update on Snow

Snow is not keen on this piece of rope tied to him for the first time
Snow is not keen on this piece of rope tied to him for the first time

Snow has been growing fast and is a quick learner but just recently he tried to hide under his kennel when I went to put him away. This is where a lot of dog owners can go wrong with there training. If I was to chase him to try and catch him I would just end up playing the game of the big slow man chasing the fast little dog.

Snow getting used to the pigs at feeding time
Snow getting used to the pigs at feeding time

What can happen in extreme cases of this game is the big slow man can become very angry at the fast little dog so that the dog stops playing the game out of fear and ends up getting a beating from the big slow man. If you are one of those people that have played this game with your young dog then you will know that the dog will be different towards you the next time you go to put the dog into the kennel. you have just allowed your dog to lose trust in you. The best way to train any dog is first to gain that thrust from your dog and don’t go and loss it simply because you can not think past the first step. Here is what you could do instead of playing the game of the slow big man casing the fast little dog.

Snow taking a break
Snow taking a break

When you go to let your young dog out of its kennel put a collar and length of rope on the dog. This way when you want that dog to come up to you it will have no other options. At this stage with Snow I am not trying to make him sit and stay or any thing else as I do not want to tell him to many things at the same time as that may just confuse him.  Before I call him to me I stand on the end of his rope then when I call him if he does not come to me by the second time that I call I pull the rope towards myself so that he has to come straight to me. I always use a nice happy tone of voice as a dog is very quick to pick up on your moods through your voice tone. When he is at my side I give him a pat and tell him how good he is. I will need to repeat this training a couple of times until I know that he will come to me every time with out fail.