A first and a pit bull related vent

In all my years of being a trainer yesterday I had a first, I forgot a client! Yeah I know, not very professional. The lesson here is that for a calendar to be effective you need to look at it daily. Fortunately my "the trainer forgot your session" discount helped in my apology. They were very gracious about it but I felt like a complete idiot.

It was a great session with a fabulous pit/boxer mix that was adopted from a local shelter. The disturbing part was what happened when the owner took their sweet pup to the veterinarian. The vet pronounced it a "horrible" breed that would grow up to turn on them at the age of 2 or 3 years. Because "that's what happens with that breed".

Seriously?? And this is a professional?? It is mind boggling. Stick to practicing medicine please and leave the behavior work to those who know better.

Thankfully it was a dog savey owner who knew better but still had some concerns. We had a long talk about media hysteria, pit bulls and warning signals in dogs. (how not to teach a dog not to growl and why, how people miss warning signals, and the development of the breed to BE people friendly)

The sad part of this story is that I actually knew someone who got this same warning years ago from a different vet that listened and took the dog back to the shelter they got it from. It was a boxer mix. They thought if the vet said it then it must be true. (thankfully the dog got re-adopted and not euthanised for looking like it might be a pitbull)

A dog is a dog first and a breed second. All dogs are individuals and how they are raised can also come into play. There are just to many factors to say all _______ will act like this about ANYTHING. Media hysteria over the years is killing this breed. Unfortunatly some vets are helping them do it. Educate yourself people, there are no evil breeds, but there are stupid people.

And point to ponder, if pit bulls are so bad, wouldn't professional trainers refuse to work with them? Funny how I don't know of ANY trainer that has ever refused to work with a pitbull or any bully breed. So as my step-dad would say, stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it!

This is Worf, not the dog mentioned above but a shelter dog who was killed for being a pitbull. For those that haven't seen his story already it is here: http://k-9solutionsdogtraininginc.blogspot.com/2008/03/dog-named-worf.html

Transitions

What a difference a few weeks make. Patty is gone to her new home and Jack goes on Saturday. They will be missed but we hope they both have a fabulous life. The transition should be pretty smooth considering they are already crate trained and housebroken on top of their great start in basic training. I wish my puppies came that way!

I put together an extra set of APDT rally signs and notebooks with rules and guidelines for the handlers. I am hoping to have the next dog and handler teams on the K-9 Corrections program pass a level 1 rally course as their graduation. I think this will be a fun and challenging addition to our training. With the signs in their possession they can practice more on their own time as well as during our formal training sessions. I also ordered the APDT Rally DVD. (since I am also a beginner at APDT rally we will be learning some of this at the same time) I chose APDT over the AKC rally because there are local APDT certified judges in the area that have agreed to test the handlers for their graduation. (Thank you Wag It!)

I'll be sure to keep you posted on our progress. Good luck to Patty and Jack!!

Pivot training

OK I have to admit I am in totally new territory here. Not having shown (much) I've never had call to teach any dog how to pivot before. It just doesn't have any practical application in the average pet home. And the little showing I did was AKC traditional and we only had to do one direction finish exercises and I always taught "around". So I am trying to figure this out as I go.

I know that teaching a pivot will help Jenny for the finish left exercise and on the pivot sign exercises. I just don't exactly know how to get from where we are now to that step. (Which is why missing the Pamela Dennison seminar is bumming me out. Sniff, sniff.) I have an idea but don't really want to lose time undoing a mistake. I can get her to circle away from me, but how do I get her to circle towards me? Wait her out? I tried luring it but with no real success. I am feeling stuck. (And I'm sure the answer is probably something easy and I'll feel like an idiot when someone clues me in. It's ok. I'm ready for it.)

Here is one of our training videos from yesterday. (during my lunch time break)




Yesterday was our first session where I got her to figure out it the game was to put her front feet on the bowl. All suggestions on what to do next are welcome from those in the know. I'll keep looking for the answer too.

Wobbler Wednesday

This is a great new toy to use for dogs that need to lose a few pounds (working for their meals) or for high energy dogs that need something to do.

I almost forgot the best part.

This dog (Maggie) got high in trial the day I went to watch the APDT rally event with a perfect score. (not this run shown) Notice how happy she works? I cannot tell you how amazing she was to see in person. It brought tears to more than a few eyes to watch, including mine. Yes tripawds CAN have an active and fun life!

*APDT allows for disabled dogs and lets them compete. AKC does not. No discussion. I've never understood why a deaf dog can't compete in tracking when the whole event is done ON a long line. How is that a safety issue? And I ask you this, does Maggie look disabled to you?

How To Tell If A Puppy Is Trainable-Will Dog Training Work With My New Dog?

One question you should be asking yourself, if you are looking at getting a new dog, or a new puppy, is "will dog training work with my new dog?". You may also be asking yourself, "how do I tell if a puppy is trainable?". While nothing is foolproof in this world, there are a couple of tricks you can use to tell if the dog or puppy you are considering will be submissive and if dog training will work. You can do both these tests in less than a couple of minutes, and they are usually good indicators of your dog's future temperament.

