Yesterday, Cooper took his first ever one-on-one class with a fab trainer. It was a make-up class from a Click-a-Trick session we missed, and it was awesome to see him flourish with that individual attention… awesome enough that I signed up for four more one-on-ones!

I'm cute AND smart!

We train a lot. Constantly, sort of. When we’re out on walks, lounging around the house, working, whatever, we’re always reinforcing manners and trying to teach new concepts. I strive to spend a few minutes with each dog and the clicker every evening. It’s tough to squeeze it in to busy schedules, of course, and so sometimes I let it go or rush through it to “get it over with” on busy nights. We struggle with setbacks, and we occasionally rush the boys on cues and end up having to backtrack, too.

But despite the time frustrations and the mistakes, every second is worth it. Here are 5 reasons why I love dog training:

1. That A-HA! moment they experience when they figure out what you want. You can see the joy on their faces.
2. Tricks! How fun to have a dog who can close doors, spin in circles, weave between your legs, and so on?! It’s hilarious!
3. The increments. It would be phenomenal to be able to say, “Lucas, look. Stop aggressing at other dogs. We won’t let you get hurt. There’s nothing to be scared of. Walk nicely, ‘k?” But, by building up a training regimen, we’ve been able to watch him grow, step-by-step. It’s incredibly rewarding to watch them build up from a basic foundation.
4. Bonding. Working out a new trick or cue together is such a great way to bond. Even though it can be difficult to find the time to train, I love those bonding opportunities with each of my guys.
5. Impressing friends and family! Yes, this is a purely superficial reason, but aren’t all those compliments great?? I love showing off their tricks to just about anyone who’s willing to watch. After all that hard work, it’s fun to perform!

What about you? Why do you love dog training?

I’m a week late, but we’re officially halfway through 2011. How?? It’s sort of unbelievable how fast time flies!

Three sleepy dogs.

Did you set any dog training resolutions or goals for the year? I always set tons of goals at the beginning of the year, and I try to check in on them at milestones – like halfway through the year – to see if I need to rearrange or reprioritize.

Here’s my recap (posted mostly for my own accountability for the rest of the year!) and I’d love to know how you’re doing with your goals or resolutions for the year!

Emmett:

• Pass his therapy dog retest. Check!!
• Tricks, tricks, and tricks! So far he has a pretty decent repertoire: shake, high five, wave, roll over, twirl, kiss, hug, crawl. I’m working on a “give it/take it” series so that he can give kids his own bookmarks at the library, but MAN! This one is taking all the patience I have and then some. Any suggestions for other tricks?

Lucas:

• Conquer his leash reactivity once and for all! Lucas is doing really well on leash. He’s great if we can pass a dog with a decent amount of distance between us. He still can’t pass on the sidewalk, but I’m not giving up on him! He’s come so far that I know he can keep improving. I don’t expect perfect obedience; I just want him to be able to navigate through life either calmly or, if that’s not possible, controlled.
• Walks. Going strong! John’s starting with Lucas in a “group” walk that happens every Saturday morning. It’s an organized group of people and dogs led by a trainer through different parts of town. This is going to be HUGE. I’m super excited!

Cooper:

• Basic manners. Haaa!!! Hahaha! Oh, boy. I was aiming high here, huh? He’s doing phenomenally well in so many areas. He’s one smart cookie. He learns commands and tricks in a single session. He has not, however, learned impulse control. So while he can sit, wait, take it, leave it, and so on, he also jumps on people and counters and loses focus every 3.5 seconds. But he’s still a puppy, so we’re working on it but with huge heaps of patience and understanding.
• Socialization. Check!! This dog loves everybody. Every. Single. Person. He loves dogs, too, though he’s pretty shy when meeting a new buddy. We’re taking him everywhere, taking him to two different training classes, and arranging play dates. And he’s on the waiting list for a doggy daycare.
• Walking. Check!! I’m loving my daily morning walks with Cooper. I love having that time with him, and it’s been amazing watching him discover the world.

