Love My Dog Training Resources

Love My Dog Training Resources Message

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:35:00 GMT

<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="856"> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td width="14"><img src="../assets/images/autogen/clearpixel.gif" width="14" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> <td width="842" class="TextObject" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', Chicago, Sans-serif, cursive; font-size: 10pt;"> This email may look ugly if not viewed in HTML. If you can’t read HTML messages in your email, please click here to open this email from our website: <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/emaillist/html/resources.html">http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/emaillist/html/resources.html</a> Before you get too busy preparing for the upcoming holidays, take a few minutes to see what we've added to our website. If you have suggestions for other great resources that are not currently on our website, please feel free to contact us. We are always on the lookout for great resources to share with everyone. If you are not already signed up for our other email lists, consider signing up to receive announcements about our upcoming group classes, seminars/workshops or our social walks. If interested, please go to: <a href="http://lovemydogtraining.com/html/announcement_signup.html" CLASS="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://lovemydogtraining.com/html/announcement_signup.html</a> ASK THE TRAINER ARTICLES [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/ask_the_trainer.html">click here</a> to see a list of all articles] Excitability Around Other Dogs  [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/public/asktrainer/Excitability_Around_Other_Dogs.pdf" target=newwindow>Print This Article</a>]. Published in the October 2008 Colorado Greyhound Adoption Newsletter. Rather than responding to a question in this article, I will discuss one of my own dogs. I adopted a Smooth Collie in October 2001. He had a myriad of issues, including: a severe sensitivity to high-pitched noises, which included squeaky toys; fear of children, particularly several, noisy, and/or fast-moving children; fear of any and all types of balls; fear of anything dropping or flying through the air or moving over his head; excitability around other dogs to the point he was nearly unmanageable; stereotypic behaviors such as obsessively grooming/licking his front legs, particularly when stressed; general inability to completely relax; barking/stress response to anything in his environment that was novel or seemed out-of-the-ordinary to him. Whew! I think I covered all of it. In this article, I will discuss his excitability around other dogs. We walked twice a day. Whenever we would encounter another dog, he was completely unresponsive to me. He shut out everything in his environment except for that other dog. He was not aggressive, but simply wanted to meet the other dog. He could put a lot of force behind his seventy pounds! Although he was friendly and an adult, his dog social skills were completely lacking and he behaved very much like an adolescent dog. Unfortunately, many dogs will react badly to these poor social skills, since they can be interpreted by other dogs as confrontational. His body, head, ears and eyes were all directed straight forward at the other dog and his weight was leaning forward as a result of pulling on the leash. From the other dog’s perspective, this looks a lot like a dog who could be looking for trouble. It didn’t matter that my dog didn’t want a fight, because he could easily cause one to start depending on how the other dog reacted to him.  We started by working without other dogs around. He learned to check in with me, sit, and walk beside me. When we were ready, we started working at a considerable distance from the other dogs so that I could still maintain his attention. It helped that he was highly food-motivated! He learned to check in and focus on me, and walk beside me so there was no straining on the leash. As we gradually were able to approach other dogs, I used what he’d learned to help him make more appropriate approaches toward other dogs. Rather than walking straight at the other dog, we walked in an arc with his attention on me rather than staring at the other dog. Sometimes we sat with him facing to the side or away from the other dog, but never directly facing the other dog. When we were able to start greeting other dogs, I helped him to keep some focus on me as we angled in from the side, so they could sniff butts first and not meet face-to-face initially. Face-to-face contact can be a bit too much for many dogs until they’ve had a chance to check out the other dog first. After quite a bit of work, he became my demonstration dog in my training and behavior consulting business. He was the dog who came with me to work with clients whose dogs also had poor social skills or were even aggressive toward other dogs. He would not react to aggressive displays by dog-aggressive dogs. I could call him away from a group of class dogs. I could ask him to come, stay, and walk nicely with me among other things in a class setting with several other dogs watching him. They all thought he was such a well-behaved dog that had no issues with other dogs. Little did they know how he started out! Sometimes the issues we face with our dogs seem overwhelming. There is so much work to be done that it seems easier to just keep them away from other dogs, strangers, or whatever other issues they have trouble handling. But if we build a positive, loving relationship with them, and do not resort to punishment out of our own frustration, we can accomplish great things. And they will love us all the more for it! This article is dedicated to Joxer. Due to his rapidly deteriorating health, we said goodbye on August 9, 2008. PRODUCTS [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/suggested_reading.html">click here</a> to see all items on our Recommended Products webpage] Katie's Bumpers - <a href="http://www.katiesbumpers.com/documents/kb_Stuff_N_Fetch_It.htm" target=newwindow>STUFF 'N FETCH IT</a>! and <a href="http://www.katiesbumpers.com/Cart/shopexd.asp?id=70&bc=no" target=newwindow>Bottle Tracker.</a> These toys are not made for your dog to play with by him/herself, but make great toys to interact with you. Their products are made from Tough Fire Hose from Pre-consumer Recycled Materials. These two products have a velcro closure so you can put treats, scented material, or - in the base of the Bottle Tracker - a plastic bottle. Dogs seem to love the crinkly sound of plastic bottles but this allows it to be safely stored in a toy so your dog can't chew up the bottle. I like being able to put smelly treats in these to work with dogs on leave it, loose leash walking past distractions, or as a tossed reward to chase over an agility jump - but the dog can't get the treats out, only you can open it up and re ward your dog. OTHER It's Me or the Dog TV Show on Animal Planet. Looking for something to watch on television? The TV show, It's Me or the Dog has moved to the United States and is now an hour-long show addressing problem behaviors in dogs.� Victoria Stilwell, the trainer on the show, uses primarily positive reinforcement methods to help people address their dogs' problematic behaviors.� If you're looking for something to watch, give this show a try! You can find more info on the <a href="http://animal.discovery.com/tv/its-me-or-dog/index.html" target=newwindow>Animal Planet website</a>. Please remember that we have a search engine specific to dogs, including training and behavior, events, pictures, and more. It will only search the web sites that we consider to have relevant and quality content and we will continue to add more sites as we find them. This tool is located on our website. <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/site_search.html">Click here</a> to use it. Sue and Ed 720.279.4663 http://www.lovemydogtraining.com   </td> </tr> </table>

