DOG DAY AFTERNOON

Whilst sitting in my back garden enjoying some rare sunshine, I thought I would relax further by taking off my boots and socks and putting my sandals on. I call them my slippers because I wear them around the house. So there I was reading a good book, "How dogs Learn". by Mary Burch and John Bailey. Sitting on my decking in front of the summer house. I had just got back from work and the dogs were milling around the garden. I live in a corner property with a substantial back and side garden, which I have made completely dog proof. i.e. they cannot escape. I had taught Ben my Black Lab a few tricks and one of which was "Fetch my slippers". Labs love to "find" things, and teaching him to suss out where they were and bring them to me was a great game. I cant for sure say I know what he's thinking when he's playing this game, but you can tell from the enthusiasm he shows when I give him the cue that he is enjoying himself. But then if he didn't wan...

Dog training was no doubt first taught when the cavemen took wolf cubs into their caves. Initially to serve as companions, and as guard dogs. There is evidence of early cave drawings showing how important animals were to our earliest human ancestors. For centuries dogs have been trained by humans for a variety of reasons. The Romans trained their pups for herding. In the 1700 and 1800's the dog world in the UK showed sporting breeds that were trained to walk round the ring. Training dog to win obedience competitions didn’t really come about until the 1930’s in America. A lady called Helen Whitehouse Walker, who bred Standard Poodles, decided to show the dog world that her dog was more than just a pretty face. The dog training club was born, at least in the US. Dogs were trained for war, they were trained to be actors. Remember Rin Tin Tin? And who could forget Lassie? Many of the early trainers came form military or Police backgrounds. The methods used by these early trainer...