tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43447244951200156682024-03-13T16:07:44.961-07:00Educating DarcySee day to day how a Certified Pet Dog Trainer trains her newly adopted Pit Bull.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-425356839911377212017-10-01T13:42:00.002-07:002017-10-01T13:51:11.239-07:00Socialization for an adult dogOver the years I've had a lot of people ask about socializing adult dogs in a variety of manners. Some adopt a puppy, bring him to a puppy class and now maybe a year later they want to take him to a dog park or free range day care. Or more often they have adopted an adult dog, already brought him to an environment with other dogs and it went poorly and they want to know how to do it right. My response is very often there is no right way to do it as the dog likely has grown out of the need for this interaction. This usually doesn't sit well with the owner until I make the following comparison and then it seems to hit home.
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This analogy doesn't apply to everyone so you may not be able to put yourself personally into it but I think most people can understand where I'm going with it. I am going to compare the social life of dogs, specifically in situations like the dog park or free range day care facilities to how many humans socialize. For some clarification, when I talk about dog parks I am talking generally about relatively big city dog parks. I've lived in Chicago for the last 21 years so I am talking about a smaller plot of land that is a fenced in, paved over square that typically has a high number of dogs (say 10 plus). There are absolutely wonderful dog friendly spaces all over but I won't go into what makes a good and not so good dog park. I'll leave that to another video. In addition to dog parks, I am also including what I call free range day care or boarding facilities. These are where a number of dogs (again say 10 or more) are in one room for an hour or more at a time. Again, I won't go into how I think these facilities could be run to avoid socialization issues in this video. What I am going to compare is how dogs change what appeals to them as far as socialization in the same way humans do.
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So we are going to start out comparing young puppies to young adults. I find that dogs from the age of about 5 week to around 9-10 months are very comparable to humans from the age of around 18 (or 21 if you are good law abiding citizen which I was not...) to about their late 20's to early 30's. Dogs and humans usually love to party at this age. Puppies should want to play a ton and with any living thing. We see them flitting around, playing with lots of different puppies and playing until they crash. If you've ever gone out to bars that young adults hang out at it if often very much the same. They come in large groups, there is a lot of moving about interacting with different people. Also humans and dogs at this age will tend to party anywhere. Puppies want to play with every creature out on walks or anywhere they encounter something. Same with humans - they will go to bars, street festivals, concerts, house parties or wherever.
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In this video of puppies playing watch how some pair off but they switch partners quickly and fluidly:
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This is very much like young adults in social situations. I'm sure you can imagine these pups jumping up on the bar and dancing like I did, I mean other young adults do...
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But as humans and dogs age things often change a bit. When humans get to their early 30's they often find that they don't enjoy all the different types of partying they used to. They will find their niche of maybe having friends over for dinner or going to a neighborhood bar or street festivals. There are definitely still some people that want to party anywhere and all the time but they are fewer and far between. This is the same for dogs between the age of around 10 months and 3 years. For humans this sometimes ends around early 40's. For dogs I see that a lot will still have a buddy in the neighborhood that they like to play with or they like to play fetch at the dog park but not so much roll around with the other dogs with the intensity they used to have.
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In this video of mostly adult dogs, see how there is not a ton of playing. The two tan/golden dogs in the beginning have a nice play session but when they try to play again later other dogs try to get involved which is not as fun. Through most of the video it is just dogs checking each other out. I would equate that to introducing yourself around at a party where you don't know anyone. You aren't going to introduce yourself and then drag that person into a dark corner to confession your deepest secrets. That is essentially what these guys are doing - just introducing themselves:
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Thank you Perfect Paws Studio for the footage!
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This stage poses some difficulties for dog owners and humans alike. The time frames I have listed here are not at all exact. Just like some humans maybe liked loud crazy bars in college, they may have grown out of it by the time they graduate. And I have definitely seen some six month old dogs just not be into all the other puppy's crazy shenanigans. If you have a dog as a puppy and have consistently had them in social situations you need to keep a close eye on them to see when they lose interest. Very often people just assume that because their dog loved other dogs as a puppy that they will forever love dogs and this is not the case. There is NOTHING wrong with that dog just like there is nothing wrong with the fact that I don't enjoy staying up until midnight at a loud bar with people I don't know. If you learn about dog communication and watch your dog he will start telling you when he is not thrilled with the situation so you can get him out. The great thing about this is that your dog will start to rely on you to get him out of uncomfortable situations. It is when this doesn't happen that we see more severe reactions. The dog has learned that he is on his own so we will see them growl, snap or even bite. If this does happen you should absolutely NOT punish the dog. He was almost definitely trying to ask for help at some point but learned it didn't happen.
