Heart Like a Dog

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

I Hear You…Day Three Hundred, Three

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I hear you, I really do.

Okay, technically I can’t really hear you, but I read what you write in the comments and I mull them over in my head and then implement your suggestions.

Savy?

Example: I’ve written about how frustrated I’ve been with Delilah and her inability/unwillingness to “down.”  I threw it out to Blogville (I’ve changed it from Blogland to Blogville because I think it sounds cozier; like a small community.) 🙂 Anyway, I digress.  I read your thoughts and suggestions and decided I’ve become too complacent with my dogs.

When we first started training Sara always used to say, “You want this treat?” “What are you going to do for me?” I’ve kind of forgotten that.  But in the last couple of days your comments and suggestions has helped it to resurface.

I decided to really focus on the “down” command.

Let’s forget Sampson for a moment, honestly that guy is so well mannered as soon as a plate comes out of the cabinet he goes to his place.  If his mat isn’t down, he will go to Delilah’s mat.  Yes, for right now we will be focused on Delilah.

I bring the dogs to their mats and tell them “down,” I will only say it once.  If Delilah won’t “down” immediately I will sit and wait until she does.  I tell her to “stay” and I hold my hand out in front of me like I was telling someone to stop.  I wait a few seconds and slowly back away holding my hand out the entire time.  (She usually moves a little bit closer but will normally stay in the general area.)

For the past two days, I’ve been having her “down” before I feed her.  I bring her dish to her and I make her “down” and wait until I release her.   Tonight at obedience class, she went into most of her “downs” rather easily.  I was quick to praise with a stroke of her head and a really happy “Good Girl!” I did use treats BUT not every single time.

Around 9:00 pm Delilah let me know it was snack time; normally the dogs follow me into the kitchen and watch me get their treats dancing and prancing the entire time. Tonight I decided Delilah could “down” on her mat and wait for me to bring it to her.

Guess what?

Yup, she stayed in her down when I went to get the treat!

So a great giant THANK YOU to all of you who give me comments, make me think and generally support me on a daily basis.   I do appreciate you.  And yes, I am writing to YOU!

K-9 Kamp….Day Three Hundred, Two

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Tonight ends week three of K-9 Kamp hosted by Koly and Kelly; I thought week two was hard.  PHEW!! We did much better last week than we did this week.

I did try to play tug with Delilah, the rope toys didn’t interest her at all, then I found the rubber chicken and squeak, squeak, squeaked it.

She grabbed hold of the chicken and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and pulled!   She pulled me over.  And this is the REAL reason I don’t play tug with the dogs; I laugh too much.  She pulls so hard, that she pulls me over and I laugh so much that I can’t keep playing.

Eventually Sampson will want a piece of the action; he will grab hold of the chicken and try to take it away, sometimes they tug for a bit and sometimes he just grabs the toy and starts running like a crazy dog.

It’s best if I just stay out of their way! They don’t care who/what they hit when they start wrestling!

It may take the rest of kamp to complete THIS challenge!

 

Follow-up Friday….Day Two Hundred, Ninety Seven

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For those of you new to this blog, I like to follow-up on Fridays with any updates or thoughts from the previous week.

Blogland Help – Update

Thank you everyone that wrote in with suggestions for Laura and how to introduce/deal with two dogs.

This was listed on Laura’s Facebook page on Wednesday.

“It’s official.  We are now the proud parents of TWO dogs.  Vet says she’s healthy, a little over a year old and who knows what she is.  Mixed Breed is what they say – she’s 41 lbs and probably won’t get much bigger.  She has her appt to get spayed and chipped and her name is Ginger.  I have to say that since I’ve been home, for some ODD reason I want to keep calling her Fern. ??????? It took FOREVER to get her in the car and now she likes it so much it’s hard to get her out. :D”

The Vet also said that Ginger’s milk is dried up, so the puppies may have been gone for a while.   No ideas of where they went.

I Feel Lost – Author’s Note

Monday started off really bad, I hadn’t gotten much sleep and as is usually the case, it makes your tolerance level much lower.    The good news was that Delilah DID come back from her romp and we were all safe.

Tomorrow IS Another Day – Update

As I said Monday started off bad, but the good news is on Tuesday I had lots of positive comments and support, which helped bolster my resolve.  I also checked out one of the clicker training websites in my area and chatted online with the trainer for a few minutes.  She gave me some tips to help with some of the behaviors I want to focus on and I plan on budgeting in at least one session with her in October, to help get me started.

I am really excited to learn clicker training because I really want to teach a clicker class at The Mellow Mutt.

Delilah’s exuberance and excitement for life is something amazing to behold and I by no means want her to lose that, I just want to make sure she is safe.

What’s In YOUR Kong – Author’s Note

I was inspired by all of you who wrote in telling me what was in your dog’s Kongs.  I got some great ideas to fill the Kongs with.  Plus ideas about having more than one stuffable toy or making a bunch at once.  Last night the dogs got green beans, carrots and cheese in their Kongs. 😉

Our week started out rocky, but we rocked our week.  Hope you did too.

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