Some dogs just grab you and Esther is one of those dogs. She is a two-year-old Basset Hound with eyes that could melt even the coldest of hearts. I met Esther when she was a young pup after receiving a call from her people. I could hear the frustration in their voices and when I met them saw it is their eyes. But, I also saw an incredible love and commitment for this breed and for Esther.

Esther’s human have spent the past two years consistently working with her and encountered many challenges along the way. I will never, ever forget the moment when she did her first ‘down’. We cheered and rewarded her so much that she developed this absolutely adorable “zooming down”- she literally threw herself flat!

Not long after the success with her ‘down’ Esther started to practice for her AKC Canine Good Citizen Test and on test day she dazzled us all with her polite behavior and skillful display of whatever was asked of her. So, here is a tip ’o’ the pen to Esther and her people and the wonderful life they share together!

Whew! Had a wonderful week of vacation! Spent time with family who were in the States visiting from Norway- lovely, lovely people. I am feeling refreshed and ready to get back to work and back to my neglected blog.

The Manners 101 students and their dogs simply rocked last evening. We practiced lots of loose leash walking and were rewarding lavishly for focused attention. All the dogs and handler teams did very well with this. Then we played lots of recall games with added distractions such as people passing by and even other dogs moving past. Every once in a while a dog would take a brief notice of the distraction- but 100% of the time they quickly chose to get back to their person!

Here is the interesting thing: at the start of class, some dogs were not succeeding as often when their people were thinking that their dog would not do well.  When I encouraged everyone to believe that their dog could succeed at a certain task, voila!, the dogs did great. I am not even going to attempt to explain the power of this type of thinking. But, I do know that when we believe in our dog’s capabilities and are asking them to do a behavior appropriate for their level of training, the dogs, more often than not, are successful at their task. What I take from this is that, once again, the relationship we have with our dogs is a foundational key to their ability to succeed at any given task we set before them. My dog and I are a team and when I embrace the team attitude and spirit and bring this to our work together, we can accomplish most anything we strive for. Author and trainer extraordinaire, Pam Dennison, also speaks of the importance of this type of positive thinking and even encourages people to visualize their dog doing the behavior being asked of them.

So, try some positive thinking next time you are training with your dog and see what happens. Do you notice a shift in yourself? Do you notice a shift in your dog- maybe better attention? Did your training session go more smoothly? Were you able to accomplish more than you thought possible? I would love to hear what your experiences are!

You may have noticed that I have posted on the Peaceful Pack Facebook page about participating in the dog sport of Rally Obedience or Rally for short. Some folks may be wondering what this Rally is all about. Well, let me just give a little intro to this completely fun sport!

Rally is a fun, less formal version of traditional obedience trials and one of the fastest growing dog sports in the United States. Competitors traverse a course of 10 to 20 stations, each marking an exercise for the dog and handler team to carry out. Unlike traditional obedience, Rally allows the handler to talk to and encourage her dog along the way, use hand signals, and go through the course along a designed route on her own without a judge calling out the exercises. The not-so-strict rules reflect the philosophy behind Rally, namely that the focus in dog training should be on teamwork between handler and dog- and should be an enjoyable experience for both. Exercises include a variety of basic and advanced maneuvers like heel, stand, turn, sit, back up etc.

There are several sanctioning bodies for the sport in the US, including the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, whose program, APDT Rally, is open to all dogs, and the American Kennel Club, which tries purebred and PAL/ILP listed dogs. For more information and to find trials, visit www.apdt.com or www.akc.org.

For events located in Maine, check out Wag It in Lincolnville, ME at www.wagitinc.com and Finish Forward Dogs in Saco, ME at www.finishforward.com. 

Patricia McConnell is a gifted write, trainer, and academic. If you have not read her wonderful book, For the Love of a Dog, I would run right out and get your hands on a copy. She beautifully describes the emotional lives of our dogs and us! In the meantime I highly recommend her blog which may be found here: http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/ Have a great day and get out there and play with your pups!

Simon and I were having an immensely enjoyable walk this morning- sniffing about and dipping into streams. Well, maybe that better describes Simon’s experience than mine. I was enjoying the scent of cedar, pine and the sea all mingled together- and watching my dog have a blast! Rounding a corner we came across a group of folks and their three dogs. All the dogs greeted nicely- although one was a talker! I stopped and chatted a bit and then we prepared to part ways. At this point all the dogs were hanging together- Simon was closer to the others than to me. The group of people wanted to stop and get Simon back to me and I was able to tell them “Please feel free to move along, Simon will come with me, not to worry.” The great, cool thing was that I was completely confident in my statement. I knew Simon would come with me and not follow the other dogs. I did not cue him to ‘come’, I simply indicated that we were going to walk in the opposite direction. Simon eagerly followed me. Did I take the time to reward him- you betcha! I let him know that choosing to stay with me was the absolutely greatest decision: I verbally praised him, acted goofy and gave him a small treat. What enabled Simon to be successful, and underlying this interaction, was the strong relationship that I have developed with him. I have taken the time to get to know him and his ways. I know what he is and is not capable of. He trusts me to take care of things. I even think he enjoys hanging out with me. It is this relational foundation that makes training Simon possible. I encourage you to build a solid foundation with your dogs- all your training efforts will benefit from it!

The AKC’s Canine Good Citizen Program incorporates both responsible pet ownership for dog guardians and basic polite manners for dogs. The test is comprised of ten items ranging from demonstrating that your dog is able to sit, lie down and stay on cue to being able to walk on a loose leash through a milling crowd. Dog who pass the CGC Test may receive a certificate from the American kennel CLub and any dog may participate in the program. (more…)

Just finished reading a friend’s blog and am going to try to make a promise to myself to be a bit more diligent in posting. This has been a glorious week of snow, wind and mother nature making herself well-known. Fortunately, this has not deterred Simon and I from enjoying our morning walks.The last two mornings we walked along the ocean - the waves were truly impressive and the sun provided some warmth to offset temperatures in the low teens. Simon seems oblivious to the cold and pounces into the snow with paws and snout seeking out any small mammal lurking beneath. There was extra excitement as following the multitude of deer tracks finally led to a sighting. All the snow makes it hard for the deer to move about, but this one seemed as graceful as ever. Our training focus has been well - focus! Simon is progressing well and our working relationship is deepening. Yesterday during agility class he did not get the ‘zoomies’ and he kept checking in with me to find out what game we would play next. He is learning that I can be fun and that he gets to play more if he hangs out with me!