by Grayson Schaffer | on August 12th, 2010 | in Features, Media
We’re headed to Vail August 21 &22 for our next Adventure- and Gun-Dog Seminar, based out of the Tivoli Lodge. Sponsors are undwriting most of the costs for this event, so it’s only 25 bucks. Round up your doggies and get to Vail! Call Cathy Stewart at (662) 234-5788 to sign up.
by Grayson Schaffer | on July 12th, 2010 | in Features, Training
Here, Mike shows you the right way to introduce your dog to watercraft in four easy steps. Remember, you and your dog should wear a life jacket. Ruff makes some nice ones for dogs.
by Grayson Schaffer | on June 16th, 2010 | in Features, Training, Video Clips
Stream crossings are often where your dog’s obedience will go off the rails. Usually what happens is you set foot in a creek and your dog bolts to the other side. If you’re lucky, you’re not in his way. We prefer to train for stream crossings so they happen in an orderly manner and you never get knocked down. To perfect a stream crossing, all you need is a rock-solid heel, where your dog knows that even though the terrain has changed, the rules haven’t.
by Grayson Schaffer | on June 7th, 2010 | in Features, Media
Mike and I spent the weekend doing Adventure Dog demonstrations at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado. Here’s the daily round-up of the games, courtesy of Serac Adventure Films. —Grayson
by Grayson Schaffer | on April 17th, 2010 | in Features
When Dead Ducks Fly from Walker Parks on Vimeo.
On Saturday, I introduced Danger and Cooper to the curious world of hunt tests. Like other extremely specialized pursuits, hunt tests have their own peculiar language and cast of characters. I do my best to translate. . . Roll the clip!
Junior Birdman: Danger makes a nice pick
by Grayson Schaffer | on April 8th, 2010 | in Features, Training
Train Your Dog to Hunt Mushrooms from Walker Parks on Vimeo.
by Grayson Schaffer | on March 23rd, 2010 | in Features, Time Wasters
Not exactly a training tip for this week, but we had a lot of fun figuring out how to strap a camera onto Cooper without having it bounce around.
by Grayson Schaffer | on March 15th, 2010 | in Features, The Wildrose Way, Training
by Grayson Schaffer | on March 9th, 2010 | in Features, Video Clips
Danger contributes some nice camerawork to our ski outing on Friday.
Danger tries his hardest to frame the shot
by Grayson Schaffer | on March 2nd, 2010 | in Features, Training, Video Clips
Last week, Danger and I got to hang out with the Telluride ski patrol and learn a few tricks. One that didn’t go as well as planned was Danger’s attempt to ride the chair lift. . .
Eric and Wylie
by Grayson Schaffer | on February 18th, 2010 | in Features, The Wildrose Way, Training
Here, I’ll use Cooper to demonstrate the stepping stones to a remote sit. Stopping a dog on the whistle is as important for skiing as it is for retrieving. Stopping your dog is the first step toward handling him—sending him left, right, and back like a football receiver.
by Grayson Schaffer | on February 10th, 2010 | in Features, Training
All dogs have the ability to swim underwater, but not all will. Here, we get Danger used to putting his head under in a controlled environment. All you need is a bucket and some jerky.
by Grayson Schaffer | on February 9th, 2010 | in Features, Training
This one is borrowed from horse trainers. Making right-angle inside turns forces your dog to watch your legs and make sure he’s in position to avoid getting stepped on. It’s kind of like a dance step. Practice often and your pup is bound to become a good partner.
Heeling with an inside turn
by Grayson Schaffer | on February 8th, 2010 | in Features
Generally, digging dogs are a nuissance but I thought we should teach Danger to dig on command in case he ever needs to dig me out of an avalanche or help me burrow in for the night. How to do it: Bury some jerky in the snow or soft dirt. Show him where it is. Click him for digging down to it. Simple stuff. Just remember to click the actual paw stroke. I found that Danger would look at me and take one swipe at the dirt to test whether that’s what he was being clicked for. Fun stuff.
Cool-Hand Danger, why are you digging out my hole?
by Grayson Schaffer | on January 26th, 2010 | in Features, The Wildrose Way, Training
Every dog’s got to know his name. That’s how your pup is going to know when it’s really his turn to heel, retrieve, or get on the couch.
by Grayson Schaffer | on January 5th, 2010 | in Features, Training, Video Clips
We’re going to keep harping on this point all winter. Dogs that get close to skis receive gaping lacerations. It’s just that simple. Here are three tips to help ease your mind and your dog’s pain. Nothing keeps me awake at night like the thought of skis cutting doggy tendons. You can see, even in this video clip that Danger and Cooper aren’t perfect. In the heeling part at the end, Danger crosses over my right ski and was very lucky not to have gotten cut.
Next time, we’ll work on positioning—teaching your pup when he should be at your side, when he should be a ski-pole’s length away, and when he should be behind.
Cooper, Grayson, and Danger at Ski Santa Fe
by Grayson Schaffer | on December 21st, 2009 | in Features, Video Clips
Danger gets ready to spin the bottle
by Grayson Schaffer | on December 15th, 2009 | in Features, Swag the Dog, Things Dog People Wear
Nice work, Danger, five greenheads and a drake pintail. Doesn't get any better than that.
Can’t really beat Patagonia’s quilted Again Jacket ($125) as all-purpose undergarment and outerwear. The nylon/wool/poly blend is eminantly soft while the trim styling makes either a nice midlayer for skiing or duck hunting or outer layer for around town.
by Grayson Schaffer | on December 14th, 2009 | in Features, Training
This is another fun one to teach with the clicker. First teach him to drop a glass bottle in the glass bin, just like we did with the cans. Do this only after teaching the can trick—broken glass and dog paws don’t mix. Then have him start by picking up the glass bottle from the can bin and dropping it in the glass bin. Gradually add cans to the mix and only click/treat him when he chooses the bottle.
Danger hits his mark
by Grayson Schaffer | on December 10th, 2009 | in Features, Your Questions
Cooper post cactus encounter. The spines were actually in his leg and flank.
It’s got to be hard to be my dog. There’s snow on the ground, now, but it turns out that cactus still reside under it and so do their spines. Cooper took a digger yesterday and must have skidded right across one. I noticed a few spines after we were done training but didn’t see the fine hair-like spines that were stuck in his leg and belly by the hundred. When I got home last night, poor Cooper looked like a Shar Pei and couldn’t hold down his dinner. I gave him two Bendryl (to bring down the swelling from his alergic reaction) and started plucking out the spines with tweezers. Three hours later, I’d gotten most of the spines out and the swelling had started to go down. This morning, we went to the vet who said more Benadryl and rest. Cooper thanked the nice man by barfing on his floor. Hopefully the little man’s back on his feet by tomorrow.
by Grayson Schaffer | on December 7th, 2009 | in Features, Training
Here’s a classic trick that never gets old: Play dead. Use a clicker to shape this behavior. The click should come right at the moment when the dog has completed the task. Early on, you might click just for him lying down and then for flopping over onto his side a bit. With a dog that’s had some clicker training before and knows that he’s got to offer a behavior to get the click, this should go quickly. You can teach a roll-over the same way.
by Grayson Schaffer | on December 2nd, 2009 | in Features, Media, Time Wasters
This one’s a chain of the first half of a retrieve, a drop it, and a go lie down. Getting him to reliably hit the bin with the can is the only thing that takes some time. To shape that behavior, I used a clicker, put the bin next to him, and clicked any time the can touched the bin. Then click for the can actually landing in the bin. Once he had that skill down, it was just a matter of adding the retrieve and the down to either end.
Danger hits the bin
by Grayson Schaffer | on November 30th, 2009 | in Features, Training, Video Clips
What’s not to love about Ski Santa Fe? The same slopes we were hunting September we’re skiing in November. Cooper was too young to hunt this year, but he’s just the right age to get started on snow. We’re going to spend a lot of time talking about how to ski with your dog this winter. Everyone loves to do it, but few people do it safely. Of the Outside dogs that accompany us on morning hike-up laps, none have escaped a laceration either from a ski edge or a snowmobile. The reason it happens is simple: The owner has no control over the dog when new and exciting distractions are introduced. A few people have told me that I’m no fun for making my dogs heel. But that’s not quite right. The point is: Make sure your dog can heel and will come when called (even when skiers or snowmobiles are zipping by). Then when you release your dog to run and play, you can do so with the confidence that he’s not a danger to himself.
- Cooper gets his intro to snow
by Grayson Schaffer | on November 18th, 2009 | in Swag the Dog, Things Dog People Wear
Gotta hang your whistle on something. Here’s a handsome two-clip braided leather whistle lanyard from Avery. Keeps me from losing whistles so fast. $28
