Food and Resource Guarding

Contributed by Sisi Soh

When  Lucy was a wee puppy, the first friend she made was BG, who became her best friend. He was the same breed as her, the same color, and the best part was that he lived right next door! BG often came over to Lucy’s house for play dates, and when he was over, he often found Lucy’s leftover kibble in her bowl that she never finished and gobbled them up. I was a new dog owner then and hadn’t met the rest of the crazy dog ladies, so I didn’t think it was a big deal. That was a big mistake because about two months later, when Lucy was about six months old, BG went near her chew bone, and Lucy growled for the first time in her life. Since that day, she did it whenever BG went near her food. I believe this was because I never intervened as an owner, and she decided to take matters into her own hands.

I freaked out after that and got some help! That’s when I learnt about resource guarding. Usually this refers to food, treasured toys or sleeping areas, but some dogs treat their owners like the best treat in the world so it can even extend to their humans. Basically, a resource is anything that is considered by the dog to be of high value.

Guarding can range from a quiet head turn to a loud growl, forward charge or an actual bite. There is guarding between dog and human, and dog to dog (Lucy’s is the latter). Lucy always gave first a soft warning growl  (one I often missed because it was so soft), and then a quick air snap if the dog didn’t catch the hint. Resource guarding, if unchecked, can be a serious problem – for example, if a dog threatens to bite his human family when they try to take something away. Dogs must be willing to give up things they would rather keep, like their stuffed toy or bone. Resource guarding is a major cause of aggression toward humans, particularly children. Children often carry around toys and food where the dog can reach them. They also don’t understand how to respect a dog’s possessions and are more likely to grab at it without warning.

Here are a couple of things I did that you can also do for your dog if they have food/resource guarding.

First of all, your dog owns nothing! They’re all yours. If they are especially possessive over a food item or toy, take it and keep it until the behavior has improved.

1. Once something is in your dog’s mouth, it is too late to tell them to leave it. The only thing you can do is to tell them to spit it out. So teach and reward the “Drop it” command. Lucy used to be very attached to her dog toy – it was the only toy she wouldn’t release when she was told to  “Drop it”. So the best treats were reserved for this. Every time she dropped it for me, she was rewarded with 3-4 pieces of her favorite treats and then got to play tug, which she loves. These days, she drops her doggy immediately when told.

You can teach this cue by placing a high value treat under your dog’s nose when he is holding on to something he would rather keep. Your dog will inadvertently spit the item out to get the treat. After awhile, you can add the “Drop it” cue. Over a few weeks, you can practice asking your dog for the toy or treat, and then praise your dog for complying. Give them a treat when they drop it and then return the toy or food. The key is to trade for an item of greater value and assure them that they get it back.

Lucy and her beloved doggy go everywhere together.

2. Lucy could not share water bowls with the other Furry Tales members. If the other dogs came near her when she was drinking, she would growl. Eating near each other was also out of the question then. This can be remedied by feeding treats to your dog together with others, or encouraging your dog to have supervised meals alongside other calm dogs. Have your dog and another sitting side by side, and then treat one dog at a time making sure to have plenty of praise for your dog for not reacting.

Twinkle the Golden Retriever comes to stay with Lucy sometimes. Twinkle is a sweetie pie with a very mild temperament. She is also very respectful of Lucy and never tries to steal her food. I first let them eat together in the same room, but back to back, so Lucy couldn’t see her. If I noticed Lucy eating slower or glancing at Twinkle, I redirected her attention back to her food right away. Later on, I increased the criteria and let them eat close to each other. I still make sure I’m close by to monitor her when she eats with other dogs but she no longer growls when she shares the water bowl with her friends.

Lucy can now go fine dining with her friends. For water.

3. Olive also used to show her teeth and growl if owner Vicky tried to take away a high-value (real) bone from her. To slowly counter-condition Olive, she made sure that when she first gave her the bone, she didn’t let go of the other end of the bone, so Olive would be chewing on it as Vicky was also holding on to it. This way, Olive didn’t feel possessive over the bone. Another effective method Vicky used was to approach and show Olive another bone of the same value or higher as she was already munching on one, and swap the bones – the “Drop it” command came in very handy here and made it safer for Vicky to reach in and take the bone from Olive.

4. It is best never to hit, scare, or threaten your dog in order to get something from them, even if they snarl or growl. They are telling you to “Back off,” and that’s a warning message you want them to be able to express. Dogs that are punished for growling may go straight to biting. You also don’t want your dog to associate playing/eating around other humans/dogs in a negative way.

