Archive for the ‘training’ Category
10 Party Tips for Dog Owners
With the holiday season upon us, I’ve had many questions about what to do with “rowdy” dogs during a party. Here are my top ten pieces of advice:
1. Feed the dog prior to the party starting and then make sure you take them out to potty after about 15 minutes. If they don’t produce for you, then make sure you make a note for yourself to try again in another 5 minutes. Nothing worse than a potty accident right at the start of the party.
2. WALK them as long as you can as close to the start of the party as possible. Make this a controlled walk, dog at your side, you determine the pace and the direction. Try for a 45 minute walk but no less than 30 minutes. More is better.
3. Advise guests to completely ignore the dog when they arrive and not to pet, look at or talk to the dog until you give the go ahead. Prepare for this to be the hardest thing to accomplish! Only let guests say hello to the dog once the dog is settled nicely. Expect this to take awhile – likely a good 45 minutes into the party.
4. Keep the dog on leash during the party. There is no reason to let a young or out of control dog have free reign of the house during the party. Keeping them on leash and nearby is far better than isolating them to their crate or a back room. This will only cause barking or possible distructive behavior. Dogs are social like us, they deserve to be wtih the group.
5. Work the obedience skills – especially down/stay. Have treats ready and practice these two commands while you take a break and sit down. If you can’t take a break from the action then …
Dealing with dog dominance issues
The Problem
Hi Kristin,
As always, I think of you when I have a dog behavior question. I really value your advice.
As a reminder, I have S- (almost 3 years old), Th- (1.5 years +) and B- (1 + years). All male dogs and they have been neutered.
When I place an object of decent size (like a garbage bag not a gardening shovel) in the backyard, inevitably B- and S- will urinate on it. Usually within minutes of it’s arrival. Th- doesn’t usually partake in this activity. In the last two days, I have found urine in the house. On the sides of furniture, on an exercise ball (this was new to the room) and on a new piece of exercise equipment. Because it’s not puddles on the floor (it’s more like sprays on the sides of furniture and a few carpet accidents….I don’t think it is a dog with a urinary tract infection…..I could be wrong. When they have had accidents in the past they are always in the same exact place…not where I found them in the past two days. Now, I haven’t caught any of the dogs in the act. However, when this happened yesterday Th- wasn’t in the room so I know yesterday it wasn’t him. I can’t think of anything that has changed.
Any ideas????
-L
My Response
(more…)
Aggressive behavior issue
The Problem:
Kristin -
We’ve been working on the exercises from class but have discovered an off-leash problem. Two days ago A- took our dog to the dog park for the first time. It was empty and he was enjoying the freedom to run since our yard is not fenced in. However when A- tossed him a tennis ball he brought it back and dropped it and lunged at her. He kept grabbing at her arm and gnawing it. She struggled for several minutes to get him off, but he kept lunging for the arm. She ended up with several bad bruises and a few scrapes. Our dog went back later that night and only had issues when a toy was removed form his mouth and he wanted it back.
The next day E- took him to the park to see if this behavior was the same. This time there were other dogs and people. He was doing fine for 20 minutes, but then he ran back to a girl who had previously pet him and proceeded to lunge at her arms.
This behavior is frightening to us as we have lots of little kids in our family and this lunging/biting/gnawing is unacceptable. He is fine on the leash, though on occasion he has turned around and jumped on E- a few times. He is mouthy at home, but we have been discouraging that with “Leave it” or removing ourselves from the situation. When he lays on his back and we pet him he likes pawing at the air and trying to nip our hands.
We’re not sure if his behavior is real aggression or just exuberance. But we would like to know how we can diagnose the problem and if it is something we can work on.
-A- & E-
My Reply:
A- and E-,
You are correct in being alarmed…any “exuberance” should not cause harm to a human or their clothing. But it is unclear if it is “aggression”. This is difficult to diagnose over email and having only met you and your dog in a large class. But I would be happy to do a more thorough evaluation for you if you’d like. I do in home work through the Water Bowl (formerly the GenevaRuffners). There is a list of training I offer through there.
Take Your Dog With You
If you want to teach your dogs to work with you and to trust you, bring them out into the world with you whenever you can. Avoid the mind set that makes you do all your errands alone while your dog sits at home. Bring her along and always maintain the leadership position in those outings. Do not let your dog haul you around by the leash, do what it takes to keep you both working as a team. At first this will usually require one of two things: 1) immense strength and patience or 2) a good training collar or harness. I’ve talked about harnesses I love in a previous post as well as the prong collar, both useful tools. But the ‘where of walking’ is what I want to cover here.
Take your dogs wherever you can think of taking them. Ask before entering a store you aren’t sure they allow dogs, and most people will say “ok” and let you in if you seem confident. If you aren’t that sort of person, call ahead first. Here in the Fox Valley, IL area we have a great opportunity for many on leash experiences in the Geneva Commons.
Their website indicates which stores allow leashed dogs. If dogs are welcome you can bring yours! Then you have to make sure you take charge of the situation. Walk your dog outside a bit to burn off some energy and get them emptied out (how embarrassing to potty in Victoria’s Secret!!) Make sure you enter the establishment first, your dog following you. Have your dog “sit” and “wait” if they are trying to rush you into the store. If you enter in a controlled fashion you are communicating to your dog that you are in charge. Once inside, you decide what you look at and where you go. If someone wants to pet your dog, ask them to wait until your dog is under control and take as much time as you need to get your dog seated and calm. Then let them approach. Done correctly, these sorts of outings are a great way to put the basics of obedience training into a package of usable manners. And it’s a great way to get some holiday shopping done too!