As some of you may already know, some dogs are born as alphas, or the leaders of the pack, and some dogs are born as betas, or further down in the pack order. Usually, a dog that is a beta is much easier to train, as they are submissive. While alphas can be trained, it is usually a little more of a challenge, and in some cases it can be a huge challenge

Here are two "tricks of the trade" that will help tell if dog training will be easy with your new dog:

1. Will the dog roll over and show you it's belly? This is the submissive position for your dog, and is an important indicator of whether a dog considers itself lower in the social order than you. You will have to put the dog on it's back yourself and look for the following:

A. Does the dog "fight you" and try to squirm out?

B. Does the dog put it's teeth on you, or actually bite?

If the dog does either of these two, you probably are looking at a dog that is dominant, and she will be a challenge to train.

2. Another good trick to determine whether the dog is submissive or dominant is to stare it down. Lock your eyes on the dogs eyes, and see if the dog looks away or stares back. If you are looking for a submissive dog, you want to choose one that will look away. A dominant dog will, for the most part, stare back at you.

As I wrote at the start of this article, no test is a sure fire indicator of whether a dog is submissive or dominant, but these are usually pretty good indicators. Also, please remember that a dominant dog is not always hard to train, but they can be. The reverse is also true, a submissive dog is not always easier to train, but usually they are. Intelligence is a key factor in dog trainability, and neither of these tests will tell you the intelligence level of a dog. Another important thing to remember is that these tests will not tell you if the dog you are looking at has a bad temper or is unsociable.

Just use these tests as they are intended, to get a pretty good idea of whether or not your dog will be easy to train.


For further information on typical dog behavior, including resources for training how-to's and loads of detailed information on preventing and dealing with problem behaviors,visit Dog Training Dog Obedience Training

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Related Post: What Dogs Are Best With Children-Which Dog Breed Is Good With Kids?

Scattered, with video

So I was in my vehicle yesterday driving to a dog event and I realized that my time is split between work (at the vet hospital), the prison (doing dog stuff), the shelter (more dog stuff) and home. That is of course not counting client time. It's no wonder I don't get things accomplished with my own dogs! I set goals and then I have a hard time eeking out time to get it done. (I know, I know, practice during commercials right?) That home time is also spent driving kids to events and back. I guess I need to get better at scheduling time for myself with the dogs. Maybe if I set it as a routine it will get done. Of course the problem with that is I tend to give up my own time to fit clients in. I want to be as flexible as possible for them. So I will TRY the schedule thing and see how it goes. Mmmm yeah. I'll get back to you on that.

Yesterdays dog event was an APDT Rally trial at Wag It. I went as a spectator because I've only just gotten into the AKC Rally. (dipping my toe as it were, no trials under my belt just yet) I wanted to see the difference and since Wag It is close I made the time to go. I am SO glad I did. First it is always fun to watch dogs and their people having fun, second I learned ALOT while there. It is always great meeting fellow dog enthusiasts too. (and then come home and "friend" them on FB VBG)

Here are some of the things I learned: APDT Rally is not the same as AKC Rally. Many of the signs are different, the course is longer and contrary to popular belief it is more difficult than AKC. That was surprising to me. I would have thought it was the other way around. I was told that APDT trials are also much less stuffy than AKC events. You are allowed to get animated in the ring and not so much in the AKC version. APDT allows food rewards in the ring HOWEVER there are very specific rules and times. It is only allowed after the completion of a stationary exercise and only as a reward. (and out of a pocket, no bait bags allowed) Food cannot be used as a lure at all. The APDT version has many more rules and this is why some who show in both versions end up with more NQ's (non qualifying scores) in APDT than they expect.

Because I hate traveling (and lack the time) I want to compete in both versions so I will have more opportunities closer to home and can travel less. (I really hate traveling.) This means I will need to learn ALL the rules. Seeing the APDT version of course got me excited so I came right home and printed all the signs and rules and added them to my notebook. Because there is an AKC match coming up I will concentrate on that for now so I don't confuse myself, but I look forward to trying APDT. I am just really hoping competing in Rally is more fun than traditional obedience was. It seems like it would be but I guess it will all depend on if I get a case of nerves or not.

So in that spirit I pulled out the signs and did a small course in the yard today after all my clients. I learned I suck at that by the way. I figure it is about the practice tho so I didn't freak out about it to much. I would love feedback from others that do AKC Rally since I do not know the fine points. I think I am using to many hand signals and I know I repeated my command on some signs. I get unsure where I should have my hands. (I probably should tape a run, watch it on the camera and then adjust for the next run instead of taping them and then downloading them to the computer to watch. Duh.) Next time I will go to a bigger area and do a more proper course. I was just to darn tired to drive somewhere else to set up.

Because it cuts off the right side of the video when I post them here I am using the links instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5hAjOn8KNo

I did change some of the signs between runs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PDBUz9sV6E

I took some liberties like I did a short serpentine (3 cones) and didn't do the three steps (forward) because I would have been past the next sign. I have no idea if I can take that step back for the finish to the right exercise. And is my sign for finish to the left to exaggerated? (I know I need to teach her to pivot.)

The match is in a couple of weeks and I WILL make time to go. If I'm ever going to jump in the pool I have to start somewhere. I figure a match will be the least painful way to do it. I hear there is an APDT trial coming up in July. With any luck that will be next for us after MUCH more practice!

(Today I realized that I look older on camera than I do in my own mind, and my rear is much wider than I imagined. It's tough to be in denial when you have video proof. Dang.)