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After-Punishment

Recently at the dog park, I observed a woman scolding her dog for humping another dog. She’d pulled her own dog away, forced him into a sit, and then proceeded to waggle her finger in his face while reciting a litany of reasons why that sort of behavior was inappropriate for the dog park. Had the dog been a five-year-old child who’d been caught doing something naughty, the lecture would have been understandable. But do you really think the dog was sitting there thinking Ah, now I see! My behavior was, in fact, inappropriate and I won’t be engaging in it again. Thank you for calling it to my attention! …I don’t think so.

 
Cosmo is not a happy camper

Learning to Speak Dog

When I first started training dogs, I'll admit that I was pretty ignorant about how to communicate with them.  Like many long-time dog owners and lovers, I *thought* I was pretty savvy about understanding their language.  I could read what they were telling me to some extent.  If a dog's tongue was hanging out of his mouth while his butt danced the jig, I knew I was looking at a friendly dog.  If he held himself crouched on the ground and his tail was tucked, that told me the dog was frightened.   That's pretty basic stuff.

Though I still had a lot to learn about reading dogs, it was being able to talk back to them in their own language that was my biggest weak spot.  After all, we all know that when one speaks to a stranger, it's impolite if you don't establish eye contact, right?  Well, right for humans.  Very, very wrong for dogs. 

Speaking Dog 101

 
Bridget poses with the medicine basket.

Multiple Dogs, Medications and Pill Problems

Do you have a multi-dog household? If so, you will especially relate to meeting the needs of each dog, and challenges that arise from your dogs having behavioral issues. Talley is anxious and deals poorly with changes in her environment. Doobie was afraid of everything when rescued from a puppy mill and training is ongoing.  Bridget is, well, determined to do what Bridget wants, a true escape artist, has pancreatitis, and throw in some separation distress for good measure. And yeah, neurotic. While there are many adventures and stories to share, it seemed timely, given recent events, to discuss medications and problems encountered in the dispensing. 

 
Positive reinforcement training

Why I Love My Clicker

I have a little plastic box that cost $1.50 (plus tax) that I am convinced operates by magic. 

Okay, it's not magic.  It's simple operant conditioning using a specific marker sound, if you want to get all scientific about it.  But I do believe that there is something very special about the use of a clicker when training dogs.

Lure/Reward Training

 
Free spirit Doobie doing what he loves best.

Born To Be Free

 

Doobie: free spirit, a dog on the move, a dog on a mission, a dog in perpetual motion. Who said that dogs cannot experience emotions? Certainly Doobie is unable to verbally communicate his sheer joy to be running, but it is shouted out in the gleam of his eyes and in the lithe fluid movements of his Labrador body virtually airborne over the ground. My boyfriend often says he is nearly flying.  Do you recall car commercials talking about going from zero to sixty in seconds? Yup, this is Doobie. Full stop to flat out racing in a heart beat, launching into action when called from across a field.  This dog goes nowhere slowly. Can you imagine this dog living in a cage?

 
This pic made The Bark online smilers!

Learning By Association: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

 

Since Talley, my 5 year old Enlish Lab is the least able of all three labs to relax while I work with other dogs, she accompanied me to the kennel today for a training session with a board and train dog. One problem is that her stocky little self is quite food driven, and she hates to be missing out! However, she also has learned the behavior, while on leash, to bark and lunge at approaching dogs. Relaxing and working around other dogs is wonderful for her. During our session, Talley was reinforced for calm down/stays, while I worked with the little Eskimo mix nearby. Then Talley got a turn to do the fun stuff! Consequently, she is learning by association that having the other dog nearby really makes good stuff happen. Such a soft and anxious little dog is she, I cannot imagine inflicting any kind of punishment on her.

 

Smelling is Believing

I recently wrote a blog on my own site about my oldest dog's journey Into The Twilight.  While he has several aging issues going on, I am most impressed with how little effect his loss of sight has had on him.  I know I shouldn't be surprised, but it really drives home one of the big differences between humans and canines.

We humans so often say, "Seeing is believing!"  This just doesn't seem to be true for dogs.  In the canine world, smelling is believing.  A dog doesn't have to see a bowl of food to know that it is in the room.  Russell (my old blind dog) proves this to me every day.  In fact, all I have to do is sit down at the opposite end of the couch with a cup of yogurt and he makes it quite obvious that he is completely aware of what he can't see.

 
Dirt Dog Talley

Let Them Grind It In!

 

 

How I Screwed Up My First Puppy

Meet Friday, my nine-year-old shepherd mix. I adopted her when she was eight weeks old. She was my very first dog. In hindsight, I realize I should have gotten an older dog, but my family's thinking was that with a puppy, we could shape her behavior into whatever we wanted. Ha! What they don't tell you is that it's hard to shape a puppy's behavior when you don't really know what you're doing.

 

Hi. I'm new at Dog Star Daily, and I am honored to be here. For my first post, I figured I'd introduce you to The Dog That Started It All – and how I sort of failed at raising her.

 

 
Talley loves her Tuffies.

How Many Ways Do We Love Them?

 

HOW MANY WAYS DO WE LOVE THEM?

 

 Reflecting on the early morning stentorian rumbling snoring of Talley, my English Lab, inspired the content for this, my initial Dog Star Daily blog. Let me add that I am honored to be rubbing elbows (or blogs) with the talent that comprises the Dog Star Daily team. What do we really love about our dogs? For myself, this is infinite, too many ways to count. As I reflected on this, I decided to list things that perhaps we take for granted, the little things that make us smile, the things we would dearly miss, things that would leave a gaping void. Certainly every single dog loving reader could easily construct such a list, or maybe already has one floating about in their thoughts.  Here are but a few of the things I love about the Look What I Can Do! labbies, things that make me smile, things that would be dearly missed:

 

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