DogTrainster.Com

Article Source: examiner.com
Article by: Emily Randolph

I woke up this morning filled with all the excitement and energy that the thought of a new year provokes. Still lying in bed, I got a phone call from a good friend, giving my morning a perfect start. I was just finishing up the call, still lazing in bed, when my happy little bubble burst with the familiar sound of one my dogs (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) vomiting. On my bed. All over the covers. The covers that I had just washed yesterday!

This event, I confess, hasn’t been the first by a long stretch in 13 years of dog ownership, and it triggered an unlikely discussion with myself on the first day of this new year. I was reminded of a conversation that my brother and his wife had standing in my kitchen this very Christmas. Perhaps you have heard a version of it yourself. My brother is a big dog lover but they have four dogs of various sizes and even though the bed is a king size… well, you know what the argument was. He wants the dogs off the bed, while she wants to keep at least one, darling little Ginger (pictured), as they keep one another’s backs warm. A solid argument, I should point out! I was in my sister-in-law’s corner, ribbing my brother for his selfishness. Except, I could hear it was causing problems in the marital bed. While many of the dog mad amongst you, including myself, can’t help but think my brother should just sleep somewhere else (as in the proverbial dog house), well, that just isn’t in the cards.

I called my sister-in-law this morning and discovered ‘the dog in the bed’ discussion is still going on. She, too, is sick of doing extra washes from dog accidents and dirty paw prints. Recently, she even went out and bought brand new decorative bed covers that she will put on only when she is showing the house when it goes on the market this winter because the old ones are, well, dog-eared. But, she adores her dogs and loves to cuddle with them at night. She is badly torn over the issue.

If the ‘dog in the bed’ is an issue in your home, here are some other considerations:

Alpha dog?
How well behaved is your dog? Are you the alpha dog or is she running your household? If the answer is the latter, then there is very good cause for having your dog sleep in her own bed – at least until you have achieved dominance. There can be significant territorial issues that develop if you are not the top dog.

Remember, as the alpha dog, you decide the rules and you have to stick with them. Consistency is key. For instance, your dog will only be confused if you allow her on the sofa one day but yell at her for sleeping on the sofa on another. She won’t know what you want. If your rules are clear, then your dog will not be confused. It’s that simple.

Training tips for relocating your dogs to their beds:

1. Give your dog a comfy bed of her own that you know she will like. Place it near your own bed. Give her a reason to want to use the bed. Give her her favorite toy, a new toy or treat, place it on the bed and call her there. Tell her to ‘lie down’ and ‘stay,’ and reward her when she does.
2. Absolutely DO NOT CAVE and let her get back into bed with you. If you do, she will understand that she can push her boundaries and win. This is what you will have communicated. It will make all future training more challenging. Don’t do it!
3. Praise all her good behavior with treats and praise.

If you are having aggression and behavioral difficulties with your dog, please see your vet first to rule out any possible health issues, before speaking to a behaviorist.

Sleeping well?
Another consideration: how well are you sleeping with a dog(s) in your bed. Sleep studies show that small disturbances at night keep us from a good night’s rest more than we realize. According to a recent published survey of 300 sleep disorder patients conducted at the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center, nearly 60 percent of the pet owners in the study slept with their pets in the bedroom. Twenty-two percent of the patients had pets sleeping on the bed with them. Fifty-three percent felt their sleep was disturbed. Apparently, many dogs (and cats) snore, awakening their owners. (Webvet.com)

Allergies?
Do you suffer from allergies? I am susceptible to the usual pollens, and dog’s hair, just like ours, attracts allergens to the oils in their coats. So, even if I have taken a shower and washed my hair to get a better night’s sleep with fewer allergies, I’m still getting a heavy dose of dust and pollen from my dogs’ hair.

So, with a heavy heart, I have concluded that in my personal circumstances, I need to make a change. While there isn’t anything better than having one of my dogs draped over my arm at night, I confess I don’t sleep that well – and this particular dog (again, no names to protect the guilty) snores. The other dog likes to blockade my legs so that I can’t move and I only have six inches of bed space – on a king size bed! This coupled with the extra loads of laundry and allergies, has pressed me make a New Year’s resolution. I talked it over with the dogs on our morning walk and while there were plenty of moans and groans and even some whining, we have come up with a compromise. They will sleep in their own beds at night… and in the morning, if I feel like it, they can come up for a snuggle. I’m hoping this will give us all a better night’s sleep, and I can save on laundry detergent and allergy meds.

Being an absolute pushover, we’ll see how long this resolution lasts! Watch this space.

