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!!!
Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
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
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
Thursday, 30 July 2015
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
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
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