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Lastly I see a final stage of socialization with humans and dogs that happens around 3 years old for dogs and somewhere around early 40's for humans. At that point all of those types of socialization becomes unappealing for both species. For humans they often will have a close friend or spouse that they just want to relax with. Maybe have a nice dinner or watch a movie. For dogs it is often just being with their humans. Going for a walk or just getting some nice petting. Yes, there are definitely still six year old dogs that adore playing with any and all dogs they meet just like you may run into some 60 year old humans partying until the wee hours of the morning. If you live in Chicago just take a walk down Rush Street at 11pm on a Saturday and you'll see some...
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For the last video, while I don't know that any of these dogs are in the older adult age group they all are examples of dogs that either don't want to play or have had enough.
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Thank you Great Dog Productions and Sue Sternberg for the amazing video and commentary. If you would like to hone your skills in understanding dog behavior these videos are the ones to watch!
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So if you have a young pup, learn about dog communication (Turid Rugaas is amazing!) and keep an eye out for them to tell you when they've had enough. If you adopt an adolescent or adult dog consult a professional trainer to help you determine if "partying" is something they would enjoy!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-19544320960903134592016-03-24T10:21:00.001-07:002016-03-24T10:23:51.731-07:00How to Socialize a Puppy<p>
You got a puppy! Now what...
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Most people have heard about the importance of socialization but what IS proper socialization?
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<b>What it is:</b>
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<li>A well run puppy class. This puts puppies (under six months at least) in a safe environment where they can comfortably interact with other puppies.
<li>A puppy play time. These should either be limited to young puppies (under six months) or have separate areas for different age groups. All dogs should still be under a year.
<li>Puppies also need to be exposed to things besides other dogs. They need to be exposed to kids of all ages, other animals like cats and even horses if you may come across them, a variety of different people (different races, genders...) and even different surfaces to walk on. While this often isn't as adorable as puppies playing it goes miles to help form a confident adult dog.
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<b>What socialization is NOT:</b>
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<li>Puppies under a year should not go to dog parks. Play with a large number of adult dogs is not socialization. Think about having your five year old child hang around a bunch of teenagers all the time. It may be fine but they likely will learn a few swear words along the way.
<li>As with dog parks, puppies should not go to the vast majority of dog day care facilities. Unless a facility has a specific program for puppies where they play with almost entirely other dogs under a year and there are lots of rest times (about 45 minutes of play with an hour to two hours of rest between) it is not considered socialization and runs the risk of them learning bad habits, getting over corrected by an adult dog or picking up an illness from the other dogs.
<li>Puppies should not be allowed to approach all other dogs out on walks. Many dogs do not do well on leash with other dogs. This is not the fault of the owner often but is either a matter of genetics or lack of socialization which may have been out of the current owners control. Even more dogs that may be ok on leash with other dogs do not tolerate puppies. Lastly, what is often an adult dog teaching manner to a young puppy looks awful to owner so it is possible that the other dog will "correct" your puppy but that may be startling to both you and your puppy. It is best to allow a professional to determine what are appropriate corrections to behavior.
<li>Forcing your puppy to approach everything. Let your puppy investigate things as he or she feels comfortable. The best thing to do is praise them when they approach something but allow them to hang back as they need to. Also don't put your puppy in a situation where he or she shuts down. Street festivals and jammed sidewalks are not a place for puppies to get used to new sights and sounds.
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When should I do this?
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Immediately! Dog's window for socialization with other dogs ends around four to five months so this must be done prior to that.
