m not really sure what that was about but it made think that he does care about her (in whatever way dogs care about each other) and wants to protect her.

Today was another day I felt very lazy but I did manage to get some vacuuming and laundry done and the dogs and I got another walk in, we cut through the woods on a deer path and Brady found a tree that is formed so water is caught in it.

Doesn’t it look like his head is stuck?

But the best thing of all happened early this afternoon.  I got a text from Sara letting me know the training center is opening TOMORROW!  So Sampson and Delilah are back at daycare tomorrow.  I know they will be so excited to go.

So how was your weekend?  Did you do anything fun?

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