The Bark is MUCH worse than the bite!

  So our little foster dog Sadie has this super fun (insert sarcasm here) bark that she gets carried away with when she is excited or alerting to some sound (or if Beanie has alerted to a sound she has to join in). It's the kind of bark that goes up your spine and if left to continue on it's incessant path has the potential to make your ears bleed!

  I have begun working on her with this using a combination of body blocking and rewarding quiet behavior. I have had the most success so far in keeping her quiet when she is on the other side of the gate from us while we are eating. At dinner time I take a tupperware dish with kibble or broken pieces of biscuit and every few seconds, if she's been quiet, i'll toss her a piece. I have been able to progress with this pretty quickly to every few minutes tossing her a piece of food and dinner time is blissfully quiet again!

  To help her regain composure when she sees something out the window, I use body blocks to remover her from the window and when she is quiet I reward her. I also give her something else to concentrate on like a rope toy or simply a handful of food tossed on the floor! Whatever keeps her quiet and occupied! This is proving a little more difficult as visual stimulus is more difficult for her and Beanie can be an instigator!

  Today when I had Little Bear's mom come pick him up I took a baggie of dog kibble out with me and while I was talking to her I would toss a small handful of kibble up onto the deck where Sadie was watching us from, as long as she was quiet. She did really well and settled down wonderfully. She's a smart little girl and will be quick to learn. She may always alarm bark but my goal is to make her easy to shut off with a simple "quiet" or "enough" command. After all It's nice to have dogs that let you know something or someone is outside!

“Good” mourning

Isn’t that title an oxymoron, also possibly offensive? Yes, I suppose it could be perceived this way but I truly believe good can come form mourning.

In recent months, myself and some close to me, have had many reasons to mourn. I have mourned for my friends and their struggles and they have mourned for me and mine as well. There are lots of things one can mourn for, the passing of youth (you bet I’m mourning that), the growing up of our children, the loss of blissful ignorance (I am dealing with this as well in my eating habits!) and the loss of someone close to us.

Currently, I am mourning the loss of a beautiful dream I have had, since bringing Jojen home, of competing in all manner of dog sports with him. There were no limits in my imagination to all we could do together. Then…puppy strangles, then…a broken wrist, then…abdominal surgery, then…constant lameness on his previously broken leg, then…a grade three luxating patella; the last two of which will require surgery. He is 11 months old and already has a good amount of arthritis in the elbow of his previously broken leg. He is scheduled to have his knee surgically repaired next week. The elbow will be next, once the coffers have been replenished. I have sadly, but with a twinge of optimism, resigned myself to the fact that agility competition is probably out of our future. I love it and he loves it but the amount of pain it could cause him is not worth it to me. There are other sports that require less physicality but still require precision training and fun and I will try to focus on those. Rally Obedience is one as is the new sport of Rally FrEe. I still plan on getting his trick dog titles and perhaps even being able to do some freestyle routines and drill team routines.

My lesson in all this rests in his little red body that harbors no resentment, no sadness and no blame. He loves life still, even limping on two legs, he takes it all in and never lets it get him down. That is where my “good” mourning comes from.

We Don’t Always Have To Like Everyone

Sometimes in life there are people that just get under your skin, push your buttons and plain old make you mad. We try our best to avoid these people, and when we can’t we try really hard to keep our cool and diffuse any tension, we avert eye contact, try to ignore their goading and bite our tongue (really hard sometimes) but often it just becomes too much and you want to yell “SHUT UP”. Well, canines are no different. They have personalities that run the gamut from goofy to serious to crabby to shy and everything in between, so suffice it to say there are dogs that know how to push other dogs buttons!

So what do you do when you have a friend that has a dog that just pushes your dog over the edge? I have two clients in just such a situation. When I observe these two puppies (that came from the same breeder, different litters, at the same time) I can see such vast differences in their personality that I am 99% sure most of it is their nature. That is not to say that positive and consistent dog training can’t make them tolerate and even learn better communication, in fact I believe it can, that is where the nurture comes in. I do think however that their interactions will likely always need to be monitored and supervised to avoid the squabbles they seem to regularly and easily get into. One is the antagonizer and the other is the reactor, however once it escalates neither one wants to be the one to back down.

