Heart Like a Dog

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

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!

 

2nd Dog Syndrome….Day Three Hundred, One

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Sunday I had a wonderful conversation catching up with my friend Ann.  Ann works for Labs 4 Rescue as an intake/placement coordinator.  About four or five months ago Ann adopted/rescued a little black lab named Walter.  Ann knew that Walter would be her last puppy as there comes a time when we all know we just can’t handle the energy of a puppy anymore. 🙁

When Ann and I adopted Walter and Delilah, we already had dogs.  Good, well-trained dogs.  Ann and I got to talking about the training struggles we were having with Walter and Delilah; and it dawned on me; we are dealing with 2nd dog syndrome.  I compare this to having your 2nd child.

With your first child you put a lot of time and energy into them; you take pictures of everything!  Their baby books, and scrapbooks are up to date.  You anxiously wait for every new discovery, and meticulously document it;  you see life through their eyes.

By the time the 2nd child comes along; you’re tired.  You no longer have the energy you had with the first; there are more things that need to be completed;  you aren’t as meticulous with documenting their progress….with taking pictures.  You sometimes miss the beauty of the world as seen through their eyes.

The same is true when you get a 2nd (or third) dog.  Time is a factor; you have another dog to take care of, a dog who has come to rely on you.  You forgot what kind of work you put into that first dog….work that made that dog an awesome dog.  Somehow you expect this new being will automatically know what you want from them and what they need to do.   But they don’t.  It’s easy to become frustrated with your new dog because they don’t seem to be learning as fast as your first dog.

You look at that sweet, perfect first dog and say, “What am I doing wrong?”

Step back, take a breath and refocus.   Take a minute to look at life through their eyes.   See if you can fit just 10 minutes of training in per day, it will make a difference.

Don’t fall victim to the 2nd dog syndrome; grab a bag of treats or your dog’s favorite toy and get training!

A Difference Of Opinion…Day Three Hundred

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Hubby and I are having a difference of opinion.  He thinks I shouldn’t need to give the dogs treats every time I ask them to do something.

Example:

When dinner is ready, we put the dogs on their mats and go into the kitchen to prepare our plates.  Tonight I brought Delilah in and lured her down with a carrot.  I waited a minute, told her to “Stay” and went into the kitchen.

We were having my new favorite dinner (Nachos) and it took a bit longer than normal.  Apparently it was too long for Delilah; she got up very quietly and came to sit at the edge of the kitchen.

I heard the slightest jingle of her collar and turned around and noticed her.

“Oh, it was too long for you sweetie,” I murmured with a slight chuckle.

As I walked back to her place with her, hubby said just loud enough for me to hear,  “No she just wants to do it her way.”

Does he know how to piss me off, or what?

After dinner I was telling him about my friend Ann and her frustration with her new puppy and trying to get him to “Stay.”  Someone watching Ann with her puppy made the following observation, “How dare you put him in a down and walk away.”  In the puppy’s eyes he doesn’t know what Ann wants from him.

Which is why I put Delilah in a down and waited a minute before walking away.

Hubby then said, “I noticed you used a carrot to put her in her down tonight, you know you have to stop using treats with her at some point.”

I tried explaining that I don’t usually give her a treat when I’m putting them on their places, but his attitude is really frustrating me.

He’s not a real firm believer of the positive reinforcement school of dog training.  I haven’t had time to finish reading my clicker training book, so I wanted to throw this out to blog land and ask you all for your thoughts and advice.

Have you disagreed with your spouse/significant other about the best way to train your dog?  If you’ve encountered resistance, how have you handled it?  If you use the positive dog training method how do you work it with your dog?  Do you train every day? For how long?

I KNOW this is the method that will work best for training Delilah, I just need to figure out the best way to do this.

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