Heart Like a Dog

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

Let’s Talk Turkey

By

Last week I mentioned how Maggie from Oh My Dog suggested I work Sampson and Delilah on the “Look” command to help us when we encounter dogs on our walks.  By the way, her training book is called “Clicker Dog Training: The Better Path to a Well-Behaved Pup.”  It’s available on iTunes.

Both my dogs have a decent response to “Look.”  It’s more getting me to remember what I should be saying and doing 

When Delilah and I were taking training classes, “Look” was our go to command, it kept Delilah focused on me and helped her to not focus on what other dogs were doing.

After I chatted with Maggie, I started incorporating “Look” a couple of times on each of our walks.  I don’t reward as often as Maggie suggests, but I do reward.

With my dogs, and I’m fairly sure yours are the same, you can definitely tell when they see something of interest.  The head snaps up, the ears stand up, their posture changes and they walk differently.  It’s the perfect time for the “Look” command.  It helps snap that focus.

Saturday on our early morning walk,  we encountered a distraction.

Can you see them?

Can you see them?

Thankfully, I kept my wits about me and said, “Look!”  This distracted the dogs and diffused the situation.

We took a couple of steps closer, and the dogs started reacting again.  Again I said, “Look,” and again they both stopped.

This was a huge flock of turkeys, I'd say there had to be close to 20 of them.

This was a huge flock of turkeys, I’d say there had to be close to 20 of them.

This particular house also has a dog, and the dog was barking, SO the owner opened the window and shoo’d the turkeys off.   Once they had crossed the road, we were free to continue our walk.

This is the best shot I could get from the distance we were at.

This is the best shot I could get from the distance we were at.

I know for this to be my “go to” command, I have to use it more, but I can already see the benefit of using the command.

Saturday night, we encountered the same dog we encountered last week, (you remember, that was the one that didn’t end well.)  This time we were a bit further away, which definitely helped,  and I used “Look” which once again diffused the situation.    

The dog was standing with it’s owners and they were talking to a couple of neighbors.  (The woman did recognize me and said, hello, but I did not have a card to give her and didn’t want to get the dogs too close.) Sampson and I have stopped and chatted with one of these neighbors before and when I stopped to treat the dogs for the “Look” command, the neighbor started walking towards us.  So while the dog and it’s owners were chatting with one neighbor, Sampson and Delilah were getting lovies from the other neighbor, while she and I chatted.

It made our walk a lot less tense.  

What is your “go to” command, the one you use to redirect your dogs?

 

Please Don’t Hit Him

By

Saturday evening I was walking Sampson and Delilah.  As always I was on high alert watching for potential triggers.  

As we rounded a corner I saw it, a little Jack Russell on the other side of the street.  I recognized the dog at once, as one we usually pass in his yard.  He always barks at us and is usually jumping and biting at the fence.  

We were about 30 feet away when the woman walking him had him sit.

I have a big problem with my dogs walking past other dogs.  Typically if the other dog is in their yard I can coax my dogs off with a cookie.   If the other dog is on leash, it’s a whole different story!

Sampson is typically worse than Delilah.  He wants, no he NEEDS to meet that other dog.  He starts jumping and bucking like a freaking bronco. One of course feeds off the other, so then Delilah starts in.  She usually lunges and barks.  

This is how I found myself literally wrestling my dogs up the street.  I had Sampson by his harness in my left hand and Delilah somehow managed to squeeze herself between my legs, so I had her harness in my right hand.  

I could hear the woman speaking to her dog, it didn’t sound good but I had my hands full and couldn’t really look.

We got past the dog but I knew we had a bigger problem.  I knew where the other dog lived, and I knew we were going to pass the dog again.  I practiced calling the dogs back to me and giving them cookies.  I got a handful of cookies ready thinking maybe if I threw the cookies in the road, the dogs would concentrate on that and leave the other dog.

Sure enough we turned the corner for home and there they were.  She downed her dog and I threw a treat in the road and my dogs exploded.  Sampson bucked like a bull with a rider on and Delilah lunged.  As I tried wrestling the dogs past her, I said “We have to get better at this.”

She responded, “He’s aggressive with other dogs.”

Oh and he was on a retractable leash, but I didn’t realize that until she accidentally dropped it.  Suddenly the game had changed.

