Who's a Canine Good Citizen?

Athena is!

If you would have asked me a year ago, I would have told you that Athena was far from ever passing the AKC's Canine Good Citizen test.  She was simply naughty with a capital N.  But, within the last year we've trained and trained and trained some more.  Athena's training has included Basic Obedience, Beginning Canine Life and Social Skills, Intro to Flyball I & II, Canine Good Citizen Prep, and she's currently enrolled in a K9 Conditioning class.  Not to mention the countless hours of at-home training, out-and-about training, and additional flyball training that have all helped Athena to gain confidence which is something that she didn't walk out of the shelter with one year ago.

Photo via Personal Beast

On Saturday afternoon, Athena showed off her mad skills to the CGC test evaluator and passed her Canine Good Citizen test!  Almost all parts of the test went off without a hitch (check out the elements of the CGC test here if you're unfamiliar).  The one part that I was most nervous about was the part that we had an initial fumble on.  Athena was a bit too excited during the "reaction to another dog" segment.  She tried to pull towards the dog to get a sniff and struggled to keep her attention on me (really though, I had no treats so I couldn't really compete with the other dog!).  She was able to retest this section of the test at the end and was luckily much more calm and collected.  I couldn't be more proud of my girl for passing her CGC!

Congrats, Bean!  You are my rockstar!  Now we need to think about our next training goals...any suggestions?!

To Tug, or Not to Tug?

When we first brought Athena home from the shelter, we didn't really know what to do with her.  We knew that she loved to chase balls, so we played fetch with her in the yard.  Soon we realized that Athena also loved to tug and at the time we didn't see anything wrong with a game of tug.

Vintage Athena on her first day home from the shelter with her tennis ball

Will tug turn Athena into an aggressive pack leader?:

As I began to delve deeper into dog ownership and training information, I read so many things that said not to tug with dogs for various reasons.  Some said that tugging would "make your dog aggressive" while others said that "if you don't win every game of tug, your dog with see itself as pack leader."  All of this mumbo jumbo scared me, so we stopped playing tug for many months.

Athena's brand new "Go Ducks!" tug that I recently made for her

Tugging for dog sports:

That is until we started flyball training.  We quickly learned how integral a tug is for flyball as it is with most other dog sports.  Essentially, dogs are rewarded with a game of tug after they successfully complete their "job."  In flyball, Athena is rewarded with a game of tug for successful box work, passing, recalls, and runs.  We rarely use treats at flyball practice, because tug is a HUGE reward for Athena.

Miss Ball Obsessed even gets tennis balls on her tug toy!

Creating a well-mannered, focused, and fun, dog with tug:

One major thing that I've learned from using tug in flyball is that there must be rules to the game for it to be successful.  Athena had to learn to tug on cue.  She is not allowed to touch her tug until she hears the cue "tug."  It was also extremely important that we teach Athena a solid "drop it" command for the game.  This was a challenge for us, because before flyball started, we really struggled with the "drop it" command.  Now, Athena does a solid "drop" and will drop her tug and other toys as soon as she hears the cue (dropping her ball at flyball remains a challenge even though she will gladly drop her ball at the park, however...).

Tug has become a bonding experience for us and is a game that both Athena and us enjoy playing together.  It is a great way to practice impulse control because we ask Athena to get revved up, and then expect her to settle whenever we ask during the game.  This was definitely a struggle for Athena in the beginning, but she quickly learned that if she didn't follow the rules, she didn't get to play the game.  Tug is also a great energy releaser and is a perfect rainy day activity because it really does exercise Athena and get her extremely tired out (especially with all of the mental training that we add in).

Rules of tug:

When we first started teaching "drop" with the tug, I would say the "drop" cue once and if Athena didn't drop the tug, the tug went bye bye until our next tug session.  Five or ten minutes later I'd get the tug back out and try again.  Athena quickly learned that if she didn't "drop" the tug, the game would end as quickly as it started.  She will still sometimes take a bit too long to drop the tug, so now instead of ending the game and putting away the tug, I will ask her to perform a series of commands before starting a new game (for example I might have her do a sit, down, sit, spin, tug) to get her refocused and to remind her that there are rules to the game.

