Sunday, January 30, 2011

National Train Your Dog Month Train-a-Trick Open House

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers declared January National Train Your Dog Month. The month is almost over but we did our part to encourage reward based training. To celebrate NTYDM we had a Train-a-Trick Open House at the Paw In Hand Dog Training Center on Saturday, January 15 from 1-4 PM




We invited people and dogs to come to visit, watch some trick demos, eat some snacks and learn a new trick. Barbara and her trainer friends Sandi and Jeanine helped each person teach their dog a new trick. I did some trick demos and my boyfriend Trotter came and he did one too. Barbara explained to the people why they should teach tricks to their dogs. We handed out a sheet from the APDT on 20 Uses for Dog Tricks.




We had delicious food for people and dogs. There was a fancy fruit arrangement along with cookies and homemade coffee cake. The best were the special sardine treats that Barbara baked specially for the dogs who came to train.




Twenty-eight dogs and their people stopped by to socialize and train during the 3 hours. Fortunately not all at once or we would have been a bit crowded!

Great Pyrenees Carolina learning to sit in a hoop.




Rocky and Giacomo working with their people.



Shiloh the Yorkie practices jumping up on the stool.



English Springer Spaniel Lillie tries the roll over.



Success!



Liam practicing begging.



Wilma working with her person.




Everyone seemed to have a good time and all the dogs learned at least one new trick. There is one more day in National Train Your Dog Month so get your person to work with you to learn something new. It is fun. And see if you can convince them to make the special sardine treats.


3 large eggs
1 can sardines in oil
1 packet of graham crackers (not the whole box which usually has 3 packets)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet or baking dish.

Crush the graham crackers into crumbs.

Put the eggs and sardines in the blender and liquify.

Add in the graham crackers and blend. The mixture will be soupy.

Pour onto the cookie sheet and spread out to 1/4 inch thick.

Bake for 15 -20 minutes until rubbery, not crispy.

Let it cool and cut into bite sized squares.

Your house will smell heavenly! Enjoy!

6 comments:

Dexter said...

Those treats sound totally nommy. I love trick school and learning new things. That get on the stool with all four feet, though, that's a hard one. Hooray for the little beast that mastered it.

Slobbers,
Mango

Lorenza said...

Glad to know everyone enjoyed it!
Learning tricks sure is pawesome... maybe my mom should give it a try with me!
Thanks for sharing the recipe of the treats!
Now that my mom is baking cookies for me sure she will enjoy making those!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Molly the Airedale said...

See, Mitch - I told you that you have to tuck your back legs to roll over! You stick yours out straight like a dumdum and your tail acts as a stop! Tuck, Mitch, tuck!
Those treats sure sound yummy!

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

Arran, Arthur and Mum said...

I love any kind of fishy treat, yum! What a great idea to do for the day. You know I love tricks and I bet all the dogs and their peoples enjoyed themselves,
~lickies, Ludo

Tama-Chan, Benny, Vidock, Violette, Ollie, Heloise, Momo, Ryu said...

Hey, Niamh and Ambrose! How come there are no photos of YOU????

By the way, I'm a natural when it comes to rollovers...

Woofs,
Tommy

Gus, Louie and Callie said...

Oh what fun that looks like. Mmm treats we will do anything for treats...

Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie