Archive for January, 2012

Much like people, pups can have goals as well. Well, I guess lazing around on your pillow might be amongst them, but we’re talking about the goal of good behavior. When you’re teaching your pup the proper way to act in your home, or just working on a few basic tricks to impress your friends, we have to spend time with our four-legged friends and set some goals for them achieve.

Training session

Contrary to what you might think, the shorter the training period, the more your pup will usually absorb. Because pups often have short attention spans and quite frankly would rather have fun, long training sessions can actually be counterproductive to learning. A short time period of about five minutes should be the longest you will want to continuously work on a single subject. During that time, start with your command and continue to reinforce it. Your pup may be confused at first, and a little guidance may be needed (holding your pup in place for “stay,” or laying them down to put them into the lay position). Although the time period seems short, it isn’t limited to once a day. Work with your pup at different times of the day, and give constant reminders by always utilizing your commands. While the lesson may be short, learning is done throughout their experiences during the day.

Small goals

Set small goals for you and your pup, and don’t try to achieve everything in one day. There’s a lot to learn, and if you burn them out and make learning a boring part of the day, they may not even want to listen to you. They’ll just look at you and bark, “Well, you’re no fun at all.” If you’re going to keep your pup’s attention, you need to set small learning goals during which they learn a little at a time. These goals gradually work up to the ultimate goal of good behavior.

These goals need to be steady and habitual. Set certain times each day during which you and your pup will spend time learning good behavior. Teaching a pup good behavior is like teaching them a habit. They may learn to sit today, but if you don’t continuously enforce that skill each day, they won’t make a habit of learning that’s what their supposed to do.

If you have trouble with organizing your day, or keeping track of when puppy school starts, go ahead and make a schedule. Whether it’s added into your daily planner, or you may even put your smart phone to use and set a few alarms to remind you. It’ll help you maintain the goal of working with your pup, and your pup will be able to make a habit of getting a good education.

Treat with fun

When teaching your pup, entertainment is a must. If they don’t enjoy the experience, they won’t want to do it. Make learning a treat in itself. The situation is positive for your pup, and they’ll actually want to learn good behaviors. One way to teach a pup to “stay” is to incorporate their playtime into the mix. While you’re playing a good game of tug-o-war, use your “stay” command during the game and stop playing. They may want to continue, but you just ignore them and continue to use the command until they settle down. Then use your “release” command and begin playing again. It will take time to solidify the knowledge, but it’s a process that you have to continuously work on. And the best part is that it’s fun for your pup. The learning itself becomes a game rather than school.

Making the experience fun means that you want to refrain from doing anything that would upset them during this process. Rather than scold or yell, ignore them until they are successful. If you start shouting, they may get confused or become irritated with you. When the student isn’t enjoying the class, they won’t pay attention. When you don’t pay attention, you won’t learn a thing.

Setting goals for both you and your pup keeps your pup learning at a steady pace. Rather than dump all of that puppy knowledge on your dog in a few short hours, you set a good learning pace to ensure a fun learning environment. Properly training your pup takes time. Spend a little time with them each day, and eventually you’ll find that your pup was a clever rascal after all.

I have to say, I’ve enjoyed the last few days. Though the weather has been cold, and the fluffy snow makes it hard to take care of business, the old man and I have been spending a lot of time together. And today we’ve been getting ready for a feast again (this time of year seems to have a lot of these, but I’m not complaining).

The counter is full of goodies and treats, all of which smell delicious. I can even catch a scent of an apple pie baking in Debbie’s kitchen. Perhaps she’ll bring it over when it’s done.

The old man pulls another set of goodies from within the oven and places them on the table. This is of course not a good idea, since I haven’t eaten since…well, since a little while ago, and I’m starving. I watch the old man, waiting until he’s not looking. When he turns his back to check on the oven, I make my move. My snout just barely reaches the table top, and I can smell something delicious. I take a few licks, the taste of salt, lemon, and something fishy fills my mouth. And then I discover that it’s hot. Very hot.

And not to mention the fact that I’m busted. The old man scolds me as I sneeze and rub my singed snout. It hurts, but it was worth it. At least I think so. I scamper on out of the kitchen, having carried out my mischievous plan for the day. The old man is still scolding me when I leave. It’s okay. I have to do something to keep the old man on his toes.

There’s a knock on the door, and I’m on it. While the old man takes a bit to get down the hall, it takes me a few seconds to get some traction on the wooden floor (the rug is missing for some odd reason), and I’m there. I can’t see who it is, but I inform them that it’ll be just a moment before they can come in. And then I add that when they do, don’t touch my stuff, and wipe your paws.

When the door opens, Debbie walks in carrying her famous pies, and Izzy romps through her legs and makes himself at home on the couch. But these aren’t our only guests. A few other faces have joined in, none of which I am very familiar with. A man, a woman, and a couple of their youngsters adds to the audience. While I do enjoy some company, I don’t know who they are. So I do what any other pup would do in my situation. I bark my head off.

It takes a while for the old man to calm me down, but it doesn’t change my feelings for these newcomers. After some introductions (perhaps they should have done that before they strolled into my house), things get smoothed over as a big misunderstanding.

