STOP THAT! LEAVE IT! LEAVE IT! LEAVE IT!

Are you tired of being the referee with your dog and kids?

Do you just want to enjoy the time when your kids are playing amongst themselves and your dog is quietly joining them?

I bet this doesn’t last long.

You hear MOM or DAD! Fido stole my race car!! And now a chase ensues around your home. Your kids are crying, your dog is excited and you just want all of this to stop.

But you’re at a loss of what to do.

You adopted your dog from the rescue, you don’t know what your new family member went through before and you do want the best for Fido, but the constant refereeing has GOT. TO. STOP!

I completely understand.

The craziness is getting on your nerves.

All you want to do is enjoy your morning coffee with less drama.

Even though you may see Fido mirroring you and following you around to get his needs met, your kids can become the great equalizers.

Your children can also become those Fido seeks out for breakfast and dinner and to even be let out in the backyard for a potty break.

Your kids can also teach Fido news skills and be able to take some of the burden off of you.

How?

Get them involved with caretaking and training responsibilities in age appropriate ways.

Finding the motivation to jumpstart your kids involvement may be necessary if they haven’t had to do these things before.

Then as your kids see the enjoyment in spending time with Fido, the whole atmosphere of the home changes.

Here are some age-appropriate ways you can involve your kids as well as what they can learn by getting involved:

Children younger than 5 years old can help alert you to when the dog needs more fresh water. This can encourage your child in developing a sense of responsibility.

Young children can also help to stuff kongs or other puzzle toys. This not only encourages your child helpfulness, but it also develops your child’s fine motor skills of pinching small objects as well as hand eye coordinator of fitting the food or treats in a kong.

Scatter feeding is another way young children can be apart of the caretaking responsibilities. Not only does this teach children that dogs require food to survive, it also builds on your child’s gross motor skills of being able to raise arms and toss.

Older children can also take on a caretaking role too. Older children can be responsible for cleaning bowls and toys. Also, older children can practice training cues. Older children can also be responsible for Fido’s walks as long as Fido is comfortable seeing other people, dogs and experiencing trucks go by.

Shadow relaxing with his human bros!

Learning how to become more effective communicators can really fine tune how they relate to another and build their confidence in teaching another something new.

🤔 Now, since you know your kids best, how you can motivate your kids to take an active role? 🤔

Neighborly Dogs

Just this past weekend on a long run, I heard birds (not crows lol) chirping.

The days are getting longer.

While I’m still waiting on some warmer temperatures, I know they are right around the corner.

Living in a new community, I’m also looking to ensure I keep the peace with my neighbors.

There is one neighbor to the right of us who has a gorgeous garden and he’s getting himself ready for his growing season.

Jack and Bernie are not quite used to him, yet.

They love spending time outside, but with the noises and people and their dogs milling around, us together are working on them being more comfortable when our neighbors are enjoying their space too.

Here are some tips on creating a safe and fun space for your dogs in your backyard regardless how much space you have to work with this spring and summer.

  1. Create an elimination spot. How?

Bring your dog out to the same spot every time. Bring your dog out on a leash and walk them over to the area. When your dog eliminates, loads of praise and reward.

After they are done, then they can have some free time outside. If your dogs are anything like Jack and Bernie, they love sun bathing!

  1. Create an area where your dogs can have a place to dig. I know, you don’t want your dogs digging, but let’s face it. Digging is a natural behavior, so work with them and give them a chance to practice what they were born to do.

You can bury bones and such which will encourage your dog to hang out in the pit rather than finding wonderful things in your garden bed

Bernie loved his digging pit in OK. This is another project on my husband’s to do list 🙂

  1. A fence is great! A privacy fence is better.

As a renter, I don’t have the privilege of altering my own space. We did choose a home with a privacy fence. Privacy fences work not only to keep people from looking in and gaining access to our space, but it also prevents Jack and Bernie to have direct visual of everything going on the other side of the fence.

