Jumping Up

Recently there has been an influx of owners who are asking advise about their dogs jumping up. Some of these dogs are small, and not really a "problem" per say, but it is annoying. Most of the dogs are bigger dogs, over 40 lbs, and if they were to jump up would have the possibility to knock a person over. 

I have a few different ways of dealing with a dog jumping up. With Ronda, all it took was a good knee into her chest as she jumped up. I think this happened a total of 2 maybe 3 times before she got the picture.  And she also has learned that by sitting she gets much more and better attention than if she was to jump on me. 

Other dogs are much more persistent, and dont get the hint, so here are a few tips if your dog jumps up on you or other people. 

Proper greeting manners - when Ronda meets a new person, I give her the sit command and insist that she remain there until the person has come over, said hi to me, and then acknowledges Ronda who still has to have her bum on the ground. 

If Ronda is off leash, I will call her over to me, put her on her leash and tell her to sit. and if we are in the house, she is told to go to her bed until said person is in and ready to say hello. 

If your dog jumps on you in greeting or at any time, do not acknowledge them other than to push them off, or lift up you knee. You can also go stock still, and not move until your dog turns its back on you, bored of your inactivity.

As soon as they loose interest, call them over and give the sit command, as soon as they sit, give big praise and move on with your day. 

Eventually the goal is to have your dog automatically come over and realize that jumping will not get them the attention they want, but by sitting and asking politely they receive the  attention they want. 

Have you tried this with your dog? How did it work for you? 

Thanks for reading, 

Hana 

Rondas first Camping Trip/Toy Review

Last weekend my boyfriend, and five other friends went camping, We drove 48 km down a Forest Service Road (FSR) and pitched our tents (and tarps) along the Copper River.

There were a total of 4 dogs in the campsite with us. My two, Lilo and Ronda, and then two poodles belonging to my cousin (they mostly kept to themselves).

My girls set out to exploring the camp, there was no one around, so they had free reign over the entire area, and they loved it!!!  Of course Lilo who is notorious for rolling in all things nasty and discusting, found a river otter carcass to roll in, and stunk up the entire camp. Ronda just carried around the bones of the otters foot like it was the best prize in the entire world!!

That night for dinner Matt brought out delicious steaks that he had been marinating in a spice mixture and Sprite for 2 days. He then cooked them over the fire and man were they delicious!!

After dinner, us girls hiked down to the river and dunked Lilo in to try to get rid of the dead otter clinging to her hair, and see a different part of the river. She was quite sad that she had to take a bath, but was a trooper and then tried off by the fire.

The next morning we woke up, had pancakes, baked on the fire by yours truly and set off on our first adventure of the day, fossil hunting 10 km up the road. We found a bunch of small leaf fossils embedded in rock chunks, as well as shells. Matt and Justin took off and started the process of chopping fire wood. We followed suit a few minutes after to help. We loaded up the back of Erics truck, and drove back to camp.

We had macaroni and cheese for lunch, and then headed up Trapper Mountain. 11 km of winding roads later, we reached the top and the views were amazing!!! We brought Ronda up the mountain with us and she was in the lake before I could say "hey Ronda, theres a lake". I had intentionally brought up a new toy for her to fetch.

The Kurgo Skipping Stone - http://www.kurgo.com/dog-toys/skipping-stones/

I tossed the plastic stone into the water a few feet from shore, to make sure it floated, and Ronda brought it back! Wahoo!! The game  was on. I tossed it out even further, and she paddled right out to it. The water was freezing!! and Ronda just kept on paddling. The rock wasn't so good at skipping, but it was a good floater, and it fit nicely in Ronda's mouth.

After the guys jumped into the glacial lake, we started back down the mountain. where 5 minutes into the journey, we got a flat tire. 30 minutes later we were back on the road.

For dinner that night we had Tacos in a Bag (or all the things you would put on a regular taco ie ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cheese) and put it in a small Doritos bag. They were delicious.

We all went to bed early as the fresh air, and activity as relaxing as it was takes a lot out of a human and pup. Ronda was passed out by the fire before any of us, and she jumped into her kennel the first chance she got.

The last day camping we woke up, had eggs and bacon, and packed up camp. When we got home the first thing Ronda did was curl up on her bed and pass out cold, no moving, not even blinking when we called her name. SHE WAS OUT.

We have ore trips planned for the future, and Ronda I am sure will play just as hard. Talk to you all soon!!

Cheers,

Hana, Lilo, and Ronda

It has been quite a long time since I have added to this blog. :) Lots of things have happened.
The dog training has taken off, I have been able to work with some really awesome dogs and their humans, I have taught three indoor obedience classes, two puppy classes and two down town dog obedience classes. I also have agility classes starting. Lots of new things in the works that I am very excited about.

In November I adopted a new puppy! Not a doberman like I had planned, but a beautiful little pup that I foster-failed. :) Her name is Ronda and she is a lab mix who steals everyone's heart!! She is now almost a year, and has learned so much, as well as taught me more that I could ever imagine.

I got her as a foster puppy through Northern Animal Rescue Alliance, a friend who also volunteers picked her up after someone called it in that she had been living under their deck for 4 days, at only four months old she was skin and bones. After a month of good puppy food, she became a beautiful perky puppy!!

She comes to most of my private lessons and helps with showing the other dogs how to behave. She is also learning agility.

She makes my day brighter, and even Lilo likes her!!

My goal is to post a few posts a month about my adventures training and Ronda, Lilo and I's adventures.

Chat with you all soon.

She Got It!