Part of Lucy’s “recovery” was doing all the above, and exposure to other dogs all the time. The other part could be that I got lucky and Lucy just grew up.

 

Training with Para4Pets Collar & Leash and KONG Toys

Contributed by Vivien Chin
For this post, we have a sweet deal for you. Para4Pets is offering our readers 25% off all purchases, from now till the end of April! Quote “The Furry Tales” when you make your purchase with Para4Pets by Edna and to apply the discount.

Last weekend, The Furry Tales were at the Pet Expo. We had a great time meeting old friends and making new ones. Kafka entered the Obedience Trial at the Intermediate level. Unfortunately, he did not do so well. He seemed to be under the weather and got rather distracted in the ring. He was looking for Lucy his girlfriend. Dum dum dum…. we have to have that “talk” soon. We didn’t do as well as we’d hoped, but at least he looked good! Thank you Para4Pets by Edna for the beautiful collar and leash so that he can look handsome! And thank you to KONG Singapore for his training toys so that he can be happy!

Kafka looking dapper in his Para4Pets collar and leash.

Are you ready? Forward…

Taking the first step forward!

Kafka doing heelwork.

Kafka following closely.

I be the tallest boy in class! Kafka in the sit-stay exercise.

Behind the scenes practice: gimme the ball!

Para4Pets makes bespoke paracord collars and leashes for your furry ones. Kafka had a set sponsored by Para4Pets. The leash was thin and light which is great for training. When you are in the Novice and higher classes, your dog is to heel off the lead. Having a light leash makes the transition from heeling with leash to heeling without leash easier. A thin lead is hard on your hands if you have to bring a 43kg dog around on his regular walks. I suggest ordering a thicker one for that purpose. It’s not advisable to let your dog drag a leash with a loop handle. Serious injury can occur if its leg gets caught in the loop while it’s running. You may order one without a loop handle if you would like to let your dog drag his leash around during training.

For a limited time, Para4Pets is offering our readers 25% off all purchases! It’s a great bargain! Make your order now!

Para4Pets leash. Looks good on Kafka!

Apart from the collar and leash, we were fortunate to also have our toys sponsored. Toys are a great way to reward your dog for good work done. Some dogs love to chase, and fetch and tug. Kafka’s favourite toy is a ball with a rope attached to it. Amongst his toys, he has a KONG Funster ball in X-Small size. He likes a ball that is not too big and fits nicely in his mouth. The X-Small KONG Funsters ball is 2.5″ while the small size is 4″. Four inches is a little too big for training. You want something that can be easy grasped in one hand.

KONG Funsters Ball.

Kong Tugger Knot

Kafka focusing on the “shoulder”.

Watch my “shoulder”.

One way to teach focused heeling in an obedience routine is to place a toy at your “shoulder”, (a nicer term for armpit). This teaches them to look up and not downward.

Wait for it…. wait for it…

The KONG Funster Ball is not just an ordinary ball. It is a fabric ball with a rope attached to it. The rope is rather important. It allows you to throw the ball farther, manipulate the ball, tug at the ball and turn it into a game of tug. Balls without ropes have the potential to get lodge in the dog’s throat. With the rope, you are able to, god forbid, pull the ball out when it gets stuck in your dog’s mouth. This happens, especially, with large, high-drive, dogs and tennis balls. You don’t have to worry so much if the ball is large and your dog is the sort who doesn’t have a sense of urgency.

Enjoying his reward after some work.

Kafka and his KONG Funsters Ball.

Other than a ball, Kafka loves his tug toys. The KONG Tugger Knot is soft yet tough enough even for a German Shepherd. It is made of knotted rope covered by a plush toy exterior. It comes in small, medium and large sizes. The medium sized KONG Frog Tugger Knot was just right for Kafka. It’s big enough for him to clamp his deadly fangs down on and small enough for his mama to manipulate. Large sized Tugger Knots are great just for fun but the smaller sizes are better for training.

Kafka tugging on his KONG Tugger Knots.

NOM NOM NOM!

After placing the toy at your “shoulder”, you can start moving it away so that your dog does not depend too much on the toy for its focal point. I held the toy in my right hand and whenever he looked up to my “shoulder” aka armpit, I rewarded him with the KONG Tugger Knot. In the photo below, I was petting Kafka’s chin with my left hand because he looked so cute.