Raring to go!

We also practice the "tug" and "drop" command with many of Athena's toys.  Although she has a couple of tugs that we specifically use for practice and at-home tug sessions, we wanted to make sure that Athena understands that "tug" and "drop" apply to other objects such as her babies.  This has really helped her to better understand the true meaning of "drop."  It is a true miracle that Athena has learned this amazing skill!

Here's a great resource for teaching the "drop" command using food & tug (which we did):

Teach Dog to Drop It / Give by Playing Tug of War

I'm curious, do you play tug with your dog?  If you do, what rules must your dog abide by?

Journey to Find the Freedom No-Pull Harness

As you know from yesterday's post, we're trying to get a handle on Athena's walking skills.  When we first brought her home in July, she quickly learned how to walk on a loose leash, but as the weather started to get crummy here in Portland, us humans really slacked off in the walking department.  We are totally to blame for Athena's recent pulling habit.

Athena modeling her Freedom No-Pull Harness

Easy Walk Harness:

The first day we brought Athena home from the shelter we had her fitted for an Easy Walk Harness because we had heard that it was the best for training a dog how to walk nicely on leash.  It worked well for a while, until Athena developed some pretty nasty hot spots under her arms.  After the sores healed, we tried the Easy Walk again, only for the hot spots to return with a vengeance.

As Two Pitties in the City would say, here's vintage Athena on her first day home from the shelter wearing her Easy Walk Harness!

Gentle Leader:

That's when we ditched the Easy Walk for the Gentle Leader Head Halter.  At that point we couldn't find any body harnesses on the market that would eliminate the rubbing under Athena's armpits, so we decided to try out a head halter.  Besides tricking people into believing that Athena was wearing a muzzle, the Gentle Leader actually worked some pretty good magic to help Athena in the walking department.  We continued to use the Gentle Leader through our very first Respectabulls walk, but Athena's pulling in the presence of other dogs was no match for this head harness.  She was left with deep groves on her muzzle from the rough nylon of the harness.

Another vintage Athena, this time wearing the Gentle Leader

Holt Walking Collar:

So, we invested in a more high-tech version of the Gentle Leader called the Holt Walking Collar (also known as the Head Halti).  If you're in the market for a head halter, this is definitely the best compared to the Gentle Leader in my opinion.  Although the harness is much bulkier on the face (making it appear even more like a muzzle), it is thickly padded and doesn't twist from one side of Athena's face to the other (a major flaw of the Gentle Leader).  We ordered ours for a very fair price on Pet Mountain.

Athena wearing the Holt Head Harness

Freedom No-Pull Harness:

The Freedom No-Pull Harness had been on our radar for quite some time, but it wasn't until Doodlebug's recommendation that we gave in and purchased it.  We were pretty much sold when we heard that this harness has soft velvet on the underside to eliminate chaffing.  I was positive that this would be gentle enough for Athena's sensitive skin, but I decided to first contact the Wiggles, Wags and Whiskers company to make sure.  I wrote them an e-mail explaining Athena's discomfort with body harnesses and asked if they had heard from any customers who had seen an improvement with this harness.  Here's the response they sent me:

"The velvet lining on the harness does really help prevent the rubbing and chafing sores but depending on how the harness is fitted, your dog could possibly still have some armpit irritation.  I wish I had an absolute answer for you, I am so very sorry.  I will say in 99.999% of all dogs, it eliminates the problem, but there is occasionally one that still has an issue."

With that, we took Athena into our favorite local pet shop for a fitting.  Technically she should wear a medium, but we decided to go with the large to allow for extra room in the armpit department.  We also bought the 1" training leash that has a double connection.  The great thing about the Freedom No-Pull Harness is that it has a connection point on the chest and on the back.  You can attach a double connection leash to both, or simply attach a leash to one or the other depending on the kind of puller that you're dealing with.  This leash has turned me into a 4' leash lover.  No longer do we take Athena out for a walk on a 6' lead.  I feel like I have much more control with a shorter leash, and it helps Athena to stay right by my side.

