TailSpin Dog Lotto! (and giveaway)

Working in partnership with the Dog Saving Network, the Chicago based pet company Bumperpet  is holding a monthly lottery in which a shelter dog spins the wheel for the winners! You visit the link, and pick three numbers between 1 and 20 (the next drawing is July 1). 3 correct numbers is the grand prize, but the runner up (2 correct numbers) doesn't go away empty handed either!

For your edification (because I didn't know either), the Dog Saving Network is a positive reinforcement based training organization (and a 501(c)3 not-for-profit). Their goal is to help reduce the number of healthy dogs euthanized in this country every year; the statistic we often see bandied about is that behavioral issues are a top reason for dogs being surrendered to shelters. The Dog Saving Network would like to turn that around. The dogs they use in shows are rescued and have been clicker trained to perform their game show tricks.


So, not only do you have a chance to win a lottery, but one lucky Elka Almanac reader will win a t-shirt from Bumperpet.com. Their dog breed t-shirts are really neat (and include Doberman! Is it necessary to emphasize how much this thrills me?); each shirt is a silhouette of a different dog, with words spelling out the qualities. If you're not really a "dog breed" person, there's also a "cat" t-shirt and a "dog" t-shirt! They have a lot of other neat products as well, so even if you don't want to enter the giveaway, you should really check them out. Then can even do a personalized shirt from a picture (not part of the giveaway)!

So, to enter the giveaway here (to enter the TailSpin Lotto, go to http://www.bumperpet.com/lotto): in the comments, tell me about a trick you taught your dog (or cat!) to perform. Please make sure you're either signed in, or include your name; I cannot give awards to anonymous entrants! The winner will be chosen, as always, by Elkacopter. Giveaway is open from today, which is Tuesday, June 25 2013 until 11:59 P.M. (Eastern) on Sunday, June 30 2013. Good luck, everybody! I look forward to reading your answers.

The ONE thing

I see this topic a lot on dog message boards. I figured I'd ask it here, because after all, you guys are my "dog people" too!

What is the ONE thing you wish you knew before you brought your dog home?

I of course can't limit it to one. But I've got a solid five, anyway.

Training Dreams

Because of the nature of my Google alerts, an article on dog training at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. Because I am super smart, I both went "Hey, working dog center?" and "are they the same people that do PennHip?" (yes, they are. ish. It's at the University of Pennsylvania, anyway. And they have the same little ikon in the Chrome tabs that I'm looking at. Good enough for me!). Of course my next question was "Well, what kind of working dogs?", and that took me a surprising amount of time to figure out (a fail on my part, not theirs)

On Our Sunday Walk...

Today on our walk, we saw:

An Airdale Terrier on a Flexi lead.
A Rat Terrier on a Flexi lead.
A Put Bull Terrier (I think) on a Flexi lead.

I don't have pictures, because I don't want to be a weirdo who randomly takes pictures of people on the street, but do they have the corner on the market, or what?

Book Review: Teaching the Dog to Think, by Kimberley Davis

I learned about the book Teaching the Dog to Think, by Kimberly Davis, from a post at Chronicles of a Puppy Walker. It was many things that I'm interested in: a book about dog training, a book about "thinking dog" training, and free. For the Kindle, anyway. Not that I have a Kindle, but they have an application for every platform. So, I went to Amazon, downloaded the app, downloaded the book, and blitzed right through it.

Davis starts out the book with her first night going to agility class with her rough collie, Willow. Willow is a young, exuberant dog, and he frequently has problems with being nutso and pulling on the leash, so he wears both a flat buckle collar and also a choke chain.

Book Review: Soldier Dogs, by Maria Goodavage

I anticipated the publication of Soldier Dogs for a long time. Not only am I a working dog nerd (which yes, extends to military working dogs) but I also read Dogster.com daily, and Maria Goodavage is the news editor there. When I didn't win Dogster's giveaway for the book, I ordered it through the library to check out and looked forward to its arrival. I'm leaning towards buying it; I really did quite like it.

Blog the Change, April 15, 2012

Well, I daresay my Blog the Change platform is the same as it was back in January.  Train your dog! Your life, and hers, will be better.

I don't know a lot of dog owners, at least not to talk to at length. I try to "spread the gospel" anyway, as it were. One library patron got a puppy a few months back, and lately has come in describing how the puppy is chewing everything up. Oh, we've dealt with that, haven't we? I recommended feeding her only out of Kongs, which would contain her regular meals but mixed with a bit of yogurt and freezing, to use up that mental energy. Apparently the puppy does well in other realms, with sitting nicely for her meals, and retrieving. 

One of my friends, when visiting somebody else, taught the dog in that household "touch". Another friend's dog knows "roll over", which Elka does not, by the by. Any time Elka is on her back, it is on her own terms, and it's typically on a couch and on an object of her vigorous affection.

"Touch" and "roll over" might seem like silly tricks. "Touch", however, can lead to other things, like closing doors or cabinets, or send aways in agility and other dog sports."Roll over" might be pure fun, but you all know that I think trick training is valuable in and of itself. When you do trick training, you're still spending time with your dog and bonding, and working together. When Elka and I trick train, it's also typically when I bust the clicker out, and she's overjoyed to see that happens. The clicker means treats, and Elka loves treats. She also kind of likes getting something right, which is nice. 

Elka's "drop it" is still quite nice. She had a piece of candy in her mouth that somebody had let fall on the floor, unnoticed (a Sour Patch Kid). My fiance said "drop it", and she did immediately. I'm so very proud of that in her.

Dogs that you spend time with aren't bored. Dogs that you train don't tend to get cast aside and end up in shelters. Rescue, maybe, because sometimes home situations occur that are unavoidable. I think it was in Playtraining Your Dog that Patricia Gail Burnham said something about how people will sell their conformation champions, but asking somebody to sell their titled Utility Dog? No way, José. Granted, there's also a degree of training that goes into conformation dogs, and I don't know that owners give them up that easily either, but every owner is different, and competitors may be in it for different things, to be sure.

Something Waggin' Train Your Dog Month Challenge

So, on January 3, Pamela at Something Wagging posted the Something Waggin' Train Your Dog Month Challenge. I immediately jumped on the bandwagon (could you imagine me not?) and stated

Oh, this is a great idea!
I’d like to teach Elka how to close a door. I’d also like to teach her the every so cute “say your prayers”. We’ll see if I make headway on both, or either!

See, January is what the Association of Pet Dog Trainers has designated as Train Your Dog month. On that site, they state "We selected January as the perfect month because so many dogs and puppies are adopted or purchased from breeders and brought home during the winter holidays. Our desire is to help these new pet parents start off the new year right with their newest family member", which I think is great, and I definitely support!

Elka tends to be a big fan of training sessions, because she loves treats! When she hears the clicker rattle as I get it out, she comes running, and watches treat preparation with enthusiastic interest.

Spreading the Good Word

I work at the library, and often, though perhaps not as frequently as you might thing, I have opportunity to talk with other dog owners. Today I had a particularly fulfilling conversation.

A woman came to the desk, looking slightly lost. She said "I've tried to look this up in the catalog, but maybe I'm spelling his name wrong? It's a dog trainer. Cesar something..."

As you might imagine, from reading my blog, I flinched a bit. But, I looked him up, and explained that the name wasn't spelled like "Julius Caesar". I gave her a piece of paper with the call number, took a breath, and said "That's where you'll find his books, but may I make a few suggestions? I find his methods to be more coercive than strictly necessary, especially depending on the breed you're interested in. I have a Doberman, and they're just so smart, that kind of thing isn't necessary, and might backfire."