Article Source: examiner.com
Article by: Jeff Millman

I received two calls recently that that reminded me about the importance of making sure a dog is physically healthy before I recommend training strategies. One call was in regards to a 3-year old dog that recently started whining uncontrollably whenever his person was out of the room or out of the home. He also had a few housetraining regressions and his guardian found a few accidents when he got home.

Since it has been more than a year since he was taken to the vet, I recommended that he gets a full vet checkup to rule out physical issues including a urinary tract infection. My instinct tells me that this potential client will call me back telling me that the anxiety is still present. I think that the dog in question might have separation anxiety and also boredom due to the brutal Chicago winter we have had. It is quite difficult to provide enough exercise for a dog when the weather is below zero and there is a lot of ice and snow on the ground.

Another call was from a client that hired me after discussing her dog’s health history and initially ruling out obvious health issues. Her dog recently started showing signs of aggression towards guests in the home as well as on walks on leash. He is a 3-year-old Pitbull mix and he used to be comfortable with everyone. The first nipping incident was in December and there have been a couple more nips and growling at guests since then. I think that these incidents are due to anxiety and reactivity that has increased over time until it showed up as aggression. The dog did not seriously injure anyone and showed signs of anxiety before each incident. He is also reactive to the doorbell and one incident happened during a dinner party after ten people arrived, each ringing the bell and getting the dog worked up each time.

A dog’s vet history is always discussed whenever there is a sudden change in behavior, including aggression. One reason that a dog might become aggressive is if he has had an injury, skin infection, hip discomfort, arthritis, or other physical pain including dental issues. For instance, if a dog has hip dysplasia and has pain when someone pets him, he might growl or bite someone if they come over to pet him because he doesn’t want to be hurt again. Another common issue if if a dog has a serious trauma such as getting hit by a car. When that dog is moved after the incident to get treatment, there are bound to be episodes of pain due to the handling and the injury. Later, that dog will remember the pattern of handling and pain and might tell someone to back off by growling or biting instead of risk getting hurt again.

When Do I Recommend to Call the Vet?

Possible Urinary Tract Infection
If an older dog that was previously housetrained starts to have accidents in the house it might mean the dog has a urinary tract infection. It might also mean separation anxiety or stress due to a move or change in someone’s work schedule.

Signs of a urinary tract infection include:

* Frequent urination when you are home and out of the house (if the accidents only happen when you are out of the house, it might be separation anxiety)
* Your dog tries to urinate and no urine comes out
* Blood in the urine
* Foul smelling urine
* Tender lower abdomen
* Fever
* Lethargy

Possible Injury, Arthritis or Other Physical Issue
Dogs can show aggression or changes in behavior from many different physical issues. I have seen barking issues, aggression, depression or dogs that “just don’t seem right” and are unfairly labeled as stubborn or willful during training. Recent events that might lead to a change in behavior include:

* Allergy or other skin condition
* Injury related to car accident or dog fight
* Older dog showing signs of arthritis or hip dysplasia
* Dental issues including an impacted tooth or infection

Article Source: dogtreats.recourcesandinfo.net
Article by: Jake Poole

When training your dog some people prefer to use dog training treats to reinforce their dogs desired behaviors and when used correctly can be quite effective. There are different schools of thought on this and there are other dog training techniques, which also involve positive reinforcement like praising your dog when they repeat the correct behaviors. However a good quality-training treat will really get their attention when you want it.

A good training treat for puppies or full grown dogs is one that is soft and can be eaten very quickly typically in one gulp. In fact the smaller it is the better. Also you don’t want to use hard treats because these will leave crumbs behind. This will distract your dog which will take their attention away from you because they will be to busy looking for the crumbs that they left behind.

Some people prefer to make their own homemade treats for training. You could use cooked meat like chicken or beef and some people even use small pieces of cheese. You could probably try any one of these to find out which one really excites your dog and gets their attention.

There is also a wide selection of commercially available treats that could be used for your training sessions. Some of these commercial treats are freeze dried meat like poultry, beef, chicken liver, even bison and some are 100% grain free which is great for the dog that might have grain allergies.

When using this training technique you should always combine praise when rewarding you dog with a treat for performing the correct behavior. One thing to think about is to start shifting toward more praise as a reward than treats when your dog begins to consistently perform the correct behaviors. This will help in keeping their weight under control also.

Article Source: examiner.com
Article by: Jeff Millman

I saw something horrifying on Friday. I was working with two of my fantastic clients and their Bernese Mountain Dog puppy. I was hired to help McIntire with a bit of fear around men, hand shyness, and other assorted issues such as teaching him to have better off leash control. We were on the way back from a very successful session in the park when I saw something that made my skin crawl.

