Pups are going to be off camera later tonight till probably Saturday. Life is taking me on a trip to Northern CA for a little while and Momma, Babies, and Dharma will be on a road trip. It will be interesting change but family needs my help.
All the pups are doing great and will soon be eating gruel. They are becoming active, at moments but soon will be running circles around us.
Jami
Couch Potato Monday.
Today’s training challenge was created to help out a grooming client that hated to be groomed. Today while hanging out on the couch spread out your grooming tools around where you are sitting and see if you can get your dog to do something fun with them or near them.
Kizzie, who is not fond of grooming time was really thinking I was going to trick her so nothing occurred during her first 5 minute but during Dharma’s 5 minutes she decided the clicker game of nose touching the tools was great. By the end of Dharma’s 5 minutes both girls were nose flinging tools around the floor.
Good Luck and Have Fun
Jami
Today’s challenge is more you then the dog, motivation. Today’s your 5 minute challenge is to put your usual motivators away and try to find something new and different to get your dog to do any of its normal tricks.
For Dharma this was hard because I frequently use toys, treats, verbal praise, and just interaction (high fives and scratches) but I ended up using the other dogs. I was practicing stays with Dharma and after the desired time limit I would release her and get all the dogs incited in to a game of tag, then would have Dharma stay and then repeated the reward.
Kizzie really like the cookies but since I was trying to do something different I practiced sitting with Kizzie and then would reward her by sending her through the agility tunnel. It seemed to work pretty well.
Now it is your turn to find something new to motivate your dog in training.
Good Luck and Have Fun.
Jami
Time is flying by. They are 2 weeks old now. All seem to be doing well.
Weights
The Black and White boys are24.5oz and 33 oz
The White and Black boys are 26..5oz and 32.5 oz
The girls are 26.75oz and 21oz
Today’s 5 minute challenge comes from Maria and Champ in Norway. The Speed Sit.
For all levels see how many sits you can in 10 30-second periods. The goal is to get your dog in and out of a sit as fast as possible.
I broke the 30 second periods up by doing 2 sessions each in between morning chores.
Dharma had a lot of fun with this, getting an average of 19 sits per session.
Kizzie is still very slow at sitting and started with 2 sits per session but did increase to about 7 sits per session by the end.
Good Luck, Have fun, and thanks Maria and Champ for this fun training challenge.
Jami
Today’s challenge is target work. You can use a target plate or if you have a Manners Minder you can use that.
Beginners your goal is to get your furry friend to realize that when you say target there is a reward on the target.
Advanced you goal is to see how far you can get away from the target and still have them consistently go to the target when told to.
Dharma- Distance work is something Dharma and I have struggled with, even in my own yard, she was able to consistently go to the Manners Minder from about 10 feet.Her daddy, Pippin, will run from one end of the yard to steal her cookie from the target so hopefully one day Dharma will get there.
Kizzie- While she did make progress in learning the target she is still pretty distracted by the world so we only got about 2 minutes in before she lost interest and went back to bouncing around the yard.
All the pups are doing great. They are starting to open there eyes. Their average weight is 1.5 pounds.
Watch out world soon they will be on the move.
Jami
Heeling. You need to decide first if you want your dog in a formal heel or is walking a foot or two away okay for you. After this decision is made pick your level and enjoy the challenge.
Beginner-in a secured area try to get your dog to be in the desired position without using a leash to pull your dog into position. Tip holding cookies or a toy and after a couple of steps rewarding them for being in position will help teach them that close/ heel is a desired position.
Advanced- Try to get your dog to Heel over or near a favorite item without them leaving position.
Dharma- Worked very well today. She was heeling nicely with frequent turns right past the entrance to the agility tunnel.
Kizzie-The back yard is still very distracting for her, so I had her dragging her leash while we did one step cookie, one step cookie. She made it all 5 minutes without bounding off with the distractions of life.
Good Luck and have fun.
Jami
All pups are over a pound finally. Two of the pups have started to open their eyes.
Little girl with the eye thing is one that has open a eye and it was the eye we needed open so now it is easier to clean it.
Momma enjoying a nap with her babies after a bath.
Jami
Before today’s challenge, I wanted to give hints on training when you think you are to busy.
1) Prepare small cut up treats a couple times a month so you always have a reward if your pup needs food rewards. Also toys and attention can be rewards.
2) Be observant, there are lots of times you are interacting with your dog that can include training with no lose of time. Example 1, when you are on your daily walk ask your 4 legged friend to sit and or down in multiple places along the walk, including as you are stepping out the door. Example 2, when walking through your house and the dog(s) are following you, stop ask for a behavior, reward, and go back to what you got up to do,
3) When preparing a meal and it say let water boil, let simmer for _ minutes, let cool, etc. if you are not preparing something else, you can practice teaching your dog to stay at the door way, edge of cabinet, etc so that they can eventually learn to be out of harms way.
More tips in the future about creating time when you do not think you have any.
Today’s Challenge
Is to get your dog to offer behaviors. If you have a clicker trained dog this will be easier, but if you do not it is still possible.
For both Beginner and Advanced pull out a single step stepping stool or something similar in size and reward any behavior you get with this object. You will be surprised the differences you get if you have multiple dogs.
Dharma-wanted to use it like she does for physical therapy and was offering her sit pretty.
Kizzie- idea of interaction was to stick her head under the edge and flip it.
Good Luck, Have Fun, and Enjoy your 4 legged friends
Jami
Serbu Tibetan Terriers 