Heart Like a Dog

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

Change It Up

By

I discovered something yesterday.

I had taken the day off to attend a memorial service for a beloved uncle of one of my SIL’s.  The service was about an hour’s travel time from where I live and I knew when I got back I had errands to run to get ready for today’s cookout.  I decided to walk the dogs early.

Like First Thing In The Morning Early.

I rolled out of bed after another night of tossing and turning and pulled on my hiking clothes, gathered up my equipment (treat bag, pepper blaster, poop bags, camera, cell phone and keys) and off we went.

We kept the walk at just about a half an hour, which put us back at the house right around 7:20 am.  Twenty minutes after the dog’s scheduled feeding time.  But I didn’t feed them.  Oh no.

Because they are big dogs and both deep-chested, I worry about bloat.  So I waited.  Wondering how this was going to work with the food obsessed chocolate lab?

I added warm water to their necks and set them in the microwave to warm up.  I made a pot of coffee, then I took a shower.  When I came out of the bathroom Delilah was curled up on the bed.

Sleeping.

I got dressed, and walked out of the bedroom.  Delilah followed me.  I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down to check out blogville.

Delilah curled up on the couch and went to sleep.

I got up, went into the kitchen and pulled the necks out of the microwave.

Nothing.

It wasn’t until I opened the pantry to get the Salmon Oil out that she meandered her way into the kitchen.

We played the ‘one strike, you’re out’ game (which she lost) and I put her in the crate.

By the time they actually got their breakfast is was almost an hour and a half late.  And she had not bugged me the entire time.

My thought is this, if you have an active dog and typically take her out when you get home from work, consider changing it up and trying to get her out for a quick walk in the morning.

I’m thinking by changing it up, you’ve given them something else to think about.

What about your dogs, are they scheduled?  Is there any way to incorporate some change into their routine?

Tomorrow I will share just what Delilah DID on our early morning walk.  It’s a doozy.

Go, Go, Go, Go, Go

By

In yesterday’s post I mentioned Delilah had a little off-leash hike. If you’ve been reading for a while you know there are certain areas Delilah is prone to running off to.  One of these areas is in the field.

When we entered the park I unclipped her leash and gave her freedom.  I think off-leash works best for Delilah if I try to keep her focus on me, so I call her back to me quite frequently.  She was returning every time I called.

We went to the field.  There was one time where she turned and started running away from me and she didn’t respond to my call.  I turned around and said, “Sampson come.”

As soon as I knew I had his attention I started running the other way and I said, “Go, go, go, go, go, go, go” really loud as we ran away from Delilah.

Do you know that worked?

And the only reason I can think why is that I sometimes psyche the dogs into going outside by giving them a little pep talk.  I think the excitement in  my voice tells her something exciting and fun is about to happen.

Of course I don’t know this with any certainty, but it makes sense to me.

After the field we made our way up the trails and then started back down towards the rail trail.  As we approached the rail trail I leashed Delilah again, and shortly after that we ran into the couple I mentioned in yesterday’s post.

Naturally we got to talking about dogs. This couple had a Husky for 14 years.  The man said he used to walk his dog every day and was so in the habit that he continues to do so.  He also said he always walked his dog off-leash, there was an older man that he used to encounter and the man always said, dogs were meant to run free and not be leashed.

He went on to say, times have changed and people have changed.  There are so many people out there on the rail trail now walking their dogs, but they don’t want you to look at their dogs or pet their dogs and he’s not sure what happened.

I’m not really sure what happened either.  I don’t remember when it changed, but it certainly has.  I don’t ever remember our childhood dogs on leashes.  Is it because our parents didn’t walk them?  Or because there were fewer people?  Have people grown less tolerant of dogs? What do you remember about dog etiquette from when you were a child?

After we parted ways, I kept Delilah on the leash.  I felt like it was best to end our walk with her remaining successful.

And she was.

I Didn't Say A Word

By

I use the ‘with me’ command instead of ‘heel’ because I think ‘heel’ is a confusing command.  At least it confuses me. 

When we are in training class and are told to ‘heel’ our dog, my understanding is I want my dog to come and stand at the side of my leg.

When we start moving and I want my dog to stay with me, I think it’s confusing to say ‘heel,’ because I’ve just asked her to stand at my side using the same command.

 So I started using ‘with me’ for that command.  Delilah seems to understand it and is easily corrected with an “ACK, ut oh, or ut unh.”

I share this with you because Delilah had a another successful walk yesterday!

It was my Saturday for dog food so I ran errands all morning, met my friend Mindy for lunch and then came home to take our walk in the afternoon.

I let Delilah off-leash as soon as she exited the car and let her walk in.  I leashed her near the top of the trail, where she used to run off and kept her with me for a couple of minutes, but let her go again as soon as we passed the danger point.

The next time we approached I called her to me and said, “With me.”  I kept her focused on the treats in my hand and she stayed right with me.

When we left the park she walked out off-leash.  Of course there also weren’t any other dogs or distractions to lead her astray.

Flash forward to today.  Hubby joined us on our walk.  I think I am more anxious when Hubby is there because I want to prove to him that positive reinforcement works.

She went into the park off-leash, she did run off to chase a squirrel but came right back, we walked the trails a couple of times and then took the dogs to the field to let them run. 

This was the true test because you may remember the day that she ran off from me at the field and got herself stuck. 

Hubby walked away from us then called Sampson and Delilah and in this manner we ran them back and forth a couple of times.  I then decided to have them sit and walk away from them towards Hubby with the intent of calling them to me. 

I got about half-way to Hubby and I heard Delilah tearing after me.    I brought her back and sat her down and tried again, but again she came tearing back to me.  I said to Hubby, while I want her to obey me, how can I be mad at her for wanting to be with me?  

I know it’s important for her to listen to me but I think my focus right now needs to be on her returns, at least outside.  I can work on her stays in the house.

Once the dogs were in the car I asked Hubby how he thought she did and he said, “She walked out to the car without the leash, so that’s pretty good. ”

As we pulled into the driveway I said, “She will have to go on leash to the house or she will run to the neighbor’s yard.”

Hubby said, “I don’t think she will.”  At my raised eyebrows he said, “I’ll assume responsibility for her.”

He opened the door and she ran right to the neighbor’s yard.

I didn’t say a word.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...