If you have a young puppy at the moment all these Christmas events that are happening are great opportunities to expose your puppy to different things and busy environments while teaching them to find value in you while other cool things are happening around them.
This is your reminder to have fun with your dog ❤️
Life can absolutely get crazy this time of year and I totally understand the feeling of it seeming like there is enough time in the day to get everything done.
Your dog doesn't know that though. Your dog lives in the moment (which is something so great about dogs!) so make sure you include moments of fun and joy with your dog ❤️
Yay, it's the weekend!
What is your favourite thing to do with your dog? ❤️
I love taking my boys out on adventures and anything involving water is usually an especially big thumbs up from them!
I'm a big fan of teaching dogs windows of opportunity, essentially meaning when they can and can't do specific things.
One of Hex's favourite things in life is playing tug, but for it to be safe and fun for both of us there needs to be rules around the game.
A really basic rule that we have is that he isn't allowed to grab the toy until I say (his marker word is "yes" which you can hear in this video) and he also needs to let go when I ask. That's what keeps the game going.
The same principles can be applied for other life stuff to make things manageable. Both of my dogs are obsessed with the hose for example, but I want to be able to water plants or wash my car without dogs launching all over the place and snapping at the water. Sometimes though I am totally happy for them to play with the hose.
For the hose example, they aren't allowed to snap at the water until I give them their cue and they need to stop when I ask them to.
These kinds of foundations are pretty straight forward to teach, they just require some consistency and can make living with high energy dogs much easier :)
Have you seen a slatmill before?
They are self propelled by the dog and there is no motor. That means that dogs can run as fast as they like on one but they do not HAVE to run at all!
There are some companies that come to your house with an air-conditioned van with slatmill in the back so that your dog can run in comfort. I utilized that when I had a foot injury so my guys could blow off some steam.
We hope you have been managing to stay cool with your dogs! The weather hasn't seemed to have gotten the memo that it is still winter for another few days 😬
Our crew has been doing heaps of water activities for exercise without causing them to overheat. They have been loving using their splash pool at home and going for proper swims at the lake and in their grandparents pool.
What did you get up to this weekend with your dogs?
Saturday was warm enough for the boys to do some water activities which they were SUPER excited about!
I see flexi/retractable leads used incorrectly a heap, but when used correctly they can be a super useful training tool.
This evening I took Havoc out for a sniffy walk at a park on a flexi so he had some freedom to walk and sniff where he liked.
It also gave us the opportunity to practice some recall training at a distance while still setting Havoc up for success (and following the law) by having him on a lead.
Happy weekend!
What are you doing with your dog today?
On the weekend we went for a bush walk to practice some of our casual training in a different environment.
There are situations where I want my dogs to stop and wait for me without them needing to sit or lay down. I literally use the word "stop" for that.
What is your most frequently used cue with your dog?
We have unfortunately been spending more time at the vets than we would like.
But, the vet visits give us the opportunity to test our training in an environment that commonly causes animals stress.
Havoc was at the vet recently for an ear check and here is a video of him nearly falling asleep after getting his ear swabs while we waited for the results ❤️
Tip: Don't just take your dog to the vet when they need to have a consult or procedure. Take them to the vet and do a fun training session where they get tons of rewards, weigh them, then leave.
We see the team at Greater Springfield Veterinary for our crew and they are always happy to give our guys a cuddle to create positive experiences ❤️
When did you last play with your dog? And I mean really play with your dog, having a fun, bonding experience that you are both invested in? Not playing a game of fetch while you are on your phone scrolling through social media.
If you want your dog to pay attention to you, you need to pay attention to your dog.
Go have some fun together!
