Heart Like a Dog

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

Does Anybody Rally Know What Time It Is?

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Delilah and I started a new class.

Rally.

I’ve heard so many people tell me how easily I could Title Delilah in the sport of Rally.  Let me go on the record as saying Delilah could probably Title in Rally, I just wonder if I’m the right person for the job.

I’m not just self-deprecating (VBP.) Have you ever looked at a Rally sign?

                        

     

Those are just a few of the NOVICE signs.

WTF?

The first night of class I stood and stared at the top two for about five minutes trying to figure out just exactly what I was supposed to do.

Delilah was no help, she was raiding the treat bag while I was reading.

Arianne came over to help us out and it took me most of the class to really get it.

We practiced heeling and stopping.  When I’m heeling my dog and I stop, I expect my dog to sit.

And she does, she just sits in such a manner that her body is turned so she’s facing me.  She’s not sitting by my side.

I asked Arianne how to fix that.

IMG_3803 There’s a trick to this folks.

And the trick is this.  Some of us (ME) keep our treats close to our sides because we want a nice close heel with our dogs, which is why Delilah tends to be facing me when I stop.

In order to correct this, when you stop, you actually move your treat hand away from your body, this will automatically correct the sit.

I kid you not.

IMG_3804 Notice how my hand is a good distance from my body.

The other thing I’ve been doing incorrectly is holding the leash in my left hand.  You probably already know this, but humor me for a minute, you actually have better control of your dog with your leash in the opposite hand of the side you are heeling on.

Why?

Because if I’m heeling my dog on the left with the leash in my left hand and my dog decides to lunge, my right hand has a way to go in order to grab the leash.  If my leash is in my right hand and my dog lunges my left hand is already there and can quickly reach out and assist my right hand.

See why I think Delilah is doomed?  I don’t even know the proper way to hold her leash, how can I give her the proper signals and set her up to succeed?

We’re participating in the Vocabulary Building Project blog hop, hosted by Texas, A Cat in New York, Savannah’s Paw Tracks, and Hey It’s Jet Here.

Check out the other participating blogs and see how you can increase your vocabulary.

Author’s Note: The rally photos are taken from a handout I received from my trainer, they are AKC registered and available on their website.

If I Could Turn Back Time

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January is train your dog month over at Something Wagging This Way Comes, Pamela has turned this into a blog hop so we can share tricks and tips on how we’re training our dogs.

In one of my recent comments I told Pamela I was training my dogs to do nothing, an idea I got from Kirsten at Peaceful Dog. 🙂

IMG_3190

We’re making great progress.

All kidding aside, how do you find the time to train your dog(s)?  Sometimes I feel like I barely have time to sleep, never mind train my dogs. (I need a timeturner, I really do.)

Yes, it’s true I do try to keep Delilah in a class at least one day a week, and trust me it’s as much for me as it is for her, but what about training at home?

Many times it doesn’t seem like I even have five minutes to set aside for training, which is why we work on our foundation skills.  As Kristine says, “Foundation training.  It never gets old.”

Yup, even though we aren’t learning anything new, we’re reinforcing what we already know.

IMG_3861 Sits are perfect to work on while we wait for dinner.

IMG_3007 Delilah who struggles with her Downs, practices them in the bathroom in the mornings.

Noticed how relaxed Sampson is....Delilah will never do that.

Down stays are also practiced during our evening meal.

Leave It’s are reinforced when we drop something and Waits are practiced at exits and entrances.

While technically we’re not learning anything new, we are working on and reinforcing the commands we already know.

For me, Sits, Waits and Leave It’s are very important commands for your dog to know and know well.  Any one of them could save your dog’s life in an emergency.

Since Delilah is not always 100% on her recall, if I can stop her from running off by having her sit, I win and maybe save her life in the process.

How do you find the time to train your dog?  What foundation commands do you feel are necessary?

(We are working on a training skill for this challenge, more on that later this month.)

I Know You’re a Lab

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Thank you all for the suggestions you left in the comments regarding how to handle the situation with the dogs (mostly Sampson) and the new puppy.  Besides asking for your thoughts, I reached out to a fellow blogger experienced in fostering and introducing new dogs.  I will write more about this in my Follow-Up Friday post, but I will tell you we are managing with crates and gates. 🙂

Back before Delilah joined our pack, Hubby, Sampson and I hiked together every weekend.  One of our favorite spots was the local reservoir.  You may remember I posted some beautiful foliage pictures from it back in October.

Our local reservoir.

Our local reservoir.

 

To take the dog’s minds off the puppy invading their territory, Hubby and I decided to take them to the reservoir as there are some really nice hiking trails over there.

I had Delilah on the long leash to start, as the reservoir is bordered on the front side by a very busy road.  There are also some houses along one side and I wanted to make sure we were past a trouble spot before I turned her loose.

Delilah hadn’t been down to this spot in years so she was pulling me like crazy.  Once we reached the spot where we had to cross a stream I knew it was time to let her off.

I didn't feel like starting the walk with a dip in the water.

I didn’t feel like starting the walk with a dip in the water.

 

The pond was off to our left and it was protected by some downed trees and some shrubs, I didn’t think she could manage to get in although as soon as she SAW the pond she did try.  Hubby and I kept walking though and called her to us and she came a running.

Back when it was just the three of us, I managed to snag one of my favorite pictures of Sampson.  He had run ahead of us on the trail and when we rounded the corner, there he was.

One of my favorite photos of Sampson.

Already posing.

 

We kept our eyes peeled for the rock and thought we’d stage a little reenactment.

Delilah wasn't quite as comfortable posing on the rock as Sampson was.

Delilah wasn’t quite as comfortable posing on the rock as Sampson was.

 

There was a tree that had fallen across the path, it had two branches that were about 1 1/2 to 2 feet high and about 3 to 5 feet apart.

The dogs were running ahead and my jaw dropped as Delilah cleared the tree.  Notice that Sampson jumps, landing between the two branches but Delilah doesn’t.

We hiked in about twenty minutes or so before turning around.

The dogs were having a blast, at one point they found a small puddle and got their zoomies on, so they were both muddy.

Delilah was off-leash for almost the entire walk, she ran back and was treated so often, that I ran out of treats.

I was leery about the pond on the way out, I knew she wanted in, so as soon as it came into my sight, I leashed her up.  Truthfully she probably could have stayed off-leash for a couple of minutes longer, but I wanted to err on the side of caution.

I forgot about crossing the stream though, as soon as I unclipped her….she found her way into the pond

She’s a Lab, through and through.

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