DOG TRAINING TECHNIQUES

From Duke's Mom:

As a follow up to yesterday's blog about Grady, I wanted to explain a bit about why I did the things I did with him and why I thought they would work. I use different techniques with different dogs, according to what I think might be helpful.

Most times, a trainer can go with conventional thinking because most dogs are not as severely traumatized as Grady has been. He is afraid of everything and everyone. Insistent, repetitive or harsh/coercive training will only shut Grady down more. I felt that he needed a shake-up of energy.

That's not a credible, scientific way to express it but I have many tools in my training kit. And I have one very big tool that most people don't have. I live with terriers. I have lived with terriers most of my life. I know what terrier behavior is supposed to look like.

Terrier behavior is supposed to be arrogant, playful, sarcastic, selectively affectionate and, most of all reactive and curious.

So, what I intuitively felt needed to happen with Grady the other night was for me to catch him off guard and do some things that would pique his interest. He wasn't expecting to sit at the dining table and be hand fed steak as an appetizer, and he certainly wasn't expecting to be rocked and sung to (his poor ears, I am not known for my muscial ability). So he was surprised and that surprise kind of knocked him out of his learned, fearful behavior and when he saw his own dinner plate, his appetite and interest had been stimulated and he went right over to eat even though there were five strange people in the room.

That's all I did. Next time we go to see him, I am going to take a small playful jack russell terrier with me to show Grady what being a feisty terrier looks like. I'll keep you posted. I hope you'll keep your fingers crossed for us.

Mom of Hooligans

"GRADY" the West Highland Terrier

Hey! Y'owl remember awhile back one of our Readers wrote us about the rescued Westie that was so traumatized and skeered from being abused that he wouldint come out of the corners? And he wouldint eat his dinner anywhere but in his crate? And Mom wrote back to the lady with some suggestions for the little fella?

Last weekend, Mom and Dad went to meet Grady. They stayed a long time and let him get used to having strangers in the house. He wouldint come out of his crate so Mom went in and got him. Yes, she did. And she held him in her lap and fed him some bits of well done steak from her dinner plate. She also put some butter on the top of her hand and let him lick it off while she taught him the word "kiss". Pretty soon, Grady was licking Mom's hand and arm everytime she said "kiss" even if there wuzzent any butter there to lick.Then she took him in the living room and rocked him on her shoulder and sang "there was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o".

The Westies' hoomans thought Mom was whacked.

After awhile, though, Mom brought Grady back into the kitchen and told his man 2-legged to fix Grady's supper and put it in his bowl. The man did. Mom picked up the bowl and set it and Grady down on the floor near the dining room table. Then Mom sat down at the table and started talking about the weather. The man said, "He won't eat it."

Mom said, "Wait". She kept the conversation around the table going for a coupla minutes and then without changing the tone of her voice, she motioned for the man and woman to look at Grady. Then Mom took this picksure of Grady eating in the kitchen from his bowl for the first time.

It's gonna take awhile, maybe a long while, 

but he is gonna be okay. 

Our Deelishus Cookie Recipe

Duke has received quite a few requests for our easy cheesy cookie recipe. We found it somewhere on the world wide web. I can't remember where it was, so I can't give proper credit to the originator of the cookie. If you see it somewhere else, please let me know so I can cite her or him. I use rice flour when making these treats for a bake sale because many dogs are allergic to wheat flour. Here's the recipe. Happy Baking!

THE INGREDIENTS

2 cups of rice flour

1 and 1/4 cups of grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup of olive oil

approx 10 tablespoons of water, added slowly

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix all ingredients except the water until mixture forms a dough.

Add the water tablespoon by tablespoon if necessary, until dough is a good texture.

Roll the dough out onto a floured board until it is about 1 inch thick.

Cut out shapes with a cookie or with a knife.

Put in oven on non-stick baking tray for 15 minutes.

Let cool completely before storing in an air-tight tin.

These treats may be frozen for up to a week.

Remember to expect your dog to sit politely when she or he asks for a treat.

Good Manners are vewwy vewwy important!