All Writing
:: Serra’s Story :: Syn’s Story :: Stitch’s Story :: Giant Schnauzers :: Conformation :: Llama Writing :: Other Writing ::
THOSE TEETH!
Many people express interest/curiousity/concern/fear about their puppy’s teeth, so let’s talk about teeth. Dogs aren’t born with teeth, but they get them pretty quickly – certainly they’ll have them before you pick up your puppy. And puppy teeth are Evil Teeth – sharp as knives.
GROOMING SCHNAUZER EYEBROWS
Eyebrows cause just as much trouble as beards! Yes! We want eyebrows! The eyebrow is one of the hallmarks of the breed.
Schnauzer 2 Eyebrows
The blue part you’ll be either shaving or stripping, depending on your preference. The green will be scissored. The stripe down to the nose helps the beard lie flat on top, and scissor into the corner of the eyes because it’s hard for the dog to see around the bushes that grow there.
TRAINING LEVELS Steps To Success
It’s wonderful to live down the block from an excellent clicker instructor who has room in her classes for your dog and plenty of time to coach you and give you advice and assistance in your training. Unfortunately very few of us live in Perfect…
Training For Conformation GAITING
Gaiting, like stacking, is more involved than first meets the eye. The dog must move around the ring or up and down the mat. His attention must be on where he’s going, yet he must be aware at all times of where the handler is and how fast the handler is going.
Training For Conformation STACKING
Most people think a dog is “conformation trained” if she walks on a leash and doesn’t sit or bite the judge. The pros know that training a dog for the Specials ring is, in fact, as complicated as training a dog for Utility. The more a dog knows about how to do her job in the ring, the closer she is to that elusive “Ch” title.
A CRATEFUL OF TEETH
OK, OK, remember, this was PRE-clicker, my moment of being hit by the lightning bolt, after I had given up “obedience training” but before I had any idea of what was going to replace it.
DOMINANCE and all that jazz…
Dominance. Argh. I’m not sure how long this is going to take me to write, and I will probably have to go off on some tangents of my own, but here goes.
Who You Callin’ Fat??
Yes, unfortunately, there are a LOT of fat dogs around. Even more unfortunately, there are a lot of people who think fat is a good thing. “Look at that poor abused dog!” they say, of a lithe, fit, athletic dog in peak condition.
Eat for the Love of Pete! Eat!
There are many unpleasant consequences to having a “fussy” eater – you basically have no control over when the dog eats (I’m not hungry right now), what he eats (I don’t like this!), how much he eats (three kernels was plenty, thanks), or when he ate last (an important question when you’re prepping for emergency surgery).
Sue Eh’s Rules of Training
Trust the Force (or, in this case, the lack of it).
Don’t be afraid, just do it.
Don’t be afraid to say NO!
Song and the Sheep
“I don’t have the patience for that”. Sure, people have the patience to spend YEARS being frustrated about a behaviour, but don’t have the patience to spend three hours fixing it. If something your dog is doing doesn’t bother you, there’s nothing to fix.
LEADING THE DANCE Building a better relationship
Leading The Dance is a problem-solving tool. Use some of the items for the rest of the dog’s life – particularly the feeding regimen, song, and roadwork. Continue others only until the dog understands that good things come to him through you.
Elimination: Teach Your Dog to “Go” On Cue
I have several comments on teaching elimination protocols. One is, this is a classic behaviour that requires a “limited hold”. You wait until the dog really SHOULD have to go out and then start talking about it – you have to go out? Are we going out? Oh boy, going outside!
Bye for now
Sorry, guys. I can’t do it. I’m not well enough to teach classes at Fenzi, have a bit of a life, train Serra and Syn, and write the blog.