Tricks, Games, Sports

reward her

When spring is in the air, every dog knows it. Spring is the season when dogs want to run, play, and stretch their bodies, when their eyes brighten, and their natural zest for life flows through their veins. Spring is a time of action. There are so many canine performance sports today that require peak levels of running, twisting, turning, jumping, and pivoting. Anyone watching a canine agility trial or flyball competition can see the adrenaline pumping through every ounce of the dog's being. Adrenaline can override the senses and the animal can unknowingly hurt himself badly, especially early in the season. The risk of injury is very high when a dog is not properly conditioned. Also, dogs need to be given the opportunity to warm up before engaging in the burst of excitement and energy they experience at the moment they are released for coursing, a herding test, or on a sledding trail.

Canicross—the name comes from the words “canine” and “cross-country”—is, essentially, the sport of long distance trail running with your dog.

Different dogs have different play styles. If I tried to play patty-paws with our Australian Kelpie, she would slink away in horror. Her idea of a rousing good time is to help me bring the horses in for their evening grain. Our Cattle Dog mix, Tucker, would rather fetch a stick or a tennis ball, or go jump in the neighbor's pond. Our Scottish Terrier's response to the paws activity would be a bored Whatever . . . " but he'd be delighted to engage in a game of "Let's roust critters out of the drainage pipe!" "

The cattle dog-mix races across the turf, his claws digging into the ground, pushing hard into his next stride, building momentum, faster, faster, faster. With a final turbo blast powered by his rear legs, he pushes off the ground and vaults into the air, seemingly weightless as he stretches his neck into the sky. A sudden twist of shoulders propels his torso and hips 180 degrees as he changes direction midair and snatches the prize from the air - a simple, round plastic disc. Eyes alight with the thrill of the chase and the kill (catch), he lands nimbly and races back to his handler. Can we do it again? Can we, can we? Yeah, we can. This is the sport of disc dog. It's been around since Frisbees became popular in the early 1970s and the players' dogs chased the players' errant tosses. When a bad toss resulted in a disc rolling on its side, that was fine by Fido.

a 24-pound

By now, if you're into dogs, you've probably heard about agility. Maybe you've even seen it in action or tried it with your dog. Agility is one of the fastest growing dog sports in the world, and with good reason – it's fun! Of all of the dog things I've done

Fetch. Drive. Flank. Come-bye. Go-bye. Way to me. Outruns. Flight zones. Pressure point. That'll do! The sport of herding has a unique vocabulary that distinguishes it from all the other canine sports. In addition to basic obedience cues such as sit, down, stay, and come, dogs are trained to respond to cues that tell them when to start moving livestock, in which direction to move them, when to stop moving them, when and how to move them into pens, and how to use their physical presence to pressure the stock to move but not to scare them into running or stampeding. There is dirt, there is dust, there is livestock that can break bones and bruise a body, and there is livestock poop. And herding teams love it all.

Sometimes we need to take things away from our dog and that’s when the trade trick becomes vital. Here’s how to teach your dog to trade.

No matter how strong your dog’s recall may be (and we recommend it be quite strong if you’re considering letting your dog off-leash at the beach, lake, or river), it’s important to remember that the excitement of being in the water, coupled with the potential desire to swim out for a toy or chase a flock of ducks, could result in his recall falling on deaf ears. Prior to fun water play, consider brushing up on your dog’s recall with the following...

Woof, yap, scream, yodel, bark, yip. Go, go, go!” Dogs on the sidelines and in crates and exercise pens barking at the top of their lungs. Dogs tugging and growling, tugging and growling. Handlers yelling over the din to their teammates. Handlers recalling their dogs over jumps, H-e-r-e! Event officials blowing whistles and announcing the next race over bullhorns or speaker systems, and start-line lights and passing lights flashing on and off. Flyball is a cacophony of sights and sounds. It is exhilarating, over the top, adrenalized hyperstimulation. This is not a sport for the introverted, timid, or sound-sensitive dog or handler. The adrenalin level is off the charts and you can hear that from hundreds of yards away. The first time I experienced flyball was as a spectator at an obedience trial held at a park. Suddenly, shattering the decorum, was an ear-piercing scream followed by rabid barking. Certain that an obedience dog had left the ring and treed a critter, I raced over to watch. No critter. No mayhem. Just flyball. The teams had just set up for their first race and the dogs were ready. I had never seen dogs so keen to get going.

Any chance you’d like to transform your dog walks from frustrating leash-pulling contests of strength to enjoyable and cooperative outings?