My dogs are cuter than yours.

That is all.

Training is all day...but not

Having a well-trained dog takes a lot of work but it certainly doesn't mean spending all day, every day in training sessions (you and your dog will hate this).  It seems like what a lot of people aren't aware of is that while you're not having training sessions all day, you're still "training" your dog every time you interact.

That means, if you don't want your dog to jump up to say hi, you never acknowledge the jumping up.  If you want your dog to sit politely before you set his food down, you wait for him to do it, every single time.  If you don't want your dog getting on the couch, he doesn't, period.  There's no "sometimes it's okay."  All of that is still considered training.

As for specific training sessions, just a few minutes at a time is all you need...unless you're a training nut like me and you get so obsessed that all of a sudden your 10 minute session turns into 45 minutes.  My dogs love it (as do I), so that's okay.

I would say, no matter your method or philosophy, being consistent is the key and the only way your training will be successful.

Yep, I'm a stalker

So this week we've been in Missoula for a work meeting.  As we were leaving today, we decided to stop at this city park to let the dogs out for some pottying and water.  Then I realized, the couple I adopted Milo to was in this neighborhood.  I said, "Let's go find Milo!!!"

Surprisingly, I somehow managed to find the house.  I went to their house once, a year ago and I have not come back to this neighborhood again.  This was shocking.  Seriously, I get lost trying to find my way out of parking lots sometimes.  Anyway, we had driven into the alleyway behind their house and WE SAW MILO!!!

He was sitting in the yard, watching us as we drove up.  I looked straight at him and he was watching me.  B said he must recognize me.  I thought he wanted to bark at me.  But he didn't, and just sat there quietly watching us.  I should have rolled down my window and called out his name (not sure if they kept his name or not).  He's really a beautiful dog.  Sometimes I'm sorry we didn't adopt him.

I couldn't really tell if he recognized my car and our smells at least.  I guess he did spend quite a bit of time in my car.  When I've pulled into daycare sometimes, I hear Clyde start barking as soon as I drive in.  He knows the sound of my car and what that means.  Pretty neat.  So I kind of wonder whether Milo remembered.  It was so long ago though.  I wish I had taken a picture.  But that would have been even more creepy x10.

I hope Milo is happy and enjoying his life.  I have no idea if anyone was home.  There was another dog in the yard with him.  I certainly hope he doesn't just stay outside in the yard all the time...oh he probably doesn't.  I feel lucky I was able to see him.  I think it's a good sign at least.  I know they didn't just dump him somewhere else and the fact that they are still living there is good too.  I'm pretty sure he is with an awesome couple.

Thinking back on it, I really do feel my training helped a lot in finding this couple to adopt him.  If he had been completely unruly when the guy first met him, maybe that would have turned him away.  I can't know that, but I'm sure it didn't hurt that Milo was very mellow and well-behaved when he first met them.  Shame on whomever dumped Milo and his sister at the truck stop in Idaho.  They could not have known the potential they both have.

I would love to foster again but that might just be a little too much dog right now... :(

When a dog is too "smart"...

I'll admit, I can't say I've ever really understood what some people meant when they talk about how some dogs are too smart for their owners.  I'm sure a lot of them are and can be, but what did that mean exactly?

I think I finally get it.

First of all, what I've noticed about Clyde is that sometimes he only needs to do something once or twice and he gets it.  You give him one, he'll take two and if you don't realize it, he's going with it from then on.

So let's think back to his bad habit of scratching at the back door to be let in.  I would like to say, he's stopped, for the most part. I did comment that I didn't know what would happen if we left him sitting there too long.  I figured he would try to scratch again.  Which, he did, does and will, if he feels he's been waiting too long.

Everything's been cool, not too bad, he hasn't really been scratching.  Then one evening, I hear him scratch again, almost as soon as he got to the door.  What?  He hadn't been doing that.  I ignored him and waited a bit for him to get up, come back and sit again.  Then I got up and opened the door for him.

Over the next week or so, I began realizing that Clyde almost never scratched at the door during the day, when it was just me at home (I ignore any scratching).  But in the evening, when B was home, he would come straight to the door and jump up and scratch!  What was up with that??

