Saturday, March 12, 2011

March KPETS Roundtable - Dogs & Doorbells

River could "crawl/under" the bridge made by a child leaning on a therapy ball. Don't step into the ring until the judge calls you (DQ!); don't step even one foot out until your dog is leashed (-10 pts). Tips we learned today - one for AAT visits; the others (hard-earned) applied to rally competition.

The challenges of training your dog's reactions to the door were also discussed. The best tip from a trainer - teach them to come to you when the doorbell rings. The best story - the doorbell that produces multiple animal sounds.

Hmmm, we don't have problems with River. He will announce visitors and quiet on command. Noche is another story; he is very vocal in many situations and sometimes entices River to join in. His vocalizations range from "singing" along when I play violin ( and River has been making that a duet lately); to frantic barking when we return from an outing - it translates as "please release me from my crate now!and how could you ever leave me". He also has happy barking - morning greetings as the family comes downstairs, play barking - when he is chasing River for a toy and alert barking - "I heard something and I want everyone to know it!" Excitment barking - when he is watching River run agility and he wants his turn - this reaction to a flyball demo got him an invitation to train when he is a bit older. Noche has quite a vocabulary of barks and they are all quite loud for his size. Our goal is to get it a bit more under control. His bark needs an "off" switch.

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