The group:

• Door manners. Um. Oops.
• Group walks. So far, this is an unpleasant task. Neither John nor I can take all three at once yet – it’s pandemonium – and if the two of us go with the three of them, it’s even worse. This may have to shift to a 2012 goal once all these others are nailed down.

Cooper’s energy knows no bounds.

For instance, on Saturday, I took him for a long walk in the morning, he had a puppy play date at the dog park in the afternoon, our 10-year-old neighbor came and took him to play in the park in the evening, and by nightfall he was jumping all over Lucas.

Lately, we’ve been having a lot of pretty severe thunderstorms. Luckily (thankfully) my guys don’t seem to be bothered by the storms (other than Lucas will not go outside when it’s raining…). However, it gets difficult to expend Cooper’s energy when it’s thundering and lightening for days on end.

Thus, the “go find it” game. When the weather is too bad to go outside, we play this periodically throughout the day. The video below is our third take, so he’s moving a little slow at this point (take 1, the UPS man came; take 2, he actually couldn’t find one of the treats), but you’ll get the idea.

The stairs work best in terms of tiring him out because it’s just that much more work for him to go up and down to “find” the treats; however, we play this game all over the house.

For example, if I spot a dog about to walk past our front windows – and I know Lucas is nearby and will probably bark – I toss a treat far in the opposite direction and tell him to “go find it.”

Lastly, for a variation on this, we play “stair ball.” It’s the exact same game but with a toy instead of a treat!

What are your strategies for bad weather exercise?

On Saturday morning, I took Cooper for a long, leisurely walk through our neighborhood, down along a local trail, and the looong way home. We were walking through an undeveloped section where empty lots are overgrown with two-foot-high weeds. When we moved here in 2008, these lots were supposed to become homes. After the housing market crashed, they’re piles of wood, debris, and scraggly, prickly weeds.

As we were walking around a block of these lots, I heard the familiar jingle of approaching dogs. I looked around and didn’t see anyone. Then the weeds rustled.

Through this bramble, two tiny dogs were bounding – as best they could – toward us. In this order I thought:

• Gosh. Those dogs are chubby.
• I don’t see a person.
• Uh oh.
• Keep walking? Stop and let them catch us in case they’re lost?
• What if they’re unfriendly?
• Thank goodness Lucas isn’t with me.

I debated whether or not to keep going. On the one hand, if they were unfriendly, I wouldn’t want to put Cooper in danger. On the other hand, if they were lost, I’d hate to leave them in danger.

They were huffing along, getting closer, when I heard a whistle. Both dogs stopped, turned their heads toward the direction they came from… then kept running toward us.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy walking toward the dogs. He whistled again.

I kept going.

Later, I wondered if I should have stopped. Should I have let the dogs come check us out – what they clearly wanted to do – to allow the guy time to catch them? I felt a little bad, but I just didn’t want anything to happen to Cooper.

The whole way home I kept thinking how lucky I was that it wasn’t Lucas I was walking. The scenario would have played out so differently. Despite working so, so hard with him, an off-leash dog approaching when he’s on leash is still a huge trigger.

Sunday evening, two boys from down the street opened a lemonade stand. I hadn’t walked Cooper yet, so I decided to take him over to the stand, let him socialize with a group of kids, and buy myself a lemonade ($1 for a lemonade plus free ice for dogs!).

I went out our garage into the alley. We walked to the end of the alley and turned left to cross a short block to get to the stand. Just as we turned the corner, a spaniel ran around the far corner straight at us.

There was no question the dog was friendly. He had a loose body, a happy wag, and his tongue was hanging out. He was also dragging a leash behind him.

He ran straight up to Cooper who froze and tucked his tail.

Then, from around the block, comes an intact standard poodle. Also dragging his leash.

Then a woman meanders around the corner with a tiny terrier on leash.

“Are these your dogs?” I said with as much huff as I could muster in my very flustered, very annoyed state.

“Ummhmm,” she said as she breezed past. The two dogs dragged their leashes a block ahead of her and she and the little one trotted off after them.