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Love My Dog Training Resources Message

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:45:00 GMT

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Love My Dog Training Resources Message

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:26:00 GMT

<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width=""> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td width="14"><img src="../assets/images/autogen/clearpixel.gif" width="14" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> <td width="" class="TextObject" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', Chicago, Sans-serif, cursive; font-size: 10pt;"> This email may look ugly if not viewed in HTML. If you can’t read HTML messages in your email, please click here to open this email from our website: <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/emaillist/html/resources.html">http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/emaillist/html/resources.html</a> We hope you are enjoying the spring season! We have added items to our Ask the Trainer and Additional Resources pages of our website. They are as follows. ASK THE TRAINER ARTICLES [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/ask_the_trainer.html">click here</a> to see a list of all articles] Adding Another Dog [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/public/asktrainer/Adding%20Another%20Dog.pdf">Print This Article</a>] Published in the February 2008 <a href="http://www.coloradogreyhoundadoption.org" target=newwindow>Colorado Greyhound Adoption Newsletter</a>. Although this article was written for greyhounds, it applies equally to all breeds of dogs. Question: We think our dog is lonely and are thinking of getting a second dog to keep him company. Any advice? The Trainer Answers: In order to make the best choice for your situation, there are several things to consider. First, do YOU want a second dog or are you only considering another dog for your current dog? In most cases, I do not recommend adding another dog unless you really want one. While another dog might give your current dog a buddy to play with and keep him company, you will have the extra work of another dog, including training, walking, feeding, etc. Some dogs really prefer to be an only dog and some are much happier with canine companions. If your current dog suffers from separation anxiety, adding a second dog might or might not resolve the issue. If this is your reason for adding another dog, and it does not work, what will you do? Are you thinking of adding a second dog to help burn off the seemingly nonstop energy of your current dog? Do you think your current dog is bored and you can resolve boredom and any resulting behavior issues by bringing home a playmate for your dog? What if you bring home another dog and the two dogs do not play well together? Does your dog have opportunities to visit and play with other dogs now? If so, does he get along well with most other dogs? Or does he only seem to like certain dogs? Does he play well with other dogs, or does he not seem to have that much interest in the other dogs? Does he display appropriate social skills when interacting with other dogs? If your dog does like to play with other dogs, could you take him to day care, schedule play dates with friends, or take him to the dog park? Does your dog do well in sharing your attention with others? Does your dog guard resources, such as food, bones, toys, beds and his human family members? Is your dog well-behaved in the house and out in public? If you have any current behavior issues with your dog, you should consider addressing those issues before adding another dog. A well-behaved dog will help a new dog learn to be well-behaved. A dog with poor manners or bad habits can just as easily teach a new dog those bad habits. If you decide you do want to add another dog, carefully take into consideration the personality of your current dog. Is he submissive and easy-going? Does he tend to be bossy or pushy with others? When adding another dog, you are generally better off choosing a dog that is not the same gender as your current dog, and is not the same age. Statistically speaking, dogs in the same household are more likely to have problems if they are the same gender and around the same age – particularly two female dogs. For example, if you have a more mature female dog who likes to control the dog toys and bones, you will generally have more success in bringing home a younger male dog who will easily give up the toys and bones. If you want to make sure a new dog can play with your current dog, you also need to consider their play styles. A dog who loves to play rough and wrestle around will probably not play well with a dog who loves to play chase but never wants to wrestle. If you want them to play well together, you are usually better off (and safer) choosing a dog of similar size. I recommend having the two dogs meet before you make a final decision. Have them meet on neutral ground, and take them for a walk together before you turn them loose to play or interact. Boredom [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/public/asktrainer/Boredom.pdf">Print This Article</a>] Published in the April 2008 <a href="http://www.coloradogreyhoundadoption.org" target=newwindow>Colorado Greyhound Adoption Newsletter</a>. Although this article was written for greyhounds, it applies equally to all breeds of dogs. Question: If we leave our dog alone for more than a few hours, he becomes destructive. What can we do? The Trainer Answers: First, let’s try to understand WHY your dog is being destructive. If your dog is anxious about you leaving, the destruction is around windows and doors, and it happens every time you leave, then we need to consider separation anxiety. In most cases, however, the destruction is due to something else. How often does the destruction occur? It sounds as if your dog is ok for shorter periods of time, but not for anything more than a few hours. In most cases, this is a result of boredom. The dog becomes bored after a certain period of time or at certain times of the day and is looking for something to do. Take down some notes about all of your recent departures. How long is the dog left alone? At what times of the day? When has he been destructive? See if you can determine any patterns – periods of time, times of the day, etc. that will help you narrow down WHEN the destructiveness occurs. Next, note what was destroyed. Does he target particular items or areas of the house? Do they have a certain texture, smell or other similarity? Some dogs prefer wood or paper products. Some prefer soft items, such as pillows or couch cushions. Some prefer items that smell like a certain person – shoes, socks, etc. Some dogs choose to empty the trash or clear off the counter or table tops. Is there a pattern? What does your dog do with these items? Move them? Shred them? Chew on them? Consume them? If your dog is bored and looking for fun things to do, we need to make some changes to prevent the destruction of inappropriate items. First, you need to ensure the dog does not have access to the entire house so you can manage what he can and cannot access. This might mean crating your dog or confining him to one room of the house until the situation is better under control. Next, find ways to burn off your dog’s energy in more constructive ways. Find ways to help your dog burn off energy BEFORE you leave. Take him for a walk. Play with him in the back yard. Do some training. Have him work for his breakfast. Mental and physical exercise will both burn off energy so he will be calmer when you are gone. When he is left alone, provide him with appropriate activities that he will enjoy. If he tends to chew up items, you should find appropriate but safe chew items to leave with him. However, simply leaving a bone or toy for him might not be enough. You need to find ways to ensure he does not have opportunities to chew inappropriate items and also find ways to make appropriate items more enticing to him. Simply leaving out bones or toys will not ensure that he will use those rather than chew on inappropriate items. Give your dog some activities he can do on his own while you are gone. Some dogs love playing with toys if there is someone to throw the toy for them, but do not know how to play with a toy by themselves. Try some interactive toys in which you can place food or other toys so your dog must work to access food, treats, or other toys. Hide food or toys so that your dog must find them. If you can find ways to make appropriate items more interesting, your dog will begin to ignore the other items. You might need to teach your dog how to use interactive toys. Don’t assume he will simply know how to use them on his own. With some advance planning, management and appropriate exercise, your dog should learn how to handle being alone without destroying your house or personal belongings. SUGGESTED READING AND DVD’S [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/suggested_reading.html">click here</a> to see all items on our Suggested Reading and DVD’s webpage] We’ve added two new categories called “Difficult to Train Dogs” and “Children and Dogs” and have included three new books that we think are very good. Difficult-to-Train Dogs When Pigs Fly - Training Success With Impossible Dogs by Jane Killion - Some dogs are bred to work closely with humans and are therefore often easier to train than other breeds. Other dogs were bred to work more independently and are not as naturally inclined to want to work with you and please you. If you have one of those dogs, consider reading this book. The author does an great job of giving a step-by-step training plan to teach your dog to love working for you. <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/suggested_reading_3.html#Difficulttotrain">Click here for links to purchase this book</a> Control Unleashed - Creating A Focused and Confident Dog by Leslie McDevitt - Do you have a dog who seems to lose all focus when in the presence of distractions - for example, as soon as you walk out your front door? Although Leslie's book and her Control Unleashed program is geared toward performance/agility dogs, the exercises apply equally to other situations. If your dog becomes so aroused by other distractions that you are unable to obtain focus from him, consider reading this book. With dogs who are so easily distracted, it will take a good deal of training and work on your part - but it can be done! <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/suggested_reading_3.html#Difficulttotrain">Click here for links to purchase this book</a> Children and Dogs Living With Dogs And Kids...Without Losing Your Mind by Colleen Pelar - If you have children and a dog; if you have a dog and plan to have children; or, if you have children and plan to get a dog, consider reading this book. Especially if you have either a dog or child and have not yet added the other to your family, you might want to read this before your family grows. The book contains chapters dealing with all age groups of kids from infant to teenagers. <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/suggested_reading_3.html#Childrendogs">Click here for links to purchase this book</a> OTHER Please remember that we have a search engine specific to dogs, including training and behavior, events, pictures, and more. It will only search the web sites that we consider to have relevant and quality content and we will continue to add more sites as we find them. This tool is located on our website. <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/site_search.html">Click here</a> to use it. Sue and Ed 720.279.4663 http://www.lovemydogtraining.com   </td> </tr> </table>

