Journey of a DREAM

Journey of a Dream

A dream is born in the mind,

A picture of what might be

A vision of a new and better life.

But if it stays in the mind,

It becomes another wish unfulfilled.

It must move on

The dream moves to the heart,

Feelings surround it, giving it life.

But if it stays in the heart,

It becomes a "could have been,"

Dying in the fire of emotion.

It must move on.

The dream moves to the hands,

There to be put into action

Having been given life in the heart,

It comes to fruition through work.

But if the dream stays in your hands,

It becomes self-serving.

It must move on.

So place your hand in the hand of another,

And the dream moves on...forever.

By Lanny Bassham

I Rescued a Human Today!

I Rescued a Human Today.

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels.  

I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so  

she wouldn't be afraid.

As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my  

cage. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't been walked today. Sometimes the shelter keepers  

get too busy and I didn't want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card, I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the  

future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life. She got down on  

her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up  

against the bars to comfort her.

Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship. A tear fell down her  

cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well. Soon my kennel door opened  

and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her  

safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see  

that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor.  

So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At  

least I could save one.

I rescued a human today.


By: Janine Allen
Copyright by "Rescue Me Dog".

Orijen Dog Food Review

A review for Mr. Chewy’s 

Mr. Chewy’s is an online pet food company that sells dog/cat food, dog/cat treats, and other pet supplies.  Since I do not have the time to home cook my dog’s meals, I purchase top high quality brands of dog and cat food from Mr. Chewy’s.  Mr. Chewy’s is also convenient and ships directly to my house.  Mr. Chewy’s asked me to do a review on a dog food called Orijen.  I did try Orijen with my dogs and here is my review of this high quality dog food.

Orijen Dog Food:

Before trying Orijen, I had heard many great things about this brand of dog food.  I read the label and was impressed with the healthy ingredients in this dog food.  I am used to purchasing high quality expensive dog food because I like feeding my dogs the very best products.  So, when I was asked to review this dog food, I had to check it out first.  I am very particular about what I feed my dogs and had to make sure it was even worthy of my giving it to them in the first place.  Seriously, if it would have been a store brand or a low quality dog food, then I would NOT have agreed to try it and write a review.  

When I buy products for my dogs they have to pass a certain criteria.  The dog food must have healthy natural ingredients.  The ingredients CAN’T contain barley or flaxseed because I have one dog that is allergic to those items.  My dogs must love it and I have one Border Collie that is a picky picky eater.  I also monitor my dogs after they eat to see how they feel physically. 

Orijen passed the healthy ingredient test!  I liked that everything was fresh, deboned, fruits, vegetables, and vitamins/minerals.  Also, preservative-free is a plus!  

Ingredients: Fresh deboned wild boar*, fresh deboned lamb*, fresh beef liver*, fresh deboned pork*, lamb meal, peas, salmon meal, russet potato, herring meal, fresh whole eggs*, fresh deboned bison*, potato starch, fresh deboned salmon*, pacific whitefish meal, fresh deboned walleye*, salmon oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), sun-cured alfalfa, pea fiber, dried organic kelp, pumpkin, chicory root, carrots, spinach, turnip greens, apples, cranberries, blueberries, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, vitamin A, vitamin D3, vitamin E, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium yeast, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Enterococcus faecium. * DELIVERED FRESH, preservative-free and never frozen.

Orijen passed the dogs must love it test!  My dogs really did love it.  My finicky Border Collie would even work during training sessions for Orijen dog food.  He loved it that much.  My other two dogs just gobble down their meals when I feed them their Orijen and will also work during training sessions for this yummy dog food.  Well, I am assuming it is yummy because my dogs love it, but I did not eat it myself.  The ingredients seem to be of human grade quality and probably could be eaten by humans.  However, I am a vegan and do not eat any animal products, sorry Orijen.  My dogs were full of energy and did not have any digestion issues at all from eating this dog food.

Needless to say, I was very pleased with the Orijen brand of dog food, it passed my criteria and earned the Pam’s Dog Academy seal of approval.  

Get your bag of Orijen from www.mrchewy.com today!  If you order your food and have it delivered you will have more time to spend with your best friend, YOUR DOG!  

Now get out and play with your dog!  Life is just too short and their lives are shorter, so enjoy every moment you have with your dog! 

Pamela Johnson, CPDT-KA, B.S., M.A.

www.pamsdogtraining.com - Products (DVD’s & ebooks)

www.pamsdogacademy.com - Information about my training methods, video, and more.

Pam's Dog Academy DVDs & Satisfied Customer Reviews

My videos are loaded with fun exercises to help with focus, attention, proofing behaviors, valuable training information, training tips, and fun challenges to test your dogs knowledge.  

