My daughter and I hiked up the Chief today and were of course accompanied by our doggie hiking buddies Opal and Trixie. (I just realized I have to do a post to introduce them properly!) Quite a few people commented on how well behaved our dogs were. I thanked them but made a point of mentioning that we do continually work on it.

Dogs are allowed off leash on the Peak Trail. I want to help ensure that they always are.

Trail Etiquette is a subject that has always got me very emotional. I remember when I was a child, seeing an article in a magazine "A World Without Dogs". It showed a photo of an empty beach. It had a great impression on me. The article mentioned that not everyone loves dogs but if dog owners were responsible and kept their dogs under control and picked up their waste that then people could share public places harmoniously together. When people let their dogs off leash and allowed them to jump up on and greet people, run over their towels at the beach, barge into children and rudely ambush shy dogs regardless of the other dogs and owners signals then dog will be less and less welcome in public places. Obeying signs is of course respectful too. I brought water for my dogs so that when we got to the creek where a sign was posted "Please keep dogs out of water ... drinking source for campsite" they weren't tempted.

Today it was important that my dogs stayed close to me. It was important that they didn't bark at people and that they moved to the side or waited at crowded parts on the trail. We only met a few other dogs today. The owner of one had the dog by her side and under control and said something about it not being good with small dogs. I respected that and ensured I had Trixie under control. Her dog was also under control. Respect. The other two dogs we met were sociable and respectful and again under verbal control of their owner. The dogs all had appropriate dog greeting behaviour and went on their way. I saw no dog feces on the trail either!

There is room on the trails for us all if we take some common courtesies. Please don't take your dog off leash in public places if you don't have good verbal control. Please train your dog. (on our hike today we used attention, targeting, mat work, wait, shadow handling and lots and lots of Premack principle with distractions such as chipmunks) Please appreciate that not everyone or every dog for that matter wants to visit with your dog. Learn about dog body language and teach your dog to respect others' as well.

Join our STEP ONE Training Workshop to teach your dog some foundation behaviours and then move on to our Out and About Workshop:
http://pawinhand.blogspot.com/p/step-one.html


Dog Star Daily article:
http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/mind-your-trail-manners

My cat crashed the training session with "Annie" the Red Bone Coonhound / Plott X puppy and her owners but it was a good lesson on how to deal with a distraction.

We had some silly fun at the lake today ... and here is my feeble attempt at video editing...

Fun in the dust and the dirt!!!



Fun in the nice clean water!!!



Some more "serious" puppy training blogs will be coming soon but I just wanted to put up some lighthearted fun videos first!

But ... do know that training IS FUN too!

Hero arrived 48 hours ago. It's been very very busy! I was going to write about the first 24 hours but now 48 hours have gone by!

...sounds like the start of a post that I wrote on June 21st eh?!?



Hero joined the doggie field trip adventure with the Paw In Hand gang. His dog social skills are very good. He isn't bold but he isn't fearful, he reads and reacts well to the other dogs signals and is quick to show appeasement postures. He explored but checked back in with me (and was reinforced for that of course!) His energy and stamina was good for an moderate 1 1/2 hour trail walk.

Two thunder clap yesterday while we were out on the trail with the dog group. Hero did notice the first one -- stopped and hesitated. I reacted with some jolly routine time and had a treat and happy voice party. Positive association with new stimuli.

Swimming! I didn't ask his mommy if he had been swimming before. Today we took him to the off leash dog lake and he went right in and swan to fetch a lilly pad. Relaxed swimmer! Then lots of fetching of sticks and floating Kong toys!
Another stimuli which may have been new to him was a motorbike ahead at an intersection on the trail. It was far away enough that none of the dogs got particularly arroused to again, gather round for jolly routine and treat party. Association hopefully made: new stimuli equals check in with human leader and good things happen.

Hero could quickly learn to play "keep away" with toys I think. I can see it in his eyes and when his body just slightly slows and stiffens when he has a valued possession. Trading toys instead of taking them from him will be a game we will play lots.

Wow, does he gobble his food when it is in a food dish. The kibbles were gone so fast I hardly had time to look at his body language to see if he might show any concern about any people approaching is food bowl. Regardless, it is always a good idea to do resourse guarding prevention exercises with a puppy and for that matter, with any dog throughout their lives. People coming near your food bowl are actually good news! Surprise goodies coming ... not to take your dish away silly puppy.

He may be eating most of his meals divided into training rewards, and find-it games or in busy-toys anyhow...

