This and that

I hope that all you Mothers had a great day yesterday; I did.  We took the dogs for their morning run all together; the weather was beautifully cool and overcast.  Little Jessie is a funny little thing when she thinks that she is going for a walk, it is one of her few high moments of the day.  When she sees her harness I can hardly get it onto her as she fights me to get it on.  With her vision impaired, she is struggling to get it on as I am as well but I can see what I'm doing, she cannot.

Once she has her harness on she cries and I have to wait to pick her up until just before we go out because there she struggles as well.  She is so darned excited to get out the door that her little 14 lb body is rigid as she grunts and groans.  Then again once we get to the park she literally throws herself out of the car.  I cannot touch her until it is her time or she just hurls herself out.  So I push Jessie to the back of the SUV, help Luke out; push Jessie to the back of the SUV, lift Tilley out and then grab Jessie's harness tight.  She then proceeds the attempts to hurl herself out of the SUV.  She isn't jumping like a normal dog no; she'll go out head first, rear first, sideways or however she can get out.  This is new with the dementia.

Once out we had such a nice walk; Tilley and Luke both had ball time.  Tilley comes to life with a ball, you'd never think that she was a 14 year old dog.  But today she was favoring her back right leg a bit.  On Saturday night I'd noticed a wound of sorts on her leg; I'm not sure what it is from, could be a sebaceous cyst (Tilley has had many, many of these over the years).  Or it could again be a spider bite but by today it was looking a bit better after cleaning and wrapping it.  I will have a good look this morning to see how it is and we may be off to the vet yet again.

After our walk; we all had a cool down and then they had a nice chicken breakfast.  After that it was nap time for the oldies, that is until dinner time.  Old dogs sleep a lot.

HAPPY MOMMA'S DAY

It's Mothers Day; so first let me say Happy Mother's day to all the Mom's out there.  That means all you Dog Mom's as well.  I spent yesterday after noon at Shoreline Poodles.  I met Suzanne, the breeder last summer along with a wonderful litter.  How lucky am I?  I was invited to celebrate the first birthday of that litter.  As well; several dogs from the previous litter who were celebrating their 2nd were in attendance.  She is very pregnant at the moment; due in two weeks.  This will be her third and final litter.

This is Angie; proud Momma of all the pups in attendance.  How wonderful for a breeder to see all their pups at the age of one and two years old.  Each family shared their stories with the others; it was a wonderful day.   Every dog was very different; their lives all gone in different directions and yet they all came together to celebrate.   This is how you do it; staying connected with the people who have taken home one of your puppies is another step in the "good" breeder standard.  

This gal was celebrating her first birthday; what a cutie.  I met these puppies at the age of 5 weeks and then again at 7 weeks, it was amazing seeing them all grown up.

This very big boy was there to celebrate his 2nd birthday with his younger brothers and sisters.

Just a sweetheart.

Another boy, this guy was celebrating his first.

These gals really came together; sisters but a year apart they were having a blast playing.

Another of the 1st year celebration pups.

Happy Mothers day to all of you wonderful Mothers.  :)

Boggles the mind

I was surfing the net tonight; you know how you start looking for something and several dozen clicks later you are no where near where you started.  I really don't even know how I end up on these sights but you know what they say "inquiring minds want to know."  I do want to know; I want to know the good, the bad and the ugly.  And what I stumbled onto tonight was bad, a puppy broker.  They're out there and you should be aware, very aware.

The one I landed on tonight is called Purebred breeders; and basically they are middlemen.  They claim to inspect all the breeders who's dogs they sell, but I'm not buying it for a second.  This is just like the pet stores who sell the puppy mill dogs and pretend that they would never sell mill dogs.  Let me just say for a moment; no reputable and or ethical breeder would sell puppies through this type of online broker.  Buying a puppy online, sight unseen is very very dangerous.  You have no idea where the puppy is coming from; the health, temperament or the life this cute little puppy's parent are leading, you know nothing.

I went onto the site, chose a dog, filled out the form and it brought me directly to the check out.  Pay by credit card or paypal; it is as easy as that and they ship your puppy to you.  People do this; they put in all their info, pay the crazy amount asked for these dogs and hope that it all works out.  After only a small amount of research on the company I easily found all the complaints and warnings.  Frankly I have to admit that I knew they would be there.

