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Lucky Dog Sports Club in Jupiter
Positive, rewards-based
dog training
January 2010 |
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Greetings!
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Dogs have a language all their own. And while I think they are pretty awesome at reading us, we, on the other hand, are not so great reading them.
There are different body language indicators and behaviors in your dog. Some of them indicate stress. Others can be called distance increasing behaviors ("please leave me alone, you're making me nervous" for instance) and distance decreasing behaviors ("let's play", or "I'd like more attention"). Do you understand your dog's body language signs? How would you categorize the following:
ears forward;
paw lift;
circular tail motion;
staring;
lip lick;
tongue flick;
closed mouth;
sneezing;
whites of the eye showing ("whale eye");
shaking off;
head turn;
scratching;
submissive grin;
yawning.
These are just a few of the many signs that some of us have overlooked from time to time or perhaps considered them meaningless. Signs also need to be taken in context. If the meanings of the signs listed above have you stumped, wouldn't it be interesting to learn what your dog (or the other dog at the dog park or down the street)is trying to say? Sign up for the behavior seminar, "What is Your Dog Really Saying? The Secret Language of Dogs" taught by Dr. Lisa Radosta, board certified veterinary behaviorist. Please read the additional info below.
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Lucky Dog Sports club is now on Facebook. Please check us out and become a fan!
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Click the link at the top to read this newsletter online. |
| Article #1 |
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A Tired Dog is a Good Dog
Exercise, we all know, is fundamental to good health. For dogs and humans alike, slothful ways lead to, at best, diminished well-being and poor muscle tone, at worst obesity, heart ailments and joint problems.
Almost all dogs were bred with a working purpose in mind. The seemingly sedate Basset Hound? Bred for rabbit hunting. The Corgi? A herder. It makes sense then that all dogs need to run their engine, whatever its size, frequently and vigorously to function well. And contrary to popular belief, dogs rarely self-exercise if left alone outside.
Exercise earns you a happier, better behaved dog. Tired dogs bark less, chew less, sleep more, and rest easier if left home alone. And exercise has profound effects on a dog's personality. The same dog can either tear through the trash and disembowel the couch cushions or snooze peacefully, depending on the quality of the workouts he gets.
So, must you take up marathon running with your dog? Of course not. But a stroll around the block is not enough. Train your dog to fetch or play Frisbee. Sign up for a dog sport or activity like tracking, flyball, or agility. Let your dog play with other dogs regularly, if he enjoys being social. Learning new things-- whether in a class or a training session in the backyard-- is also wonderfully tiring for dogs. Mental calisthenics can be every bit as wholesome as jogging.
And knowing you've upheld your end of the bargain as a loving guardian? That's healthy for you too and a New Year's resolution you can feel good about. | |
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Contact Information:
Mindy Cox, Training Director
Phone: 561-427-6700
Fax: 561-748-3699
Any suggestions or comments? Please email. I value your feedback.
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Happy and Healthy
New Year to you and your loved ones!
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Dog Behavior Seminar
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What Is Your Dog Really Saying?
Learn The "Secret" Language of Dogs. Do you think that you know what your dog is saying? Do you think that you are really in tune with your dog? You might be surprised to learn that your dog is communicating information to you about how they are feeling all the time. When you learn what your dog is really saying, you can start to understand her and deepen your relationship like you never thought was possible!
You will learn how to read your dogs body language and interpret common behaviors. In addition, you will learn how to communicate with your dog through the basics of learning theory. The development of unruly behaviors, aggression, fears and phobias will be discussed. The lecture is packed with pictures and videos. The skills learned in this seminar will help you communicate with, understand and teach your dog more effectively leading to a more trusting and deep relationship. 
This seminar will also help you begin to have the skills necessary to read other dogs that you, your dog, or your children may come in contact with at friend's or relative's homes, in the park, or on walks.
This seminar is for humans only!
SPEAKER: Dr. Lisa Radosta, Board-Certified Veterinary Behaviorist. She will have lots of photos and videos to enhance the learning experience and help you understand your dog (and others) in different situations. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn what makes your dog tick. Find better ways to communicate in different situations for a more meaningful relationship with your dog. This seminar has enhanced and additional information and videos from the last time it was presented.
