Training & Socialization

I worked very hard to expose Honey to many different things in her early puppyhood. We wanted her to be socialized to accept just about anything in stride. And she seemed to be fearless. It was rare to see Honey startled by anything–sirens, thunder, fireworks, power tools. But on a recent camping trip, we discovered …

Finally, a good opportunity to see if Honey would join me in the kayak. I took both of my last two dogs kayaking. But neither of them could be called enthusiastic kayakers. I hoped Honey might be different–Honey the water dog. I started thinking about how a trainer would go through the steps in getting …

Our recent vacation was a perfect chance for Honey to release her inner water dog–to swim far and free. Did she do it? Not so much. On our first walk to the seaside I feared Honey would find the crashing breakers overwhelming. Nope, the smell of shellfish buried in the sand overcame any notice of …

Honey has been going to work with me since she was 8 weeks old. She’ll be 15 weeks old tomorrow. I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned that might help someone else looking to do the same thing. Invest in infrastructure. As you can see, Honey has her very own apartment in my …

Honey is very nearly perfect. She’s smart and quick to learn. She loves everyone. She’s very brave. Curses! The problem is that I get so used to everything sailing along so easily that I sometimes forget to keep up the hard work of socialization. Yesterday, I learned this lesson twice. In the parking lot at …

This weekend I heard my young neighbor trying to get her exuberant, adolescent dog leashed for a walk. “Sit, Riley.” “Riley, sit.” “SIT, Riley.” “SIT! SIT, RILEY!” “RIIIIIILEEEEEY! SIT! SIT! SIT!!” What don’t we know? Puppies don’t speak English. And oh, by the way, shouting at someone who doesn’t understand English does nothing to aid …