April Showers Bring May Flowers

But… let’s look at that as spring training brings summer rewards. The time you invest today in your dog’s understanding of things shape the months to come. This is a time of year I like to look at what skills they might need this summer that maybe I have not worked on since last summer. I know personally I don’t use “Place” much during the indoor months, but come summer with backpacking season, patio season, boats and tents I like having their place skills polished up. I know with the warmer months comes more wildlife moving about, already the squirrels are tempting Julia. So Spring is a time I buckle back down and work regular training sessions into our day that I might have let slack off during the hibernation months of winter when we just don’t face as many challenges.

So I will be diving into the Ultimate Recall course with Julia and will be working all three dogs on their “place” training skills.

What are you working on this Spring?

I also have some new goals for this summer that has me working on some training plan ideas for. For example I plan on trying Canicross with Julia this summer. I also anticipate her reactivity will ramp up over the next few weeks as more people are out and about with their dogs now that the weather is nicer. I have also made up more little treat caches around the house as we are having the windows open again and that means more noises for Julia to react to so I need reinforcement close by to work on it.

We have a new outdoor patio area that both boys will need to learn is leg lifting off limits.

It is so much easier if you can anticipate the challenges the change of seasons brings to your dog’s behavior so you can be ready to respond immediately when they happen!

What issues do you anticipate for the warmer months? What things can you do to manage or train for them?

I will be taking each boy outside on leash and walking them around the patio area to show them around, watching closely for any signs of vertical sniffing that usually precedes their lifting to mark. I’ll be spending time with them out there with complete focus until they understand the patio is like inside and a no pee zone.

We will be doing more group training sessions with the three of them since we tend to do more camping and traveling with the bunch.