Correcting puppy and dog behavior
I have been training people to teach their dogs to be well mannered for a few years now. I have been teaching myself even longer. But it is always amazing how simple it is for a dog to teach another dog how to behave.
I have a puppy class I’m currently teaching at The Water Bowl. I brought Hermes tonight to show the class what they can shoot for, what is possible. Hermes is a great dog. Very self possessed but still funny and playful. Smart as a whip and very willing to work for me. He always makes me look good and when he bucks my authority it is usually either a helpful teaching moment or a message that I’m asking him to do something I shouldn’t be asking him to do. So, I brought him and as soon as the wiggly, overexcited, and uninhibited puppy, Abby, came in I knew we’d have a “teachable moment.” Abby is old enough to know better. Her family is tired of her antics. In a baby pup her behavior would be considered cute but she is big now and so it is just plain rude. We all are seeking ways to help her understand what parts of her behavior are unacceptable. Hermes did what her family has been trying to do for 2 months in less than 2 minutes. Abby understood him completely.
Teaching dogs mindfulness video
I was at a professional conference last weekend – a conference for my other profession. There I met some wonderful people. One woman in particular really cracked me up. I love how I can meet someone I totally click with in such a random way. Some of the conversation we had involved her mistaking me for the mayor of my small town – you get the picture.
Anyway, she has two lovely dogs to whom she tried to teach mindfulness. Mindfulness, for those of you who don’t know, involves the intense focus on one thing that is happening right now and inhabiting the experience of it completely. She showed me a video of her trying to teach her dogs mindfulness, and at first it seemed she was unsuccessful – the dogs nearly took her fingers off trying to eat the food. However, as I watched the video again I saw how the dogs are totally focused on her and the fruit – completely in the moment. For us, we tend to teach mindfulness through sensations, the feeling of the coolness in the mouth, the texture of the fruit, the sweetness and the liquid sensations as they explode on the tongue…the dogs could care less about that. But notice how they completely inhabit the experience of consuming the food. They are completely mindful in those brief moments of inhaling the fruit. So, who knows, was it a success or a failure? Either way, I loved the video. Enjoy.
Teaching Dog Mindfulness video (requires Quicktime)
How to brush your dog’s teeth
In my last blog entry I discussed my experiences with nail trims. Now I want to cover teeth brushing. Luckily, this is a task that is SO easy I’m surprised we don’t all do it regularly! Dogs love getting their teeth brushed…well, maybe they don’t LOVE it but they like the taste of the toothpaste and readily take to it.
I think most people don’t brush their dogs’ teeth because they don’t’ know that it is possible to do so, or they just haven’t ever thought about it. I remember all of our dogs in my childhood loosing their teeth in old age, after a lifetime of going under anesthesia for teeth cleanings. I am so sad for this unnecessary and probably painful result of our lack of care of them. Many people come into Petco complaining about their dog’s bad breath. Most of them are surprised when I suggest brushing their teeth. So, let’s spread the word about this easy, preventative task.
Ok, so what you’ll need is a toothpaste specially formulated for dogs. DO NOT give them your toothpaste! Please! You can buy dog (and cat) toothpastes at any pet super store or your vet. Make sure that the product contains an enzyme – this helps to break down the plaque and tartar. C.E.T poulty flavor is a brand is a brand I like (I’ve also gotten it at my Vet’s office) and Petrodex is a brand I use at Petco. I have had great results with both.
Nail Trims and Grooming
How many of you out there regularly brush and bathe your dogs? How many out there trim your own dogs’ nails? How many of you out there brush your dogs’ teeth? My guess is that the numbers decreased with each question. Most of us understand that bathing and brushing come with owning a dog. And for many of us, these tasks are an enjoyable part of interacting with our dogs. Some of us, for many reasons, choose to have our dogs professionally groomed. But all of us expect that there is some “maintenance” required in owning a dog.
However, many of us forget about the rest of the animal. I have seen many dogs with extremely long toe nails, some so long that the foot is being deformed and the dog is clearly uncomfortable walking as a result! These dogs are usually loved and cared for but their owners, for whatever reason, have neglected this part of their anatomy. Nail trimming IS often difficult. Most dogs dislike having their feet handled and if a dog hasn’t been given regular nail trims from puppyhood, they can resist nail trims with a nearly violent reaction.
Lollie after a nail trim
My own dog, Lollie, hated nail trims. I tried to give them to her as a puppy but she struggled so much she often got out of our hold. Once she learned that she could escape by fierce struggling, she struggled all the harder with each attempt. Add to this my fear of her reaction and we had a horrible situation on our hands. It got to the point that at one attempt I was certain she was going to bite me. I stopped trimming her nails and took her to the vet. There she was muzzled and put on her side and struggled so much that the vet assistant, who was restraining her, ended up with multiple scratches and the vet’s glasses were flung across the room (her flailing foot caught the stem of them and off they went, into the air). I realized that we were in for a lifetime of panic and unnecessary drama unless something radically changed.