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There is so much more to discuss about how to prepare your puppy to be the happiest dog around so contact a <a href="/choose_trainer.php">qualified trainer</a> as soon as possible!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-46289532409454791912013-01-25T12:46:00.002-08:002014-08-13T06:41:41.843-07:00Frequency of illness in puppy socialization participants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here is a wonderful study Collins Canine participated in through the University of California at Davis. They gathered data on the instances of illnesses in puppies that attended socialization classes as opposed to those that didn't. They found no greater instances of illnesses in puppies that attended socialization sessions further supporting many trainers experience that it is much more likely to have issues with a dog due to lack of socialization than to contract an illness from being around other puppies. Unfortunately many vets still prescribe to the theory that puppies should not be around other dogs until they are four or even six months of age. This misses out on the window of socialization which can cause dramatic problems as the dogs mature. If your vet is one that still thinks puppies shouldn't socialization please pass this on to them. The more well socialized dogs we have out there the fewer behavioral issues we will have and therefore the less dogs in shelters and euthanized. Please spread the word! <a href="http://www.jaaha.org/content/49/2/95.abstract" target="_blank">http://www.jaaha.org/content/49/2/95.abstract</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-37859962036920116792012-10-22T08:39:00.000-07:002012-10-22T08:39:07.399-07:00Working with a dog that is nervous around humansVery often we deal with dogs that are afraid or nervous around humans. One great way to work with this is to teach the dog that if they give the person at the end of the leash a signal that we will get them out of the situation. We look for what are called "calming signals" as a sign that the dog is not comfortable in the situation and then take them out of the situation. Here is some work with Romeo, the Chihuahua.<br />
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Jake, our foster dog!</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Meet the Collins Family's new foster! Jake is a one year old neutered male Ridgeback/Boxer mix who is up for adoption. He is housebroken, crate trained and wonderful with dogs and all ages of people. The only reason he isn't in his previous home is that he wants to play with the cat too much. Please <a href="http://www.collinscanine.com/training/contact.asp" target="_blank">contact us</a> or <a href="http://www.onetail.org/" target="_blank">One Tail at a Time</a>to find out more about adopting. There will be lots of training incentives for him as well!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-1095174569501462552012-07-16T14:28:00.000-07:002012-07-16T14:28:45.436-07:00<br />
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Another fun game!<br />
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To play Doggie, Doggie Where's Your Bone? you must have a group of two or more people with one dog. One person has a treat in their closed fist but everyone has their fists closed in the same position so the dog can't tell who has the treat (or bone!). Either have the dog in another room so he or she can't see who has the treat or pretend like you give a treat to everyone. The dog is then released to find the treat. When they nudge the hand with the treat they get the treat. Watch Darcy play it with our family and her friend Shannon.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-15280185755677393172012-06-28T12:14:00.000-07:002012-06-28T12:14:23.735-07:00The Alphabet Game<br />
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As trainers we are always looking for fun ways to practice obedience. As a lazy mom I am always looking for ways to push chores off on my kid. The Alphabet Game accomplishes both! The rules of the game are simple - for each letter of the alphabet the human will pop a treat in the pups mouth as long as the dog remains in one position. You can do this with a Sit, a Down or even a Stand depending on what your dog knows. If the dog gets out of that position then the alphabet starts over. Have more than one child? Make this a little competitive by seeing who can get further in the alphabet without the dog moving. <br />
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The treats must be in a bowl or in a pocket so the human has to reach to get each treat. No fair having multiple treats in your hand so you can say the letters really quickly! And if your pup has a bit of a harder mouth (you hear Justin say "ow" a few times when Darcy gets too into the game) you can have the person hold the treat in a flat palm rather than pinched between fingers.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-5523949039196514602012-05-13T19:13:00.001-07:002012-05-13T19:13:20.560-07:00Fun and Games with Darcy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have long wanted one of these toys because they are beautifully made and seem like they would be a lot of fun for a dog. This one is called the Dog Brick and they are made by Nina Ottosson. This is Darcy's first attempt with it. There are treats in the wells so she is supposed to move the black slides out of the way to get the treat. In true terrier style, she is most successful by just pawing the crap out of it. She does try to chew and pick it up in her mouth but thankfully it is well made and heavy so she doesn't get much out of that. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-15972496662846497252012-01-26T07:06:00.000-08:002012-01-26T07:06:47.977-08:00Darcy's calming signalsOne thing Darcy doesn't like is being in an enclosed space. Even when it is me, she gets a little nervous. Unfortunately to go to our backyard she needs to go through a space that puts her in the social space of people (because we have to open the door). With people she doesn't know well she will not go at all. With us she gives crazy calming signals to show that she doesn't like the situation. Once she is outside she is happy as a clam. But getting there is the battle. Here is a video and a list of the calming signals she exhibits:<br />
