Are all dogs good students?

     I believe ‘yes’! For many years I work with two-legged students and come to a conclusion that four-legged students are more attentive, have more zeal and, what is very important, follow each other’s better examples.

    This short video shows an element of obedience training (practically, two commands) with three dogs. One of them – a young herder girl – joined our team only recently. She is not good in focusing her attention. This is the reason why I decided to train her with my other dogs. You will see how her attention and interest in the training is growing an she starts to fulfill the command as her companions.

    In the beginning it’s better not to make such a training long and finish it with a pleasant game.

Would you like your dog to protect your bag?

      Protection of an object is an element of defense training, a mondioring exercise and a rather useful skill in  our everyday life. It’s not very difficult to teach your to protect a bag or other thing you left for a few minutes. The very beginning can be trained even with a puppy of, say, six months old, giving him tips. The second step is more  difficult and need special equipment as the dog should bite. The idea is that the dog should stand on the object and keep under control the circle with the radius of about 2 meters. The dog should bite  only when somebody tries to approach the object stepping in the circle and let him go when he goes away. In the video you can see the very process of teaching.  Make the training enjoyable like a game!

How to live with three dogs in harmony?

       When I have only one dog I, of course, enjoyed my life, it was superb. However, all my relatives and friends, who didn’t have pets, thought that I’m a little crazy: to have family, to work and to take care of a dog. It seemed too much for them. When, already having an Alpha Cannaan dog,  I got a malinois puppy I preferred not to discuss it with my aunts and cousins. As to my friends I found only a few of them who understood me: they had more than one pet themselves.  But it seems God had big plans for my “doggy” life. I couldn’t understand how it happened but now I have three dogs: a beautiful herder or Dutch shepherd dog joined us.

I love you, Gina.

I adore you, Jay.

Let's dance waltz!

      








        I’m often asked  how they treat each other? Do male dogs fight with each other for the girl’s attention? No, they do not fight. All our big two- and four- legged family live in harmony. The key to the success is very simple: to setting right from the beginning a proper hierarchy and maintain  it permanently and persistently.

          I'll appreciate your comments. Please tell your story about your life with pets.





       

Five in the Jeep including three dogs. Our travel to Serbia

September - a start of a new life

        September. The Autumn is felt. In a few hours we'll start moving to a new place of living. A homestead is waiting for us which we'll make a nice place full of flowers. We hope we and our dogs will enjoy the place. I'll put posts about our traveling and how we start our new life.

Barking. Is it so annoying?

      Barking. What is our attitude towards barking? Of course it depends upon where we live and why we have a dog. If our dog protects the cattle and barks in case of a danger (a wolf is approaching) we treat barking as a useful talent. However, most of us live without any cattle. In a countryside  people are used to various sounds of animals and as a rule do not pay much attention to dog’s barking.  But in a city it is quite another thing. We can not allow our pets to bark as much as they probably would like to.  What to do if your dog is a big barker? 

       Actually  it is rather difficult to make a dog to keep silent  as barking is a natural instinct. My opinion that it is a Sisyphus’s labor  to struggle against what is only natural.

      There are a lot of reasons for barking – protection, anger, joy, invitation to play, etc. Barking is also dependent upon the breed, character of a dog, age, emotional and physical condition  and other reasons.

     One can hardly find a  universal method how to teach a dog not to bark. A lot of trainings can be applied, even a special collar can be used for this purpose.  But still a lot of masters try to stop barking by simply shouting at a dog. 

      It is quite possible to keep this instinct under  control. But for each case of barking  a special method should be selected.

      In this post I’d like to share one of my “anti-barking” experiences.

An enjoyable education of dogs

       It seems everybody who has a dog wants his pet to be well educated and socialized. For this we go to training ground, read publications and see videos about how to train our pets. However, results are not always quite satisfied. Very often a dog who does very well all the exercises “in the class”, do not obey commands while walking. Why? And how to correct this? 

      The trick is that many of us consider a walk with a dog as a relaxing time. I’m afraid it is a delusion. Walking or playing with a dog  it is a proper time to train and teach him or her obedience.  Yes, in some sense you work with your dog constantly.  However, it is not a hard labor, it can be very enjoyable. Just Involve your fantasy and humor J