HLRC Blog with Hoosier & Hamish

Training: Drop the Leash

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 18:11:15 GMT

Drop the Leash!

Hello BLOG readers! I am sure you all come to Labradors with varying levels of experience and time with our breed of dog.This post is for those of you who have reached the level of walking comfortably with your dog on a leash. And you have had some continued success training with common commands. The value of including the training of “drop the leash” can’t be overstated enough. Teaching your dog what to do when the leash is dropped from your hand as well as distance between you and your dog when he is leashed. Hamish learned this in a three prong process of combining 3 known training commands he knew very well: 1) sit/stay 2) leave it and 3) wait

The sit/stay is a command that sounds exactly like what it is. You ask your dog to sit and stay. Hamish knows this verbally by those voiced command words and he also recognizes that by silent hand signals. His sit is a waggle of my index finger and stay is a vertically outstretched hand. Leave it is one of the finest commands you can teach your dog. Don’t sniff or approach or put it in your mouth is basically what that means for your dog! For Hamish who LOVED to pick up his leash as a pup, leave it was a vital part of dropping the leash. Your dog may not need the leave it here, but sweet Hamish did. And finally, the command wait. Which lets Hamish know he’s going to be in sit/stay for a longer while. I know other dog owners who don’t use wait and they just are comfortable with sit/stay until the dog is released from that command. But for me, I like to give my dog an idea of how long that will be. He seems to relax more and me too. I like knowing about how long I might be waiting for anything so I passed that on to working with Hamish. And thus, the wait command was born! I found that using wait really fostered and deepened my trust from and with Hamish if having him in sit/stay was going to awhile. The command word wait I pronounce in a drawn out fashion and I use a deeper register tone in my voice along with the use of the same outstretched hand signal as stay but with movement just once from the arm in a gentle pushing forward motion . Try that out and see how that might work for you and your dog too.

Enjoy the pictures of Hamish in his “drop the leash” pose. Such a good boy and a pleasure to take along out in the public!

Happy training!

Jennifer & Hamish

Hamish's Favorite Things-Part 2

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 19:45:27 GMT

Hamish's Favorite Things-Part 2: Collars!

Let’s talk about collars! What should you look for? What type? When, where, and why to wear or not to wear a collar?

I should back up right here exactly — before talking about collars directly, allow me to address an all too common misconception. Too many dog owners have the expectation that a collar, via attaching some personalized tags or custom identification, is what you use to identify your dog should he/she be separated or lost from you. That’s not any collar's main job description, rather, microchipping is the primary means of always identifying your dog. Hopefully, your dog is microchipped, that is the place to start for ensuring your dog can always be identified. If your dog isn’t microchipped get thee to your veterinarian and get your dog microchipped! It’s inexpensive, safe, and a permanent way to identify your dog.

A quick few words about microchipping. So what is a microchip? It’ s a very, very, very tiny = micro, chip = data chip. There's no battery, no power required, and absolutely no moving parts. They are entirely safe and the microchip is simply injected one time just under the loose skin between your dog’s shoulder blades. It's no more invasive than your dog getting a shot. That one microchip remains there for the life of your dog. If your dog should be lost and taken to any animal shelter or veterinarian, your dog’s microchip can be easily scanned by personnel there. Just by waving a handheld scanner over your dog's shoulder area, that scanner will read the microchip quickly and transmit a registered ID number unique only to your dog. Voila! That number allows those appropriate personnel to then retrieve your dog’s contact information from a secure database and reunite you with your beloved canine companion! Good stuff! Collars are never the primary means of identifying your dog.

Now, back to collars. Two words for you when selecting collars, BREAK AWAY. Yes, you absolutely want a collar that when confronted with a sudden, unexpected force to “break away.” What you don’t want is your dog in some buckle or other means of collar attachment that will not yield. If that’s the case, the unyielding collar will become a noose and right quick. Now that you’ve got that break away criteria for your collar, what else can you look for in collars? I’m glad you asked!

I use two types of collars with my Labrador Hamish depending on what we are doing together; a safe plastic training collar (Starmark Pro Training brand) and a soft, personalized webbed collar (Snazzy Fido brand). Both types of these collars are attached to a leash for our time out walking together. (How to walk enjoyably with a leash and a collar on your dog is for another post and likely, I am thinking might just be a video!) I have attached some images of both types of these collars, because, pictures can be worth a thousand words, right? The Starmark Pro Training collar is a great collar that Hamish loves — and yes of course, it is a break away collar too! He literally jumps for joy to wear it. This is the collar we started out on as we were learning how to walk together, and though he wears it not often now, Hamish knows that if it’s what I select for us, he can expect we are going someplace that is likely new and filled with more novel sights, sounds, and critters!

The other type of collar that we most commonly use day in day out for our adventuring together is a break away, personalized Snazzy Fido webbed collar. (I am sure there are other manufacturers of such collars, but over several years now, I have found those Snazzy Fido collars to be both affordable and most durable, so we have just continued on with them.) This collar has Hamish's name and my own mobile cell phone number boldly embroidered across the collar. I am writing of course about Labradors with their big, you know, neck circumferences, so there is plenty of room for a dog’s call name and a 10 digit phone number, not so sure this would work for a Chihuahua. Almost always, Hamish is on leash, but for very select hikes, sometimes spelunking or in a more remote wilderness area when he is off leash swimming, on the off chance we were to be separated, he can be identified by sight via these high contrast collars with all the information on them.

