Charley saves a life
December 24, 2009 by Joel
Filed under Dog Stories
Charley is a West Highland white terrier, living in Atlanta. Just a common pet, no special training or inclination to save people.
One day Charley began barking and urgently running back and forth to get his owner, Frances Gippert’s attention. It wasn’t Charley’s normal time for a walk, but he was so agitated that Frances decided to take him out anyway.
Once she had the leash on him he started pulling her away from their normal walking route. He led her to a neighbor three doors away. Roy Monie was laying on the ground, almost unconscious. He had fallen off a ladder and lay there helpless. Frances ran home and called 911. When they came they said that if they had not gotten there when they did, Roy would not have made it.
Roy and his family became friends with Frances, who had lost both parents and her sister to cancer. They celebrated Christmas together. Charley and Roy have helped Frances to face the world again.
How Well Is Your Dog Groomed?
December 23, 2009 by Joel
Filed under Dog Training Tips
The reason one should groom his/her Dog is simple – your dog’s physical state influences the way he feels and the way you look at your dog. Extreme cases, where lack of proper care, cleaning and grooming can directly affect the behavior of your Dog, are not rare.
Proper grooming not only infuses a healthy glow to your dog’s appearance, but also helps develop his self-esteem; while it makes you a very proud parent, when you show off your Dog to others.
The first step involved in dog grooming is: Brushing!
Brushing has been universally acknowledged by expert dog groomers as the single most important step in grooming.
The benefits of brushing are many. To name a few:
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Better blood circulation
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Shinier and healthier coat
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Better bonding
Even if you know how crucial brushing is for your Dog’s health and well-being, we all know that there is a right way and a wrong way of doing anything. And without doubt, you would like to do everything the RIGHT way when it comes to your Dog.
Yes, there’s a method to follow while brushing your Dog.
Here are FIVE steps to successfully brushing your Dog that will prove to be extremely useful:
- Brush against the growth of the hair first with a slicker brush and then with a medium or wide-toothed comb.
- The slicker brush removes all the loose hair and the comb takes care of the tangles.
- Brush your Dog along the hair growth and make sure you reach the skin as you brush his way.
- Then use a flea comb over the coat to get the fleas and remove any remaining tangles. Part the coat and start from the root and then comb through.
- If your Dog’s paw pads are hairy, then clip them using electric clippers. Do not clip the hair in between the pads. Clip only the excess hair.
Brush your Dog’s hairs to prevent it from matting. Matting can be a very painful experience.
Regular brushing untangles the matted hairs on your Dog’s coat. Since this is a risky job to do, the best way out is to prevent them from forming in the first place. And doing this is simple: just brush and comb your Dog regularly. If and when you see any mats or tangles, use a detangle solution and a medium-toothed comb.
Don’t wait until your Dog is dirty or matted to introduce him to grooming. That would make him associate the experience with unpleasantness. Moreover, many dogs learn to see their routine brushing as an alternate form of petting, i.e. another source of affection and attention.
Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com
Is Your Dog Potty Trained Enough?
December 22, 2009 by Joel
Filed under Dog Training Tips
House Training a puppy or adult Dog is such an essential issue for its owner that even a single exclusive tip turns out to be extremely helpful.
The first step in making your Dog fit for polite company would be to potty train him. Some see this training as a hassle and some as a challenge.
For me, it is part of bringing up a pet.
Click here to subscribe to a FREE course on housetraining puppies and dogs.
There are a few things you need to know before you actually start potty training a puppy or adult Dog. I enumerate these below:
- You need to understand your dog’s body language. Watch for signs that will indicate to you when your pet wants to eliminate.
- If you own puppies, remember that they need to go potty at fairly frequent intervals – as soon as they wake up, after short naps, after play-time, after meals, before and after being crated and finally, before retiring for the night.
- Take your Dog for walks at the time that he usually does his potty. Take him out to the yard and then to the same place there every time he needs to answer nature’s call.
- Praise your Dog after he eliminates at the right place. Some Dog owners even give treats to their dogs. But remember to do this every time he does it right. He will relate the rewards to his having “done it right” and zero in on the spot where you want him to defecate regularly.
