I have not been very good about posting lately, we have been doing so much and I have been so busy. But I wanted to share with you some dog training stuff I have been doing at home. You know I go to training for a few things, agility, conformation, and normal dog obedience, but I also do what I learn in class at home.
Socializing is important in making you dogs able to be friendly. A really easy way to do this is just bring them with you whenever you can. Only take them to places that allow dogs of course. We take ours to eat lunch with us when we go to places that are outside like Vesuvio’s Pizza. The pizza is great and I can sneak a few bites to the dogs.
Stacking is an important part of conformation. My trainer gave me this cool table to use at home for a while. You can make the bars the right distance apart for each type of dog. It has carpet on the bars so the dog does not slip off or feel scared that they will slip off. You can move the bars as the dog grows too. I think that this helps so much. Micta is really doing well.
Waiting is a good skill for dogs to learn. It can be used in so many ways. You might not want the dog to run out the door, or to jump on you for their food, or even if you just want them to stop doing something. We taught this by using their breakfast and dinner as the food/treat motivator. The method is explained by a great dog trainer Pat Miller from her book The Power of Positive Dog Training.
Breed Standards are what dog conformation is all about. The Xoloitzcuintle dog must have ears that stick up. You have to train the ears to do this sometimes. Just to be sure we taped Micta’s ears with medical tape for a few days. Now they are perfect. It looked silly but it really worked.
Friends are an important part of dogs for me. I love to have my friends with me and my dogs. My friend came with me to my class to learn about what I do in agility class. It is also good for dogs to work with other people so they are comfortable in the ring at all times.
dogs on my mind 