Friends of Ranger and Abby

Sunday, August 3, 2008

"Heel Ranger. Heel Abby." Good Heel!!!

We traveled this weekend to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Menifee. They did well during the car ride, and all of the family loved meeting the babies. We brought their kennel and they slept in the backyard while we went to an early dinner at Red Lobster. We walked and fed them at grandma's and they watched "Deal or No Deal" with us.


Michael and I decided last week to hire an obedience trainer to make in-home visits. We found her on the website, www.dogservicesunlimited.com and she came over for our first lesson on Thursday night. While she is not Caesar Millan, she offered us some very practical tips to get our dogs to be polite and obedient. We started with the walk. She taught us how to teach the command "heel." I had never known what it meant to heel until Thursday night, but to heel means to walk in the position where the dog's body is behind you and its nose is right at your leg. Using your hand in front of the dog and positive reinforcement, you show them with your voice and body where you expect them to walk. When they are in the correct position, you praise with, "good heel." She also showed us how to change direction, to always ensure that you are in the lead and the dog is behind you. Other commands we practiced included "Back," "Come" and what she called an auto sit-stop. When the walker stops, the dog is to automatically sit without hearing the command "sit." That way, if the dog wants to lay down, they can without being out of command. After our meeting with her, we also decided what we are going to do with the puppies when we are at work. We are going to purchase a 5 feet by 10 feet dog run to put on the side of the house. We are going to put a raised dog house inside for them to sleep in and they can use the other area to go potty in. We are also going to put pavers down for the floor and a roof for rainy days. Our shopping list has grown!!!! Yikes!!! We just don't feel right about leaving them in the backyard all day, considering our street is so busy so they should really like their up and coming doggy motel. 

Look!!! Ranger and Abby are walking TOGETHER and Ranger isn't pulling. It's a miracle!!!
Good doggies sit when they get ready to cross the street. We must  have some really good doggies!!! 

No comments: