Football Season - A Great Opportunity for Dog Training

Yes, I love football. My wife is not too thrilled with this “problem” but she overlooks it once (or twice a week) during the winter. But, you know what? Your dog and your spouse doesn’t have to suffer! Use this as a structured training time to train your pooch. Here is one example of how to use your football time efficiently:

• Don’t feed your dog her breakfast that day to make this even more of a special event
• Take her food bowl and put it out of reach of your dog
• During the game, take small handfuls of it and periodically give small bits of it while she is lying nicely either next to you on the couch or on the floor
• Add more time in between tidbits to work on increasing patience and working on a nice “down stay”
• You can also stuff bigger portions or treats in a Kong or other stuffable toy and give it to her to keep her busy
• During the commercial break get up and do 2 minutes of training
• Introduce more advanced placement commands and reward these: examples include “go to bed”, “lie down next to couch”, etc.
• Once the game starts again, sit down and continue

What could happen by the end of the season:

• Your dog will see you plop on the couch, remote in hand and lie down next to you
• Your dog will see you sit down and go to her “spot”
• Your dog will learn to be patient when she is not getting full attention
• You will have a better trained, happier dog
• Your spouse will be appreciative of all the hard work you put in and will enjoy your well-behaved dog even more
  

To find more suggestions for training, visit WatchandTrain.com

Exercise your dog – physical and mental

In my daily dog training life I am constantly asked a simple question: How much exercise does my dog need? The answer depends on your dog. When my Collie, Ranger was a puppy, he needed three hours of exercise per day. How did I know he needed that much? When I did not provide him that much he was agitated, barked in the crate, was destructive and was just not as enjoyable to be around.

I probably could have gotten away with less, but what I did was what I recommend for all of my clients: train and exercise at the same time. A walk wasn’t just for exercise, but I worked on training, I chased him (one of his favorite activities) only after he came when I called him. I taught him all kind of silly but mind-exercising activities and tricks including “coffee table” – run around the coffee table, “hand-off” – take whatever object is in my hand as you run by, “nose down” – put your nose down between your paws, etc.

As with most dogs, as he got older his requirements lessened a bit, but he still is very high energy and LOVES training. My other two dogs love it as well. My Sheltie is high-energy as well, and my other Collie, Trooper is much lower energy but loves training.

I always recommend a MINIMUM of an hour of heavy-duty exercise including brisk walks, games of fetch, tug, or running at the dog park in addition to a MINIMUM of 15 minutes of training per day. Start there and adjust it as necessary.

The Importance of Handling Your Dog - What to do if your dog growls

It is so important to gently handle your dog throughout his or her life. I received a typical call today from a client that is afraid because her dog growls when she puts on his his harness.

The challenge with growling is that it is much better than biting, but it does signify a problem that needs to be worked on. If you put your dog in a situation where he growls, and you move away from him, then he is learning that growling is effective and he can do it when he is scared. If he growls and you ignore it, he might bite.

If you notice growling, do not punish it. Move gently away and make a note of what you were doing right before the growling. Let’s just say you were putting on a harness. You need to break down the complete action into small steps and desensitize your dog to each step. For instance, putting on a harness could be broken down into these big steps:
1. Show dog his harness
2. Move harness towards dog
3. Open head hole
4. Move harness towards dog
5. Put harness over dogs head
6. Rest harness on dogs back
7. Move hand towards paw to bring it through front leg hole in harness
8. Lift paw
9. Put paw through hole
10. Lean towards dog
11. Touch clip under belly
12. Clip harness under belly

Each one of those steps could take a long time. For instance, step 4 “Move harness towards dog” could elicit a fear response. If this happens, you have to go at a slower pace, both while you are doing the exercise and take more days to achieve this step.

After each step, I recommend saying, “Yes” or Clicking and treating. If your dog shows any fear, move more slowly and end on a good note and then stop the exercise before he gets worked up.

If he is constantly getting worked up when you do these exercises, you are moving much too quickly.

To prevent issues like this, handle your dog throughout his or her life and give treats toys, or food after doing the handling. Done correctly, your dog will love it!