- With time, you can try signal training. This is so that you know when your doggie wants to go. You can hang a bell at his level near the door and teach him to push it with his nose or pat it with his paw on his way out.
- Until your Dog has been fully potty trained keep him under strict vigilance. Do not let him roam around the house freely.
- Use a crate. A crate-trained Dog is usually very happy to get his own den. The advantage of crating is that dogs do not soil the place where they sleep. So, he will naturally not eliminate inside the crate.
- If you have a small dog and if you live in a high-rise building or in a place that does not have a proper backyard, you can try litter pan training. What you do is create a space for your pet to eliminate in your house itself.
- Use positive reinforcements while housebreaking puppies or adult dogs. Do not scold or hit him as you will gain nothing by doing that. He will only associate punishment with your return from outside. If you catch him in the act, a stern ‘NO’ or ‘FREEZE’ will do. It will startle the Dog enough for him to stop pooping.
- Be prepared to return to a soiled home if you are keeping your Dog home alone for more than 4 hours as separation anxiety is quite common among home – alone dogs.
- Accidents will happen. It is unusual for a trained adult Dog to work against its house training. But medical problems or health disorders may lead to sudden accidents.
- Many dogs mark their territory. These can be a leg of a table or a particular wall. Intact male and female dogs mark their territories by urinating. Use deodorizers to spray on the places where your Dog has marked.
- If you are patient and are ready to accept that house training a dog takes time, even months sometimes, you will end up having a good housetrained Dog.
Click here to subscribe to a FREE course on house training puppies and dogs.
Now we will move on to how to potty train puppies and adult dogs.
Potty Training A Puppy:
Irrespective of breeds, housetraining a puppy is considered to be one of the biggest challenges by dog owners. If you think housetraining your puppy simply involves a steady supply of old newspapers, then think again.
A puppy does not develop full control over his bladder until it is over 4 or 5 months old. Since they are growing and developing rapidly at this time, puppies eat more, burn more calories and need to eliminate more frequently than an adult Dog.
After each nap, meal, drink or play, take your puppy to his designated area (indoors or outdoors, wherever you have decided) and stay there until it eliminates. Then bring him to his crate.
Repeat this situation everyday until he has developed a habit out of it.
Click here to subscribe to a FREE course on housebreaking a puppy.
Potty Training An Adult Dog:
The best way to housetrain an adult Dog is to begin all over again.
Observe him very closely. Maybe even maintain a diary of where he goes and when. Whether he is pooping when you are home or only when you are outside; whether you can time yourself to be home when he feels the need to go outside.
You can try dog crates, but be careful to introduce him gradually to them.
Click here to subscribe to a FREE course on potty training a dog.
Remember, commitment, consistency and intelligent use of positive reinforcement will make you the owner of a perfectly housetrained Dog. Don’t expect miracles. You will only be disappointed.
Get this FREE course on potty training a dog.
Get this unique Housetraining guide and start Housebreaking Your Dog Today.
Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com
Training Your Dog to Listen to You
December 21, 2009 by Joel
Filed under Dog Training Tips
Why Won’t My Dog Listen To Me?
This is a common question that most first-time Dog owners ask me. Before I answer your question, let me ask you a few instead:
- Do you use cookies, collars, head halters or clickers to make your Dog listen to your commands?
- Do you have to raise your voice every time you want your Dog to listen to you?
- Does your Dog always come or sit on command – anytime and anywhere you want him to?
If your answers are mostly in the negative, its time you seriously reconsider your role as a sincere Dog trainer and an ideal pet parent.
Learn how to bond with your Dog with this free mini course.
Get Your Dog To Listen To You
Before you begin any training, you must first establish yourself as the “ALPHA dog” of your family. Your Dog must know that you’re the leader of the pack and it is YOU who is in charge.