I have been working with Lilo on her leash walking skills. She is excelling with the heel, and totally surprised me when she did the heel sit the other day with me just asking her of it. Up until then I was still showing her what I wanted. (Note, if it is really wet on the ground she will not sit, but I can't blame her to much). I was so happy and she picked up on it. :)  We will now start working on the down and sit from down at the heel position. 

Also last week I taught my first obedience class. I had 6 dogs in the class, and it went  well. I chose a poodle to be my demonstration dog, and she put me through the ringer :) She had never been told what to do before, and had always been on a harness and leash and had never had a training collar on. She pulled and fought against me, but in the end (with my help to coax her along) she did move into a heel position, and by the end of her class working with both owners very well. 

I was also very excited because I got to work with Tonka my Therapy Dog. Twice a month we go to an assisted living facility for the elderly. We have been doing this for 4 months now, and we both absolutely love it!!! There are some members of that look forward to Tonka coming and they know exactly  when he is going to be there. He knows when his mom loads him into the car that he gets to go to "work" and see his friends. He cant get into my car fast enough. It makes my heart melt :) 
Tonka knows who he can be more excited with and who he has to be calm with. He has a friend who is wheel chair bound that he knows to snug his body up tight to, and thats where he gets the good pets!!! 

Training Day 2...

     Justin and I took Lilo for a walk today. We worked on just her heel, and for the most part she did really well and we only had to correct her a few times whenever a car went by (she likes to chase cars... )  When we got to the park Lilo loves, I took her off leash and gave her the command  to stay. After a few minutes I gave her permission to go and sniff around, she squatted to do her business, and that is when I noticed the other dogs. I should have known to look for other people and dogs around (Lilo is very reactive to other dogs)... but there are hardly other dogs at this park.. Thank goodness for her being short and the other dogs being on the other side of the garbage bin. I got her to come and clipped her leash on.. just in time for the owner and his dogs to come around the dumpster.. I dropped her leash, knowing she is better meeting new dogs when not attached to me.. she still beat up the smaller of the 2 dogs, and I was very embarrassed.. I walked her around and did some obedience with her, making her listen and not pay attention to anything but me.  She has been really good around other dogs lately, but apparently we need to work on it still (it will be an ongoing process for her for the rest of her life...) thankfully the rest of the walk was uneventful, and we made it home with no more incidents. We will continue with training tomorrow.

It's All in How you say it...

      When I was taught how to train a dog for obedience, I was taught to only use the dogs name when doing the recall. I do my best to praise and motivate using an upbeat voice and body language.  When correcting a dog I try to never use their name. This is because you want their name to mean something good is coming. If you are correcting a dog and use their name they will associate their name with negativity.

     The way I see it, when you call your dog, you use their name to get their attention, and then you give them the "come" command. When you call them it should be a happy upbeat "Fluffy Come" and pat your legs and make it exciting for them to come to you, when "Fluffy" does come, they should be praised and told they are a good dog. If you were to call out to "Fluffy" and use a gruff deep voice and stand and make no movement, "Fluffy is more than likely to look at you and walk (or run) the other way.

    Recently at a family get together, my aunt was trying to get her adorable 5 month old Cocker Spaniel puppy to come out from underneath the table, she was bent down and saying "Ellie Come, Ellie Come!" Her voice was loud and deep and Ellie was backing farther and farther under the table, well out of my aunts reach. I recommended to my aunt to change the tone of her voice to a happy tone, and to entice Ellie out with it. IT WORKED and Ellie bounded out from under the table into my aunts arms, and was given lots of praise. Just by changing her voice and body posture was enough for Ellie to process, and realize that her mum wasn't mad at her, and it was better to be with my aunt getting praise than being under the table. 


Cheers, 

Hana @ K9 O'Hana

Old Dog - New Tricks

       I completed my Obedience Trainer course Canada West Canine Training Center in May in Salmon Arm B.C. All I can think about is training dogs, and how much I want my own puppy to train. There are lots of dogs that I get to work with and help train, but none of them are mine. Up until a few days ago, I had convinced myself that my old almost 12 year old Yorkshire Terrier/Poodle mix was to old to re-train. But I have come to realize that she is just as trainable as any other dog. If I had adopted her a week ago she would need to be trained regardless of her age. So why not start over. 

       I have had Lilo for 11 years. We have grown up together, and she has always been my shadow. If I can take her with me, I do. She loves car rides, licking windows and  barking at dogs as we go by. She was trained using treats, and knows tricks like "sit pretty", "wave", "roll over", "speak", "spin around", and my boyfriend has got her trained that if she comes in the house without barking/trying to eat the neighbor she gets a treat. 

       My new training method does not use treats. It uses praise, motivation and correction. All use touch and voice to communicate with the dog. 

       So this blog is now going to be myself and Lilo's Training Log. 

       Last night Lilo and I got down to business. We had already gone for a short walk with a friend and her dog, so she had her training collar on already. I clipped my 6 foot leash to her, and we set off.  I am sure my neighbors thought I was crazy.. walking around the cul-de-sac with small steps and turning circles, making Lilo pay total attention to me. She picked up on the heeling quite fast, it is the auto sit when I stop that she is completely dumbfounded by.. She did it twice for me without me having to bend down and put her into the (heel)sit. But then of course the next time, gave me a blank stare..
       I love teaching dogs the heel and auto sit, to me nothing looks nicer than a dog that knows how to heel and isn't pulling the owners arm out of their socket.  It is one of the commands that makes training that much easier, and everything else that is taught stems from the mastering of the heel and auto sit.
       
       I wanted to start this blog, not only to talk about my training but to show that even older dogs can learn new commands and become better canine citizens. 


Cheers, 

Hana @ K9 O'Hana