Welcome!
I'm Lili. Sit for a Second Chance is a training blog for anyone who has recently adopted a dog from a shelter, sanctuary, rescue or even just found a stray and decided to keep her. My family adopted our first dog in April of 2006. His name is Krypto and he's a Beagle/Sheltie mutt. He is approximately 13 years old. Our second dog, whom we adopted on July 22nd of 2011 is named Bigby.The shelter said that he was five years old when we got him, so that means that he's now eight. That doesn't really make sense--he has no trouble jumping, running or anything associated with becoming a senior dog so we suspect that he is younger. We don't obviously know his exact breeds but here's a good description: pitbull head, greyhound speed and legs, rat terrier markings and a pitbull/terrier personality. He loves to learn and enjoys running with me. He's pretty strong and lean; you can actually see the muscle in his body. I'm working on teaching him to run with my bike and he knows many commands. He loves attention and preforming and has great focus, although sometimes treats excite him a bit too much.
Both being rescues, sometimes I would find certain 'hurdles' while training them. Krypto doesn't have a long focus and takes a lot longer to learn tricks, so he only knows his basic commands (roll over, sit, down, shake hands, come). He was likely abused when he got him because of his occasional fear of quick hand movements, so sometimes it was difficult to teach him down. He is sensitive about his paws being touched so that has been a little bit of a 'hurdle'.
Although little to none of Bigby's 'hurdles' appeared in training, there were several at home. One was Bigby had a little bit of food aggression. He would growl when he was eating the cats' food (he obviously wasn't supposed to) and you'd try to gently get him away from the dish. We had to learn around him. If you yelled at him and scolded him while he ate the food, that triggered his aggression. We realized that we had to ignore him, take the dish away, look him in the eye, say a firm (but not scary) 'no' and give him a 'time-out' for 10 minutes. It worked like a charm. Now, when he gets a bone, he'll come and see on my lap with it and he lets me touch him and the bone. Bigby was always very fearful of men (he still is a bit). With that, he just had to learn to trust us and now he's like a dream come true.
In this blog, I will be posting training tips, videos, ideas, products and instructions for training your new rescue dog. Although it may be difficult and frustrating at times, you will learn quickly how rewarding and gratifying it is giving a dog a second shot at life. This blog will become a companion to my YouTube Dog Training Channel and training book that I'm currently writing. I hope that you'll find helpful tips and ideas... and--surely--you will experience the strong bond and love between you and your canine companion.
I'm Lili. Sit for a Second Chance is a training blog for anyone who has recently adopted a dog from a shelter, sanctuary, rescue or even just found a stray and decided to keep her. My family adopted our first dog in April of 2006. His name is Krypto and he's a Beagle/Sheltie mutt. He is approximately 13 years old. Our second dog, whom we adopted on July 22nd of 2011 is named Bigby.The shelter said that he was five years old when we got him, so that means that he's now eight. That doesn't really make sense--he has no trouble jumping, running or anything associated with becoming a senior dog so we suspect that he is younger. We don't obviously know his exact breeds but here's a good description: pitbull head, greyhound speed and legs, rat terrier markings and a pitbull/terrier personality. He loves to learn and enjoys running with me. He's pretty strong and lean; you can actually see the muscle in his body. I'm working on teaching him to run with my bike and he knows many commands. He loves attention and preforming and has great focus, although sometimes treats excite him a bit too much.
Both being rescues, sometimes I would find certain 'hurdles' while training them. Krypto doesn't have a long focus and takes a lot longer to learn tricks, so he only knows his basic commands (roll over, sit, down, shake hands, come). He was likely abused when he got him because of his occasional fear of quick hand movements, so sometimes it was difficult to teach him down. He is sensitive about his paws being touched so that has been a little bit of a 'hurdle'.
Although little to none of Bigby's 'hurdles' appeared in training, there were several at home. One was Bigby had a little bit of food aggression. He would growl when he was eating the cats' food (he obviously wasn't supposed to) and you'd try to gently get him away from the dish. We had to learn around him. If you yelled at him and scolded him while he ate the food, that triggered his aggression. We realized that we had to ignore him, take the dish away, look him in the eye, say a firm (but not scary) 'no' and give him a 'time-out' for 10 minutes. It worked like a charm. Now, when he gets a bone, he'll come and see on my lap with it and he lets me touch him and the bone. Bigby was always very fearful of men (he still is a bit). With that, he just had to learn to trust us and now he's like a dream come true.
In this blog, I will be posting training tips, videos, ideas, products and instructions for training your new rescue dog. Although it may be difficult and frustrating at times, you will learn quickly how rewarding and gratifying it is giving a dog a second shot at life. This blog will become a companion to my YouTube Dog Training Channel and training book that I'm currently writing. I hope that you'll find helpful tips and ideas... and--surely--you will experience the strong bond and love between you and your canine companion.
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| Bigby |
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| Bigby & Krypto |
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| Bigby & Krypto |
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| With Krypto |
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| Krypto |
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| Bigby & Krypto |
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| Bigby |
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| With Bigby |
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| With Molly |
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| With Benny at my aunt's farm |
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| With the chickens at my aunt's farm |
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| With Oreo at my aunt's farm |
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| With Bigby |
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| Bigby |
