HDR is pleased to announce that we are expanding our daycare program to include all 5 weekdays! On December 1st, we added Mondays to our daycare class schedule. We're having so much fun that we've decided to offer Friday daycare class too! As with other classes, transportation will be available. Please contact us if you are interested in enrolling in the new Monday or Friday classes. Make sure to call soon as space is limited! For more daycare information, see www.houstondogranch.com/daycare.html

Volume 2, Issue 1, February 2008

At Houston Dog Ranch, we strive to provide the best possible services to you and your dogs. So that our guests can get the most out of their visit, we will be implementing the following changes in our boarding policy. As of April 1st, the daily boarding rate we will include 1 individual playtime of 20 minutes or, for social dogs, 1 group playtime of 30 minutes. Additional playtimes will be available upon request. The prices for playtimes vary and value packages will be avaiable. For more information on these and all of our policies, please go to www.houstondogranch.com/forms.html.

Please join HDR in welcoming our new trainer, Colleen Dunlap! Colleen has many years of experience working with dogs in both behavior counseling and obedience training. She has impecable credentials and is among the best of the best. We feel very lucky to have her join our ranch family! For more information about Colleen and HDR’s expanded training program, see our website at www.houstondogranch.com.

Will your dog only sit, down, or come when called if you have a treat? You're not alone. This happens when food rewards are given for too long during the teaching process. Don't worry, you can fix this problem. Go back to the beginning and start working on the command you're having problems with. However, when giving treats you will need to intermittently reward your dog for the correct response. Try rewarding on 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th try and then the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 8th, and 10th. The key is to mix it up and not be predictable. After using intermittent reinforcement for four or five training sessions, you can cut back on the number of treats. Give a treat only half the number of times, then eventually rarely or for really great sits, downs, or fast recalls. You should never cut out treats completely. Just like you and I get paid for our jobs, your dog needs to get paid too. Just make sure it's yummy!