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.
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.
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.
The usually mild mannered Etsy shop Astrid Nicole Etcetera decided to take a trip down the wild side recently! Pictured here is the famous Justice the Dalmatian, modeling his bandana so aptly named 'On The Wild Side'. Thanks Justice, you are a fabulous model and we wouldn't be suprised if we didn't see your name coming up soon in Doggie Wear Daily!
We aren't new to our Etsy shop giveaways, but we are new to giveaways involving our blogs. All fans of AstridNicoleEtcetera on Facebook and all members of the group "Lucky Pups" My Dog Space are invited to play...and WIN this weeks (3/2 - 3/6/10) contest! Contest ends at midnight Friday 3/5, and the winner will be announced Saturday, 3/6/10.
First, the good stuff, the prize. This weeks prize is this 'what knot' bag that will have a few surprise goodies in it. What's a 'what knot' bag? It makes a great gift bag or a cool way to store all those loose 'what knots' we don't know what to do with. So how do you win this cool prize, you ask? It's a word jumble and it's easy and you can get up to three chances to win while you are right on this page. Here's the instructions:
WAY TO WIN #1: Look through this blog and find the green letters. See, you just got three! Told you it was easy. There will be 8 letters in all, so you only have 5 more to find now. When you figure the word out, don't give it away by posting it here...email me astridnicoleetcetera@mac.com .
WAY TO WIN #2: While you are here anyway, make a comment on this blogs.
WAY TO WIN #3: Take one more second, and become a follower of this blog. Then, you will be updated when we have more of these way cool giveaways coming up!
Your name will be written on a piece of paper each time you do one of the above, so that will be up to three papers = three chances to win that will be put into a bowl. On Saturday, I will have a short video of Astrid and I selecting the lucky winner from the bowl and that lucky winner will be announced via the video that will be posted right here in this blog.
Easy, huh? Thank you so much for playing our game.
March 6th update: WE HAVE A WINNER! Watch the video to find out who it isl
It's still very cold out these mornings, but Astrid and I have noticed sure signs of Spring being on it's way. Even though for many parts of the country, it seems as if Old Man Winter refuses to loosen his icy grip, nothing is stopping the axis of the earth from leaning our hemisphere closer and closer to the sun, inevitably returning us to warmer days. Today, we stopped for just a moment, noticing how the shadows from our fence are changing position and getting longer as the sun changes position. We know they are there, but seldom do we give much thought to the physical changes that are going on in the universe, every moment of every day, taking us through the natural cycle of the seasons.
At the Astrid Nicole Etcetera bandana boutique, kitties are never left out. Here you see Miss Kitty...
and Mr Kitty modeling their Valentine finery.
Many of the designs at our Etsy shop are available in sizes small enough for the littlest kitty. As always, 100% of the net sale benefits the Santa Cruz Humane Society in Nogales, AZ where Astrid made her home before coming to live with us in her forever home on December 28, 2006.
Posts
