TREAT ON NOSE Let's teach your dog a

TREAT ON NOSE Let's teach your dog a trick that reinforces patience with food! Try the following steps to train the Treat-On-The-Nose trick! Brush up on your sit-stay before you attempt this trick. Your dog has to sit perfectly still to hold the treat! Start with a sit-stay directly in front of you while you sit in a chair. Their head should be slightly over your lap. Put one hand under the dog's head and raise its nose to a position that is level to the floor. Place the treat on the flattest part of their nose. While you gently rest their muzzle in your hand, alternate praise with the phrase "Hold It!" in your command tone. After a few seconds, release him, praise him, and let him flip the treat off his nose and eat it. Repeat this process five to ten times per day for several days. As your dog begins to hold their own head steady, begin to remove your hands from their muzzle to let them do it alone. Some dogs will drop the treat on the floor and pick it up. Others will flip it into the air and catch it. If you desire the flip method and your dog is a "dropper", immediately command them to "leave it" if they drop it. Let them take it if they flip it. With consistency, this will condition the dog to flip it. If they do not catch it on the first flip, praise the effort with "good dog!" so that they do not give up. When they do catch it, praise vigorously!
Double Sun Dogs Create a Dramatic Sunset

Two Sun Dogs, or sundogs, poked through the clouds to make a spectacular view at sunset.
On Sunday afternoon a Sun Dog appeared to the right of the sun and lasted until about an hour before sunset.
As if not to let sky watchers down, another Sun Dog appeared to the left of the sun and waited until the sun was almost down over the horizon to fade into the evening sky.
Dr. Whitaker at Old Dominion University in Norfolk says, "they're a refraction phenomenon of ice crystals and cirrus clouds thousands of feet up in the atmosphere." When ice crystals high in the atmosphere form, they act as prisms and bend the rays from the sun.
They're different colors, depending on how far away from the sun they are. The Sun Dog seen to the right of the sun glowed of oranges and yellows so it was farther away; whereas the sun dog seen to the left of the sun, above, was closer and so appeared more red.
In Virginia Beach, the weather was unseasonably warm and in the seventies during the day. After sunset, temperatures only fell into the 60's, making it the perfect day to be outside sky-watching at sunset.

Magical Christmas Markets

Imagine. Close your eyes now and let your senses take over.

 

Feel. Crispy cold air. Occasional warmth from the stalls where glowing coals roasting chestnuts crosses your path and provides the much-desired relief.

 

Hear. Laughter, chatter and merriment fills the wintry air as young children shriek excitedly on merry-go-rounds and choo-choo trains in the playground while adults engage  in slightly intoxicated conversation as they indulge on orange-spice-scented gluhwein, clinging onto their warm  mugs as they do so.

 

Smell. Freshly-grilled bratwurst creep into your senses and suddenly you crave for those juicy dogs bathed in creamy mustard and mayo. Sweet scents of crepes filled with Nutella and cinnamon make their presence felt as they leave their hot iron plates and are served steaming hot with light dashes of powdered vanilla sugar.

 

Taste. Hot potato pancakes--- that once-a-year treat eaten with homemade apple-sauce or garlic-cream. Grilled pork steaks from the swinging BBQs and cutlets soaked in onion

sauce served between crispy bread-rolls, juices a-dripping as you bite into them.

 

See. Glittering Christmas lights. Brilliant shades of colors from stalls filled with ideas for Christmas. Giant mushrooms. Mini dwarfs, Gingerbread hearts. Hundreds of cookies and chocolates, sugared nuts and pastel-colored mashmellows on sticks. Babies bundled like little pillows in nicely padded prams and dogs in winterwear darting here and there, totally distracted by all those smells and sounds.

 

 

 

Enjoy! You have arrived. Welcome to the Magical Christmas Markets of Germany!

Columbia Dog Training

Julie Davis
Dog Training In Your Home