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00:00:18 - Shake off<br />
00:00:19 - Lip lick<br />
00:00:21 - Look away<br />
00:00:22 - Stretch<br />
00:00:25 - Lip lick<br />
00:00:26 - Walk away<br />
00:00:34 - Lip lick<br />
00:00:40 - Stretch<br />
00:00:42 - Lip lick<br />
00:00:44 - Yawn<br />
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Can you find any more?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-91595548151767800022012-01-18T07:36:00.000-08:002012-01-18T07:36:03.021-08:00Canine Good Citizen PracticeWhen we work with dogs beyond basic obedience one of our main focuses is often getting the dog their Canine Good Citizen certificate. The CGC is an AKC developed test that determines if a dog is a "good member of the canine community". The widest use I find for it is going into therapy work but even if owners are not planning on that, all the steps of the test are behaviors that most owners in an urban environment would like their pups to be able to do. To help our students practice for the test and to educate more people about the test we did some brief videos to outline what is required in each step. Please note: these are intended to be information for practice. We are using treats which is not allowed in the test. But to get a dog to work as hard as they need to in order to pass this test we need to give them a paycheck!<br />
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CGC #1: Accepting a friendly stranger<br />
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CGC #2: Sitting politely for petting<br />
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CGC #3: Appearance and Grooming<br />
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CGC #4 and #5: Out for a walk and walking through a crowd<br />
Since we did this in my home we didn't have much room or a crowd to work on these steps!<br />
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CGC #6 and #7: Sit, Down, Stay and coming when called<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">CGC #8: Reaction to another dog</span></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JRzgwLOUNVw" width="560"></iframe><br />
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CGC #9: Reaction to a distraction<br />
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CGC #10: Supervised separation<br />
Since the only people around were family members we couldn't do Supervised Separation with our dog!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-57277437224910420762011-08-06T18:57:00.000-07:002011-08-06T18:57:21.606-07:00August 6th, 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyrMjY4-Na8QAnlirhpgAdCkYbxbE2N3R1FQ2xyOpVit4OV-QZIEw8RkgDvbGi_N48wpwcsfUbRZOt9KoKzrw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>I love catching "funny" behavior in my dogs. In this video I am annoying Darcy and she starts barking at me. When she is in a certain mood she hates it when I stare at her (most dogs don't like this anyway), make funny faces at her and then gasp when she barks. Something else to notice in this video is that she is pretty conflicted. She is telling me off (barking, ears back, tail wagging) but she also does a lip lick at 24 seconds and is often looking away which means she nervous and doesn't want to start conflict. Just goes to show that you have to take in to account the whole dog rather than just a specific behavior.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-74004797069199689412011-05-31T13:44:00.000-07:002011-05-31T13:44:54.672-07:00May 31st, 2011 - Nose Work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our clients are always looking for easy ways to entertain their dogs so here is a simple nose work game that any dog with a sense of smell can do! I'm just putting a few treats in a box (always the same box) and mixing up the boxes so Darcy has to find it. It's a great way to get some energy out of your pup without a lot of work on your part!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eii625jOjW4?hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eii625jOjW4?hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-55457279687320498842011-04-14T15:40:00.000-07:002011-04-14T15:40:07.942-07:00Resource guarding - the good, the bad and the Darcy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lately we have been making some changes to our web site here at Collins Canine are would like to utilize our blog to help get more information out to people. Our highest priority is to keep dogs in a home and we feel that education is a crucial part in that effort. To help with that we are going to start posting some more general training information here. For those of you looking for a Darcy fix, a lot of the pictures and video will still have her in them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To start out with I want to post some videos of "good" behavior. Here are some videos of both my dogs around different resources. We have always worked with a lot of dogs that have resource guarding issues and found that it is often helpful to see some dogs that do not guard resources. In these videos I use both my actual hand and what we call an Asses-a-Hand. As trainers we often use this devise so we don't risk getting bit ourselves. One other note on these videos - they were taken by my five year old son so they are a bit wobbly and have a bit of a commentary. When I made these we had an urgent need so he was the only one around. But it does bring up a good discussion relating to this topic and children. Resource guarding is a very serious issue in general but it is something that children should never be around. Kids usually have a very hard time recognizing when they should not be around the dog so relying on the child to keep away from a dog when they have a resource is a recipe for disaster. When kids are around they often carry around food or have toys that the dog may decide is his or hers. When we are working with a dog that has any sort of resource guarding issues one of our first questions is if the dog will ever be around kids because it will have a huge impact on what we need to set as our goals. While neither of my dogs ever had any issues we resources it is something that we still worked on extensively. Only because of this would I allow my son to be in this situation.