K-9 Prodigy
Shopping Basket
Your Basket is Empty
Quantity:
Subtotal
Taxes
Delivery
Total
Unleash the genius in your dog
Unleash the genius in your dog
My Blog
My Blog
Blog
Training in Hot Weather
| Posted on 15 August, 2018 at 18:38 |
Training in the hot weather – no one likes to do
it! I’ve always wondered what people who live in constantly hot
locations – Arizona, Las Vegas etc – do about the hot weather when
there’s dogs to be trained. Does everyone just rent air conditioned
training buildings? Luckily, Oregon is really only truly hot for a few weeks out of the year. Here’s some of the ways I’ve found to cope:
Train early! It really, really, really is worth
it to get up an extra five or ten minutes early and do a very short
training session, especially if you’re working on something that’s high
energy like recalls or jumping. Most dogs feel most fresh in the
morning. Hot weather naturally slows dogs down; take advantage. This is not
to mean that it’s ok to purposely overheat and exhaust your dog in the
name of training, but if it’s not overly hot and is simply warm, you can
actually use this as a stamina and control-builder for things like
loose-leash walking and settle in public. Young dogs tend to overexert
themselves early, usually during the first ten minutes of a walk. At
some point they realize it’s hot and they’re getting tired, and they’ll
slow. Eventually, they’ll learn to conserve their energy and start out a
little slower. Again, I’m not suggesting that you purposely overheat or
tire your dog just so he’ll learn to self-regulate. But I don’t have a
problem with letting the natural environment teach your dog a lesson;
even if you don’t do this intentionally many young dogs settle down
quite a bit after their first hot summer. Work on as much “inside” stuff as you can. Maybe
you can even move some furniture around to give yourself a little more
space. Here’s some good training exercises you can do in the house: 1) Recall
games (come when called.) Dump several treats for your dog to eat while
you sneak off and hide in a different room (make it easy at first – no
hiding that’s too difficult.) Call your dog and when he runs to you and
finds you, praise a lot and dump another small pile of treats so you can
take off again. For most dogs, keep this to only 3-4 repetitions or the
dog will start to get tired – it’s important that your dog is actually
galloping, not just trotting or walking, during recall practice. 2) Food
distraction work. In the kitchen! You can run through an obedience
routine with food distractions hanging out on the counter, then on a
table, then on the floor. You can “accidently” drop a loaf of bread
during the sit-stay, then “forget” to pick it up for the
come-when-called. A training buddy can sit around snacking as you heel
by. You get the idea! 3) Indoor
Parkour. If you’re a Parkour fan, and you don’t mind your dog up on
furniture, you can exercise your creativity muscle and think of some
Parkour exercises for your dog to do inside. 4) Distance
work. Put your dog behind a baby gate or other barrier (you should
still have visibility of your dog.) Standing right outside the gate, cue
“sit” or “down” or “stand.” Reward and then try re-cueing from a
slightly farther back location. Work up to being able to stand all the
way across the room and cueing position changes. 5) Work
on your own training skills. One of the best ways to practice your own
training skills is by training “throwaway” behaviors that you don’t
really need your dog to know. (Usually tricks.) The world will not come
to an end if you do not successfully train “Play dead” for example, but
while you’re working on it you will be improving many of your own skills
– skills at luring, adding duration to behavior, adding and modifying
cues, etc. |
Categories: Training Tips
Post a Comment
Oops!
The words you entered did not match the given text. Please try again.
184 Comments
Reply
Plaquenil
5:32 on 15 September, 2021
Worldwide Progesterone Website Shop Free Doctor Consultation Lisburn
Oops!
Oops, you forgot something.