So what kind of dog training would be beneficial for these pups? In my opinion the first thing they need is a great amount of self-control. They need to learn to relax and have more relaxed interactions. I have been instructing both owners to work on calming sits; basically mandatory relaxation and body handling. It helps settle and ground the puppy when they just lose their marbles. The next will be rewarding

self-interruption behaviors as well as calm interaction behaviors. The owners will also have to increase mental and physical stimulation as well! These are high energy dogs with quick triggers, this process will be slow and on-going but they are both super smart and pick things up easily, they’ll get it.

So just remember your wicked good dog doesn’t always have to like every dog and you should be understanding and willing to give him the tools he needs to deal with those pesky antagonizers, as well as help him make a clean get away when it’s needed!

It’s puppy season…Do you have what it takes??

In my years of training dogs and working in animal shelters I have heard countless (and I seriously mean countless) times the excuse of “we just don’t have the time he needs…”. It is a sad fact of life that people go about bringing a puppy into their family in a completely backwards fashion. It is usually all based on looks, bravado, fluffiness or a false sense of their own life reality. I have seen it time and time again, someone gets a high energy puppy with the thought “Oh THIS will make me get in shape” or “I want to do agility with him” (when they’ve never even stepped into a training class) Or they get a guardian breed dog and never socialize him and wonder why he growls and tries to bite strangers. Now, that is not to say that these scenarios can’t work and create some fantastic relationships and impart much wisdom and humility on people, unfortunately though that is the exception and not the rule.

The first thing (and I mean even before you start looking at dogs) you should do is write down your families schedule for one week, including impromptu visits from friends, trips to the store, library, school functions, etc. and then sit down at the end of the week and take a look at it. Is there time for a puppy in there? If someone is not home most of the day, (an 8-12 week old puppy shouldn’t be only for more than 3-4 hours max.), do you have the means to hire someone to come and exercise and let your puppy out to potty? Asking friends is great but someone you pay is often more reliable. Is your home easily set up to be puppy proofed? Gated off rooms, no small toys lying around, shoes and laundry off the floor, trash inaccessible, etc. A puppy needs plentiful and positive socialization and play time; do you have time to take your puppy in the car multiple times a day and expose him to lots of people and places and take him for walks in new neighborhoods? Are you able to supervise your puppy 100% of the time, especially during the potty training phase? Puppies need to potty at least every hour and almost immediately after they wake from a nap, play or eat/drink. Are you prepared to take your pup to proper training every week at least through his first two years of life? Yes, that’s right AT LEAST two years! One puppy class isn’t going to cut it. By the time the pup is between 6-9 months they hit adolescence and all training goes out the window, you wonder what alien has taken over your previously sweet and well behaved puppy! It happens again around 18months!

Am I making it sound like having a puppy is hard? You bet your life it is! It is constant work and supervision and mistakes and being on the ball! You have taken responsibility for another living being and that should never be taken lightly. Having a puppy in the home is like having an infant...do you have time for that? If you can answer all of my questions in the affirmative and you have done your research and talked with your family and figured out schedules and training classes and puppy proofed your home than I encourage you to go find the puppy of your dreams. Having a dog in your family is a great joy, just remember it is also a big responsibility and not something easily taken back once taken on.

One Word Wednesday…Training

Jojen is a whiz kid at this training thing! Very trusting and quick to catch on…so much fun!

First I lure him down the wall….

no lure necessary on the way back! (wondering why I'm having him walk on the wall?? Practice for the cat walk in agility, plus more socialization for walking on odd surfaces!)

Practicing our sit/look behavior…

Getting him into position using a lure to get a sit in heel position…

Look at me…

All of this training was done in a park downtown with cars driving by, kids playing in the park and his big brother looking on…very distracting! 

I think we make a good team!

(please excuse the blurriness of the photos my 6 year old took them!)

