Summer is here! Tomorrow it is forecast to be 39 degrees in Brisbane, which is hot enough to scorch your bare feet, let alone your best friend’s. Here are a few tips from CLEAR clients past and present for “keeping things cool”.

1. Get up early and walk your dog at daybreak. You may groan when the alarm goes off but nothing beats an early-morning walk when it comes to starting the day on a high. Go on, do it! You know you can. Even so, it will warm up pretty quickly so take water with you and keep an eye on your furry mate. And remember the put-your-palm-on-the-ground test – if it feels too hot to keep your hand there comfortably, do not subject your pet to it.
2. Treat your dog as you would a family member. If you wouldn’t like being outside in the heat, it’s pretty obvious they wouldn’t either, so bring them in if it is cooler inside. My dogs love the air con. If that is not possible while you are at work, ensure there is plenty of shade for them. One CLEAR client has an awning she rolls out off the veranda on extra-hot days when she is not at home, which keeps the back-deck area several degrees cooler than it would otherwise be.
3. It goes without saying, they must have access to copious amounts of cool water. Make sure you put out at least two sources, so if your dog knocks one over they have access to another. Both of these should be in shade, because water even in the sun for just part of the day will quickly heat up. 
4. Make sure they have a summer bed, both inside and outside. Warm cosy beds filled with foam just don't cut it in hot weather. Instead get a raised, flat bed where air can circulate underneath it and place it where it will get maximum air circulation while still being in the shade.
5. Put a plastic swimming ‘shell’ in a cool spot full of water. These cost only $15 or so from Bunnings and reject shops, and if you locate them in a shady spot, they can give your dog a refreshing dip. Obviously if your pet doesn’t like immersing itself in water, don’t bother. They are not going to decide to take a dip for the first time just because it’s hot outside, so think ahead and get them used to paddling before hot weather strikes. My dogs also love chasing the hose so a fun game of chase-the-hose is always popular on a hot afternoon, even if the resulting muddy and wet dogs are not!
6. Icy treats are another cool treat your dogs will love. One CLEAR client fills up an ice-cream container with a nice meaty broth and freezes it, leaving the ice block for her dogs to lick on warm days. She also plays fetch with lumps of specially flavoured ice cubes.
7. Give your dog a hair cut for summer. While some dogs such as border collies have double coats which actually are meant to insulate them, others do not, and a summer ‘short back and sides’ can work wonders.
8. Relax and chill out during the warmer parts of the day, and restrict exercise to a minimum. Forget that show or comp that’s on – even if the rules stupidly allow it, your best mate’s well-being should come first.
9. Go for a swim! Many dogs love swimming and mine are no exception. Whether it is a backyard pool or the ocean, they cannot wait to immerse themselves. If you need to walk across a beach or tarmac to get to a swimming spot, obviously plan your visit for when it is not too hot.
10. Finally, be alert for the signs of heatstroke and take immediate action if you see any of them, and rush your pet to the vet if you have concerns. These can include excessive panting, rapid heartbeat, high fever, vomiting, an anxious expression and dry and warm nose.

So there you have it, just some of the many ways you can help your best friend stay chilled this summer. Do you have any more?

• All information is general. Contact your vet for expert advice if you have any health concerns about your dog.

Dog tricks are coming to Brisbane – it’s official!

Yes, it has finally happened! We have all been teaching our dogs tricks for fun almost as long as dogs have been family pets, but as of next year it is an official ANKC sport and you can compete for titles.

Some of CLEAR’s clients are already busily training to compete, using the goal of competition to spur on their training.

CLEAR asked Coral Pethers about the introduction of the new sport. Coral is the Qld delegate on the National Dances With Dogs Committee which is overseeing the development of Trick Dog in Australia. As part of that she is overseeing the introduction of the sport into Queensland and the training of judges and has been conducting workshops on both training the tricks required and how to compete.

Q. Coral, when will the first tricks competition be held in Queensland and where?

A. The first Trick Dog Test will be conducted at Durack on Feb 16 2020. This will be a triple header which will give dogs the opportunity to gain their Starter Title.

Q. How many competitions will be held in 2020?

A. This is not known at this stage as clubs are still sending in requests to conduct a Trick Dog Test and as other clubs see how they are run will, no doubt, also decide to conduct a Test. There will be quite a reasonable number though.

Q How many levels are there and how will competitions in the higher levels be phased in?

A. There are four levels – Starter, Novice, Intermediate and Advanced. Higher levels will be offered as dogs gain titles in the lower level.

