Frustration in Training

All dog owners who are actively training their dog go through frustrations. I know I have and more so recently as our dog has been slipping in its behaviors lately. Our dog Cola knows very well where her bathroom spot is in the house but sometimes she will forget or choose to go somewhere else.

It has been cold lately in the house and I think she prefers to stand on the warm carpet to relieve herself. Her bathroom spot is in the kitchen where there is no carpet and the floor is colder, especially in the morning. One of the ways we have been reminding her to go in her spot is by blocking off the living room in the morning so that she does not have access to the warm carpet until after she has gone. This has been working very well as part of our re-training her.

I wonder if others of you have experienced similar slips in behavior with your dogs?

For more dog training tips be sure to check out the SitStayFetch program

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My daughters are better at dog training than me

I have to admit that while observing a couple of my daughters working at training Cola this week I came to the conclusion that they are better at dog training than I am. They have more patience for it and they are more playful at it than I am.

I wonder if any of you other amateur adult dog trainers out their feel the same way about your kids?

For further regular people kind of info on dog training check out the following program:
http://tinyurl.com/dogschool.

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Im doing what I like the most

Tomorrow I am starting my last week at training, but that will only be the beginning of a very long journey. This is a wonderful place to study, the environment and staff is supper.Its just amazing how much one can learn about dogs in one day, so you can imagine how much that is in two weeks. I have seen and learnt so much.I will leave this place as a better person to help my people as I have always done in the past, but my understanding will be totally different.
I have been taught to always put the dog first.
I am attending with a bunch of dog lovers and it feels like Im living in a dog world. We are such an amazing team, though we are from different back grounds and countries. We speak the same dog language and that is what matters. I will definitely miss the team and wonderful instructors. Its amazing how you can make a difference in a dogs life within such a short period. I have worked with several dogs and they are all amazing animals. looking forward to chat with all of you guys after the course and I will be able to give you a break down of the course and the two people who have made such a big impact in my life, Chris and Christine Van Der Westhuizen.
KEEP A "SHORT" NOT A "TIGHT" LEASH, till we chat again.

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Dog ObedienceTraining Tip from My Daughters

My daughters have learned through trial and error that using cheerios as a reward for following commands works really well with our young dog.

If you have any health concerns for your dog please check with your local vet before following this training tip, otherwise enjoy the success you can have in training your dog with the reward of cheerios, after all we all know that moms having been using cheerios for years to train their young children!

Enjoy more great tips from the dog training program SitStayFetch.

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Welcome back to all my fellow bloggers

It feels good to be back and looking forward to a very good year.

It has taken me sometime before I up dated my blog, any way its been such a hectic time at the office that I had little time to chat to you guys. I did not even have time to visit some of my friends to see how their dogs are doing.

On a lighter note though, I will be attending the Instructors Course in Dog Training with the South African Dog Training College & Kennels in March 2011. Looking forward to having a good time. I know that most of you know just how passionate am I as far as dogs are concerned so I have decided to take it to another level.

Feel free to ask any questions regarding dogs when I come back from training as I will be more equipped to give advice to you. I will be learning from the best.

Have a lovely tail wagging Valentines Day

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My Champs

Shlangu semnikati

Bafati baka Lomahasha

Makhweyane

Cala kabusha

Black Velvet

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2013 New beggining

Chilliboy, one of the top dogs from the greyhound racing competition in 2012

My dog Samora

Legalise dog racing

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Please Welcome my Dane

Just adopted this greatdane. It was living in bad conditions and I just couldnt say no to its begging eyes. It reminded me of my first show dog, Spear. I have renamed the dog spear, what a character.

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Why You Should Train Your Dog

Let me ask you a question, Do you think that training your dog will interrupt the wonderful relationship you share with him/her? Sure he/she does bark rather annoyingly when you take him/her out on walks, and you do have to lock him/her up during dinner parties given how it snarls and growls at your friends four year old, but that’s all ok, because that’s what dogs do right?

Ummm….not really.

Sorry to burst your bubble but in spite of not being a human being your dog too is expected to be polite. Sure his antics might seem adorable to you, you might think it’s cute when he jumps up at neighbors and scratches up doors, but your dog’s victims sure as hell wouldn’t agree with you.

You might think you do not want to exercise the sort of authority required to tell him to behave any better, and that’s all quite all right really. Being the owner of a dog doesn’t require you to suddenly transform into a whip swinging ring master and you are right in denouncing the pathetic idea of establishing who the boss is when dealing with an animal.

Where you are wrong, however, is in your basic understanding of dog training. You need to realize that training your dog is not about proving how much better you are than it, you are not trying to teach it ‘human rules’ and thereby attempting to make it more ‘human’, training is not a method of ‘humanizing’ a dog. What it is, in fact, is a way of improving the relationship you share with your pet, and of course a means of making it more sociable.

‘What’s the point of that?’ you might ask. Well, here is the thing. Most of us spend the larger fraction of our daily lives toiling in office, drinking our instant coffee, reading those balance sheets. The little time we get with our family and pets we try to merge with some sort of socializing. We go to the park for a stroll on a lovely evening after work, or to a friend’s house to watch a movie. If our dogs are unfriendly then on all these occasions we keep it back home, alone, such that in no time it’s in no way a part of our life at all.

Now, like human beings your dog too gets lonely, it gets lonely and depressed and awfully sad especially when it’s left all alone in a dark house where there isn’t anyone to pat his tired little head.

So you see ultimately due to your aversion towards training you keep your dog from enjoying the sort of company and activities it would like to.

Obedience training is a means of letting your dog cope better with it’s immediate environment. It grants every dog an easier life and makes them easier to live with. Training your dog will give you more opportunity to spend more time with your beloved pet, no matter where you are going and who you are going with.

So get in their and give your dog a nice pat and take it out for training. A few magic words like ‘heel’, ‘down’, ‘stay’, ‘come’ and ‘sit’, will change your relationship with your favorite companion forever. Good luck.

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