Do not let these sites fool you; they are selling puppies like merchandise.  This my friends is just another arm of the problem, an offshoot of puppy mills.  So many dogs; too many dogs, pumping them as fast as those little females will come into heat, be bred, have pups and do it all over again.  Often there are no middlemen, just the breeder who lists bucket loads of litters available.  To the unsuspecting prospective puppy owner this may seem great.  Look at all the choices; this is how you breed dogs.  The lists state; pups born April 04, April 10, April 18, May 1st and some older pups and adults available.  WHAT??????????????

All the photos of the adult dogs may or may not be behind fences; strictly fence shots is a red flag.  Click and buy is a huge red flag; and handfuls of litters is a huge flag.  Please do not give your money to these people; no matter how cute that little face staring at you on your computer screen is.  These folks want your money; that's it, bottom line.  DON'T GIVE IT TO THEM.  They will use it to further invest in their assembly line puppies.

A great breeder will make it very difficult for you to obtain a puppy; they are and should be suspicious.  You too should be suspicious, ask questions, go and see their home.  If you have any tiny thoughts that there are too many dogs; dogs that are not properly cared for or that this person is strictly doing it for the money with no regard for the dogs, leave.  As for those millers selling puppies online or through brokers; do not fuel their mass production of dogs.

Online puppy sales are big business; don't fall victim and don't help to keep these horrendous people in business.  It is all about supply and demand; let's stop the demand.

Yappy hour at the Ritz-Carlton

Thursday evening I attended a wonderful event that a good friend of mine invited me to.  I hadn't heard of it and after a bit of research; I was very excited to visit the canine function.  Yappy hour at the Ritz-Carlton; sound fancy?  Well it was.  Not your ordinary dog gathering; it was held at the upscale Ritz-Carlton Hotel.  Unfortunately I'd not been before so I parked across the street.  They have valet which I will definitely take advantage of at the next Yappy Hour.

I met my friend and her poodle out front of the Hotel; from there we were directed to follow the paw prints, cute.  It took us on a walk through the grounds and out onto a large grass area over looking the ocean.  The view was spectacular and the grounds, beautiful.  We were met by several people who explained about the event and told us where we could find everything.  There was also a gentleman with a tray of dog cookies which...........................if you can believe Luke loved.  We actually headed back there after a bit for another and Luke wolfed that down as well.  Excellent cookies; Luke says a definite 4 paws up.

There were lots of dogs to meet.

Some came dressed up.

Some even had their own driver.

The event is a fundraiser for the Pet Project Foundation; partial proceeds from the event go directly to help animals.  Wine, cocktails and beer was available for purchase and the featured vineyard was Mutt Lynch Winery.   They also had food available for the humans starting at 4.00 for their delicious tacos that we had.  Cookies for the dogs and flavored water; yes flavored water prepared by one of the chefs at the Ritz was complimentary.  They had bacon, cheese, beef, veggie, chicken and plain available.  I had a sniff of the chicken water and it smelled amazing; and as I was told that it was fit for human consumption I thought about it but went for the orange water instead.  Both Luke and his friend preferred the orange water that was set out for the humans as well, go figure.

Note on the far right, the orange water.  Below Luke and his friend Sally enjoy a glass.  

Mutt Lynch wines

On top of the cookies, flavored water, wine and goodies for the humans they also offered massages.  Both for  humans and the dogs; below this tall, dark and handsome receives his massage.  Tell me he is not loving this?

We got there early and after we arrived it was a steady stream of people and dogs coming in.  I was actually very surprised at the turnout; even as we were leaving there were still folks coming in with their dogs.

Yappy Hours is offered Thursday - May 5, June 2, July 7, August 4, and September 1 from 5 to 8 p.m.   There were a great number of dogs and the only squabble I heard was Luke having words with another male who was intact.  All the dogs were wonderfully behaved and having a great time socializing; as it seemed the humans were as well.  A great event; I will definitely attend next month.  Nice to step out for a glass of wine surrounded by breathtaking scenery and bring your dog to enjoy it as well.   

Human behavior

As per the norm; a quick trip to the park and I have my topic for the next days blog.  Yesterday I had the poodles out together, a little different but Jessie was sound asleep when I was getting them ready and I hated to wake her.  We got to the park and did a ton of sniffing on the way in.  Luke is not use to going snail speed so he spent his time sniffing everything in sight.  I typically take Luke out separately because he can handle and needs more exercise than Tilley but sometimes it's just good for both of them to walk together.  So there we were the three of us at the park.

We had just walked by two absolutely adorable Shih tzu dogs that we regularly see at the park.  The two were tied to a tree while their owner worked out on some very cool outdoor gym equipment.  They seemed very sweet and were silent; obviously a bit intimidated by the bigger dogs but gave a tiny wag.  We were just about to round a corner when I looked back to see a woman who was not the owner of the dogs bending down to pet them.  They were fine with her petting them and jumped about happily.   But then she held her arms out looking like she was planning on picking them up and they both lowered their body posture and moved away.  The woman continued her approach; both arms held out in front of her planning on picking one of the dogs up.

I watched as the owner got up and went over to the dogs.  The other woman who was obviously a stranger to the dogs continued with her quest to pick up a dog.  The dogs were freaking out at this point; the woman was standing up looming over the dogs with her arms out and she had on black gloves.  One of the dogs whipped around as if it had given a nip or snap and the woman stopped her approach.  The owner had never stepped up to stop this situation, she should have.  Seeing that her dogs were quite distressed at the idea of a stranger picking them up she should have stopped it immediately.

Why had this stranger not noticed or understood the clear body language of the dogs?  We are not born with the innate understanding of dog communications but running away is pretty clear even in human terms.  But she chose to ignore the dogs attempts to keep her at bay and continued to pursue the dog.  This type of thing may not seem like a harmful event but it can have fallout behaviors.  It is imperative for an owner to stop this type of thing from happening to their dog.  It is our job to protect our dogs.

No one should EVER pick up someone else's dog.  Everyone should learn how to properly approach and touch a dog.  At the vets on Friday I asked the technician if she could inform the Veterinarian to assume a sideways approach when entering the room so as to not trigger a defense response from Luke.  She said that he typically ignores the dogs when he enters a room; also a great behavior and it worked well for Luke.  Of course there are dogs in this world that would love nothing more than to be picked up and cuddled by whoever, but those are few and far between.

Most dogs have boundaries, much like we do.  A head on approach, standing upright with your arms out is about as bad as it gets, other than all out running straight at a dog.  I know many people who lean right in to kiss dogs on the face or give them a big hug, this is very dangerous.  Dogs deliver a great deal of information with their body and if we read it correctly we will understand what they are saying.  Don't just dive in blindly; read and respect a dogs boundaries.

More on dementia

I am writing a book on Dementia; it will discuss our ups, downs, twists and turns.  The form will resemble that of a journal I guess to help those who may deal with it or have dealt with this horrible disease.  Like Alzheimer, dementia can strike randomly.  We would have never thought that our little tank built, sharp as a whip Jack Russell would have been hit by it.  Once feisty, tenacious and very dominant girl has been transformed into a lost soul.

This is the first dog of ours that has suffered from dementia; although a couple seemed like they had it as they got older but once you see it you know that a little confused is not dementia.  Jessie has very few agendas now; not long ago she was driven by food, movement and dominance.  She still likes her food but comes no where near the gusto of just a few months ago.  Her prey drive is all but gone; there have been a few sparkle moments but they are minute to what was once a very driven little dog.  And the dominance is also but a memory; there have been a few stray attempts but mostly it is gone.

Everything has changed in a matter of months.  Many hours are spent wandering; pacing and searching for something that she cannot find.  There are strange things going on in that little head now; most I cannot even guess at anymore.  She still takes comfort in my arms but can typically be found away from the rest of the family.  This is one common symptom of the disease; preferring to be alone, not a typical dog behavior.

Not only has Jessie been stricken by dementia but her sight, hearing and sense of smell are almost gone.  Her hearing is the worst; she can barely hear a scream and even at that I think it may be the vibration she is feeling and not hearing at all.  She is steadily getting worse; not at a fast rate, more like a snail pace but worse none the less.  It is sad to see a once vibrant force to be reckoned with succumb to this disease that literally sucks the life from a dog.  On her moments of energy it is good to see her come to life about meal time or walk time.  It truly is the little things.

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.