# Be a Cheerleader



## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

love this quote from Diamonds in the Ruff. Another great site BTW. 

"Be a cheerleader. Act silly!

Boring handlers make bored dogs. Ordering and nagging create deaf dogs who'd rather be ANYwhere else, doing ANYthing else. Are you more exciting than grass? No? Then why would your dog choose you in the park? If you can't get his nose out of the grass, all is hopeless when a squirrel runs by. Attention and connection is everything. Your enthusiasm is infectious!"

Do you act silly, ? Women are better at this than men in my opinion. A trainer that I greatly admire has a voice and silliness that is simply infectious. She can get a dog's attention like no other trainer I've seen. 

On a scale of 1 to 10 rate yourself. But I'd bet you gals are all better at this than your hubbies.


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## Izzy-bella (Mar 26, 2011)

Oh my I bet I am only a five! Going to have to step it up....the grass does win out, unless I have some cheese or chicken bits on hand! 

Boring Estelle and bored izzy!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

One place where I learned this was in heeling. When I tried to go slowly, to keep things very precise, Kodi got bored, and the floor became much more interesting. When I quickened my pace and did lots of turns, so he didn't know what to expect next, all of a sudden, I was more interesting than the floor.


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## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

Our trainer is a major goofball! In a good way! :biggrin1: If she thinks we are getting too serious, we get the talk about being silly and fun, to keep our dogs wondering what we might do next. She is always saying we have to make ourselves more interesting than any distraction. As a result, our classes are really fun. I think I would rate myself about a 7.


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

Karen the quick turns are the secret to leash walking. They quickly learn to watch you and not the scenery. Course I do something most don't like, I put the collar on and take off on a slick surface. The pup will let me drag him for a few feet, then as I let him stand back up without looking at him, I start walking again. It usually works within minutes, then we start the turning every which way. I used a cat harness on Rosie so it didn't hurt or choke her to drag her for a few feet. Now with the stray that came up one year, I used a good thick collar, he was a big dog. Same thing he let me drag him, gagged, etc. Then got up and walked beside me. That is when we started having fun.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

motherslittlehelper said:


> Our trainer is a major goofball! In a good way! :biggrin1: If she thinks we are getting too serious, we get the talk about being silly and fun, to keep our dogs wondering what we might do next. She is always saying we have to make ourselves more interesting than any distraction. As a result, our classes are really fun. I think I would rate myself about a 7.


 I always guessed you were a little crazy Linda ound: Good for you.


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