One morning, I heard him scratch at the door and moments later, I heard B open the door to let him in.  I realized what was probably happening.  I'm assuming in one incident, Clyde was waiting particularly long and decided to scratch.  B, probably almost immediately, walked straight to the door and stood there (we have a glass door Clyde can see through).  Clyde, in response to B standing at the door, sat down and got let in.

To re-iterate, Clyde picks things up right away.  I'm assuming this happened a second time, where B responded to his scratches by instantly appearing at the door, Clyde sits, and gets let in.  I'm not sure how many times B did this before I realized what was happening and told him to stop, but we did go through another short period where Clyde would come to the door and scratch a bunch of times before giving up (again, this only happened when B was around).

I can see how this would be a perfect example of why so many dogs (like Clyde) get turned into the shelters because their owners don't understand why their dogs are doing the "bad" things they do.  One might think that since Clyde sits as soon as B appears at the door, that he knows he should be sitting at the door and is just scratching to be a brat.  But I think what Clyde was actually thinking was that he needed to scratch the door so that B would come to the door and see him sit.

I think he's really stuck on thinking that we need to see him sit for the door to be opened, as opposed to just sitting to make us appear and open the door.  Sometimes, he'll just stand and stare at the door for awhile (without scratching).  A lot of times, it's not until he sees that I'm watching before he'll respond by sitting.

That all being said, sometimes when he's being really hyper in the yard, I swear he gets great pleasure from running full speed to the back door, launching himself up and thumping his feet on it.  The little twerp.

You gotta work for your food!

People are always perplexed and amused when they learn that I make my dogs, and dogs I foster/dogsit, work for their food.

Lilly with the Smarter Toys IQ Treat Ball

Well, you know what? I'm perplexed that most people don't! When my dogs have their meals in their toys, it gives me those extra moments of not having to worry about whether they're getting into some kind of trouble. Okay, I don't really have to worry about Zoe, but Clyde is generally busy doing something (except early in the morning/afternoon). If I don't hear or see him, I have to assume he's doing something bad. ;)  Some people comment their dog would have no clue what to do with the toys. That may be true at first if your dog isn't used to the idea but you might be surprised how quickly they get it.  If Lilly the pomeranian can figure it out, so can your dog.  ;)

Clyde, with the Petsafe Magic Mushroom - having a blast can't you tell??

No, it's not really all about me and wanting to keep the dogs occupied just so I can relax. It's also another outlet for your dog to do something other than sit around the house all day (assuming you're the typical full-time working professional type).  They say it stimulates the dogs' brains, making them work and think a little more to get their food.

Zoe, with the PetSafe Tug-A-Jug (she's got this down to a science)

...of course, if you actually gave them the choice, they would probably choose eating out of a bowl than spending half an hour slowly working food out of a toy. ;)

Sometimes I'll go all out and make it extra challenging. I'll stuff the food toys, wrap them in something else (newspaper, towels, etc), stuff them into empty boxes, throw more food in and finally, tape the box up. So then my dog basically has to rip open the box(es) and also get into the food toys. I'm kind of ridiculous, I know.

Clyde gettin' right into that box

Generally, I wouldn't recommend this route for most people (the cardboard boxes and whatnot).  For one, it gets kind of messy when they rip them apart (I keep Clyde in his crate).  But another thing, if you have a smarty pants dog, you might find that you've taught your dog to rip into any cardboard box she encounters.

Milo, finding his way in!

A few years ago, I came home to find a brand new package of (expensive) insoles had been ripped open (by Zoe).  Thankfully, she had absolutely no interest in the insoles but she did a darn good job tearing open the box and leaving the insoles untouched on the floor for me.  ;)

Therefore, I would recommend most people get dog toys designed for dispensing food/treats.

Milo with the Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball

Next on my wishlist:

Northmate Green Modern Interactive Dog Feeder

If your dog chows down too quickly on his kibble, this "dish" would slow him right down.  Unfortunately this is $30 and I'll be debating on that one for a bit.  What?  I'm cheap (even though I have a dozen other dog toys that all together aren't cheap)!

