Not everything we teach our dogs has to be practical, sometimes we can teach them ‘just for fun things’. Here, Scully is touching paper towel with her nose. Why? I wanted to teach touch and had paper towel close, so why not? Teaching tricks can help tire our dogs through mental stimulation, which can be handy if the weather isn’t great. Also, who doesn’t love a party trick!?
Tiger went to the dog park for the first time today! We went to a fully fenced one, and started on leash as he was extremely over stimulated when we first walked in. After a few recalls and learning he can only go further if he listens to the recall, he became a pro!
I didn’t dare attempt to recall him out of playing with dogs, as we want to set our dogs up for success and I knew he wouldn’t come with that much distraction so we started small and practiced with the distraction of smell, as well as recalling when dogs were at a bit of a distance. To be honest, he surprised me with how quick he picked up the recall as he’s never been in that situation before. Goes to show to get your dogs out there, put them in new situations and teach them how to behave there. Happy training!
