Sniffing

As I said on my FB page yesterday; I was on a walk and spotted my blog inspiration for today.  I was out with the girls doing our snail walk when we spotted a lady coming our way with a nice black lab.  I was just about at the car and Jessie found an amazing scent.  She was stuck there for some time, getting as much information as she could.  I waited and watched the lady coming our way with her lab.

He started to sniff and she angrily yanked on him, he hunkered down.  With his ears back he shot a look at her and sort of ducked.  He was obviously anticipating more yanking.  She grabbed his collar and tried yanking him away from the spot where he'd planted himself.  He had no intention of moving away from the scent that he had found.  The owner was growing angry; she walked behind him and shoved him with her feet at the same time as yelling at him.  I could not understand why she wasn't letting him have a sniff.

Many trainers will tell you not to let your dog sniff; they need to follow along with you and not be indulging in their sniffing.  WRONG; dogs need to sniff, it's what they do.  I do not think that you need to stop at every single  bush or pole, after all you make the rules right?  But part of those rules must be taking some portion of your walk and giving it to your dog.  Even if you are a marathon runner; you can do both.  Allow your dog sniffing time at the beginning of your walk; then get your power work out in.  Often I want to do a really great exercise session of speed walking; of course that means I have Luke with me and not the girls.  We move out and if he attempts to sniff I tell him "let's go."  He understands what this means and we move.

Sniffing is imperative for dogs; especially when they are old like my girls.  It is what makes their day; so while they sniff I watch and like today I got my inspiration for this blog.  :)

Melanoma in dogs

While I had Luke at the Vets the other day for what turned out to be a spider bite; I had the Vet look at a couple of spots that have grown on Luke.  Being that we have three senior dogs; respectively we have lots of lumps and bumps.  Several have had me concerned; but after being tested they were nothing.  So Luke has had a spot on his face and on the back of his neck.  Both bumps have not changed a lot; so I wasn't freaking out, but wanted them checked.

I learned something new that day; almost all Melanoma found on the skin of dogs are benign.  Although if located in the mouth, foot area or rarely the eye; the Melanoma is typically very aggressive and malignant.  Humans often form melanoma from exposure to the sun; not dogs.  The cause of dogs who form Melanomas is unknown other than genetics and environmental factors.

As dogs age they naturally form bumps and lumps that often are just that; harmless bumps.  But it is always best to have them checked out.  I did and I'm really glad; now I know that they are harmless little bumps so I don't have to worry about these ones anymore.  Below are some great sites with lots of information on Melanoma, both benign and malignant forms.


Animal Cancer Center

Natural Dog Health

Vet Cancer Care

36 years ago

 It is my 49th birthday soon which will mark 36 years ago that I dipped my toe in before throwing myself in entirety to the dogs.  There have been times of lull and other periods of just so many dogs; but in 36 years I've learned a lot about dogs and life with them.  When I started with dogs it was in the show ring; this is a place where many people get sucked into the dog world.  It was a bit different for me as I did not have my own dog in the ring; at 13 years old we had a middle aged toy poodle at home.  The dogs I had in the ring were the pride and joy of others.

Over the dog years I've had success, failure, happiness, sadness and everything in between.  The canine learning curve has been huge; looking back I often am left shaking my head wishing I could take back some time.  "If only I'd known then what I know now;" but I didn't and I cannot go back in time and change the wrongs I've done, no one can.  So you learn and forge ahead.  There came a point; a very defined turning point in my dog life when everything changed.  It was the catalyst to my existing life and a moment I am very happy for.  The day I shaved it off; you can read about that moment here.

Since that monumental day; things have been heading in a different direction for dogs and me.  That day was over 21 years ago; which I cannot believe, but sure enough it was.  And in those 21 years dogs became a bigger focus in my life as well as the behavior, emotion and well being of the dog in general.  My early experience with dogs was the world of dog shows; that moved onto training in the most conventional method, just choke'm.  Having my own dogs from the age 18 I had the chance to delve further, further into the dog mind.  What I saw when I really looked into the psych of the dog was amazing and I was hooked big time.  Far more interesting and awesome was the interior of the dog; sure the exterior is amazing, I love to look at dogs.  But it is what shows itself on the exterior yet comes from the interior that has me completely enthralled.  

Canine well being has become my quest; are they happy?  When you research the real canine you discover that they have clear needs; are they being met?  Just where does the dog fit into our human world?  Are humans evolving along with the dog or are we falling short?  There are so many questions; but dogs are a big part of our life, they just are.  Do we adjust our lives appropriately to make sure that the canine fits in nicely?  There are many areas where humans fail dogs severely; this is downfall.  Our areas of failure need attention.  We choose to have them in our world, we should make sure it is working and working well.