Kafka must still look up even when the toy is in my other hand.

You have to be fit to keep up with a German Shepherd. I was tired out just playing tug with him.

Kafka the land shark!

Kafka giving me a workout.

In the obedience trials, your hand should not be disturbing the dog. Conventionally, your hand is placed at your side or on the left side of your tummy. The toy was in my right hand, sometimes by my side and sometimes behind me. Kafka still had too look up or at my left hand.

 

The last exercise of the training sessions are the sit-stays and down-stays. That’s best taught when your dog is not bursting with excitement. They need self-control and patience during those exercises.

Lucy tries her hand (or mouth) at training Kafka too. She’s doing quite well, I must admit.

Kaffy, heel!

I be walking my dog.

Check out our future post for an upcoming deal for KONG toys!

A big thank you to our fantastic sponsors:

Para4Pets by Edna for the beautiful collar and leash,

KONG Singapore for the fun toys, and

Omgoing for the super comfy and awesome yoga tights.

How High Can You Jump?

The Furry Tales love to end our informal obedience training sessions with some fun hurdles exercises. The dogs (and humans) enjoy it and it’s a great high-energy reward for their hard work. We also do it because it improves the communication and bonding between us and our dogs, and the fact that it’s good exercise for all of us!

It doesn’t cost much to make your own hurdles. These were constructed by Vivien for below S$20, and they are so much cheaper than buying them ready-made at the store. All it takes is some PVC pipes and pipe connectors. She even made it possible to have a few different heights, for the various dog sizes. Great job, Vivien! *treat*

The dogs love to queue for this fun ride: hurdles! Olive jumping high.

To get your dog started, make the hurdles very low such that they only have to walk across. For dogs with high motivation for food or that can sit and stay, a leash is not necessary. However, some dogs have a fear of jumping over the hurdle so a leash can help to guide them. With your dog on a leash, stand at a short distance away from the hurdle. Then, run with your dog and lead it over the hurdle. Reward profusely when you dog makes it across. After a few jumps, you can add the verbal cue like “Over” just before you are making the jump. Eventually, you can ask your dog to jump over on command.

Bunny hopping.

Once your dog can jump over the hurdle with ease, place your dog on one side of the hurdle and call it from the opposite side. When your dog crosses over the horizontal bar, mark that behaviour and reward it when it comes to you. Repeat this step until your dog understands that it has to cross over the hurdle. Next, over the course of a few more repetitions, move your body gradually to the side of the hurdle and ask your dog to jump. This tells your dog that it is supposed to jump over even when you are not standing directly in front of it.

When your dog understands the activity, you may start raise the height of the bar and increasing the number of hurdles. As you continue to increase the height of the hurdle, you may need to add an intervening bar between the top hurdle and the ground, so that your dog doesn’t simply walk under the hurdle instead of jumping over. After a particularly difficult jump, make the reward event particularly exciting by either giving extra treats, tossing it on the ground away from your dog so that it has to chase it or run a few steps with your dog.

Olive shows off how high she can jump.

Make sure you do not over-exert your dog if they have hip or joint problems, or do the jumping on grass instead of pavement. You should also refrain from making puppies jump too much because it is stressful on the joints.

Sisi with Lucy: jumping over some chain barriers at Robertson Quay.

Another informal option for agility training your dog is to just use whatever you have around you – chain barriers, traffic cones, even our own the dogs! If you are creative, even broomsticks can be hurdles and toilet plungers can be agility weave poles. When we didn’t have Vivien’s hurdles yet, we had to be innovative, so when we discovered chain barriers along Robertson Quay, we tried teaching the dogs to jump over those. Even though to us, “over” means “over”, different hurdles to dogs can be challenging. There were two chains linked together for the chain barriers so for small dogs like Lucy, she had to be taught not to go in between.

Even dogs can be hurdles – be creative! (P.S. Muddy was super cool about Olive jumping over him, he didn’t even budge.)

If your dog is okay with other dogs jumping over it, you can get them to jump over each other. For a shortie like Lucy, we got Kafka to lie down for her to jump over.

We’ve found it useful to intersperse obedience training (like heeling, sit-stay, stand-stay) with higher-energy exercises like jumping over hurdles, to keep the dogs interested in interacting with us. Before they start to lose focus or get tired, take a break! And it’s always fun to end the training session with some jumps as well – always remember to end on a good note!