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here is a video of Bella, our ten year old Rottweiler around her food. She likes her food but isn't crazy about it. After we adopted her at a year old we did extensive work with resources since we knew she would be around kids at some point.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IW250V-cE6E?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IW250V-cE6E?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here is a video of Darcy, our three year old Pit Bull and her food. She is food crazy and scarfs it down no matter what. She has never had issues with resources and since we adopted her we have not done as much work on resources as we did with Bella. Busy mom syndrome I guess...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V3esKIGXdF0?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V3esKIGXdF0?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is a video of Bella with a rawhide. Both dogs love rawhides more than any other toy out there.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vmuKJLaxQ5g?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vmuKJLaxQ5g?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lastly, here is Darcy with the rawhide. She does get a bit upset as evidenced by the hard stare she gives me when I grab the rawhide. She does relinquish it though.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OzJaVc8c-QY?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OzJaVc8c-QY?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-60906255614204685092010-08-09T19:31:00.000-07:002010-08-09T19:31:13.700-07:00August 9th, 2010Ahh, again the slacking. I guess I have not so much slacked on Darcy's training but on the writing about it. The end of summer is approaching so I am going to try to get back to writing as my son goes back to school. Darcy is on a pretty good routine but almost too good of a routine. I have been running so much with her that she actually recognized my running clothes. By the time I am tying my shoes she is bouncing off the walls. She has become a pretty good runner but as I discovered recently, she is REALLY good at running while I'm biking. I decided to try it one day (because I had a death wish?) and it went very well. I only have to take her about 1 1/2 miles to knock her out for the day. The really cool thing is seeing her actually running. Her natural gait for my running pace is a trot. When I'm booking on the bike she finally gets into a good gallop and it is a beautiful thing to see. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dvNAXE2d4Jg/TGC5Hw3ngWI/AAAAAAAACRQ/N98JikbyOyo/s1600/IMG_1503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dvNAXE2d4Jg/TGC5Hw3ngWI/AAAAAAAACRQ/N98JikbyOyo/s320/IMG_1503.JPG" /></a></div>As far as training, we have still been doing agility though I think we might try flyball soon just for a change of pace. We have also been having one of my trainers, Amanda come over to work with Darcy. Amanda is who stays with the dogs when we go out of town so it is very important that Darcy is ok with her. I can't remember if I mentioned it before but Darcy has been having some fear issues with people in the home when I'm not around. My worst fear is that we will be on vacation and Amanda will call saying Darcy has cornered her in the den or something. But Amanda has been coming every week and just rewarding her as she walks around the house and she said it has been a while since Darcy had any issues. We have also had a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/D-P-Collar-Appeasing-Pheromone/dp/B000O5FPQ0" target="blank">DAP collar</a> on her and Amanda said she has really seen a difference. <br />
We are also starting to have the neighborhood kids come over to work with Darcy for the same issues. Not only are they regularly running in and out of our house but someday Justin will have friends his age coming over so I don't want her to have any issues with them. As I've learned from working with so many clients whose dogs are afraid of people coming in the home it takes a lot of work so we are starting now. I'm sure both her and Bella will know when it is someone coming in the house that shouldn't. And who would come in with a Pit Bull and a Rottie anyway? :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-7266319105654301652010-04-28T20:08:00.000-07:002010-04-28T20:08:45.142-07:004/28/10I'm in kind of a philosophical mood right now. The day started out volunteering at my son's preschool which I love doing. Today it was still fun but the kids were NUTS. Then we progressed into a difficult day with clients and other business controversy. The controversy followed me all the way to agility class today with Darcy so I was sure that it would be unproductive. I don't know if it was the low expectations I had or what but to my surprise we had the best class ever. Stacey had us do our first run with our arms plastered to our sides and with NO verbal cues. I'm Italian and do obedience training - I gesture wildly and talk to my dog. This was hard. But Darcy was a champ - I was amazed. Afterwards I was actually giddy with how exciting it was to see her run like that on so little communication from me. What Stacey made us realize is that we are often confusing them with all our flailing and chatter. It was so good to take a step back and trust my dog that she knows what to do. <br />
