Why a dog?

Actually I could have entitled this as Why A Pet?  It is obvious.  Pets are therapeutic.  They are great companions and remove the void of emptiness if you find yourself alone, especially in your later years.
They have been known to reduce blood pressure and reduce the affects of depression.
They are a great excuse for you to stay mobile by getting you out of the house for a walk or two.

Pets are entertaining.  They have a personality and often is the case for my wife and I to simply watch the Antics of our 5 Shih Tzus as they play.  We have been brought to tears of laughter by their behavior.
Check out my Videos on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/loafour

Each dog has it's very unique quality.  Gizmo is grumpy yet a big softy.  Ciara is a little princess who will not jump up on the bed but has no problem scaling Everest when she is outside.  Chevy will turn his head if you try to kiss him on the face but is a real cuddler whose big bug eyes can melt the coldest heart.
Shadow is the prince.  He is the lead dog of the pack.  He loves exploring his environment and would die protecting his family.  Dakota is referred to as Dora the Explorer.  She has to know where we are going at all times and is quite persistent on getting the front seat to herself.  She has a stubborn streak a mile wide and has to be the last into the car as she explores every thing every where.
Dakota loves kids and has been known to walk into any open door on our street simply to pay whom ever a visit.
Obviously, you have your own story to share with your own pet.  If you don't have a pet or have just bought one.  You will soon have a list of stories to share with your friends and family.  I have seen my dogs over the years walk into windows, fall off the couch where they were precariously perched before they fell asleep, get chased by cats, pass wind and thus clear a room of all inhabitants.
I have seen pets grab the empty dog bowl and toss it across the room to get the owner's attention that the bowl is empty.  I have seen a dog grab the bowl and carry it to the dining room where guests were seated and demand food.
Like Chevy, who now grabs the newspaper or steals one from the recycling bin in hopes to get a treat.

Your dogs will bring you many years of pleasure.  A dog especially, will love you more than life itself and ask for nothing in return.
If you show that dog any attention he will repay you exponentially and that is a commodity that often is lacking in our human counterparts.

Some Pictures

Thats a big eye u got.

Add caption

You can't see me....

I r Lion Dog here me roar!

You Still  can't see me

Motherhood sucks....

I r Bentley

I r not ET

Say Uncle

Shadow

Lying down, crawling, You're Busted!

The treat is the most effective tool when it comes to training a dog.  Be warned that the treat should not be given regardless of whether the pup performs the trick or not.  Do not confuse the dog.  He will want to please so realize that often a pup gets excited when food is present.  This will wain as he grows but nip it in the bud by being assertive and ensure that he behaves the way you want him.  Rewarding the wrong behavior only goes to re-enforce it and now undoing that process becomes another challenge.

Once the dog can sit then simply show the treat and draw your hand away and down toward the floor until he is lying down.  Again continue to use the command "Lie Down" as your perform the process.

Once he has that mastered, try getting him to lay down then pull the treat away from him towards you and say "Crawl" or Sneak up on it", either command will suffice.  eventually with practice you can have him lay down and sneak up on a ball place a short distance away and then reward him with a treat.

To teach a dog to heal works in the same manner.  Make sure you bring ample of bite size treats with you on your walk.  Use the word "heel", and hold the treat close to your hip and when he positions himself by your hip let him have the treat.

A fun trick is holding a treat against a wall in your house, high enough for the dog to stand on his hind legs and place his front paws onto the wall.  Say "Your Busted" when he does it.  After a while, hold back giving the dog the treat until you pat him down, and say something like "Quick hide the evidence" and then give him the reward.

I had a poodle cross the performed this trick so well that I would just say "Your Busted" and she would find any wall simply for the reward.

Dogs are not stupid.  I have mentioned how I have trained Chevy to bring in the mail and the paper.
He surprised me the other day when we returned home and the paper was on the pathway wrapped in a plastic bag.  Chevy didn't hesitate, he went for the paper and dragged it inside without being asked because he knew what was coming at the end of the trick.

