How to teach your dog to say your prayers: Trick or Treat Giveaway Blog Hop

10•18•18

Welcome to the 2018 Trick or Treat Giveaway Hop!

What’s that? you might be wondering.

Well, a whole bunch of pet bloggers got together to teach their dogs tricks AND give away a ton of awesome pet prizes to YOU! All this, btw, is thanks to the pet-blogger-herding efforts of Jodi from Kol’s Notes and Jessica from Beagles and Bargains. Without them, there’s no way I’d have this all together for you today! So, read on to learn about our trick, to see the results, and to enter to win some seriously amazing prizes! (No joke, you guys. They’re SERIOUSLY amazing!)

This post is sponsored by the brands listed in the prizes below!

Trick or Treat Hop 2018

So, here we are! Learning tricks and having fun!

The trick we picked?

Say your prayers!

This turned out to be super fun because John and I worked together on it, something we hadn’t done in a long time. And, it was a good reminder to us about the point of trick training: FUN! More on that in a minute…

A couple weeks ago, I shared an Instagram Story when I found myself with a few minutes of free time, a clicker, and some treats. I figured: Why not? Let’s see if I can get Coop to reliably put his paws up on the couch.

He got it right away, but then I realized that I needed to back up a step. Instead of him walking over and jumping his front legs up to the couch, I needed him to sit first so that he looked, you know, prayerful.

How to Teach Your Dog to Say Your Prayers _ OhMyDogBlog.com

How to teach your dog to say your prayers:

Pick a spot to start. The side of a bed would be cute. Our bed is too high to be comfortable for him, so I went with the couch. Bonus: My couch has a little ottoman that served as a block for him as we progressed. This wasn’t planned, but it worked. More on that in a sec.
Lure your dog to the couch (or bed) so that he’s facing it but right up close against it. When your dog sits (the next step), he automatically shifts back a smidge, so you need him to be super close.
Ask for a sit. You ultimately need your pupper to be sitting super close and facing the couch or bed. He might feel awkward sitting in that spot (Coop definitely did), so it might take a few tries beyond a simple “sit” cue to keep him from backing up away from the couch.
Paws up. Thankfully, Cooper already has a solid “paw” cue, so it took a couple reps of me having my hand on the couch before he got it.
HERE WE PAUSE FOR AN ASIDE: We worked on the sit + paws up for WAY longer than the initial paws up (from a stand). We did get him to do it and sustain it, but… it dawned on me and John that he was uncomfortable in that position. I’ve written about his oddly-splayed back hips before, and this was a time they came into play. He didn’t feel comfy sitting and putting his paws up. And that’s OK! No, his final trick isn’t a “by the books” say your prayers, but circling back to the main point: Trick training is for fun! That’s it! Just fun! And if your dog’s not having fun? You make a change. So, at this point, we swapped from sit + paws up to stand + paws up. You figure out what’s best for you and your dog at this point because, again. FUN.
Chin down. Here’s where things get cute. Your dog carefully places his chin between his paws to look prayerful. This took longer than 1-5 altogether. Why? We have worked for years and years and years and YEARS to get Cooper to look into our eyes. It’s standard reactive-dog training. But, when you hit on something where you need him to actively look away? It flies in the face of what he knows. That’s where the ottoman came in handy. He wanted to physically turn his body toward us, to see us, but he was restricted by that block. Ultimately, we used our well-conditioned touch stick to lure his chin down. If you don’t already have a touch stick that your dog is conditioned to, if he knows how to target anything (your hand, a sticky note) do that. Otherwise, you’ll probably have to lure with a treat in hand. Enclose the treat in your fist. Hold it to your dog’s nose, then slowwwwwwly move it back until his chin hits the couch, then click + treat.

No joke: Steps 1-5 took us about 7 minutes. Step 6? Two 10-minute sessions.

This isn’t a hard trick, but it is super cute.

That said, so many people asked us if we could please teach Violet to say her prayers alongside Cooper. Wouldn’t it be so cute?

Sure would!

She was a hard no.

Training a dog? Super fun and rewarding! Not hard but oftentimes challenging!

Training a toddler? Um. Yeah.

What tricks are you working on with your dogs these days? Any fun challenges or lessons learned? Any good tips up your sleeve to go with those tricks? We’d love to hear them in the comments!

