Here's a little jingle I wrote dedicated to Labradors and the people who breed, train, and compete with them.
May you and your dogs have a wonderful Christmas, Chanuka, Kwanzaa, New Year and whatever else you are celebrating during these winter months. I like to celebrate the longer days since I get more outside time with the dogs.
Here's a little jingle I wrote dedicated to Labradors and the people who breed, train, and compete with them.
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So how much time and money have YOU spent in your search for the "perfect" dog toy? Yah, me too. I finally learned.
I learned that I will give a dog a toy and show him, foreign as it may seem, how to enjoy it. I learned that some of the smallest dogs can cause significant damage to my most chew-proof big dog toys. I learned that toys don't even have to be "dog toys" purchased from a pet store (mine love cardboard boxes). I learned that there is no such thing as an indestructible toy. I learned that it's not the amount or type of toys you give your dog, it's the time you spend with him playing with that toy. Here are the types of toys that I have for my dogs and for client dogs: CHEW TOYS Somewhat indestructible hard nylon or rubber toys like those made by Nylabone, Kong, and Goughnuts. Purpose: Satisfy dog's chewing needs, relieve boredom, mental stimulation Pros: Great for puppies and dogs who like to chew. Can leave dog alone with toy if it is of appropriate size. Cons: Putting a piece of hard plastic or rubber in one's mouth does not come naturally to all dogs and can be pretty off-putting for some. A common human reaction is, "He doesn't like it." My dogs hardly have a chance not to like it! I remove all other toys when introducing a chew toy and spend a lot of time interacting with the dog and toy. I might even put it on a rope and drag it around. TUG TOYS Usually a rope, braided fleece, or some sort of fuzzy toy that a dog can grasp well. Only for interaction and not to be left out and available to dog. Purpose: Playtime with owner or other dog, use for reward when training Pros: Tugging comes pretty natural to most dogs and is a fabulous distraction when raising a sharp-toothed, mouthy puppy. Because it only comes out for short periods of time, dogs can get very excited about their special toy making it a valuable reward or reinforcer in training. Cons: Humans tend to push the toy in a dog's face to get it to play. For many dogs this is taken offensively. Drag the toy away from the dog to get him to chase it. Over-exuberant dogs will need to be taught to settle down and not to grab human body parts during tug sessions. No matter the material, tug toys eventually start to shred. FETCH TOYS Balls, bumpers, dumbbells Notice how I didn't say "chase" toys? I'm talking about fetch here. If you want your dog to fetch (go after item and return it to you without making you play chase or tug) then use a specific fetch toy. Put that toy away when you are done with your play session. So much more I could write on fetching here but I won't. STUFFED PLUSH TOYS People pleaser toys in all sorts of fun shapes and sizes and internal sounds that make us smile. Usually found overflowing in a basket in some corner of the house. Pros: Any toy that makes a human happy will probably make his dog happy if said human spends time with dog and that toy. Cons: These things shred. If dog chews on toy in attempt to chew a piece off, take it away from him for a few moments and then give it back. Repeat. Do this each and every time he shreds the toy. He'll learn. Do not let him have toy unsupervised. And finally, a picture of a Lab with expensive, indestructible toys. He has since chewed the ears off the white sheep. Hugs and love to you and your dogs, Janine We all know that it is important not to take an under-vaccinated puppy to places like dog parks, public areas, pet stores, and other places where one is unsure of the health status and vaccination history of other dogs. Avoiding parvovirus infection involves preventing a puppy from coming in contact with infected dogs, their feces, and contaminated soil and objects. We also know that a puppy needs to be socialized (getting used to living in a human society and environment) before he reaches 12 weeks of age. Puppies who do not get adequate socialization during this period tend to be fearful of unfamiliar people, dogs, objects, sounds, and environments. Fearful adult dogs take much longer to socialize and require more handling skills in the process, often requiring professional help. While you are waiting for that last vaccine, and your veterinarian’s approval to let your dog walk in public places, there are many things you CAN do to socialize your puppy: 1. Have visitors come over to your house. People of all shapes, sizes, colors, personalities. Children. People wearing hats, with facial hair, carrying things, singing, waving their arms about. People talking in loud voices, soft voices, squeaky voices, and deep voices. Ask visitors to hold your puppy and touch his paws, ears, lips and tail. 2. Take your puppy for car rides and let him see different things from the car. Park in front of shopping centers, playgrounds, parks and places with bicycles, skateboards, wheelchairs, birds and loud machinery. 