Comments on: Gee, I Didn’t Know They Were Mine: Rear Paw Awareness

By: lauren

lauren — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:28:20 +0000

this is absolutely wonderful, and what a fabulous idea your trainer had. i may have to borrow that technique someday. 🙂

By: In Which We Experience Fear | Life by Pets

In Which We Experience Fear | Life by Pets — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:02:25 +0000

[…] a “fraidy” dog, certainly nothing like Bella. Maybe Moree had a crate issue similar to some of Honey’s bike trailer issues, but his were strictly limited to crates, and not small spaces in general […]

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:28:31 +0000

Wow! I love the creativity of your trainer! It sounds like Honey is having lots of fun 🙂

By: melF

melF — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:07:46 +0000

Success!!! Oh Pamela! That is so awesome!
I think one of the things I like about working with special needs dogs is that I have to think outside the box. Coming up with new ideas is fun. I am so going to try the mat idea!

One day I am going to read about your bike ride (you, Honey and Mike) to the park. Then I am going to dance the jig. 🙂

By: 2 Punk Dogs

2 Punk Dogs — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:29:15 +0000

It’s great that Honey is making such progress! It’s wonderful that you can see how much happier and confident she is becoming. Congrats on finding a trainer that can help you bring out the best in your dog!

By: Kristine

Kristine — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:34:40 +0000

This is so great! I was practically cheering out loud as I was reading. I am so thrilled your trainer understands you and Honey so well. There is no better feeling than seeing your dog do something she never could before. 🙂 Yay!

When we stared our rear end awareness work we actually used a foot stool. I shaped Shiva to stand on the stool with just her two front paws and then with just her two back paws. As an extra challenge, we then progressed to her walking in circles around the stool with her front paws up and her back paws on the floor.

By: Amy@GoPetFriendly

Amy@GoPetFriendly — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:04:34 +0000

Congratulations – it’s so cool when they catch on to what you’re trying to communicate, isn’t it? I’m so excited for you and Honey – I know that feeling, and can imagine how proud you must be of your scaredy-girl.

By: 2 brown dawgs

2 brown dawgs — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:28:53 +0000

Great idea on how to train that skill. Mats and boxes can be quite useful in training a lot of different things. We use them to help with steadiness. Now another good way to use them.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:45:59 +0000

You must be so proud of Honey for this. What a great success. Sounds like Russ is a good teacher able to come up with new methods that work for the dog (as opposed to trying to fit the dog to the method). So glad you’ve found someone good to work with you.

One of the first things we tackled in agility class was back leg awareness. Like everyone else upstream here, it never occurred to me that Bella wasn’t particularly aware she had them. And like Jodi and Kolchack, we used a ladder to get the idea across. Who knew that would be such a difficult concept?

Congratulations on doing such a good job with Honey. She’s a doll. 🙂

By: KimT

KimT — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:32:32 +0000

That is awesome Honey is happy with it all – it really does matter more than anything else. And Russ sure is worth his weight in gold – love the creative ideas!