So far we've been very pleased with this harness and we're happy to report that Athena has had zero armpit irritation!  We've been using the harness on daily walks, for jogging practice, and at flyball practice.

Freedom No-Pull Harness/Holt Head Harness Combo:

One of the very popular trends on Respectabull walks is for dogs to wear multiple harnesses for added support.  The most common combo is the Freedom No-Pull Harness and the Holt Head Harness.  We gave this combo a try on our last walk and did notice a bit of an improvement in Athena's racing walking in the group.  We attach a double connection leash to the back clip of the Freedom Harness and to the front clip on the Holt Harness (leaving nothing attached to the front harness clip).

Mr. Moose modeling this harness combo

Do you walk your dog on a harness?  Which one (or combo) works best for your dog?

Dear Doodlebug: My Mom's More Fun Than Dirt!

Hi guys!  Athena here.  If you follow me on Facebook, then you probably saw last week that I requested the very intelligent advices of Sir Doodlebug of Love and a Six-Foot Leash to help me with a very important matter.  He responded ever so wisely to the following question:

Dearest Doodlebug, I think “going on a walk” actually means “go on a sniffing adventure.”  We live in the city, so there are lots of stop signs, mailboxes, bushes, trees, stairs, buildings, and other smelly landmarks. Once my nose is in full sniff, my mom has a really hard time to get my brain to focus on her.  I am wondering if you have any advices on how to help me to keep my nose out of the bushes and focused on my mom. Love, Athena from Pitlandia

Look at my past-self here in full sniff

Basically, I LOVE to go on walks, but only because it involves stopping every 10 seconds to sniff.  There have been many times where my mom has almost fallen right on top of me when I've ran in front of her to get my nose to some smelly stuff.  She was getting quite irritated and threatened to never take me on a walk again! I figured that I better ask the smartest dog I know what to do, and he responded ever so wisely last week on his blog.

In a nutshell, here's the training plan that Doodlebug laid out for me and my mom:

• My mom must always be "More Fun Than Dirt!"during each and every walk which means...
• She must bring all her funs!
• She must bring Athena's favoritist treats
• She must be in her BESTEST mood
• She must have her lovely petting hands ready and available
• She must show her prize winning pearly whites
• She must have her ninja-fast reflexes ready to reward!

And these are Doodlebug's very strict instructions for implementation:

• Start with mastering short distances and then move on to the hard stuff...
• Thean gives full attentions up and down the driveway
• Thean gives full attentions up and down the street
• Thean gives full attentions around the block
• Thean gives full attentions around the neighborhood
• Thean gives full attentions in new locations

So, how's the training going you ask?:

EXCELLENT!  My mom is no longer threatening to cancel my walks.  We have gone on a very fun and exciting walk every-single-day since receiving Doodlebug's brilliant advices!  Who knew my mom could be so fun!  She definitely brings all of the good stuff like chopped up beef roll, her special praising voice, and her mega fast reflexes.  I mastered the driveway in no time at all and am already taking 30 minute walks around the neighborhood.  My mom says she'd like to report that I've only had two sniffing attacks during all of our training time and they were both her fault because her ninja reflexes weren't working correctly.  I seriously think that my mom is now way more exciting than any ole' smelly pole!

Clickity, click:

My mom has also been bringing her handy dandy clicker along on all of our walks.  She usually just pulls this out for our trick training (OMG did you see that I learned how to roll over yesterday?!), but now she brings it on walks so that I know exactly what I'm doing to earn the yummy food.  I get a click for walking right beside her (no pulling), giving eye contact (not scoping out my next sniffing location),  "leaving it" (if I get tempted to check something out without permission), and for just being the bestest Thean Bean that I can be!

Ok, ok, we do some trick training on our walks too!

