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Yesterday I wrote about the final day of my 30-day challenge to take my mutt to 30 new places. The main goal of this challenge was to get my dog to chill out when he visits new places. Basically I want Ace to act calm wherever I take him and to not freak out (he gets really anxious or excited) just because we’re at a new park or a friend’s house.

The challenge was difficult, but I plan on creating more challenges for Ace and I. Time was the biggest problem for me. I thought just walking him for 30 days was hard enough. It was even harder to take him to a new place 30 days in a row, let alone think of where to go. Plus, getting there and being there cut into our daily exercise time. A walk is more important than going somewhere new, and this challenge required me to organize my time in order to get a good walk in every day before going somewhere new. Let’s just say we did not get a long enough walk in some days. And although I took Ace somewhere new 30 days in a row, I didn’t blog about it 30 days in a row and got behind on the updates.

Over the last 30 days, I wanted to:

1. Take Ace to 30 new places.
This was fairly easy to accomplish. If I had more time it would’ve been easier. Some days we had no choice but to walk to a new neighborhood or even a new street because of time. Other days I was able to plan ahead and take Ace to a new grooming shop or dog park.

2. Decrease his anxiousness/excitement in the car.
OK, this is still a problem. It seemed to get better for awhile. Now it seems worse again. It depends on how much exercise Ace has had. Wearing the Gentle Leader in the car also makes him more calm. I plan to work on telling him  “No!” Instead of “quiet,” “down,” “bad dog,” etc.

3. Cure Ace of his whining issue when he wants something.
This problem hasn’t improved either. Ace cries after we get up because he wants to go for a walk. Sometimes he cries if he’s not in the room with me, etc. I’ll have to think of some ways to work on this issues, perhaps putting him in his kennel for a half-hour at a time while I’m home or making him stay on his dog bed while I’m in a different room.

4. Help Ace control his excitement in a new area or his favorite places.
This improved. The Gentle Leader or other training collars help, as do treats. Just going to new places and telling Ace to heel or sit improved how he listens to me. He still needs work, but he is getting better.

5. Practice random basic obedience in as many places as possible.
I want Ace to listen well no matter where we are. When I’m consistent with this, Ace improves. When I slack of, Ace doesn’t listen as well. It’s all up to me to practice with him every day in as many places as possible. The goal is still to get Ace to sit on the first command 95 percent of the time. He is not there yet.

6. Improve Ace’s response to the heel command.
His heeling has improved. Lately the choke collar, worn high on the neck has been working better than the pinch collar or the leader. Ace’s heeling has improved a lot since our first challenge. This second challenge helped some more. We still have a lot of work to do though. Perfect heeling will be a never-ending goal for Ace and I.

7. Work to perfect Ace’s heeling without a pinch collar or Gentle Leader.
This is still a challenge. Some days are better than others. There are so many factors, from where we are, who we are with, how much exercise he has had, etc.

8. Work on Ace’s off-leash heeling.
He has gotten better at this too. But again, he does better the more we practice. If we take a couple days or a week off from off-leash heeling, then we have to work harder to catch up again. Other factors affect this too like how tired he is and where we are. I need to practice more off-leash heeling randomly, so Ace doesn’t know whether I’m holding the leash or not.

9. Continue using treats for positive reinforcement.
I’ve been using more treats and this has helped Ace’s focus big time. I’ve been using jerky and that works great because they are soft, and I can tear them into tiny pieces. I don’t want to depend on treats, however.

Taking my mutt to a new place every day for 30 days was a good challenge. But in order to keep up the positive improvements, I will have to continue bringing him to new places and walking him every day. It is not necessary to take him to a new place every day, but once a week would be good. I encourage others to give it a try.

Click here to see all my 30-day challenge posts.

What can you do today or right now that will help improve your dog’s behavior or well-being? 

You could take her for a walk or practice obedience training for 10 minutes. You could take her to the park and play ball. You could tell yourself that today, you aren’t going to allow any pulling on the leash. You could tell your dog to stay on her bed while you eat dinner, to stop her begging. You could buy her a backpack so she has a job to do when she carries it. You could take the flea prevention medicine out of the cupboard and actually use it (that’s why you bought it). You could look up dog obedience classes in your area and sign her up. You could research dog daycares in your town. You could take her for a run. You could program her vet and the nearest animal ER into your phonelist. You could teach her to give a high-five.

It’s important to have long-term goals while living with and training a dog, but these goals can only be reached one step at a time. I remember when I first brought my mutt home and he didn’t know any commands, let alone his own name or how to walk on a leash. I remember thinking I had a lot of work ahead of me. But really, it only took little steps each day to get my mutt to where he is now. First he learned sit, then stay. He learned that he only got to go for a walk if he relaxed first and waited patiently. He learned there is a big world out there, and he is still learning how to behave in it.

Remember to set goals for yourself and your dog. Make them challenging for the long term, but make small, accessible goals for today. Your dog will thank you.

(Photo is of my mom and dad’s dog, Elsie, who of course is perfect!)

About a month and a half ago, I challenged myself and others to walk our dogs every day for 30 days. Thirty days is a reasonable amount of time to realistically do something every day. After those 30 days, it is easy for whatever I’m doing to become a habit. It’s a nice way to make a change.

So, I have come up with a new challenge, to bring my dog to a new place every day. I figured this could easily go along with walking your dog every day, so for anyone still doing the first challenge, the two could easily be combined.

The reason I came up with this challenge is because Ace has an issue with getting overly excited and pulling (OK, choking himself) in new places. As a way of training him to chill out, my goal is to expose him to as many places as possible so he learns to behave in any environment. Taking him to a new place may be as simple as walking in a new part of the neighborhood. Other examples could be driving to a different park, visiting a pet store, a friend’s house or walking in and out of a vet’s office. There are endless possibilities. I will probably be visiting a lot of parks, because that’s where he gets the most excited, especially if we drive there.

I am officially going to start the challenge tomorrow, May 1, 2008. Let me know if you’d like to participate in the challenge as well! Just take your dog to a new place every day for the next 30 days. If you already walk your dog every day, then you could simply walk to a new place every day. This will provide a mental challenge for your dog, plus it will make the walk more interesting.

During the next 30 days, my goals are to:

1. Take Ace to 30 new places.

2. Decrease his anxiousness/excitement in the car.

3. Cure Ace of his whining issue when he wants something.

4. Help Ace control his excitement in a new area or his favorite places.

5. Practice random basic obedience such as sit, stay and down in as many places as possible, so he learns to listen no matter where we are.

6. Improve Ace’s response to the heel command.

7. Work to perfect Ace’s heeling without a pinch collar or Gentle Leader.

8. Work on Ace’s off-leash heeling.

9. Continue using treats for positive reinforcement.

I plan to post where we end up going over the next month and the progress I see.

Where would be some other good places to go?

Click here to see all my 30-day challenge posts.