Mannerly Mutts Dog Training Blog - Mannerly Mutts Certified #1157 NADOI Dog Trainer in York Maine

Vacation Travel With Your Dog in a City

11/3/2023

Cities can be hard places to visit with your pets, in this case our dog, Shana. As it is, Shana has never really warmed up to crowds of people especially with dogs. I do train a lot with Shana, but city area training somewhat limited due to automobile troubles. Nonetheless, Shana is trained to an extent, and we felt it would be far more stressful to have her with a strange pet sitter. Cities are consumed with noises, crowds, and actually far more wildlife than you might see in the country on a daily basis. One thing did not think of is the amount of harmful objects that can be on the ground during your exploring in the city, especially off main roads or those that tourists know of. The cars drive aggressively, which can be a danger to you and your dog, if you don't take that into account. Often there are celebrations going on to attract the tourists and their money as well (in our case we went to a Jethro Tull Concert on our last evening). This post is about a few things that I learned, and a few things I considered while getting Shana ready in the short-term for our trip.

The Place Command is Excellent Obedience and Behavioral Exercise (Part 1 of The Command Series)

9/13/2023

Puppy Duke learning the place command.

The place command is one of the first things I start to teach with many dogs. This command combines a send away, a stay, a stay within a barrier, impulse control and calming exercise all in one. Additionally, this can be the very start on walking on leash with a puppy or dog. Some dog owners and trainers may only utilize the stay portion, but I feel the send away portion is very valuable as time goes on. Let me explain a little bit about this very useful exercise.

Shana Weeks 3 to 5 Training for Boston Vacation (Part 3 of Series)

6/22/2023

As I write this, the new training dogs coming in have been frequent now, and our business is heating back up for the summer. This is a really stressful time for Shana at home as always. Being a dog trainer's dog is not fun for all dogs. At the same time, we have been working regularly on Shana's impulse control and reactivity around other dogs. She has been doing really well, but today she has clearly had enough of this. We are currently in the Middle of Week 6 on a Thursday. I haven't taken many videos, so I am going to go over what we have been doing to date.

What is it that "play training" can add to your partner and canine team (Part 4 of 4 Play Training Series)

6/15/2023

Our Shana with her "treasure" after a flirt pole training session of send to two places. After this, she fell into a deep sleep.

Why should someone consider adding play training to their dog training routine? I say add, because I am never just play training. For instance, if I am on a busy city street and we have some training to do, I probably am not going to use my flirt pole, frisbee, or ball to start a training session. I may use food as play or just as a standard reward. I may also use to do a subtle form of traditional training or management. So for those reasons, I don't believe you can get away with just play training your dog, although I would not have a problem with it if I could figure out how!

So then the question is, why add play training in?

How Do You Use Play Training for Impulse Control? What is Impulse Control? (Part 3 of 4 Series)

6/7/2023

This is Shana demonstrating some impulse control while we play and food train. Sometimes I use just food reward or just toy reward. In this instance, I am using both food and toy. Shana's impulse is to rip the toy apart right before my eyes OR not give it up at all. Impulse control is when the dog is not doing something that they would like to do in the moment. When you are using play, they are controlling their impulse because they want the game to go on, instead of being corrected in more traditional training methods.

Note: Our next blog will go over what play training provides for you that is different than traditional dog training, and why you might want to use it.

Shana's Boston Training Week 2 Ended (Part 2 of Series)

5/28/2023

Have I spoiled Shana? In some ways, I have definitely spoiled Shana. Shana is a hard worker and a good dog, but some of that spoiling is what holds her back now from being relaxed in a city like Boston. I had really never thought we would take a Boston trip in Shana's lifetime. The fall vacation is far enough away, that all I need to do is prepare her.

Play Training: How To Start (Part 1 of Series of Play Training Series)

5/22/2023

In 2011 I came across a YouTube video of a trainer, Mike Ellis, who is a well known sports dog trainer. I hadn't heard of him, as he wasn't a fixture in pet dog training or AKC obedience. What he was doing absolutely blew me away, and he was having a seminar in RI the next week. I paid the very reasonable price to attend with a non working or audit spot (means you don't bring a dog to work and be coached), as all the working spots were filled. The seminar was called "Focus and Drive". This was the beginning of my play training journey. I am going to do a series on play training on this blog for the next few weeks (or more).

Shana's Family Boston Vacation and Training Plan (Part 1 of Series)

5/19/2023

On Sundays, I am going to try to blog and post (on our Facebook page) Shana's training progress. Normally I am training Shana because:

Shana comes from working lines, and her personality is that of a dog that wants to be busy.
Because it is fun.
To have Shana feel as comfortable as possible when there are strange dogs in the house. If you click on "training journal" in the blog categories on the right, you can see some history about Shana, who is now 10 years old and acts like a 5 year old!

This fall though, we are taking a trip to Boston, and staying in a very fun dog friendly hotel across from Fenway Park. Shana has only been to a city a few times in her life. City distractions are very different than the distractions she sees in a small town (and some of those still can scare her or put her on defense drive). So now I have a specific goal that I am training for.

IDEAS ON HOW TO MAKE YOUR TIMID DOG MORE CONFIDENT

1/2/2023

Do you find your dog to be timid or fearful around things that don't scare most other dogs? If you have also wondered about the reasons this can happen, there are a few as follows:

1) Puppies not socialized or handled by breeders. Usually these guys recover very well, but they may present as very fearful at the beginning.
2) Adult dogs that have grown up without proper socialization and exposure to the outside world.
3) Puppies that have experienced a traumatic or very scary experience during the fear stage.
4) Adult dogs that experienced Number 3 during the puppy fear stage, but their owners did not realize it or did not work with their dog in the meantime. Often owners might think something like this will pass, but for many dogs it just gets worse unless they are helped along the way.
5) Traumatic experience as an adult dog. (As an example my first dog got to experience a microburst at night with us one evening. All our screens on the windows blew in, and the power was instantly out. After that, Jazzabelle was very afraid of any thunder and wind storms, which we helped her with later.)
6) Incident that may have happened that you did not see happen.
7) It could be that a medical reason, like loss of hearing, is causing them some distress. In case of sudden behavioral change, you should make an appointment with your vet.
8) So many more possibilities may exist that caused this.
9) You may never know the cause.

Bottom line is that you have to move your dog forward. They may not fully recover, but you can greatly improve their lives and their thoughts on the trigger (thing that scares them).

Corrections, What Are They and How Are They Used?

1/4/2021

Dog owners tend to wince at the suggestion of using a correction. So many dog owners associate the word "correction" in dog training with punishment or treating their dog harshly. This is not what is meant by most dog trainers or dog sports enthusiasts.

My definition of a dog training correction is to further advance a position, speed, or behavior through communication the dog understands to mean what they had just done is not what was wanted and therefore offers another option or stops something. Some examples of corrections are verbal markers, spatial pressure, and the use of some training equipment. Please note that corrections should not be used, generally speaking, until the dog has started and advanced through the first stages of dog training, which is teaching. Once a performance can be reliably predicted to a standard, then you are ready to correct errors or non performance.