Q Apart from the obvious fun in competing, what are the benefits of teaching our dogs tricks?

A. Trick training is a fun way to teach our dogs to learn from us. One of the hardest things for a dog to understand is how to ‘learn’ from us. Once the dog has a good understanding of how to do this then it becomes easier and easier to teach our dogs new behaviours. With trick training both handlers and dogs seem to find this an easier way to learning how to communicate with each other.

Q. Do you need to be a member of Dogs Queensland and your dog registered with Dogs Queensland (or your relevant state body) to compete?

A. The handler needs to be a member of Dogs Qld (or other relevant state member body) and the dog must either be a registered pedigree dog (they will have come with a certificate of pedigree registered with Dogs Qld or other member body) or if they do not have papers then they must be put on the Associate Register with Dogs Qld for a small fee.

Coral said some of the Starter tricks include tricks most family dogs should be able to do with a little training, such as go round a cone, circle handler, spin, leg weave, nose to hand touch, paw on hand, send over jump, take a bow and sit pretty.

They gradually get more difficult as you progress through the levels and at Advanced level, the tricks include march on the spot, paws up and push, hide your face, step up and rotate and reverse leg weaves.

Coral said Dances With Dogs Queensland has produced a Trick Dog Training Manual which gives the complete rundown on all the tricks and how to train them.

Trick Tests in Queensland will be advertised on the Dogs Queensland website under the show and trials links and a mock trial is already scheduled for Strathpine on December 15.

CLEAR also offers trick training as part of one-on-one home visits.

"We find tricks one of the best relationship-building things you can do with your dog - as well as being really fun, and have always incorporated them in our training," CLEAR head trainer Caroline Strainig said.

"Now they are an official sport, it will only add to the fun as you can set yourself the goal of competing, and gradually working through all the titles."

CLEAR owner and head trainer Caroline Strainig travelled south last month to put her obedience training to the test against the best handers and dogs in the southern states.

Caroline had what can only be described as a “ripper” run at the NSW Dog Obedience State Championships and Border Collie Nationals in Sydney with her border collie Adam and rescue border collie-cross Groot.

Caroline and her two dogs competed 16 times for 16 qualifications, which is an amazing strike rate!

Caroline’s older dog, Adam, was never out of the first two in fields of 30-40-plus dogs.

Highlights at the state championships included winning the championship in open obedience, a gold medallion for highest overall three qualifications in obedience and an award for excellence in heeling. Adam also won a state championship and reserve state championship in rally obedience.

At the Border Collie Nationals, they won open obedience, masters rally o and ex B rally O – scoring 197 out of 200 in open obedience and achieving two perfect scores in rally obedience. They also took home two seconds in Dances With Dogs.

Not to be outdone, young Groot, a rescue dog Caroline has had for only nine months, won a state championship in rally obedience and a medallion for excellence in obedience. He could not compete in the Border Collie Nationals as he was not a pedigree dog.

Caroline is available for puppy home visits, mind-your-manners sessions and behavioural troubleshooting sessions in the bayside and SE Brisbane.

She is also the national, state and EKKA champion in rally obedience and teaches rally o privately and at the Redlands Dog Obedience Club in Birkdale. Her older dog, Adam has already achieved 10 scores of 100 out of 100 in rally o this season, which may well be an Australian record.

By CLEAR founder and consultant Oliver Beverly

Focussed and ready! A border collie puppy looks intently at its owner during a CLEAR training session. 

Being an effective communicator is essential to being a good dog owner/trainer. If your puppy or your dog fails to respond first time to your instructions, whether in the kitchen or at the park, ask yourself three questions:   

• Did he actually HEAR my word or SEE my hand signal?          
• Did he UNDERSTAND what it meant?          
• Was there adequate MOTIVATION?

Unless your answer is always ‘YES’ to all three then any specific behaviour you want from your dog simply won’t happen until you acquire good communication and teaching skills. Our experienced, well qualified and friendly coach-instructors will help you do this - and much more.

We use modern training techniques are effective and enjoyable at both ends of the lead. They will assist you to quickly have an obedient, calm and well behaved dog that trusts you and is welcomed wherever he goes. He will understand what you are saying and soon WANT to do immediately what you ASK him to do. 

Our responsibility as dog owners, whether of a new eight-week-old puppy or a recently arrived adult rescue dog is to teach him what our hand signals or our words mean so that he can 'sit', 'drop', 'stay', 'come', 'leave', 'heel' etc. first time. If educated gradually, patiently and methodically he will soon learn to do so, happily and willingly. He will also do so whenever and wherever requested and whatever the level of distraction.

Expecting a new puppy to be a mind reader and instantly understand English is as unrealistic as expecting him to understand Chinese. To become frustrated when he doesn't 'obey' and to repeat commands louder and more sternly hoping that he will comply is unreasonable. To then reprimand a puppy, whose only crime is not understanding, with a verbal or physical correction is clearly very unfair.Intentionally or unintentionally we are all informally training our dogs 24 hours a day, simply by the way we interact and communicate with them. They either learn by themselves to do undesired things, like jumping to greet visitors, or we are proactive and teach good things first, like sitting on a mat when the doorbell rings.

Many puppies soon become out of control adolescents. The reason is simply because, even if they are aware of the need for training, their humans are blissfully unaware HOW properly to teach them good behaviours in the first place. As owner/trainers we can teach new behaviours by saying, in English or any other language, a 'command' word first. When the puppy initially fails to understand then pushing at one end of the body or pulling his collar gets him into the right position. Even though the process is not much fun for the puppy this physical approach undoubtedly works: most dogs will quickly learn the meaning of a limited number of  words like 'sit' or 'drop' and will perform a few basic behaviours in the kitchen for a few seconds. Usually they do so with reluctance and unreliably and for a short time only, especially if there is something more interesting going on around them.

Instead of getting frustrated and pushing and pulling CLEAR Dog Training will help you to acquire the techniques to influence what happens inside your puppy's or your dog's head, without the use of any compulsion at any stage of the learning process. A large repertoire of simple behaviours, as well as a wide range of complex ones will soon be performed - voluntarily, reliably and promptly.

Training methods based on the scientific laws of learning are like the laws of gravity and always work. Unlike older punishment-based animal training methods, such as in horse 'breaking', they involve no psychological or physical pressure, force or pain - however mild. Your dog too should be able to choose and decide for himself which choice of alternative behaviours is the right one to offer. Instead of being fearful to experiment, and run the risk of being immediately 'corrected' for a 'mistake', he should be encouraged to use his initiative and see what works to his advantage. Through trial and error, without the possibility of unpleasant consequences, he will become a willing and involved learner who learns quickly and joyously.

Provided you have the necessary knowledge and skills, which we will show you how to acquire, and provided everybody else in your house is consistent your dog will quickly understand your communication and what you want him to do. He will do so because he WANTS to and not because he HAS to!

There is no question that both traditional and modern training methods work and are therefore 'successful'. The difference is in the approach and philosophy to teaching as well as the speed and enjoyment of the training process - at both ends of the lead. With the newer techniques there is a different mindset and even a change in the trainer's vocabulary whereby 'command' and 'obedience' become 'cue' and 'good manners', and 'correct' and 'dominate' change to 'show' and 'motivate'. Naturally it is every owner's choice as to which way he or she would prefer to teach. From your puppy's or your dog's point of view, however, there is no doubt as to which way he or she would much prefer to learn!

Suppressing a behaviour by force is probably quite painful and your puppy may have temporarily stopped biting to avoid being hurt by you in the future. He will have no idea why he is being treated so roughly and there is no guarantee that the biting won’t happen later in life if, for instance, somebody accidentally steps on his tail.

Simultaneously uttering a guttural command or threat (e.g.,"No biting" = If you bite again I'll hurt you again, and for longer ) in English assumes your puppy is a mind reader or can miraculously understand whichever particular human language you used.

Nipping ankles or biting hands are invitations to play and when littermates continuously do so they mouth and bite each other all the time. If one puppy bites another too hard the game ends as the bitten puppy yelps and moves away; so if the biter wants to play again he needs to solve the problem himself by modifying the force of the bite and not to do it so hard the next time. This is a continuous and VERY necessary learning process throughout puppyhood, adolescence and adulthood. 

Puppies that are taken away from their mother and littermates too early, e.g. at 5-6 weeks instead of 8-10 weeks, have inufficent time to learn how to play nicely and are therefore much more likely to nip and bite inappropriately. Single litter puppies are at an even greater disadvantage.

A shouted command ‘NO Biting’ might well startle a puppy so that he stops doing it but, no matter whether it is said in English or Swahili, it doesn't teach him what else to DO instead.

Puppies that have not learned bite inhibition may yet grow into much loved adult dogs and cause no harm for several years; however many of them quite unexpectedly do attack a child or adult, 'out of the blue', and end up on the evening TV news. Because they had poor or no bite inhibition the damage can be severe and so they are generally destroyed the next day.