Plumber's Helper: Training Heel

You don't need much to train your dog, right? You probably have a dog, a leash, food and a toy but most folks don't have special equipment at home. So I wanted to show you something Simple, Cheap and Effective to help you train your dog to Heel: Plungers!

Yup, the Plumber's Helper sure comes in handy! Nope! This is not about toilet problems but it is about how a simple, low cost, tool can add a lot of fun to your training.

By lining up a few plungers you can stay on course to teach your dog how to Heel. This also won't take up too much space. You can do it indoors; Hallways seem like a great idea. And inclement weather will not be your excuse to keep you from practicing!!

Start with your dog on a leash and practice walking through the plungers. It's fun and will help your dog stay close to you. You can motivate your dog also with a bit of food trapped under your thumb. As your dog improves, you can then move through the plungers without a leash attached.

Not everybody wants or needs their dog to know Heel; Just No Pulling is a good goal! Walking in Heel is about precision. So if you are interested in learning here is a good way to get started.




Here is a Bonus Video.....

Out of the DogHouse LLC website www.ohioodgtrainer.net
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070

Let's Play! Life Lessons for Kids and Dogs

I love Kids and Dogs! When I get the chance to put two cooperative beings together, training can be a blast! And if we make training a game, both the child and the dog will excell!

We want our children and dogs to live peacefully together; to do that it is really beneficial for everyone to learn how to get along. Better relationships can be made if we involve our children in training the dog.

We need to teach our young students how to give it (kids) and earn it (dogs).  Making training a game will not only be fun but a valuable learning experience. Knowing how "Give and Earn" works, acts as the needed structure just like rules to a game; having both the child and the dog understand guidelines to follow will increase success and definitely be more Fun!



Your children may not grow up to be a dog trainers but they will learn incredible Life Lessons when given the opportunity to interact in a safe, appropriate and fun-loving way with dogs.

Out of the DogHouse LLC website www.ohiodogtrainer.net
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070

Stop the World I need to get off!

Like everyone else in the world, I, too feel overwhelmed at times; Too much going on, happening at the same time, spiraling out of control. So I am making myself slow down and breathe; even just for a minute.

I can manage my crazy life so much better with the Place Command. You can do this too! We all need a break including our dogs. So it is important to teach them how to settle down so we can all get this much needed rest.

Here are a couple of video clips teaching a group of dogs what the Place command means then using it as a practical way to find Peace of Mind and Harmony.

Out of the DogHouse LLC website www.ohiodogtrainer.net
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070

Play More ~ Pet Less Part II

I am following up last week's post Play More ~ Pet Less to show you what play looks like when you move from food to a toy.

But to recap.....We can make an impact to our relationship by playing with our dog. Finding what our dog likes best is important. We choose food first because dogs need to eat. Being hungry helps. Taking advantage of our dog's hunger will increase the opportunity to play. How you feed them makes the difference. So go back and review last week's blog video to see how to Play with their food!

Dogs, particularly, have Prey Drive. We can turn their desire to "Chase, Catch, Kill" into appropriate Play. Now, some dogs will have a greater drive than others due to personality and breeding. But I feel you can teach your dog how to play by finding what motivates them; Finding what they want to chase.

Here is a clip of  Underdog, a Goldendoodle. He has a ton of energy! Playing with him has huge benefits for relationship building, obedience training and draining his excessive amounts of energy.



Who doesn't want to see a puppy?!! Here is a clip of a cute 9 week old Vizsla puppy named Neo.



You love your dog and really, your dog loves you! Take time to play and you both will be happy.

Out of the DogHouse LLC website www.ohiodogtrainer.net
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070

Play More ~ Pet Less

Do you find this to be true?  We want to show our dogs how much we love them so we grab them and pull them to us only to have our dog squirm and wiggle away and then sometimes they won't even come close to us; they stay just out of our reach.

We feel so disappointed and sad that our dog doesn't like us; let alone love us.

Dogs do like affection but what is happening here is that some dogs just don't need all that Lovin' and they would rather have something else from you ~ PLAY!!

I see a lot of folks "Begging" their dog for affection! People may think More Love/Petting, More Good Boys/ Good Girls will make their dog love them back. Usually this backfires. Forcing yourself on your dog is not fair to either you or your dog and it won't get you what you want. It is important to really look at who is enjoying this type of interaction. Probably neither of you.

If you were to Play More and Pet Less, your dog may become more interested in you and then become more accepting of your affection.

You say your dog doesn't want to play with you?

1.Try ignoring your dog for a few days.
2. Use their dogfood like a toy. Lure them with your hand.
3. Play with the toy your dog enjoys the most.



Out of the DogHouse LLC websitewww.ohiodogtrainer.net
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070