If you don’t have a privacy fence, you can can create one that doesn’t permanently alter the structures of the home you may be renting or temporarily staying in. One client used bamboo which even extended the height of the fence. This is great for her dog that was a bit of a jumper!

Bamboo for a fence visual barrier and height extender!
  1. Practice Recall with your dog.

Start when its a low distracting environment. Always making it fun when your dogs trot their way back to you.

Remember don’t be the party pooper and end their fun of being outside when they come back to you. You want to be the party too, so keep it fun and work on slow transitions back into the home. This can be as simple as a couple of rounds of hide n’ seek with you outside. Slowly transitioning the game inside with finishing up with them on some settling activities.

  1. Practice a Positive Interrupter like “whoopsie”. This is just like any cue. This is a great way for your dogs to learn how to self manage their discomfort or over arousal. When your dog learns that “whoopsie” means something great, you will be able to interrupt your dog’s behavior without you getting frustrated too.

Saying “whoopsie” and when your dog learned this is a great thing for him, your dog is more likely to come to you and stop what he’s doing instead.

Also, you saying “whoopsie” is more fun for you too. Way more fun than saying “no”.

When you say “no”, there is nothing you are saying for your dog to differently. Saying “no” only gets you frustrated.

You repeat yourself, your dog continues.

You say “no” several more times, you start getting upset.

In turn, your dog is more reluctant to return to you. Which then continues this cycle of your frustration and your dog avoiding you.

Saying “whoopsie” when followed with your dog being rewarded for responding, you’re teaching your dog to do something different!

Your yard is an extension of your home and creating boundaries for your dog gives them a clear idea of what is expected.

Enjoy the start of spring and make your outside space as relaxing as your family room for you and your pooches 🙂

Bernie enjoying the sun and his stuffie 😂

From Ears to Tails

Not all tail wags are happy wags.

Dogs communicate through their entire body.

From the tip of their ears to the tip of their tail and everywhere in between 🙂

Your dog’s body language is the insight into at least having somewhat of an idea of what your dog is experiencing and feeling.

Knowing when your dog is happy, you know these are the times when your dog is learning the most, having the most fun and the happy wag is the easiest to see and understand.

The change in placement of the tail and the frequency and direction of wag can change.

These changes display your dog’s growing discontent, anxiety and even fearfulness.

Being able to read body language will enable you to know when its ok for your dog to say hello to a guest to when its time to take a break.

This insight is a gateway into how you can modify your environment and how quickly you can progress in training a new cue to whether your dog is feeling relaxed when meeting someone new.

The latter is especially important.

Becoming fluent in reading your dog’s body language can keep everyone safe when they are interacting with your dog.

Working with children, they often share the same misconception that all tail wags are happy wags.

One of the kids I have the pleasure of working with recently, is learning just this.

When we first met, Arwen approached her new puppy over the top of her puppy’s head.

Immediately, the puppy put her mouth on Arwen’s arm.

What happened next. Arwen stopped.

The puppy learned putting her mouth on an arm got Arwen to stop and therefore the mouthing behavior is reinforced.

Arwen didn’t do anything wrong from her POV. She’s a learner.

The puppy didn’t do anything wrong from her POV. She’s a learner too.

If a teachable intervention didn’t occur at this stage and Arwen continued touching the puppy in this manner, the puppy would most likely increase the intensity of the mouthing and resort to nipping and biting.

This escalation of behavior is contingent on both what the puppy is feeling and what is going on in that moment.

This experience opened a new opportunity for learning.

These teachable moments turn into life skill development moments.

Discussing concepts of responsibility and respect in an age appropriate way for a 7 year old, Arwen was able to articulate in her way how trust can be broken if she doesn’t “listen” to what the puppy is saying.

Not only does Arwen understand how and when her puppy wants to be touched, she also learns others can respect her in the same way.

Huge milestones.

There’s always more to dog training than just teaching skills to your dog.

Life lessons abound and become real life skills!