He has also learned that the recycle bin has, you got it, newspapers in it , and often he will try to pull one out in exchange for that treat.
So I think you will be pleasantly surprised by your dog's own creativity and craftiness.

Handling the treat...ouch that was my finger!

Obviously I am not addressing sitting today.  The art of hand feeding a dog is important.
All dogs have different strengths and attitudes.  It is important that you know your breed.  A lab should display soft mouth touch, whereas  a rottweiler may present the opposite for good reasons.  It depends upon what they were initially bred for.
A lab is a retriever  and a bird dog.  They go into the field or water to recover killed birds for their master.  If they were to chomp down on the bird it would be rendered useless to the master.  Instead a lab has such a gentle mouth I have been able to teach one to fetch a raw egg and not break it in its mouth.  His reward was the raw egg after he brought it back to me.

When giving your dog a treat it is important to ensure that he/she is calm and fully focused on you.  An excited dog will unintentionally chomp down.

I have Shih-Tzu's who weight a mere 14 lbs but when excited have drawn blood whilst retrieving said treat.

Two of my 5 are excitable while the other three can take a treat gently from my hand.  The other 2 need to be told to be gentle and then I place the treat in my fingers and lead in to their mouth with the back of my hand.
I place my hand in their mouth and as long as they do not grab my hand, I release the treat.  If they show any move to grab the treat from my hand I pull my hand away and say "No", "Be Gentle".  I then repeat the process.

With larger dogs it is best to start as a pup.  Placing the hand in the mouth gets them to taste your scent and associate it with being gentle.
If it is an older dog, make sure you know its feeding habits and how it retrieves treats.  Always lead with the back of your hand and remove it if they show a tendency to clamp down.  Larger dogs can cause more damage to you even if it is accidental.

Besides being calm, you too need to be calm and assertive at all times.  If you too are not focused on your dog then you might miss the tell tale sign that the dog is not focused and excited.  You might get bitten by accident as a result.  I know, I did this year by Dakota, and the look on her face was that of a very sorry dog.  She got the treat, was not hit or spanked.  I simply said "ow!" and then I told her "No", "Be Gentle" and gave her the treat.
For several weeks after she was ever so gentle.  Now she is back to her old ways of being excited so I have to focus on her and then she receives the treat after she sits and is calm.

If you have more than one dog, it is sometimes better to separate them at treat time especially if one is excited and prone to chomping.  Its a competition between the other dogs and sometimes it is easier to reduce the anxiety level by giving the one a treat separate from the other.

I said sit not sh*t!

I follow one simple rule and it is called the 3 Rs of training.
Remain calm
Repetition
Reward

It is that simple.  Patience is the corner stone of training your dog.
Second, you need to be consistent.  You can't get the dog to sit and then don't bother for another 3 days and wonder why the confounded dog hasn't learned the new trick you taught him just the other day or so ago.

I implement hand signals at the same time as I train the dog to sit.

If you are out in a field or your dog gets out of the home and wants to cross the busy road to get to you then hand signals can save your dog's life.

I recommend that you raise your hand over your head to signify sit.
For stay I would recommend your arm straight out in front of you with your had pointing up. The sit command will get the dog's attention and know to sit by showing him the signal to stay simply enforces your first signal.

When you want him to come bring your hand towards you and say come.

Getting the dog to sit is quite easy.  For the puppy it may be a bit of a challenge because he is young and gets excited knowing there is a treat coming his way.

This is where remaining calm comes in.
Tell the dog to sit and simply place your hand on his backend and say sit.
When he does it, reward him.

A second action that often works is to simply use the treat and slightly above his head move the treat towards the rear of the dog.  He will most likely sit.

Repeat this function until he sits on verbal command.

Obviously it is best to have 100 percent of his attention so try doing this some place where you can have one to one without distractions of older dogs or young kids.



