Heart Like a Dog

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

Puppy Steps

By

Delilah and I started our Intermediate Dog Handler Class this past Tuesday.

Never having been there before and not sure of what to expect we arrived a few minutes early.  It worked out great since Delilah didn’t get a chance to tinkle before we left the house.

The class is held at the Community Center, which appears to be a recycled school.  Our class was in what I would consider to be a gym.  The instructions said, drive around back and enter through the double gray doors.

I scoped out the situation and timed our entry so we weren’t walking in with any other dogs.  I never know if Delilah will react or not. 🙁  I choose a spot away from the door and settled down on the inner wall.

If you’ve been following this blog for any period of time you will know one of my many pet peeves is clueless dog people.  Sure enough, safely settled on the far side of the room, in bops an older woman with her King Charles Cavalier Spaniel through the interior doors.

I’m almost certain I heard the words, this isn’t good come out of my mouth.

Thankfully the instructor was right on top of the situation and quickly moved the woman to the other side of the room.

We began by working on wait, using both the hand signal and the verbal cue which we combined with front.   The front command was the release of the wait, and we were told to give the command, hold a treat out in front of us and then pull it into our belly button.  This brought the dog to a sit position right in front of you.

It worked like a charm.  Delilah was amazing working on this command.

Once we had worked on those two commands for a bit, the instructor said we’re going to learn the leave it command.

I think I’ll use your dog, she said as she looked at me.

I know I snickered.

She started with a treat in her hand and placed her hand on the floor, “Leave it” she told Delilah.

Delilah licked the instructor’s hand.

“Ignore the licking” she said, as Delilah began to paw at her hands, “Ignore the pawing” she said.

Delilah rolled over onto her side showing her tummy and pawed with one paw.

The instructor turned her head and said, “Don’t smile or laugh when they do this.”

Finally Delilah sat up and looked the instructor in the eyes.

“Yes!” She was treated from the opposite hand.

Apparently when using the leave it command you are never to give the dog the treat you are asking them to leave.

Good to know.

The whole process took a good minute if not more.  I didn’t have my camera because it was the first night and I wasn’t sure how the instructor would feel about pictures. (But I’ll be sure to ask next week.)

She worked Delilah a couple of times like this and then took her out into the middle of the room and dropped a bunch of treats, “Leave it.”

Delilah almost went for them, but then changed her mind and instead looked up at the instructor.

If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it!

Once I started working her, it took her a minute or so but once she figured it out, she was staring me straight in the eyes  and her look said, I get it. 

When she looks at me like that, I feel like we are a team working towards a common goal.

She worked great the entire class and was perfectly fine until we left and the lady I parked next to came out with her dog.  She lost her mind and started barking and snarling.

I wonder if they have a class for guarding?

I’ll leave you with a picture I took tonight when we were working on our wait/front command in the field.  I’m not brave enough to take her off leash but every time I gave her that front command on our walk, she came back to me!

Puppy steps. 🙂

She is 15 feet away from me here.

Test The Waters

By

When our daughter got married in 2005 she was living in Florida.  To make it easier on us, we rented a house on a canal for two weeks.  The house was lovely with a master suite and bath and it also had an in ground pool.  I made sure dogs were allowed in the pool before I rented it.

The drive down took less time than we expected so we arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday.  The first thing I did after dropping my luggage in the bedroom was to open the slider and jump in the pool.

Sampson was about 15 months old at the time and had never been in a pool.  He had only been exposed to ponds and streams.

Poor baby, he stepped into the pool expecting that there would be earth underneath him and there wasn’t.   He was panicked but luckily we were both there and helped him to the stairs.

It took more than a few days to coax him back in, which my brother-in-law eventually did.  At first he only wanted to be in the pool when one of us was with him.

You won’t let anything bad happen to me, right Dad?

But by the end of the two weeks, he would go in the pool by himself, swim around and climb back out.

The only pool Delilah has been exposed to is my sister’s above ground pool.  It is accessed by a deck attached to the back of their house.  We were there for the 4th of July a few years back and the dogs had a fine time swimming for toys.

