The Smart Dog U Blog

Leaving on a Jet Plane

By the time this is published, I hope to be fast asleep on a Northwest Air jet, sleeping my way to Portland, OR. The dogs have been safely delivered to Lake Anna where they will vacation until I return. They probably won't even know I'm gone. Meanwhile I'm pining away without them.

I'm headed to a sold out Clicker Expo, where I'll be giving a talk to dog trainers. I'll also be learning. A LOT! Here is a sample of some of the talks at Clicker Expo:

• Smart Reinforcement
• Total Targeting
• Vexing Training Issues and What to Do About Them
• Learning Games and Play for Dogs
• Clicker Research
• Six Powerful Strategies Get You Through Training Blockages
• Training that Heads Off Behavior Issues
• Concept Training: Copycat? Copy Dog!
• Punishment and the Public

I'll be bringing all the great ideas from Clicker Expo back with me. I'll also be Tweeting from the conference. Follow me on Twitter: @smartdogu

A House Without Dogs is...Clean. And Lonely.

I'm headed out in the dark tomorrow morning to catch a plane to the West Coast. I'm heading to the pinnacle of dog behavior and training conferences, Clicker Expo.

Thankfully, my parents are willing to watch the brood for me, so I dropped them all off at Lake Anna today. The dogs, they're thrilled. A lake right in the backyard! They can run down every morning and evening and anytime in between.

Me, I'm miserable. I'm dogless for almost a week! It's a bit more bearable to be without a dog when I'm actually somewhere else. But being here at home, where the dogs follow me from room to room, it's just miserable.

But it is clean. I swept and mopped the floors today and it looks darn near sparkly here! And I didn't have to move a dog to get any of the floors mopped!

So, yes, there are upsides to not having the dogs at home. Give me the hair and the dirt - I need my dogs around!

I often wonder if I'm too attached to the dogs. I mean, c'mon, they won't be gone for even a week! I shouldn't miss the mess, the hair, the dirt, the in-and-out, the training, the sixteen muddy paws... But I do.

And I miss the Great Dane on my lap, the Labradors at my feet, the tennis ball dropped into my lap and the expectant eyes that go with it. I miss the unbridled excitement when I return from the mailbox. I miss the tail wags. I miss the playful antics. I miss the snoring Great Dane. I miss my dogs. 

Simple Way to Get (and Keep) Your Dog's Attention [Video]

Ever feel like your dog doesn't even know you're at the other end of the leash? I see lots of dogs who are oblivious to their people.

Frustrating? Yes.

Hopeless? No way!

I'm working on Talos' attention to me. I use my clicker and some really yummy treats and we start in a really low distraction environment (my driveway). Watch this video and then go out and try it yourself!

Calling All Door Dashers! (Video)

Remember last month when Talos escaped the gate? I vowed to teach him to wait at the gate at that very moment, but the weather here has been wicked cold. Record-setting cold. So no training got done...until now.

In this video, you'll see how you can use the clicker to teach the dog to wait before going out the gate. Talos already knows that the word "wait" means to pause. (Check out this video to see how we taught that cue + behavior.)

Because I already had defined the word and behavior for him, we only needed to apply it to a new situation. Instead of waiting for his food bowl, he was now waiting at the gate.

Teach Yourself Like a Dog

My personal New Year's Resolution has been to hit the 6:00a classes at my gym five days a week. I started before the new year and have been having some trouble meeting my goals. Last week it was because of the weather, this week it was because I had an early morning client. Whatever the reason, as soon as I miss a workout, I "fall off the wagon" because I've already screwed my goal up for the week. It's really easy to stay in my warm bed, snuggled up with Talos after I've already derailed my goal for the week.

After beating myself up for a day, I had a mini-revelation. Why don't I teach myself like I teach my dogs?!

A good dog trainer sets the dog up for success. A good trainer doesn't set unreasonable goals. A good trainer reinforces every behavior that gets the dog closer to the end goal.

What was I doing to myself? Punish, punish, punish. I'd say "I'm so lazy." "I already screwed this week up." "I'll never get this right." Another week or two of that and I'd give up on my goal completely.

I'm re-setting my goals so I've got a better chance of success. Instead of my goal being five days a week at the gym, I'm aiming for three days a week. If I get four or five days, that's fantastic, a bonus! But I'm much more likely to be able to get to the gym three days. I'm also instituting a reward schedule as well - when I hit my goal each week, I can buy a piece of workout gear. Or if I am successful two weeks in a row, I can schedule a massage. Both of those are worth working for!

After a month of success, I'll adjust my goal to four days a week. I will reach my goal of five days a week, hopefully by March.

But my chance of success is much higher this way and I'm much more likely to stick with this program than if I kept my unreasonable expectations. We're not much different, dogs and us. Make the task easy enough, the rewards valuable enough, and we can both accomplish just about anything!

Too Cold Outside? Ideas to Keep Your Dog Busy Indoors.

Most of the country is suffering from the abysmal cold. It's difficult to stay outside with your dog long enough to accomplish even the briefest of bathroom breaks, let alone play games outside. SDU thinks you'll like this list of ideas to help you keep your dog active indoors, where you'll both be warm and toasty. And in the spirit of living a greener life, many of these ideas call for things that are in your trash or recycle bin already. So they're not only green, but they're also inexpensive!

Here's what I came up with today, with an empty McDonald's drink cup, a paper lunch sack, and a rawhide.

Start with an empty paper soda cup.

Then grab a rawhide, stuffed food toy, or anything your dog likes (that's safe for him to have, of course).

 

Put the rawhide in a paper lunch sack.

 

Wrap the bag up tightly around the rawhide.

 

Put the rawhide inside and put the lid on the cup.

 

Put the cup on the floor for the dog. 

Sit back and watch the dog enjoy opening the cup, shredding the paper bag, and finding the rawhide inside!

Train Your Dog Month

 The Association of Pet Dog Trainers has declared January Train Your Dog Month. SDU is celebrating by posting lots of good dog information on Twitter, Facebook, and right here at the Smart Dog Blog. If you're not already following us on Twitter or Facebook, make sure you do - and soon! All this month we'll be helping you help your dog learn better manners.

Some people ask, "Why should I train my dog, he's a good boy." That's a valid question and I answer this way: training can be so much more than just good manners. Training can be something fun for you and your dog. There are so many fun activities you can do together with your dog: tracking, agility, Rally obedience, flyball, herding, search and rescue, therapy dog work...the list is endless!

Or, if you're not interested in any of that, just teaching your dog some funny, cool tricks is fun, too! And not just for you - the dog LOVES this stuff! He gets the chance to earn food treats, he gets you're undivided attention, he gets to use his brain - does it get any better than that?! In your dog's opinion, no, it doesn't get any better than that!

Come back and visit the Blog often, as well as following us on Facebook and Twitter. We'd love to help you get your dog started to becoming a Smart Dog this month!

Dog Biscuits for Breakfast

Yes, indeedy, I started the New Year out right. I had dog biscuits for breakfast. Yum-my! No, not dog dog biscuits. People biscuits in the shape of a dog! A Labrador to be exact. 

I don't have much need for cookie cutters in the house - I rarely bake cookies that require rolling. I'm more a slop-it-on-the-cookie-sheet and bake it kinda girl - nothing fancy for me.

So when my biscuit recipe called for a biscuit cutter, I had nothing. Enterprising, adaptive chef that I am (oh dear, almost choked on my breakfast there), I used a cookie cutter. And seeing as I'm a crazy dog lady, the only kind of cookie cutters in this house are dog-related.

So dog biscuits were for breakfast. And were extra-special delicious with real butter and a little honey drizzled on top. I think they tasted even better because they were dogs.