Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Playing Indoor Games

As we in Charlotte, North Carolina experience the 18th day of temperatures in the 90s, Astrid and I turn more and more to indoor games. We try to divide them up between what we call 'active' games like hiding treats and letting Astrid use her sniffer to find them, to the more passive, 'thinking' games like the one shown here, colors and shapes.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Last Sunday's Visit

Following each visitation, we follow up with a blog on the Pet Therapy in the Carolina's  website. This was today's (6/23/10) entry.


Astrid was really on her game last Sunday (6/20) at Pineville Living and Rehabilitation center. The reason for this was, if there is one thing Astrid likes better than visiting, it's visiting when there are other dogs there too. Pineville never disappoints! Karen and her greyhounds along with Ellie Mae made for a really fun visit.


Each venue has it's plus side, and we think the plus side to the Pineville center is that there are always so many people in the hallway to visit with as we make our way from room to room. It's hard to find places in the summer's heat to take Astrid out to for a little socialization. Roaming the cool hallways this past Sunday at Pineville was a good break for all three of us from just staying home.


This picture is from a previous week, when was taking a break outside a residents room at the Alzheimer's center, the Laurels. This particular building is home to individuals in various stages of the disease known as Alzheimer's. Each resident personalizes the entrance to their own room.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Therapy Dog Visit


Astrid has been a registered Therapy Dog with Therapy Dogs, Inc. for about a year and a half. Today, we had a wonderful visit at the Pineville Living and Rehabilitation Center. Astrid was joined by three Greyhounds, all former racers that were rescued upon their retirement, plus a wonderful hound named Ellie Mae. 

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Play Your Way Through!



Whether we've adopted an older dog or selected a puppy, the daily neighborhood walk can either be a much looked forward to event or a real hassle if your dog is reactive to other dogs or humans. Astrid can be reactive (le gasp! who knew?) to a certain, very few dogs in the neighborhood, so I've tried just about every solution I could find on the 'net. Nothing works as well as the idea of 'playing our way through' difficult situations.




Playing our way through means that Astrid is focused on me and only me no matter what the distraction. Of course, we never could attempt this play if I wasn't able to get her undivided attention, so when beginning to train, the first step was to get her to focus on me when asked. The best way I found to teach this was, while holding a treat straight out to the side, calling her name and clicking and treating everytime she focused on me, looking away from the treat. If I hadn't decided on clicker training, I could have just used a "good girl" each time we had success with her focusing on me.


Getting Astrid's attention was half the battle. To apply the 'play my way' through difficult circumstances principle, I had to have some fun activities for Astrid to do after getting her attention. One of our favorites turned out to be the step game. Astrid loves the step game and we do it often and use it when passing a dog Astrid may be reactive to or simply as a way to make our walks more interesting. Basically, from a stop/sit position, I'll say 'let's take three steps'. Walking our three steps, Astrid is told to sit. In an upbeat voice, I'll say 'let's take two steps'....we do, and again Astrid will sit. Then we'll do just one giant step followed by another sit. This is great fun for Astrid, is interactive for both of us and further cements my bond with her. You'll notice in the accompanying video, that Astrid returns her focus to me after each 'segment' of the game.


Playing our way through things is a lot more fun then the tougher, stress filled ways I formerly dealt with difficult problems that arose.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Ready For the Patriotic Holidays

As we get deeper into the summer's patriotic holiday season, please remember that this can be a stressful time for dogs. Fireworks and flashing lights can be very scary. Please keep your pet safely indoors and away from the sounds of celebration!

These three, all ready for the holidays ahead, are enjoying a summer's day in their 'Peace' bandanas from the Etsy shop Astrid Nicole Etcetera where 100% of the net sale benefits the Santa Cruz Humane Society in Nogales, AZ.