Now for the big giveaway!! You guys. Seriously. Check out these AWESOME prizes and scroll allllllll the way to the bottom to enter to win! Then, visit the other blogs to

GRAND PRIZE:

Petco Gift Card

$350 Gift Card to Petco

**PAID FOR BY ALL PARTICIPATING BLOGGERS**
This giveaway is NOT affiliated with Petco.

SECOND PRIZE:

KONG Assortment

Assorted KONG Dog Toys
$150 VALUE – SPONSORED BY KONG

THIRD PRIZE:

Wellness Pet Food Halloween

$100 in Wellness Pet Food Dog Treats
$100 VALUE – SPONSORED BY WELLNESS PET FOOD

FOURTH PRIZE:

Petcurean Spike Dog Treats

2 Bags of Each Spike Dog Treat Recipe
(8 Bags Total)
$98 VALUE – SPONSORED BY PETCUREAN

FIFTH PRIZE:

Only Natural Pet Dog Treats

All Meat Bites, Jerky Bites, Chicken Chips,
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(1 Bag Each)
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SIXTH PRIZE:

DOGTV Prize Pack

6 Month Subscription to DOGTV Online
I and Love and You Fresh All Rover Dental Chews
$66 VALUE – SPONSORED BY DOGTV

SEVENTH PRIZE:

Caru Pet Food Soft n' Tasty Baked Bites

Four Flavors of Soft n’ Tasty Baked Bites,
One Grass Fed Beef Bone Broth,
and One Free Range Chicken Bone Broth
$60 VALUE – SPONSORED BY CARU PET FOOD

EIGHTH PRIZE:

Treatibles Pumpkin Chews

1 Small Bag of 1mg Pumpkin Chews
and 1 Large Bag of 4mg Pumpkin Chews
$56 VALUE – SPONSORED BY TREATIBLES

NINTH PRIZE:

Noah's Bark Dog Treats

Cha Cha Chicken, Bodacious Beef, and Peanutty Perfection
(24 oz Bags – 3 Total)
$56 VALUE – SPONSORED BY NOAH’S BARK DOG TREATS

TENTH PRIZE:

West Paw Dog Toys

Qwizl Treat Toy and Rowdies Toy
$56 VALUE – SPONSORED BY WEST PAW

ELEVENTH PRIZE:

PLAY Mutt Hatter Plush Toy Collection

Mutt Hatter Plush Toy Collection
$48 VALUE – SPONSORED BY P.L.A.Y.

PLUS follow ALL bloggers on
Facebook & Instagram for a chance to win
one of 13 SPECIAL SOCIAL MEDIA PRIZES!

A new giveaway will be posted each day on either
Facebook or Instagram and will run for 24 hours.
Each giveaway will be posted on the co-hosts’
social media pages along with a select group of bloggers.
You can enter on each participating blog’s account for MORE entries!
You have to enter each day for a chance to win that day’s prize.

Co-Hosts:
Beagles & Bargains – Facebook | Instagram
Kol’s Notes – Facebook | Instagram

Plus follow us too!
OhMyDogBlog.com – Facebook | Instagram

WHERE TO ENTER:

Kol’s Notes	Fidose of Reality	Oh My Dog Blog
Beagles & Bargains	It’s Dog or Nothing	Tenacious Little Terrier
A Dog Walks into a Bar	Maggie Loves Orbit	The Broke Dog
Boogie the Pug	McSquare Doodles	The Chesnut Mutts
ChiPets	My GBGV Life	Wag ‘n Woof Pets
Dog Mom Days	My Rescued Life	Wear Wag Repeat

Visit each blog for more chances to win!

Follow #TrickorTreatDogs!

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Thank you so, so much to Jodi and Jessica for organizing this entire thing! We are so grateful to you both!!!

A collar is not a steering wheel

09•04•18

May I please vent for a moment?

There are few things that bother me more than when I see someone using their dog’s collar to steer, drag, pull, or otherwise force their dog into going or doing something.

I’m not talking about an emergency situation where, like, a bicyclist isn’t paying attention and is about to slam into your dog so you snatch his collar to yank him out of harm’s way. Or other similar scenarios. There are causes and reasons for everything. I get that.

What I’m talking about is when you see someone using a dog’s collar to “drive” their pup when the dog clearly doesn’t want to or doesn’t understand.

It makes me nuts.

A collar is not a steering wheel

Imagine if you’re at a super fun house party with your friend, and you decide to go out onto the patio. The door is open. You’re super pumped to get outside and get some fresh air. You start walking toward the door. Just as your foot is about to hit the threshold of the door, your friend grabs you by your shirt and yanks you backwards, away from the door and into another room.

What the…? You’d likely be shocked at your friend’s behavior!

That would be such a violation of physical space and boundaries that of course your friend would never do that to you.

Yet, people do this to their friends, their dogs, all the time!

I see it everywhere: the guy loading his pup into the car at Lowe’s, the lady dragging her dog outside even though he’s having the time of his life greeting their house guests, the neighbor pulling his dog inside even though he’s having the time of his life barking at everyone walking by, etc. etc. etc. I’m sure you can think of a million other examples, too.

I’ve been guilty of it, too. Just recently, in fact, a glass broke in our kitchen, and I said to Cooper, “Outside!” But he totally wanted to know-slash-taste what had spilled everywhere (pickles), so I grabbed hold of his collar and pushed him out the door. Honestly? Had I asked him again while focusing ON HIM instead of the mess, he probably would’ve just gone out. There wasn’t broken glass there at his feet, so it’s not like it was a truly emergency situation, so it was totally my bad.

(I don’t know if you guys apologize to your dogs when you err, but I totally fess up. I was like, “Cooper, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He forgave me. 🙂 )

Anyway, every time I see it (or mess up and grab Coop’s collar), I cringe.

It’s such an overstepping of boundaries. I would HATE IT, absolutely loathe it, if anyone physically moved me where I didn’t want to go.

So, yeah, while this is a vent, I think the call to action is to think about whether or not you do this. Most of the time–barring those honest-to-goodness emergency situations–it can be completely avoided with better communication. Maybe it’s a call to focus on more training/listening if you find yourself doing this often or find yourself having to do this often because your dog doesn’t pay attention or understand you.

Ultimately, I think we’re all trying to do what’s best, and we are all trying our best in each moment.

No judgement here, just something to think about.

Have you ever used your dog’s collar as a steering wheel? Or are you more self-aware than I am? 😉

Do you think this is a problem behavior? Or do you find this one to be NBD?

Glacial progress adds up when training reactive dogs: Coop’s big win!

06•05•18

Last week, as we walked laps around our favorite park, one of the social workers from our adoption agency called John. They had a professional photographer lined up for Saturday to snap some photos to decorate their offices. Were we interested… oh, and bring your dog!

We said yes! Of course!

And then we started to think through the logistics of taking Cooper.

He gets nervous going to new places. His tail tucks, and he quakes like a little leaf in a windstorm whenever we take him to a different park.

He can be hit or miss when meeting strangers out in public. Interestingly, he’s totally fine with anyone who we have over to the house. It’s the out-and-about that causes him anxiety.

He listens almost perfectly at home, but when he’s scared (see: new place, new people), he can dissolve into a neurotic, bouncing, barking mess who can’t focus.

So, in light of those quirks, we started to plan: We had tiers of treats ranging from low value (freeze-dried salmon) to his most valued (squeeze cheese). We decided to get to the park early to walk him around and let him get his wiggles out, go to the bathroom, and start to run some quick cues like sit and down so that he had time to get in the right mindset. Ultimately, we decided to park close to the spot so that, worst-case scenario, we could put him in the car and leave it running with the AC on, music playing, a water dish, and his bed.

The punchline, which you probably guessed from the headline, is that he behaved perfectly. (The pic below is a candid snap I got on my phone during the official shoot!)

Glacial progress adds up when training reactive dogs_ Coop's big win!

Like, if you didn’t know him at all–which the social worker and photographer didn’t–you’d think he was just a wonderful, happy, well-behaved, normal pup–which is what they thought!

He growled at two people; both startled him as they emerged from places in his blind-spots.

Otherwise, he was legit perfect.

He posed. He stayed. He sat. He looked at the camera. He wagged and accepted tons of pets from both women and even allowed the social worker to hold his leash while the photographer snapped a few pics of humans only.

Truthfully?

I really needed this reminder. (Again.)

We work with Cooper in some capacity–whether it’s attentiveness training in the park or impulse control at home, trick training in the living room, or long stays in the backyard, and so on–every single day. Sometimes it’s a few minutes here and there; sometimes it’s concerted, focused training sessions.

I know you guys know, but working with reactive dogs can be so frustrating. It feels like one step forward, two steps back so much of the time. Random new things crop up unexpectedly that leave you wondering if your work is making a difference.

This whole photoshoot experience proved to me that all that work pays off. That sometimes we’ll get off track, or we’ll experience a setback, but ultimately we’re moving forward. Sure, it’s at a glacial pace, but it’s forward progress regardless.

We’ll have the opportunity to purchase these and the rest of the session once they’re all ready, but for now, here are a couple embeds from Facebook showing Coop’s hard work:

With all that in mind, and the reminder that I sometimes need this reminder, how about you? What progress, no matter how slow, have you and your pup made lately? Have you ever had an experience like this that showed you just how far your dog has come?

Is your dog ever “trained”? Are you ever finished training?

03•27•18

Cooper is a good dog.

Cooper is a smart dog.

He knows all sorts of things, from the basic obedience cues like sit and stay and down to more complex cues like shutting cabinet doors and performing tricks. Based on what he knows at this point, anything else I teach him is just for fun. Games. Tricks. Nothing too useful but definitely entertaining.

Which means, of course, that I’ve become complacent in his obedience work. Can I consider him “done,” like a cake? Finished, like there’s no more training to do?

As far as obedience, anyway, there’s nothing much to do here. Wipe my hands. Move on.

Maybe…

But it wouldn’t do either one of us any good (and it might do him some long-term harm).

I recently encountered this statement in a Facebook group that went something like: “Well, my dog’s trained, so we don’t really work on XYZ. No point.”

So, is your dog ever “trained”?

When I work with Cooper, I think of his “training” in two buckets: obedience, the stuff mentioned above that he’s mastered, and behavior, the stuff that’s harder to quantify like being scared of new objects or barking out the living room window because the wind blew the leaves in the tree funny.

The obedience stuff is important, especially in the early days of a new pup. It’s the house training, the basic manners, the useful parts of being a member of a family. There comes a time, though, when a dog has learned pretty much everything they need to… Anything else, like tricks or dog games or even sports like agility, well, that’s just icing on this cake.

Or is it?

The behavior stuff, on the other hand, has to be ongoing if you love a dog who’s anything but a happy goober. You know the kind of dog I’m talking about… No dog I’ve ever cared for has been a happy goober. 🙂 (Well, maybe Molly…)

This is the forever training, the ongoing stuff. The reinforcement and the conditioning. This is the training where one day you discover that your quirky pup is afraid of the new bird feeder you hung in your backyard, so you work on that. This is the training where you try to catch your dog every single time he, say, sees a person on a motorcycle while riding in the car by tossing treats from the bag you keep in your glove compartment.

This type of training, in my opinion, is never “done.” Unless, of course, you’re the person of a goober dog!

That said, I’ve discovered that the obedience training conditions Cooper to learn. If we’re working on a behavior issue, or if I’m simply trying to build up his confidence so that he can go to a new park without shaking like a little leaf (we’re not there yet), obedience training does the trick.

He gets into “work” mode.

He starts to focus.

His mindset shifts from “AHHHHHHOMG!!!!” to “hey, I know what to do!”

We had a great session recently when we went to the playground. We traded off pushing Violet on the little baby swing and having Cooper “work” on basic cues. On the other side of the playground, a small family played on the climbing rocks, and on the soccer fields behind us, a bunch of guys were playing a pick-up game. It was a super distracting environment, though it was a park he’s very comfortable with. And he nailed it. Of course, we thankfully didn’t see any other dogs–this would probably be a different story!–but it’s progress.

Cooper is a good dog. At home, or at my parents’ house, he’s nearly perfect.

But he’s nowhere near “trained” and we’re certainly not done training.

Even when he’s reached a happy old age, games and toys and trying new things–all pieces of “dog training”–will be part of his daily routine because it keeps his mind fit, just like research shows daily mental activity like completing sudoku or crossword puzzles helps stave off Alzheimer’s.

And so, my long, meandering post comes to an end with my conclusion being, of course, that a dog might know a lot of stuff, but training can keep him mentally engaged and mentally fit to help his aging process go smoother and to stave off boredom. He might know all his obedience cues, and we’re not working to turn him into an obedient little automaton, but training is a big, important piece to his overall wellness.

