The Dog Blog

I had an interesting client last week. These people had a very fine lab that I had worked with before for various issues and have always been quite pleased with it.

The issue was that in the past this pup had ‘eaten’ a couple of the family birds, and had been corrected (as it should have been) to the point that it was now scared of any bird in the house. She was fine with birds outside but in the house, not so much. In any case a new Solomon Island Eclectus arrived in the home two weeks ago and I was called to work on the fear issues.

When working on something like this the basic starting point is plain old behavior modification and desensitization works. Getting the dog to ‘do it’s commands’ when it gets nervous is a fabulous way to start.

So, after about 5 days of training here is the note from the owners:

“We all seem to be getting along! ”

Mission accomplished for the dog trainer.

My wife always says that my job as a dog trainer places me somewhere between the psychologist and the pool boy. The difference is not as great as one would think.

Today, however, I am the pool boy. See the photo below. My entry point.

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

Location:Marshall Ln,Austin,United States

Yikes. One of my trainers just saw a dog die of heatstroke while walking around town lake. Please be careful with your pups when it’s this hot and humid outside. Jog with them at night, not at noon.

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

Location:Lady Bird Lake Trail,Austin,United States

Great lesson with two kids 8 and 9 years old. They handled their two gigantic ridgeback puppies amazingly well. I see a bright future in dogtraining for Lucy and James.

And, even more amazingly, they asked if they could work with the dogs ‘lots’ during the day. Guess that gets rid of the second week of summer boredom.

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

Location:Redbud Trail,Austin,United States

So far the pup has met every TSA employee within 150 feet of him at love field. Seems like lab pups are very popular with TSA people.

After his initial round if barking in th check in line (dogs can’t use early check in apparently) he’s been pretty quiet.

Here he is waiting for the plane.

Off to his new home now.

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

Location:Dallas,United States

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve flown commercial. Over the past few years every time I’ve travelled to get a puppy I’ve had the luxury of flying on my client’s private plane.

What I’m wondering is how is that new pup goin to do today on a full Southwest flight home? I’m prepared for all of the smell and fluid issues but I hope the little guy doesn’t bark the whole way home.

The food news is that even on the way out everyone whe sees the empty carrier wants to ’see the puppy’ so we’ll be busy greeting new people the whole way home.

So all in all I guess the socialization aspect of flying comercial outweighs the ease of flying home in the family Gulfstream.

On to to puppy land!

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

Location:On the plane

Flying out this morning to pick a puppy for a client. The TSA lady was intrieguied by all the puppy testing gear in my bag.

Poo bags
Towels
Treats
Rope
Tinfoil
Bouncy toys
Chewy toys
Ziplock bags
Baby wipes

And most of all, no laptop. They thought that lack of a laptop was weird.

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

Location:Aldford Dr,Austin,United States

Well, today I get to train a border collie to activate it’s new tennis ball launcher. Yep, self directed tennis ball fetching for a border collie. We probably won’t get it completed today because there are so many steps but this dog is on it’s way to fetch nirvana.

If you are interested here are the steps:

Drop tennis ball in the holding hopper

Have dog move to the launch button on the launcher

Press launch button to launch ball(s)

Repeat until utter exhaustion.

Sounds fun huh!

Here is a short video from youtube of a dog doing a similar job.

Border Collie and tennis ball launcher

And this one with the whole routine:

Lab doing retrieve and drop for tennis ball launcher

Hi Steve,

I just had to tell you what a wonderful job maddy is doing! This morning I got up and said “Maddy, Run!” she went right over to her treadmill and jumped on. She then ran 3 miles, after which I put her on her place bed so that I could shower and get ready for my day. She slept there for 1.5 hours before I released her!

Thank you, thank you for helping Maddy be the BEST she can be!

Best,

Jen and Maddy

Chuy, a favorite client dog just won a photo contest. I thought I would post the picture for all to enjoy.

By the way, they did let Chuy out of the bag!

Well, especially when they are accompanied by one of my all time favorite clients. Aren’t these two Handsome Guys.

I’ve had schnauzers around my whole life until the last year and can’t wait until I find the next one. Great dogs and I just love their personalities. Jake here is a very good match for Greg his owner.

On occasion I get the opportunity to train with a real working dog. Hunting dogs are my favorite because I just love to watch them work.

I got an email recently from one of my clients that included pictures of her dog who is away at hunting camp. I always like for my clients to send their hunting dogs away to camp so that the are able to work a LOT on live birds, more than most owners every have the time to accomplish.

In any case, here is a picture of Viva on point and doing what she does best which is tracking down birds. She’s a great dog and I know her owner is very proud of her these days.

Often in what I do I’m not the first trainer clients have worked with. Sometimes they have used a number of other trainers to try and fix the issues the are having with their pups.

I ran across a client yesterday who told me a most bizzare story about a previous trainer she had used.

This client had two Border collies. Great dogs actually but they were being a real nuisance at the front door. They barked, jumped on guests, and were overly aggressive greeters once the guests were inside.

Now we have to keep in mind that this client was roughly 60 to 65 years old with two super high-energy border collie dogs in house.

What the other trainer told her to do when someone came to the door was to lift one of the dogs up over her head and hold it there as she opened the door. This was his solution for stopping the jumping and barking at guests!

Now I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to believe that a woman of that age should be picking up a squirming thrashing barking 45 pound border collie over her head and answering the door to same time. It just doesn’t seem to be reasonable to me not to mention impossible for my client to accomplish. In fact it’s one of the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard from another dog trainer. And this guy calls himself a professional?

So when it comes time to start thinking about hiring a dog trainer make sure you do your homework. Make sure it’s not a dog trainer they got all of their training off of the Internet. And, make sure it’s someone that actually had dogs in their hands for, let’s say more than six months. Maybe you should look for someone that’s done it for say 35 years or so??

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

One of my clients sent me this story this morning.

It made me laugh so hard I couldn’t believe it. Just imagine the dogs on the other side of the river trying to figure out how to get back. What was going through their mind.

Read and enjoy.

Lily and daisy scared up an Axis deer and chased it down to the lake….they didnt come back but I could still hear them doing their “deer whimper”.

I went to see what was up and found that deer had decided to swim for it and so the dogs went in after him!!
All were about 3/4 across lake austin when i came down!! After all got out of water on the other side, deer ran off as he got out first and dogs lost him.

They paced shore for a while…I was trying to figure out where they were so I could go in car and get them….then they started swimming BACK across!!
They both made it but were exhausted the rest of the day..I finally found something that tires them out….dog biathlon!!!
Crazy, huh? I didnt even know deer could swim!

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

Working on a long down at Zilker park. Dogs running around, kids, people banging on instruments and the puppy held the the down for five minutes with me 50 feet away. Good puppy.

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

Location:Lou Neff Rd,Austin,United States