Dog Training Collars & Leads
What To Do When Your Dog Sees Another Dog: Dog Walk Challenge Day 7
Monday, January 19th, 2009 | Dog Obedience & Behavior, Dog Training Camp San Diego, Dog Training Collars & Leads, Dog Training Video | No Comments
The Walk Your Dog Every Day Challenge continues. Here in San Diego, Temecula (& we have a location in Taos, NM) there is no reason to not be out with your dog. It’s January and 70 degrees! Seriously.
Our last blog talked about he beginning stages of what to do when your dog sees another dog. As always it takes steps to get through these things. Here we go with the next step.
When walking around your own neighborhood you can probably choose times that there aren’t a lot of other dogs out.. and yet again, at the most inopportune moment it can happen… the uppity neighbors see you with the your dog who is really friendly, but you can barely hold back because of the excitement in seeing another dog.
So let’s talk about the next step. Refer to earlier blogs or of course our dog training site for one of the most important beginning steps…. After that, what any dog owner needs to remember is dogs are really unable to multi-task. Given that, with just a little bit of direction you can redirect your dog into ignoring oncoming dogs.. though it seems like an impossible task at this moment in time for the owner who has had their shoulder practically relocated over it in the recent past!
Redirect means that when you see another dog, hopefully just before your dog sees the other dog (in the beginning stages anyway), give your dog a task you’ve been working on before… though now is the best time to start if you haven’t worked on it before. One of the easiest things is to turn your dog in another direction. By this we don’t mean quickly head across the street in avoidance, but instead, do some quick short turns with your dog to keep attention. (And if your REALLY want someone else to take on this part we have the best dog training camp around San Diego, Temecula, CA & Taos, NM
When heeling, or walking with your dog in a “let’s go” you don’t have to always do a 180 degree turn and head the other direction. Law of first mention is hard to get away from… what we mean by this is doing a 90 degree turn, using whatever your command is, take a few steps, then do another quick 90 degree turn… and so on. You can do this right past a dog easily.
Of course there are many training methods you can use to keep your dog’s attention during this process and we are happy to assess what is going to work for you best… all you have to do is ask. Several options are out there from food, to collar and leash to remote collar.. and all can be done in a very kind gentle manner. That’s the only way we recommend you train your dog.
More on “what to do when your dog sees another dog” soon… for now, give these steps above a shot… and we always love to hear from dog people so let us know how it goes.
We have some really great dog photos on Twitter daily so follow us there www.Twitter.com/GoTrainYourDog
We’ve also got a really great Facebook group going you can find by going to Facebook and doing a search on “Go Train Your Dog”.
Whatever you do… get out, have some fun with your dog, get some exercise for yourself & your dog… and you never know, that weight loss program for 2009 may come way easier than you thought it would!
Dog Training San Diego-Day 5 of 21 Day Challenge
Sunday, January 11th, 2009 | Dog Obedience & Behavior, Dog Training Camp San Diego, Dog Training Collars & Leads | No Comments
Remember to have fun with your dog! Smiling and having a good time is what’s it’s all about. Whenever my dog is barking or excited, I remain calm, and use body language and hand signals to direct them to positive behavior… for more information on proper leash walking and dog training tips check out www.dogtrainerguru.com : check tips at http://dogtainingofsandiego.com and follow along with our 21-day challenge to walk your dog every day!
Day 5 - 22 minutes walking with Betty, Spencer & my husband Gregg. I suppose it’s a bit like cheating, since Gregg walks Spencer. It evens out though, because Betty is SUPER excited with the prosect of Gregg coming along. She has high-pitched yips and spins in circles as I get my walking shoes, hat, leashes and she is totally losing it by the time I get the leashes. I remain calm, take a deep breath & tap on her remote, use my body language and hand signals to sit her. Once she is relatively calm ( no spinning, but still a few yips), we’re off for a beautiful walk in the sunshine. Betty calms down right away even though Spencer has to walk by my side left side as usual. I am thankful for this day and and we have a peaceful walk.
Day 4- 20 minutes walking with Betty & Spencer. Betty rocks today, she is calm and I have no problems getting ready for our walk… we have an uneventful, peaceful afternoon walk, another day in paradise!
Day 3- 24 minutes walking with Betty & Spencer. It is tough to get out today, the sun is shining, but the wind is blowing and I’m trying to finish up some work, but the phone just keeps on ringing! Betty is barking and wants me to hurry up, but only barks a couple of times early in the walk. That’s when I remember why I wanted to load the dogs up and go to the other trail, garbage day… The dogs did awesome and followed me up and down the curbs as we snaked around the cans. We saw a Boston Terrier who pulled on his leash and wagged a big hello, and a furry white Maltese, who pulled on her leash and growled and barked at the lot of us! Betty & Spencer stayed right by my side and walked around the bunch. One lady commented on the great manners my dogs have! They’ve been walking with me for years now, such good heelers, I always feel sorry for those who don’t invest in training that works for their dogs!
Carla C Weed
K9 Coach www.sitk9sit.com
Leash Walk-Your Dog Properly
Thursday, January 8th, 2009 | Dog Obedience & Behavior, Dog Training Camp San Diego, Dog Training Collars & Leads, Dog Training Video | No Comments
Accept K9 Coach’s 21 day challenge to walk your dog on a leash properly.
Betty was bred to be a working police or personal protection type dog. She was the runt of the litter & didn’t have the drive to make it as a military dog, so she ended up with a dog trainer, who took her to raise as a family pet & working companion. The trainer returned her to the breeder as “un-trainable” at 9 months old, a quivering, quaking, hair raised, barking terror. And I mean loud barking. She was totally untrained, including potty training! The children were afraid of her. Ouch.
That’s when the breeder sent Betty, the 9 month old F Belgian Malinois to me. She has been with us ever since and has come a long ways in the years we’ve had her. She recently turned 4 years old and if you met her you’d probably question that she ever had a scary side. She is so well-behaved. She is part of my pack and helps me train other dogs. She is a loving part of our family, and keeping up with her high energy requirements and nervous energy is a big part of my daily schedule, though I’ll readily admit, I’ve extended her work on the treadmill as opposed to struggling with her on the leash with my other dog Spencer. She is great, when we leash-walk just the two of us or when I work her with a dog I’m training, off-leash and on-leash and she is reliable, well behaved.
It’s a whole other story when she has to share her walk with Spencer my other dog, on-leash, she has a tendency to bark excitedly. I am committing to http://dogtrainingofsandiego.com ‘s 21-day challenge. I am going to walk both of my dogs on leash 20 minutes per day, together with a goal of improving Betty’s behavior when walked with her pack mate. I am going to work on timing with use of the remote, and sitting her when she is over-excited or barking. I hope you will join me in walking your dog daily on leash for 21 days… follow our blogs and free weekly web casts for dog training help and advice.
Carla C Weed - K9 Coach
Day 1. Walked Betty & Spencer right at 20 minutes, too fast for me up the last hill, so I will remember to sit them more and take my time, even though Betty, is the main puller, they both will sit when I stop, this is working well. . Minimum barking and carrying on from Betty, only a few barks at levels that might pierce one’s skull.
Day 2. 21 minutes walk with Betty & Spencer. They did much better on their pace but Betty exclaimed loudly as we started out at each new intersection through the first half of the walk. Remember this is not a race, practice sit your dogs at intersections and wait to let other people pass. Have your dogs walk beside you, not in front. The wind was blowing today and leaves rustling, which always get Betty going. It was so funny, I looked down at her every time she took off at a perfect heel, tail wagging, big smile and thought, she’s so happy, maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on her about her jubilant, loud bark.
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