Presentation of my progress:

Here's a little video showing my new and improved walking skills.  Midway through the video you'll notice a very long stretch of grass and trees on my left.  This is the prime potty location for the many doggies that live in the nearby apartment complex.  There was once a time when my mom couldn't get my nose out of that grass.  Well, look at me now!  Not once did I stop for a sniff.  I'd say that makes my mom More Fun Than Dirt!

Thanks for your assistance with this matter, Doodlebug.  I advise all of my doggie friends out there to submit your pressing questions to be answered in an upcoming Dear Doodlebug column!

One Stop Shopping

Currently we are enjoying a week off in celebration of spring break.  So far our break has consisted of many Athena related activities.  Yesterday we decided to take a trip to Home Depot, not because we needed anything there, but just because they allow dogs in the store.

Usually when we want to get out of the house, we either head to the park or to a pet store because they are the only places that we know of that allow dogs.  Home Depot is one of our go-to places for extra special Athena outings because they also allow dogs in the store.  We first learned about the possibilities for dogs at Home Depot from our good friends at Two Pitties in the City who often take Miss M and Mr. B to the store during the snowy Chicago winters.

The particular Home Depot that we frequent is very dog friendly (and I've heard that most of them are) and it's not uncommon for us to see other dog shoppers around the store.  Many employees will stop to talk to us about Athena and will often share stories of their rescue dogs at home.  Athena also gets lots of exposure to new people because there's always a few people who ask to say hi to her.

Our favorite thing to do in Home Depot is to practice Athena's down-stay.  We pick an aisle with very interesting materials (such as the light fixtures) and think of all of the possibilities for our dream home while Athena quietly lies next to us.  This is great practice for Athena to work on her training commands in a place other than the living room that.  Home Depot is filled with distractions such as people, rolling carts, loud noises, and different smells.  This is a great environment for a Canine Good Citizen in Training!

Not only do we do training exercises while in the store, but we also allow Athena to sometimes lead the way with her nose.  She is always eager to sniff around and poke her nose into different corners and onto different shelves.  You won't ever find her sniffing around the rolls of carpet though.  For some reason, she's completely terrified of those big rolls.

What are some places that you take your dog for extra special training?  Have you ever taken your dog to Home Depot?

Flyballin'

Last week we shared a little bit about Athena's progress in her beginning Flyball class.  We received some great advice for how to manage Athena's socialness during class, and this past weekend's class was much more successful than the last!

Instead of barking in her crate the entire hour and a half, Athena spent Sunday's practice in the car where she was able to relax and be bark free.  I noticed that each time we took her out of the car and brought her into the training facility she was WAY less anxious than she had been when we would let her out of the crate.  I think that the car solution seems to be a great one for keeping Athena's anxiety and stress low and helping her to focus on the game rather than on the presence of other dogs.

Here's a video of Athena jumping over eight hurdles (can you tell how much she LOVES Flyball?):

Yes that's my squealing voice in the background encouraging Athena to run to me for some fun tug time with this beast of a tug toy:

This tug started out with four brand new tennis balls, but in the end, only two of them survived.  I'll just say that Athena's distraction issues were partially cured due to this miracle working tug toy.  She thinks it's the greatest thing to tug with in the whole world!  Unlike last week, this week Athena completely ignored another off-leash dog for some time to tug with her new toy.

Don't forget to enter the February Bow of the Month Giveaway.  A winner will be chosen tonight (February 6th) at 9 PST!

Social Butterfly vs. Flyball Champion

After deciding to take a break from formal obedience training at the start of the new year, we enrolled Athena in an intro to flyball class.  Our intentions for starting flyball were to 1) try out a dog sport, 2) provide Athena with new experiences, 3) incorporate distractions with training, and 4) keep ourselves from getting lazy with Athena's training.  We chose flyball over other dog sports such as agility and rally because Athena is ball obsessed.  Well, little did we know that "ball obsession" is not exactly a good quality for a flyball dog to possess.  But, aside from Athena's desire to run after all of the tempting tennis balls during practice, we think we may have found her calling.

