WHERE I AM

OK - technically not gift-giving yet, but visions of presents, more shopping, and sugarplums are dancing in my head. I may be scarce for the next two weeks while I shop and work on my writing (see link to writing blog way at the bottom of the page).

Quick reminder about dogs and Christmas -

If you have a golden retriever like I do, they like to snag things off the tree. My goldens think ornaments are toys that you oddly hung on the tree. My dogs also pick up and drag anything around, as long as it isn't too heavy (like the kitchen table) or nailed down.

I wouldn't go nuts and spray the tree with repellants, unless of course your dog is really obsessed. Main thing we did with our dogs was making sure we are on hand the first few days while the dog gets used to the tree with all of the special toys hanging on it.

Key word is LEAVE IT.

LEAVE IT means that you want the dog to back away and leave whatever he was eyeballing alone unless you tell them they can have it. The way you teach this is by putting something the dog might want on a chair or something at their nose level.

Put the dog on leash and walk him around the chair. The instant he shows any interest in the thing on the chair, you say "LEAVE IT" and give him a reminding pop on the leash at the same time. When he backs off and LEAVES IT, that is when he gets the praise.

Repeat a couple more times, but no more than that. On the last time, you pick up the thing from the chair and give it to your dog.

The next session (later in the day, or next day), do a reminder "LEAVE IT" + pop on the leash, but the next two times you walk around the chair say "LEAVE IT" first and pop only if the dog still lunges for the thing on the chair.

What you are looking for is a reaction to the "LEAVE IT". The instant he backs off on verbal command alone, that is when you go nuts with the praise and treats.

If you have a 'soft' dog, you probably will only need the verbal command from the beginning. If you have a mule-headed young lab, then you will go through several sessions before you finally get him to respond to the verbal command alone.

This may sound like a lot of bother compared to the easy swat your dog with a newspaper or a broom, but it's positive and doesn't involve hurting your dog.

My dogs disobey on occasion, but in general, I can tell them to LEAVE IT when they are sniffing the cat's litterbox, and they immediately back off. Same thing is true of the Christmas tree and ornaments.

TURKEY AND CANDY AND COOKIES AND OTHER JUNK

Are barely healthy and digestible for humans. They can wreak havoc on your dog's digestive system. Handouts are fine, but don't go overboard with the turkey dinner and do not give your dogs cookies or candy or fudge or anything like that. Best for them.

If I don't post again before Christmas, I wish you a very merry and happy and healthy Christmas. Be well and spoil your dogs. :)

Routines

You know you are doing something right when your dog insists that you drop what you were doing (eating my supper in my case) to pay attention to him. Then when I asked him if he wanted to go play, he went running down to my room where his training bag hung on a bedpost, and sat there barking in a demanding way at me to hurry up and TRAIN HIM.

A training session at home always goes like this:

# Heel on leash (three sits, two about turns, left turn, right turn, fast, slow)
# Sit stay while I set up the Figure 8 station (two laundry baskets)
# Figure 8 (three times, three sits in the middle)
# Stand Stay
# Down stay while I put laundry baskets away and clear the floor
# Heel off leash - same pattern as the on leash heel
# Recall (come)
# 'Finish' practice - both types (swing and by me)
# Dumbbell retrieves and holds

And that's it. The whole session usually is about 15-20 minutes long. I finish with the dumbbell practice, because that is Jack's favorite part. He is a born retriever.

Training itself does not necessarily come naturally, even for golden retrievers. I've owned them all my life and know that they are the types of dogs who can be 'over achievers' of the obedience ring, but they can also be those dogs that never make it into the show ring because there are ten-million things they'd rather be doing than working.

The most important part of training your dog is finding a way to make him enjoy that time with you. If you think about the joy a retriever has in a dog park when you are throwing tennis balls for him, that is the same kind of joy you want to see when you are putting him through the training routine above.

The way to do it:

#1) Keep an upbeat manner when you are training

Dogs are sensitive to the sound of your voice. If you get too crabby while training, that ruins the fun for them.

#2) Move fast from one exercise to the next, don't overdo any of them.

Sometimes it can be very tempting to keep working on something until the dog gets it perfect, but you do not want to burn out your dogs. They have short attention spans and get tired out after a while.

#3) Always put something really FUN at the end of the routine for the dog to look forward to.

Most people choose that time to pull out the squeaky toys or tennis balls. I do that sometimes, or I might take that time to go through all of Jacket's easy tricks (sit pretty, wave, limp, paw/other paw, bow).

Other than that - choose your training time wisely. I usually go by the dog himself. If he is demanding attention or wants me to play with him, I might drop what I'm doing and train him. I wouldn't train him when he is tired or off doing his own thing (like begging for food, or playing with the other dogs).

The only other thing is I keep him guessing. Sometimes I only do one of the training exercises listed above and tell him to go find one of his toys to retrieve ('find it' trick). This shortens the training time and puts more of the focus on play.