The Nose Command
I’m been slipping in the nose command to Donna during walks, mealtimes and when she comes to find me after she wakes up from a nap.
Category: Training Page 5 of 8
One of the milestones we crossed around the time of our first anniversary with a dog is going for more than an hour’s walk with Donna off leash the whole way. Guess this is somewhat of a big deal to us since, we don’t have that kind of bond that people have with puppies they brought up from young, so we’re always a little insecure when Donna is not on the lead.
This article is a continuation to – Dog Socialisation 1 – What do you think of when you hear the word “socialisation”?
An off-leash JRT that approached Donna during our walk at the park.
We brought our dog Donna to a Dog Daycare Centre for a temperament assessment a few weeks back. We realised, as we watched Donna trying to blend into the wall in that room full of other dogs at the Dog Daycare Centre, that she does not get to play with other dogs enough to know how to deal with this sort of situation.
After that she further showed us how true that thought was when she started to show a tendency to mount the dog she was playing with when the dog run was over crowded with dogs. She gets too excited and humps the dog she is playing with. And the over-arousal makes her less responsive to recall and other cues we try to distract her from the obsession with trying to gyrate against another dog.
Socialisation.
That is a big word, isn’t it? And one that is not particularly intuitive either.
Just a couple of weeks ago, we took Donna for an audition a temperament assessment with a Dog Daycare Center. Before that, the owner had asked me over email, “what breed is your dog”. And when I replied mongrel, I was asked – “Is your dog socialised?”
To say I got my hackles up was an understatement. I got the underlying implication that mongrels are likely to be trouble-makers, and further conversation with the owner of the daycare center confirmed the truth of my suspicions. The owner said that the few times they had a mongrel, it had caused them problems.
Do we look like problems to you?
Urban agility challenge – Last month at the park
I’m a good girl, where’s my treat??
This was about a month ago, we’re still not very good at completing hopping over the full set of park stools with speed.
Due to some unexpected matters taking up my time today, I will only be able to publish the mbpotw post tomorrow. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Meanwhile, here’s how we get Donna to entertain herself, when we run short of time.
The same toy, the same dog, different view but almost the same pose – day vs night editing effects.
More about the Kong Genius Leo toy in our previous post here if you are interested.
The Kong Genius Leo can be found in pet shops or online pet product retailers, including Amazon.
Kong Genius Leo
Click to buy on Amazon
Nowadays, Donna and I often have our long walk in the night because it’s cooler and Donna actually bounces along in the cool air rather than drag her legs and lag further and further behind in the warm day.
Of course, I could make myself wake up extra early when the sun hasn’t risen yet and it’s still cool to walk her. But considering I sometimes am still up at 3am keeping a trembling, thunder-phobic dog company… I’ll say it’s unlikely to happen.
Have to say though, I abhor trying to pick up poo in the dark grass in the middle of the night in the dimly lit streets. Abhor! … but I still pick it up.
Here’s some of the ways we make the walk more fun :)… and by fun, I mean injecting some variety into the walk so it doesn’t get boring for me… If you don’t like training, it may not be as fun for you :P
This is not really where you would typically find them but red eggs are usually served during a celebration held after baby has been born for a month. Only the shell is dyed red, the egg remains white with a yellow yolk although sometimes the red dye may find its way in through cracks in the shell.
Anyway, I took this picture because I told Donna to “leave it” when she sniffed them out downstairs and she did.
