ARF!
Atlanta Recreation and Fun Club for Dogs, Inc.
ARF!Atlanta Recreation and Fun Club for Dogs, Inc. |
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"Have some fun with your dogs today!"-- Daniel Pyron,
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FALL CALENDARAll events held at Mimosa Downs agility field, next to Our Place or Yours Pet Services, 2949 North Druid Hills Road NE, Decatur, GA (behind Toco Hills Promenade Shopping Center) | |
| Beginning Agility Clinic September 22 (Sunday) 12:00 - 3:00 pm | ||
| Intermediate Agility Clinic October 6 (Sunday) 12:00 - 3:00 pm | ||
| Annual Meeting October 20 (Sunday) 1:00 pm Field will be open at 12:00 for supervised agility practice. | ||
| Halloween Party November 3 (Sunday) 1:00 - 3:00 pm Field will be open at 12:00 for supervised agility practice. | ||
| Agility Practice November 17 (Sunday) 12:00 - 2:00 pm |
Why Won't My Dog Come When Called? |
WHY WON'T MY DOG COME WHEN CALLED?by Landen Gailey, Our Place or Yours Pet Services
I lost my 14 year old dog to cancer recently, and plan to get a puppy soon. I loved my old
dog, but he would never come to me when I called if he was outside. How can I train my
new dog to come to me? The dog that does not come when called is perhaps the most frustrating, embarrassing, and potentially dangerous problem a dog owner can experience. Fido looks you squarely in the eye when you call, then wheels and canters jauntily off, leading you on a merry chase. What to do? Recall problems are better prevented than solved. Start conditioning your baby puppy to come as soon as possible. Begin with a game of chase. Call your puppy's name in a happy enthusiastic voice, then hurry away from her to encourage her to "chase" and follow you. Clap your hands, whistle, cluck, chirp, keep encouraging her. Forget that it may look silly--you have to make yourself the most interesting thing in your puppy's world. As you let her "catch" you, squat down and open your arms to welcome her. Touch her collar, then reward and praise her enthusiastically. Then, send her off to play again. Avoid the mistake of calling your pup to something that is not going to be fun, such as nail trimming, or when the romp in the park is over. Enlist the aid of a family member or friend to play "hide and seek" recall. Have your helper hold the puppy's collar as you run out of the room and disappear. As soon as you are out of sight call,"Molly, Come!" once. Your helper lets go of your puppy and she should dash to find out where you are. When she reaches you pet and play with her for a full minute. When your puppy is a little bigger, put her on a 6 foot leash and add a game of Fetch. Use a tennis ball or stick and toss it gently just beyond your pup's nose. Encourage her using a phrase like "Get it!", and when she picks it up immediately give the recall command in an excited pleasant voice. "Molly, Come!" Run backwards away from her, verbally encouraging her to follow you until she brings the object to you. The leash is to keep her from straying away and to prevent her from deciding at the last minute that she doesn't want to surrender her prize. It should not be used to drag the pup toward you! Lavish praise and the chance to chase the ball again will reward her for coming to you. Best of all you are associating something she enjoys with the act of running towards you. Correcting runaway habits in older dogs can be a more complicated endeavor. A foundation of training must be laid before the problem can be solved. The dog must accept the owner's leadership. Enrolling in a dog training class which uses motivational positive incentive techniques is a good first step. The dog must respond to his name consistently and should be taught to pay attention to the owner. All training should be done on a leash or drag line for the control crucial to success. Testing your progress without a leash can easily undo weeks of work when the dog discovers that he can ignore your command. Augment your class training program with some of the "games" described above. With persistence, consistency, patience and praise you can succeed! |
Good Luck Training Your Human
Copyright ©1996
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Ask Blitz: Canine Behavior ExpertBlitz has been a recognized expert in canine behavior for over six years. Both parents
were also behavior experts and passed this love of canine behavior down to all their
children. This month's question is from a two year old male in California.
