When to call for help

We might think we are good trainers,and many of us are. But there are times when we all need some help. I had one of those times last week. while I had made tremendous progress with one of my dogs, she needed just that bit more. The benefit of professional experience.
Professional trainers and handlers see many more dogs than we will ever see. Their experiences are so much more varied and comprehensive than ours. They know ALL the tricks and best techniques to solve or resolve a problem or behavior. Yes, they cost money and a little bit of pride,but in the end, the improvements the good ones can make in our dogs are well worth the investment.
Most trainers and handlers are willing to share their knowledge with enthusiastic owners. There's the key: Be open, enthusiastic about helping your dog and demonstrate a real desire to learn. You'll be rewarded many times with much more information than you hoped for,and possibly, you will begin building a relationship built upon mutual respect that will pay huge dividends in the future.
We're all in our various disciplines and dog sports for the benefit of our dogs. Use all the sources of knowledge at your disposal. Your dog will appreciate it!

Walking Dogs with Crutches

My wheels are coming off! Feels like that as I age sometimes. I've had a bad right knee for many years with multiple surgeries on that one. Now the "good" knee (left) is giving me fits with a small fissure fracture on the bottom of the femur. Am waiting for a knee brace to 'unload" the medial side of my knee so it can heal. Otherwise I have to stay off my feet or use crutches.
So I have been exercising my dogs around the ranch most days. They run off lead while I hobble around on cructhes. We havent been to the big park down the road in weeks. Yesterday I decided to get them out to the park somehow! And off we went. Dogs, me and a pair of crutches.
Now I dont recommend this technique if your dogs pull alot, but with Kate and Charlie who dont pull it worked out fine! I tied their leashes together and looped the combination over my neck. Left my hands free to handle the crutches and kept  the leashes up in the air above the dogs so they didnt get tangled up in them. Just be careful that they dont crisscross the leads too many times or you may get hung! Must have been a sight as several people gave me "high fives" for effort as we walked.
Just goes to show where there is a will.....

Making the Most of your Time to Train

Now that I have four Border terriers at home and co-own another, the time I take to give one-on-one attention to my dogs is becoming more limted. Add to that the time I spend on my grooming business, my real estate career and my family, and I'm pushed to get it all in in any one day. Over the past year I have felt that I needed to change something in how I organized my training time so that I could better train and have more fun doing it.
What I discovered isnt new. Basically it comes down to ANY TIME you are out with your dogs, you are training. No matter if its conscious or not, deliberate or not, whatever you do with your dogs is a form of training- good or bad.
What I am doing is focus weekly (or daily) on a couple of things I want to accomplish or emphasize with my dogs that week (day). For example, say I want to work on my puppy's whiplash turn, recall or check-ins. I suggest that you WRITE DOWN (yes, you can try to mentally write this in your head but...) what you want to focus upon and place the note by your jacket hanger or where you hang your leashes. That way you'll see it before every walk and trip outside and remember to work on that item.
Then, while walking, incorporate your agenda into your walk. Call your pup back, treat him for coming, and then send him on his way again. This will train his recall AND his "go out" or "go find 'em" while being fun for you both. Sending him back out to do what he wants after a recall makes the recall less of a "final" command that ends fun. You will find this type of training teaches faster and more solidly than straight recall training.
If you clicker train, don't forget to put one in your jacket or pants pocket! If you use a tug toy as a reward, stuff one in your jacket pocket to pull out and SURPRISE your pup.
Lastly, remember that you can train bad habits just as easily (if not easier!) than good ones. So dont get lazy on your walk or zone out and forget that your are walking WITH you dog. I find that if I take my work worries with us, I usually unconsciously let my dog start into a situation that I dont want him to get into! Whether that's pulling on leash or not listening to my commands (why should he? I'm not there mentally with him! He may have tried to tell me something but I wasnt listening to him!), our line of communication is broken. And that usually leads to mis-communication or worse!
It's spring (almost!). Daylight savings time starts this weekend! Have some great walks with your dogs!

It's been awhile!

That's putting it mildly! I've been away for the past year having lived through some extraordinarily hard dog experiences and some fabulously wonderful ones. All of which have expanded my perspective on dogs, their training and how I interact with them. I look forward to climbing back on the blogging horse and sharing these new-to-me insights.
Some of the things I experienced over the past year, and which I will be writing about, include:
Bitches fighting
The importance of progesterone screenings in breeding
Neo-natal experiences and stress
Increasing your dog's threshold toward external distractions
Using OFA databases when choosing a puppy
Border grooming
No shows at shows
More thoughts on feeding
When I can't walk my dogs
RVing with my dogs

So please forgive my absence and stay tuned for these and more blogs!