It started out developing into a scene that I have witnessed countless times in Chicago. A man walking his dogs and giving off body language that showed that both the person and one of the dogs was not comfortable with my client’s dog. There is a lot of dog-dog aggression in the city and the congestion and sheer numbers of dogs results in frequent encounters with dogs that do not like other dogs. Studying dog behavior and signs of aggression and anxiety is not only a fascination with me, but a necessity for self-preservation. I would have had many more than 5 bites in the past if I did not know what I was doing. I can tell that a dog is anxious way before I am in harms way or put a dog in harms way. It was also obvious that the man had seen this behavior before as well, because he started to choke up on the leash and direct his attention towards his dog.

Then it happened. The Yorkie stiffened, looked at McIntire and started growling. I had already suggested to my clients that we move aside and let the man and his dogs by, because it was obvious that the little Yorkie was getting more uncomfortable as we got closer. But, instead of stopping or slowing down, the man continued moving towards us as we were moving out of the way. And, no surprise to anyone his dog started barking and lunging towards the end of his leash.

It happened really quickly. He said, “No!” and kicked his dog. His dog was probably 6 pounds soaking wet. The Yorkie did not yelp, or seem to care that much. But, it is impossible to know whether the assault caused any injuries that will show up later. He was also in a full frenzy telling McIntire to back off. Animals don’t stop to assess their wounds during the heat of a fight. But, whether he was injured or not is not the point.

We all walked by in horror and my client’s mentioned how terrible the whole scene was. I agreed, but kept my deepest feelings to myself. I was angry. I was sad. I thought of what those dog’s lives might be like. Living in fear each time they saw a dog, not only scared of the approaching dog but scared of the boots their person was wearing. What a tortured existence this must be. The ironic thing is I think one or both of the dogs had bows in their hair. What twisted person would take the time to put bows in their dogs hair, put them in a situation where they are obviously uncomfortable, and then kick them for acting like a scared dog?

THE MAN MUST HAVE WEIGHED 200 LBS! Kicking a dog? A 6 lb Yorkie? I don’t care if it was a 95 lb Rottweiler, it is the person’s fault for putting his dog in that situation in the first place. The only excuse for ever being physical with a dog is if there is a dog fight or if the dog is attacking a person and the non-invasive methods including noise do not work to break it up. Dogs can cause damage very quickly.

But, it is inexcusable to have a dog that has obvious fear around other dog and repeatedly put him nto a situation and then get angry with him. The man could have crossed the street. He could have told us that his dog wasn’t comfortable and would we mind waiting a moment until he passed. He could have gone the other way.

Fear and aggression can be incredibly frustrating. I train dogs for a living and I have to sometimes remind myself to make sure I am focusing on the small successes when I am training a fear aggressive dog. They can take one step forward in their progress and two steps back sometimes. They can seem to be ok in a situation and then lunge for no obvious reason. But you know what? It is not the dog’s fault for being fearful. There are many reasons why dogs are fearful. It might have been improper socialization, or a trauma or genetics. But often it is a combination of the three and most of the time they can be helped. There are sometimes extreme situations that are unworkable and necessitate the need to rehome a dog to a less stressful environment, but most dogs can stay in the home.

The terribly ironic aspect about the ribbon wearing Yorkie with the abusive man is that he might actually love his dogs but just did not know how to help them! Maybe he saw a television show that spouts the need to be “A calm leader” while the trailer for the show shows a woman dragging her Basset Hound down the street by a choke chain while the dog is lying on the ground. Maybe this guy just got bad advice! There is also a pretty good chance that he did not socialize his dogs properly and this whole situation could have been avoided.

If you have an aggressive dog, I am telling you from the bottom of my heart that I feel for you. I am sure you would rather have a dog that runs happily through the park chasing butterflies and playing with all of the other dogs. I know that it stinks to cross the street and get looks from the other dog guardians that are questioning at the best or accusatory at the worst. I know that there are a lot of you reading this that adopted a dog from the shelter and now have a dog with an unknown history that shows dog aggression. I know most of you are so emotionally invested in your dogs that you would do anything to help them. But there are so many competing views on how to achieve your goal. You are probably not a professional trainer and want to spend quality time with your dog after a hard day’s work. You want to have a dog, not a project. I understand completely.

But, it is never ok to put a dog in a situation repeatedly and then get angry.

There are lots of resources out there that can help you work with your dog. You can listen to my radio show on dog to dog aggression, look for a wonderful trainer. You can post questions to the forums. You can read Jean Donaldson’s book on dog aggression.

Don’t practice alpha rolls, don’t use choke chains, shock collars or prong collars. Work on lessening the fear and anxiety and work on teaching your dog to be confident and feel safe, not scared.

Don’t lose hope. Don’t.