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New Resource Additions to the Love My Dog Training Website

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:11:00 GMT

<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td class="TextObject" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', Chicago, Sans-serif, cursive; font-size: 10pt;"> This email may look ugly if not viewed in HTML. If you can’t read HTML messages in your email, please click here to open this email from our website: <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/emaillist/html/resources.html">http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/emaillist/html/resources.html</a> Happy Holidays. We have recently added items to our Ask the Trainer and Additional Resources pages of our website. They are as follows. ASK THE TRAINER ARTICLES [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/ask_the_trainer.html">click here</a> to see a list of all articles] Barking [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/public/asktrainer/Barking.pdf">Print This Article</a>] Published in the October 2007 <a href="http://www.coloradogreyhoundadoption.org" target=newwindow>Colorado Greyhound Adoption Newsletter</a>. Although this article was written for greyhounds, it applies equally to all breeds of dogs. Question: I recently adopted a greyhound. She is quite vocal when I go to the barn to tend my horses at 0400 in the morning. Separation anxiety? I also have an abundance of wild rabbits - this gets barking and rooing from her. Shushing her and telling her to be quiet have little effect. How do I train her to be quieter? The Trainer Answers: Barking is a natural behavior for dogs, so you should never expect to entirely eliminate barking. However, there are times when it is more appropriate than others, and there certainly can be a limit placed on barking when it does occur.  First, you should consider why your dog is barking. When you go to the barn, you question if the barking is a sign of separation anxiety. Does your dog bark every time you leave the house? Does she express other signs of anxiety when you leave? If so, then we need to address the anxiety since the barking is only a symptom of the anxiety. If she is barking only when you go to the barn, she could be expressing frustration at not being able to do what she wants. Surely, she is missing out on an exciting adventure! If this is the case, frustration intolerance and impulse control exercises would be very beneficial. An example of these exercises would include down-stays to earn meals, walks, and other things that interest her. She learns that sometimes she can earn the things she wants by being patient and waiting rather than barking and demanding to join you or get something. Barking is never successful in getting what she wants, so we need to teach her what will be successful. However, she also needs to learn that sometimes she will not get what she wants, and she will need to learn to deal with frustration and disappointment. That’s life! In regard to the bunnies, is she frustrated about not being able to chase the bunnies? Is she barking out of the pure excitement and arousal in seeing the bunnies? Probably both. Bunnies are a huge distraction for most dogs. You can work toward training her to never bark at the bunnies, or you can limit the barking. Let’s say we decide she gets 2 seconds of barking and then she needs to stop. Begin your training far away from the bunnies. Her arousal level is most likely far too high around the bunnies right now. If her arousal level is too high, she very likely might not even be able to hear you. Ever tried to get someone’s attention while they’re watching an exciting play during the Super Bowl? Begin your work in the house with no distractions. Very gradually work up in your degree of distractions. Most people try to move too quickly which leads to failure – that’s failure on our part. We’ve asked too much of our dog too soon. The key to the bunny issue is teaching your dog to turn her focus away from whatever she is focused on, and give her a different job to do – such as focus on you. I break this into a couple of steps. First, I work on a “watch me” or “look” cue to teach the dog to focus on me. If I want her to take focus away from something else, I will need to give her something new to focus on. Once I have the dog’s focus on me, then I can give her a different job to do, such as walk away or lie down. The key is to keep her focused on something other than the bunnies.  