A gaggle of geese

First day back with our dog training group this year and already it's been eventful! Polly worked hard in class this morning, doing a great job of showing off her obedience moves in our local park, before being allowed a free run with her doggy friends. Then, after a quick circuit of the bushes, she took off in the direction of the main lake and the next thing I heard was a splash and indignant squawks from a gaggle of geese as Polly chased them into the lake,  jumping in behind them! By the time I caught up with her ladyship, she had plonked her paws on top of a large piece of wood at the edge of the lake and was waiting helplessly to be rescued. There was nothing for it but to brave the muddy bank and haul madam unceremoniously out by her collar. Needless to say, she thanked me by shaking as hard as possible and soaking me. One thing's for sure, there's never a dull moment when you are a dog owner!

It has been a lively start to Wednesday and Polly and I have had a whale of a time together. She's snoozing at home in the sunny spot now while she dries off - this time after a bath and a banana and mango shampoo.

It would have/should have, been my Dad's 82nd birthday today and I know he would have enjoyed hearing about Polly's antics. I still miss being able to share these simple things with him over a cuppa, or on the telephone, like we used to.

Happy Birthday to you Dad, 

I miss you. 

Love always, 

PJ xxx

The road to obedience

I have been obedience training with Polly in my favourite park today. The trees were beginning to turn red and gold, sun shone through the early morning mist, dew glistened on the grass ... and my beautiful girl was in fine fettle!

Although at four and a half, Polly is now a well mannered girl, we thoroughly enjoy obedience work, so continue to attend 'Real Life' classes regularly. We have worked hard to overcome the typical golden retriever stubborn streak, to build focus and most importantly of all, to create a close bond between us.  I don't mind saying, I am very proud of all Polly has achieved since we first began training together four years ago.

If you would like to know more about the trials and tribulations of training a dog, particularly a golden retriever, please visit Polly's blog. It hasn't been updated for a while (I never seem to have the time lately but am hoping to bring it up-to-date soon) but there is plenty of information, a list of books I found helpful and many very honest accounts of the challenges Polly and I faced along the road to obedience.

I hope you can 'paws-a-while' to enjoy the read and if you are a new goldie owner, I hope the blog helps you meet the challenges that may come your way and also that it gives you encouragement to persevere with the training. It is worth the effort, truly! Golden Retrievers are such fabulous dogs when they trust you and are given positive, fun and enthusiastic training.

http://pollyandpaula.blogspot.co.uk/

:-)

A howling success

Storm Aileen howled around the UK through last night, but I didn't hear a thing as I'd spent the day playing with my Grandson and walking my girls, so slept like a log!

It is still gusty here today, but there's warmth in the bright autumn sunshine and the morning has been perfect for walking. I arranged to meet our dog training group at a local country park with Polly and Betty earlier, so the girls have been playing with their pals, obedience training, chasing balls into the pond and hunting for fallen apples. They have had so much fun ... dogs sure know how to party when they get together!

:-) 

Sniffin' the breeze

It's been all about dogs today. :First, a town based obedience training session for Betty featuring scary traffic, echoe-y subways, crazy people (!) busy pavements, litter, the river, ducks, pigeons, steep steps, a wobbly bridge, ... you name it, we had it thrown our way. I was so proud of my little 'un, she coped brilliantly and definitely earned a run in the park with her little staffy pal afterwards.

Home for a bite of lunch, then 'ding dong, round 2'!  A lovely off lead walk with Polly through pretty woodland and an orchard, then across a couple of huge fields, pausing to sniff occasional blades of grass, leaves and of course, the breeze! Eventually we turned back to retrace our steps and headed home at a leisurely pace. I love walking with my big girl in the Spring sunshine and except a few bulldozers carving up the local landscape (grrr!) there wasn't a soul to be seen today.

Perfick!

:-)

Here comes Summer!

Polly and Betty are enjoying their Summer walks, bouncing through as much long grass as they can find and generally making the most of outdoors now the warmer, drier (yay!) weather has at last arrived.  Betty's obedience training is coming along well and her tendency to pull is on the decline (hallelujah!) She's loving her 'Real Life' training classes (as is Polly) and I must admit to a sneaking pride whenever I take her out and about, because she is so eager to show off how well behaved she can be (as you can imagine, this is owner heaven)!  Just in case I am in danger of sounding a little too pleased with myself though, you may be delighted to hear my clever little girl has recently also learnt how to roll in fox poo .... urgh!

