The Smart Dog U Blog

A Dog's Walk: Snow Walking

I love getting the chance to step into my dog's world every now and then.

I particularly enjoy snow walks, especially when I'm with Tango, my favorite dog.

Snow walks expose a secret world to me.

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An Ounce of Prevention

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Ike Got the Salon Treatment

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TweetUp at ClickerExpo - Newport Beach, CA

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Star Clients

I hear this very often:

"I want to be a dog trainer because I love dogs. I can't deal with my job anymore because of the people. I just want to work with dogs."

I hate to break it to you, but working with dogs means you're primarily working with people. Unless you're working on a movie set training a dog to perform specific behaviors, you're going to be working with people. People are the ones who bring the dogs to you!

It's beneficial then, that I like working with people. And especially when I get great owners who really understand (or want to understand) the basic tenets of my cooperative style of dog training and who want to be on the same team as their dog (as opposed to being the pack leader).

I got a great surprise in my email in-box last night. A client I met with earlier this week sent me a little 10-second video clip of the progress they are making with their dog, recently adopted (cute as a bug!) from a local shelter. That's my version of positive reinforcement! It's clients like that -- eager learners and proud of their dog's success -- that make my job so cool!

Clicker CATS?

Here's one of the (many) things I love about clicker training: It works on any species! It's not just for dogs - cats can clicker train, too.

I was a client's house today working with her dog. We were clicking and treating when in saunters kitty cat Scotch. Pretty as you please, he hops up onto the arm of the easy chair, trying to figure out how he can get a bit of that awfully good-smelling chicken the dog is eating.

We had a good laugh, then moved away to another part of the house.

Guess who followed. Yep, good old Scotch. He was determined to figure this clicker thing out.

And that's why I love clicker training so much. The animals are motivated to work with you. There's just no better way to teach your dog -- or kitty. There's no pack-leader garbage, no dominance drivel. The animal wants to work -- WITH YOU! Honestly, it's just the coolest thing ever.

Accepted: Challenge for Pet Bloggers

I started writing this blog a million years ago. December 22, 2007, to be exact. That was 484 posts ago. Here's part of that first entry:

So this is the blog. Welcome. I'm not a blogger. Not really all that good with technology and all. But I'll get there. And you're welcome to come along for the ride.

What I do know is dogs, and dog behavior. So, if you can put up with my blogging learning curve, I'll try to give you some tips and insights that'll help you understand and teach your dog.

I feel just as passionately today about dogs and behavior as I did three years ago when I started this blog. Blogging is now part of what I do, who I am. I am crazy. Smart Dog U, Smart Dog U is me. I wanted to reach more people, I wanted to help more dogs -- that's really why I started writing.

There was too much frustration between dogs and their owners- and too many people using harsh, outdated methods to "fix" problems. This blog was going to help me keep my sanity get dog-friendly solutions out to as many people as would listen. I wanted all dogs to be companions, not comPAINions.

I found many readers were interested in the service dogs I raised and trained. A little dog named Talos came along and made service dog training a bigger part of my blog. He was little in the beginning, at least. By the time he had completed his training with me, Talos was about 160 pounds of Great Dane-ness. Huge and handsome. His training was documented in this blog. And tearfully, so was turn-in. At which point I lost my mind.

I would like to think that I've raised awareness of the many things service dogs have to experience to become a working service dog. I tried to emphasize the important role that the public plays in a service dog's training.

I blog when the spirit moves me. Or more truthfully: I blog when I have time. Between running a dog-training business, training a service puppy, working with my own three dogs, and spending some time with my husband, there isn't always a lot of time left over. Reader comments are like candy to me - I love interacting with those who read the blog. So sometimes I'm up late writing a post at 1:00a because that's the only time during the day I can collect my thoughts and put them on paper in the blogosphere.

I do worry sometimes that my blogging might be a bit dysfunctional disorganized. My 2011 resolution is to develop an outline of topics and stick to it. That makes me laugh.

I haven't monetized my blog. Mainly because I don't know what that means how to do it. Would I like to? Sure, money is good, it helps buy the dog food pay the bills.

The thing I like the most about blogging is that I'm anonymous I get to talk with other dog-lovers just like me. My family sometimes looks at me like I'm a little too crazy about my dogs. But here in blogger-land, I'm just as normal as the next crazy dog person.

The things that really chap my @$* re: blogging are those lunatics fans of a certain tv personality. Their ravings comments about how wrong I am ruin my day. But I have ultimate control: I can delete their comments if they really steam me! (Is that evil?)

So there you have it. The Smart Dog Blog through the ages. Let's hope I don't run out of doggie things to talk about. Otherwise you'll have to hear about my grocery list, my laundry list, and what I'm watching on tv.

Dogs Don't Grow Up

 So many puppy people ask: "When will this puppy calm down? He's crazy, I don't know if I can keep up with this pace!"

Here's the thing. They don't usually slow down 'til they're dead. That's the magic of a dog. They love to play at any age, they're ready to do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it.

For the life of me, I can't imagine anything other than full-speed all the time. That's what makes a dog a dog.

I had the pleasure of watching 8-year old Tango chase 6-month old Ike around and around the house today. It's too cold to stay outside, so the dogs do their playing indoors. Sure, the house gets a little messy, but a little mess is worth all the smiles that result from watching an adult dog play with the same enthusiasm as the youngster.

 

Treat People Like Dogs!

I just published the January edition of Your Smart Dog newsletter. It's free and has lots of nifty dog information. I always include one article in each newsletter. This month's focus is on how you can harness the power of clicker training and apply it to the people in your life. The very same principles that gave you such a well-behaved dog can also improve the behavior of the people in your life, too!

It's easy to subscribe to the newsletter. It's free, you have nothing to lose (but all the valuable information in the newsletter every month...). Click here to read the featured article (PDF).