MHS Canine Outing--Banyan Tree, Lahaina

I was very happy to help out at the Maui Humane Society (MHS) Canine Outing under the Banyan Tree in Lahaina today.  MHS brought 5 different dogs to hang out and meet people.  I want to thank the many people that stopped by and said hello, and an even bigger thank you to all the people that donated money.  We all had a great time, and the dogs enjoyed themselves too!

Below are some pictures from the day.

If you are thinking about adding a new member to your family, please visit the Maui Humane Society and check out the many loving animals they have for adoption.  Also check out the MHS Facebook for great pictures and updates.

Athena & Pono, a 5-month-old pit mix.

He was a super mello sweet heart!

Love the ears!

Another volunteer with Cody, a terrier mix.

Hanging out and saying hi in a beautiful spot.

All the pups got lots of love :)

There's a treat down here somewhere.

Two sisters, blue heeler mix.

Pono saying hi.

He was amazingly calm all day.  

This dog has the perfect calm temperament!

Athena & her new friends.

Funny enough, the 2 pups in this picture I wanted to take home :)

The Twin Cities Pet Expo is coming up March 24-25, 2012.

I am very excited to be helping out at the Midwest Animal Rescue & Services booth.  We will be giving out information on training classes, adopting a new pet, and any other questions you may have.  Please join us at this year's pet expo and donate a few dollars to your local shelter.

Foster--Calvin, Conclusion

I must say, I really fell in love with Calvin.  If I owned my own house, I would have considered adopting him.

Calvin likes to greet people in a very boisterous way at the door, including jumping up on you the second you get through the door.  Calvin's foster mom also had 3 other dogs in the house.  To best help Calvin, it was important to work on an Auto-Sit at the door with all four dogs individually, then slowly adding them all together.  Calvin is an extremely fast learner.  I believe Calvin would make an excellent dog for the person who has the time to train and properly exercise him.  Calvin is also somewhat of an escape artist, so it is very important that he be both physically AND mentally challenged on a daily basis.  Calvin has made vast improvements in his behavior over the course of our training and I believe that as long as his foster (or hopefully future adoptive) parents continue to train and challenge him, he will become a fabulous dog.  He is a very sweet and loving dog, and I will truly miss getting to work with him.

Foster--Calvin, Day 2

On my return visit to Calvin's I was pleasantly surprised to see that his foster mom had been doing her homework.  She was walking Calvin every day, with some improvement, and playing structured games with him more at home to help get out his energy.  On the second visit we focused again on the jumping and nipping.

When dealing with any dog, but especially a very large one, it is important to remember how you carry yourself, what your body language is, and what that is saying to your dog.  Many times people become intimidated by their pet's unruly behavior, emotions like these will affect your training in a negative way.  Remember to say calm, but firm.  You are in charge, not your dog.  The key is to find what motivates your dog to do the things you ask of him.  For most dogs, and for Calvin, this is food.

Positive reinforcement training using treats is very fast and effective way of training your dog.  We worked on an "Auto-Sit" with Calvin while coming up to him to say hi, and at the door.  The more you can repeat these activities, the more chance your dog has to do the right thing and get rewarded for it, the more he will perform that behavior for you!

Foster--Calvin, Day 1

I was very excited to get to work with Calvin, a Husky/ St. Bernard mix.  Having a very large (and tall) dog myself, I enjoy getting to work with bigger dogs that many people tend to somewhat fear, just based simply on their immense size.  I will admit, Calvin was definetly quite the hand-full.  Calvin was a very boisterous foster that liked to greet people by jumping on them.  Now I'm sure that I don't have to tell you that having a 100 pound+ dog jump on you is not exactly the greeting we are hoping for.

Calvin's foster mom and I worked on many things with Calvin, including some basic food lures and waiting for calm behavior.  Calvin is a big dog with LOTS of energy and needs plenty of exercise.  After working on some anti-jumping techniques, I took Calvin and his foster mom out for a walk.  It was a very, very slow walk.  I can see why he doesn't get walked at this point in time.  It took us probably close to a half hour to walk about 100 feet.  Calvin tries to pull you like a freight train.  Again, patients and consistency.

After our very tedious walk we tackled some fetch training in the back yard.  The foster mom had told me that Calvin was uninterested in fetch.  The key is finding a way to make it interesting.  For Calvin it was playing fetch with a rope toy and rewarding him with a little bit of tug-of-war when he brought it back.  Of course there should always be rules to teaching any game to a dog.  Amongst others, our rules included sitting and waiting calmly before throwing the toy again.