Secondly, when she does bark, give her your time limit and then say, “Enough” or some other cue. Have something REALLY tasty used only for this exercise, such as chicken or roast beef. Place it right up to her nose as you say your cue, and feed as soon as she stops barking. Work toward combining this with your focus exercise, so once she stops barking, you immediately give her something else to focus on and do to take her mind off the bunnies. Counter Surfing  [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/public/asktrainer/Counter_Surfing.pdf">Print This Article</a>] Published in the December 2007 <a href="http://www.coloradogreyhoundadoption.org" target=newwindow>Colorado Greyhound Adoption Newsletter</a>. Although this article was written for greyhounds, it applies equally to all breeds of dogs. Question: My dog steals items off the kitchen counter. How do I get him to stop, especially when I am not there? The Trainer Answers: Ah, the infamous counter surfer! As with many training issues, we first need to start by using some management to control the situation when we are not able to directly work on the issue. This means we need to make sure the dog does not have opportunities to practice the undesirable behavior and be rewarded for it. This might mean not allowing the dog in the kitchen by blocking it off with baby gates, keeping the dog crated, or other ways to prevent the dog from getting to the counter when we are not there. One way to teach our dogs not to jump on the counter is to make sure the dog is never rewarded for the behavior. Rather than preventing access to the counter at all, the other option is to completely clear off your counter tops for now. If the dog does get a chance to put his feet, nose or other body parts on the counter top, he should find absolutely nothing there. Even if there is no food on the counter for him to eat, he might still enjoy pulling items of f the counter to play with or chew. We need to ensure he never finds any value in accessing the counter tops. This alone will eventually extinguish the behavior. Dogs will do what works to get what they want, so they will discontinue any behaviors that are not rewarding in some way. If your dog does continue the behavior, then he is being rewarded in some fashion, whether you think so or not! In many cases, the dog is counter surfing out of boredom – he’s looking for something fun to do. We can help him to stay away from the counters by ensuring he has plenty of other appropriate activities to do – on the floor. Find ways to make the floor more interesting by placing toys, his meals, or interactive toys with his meals on the floor in the kitchen. If items on the floor keep his interest, he will soon lose interest in the counter tops - which at this point should still have nothing of value on them! Now it’s time for the training. When you are ready to work with your dog, go to the kitchen armed with some tasty treats, fun toys or other items that you know will interest your dog. Any time he shows any interest in the counters, redirect his focus to something else. Ask him to perform some known behaviors, offer to play with him, or find other ways to engage his interest in something away from the counters. Do not give him the chance to jump on the counter. Once he is doing well with this exercise, you can start to make it more difficult by placing tempting items on the counter – just make sure you can redirect him before he gets to it. Make sure he is not allowed to reward himself by jumping on the counter and taking the items you’ve placed there. Initially, you might want to have him on leash to prevent him from getting to the counter before you. In this case, do not jerk on the leash, just make sure the leash stops him before he reaches the counter. If you wish, you can add a cue to the behavior of redirecting away from the counters – “leave it” is one example. When you say “leave it” you need to immediately redirect your dog’s attention. Your dog will begin to understand that he should turn his focus away from whatever he was focused on and turn attention toward you instead. This can be used for other areas in addition to the counter – trash, litter boxes, etc. Do not wait for him to have his nose or feet on the counter before you say “leave it” – do so as soon as he shows any interest in the counters. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES [<a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/additional_resources.html">click here</a> to see all items on our Resources webpage] We recently visited Samantha’s Katz N Dogs, a locally-owned pet retailer that we recommend. They are located at 22978 E. Smoky Hill Rd., Centennial, CO 80015 (<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=22978+E.+Smoky+Hill+Rd.+Centennial,+CO&sll=39.609722,-104.922824&sspn=0.006579,0.020084&ie=UTF8&ll=39.603093,-104.718804&spn=0.00658,0.020084&z=16&om=1" target=newwindow>map it</a>).  <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/public/asktrainer/punishment_guidelines.pdf">Guidelines on the use of punishment for dealing with behavior problems in animals</a>. The PDF article is about guidelines for the use of punishment, provided by the <a href="http://www.AVSABonline.org" target=newwindow>American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior</a> OTHER Please remember that we have a search engine specific to dogs, including training and behavior, events, pictures, and more. It will only search the web sites that we consider to have relevant and quality content and we will continue to add more sites as we find them. This tool is located on our website. <a href="http://www.lovemydogtraining.com/html/site_search.html">Click here</a> to use it. Sue and Ed 720.279.4663 http://www.lovemydogtraining.com   </td> </tr> </table>

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