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.
The Art of Racing In The Rain, a novel
I have been reading and rereading a book that I didn’t think I’d like as much as I did. It was given to me by a friend who read it and said somewhat the same thing. It is a book that grew on me… after each reading I would think, “whatever” and then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I kept coming back to it. I stayed up and read it for 3 hours straight one night!! And I reread it in it’s entirety after I finished it the first time.
Why?
Who knows. I liked the “voice” of the narrator. It made me think of things in a new way. It made me cry and cry about the dogs I have loved and miss terribly now that they are gone. It gave me hope. It was a good story.
So, for what it is worth, here is my recommendation: Read Garth Stein‘s The Art of Racing in the Rain
Dogs and birds can be a rough mix
You know the intent of the sentence, “what, you think it’s just going to fall out of the sky and land in your lap?” – it means you have to go out there and work for what you want in life.
Well, not always.
Today it was warm and sunny for the majority of the day – amazing! The dogs had been in the yard, running and wrestling and were now taking a rest on the warm patio, near the house. The sun was shining hard on the second story picture window and must have made it look just like an extension of the sky, from a bird’s perspective. I was mopping the floor, right on the other side of the lower level picture window when I heard a loud BANG! and thought, and saw, at the same instant, “bird.” It dropped like a stone, right in the middle of the dogs circle. They all leapt up, startled and leaned in to investigate. Hermes figured it out first – “a free lunch!” (another platitude proved false) and grabbed it and ran. I tried not to think about it. It was too late to do much anyway. When I rounded them up to go walk a few minutes later, they all came running to the door where I stood, all except Hermes. He was standing over a pile of gray and black feathers, and lowered his head as I approached. It was nearly gone and what was left looked like a high school biology lab dissection – neat and pared down and red. He gulped the remainder and I said out loud – “This is what it would look like if you ever got Frank Frank…except the feathers would be green” And I think I actually shuddered.
Frank Frank
Later, that afternoon I was holding Frank Frank as Hermes laid by the piano and I became aware of his whining, quiet yet persistent. He was looking right at Frank Frank. I said, “LEAVE IT” and glared at him but it didn’t phase him. I truly believe he thinks I am an idiot, playing with my food. Eventually, he gave it up and went to sleep but I fear the damage is done – one slip on my part and bye bye Frankie…yikes.
Dog friendly cabins in Wisconsin
Juno‘s mom, the one who took that great picture of Juno touching noses with the deer, is willing to share other photos she has taken! You can see them at her Picasa photo page.
Also, she wrote this about the place where she and Juno met the deer:
“If others would like to take their dogs up to the place with the deer, I’m more than happy to share that information. It is a property in Wisconsin, near Princeton, on lots of acres with groomed trails. Most importantly, it is a very dog-friendly place, and your dogs are welcome inside the cabins. They also have outside kennels attached to all three cabins to use when the weather is nicer. Our old dog loved it there, and so did Juno. The owners are Chicago transplants, and they bring along their weimeraner pup (same age as Willow‘s litter) with them when they check on visitors. Check out the Copper Pond Lodge in central Wisconsin!
Isn’t that cool? I checked out the website and it looks great. We will likely make reservations for there for next summer. Thanks Sandra!
Lesson learned on treating for ticks
Well, I am happy to report that I am not too old to learn a new lesson now and then. This particular lesson involves ticks. I was feeling superior to ticks, having not seen one attached to any of my dogs for years now. Regular use of Frontline Plus completely removed this pest from my life. So I decided to stop the Frontline Plus earlier than usual this year. It had been a cold summer and even though I had been told by many sources that it was a heavy flea and tick year, I had trouble believing it…I hadn’t seen any. We’d had a slight frost so I figured, season’s over, save a month of treatment this year. WELL, bad idea.
Two days ago, I found a tick full of blood on Bella. I immediately treated my three dogs who roam outside on our 3 acres. But I didn’t treat Brandy….she is 15 and only goes out for walkies and to potty. Yesterday there was one on her. Mike pulled that one off and treated her. Then today I pulled 8 more ticks off of Bella, they had implanted themselves already, and two off Hermes. I’m afraid to check Lollie but I will. Yuck. The ones I got today seemed unwell, so the medicine is working. I’m sure we’ll be all clear again by next week but YUCK! I hate ticks.
Moral of this story: Don’t stop your flea and tick preventative until there is a HARD frost, and for myself, I’m waiting for two hard frosts – just to be sure!