I wanted to scream, but there were children around. I didn’t scream.

But, again, if I had Lucas with me, that situation would have been a disaster. The first dog was around the corner so suddenly that I didn’t have a moment to move Cooper before the dog was on him sniffing away. I barely had time to react to the first dog before dog #2 came around the corner and waltzed right up to his face.

Poor Cooper’s tail was tucked so far it was touching his belly.

Lucas would have lost his mind and aggressed. And I’m sure the lady would have been pissed at me.

Both incidents left me frustrated and annoyed. Both incidents made me grateful that Lucas wasn’t with me, which is a horrible feeling.

I guess the takeaway is that I need to keep working with Lucas, and work even harder since there are lots of clueless dog walkers in our neighborhood.

Have you ever had an encounter like this on a dog walk? How did you handle it?

I definitely need training resources! Look who I busted on the couch AGAIN this morning!

Today, we’re switching our cable, internet, and phone service provider. The tech is supposed to be here soon (I mean, the huge window of time they give starts soon), and I’m a little terrified that something is going to go wrong. Sigh. But we’ll be disconnected for a big part of the day. And, of course, we’re waiting for the vet to call with some results from Cooper’s blood test.

However, as soon as everything is back up and running, I plan on spending a lot more time exploring two new dog training discoveries:

• First, Dogmantics Dog Training has a collection of super helpful clicker training videos. There are a bunch that are useful (like dealing with barking and loose leash walking) and a bunch that are just plain fun (tricks!).
• Second, someone on Facebook suggested I check out Dr. Sophia Yin who has a behavior-related blog called The Art and Science of Animal Behavior. I haven’t spent much time on the site, but it looks like there are posts, videos, and suggested resources. I’m looking forward to poking around on there.

Any other great training sites or blogs you frequent? What are your favorite online resources for dog training advice and info?

Some days, I get frustrated with the boys.

After five awesome walks, Lucas lunges and snaps at another dog on that sixth walk. While I take two minutes to empty the dishwasher, Cooper crawls under the bed to shred the bottom of our mattress. Emmett decides to drag me across a conference room where we’re presenting about therapy dogs just to get to the buffet table in the back.

Sometimes I wish I could talk to them, just for a couple minutes. No luring, shaping, clicking, rewarding, hand signaling, or anything. Just two minutes to speak to them and have them understand me.

Off the cuff, this is about what I’d say to each of them…

Emmett: You are a wonderful boy. My angel. But please stop pulling me everywhere. Oh, and don’t eat whatever junk you find on the floor, on the counters, in the park. I promise that I will never, ever let you starve and will continue to give you tons of treats, but please stop eating whatever crap catches your nose.

Lucas: You are a sweet, darling teddy bear. Please let other people and dogs see that. I promise that I will always keep you safe, but stop lunging and snapping at other dogs. If you can be as nice and friendly outside as you are inside, we can go to the park every day, instead of just when no one else is there.

Cooper: If you stop chewing up our furniture, rugs, baseboards, clothes, sheets, and anything else that’s ours and not yours, I will take you to the pet store and let you pick out your own toys. Seriously. For the love, please stop. Oh, and don’t eat grass or mulch. You know how your stomach gets upset every couple of days? You’re doing it to yourself, buddy. Knock it off.

And then I’d  use the balance of my two minutes to gush over how much I love them.

If you had two minutes to talk to your dog – and he/she/they would understand you in English, without having to teach or train or reward – what would you say?

Here’s Emmett wearing his “working” bandana, gazing out the window, probably celebrating the fact that he PASSED HIS TEST!! Wahoo!

One of my dog training goals for the year was for Emmett to re-certify as a therapy dog through the Delta Society. And as of yesterday, mission accomplished!

Looking back over the list of goals, I think I need to buckle down and start focusing especially on Lucas’ goals.

What about you? Now that we’re well into May – nearly halfway through 2011 – how are your New Year’s goals or resolutions coming along? Long forgotten? Or progressing nicely?

