Designer Dog Blog for sands904

by sands904 on 7/18/2010 at 8:15 PM in Training

K9 Nose Work is an up and coming new doggie sport. As all dog owners know dogs LOVE to use their noses. This sport just builds on that drive and turns it into a skill giving the dog an outlet for their hunting instinct. It is a great way for dogs to burn both mental and physical energy.

I have played 'Find It' with all three of my dogs for a while but never pursued it further than that. A few months ago the trainer I am working with invited me to attend an upcoming K9 Nose Works seminar with her. I was intrigued by the idea that our little 'Find It' game could turn into more. With two reactive dogs, thought this could be a great way to burn some of that mental energy and hopfully cut down on their reactive tendencies.

The seminar was today and I had so much fun! My dogs did not go but I learned a lot of valuable information and came right home to start them all on their way. Logan who loved searching for his toy when I hid it did great except for a slight fear of takiing the treat out of the box at first but he worked through that very quickly. Lacey did great! Lance was more interested in the treats in my pocket and offering behaviors to try to get them (a side effect of the shaping and clicker-training we do) but once I got him interested in the boxes he did good.

I am going to continue with them in their work and maybe someday in the distant future we can compete...

Any of you interested in this sport can check out their website at: k9nosework.com
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by sands904 on 7/2/2010 at 10:00 PM in Sound Phobias

So, the 4th of July is just around the corner and for those of you like me who have dogs who are afraid of loud noises this can be a terrible time. Actually, here they just built a new baseball stadium practically in our backyard and tonight was the first *firework* night. There are about 7 more throughout the season. Lacey is just fine and couldn't care less about them. Lance is terrified of storms and fireworks. He hides in his crate trembling. Logan is somewhere in between. He is fine during most storms and the fireworks that were shot off farther away but the ones tonight were so close that he was shaking as well.

I have been working with Lance during our many storms so far this year and he is getting better but it is going to take a lot of work and I don't know if he will ever be okay with the fireworks...poor dogs...best of luck to all of you out there during this weekend.
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