More budget hurdles: traffic cones we found along the road, with our leashes forming the hurdles.

Let us know if you have any more ideas on how we can be creative with free equipment or low cost equipment! And stay tuned for more updates on jumper training as we progress.

Kanga-Lu.

Jumping can sometimes change your breed. Lucy is now a westie.

Muddy the triple hurdler.

Lucy’s wings work!

Puppies: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Contributed by Vivien Chin
Puppies are cute, cuddly, lovable and the first few weeks after bringing one home you wonder what possessed you to do that. However, after those first few weeks of hell, everything will start to fall in place and they suddenly become cute and wonderful again. I remember picking up Kafka from the Dallas airport in Texas. He had traveled all the way from Belgium to the USA. Only a tiny 7-week old puppy, he had peed in his crate during the long transatlantic journey. When I opened the door of the crate, he came running out and crawled right into my lap. That frightened and whining puppy is now my protection sport dog. Kafka’s first night in his new home was tough. He was jet-lagged and he told the whole world about it. He slept in his crate early in the evening and whined at 4am in the morning. He also had some separation anxiety. He could not be left alone in the nice big playpen I had bought him, or outside in the yard, or in another room, or more than 6 feet away from me. Did not want to be outside in the yard?! I thought there was something wrong with him. The first couple of weeks were a series of frustrations and sleepless nights but now, I can leave Kafka at home or at a friend’s place and I’m confident that he will be well-behaved and their homes will be intact. He is toilet-trained and settles down comfortably in anybody’s home without complaining.  

Kafka getting his 18 hours of sleep.

I probably forgot how much work puppies are when I decided to foster one. Olive was one of the puppies part of a dramatic rescue at Bukit Batok. When animal control raided the forest near the MRT station, many people were mobilised to save as many dogs as they could. The puppies looked somewhat like German Shepherd puppies. Because I have a soft spot for German Shepherds, I succumbed to their cuteness and volunteered to foster one. Olive had gone through many different homes before she found us. One of the people fostering her had done such a great job toilet training her that I did not have to do much more. My task was to crate-train her and to teach her the rules of apartment living. Because she’s such a greedy pig, it was easy for her to like the crate and sleep in there.  

Olive having a drought of mischievous ideas.

My memory is not great so I had forgotten, again, what it was like to wake up 2-3 times a night, mop up pee and having a screaming banshee at home. During that memory lapse, I found myself opening up my home to two puppies from SOSD. They were then called Pickles and Jester. Now, Jester is known as Cole and is part of Bryan Wong’s family. I am really happy that Bryan appreciates the hard work that was put in. He keeps telling me how well-trained and easy Cole was. Don’t tell Bryan, but Jester/Cole was a massive headache when he first arrived! You can read more about Cole’s adventures with his new family at The Wong Dogs.

Jester/Cole has a secret to tell Lulu.

Pickles, now known as Summer, is Cole’s sister. I fostered her for a few days before deciding that the two puppies had to be separated. They were teaching each other how to fight and swear, and if they had stayed together any longer, they would have be joining gangs and painting the town red. I had to make the decision of sending Pickles/Summer to another foster home. For those of you who are thinking about adopting or buying more than one puppy, Patricia McConnell strongly advises against adopting puppies from the same litter.  

Pickles/Summer learning to stand on a foot pad.

Pickles/Summer was the first in her litter to be adopted. Unfortunately, she was recently given up by her owners because she liked to tell the other dogs what she really thought of them and was honing her gardening skills. She is now being fostered by my friend, Charissa, who is one of the most patient people I know. Charissa is documenting her time with Summer on a blog http://60-daysofsummer.blogspot.sg/ We hope to find a good home for her.

Snowy in her crate. Chilling out in the crate is important for all puppies.

A number of puppies have gone through boot camp since then. The latest is Snowy a Japanese Spitz. She’s in the board and train program while her owners are away on their honeymoon. I must say that she is the type of lady who will scream her lungs out if she’s unhappy or excited. Hell hath no fury like a Snowy left alone. Among many things, Miss Eliza Dolittle has learned to do her business on grass and on the pee tray, walk without pulling on the leash, appreciate the crate, wait at the door before going out and recite “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” in perfect upper-class style. Getting a puppy to adjust to your household is not a walk in the park. I have fallen ill because of the demands of bringing up a puppy right. If you drink lots of water, take some aspirin, know what to do and have the perseverance to live through the first few weeks, you’ll see the joy in having a dog.

