Dog Training 101 - From a Layman's Point of View

As many of you may, or may not know, Oak and I have been in training since he was about 3 months old. We, as a family, have always (for the last 15 years) taken our dogs to the same school for training. I’ve used the same methods, followed the same rules, and came away with a well behaved dog. These methods don’t seem to be consistently working this time. Oak has some commands he will complete automatically, with no thought involved. And other commands he completely ignores. I didn’t want him jumping up and trying to steal his food from my hand before I was able to put the dish down, so from a young age I taught him to wait until I say “alright”. No matter how hungry he is, he sits and waits. One time, I accidently said “Hello” instead of “Alright” (which is our release word) and he looked at me like I was crazy, but he didn’t start eating his food. If I could just figure out the best method to get him to obey the rest of the commands everything would be perfect! So I decided to investigate other methods of training. Maybe they know something new that our trainer didn't know about. What I discovered is that although different trainers may have different methods, they still all follow eight basic rules:

Rule #1:
You are the alpha and you must make sure your dog believes it to be true. This of course is the most important rule and the basis of all other training.

Rule #2:
Training should be fun. A happy and excited dog is more likely to pay attention and learn.

Rule#3
You must first guide the dog through the exercise. It is easier for a dog to learn a command if they understand what you are trying to get them to do.

Rule#4:
A correction is needed if the command is not followed. The correction should not be harsh, but should catch the dog's attention and encourage him to listen.

Rule#5
A reward is needed for following the command. Whether is be food, praise, petting or to play.

Rule#6
Repetition! I have read some books that say you need to repeat a lesson a few thousand times before response becomes conditioned and automatic.

Rule#7
Consistency. You must be consistent with the body language, commands, corrections and even praise that you use.

Rule #8
You need to have a release word to tell your dog he may move.

Any training method you choose should work, if you follow these basic rules.

Animoto.com

Calendar Contest Winners

Our photo contest winners are in! We had lots of great entries and it was really hard to choose, but here are a few of the winners.
The next step is to make a 2010 calendar with all these pictures, then to get it printed and finally to make some money for the Humane Society of Durham Region when we sell them. This is our 4th year selling calendars for the humane society and hopefully it will be the best year yet!

Want to see some of our winners? Here they are:



This is Finn, isn't he handsome?



Fred is ready for dinner!



Run Rufus Run!



Harvey and Murphy enjoying the sun.



Sleepy Frankie :)

And that's just a few. Thanks everyone for the fabulous photos. The calendar is going to turn out amazing this year!

Adventures in Dock Diving

Now that Oak has finally started swimming, he never wants to stop! He loves it in the water. It's great for his hips too, so I don't mind taking him as often as I can. Since he is enjoying the water and swimming, I've been thinking of trying dock diving. There are some classes around here that I can take him to so we can get started. I thought I'd try him out on a "real" dock first to see how it went and then sign up for a class. We have a friend who owns a dock, so we went up to his house yesterday to try out Dock Diving. The first task was getting him on the dock! He was very nervous about walking on the dock and it took about 20 minutes to convince him he wasn't going to fall in just because he was on the dock!



After that, we tried throwing a stick in the water so he would jump in and fetch it. I took a video of him.



As you can see the result wasn't quite what we were looking for! He's such a smart little boy :) Then we tried it with Jamie (hubby, too cold for me to go in!) in the water calling Oak. I took a video of his gracful entry into the water.



He must have gone at least 6 inches away from the dock! What a dive! He tried one more time after that and once again sunk under water. I don't think he likes the sinking part. More practice and we'll get those 20 foot jumps, I'm sure of it!

Fun on the Weekend

This past weekend was full of fun and new experiences for Oak. The fun actually started on wednesday since he spent wednesday, thursday and friday in daycare playing with his buddy Lite.
On saturday I decided to take him to the river swimming, since we hadn't been for a few days. He had a great time in the water, swimming, chasing sticks, finding bugs, and running around in the tall grass.



He was very good about bringing the sticks back to shore, although not necessarily to me, so I could throw it again.



Sometimes they got lost in the current and floated down river so we went down there to find them. That's when we spotted these footprints in the water. There were none on shore, just in the river.
I think they were blue heron prints. Oak was really no help in deciding what they were :) To bad we didn't get to see the actual bird!



On sunday we went to a soccer tournament all day. He got to visit with the grandkids (who he loves),



meet some old friends, and some not so friendly acquaintances (Beau doesn't really like Oak) This is Beau and Zanara watching the game.



When we walked closer Beau started barking at him, so we stayed in our little spot, and they stayed in theirs. Zanara, on the other hand, will put up with Oak if she has to(she does, she is Lite's sister!). Not that she is ever too thrilled to have puppies around!

He was also interested in making some new friends. He was facinated with the ponies and goats(there was a petting zoo at the soccer tournament).



He decided the food the kids bought to feed the goats and llamas was actually quite yummy and he tried to find every little kibble that was dropped on the ground and gobble it up.



He was a very good boy over all and a very tired boy, by the time we got home.

Daycare on Saturday

On Saturday Oak and I had to go over to the daycare/boarding house and take care of the dogs staying there for the weekend. Oak was very picky about who he wanted to play with. He spent the whole time playing with Lite only.



Maxie and Hobbs played with each other, although every now and then somebody, usually Lite, would grab something they all wanted, and they would all chase him around the yard. Mostly though, Oak and Lite wrestled(usually in the livingroom) and Hobbs and Maxie enjoyed a good game of tug of war.
They slept (sometimes in very uncomfortable looking positions!)



or just rested for a minute,



then they'd be off again.



Personally I wish I had just a teeny weeny bit of the energy these dogs have! Meanwhile poor Zanara spent most of the day napping.



These yougun's are just too crazy for her!

Oak and Lite

Oak had Lite over again yesterday to play. They had great fun running around the yard, playing tug of war and chasing each other. We have 2 apple trees in the backyard and one of them has a branch that hangs really close to the deck stairs. Oak likes to take apples off the tree and toss them around like balls. He was doing that yesterday, when Lite came along and grabbed his apple.



Look at Oak's face! He wanted his play toy back! Lite didn't see any reason to play ball with the apple, when he could just eat it!



Finally, Lite dropped it, and Oak got what was left of the apple back. He grabbed it and ran!