Canine communication with Julia Collins

Parlez Vous POOCH?!

Blogger and qualified ‘Dog Listener’ Julia Collins looks at how fun and play with your four-legged chum can be very instructive.

It is said that half an hour’s constructiveplay / ‘training’ with a dog, is as tiring as an hour’s brisk walk. Good to know when the weather is horrible and a walk doesn’t feel very inviting. A dog definitely needs one good walk a day, but the second one can be replaced, when really necessary. Try telling your dog to sit and wait while you hide a favourite toy just out of sight. Then, return to your dog and quietly tell them to ‘find it’. Most dogs love this and you can expand the game to hide several articles at once. Make sure the pace is gentle – not too much skidding over shiny floors and loose rugs. Remember – only a calm pooch receives a reward. Try y also telling y your dog to sit and wait while you move away and then out of sight. He will delight in finding you and, once the idea has taken hold, someone else can hide and you can then send the dog to find them. He will understand this variation based on the previous experience. Stashing treats around the house also goes down a storm. Just place a little ‘reward’ behind chair legs, curtains or room entrances. Now you’ll see some high-speed concentration! Having tried it once, reduce the number of locations and make them less obvious, thus obliging the dog to refine his search. Adding detail to your usual routine is a good idea too. You can stretch time by making the period available intensely packed with requests. Sitting quietly y while you put on your boots, hat and coat is all good practise. Moving from ‘ sit’ to ‘down ’ and back again from a distance, followed by a little walk around at heel, a ‘ wait’ then ‘ come ’ , all refine attention, centre the dog on you – the leader, and use up

‘thinking energy ’! ‘Good waiting ’ , ‘good no tearing around the hall’ , no squeaking – you can see all this is demanding from a cerebral point of view, and all before anyone sets foot outside the door. In addition, if ‘good paying attention’ and ‘carrying out’ have taken place beforehand, the walk might be a slightly more casual affair, dedicated to running around and letting off steam, rather than incorporating the usually recommended recalls, change of direction and play. When you carry out a ‘pre-walk’, don’t feel hurried. Don’t think ‘let’s get this over with before we hit the actual walk’. It is part of the exercise regime and a valuable one at that. A smoothly enriched few minutes concentrate the canine mind, calm the household and emphasise an important and rewarding discipline for everyone concerned.

Parlez Vous POOCH?! articles are also available on the Oracle, an audio information magazine for visually impaired listeners, which is part of Wymondham and Attleborough Talking Newspapers. To access all the Talking Newspaper recordings, go to

www.watn.org.uk

Julia Collins @walksoflifessuffolk www.walksoflife.co.uk