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That started me on a better trend of emotions. When I got home I started looking at some photographs made by my friend <a href="http://carusophoto.com/%20target=blank">John Caruso</a> and now I am centered. Thank you Stacey Hawk and John Caruso!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-81090300645861701572010-04-22T13:06:00.000-07:002010-04-22T13:06:39.658-07:004/22/10<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dvNAXE2d4Jg/S9CsEU2j6jI/AAAAAAAACPo/KFPU9aLlV0E/s1600/IMG_0588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dvNAXE2d4Jg/S9CsEU2j6jI/AAAAAAAACPo/KFPU9aLlV0E/s200/IMG_0588.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dvNAXE2d4Jg/S9CsMGWP-bI/AAAAAAAACPw/h-UZC9CzL3E/s1600/IMG_0587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dvNAXE2d4Jg/S9CsMGWP-bI/AAAAAAAACPw/h-UZC9CzL3E/s200/IMG_0587.JPG" width="150" /></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Some are good days and some are bad. Sometimes even within a class things go from bad to good. For the last three weeks Darcy has been not feeling the agility class. She's run incredibly slowly or just balks at every obstacle. The first half of class last night was still the same. I reconsidered if I should continue doing agility with her since she just didn't seem to enjoy it. But then during the last run was a huge turn around. She ran like lightning and took all the obstacles (weave poles, wing jump, tunnel, tire and four jumps) like a champ. The whole class cheered as she finished. I can only imagine how it feels to have a good run like that in a competition! <br />
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As a little aside from my normal discussion about Darcy, I wanted to give people some good ideas for things to do to burn your dog's energy up that doesn't involve a lot of work on your part. Two reason I am thinking of this - one is that Darcy has a bit more energy as the only day care she was comfortable at, All For Doggies, just closed. And two is that I have been talking about these things to a lot of clients lately so I wanted something for them to reference. Here are some good ones:<br />
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1) Do Something Different Game: Involves getting the dog to continually perform a different behavior for a period of time. Check out earlier postings on this blog for a demo.<br />
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2) Treasure Hunt: Instead of putting your dog's food in a bowl, place small piles of it around the house so he or she has to "hunt" it down. Start out easy with the food in plain sight but you can eventually get to having the food in a room with the door ajar or under pillows or rugs. Obviously as long as the dog isn't eating the pillows or rugs!<br />
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3) Find Me Game: For this game your dog must either have a great Sit/Stay or you must have two or more people. Have the dog in a Sit/Stay or have one person hold the dog and the other people moves away to the other side of the room and calls "Find Me". When the dog reaches that other person he or she gets rewarded. Just like with the Treasure Hunt, start out easy but eventually you can be hiding in closets or behind furniture.<br />
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4) Three Card Money (sorta): Take three plastic cups (or playing cards if your dog won't eat them too) and put a treat under one of them. Move the cups around and then let them go. Your dog will undoubtedly find the treat though he or she might knock over all the cups to do it. It's a party pleaser regardless!<br />
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5) KONGS: Feeding all your dog's food in Kongs will use up mental energy in a positive manner which is always beneficial.<br />
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All these activities will burn up mental energy which is just as tiring as burning physical energy. The more energy burned throughout the day, the calmer and happier your dog will be!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-42698750171248308122010-04-12T08:00:00.000-07:002010-04-12T08:00:02.276-07:00April 12, 2010As happens with most people and training their dog, I too have slacked. Well, Darcy has still been in classes (just agility for now) but I haven't been good about keeping up with the information about her training. I am hoping to do that now. <br />
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Here's an update since November. Darcy and I have started volunteering for <a href="http://www.safehumanechicago.org/" target=blank>Safe Humane Chicago</a> which we are very excited about. So far we have just gone to the orientation and gotten approved but we haven't attended any events yet. <br />
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The biggest news is that last night Darcy passed the <a href="http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/index.cfm" target=blank>Canine Good Citizen test</a>! Yay! I am so proud of her!<br />
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Also as an update to previous training issues we've had with her. She hasn't destroyed anything since I wrote about the couch last (knock on wood!). We still have a bit of a problem with her getting things off the kitchen counter when we are gone but the worst we've lost is a loaf of bread. Not the best but it passed. Literally. Since it only happens when we are gone I think we just continue keeping edible things off the counter and maybe the habit will go away. It keeps our counters cleaner anyway so thank you, Darcy!<br />
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So I will try my best to keep this updated better! Hope you enjoy!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-71733012655317565652009-11-08T18:41:00.000-08:002009-11-08T18:49:24.819-08:0011/8Here's a new fun fact about Darcy - she can scale about a seven foot dog run. Great. After agility on Tuesday night we decided to have her board at Windy City so she could play on Wednesday and I would pick her up in the evening when we had basic obedience class with <a href="http://www.dogbehaviorsolutions.net">Janice</a>. Apparently when one of the people from agility went to check on the dogs that were boarding before locking up on Tuesday night they heard a whining. When they got to Darcy's run she was perched at the top crying. Who knows how long she was up there! Well, they grabbed a few other people to help get her down and put her in a run that had a top. When I picked her up the next day she seemed fine. What an adventure!