Dog training so often is a set up. I grab a bag of training treats and the clicker, and the boys know it’s training time. While it’s great to get any work in, when I set them up to know, “Oh, it’s training time,” they tend to be on their best behavior.

So last Saturday, when we awoke to a half marathon running past our house, we took advantage of the unexpected training opportunity.

Here they come!

Lucas and Cooper both bark at people and dogs who have the NERVE to walk past our house. We’ve been working on building up positive associations – staying quiet with someone going past means TREATS! – but the challenge has been catching it before they can bark because we’re not always next to the same window as the dogs.

With the half marathon, we had tons of prolonged opportunities. The first few runners were waaaay ahead of the next bunch. Throughout the morning there were big bunches followed by gaps, a couple stragglers, then another big bunch.

John took the boys out on the balcony one at a time and fed them treats for a “watch me” as the runners went past. All three were excellent one-on-one.

Then he tried Emmett and Lucas together because Emmett doesn’t react at anything. (I took this pic from indoors because I didn’t want to disrupt; hence, the screen blurs the image.)

As you can see, Emmett is at complete attention. He couldn’t care less about the runners because he knows if he stares at John, John will rain treats. Lucas was a little anxious, whipping his head back and forth. Ultimately, though, he was able to maintain focus to get lots and lots of rewards.

The last step was to have all three of them out at the same time. At that point, they had all received lots of rewards and performed their “watch mes” almost perfectly.

In a group… well, the attention wandered.

Even though as a group they didn’t maintain their individual focus as well, no one barked or reacted in any way.

Overall, a successful spontaneous mission!

What random opportunities for dog training have you found? How do you keep your training mixed up so they don’t start to predict the “oh, NOW it’s time for me to behave” thing?

I am a worrier.

I also have a wildly overactive imagination.

The imagining thing serves me well in my job, but – combined with the worrying – it’s an epic fail when it comes to dog training.

This past weekend, Cooper was invited to a doggy play date at this really peaceful park out in a pretty rural area of southern Indiana. I jump on any opportunity to do something new with Cooper, especially if it includes meeting lots of new dogs, so I agreed. But I hesitated.

The problem?

The park wasn’t fenced in. At all.

So I took John, too, because I figured he’d be able to chase down Cooper if he ran awry.

(Quick aside: I’ve been working on recall with Cooper nonstop. We practice every day. In fact, I took him to the fenced in park today to practice. It’s just that Lucas is an escape artist and a runner, so I’m never, ever, ever confident in having these guys off leash. Unless we’re in a fully-enclosed park. Because my over-active, worry-filled imagination has imagined every worst case scenario that could possibly happen if Lucas got away. So I really, really want Cooper to be reliable since we have the opportunity to start with him so young.)

Here’s what happened:

All the dogs got along swimmingly. I unclipped Cooper’s leash, and they started running and chasing each other. It was super muddy because of all the rain, so the dogs were having a blast digging and pouncing and tackling each other.

Two of the dogs tore off away from the people with Cooper in hot pursuit.

I grabbed John’s arm. “That’s too far. They’re too far away. We couldn’t get there fast enough if something happens. That’s TOO FAR.”

“They’re fine,” he said.

So then I started thinking… This is super rural. What if he gets lost? What if he wants to come back, but he can’t find his way? The other dogs are so much faster; they probably left him in their wake, and he’s probably in the woods freaking out because he can’t figure out how to get back or where his friends went. There was a house a few miles down the road with like 30 cats crawling across their front porch. What if he ends up there and the cats attack him and they have some weird disease that’s transmittable from cat to dog? Or what if someone grabs him and wants to keep him, so they take his collar off instead of calling us? I bet there’s a pack of coyotes out there. What if he runs into their den or crosses the mama out looking for food? Or what if he runs to the road that’s like 5 miles away and is hit by a car? What if he eats a frog?

I squinted along the tree line and started to walk in that direction. I could not believe all the other people were so calm and they couldn’t see their dogs! Where, oh where, had Cooper gone?

