Meet Otis!Recently, this ruggedly-handsome fellow suddenly started acting up. See, his outdoorsy family used to love take Otis hiking and on long, rambling off-leash walks... until he started dashing off after every bird, squirrel and stick that caught his eye. His mom would call call call his name, but to no avail. So she called us!
Gordon and I learned that this Goldendoodle had just celebrated his eighth-month-birthday, which in dog years is the equivalent of turning twelve. Now I don't know about you, but some of the twelve-year-olds I've met have a tendency to be — well, kinda bratty. I'm not trying to be mean, but I remember what I was like as a pre-teen: a little obnoxious, a little angsty, and trying my hardest to stake claim to my independence... which is a nice way of saying I started questioning my parents' rules. (Sorry, Mom and Dad. I know you were only looking out for me.)
Otis is going through the same thing, and ignoring his family's calls is his way of trying to be his own man — or dog, if you want to nitpick. Unfortunately, Otis has to learn what I did back in the day: sometimes our parents know better.
To make learning this lesson fun, we got back to basics with Otis and taught him that coming when called is a good thing. We do this with an activity we at Zen Dog call Name Game; we were able to show him that responding to his name is awesome.
For a shaggy adventurer like Otis to get the hang of recall, his family is going to have to play Name Game several times a day. Hopefully our friend here will master this technique soon; summer's already winding down, and I know he's eager to get out there and enjoy the sunshine. I'm going to do just that right now — with sunscreen, of course.
To learn more about Name Game, visit Zen Dog Training Online.
Gordon and I learned that this Goldendoodle had just celebrated his eighth-month-birthday, which in dog years is the equivalent of turning twelve. Now I don't know about you, but some of the twelve-year-olds I've met have a tendency to be — well, kinda bratty. I'm not trying to be mean, but I remember what I was like as a pre-teen: a little obnoxious, a little angsty, and trying my hardest to stake claim to my independence... which is a nice way of saying I started questioning my parents' rules. (Sorry, Mom and Dad. I know you were only looking out for me.)
Otis is going through the same thing, and ignoring his family's calls is his way of trying to be his own man — or dog, if you want to nitpick. Unfortunately, Otis has to learn what I did back in the day: sometimes our parents know better.
To make learning this lesson fun, we got back to basics with Otis and taught him that coming when called is a good thing. We do this with an activity we at Zen Dog call Name Game; we were able to show him that responding to his name is awesome.
For a shaggy adventurer like Otis to get the hang of recall, his family is going to have to play Name Game several times a day. Hopefully our friend here will master this technique soon; summer's already winding down, and I know he's eager to get out there and enjoy the sunshine. I'm going to do just that right now — with sunscreen, of course.
To learn more about Name Game, visit Zen Dog Training Online.
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