DATE & TIME: Friday, January 15, 2010 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The last half hour is set aside for a Q & A session.
FEE: $45 per person.
There is a 20% discount for participants in the upcoming Reactive Dog class.
A note to Reactive Dog class participants:
It is strongly recommended by Dr. Radosta that you sign up for this important, informative, and educational seminar. It will be of immense help to you with your dog and allow you to get more out of the Reactive Dog class.
SIGN UP NOW! |
| Pet CPR/First Aid Class |
The next class is on Friday, February 19th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and is taught by veterinarian Dr. David Cox of Harmony Animal Hospital.
In this class you will learn many important skills that could help save the life of your pet in an emergency. You will practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a life-like dog resuscitation mannequin and learn to apply first aid techniques to pets who are ill or injured until professional veterinarian help can be obtained.
The fee is $40 (10% off for Lucky Dog members)
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Class Schedule
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SUMMARY OF UPCOMING CLASSES
For detailed info, descriptions, fees, instructors, and to register, click on class name or go to our Schedule Page. Interested in a class you do not see listed? Please let us know. If there is enough interest we will organize one.
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Reactive Dog Class
For dogs that bark, lunge, and growl at other dogs or people. This is a very special class that you do not want to miss if you have a problem with your dog and worry about taking him or her out in public.
The next Reactive Dog classes will begin
Wednesday, January 27th.
There will be two classes:
The 1st class is from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
The 2nd class is from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The initial class (week one) is for owners only (no dogs) and will begin at 7:00 p.m. for both groups.
Sign up now to reserve your spot. This special class is only given three times a year. It is taught by Dr. Lisa Radosta, board-certified veterinary behaviorist.
Sign up now for Reactive Dog Class
It is strongly recommended that everyone who signs up for the Reactive Dog class also attend the dog body language seminar, Do You Know What Your Dog is Saying? (see above). It is important to understand the nuances of your dog's body language (and that of other dogs) to become really effective at managing your dog's reactivity issues. Here's a great deal! There is a 20% discount for participants in the upcoming Reactive Dog class.Sign up now for Dog Behavior Seminar
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Focus Foundation
Obedience, Attention, Focus, and Impulse Control. 
Focus Foundation is also the prerequisite for Intro to Agility.
This popular class fills quickly so sign up today! (Only 3 spots left.)
Upcoming Classes (Each is 6 weeks long):
--Tuesday, January 19th at 6 p.m. Ends February 23rd.
--Monday, February 8th at 6:30 p.m. Ends March 15th.
Sign UpMore Information
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Ideal Puppy I & Ideal Puppy II
This is an important socialization and training class for puppies 9 to 20 weeks of age. Don't miss out on these important behavioral milestones that will help your pup grow into a more confident, well-adjusted dog. Your dog will only be a puppy once!
Ideal Puppy I and II are each 4 weeks long for a full and wonderful
8 weeks of learning and play. 
UPCOMING CLASSES:
Session C from 7:15 to 8:15 pm
Ideal Puppy I: Begins Thursday, January 7, 2010 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. Ends January 28th.
Ideal Puppy II: Begins Thursday, February 4, 2010. Ends Feb. 25th
Session D from 6:00 to 7:00 pm
Ideal Puppy I: Begins Thursday, February 4th from 6 to 7:00 pm. Ends February 25th.
Ideal Puppy II: Begins Thursday, March 4th. Ends March 25th.
Sign Up
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 Puppy Agility 2
For puppies who have graduated from Puppy Agility Fun (or similar). Participants will continue to work on obedience skills for agility. Agility obstacles such as the A-frame, dogwalk, and teeter at low heights will be taught to give the pups confidence and with safety in mind. Handler skills will also be emphasized so that communication and understanding between the handler and dog are improved.
UPCOMING:
Tuesday, January 26th at 8:30 pm. Ends March 2nd.