Dear Blitz, Often, when I meet a human, my owner gets upset about my attempts to sniff their groin area. How can you decide if you like someone without a proper sniff? It's not like I can run a credit check or get a police report. What should I do about this problem? Signed: Sniffing in San Diego. Dear Sniffing, Humans are obsessed with ridding themselves of identifying odors. They will scrub themselves and even take baths to remove any smells. Many dogs have observed that humans smell much more interesting when they haven't bathed recently. They will even apply an artificial smell from a bottle in an attempt to disguise themselves. For beings with such an inadequate sense of smell this is amusing. Your sniffing just reminds them that this disguise doesn't work. Humans live such a deprived existence. They cannot sense even the most obvious odors in their environment and try to mask the few things they can smell. As soon as a dog starts to smell like himself and not some perfumed poodle, it's bath time again! And then, the silly owner wonders why the dog rolls on the ground. We just want to smell like something natural! We haven't even touched on the reeking chemicals that they use on every surface and even the air. Many of these compounds cause the average dog to sneeze but do the humans care? Not a bit. Most humans can't even appreciate the finer aromas in life. I've never heard of a human enjoying a roll in a carcass. What's even more amusing is that when they hunt, they don't even mask their scent. Back to your original question. The only way to tell who is willing to be sniffed is to pay close attention to the clothing that the human in question is wearing. If the human is wearing slacks they are trying to keep you from sniffing. Conversely, if they arewearing a skirt they are inviting you to see who they really are. Good luck training your human. -- Blitz |
| The canine world came to Atlanta on June 23rd for the third annual ARF! Summer Games. Competitors came from all over the world - from Germany (German Shepherd Dogs), Hungary (Kuvaszok), England (English Shepherd), Scotland (Scottish Terriers), and America (All-americans) for the opportuntity to compete in a variety of athletic events. And when it was over there was no equivocating - these were the best ARF! Summer Games ever. To the organizers, spectators, volunteers, handlers, and competitors, the ARF! Summer Games Organizing Committee (ASGOC) says "Well done!" | Summer Games 1996 RevisitedThe Games began with the traditional torch run from the site of the first summer games in Conyers (a journey of 40 miles) to Mimosa Downs in Decatur, the site of the 1996 games. As the Summer Games fanfare blared on a cassette player, the crowd gave a tremendous cheer when the torchbearer, ARF! president Daniel Pyron, entered the stadium with the torch held high. Whizzy, the Summer Games mascot, was at his side. Daniel and Whizzy then climbed to the apex of the A-frame and proclaimed "Unleash the hounds and let the games begin!" The day's competitions then began. There were five events - the Earthdog Trials took place in the shaded area on the north end of the field, while competition in the Hot Dog Dash took place on the south end of the field. Some dogs participated in both events.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the field, the Hot Dog Dash was being held. In the Hot Dog Dash, two dogs race against each other to find, and eat, the hot dog at the finish line. The winning dog advanced to the next round. Two small black dogs advanced to the championship match-up. Jesse, a mixed breed, proved to be the best hot dog eater of the day, and Emma, the Scottie, finished second. Sierra, a GSD (pictured on this page) finished third. The agility competition was next. Eight dogs performed at a level to earn ARF! agility titles. Jimi earned the highest ARF! title, the EGAD. Tigger and Sassy earned beginning level titles (RAD), and Sierra, Tammy, Sunnee, Trinket, and Timmy earned TAD titles. The final activity of the day was the Canine Good Citizen Test, a test of a dog's manners, training, and demeanor. Under the watchful eye of evaluator Daniel Pyron, five dogs earned their CGC titles on this day - Bernie, Sunnee, Shelby, Shadow, and Jesse. The day ended with the much anticipated closing ceremonies. The plans called for Whizzy, the mascot of the Summer Games, to extinguish the torch. This turned out to be quite a letdown, though, since the owners of the torch had gone home and took their torch with them, so we just said good-bye to each other, locked the gate, and went home. |
| The ARF! Newsletter was honored to have an article from the fall 1995 ARF! Newsletter, "Rottweilers Enjoy a Day of Agility," translated into Russian and published in a recent issue of the Canine Post. |  |
Why Dogs Don't Use Computers |
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ARF! member and CCI (Canine Companions for Independence) puppy raiser Cathy Williams carries the Paralympic torch with her CCI puppy Tino. Cathy became involved with CCI after meeting other CCI puppy raisers at an ARF! agility class. |
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Where noted by copyright ©, articles in the ARF! Newsletter Online appear with the express consent of the
author, who holds all copyrights. Any reproduction of this material, in whole or in part, is prohibited without
the express consent of the author.
ARF! is a non-profit club with an all volunteer staff.
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The earthdog trials were popular with the
smaller dogs, who enthusiastically went through
the maze of tunnels, following the scent of the
caged quarry (Miss Mouse) at the end of the
tunnels. Miss Mouse was safely resting in her
cage and seemed indifferent to the event, quite
oblivious to the barking dogs that approached
her with intense enmity. Sam, a beagle-pug mix,
went so far as to clamp his teeth around a bar of
the cage and began dragging it off the field. All
participants received a certificate recognizing
their earthdog talent.