If you want more tips on what to do when you first bring that puppy home, check out Rao Canine.

Kafka’s first night in Texas.

Crate Training
Crate training is one of the first things I teach a puppy. From the very first day it steps into my home, a puppy starts learning to go into the crate. It facilitates house breaking or toilet training, helps prevent separation anxiety, and gives the puppy a place to rest, relax and feel safe. It prevents the dog from picking up bad habits like chewing up furniture. It can used in the car when you chauffeur your dog around and it can be used as a confinement area when your dog needs to convalesce after an illness or injury. If you ever want to travel on a holiday with your dog or need to move to a new location, your dog has to travel in a crate.

Kafka’s play pen.

Apart from the crate, I also use a play pen for puppies to relax in and stay out of trouble. In the half-a-minute your eyeballs breaks visual contact with your puppy, it can pee on the carpet, tip over the trash can and eat your mouldy chocolate cake, rip your blinds off windows, redecorate your room and tear up this month’s issue of that $19.95 magazine you’ve not read. Putting your puppy in a play pen helps to give your eyes a rest and helps you from going insane. This video shows you a “high drive” working dog puppy doing its thing in a play pen.

Impulse control
Waiting for permission to do something is also an important behavior any puppy needs to learn. Waiting for food helps to keep meal times orderly and peaceful. Waiting for permission to go out the door makes walks more pleasant and prevents catastrophic accidents especially if you live along a busy street.

Discipline
Your puppy should understand which behaviours are acceptable and which are unacceptable. E.g. mouthing your hands, biting your clothes, jumping up on you, growling at you because they want to protect their food or treats are not allowed. It is most effective to address such potential behavioural issues right at the beginning rather than waiting for your puppy to grow up and for it to become a serious problem.

Socialisation
Introducing your puppy to as many people, dogs, different environments and stimuli as early as possible in its life will help it grow to become a stable and confident dog. If you have a mongrel or a “Singapore Special”, this is especially important because they tend to be more fearful and wary of strangers. Ian Dunbar recommends letting your puppy meet 100 people before the age of 12 weeks. After 13 weeks of age, socialisation becomes less effective.

Conditioning your dog to touch
If you have a puppy that is a fervent grower of hair, you will find yourself sending your pooch to the groomer’s fairly often. In order to make the experience more pleasant for both the groomer and your dog, you need to teach your dog to like being handled. You will definitely make a visit to the vet at some point in your puppy’s life when you will find the same training useful.

Basic commands
When you sign up for a basic obedience class, what you will learn is usually how to teach your dog basic commands. Learning commands is very useful but not the priority when I first bring a puppy home. I teach Sit in the first week, but may wait up to a month before teaching the puppy other commands like Down or Stay.

These are the foundations for a good house dog. Check back with The Furry Tales to learn how to crate train your dog, teach impulse control and perform other training exercises.

Obedience Trial: JUST FOR FUN (JFF)

Contributed by Sisi Soh
In June this year, Lucy and I competed in our very first dog event together with her friends, Muddy and Olive. We competed in the Just For Fun (JFF) obedience trial organized by Singapore Kennel Club (SKC) at Bishan CC. Then in August, Lucy and Olive competed again in another SKC JFF obedience trial at the Singapore Expo, where Olive won 4th place. We were all so proud of her!

SKC JFF Obedience Trial August 2014: Olive won 4th place!! And is waving to her fans and supporters.

An obedience trial is a dog sport in which a dog must perfectly execute a predefined set of tasks when directed to do so by his handler. Training a dog to participate in an obedience trial increases a dog’s understanding and reliability in responding to certain basic obedience commands such as ‘sit’, ‘stay’, ‘down’, ‘stand’, ‘come’ and ‘heel’. At an obedience trial, these exercises are to be performed and will be evaluated and scored by a judge. The dog must achieve basic proficiency in each exercise in order to pass. Higher degrees of accuracy and style receive more points. For example, during a recall, your dog should trot back to you without veering to the side and should sit straight in front of you and not at an angle.

A ‘JUST FOR FUN’ standard is less strict, and allows the handlers to reward their dogs with treats after each exercise is completed.

It was quite an experience!

Top to bottom, left: Olive preparing to heel; Olive heeling; Muddy heeling. Top to bottom, right: Muddy executing down-stay; Lucy preparing to sit-stay; Lucy running back in recall.