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To be successful in the sport of agiity, the dog must be a skillful jumper. Every course your dog  will ever run is primarily made up of jumps, yet it is the least understood skill set in agility. When a dog understands how to jump he will run more smoothly, efficiently, quickly and confidently. For dogs just learning to jump, or dogs that can use more skill. UPCOMING Tuesday, January 12th at 7:15. No class January 19th. Ends February 23rd.
Sign Up
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This class is designed to advance you and yoru dog's agility skills and to prepare you and yoru dog for competition, if desired. The class will build on jumping skills, obstacle discrimination,  and distance handling skills. Dog/handler teamwork is emphasiized, not on just gettiing through a sequence but in the way in which it is accomplished. The class will teach the handler and the dog how to gain confidence, accuracy, and spped. Performance on all equipment will be fine-tuned.
Begins Thursday, January 21st at 6:15 pm. Ends February 25th.
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For advanced agility dogs that are competing or skilled enough to do so and have graduated from Intermediate Agility or similar class. Must be proficient in all of the equipment.
UPCOMING CLASS:
Monday, January 4th through February 15th. (No class on Jan. 18.) Classes are at 6 pm, 7:15 pm, & 8:30 pm
Drop ins are accepted into the current class. Please call or email if you are interested in dropping in to participate in class.
Sign Up
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| Play Agility With Us! |
Get in on the action and have some fun!
Sign up now. Send your name, your dog's name,
jump height and breed.
2010 DATES
Sunday, January 17th
Sunday, February 7th
Sunday, March 7th
Sunday, April 4th
(These dates subject to change.)
This is a great opportunity to practice your agility in a different atmosphere and have some FUN with your dog. There will be two courses to challenge all levels. Do all or part of the couarse and practice importtant handling skills whether you are at the novice level or higher.
TIME: Gates open at 4:00 p.m. and first dog will be ready to run by 4:45 p.m.
CRATING: is indoors in climate-controlled comfort (or outdoors if you prefer).
EXPERIENCE: All levels (novice level class students and up) are welcome to practice this nested course (novice/open and excellent). After everyone runs the first course we will reverse it and run again after walking the new course. The lighting and footing are great. Toys and treats are welcome and encouraged to reward your dog. Please only flat buckle collars.
REGISTRATION: To sign up, email us your name, and your pet's name, breed, jump height, and level (novice or excellent). You must sign up in advance.
More infoVeterinary Chiropractic for your dog
Are you interested in setting up an appointment with Dr. Michelle Jobert for a chiropractic exam and adjustment at a Fun Run at Lucky Dog? She is a veterinarian certified in chiropractic and acupuncture. You do not have to sign up to run in order to use her services, but you do have to schedule a treatment in advance. Let me know of your interest and I will set it up for you. Find out more about her practice and what animal chiropractic can do to help your dog.
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| Article #2 |
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Resource Guarding
Does your dog growl at you when you approach his food bowl? Is your puppy possessive about  toys and rawhides? Does he snap at you when you even step near him when he's got a bone? Does your dog bare her teeth when you approach the couch? If not, you're lucky! Read through this information and start working with your puppy or dog now, to keep him in the blissful state of loving your approach to his food bowl or other prized possessions. If you are seeing aggression, definitely read on to find ways to help your dog. The technical term for this behavior is Resource Guarding, and it's an absolutely normal dog behavior. However, it's not something we humans appreciate. Fortunately, resource guarding is also a behavior that we can change.
A dog is an animal, a specialized wolf cousin living in the human den, and not a furry little person - matter how we view him. Simply because a dog lives in our home and because we view him as part of our family makes most owners think we should be able to take a bone or any other item from our dog at will. We become easily affronted if our dog decides to become possessively aggressive about his toys - even more so than if our kids become angry if we try to take their toys away! But when our dogs become aggressive about keeping hold of their bones or toys or bed, the first thing we must do is not to see the issue as one of our dog engaging in 'point scoring' with ulterior motives of longer term control of his human pack, but rather as one of safety for ourselves. If we become drawn into physical combat with our dogs over possessions, as we will see later, we are more likely to cause ourselves a great deal of problems with our dogs in our day-to-day lives together than we are to teach them not to guard their toys or bones.