So much to do, so little time

I can't believe summer is nearly over and the kids go back to school soon! It has been quite the summer with a new puppy in the house, not to mention construction going on and teaching classes! The biggest thing to make this summer a bit more stressful rather than relaxing was the medical state of Jojen! poor baby has had a rough go of it this summer. Within the first week or two of getting him home he came down with "puppy strangles" or Juvenile Cellulitis, luckily he had a very mild case. However the treatment of prednisone and antibiotics left the task of potty training a disaster! I was on constant potty watch and still missed it many, many times! I will say to Jo's credit, not once has he pooped in the house! (Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself). It was exhausting; for both of us. The meds made him a bit edgier, bloated and left him peeing like a dripping faucet…constantly! We managed to make it through and he healed very well. He remained a happy, sweet puppy throughout and his socialization continued albeit a bit stunted due to his lowered immune system. He wasn't able to attend many of his puppy classes, which I was very sad about. About 4-5 days after finishing his meds and getting back to his old self, he got stepped on by Beanie and the result was a fractured wrist extremely close to the growth plate! So infuriating and terrifying! He had a very large and cumbersome cast on, that of course couldn't get wet or dirty…no easy task! We made it two weeks with cleverly constructed ziplock bags to take him out for potting (which thankfully became more regular off the prednisone) then he got a fancy cover for his cast and we worried about it no longer! He was impossible to keep calm! Once he mastered moving around with the cast on, it was like it wasn't even there! His spirit is 10 times the size of his body and he was just happy with life in general! He healed quickly, was in the cast for 4 weeks (all of july) and has been cast free for about a week and a half. His limp has lessened significantly and his muscles are strengthening. He's back to bounding up and down the stairs to go out to potty, chasing the cats (although he never really stopped doing that), bouncing up and down to lick beanie's jowls (all was forgiven!) and run little puppy track races around the backyard! He is joy personified in a little red body! The next hurdle he may face is surgery to correct the result of the fracture being so close to the growth plate. It is causing his foot to turn out as the Ulna grows. I am dreading that whole process!

I am happy to report however, that save for playing with a myriad of other puppies or dogs, his socialization has been right on track! He's definitely seen countless vets, and even when he was in pain he had nothing but tail wags and puppy kisses for them, lots of kids and grown ups, ridden in shopping carts and a stroller, heard crazy construction noises both at home and during his many trips to Home Depot. He's sat in his crate in a field while I taught classes, he's peed on bark mulch, grass, dirt and rocks, he has met big and little dogs and even been to the beach (although he was still casted and didn't get to play in the sand). As far as his training he is so fun and super quick! He has great leash manners, can sit at heel position or front, lie down, spin in both directions, pretty good with leave it, waits until released for food bowl, has excellent attention and the cutest recall ever!! I am excited that now he is through all his trials he and I can attend an actual class! We will start our AKC Puppy S.T.A.R class on the 21st, he will be able to earn his certificate and little medal! Beanie earned his and I so wanted to get one for Jojen too!

Because I have hopes of doing dog sports with Jo, I've been a little overwhelmed on what to teach him that will give us a leg up. I have determined that heeling is the most universal and important behavior as well as being able to calmly sit in a crate amid great distractions. The rest will come with time and careful, fun introductions!

I'll try to keep our progress updated, but life moves pretty fast with Jo and I just have to hang on and enjoy!

"whoa, you're big!"

At the Emergency vet

No more cast! Hanging at the pool while his girls swim!

I Survived!!

I just survived 10 1/2 hrs caring for two puppies under 11 weeks old!! Let em explain.

A week ago I took on my very first "real" training client! He was getting a Viszla puppy and was wanting daycare as well as puppy training! VERY exciting! She is adorable and sweet and ENERGETIC!! =) I had her for two full days of daycare last week, what fun! She is whip smart and really getting the whole clicker thing! Socializing her has been fun, she draws a crowd wherever she goes.

On saturday I flew to Missouri to pick up my long awaited very first Cavalier puppy. I have wanted a Cavalier in my family for almost 13 years, I've even had his name picked out! So on sunday I flew home with Jojen, a nine week old ruby Cavalier boy. Today he and Nusa (pronounced Noosha) met. Sparks flew, and not necessarily the good kind!

They are both pretty confident puppies and so it was a race to see who could mount who faster. Of course Jojen was smaller but he managed to best her nearly every time! They each had multiple time outs within the first 1/2 hr. As the day went on play got a little more even keeled but they would still get a little hot headed and need to be redirected. So that is what I worked on with them today, being called away from a heavy distraction as well as some calming sits to help settle them down! All in all they did very well, they shared toys pretty nicely, traded off being the chaser and chasee and would do quite a bit of self interrupting. I managed to keep them pretty well managed as far as potting outside, only failing to act quickly enough on Nusa's signs once.

I am very proud of myself for this day( I even managed to grocery shop and cook dinner!) and hope tomorrow is as successful, but as always I know with puppies to take it one moment at a time! =)

Here is some cuteness to feast your eyes on!

                                                                            Jojen

Nusa