Little Houston is growing and learning lots and helping us focus on the here and now. We took the 5 Minute Forumula to a Brilliant Recall and all my dogs, have benefited from Susan’s Garrett’s wonderful dog training expertise.

The main idea behind the 5 Minute Formula is to build value by strengthening the fun relationship you have with your dog. So when you say “come” your dog comes sprinting to your side, because they absolutely love being with you, whether i be for playing, a yummy treat or a lovin’ belly rub.

Shown here is a game we learned from the 5MF. Before playing this game i worked a lot on teaching Jake to tug a toy…like years. So it seems like a simple game but for a dog who only knew to chase a ball this was a big feat. I also worked to teach him to retrieve other items…surprizingly Jakey the tennis ball fetching addict would not retrieve any other item, without a lot of patient training. I will share a video of Jakes other retrieves when in get some time. In the meantime, here is Jake playing with me and tugging a toy….the Famous Susan Garrett Smoke yah game.

Now my puppy Houston loves the smoke yah game, but he is 8.5 months old and is being trained to retrieve any toy i ask. I also have worked to teach him to hand the toy to me and return to what we call the Reinforcement Zone or RZ. The RZ is next to our body so we can reward our dog and also hold their collar. Oh yah, the collar grab game from Susan’s Crate Games video…that is the first game we teach so the dog is HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY to get their collar grabbed. How do we teach that? grab the collar give a treat…simple. Do that a lot of times in different situations and your dog will not fret when you grab their collar.

Here is Houston learning a wonderful retrieve.

I don’t have a video of Jake retrieving different objects because we are still working on him coming to the reinforcement zone. Jake has not had a lot of rewards when close to the body, he finds a reward away from the body with the tennis ball being thrown, so I am trying to teach him a new fun place to be and that place is with mamma. Today I worked with him with my friend and I hope to have him returning to the RZ with the toy in the next couple months.

Yes it took me two days to teach the puppy but it is harder to teach an ol’ dog new tricks.

(Today I am thankful that I have friends who understand the type of dedication it takes to have a happy socialized engaged wonderful canine companion.)

He is walking nicely on lead, he is offering sits and downs and runs really quick to his crate in crate games. Today he offered a run through the tunnel for a game of tug! He loves food, so it is nice to see him offering behavior for games too!

His name is Houston. He’s a puppy that was surrendered on account of abuse going on towards the mamma dog. He travelled 700 miles — north of Vancouver.

In this picture he is 11 weeks old — born Sept 13 2010. He’s a mix of who knows what. The official papers are not all complete, but we hope to have it all finalized this week.

The rescue people got his teeth fixed and his hair groomed. When I fostered Pika he was still recovering from the teeth operation, where he had over 12 teeth removed.

In no time at all Pika was having a lot of fun with our family. He was probably around 8 or 10 years old when he came to live with us. During that short time with us, he earned is Veteran Agility dog of Canada title and learned even to do independent weaves and gambles.
Pika weaves independently HERE Caution, this is very very cute.

Pika loved swimming and retrieving toys at the vital K9 doggy swimming pool. Pika’s favorite thing of all though was to be in my arms. He really loved his mamma. He slept on my bed on a down comforter. I made him special food and I loved him as much as he loved me.

In Pika’s memory, I would like to say a few things about my philosophy on dog training.

I am an advocate of shaping behaviour with positive reinforcement. I do not agree with the notion of the alpha wolf pack training – using the roll and pin to contain the dog, on the premise that we the people are being the alpha “dog”. I don’t agree with poking the dog, jerking the leash…to get the desired effect.

I have learned that luring is not an effective way to train dogs either because a dog will not retain a behaviour when taught with a lure…I admit I am a lurer at times– New advances is animal studies show us we don’t need Cesar’s methods. 2×2 method is the perfect example.

Yes, “dominance” is being used to manipulate the behaviour because we control the food, the toys etc. But if you use the term dominance in that way, then the mother is dominating the 2 year old child when holding their hand at the park, putting clothes on them and buckling them into their car seat.

When I refer to dominance and cesar and brad, it refers to making sure we are “alpha” and using fear to get our desired affect. If you look at those so called “rehabilitated” dogs, they are showing signs of fear/submission.

The famous chicken trainer Bob Bailey shows that all animals respond to operant conditioning — animal says to itself — if I do this, I get that. Using that very simple premise we can shape the desired behaviour in dogs — for both ours and their safety.

Rather than stopping a dog with negative punishment, we choose to show or shape the behaviour we want to see. I prefer my dog to stay in their crate until I release them — for their safety. So I use operant conditioning with a positive reward. If you stay in your crate you get a reward, if you leave your crate on the command “break” you get a reward. As opposed to — if you don’t walk correctly on the leash I will choke you…We reward the dog when they come close to our body, and with tiny increases of providing the reward when the dog walks at your side…we have a dog happily walking at our side in the manner of a few days.

My dogs are not afraid of me. the ppsshhttt thing is a way of using FEAR to get the desired affect. I prefer to use a treat in the form of a food or a toy to get the desired affect.That is why I do not consider my way of training dominance training.

My beloved Pika boo came into my life with issues. I used positive reinforcement, the clicker and saying “yes” to help him through some of his fears. He entered our family without a single recall…BUT he learned to come running with a lovely joyful spring in his step whenever I called.

I am still learning to be a better dog trainer, and I am working through my ideas on the matter, but I can tell you without a doubt, my loving and caring for Pika made our bond so very strong, and I can only hope other people can have such a lovely relationship with their poochie.

I miss you little one…will see you at the rainbow bridge.
XOXO Mamma.

His sickness came on quickly, seems like it may have been a pancreatic insuloma.

when i feel strong enough i will write a little tribute to his life. He was a rescue dog who had lived on the streets prior to coming to our family. He was a joyful spark in our lives and we deeply mourn his passing.

I painted a picture of Pika before i knew him and before i even planned to help rescue a dog. He will always be in my soul.

RIP little one june 6, 2010

getting Jake fit for the new agility season…he loves it!

Bella the Birthday girl.

Salmon Angel food cake

Jake’s thinking, “hey mama? you gonna throw that squeaky toy you got in your pocket?”
Pika boo’s thinking “what are those sounds I’m hearing in the front yard?”
Bella’s thinking “I’m sitting here just as mama asked, I hope she delivers another piece of kibble soon, because these boys are annoying me.”

6 clean runs! Whadda GAL!