Here is a list of simple DO’s and DONT’s that you must follow if you want to be the Alpha:
- Always go out or come in through the door first – remember you are the leader;
- Always eat first – give your Dog something to eat only after you’ve finished your meal;
- Don’t circle around your Dog when he is lying on the floor – make your Dog move out of your way instead;
- Don’t let your Dog set the rules – pay attention to him when you think fit and not whenever he demands;
- Don’t permit your Dog to sleep with you in your bed – demarcate his sleeping area clearly.
Once you successfully established yourself as the Alpha, training your Dog and making him listen will be a lot easier than you can imagine. Remember, if your Dog does not learn to “listen”, all your training efforts will be in vain!
Does your Dog know his name? Does your Dog look at you whenever you call him by his name? This is the first and the most critical step involved in Dog Training. If your Dog doesn’t respond to his name, you cannot have his attention for teaching him any other commands.
To make sure that your Dog recognizes his name, take a treat in your hand and hold it away from your body. Call your Dog’s name. He is most likely to look at the treat in your hand. Continue calling his name untill he turns and looks at your eyes. Give him the treat immediately. Repeat this exercise by holding the treat in the other hand. Once you’re sure that your Dog has learnt to recognize his name, just call his name and reward him for looking at you by petting or with a hug.
You must understand that Dogs respond far better to positive reinforcement than they do to coercion or force.
Learn how to train your Dog better with this free mini course.
Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com
Weela – A Pitbull Hero to be proud of
December 20, 2009 by Joel
Filed under Dog Stories
Weela almost never got to be a hero. She, and nine other pitbull puppies were left to die in a lonely alley in Imperial Beach California. But she was lucky. Lori Watkins, a dog lover passed by and heard the puppies whimpering. She took the 10 of them to her ranch and got them healthy. She found homes for nine, and kept Weela, who followed her son wherever he went.
One day Lori’s son Gary was chasing lizards when suddenly Weela took off and ran into Gary, knocking him out of the way of a rattlesnake. The snake bit Weela in the face, but once again Weela survived a potential disaster, as if someone was looking after her.
A few years later in 1993 heavy rains caused a dam to break in the Tijuana river. The raging waters caused many people and animals to be isolated and stranded in small sections of the area. Lori had some friends who had left 12 dogs at their ranch. Weela led Lori and Dan Watkins through heavy rains, strong currents and floating debris to get to the dogs. Lori was amazed at how Weela recognized quick sand, mud bogs and dangerous drop-offs. He worked tirelessly to help Lori and Dan rescue the stranded dogs.
When 17 dogs and 1 cat were found stranded on an island, Weela would swim to them with 30 to 50 pound bags of dog food strapped to his back.
13 horses were discovered trapped in a manure patch. Weela led the rescue team to the horses, repeating the act until all of the horses were safe.
One day when Weela was returning from one of her trips to the stranded dogs and cat, she came across 30 people attempting to cross the river. Weela kept barking at them until they followed her lead to a safe part of the river to cross. They had been trying to cross at a point where the river was strongest and the water was deepest. Weela led them to a shallower and safer part of the river.
In total, Weela helped save 30 people, 13 horses, 17 dogs and 1 cat. For this she was the 40th Ken-L-Ration dog of the year. Well deserved.
A pitbull to be admired. A sign that pitbulls can be kind and gentle when raised to be.
Basics of Dog Training
December 20, 2009 by Joel
Filed under Dog Training Tips
It’s essential for Dog parents like you to know certain basic factors that determine your relationship with your Dog and can go a long way in training him effectively.
Before you begin training your Dog, it is absolutely essential that you build a loving bond with him. This is important as it helps you to understand his needs and instincts and also allows your Dog to have complete trust in you.
Know more about Dog care from this free mini course
Let us see how…….
How To Bond With Your Dog
Building a bond with your Dog is the first and the most crucial step involved in training him successfully. As soon as you bring your Dog home, you must first try to develop a caring and loving relationship with him in order to win his trust and confidence.
When Dogs are secure in the knowledge that they belong to the family, they are more likely to respond better to their owners’ training commands. Just like with any relationship, there must be mutual trust and respect between you and your Dog.