Dog behavior is not a science; there are always new findings and new ways to look at reactions we have not seen before.  I can never get enough with regards to researching the canine.  Whether it comes in the form of behavior, health, structure  or training I love it all.  And now I also capture the very essence of the canine digitally; this seems to be the icing on the cake.  Being that watching dogs is about my favorite thing to do in the world, shooting them seems to fit that bill.  So from the mere age of 13 when I was smitten by the image of a canine; 35 years later I am a gonner.  Long lost to the world of dogs and I couldn't be happier.

New Vet

Not the way I like to go about looking for a new Veterinarian but I was forced to find one quick.  I have a Vet that I like a lot but she is a good 40 min. drive and my close Vet up and moved.  He never told me he was leaving; I heard it through the grape vine.  So I called this morning to find out about his replacement and the replacement was not there, so I looked around to find a new Vet.  The reason I had to find a new Vet today and first thing this morning was the fact that Luke had a very swollen foot.

We came home lastnight from dinner to find Luke frantically chewing his foot and limping.  I had no idea what was going on with his foot so got out my glasses and lay him down to find out.  After much proding; he looked like he had a very swollen foot.  He was in a great deal of pain and would not stop licking it.  So I decided to give him a pain killer, put him to bed and call the Vet first thing.  Hmmmmm; but who was I going to call? 

On the computer and surfing like mad to find a new Vet I came across one that is literally 3 minutes form my house.  It is a big facility that has a boarding kennel and does rescue as well.  It is fairly hidden; I guess that's why I'd never seen it.  Like I said I didn't have much time; so I made an appointment.  They fit me in early which I liked and the staff was very friendly and efficient.  One of the biggest differences from any Veterinarians offices that I have visited was the food in the lobby; it wasn't Science Diet.  I was amazed and thoroughly iimpressed; it was Orijen, the food that I give my dogs.

Luke was much more at ease than normal; although he was drugged up on painkillers.  He only growled once and that was at one of the techs that he'd already met.  It's all about approach and entry for Luke; so when the actual Vet came in I shuffled Luke as he came into the door.  Luke didn't growl and my now new Veterinarian ignored Luke, nice.  The Vet asked me many questions about Luke; gave him a thorough exam and finally checked his foot.  His prognosis was spider bite. 

We've been through this before and hope that it does not turn out to be the same drawn out sage of pain and wounds like Tilley had years ago.  But we found a great new Vet and we'll be back.

Correction

I love this photo of Luke listening to his Dad. 

How long has the term correction been used in the dog world?  I'm not exactly sure but in my books; far too long.  I have tried very hard to eliminate it from my regularly used terminology when discussing dog training.  Let's have a look at the term first.

Correction:  punishment intended to reform, improve, or rehabilitate; chastisement. 

For those who use the term correction to mean a yank on a leash; it gives very little information to the dog except for "don't do this."   I've probably used this example before but here goes.  I remember being on a float during a parade a couple of years back.  One of the woman who had brought her dog was having issues because the dog was nervous and barking.  There was another trainer on board, a conventional trainer.  His solution to the problem was to correct the behavior; meaning yank on the dogs collar.  The woman sheepishly obliged; which did nothing because she barely yanked.  He grabbed the collar and gave it an almighty yank, the dog yelped, his ears went down and he was then fearful of the man in the float, charming.

Often the fallout of a correction is fear and the dog learns not to show emotion.  A dog that stops displaying how they are feeling is a scary situation.  As a positive trainer; displaying is what I'm always looking for.  I want to see how a dog is feeling about everything, that's how we get it right.  Instead of yanking a correction on your dog's neck; use a verbal error marker, I use AHHH or WRONG.  Each dog learns what this means, basically "you got it wrong, try again." 

Picking out small behaviors to reward works far better than yanking.  For the pulling dog; reward like crazy when they are not pulling.  Keep their mind occuppied while on a walk, busy, busy.  When they start to pull you stop the walk, pulling = no walking. 

Yanking is a horrible thing that we humans have learned to do over the years.  I try very, very hard to never yank.  Unless of course it is Jessie on her harness because she can no longer hear me saying anything.  We communicate far more through touch and tugs now.  Poor little gal.  Dogs are not robots; they are very much living, breathing beings with their own mind and own agenda.  Teaching them what we want is our job; and positive reinforcement always works better than punishment training. 

Awwwwwwwwwww how cute

This morning I was out at the park with Luke; we were early again and like the other day we saw dogs that we don't normally see.  A nice woman and her two tiny dogs walked past us, a Dachshund and a little Chihuahua type, small and black.  We both commented on a new water fountain at the park which Luke had decided was a giant water bowl and she moved on.  They walked ahead of us and as I watched the little ones; thinking how cute I noticed that the smallest of the two was not being cute.  He was jumping up biting his owners leg; with no reaction from her he latched onto her pants.  After he'd finished with his owners pants he started on his long bodied buddy.

