February 5th marks one full year since Sasha came to us. We don’t know much about her life before she joined our household other than the bad situation that ended with her being surrendered to a county sheriff’s office.  We can surmise, however, that she had minimal attention and/or was neglected based on her appearance and behavior in early days with us. Daily doses of love and regular obedience training sessions helped strengthen her confidence, and learning new things added enjoyment to her days.

While Sasha was quick to master the commands routinely taught in basic and intermediate obedience, teaching her “the art of play” has proven more challenging. We took her with us to PetSmart for treats and toy selection, but the noise and people made those early trips less than successful. Still, we collected some toys in a basket just for her, and added an incentive to explore by dropping a few treats among the toys. The treats were a big hit. The toys? Not so much. In fact, she ignored all of them until we went to the Humane Society of the Ozarks‘ Dogwood Walk in May and fell in love with the Sock Monkey squeaky toy that came in her goodie bag. Here’s proof:

 

Since then, Sasha’s interest in toys expanded to her Squeaky Duck and a sausage-like fabric toy, also a squeaker. It’s only been in the past month that she’s begun carrying those toys from one room to another, and in just the past two weeks she finally caught on to retrieving! I can’t say I followed any particular training techniques to reach this point other than focusing on fun. It’s been months in the works, but seeing my Sasha girl happy as she learns something new makes the whole adventure worthwhile!

If you’d like to coax your pup into retrieving, you might be interested in The Whole Dog Journal’s tip this week written by author and WDJ’s Training Editor Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA. If you’re in the Fairplay, Maryland, area, you can meet Pat at her Peaceable Paws training center. She offers dog-training classes and courses for trainers as well as writing books focused on positive dog training. Her newest is Beware of the Dog: Positive Solutions for Aggressive Behavior in Dogs (Dogwise Publishing, 2016).  And if you’re interested in more great tips and articles, consider subscribing to the Whole Dog Journal. I’ve found it a terrific resource!

Here’s the lead-in to Pat’s article. You’ll find a link to the full article below, with additional links at the end of the post. Happy training!

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Teach Your Dog to Fetch by Training Him to Love Retrieval

Dog won’t fetch? There are several reasons why. Whole Dog Journal is here to teach you how to train your dog to retrieve – whether it be for honing obedience skills or just for fun.

By Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA

Whether you’re interested in an informal fetch or a formal retrieve, your task will be easier if you encourage rather than discourage retrieve-related behaviors early in your relationship with your dog. When he has something in his mouth, praise him; tell him he’s a good dog! If it’s something he’s allowed to have, you can sometimes praise him and let him be, and other times, you can say “Trade!” and trade him a treat for the item. Or, trade him a treat for the item, and then give him the item back again. That’s quite a reward! Continue Reading

If author and trainer Pat Miller’s credentials seem unfamiliar to you, I’ll translate. (The protagonist in my Waterside Kennels series is working toward these, so I had to look them up!) These credentials are issued by the independent Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) after rigorous testing.  CBCC-KA stands for Certified Behavior Consultant Canine, Knowledge Assessed and CPDT-KA means Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Knowledge Assessed. To learn more about these credentials or to find a professional trainer near you, visit the CCPDT website and click on the directory of certified trainers.