“John, I’m panicking.”

“I can see that,” he said.

Of course, 30 seconds later, Cooper burst out of the trees and sprinted straight for us. The other two dogs weren’t with him, but they followed another 30 seconds after Cooper. So then I nearly burst because I was so flipping proud of him for coming back so quickly and with such enthusiasm. I spent the entire hour showering him with treats. If he even glanced in my direction, I chased him down to give him treats.

“Even though he just ran with a pack of dogs for the last hour,” John said, “I think he ate more calories than he burned.”

I didn’t care. He came back. Every. single. time.

Will I be more confident the next time we attend this play date? Probably not… but I’m working on it. And Cooper’s using positive reinforcement to train me to be confident in him, you know, since he came back each time.

As we climbed into the car, Cooper was asleep before he was settled into the backseat.

“Did you get any good pictures or videos?” John asked. “Or were you too busy panicking.”

“Panicking.”

Maybe next time.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful!

We’ve been stuck indoors with snow, ice, and temperatures below freezing. It’s supposed to warm up to the low 30s today (fingers crossed!), but finding ways to keep the dogs busy and exercised in the house has been challenging. We’ve had to get creative!

Here are my 10 ways to tire out a dog indoors:

1. Set up an agility course. We propped a broom between two chairs to make a jump and hung a blanket over our couch and coffee table to make a tunnel. This certainly wouldn’t prepare us for any trials, but it keeps them busy and thinking!
2. Teach a new trick. By the end of the winter, I want Lucas to be able to roll over, Emmett to be able to “dance,” and Cooper to be able to give high fives. If all three can play dead, then you know the weather’s been really bad!
3. Play hide and seek. This is one of Emmett’s all-time favorite games. I put the boys on their beds then hide somewhere in the house. I yell, “Find me!” They love this game, and it gets them to use their noses and to dash around the house.
4. Stair ball. Obviously this one depends on how your steps are set up to determine if this is a safe game or not. How it works: You sit at the top of a flight of stairs with your dog’s favorite toy or tennis ball. Toss it down the steps, he runs down for it, then brings it back to you at the top. Did you ever have to run stairs in high school gym class? This is an exhausting activity!
5. Food toys or puzzles. If you have something like a Kong or a Nina Ottosson toy, that works to keep them busy, of course. But you can MacGyver food puzzles. Use overturned cups or – my personal favorite – drop a treat on a blanket and wrap the blanket up so that the treat disappears somewhere on the inside. Lucas loves digging treats out of his blankets.
6. Teach touch. We taught the boys to touch their noses to our open palms at the “touch” command. This can be a fun game indoors. Move around to different places in your living room, hold out your hand, then give the command. Emmett and Lucas race to see who can get there first. We also hold our hands out at different heights, call from another room, and reward like crazy for fast responses. (Side note: This is a great safety recall since it’s only ever used for fun with lots of rewards!)
7. Break out a new toy. There’s just something about a new toy… Stash a couple for super cold days, and when your dog seems like she’s getting really, really bored, bust out the new toy to re-energize her playfulness. PetSmart has a bunch of rope toys and tennis balls for $0.99 that are perfect for this!
8. Have a doggy friend come over. Cady lives next door, and she’s Lucas’ best friend in the whole wide world. Whenever she comes by, they all get so excited and start epic tugging and wrestling matches. By the time they’re finished playing, they’re all completely exhausted!
9. Practice skills – quickly! This is a variation on Rally-O. Instead of teaching a new trick or behavior, have your dog run through what he already knows in quick succession. This will get him thinking! Sit, down, on your bed, stay, come, down, high fave, down, wave, whatever, all right in a row. Be sure to keep the order random and reward, reward, reward!
10. Snuggle! No, it’s not exactly tiring, but when the weather is cold and gray, there’s nothing better than snuggling under a blanket (in front of the fireplace is preferable!) with your furry friends.

What did I miss?? Any other ideas for tiring out your dog inside on these long, cold winter days?