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-26059615203215575552009-11-01T19:50:00.000-08:002009-11-01T20:06:13.308-08:0011/1<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dvNAXE2d4Jg/Su5XSoHCCzI/AAAAAAAACNY/Drt8Hu-lIyc/s1600-h/Darcy_Collins_20091031.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dvNAXE2d4Jg/Su5XSoHCCzI/AAAAAAAACNY/Drt8Hu-lIyc/s320/Darcy_Collins_20091031.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399348980779977522" /></a><br /><br />With the possible craziness of Halloween we decided to board Darcy from Friday to today so not much to report on those days except for the funny picture of Darcy showing her true form that Windy City sent us. <br /><br />But prior to dropping her off Darcy threw me for a loop. My mother in law came into town on Thursday afternoon and Darcy proceeded to bark at her constantly. I tried to look at it as if I were looking at a client's dog but I couldn't figure out why she was doing it. At first I thought she was nervous so we started doling out treats but then I looked at her body language and she didn't seem scared. Then when Darcy crawled up in her lap and was fine it threw the fear thing out the window. The only thing it kind of reminded me of was when she did a little demand barking when she first came into the house. We stopped it quickly by ignoring her as soon as she made a peep but by the time I thought of this we were already planning on taking Darcy to Windy City so I didn't really test that theory. Regardless it was insanely annoying.<br /><br />Friday was a rough day because of the barking, a busy day volunteering at my son's school and a little altercation with a neighbor (thankfully not dog related!) so when it came time to do an agility fun run that night I just didn't feel that connection with Darcy so we passed on it. My frustration level from the day was just too high that I thought being out there in front of everyone and having Darcy not respond would push me over the edge. Taking a step back now I should have separated training from all the crap of the day but I'm still human! :) We are starting a new obedience class with <a href="http://www.dogbehaviorsolutions.net" target=blank>Janice Triptow</a> this week so we'll have a new start then!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-75829814611476026492009-10-27T13:14:00.000-07:002009-10-27T13:24:45.375-07:0010/27Today we found a new talent that Darcy has. She can not only get herself out of the crate but if another dog is in the crate she can get them out too. Oh and she can open doors with knob handles. I left to take our son to school and go for a run so I put Bella in the crate and closed our office door. When I returned Bella was out of the kennel and the office door was open. With the office door open the girls helped themselves to the contents of my training bag which was a bag of treats (thankfully mostly empty) and a bag of rawhide chips (not so empty from what I remember). I guess we will just have to see if she continues to bust Bella out or if it was just luck. And I might have not shut the office door all the way. If that isn't the case I think we have to put the baby-proof door handles back up again just when our son grew out of them...<br /><br />Another interesting event recently is that Darcy got her picture taken for the <a href="http://www.onetail.org/" target=blank>One Tail at a Time</a> calendar and it scared the crap out of her. When we signed up to do it I was more worried that she would barrel around the studio knocking stuff over. As usual, she keeps me on my toes and would barely move at the shoot. Oh except to run away from the photographer and bark at her. Nice Pit Bull! They said they got some good pictures so we will hope so! Check out their web site when they are done so you can buy one and support the rescue pups!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-64395295934888770032009-10-02T08:15:00.000-07:002009-10-03T06:04:56.806-07:0010/2Here's a recap of the last week. Trick class on Saturday went well. One big difference between training Bella back in the day and what I'm experiencing training Darcy is that Bella offered up LOTS of different behaviors. She was always on the move. Darcy on the other hand, tends to just stick with one or two behaviors. The trainer in me knows that this is because she hasn't been trained before (or possibly wasn't trained with positive reinforcement) so she doesn't realize that she can get good stuff for more than just Sit and Down. For those of you wondering what positive reinforcement training has to do with not easily learning new commands here's the explanation. When a dog is trained using predominantly punishment (yelling, hitting, leash corrections, shocks...) the dog becomes afraid to try new things in fear that it may be the "wrong" behavior. Often dogs trained like this will for a while seem very well behaved because they just sit there but when you try to teach them anything else they are very reluctant because they don't know when they will get hurt.<br /><br />So I've been trying to play the "do something new game" (not a good name I know!). This is where the owner just grabs a handful of insanely good treats and waits for the dog to do something different. The dog sits and gets a treat but if they sit again they get nothing. They have to do something different. That may be tilting their head, scratching their ear or even sniffing their butt. Once they get the idea that they can try different things it is much easier to train because they become creative. Here's a video of Darcy playing the game: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Wps8KUTqHaU&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Wps8KUTqHaU&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <br>With Bella I remember often starting out teaching one behavior but she did something cute so we taught that instead. <br /><br />On a different note, we are trying something new with leaving Darcy alone. We are trying her without the crate. Yikes! Suddenly she started freaking out in the crate again and now we can barely close the door on the crate because it is so bent out of shape. Unfortunately we can't even baby gate her into a room (which is what "trainer Lisa" would recommend) because she jumps or climbs over our gate. I've left her alone on the first floor twice now (once for over two hours!) and so far so good. I am very worried because the other day while I was home she chewed a 3 inch diameter hole in our living room couch. I think I will get one of those Kong launchers to keep her busy and we'll hope for the best. That is what the really educated trainers say - "hope for the best"! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-24651794115288871722009-09-25T11:44:00.000-07:002009-09-25T14:02:50.750-07:009/25Darcy is getting on my nerves. No the best thing to say as a dog trainer but its true. She is always SO busy. Yesterday she chewed half the head off of Cutie Anna, one of my son's favorite stuffed dogs. We didn't tell him and thankfully we were able to find Cutie Anna II online and bought another. If anything chewable is on the floor it's fair game. Toys, shoes, papers... Oh and if anything is in the garbage that is her's too. We bought garbage cans with lids to thwart her from getting diapers and "feminine products" from the garbage and as she proved this morning she can open them. We have no idea if she put her paw on the little step to open it or nosed the lid open to get a dirty diaper and a box from a bar of soap but they ended up chewed and littered all over our bedroom floor. <br /><br />If I were my trainer I would tell me to work with the dog. She will never get better if she doesn't learn what she is supposed to do. I join the many that don't listen to my advice... :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-56536484088844247622009-09-22T19:44:00.000-07:002009-09-23T12:24:32.550-07:009/22Today was a busy day for Darcy. Hopefully it will make her sleepy tomorrow! First we picked up Justin (our son) from school and she did markedly better in walking. I did remember treats this time but she really has no interest in them when we are outside. Too many squirrels to watch I guess.<br /><br />When we got home Darcy and Bella had an INSANE play session in the backyard. I don't think I have ever seen them both that tired. They were cashed out on the couch for the rest of the day. <br /><br />I finally got Darcy up to go to agility where she rocked. We did some simple courses but worked on some new concepts like getting the dogs to take a number of obstacles ahead of them even if you aren't next to them. Before that we did a course that involved both the "a frame" and the dog walk which have been a bit difficult for her. Last class she discovered the joys of the "a frame" but today she really got the dog walk. After multiple tries with me on one side, Polly the instructor on the other side and Kim at the end of the dog walk for her to target on she finally plowed over the thing. It is crazy how fast that dog is. She got to the top and then just left me in the dust. I was so proud of her!<br /><br />Lastly Darcy stuck around after agility for <a href="http://www.collinscanine.com/training/group.asp" target=blank>Puppy Parties</a>. Her boyfriend Capone, the Neopolitan Mastiff, was there so they played like maniacs. Here's an old video of them playing together: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/c3XziExAZ3Y&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c3XziExAZ3Y&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <br>Courtesy of Capone's blog <a href="http://capone.posterous.com" target=blank>Capone's House</a>. We'll see tomorrow how resiliant she is!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-54800863429369167122009-09-21T19:37:00.000-07:002009-09-22T19:44:29.929-07:009/21No work on Sunday since I was training other people's dogs for about twelve hours but Monday I took Darcy to pick up my son from school and she did great. The walking took a bit longer since we had to keep stopping when she pulled. I probably should have brought treats to help her stay focused on me. Even a trainer forgets!<br /><br />All the other parents were interested in the new dog. I can't imagine what they think of me bringing first my Rottweiler and now my Pit Bull to preschool. The great thing was that his teachers thought she was very sweet so hopefully I can get to talking to them about using the dogs to teach the kids animal safety and things like that. A lot of the kids are extremely good aroung the dogs (asking if they can pet them and petting the dogs backs) but some just run up and pull on them. I know both Bella (our Rottie) and Darcy have no problem with it but many dogs would. I would also love to get both the dogs in the school for kids to practice reading to. Bella would love it since she adores kids. Darcy just likes everyone.<br /><br />Anyway, not so much about training in today's post. Kind of sleepy and writing just train of thought stuff. Hopefully it's interesting... :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4344724495120015668.post-73438428980299093312009-09-19T12:54:00.000-07:002009-09-22T06:20:53.741-07:009/19This week was a bit of a bust as far as training. My son and I were sick all week so not much was done with Darcy until today. One a good note we didn't have anything bad happen. One shoe was chewed but I've had them for about ten years now and haven't worn them in a VERY long time. They were about four inch wedge sandles which are not really conducive to dog training or being a mom. <br /><br />Today we did start a trick class at <A href="http://www.anticruelty.org/" target=blank>The Anti Cruelty Society</A>. Darcy did wonderfully. We learned Crawl, Sit Pretty, Back Up, Bow and Yes. We attempted to do Shake but she either layed down or chewed my knuckles off (I had a treat in my hand in hopes she would paw at my hand to get it out) so I didn't pursue it much. We are really trying to restrict her from jumping so any activity that gets her front paws off the ground is not so good. She barely did Sit Pretty (sitting up on her haunches) so we probably won't work on that one much either.<br /><br />So you can see what she learned here is a video of her demonstrating her new skills: <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tabG6htJiUc&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tabG6htJiUc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0