Dogs, being predators, come programmed to guard resources that are crucial to their survival as part of their behavioral inheritance from their ancestor, the wolf. Some of those resources may be in short supply at certain times of year or in certain environments, and are therefore valuable. It is beneficial for wolves and dogs to have the propensity to look after their food and bits and pieces against other animals including, sometimes, members of your own group. For example, this is usually not true for grazing animals in terms of food - after all, what's the point of arousing yourself to look after your supply of grass when grass is everywhere?
It's a huge mistake to label a dog with a resource guarding problem as 'dominant'. This is largely because it is just too simplistic to think that everything a dog might do which his owners disapprove of is some kind of a bid for power, especially if it involves threat behavior. This label can also encourage owners to look for opportunities to score points back on their dog when their time would be much better spent looking for opportunities to teach the dog not to guard his possessions and to reward him for doing other things.
Here are a few of the myths about resource guarding, according to Jean Donaldson's book "Mine! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs" (purchase at www.dogwise.com).
Myth #1: Resource guarding is abnormal behavior.
Myth #2: Because resource guarding is driven largely by genetics, it can't be changed.
Myth #3: Resource guarding can be cured by making a dog realize that resources are abundant.
Myth #4: Resource guarding is a symptom of "dominance" or "pushiness."
Myth #5: Resource guarding is the result of "spoiling" a dog.
So if the answer is not to "dominate" your dog or shower it with freely available food, then what is it? Simple. Make your puppy or dog understand that the approach of a human to his food, toys, space, etc. is a Good Thing. The process is called classical conditioning. Just as the clicker is associated with treats in your dog's mind, the approach of a human hand, face, or other body part to his food dish should mean better food is on it's way.
The following process should be done with ALL dogs, for their entire lives. Definitely do it with young puppies. The only part that changes is how often you do these exercises, what sorts of things your dog has when you approach, and how close you can get to the dog before presenting it with the treat. Every capable member of the family should take part in these exercises, keeping safety firmly in mind.
(On the same articles page of the website you may also want to read the related article, "Possessive Aggression".) |
| Article #3 |
How to Get Your Dog to Tug?
--Use a Tug 'N Treat
By Nancy Gyes
Is your dog crazy for treats, but unmotivated by toys during agility training? The Tug 'N Treat  allows you to combine food with a toy to create a powerful motivational training aid. Open the Velcro closing on the toy and fill it with large chunks of Rollover, baked liver, beef tripe, prime rib, or your dog's favorite cookies. Close the Velcro to seal the pouch. Now make the Tug 'N Treat into the most exciting toy you and your dog have ever played with. The goal is to get the dog to play tug with you and your new toy. If your dog is uninterested or if you want him at more of a fevered pitch when playing, try some of these ideas.
· Put your Tug 'N Treat somewhere the dog can see it but cannot access it (such as on top of the refrigerator or the mantle, or hung from the ceiling with a string). Don't put it anywhere that your dog can reach and don't put it in a place where you'll be apt to correct the dog if he attempts to retrieve it.
· At the times of the day when your dog is most likely to be excited to see you and your Tug 'N Treat (for example, when you first get up in the morning, at dinner time, when you come home from work, after a bath, etc.) go to the "hideout" and make a huge game of simply getting the toy from its resting place. Play with the toy by yourself for a while, giving it a name, like "special" (a la John Rogerson, the great English dog behaviorist and originator of this toy game) and make goo-goo eyes and sounds over the toy. Be animated-toss it in the air, make it dance like a small animal around your shoulders, drag it around and tease your dog, and make it jump around your legs, all the time keeping it away from the dog.
· After a few days of keep-away, your dog should be spending an inordinate amount of time mooning over the toy's hideaway location and staring at it, praying you'll come and get it down and tease him with it. Once in a while, as you pass the toy's hideout, point out the Tug 'N Treat to the dog, saying, "Do you want Special?" but do not get it out. Expect claw marks on the furniture and walls if you put it just out of his reach, and this is a GOOD thing!
