Some people attend just the Friday session whilst others attended all five days. The Wellington sessions consisted of a one day scent workshop and a one day tracking workshop.  The scent workshop opened our eyes to accessing the power of the dogs nose and an extraordinary number of opportunities for us to utilise this skill.  The scent workshop let into the tracking workshop on the Sunday.  Some attendees were already involved in tracking, however, the Hydration Intensified Tracking Training method focuses on teaching you how to build your training skills to the point where you can concentrate on the art of training rather than the mechanics. Special emphasis is made on how to teach yourself to make good training decisions quickly with the minimum amount of information necessary.

Steve’s trip down under was short but full of great information with fun filled sessions, lots of great questions, humour galore and so, so much learning.  In between the two seminars Steve and I travelled slowly down the North Island from Auckland to Wellington via Hamilton, Rotorua and Levin.  As we travelled down we went through the corrugation capital of NZ.  Steve was amazed by the variety of different sculptures that were created.

Rotorua was the high spot where we stayed with friends who live the good life…amazing veggie gardens that produced everything for dinner.  We went to Huka falls, and stopped at Hunterville, the home of the Huntaway.  That was the full extent of sight seeing as it rained all the way down and Mt Ruapehu certainly didn’t look like this as it was shrouded by low cloud as Steve drove the desert road!

Steve was an exceptional speaker who shared his learning successes with us. We look forward to Steve and Jen returning soon.

Whenever I train a new dog, I always place great emphasis on one behaviour over any other…and that is the Sit.  I work really hard to get the dog to sit in-front, behind, at the side, away from me, with duration, and have the ability to sit anywhere that I ask on the first request and fast.

But why is this so important.  I believe that when you have a dog, you should always have safety at the back of your mind. Safety for both of you, not just yourself.  So here are some of the many reasons why I train dogs to have a really strong sit:

Sit at the doorway

• To allow you to enter or exit the doorway either first or last (your choice).  If they are sitting at the doorway, it means that if you have your hands full, you can walk through the doorway safely without having a dog trip you over halfway through.
• If you have multiple dogs that are sitting at the door waiting to go out, it allows you to release them individually when you say their name…this one takes a bit of practice
• If you have friends coming round, you don’t want a dog to be jumping up on them, so ask the dog to sit at the doorway and allow your friends to enter before you release your dog

Sit before exiting the car:

Were you given a puppy or did you go to the local pound or SPCA and adopted a dog, or two, recently and now second guessing that decision or wondering what happens next?

Where have all the ‘plug and play’ dogs gone where they knew how to sit, play with other dogs, down and were house trained when you got them?  Unfortunately…they never existed, and what’s more you, the owner, needs to put in a lot of time into training of the dog so it becomes a polite member of the family.

How can you train them?
Well usually it becomes the responsibility of someone within the family to train the dog the basics (house training, sit, down, come back when called, no biting to start with), but where do you go to learn how to train your puppy or dog these behaviours?

There are numerous trainers around NZ that can help you with the training of your puppy or dog, from your local vet clinic through to professional dog trainers and dog behaviourists…but which one is best for your family and dog?

Find a Local Class that suits you and your Family

Get a Referral: Ask friends and family who have a dog where they took their dog to and what they liked about their classes.

Search for trainers in your area: Go through the Yellow Pages or Surf the internet to find dog clubs, trainers or classes in your area.

Once you have found the classes in your area, contact them and find out when their classes start and go and watch them teaching a class.  If they won’t let you watch a class, then ask yourself, what do they have to hide?

When watching the class:

• how many trainers do they have to class members, a good gauge is 1 trainer to 6, max of 8 attendees with dogs
• Is all the family included in the training classes?  Having young and older children in the class gives more training opportunities to everyone with their dogs
• Are they teaching the class about dogs’ body language and how to read and understand it?
  Miscommunication is one of the major causes of ‘dogs behaving badly’.  We may have taught them the wrong behaviour, or the dogs don’t understand what is being asked of them
• Do they give the class attendees information at the end of the class with further information on what they have learned during the class?
• Is the class run ‘on’ or ‘off” leash? Do they ask for the dogs to have a flat collar or a choke chain?  Do they have ‘controlled’ off leash sessions for the puppies, so they don’t get out of hand?
• Do they use touch to apply pressure to the dog for it to learn how behaviours such as Sit and Down, or do they use food as a lure, or clicker training?
• And most importantly do the people at the course look like they are having fun and enjoying themselves and can you talk to some of them to get an their opinion of the classes and how they are run?

These are all questions that you can ask yourself whilst watching or when you contact the training facility.  The main question you have to answer is: Does this training class use training methods that fit with your family and going to help us have a safe and friendly dog?

There is no fast and easy solution to training your dog, but with a good dog training class and lots of practice, both you and your dog will grow a happy and long partnership. 

Last night I had a friends dog stay with me overnight.   Not one for letting unknown dogs run loose in the house, I decided to use the show crate that I have to keep him safe overnight.

What a great opportunity to do some crate training and crate games.  The unfortunate side was that I didn’t capture the work on camera to show you!

Anyway, Tramp hadn’t been crated before, so seeing the show trolley for the first time was very overwhelming for him.  So as he took each tentative step towards the show trolley he got a click and treat.  When he walked off he got nothing.   I spent a short time repeating this and then stopped for a break.

After the short break, I started the process again, but increased the approximations (I expected more from Tramp than previously) bit by bit and he got closer and closer until he jumped into the crate.  JACKPOT!

Whilst in the crate I gave several click & treats, and then clicked and threw the food outside the crate.  Tramp duly ran out of the crate, grabbed the food and then rushed back into the crate!  BINGO…what a great result after a few short session.  Over the next few hours, we did several short training sessions, where he was rewarded for being in the crate, including extending the length of time within.

Eventually at bedtime, Tramp was let outside for his last pee of the night, and on his return asked to go into the crate, where he had a chew toy.  Tramp was quiet throughout the night and didn’t have any accidents, which was good, but I still play some Crate games with him occasionally.

What games do you play with your dogs to get them comfortable with staying in a crate?