Jumping over 1, 2, 3, FOUR hurdles!

During our first two flyball practices Athena has learned how to jump over hurdles, turn over a hurdle, jump on a wall board and back over the hurdle, and pass another dog.  Athena is very much a tug loving dog, so she's thrilled that her reward for doing anything at flyball practice involves tugging.

Practicing turning over a hurdle

To be honest, we are flyball rookies.  We really don't know much about the sport and therefore have no idea if Athena is good at any of the elements of flyball.  But, I've got to say that I am majorly impressed with Athena.  We went into the first practice thinking that she MIGHT jump over one hurdle at the end of the 6 week class.  I can't believe that last night we saw her jump over FOUR hurdles in a row AND jump onto the wall board and over a hurdle.  I think with the right training Athena could be a serious flyball competitor.

Me showing Athena how to jump over hurdles

Except that there's just one problem.

Athena keeping her eye on her doggy friends

Athena is a social butterfly and flyball is not a sport for dogs who have trouble being calm around other dogs.  She wants to play with all of the other dogs so badly that she FREAKS out when she sees them having their turn to run.  We are the ones in the class with the annoying dog who barks and whines in the crate the entire hour and a half.

Get me outta here!  I want to meet that doggy!

During last night's practice we attempted "passing" another dog off-leash (I lure Athena towards me with a tug toy as she runs past another off-leash dog who is being lured by their owner.)  Apparently other dogs are WAY more exciting than me (even when I'm using my high pitched squealing voice) because Athena darted towards the other dog in an attempt to play with them each time we tried to pass.  This is definitely a no-no for a flyball dog.

Other doggy running, oh my!

So, if we ever want Athena to actually compete in flyball we have to get her social butterfly-ness in check.  I am currently reading Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed in an attempt to find some strategies that may work to keep Athena's attention on me rather than on the other dogs.

Do you have experience working with a social butterfly?  What have you done to keep your dog focused during dog sport training and competition (or just in life in general)?

Training a Scared Pup to 'Hup'

Athena is a scaredy dog, there's no doubt about it.  New situations, experiences, and objects bring out her timidness and I am often left wondering how she spent her first year of life because it sure seems as though she must not have gotten out much.

Over the past 6 months Athena has come a long way and has become tolerant of many of the things that she once found fearful.  When we first brought Athena home, there were times when I literally hugged an orange construction sign, talked to our garbage can, and gently pet the vacuum cleaner, all in an attempt to show Athena that "if I can do it, you can do it too."  Often Athena would gain the confidence to approach these fearful objects after lots of encouragement and tasty treats.

You gotta do whatcha gotta do

As part of our New Year's Resolutions, B and I agreed to teach Athena a few tricks during 2013.  So, we bought the book 101 Dog Tricks to get us started in our endeavor.  After scouring the pages for "Athena appropriate" tricks (i.e. not too difficult), we found a handful of tricks that we want to try out in the coming months.  One of these tricks is 'jump through a hoop'.

Athena attempts to jump walk through a hoop!

But, Athena is not the jump through a hoop type of dog at this point in her life.  I swear that she thinks her paws will be eaten off by an invisible monster if she lifts them too far off from the ground.  So clearly 'jump through a hoop' is the trick that we decided to start teaching Athena.  Well, sort of...

Athena is actually really afraid of hula hoops.  She will not go near one, or heaven forbid step through one.  How do you teach a dog to walk through a hoop if you can't even get them within 5 feet of the dang thing?

Is that hotdog you have there, mom?

Well, you offer looooooooooots and lots of hotdogs, cheese, and mini pepperonis is what we found out.  This food encouragement helped Athena to successfully zoom through the hula hoop (meaning that she walked super duper fast through it just in case it tried to eat her on her way through).  She was then motivated to go through it (very quickly) over and over again as long as there was hotdog on the other end.  We added the 'hup' command each time Athena went under the hoop and she seemed to be more confident in the situation.

