If you are a regular reader, you will know that I have posted methods to make your dog sit. When your dog has mastered the sit command, it is time to move onto the DOWN command.

Start by asking your dog to “sit”. By this point, treats should be phased out gradually while sitting. Today we’re asking him to go a little further for that treat. We’ll start by holding the treat under his nose and moving it slowly to the floor. As soon as his elbows hit the floor, we want to click. Repeat several times, asking him to repeat the behavior for longer each time.

Another method for this is to hold the treat in front of his nose and push the treat near his bellybutton, and click as soon as those elbows are on the floor. If the dog is not leg shy, and you are still having trouble, you can gently take your other hand and slowly and gently “sweep” the dog’s legs onto the floor. 

Broken down into steps:

1.) Ask for a “Sit” command.

2.) With the treat in your dominant hand, hold it in front of the dog’s nose. Let him sniff. 

3.) Ease the treat to the floor.

4.) When the elbows are touching the floor, click and reward.

5.) Ask for him to repeat this behavior several times, and over several sessions, and for longer each time.

Troubleshooting:

Some dogs have a harder time learning. It requires a lot of patience, but it will pay off! Keep asking for those behaviors you want!

Good luck and happy clicking!

kittams

(via flyingtigressmitgummybears)

classic

Every dog, ever.

Say you have a new dog, and you want him to learn his name.

Remember to say his name in a happy tone of voice! He should be giving you his attention when you call it.

Whether you’re adopting an older dog, or you have a new puppy, here are some tips to get you started.

Say his name in a positive, excited tone, and if you want give him a toy or a treat.

Remember it takes about two weeks for a new animal to adjust. A lot of times a dog will learn his or own name naturally, you just have to keep up the happy attitude when he hears it. 

Good luck!

I think this is a super great idea! Tie a yellow ribbon around your dog’s leash if he needs space from other animals and people.

montereybayaquarium:

Did you know that we source our plush sea otters from one of the last remaining U.S. manufacturers, the Stuffington Bear Factory in Phoenix? Our staff recently visited the factory to see just how they’re made—by hand! 

Learn more.

I want one!

Ramen Noodle is just like any other poodle: Tiny, hairy and adorable. What makes him special is his amazing recovery and his unusual way of getting around.

That’s right, he walks on his hind legs.

Little Ramen Noodle was a puppy mill dog. While he was born with all four of his legs, he broke one of them while in the custody of his previous owner. They didn’t take care of it properly. The owner surrendered him to the vet, where he was adopted by his lead nurse (Her site is linked in the source box). 

His other leg was broken due to jumping off of a chair. It’s very difficult to set bones in dogs as small as Ramen Noodle, so this leg was also amputated. 

According to her, he jumps around and plays like any other dog. He even has his own little wheelchair.

This little guy doesn’t even seem to realize he has an injury! He even goes swimming!

Just an inspirational little guy.

Last time I spoke about the Down command. I’d like to take this post to talk about the “Leave it!” command. 

Just for the sake of dog manners.

Leave it basically means “Hey, leave whatever you’re sniffing alone and pay attention to me instead!” It’s kind of like an offshoot of Watch Me! You can use this method if you’re on a walk and Fido seems fixated on a certain spot or is getting all up in another dog’s grill.

Since we’ve already mastered the other commands, we won’t really need Fido following stuff with his nose anymore (unless you’re doing a tracking type game, more on that later). 

We’ll start by holding the treat in one hand and the clicker in the other. Fido will start sniffing, licking, and maybe nibbling a bit on our hand. Don’t let him get at that treat, even if he starts pawing at you. You’ll want to wait until he stops this, and then immediately click and reward, telling him “Leave it!”  You’ll want to do this several times, until he gets the hang of it.

We’ll want to have the treat balled up in our hand while doing this training.

Now we’ll switch to standing up. We’ll have two treats for this. One that’s really tasty and delicious, and one that he likes but doesn’t go crazy for. For example, a biscuit type treat and some pieces of hot dogs. 

We’ll drop the biscuit type treat on the floor, and when he goes to retrieve it, we will block him from getting it with our foot, and tell him “Leave it.” When he loses interest, we’ll click and reward. Practice this several times! 

Eventually we should be able to do this on more interesting objects, for example, if you want him to ignore a certain cat (Tom), you’d wait until he was sniffing at Tom, tell him to Leave it! Click and reward when he followed through with the command.

Broken Down into Steps:

1.) Sit down on your dog’s level.

2.) Hold the treat in your fist. Let him sniff and lick your hand, but don’t reward just yet.

3.) Wait until he has lost interest, click and reward.

4.) Practice this until he gets the hang of it.

5.) Switch to standing, with two treats in your hand; a supper yummy treat and an okay but not favorite treat.

6.) Drop the mediocre treat on the floor.

7.) When the dog goes for it, block him with your foot.

8.) When he gives up on the boring treat, tell him Leave it! Click and reward with the awesome treat.

Troubleshooting

Remember to vary your training sessions. After about three times of him repeating command you want, challenge his brain by giving him a different command like “Sit!” and then move back to Leave it! This helps him recall things and utilize the training in the real world. Remember, the treat you reward with should always be tastier than the treat you are asking him to leave. This also works with toys. If he has a favorite toy, only bring with out when you are rewarding him.

kv96ic28:

Cat Friendly House Design (Part 2)

Many of us adore our cats; and it looks like the Japanese regard them like children. Some Japanese housing builders have come up with designs with special features for cats. Here are the images from a house called Plus-Nyan house by Asahi Kasei, a leading house builder in Japan. This could be a dream house for every cat owner and their cats, as it would require great deal of research to design these houses keeping in mind the requirements of the clients and their cats. Here are a few key features: open air cat walks, climbing steps, cat doors in every door, deck built in to the window, extra space in the bathroom designed for their compartment, cat room hidden under the stairs, special fencing to prevent cats from getting away. Apart from these, there has been use of cat friendly construction materials as well.

Accent your home with catshelves, display real cats.

(via flyingtigressmitgummybears)