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Saturday, March 27, 2010 Dog Smarts: Do you have a smart dog? I ran across this thought provoking article online the other day and thought I would share it with you.
8:46 pm edt
Commentshttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/pets/detail?entry_id=51503&tsp=1 There is no debating that a dog has varied levels of intelligence. It depends on his breeding (genetics), his environment, social interaction and its owner – especially in the early stages of a puppy’s life. It also lists its idea of the top 10 smart dog breeds and the 10 not-so smart dog breeds. I agree with some of the smartest breeds listed and disagree with all of the not-so smart breeds. I just have a hard time qualifying a dog as not so smart based on breed as the only criteria. Remember that most dog breeds were bred for specific tasks. How can that make a breed not so smart? In my opinion, it can’t. Feel free to comment on your thoughts about dog breed intelligence. |
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Monday, August 18, 2008
Been Awhile
Well I have a little time, so I figured I would write a little. Been pretty busy,
we have installed quite a few Underground Pet Fence around here lately. Lets see, we have been in Strongsville,
Medina, East Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Solon, North Royleton, Elyria,
and Olmstead, to name a few. I have been working with a GoldenDoodle
also, here in Solon. Honey is her name and she is a real sweety, but a little to
active for the older couple who has her as she is only a year and a half old. While we have her on an Electronic Fence
to contain her, she is just to powerful for the couple, So she and they are getting a crash course in Obedience
training. What is interesting of course is that like most Pet Dog Owners, they don't see the value in it, so paying for
it was out. So what I have done is just incorperate, the SIT command into the Electric Fence training,
and also have instructed them in the proper use of the Prong Collar. So far it seems to be working as they
and I have seen a very rapid decrease in her hyperactivity and unrulyness. I also have them making her sit, anytime she goes
through a door way with them, getting in and out of the car, etc. The husband, reaaly did not think it would work, but he
is seing the value in it now. The wife is thrilled to death, that she can now walk her and not be pulled all over the place.
Honey is a very good dog, but I really think she is to much for them right now. BUT I think with the proper structure in place
she will work out fine. Well thats about it for today. Will write more tomorrow about another dog (Mini Schnauzer) that I
am working with.
Monday 1 Sept 2008
Picking the right dog
This is probably my biggest pet peave in all of dogdom land. I have visited many a house/family to do a Underground pet fence estimate or even to do Dog Training and have seen the below over and over again. The family has just adopted a new puppy, we will say 9 -10 weeks old and the puppy is already running the household and running amuck, mouthing the kids, chewing on everything, peeing and pooping everywhere ect, you get the picture. So immediately the puppy is deemed a BAD PUPPY that can't be controlled, the young child is scared of him, and has received scratches, and the puppy normally ends up either in the back yard on a long lead, or in a crate most of the time.
So what I am going to do here is to address the mouthing and then in other posts I will address the other issue's, in fact if you go to our website www.containapetneohio.com and look in the training tips page you will see some tips to help with the other issues. Anyway back to the subject. So why do puppies mouth? Stop and think about it and look at it as if the puppy is a baby. Babys explore everything with their mouths, and I mean everything goes in their mouths, puppies are the same way. BUT puppies when they are in a pack enviroment, if they get to rough get either a YELP from their victum or a warning nip. Well unfortunatly we can't and should nip a puppy back, but we can YELP if they hurt us. So one fo the things you can do and have your child do is to yell OUCH every time the puppy mouths you or your child.
Another thing you need to make sure you do is to give your puppy LOTS of chew toys to chew on as they also teeth when they are young.
The next puppy training technique is to remove your attention every time the puppy mouths you. Make sure you don't look at the puppy also, attention to a dog includes eye contact. As far as the kids go tell them to cross their arms and stare at the ceiling when the puppy mouths them. Ignore the puppy for about 30 seconds as by that time they have aleary moved on to the next thing. Pushing the puppy away will not help as this will turn into a game with your puppy.
Yelping in many puppy training cases will tell the puppy exactly what you want - that it hurts when he/she does that. doing this and also removing your attention should get rid of the mouthing problem. Of course some puppies will become excited by this yelp and bite harder - if that happens, don't use this puppy training method.