Ok, I'll go through this portal to another world if there's hotdog on the other side

But then something happened.  Athena decided that she was afraid of the hula hoop again.  After tons of success, Athena digressed.  We have tried bringing out the hula hoop again on multiple occasions only to have Athena run to the opposite side of the room and shut down completely.

Noooo way am I going through that thing again!

So, here we are taking a break from 'hup' training.  We never expected Athena to learn how to actually jump through the hoop, we simply wanted to set up a positive experience to build her confidence by simply walking through the hoop.  Clearly something went wrong.  But, on a better note, we found out on Sunday at our first flyball practice that Athena is not at all afraid to jump over the hurdles....go figure.

Does anyone have any tips for training a fearful dog and helping them to build confidence?

Were you the winner of the January Bow of the Month Giveaway?  Click here to find out.

Sniffing Out Nose Work

Over the weekend we scored a bunch of freebies, not only from our trip to the new Unleashed by Petco store, but we also had the opportunity to participate in a free Intro to K9 Nose Work class offered by a local trainer.

Please excuse the photo quality.  They were taken on my phone

Intro to Nose Work:

The nose work class provided Athena with many new experiences including her first time being left alone in the car (is it weird that we've never left her alone in the car before?).  Seeing as nothing got destroyed in my car, I would say that Athena did fine and I probably didn't have to worry as much as I did (I was pretty much freaking out in my head the entire time thinking that she would be ripping up my car seats).

During the class we learned about the sport, competition, and the different levels of classes to take to work towards competing.  After learning all about what nose work is, each dog and handler team had the chance to try their hand at beginning box work (hiding food in a cardboard box for the dog to find and then rewarding them with more food once they've found the correct box).

Scaredy Dog Turned Nose Work Dog:

Athena and I were the second team to try out the course.  I told the trainer that I expected Athena to be nervous about the new situation (she is usually very nervous in new situations), so the trainer used shorter boxes and heavily rewarded Athena for her bravery.  It was no surprise that Athena was SHAKING as soon as we stepped into the room.  She did her slow and low army crawl throughout the course, but was able to successfully sniff out all of the food filled boxes.

After all of the other teams had their first turn, we were able to try out box work a second time.  I retrieved Athena from the car and immediately noticed that she seemed like a completely different dog than before.  She rushed into the room like nose work was her most favorite thing in the world.  This time instead of having her tail tucked between her legs, Athena's tail was wagging all about.  She also left her army crawl at the door and galloped through the entire course showing the crowd the true Athena (a crazy horse galloping dog who will do ANYTHING for food).  The trainer even had Athena do some advanced box work because she was loving it so much.

First Time Shy Dog:

Athena is a "first time shy dog" at pretty much everything.  We can usually expect first time experiences to be a bit scary for Athena.  But, we have noticed that Athena warms up very quickly to new things and is always ready to show her true colors during a second try.  This was very true for our nose work experience and I'm glad that Athena found confidence and was able to see that the new experience was not a scary one.

I think that Athena would do great at nose work if we were to pursue it in the future.  In the meantime, we plan to implement a bit of home nose work for fun.  Here are some resources and at-home nose work games:

Resources:

National Association of Canine Scent Work
K9 Nose Work
Getting Started in Nose Work
Expanding the Search...Building the Nose Work Game
Building Confidence Through Self-Discovery
K9 Nose Work: Train Your Dog's Scenting Abilities
Harnessing the Power of Your Dog's Nose: An Introduction to K9 Nose Work

Video:

K9 Nose Work

Have you and your dog ever given nose work a try?

Sniffing for Kibble

It was only a couple of months ago that we said goodbye to Athena's food bowl and opted to feed her meals in food dispensing toys such as the Contempo Tessa, Kong, JW Hol-ee Roller X Extreme, Kong Wobbler, StarMark Bob-a-Lot, and the Busy Buddy Magic Mushroom.

