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Dog Obedience Training through Targeting
During the two-plus decades that I trained my dogs in old-fashioned obedience classes, I never learned the pervasively useful and versatile behavior of targeting. The closest I came was the narrow application to “go-outs” in advanced level competition classes – not really the same thing at all. Even today, despite its usefulness, targeting is not a widely known behavior outside positive professional training and competition circles. When I introduce the concept in my basic good manners classes I get a sea of blank stares in response, as if each human client is thinking, “Why on earth would I want to teach my dog to do that?”
Teach Your Dog to Run Off Leash
My dog, Molly, runs like the wind. When I see her run, it is impossible for me not to appreciate the beautiful, graceful way she moves. She is also a rescue dog, with a number of canine behavior problems caused by severe neglect in her first few months. The combination of a bad environment and a fearful temperament created a dog who protects herself by aggressively warning off any stranger. An occasional off-leash run is one of the few ways I can give Molly enough exercise to keep her calm and make her unequivocally happy, and this practice is improving our relationship. It’s not without some stress, however.
Successfully Adding a New Dog to Your Pack
The decision to add a new dog to the pack shouldn’t be taken lightly. Don’t expect to be able to use the same methods on every dog you own. Every new pup requires individualized training and management. Bringing a new dog into the family can be fraught with unexpected developments, no matter how experienced a dog owner is, how well her home is prepared, and how good-natured the dogs are that she already owns. However, with preparation, flexibility, and dedication to principles of positive training and behavior management, most dog owners can get through the adjustment period with peace in the pack.
Take a Hike!
Do your homework before you go and you’ll enjoy nothing but happy trails with your dog. If you spend your time in the company of dogs, you’re probably used to walking – long walks, short walks, walks for potty stops, walks for exercise, walks to relieve boredom, and walks for walking’s sake. So, what’s the difference between walking and hiking? In practical application, not much. But in attitude, everything!
Ongoing Pet Food Recalls
The latest twist in the pet food recall involves foods that contain contaminated ingredients – ingredients that don’t appear on the list of ingredients that are listed by law on the product label. We’re frustrated, given that we’ve spent 10 years telling our subscribers to read product labels – and make purchasing decisions based on the ingredients that are on the labels. Now, it seems to be developing that “what’s in the bag” (or can or pouch) is accurately described by the product labels only sometimes. The industry owes consumers some solutions; how can we ever trust that what’s in the package is what the label says it is?
The Canine Sense of Smell
When I watch our dog, Pokey, nose his way over the prairie and through the woods around our homestead, I sometimes try to imagine what he is smelling. It’s an impossible assignment. The canine sense of smell and his repertoire of scents is, after all, at least hundreds of times and perhaps more than a million times more acute and more expansive than mine.
Swim Party?
Cocoa is a Lab-mix who goes crazy when we are in our pool. She runs around the pool barking and will not settle down. I have tried to calm her verbally, petted her, etc. But as soon as we move in the water, she goes crazy. She will run until she is exhausted. I thought about putting her in the pool with us, but I’m worried she will be too crazy.
There are several solutions and approaches for Cocoa’s canine behavior.....
Pet Food Disaster
In October of 2004 we published an article (“When Foods Go Bad”) that discussed how owners could protect their pets from serious harm from contaminated or toxin-adulterated pet food. It outlined the lessons learned from the three previous commercial pet food disasters: the 1995 event involving vomitoxin in Nature’s Recipe dry foods; the 1998 aflatoxin event involving dry dog foods made by Doane Products; and the still-unidentified problem that sickened and killed dogs who ate certain lots of Go! Natural dry food in 2003.
Preventing Great Escapes
How to safely confine burrowers, bounders, beavers, and bolters. Otis the Bloodhound was an opportunistic escapee. I discovered his talent one day while working at the front desk at the Marin Humane Society, early in my animal protection career. A woman came in asking if we might know where a Bloodhound lived, because he kept visiting her house every day. He was charming, she said, but she worried that he might get hit by a car.
Fun Training Techniques for You and Your Canine!
This training technique can be used to get your dog to do just about anything. The best part is, it’s really fun for you and your dog! The shaping process works because behavior is variable. In any series of repetitions of a behavior, your dog will give you variations in the manner that the behavior is performed – faster/slower, bigger/smaller, higher/lower, harder/softer, etc. If you wanted to shape your dog for a perfect obedience competition sit – straight, fast, and in proper heel position — you’d break the behavior known as “Sit” into those three components and work on them one at a time, capitalizing on the variability of your dog’s behavior for each one.
Increase Your Dog's Reliability
Behavior professionals often define “reliable” as responding appropriately to the cue at least 80 percent of the time. That means your dog sits at least 8 out of 10 times when you ask him to. It’s unreasonable to expect 100 percent reliability from your dog. It takes commitment to your training program to achieve reliability under a wide variety of conditions. Let’s explore some of the elements that make for true reliability.
Canine Adoption Advice
Adopting a new dog is exciting, wonderful, and a happy time. But bringing a new dog home is also an uncertain time. What will your dog be like? Will he be a good match for your family? Will he be everything you hoped for? Bringing a new dog into the home can also, quite frankly, be a rather shocking time for you and your family. Suddenly your life will be compounded by the energy and needs of the new family member. Everyone will go through an adjustment – dogs and people alike. What can you do to ensure that you and your new dog will settle into a long happy life together?
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