Here he came creeping at my dogs.  So I dropped my leashes.  

The woman was upset and I said, “It’s okay.”  And it was for the first few seconds and then her dog snarked at Delilah and Delilah gave it right back.

I had managed to find my way across the street and called Delilah, who came right back to me.  Sampson was a bit harder but eventually he came.  It was over in less than a minute.

My dogs were now standing docilely by my side.  The woman’s dog was in a down and then she bent over, she had her palm raised as if she was going to hit him and she said, “Bad boy!”

“Please don’t hit him,” I begged.

She looked up at me and said, “I took him to a trainer who told me to shake this in his face when he does that.”  She opened her palm to show me a small chain, similar to what you would use when chaining a dog outside.  “I don’t actually hit him.”  She finished almost sheepishly.

I was horrified.  Here this woman reached out for help with her dog and she was given advice that was traumatizing her dog even more.  I tried to explain as best I could how I felt it was not the right thing to do for this issue.  That her dog was probably frightened and didn’t understand why she was punishing him.  I told her I use lots of treats and I thought a positive trainer would be able to help her and her dog.  I finished by giving the the name of a positive training center not too far from us.

I’ve given lots of thought to this incident since it happened.  How I could work my dogs better, how I could get them to react differently.  I’ve thought about going to her house (minus my dogs of course) and giving her my card and asking her to e-mail me so I can forward some blog posts that might help her understand what’s going on with her dog.

I also considered seeing if she wants to practice walking our dogs past each other, maybe help each other out.

So many dogs, so little time.

So many dogs, so little time.

The Lab-ra-language

By

Dogs remind me a lot of babies.  I mean, with a baby it cries and then you have to figure out if a diaper needs to be changed, the baby needs to be fed, the baby is tired or something else.

Dogs have similar needs.  For mine, they want food, affection, a walk, outside to potty and sometimes they just want to play.

Do you know your dog’s language?  My dogs have their own unique ways of communicating their needs.

Sampson’s Language.

When he wants to eat, he lies right in front of his food bowl and patiently waits.

When he wants affection he will come sit in front of you and either lay his head on your lap/leg or paw at you with his big beefy paw.  Or sometimes he will just lie on his back in front of you with a big shit eating grin on his face.  It’s a sure fire way to get one of us off the couch and down on the floor to do his bidding.

Rub my belly, please.

Rub my belly, please.

When he wants to outside he barks at the door.

When he wants to play, he brings you a toy, sets it down, stares at it and growls at you.

When he wants to walk, his tail goes up and he heads for the front door.

Delilah’s Language

When Delilah wants to eat, she employs the Lab Death Stare (not to be confused with the Death Star, that’s a totally different movie.) She sits in front of you and stares at you, as if that simple act can motivate you to do her bidding.  If the Death Stare fails to motivate you, she will often times use the sigh for great effect.  Stare down, “Hhhhhhhhh.”  On the rare occasion we eat before the dogs, she will often lie on her mat and whine slightly.  Not horribly and annoyingly, just enough to remind you she is ‘patiently’ awaiting her own meal.

You finally learned the Lab-ra-language. Your mother must be so proud. It only took you 7 1/2 years.

You finally learned the Lab-ra-language. Your mother must be so proud. It only took you 7 1/2 years.

If you move, she will jump up and race you to the kitchen, regardless of whether it’s feeding time or not.

When she wants affection, she will come and shove her head under your hand or between your legs.  Or she will just climb up into your lap.  She has also learned the lie on your back with your feet in the air trick from Sampson.

When Delilah wants to go outside, she stands at the door and makes a little “Unnh” or growl sound.  (Hubby will often be sitting less than 10 feet away and miss this.)  Once she’s been out however and wants to come back in, she will bark incessantly at the door until you open it.  If you are in the kitchen preparing her meals, it’s even more intense.

When Delilah wants to play, she will bring you a toy and drop it for you to throw.

When it is time for a walk, she can barely hold still for you to put her collar and harness on and once you head for the door she will launch herself off the steps towards the door.

Two labs, two different languages.  It’s sort of like how Canada has English  and French.  One country, two languages. 

 Do your pets have their own language?  How do they convey their needs to you?

 

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...