They turn out to be some of the old man’s family who’ve dropped in for a nice visit. Though, I think they’re just after my snacks. Maybe even my bone. So, I hide my bone.

Once that’s well hid (I won’t tell you where, you might be after it, too), I rejoin the party. We snack and play games. Well, the peoples play their game, Izzy and I just do our best to get in the way. I even managed to get a hold of one of their silly hats they have to wear. After a wild chase around the house, everyone is left out of breath, but we’re all laughing nonetheless. It’s good to have fun.

It gets dark soon, but no one goes home. They just keep playing games and snacking. That’s when I notice the cups. They’re everywhere. One here and a few there. All of them are just lying around. The peoples have been drinking from them, perhaps something tasty that I haven’t had a chance to sample. I nudge one with my snout, and it falls over. Empty. I knock over another. Empty, too. Then the stranger sees me. I give him a funny look. He gives me a funnier look. Or maybe he just looks that way. Then he drops down and offers me a sample of his cup. I sniff and notice a rather pungent smell. It tingles in my nose. I like the feeling, so I drop my tongue in and drink up.

“No!”

The sound surprised me, and I ran. Unfortunately I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, and ran right into the piano bench. Then I spotted the old man. He was mad. That’s all I can say. He wasn’t mad at me though. He was mad at the other fella. After a good scolding, the old man started picking up all the cups and throwing them away. Even though he looked a little upset, the fella helped, too.

Then I was scooped up by the old man, who looked at me with that stern look and asked me if I was okay. I just hiccupped a “maybe.” He shook his head and told me that I’d done enough mischief for one year. Then we took a seat on the couch, and I dozed off in the old man’s arms.

And I didn’t even wake up until the next year.

Author:

Jason Duron is a short story writer and author of several fiction stories.  Curious and lovable as dogs can be, the Adventures of Rocky give you a chance to see daily life from a “dog’s eye view” and share in their thoughts.  Please enjoy, and we hope that you’ll feel free to comment and give us insight into your dog’s very own Rocky Adventures.

What’s with all the noise? These odd smells? Everything was wildly different when I awoke this morning. By the time I had made my way into the living room, everyone was already waiting for me. Then I saw them. Boxes and bags were strewn about underneath the tree. I don’t know if it’s good or bad. All I know was that when I went to sleep last night, the floor beneath the tree was clean. I had made sure of that. I looked up at my companion for an explanation. The old man just gives me a surprised look, but there’s a gleam in his eye that tells me he knows something.

Today must be special, because all my friends are here. Debbie and Izzy brought us a pie and even some extra goodies that were put on the table for snackies later (they think I can’t get to them, but with a little help from my friends, I’m sure we can get into some mischief). Even Christy has stopped in for a visit. Thieves is lucky enough to join us for the occasion, even though the old man was a little worried at first. But after I told him that it was cool, he agreed.

So, Thieves, Izzy, and I proceeded to inspect each other. After that was done, we moved on and started with the boxes. I took the left side of the tree, Thieves crawled into a bag, and Izzy found a box with a ribbon that he liked in particular.

When that situation turned out rather badly, we were moved out into the yard fairly abruptly. It’s all good though. I had to take care of my morning business. In all the excitement, I had neglected my over-filled bladder.

We chased each other around for a bit, talking excitedly about what we had smelled underneath the tree. I was convinced there were some flavorful eats, while Izzy claimed that his favorite flavored bone was in there somewhere. Thieves said he liked the paper that he had found in the bag. I like it too. Paper sounds cool when you thrash it around and pounce around with it. Plus, it feels funny in my mouth and on my face.

The door opened, and out popped the old man. He didn’t even get to call us. I rushed through his legs and into the room. The boxes had changed into things. Clothes, gadgets, and I even spotted a new hat for the old man. He always wears the ones that give him a lot of shade all around his head, not like the ones with a cover just over his snout and eyes. He looks good in them, and so few others seem to wear them around here.

With no time to waste, I rush over to the tree to see what’s left. Only a single box and a bag are left sitting beneath the tree. I look back at the others, wondering if one is for me. Debbie is petting Izzy, trying to calm him down, while Christy sits on the couch, cuddling with Thieves.

The old man drops down and gives me a good scratch behind the ear. He points at the remaining items and points at me. Then he does it again, but points to my two friends instead. I understand. I grab the bag, and since Thieves seemed to be a little particular to it, I gave it to him. The box with the ribbon goes to my friend Izzy. Debbie helps Izzy open his, while Thieves rushes head first into his own bag of goodies. He rustles around for moment before emerging with a scarf and a bag of treats. I lick my lips. At the same time, Izzy chomps down on his favorite flavored bone. A whole boxful for him to enjoy sits on the floor. I lick my lips again.

I’m kind of sad, I guess. But, seeing my friends so happy…makes me happy. Then the old man gives me a good scratch behind my ear. I look up to see that he has that mischievous look in his eye again. Then he slides me my own present, a little something just for me.

Author:

Jason Duron is a short story writer and author of several fiction stories.  Curious and lovable as dogs can be, the Adventures of Rocky give you a chance to see daily life from a “dog’s eye view” and share in their thoughts.  Please enjoy, and we hope that you’ll feel free to comment and give us insight into your dog’s very own Rocky Adventures.