Our walking buddy has an in ground pool that the dogs can swim in.  She recently had a major landscaping overhaul done to her back yard and invited us up to see it during one of our walks.

Sampson jumped right in the pool and swam around.

I love a refreshing dip after a nice walk.

I was quite surprised that Delilah refused to go in.  She stood on the edge of the pool but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Come on in Delilah, the water’s great!

I tried to show her where the steps were but I was in full hiking gear and couldn’t get in the pool.  She ran around and around the edge of the pool but couldn’t bring herself to jump in.

Have you seen the video of the dog pawing the water for the toy, because it wants the toy but is afraid to jump in?

She was doing the same thing.

It made me feel sad, because Delilah is the bravest dog I know and I’ve never seen fear hold her back.

I want to, I’m just afraid.

But at the same time, I think a little fear can be a good thing.  It might stop you from jumping in feet first and finding out there is no earth under your feet.

Don’t let your fear hold you back, stick your toe in and test the waters, BEFORE you jump in. 🙂

Just Be The Dog.

What's Right For Your Dog?

By

Today’s post was inspired by my friend Donna over at Donna and the Dogs.

I opened my google reader this morning and was greeted by this, When Did We All Become BAD Dog Owners?

It seems Donna’s been noticing a trend of people (including yours truly) who feel guilty about the amount of exercise their dogs have been (or not been) getting.

I feel like it’s important to know your dog and know what your dog requires for exercise AND to try different things to find the perfect fit.  Not every dog needs the same kind or amount of exercise.

When we got Sampson at eight weeks old, he didn’t get  a lot of exercise.  I started taking him for walks after work but as he got bigger he became more and more of a punk, so I stopped walking him.

We tried to play fetch with him, but it wasn’t his thing.  He would chase the ball once or twice and then lay on it as if to say, I’m done.

He did like puppy play group which took place one day per week, and of course we did the standard obedience training.  That was it.   We had a really laid back, low-key lifestyle and Sampson adjusted to it.

When he was a bit older we started hiking on the weekends and quickly realized this was something he loved.  The hiking stopped for a while when Delilah joined our pack but I’ve recently taken it up again.

What I’ve discovered from Delilah’s addition to our pack is that in terms of quality and quantity of exercise, I have two vastly different dogs.

Sampson really, really loves his walk.  If he never got another lick of exercise in his life as long as he had an off-leash walk he’s quite content.

Delilah LOVES to play fetch in the water and can do it for hours, Sampson hates it.

Delilah is also very happy to take a walk, but she has a different level of energy and she also needs some mental stimulation, which is why I started taking her to agility class.

Sampson HATES agility.

Delilah, I’m not so sure, but I’m working on finding different things to try with her.

I’m always amazed at the dogs participating in our Thursday night agility class.  Last week we had an Alaskan Malamute, an Akita, two Labs, an Australian Shepard, a Pittie mix and two other breeds I’m unsure of.

Two weeks ago, I watched the Pittie’s mom struggle through the course using bits of food for motivation,  it seems Brisco only wanted to play with the squeaky ball.  Sara suggested instead of treats that the mom use the ball as a reward.  Brisco had a much better run.

This past week I happened to be next to her in class and I observed the two of them together, she was still struggling.  This guy has a LOT of energy, he’s actually quite a hoot to watch.   I wondered as I stood there, if maybe agility just wasn’t his thing.

But how do you say that to someone?

When we had each completed our runs I asked her if she had considered fly ball for Brisco or Treibball.  She had never heard of either so I quickly pulled up a Treibball video on youtube and let her check it out and explained as best I could what flyball was.

I don’t ever want to discourage anyone from interacting with their dogs, but I also believe that not all dogs are cut out for all things.  If you find something that your dog loves to do, then you should do it.

It shouldn’t matter if your neighbor next door takes their dog running every morning, it might not be YOUR dog’s thing.

Find something you and your dog both like and do it, don’t worry what anyone else is doing, the important thing is that you are BOTH enjoying it.

Just Be The Dog.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...