When Hamish is at home or on when on home ground, he wears no collar of any kind. He is safe in the house and I have a 5.5 foot fence around the perimeter of our property. Collars are just for out of the home environment. Hope this has helped you in learning more about collars.

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer & Hamish

Hamish's Favorite Things-Part 1

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 18:12:23 GMT

Favorite Things - Part 1

Greetings! It's getting close to the Holiday season, so in the spirit as such, I thought I’d post a BLOG series of Hamish’s “Favorite Things” or equally titled, "helpful things to get a Labrador."

Let’s start with orange reflective vests. They come with secure velcro attachments for under the dog's torso and around the neck. (Hamish sure loves wearing his! That’s him wearing his in the photograph.) These reflective vests are inexpensive and wear very well over time proving they can tolerate mud, water, snow, all manner of wintery mix and adventuring just fine.

With winter trail hiking and nearby river and lake swims, the bright orange color helps identify and keep Hamish safer in our area which supports many hunting sports.

Equally helpful during these winter early morning and evening town walks, the reflective vest allows Hamish to be more easily recognized. Without some reflection, with his solid black fur, Hamish disappears into these many more dark wintery hours when we are out and about and these vests are just the ticket.

I have purchased these reflective pet vests in the past from Tractor Supply and online at Chewy and Amazon too. These vests are inexpensive and last season after season. Check them out!

Jennifer

Slow Feed Bowls

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 16:32:46 GMT

Let's talk food bowls!

Hello fellow Labrador enthusiasts! Let’s talk food bowls, specifically “slow food bowls.” What’s up with that you ask? Well, if you aren’t new to caring for our Labrador breed then you know how our Labs LOVE to eat, gulp, inhale, gobble-up-like-there-is no-tomorrow, any kibble that comes their way. If you are new to our breed, then here’s a heads up, most Labradors have an instinct for being heartily food driven and can rapidly devour their food. That can be a problem, no, not of doggie manners, it can result in what can be a serious medical condition called: bloat. Bloat is a five letter word you do not want to encounter with your Labrador. It's a get thee to the emergency veterinarians quick type of emergency.

So what is this thing called bloat? In non-medical terminology, the stomach enlarges, it “bloats” and then twists and can cause all manner of serious problems for your dog. Here’s a link written by a veterinarian that explains it well and includes a few diagrams to help educate about the bloat: https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951541

Here’s what you can do! One, be aware that bloat exists and how to recognize its symptoms. (And I’ll add right here, in that 30 years of owning Labradors I have never had any of my Labs experience bloat knock on wood.) Two, use a slow feed bowl in addition to a high quality kibble. Three develop some good training around feed times —pause and sit/wait for food and deescalate the “thrill” of food reward a bit. Since this post is about the slow feed bowls, included you will see an image of one type of slow feed bowl. These bowls are inexpensive and have interior indentations that effectively help slow down the dog’s rate of eating. There are all kinds of maze looking slow feed bowls that channel kibble and make even more of an impediment to speed when the dog consumes food. But in general, you get the idea! The internet also has some videos about using slow feed bowls and training tips at meal time too. A quick search on that subject will offer a myriad of tutorials.

Of course and by all means have a conversation with your veterinarian as well as your Lab breeder about bloat and slow feed bowls with questions or concerns you may have. My veterinarians through the years have helped educate me about bloat and how to lower the likelihood of developing such and diverting risks. Slow feed bowls have been a key component for me and my Labradors. Happy eating!

Hello from Hoosier & Hamish

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 00:36:29 GMT

Hello from Jennifer (Hoosier) and Hamish!

Hello! Thank you for reading this, my first BLOG entry on the Hoosier Labrador Retriever Club (HLRC) site! Seems to me it would proper to introduce myself since you will be, I hope, checking back in and reading future BLOG posts by me. So who am I? For starters my name is Jennifer and I am a member of the HLRC. I have been a proud and happy owner of several wonderful Labrador dogs over the course of 30 years. THIRTY YEARS! I have shared my life and heart with all three colors, black, chocolate and yellow at various times. Presently, I have one very good black lab named Hamish who is a little over 4.5 now. Hamish is smart and kind, very intuitive, and loves to go on any hike at any time or visit the library at every opportunity. We have been together since Hamish was a puppy --who I purchased from a breeder, Dale Brummett, who is active in the HLRC —which is how I came to know the HRLC. (That is Hamish in the picture with me by the way.)

What you can expect in future BLOG posts is some Hamish stories, tips about raising and sharing your life with a Labrador, some of the science that touches our lives with our dogs (Did I not mention I am a scientist? Well, I am!), and happenings about the HLRC and other news about this fabulous dog breed. I will be answering some questions like: “What is a “Specialty” and why do we have a count down timer on our site? What are Algae blooms and are they really harmful? What do all those letters mean WC, CGC, and more!

Next entry is about "slow feed bowls” and why, in my opinion, they are a must have.

Stay tuned!

-Jennifer