Yesterday, I happened to have two chances to see how well our new dog Lola, a Rottweiler pup age 8 months, has really mastered the sit. I’ve been training her to sit for most of the 3 weeks or so that we’ve had her. Lots more to do! Sure, she sits for me almost anytime we’re doing a training session, even with mild distractions. But what about life in “the real world?”

Not the same, not at all!

We took her to our veterinarian for a checkup, a heartworm test, and booster shots. She jumped willingly into the car, let Kelly attach the travel harness we use to the back-seat seatbelt, and rode in a relaxed manner. Great!

Once in the vet’s office, she was so interested in all the smells and people, and as we left, one other dog in the waiting room, that my occasional attempt to get her attention and have her sit didn’t work.

It was the attention part. Okay, more work to do!

Later, Kelly I went out to have dinner at the home of some friends. What with driving either way, visiting, and a quick grocery stop, we were gone nearly 4 hours. When we got back, I wanted Lola to sit before I opened the gate. But she was so very excited to see us that she was wiggling all over the place.

That’s dog training for you. Patience!

I’ve been doing a lot of Tellington Touch (known also as the Tellington TTouch) lately, in the process of socializing our new and already very large puppy. Lola is 8 months old and both LarryDog, shown above, and our cat Misty, shown in the picture below, were quite dubious at first about her presence.

One of the things I did to ease everyone’s stress was the most basic of the Tellington Touches. It had a very good effect! Larry would become relaxed, like he is in the picture. Lola got used to the touches quickly, though for some time she was not so sure she liked it when I worked around her hindquarters. She would look at me as I did it, and sometimes lick me. I would stop for a bit and later I’d be able go further with less concern from her.
I knew about this process because my husband and I had worked with Linda Tellington-Jones to create two videos, which are now DVDs, about using the Tellington Touch with dogs and with cats.
Here’s a link to a page on another of my websites, about Linda Tellington-Jones and the ttouch, including a simple ttouch you can try. I’m sorry I can’t really just describe the circles on this page. They aren’t hard to learn but it’s better done visually or in person.

Misty is still growling a lot at Lola, but is not giving up her favorite spot on our bed:

I came across a list of smart dog breeds recently, and found it quite interesting. The article didn’t happen to mention where the information came from, or how it was derived, but still it was fun.

Intelligence of dog breeds is an important factor in choosing a dog. The more intelligent ones can be more satisfying to train… but if you don’t train these dogs enough, they may find things to do that you won’t like! Our LarryDog is part #10 (Australian Cattle Dog) and #3 (German Shepherd), with some Chow and maybe other things. He’s one of the smarter dogs we’ve had.

Of course, intelligence and trainability aren’t exactly the same. Our Basenji, Sunbeam, was incredibly smart — typical of her breed — but training? If she felt like it. I was once on a email list for Basenjis with the motto “Where it takes 100 people to outsmart 1 Basenji.”

The online bookstore Dogwise has a lot of great breed books and other things to help you choose a dog breed that will suit you.

Click here to go to the category Choosing a Dog at Dogwise.