Category Archives: dog obedience

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Fran on Friday

060313_bkrplayI’m sad today. It’s Friday – the day that I used to bring both my dogs to work with me. I had the whole day with them here at the shop. I would work for an hour, then take a break and train or play with Booker and Tango. Work for another hour (OK, maybe 45 minutes) and play some more. All day. It was great! We’d get some really good training done. There was that nice matted surface in the ring that was perfect for running, or even just walking. I’d be able to tire Booker out with just a couple of short tug games, or he’d fetch his ball. He never thought I gave his fetch game enough time! And Tango loved the 1-on-1 time for training Rally. He still doesn’t understand “play”! Silly dog!

Now it’s gone… The landlord wanted us to get rid of the mats before we moved. So a couple of our training buddies were able to take them. Now there’s just a bare concrete floor.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m still excited about our new adventure! We’ll have fun in our new space. But I’ll miss being able to train my dogs on Friday.

Taste Testers

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Fran on Friday

021916_booker_tangoWe’re picky about the treats we carry here at the shop, Golly Gear. We care about our dogs, and we care about our customers’ dogs. We also know that boring treats can kill a dog’s interest in training. Good treats are absolutely essential in obedience training. And, it hasn’t been as prevalent lately, but it seemed like for a while we were hearing about dogs dying from eating treats that came from China.

When we choose the treats we carry, we think about those things. Obviously, we want treats that our dogs will like. We want treats with good quality ingredients. We want to know where the treats were produced. And our dogs want to try them!

We’ve discovered single-ingredient treats! Organ meats that have been freeze-dried. Organ meats are full of nutrients, but they’re generally too rich for a steady diet. As a treat, though, they’re perfect, especially when they’re a size that is appropriate for our little dogs. So far, we’ve got sliced turkey hearts and clean tripe. The great thing about the tripe treats is that they’re not stinky!

Did I mention that our dogs are eager to try the new treats? So far they definitely approve!

Patience and consistency

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Fran on Friday

Dog training classI have the rewarding task of teaching the Beginner class at our training club on Tuesday evenings. I say rewarding, because every week I see small improvements in my students.

We are firm believers in rewarding a dog’s good behavior and ignoring stuff we don’t like (unless it’s something dangerous). This is very different from the way many people trained their dogs years ago. Very different from the pop-and-yank aversion training we all had.

People want to see results quickly and don’t understand when I tell them not to expect to see a lot of difference in their dogs’ behavior until well into the course. Yes, giving leash corrections when teaching your dog to walk nicely at your side (we call this “heeling”) will get them cowering at your side while you walk around a ring. But, I prefer to see a dog trotting happily at the handler’s side when there are lots of distractions around.

I like to reward my dog when I see a behavior that I like. He likes cheese or chicken – I bring cheese or chicken to class. I’d prefer my dog to choose to work with me than to see him grovelling at my feet. And this takes time. Patience, people! You’ll get there! You’ll have your dog for, hopefully, many years. Give him a few months to learn what you expect from him!

Booker at the Boston Terrier Specialty Show

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Fran on Friday

Booker the Boston Terrier at the Boston Terrier National Performance SpecialtyI did it again. I subjected myself to embarrassment and ridicule and entered a dog show. Not just any show – no. I entered the Boston Terrier National Performance Specialty shows. 9 trials in 3 days. 3 agility, 3 obedience and 3 rally. In the agility trials, I entered 3 runs each. So that’s a total of 15 runs. I knew it was a lot when I sent in my entries, but I wanted to support the Boston Terrier Club of America. I would have been happy with one ribbon, because I know that my Booker is a wild man.

The first day was all agility – 2 trials, 6 runs. Booker did really well! He qualified in both novice standard runs (with contact obstacles), one open jumpers run (a more advanced class – don’t ask me how we got past novice jumpers with weaves!) and 1 Time to Beat run! Time to Beat is a modest course showcasing speed. All levels compete on the same course.

The second day was everything! 1 agility trial, an obedience trial and a rally trial. Again Booker qualified in standard and Time to Beat. I honestly don’t know what happened on the jumpers run. It felt good, but I must have missed something. The obedience trial was interesting. Let’s just say that Booker and I have had better moments. But we qualified in Rally!

The third day was obedience and rally (2 trials of each). I was happy that Booker’s performance in obedience improved with each trial! And Booker got his Novice Rally title!

As good as Booker was, and I’m so proud of him, I have to say that the best part of going to the Nationals was getting to meet other people who love this breed.