My Loose Leash Walking Made Easy, 2 Disc DVD is FINISHED and available on my website. 

If you Loved my Play-n-Train Recalls; you will LOVE my LLW DVD and now I have finished my Teaching Group Clicker Classes DVD! Loaded with exercises, proofing, challenges, walking in crowds, meet & greet, 6 weeks of lessons and how to progress each behavior to ensure success and MUCH MORE! 

LLW, 27 episodes of exercises to help your train your dog to LLW & at the same time improve the human/canine bond. 2 disc DVD set.

Play -N-Train Recalls - 21 episodes of fun games, exercises, and challenges to help train your dog to come when called.

Teaching Group Clicker Classes, comes with a FREE ebook with discussion ideas, 6 weeks of lessons, and the DVD is loaded with information on what to teach in a group class in addition to instructions on how to teach the exercises.  

Have a great day! :)

Get your DVDs from my website.  

Thank you,

Pamela Johnson

www.pamsdogtraining.com 

http://pamsdogtraining.com/?wpsc_product_category=dvds Direct link to my products page.

Here are what my Satisfied Customers are saying about my DVDs: 

• Play-N-Train Recalls, Agility Workouts, and Loose Leash Walking made easy.  Fun exercises, No force, No punishment and easy to follow instructions.
• Loose Leash Walking Made Easy by Pam’s dog Academy, If I was to rate this from 1 to 10; I would give this a 10.  Loose Leash Walking can be a daunting task to say the least. This Video DVD breaks that task down step by step and much more.  It’s is easy to follow and Pam trouble shoots each step so you won’t get over whelmed. I have been training dogs a long time and this wonderful video inspired me to do a Loose Leash Walking only class using these wonderful positive clicker training techniques. Way to go Pam. I look forward to seeing your future DVD’s too.  -  Mary Blanton  www.2dogtrail.com

• I can't wait for the "Stay" DVD to come out! I received "Play-n-train Recalls" for Christmas and I am really enjoying it. 
• Love the LLW DVD's THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 
• I always struggle to teach people how to train LLW.  They seem to want the dog to just not pull right away without working on it.  This gives me a lot of foundation behaviors to work on before even starting them walking.  Very helpful!   -  Heather

• You are truly generous with your information and my clients benefit from it frequently. Looking forward to more videos and DVDs!
• Very easy to understand and picked up some new tricks for recalls!! 

• The games are so much fun - we love it !! How about a trick DVD next? I'll buy it for sure!

• Hello Pam, i just wanted to tell you what a great job you have done with the LLW videos.  Emily Larlham mentioned them on her FB page so i bought the set and wanted to let you know how well you did.  I am putting together a six week LLW clinic and these will be an invaluable teaching aid and have given me some new Ideas.  i will credit you with some of the techniques we use in our class.  Thanks again for a well done video...

• You are truly generous with your information and my clients benefit from it frequently. Looking forward to more videos and DVDs!
• Very easy to understand!! 
• The games are so much fun - we love it !!
• I just wanted to tell you what a great job you have done with the LLW videos. 

Get your DVDs from my website at http://pamsdogtraining.com/?wpsc_product_category=dvds

Have a wonderful DAY!

Pamela Johnson

Pam's Dog Academy

Training Your Dog to Sit

By Melissa Alexander on 09/01/2006

Filed in - Fun & Handy Tricks - Skills for Every Day - Ask the Expert: Q&A

Excerpted from Click for Joy: Questions and Answers from Clicker Trainers and their Dogs by Melissa Alexander, an unparalleled guide to the concepts of clicker training.

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Q: I'm trying to teach my dog to sit, but she's not really getting it quite right. What should I be doing?

A: Training your dog to sit? How hard can that be? Just pop him a cookie for putting his butt on the ground—right? Unfortunately, a reliable sit isn't quite that easy. Let's look first at how to get the behavior, then let's go over what it takes to get the behavior when you want it, the way you want it.

Getting the behavior

A simple, "butt on the ground" sit is easy to get through either luring or capturing.

• Luring: To lure the sit from a stand, use a piece of food to draw your dog's nose up and back. As his head goes back, his rear end will naturally go down. Click at the moment his rear touches the ground, then let him have the treat.
• Capture: To capture the sit, simply wait until the dog sits down. Click at the instant his rear hits the ground and give him a treat right away. If you're training for competition, a sit is more complex. It has additional requirements like "tucked," "square," and "straight." Each of those requirements is a criterion to be shaped.

