January 2010 is Train Your Dog Month!

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers has declared January 2010 as Train Your Dog month. Many dogs found new homes over the holidays. Let's get started training them, so they can stay in those homes! I will be posting training tips throughout the month, but feel free to email me or comment if you have any questions: romanizmydog at yahoo dot com.

By the way, I will be right there with you. While most consider my dogs trained, there is always something that can be worked on or perfected. So, this month I am working on Roman and Tikka's territorial behavior in front of my house and perfecting their Rally Obedience (maybe we'll even enter a real trial for a change!).

Paws for Peace

Whether you celebrate the holidays or not, it is always a good time to pause and reflect on the simple joys in life. What better way to spend a gorgeous Christmas day than at Ft. Funston with good friends and good dogs? Wishing you all a New Year filled with peace and a better understanding of our canine companions. We focus so much on what we need or have to teach them, or bad behaviors we must break, that we forget what they have to teach us: the simple joy of being alive in the moment! (click on photo for larger image)

Reliable Off Leash Control Starts with a Solid Foundation Part I

Many clients come to dog trainers with one goal in mind, "I just want my dog to come when I call him off leash!"

While this is an important goal, what many people do not realize is that a solid foundation needs to be built first in the basics: sit, down, heel (walk on a loose leash at one's side), stay. As new dog owners scour the internet on methods of training, it can be quite overwhelming and contradictory on actually how to train these behaviors. This is why it is important to find a qualified trainer that you and your dog click with; one who sees each dog and owner as a unique team and customizes the training as the lessons progress.

There are many ways to teach a dog the foundation behaviors. I prefer a method that uses motivational techniques coupled with fair consequences. In my experience, the dog learns exactly what I want from him (and how to get his reward) this way.

Breed considerations need to be taken into account. My German shepherd learned a lot quicker what I wanted than my shih tzu mix. Does that mean he's smarter? Not  necessarily (and the topic of a future blog). I trained both dogs in the basics using food (and a clicker for my GSD). Once it was clear they knew the behavior, food/clicker was phased out and I introduced fair consequences (in my case, the word 'no, with a pop on the collar). This is how I achieved reliable obedience the first time I asked for a sit or down, etc.

Once these behaviors were solid (and this is where patience, time and commitment come in...I trained several times a day for very short sessions...first starting in non distracting environments and building up to more distracting environments over the course of several months), it was time to introduce the recall command (come).

(Check out the Association of Pet Dog Professionals  and International Association for Canine Professionals for a qualified dog trainer in your area)

A Love Affair With Beauty

This dog of mine, with Angel Island, Marin and the bay in the background...true love!

click on this pic to enlarge...what a face on Roman...can I bottle that joy, please?

I can never get enough of the Golden Gate bridge at sunset...

Doga

After too long a hiatus, I am back doing yoga. My sanity required it, despite the protests of my body. The dogs are quite interested and can actually get quite annoyingly in the way. Of course, dogs are natural yogis...they are already in balance (unless messed up by a human). There are now classes in "Doga". I sort of roll my eyes at this, as the yoga craze has taken fad to a new level (when I started doing yoga, there were maybe 3 studios in San Francisco...now there are who knows how many). Of course, who am I to scoff if someone wants to do yoga with their dog?

Retraining Recalcitrant Roman

One tenet of dog training many owners do not want to believe is...the training never stops. If you have a working breed, like GSDs, it can't stop due to their need to constantly be learning and active. But, life happens and even this dedicated trainer slacked these past few months due to a heavy work schedule. See, trainers are people, too! What is that saying about the cobbler's childrfen not having any shoes?

After Roman got a naughty report card from his dog walker (not holding his stay in the back of the truck), I knew I had to do something and get things balanced again. We are back on our training walks and lessons. While rusty, Roman is thrilled to be 'working' again. Notice how naughty he is in the second video...can you point out his recalcitrance? He knows when mom is tired, that is for sure!

He is doing much better in the first video. He held is down-stay at a good distance. When I released him, he came running to me...not a requirement, but greatly appreciated and a sign he is paying more attention to me. If you would like help in getting your dog to focus more on you and not other dogs, cats, squirrels, etc., please contact me:

http://www.angelacasey.com