Crate Games. Hero only used a crate for a short while when he was a puppy. I plan to reintroduce him to it as he already resisted slightly to going into it. I didn't push him much ... a gentle nudge just to see ... then we played a few in and out games and fed him dinner in there. More crate games tomorrow. Tonight he is tethered beside my bed on his mat.

Ah yes, mat games! His owner wants him to learn appropriate dinner table manners. Is it still called begging if a dog is laying down on his mat while you are eating? Two feet away? Ten feet away? More on this later too!

Housetraining ... all good!

Two resident cats. Hero must have met a feline somewhere before and learned a prickly lesson ... he gave them a wide berth the first time he saw them!

Vehicles are good places to curl up in and settle. They take you to good places and they are good to sleep in after a fun outing too. Chewy stick instead of seat belts is not a bad idea though just in case.

Chewing ... needs to be re-directed occasionally but age appropriate and especially for a Golden Retriever which is an orally motivated breed.

Nipping and biting is a concern for his owner but I've only seen it once or twice so far. Hero quickly learned my body language -- when Maren stops and stands still with her hands in neutral position then sit in front of her and wait for further guidance. Yup! Sometimes treats, sometimes, petting loving, and sometimes a chance to play toy time!

Doorway manners ...
Come when called ...

More coming in the next few weeks!

Maren tired ... must sleep while puppy sleeps... ZZZZZzzzzz.....

Here we go again! Didn't I learn from last time? Taking a puppy into our household is soooooo much work ... what was I thinking (again)!?!?

Okay ... this time it is my sister-in-law's puppy so I kinda had to say yes. But, I am such a sucker for watching dogs learn -- especially puppies! Little cuddly sponges!

Hero is a Golden Retriever. He is now almost 18 weeks ... 4 1/2 months old. He came from a responsible breeder. His mommy got him at 8 weeks of age. She has been following the advice from the book "After You Get Your Puppy" by Dr. Ian Dunbar. And yes, we have spoken on the phone a few times for late night support sessions!

I met Hero briefly when he was 8 weeks old. First impressions were good.

My impression in the first hours getting to know him is that he is a fairly mellow puppy. He had just been traveling and visiting for a few days before arriving at our home so he may also be somewhat tired and overwhelmed as well.

See what the next couple of days brings....

(to help you after you get YOUR puppy ... here is a free download of Dr. Ian Dunbar's excellent book!)

http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/dog-star-daily-declares-january-shelter-dog-prevention-month

Field Trips out with the Paw In Hand doggie group are never dull!

There was a nice brown black bear waaaay across the other side of the logging clear cut ... too far for the doggies to make the effort to investigate but close enough for them to notice! My own dog Opal has played the "Look At That" training game with other distractions before but this was the first time with a bear! All these "mock" scenarios in training were a good learning tool because in real life experiences we usually have less control over the situation. A couple of the other dogs in the group that day played a good preliminary round at the LAT game. Notice a few Auto Check In eye contacts and some Name Game as well.

Good example of how trained foundation behaviours can be used in real life situations. If we encounter a bear again then they have a history of reinforcement of checking back in with me and hopefully will choose that option automatically because of all the training we've done rather than act impulsively...

Impulse control! Back to that again! My favourite training ingredient coming up again and again ...

Come to our Step One Training Workshop and see how to teach your dog impulse control!

http://pawinhand.blogspot.com/p/step-one.html

Katherine and I took our doggies Keegan, Opal and Trixie for a swim down at the boat launch this afternoon for some fetchin' and splashin' fun!



Then we headed for the downtown park to dry off in the sun on our blankets. Putting our Mat Training Games into real life situations. The doggies noticed people and dogs go past in the distance and were calm on their mats. We got some work done! Those mat training games paid off.



But then ... an irresponsible dog owner passed by on his bicycle with his dog off leash, crashed our party and stole one of our dog's chewies. Whether the dogs was friendly or not was not the issue ... whatever breed it was wasn't the issue ... (well maybe not a major one) but the dog came up uninvited to a picnic and didn't respond quickly to the owners cues to come or to drop the chewie. Grrrr... Luckily I have benefited from anger control methods and meditation ... and our dogs have benefited from practicing the "Car Crash" or "Dog in Yer Face" games ... We do a lot of exerices from Leslie McDevitt's excellent book "Control Unleashed"

http://controlunleashed.net/index.html

See our Training Workshops and learn exercises that can help you in situations such as these.
There may even be a reactive dog class coming soon!