Making it perfect

Getting the sit is just the first step. Consider each of these questions:

• Do you want the sit cued with a verbal cue, a hand signal, or a contextual cue, i.e., every time you halt?
• How long should the sit last? Five seconds? Five minutes? Longer?
• Do you want the dog to hold the sit while you move around or will you always be stationary?
• Does sit mean "sit in front of me?" Or do you want the sit to happen no matter where the dog is—and no matter where you are?
• Where are you going to want the dog to sit? In the living room? The backyard? Away from home?
• What are some potential distractions that might occur when you want the dog to sit? Other people? Other dogs? Kids on skateboards? Squirrels?
• How reliable is this behavior going to need to be? Are a slow response and multiple cues irritating but acceptable, or could your dog's safety potentially depend on the reliability of this behavior?

Click here for video on
teaching sit

As the trainer, it's up to you to figure out how and when you'll use the behavior and then to train for those occasions. Training sit in the kitchen and then expecting the dog to respond when off the leash at a dog park is utterly unrealistic—and utterly unfair to your dog.

No matter how you define sit—or any other behavior—for your dog, keep this progression in mind when you train:

• Get exactly the behavior you want.
• Add the cue.
• Make the behavior perfect by generalizing to different locations and adding elements such as duration, distance, and distractions.
• Make the behavior reliable by proofing everything you've taught in every situation you plan to use the behavior.

About the author

Melissa Alexander is a writer and clicker trainer in Seattle, WA. She owns the highly popularClickerSolutions mailing list and is the author of Click for Joy, the award-winning, essential guide to clicker training.

Housetraining Basics

By Peggy Tillman on 01/24/2012

Filed in - Skills for Every Day

Editor's note: Experienced dog owners who are new to clicker training are often heard to say, "I wish I started clicking when my dog was a puppy." Clicker training is a powerful method of molding a puppy's attitude and capacity to learn. When a puppy knows right from the beginning that it can earn rewards—whether a treat or a chance to play with you—by paying attention and learning new behaviors, it matures into an extraordinary canine companion. Clicking will give your puppy confidence and comfort through positive experiences and clear communication. Here's how to get started housetraining the clicker way.

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If your puppy came from a knowledgeable breeder, his mother may have already trained him to eliminate outside. When breeders provide a way for the mother dog to take her puppies out, the mother dog will often housetrain her puppies. However, if you're reading this, you probably have to do the housetraining yourself.

The potty spot

Your goal is to teach your puppy the right place to eliminate. The first thing you must do is choose one spot that will be his permanent bathroom: the "potty" spot. When you take your puppy out to potty, always use the same door and go to the same potty spot.

Watch your puppy carefully in the potty spot. Plan on waiting for him. Let him sniff around. When he begins going, quietly say your potty cue—a word that will tell your dog that this is the place and time to go. (Be careful in choosing your "potty" word. You will want to use this word in public. This cue will come in very handy when you're away from home.)

Click and treat just as your puppy is finishing his business. You want to click while the behavior is still happening, but not so early in the process that your puppy stops eliminating prematurely in order to get to his treat. With a bit of practice you'll quickly learn to time your click and treat so that your puppy associates his reward with eliminating in the right place—yet isn't interrupted before completion.

Soon your puppy will know that: potty in house = no reward; potty in potty spot = really great rewards!

Bell signal

Click here for video on
housetraining your puppy

A bell can be a useful tool for your dog to tell you he wants to go out. Because he can't speak to you in your language, he must use a signal to tell you he needs to go out. You must learn to recognize that signal. Put a bell on the door that leads to the potty spot. The bell rings every time someone goes in or out that door. Remember how fast a dog learns what a doorbell means? Well, your puppy will learn that the bell means that the door is opening. Many puppies will go to the bell and ring it without any special training. However, to speed up the process, take him to the bell. If he touches it, click and treat him. Then quickly open the door and run outside, praising him. If he shows no interest in touching the bell, you can rub cheese or peanut butter on it.

Crate training

It is a good idea to put the puppy in a crate at night and during the day when you can't watch him. Most puppies don't want to eliminate in their nest. If your puppy is very small and you have a large crate, divide it up so the puppy has just enough room to stand up and turn around.

Depending on the age of the puppy, you may have to get up in the middle of the night to take him out. Some people like to keep their puppy's crate in their bedroom at night, so they can easily hear when he wakes and can take him out before he eliminates in his crate. Always take your puppy out when you first get up in the morning.

Accidents

If your puppy has an accident, try not to be angry or upset (this is sometimes hard), because if he fears you it will slow his learning. This is not an instant process, but if it's done properly your dog won't fear you and he will learn what you want.

When the puppy has an accident in the house (and he will), remain as calm as possible. If you're lucky, you will catch him before he finishes. Quietly get the puppy and take him out to his potty spot. Use your potty cue, and if he goes, click and treat him. (If he doesn't eliminate, try again later. When he does go, click, make a fuss over him, and reward him with a treat or play.)

