Modern Dog Blog

I have finally succumbed to this year’s version of the crud. I was so proud of myself for managing to go to school amongst hordes of snotty, coughing, phlegm spewing humans, and not getting sick. But, I spoke just a touch too soon. I’ve been decommissioned since Saturday, and I am unendingly grateful for my dogs’ collective ability to nap. A lot. For many days in a row.

Managing dogs when you are sick is not easy, although it does motivate them pay very close attention to your whispered, hoarse commands, as I, for one, am quick to grab an ear or a tail to get their attention. You simply cannot convince me that an animal that can hear the tiniest rustle of a cookie wrapper three floors away cannot hear me behind them wheezing their name. This is a lovely example of why I teach my dogs voice commands AND hand signals. Those hand signals have saved us all much stress in the last few days. Hope for the best, but prepare for as much as you can!!

I finally felt well enough today to take my little training girl, Lilly, to a local pet store for her “final exam” this evening. She did great and is doing wonderful at listening to very quiet commands. Here are some pics of her practicing her down stays in front of some yummy temptations.

She is one of the most photogenic little labs I’ve ever met. It’s those enormous ears. In person, she’s a typical leggy, gangly, clumsy six month old lab, but in pictures, she’s the essence of cute, and why labs are the most popular dogs in the country. Her parents have been very committed to training her from the start, and we’ve been doing in home lessons since she was about three and a half months old. Now she has come to spend a couple of weeks with me to polish up her commands, practice in a bit more structured way, and introduce a few new ideas to her. She will be a lovely family pet, because of their whole family’s dedication to Lilly’s training and care. They give her loads of exercise, supervise her, and don’t let her have free reign of the house, and because of that diligence, they don’t have any massive “Labrador Destruction” stories to tell. And believe me, if any pup would wreck it, Lilly would. EVERYTHING goes in that dog’s mouth. Rocks, sticks, paper, my cat once, her leash, rugs, towels, anything within her reach. Fortunately, Lilly’s parents have become experts at enrichment activities, so Lilly stays pretty busy destroying things she is given.

It is important to remember that puppies put any and everything in their mouths to learn about the world. It is good to chew? Should I tear this up? Can I eat it? I can’t tell you how many horror stories I hear of puppies going into total destructo mode. It is not necessary to lose your furniture, carpet, or dozens of shoes to your puppy. Yes, you will probably have a few casualties in that first year, no, you do not have to let your puppy eat all the corners off of your kitchen cabinets! It all comes down to supervision and finding other ways to keep their little brains busy. Puppy likes to tear up paper? Put a few pieces of kibble in a paper bag and let them tear it up. Sure, it’s a mess, but no real loss, and it kept Fluffy busy for a bit. I had one client who used to tape pepperoni in a cardboard box and let her dogs work on that all day. It was a mess to come home to, but it wasn’t the couch! I have a huge collection of Kong toys that can be stuffed with treats, or even their breakfast. Take puppies breakfast, soak it till it’s mushy, and then cram it into a Kong and freeze it overnight. Give it to them in the morning before you go to work, and they’ll be busy for at least an hour. Just because you’re gone does not mean your dog is going to sit quietly and wait for your return. Yes, it’s a commitment to give your dog something to do when you leave for the day, but having a dog is a commitment, and it’s the least you can do for a friend who’s hanging out at home waiting for you to return.

I can’t stress enough to clients how important it is to make sure your dog gets enough exercise, and has some enrichment activities on a daily basis. A ball is not enough. Usually when I go into a home where the chief complaint is chewing, there is like a tennis ball, maybe a bone, and a dog running loose. First off, either put them on a leash or in a crate and stop chasing them around. Show them what you want them to chew. Offer different textures and sizes of toys. Figure out what they like. Any of the rubber toys like Kongs and such, I recommend soaking them in a chicken broth or something like that first. Have you ever tasted those? Ya, it’s rubber, and it’s gross. Most dogs turn their nose up at a kong initially because it’s like licking a rubber glove. Gross. But let that porous rubber soak up some sort of yummy broth and suddenly it’s an interesting toy. Try some real bones that you can get at any pet health food store, those last a long time, and can then be re-stuffed with peanut butter over and over again. There is no shortage of toys and goodies to keep your best friend busy, just try a few and see what works. Get creative. We gave our dogs an entire pumpkin one year, and they took turns attacking it, carrying it around, tearing it up, and slowly eating it. It took them over a week, and the next year we had baby pumpkins all over the yard!

That’s it for now, and poor Lilly looking at me saying -”I didn’t touch it, can I be done now?”
Good girl…

Posted on November 28th, 2007 by michelle
Filed under: My dogs, Not my dogs, Training