· After the dog has hit the desired frenzied pitch, let him actually catch hold of the toy when you get it out and play some wild tug games. In the beginning, don't control the play too much-"trick" the dog to get the Tug 'N Treat out of his mouth or pry open his jaws to remove it. Point to the floor or anywhere in the room and say "What's that?" When the dog looks away and loosens his grip, say "I got it!" and start the keep-away game again. Ask him where "Special" is in that tone of voice that makes him go wild.
· Let the dog get a taste of the "innards" once in awhile by making a huge deal over opening the Tug 'N treat and letting him try to gnaw off a small hunk of the food while you hold the toy open. Alternatively, palm a treat of the same variety as inside (give him the good stuff, no tricks!) and pretend to open it after he understands the game.
· When your dog will play madly at home, take "Special" outside, then down the street, then to the park, and so on. After he will play in other places, take the Tug 'N Treat to agility practice and use it like a ball or a target toy for send-aways, or at the end of a set of weaves, and so on. Play with your dog just before the exercise, hide the Tug 'N Treat behind your back, and have a friend take it without the dog seeing where it went, and magically produce it at the end of your run. Hide it in different places on your body, under your arm, down your trousers, inside your own sock, and let it magically fall out at varied times during practice, not just at the end of the run.
Be interesting and creative with this toy. Let your dog chase it down and "kill it."
Remember to renew the food stuffings often so that the treats don't spoil, or store it in the refrigerator part of the time. Also, wash your toy periodically so that you won't get food spoilage in the seams of the toy. The Tug'nTreat is an interactive toy; do not leave your dog with it unattended.
We carry the Tug N Treat pouch at Lucky Dog. Try one today!
Did you know that class participants get 10% off of all products in our store, including treats (Zukes and soft Buddy Biscuits), braided tug leashes, tug toys, Gentle Leaders and Haltis, treat pouches, and lots more? |
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FAQs |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do you have an at-a-glance way to see classes and events?
A: You betcha! Our class calendar will give you the schedule at a glance. If you are a Lucky Dog member organizing your practice times, you can now tell if a class is inside or outside. It is color coded by type of class (such as agility, obedience, puppy). The first class will have START to indicate the beginning.
Q: How do I register for a class or event?
A: Find the class you want on the Schedule page. For events, go to the Events page.
Click the Sign Up button beneath the class description and fill out the registration form. Or you can call 561-427-6700 and I will sign you up over the phone.
Payment can be cash, check, or credit card.
You can mail your form, email it, drop it off in our secure drop box to the left of our front door, fax it, or you can sign up by phone. Go to our Contact page to find all this info (or find the info in this newsletter in the above right column.
Q: What training philosophy do you use?
A: We only use positive, reward-based, dog-friendly training methods at Lucky Dog. No jerking, pulling, ear pinching or other aversive methods are used. We introduce the training clicker into many of the classes so your dog has a quicker and clearer understanding of what you are teaching.
Q: Do I need a club membership to take a class?
A: No. Becoming a club member and taking a class are two separate things. But as a member you have access to Lucky Dog and can practice whenever you want (when there is no class scheduled).
Q: What are Lucky Dog's hours?
A: At this time there are no regular hours when you can drop by, but if you'd like a tour just give us a call and we are happy to accommodate you. Someone is always there when a class or event is scheduled.
Q: Do you only do group classes or can I schedule a private lesson?
A: We are happy to schedule a private lesson at Lucky Dog. We offer obedience and agility private lessons. |
| News You Can Use |
I recently received the following info from Michelle Conroy of the Palm Beach County Dog Fanciers Association:
"Our dog show will be held at the South Florida Fairgrounds on March 12-14, 2010. On Friday, we will be offering Obedience/Rally trials and Carting Trials. On Saturday and Sunday, we will be offering the Canine Good Citizen test which will be open to all dogs in the community. We will also be holding agility demonstrations with information on how to get started. I thought you or your clients might be interested and would be very grateful if you could pass this on to them.
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