Go back into the house and use paper towels to pick up the mistake. Place the towels in the potty spot. Leave the towels there as a signal to your dog that this is the correct place for him to eliminate. Don't let the place get dirty; just leave enough to mark the spot for your puppy.

Clean up the area your puppy used by mistake with white vinegar. Vinegar will help eliminate the odor. You can also buy products at pet stores to help remove the smell. Removal of the odor is important in discouraging the puppy from using that spot again.

If you understand when your puppy needs to go out, then you can eliminate many accidents. The following suggestions will help your puppy succeed with his housetraining.

1. Always watch your puppy. You can tie him to you in the house. You can confine the puppy to the room you are in with puppy gates. You can also crate train him.
2. Feed on a fixed schedule. Usually he will need to go right after he has eaten.
3. Always take him out after eating, playing, or any excitement. He will need to go out after exercise, after waking up, and before going to bed at night.

For more detailed information on crate training, teaching sit, down, stay, leave it, and many other key behaviors, see Clicking with Your Dog, by Peggy Tillman.

Fifteen Tips for Getting Started with the Clicker

By Karen Pryor on 04/01/2002

Filed in - Fundamentals

Clicker training is a new, science-based way to communicate with your pet. It's easier to learn than standard command-based training. You can clicker train any kind of animal, of any age. Puppies love it. Old dogs learn new tricks. You can clicker-train cats, birds, and other pets as well. Here are some simple tips to get you started.

1. Push and release the springy end of the clicker, making a two-toned click. Then treat. Keep the treats small. Use a delicious treat at first: for a dog or cat, little cubes of roast chicken, not a lump of kibble.
2. Click DURING the desired behavior, not after it is completed. The timing of the click is crucial. Don't be dismayed if your pet stops the behavior when it hears the click. The click ends the behavior. Give the treat after that; the timing of the treat is not important.
3. Click when your dog or other pet does something you like. Begin with something easy that the pet is likely to do on its own. (Ideas: sit; come toward you; touch your hand with its nose; lift a foot; touch and follow a target object such as a pencil or a spoon.)
4. Click once (in-out.) If you want to express special enthusiasm, increase the number of treats, not the number of clicks.
5. Keep practice sessions short. Much more is learned in three sessions of five minutes each than in an hour of boring repetition. You can get dramatic results, and teach your pet many new things, by fitting a few clicks a day here and there in your normal routine.
6. Fix bad behavior by clicking good behavior. Click the puppy for relieving itself in the proper spot. Click for paws on the ground, not on the visitors. Instead of scolding for making noise, click for silence. Cure leash-pulling by clicking and treating those moments when the leash happens to go slack.
7. Click for voluntary (or accidental) movements toward your goal. You may coax or lure the animal into a movement or position, but don't push, pull, or hold it. Let the animal discover how to do the behavior on its own. If you need a leash for safety's sake, loop it over your shoulder or tie it to your belt.
8. Don't wait for the "whole picture" or the perfect behavior. Click and treat for small movements in the right direction. You want the dog to sit, and it starts to crouch in back: click. You want it to come when called, and it takes a few steps your way: click.
9. Keep raising your goal. As soon as you have a good response-when a dog, for example, is voluntarily lying down, coming toward you, or sitting repeatedly-start asking for more. Wait a few beats, until the dog stays down a little longer, comes a little further, sits a little faster. Then click. This is called "shaping" a behavior.
10. When your animal has learned to do something for clicks, it will begin showing you the behavior spontaneously, trying to get you to click. Now is the time to begin offering a cue, such as a word or a hand signal. Start clicking for that behavior if it happens during or after the cue. Start ignoring that behavior when the cue wasn't given.
11. Don't order the animal around; clicker training is not command-based. If your pet does not respond to a cue, it is not disobeying; it just hasn't learned the cue completely. Find more ways to cue it and click it for the desired behavior. Try working in a quieter, less distracting place for a while. If you have more than one pet, separate them for training, and let them take turns.
12. Carry a clicker and "catch" cute behaviors like cocking the head, chasing the tail, or holding up one foot. You can click for many different behaviors, whenever you happen to notice them, without confusing your pet.
13. If you get mad, put the clicker away. Don't mix scoldings, leash-jerking, and correction training with clicker training; you will lose the animal's confidence in the clicker and perhaps in you.
14. If you are not making progress with a particular behavior, you are probably clicking too late. Accurate timing is important. Get someone else to watch you, and perhaps to click for you, a few times.
15. Above all, have fun. Clicker-training is a wonderful way to enrich your relationship with any learner.