Dog Training

So, in the winter months Maddy and I get extremely bored.  We usually like to go for walks,camping and what not together.  After years of looking for a dog that I could hang with,have fun with,and spend time with I finally FOUND her and, of course, we live in Massachusetts and it's frickin' cold.  During the winter months Maddy and I work on her obidence skills.  

My goal is simple.  Consistancy.  My main goal is to simply put teach Maddy and have her do everything I ask with no problems.  

Good news.  It works!  We go through this every winter.  The weather sucks,we get bored and we start a new project. 

Last winter it was whistling training.  Meaning I would whistle, which I cannot do,and Maddy would respond.  The whistle usually was a "come along".  Meaning,I whistled,she came running.  This winter has been nuts.  We moved,had to find a new place,no dogs? 

GET REAL!!! 

No way!  So, Thanksgiing,no place yet.  We finally get in right before Christmas and I kid you not.  I don't want to focus on training but I know better.  If I don't Maddy will get bored and mopey!  Soo....we do our training pretty religiously.  

Every year mama has to come up with new plans.  This year I decided to try to use a different approach.  Last year I eliminated hand gestures.  I now wanted to see what would happen if I brought them back in.  

Originally, we used positive reinforcment training to get her to listen and I have to say people have asked me if I do hours,and hours,of work with her. No.  Our training is broken up!  I have school,I hae work and if we spent hours doing anything it would be pretty miserable so our training periods are shorter.  Here's a simple breakdown of how to train your dog if you'd like to use positive reinforcment.  

First, here's a definition of "positive reinforcment training".   

Positive reinforcment training is when you train using positive techniques.  I do not hut my dog.  EVER!!!    Maddy likes food enough to work for food but she loves praise,hugs,kisses and just hearing how good she is even more!   

From the beginning, I made sure that Maddy knew she was safe!  We would never,ever do anything that hurt her.  As a result she trusts me to be her mom and do what she needs to do.    The training will always be fun and the expectations are clear! 

The commands are short and simple.  "Sit", a simple gesture of the hand coming down, "stay" is a hand out, and our favorite is "come on".  Come on means,"We're going to hang together and relax."      

"Come on." is our very favorite command!  Mine too.  Honestly!   We LOVE being together and it's just more so now because my nephews,my sister my sister and brother in law are not living with us anymore.  Maddy spends her time,when I'm at school or work,with my parents and when I"m home....we're together!   

Training,for us,is NOT an all-day,all the time occurance and honestly,I'm not a professional and p.s. my last two dogs were not trained well.  Maddy is different.  Maddy is special.  We work together and it takes our family to make this work!  We are all committed to training Maddy,to making sure Maddy is well-behaved and it works.  She is so good!  

Anyway, that's our dog training technique.  Please,feel free to ask questions or share your stories!