So What if those don't work
Another training technique is using a little lemon juice or bitter apple on your hands. When the puppy mouths you, they won't like the taste. Or you can teach him something else to do like teaching him/her to lick on the cue "no bite". To do this put a treat in your hand, when your puppy licks, give him the treat and say "no bite". they will learn this puppy training lesson fast.
The link below goes into teaching your puppy to be soft mouthed which can also help.
http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/teachingbiteinhibition.pdf
Well that is it for now, if anyone would like to comment or send me an email on the subject, please feel free to. my email address is bob@containapetneohio.com.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Dog training - House training your puppy
Okay in the previous blog I addressed the mouthing issue. In this one I will address
house training. I run into this quite a bit when I go and do an estimate for a Contain A Pet underground fence.
The folks have gotten a new puppy, or have adopted a new dog from a shelter etc., you get the picture. So they have this new
dog and this guy/girl is peeing and or pooping all over the place in the house, so they ask me what to do. The first thing
I say to do is to crate the dog when it is not under immediate supervision, this means when you are not with the dog and keeping
an eye on it. Next thing to do, is 15 minutes after it eats, take it outside, if it goes, then bring it back in and crate
it back up, unless you are going to work with it or play with it. If it does not go, then crate it back up for 15 minutes,
after 15 minutes take it back outside. Keep this up until it goes and then back in the crate it goes. What you are doing is
establishing a pattern for the dog, and you are identifying the time it takes to digest its food. This gives you a baseline
on when the dog needs to go outside and go pee/poop. Do this until you have that baseline established, and then use the base
line to determine when the dog needs to go outside. At all times though, keep an eye on the dog, and if he starts sniffing
the floor, circling an area, grab him and outside he goes, hopefully he goes poop/pee. If not crate him for 15 minutes and
back out he goes.
Keep in mind that puppies have a very hard time holding/controlling their functions until around 5-6 months. That said, some puppies house train right away, while others it takes awhile. The same goes for adult dogs, some take to it right away, others take awhile.
One thing to make sure of, is to get a crate that is just big enough for the dog, to big a crate and the dog will soil it, but as a rule, dogs will not soil there bedding/crate. Also keep in mind YOU CAN'T leave a dog crated all day and then expect it not to soil its crate. Alot of dogs, just can't hold it for 8-10 hours
Above all, remember its persistence that works doing this, house training does not happen over night. In fact I trained a pug for a client, that took 6 weeks before he got it, and he still will go in the house, if the client does not stick to his routine. Which means, they get up at 6AM and Jake (the pug) goes out for 15 minutes, then they feed Jake and 25 minutes later Jake goes out again. Then they have to make sure that he goes out every 4 hours until the night feeding when 25 minutes after he eats, he goes out again. Then at 9:30 PM he goes out again.
He is very religious about it, but he knows when he has to go, and while he does give warning signals, they are very sutile and if you don't catch it, well the worst happens
I hope this helps folks and that is all for now
Bob
Keep in mind that puppies have a very hard time holding/controlling their functions until around 5-6 months. That said, some puppies house train right away, while others it takes awhile. The same goes for adult dogs, some take to it right away, others take awhile.
One thing to make sure of, is to get a crate that is just big enough for the dog, to big a crate and the dog will soil it, but as a rule, dogs will not soil there bedding/crate. Also keep in mind YOU CAN'T leave a dog crated all day and then expect it not to soil its crate. Alot of dogs, just can't hold it for 8-10 hours
Above all, remember its persistence that works doing this, house training does not happen over night. In fact I trained a pug for a client, that took 6 weeks before he got it, and he still will go in the house, if the client does not stick to his routine. Which means, they get up at 6AM and Jake (the pug) goes out for 15 minutes, then they feed Jake and 25 minutes later Jake goes out again. Then they have to make sure that he goes out every 4 hours until the night feeding when 25 minutes after he eats, he goes out again. Then at 9:30 PM he goes out again.
He is very religious about it, but he knows when he has to go, and while he does give warning signals, they are very sutile and if you don't catch it, well the worst happens
I hope this helps folks and that is all for now
Bob
Contain-A-Pet of North East Ohio should not be confused with Invisible Fence ® or Invisible Fencing ® which are products and registered trademarks of Invisible Fence, Inc.
Invisible Fence, PetSafe and Innotek are registered trademarks of Radio Systems Corporation. DogWatch is a registered trademark of DogWatch, Inc. Pet Stop is the registered trademarl of Perimter Technologies, Inc.
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