Not only have we incorporated food dispensing toys as a form of everyday mental stimulation, but we also engage Athena in many other activities that mentally exhaust her such as:

• Short at-home training sessions
• Walks around the neighborhood
• Car rides
• Trips to the pet store
• Obedience classes
• Scent games

One mentally stimulating scent game that Athena particularly enjoys is 'Find It' which we play indoors on rainy days, in the yard, and at the park.  I begin by putting Athena in a down-stay and ask her to 'wait.'  I then walk around the room (or outside) and hide pieces of kibble (and other delicious treats) in corners, under chairs, on top of short pieces of furniture, and in the grass.  Athena is released from her down-stay with the 'find it' command and she is on her way sniffing to find each piece of kibble.

'Finding' her kibble

Because this scent game requires Athena to use so much nose power, she gets a very large mental workout.  Even after she has found all of the hidden kibble, Athena will continue to sniff around the house or yard in search of any leftover food that she may have missed.  This game keeps her occupied for quite a while.  Our next step is to advance the 'Find It' game and incorporate some scent identification.

Looking for leftover kibble

We are obviously not the first to discover the many advantages of using scent games as a form of mental stimulation.  Here are some of our favorite posts and videos that give examples of different types of scent work:

Find It! from Peace, Love, & Fostering

Sara Lee Find It from Animal Farm Foundation

Nose Work Games from Center for Shelter Dogs

Muffin Tin Mind & Scent Game (YouTube Video)

Scent Games and Nose Work for Dogs (YouTube Video)

Do you play any scent games with your dog or incorporate nose work into their daily routine?  What other ways do you provide your dog with mental stimulation?

Pulling and Snorting Wins the Race

This past weekend was a very busy one for us.  We went holiday shopping and took pictures with Santa, completed our beginning C.L.A.S.S. training, and joined RespectaBulls for a December group walk.

Ready for the rain on our RespectaBulls walk

Since Athena still gets very excited in the presence of other dogs, we have used the RepectaBulls walks as a way for her to learn that her whining and pulling are not going to earn her the privilege to meet and play with other dogs.  The pre- and post- walk have also served as a great controlled training environment where we can practice all of Athena's commands in the presence of one of the toughest distractions: other dogs.

Athena gets a lick of her Leanlix treat while training at our RespectaBulls walk

Another issue that we are dealing with during the walks is Athena's leash pulling.  We really don't have an issue taking Athena on walks around the neighborhood.  She's actually a fairly polite walker when we use her Gentle Leader.  However, as soon as the RespectaBulls walk begins, Athena thinks it's time to race.  She pulls and snorts (the Gentle Leader causes some major snorting action!) as she tries to race to the front of the pack.

Athena's Motto: 

Slow & Steady Wins the Race 

Pulling & Snorting Wins the Race

Even the Gentle Leader is no match for Athena's pulling.  Therefore, we have found this piece of equipment to be useless during pack walks.  Because of this, we have started to explore other walking equipment that may help Athena to stop her pulling.

Move it mom, we are almost in the lead!

As much success that we have had with the Gentle Leader, we have decided to try the Holt Walking Collar as an alternative.  It was suggested to us by multiple RespectaBulls members because unlike the Gentle Leader, the Holt only applies pressure to the dog when they are pulling rather than applying pressure the entire time they wear the collar.

Sookie modeling her bright pink Holt Walking Collar

The Holt Walking Collar arrived in the mail yesterday, so we will be giving it a try over the next few weeks.  We will give you a comparison between it and the Gentle Leader soon.  What walking equipment have you tried to eliminate your dog's pulling?  Have you ever used the Gentle Leader or Holt Walking Collar?

*So far we've tried the Easy Walk Harness (it causes hot spots), the Gentle Leader (it causes pulling and snorting on group walks), and we will soon be testing out the Holt Walking Collar*

Love It: Leanlix

Sometimes I feel like I need to carry a doggie diaper bag when we take Athena out for a walk.  With the poop bags, Spray Shield, treats, hand sanitizer, cell phone, house key, flashlight, and not to mention the dog itself, there's a lot to juggle.

