Sepia Saturday - Why its Important to spend Quality Time with each Dog Individually

Do you have more than one dog? Well this is the post for you - and if you don't, then you can still read this beneficial post with much interest!

Its Sepia Saturday today, meaning we join our good pal Ruckus for the amazing blog hop, as proud co-hosts! (More on that later)

Today, it wasn't raining. I woke up thrilled and excited! For it not to rain - why, what an opportunity to seize! And on the weekend too!! Pinch me! Because where we are, we see rain a lot at this time of year.

Anyway, I knew the plan of action as soon as my eyes first blearily opened - go out and get some quality dog training in with both dogs! But I knew I was missing something. But what on Earl's World was it?! Ah ha. I'd got it. It was to spend a day working each dog and getting right down to some proper stuff with them. As anyone with more than one dog will know, having more than one dog is more work - that work going up the more dogs you have!! So spend time with each dog as an individual, keep and strengthen that special bond, and you will get even further in dog training. There are, of course, times to have fun and work your dogs together so that they get on with life together, and listening to you together and living in harmony in general, however, individual time is important.

So what did I do and how did I handle my one-to-one with Earl then Ethel? Well, allow me to virtually demonstrate through the blissful and jolly art of skilful blogging…

Our Day of Individual Dogginess:

Earl was first. My main goal with him today was to work on some Freestyle and linking pieces and tricks/stunts together, as we're working on some Heelwork To Music (HTM), hoping to one day get the chance to have a go at a YKC Crufts qualifier for the sport (you've got to have goals! We've already participated in one for agility!). So we went outside and I had a great time with him! He loved it just as equally as I did!! I managed to work him through some brand new stunts, which were VERY impressive indeed! And complicated. Definitely more advanced. Anyway, this was successful, and I even got him working for a tuggy toy and ball throw-of, even though food will always float his boat as number one.

I also took my boy for a lovely walk, where I got out my camera and took a leafy snapshot on a large patch of grassy area where we cross. It was a great, special walk! As I normally have to put all my effort and thought into lead training my mad little devil (AKA Ethel!!!).

Balancing the ball...

And playing with the ball for balancing the ball!!

On our lovely, lovely walk.

We then returned home, Earl pretty much ready for a snooze on my human bed (obviously)! I put him inside, and he creeped happily and tiredly away. NOW! To unleash the wiry bundle of pure madness and noise! A screaming puppy was calling from her comfy crate, aroused by our return. I waited until she'd calmed a little… at least to a more acceptable state of being and mind… and unleashed the beast. Sorry girl. It was, by the way, now getting darker.

She rushed madly out with me, pelting around and then diving on me, performing the 'rebound' several times, in which I'd never even taught her. A natural superstar.

What I wanted to mainly work on with her was her wing work and pole awareness. Plus her left and right senses and start work on another beneficial trick that would come in in the agility field in the future (so many ins!!).

I started with her, and she loved it! I got her working for a tuggy, and when she seemed to get bored and less motivated by the toys, I brought in the fast food:

THANK YOU TO MISFITS, WHO PROVIDE ME AND MY CLEVER DOGGIES A BRILLIANT AND MUCH-LOVED SNACK THEY ADORE TO WORK FOR!

Anyway, then I moved on and taught her to run through my legs. Soon, I hope she'll master the leg weaves like my man.

I played with her too, interacting and engaging in a cute little chase game around the garden. I also engaged in gentle tugging games with her, however not that much, as her teeth are still fragile and developing - not to mention becoming loose and falling out altogether!! Must be gentle.

Then, we went walkies. We took Earl, however my mum held Earl as I trained Ethel. She was great, remained at a wonderful, enjoyable and easy heel position throughout the walk, the exception being when we walked through a deep alley of leaves and it absolutely threw her! She galloped through, trying to keep afloat! But she loved it and had a great time being, simply, a puppy.

(You can tell it was darker by then! And it was only just after 4!)

Over and right - see how I got her tight round the 'wing'!!!

Motivated by the tuggy? Success!

It was a great day, and as I write, I feel as though I made a great deal of progress with each dog. Time well spent!

So, here are my thoughts on the importance of individual dogginess all summed up in bullet-point form:

~ Individual interaction with each of your dogs for a good period of quality time means that you can keep and strengthen that bond between you.

~ By doing this, you can also see the progress of each dog individually, so you know which route to take next in training.

~ You can work with one dog without the disturbance of the other(s).

~ You can ensure each dog prefers spending time with YOU rather than the other dog(s). All dogs MUST get on with each other, however, they must look to you as the best thing in their world, and choose you over the others to play with and come to, the vast majority of the time.

~ You can make real progress - your dogs have different strengths and weaknesses in training I am sure, and individual sessions make you move forward. Without moving forwards, you'll become stuck and won't be able to improve training. And without training, you're really not going to succeed and have happy, easy dogs that are a pleasure to live with!

In addition, also let your dogs all have good quality GROUP time, to rough-and-tumble, chase each other, tug safely and controlled on a tuggy, however make sure this is balanced out with individual time in order to share a balanced relationship with your fur family as a whole in the long run.

We're once again delighted to be co-hosting the brilliant Sepia Saturday Blog Hop very kindly main-hosted by Ruckus The Eskie, our very best pal!! Thanks for being such a great host to host with!!

OMD! Only 5 days left to vote for Earl and I in the Dogs Monthly Magazine's HiLife Trophy 2014!!!

Now we're making this a little shorter now, as its taking up so much of our post space… but please CLICK HERE to see our main post on why you should and how to vote for Earl and I in this special award that means the world to us! Just see the bottom of the post to click on above to see how you can vote - thanks SO much, and we will be eternally grateful!

We're an incredible pair of very best friends <3

Also, we've opened up a new, interactive, reader-friendly page on the blog, called Noticeboard and Chat Functions - which is a Noticeboard for any news you would want to know or could help with/benefit from, plus a chat section for our readers and viewers to talk to each other. Topics, for example, could include introductions, pet issues, questions and answers, and blogging. The topics are not limited to that however the page is closely monitored frequently. Have fun! I hope its used well!