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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | FEBRUARY 2025 39 Garden Club Calling all homeowners with gardens you'd like to share for inspiration and enjoyment … The Club provides you with everything you need including docents so you can relax during the tour! Mark your calendars for May 17 when we will present the next Four Seasons Home Garden Tour. If you are interested in having your home featured on the tour, please contact Pat Wayne at pwayne1@outlook.com. ~ Pat Wayne A Walk in the Garden Tails & Trails - All Pets Training is an important part of raising your dog to be well- behaved. Many dog owners choose to train their dogs at home. Training your dog at home requires extra effort, but it's easier with the right concepts and tools. Dogs are a lot like toddlers: they care about immediate consequences. While some intelligent breeds can understand short, simple words, most dogs respond more to their owner's tone than their words. Training your dog at home doesn't have to be complicated. Look for a space indoors or outdoors that is enclosed and private. When training at home, you must find a place with limited distractions. Dogs don't have the best attention spans, and minimizing interruptions will set your dog up for success. There are five foundational commands that you should begin with: come, heel, sit, stay, and down. Working on these commands will create a good foundation for your dog. Once the basics are established, you can build from them to teach other, more complicated tricks. When you start teaching your dog a new command, pick a cue ahead of time and be consistent with it. If you change your verbal cues from day to day, you will only confuse and frustrate your dog. They won't be able to form an association between the command and the behavior you expect of them. In addition to your verbal cues, you should be firm with your expectations. During the learning process, you must be consistent with the behavior that you reward. If you reward your dog for no reason, you aren't encouraging them to learn good behaviors. One of the most important aspects of training your dog is to stay patient. Your dog is more in tune with you than you may think, so much so that your emotions can affect your dog's mood. If you're happy, your dog will be happy. If you're stressed, your dog will be anxious. Always reward your dog for good behavior. Training a dog for the first time can feel overwhelming, but following these simple tips can make it much easier. With the right environment, attitude and rewards, you can train your dog to obey you and to behave well. Even if the training has a rocky start, remember that your dog is happy to spend time with you. If you can both stay happy during the process, training will be much easier as time goes on. ~ Vivian Walker, vivr@ sbcglobal.net