Train Your Dog While You Watch TV

We live in a busy, hectic world.  Everyone seems to be coming and going.  Sometimes it may feel like you don't have time to train your dogs.

I have found that my best training sessions with my dogs have been while I was doing something else.  When I'm in the kitchen and I'm waiting for the water to boil, I grab my trusty clicker and some treats and work on behaviors with my dogs.  Short sessions are always best when you train.  Allow your dog to have many successful tries at figuring out what you're asking and then stop.  Put the noodles in the pot and while you are waiting for them to cook, try another session.  You'll be amazed at how much you'll accomplish and how excited your dog will be.

It's also fun to train while you're watching TV.  One of my dogs likes to bark when she hears the doorbell. She even barks when she hears one on TV.  You can use this to your advantage.  When you sit down on the couch, make sure you have a clicker and treats available, but out of the sight of your dogs.  While you're watching and your dog is being quiet, click periodically and give them a treat.  Soon they will pick up on the idea that being quiet in that atmosphere is a good thing.  If your dog is sensitive to sounds like doorbells or door knocks and even barking dogs, be sure to reward anytime they're quiet when it is on the TV.  You can also just have some fun with it too.   If a commercial comes on, ask for a behavior and click/treat.  During the next commercial, ask for something else.  It is a great way to keep your dog's brain stimulated. It is also rewarding to you because it will make commercials go by a lot faster!

Enrichment- Does a Body Good

Definition of enrichment-

act of making fuller or more meaningful or rewarding  (thefreedictionary.com) The motivation behind this blog is an adolescent pit bull that lives down the street.  He is an outside dog that barks most of the day.  When I heard him barking one night, it made me think about what I do to enrich my dogs' lives and keep their minds stimulated. Zoos and aquariums put a lot of effort into the enrichment of their animals.  The Dallas Zoo stated the other day that they switched the cheetah and lion habitats.  This allowed the animals to have entirely different surroundings and scents.  I have seen big blocks of ice and chunks of fish inside of those blocks for polar bears.  Orangutans have been given the opportunity to play with Ipads in Wisconsin.  (Youtube Orangutan video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KGrXZ5pWko) So what can you do with your dogs? A great place to start is with their food.  One option is to put their food in a KONG or other treat dispensing toy so that it takes a little bit longer for them to eat it.  It also allows them to problem solve how to get the food out.  A couple of weeks ago I took a bit of our dog's kibble and put it in a paper towel roll.  I then folded the ends of the roll so you could hear the food inside, but you couldn't see it.  The dog had to rip open the roll to get the food.  You can also hide food in different places of the room so that dinner becomes a scavenger hunt. Dogs love to sniff.  Anytime you can hide something, it becomes so rewarding to find it.  There are tons of different dog puzzles that allow you to hide treats to give your dog the chance to find them.  Karen Pryor's site has a great assortment here: http://store.clickertraining.com/treat-and-puzzle-dog-toys.html Toys can also be great enrichment.  Try to cycle through their toys.  There shouldn't be free access to every single one of them or they will lose their excitement.  Make notes about which ones are high value.  Those can be saved for very special occasions.  And with any animal or child, the most reinforcing toys are the ones you spend very little money on.  Save those boxes or ropes, etc.  You never know if they will be your dog's favorite item. Enrichment is entertainment.  Imagine a world without your TV or phone or computer.  Our dogs rely on us to provide good enrichment opportunities and they usually don't take very much to implement.

When It Isn't Okay to Smooch...

There is a news story circulating about an anchorwoman that was bitten in the face by a mastiff on-air.  It is very unfortunate that the incident happened, but this is a good time to spread the messages of reading dog behavior.  The story can be read here: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/rescued-dog-bites-nbc-anchor-face-during-feel-141755422.html

As a dog owner and trainer, I hear a lot of people say, "I don't know what happened, the dog just snapped."  The majority of the time, this isn't the case.  There are clear signs that your dog might snap, you just need to be aware of them.  You might have the cutest lab, Maltese, GSD, min pin, etc. and they might be the most gentle, kind dog most of the time, but it only takes one instance where they feel threatened for them to snap or bite or growl.  This goes for any breed of dog.

Lili Chin (Doggiedrawings.net) makes amazing drawings that show various dog signals.  Here is her drawing of how to correctly approach a dog:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilita/4455993339/

Since Valentine's Day is just around the corner, be proud to know when it isn't okay to smooch a dog.  Be proud to show off your dog from a distance and be the example to show others how to approach dogs that they don't know.