After he sits on verbal command and you no longer need to push his bottom down into the sitting position, then implement the hand jesture each and every time.  Eventually he will associate the body language with sit.

Stop using the verbal command and see if he/she sits down.

Reward him or her and praise him as often as it is possible.

If he/she fails to respond to the command, do not reward him.  Never re-enforce bad behavior.

Simply say firmly, when he is misbehaving, "NO!"
Redirect his attention away from what he is interested in and make sure he is focused totally on you.

Have him/her sit and again reward and praise him.

Shake a paw can also be accomplished quite quickly but don't load your dog up with a dozen tricks.  Start with one and when he/she has mastered the hand gesture then introduce the next trick.

Next we will tackle stay.  It is a little trickier because you need to take baby steps but eventually with hand signals you can be quite a distance from your dog and have him/her sit and stay.

Potty Training 101

It is pretty simple.  When the dog leaves a treasure, rub his nose in it give him a swat and boot his sorry ass outside!
Now that I have your attention, that was how we might have been taught 30 years ago and chances are you thought the beatings and the rubbing of the nose in kaka worked.  In fact what one didn't realize was one small fact and that was the dog was communicating to you and slowly training your sorry butt to be a little more observant when it comes to the needs of the dog.
After a couple of accidents you probably decided to let the mutt out before you had your cup of joe and guess what?  Your dog appreciated not smelling poop for the rest of the day as a result.
Let's face it, you don't rub your child's nose in excrement when they fill their diaper so why do you think it necessary to do it to your dog?
I said in previous blogs, that there is no need to hit or beat your dog.....EVER.....

So what is the trick?

When you have a puppy, understand that like a human baby, it takes time to gain control of it's faculties and thus, you must train yourself to recognize that.
When you get up in the am, don't pass go, don't collect $200.00, go straight to the door.  If it is a small pup, pick it up and take it straight to the door because between the kennel and the door there is ample place to relieve oneself along the way and believe me they have to go NOW!

I use pee pads right out of the gate.  We place the pad right outside the kennel and as soon as the puppy decides to venture out for the first time it usually tinkles.  The pee pads are usually scented as to encourage the proper response.  As the pup gets more venturesome, we move the pad closer to the door.

We reward the pet every time they do the right thing.  We use dry hard treats and though I did not mention in feeding the dog, we recommend dry dog food because it helps control tartar build up on the dog's teeth.

We always compliment them and tell them they are good after the blessed event.  To this day Ciara goes outside does her thing and runs in and goes to the cupboard where the treats are and awaits her reward.  Sometimes she goes out and does nothing and still expects the treat.   She is 4 years old.

Accidents will happen even after the dog is trained.  If you don't expect that then why do you want a dog for?

Routine is the cornerstone of training your dog.  If you don't put in the time then why should you expect anything less than a poorly trained dog.
Let's face it, these dogs are screaming out to you, I want to please you, show me how?

In the morning go straight to the door.
Reward the pup.
Before you leave for work, take the dog out one more time and again reward them.
Better yet get up sooner and take the pet for a walk, rain, sleet, snow, or any other inclement situation.
As the famous saying goes..."Just Do It!"

Accidents may also lead you to discovering a medical situation with said pet.  If you have a routine, then notice something amiss, the dog could be indicating a medical emergency.  If you don't have a routine, you might just miss the obvious and the pet could die as a result.

Vaccinate your dog.  Parvo is a painful killer of dogs and can be avoided.

If your dog had diarrhea, it could be from what it ingested, especially if you feed the dog table scraps.
It may indicate many disorders, from simple case of feeling lousy to allergies to pet food or human food.
If your dog has continued diarrhea, feed him/her a plain, nothing on it, baked potato.  It will balance their electrolytes and quite often control and even cure the dog of it's bowel issue.  If it doesn't, seek medical attention immediately.

If your dog is neither spayed or neutered then understand this....Nature will call and both male and females will mark territory...whenever and where ever, and that can become an embarrassment to you.