Treats are something that we never leave the house without when going out for a walk because we are always working on training with Athena.  Sometimes we use our OllyDog Treat Bags to store treats in, or if I'm lazy, I just stuff treats in the front pocket of my purse.  However, it can sometimes be a bit inconvenient to riffle through my treat bag (the magnetic snap gets in the way of opening the bag) or purse (it's usually so stuffed that it's hard to reach in the pocket) with one hand to pull out a treat.

We recently found a treat that has solved the walking treat debacle.  It's called a Leanlix.  This low calorie chapstick tube of a treat is so genius that I'm a little jealous I didn't think of the idea myself!  Instead of pulling treat after treat out of a bag, I simply carry the Leanlix in my right hand (with the cap off) and hold Athena's leash in my left hand.  Whenever it's time to treat Athena for something such as a "heel" at the corner or a good "leave it" as we pass a barking dog, I simply give her a couple of licks of her Leanlix and she's good to go.

I purchased the Leanlix at one of our favorite local pet stores, Personal Beast, for only $11.  Yes, that's more expensive than a typical bag of training treats, but this thing lasts a loooooong time!  The Leanlix sticks come in six different flavors (fish, bbq steak, hot dog, turkey, strawberry, and raspberry/vanilla).  We first bought the turkey flavor called Dishwasher Diner and then couldn't resist buying a second in the One and Only Strawberry flavor.  Athena loves both, but she is a bit more partial to her turkey stick and sometimes tries to get her little front teeth in on the action because it's just so yummy.

Another added bonus is that the Leanlix company is located just a short distance away from us in Seattle, Washington and the sticks are sold all over the country and online (check their website for a list of retailers).  Not only does the Leanlix work great out on our walks, but we have used it during obedience training classes and at our most recent RespectaBulls walk.

What are some ways that you manage all of your doggie essentials (treats, poop bags, dog, etc.) while out on a walk?

Stanky Fish Breath

I wonder if there will ever come a time in the future when computers can do more than just show images and produce sound.  Will computers ever advance towards omitting smells?  For your sake I sure hope that things never get that advanced while Athena's alive because then you might not ever visit our blog.

Why's that?  Because Athena has some STANKY fish breath.

In an attempt to provide Athena with all of the things necessary to live a healthy dog life (minus the fishy breath), we decided that it was about time we start brushing her teeth.  We would also like to keep ourselves from hurling because Athena is excessively generous with her kisses and frequently takes it to the french kissing level.  

Athena's love for all things that taste like food have allowed us to train her to love her toothbrush using peanut butter flavored toothpaste.

Here's how we taught Athena to love getting her teeth brushed:

1. I started by simply putting a small glob of toothpaste on my finger and I let Athena lick it off.
2. I put another small amount of toothpaste on my finger, but this time I put my finger inside of Athena's mouth and rubbed the toothpaste on her teeth.
3. Next, I put some toothpaste on Athena's toothbrush and let her lick it off.  I did this step several times before moving to the next.
4. With toothpaste on the brush, I put it inside of her mouth and gently moved the brush around.
5. I began brushing Athena's teeth gently in circular motions for only a few seconds.

Now that Athena has associated the toothbrush with really yummy peanut butter noms, she gladly lets me put the brush in her mouth to brush her teeth.  It can sometimes be a bit difficult to get a good brushing action because Athena's tongue is moving back and forth a mile a minute, but I figure that even a little bit of brushing will go a long way in eliminating the fish breath!

Other fish breath odor eliminators that we use include:

• Fresh Breath Water Additive (we put a few squirts in Athena's water bowl each morning)
• Checkups Dental Bones (Athena gets a couple each week)
• Carrots (we give Athena small pieces of carrot during training sessions)
• Chicken flavored kibble (we just switched to this new flavor this week and have noticed that Athena's breath isn't so...fishy)

How do you keep your dog's breath smelling fresh...or shall I say fresh-er?