The Nose Knows

I have long been fascinated by the power of a dog's nose.  A dog's olfactory system (their sniffer) is as big as an 8 x 11 sheet of paper, while ours is only as big as a postage stamp.  For instance, dog's can smell 1 part of urine per 60 million parts of water (4-Hers remember this fact, it's in your Dog Project book and you might just be asked this very question at State Fair).  Let's break that down into something we all can understand; dogs can smell 1 teaspoon of sugar in the water that would fill 2 Olympic sized swimming pools. Their noses are amazing!

 When my dog receives and leaves his "pee mail", he both can receive information about another dog and leave information about himself.  Did you know that when your dog smells another dogs pee (or bottom for that matter) he can tell if that dog is male or female, young or old, in good health or ill health and much more?  Did you know that the United State Military relies solely on the dog's sense of smell to keep their soldiers and our civilians safe from explosive devices?  Did you know that dogs have been trained to sniff out cancer and alert a child that a seizure is coming?  Again amazing!

 Humans and dogs "see" the world differently.  While humans see and view the world, a dog smells the world around him.  Are you starting to get the picture of why, so often, human and canine are not on the same page?  Why we can become so frustrated by our dogs actions? We actually view the world differently.

Although I believe strongly that your dog should learn to walk politley on lead with you, I also believe you should allow for some freedom for your dog to view his world.  Here are a couple of ways to allow your dog to view the world around him...

Play your "Find it" game often and in varied places.  If you have taken a class with me, I have shared with you three different versions alone of the "Find it" game to play at home. This game can be played indoors as well as outdoors in your yard.  For a real thrill take the game on the road and to a local park. Set up your game in and around the trees, picnic tables and playgrounds. Allowing your dog to use his sense of smell while spending time with you is a true jackpot!

Take a Sniff walk.  Plan a walk specifically to allow your dog to sniff and smell the world around her.  Visit a new park, a new trail and allow your dog as much time as she would like to view her world. This walk will get you no where in particular, but it will give you both an opportunity to slow down and "smell the roses". While your dog is enjoying his smell-a-vision, take time for yourself to relax, see the beauty around you, listen to the birds, a running brook, crickets and locusts and smell the rich summer foliage. You get the picture.

Allow your dog to give you the gift of living in the moment!  Winding down from a busy day, taking in deep breaths and truly enjoying and embracig the beauty that is all around you.

Happy trails!

Recalls...let me count the ways!

One of the most important behaviors you can teach your dog is to "come" when called. This is something I teach during my very first session with a new student.  It's important that we teach this concept while we can reinforce it, right from the start and on lead.  I not only teach this concept in class, I give you a couple of great games (Fantastic Recall Games) to play at home to help you build a solid recall.

This is a concept that gets better and better the more you use it, the more you ask for it.  I often say, "we have not because we ask not".  If you don't use it, you'll lose it.  It's true!  Ask for and practice this behavior over and over again.  When your dog comes to you, I also encourage you to make a party.  Praise them like they are the best thing since slice bread.  You get the picture. 

A couple important things to keep in mind.  You will need to build the recall slowly.  First ask your dog to "come" on lead over and over again.  It's magic, your dog has no other option other than to come to you because if they hesitate you can reel them in.  When they are coming to you with ease on lead...move to asking your dog to come to you while indoors and in your back yard.  In other words, ask your dog to come when you feel there is over a 90% chance your dog will come and is not going to be distracted.  In the event your dog does not come to you, please don't get upset or angry - you will only undo the very important work you have already accomplished.  Go and get your dog and forget it.  Try again next time.

Second use opportunities throughout the day to practice!  I read an article that said you should do at least 24 recalls in one day.  Kind of like hugs, the more the better.  I started to think, "wow, that's a lot of recalls."  But then I broke it down and here are some creative ways to incorporate recalls in your day.

First thing in the morning when you are going to feed your dog, build on his eagerness to come to you to get his food.  I don't mind if they are two steps behind or in front of me, I'm gonna reinforce the concept. "Fido come!" before I place his food bowl down.  I sometimes ask for a sit or down too.  So if you feed your dog twice a day, which I highly recommend, you have now asked your dog to "come" 2 times already.  This is going to be easy...

When you let your dog out to potty and they have done the deed or are just hanging out, open the door with great excitement - something wonderful is happening in here - and say "Fido come!".  IF they look at you like, nah...pick up your baggy or box of dog treats and shake them.  Be sure when they arrive in the door they get a cookie as reward for coming when called.  Now I don't know about you but I let my dogs out at least 5 to 6 times a day and wha la...now you're up to 8 recalls!

If you practice your Round Robin Recall game with all your family members (and let's say the average family has 3 people to play) that's good for an additional 9 recalls (each member calling the dog 3 times) and you have a grand total of 18.  Don't stop at 3 each, you can do more...why not?!

Now all these suggestions are just gimmes...easy, right?  Not so hard afterall to reinforce those recalls!  Throw in some training time adding your recall exercises and you might just meet that 24 recalls in a day. Be creative and count the ways you can call your dog. 

And as always "happy training"!!