Month: December 2020

Posted on

How to teach sit

Things you need:

  • A dog
  • A leash
  • Treats

Start with your dog on a leash with lots of treats. Simply take a treat and put it above your dogs head, and their bum should naturally fall, bringing them into a sit. As soon as their bum hits the ground say “yes” and feed them the treat.

Some dogs pick this up super quickly and some need a little extra time. For the dogs that really aren’t getting it, even after multiple attempts, you can use one hand to put the food above their head and the other to gently push their bum down to help them figure out what you want. Again when their bum hits the ground, say “yes” and feed.

Once your dog starts sitting as soon as you raise your hand up, you’re ready to start adding the word “sit”. This could take one session or a couple sessions, depending on the dog. So now you can start saying “sit” then immediately helping your dog into the sit position. After a while you can say “sit” and wait a couple seconds before helping your dog. Eventually they’ll hear sit and know exactly what you want, before you have a chance to help them.

Teaching a sit with leash pressure

Next you can start teaching them how to sit with leash pressure. This gives you a super valuable tool in the case that your dog is distracted, confused about what you want or just doesn’t feel like listening. You don’t want to bribe the dog with food to do everything, otherwise if you don’t have food one day, they won’t do anything until you show them the food.

To start this you will simply pull up on your dogs leash (straight up) and hold until they sit. Most dogs will automatically sit after a few seconds and if they do, say “yes” and treat. If they need a little help you can pull up on the leash while also pushing their bum down. If they already know what sit means, you can pull up on the leash then say sit. Eventually they’ll feel the pressure and sit right down, which is the goal!

Once they know sit verbally and with leash pressure, you can start working on them staying in position longer. Check back for our post on teaching the stay!

Posted on

Teaching leave it

Do you want your dog to leave treats and toys like a pro? Do you worry about accidentally dropping something that’s not good for them like medication or a piece of chocolate? Does your dog counter surf? Steal your food? Does your dog generally just not have any self control? If you answered yes to any of those questions, keep reading!

It’s easiest for this trick to start with something big enough for your dog to see easily and preferably something a bit boring to your dog; a crunchy dog biscuit usually works well.

Things needed:

  • A leashed dog
  • A large crunchy dog treat
  • A bunch of small treats

It’s important for this exercise that you act as if the large treat is not edible. Whatever you do, do NOT let your dog eat the large treat. Start by having your puppy in a sit or a down and place the large treat in front of them and say “leave it”. They will naturally go to reach for the treat and you’ll put your hand over top of it and say “no, leave it”. When they leave the treat even for a second you’ll take one of your small treats and reward them with that. Then continuously feed small treats as they continue to “leave it” with the large treat. When you’re done with the exercise pick up the large treat and release your dog. Practice this at least once a day in short sessions. At the beginning, you may need to cover the treat with your hand many times before they understand. If your dog is having a really hard time, try moving the treat slightly further away from the dog to help them succeed at this exercise.

As your dog progresses you can start dropping the cookie and saying leave it instead of placing it down. You can progress by placing it closer to your dog or you can make it even harder by using yummier treats that are irresistible to your pup.

Next Step

To make it harder, you can start getting them to “leave it” with balls and different toys. Start by just gently dropping the ball and saying “leave it”, have the dog on a leash so you can stop them if they go to grab it. When you can say leave it and drop the ball without any movement from your pup (other than them looking), you’re ready to make it a bit harder.

You can progress to tossing it a few feet a way, and eventually throwing it as far as you want. If you move through they steps slowly and make sure they fully understand before moving onto the next step this is a fairly easy and one of the most important things you will ever teach! This will help them to not chase birds, squirrels, cars and even other dogs!

We use this command every single day. Whether you drop something your dog shouldn’t eat (like a pill or a grape, etc), or you see something on the trail that they shouldn’t eat (garbage, road kill, etc) or your dog spots a bird or a rabbit that they really want to chase.

Our dogs will leave anything we tell them to including their favourite ball, their best friend, or a bird mid chase, and that is the goal!

Posted on

Growing Panda’s hair

Every month I will share how our experience is going with growing Panda Bear’s hair out. He’s a 7 year old havanese, who’s had many different hair styles in his life, but never had it fully grown out!

For those of you who don’t know, a Havanese is a toy breed of dog usually ranging between 7-13 lbs, although it can vary. Their hair can range from silky/straight to wavy to curly. They don’t shed, therefore need to be groomed on a regular basis to keep their hair tangle free and in good condition. Most people will get them shaved or trimmed, but if they are shown in the conformation ring they must have their hair grown out nearly to the ground and untrimmed. They are part of the Bichon family which includes breeds such as the Bichon Frise and Maltese; unlike those breeds, they come in a variety of colours. Their temperament is happy, outgoing and very trainable, these dogs love to entertain and are often referred to as velcro dogs because they love to be with their humans.

Panda Bear is a 7 year old Havanese, he is not registered, nor is he well bred, but we love him to death anyway! I got him as my second havanese, when I was about to graduate high school, before I knew anything about well bred dogs and good breeders! He is curly coated, which is unfavourable in terms of showing, as it is much harder to grow and keep maintained. He’s slightly large for his breed, weighing in at 14 lbs.

Panda has allergies that we are constantly trying to get under control with a raw food, chicken free diet, fish oil, other supplements and special medicated shampoo during bath time. He has been unintentionally growing his hair out for a couple months since I couldn’t decide what to do for his haircut this time. His allergies have been flaring up a bit lately, so I have decided to start his weekly bath routine up again. I think I’ve finally lost my mind, because I’ve decided this is the perfect opportunity to grow him out and see how it looks!

Weekly grooming routine:

What you’ll need:

  • A willing dog
  • Shampoo, conditioner and detangler specially made for dogs
  • A bath or sink depending on the size of your dog
  • A grooming table or somewhere safe to groom your dog
  • A slicker brush and comb
  • A high velocity dryer
  • Clippers and a 10 blade
  • Thinning shears, straight shears and curved shears
  • Lots of treats

I always start with the bath so he’s clean and dry before I start the grooming process. I use a generous amount of shampoo and scrub him well paying special attention to his itchy areas, such as his paws. I allow him to soak in medicated shampoo for 10 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and use a generous amount of conditioner. I then allow him to soak for a few more minutes before rinsing him a final time. Once rinsed I wrap him in a towel and bring him back to my grooming table to get blown out. Before I start drying him, I spray him with a detangler.

*I always use lots of treats during grooming to keep him happy and make grooming a positive experience.*

I dry him with my high velocity dryer, this is his least favourite part of grooming, so I use the majority of his treats during this part. I make sure he is extremely dry as it straightens his curls and allows me to brush him out easier.

Once he’s dry I start with the slicker brush all over his body. Then I take my comb and comb out all of his hair, starting at his head, and going to his tail. There should be no hair untouched and there should be no tangles at all.

For trimming, all I do currently is his sanitary trim, trim by his eyes, shave his paw pads, and lightly shape his feet; then I trim and grind his nails. Once he’s done, I give him more cookies and let him go about his day!

Subscribe so you don’t miss any posts! There’ll be monthly updates on how Panda’s hair is looking, let’s see how long it can get before I give up and trim him!