Nice video giving some good tips. An additional tip is that if your dog is not interested in chasing toys, to start with pulling the toy back in front of you on the floor, instead of in the air. This mimics prey and helps to stimulate the dog. Also never go to fast - take it slowly - enjoy!

Bite Me!

Posted March 18, 2013 (Fearfudog Blog)


I recently had the unfortunate, albeit educational experience of being on a radio show with three other dog trainers. When asked if we’d ever been bitten I recounted the story of being bitten when I was a kid, another trainer spoke of his experience with sharp puppy teeth and his nose, but it was the last trainer whose response was most disturbing.

This self-proclaimed dog whisperer boasted- there was no disguising how proud she was- that she has been bitten countless number of times with varying levels of damage sustained. She considered being bitten a badge of honor and her creds for working with aggressive dogs. “Unless you’re willing to get bitten you shouldn’t work with them,” she declared. This I realized was what she thought separated her from other trainers, what made her better than other trainers, but to my ears it rang out incompetence. It was teenage boy bravado.

Imagine a trainer of wild animals, most of which will display some form of aggression toward people if they feel threatened, bragging about the number of times the lion bit them. If you work with wild animals these are not the kind of stories you necessarily live to tell. Most dog trainers do survive bites but that has more to do with the dog’s intentions, not the trainer’s skill. That being bitten by a dog poses less risk to us is no excuse for shoddy training. “Why,” I wanted to ask her, “If someone can train wild animals without being bitten, can’t you do it with a dog!?”

Her cavalier attitude toward being bitten also belied either naivete or ignorance about what happens when a dog, who might otherwise not have bitten if handled properly, does bite. Anyone adopting out a dog, is obligated to share a dog’s bite history with potential adopters. To not do so sets them up for being found liable for gross negligence should the dog bite someone in the future and the dog’s bite history becomes known. Imagine you’re visiting a shelter and all things being equal you can choose from Fluffy who has never bitten anyone and Lassie who bit his previous owners and the trainer brought in to work with him. How convincing will the guarantees of Lassie’s successful rehabilitation be? I am not saying that Lassie can’t be rehabilitated or that even nice dogs don’t have good reasons for biting sometimes. There are shelters with a policy of simply not adopting out dogs with bite histories, period .....read more

This is just so true! Dogs love to have fun and often we overlook this element and do too much teaching, training, reprimanding etc rather than have a game of chase of encourage them to be silly, but teach the ground rules first! Enjoy, lovely article.


Silly Dogs, Happy Dogs, by By Eric Brad 

One of the great joys in my life is knowing that my dogs are idiots. Don’t get me wrong. They are intelligent, well-trained, eager to work, and well accomplished in dog sports and activities. It’s just that, on occasion, they seem to enjoy acting like idiots.

I don’t mean to suggest that I only enjoy their periodic lunacy for my own entertainment (although that certainly is a factor). If I’m honest, a large part of my enjoyment comes from my ability to join them in their silliness. You see, I like being an idiot too sometimes.

Everybody’s free to be silly

If we feel safe, if we are with people we trust, we can feel free to be as silly as we like. Maybe it’s a bad pun, maybe it’s a funny face, but we all like to goof around and laugh. It’s the same with our dogs. They enjoy the freedom and release of just being silly too sometimes. Anyone who has ever owned a puppy can attest to this as I’m sure you have seen “The Zoomies”, those sudden bouts of just running all over the house for no apparent reason that seem to happen mostly in the evenings.

Depending on your particular kind of dog, you may feel more or less comfortable with doggy silliness in your household. While silliness and play are a natural part of being a dog, there can be some drawbacks. Larger dogs don’t know which of your furnishing are fragile and may bash into things. Dogs have claws that may mark up floors or scratch doors. And I have heard dogs described as having a “mouth full of cutlery”, those sharp teeth that sometimes accidentally inflict minor scrapes.

The Big No

Yes, it’s all fun and games until the human puts a stop to everything. Your dog is in the middle of having a grand old time when suddenly a table gets bumped or someone gets nicked by a tooth and “NO!”, the game ends abruptly. Your dog can be confused by this. They were just having some fun and suddenly they are getting yelled at. They probably aren’t sure why you are reprimanding them.

Dogs don’t really know that it’s ok to crash into the sofa but not the end table. They didn’t mean to catch your finger when they were re-gripping that rope toy you are playing tug with. So when we suddenly end the game, it may not exactly be clear to our dogs what went wrong. Being proactive in teaching our dogs the rules before we start the game can save everyone some unnecessary stress.

Simple rules, simple games

Each of our dogs has different games they enjoy. Our youngest, Rizzo likes to play with toys. Any toys. And he’s not shy about telling you when he wants to play. He simply grabs a toy from his collection, shoves it into the back of your leg, and wraps a paw around your leg. It’s almost like he’s saying, “Ah hah! Game one, dude!” And frequently we will oblige him.

But it was important that ..........read more