3. Keep your puppy safe in a stroller, wagon, or carrier and take him into pet-friendly stores, marketplaces, strip malls, ball games, restaurant patios. 4. Bring dog treats out to the pool man, gardener, delivery person and have them feed and pet your puppy. Stay outside and reassure the pup while the workers use their tools. 5. Use your pup’s regular food as rewards while you train him to sit, lie down, come when called, run to his crate, and ride in the car. You do not have to wait for obedience class to start your puppy’s training. Have friends and family train your dog with the food rewards. 6. Invite vaccinated, healthy dogs, who do not go to dog parks/daycare/dog shows, over for play sessions. Take your dog to other houses to play with vaccinated, healthy dogs. Be sure your puppy encounters dogs of different sizes, ages, and breed-types. 7. Attend a puppy socialization class where your puppy will learn bite inhibition and how to interact with other dogs and strange people. **CAUTION** Shoes, clothing, and hands can carry the parvovirus to your puppy if a person has been in contact with an infected dog, feces or objects. Be mindful of who touches your puppy and enters your house. Using hand sanitizer and spraying diluted bleach on the soles of shoes (or having visitors leave shoes outside) can be helpful. You sure know how to make your job easy. A bag of dog bones and a little bit of time doling them out keeps all those dogs from barking and chasing you off their property.
It is a simple concept of associative learning or classical conditioning: dog sees truck, dog gets treat, dog looks forward to big brown truck instead of chasing it away. I'm sure some of your associates might not want to do the same - that's okay. Anyone can give a dog a treat every time you show up. Owner hears truck, owner gives dog treats, dog looks forward to big brown truck instead of chasing it. Simple problem, simple solution. If your dog ignores you when you don't have food then he hasn't been properly trained how to work for a reward. Retrain him by using these suggestions:
1. Stop using the food as a bribe. When a dog is first learning something, luring/bribing him with food makes things easy for dog and human. Toss a piece of meat into the back of the crate and, voila, the dog goes in the crate. Hold the food in front of his nose while slowly lowering to the floor and, whammo, the dog lies down. This is a great way to train but it is very important to FADE THE LURE as quickly as possible. One must quickly get to the point where the food is out of sight but readily available as a REWARD. After several times of luring the dog into a down, use your empty (but still food-stinky) hand to motion your dog to lie down. Once he is down, quickly - and I mean QUICKLY- give him the food that you have been hiding in your other hand. 2. Keep food hidden and in various locations. One can use attractive glass or ceramic containers with lids to place around the house to keep rewards available but out of sight. Instead of wearing a treat pouch at my waist, I sometimes clip a Ziplock snack bag to my shirt collar so the dog has more difficulty detecting food on my body. 3. Delay the reward. Once the dog is proficient at the sit, start delaying the reward by very small increments. Count one second then give reward. Do this 6-8 more times then count two seconds and give reward. Work up to 10 to 20 seconds before giving a reward. And, guess what? You just built in an automatic STAY while doing this! 4. Have the dog do another behavior. After the dog sits for a few seconds, release him and run to the door and toss a treat outside. Or, after the dog sits, release him and run backwards calling him to you and give food. Or, after the dog sits, send him to his kennel, have him lie down, then give a piece of food. Start adding in more behaviors in the chain of events before he gets the food. 5. Start fading the the food rewards by giving food on a random schedule. Skip the reward every third or fourth time you ask for a sit. Switch it up for awhile then start reducing the frequency of food rewards. 6. Use other rewards in place of food. Request the sit or down before you let the dog greet you when you enter house, greet other people, go outside, get in the car, throw the ball, etc. The BIGGEST and most detrimental MISTAKE people make when using food rewards during training is they bring out the hidden food and show it to the dog if he doesn't perform the behavior when asked. This is a big, and I mean BIG mistake! The only thing your dog learns is to hold out until the food appears. |
AuthorJanine Allen Archives
October 2021
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