Train N Treat: Dog Stress Alert #1: Head Turn

In our new series of dog-friendly training secrets for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheery Officer (CCO) Kiyo recommends that we pay lots of attention to understanding if a dog is stressed. There's 'good' and 'bad' stress. 'Good' stress prompts a dog to continue learning, 'bad' stress causes a dog to shut down. Just because a dog is still and seems obedient, it doesn't mean that it's comfortable. So read the signs carefully.

Dog Stress Alert #1: Head Turn

An important part of being a good dog owner is being able to read how our dog is responding to us or to being in a certain situation. That means that we need to be able to identify our dog’s stress signals – they tell us if our dog is still enjoying itself, it’s merely tolerating what’s happening, or it has had enough.

In this photo, the girl appears to be gently restraining the dog. But the dog has turned its head away and its body language suggests that it’s trying to move away from the girl. The dog is merely tolerating being held – turning its head away is a stress signal, which has been ignored.

Photo from Dreamstime

When your dog starts displaying stress signals, do something to improve the situation, or end the interaction and get your dog out of the situation.  If you’re not sure of what to do, please consult a qualified trainer or behaviourist to help you and your dog.

Train N Treat: Doggy Life Skill #7 - The Sociable, Confident Dog

Today, in our dog-friendly training tip for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheery Officer (CCO) Kiyo shows how learning an appropriate set of life and social skills means he can go almost everywhere!

A sociable and confident dog doesn't have to greet every person or dog that it meets, but it must be able to walk away when it needs to, and that ability to do so goes beyond being obedient. It has to do with its internal state of calmness, painstakingly cultivated by teaching your dog skills to cope with different situations.

Kiyo, CCO (Chief Cheery Officer) of cheerfuldogs.com shows some of the essential life and social skills that make up a good canine citizen - it's all about teamwork and relationship building between you and your dog.

From: Nee Kang (2013). "Survival Among Humans. A How To Guide To A Sociable Dog". In Apple iBookstore (select countries, e.g. USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland).

Train N Treat: Doggy Life Skill #5 - Teaching "Stay"

Today, in our dog-friendly training tip for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheery Officer (CCO) Kiyo demonstrates his staying power!

"Stay and relax!", invites Kiyo.

A "stay" is a 2-part behaviour: "stay" means "don't move", and a release cue, e.g. "ok", "done", "free", or your dog's name, which means, "yes, you can move now". 

There are also 3 components to a good "stay": time, distance, distractions. Start in small steps with time, then work on distance, and finally distractions. You'll run into trouble if you mix them all up too soon.

In this video, Kiyo shows another trick of his trade!

From: Nee Kang (2013). "Survival Among Humans. A How To Guide To A Sociable Dog". In Apple iBookstore (select countries, e.g. USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland).

Train N Treat: Doggy Life Skill #1 - The Name Game

Today, in our dog-friendly training tip for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheery Officer (CCO) Kiyo shares the secret of how he learnt his name... or even a new one!

Kiyo responds to his name by looking at us

Every family dog has been given a name, but not every dog knows its name. Just like how they're not born to understand commands like "Sit", "Down" or "Stay", dogs need to be trained to know their names. How do we engage our dog such that when it hears its name, it'll take its attention away from something else to focus on you?

In the video below, Kiyo demonstrates "The Name Game".

From: Nee Kang (2013). "Survival Among Humans. A How To Guide To A Sociable Dog". In Apple iBookstore (select countries, e.g. USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland).

A Picture Story of CCO Kiyo

Chief Cheery Officer Kiyo of cheerfuldogs.com

Almost every year, J flies in and (is) volunteered to take candid shots of our Chief Cheery Officer Kiyo. By nature, J much prefers to let sleeping dogs lie, but over the years, she has come to be quite the doting aunty of our CCO - his "ruggedly handsome" looks are persuasive enough for her to allow mysterious parcels filled with doggy stuff to be delivered to her front porch in suburban USA :). And when it comes to catching those fleeting moments on camera, J is unburdened by trainer's pride, and so she only has one thing to focus on - Kiyo, in all his 'glory'.

Here then, is a  whirlwind peek at what we got last week, in no particular order. Our CCO approves. We hope you do too!

The colour of gold...

Keeping our CCO spiffy

Exercising his mind?

Hmm... his muscles?

His impulse control?

Change of scenery - potty break

Strolling in the park...though we didn't expect the mud!

On your mark, get set, GO!

Puppy days are here again...

Off for more fun...

Not quite Loch Ness, though Scotland is the ancestral seat

East Coast Park would do for water games...

Mirroring of expressions...

As you can tell, we love how the water droplets are captured...

Little moments...

And just having some silly fun together!

May I have this dance?

This is living and loving life with Kiyo!

Thanks for reading!