My serendipity dog - Part 3

Continued from Part 2

Suddenly, I realized how crappy my stomach was feeling.  OH. NO.  Gas station bathroom?  Umm...No.  I sat there debating for a few minutes.  I needed to go home.  Badly.  Yes, I'm telling you this.  And this was a really good decision on my part, seriously.  So of course, it got way too late (Casper is 6 hours away) and I decided I would push the trip back a day.  The dog had been there for over a week.  He'd probably still be there, right?  The next morning I called just after they opened and he had been adopted just a few minutes before.  I guess it wasn't meant to be...

And for some reason, I got very disappointed about this.  Somehow, I had managed to fall in love with the idea of this dog from a single crappy picture and talking to a few people.  I spent a lot of time thinking about this dog and thought of everything I might have to deal with, with him.  If he had problems, I was willing to work with it and started preparing for the [potential] challenges.  ...And then it just didn't happen.

After that, I guess you could say I lost all hope in finding a doberman.  Our fence wasn't fixed yet and I didn't know when B would have time again to work on it.  I didn't expect a home check to go smoothly without it.  Not to mention, did I really want to drive all the way to Las Vegas to adopt a dog I had never met and pay at least a $500 adoption fee?  And did I really want a doberman???  Yes, I'm really kinda fickle.

My indecision (and growing impatience) was killing me and my research mode went into overdrive.

One thing about me is that when I get interested in something, I go into hyperfocus and start researching the crap out of it.  I can't think about anything else except that, quite literally (damn you, ADHD).  I started reading up even more on German shepherds, night and day (I didn't tell B that).  I decided, well, maybe, just maybe.  A GSD puppy would be our dog.  I didn't want those ill-bred, slope-backed American GSDs.  No, I wanted an East German Shepherd working line dog.  I wanted to do Schutzhund, Agility, Search and Rescue, Freestyle, skijoring, weightpulling, you name it.  On the one hand, I wanted an older dog so we could do those things right away.  On the other hand, a puppy with a clean slate was a nice idea.

I know they always say getting a puppy for a "clean slate" is just bull but I feel like that just depends on what you want out of your dog.  First of all, I'd only buy from a reputable breeder who does all the proper health tests and does not contribute to animals being put in shelters.  Second of all, I would want a puppy picked out by the breeder to appropriately match what I was looking for.  A confident dog that bounces back quickly, moderate drive and willing to work.  Getting a well-bred puppy was sounding better and better.  I even found a breeder I liked - she did all the health tests, her own dogs are titled in S&R, her dogs go to Schutzhund, search & rescue, police and pet homes.  Yeah!  I emailed her late one night, asking about her upcoming litters and wanting to chat more.  She got back to me the next morning and I was literally this||close to putting a deposit down.  So I asked B that morning how he felt about committing to it (I had already shown him pictures and info of all her dogs and the ones with upcoming litters).  He said he really liked her dogs but he wanted to think about it and talk about it that evening after work.  Okay...



Three hours later, the shelter called me and told me Diezel had been returned and do I still want to adopt him?

The next day I went to the shelter to visit him with Zoe again.  He had gotten returned because he got into a fight with one of the resident dogs at his new home.  The other dog had to get stitches on his face and I think the owner had gotten bit as well.  That was worrisome.  The dog guy at the shelter didn't feel he was necessarily dog aggressive though.  Okay, okay.  I asked if I could do a foster-to-adopt type of thing, to figure out if he's going to work out at our house.  They were okay with that, especially because we've already been fostering for them.

I was a little hesitant then.  After all, I didn't want to worry he would hurt my dog or my cats.  Or anyone else.  Not to mention I had absolutely convinced myself that we should get a GSD puppy.  I said we'd just see how it all worked out.  ...In less than a week, we decided he was going to stay with us.

Clyde, the first car ride home

I think I knew the moment he jumped into my car and stuck his head out again to be loved on.  Total keeper
.

My serendipity dog - Part 2

Continued from Part 1

Well, back to dobies.  I restarted my search on Petfinder and Craigslist, even looking in all the surrounding states.  The closest doberman rescue was in Utah but they didn't have any dogs available.  Then one day in early August, I had a sudden urge to look at our local animal shelter's website.  I pretty much never went to their site to look for dogs, knowing they would never have dobes.  I was thinking to myself, I wonder if Mia (a dog we fostered) is listed on their site yet?  Maybe they'll have a dobe listed too, ha, ha, ha!

So I went on their site and WHAT?  THERE WAS A DOBERMAN LISTED ON THEIR SITE.  And his name was Diezel.  I immediately called the shelter and asked about him.  I was told he had been there about a week and had a few applications in.  I didn't care, I had to meet him.  I rushed B out of work and we hustled over to the shelter to meet him.

His name was Diezel!  That was a sign!  I had a feeling, this had to be it.  He needed to be THE dog.   He was going to be.  He just had to.  So we met Diezel in the outdoor kennel at the shelter.  He was a bit aloof with nervous energy, running around the kennel.  I brought Zoe out to meet him as well.  They seemed to be okay, though Zoe was not particularly interested.  B was not very impressed with him and felt that he would be too much for me/us.  I, on the other hand, had a great feeling about him and just knew he would be awesome.  I filled out an application for him but I didn't put much hope into it.  There were three other applications ahead of us...and it just wasn't going to happen.  Well maybe he'll get returned, I thought to myself.

I was bummed...if only I had come a week earlier!!  What also frustrated me was that the people who applied probably hadn't even put much thought into adopting a doberman.  They probably saw him at the shelter and said, 'OMG I've always wanted one!'  Yeah, I have always wanted one too, but I had actually been actively searching for one for awhile at that point.  So by the next day, Diezel had already been taken off their website, obviously adopted.  Sigh.  Back to Petfinder again.

I decided to start an application with a doberman rescue in Las Vegas.  I was continuing to peruse Petfinder and Craigslist every day but that particular rescue seemed to be the most likely option by then.  At the same time, I began researching German shepherds (B's favorite breed) and started thinking, well, why not?  I had fallen in love with herding breeds and their biddability.  Was I really ready for a dog like a doberman, who aren't exactly known to be the same way?  I told myself yes...I think so...but maybe I should give those GSDs some more consideration.

Anyway, things were moving along with the rescue I applied to and one final piece was getting a home check.  It just so happened the week before we got that scheduled, B decided to pull out a fence panel to fix it(!).  Of course that would take more than a day to finish up.  And the fires happened.  There were two fires going on at the forest and he started working overtime and on the weekends.  Bah!

In late August, I found a doberman named Zeus in animal control in Casper, WY (a high-kill shelter).  I called several times during the week to ask about him and decided to just drive down there to get him, sight unseen.  I was hesitant about him because he was being very reactive to dogs at the shelter (but that's understandable).  I requested the help of another dobie rescue, asking if I could pull him and foster for them.  If it just didn't work out at our house, I would find him another home to be adopted out to.  They were supportive.  So the morning I was to go, everything seemed to go wrong.  I was missing this thing, then that.  Banged my head, stubbed my toe, that type of thing.  You name it.  If it wasn't one thing, it was another.  I left much later than planned.  But finally I was all packed up to go, with snacks and everything.  I drove to the gas station and filled my car up.


Continued in Part 3...

My serendipity dog - Part 1

I think it was fate that Clyde came into our lives.  No, I don't really believe in that stuff but I can't deny all the pieces that have come together and made him a part of our family.

Clyde the Doberman, 2012

I've wanted a doberman since I was about 10 years old.  I had a colorful book about the many different types of dog breeds and this was the dog I wanted.  Why?  I'll admit it (hey I was 10!).  I wanted a Doberman because of the way they looked and what they represented.  I wanted a big, scary-looking dog for me to take out and walk around the neighborhood so the racist kids down the street would be too scared to say another word to me.  I stopped playing outside and riding my bike around because I didn't want to be accosted by those kids throwing garbage at me and shouting, "Ching-chong, ching-chong!  Go back to China!"  And for the record, I was born in Boston, not China.

After weeks and weeks of begging, my parents agreed to take me to the animal shelter.  And of course, I fell in love with the first dog I saw, a brown and white terrier-mix whom I named, Missy.  Back then, digital cameras did not exist, so I have very few digital photos of her.  ;)

Missy and me, 2004

Fast-forward to 2006.  Missy was gone but we had Diesel, a black and white pitbull-mix my brother brought home when I was a sophomore in college.

Diesel outside of my parent's house, 2005

I was going to graduate from college soon and move to North Carolina for graduate school.  Once again, I was obsessed with Dobermans (and this time, bought a real book on Dobermans).  I researched all of the doberman rescues in North Carolina and decided I would try to foster a dobe.  There was no way I could adopt (no rescue would adopt to me, a young graduate student) but I thought fostering might be a possibility.  But before I left Massachusetts, I realized I couldn't leave behind Diesel and start a new life with another dog.  With everyone else constantly working, Diesel didn't exactly have the most enriching first half of his life.  So it was decided.  Diesel was coming to North Carolina and my dreams of fostering dobes were pushed aside.  I like to think that Diesel had the best last 4+ years of his life with me, camping and traveling across the country, learning to fetch and swim, riding on boats, getting into all sorts of trouble and being the grumpy older brother to my newer puppy, Zoe.

Diesel and Zoe, 2009

Diesel died in 2010, a little over a year after I moved to Montana.  Over the next two years, it was just Zoe and a few foster dogs that came around for short periods of time.  Then early last year, we decided to really consider getting another dog.  Of course, my mind went back to dobermans.  They are pretty rare in Montana and this part of the country.  German shepherds, labs, pitbulls and other herding breeds seem to dominate in Montana.  I contemplated a breeder (there is one in the Missoula area who is supposed to be a reputable breeder) but the husband was not completely on board.

And then I remembered the Chesapeakes...another dog breed I was obsessed with.  Bryce jumped right on this because he wanted a dog to play fetch with.  So in a whirlwind month or two, I found a breeder who seemed reputable (health checks, hip tests and the like).  We paid a deposit early spring and was on the bottom of a waitlist for a puppy.  Chances were slim but there was still a chance.  Come mid-summer, the breeder decided to not breed anymore and returned the deposit.  Hm.

To be continued in Part 2...

Training Frustrations

A reminder that everyone gets frustrated with their dog's training.  Below are highlights for me to remember but check out the article (Whole Dog Journal) for full details.

To get past the frustration in the heat of the moment

1.  Relax and remember to breathe. 
Pause, take deep breathes, relax and fix your body posture.
2.  Pay attention to your dog's behavior. 
Your dog will probably sense when your stress levels are rising.  Yawning, lip licking, sniffing the ground, and averting their gaze are behaviors dogs use with each other to reduce stress and defuse potential conflict.
3.  It's okay to stop. 
You don't always have to keep going to "end it with success" because your dog is still going to learn.  If it's just not going well, stop.  But avoid continually having sessions where the dog shuts down before you end the session.
4.  Remember how forgiving and patient your dog is of you.

To avoid/lessen frustration

1.  Take notes.
Baby steps!  Take notes and you have proof your dog is getting better.
2.  The magic of management.
Prevent your dog from doing what you don't want him to do.
3.  It's not personal - but you do need to own it.
Dogs aren't trying to be vindictive.  It's more likely that you are giving him mixed signals and confusing him.

Don't walk your dog with the leash attached to the collar

Last night, I couldn't sleep and stayed up late watching training videos from Kikopup.  I found a blog post she made earlier in the summer about how walking dogs with the leash attached to the collar is bad for their health.  Not only are there potential neck injuries if your dog pulls, but it also affects their ears, eyes and is connected to hypothyroidism, among other issues.

If your dog is perfectly trained and never pulls?  That's awesome but there's always the chance something might happen one day where you need to pull your dog aside for safety reasons.  Would you rather have the leash be attached to a harness or the collar?  That's enough reason for me to not walk my dog with the leash attached to the collar!

Clyde might have some separation anxiety but I'm not entirely sure.  I feel a little stupid if it is separation anxiety.  It was probably my fault I didn't try to prevent it from the start.  Since I can work from home, he was almost never alone when we first got him.  It didn't even occur to me that it might happen because I've never had a dog with separation anxiety!

Why I think it might be separation anxiety?  Well for one, he will bark/whine when separated - either another room, or the crate.  I'll leave him with delicious stuffed toys, chews, treats, etc.  He won't touch them if I leave.  And he will bark for awhile after I leave him.  The one thing I haven't tried is leaving him loose in the house when we leave.

Anyway, he is pretty good about being in the crate when we're in the same room.  When we first got him, the timing wasn't the best, work-wise.  He had to be stuck in the crate a few times before really getting used to the crate, but he was never crated and alone for more than a few hours.  At first, I was using a plastic crate that we borrowed from the shelter but wound up buying a metal wire crate.  I kind of felt like he disliked not being able to see out as well in the plastic crate.  It really does seem like he likes the metal crate a bit more.

So last week, Clyde came with me to Missoula for the week.  Thankfully, my roommate was very understanding and didn't mind having my barky dog around.  I still took random times off to take care of him.  The second day of this, I decided to give the doggie daycare a call to see if he could go there.  Apparently for new clients, they have a 4-5 week waitlist but hurray, because I already take Zoe there, we didn't have to wait.  I was able to bring Clyde in the next day and also get a free half day.  He wound up doing pretty decently his first day.  The following morning, I put him there again for about 5 hours and they said he did really well.  So, yay, at least we can do daycare for him.  Hopefully he stays dog-friendly.

Last night, I wound up buying Nicole Wilde's book, Don't Leave Me!, which is supposed to be a step-by-step guide to treat separation anxiety.  I think I can say that Clyde doesn't have true separation anxiety.  It's more like "isolation distress" where he doesn't like to be left alone but is okay with someone else around.  One possible solution might be having a second dog, which I do.  I am not entirely sure whether Clyde would be just fine un-crated, with Zoe around.  He might be.  I still want him crate trained.

 Clyde chewing a deer leg that's been in my freezer for the last 3 years, yikes!

Back Door Scratching

So one of the first bad habits of Clyde that I noticed was that he would scratch at the back door to be let in.  How do we address that?  Well, ignoring it of course.  The problem is - I can't have the back door destroyed in the process of teaching him he can't scratch the door to be let in.  On Day Two of Clyde, I had an epiphany.  Dog booties!  Thankfully, Zoe's old set of booties (that she never got used to or learned to like) actually fit Clyde's feet.  Mostly.  And he doesn't seem to care that much that he's got them on.  So I put them to the test.

Whenever I let him outside, I'd put the booties on first and let him do his thing.  Then I'd come inside and sit and wait.  He would start up his scratching but now it was just thump, thump from his paws banging because the scratching wasn't scratching anymore.  :D  And man, the first few times?  He is persistent.  I mean, persistent. 

Thump, thump, thump, thump... THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP.  Pause.  THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP!

Yeah, battle of the wills.  After several fruitless thumping sessions (lasting 10-15+ minutes), he finally began to make the connection that sitting nicely by the door would get it open.  He's mostly pretty good about that now so I don't need to put the booties on him.

Every now and then, when he's been waiting too long, I catch him giving a half-hearted paw at the door.  I don't know what would happen if I actually left him there for longer.  He'd probably revert back to scratching.

Pre-Agility class

Yesterday was Clyde's first class in Agility.  There were four other dogs in the class.  Two yellow labs, one aussie and one ACD/boxer mix.  Clyde did well enough, though he's definitely not quite as energized simply for treats the way he is for tennis balls.  We went through a lot of basic obstacles - getting up on a table, raised board, wobble board, walking over bars, etc.  At the end of class she let each dog try everything out off-leash.  Yeah, watching the herding dogs do everything?  So different.  Kind of made me wish I had a herding breed...  But that's okay, Clyde is still going to be awesome.  I have high hopes for him.  I just need to figure out how to get him motivated enough to be excited for it.  I think the answer is going to lie in tennis balls but I am not sure yet how to harness that energy.

Tennis balls.  His intensity and concentration when you have a tennis ball out is amazing.  But so much so that he can be entirely distracted.  If he even sees a ball, all he can think about for the next 5 minutes is how to get the ball, even if you've hidden it away.  Hello, front brain, where are you???

Starting loose leash walking with Clyde

When Clyde and I first left the animal shelter, he nearly pulled my arm off walking on the leash.  They were probably all looking at me, wondering whether I could even handle this dog.  The guy gave me a head halter, which we tested out for about 2 seconds, as he showed me how to put it on.  Clyde was not a fan of course.  I took it off of him after that.  I managed to get him out the door and into my car without being dragged around too much.  :P

I think I have more patience than when I first got Zoë (the best dog EVAR).  I tried the method of stopping when he pulls and moving forward only when he lets the leash go slack and/or comes back to my side.  Luckily, he's either quicker on the uptake, or I just, well, have more patience!  We were walking pretty decently Day 1.  Day 2, we only walked briefly on the leash (he was perfect) and on Day 3, he was good!  Clyde was walking perfectly (on-leash) by my left side and Zoë was walking (off-leash) on my right side.  We were heading back to the house when all of a sudden, I heard a lady start screaming and hollering.  After a few moments, I realized she was trying to call back her two off-leash dogs, who were headed our way.

Her yelling was so disturbing that I lost my focus on the dogs and they followed suit.  Clyde was very distracted by her yelling (he wasn't looking at her but kept flicking his ears around--he was nervous) and walked in a circle around me, tangling me on the leash.  Zoë was off sniffing the grass.  Finally, she grabbed her dogs, I called Zoë back, untangled Clyde and got us all back walking nicely, side-by-side.  Was she frantically calling for them because she saw he was a doberman?  Or does she do that every time her dogs try to run towards other dogs?  I don't know.  I would say, if you are that frantic about your off-leash dogs running towards other people/dogs, then please don't walk them off-leash and/or train better recalls.  Geesh.

A Training Update for Milo

Things I've Started On:
Sit
Down
Spin
Twirl
Roll Over
Touch
Focus (aka Watch Me, no verbal yet)
Leave It (no verbal yet)
offleash Heel (to the left, indoors and outdoors with little distraction, no verbal yet)
Go Potty
Walking nicely on leash

What he's got down verbally (mostly):
Sit
Down
Spin
Touch
Go Potty

And various other things that I just can't think of at the moment because I DO it as a normal routine.

Milo

For would be adopters:

Milo was abandoned at a truck stop in Idaho. A rescue group over there grabbed him out of the kill shelter and he made his way over to me for fostering. :) Milo is approximately 10 months old. He is probably a border collie mix (maybe with pit bull terrier?) and currently is about 25lbs but will fill out a bit more. I think he'll be a perfectly-sized dog -- not too big, not too small. He gets along with other dogs and my two cats. He is probably too playful for cats who aren't used to dogs though. He's not aggressive towards them but sometimes he'll try to get them to play.

He came to me untrained and unhousebroken. He's definitely a very smart dog. I've had him less than two weeks. He's got the housebreaking thing down pretty decently now, he can sit, lie down, touch and has the beginnings of spin and roll over. And of course, he knows his name. :) He's got surprisingly good tolerance for his training sessions being so young (I get a little carried away sometimes;). He is definitely very eager to please and listens to you when he realizes you're talking to him. I say this because sometimes he is bouncing around too quickly to realize you're asking him to do something (or rather, not do something;). This boy has lots of energy is always ready to GO! On the other hand, if everyone else is being pretty mellow and lazy, he seems to know this and follows suit. :)

Right now, Milo appears to be a velcro dog. No matter what, he always gets up and follows me around (oftentimes even in the middle of eating meals or playing with my dog). I think part of that might be he's still feeling insecure and worried I'll ditch him somewhere, so he may grow out of this. He definitely loves people though and I'm pretty sure he'll grow into a first class lap dog. If you don't like snuggly dogs that want to follow you everywhere, he probably won't be a match for you. He would make an excellent agility dog, as well as a running/hiking companion. If you don't have an active lifestyle and don't want to do much training, he might drive you crazy. Milo will really thrive on a good combination of training and exercise. If you have another dog he can wrestle/run around with, all the better!

This guy is really smart and willing to work, so honestly - I want him to go to a home that will really work with him and let him shine!  He probably shouldn't be in a home with younger children who also require a lot of time. I love dogs but I know this much is true - when it comes down to it, your children are much more important. For those with young children, I recommend adopting an older dog. Your stress levels will be much lower. I'm not trying to lecture or discourage anyone from having dogs. It just makes a lot more sense to get a dog that fits your lifestyle and if you've got young kids, you probably don't have enough time for a young puppy unless you live to be stressed out 24/7!

Edit - This guy was adopted out to a nice couple in Missoula, MT.  :)

I'm gonna get ya!

The perfect recall.

The majority of dog owners I've met or seen out and about, have not achieved this and have no clue how to do this.  I myself have found this an extremely difficult task, not to mention at times, nearly impossible.  But really, I just haven't worked hard enough at it, and at one point I was extremely close, but a busy schedule/life imposed and my dog (Zoe) went out of practice.

Yes, practice.  Because at one point your dog may have "got it" but if she stops doing it, she'll forget.  Same with anything else in life - you stop doing something, you get a little rusty.  So my dog is a little rusty with her recall.  She's still "okay" but nowhere near as great as she was and can still be. At the height of her recall success, I was able to call her off of dogs she just started to/wanted to play with.  Excellent.  A few months of not really working on her recall now made it hard to even call her off smelling things.  Doh!

What makes me cringe is when I see people calling for their dogs at the park.  They call, call, call and call for their dog.  Over and over and over and over again.  No response, because their dog is busy playing with another dog or just running around sniffing.  PLEASE!  STOP!  It's hurting me to hear it!  And the worst part?  When the dog finally comes back, she either gets yelled at and smacked a little, and/or she gets the leash clipped on.  -_-

I once witnessed a lady calling for her dog like crazy because he ran off doing things when she let him out of the car at the trail head.  She was calling for him for over 10 minutes and commented that he was probably busy eating some dead animal.  Finally, he came back and the first thing she did was start yelling at him.  She came over to us and said he came back licking his chops (like, see, he was eating something!).  Maybe he was, but more likely he was licking his lips because he saw her angry face and was attempting to appease her.  Which of course just prompted her to continue yelling at him.

My point?  A) continually calling for your dog when they're obviously not listening just teaches them they can ignore you, and B) calling for your dog to punish them (aka clipping on the leash or yelling at them) makes them not want to do it.  Lots of people need to learn that.

I try to avoid the calling for her when I know she's really preoccupied and definitely try to avoid calling her repeatedly.  Every now and then though, I catch myself doing it, just out of habit.  Bah!

Anyway, the point of this post is, I found a new way to reward Zoe for her recall.  What she loves playing is the chase game.  I don't always have super awesome yummy treats with me just because I forget or I just don't have it in the house and boring regular treats just aren't very interesting compared to sniffing.

So anyway one night we were at the park and she was running around sniffing.  I called for her when she wasn't too far away and when she came at me, I stuck my hands out in front of me saying, "I'm gonna get ya!" my cue for her to be chased (and if a toy/stick is around, she grabs it first).  I think she really liked that.

I let her go off again, sniffing, this time going really far across the park and running just outside the gate.  I was THIS close to calling for her, but I was waiting for the right moment (the right moment being when she picks her head up and looks in my direction).  So  amazingly enough, as soon as she picked up her head and looked at me, I called for her and she shot straight back to me like a bullet!!  I played along and started my "I'm gonna get ya" game as soon as she got close enough.  After that, she wouldn't leave me at all so I couldn't practice more recalls.  So instead, we kept on playing the chase game for a little while.  Whatta dog.  :)