It’s important to create an environment and life for your dog that will assist them in being well adjusted. You want your dog(s) to be independent and confident. It seems that some people think an insecure dog will love them more. The dog may need you, but don’t confuse their need for you with their love for you.
It’s so nice to be able to leave for a weekend, a week, or even longer and know your dog(s) will be content in the care of someone else. You will be missed; however, don’t expect to find their journal filled with loving thoughts of you. A happy, secure, content dog will adjust much better to your absence. You, on the other hand, may need to see their happy faces to feel secure.
Here’s two well-adjusted dogs, Cody and Xena, on stay-cation while their Dads were away. They missed them, but I think they did ok. . .
Michael Vick appeared on 60 Minutes as a way of showing remorse for his contribution to the horrible animal abuse that is dog fighting. As Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, writes in his blog, “It’s about the dogs, and it always will be.” It’s important to look to the future and not get stuck in the past. However, it is also important to remember that this wasn’t just dog fighting. Vick was responsible for dogs being hung, shot, and drowned. Most of us couldn’t live with ourselves with witnessing it, let alone doing it.
Michael Vick has a lot of words about what he will do. If truly remorseful, he certainly can make a huge difference in the lives of a lot of Pits and hundreds of the children who are learning to fight them. Let’s see if he will.
I’ve mentioned previously that the best trainer for a dog is another dog. I have been working to socialize Suki, a 9-month-old Pekingese, to be comfortable in new surroundings. She is horribly afraid of new sounds and hyper-sensitive to unfamiliar movement and objects.
I called in Mac-Nanny, my Labradoodle, to help Suki be a dog. The video shows how playing with Mac let Suki relax and have a little fun!
As a behaviorist, I have my opinion on what to do when a dog jumps on guests at the door. However, my dog, Melody, asked if she could respond to this one. Here’s what she has to say:
How does he do it? How does Cesar walk into the room and gain the respect of dog and human? Does he have a special gift known only to him. So, what is it?
The “secret” - his presence and energy. It is what he knows. It’s a deeper knowing than the knowledge that is gained from studying but more of a real understanding combined with absolute confidence in a desired outcome. When you know that you know, you present yourself differently. You don’t second guess your actions.
Cesar walks into a room with the state of mind that he is is control. There’s no magic formula or special power in his trademark “sh” sound as he confidently corrects or diverts a dog’s attention. Most trainers/behaviorists have had the same or at least a very similar experience. He definitely has an understanding of dogs and almost more importantly, their relationship with humans.
I have been called to training appointments and walk in to see the human moving their hand in a claw shape toward the dog’s neck as they “sh.” The dog does nothing but look at them as if to say, “what the heck was that?” There’s only one Cesar, and I’m confident your dog will respond to you once you have placed yourself in the role of pack leader and provided consistent structure and guidance.
Using a human comparison, if you give someone the cold shoulder, they know it without you saying a word. It’s your energy they feel - they know not to mess with you. Dogs are no different and if anything, are even more in tune with our intentions and thoughts toward them.
Cesar is definitely gifted and his success with the dogs he chooses to work with comes from his knowing that the dog will respect and respond accordingly. If you can adopt and apply this thought to your training, you will see results. It’s a bit like the saying, “fake it until you make it.”
The sooner you know your dog will respond as expected, the sooner they will!
Previously, I posted about Puppies Behind Bars. The newly elected Senator Franken has introduced legislation for hundreds of service dogs to be trained to alter the lives of wounded U.S. Veterans. For more information and/or to show your support, go to the fetchdog ad in the column to the right.
While there is more information available than you could possible want to know about house training, it is still the number one concern of my clients. The challenge for most people is moving beyond the memory of their previous experience when, “we house trained our last dog in five days and never used a crate.”
No one quite remembers how they did it, but only that it was easy. Some suffer or rather are blessed with memory loss regarding the time it took to get their new pup to “go” outside. I’m not sure why it seems so different now than it used to. Perhaps dogs resided outside more than inside, maybe you were more patient, or let’s face it - the previous dog may have just been a quick learner!
You will get the new pup housetrained much faster if you immediately get on a consistent schedule with food, potty breaks, and confinement (crate or small space) and supervision. Consider it a learning experience and welcome the new-and-improved process. It works!
If you have any questions about a proven system of house training and/or crate training, contact me or check out the ebook to the right.
Get the answer to your dog training question from the one who knows - a dog!
This post is dedicated to Melody. She came up with the idea that I respond to questions from the humans and she respond to questions from the dogs. I guess she’s right. Dogs would have a different perspective on training and behavior modification than most humans.
Melody is a rescue dog from a puppy mill where she brought a lot of Yorkie’s into the world. If any dog deserves the right to speak, it’s her. So, if your dog has a question regarding you (their human), training and/or behavior modification, use the box to the right.
When you are looking for a dog trainer or behaviorist, you are most likely interested in the end result. Let’s face it - training is training. Sit is sit, stay is stay regardless of the method used. I think it is important to give thought to the process used to get to that end result.
Think of it personally. If there is something you want to learn or you want to teach someone else, doesn’t it feel better to have them learn it out of respect and positive reinforcement than by fear or pain?
Why do some archaic technique if a more gentle approach works? A happy, respectful dog sits just as nicely as one who submits out of fear of feeling what’s coming next. There may be a lot of “but what about’s” in your mind right now. Like, what about if they are aggressive? What if the dog is extremely stubborn?
I have found that a lot of people run out of patience long before their dog is responding in the way they want. Anger and frustration are not success-guaranteed training tools. If you find yourself losing patience, end the session with the dog complying end on a positive note and begin again later.
If you are having difficulty with a specific behavior, please contact me using the box to the right. (Melody shares this space with me!)
The first training session people have with their new dog is teaching it to sit. It’s a proud moment indeed. When teaching this basic command, the human is usually facing the dog. The dog begins to think in order to sit you must be facing them. The next step is standing with them at your side as you say, “sit.”
Once they know the command, it doesn’t matter where you are standing relative to them. When out on a walk, having your dog sit next to you as you stop is very important. If they are sitting, they aren’t going any where else! The desired response is for a dog to learn to sit immediately upon your stopping. Can or will they sit in an instant?
I encourage clients to walk slow, stop, and wait a couple of seconds before asking the dog to sit. Give the dog an opportunity to realize, “Oh, we’ve stopped (or at least one of us has) and this is when I sit.” Maybe they aren’t going through all of that, but it’s not necessary to halt quickly and correct your dog into a sit without first teaching them what’s expected and giving them the opportunity to do it. Walk, stop, give them a second to respond, then ask them to sit. Only ask once. Then you may “assist” them in sitting. Praise!
Some dogs will learn instantly to sit when you stop walking. Others, have to wait for the word to absorb into their brains while the information slowly travels down the spine to their hind quarters where the action takes place.
I’ll relate it this way. . .you walk into someone’s home and they tell you to sit down. As you are starting to sit, they sharply repeat, “SIT, SIT, SIT!” Wouldn’t you look at them and say, “give me a second.” I think I’ve heard a few dogs mumble something similar.
With a Great Dane, sitting is a process! Are they sitting quickly? Yes, for them. It takes a second for the entire body to get the message and respond. So, will your dog learn to sit in an instant? Maybe. If, however, they need a few seconds to engage, you don’t need to repeat the command. Say it, mean it, praise for the response and see if that’s not fast enough.
