You Tube Tuesday

Great Danes are beautiful to look at. I have always had a fondness for the big gentle breed. Watch the video of Honey as she throws some behaviors at her trainer. She even comes up with her own new behavior. It's fun to watch trainers communicate with their canines and you don't have to use words.

Do you look like your dog?

I've never been told I looked like any of my pets, but I think you might get a kick out of this dogs and their look alike owners.

YouTube Tuesday

I know this is not dog agility but it's still amazing. It shows that with positive reinforcement any animal can be trained.

Bell Ringer

Ever thought of teaching your dog to ring a bell to go potty. I'd like to teach Daisy to ring a bell to tell us she needs to go potty. Daisy knows the command touch which is having her touch my hand on command or sometimes called targeting. I started teaching her to ring a bell in my hand by using the command touch. We will later hang the bell from a door and she can ring it to signal us.



After looking at some videos of dog's ringing a bell, I started to think maybe I would just teach her to bring me the leash when she needs to go outside. I guess I'll have to think about it.

Does anyone have any good bell ringing training tips?

YouTube Tuesday

Every have your dog wonder where the barking is coming from? Sometimes while watching TV a dog starts barking, it sounds as if it is the room. The dog's response is to start barking.

Tanner learned, when we lived in a home with a doorbell, that every time the door bell rang there was someone at the door. Our house now doesn't have a doorbell, but every time a door bell rings on TV he starts barking and running for the door. It's amazing how they can train themselves with positive reinforcing situations.

Running in circles

There are so many, many things I could teach the dogs I have a hard time focusing on just one thing especially with three dogs. We worked with Daisy on getting her to retrieve. The leash was helpful in getting the dog back after she chased the object. It was only good about three times and then she tired of it. So we played alittle.





We didn't work on the bark command, but I did work on trying to get the behavior to extinction. It is time consuming, but the laundry room door doesn't open unless they are quiet. If they bark I turn around and walk out of the room until they are quiet. I have a new problem of them barking when they come out of the laundry room, so now I walk into the laundry room until they are quiet. With time, I hope, and no reinforcement the behavior should stop.

Saturday Night TV

Saturday is my favorite night to watch Animal Planet. Usually, It's Me Or The Dog is on or the new show Superfetch.

Tonight I watched Superfetch and learned a little to tip to training fetch. Most dogs will chase the toy, but getting them to come back is the hard part. His suggestion was to put a leash on the dog to reel the dog back in. I have been working with Daisy to bring her elephant to me. She will run to it, but won't come back with it. Tomorrow I will try using the leash.

Zak George the star of Superfetch also has some videos on Youtube to watch.

Working on Bark

I used a trigger to get the dogs to bark. My daughter knocked on the door and the dogs barked. I used the command by saying good bark. Then I said quiet and when they were pretty much quiet already. It worked three times, but by the fourth time they knew what was coming and just wanted the treat. We will work on this again tomorrow.

We also worked on "mat". I would like the dogs to go to the rug on command and stay there. It would be useful when someone knocks on the door or when I want to train one dog at a time. I used luring to get them to the mat and the command mat. I think Tanner and Kota have an understanding of the command.

I found a video that is a good example of request barking. The dog has the people trained to play when he barks. Sometimes I think the dogs are better at training us to do what they want.

Getting Your Dog to Bark on Command

This week I'm going to work on getting the dogs to bark on command. They have learned the "enough" command. I use it to tell them that they have barked enough at a sound or something they saw. This works well when they hear the neighbor dog barking or see something exciting out the window. I trained it by saying "enough" and then body blocking the window or door if they didn't stop.


My problem is Kota getting excited in the morning and barking. He will remain quiet until I open the laundry room door and then gets excited and starts barking for attention. I think unknowingly I have been reinforcing the behavior and I can't find anyway to make it stop. If I can get him to respond on command then maybe I can quelch the behavior.


Tanner is not much of a barker. Daisy is a follower, if another dog is barking she will join in and doesn't want to stop until the other dog stops. Here is a great article that includes all the information needed to understand the behavior and train the behavior on cue.


I found a short video using hand signals to get the dog to bark and then be silent. I would also like to work on using more hand signals. Dogs seem to be more responsive to them, but it's hard for me, being such a verbal creature, and many times I have something in my hand.

Every Dog Needs Exercise

My son walked the two big dogs for 2 miles tonight. It's nice to have help with exercising the dogs with my busy schedule. It's so important for dogs to get exercise. It's amazing how much better they behave when they haven't been cooped up all day. You can vary your modes of exercise to keep things interesting for your and your canine. Walking, running, you can take them biking, swimming, or maybe on a treadmill. Using a treadmill is a great way for them to get exercise while you are able to do other things.

Tanner has been chasing four-wheelers and dirtbikes since he was a puppy. He gets so excited when he hears the engine go. It's interesting because he has never been a car chaser, he seems to know the difference of being on the farm. That is really a hard workout, but it's hard to get him to slow down.

Take a look at Poppy using his treadmill.

Teaching A Dog to Target

Tanner stars in a video showing how to lure your dog to target. Targeting is having your dog touch an object or your hand on command. Targeting can be used later to have your canine touch a specific spot while you shape a new behavior. Tanner already knows what the command "touch" means. A hand held out with the command "touch", he walks over and puts his nose to my hand. This article does a good job of further explaining what target is and how it can be used.

Kota and Tanner Taking

Kota and Tanner both seem to have "take" down. Now I'm working on figuring how to shape it into a Hold. They will gladly hold the rope bone, but I'd also like to incorporate having them "take" other objects. Kota was easier to train than I thought because normally he doesn't want anything in his mouth.

You will notice in the video that Kota is more interested in my hotdog smelling finger than the bone at first. Food works great with him because it's all about how it smells. I hid the hotdog behind the bone the first couple of times because he could smell it making him more willing to put it in his mouth, maybe he was hoping the rope bone was made of hotdog.

Dog Saves Another Dog

I couldn't believe what I saw when I watched this video. A dog gets hit by a car on a busy highway and another dog comes to the rescue. Both dogs survived the ordeal but it's quite a tale.