Dog Obedience Training Blog » Dog Trainers

A Dog's Fear of Toys

Chet — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:46:13 +0000

Here’s an article from Karen Pryor’s recent blog post about dogs that have a fear of toys. Most of us have the idea that dogs love to tear into most any toy you throw their way. But Karen sheds light on this notion through her own experience with her dog, Misha, that there are dogs that have to learn how to overcome their fear of toys.

Using clicker training and rewards, Karen soon has Misha running and playing with all sorts of toys!

Watch as an old dog learns a new trick!

by Karen Pryor on 12/21/2009

You’d think that all dogs just love to play with toys, but its not true. Some dogs are scared of toys. With these dogs you have to teach them to play again.

Karen Pryor’s harelquin poodle, Misha, (that we talked about previously) is one. Misha’s late canine house mate Twitchett ruled the toy kingdom at home and rarely let poor Misha get in his fair share of fun and games. So, toys haven’t held much interest for Misha and can sometimes really scare him.

Read the rest of Karen’s article on overcoming a dog’s fear of toys here.

A Dog's Fear of Toys is a post from: Dog Obedience Training Blog

Dog Who's Afraid of Everything?

Chet — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:21:21 +0000

Karen Pryor recently wrote a blog post which I’ve linked to below where she talks about how to deal with your dog and examine yourself if your dog is afraid of everything. She’s had many dogs in her life but her most recent German Spotted Poodle is a Scaredy-cat Dog as she calls her

I like that Karen not only took a look at the dogs behavior but examined herself which often times is the root of the problem. Us not the DOG! Certainly worth the read and could be applied to almost any dog training situation.

A Scaredy-cat Dog

By Karen Pryor on 12/08/2009

Dealing with fear

I’ve had a lot of dogs in my life, Labradors and poodles and Great Danes and Border terriers, a Weimaraner, a collie, a golden, and a great mutt named Goulash. But I never had a fearful dog—until the current Dog-in-Residence, Misha, my German spotted poodle. He’s ten years old now, and still panics at every sudden sound or strange sight. If a new person or a new piece of furniture comes into the house, Misha has to lift his leg somewhere. If I’m too preoccupied by work, or, God forbid, annoyed with Misha, he vomits and has diarrhea, usually on the dining room rug, which of course makes me more annoyed.

Read the rest of Karen’s article on dealing with scared dogs here.

Dog Who's Afraid of Everything? is a post from: Dog Obedience Training Blog

Would You Like To Try This With Your Dog?

Chet — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:23:13 +0000

I’m thinking about releasing one of two different advanced video coaching/consulting programs for you this January, and I’d like to get your feedback on whether or not they’re something your interested in, and would like to participate in.

The programs are going to be specifically geared towards getting your dog to:

Greet ANY stranger in a friendly manner — whether out in public or at your front door
Training your dog to sit calmly every time you or friends go to pet him
Behave Perfectly on walks, whether on or off leash… and completely stop pulling
How to walk your dog through a crowd of people and maintain complete control
How to stay sitting or laying down in one place when you REALLY need him to
Strategies for getting him to come WHENEVER he’s called… no matter how much he doesn’t want to
Training drills to teach your dog to be NICE to other dogs
How to get your dog to pay attention to you… and NEVER get distracted… even in chaotic environments
Plus strategies for teaching your dog to behave himself in your home when you are NOT there.

I’m REALLY wanting to make this program HIGHLY interactive. So I’m thinking about making the format of this program webinar based (where I do an interactive coaching call once a week on each of the above topics), and then do a follow up call to answer your questions a few days later.

And to spice it up a bit, I’m wanting to not just answer your questions via email, or over the phone, but send you a free video camera (like the new $130 Flip Video Cameras) so you can video tape yourself working with your dog, easily upload it to YouTube, and that way I can watch you practicing with your dog and offer individual pointers for your dog’s unique situation… instead of just general advice.

Ideally I’d like to get a group of about 50 dog owners who would want to commit to working with me for 6-8 weeks in a way where we could all share our videos with each other and learn from each others mistakes and successes. So all of the dogs can perfectly pass the obedience objectives I listed above.

So if this sounds interesting… please leave me a comment below to let me know if it’s something you’d like me to move forward with, and if it’s something you’d be willing to pay for. Along with anything else you’d like me to add to the program that I haven’t mentioned.

Do you like the idea of sharing video with me for a critique?

Do you have 30 minutes a week to commit to a 6-8 week program?

And are you comfortable with uploading to YouTube?

Would you like me to target this at dogs under 2 years old or OVER?

Any feedback you have on this idea would be appreciated

Would You Like To Try This With Your Dog? is a post from: Dog Obedience Training Blog