Bonjour mes amis !
Last weekend was full of walks and full of training! Following your advices, my humans have decided that I was going to get more training during my walks and that's what we've been doing ! It's so much fun. I love training (and the treats that go with). But of course, I never forget about my first passion : resting. (especially now - it's sooooo hot outside I can barely walk for 5 minutes without starting to drool excessively - and I do mean the "excessively". )
Because of Honey's DWTDS, I had to learn through the weekend how to shake paws according to my human's hand. ( I already knew how to shake paws, of course, but found it really difficult to synchronize it with my humans hand - I usually gave the right one without even thinking about it heehee ). So you're going to get a lot of shaking paws in the video, sorry my furiends !
Hope it is not too boring though :-)
I leave you with some black and white shots of myself,
Love,
Lincoln
PS : In one or two days, I'll be posting an update of my DWTDS training, did not realize it would come so quickly, and now I'm sooooo late ! Hehe, but still loving it !
Oh, and also, tomorrow I'm having a playdate !!! Yeay !! I'm going to meet a young lady called Anika, she's a chocolate lab and guess what ??? Her humans are going to give her a little sis' by the end of august : a blue great dane female pup :-) OMG ! I just can't wait !
Looks like the training is coming along great. He is doing so much better with his walking - but rather then tugging on his collar when he stops to sniff a "leave it" command would be better. This way he learns to stay away from things you don't want him near. Did you know that dogs that like us, dogs can be left or right handed(pawed) and that it can be hard for some dogs to shake with both.
ReplyDeleteBlack and white or color - makes no matter, Lincoln - you are just so handsome. We loved walking along with you. Bet you can't wait to meet that new pup. What fun you can have with Anika and the new little one.
ReplyDeleteWoos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara
Hi Lincoln!! Your video is great, we could only watch 2 minutes of it because we have a STOOPID connection at the moment but what we saw was brilliant, the hand shaking is coming on really well, and well worth it if you get a treat every time, we'd go for that too! Have a great week, Dex & Lou x
ReplyDeleteBaby Great Dane! EEEK!
ReplyDeleteI love the settings of your walks! So beautiful!
Hi Lincoln, What a clever boy. You are learning more and more every day. What a wonderful place to go for a walk. Its looks beautiful. Sending you a big hug. No worries, love Carol.
ReplyDeleteHey Lincoln, I love your black and white photos. It can be so hard to get photos of black beauties such as yourself but you always look so gorgeous! I love it when they're in your posts.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the training! Its hot here in Texas, 97 degrees Fahrenheit today. How hot is it where you're at?
Yoko
Great job on the training, I am your newest follower
ReplyDeleteWoofs, Roxy the beagle jack russel
http://lifeofabeagle.blogspot.com/
Also feel free to ent5er my current giveaway for a walkadog trainer
so the training is coming along well? Tell your mom she's a fantastic photographer!
ReplyDeleteHi Remington here! Thanks for stopping by my blog. Nice to meet you! You have a very neat blog. Best of luck on your training.... BTW -- I am going to follow you....no, not around your yard, just in Blogland! I hope we can be great friends!
ReplyDeleteoh wow I just love the Black and Whites!
ReplyDeleteKari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com
Lincoln, you are just adorable!! I love the black and white photos of you too!
ReplyDeleteHappy Wednesday woofs & hugs,
~Bailey
Hi Lincoln, thank you for coming by our blog! Gook luck and have a fun on DWTDS!! Our humans enjoyed watching DWTS until last night.. now we'll keep eye of its doggie version.
ReplyDeleteMomo & Pinot
ps: You're so beautiful Great Dane. Would you like to sign our guestbook so we can see your picture all the time? :) :)
Nice to meet you. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the training. Looking forward to read your adventures.
Meeka
You're a very handsome black dane, Lincoln! Those pictures of you are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI love your dance, you and your mom are so good at it. Good luck!!
Thanks for stopping by our blog too, it's lovely to meet you here in Blogville.
What fantastic off-leash walking Lincoln, you look so good :)
ReplyDeleteWe really enjoyed the video, we love watching training :)
I know we say this EVERY time, but you are soooo Handsome - those black and white photo's are stunning :)
Hi Lincoln - sorry, I'm so late!! I'm behind with visiting blog friends and only catching up now...and also, I wanted to save this post for when I had time to watch the video properly!
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree with everybody - you are the most handsome boy and your B&W photos are just STUNNING!
And your video is great too! I agree also that you walk in such beautiful places...I think it's great that your humans are doing more training with you on your walks - you walk so nicely beside them! By the way, I hope you don't mind but Hsin-Yi had a few suggestions to make, based on your video:
1) Tell your human not to walk in a straight line - this is too easy & "boring" for us and so we "zone out" and don't pay attention to them anymore. So they should keept weaving left & right or suddenly turn around and walk back the way you came for a bit - and then turn back again. Or walk in a circle and then continue. Or stop suddenly and then start again suddenly, just as you think they're stopping there. Also, tell them to walk at different speeds - sometimes fast, sometimes normal, sometimes very, very slow. The idea is to keep you guessing all the time - the more unpredictable your human is on your walk, the more you will pay attention & focus on them, because you will think, "Yikes - I don't know what they're going to do next - I'd better watch them!"
(continued...)
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ReplyDelete2) Tell your human to make use of anything around you on your walks, again to make the walk more interesting & challenging. For example, at one point in your video, you were walking past a row of trees - so instead of walking in a straight line next to them, you human could have walked between them, weaving in & out, like a snake, you know? Or even suddenly walk around 1 tree. This way again you have to follow your humans more and pay more attention to them - and it also makes them more fun & interesting on your walks. Hsin-Yi is always using everything around me on our walks as a sort of "natural agility course" - to make me jump over things, go under things, around things...anything she can use, because this makes the trainign more interesting (can I Sit ON a bench, instead of just on the road?)
3) When your human is doing DOWN with you, tell her to wait until you have lied down completely (elbows on floor) - and then wait a second - and then give you your release word (eg, mine is "OK!" - you should always have a release word to tell you when you are finished from doing that command) - and only AFTER you have got up from the Down should she reward you with the treat. At the moment, she is giving you the treat as soon as you lie down (sometimes even halfway before you have gone all the way down!) - but that is only necessary when you are learning - now that you know this command already, they should be challenging you more. You always have to keep increasing the training more and more, so we don't get bored. So now, you shouldn't get the treat until you have gone Down, waited a second, then Release Word - and then Get up again...and also slowly, she should increase the time that you are staying Down. First just count 5 secs then increase to 10, 20, 30s, 1min...You should be working towards a 1min Down Stay by your age. Plus also, she should start to step away from you when you are in the Down. Again, increase the challenge. See how many steps she can step away from you. Start with 1, then 2, then 3, then 5, etc...also, see if she can walk around you but you must remain lying Down, until she comes back in front of you and gives you the Release Word (THEN you get lots of treats & praise!)
Down Stay is one of the most important commands to practise because it teaches you a lot of self-control and that is what puppies need to learn at this age. You should practise it in different places - start somewhere quiet with no distractions and then try it in places with some distractions (eg. can you do a Down Stay next to cows? Next to traffic? Next to people walking past?)
Don't rush it - if you keep breaking your Down (ie. keep getting up), then that means your humans are going too fast and it is too hard for you - so you have to go back a level and practise some more at the lower level first (eg. maybe 5 steps away is too much - so go back to 3 steps)
If you practise all of these things on your walk every day, you should see a BIG improvement in your manners - and it will also tire your brain out a lot more. Remember, our training should keep on challenging us all the time - coz you know us Danes get bored very easily! :-)
Hope this is helpful!
Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane
ps. Oh, I agree with Reilly - it is much better to give your dog a command to get them to do something, rather than try to physically make them do it - never get into a physical battle with them, especially a dog that weighs more than you, because you never want to let them realise that they are stronger than you! So instead of pulling Lincoln away from the thing, use your training - call him (have you taught him Come yet? or Leave it?) - use a command to "make" him do what you want - and then reward him for following the command. This way you are getting training practice in at the same time!
ReplyDeleteHsin-Yi