How to Play Funagle

There is now a video about how to play the new board game for people and dogs to play together, called Funagle! It's posted on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16XxTJFhwz4
It's a great way to entertain yourselves and your dog[s] during the holidays and winter months. Start with lots of treats and your dogs' favorite toys. You'll be amazed at what you can get your dog to do with a little creativity on your part. Treats are a great motivator. Enjoy!

Old Dog New Tricks Follow-up

After 3 weeks of encouraging our our 14 1/2 year old Yorkie to "shake," we seem to be making progress. Fergie raises her right paw when asked to "shake" before she gets her treat every morning. It has taken longer than it would have when she was younger, but, it appears that it just may be possible to teach an old dog new tricks. What do you think? Have you had luck training elderly dogs?

How to celebrate a dog's birthday

Every year it's nice to mark your dog's birth with a celebration. What's the best way to celebrate? Well, what is your dog's favorite thing to do? Besides eat? Go on a walk? Play with friends? Chase a ball? Go to the dog park? There's your answer. Give her special attention, an extra treat, a walk to her favorite shop or tree, a belly rub. You know what she likes. Let her know how happy you are that she came into your life.

Can an old dog learn new tricks?

We decided to test the old dogs/new tricks cliche with our 14 1/2 year old Yorkie.

She never learned to "shake." A week ago we asked her to shake before she got her morning and afternoon treats. She's very good at sitting, but doesn't know shake.

We have her sit, say "shake" and lift her paw, then treat her. The 3 year old yorkie got it in 3 treat sessions. The old dog hasn't gotten it yet. We're giving her 2 weeks to catch on. We'll keep you posted.

How ManyTreats Should I Give My Dog?

Dogs don't care HOW MUCH treat you give them...they care about the actual act of giving. So, treat your dog more often with very small morsels.

One big treat each day, teaches them that they get one big treat a day. Give your dogs smaller treats more often when they have done something to deserve a reward. If you want to give your dog a treat, have her perform first. Every time you reward her for an accomplishment, she learns something.

What sized treat should I give my dog?
Give toy-sized dogs approximately a 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch treat.

Give big dogs just enough so that he can tell you've given him a treat. Try a 1/4 inch x 1 inch circle. If you can go smaller, do.

Remember, treat LESS more OFTEN!

Dog Music

You're driving down the road and a jerk tailgates you. You start to feel angry -- then all of a sudden, a song you really like comes on the radio. Doesn't it diffuse your anger? Doesn't it make you think, "I feel sorry for you bad driver, you're not enjoying your life." Music is such an amazing mood changer.

Now, think about songs you hear that remind you of your dog. "Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional makes me think about my little dog.

We, at Darf, are assembling songs that are personal "dog" songs. Let us know what your "dog" song is.

First Darf Video

We will be creating videos showing how to get dogs to do things. Our first video called Yorkie Chases Bear is not a training video, but shows how to tire out a little dog while practicing fetch. Please view the video at http://www.youtube.com/Darfinc and enjoy!

Get Your Dog To Shake Hands

Have your dog sit.

Ask her to shake. Lift her paw. Give her a treat.

Do this 5 more times. Let her rest for at least 30 minutes.

Try again. Offer her your hand, ask her to shake. If she will does it without you lifting her paw, treat her. If she doesn't lift her paw, ask her to shake again, lift her paw and treat her.

It won't take long before she will lift her paw to shake when you ask her. When you feel like she shakes on command, only treat her for shaking once of every 3-5 times she does it.

What is Funagle?

FUNAGLE is a BOARD GAME people and their dogs play with friends and family. It's like Trivial Pursuits, but instead of answering trivia questions, people have to get their dogs to do things in a limited amount of time in order to progress around the board. The best performing dog/person team wins the game.

There are no rules as to how you get your dog to do these activities, but we can share some clever ways to get dogs to perform.

You can get your dog to go potty on command (this is not in the game). Every time your dog goes out to potty say "Go potty" to your dog. Keep saying it to him until he goes potty. Treat him. Do this at least 10 times. Then take him out when you know it's about "that" time and say "Go potty" once and wait. If he goes potty, treat him. Next time take him out and say "Go potty". When he does it don't treat him, but tell he's a good dog. From then on, treat him once in a while when he goes potty on command, but not always.