Denise Fenzi (24)
I'll refer to these terms over time, so it might help if you have some idea what I'm talking about.
When I talk about management, I'm talking about preventing your puppy or dog from rehearsing bad behaviors, either while you decide to start training or until she outgrows whatever misbehavior is currently expressing itself or….forever, if that is your choice.
Management may involve applying external controls to the dog, or it may mean structuring the environment.
Let's talk about jumping up on people.
First, let's consider the dog's point of view. If your dog does manage to keep four feet on the floor, they might not be noticed! They cannot express their excitement at your presence! In contrast, if they jump on you, they will get noticed, whether you appreciate that or not. Sometimes any attention is better than no attention at all, so let this be a generic piece of advice: train your eye (and your response) to notice what goes right with your dog rather than focusing on what goes wrong.
A student recently asked how to introduce silence into her obedience work without her dog feeling punished. As a long-time obedience competitor, I do not consider silence to be punishing, but it does appear that some people see it that way. Where is the confusion coming from?
Yet!
You see, getting this new website up and running was a bit of a project and it took all hands on deck. That didn't leave much time or energy left over to figure out stuff like blog posts. But don't worry, that will change. Here are some of the things you might find here in the near future:
- Instructor blogs - and we'll ask you for topics!
- Guest blogs - maybe you'd like to write one?
- Student blogs - yeah, we definitely want to hear from our students!
- Links to Facebook lives
- Learning quizzes on a variety of topics.
- Recipes. Probably for dog treats but really, who knows?
- Surveys to help you make better decisions about your dogs. For example, which health insurance for dogs is best anyway?
- Random jokes, games
and puzzles. Because what's life without a bit of humor? - Inspirational quotes.
Are you getting the idea? Anyway, the details have yet to be worked out, but we certainly hope you'll check back here frequently because we have plans. Big plans! We just don't know exactly how those will play out.
So like I said earlier, welcome!