Here’s what I learnt :

1. Perseverance furthers.
I started off thinking the training was for the dog. I soon realized it was for both of us. My dad has always called me a ‘halfway girl’. I’d buy a canvas stand, acrylic paints, enroll in painting classes, paint ten pictures, and then wake up one day never wanting to paint again. Or invest in boxes and boxes of crystals and beads to make jewelry, only to lose interest after six months.

Ever since I’ve had Lucy, there hasn’t been a single goal I’ve set for her/myself that I’ve given up on halfway.

Tanya (with Muddy), Vicky (with Olive) and I (with Lucy) decided to embark on this obedience trial path at the beginning of this year. With the help of Vivien of Rao Canine, we aimed to meet two to three mornings each week to train. While it was mostly a heap of fun, there were also frustrating times. You can have 100% reliable perfect ‘downs’ for weeks and then one morning your pooch just decides she doesn’t know what a down means anymore! Or have such an itchy dog that each time she finishes scratching, she forgets what instruction she had been following.

Perseverance furthers, they say. However, that’s only partly true – we all know how to repeat the same mistake our whole lives without the slightest difference in result. So, only intelligent, attentive perseverance furthers. That’s dog training.

So you can’t give up. You can’t get angry. Because you can’t train a dog when you’re angry. You can’t tell your dog it should know what you want. So, you take two steps back and then start again where you were last successful. You take a break. You let your dog play hard. Coz it’s not all about working. Then when playtime is over, they are more focused.

And then there’ll be days when you see that your dog finally gets what you’re asking her to do, and because of the praise and reward you provide, she will actually enjoy doing it. It’s quite something to see the penny drop for them. It motivates you to persevere.

The penny has dropped for Lucy.

2. You don’t need a group to compete (apart from group training, I also practiced with Lucy alone at home everyday), but you want one.
Apart from the obvious fun you have when training as a group, there’s a whole lot of support it can provide.  I suffer from massive stage fright. I would normally never willingly sign up for something that would put me in any sort of spotlight. Having to overcome that with several judges, other competitors and an audience watching can be rather overwhelming. But it was made a lot easier with encouragement and the knowledge that I wasn’t alone.

Practicing group sit-stays are FUN! (Alexandra Park Connector)

While I’m sure every other competitor there that day was just hoping other dogs would stuff up, we were cheering each other (and our dogs) on.

3. The power of failure.
It doesn’t matter how prepared you are, how experienced you are or how well your dog is trained for a competition. That’s just the way it is when you’re working as a team. Both you and your dog need to be ‘on’ to have a good run, and since your dog is not a robot, there is always an element of unpredictability to any competition. It’s okay to be disappointed at not doing as well as you’d hoped, but there’s good in failing too because it is how we become better at training our dogs. With every failure, you’re forced to re-evaluate your training methods. (Are you rewarding quickly enough? Are you excited enough? Does your dog even understand your hand signal?)

With every failure, you’re also forced to become more inventive.

I recently read somewhere that a trainer put on masks each time she trained her dog so that it would accept handling from strangers. We resorted to jumping around like maniacs during our dogs’ sit-stays, and running around them in circles, so that they would learn not to be distracted by movement.

4. Being excited.
When I train with Lucy, I’m often so focused on using my clicker at the precise timing, feeding her after, and watching for the behavior that I forget to be excited.

Lucy heeling well – excitement, praise and treats go a long way in training!

Excitement is everything. One particular week in training, Lucy stopped doing well in her heeling exercises. She got distracted easily and wouldn’t do what I wanted. I went home and got out her favorite toy. After each good heel, I practically screamed like a banshee – “GOOD GIRL! OH MY GOD WHAT A CLEVER GIRL!” I AM SO EXCITED OVER A HEEL! And proceeded to play tug with her. She was so happy and improved tremendously that week. So, excitement is exciting! We should immerse ourselves in every opportunity. If training isn’t like a game for them, learning stops.

At the end of the day, working with our dogs towards succeeding in obedience trials is not about winning trophies or awards. It is really about analyzing your training and improving the bond and communication with your dog.

SKC JFF Obedience Trial August 2014: Lucy and I with the Judge.

SKC JFF Obedience Trial June 2014: The Furry Tales team – proud to be first time triallers! (L-R: trainer Vivien with Kafka (who competed in novice and intermediate), Sisi with Lucy, Tanya with Muddy, Vicky with Olive).