Snow Pack Malamutes
Two important links above, how to naturally keep your malamute healthy and activities you can do with your malamute !
Two important links above, how to naturally keep your malamute healthy and activities you can do with your malamute !
Nikki did great with water dog training and tadpole test.
With water training over, we will now turn to training on obedience and tricks and maybe some other things. We are excited to see where they takes us.
Nikki is learning "up" "sit" "down" hand signals.
She has these three very consistent now. So I will be adding three more this week.
When she has them, I will add pictures or a video.
I love my ducky, I take her everywhere. I keep her safe.
A little hiking / backpacking with my friend Hana, she is a Newfie.
4 wheeling - Webster Pass
Rya and Sakari ( and my son ) were with us.
Nikki does well 4 wheeling. It helps to have other dogs with us and take several breaks to let the dogs out to play.
Since I do occasionally use Diatomaceous Earth, I am not concerned about her drinking from creeks, rivers and lakes. This is pretty high up and the water is probably purer than most other sources. The water is pure high mountain spring or snow melt water. Anything in it, like parasites from animals, the DE will stop.
This is a good time to talk about training methods. I absolutely do not support positive training with treats. Page 1 of the blog shows amazing success. You can also check out the videos too. This is all done without treats. I do not BRIBE in any way to get a dog to do something.
When you give a dog a treat to do something, it is a bribe! This teaches them to do something for something and when they no longer want the "bribe" then they quit doing it.
If you teach the dog to do something then after they do it, reward them with love, hugs, positive words, then they are more likely to do it again simply because of the reward. There is a huge difference in bribing and rewarding - know the difference.
The only time I use a treat is getting them to get in the jeep when they are young. But this is still a reward after a good adventure.
The absolute best way to get a dog to do things is to spend quality time with them and build a solid bond.
Hands on loving, touching, petting, hugging, positive emotions.
This over food, this over a clicker. This gets far better results.
The dog knows the difference.
Sahara's first adventure alone. Starting on the 20th loose leash. She quickly figured out the end and never tested it. She took to the water right away. Keeping in mind it was about 20 degrees and very windy. This river is in between to frozen lakes, so I am sure it is extremely cold. I do allow my dogs to drink from lakes, creeks and rivers as we are pretty high up in the mountains and this water is about as fresh and natural as it gets. I don't worry about parasites as they are super easy to treat with Diatomaceous Earth. Just a little in their food or water or even on the ground in their bedding and it quickly stops any parasites they might pick up.
The same as I started with Nikki, I always start with a 20 ft leash. I don't use commands. Using this walk as an example, I walk along slowly, I allow her to sniff the ground, explore, build confidence, and just figure things out.
It is up to Sahara to keep up with me. I am teaching her to be responsible and to think. At 4 mos old and her first time without Nikki at her side, she is doing fantastic. I am excited to continue to work with her.
She rode well in the jeep and got out with no problem. She is hesitating to get in. The next trip will probably include Nasboba? He is well behaved and gets in and out easy so he will be a good one for her to learn from.