A male who has not been neutered has three functions, to hump anything and everything, eat and mark territory.  It is a dog doing what a dog does and if you are surprised by this then again why did you buy a dog in the first place and why did you think you were doing them a favor by saving their sex organs for them?

Females will bleed when in season.  Some bleed heavier than others and bedding, furniture, and the carpet will get bled onto.  So please, unless you are going to breed your pet, do yourself a big favor and have the dogs fixed as soon as the Vet tells you it is time.

Well I went off subject, however all is part of owning a dog.  A dog is like owning a house.  You have your payment but can you really afford the house?  Are you prepared for the replacement of the roof, the hot water tank, painting the inside or outside?  Owning a dog can be more costly to you as well.  Dental care can run into the thousands of dollars.  Any surgery can start as low as a few hundred to several thousands of dollars.
Are you prepared economically for that investment?
This is why I recommend that 18-30 year old's should not own a dog. 

Get into a routine and it is amazing what you will discover about your dog.  Chevy, my youngest dog, aged 2, demonstrated a desire to horde all the dog toys, our glasses, cell phones, hats and anything he took a shine to.  I figured that if he likes to horde, I wonder if I could teach him to fetch the paper or for that matter the mail.
Low and behold I took an insert from the paper, gave it to him and he darted straight into the living room and plunked down in his hording corner and shredded the paper.
The next time I asked my wife to stay inside with a treat in hand and when Chevy came bounding in, my wife traded the paper for the treat and then told him that he was a good boy.  Now he looks forward to bringing in the paper and drops it on the floor and waits for his treat.

When my dogs go outside and bark, I don't say stop barking but instead say no speaking.  now half of the battle for training the dog to speak is over.  They associate the word speak with the action of barking.

In closing, the better the routine, the better the outcome for both you and your dog.  You will be able to determine medical issues when they first arise and by paying attention, your dog will tell you a great deal about him or herself in the process.  If you do go away for longer than normal, expect accidents.  When they are sick anticipate accidents.  Alter your routine to fit the needs of the pet.  If you have an hour lunch, come home, I can assure you the best medicine for a crappy day a work is the greeting you will get from your best friend.

Feeding the Critter...

There are two ways you can feed your puppy.  One is on demand and the other is with scheduled measured portions.  Either will work for most dogs.
I'm lazy so I prefer the first method.  I have 5 Shih-Tzu dogs and I have one bowl and I simply keep it full and when a dog is hungry, it eats.
This system works well if your breeder has already got the dogs accustomed to eating this way.  the dogs regulate themselves.
The downside is you have to watch the pup if there is an older more dominate dog in the house. 
We have a pack and there is a pecking order.  Shadow is the stud and the dominate alpha male who eats first and will growl if any other dog comes around while he is at the bowl.  The danger is that a puppy has no clue about the pecking order and may venture too close and be snapped at or worse even attacked. 
You have to know the personalities of your dogs and guard against this situation.  Most often a simple growl sends the right signal and the pup backs away. 
Our pups can share with their mom, uncle and grandmother but both Gizmo the neutered grandfather and his son, Shadow prefer eating alone.

Some dogs are gluttons and do not fair well on the demand system because they will eat until they burst, get sick and can even die.  You'll know if this is true when you put the first plate down.  If he/she eats like a vacuum cleaner, you might opt for the measured approach.

The measured approach is quite simple.  You take your pup, measure his/her weight and mete out the portions you give based on size and what the vet or the dog food recommends.  It usually equals 1 or 2 cups of food in the morning and the same again at night.  You leave water out at all times.

The benefits to this is a fit and trim pup who should stay that way for life as long as you take in his size and age when giving him/her their food.
You might have to adjust the amount after spaying or neutering as most dogs are prone to weight gain after the surgery.
It means you have another reason to stay trim and fit yourself because your dog will require regular scheduled walks to stay thin.