Funny how the little ones get away with murder.  If that had been a big Mastiff grabbing hold of the womans pants; well she wouldn't have had her pants on for long.  Her ignoring routine was appropriate; and in time the dog would perhaps eventually given up.  Hopefully before he tore a hole into one of her favorite pairs of pants.  Unless of course the tugging of the pants was rewarding in itself; so there lies the tiny dog getting off scott free routine.  Ignoring won't work when you have a 150 pounder latched onto your pants.  Training is in order.

I have been called out to homes numerous times because of the "dog peeing on the floor."  Almost every one of those cases was a little one.  Many people have a very difficult time getting angry at small dogs.  Small dogs have an err of perpetual puppy about them; or at least that's how many humans feel about them.  Small dogs often succumb to the small dog syndrome, that of being treated as a non dog.  Sad very sad.

Each tiny dog is just that; a dog and deserves to be treated as such.  They love to run, jump and play like the big dogs.  They need just as much training as the big guys and have as much if not more gusto for life.  So; step back and have a look at that little guy, that's one great dog in there.  Just waiting to come out and play with the big boys. 

Simple

Dogs; simple yet amazingly complex and wonderful. A mosaic of emotion, body language and facial expression wrapped up into a fuzzy, or maybe not so fuzzy singular representation of the canine species. Each as individual as the next; and yet as a whole a labyrinth of parallel generalizations. Yes there are many common denominators surrounding the species itself, but when broken down into minute pieces,very different indeed.

Where am I going with this blog? No where specific, but as my day yesterday was a discombobulated mass of technical mess* I headed to my dogs.  I sat outside watching them in all their simple glory.  Don't get me wrong; I am in no way stating that our dogs are simple minded.  On the contrary; our canines are exemplary geniuses.  The meaning of  "simple," that I am referring to is this:  unaffected; unassuming; modest, free of deceit or guile; sincere; unconditional.  A dog is simple at it's best definition and a dog is quite simple to love.

I watched as Tilley lay on the grass enjoying the warm sun on her old bones.  Jessie lay sound asleep; secure in her own yard and Luke was at my side watching.  I let out a huge stress sigh; which was immediately addressed by Luke.  He came and nudged me; they just seem to know.  And with a simple touch from a wet nose; everything was put into perspective.  Stupid technology; it drives me crazy, and there I let it lay at that.

I wrapped my arms around my boy to enjoy the simple things in life and after much snuggling I scooped up Jessie and we headed in for some couch times.  Ahhhh; the simple things are the best things in life. 

*Not one, but two computers were down today.  I have my laptop up and running better than ever thanks to the Geek Squad but still await news on my desk top, here's hoping. 

Constant nagging

Yesterday I had Luke out for a walk in the park. There were more dogs than usual and dogs that we had never seen before. It was Easter Sunday so routines would haved changed for many people. We stopped and talked to a woman who had a 15 year old shepherd mix; she was making sure that he got out for his walks everyday, nice. We dodged a little tan scruffy dog that wanted a piece of Luke and then we walked by a dog who, was being nagged.

The nagging (persistently recurring; unrelenting)was in the form of collar yanking and meaningless words. The words were meaningless because they were falling on deaf ears. The dog had no intention of obliging what his owner was asking, let alone listen to her words. And the yanking was to give the words power; which it did not. The woman grew embarrassed and frustrated by her dogs lack of acknowledgement. She repeated "sit, sit, sit, sit and sit, followed by the constant yanking.

It was clear that she was fearing our approach and did not have a handle on her dog's behavior. So Luke and I made a big arch; the wise thing to do. And as we passed she praised her dog, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. So what was she praising? I would imagine she was praising for the lack of display, surely it was not because the dog was doing what it had been asked to do. Praising a dog for not going off on another dog is great; if and only if that is all you expected. If you have asked for different behaviors which have been refused then you need to be careful where you place your praise.

The best recommendation for a situation like this is to forget asking your dog to perform a behavior that it clearly is not going to perform. Asking for a sit when a dog is highly aroused takes a lot of pre-training. And to expect it without a great deal of training is just setting your dog up for failure. This dog was given direct commands which it refused and then was praised, this was mixed signals at their best. The yanking (which I abhor)only added fuel to the fire. The constant physical pain and annoyance would have made the dog only more aggitated.

The best thing to have done would have been to keep the dog happy and occupied as Luke and I walked by. Using lots of food or other type rewards and made the situation a positive one. "Oh look; when another dog walks by you get to have fun and or treats." This equates to dogs walking by is a good thing.

If you suspect that your dog will not do what you are about to ask, don't ask. It is best to get a handle on the behavior via many training sessions before asking. If you constantly ask and don't receive, then what do you think your dog is learning? Yep, these words meaning nothing.

Our actions speak volumes, and if we aren't careful they are volumes of mixed garble. This mash of instructions mixed with human emotion made for a message that was doomed from the start. Before you act; take control of yourself. Before you speak, think. And as always; lead by example.................chill.

Talking to the animals

How many words can a dog learn? Have you ever consider what your dog understands as far as human terminology? If you know your dog really well you should be able to see when they understand a word. All of my dogs respond to many, many human words each with their own little visual recognition twist. Luke is again the easiest to read; his responses are more demonstrative making it easier to see if he understands.

All the dogs know everyone's name in the family. I can tell each one to go and see a particularsomeone and they will; of course Jessie is not cannot do this now. I try to teach them new words all the time, even as seniors their learning capacity is large and they are more than willing to give it a try.

When you teach your dog the meaning of our human words it opens up the ability to communicate more readily with them. Take a crazed barking pack; my dogs often go off when someone comes in the door. If I tell them it is just Nicole (one of my daughters) then the barking changes dramatically from guarding to excitement barking. Which is much more tolerable.

If Luke won't eat his meal I will tell him that I put butter in it. He will then go and check out his meal, what a guy. I don't really know how large their vocabulary is but I know they understand alot and I am always teaching them new meanings of words.

Some newer ones are airplane, your grass (I planted a special pot for their eating enjoyment), bird, ice and beach. Each time we do something I explain to them what is going on. "We are going in the car to the park." "Go have a drink of water," "anyone hungry? I'm going to feed the dogs" I constantly talk to the dogs because repetition is the secret to creating an understanding of words that they hear on a regular basis.

Because my dogs understand so many words it can be difficult to tag a new behavior with an associated term as it may mean other things to them already. I have actually gone days before putting a verbal meaning on a behavior because I've had a difficult time finding a word that is new. That or finding a word that I will remember; I really forget easily so it has to be something that will stick in my head as well.

It is nice seeing how much a dog can understand. Talk to your dog; they are listening a lot more than you probably think.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone. Hope you all have a special day today with your pooches and families. Please be sure to keep the chocolate out of reach, this day and Christmas are the most common days for food mishaps and our dogs.



I'll see you all tomorrow.

I now have something serious to talk about.

I just got notice that another dog has died from strangulation due to their collar. Sadly this is all too common; so I would like to pass this information, please do the same. Collars look cute and are essential tools when you live with dogs; but please take extra precaution and never leave your dog’s collar on while unattended. Collars or harnesses should only ever be worn when your dog is under your strict supervision. My dogs only wear collars when they go for a walk; as soon as we enter back into our home they come off. I had one of these accidents happen to my dogs and luckily I was there to stop a tragedy.





Many years ago now I had two male standard poodles who loved to rough house. One day while outside one of the boys got their mouth snagged up in the other ones collar. Both were extremely upset; thinking that the other was in some way attacking them, they struggled and screamed. I ran screaming myself; I thought they were indeed in a fight. Once I got close it was obvious what was happening and I was able to calm them long enough to untangle them. Unfortunately not all dogs are as lucky; and you don’t need two or more dogs to have an accident.

Many different scenarios can happen when a dog wears a collar unsupervised. There are many stories of dogs being strangled when they have attempted to jump a fence and didn’t make it. Dog tags can become caught on just about anything even in the safety of a crate. Once caught up a dog quickly goes into panic mode. It is often this fight or flight reaction that causes the damage. All collars can be dangerous; choke type collars are the worst because they tighten and don’t let up but even a regular flat buckle collar can take a dog’s life.

Most people keep identification tags on their dog’s collars; having a collar on gives the guardian a sense of security. Tags are fine on a collar for a walk; but if you want to identify your dog 24x7 have them micro-chipped. All veterinarian offices offer micro-chipping; and it is one of the best ways to ensure your dogs return should they ever become lost. Save your collar/harness use for what they were intended; walks. Take all collars and harnesses off when you are not supervising; it could save your dog’s life. Please tell your friends.

Motion sickness

As I said yesterday I will discuss car sickness and dogs this morning; it is a common problem and an easy fix. Almost all dogs are car sick as youngsters; but if a breeder has made a point of getting their puppies out in a car from a very early stage you may be one of the lucky ones and dodged a bullet. I remember bringing home Jessie; a tiny white bundle of adorable she rode on my daughters lap, my daughter was 9 years old at the time. The kids were all smitten; oooooing and awwwing and trying to pick a name when SPLOSH. Jessie puked on my daughters lap; of course there was a commotion, lots of GROOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSS so we pulled over and cleaned it up. She rode the rest of the way down the country roads on my lap.

All of my dogs have been car sick dogs except for Luke; it is very common. Being someone who gets motion sick myself; I understand completely. And I feel for dogs as they start to drool; long strands of saliva hanging from their mouth, their eyes filled with "I don't feel well." It is a horrible feeling. Some dogs get over it quickly and on their own; others need help and if you don't step in and assist in their rehabilitation the issue can lodge in their brain and cause unnecessary prolonged vomiting in your car. Basically what happens is that your dog starts to relate the horrible feeling of motion sickness to the car.

Tilley was one of these associated vomiting dogs. I noticed very quickly that she would start drooling before we even got into the car. So it was all in her head; I hate this phrase but it was all in her head. So we had to re-associate; and that is what you must do to help your dog get over their car sickness. Just like most behaviors with dogs you need to go slow; baby steps. If your dog is like Tilley and started before even getting in the car you need to start there. I would put Tilley's collar and leash on and head towards the car. We would stop at the car; I'd ask her to sit and give treats, tons of praise and then we calmly walked away. And did it again and again until she was giving me a positive response to approaching the car.

Next we worked on just opening the car door and creating a positive response. It is important to give all the treats and praise while in the "bad" zone. This puts the focus on building positive right at the correct place. When you walk away from the car or get your dog out of the car you are to say nothing. You want to build the association that the car is a great and wonderful place, not getting out or moving away. So from there you move slowly to sitting in the car for treats a praise. Only do this for very short time span and only move onto the next step once you have complete success at the present step.

You then progress to you sitting in the drivers sit and tossing treats back to your dog. Make that a great place by simply chilling, chatting and getting treats. When you have success there you start the car; don't go anywhere as this is a big step and you must ensure a positive association to it here. Your next step is to simply back out your driveway and drive back in; always quit while you're ahead. Don't push it; be happy with small successes. The next step is down your street and back again and from that point in time you build on time.

Make sure not to feed your dog before any of your car sick training. A full stomach is detrimental to your hard work and dogs tend to vomit much quicker on a full stomach. Use special treats that are only given in the wonderful, amazing and glorious car. Of course with all this training there are a few dogs that will remain motion sick; it is sad because it is a horrible feeling, I know only too well.

The phone is ringing!!

My cell phone was ringing; I wasn't in the mood to pick it up nor was I did I feel like getting off of the couch. Luke immediately sat up and stared at me; he knew that I should be moving when he heard my phone. I could tell that he was waiting for me to get up; he continued to stare at me while the ringing lingered from my phone. "I know, I hear it," I said to him. He gave me another glance over his shoulder and put his head down. This makes me realize how perfectly suited dogs are to helping us in our daily lives. Luke has picked up the whole sequence of behaviors when my phone rings.

Dogs are innately tuned into the world around them and the world around us. You may not think that your dog is clued into all the daily cues, oh but they are. How do they know when we are leaving? They not only know that we are leaving the house; they know whether or not they are going with you. Each and every cue (a sensory signal used to identify experiences, facilitate memory, or organize responses) gives them vast amounts of information that would more than likely go unnoticed by we mere humans.

Constantly reading, watching and taking in our subtle body cues; our dogs are masters in the art of communication. So it goes without saying that they are amazing alert dogs. Dogs trained specifically to alert at a trained action. There are diabetic alert dogs, epileptic alert dogs, drug alert dogs and even noise alert dogs. We could never even come close to doing what dogs can do easily.

It is amazing how they know; even when we try not to let them know, they still know. I work very hard at giving no cues sometimes, like bath time. I will go about my day; placing bathtime items throughout the day. And it never fails, they know, somehow they just know. Going into the bathroom each day is about the same each time, but when I am going in before we go for a walk they know. I come out to see three dogs standing there, haven't quite figured out how they pick up on that yet.

Movements so small, so minute that we cannot decifer any difference between two but dogs can. With a breath, a lack of breath, a hesitation in motion or more velocity given to a movement can be all they need. They are truly amazing, on a daily basis, every one of them.

Feeding the hounds

First thing every morning my dogs eat a snack. I do not like to be cast into a feeding time like many people fall into. Dogs can really get set into a routine and I for one am for and against routine. Some dogs need routine, it helps them feel grounded much like some humans. Others like to just wing it, that's me in a nut shell. I drive my whole family crazy because I don't like to make plans, I like to do what I feel like doing at any given moment. As far as feeding my dogs; they are fed twice a day everyday but the time varies.

The most important thing when not feeding them first thing in the morning is to make sure that they have something. I've written before about how we eat breakfast in bed, not always but mostly. Ah............you could say that we have the breakfast in bed routine, and that is one that I really enjoy. Anyhow; when we have breakfast the dogs have their morning snacks but even that is switched up. Sometimes on the floor, sometimes in bed, sometimes we share, other times they get their own doggie snacks. But they get some sort of food and this is to tide them over until breakfast time.

Because I live in Southern California; it is often too hot to walk the dogs even after 8:00 in the morning so I don't feed the dogs before they walk. They have their snack, I go to the gym and then we do some sort of activity. Like I said we switch it up but everyone gets their turn and their exercise for the day. Today it was spending the morning outside with me while I gardened. Tilley was up for lots of retrieving this morning, Luke stayed in bed. But this afternoon he was all over the tennis ball.

Once everyone has had their exercise for the morning; they have chill time, literally. They must cool down before they eat. The reason for this is bloat and stomach torsion. A common scenario is that after a dog is exercised, they drink a ton of water and then eat. The food in the stomach then grows to a far larger amount because of the fluid in the stomach. Typically this is an issue with dog food or kibble but I don't take any chances even when they are eating real food. So we don't eat until we are all cooled down. Once cooled down it is usually real food; how and where that food is delivered varies. Sometimes in a bowl, other times tossed around the yard, fork fed, used for training etc. etc.

Dinner is much the same, different. I have no dogs standing, staring, drilling a whole into my head with their laser beam eyes. I will not be told when it is time to eat; I do the telling and because we do not have a set time, there is no dinner time anxiety. I don't have dogs standing waiting. I will often wait until all the dogs are sound asleep to ring the dinner bell. It's good to keep'm on their toes. ;) Dogs and humans alike.

Dog Friendly?

The advertisement reads “Dog friendly,” but is it really? There is dog friendly and then there is truly dog friendly. Many dog loving owners these days are not willing to leave fido at home alone, so finding a special place that truly accommodates to the canine and their family can be a challenge. Asking questions and getting referrals is your best line of fire but prepare yourself to dig deep. Just because it says dog friendly does not mean that you will be welcomed with open arms as you arrive with your three Great Danes.

I cannot tell you how many places I have called about their policy with regards to being “dog friendly,” only to find out that they are only dog friendly if your dog is less than 10 lbs. Admittedly; stating that you are dog friendly is an advertising ploy so it may take a magnifying glass to read the small print before you will have the real goods on a place. That is unless one of your dog loving friends has told you about a specific place. But if being referred is may not be enough, many places change policy a lot so what you hear from a friend may not be the most relevant information about a fascility.

It is much like finding out that “view” does not mean that your hotel is located on the beach that you will be viewing. Dog friendly can mean many things to many people. It could mean friendly as far as the outdoor patio, or friendly if one is small enough to be in carried around in a bag. Perhaps you have conjured up a wonderful image of yourself and your German Shepherd running down a gorgeous beach together as free as the wind, having the time of your life. But in reality you discover that your dog must be on a leash and that pristine white beach is strictly off limits to canines.

Traveling with your dog can be wonderful; but it can be a whole lot of headache as well. Before you go; call ahead and confirm that a facility will indeed accommodate your dog/dogs. If you plan to visit parks, events or site seeing destinations be sure that you check these for their level of friendliness to the canine specifies as well. It may be a great deal of homework and research but it will pay out tenfold when you have asked all the right questions before arriving. It is always best to ask first rather than finding out that the answer may be no once you get there.

Coexistence

Coexistence:  to exist together or at the same time; to live in peace with each other.  We do our best at coexisting with our canines, some do it better than others.  Of course there are the ones that don't coexist at all, they simply buy a dog and put it outside to live a sad and lonely life.   I'm not talking about these people, in my books they aren't dog people.  I'm talking about dog people, the ones who have dogs living in their home as part of the family............coexisting. 

My whole adult life has been alongside a dog or two or three at a time.  I have tried my best to smoothly integrate all into our home.  For me this means a lot of planning to make our coexistence an easy one, one that has as few hassles as possible.  When we lived in Canada we had a couple of unfenced acres, fabulous but not easy at all.  We built a beautiful run down the side of the house and then discovered that in the frigid winter we had to walk out onto the deck, down the stairs and around the side to let the dogs in an out, not so smart planning.  But my hubby figured it all out and opened up the side rail of the deck and built a nice set of stairs and another fence into the pen.  This was used for the in and outs, not for exercising.  We always took them out in the back forty for big runs.  But this definitely made life simple.

In this house we have put a dog door in, which leads into a fenced yard.  We have beds in every room of the house except the bathrooms.  I bought my car specifically to accomodate my dogs comfortably and I have gates and crates of all sizes in case there is a need to partition.  Like I said I like ease, and a long the way when I find a glitch that is making my or my dogs life a bit of a hassle, well........... we fix it. 

One big fat hassle when living with dogs is carpet, I hate it.  I think it is about one of the worst ever inventions, that is wall to wall.  I love the kind you can pick up and clean or send away to have cleaned thoroughly.  So when we lay our new floor down in the family room it will not be carpet.  Or sure carpet is nice to walk on, nice to lay on and or play on but as for cleanliness?  It's not.  Little creatures can live in it, and when there is an occassional accident, it all goes under the carpet to fester in the underpad.  Yuck.

My dream home would have no wall to wall.  There would be dog beds everywhere, of course the kind that you can remove the cover and wash.  Lots of blankets for the dogs, a place for crates and lots of gates just in case.  There are times when you need to block off areas or keep dogs out, it is nice to have that handy.  I like to have a special cupboard designated as the "dog treat" cupboard.  And a huge storage for leashes, extra blankets, coats and grooming stuff. 

Incorporating the dogs into our lives makes our lives with dogs even more wonderful.  Don't give me fancy; I want simple and dog friendly.  For the dogs and all of us humans too.  :)

Where did everything go?

We are doing a renovation in our family room; every last piece of everything has been removed. We had a water leak which turned to mold so the repairs were needed.   Unfortunately this is the room where the dog door is and the room where Jessie spends most of her days.  Jessie is our little Jack Russell who will be 15 on May 26th and she suffers from Dementia or Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome.    Looking back now it started sometime last fall but hit seriously around Christmas 2010.  She's been doing okay; and we have adjusted our routine to best suit her odd needs.

Sadly Jessie also has little vision and little hearing.  So these things together make changes in the house difficult for her.  This has been a biggy; we are working to get it back together as quickly as possible.  The first few days I found her down in the family room, alone and standing in the middle of the room.  Then she followed me down one day as I was working and she wandered around aimlessly.  Not finding anything familiar she started circling.  I picked her up and brought her upstairs where we have put her favorite bed. 

She is adjusting now, it's been about a week and we came home today to find all three dogs sleeping in the living room.  She'd found her favorite bed and was fast asleep there.  Later in the day she moved to a bed upstairs in my room; she likes to sleep there as well.  The big thing that first threw her as far as familiarity recognition being gone was the carpet; the moment she came into the dog door and the carpet was gone you could see her confusion. 

When we get the flooring and major work underway we will have to stop the dogs from going into the room completely.  This will be a very difficult few days; especially for Jessie.  This mean that I will spend more time at home to make sure that all is well.  And I will be taking them all out for longer walks in attempts of tiring them out.  Releasing energy is a great stress reliever for both humans and dogs alike.  It will hopefully create a tired bunch of dogs and a dog tired little Jack Russell.  Tired enough to sleep through all the confusion.

Stuff to ponder

This is not a widely known thing yet; dogs don't need shots every year. The more people I talk to the more I realize that this is not common knowledge. There are so many things that veterinarian offices will push on you that the average person just puts their trust in the vet and says okay. I'm am here to tell you that it is not okay. Let's start with the annuals, the parvo, distemper, rabies etc.

This is Dr. Jean Dodds vaccine protocol and one that I follow.

As far as I am concerned there are far too many booster shots given to dogs. When was the last time you had a booster? That's right, way back when you were a kid. Now don't get me wrong; I'm not bad mouthing vaccines, they are responsible for getting rid of many horrible diseases. But the old saying "more is better" does not apply here; to vaccines. And that sense of urgency you get when the yearly vaccination time comes around, forget about it. There is not a time bomb ticking away and the second that date comes and goes your dog is going to die of a contagious disease.

Titers are a wonderful thing; you can see just how well those vaccines are still working.

And just what happens to a dogs body when they receive too many vaccines? This is a good read.

It is extremely important that very young puppies not be given shots too early. Unfortunately many rescue and shelter groups double up on vaccinations which can cause severe damage days or years later. A dogs body can only handle so many vaccinations at one time and some of the cocktails that they are given are downright dangerous. Please research the subject; there is a wealth of information on the web about over vaccinating.

Okay let's move onto some of the other dangerous things. Flea and parasite treatments or shots.

There are the topical treatments where we put toxic chemicals onto our dogs. These topical treatments are made to stay on; you can barely wash them off so when and if there is a reaction it is nearly impossible to get it off. There are many many stories of this exact thing happening on the net. The warning on the box says to keep children away from it; hmmmmm and yet we put it right onto our dogs skin. That should be a red flag right there.

Then there is the pill, the one that puts the substance right into our dogs digestive system. It is powerful enough to work from the inside out; ever think about that? How toxic a substance has it got to be to kill ticks and fleas on the outer skin? Ivermectin (Ivomec®, Heartgard®)is the most commonly used and comes in the conconction to kill all. This product was originally created for heartworms; a parasite spread via mosquitos. I use to live where there were enough mosquitos in the summer to literally drag you off but here in Southern California I've seen probably 3 in almost 11 years. I do not treat my dogs for heartworm and I do not use flea and tick treatments.

A bath will kill most fleas so regular bathing will keep them in check; yes it is work but keep your dog chemical free is worth it. Got a pool? Let your dogs swim, and kill those buggers. As for ticks, you gotta pick them off. If your dog has been in a tick environment you must check them for ticks and remove them; I do it all the time. I use hemostats pictured above but you can use tweezers or these I have not used this device so don't know if they actually work or not.

Last summer was a bad season for kennel cough; I knew several people who's dog got it at the dogpark. Yes even when a dog has a been vaccinated against it with Bordatella they risk being infected because of the number of strains that can be out there. So for me I would rather steer clear of the dog park in the summer months and forgo the Bordatella shot in lieu of management. I don't walk around bushes in the hot months when ticks are bad and I watch for the first signs of fleas and get bathing. And I run titer tests on my dogs; they have all had numerous bouts of shots and now years later are still getting great immunity results on their titers.

Just something to ponder folks.

Beach boy

This morning I needed a change so Luke and I hopped in the car and headed to the beach.  I wasn't sure what beach I was going to but I was going West.  I decided to hit The Montage, a regular place that we like to walk, good parking, nice paths and beach.  It won't be long and the dogs will not be allowed on the beach again.  Starting the end of May into mid September dogs are no longer permitted on the beaches.  That is except for specific dog beaches.  We can walk around the beach, look at the beach and stand beside it but no dog feet on the beach during the summer months.

I'm not a fan of this rule; obviously but I get it.  Our beaches quickly go from very quiet to unbelievably crowded.  I love the beaches mid winter here in SoCal, sometimes it's just me and the dogs.  Hit the beach in the middle of summer, the tourist season and you'd be lucky to find a 3'x3' spot to sit.  I don't visit them much in the summer.  Today was quiet, lots of spots to park just the way I like it.  We head out for our walk heading to the beach.  Luke is so excited to get going he can barely control himself. 

She was eating a stick that her Dad didn't want her to have.

We first met a guy with his Great Dane, she was beautiful.  As we approached of course I asked if she was friendly, and she was.  Luke has never met a Great Dane before, at least I don't think he had.  He seemed to like her.  We chatted about this wonderful girl as Luke started to dig.  A little mystified as to what Luke was doing she let out a couple of very big barks.  Luke's ears shot back and he stopped digging.  I just know she wanted off leash, they could have had a blast, oh well.  We said our goodbyes and moved on.

Luke loves to walk in the water, and unfortunately he also likes to drink it.  Not a lot, just a few sips but he shouldn't drink any of it.  So I'm constantly watching for the head lowering so that he can sneak a sip.  Plus I always bring bottled water for him so it's not that he is thirsty, he just likes to grab a sip.  We checked out the tide pools, Luke climbed some rocks but when I asked him to go into a cave like rock formation he was too scared.  We watched the birds, Luke loves the ones that run along the waters edge and charges them in hopes of catching one.  Then we just sat and took in the view, which is pretty amazing.

As we head out towards the parking lot we ran into a nice family with a feisty Scottish Terrier and a 7 month old standard poodle pup.  He was as black as coal and cute as a button.  We chatted a bit and then headed for home.  Luke had another drink of water in the car, some snacks and then we were off.  Another very nice day at the beach with my boy.

Thinking positive

Much of my job when I am training with a client is to "pump them up."  In other words; I need to convince them that they CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!  Even when they think that they cannot.  "I can't do it like you, Sherri you make it look so easy."  Do you know how many times I've heard this?   Much of it, if not all of it has to do with state of mind.  If you don't think you can do it, then there is a slim chance that you can.  "Yes you can."  Say it with me people "I can do it, I can train my dog."

I am not a fan of shipping dogs off to be trained; for many reasons.  But for this blog it is because the owner is not working with their own dog.   Throughout the training process an owner or guardian learns, the whole thing is a huge learning curve for dog and owner alike.  The owner gets to see how their dog reacts and how their own behavior factors in their dogs behavior.   Watching behaviors unfold before their owners eyes makes the task of helping them understand it all much easier. 

One of the biggest obstacles in training is the absence of the "CAN DO," attitude.  Understandably it can be intimidating to give it a go in front of a professional trainer.  But it's best to mess up when they are there so that they can walk you through it all, mistakes included.  I love training, I love canine behavior and I LOVE helping owners pull it all together.  It is great when they "get it" when I'm there watching but they must perfect it and feel confident enough to have it work when I'm not there. 

You can do it; anyone can.  I'm not saying it's going to be easy, there may be days when you feel very incompetent with the whole training thing.  But persevere and it will all fall into place.  Some of the best trainers were mere beginners a few years ago.  Everyone has to start somewhere, I did.  There was a day when I loved dogs but that was about all I knew about them, really.  Life is a constant learning curve.  Each and every time I work with a new dog I learn something new.   Interest is a stepping stone, once there is interest the learning starts.  The more you learn the more you want to learn and the interest grows. 

Research is a wonderful thing to help you get over that "I have no idea" hump.  Knowledge is power and power can build confidence.  Before you know it; you start feeling like you can actually do it.  Sure there will be days when you feel a bit in over your head but keep your head up, ask questions and keep moving forward.  It is your dog and you CAN train her. 

I will never forget how one of my clients felt when I first met them.  They were deflated; they'd been told that they were going to ruin their dog.  That is if they didn't leave the dog with this particular trainer.  Feeling horrible about the prospects of ruining their dog, they left the dog.  When they returned they found a shell of the dog they'd left, he had been traumatized somehow, lost weight and had the life sucked out of him.   This is when I got the call, the dog was an adorably sweet Golden Retriever who was amazing at everything we taught him.  After much positive reinforcement work to build his confidence he was more like the dog they had known.  And shame on that trainer for using scare tactics to gain him a new client. 

If a trainer tells you that you should hand over your dog because you are going to ruin her; run.  Grab your dog and head for the hills.  A trainers job is to show you how to do it; make you feel enlightened with the knowledge that they share and more than able to handle the work once the trainer goes home.  So yes; you can do it.