Trust takes time to develop and respect comes from defining boundaries and treating any breach of those boundaries with firmness and fairness.
Without enforceable limitations, respect can’t be developed. And when there is no respect, building a bond with your Dog is almost impossible.
4 Golden Rules To Building A Relationship With Your Dog :
- Spend quality time together;
- Take him out in the world and experience life together;
- Establish and promote a level of mutual respect; and
- Develop a way of communicating to understand each other’s needs.
Building a bond with your Dog will not only help you manage him better but will also make your Dog calm, quiet and an extremely well-adjusted pet.
Love Your Dog and He Will Love You back
Once you’re succesful in building a bond with your Dog, you can rest assured that training him and teaching him new and clever tricks will be a cakewalk.
Learn how to bond with your Dog with this free mini course.
How Your Dog Learns…
Your Dog’s learning period can be divided into five phases:
The Teaching Phase – This is the phase where you must physically demonstrate to your Dog exactly what you want him to do.
The Practicing Phase – Practice makes Perfect. Once a lesson is learnt, practice with your Dog what you have just taught him.
The Generalizing Phase – Here you must continue practicing with your Dog in different locations and in an environment with a few distractions. You can take your Dog out for a walk, or to a nearby park and command him to practice whatever you’ve taught him.
Practicing the learned lessons in multiple locations and in the presence of small distractions will help him learn and retain lessons better .
The Testing Phase – Once you’re sure that your Dog has achieved almost 90% success….he responds correctly almost every time you give a command, you must start testing his accuracy in newer locations with a lot of distractions.
Example: Take him to the local shopping mall and ask him to obey your command. He may not come up with the correct response the very first time you do this, but you must not lose hope.
The idea is to test your Dog to see how he responds in an environment which is new to him. Set-up a situation where you are in control of the environment and your Dog.
There are only 2 possibilities:
- Your Dog succeeds!!! (Trumpets please!)
- In case your Dog fails, re-examine the situation. Review and/or change your training. Then try testing again.
Keep on testing until he succeeds. Follow the rule of the 3 Ps – patience, persistence, praise.
Internalizing Phase – Finally, comes the extremely rewarding phase where your Dog does everything he is taught to do even without your commands.
Remember:
- Never scold your Dog if he fails. It’s not his fault. You have failed as a trainer!
- You must be patient and persistent for your efforts to show rewards.
- Appreciate and love your Dog when he does it right! A little encouragement will work wonders for your Dog.
- Dog Training is easy when you do it right.
Learn how to train your Dog better with this free mini course.
Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com
The bond between a soldier and his dog
December 16, 2009 by Joel
Filed under Dog Stories
Lex was a soldier, albeit a German Shepherd. He was trained to sniff out hidden explosives. He was working in Iraq with his partner corporal Dustin Jerome Lee when a 73-millimeter rocket exploded inside their base in the Al Anbar province. Corporal Lee was badly wounded by the blast. Lex was also injured, getting shrapnel lodged into his back.
As Lee’s marine buddies watched, the bleeding Lex climbed on top of Corporal Lee and tried to protect him from further harm. The medics had a difficult time getting him off to try to save his partner. They were unable to save Dustin, but Lex survived.
Lee’s parents heard about the bond between their son and Lex, and asked to allow Lex to be at their son’s funeral. They later fought a long but successful battle with the Marine Corp to get to adopt Lex.
Lex received a purple heart and retirement from the Marine Corp. He continues to help by visiting VA hospitals and retirement homes to bring solace to veterans.
Lex received the AKC award for excellence in 2008.
Jarod braves the bear
December 9, 2009 by Joel
Filed under Dog Stories
Jarod is a lovable, cuddly Chow, not the unlikely hero you would expect.
Her owner, Donna Perreault and her other Chow Meesha were being attacked by a bear near her home in Genelle, British Columbia, Canada. Jarod came to the rescue, lunging at the bear and allowing Donna and Meesha to escape. For his efforts, Jarod received an award at a Purina Animal Hall of Fame ceremony in Toronto. Donna initially saved Jarod from a shelter. Jarod returned the favor.