Currently, of course, we’re working on his mat work… and making great strides!

How about you and your pup? What do you think? Do you consider your dog “trained” or your training “done”? How do you work to keep your dog mentally fit and engaged? Leave a comment below, and let’s trade training notes!

Setting Realistic Dog Training Goals: Mat Work

02•08•18

Last week we talked about limits: figuring out what our dogs’ limits are and how to honor them.

The other side to that coin, though, is knowing which limits to push and how. Otherwise, you risk becoming stagnant. Pushing limits, too, helps expand your dog’s world bit by tiny, incremental bit.

When I talk about pushing Cooper’s limits and setting training goals for him, I try to think of what my long-term goal is first, then work backwards. What is my desired outcome?

Right now, I’m focused on a big one.

Impulse control.

Of course, that’s a vague concept, but there’s one specific behavior we need to work on: his mat.

Long ago, we worked with an amazing trainer in New Orleans. One of the things she pointed out is his reliance on routine and predictability. We took a walk around our neighborhood, and she noticed that he knew every single house in the entire neighborhood that had a dog in the yard because he would tense up before we got there. An unexpected dog showed up in a yard he didn’t know?

Flip Out City: Population 1.

Same thing with, for instance, a bench at the bus stop. It was plastered with a real estate agent’s face and phone number. He spotted that face from the car and lost it. Or when the church on the corner set out their nativity scene with nearly-life-sized statues. Gonzo.

The trainer called it “strange pictures.” He didn’t like things out of his ordinary. He still doesn’t. If something looks weird or is unpredictable or unexpected, it’s not to be trusted. So, he barks.

He’s always been that way with movement, too. If someone trips (me), he barks. If someone dances in the kitchen while cooking dinner (me), he barks. If someone shrieks and runs around with arms waving (small children), he barks.

Out-of-the-ordinary movement startles him. He barks.

Oddly enough, he has not barked at Violet. I think there are two reasons why: First, he thinks she hung the moon. He just adores her, and I know he realizes that he needs to be careful around her because I can see him modifying his behavior when she’s around. He’s been like that since day one.

Second, her developing movement has happened gradually. She went from being a little lump to wiggling to rolling to scootching to crawling incrementally over the course of eight months.

Now, though, she’s almost 10 months. She’s crawling at top speed. She’s pulling up on everything, falling over, sitting up, falling over, dancing, clonking her head, giving me a heart attack about 975 times a day. She also chatters little baby jargon and shrieks her head off all day long. In fact, her go-to move when she spots one of the animals is to start shrieking with glee and crawling at top speed toward them. Of course, they see/hear her coming and skedaddle before she can get there… to her disappointment…

Anyway, we’ve been lucky that this developing movement has been so gradual, but I want to prevent Coop from starting up his usual barking response if, when she starts actually standing and toddling, that movement makes him uncomfortable. I don’t know that it will, but I want to focus on preventative training.

Specifically, circling back to almost 600 words ago, impulse control.

So, my training goal for the month ahead is to reinforce (erm, restart) his mat work. You guys, we tried to get through the whole Relaxation Protocol twice. I’ll take the blame for our failure to complete the entire thing. The system is sound but I don’t know… We worked on a modified version with our trainer in New Orleans, so I think I might start there then decide if we could benefit from the entire protocol. (Anyone who’s seen it through: worth it???) Since then, we’ve sort of lowered our criteria and accepted him going to either his mat or his bed when we mean to send him to his mat. Gotta work on that…

Bottom line: My goal for Cooper for February is to work on proofing his “on your mat” cue during calm moments, gradually increasing his criteria to chill on his mat (probably with a stuffed food puzzle) in the living room while we’re playing with Violet.

It’s actually the perfect time to be working on this, too, since we’re already mostly stuck in the house with this seemingly-unending winter! Might as well train!

I think we have relatively little time before she’s up and about, toddling and falling all over the place. I’ve been thinking through this plan loosely, and I think February is the month to reinforce the basics, then in March we’ll tackle sending him to his mat to relax with increased distraction.

That’s my goal! How about you? What are you guys working on with your pups this month?

This post is part of the monthly Positive Pet Training Blog Hop! Check out some of the other inspiring posts in the hop below: