When you welcome a dog or puppy into your home, it's extremely important to work on preventing or solving the dog's possessiveness over its food bowl. Edna waits patiently for her food Step 1: No food in the bowl yet. Step 2: Have the dog sit patiently while it waits for its bowl. Use a … Continue reading Food Aggression
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There are just three steps to train your dog to perform a new behavior. Get the behavior to happen. Whether it's a "sit," a "shake," or a "go to your bed," command, you just need to first either trick the dog into doing it by luring it with a treat, lead the dog with a … Continue reading Three steps to train any behavior
Teach an "off" command. First, get those paws up on you or some other elevated surface by luring your dog up. Maybe teach this as an "up" or "hug" command. Then, using a nudge or by simply lowering the dog's front paws, get him back to the ground. As the paws touch the ground, say … Continue reading Four strategies to cure jumping
Setting up the runaway problem: the toy hand-off. Edna has made it clear that she prefers her floppy disc over other toys. David was that day's volunteer. (I think he must have spied a squirrel in this shot ...) David runs away, teasing Edna with her toy. I hold Edna, asking her "Where is he? … Continue reading Puppy SAR training in photos
After the dog or puppy is very focused in the first runaway exercises and doesn't slow down or get distracted, we start the real scenting problems. In the very first runaways, the dog is let go to run after the volunteer as soon as he/she tucks behind a tree or other object. As soon as … Continue reading Real SAR training begins
Edna is growing quickly, and learning fast. An important thing to remember when raising a puppy, or training a new dog, is that they are learning every minute. It is up to you to control their experience, so pup learns what you want her to learn. If you cannot control pup's actions, (i.e. you are … Continue reading Edna’s second week
These are the activities I have worked on in my first 24 hours with my border collie puppy Edna: housebreaking. I have either my eyes on her, or she is locked in her crate. She gets a treat and hears the command "potty" when she goes outside. This is time consuming - when awake and … Continue reading Puppy’s First Days
Here is Havana illustrating the "runaway" exercise, where we introduce search dogs to finding a person. This works great for any dog to increase their speed, focus and willingness to obey the "Come" command! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_esCmKAU-U
The Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad K9 team needs volunteers interested in training search and rescue dogs. Levi returning to bark, his way of telling me he found our volunteer, who was hiding in the woods The team started in 1996 with more than 20 members. Through the first five years, the numbers shifted and dropped … Continue reading Becoming a SAR K9 handler in Ketchikan
Rain City K9 