Enjoy!

Have you seen a dog eat food like this before?

"You know, every time my mother wouldn’t let me jump on the table, so I can’t eat the delicious food.

Now look. I’ve trained myself to be stronger so I don’t need to jump on the table to eat the delicious food…

Am I clever?"

Teaching your Daschund to swim?

Dog Quote: "To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs."

….Aldous Huxley

Puppies love to bite.

The do it naturally but it is something that they must be taught not to do.

This needs to be addressed while they are young because dog bites can lead to all sorts of problems including legal action.

It may seem fun and funny to have a puppy biting but a full-grown dog can do a lot of damage, particularly to children if they are in the habit of biting.

Dogs have immense strength in their jaws and even a playful nip can do permanent damage to a child.

Generally, puppies are taught to control their biting from their mothers but in most cases we get puppies as pets that have been taken from their mothers at a very young age and it is up to us to teach them as puppies not to bite.

By letting your dog socialize with other dogs from a young age they will quickly learn from their elders, provided they have been taught well, that the desire to bite needs to be curbed to avoid retaliation and an ensuing fight.

If you’d like more information take a look here.

Speak to you soon,

Stuart

I notice that an American organisation, FLexPetz, has just launched a Dog Rental service in the UK.

Apparently, for a fee, a busy family is able to rent a pet dog for a week or whatever time period they require. The aim is to provide the companionship of a pet dog to busy people without them having to worry about the responsibilities that come with owning a dog .

You can read more about it on Yahoo news here.

Now, in my view, that’s very similar to someone renting out a child to a busy family who isn’t prepared to make the time to look after it but wants the joy of having one when they see fit - and highly unfair on the child.

It would seem that the originators of this scheme haven’t thought about what the impact of being shuffled from owner to owner will have on the dog itself. Sure, they state that they carefully vet the owners - sorry, renters - to make sure that the dog will be well looked after but…

Have they not considered the dogs feelings? And do they not understand that a dog becomes attached to it’s master and cannot understand why he suddenly abandons it without a word. Surely the poor animal’s health will start to suffer as it is unceremoniously removed from one master to be plonked down with another and then another.

Quite rightly the RSPCA is not very happy with this scheme nor are other animal welfare organisations.

What do you think? Is this fair treatment on a loving and trusting animal or just another form of abuse by people wanting to make money anyway they can?

By the way I’ve also noticed a website in China offering similar services so it seems to be a spreading trend worldwide.

Let me know what you think, just leave a comment below.

Stuart.

According to Wikipedia, ‘alpha’, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, denotes the first of a series of items or categories and in the case of a group of animals it means ‘the socially dominant individual’ or leader.

In other words ‘Alpha Dog’ and ‘Leader of the Pack’ are the same thing really aren’t they? In fewer words we could say ‘Boss’ but the important thing to remember here is that this exalted position is earned through respect; unlike many so-called ‘bosses’ at work who are often there for no understandable reason. But I digress.

As you know dogs are pack animals, and there always must be a leader of the pack…

… And that has to be you!

So you need to ensure that your dog understands that you are his or her leader, doing this will earn you the respect and confidence of your dog.

Once you’ve gained your dogs respect and confidence this will make any dog training a whole lot easier for you as well as a far more pleasurable experience.

Failure to gain the respect of your dog results in a disobedient animal, as they will think THEY are the lead dog and not you.

Start While Your Dog is Young

Most new puppy owners love to give their animal tons of love and affection and don’t think of chastising it when young. This often results in their puppy not understanding it’s place and can allow it to grow up not knowing who the leader is. Instinctively it then tries to assume the leadership role which can lead to conflict in the family and disobedience problems.

It’s necessary to give your puppy lots of love but you also need to be aware that instilling your leadership and gaining the respect from your dog at the outset are equally important.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that leadership and respect are more important, because it is only when you are the leader and have earned the respect from your dog that you can truly enjoy the benefits of having a dog in the family.

For this reason you should start instilling your alpha status as early as possible, but…

How do you do that?

There are many ways to reinforce this position, too many to list all here but here are a few of the most important:

* Meal times - Always feed your dog after you and your family have been fed. In the wild the Alpha dog gets the first pickings of the meal then the other dogs have their turn in order of importance.

* Going for a walk - Always make your dog wait until you are ready to go for a walk. Don’t let her come to you and demand you drop everything just because she wants to go for a walk. This may seem a little difficult at first but you are the leader and as such YOU decide when to go anywhere.

* Going out the door - When you take your dog for a walk and leave the house make sure you leave first, the same applies when returning,. The alpha dog always has precedence over the other dogs so chooses which direction to go and leads the field.

* Doorways and sleeping dogs - In the wild the alpha dog wouldn’t move around another dog that was in his path. You need to apply this rule in your household. For instance if your dog is sleeping in the doorway you want to go through, gently but firmly make her move out of your way. DON’T just step over her as this will confuse her in her ranking. Soon she will beome aware of your movements and quickly let you pass without any qualms.

* Treats - Don’t feed her treats will-nilly, make her work for her reward. Treats are an ideal way to reinforce the ‘Sit’, ‘Down’, ‘Heel’ and ‘Go to your bed’ etc. commands.

* Commands - It is imperative that your dog obeys all your commands without you repeating them more that once or twice. Don’t keep telling your dog to sit without reinforcing the action. Here is where you should use gentle but firm physical reinforcement, ie pushing down on her hind quarters as you say her name and the command. Also treats work well here. The key factor is to get her attention if she is ignoring you, use a can filled with pebbles, rattle it and say her name clearly then give the command.

Well then, I’ll let you get on with the important task of building your status as Alpha dog. If you’d like more information about your ‘Alpha dog’ status or dog training in general I highly recommend you take a look at ‘SitStayFetch’ - it’s been a boon to us.

Have a great day with your dog.

Stuart

PS

Don’t forget to leave a comment, Susan and I are always happy to hear from you.

This is the method we’ve been using to train Kylie to stop pulling every time she’s out on the leash. It’s really helped me as Kylie is much stronger than me and will only get stronger as she matures.

It’s quite simple really, all you need to do is keep your dog an a short leash and by your side. Use gentle but firm correction and keep changing directions as you walk - every couple of steps or so.

You’ll find that the first couple of times you try this your dog will be a little difficult to control - you’ve just seen how much trouble I had with Kylie! But, soon that will stop and your dog will realise that she can’t pull as she’s not sure which direction she’s going in.

This excercise really gets your dog thinking and is good mental stimulation for her, however it can be tiring so don’t overdo it - 5 to 10 mins at a time, once or twice a day is all that’s needed so it’s also great if you’re busy.

If you’d like more info on this or other training methods I highly recommend a book called “SitStayFetch” we bought a copy and it’s been a godsend!

Look out for some more videos of me, Kylie and, of course, Stuart in a while

Bye

Susan.

By the way do leave a comment - I’d love to hear from you

This is a very heartwarming story about a dog that was born without front legs…

… and how she managed to learn to walk using only her hind legs and live a normal life - impressive what you can achieve if the will is there!

Hope you enjoyed it, take a tip from the dog and make your life happen.

Speak to you soon,

Stuart.

Hi there fellow dog-lover,

It never ceases to amaze me the reasons that callous dog owners give for abandoning their pets… if they give a reason at all that is.

In the current economic turmoil abandoned dogs (and other pets) are being found in record numbers. I have recently read harrowing reports from America where home-owners who have suddenly found themselves unable to pay their bonds and decided to do a moonlight flit. Often they just go and leave their dogs to fend for themselves…

But, as if that isn’t bad enough, some cruel and callous @#@$%&!!! have gone so far as to lock their pets INSIDE the house without food or water. This barbaric practice condemns the poor helpless dog to a slow and harrowing death.

Authorities in America have been discovering abandoned houses where the doors and carpets have been eaten by the poor creatures tying desperately to survive. Sadly all that remains of a once proud dog is an emaciated corpse.

The Trend is Upwards

Staff at the RSPCA in the UK have stated that pet abandonment for economic reasons is an upward trend… their figures show an alarming 23% rise (source: Yahoo news) over 2006 figures for the year 2007 and forecast a bigger upturn this year.

“My dog hurts me when she wags her tail…” is another pathetic excuse an owner gave for abandoning her pet dog…

To quote Tim Wass, chief officer of the RSPCA inspectorate:

“It is an offence to abandon ANY animal and there is never any excuse for doing so.”

I urge you to be vigilant and look out for any signs that a once-loved dog in the neighbourhood has been abandoned and if you are thinking of getting a dog, to consider visiting the local animal shelter to adopt one. If you don’t the dogs that can’t be housed will be put-down.

Remember though, that a dog is a life-long commitment, he will be faithful to you no matter what and deserves that you give him the same respect back, not abandon him when the going gets tough.

Speak to you soon,

Stuart.

Ommmm….