As for big sis Polly, she's now three and a half and has settled beautifully.  For a while last year, she went through a phase of being a bit grumpy with other dogs if she was lead walking with little sis (I think she thought she needed to guard me and Betty) but with plenty of consistent training around other lots of different dogs (our Real Life training classes have been a terrific help in this respect) she's much improved and now able to say hello to oncoming dogs in a calm and friendly manner again. She's also much calmer with other dogs generally when she plays off lead now. I can't recommend consistent, targeted training highly enough, as it really can pay dividends when you stick with it and make an effort to look at life through your dog's eyes.

We'll be heading off to Devon for a holiday with our girls this Summer to explore some sandy beaches, green fields, leafy lanes, woodland pathways, maybe an ancient castle or two and of course, a few of those yummy Devonshire cream teas ... can't wait!

A walk on the town side ..

I took Betty 'Real Life' training in town with our obedience group this morning.  We tackled heavy traffic, narrow pavements, sirens, lorries, pelican crossings, a railway station, prams, walking sticks, shop doorways, a graveyard (!) and the formidable walls of Maidstone prison; in fact she coped with heaps of unfamiliar sights, sounds and situations and even visited a pet shop! I couldn't resist taking a quick pic of her doing a very smart sit stay right next to the munchie chew bars ... they were quite a temptation for such a young dog, but she was a very good girl and didn't put a paw wrong.

Training Betty to be a polite pup while we're out and about is hard work, but genuinely rewarding ... and I am proud to say she is coming along a treat!  

Good girl Betty Boo, you certainly earned your treats today!

:-)

Positively staying in step..

Training this little pickle to walk politely on her lead is proving a challenge.  At eight months of age, she now pulls like a proverbial steam engine.

Walking Betty on her lead together with big sis Polly, just isn't practical at the moment.  It's a constant strain on my arm joints .... not to mention my stress levels! So I have had to walk my girls separately most days, to give me time to focus on teaching Betty lead etiquette.

Little Miss Boo loves to live life in the fast lane and is always very excited by the big wide world, so wants to explore at super puppy speed, which as you can imagine, is not conducive to walking calmly.  She is an absolute sweetheart and so much fun, but boy oh boy, can Betty Boo pull!

In search of good advice, I have watched a stack of 'You Tube' 'how to teach your dog ...' videos, listened to advice from all kinds of doggy quarters, read heaven only knows how many dog training/psychology/behaviour advice books and have been taking Betty to obedience training school for the past four months.  I have to say, it is truly amazing just how much conflicting advice is spouted when it comes to dog training!

I absolutely loathe the notion of aversive methods to train, so for my girls there will never be choke chains, electronic collars, or the like, no matter how long it takes, nor how difficult/frustrating it is, to train them to a reliable obedience standard.  In fact I don't even like to walk them on their collars, I prefer harnesses as I think they are kinder.  After educating myself as fully as I could manage, my heart and common sense told me instinctively that 'Positive Reinforcement' would be the right dog training path for us to take.

Betty is actually pretty darned obedient off lead, so I am sure that if I can teach her how to walk more slowly by my side without a lead, I should be able to teach her how to apply that skill to lead walking. So, this week we've been playing games indoors and also on the local playing fields, to encourage my lively girl to stay in step with me, firming up her focus on my movements by using a clicker to click and treat whenever she put herself into the correct position ... she loves to learn in this playful way and that little blue clicker really captures her interest. There are no harsh yanks on her lead and no cross words while we do this, just gentle, calm encouragement and praise, as Betty works out what is expected of her.  

Today I noticed a marked improvement on our lead walk as she began to make the connection between our games and walking on her lead outdoors. Of course,  there were times when she still forged ahead, but when she pulled too far forward I simply stopped walking and waited until the penny dropped and she turned back and positioned herself by my side again.  As our walk progressed, I noticed she was spending more and more time by my side and checking with me to confirm she was doing okay ... progress, yay!

I am under no illusions this is early days, after all, the world is a very exciting place for a perky young pup in her first year exploring the great outdoors ... and dog training is hard work, time consuming and requires a great deal of commitment.  However, I am beginning to see light at the end of our lead walking tunnel and am hopeful it might not be too much longer before both my girls are able to enjoy a polite stroll by my side on their leads, without Betty pulling us all along single pawed!

:-)