You may have noticed that I have posted on the Peaceful Pack Facebook page about participating in the dog sport of Rally Obedience or Rally for short. Some folks may be wondering what this Rally is all about. Well, let me just give a little intro to this completely fun sport!

Rally is a fun, less formal version of traditional obedience trials and one of the fastest growing dog sports in the United States. Competitors traverse a course of 10 to 20 stations, each marking an exercise for the dog and handler team to carry out. Unlike traditional obedience, Rally allows the handler to talk to and encourage her dog along the way, use hand signals, and go through the course along a designed route on her own without a judge calling out the exercises. The not-so-strict rules reflect the philosophy behind Rally, namely that the focus in dog training should be on teamwork between handler and dog- and should be an enjoyable experience for both. Exercises include a variety of basic and advanced maneuvers like heel, stand, turn, sit, back up etc.

There are several sanctioning bodies for the sport in the US, including the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, whose program, APDT Rally, is open to all dogs, and the American Kennel Club, which tries purebred and PAL/ILP listed dogs. For more information and to find trials, visit www.apdt.com or www.akc.org.

For events located in Maine, check out Wag It in Lincolnville, ME at www.wagitinc.com and Finish Forward Dogs in Saco, ME at www.finishforward.com. 

Patricia McConnell is a gifted write, trainer, and academic. If you have not read her wonderful book, For the Love of a Dog, I would run right out and get your hands on a copy. She beautifully describes the emotional lives of our dogs and us! In the meantime I highly recommend her blog which may be found here: http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/ Have a great day and get out there and play with your pups!

Simon and I were having an immensely enjoyable walk this morning- sniffing about and dipping into streams. Well, maybe that better describes Simon’s experience than mine. I was enjoying the scent of cedar, pine and the sea all mingled together- and watching my dog have a blast! Rounding a corner we came across a group of folks and their three dogs. All the dogs greeted nicely- although one was a talker! I stopped and chatted a bit and then we prepared to part ways. At this point all the dogs were hanging together- Simon was closer to the others than to me. The group of people wanted to stop and get Simon back to me and I was able to tell them “Please feel free to move along, Simon will come with me, not to worry.” The great, cool thing was that I was completely confident in my statement. I knew Simon would come with me and not follow the other dogs. I did not cue him to ‘come’, I simply indicated that we were going to walk in the opposite direction. Simon eagerly followed me. Did I take the time to reward him- you betcha! I let him know that choosing to stay with me was the absolutely greatest decision: I verbally praised him, acted goofy and gave him a small treat. What enabled Simon to be successful, and underlying this interaction, was the strong relationship that I have developed with him. I have taken the time to get to know him and his ways. I know what he is and is not capable of. He trusts me to take care of things. I even think he enjoys hanging out with me. It is this relational foundation that makes training Simon possible. I encourage you to build a solid foundation with your dogs- all your training efforts will benefit from it!

Its a simple fact of biology: All organisms do more of what they are rewarded for. If you were given twenty dollars every time you smiled, you would walk around grinning. If wearing a certain coat predictably unleashed a rain of compliments on you, chances are that coat would spend little time in your closet.Dogs are no different. Any behavior they think works to get them something they want becomes more frequent. Say your dog drops a tennis ball in front of you and barks, and you pick up the ball and throw it. You have just trained your dog to bark to have his favorite game perpetuated. As a strategy barking paid off and sure enough, your dog will bark more. By contrast, ignoring the ball and walking away teaches the dog that barking does not work. When he next drops the ball by your feet without barking, pick it up and throw it to reinforce the delightful quiet.This simple exercise contains the essence of the type of dog training we use at Peaceful Pack: Ignore what you don’t like and be quick to reward what you do like. The principle applies to all situations and it pays to become aware of the many ways we accidently reinforce behaviors we don’t like. We often reward a dog for jumping up to greet us, either by peting and sweet-talking the dog, or by pushing him away and saying ‘no’, which is more than enough attention to be reinforcing. Turning away or leaving is much more effective. Similarly, feeding your dog form the table reinforces begging. Better to reward Fido with a special tidbit when he is lying quietly on his bed. This has the added bonus of reinforcing calm indoor behavior.To get a well-behaved dog quickly, always be on the lookout for ways to reinforce behaviors you like. Four paws on the floor when greeting, for example, should always earn a verbal “good dog”, a pet or a treat!

I absolutely love getting out every morning with my labrador Simon and walking or hiking. I have explored places on our island that I may never have done with out him… his needs combat the lazy voice in my head that urges me to just sleep a little bit longer!  I like to balance on leash walks or hikes with off leash opportunities for him. Our plan this morning was to go to a nice off leash area. So, despite the rain - torrential at times-  off we went! We walked along paths today that were frequently littered with horse droppings. I know many other dog lovers out there who struggle to keep their dogs away from such a delicacy. Some trainers have even said they have met dogs that have been impossible to train out of indulging in a buffet of horse droppings. I have worked very hard at this with Simon and, mostly, we have success. The success started with the teaching of a ‘leave it’ cue. Building a strong foundation with this cue is key, as it is with any cue. So, do not be tempted to move fast in training ‘leave it’ - do not skip steps or add more difficult tasks than your dog is ready for.  Remember, we want to try to set up our dogs to succeed in their training as often as possible. We build upon success as we train and challenge our dogs when we see them easily succeeding at any given step along the way. So start easy with the ‘leave it’ cue and build up to being able to pass by the horse dropping buffet! These days I am particularly humored when I see Simon look at the droppings, lick his lips and then look to me in anticipation of his reward. Sometimes I still reward with a treat and sometimes I reward with verbal praise or some goofy play. Here is a training handout that I hope will be helpful to you and your dog to master this very useful behavior!  leave-it.pdf

A training handout so that you and your dog can politely walk on over to Mount Desert Island Ice Cream for some Canine Ice Cream!    loose-leash-walking.pdf

This Bar Harbor, Maine based company manufactures premium homemade ice cream, sorbet and other frozen delights. These treats are not for the faint of heart as these are rich, dense, high butter fat concoctions and they are well worth every calorie! Recently, I noticed that a Canine Ice Cream will be introduced this month. Tongues are hanging out waiting for this special treat. So… after you have practiced some nice polite walking through crowds and maybe some sit stays on the Village Green reward your pooch for all their hard work with a dish of this special treat. Mount Desert Island Ice cream has 3 stores.   In Bar Harbor find them at 7 Firefly Lane (across from the gazebo on the Village Green), and 325 Main Street.  In Portland find them at 51 Exchange Street.  Enjoy!

The AKC’s Canine Good Citizen Program incorporates both responsible pet ownership for dog guardians and basic polite manners for dogs. The test is comprised of ten items ranging from demonstrating that your dog is able to sit, lie down and stay on cue to being able to walk on a loose leash through a milling crowd. Dog who pass the CGC Test may receive a certificate from the American kennel CLub and any dog may participate in the program. Read the rest of this entry »

Spring 2010 Pawspective

American Temperament Test Society will be testing dogs at Happy Tails on October 10th. You will have to check out Happy Tails website or American Temperment Test Society website for more info. Tracy