Ike's Graduation...and Fun & Furry, Fit & Healthy Tour Stop #2

It's been a busy week here. First, Ike graduated from Obedience School!

And then, we've been busy with our book launch for The Dieting with my Dog Guide to Weight Loss and Maintenance. In celebration of the book launch, you can enter to win a great gift pack with items you need to be a Fit Dog--such as toys, collar and leash, healthy treats and toothbrush!

AND you can also enter to win a copy of the book!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All this month, we're featuring a blog tour, where I'll be stopping at your favorite blogs for a little
Q &A. We had a great visit with Jodi, Kol and Felix on Wednesday. Today I'm super excited about our second stop. The Pet Health Care Gazette is written by an accomplished author and veterinarian, who really cares about keeping pets fit and healthy. Please visit The Pet Health Care Gazette for our stop today!
Here's the complete schedule:

The Dieting with my Dog Guide to

Weight loss & Maintenance

9/9 Launch giveaway!

9/11- Kol’s Notes

9/13- Pet Health Care Gazette

9/16- Rumpy Dog

9/18- Heart Like a Dog

9/19- The Dog Ring

9/20- I Still Want More Puppies

9/23- Cindy Lu’s Muse

9/25- My GBGV Life

9/27- Pooch Smooches

9/30- Fidose of Reality

FitDog Friday is co-hosted by Peggy's Pet Place, Slimdoggy, and To Dog with Love. Join the hop!

Want more positive pet tips, good news, and special offers? Fetch my free newsletter, Pawsitively Pets. Kelly and Ike hope to see you there!

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Fit Dog Friday- How To Teach "Touch"

This week was Ike's second Good Manners class. A fit dog has to keep his mind fit too!
In this class, we learned "Touch." Touch is a targeting skill that helps get a dog into position without using any physical contact or force.

At first, Ike didn't quite know what we were asking of him.



Then he got a little more instruction from the teacher.



He's starting to get the hang of it. He even performed an over the shoulder touch, lol.


How To teach "touch"
1. Hold out your hand with an open palm.
2. As soon as your dog accidentally touches your hand with his nose, click
3. Reward with a treat
4. Move your hand around and repeat 1-3.
5. After three successful "touches" add the verbal command, "Touch." and repeat the exercise.
6. Continue to move your hand around to different positions.
If your dog isn't interested in your hand, make it smell like hot dogs or something good!

The dogs seemed to get the hang of this pretty well. Now the key is continued practicing at home. Have you taught your dog "touch"? How did it go? What real world applications have you found for this skill?

FitDog Friday is co-hosted by Peggy's Pet Place, Slimdoggy, and To Dog With Love. Join the bloghop!

Want more positive pet tips, good news, and special offers? Fetch my free newsletter, Pawsitively Pets. Kelly and Ike hope to see you there!

 

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FitDog Friday- Ike goes to School

Sometimes a Fit Dog must go to school. Since we adopted Ike from a situation where he basically had been allowed to get away with any behavior and bad manners, we knew we'd need to start from the very beginning with his training. He'd been called Buddy for 6 years, and hadn't even learned his name. But he is definitely smart. And he already knows his new name is Ike!

We walked in to our first day of class. Two cute little dogs were already there...and the moment they saw Ike, they started barking, and the chihuahua growled at Ike! The instructor said that they were probably intimidated with his size. Ike just stood and wagged his tail.

The instructor teaches clicker training. First we got the dogs to associate something good with the clicker. Lots of clicking. Lots of treats. Then, the first lesson was sit. The instructor told us to first use a food bait, then a hand signal, and finally the verbal word. I'm still not sure why she doesn't start with the verbal command, but that's the way she does it. Most of the dogs pretty much knew sit. I don't know a dog who won't sit eventually if you stand there holding out a treat!

The second lesson was "leave it." This is an important skill that somehow I've never taught any of my other dogs in the past, although Kelly responds to "no" very well. We held a fistful of kibble in our closed hand and Ike sniffed it all over. The second he pulled back from the hand--click! Then a treat. We did this for a while until he seemed ready for the next step. Then we opened our hand and exposed the treats. It really didn't take them too long to figure out what to do...er, what not to do. I was surprised at how well the dogs would "leave it" --although we didn't make it amazingly tempting for them.

There was a lot of barking that first class. The little dogs barked at Ike a lot. The instructor told the people to distract their dogs with a food lure whenever the dogs did that. I hope that the dogs get used to each other and Ike. I'm not sure if Ike enjoyed school or not. We're looking forward to teaching him to walk nicely on a leash. Right now it's still a pull-fest, and we've tried out different collars and harnesses but still he pulls. And we'll all be glad that he's learned some lessons and we understand what each other wants and needs.

FitDog Friday is hosted by Peggy's Pet Place, SlimDoggy, and To Dog With Love. And this week, we're announcing our Special Prize Giveaway by Cloud Star!

For this week and next, we'll randomly select one commenters from the FitDog Friday blog hop sponsor’s sites- SlimDoggy, Peggy’s Pet Place, and To Dog With Love.  The selected commenter will receive a sample pack of dog treats courtesy of Cloud Star, makers of Dynamo Dog Functional Treats. (Kelly's tried them and loved them!)  Make sure to share your FitDog Friday thoughts and you may win a great prize for your fit dog!

Join the blog hop!

Want more positive pet tips, good news and special offers? Fetch my free newsletter, Pawsitively Pets! Kelly, Ike and I hope to see you there!

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