Take It Easy

So often I see people trying to teach their pets certain things that require some restraint in the excitement department. Your dog will feed off of your energy and each dog will respond differently. In addition, using a command over and over again without success will result in that command becoming a "dead" word. A dead word is one that begs to be changed and the desired behavior taught fresh...all over. You have surely seen people yelling over and over again for their dog to "come" and they have done it for years. Consider the following for a couple of starters:

If your dog gets excited easily then it is even more important to stay calm and work slowly on basic obedience commands. Be patient and try not to over use the command. Teaching a puppy to sit or lay or stay can sometimes be frustrating until you slow down. When your dog is looking at you, use the command and/or gesture once and wait for the reaction you desire. Wait 10-30 seconds before repeating it. However, look for the spit second to use it again. For instance when teaching sit, use the command and in that spit second when you see the butt going down, say "sit" again. Immediately reward.

You can teach a behavior by choosing a new command even if the dog is on in years and never did well with the old command. Just slow down, think it through and teach a new word for the same wanted behavior. Get rid of "dead" words.

Learn Alternative and Complimentary Healthcare for Canines

Stay posted here as we will be offering a course in alternative/complimentary healthcare for canines. The sessions include:

Nutritional Therapy
Herbal Therapy
Canine Massage and Acupressure Therapy
Color/Light Therapy
Flower Essence Therapy
Canine Homeopathic Therapy

In addition, the course includes a very exciting session in The Nine Systems of the Body.

Your Dog Smells

I don't mean your dog stinks,I mean your dog smells. In fact he or she smells anywhere from 50-250 times better than you do.

Imagine your nose is a tunnel. A short tunnel with nothing inside of it would allow water or air to flow through quickly. But, imagine putting obstacles in the tunnel to slow down the flow of water or air.

Your pup's nose is filled with tiny obstacles called turbinades. These structures vary in size and together they slow down the flow of air. This allows for plenty of time for the air to swirl, move and stagnate in the nose. Other features like long ears, wrinkled skins or fold, big jowls etc also help in the process of slowing down the flow of air.

Your Pug as a result can smell 50 times better than you can and your German Shepherd, 250 times better. In fact German Shepherds were successful at detecting a gas leak far under ground at a place in Canada years ago, that professional equipment could not detect.

So kiss that canine nose and tell your dog he smells wonderful.

Brent

Recess and Classroom

The best part of elementary school for me was RECESS! Football, basketball, dodge-ball and...girls! Recess for us was a reward but, for your dog, it is the avenue to classroom success.

Start the day with recess and make it long and fun. Then, it is time for classroom training. Make this part short and sweet. (Even 5 minutes is good).

After some good ol' fun your canine companion will be ready to focus long enough to learn some important behavior and tricks. (Save the treats and rewards for classroom).

Keep the important things in the classroom and overlook the crazy, unruly recess behavior. Pretty soon, those few minutes in class will be noticed in their behavior on the playground. Well, maybe not the girls thing so much. )

Brent