Archive for June, 2010
Things I’ve Learned From My Dog – Part 7
One of the first things we learned in our obedience training classes is consistency. A dog responds much better to a command if he knows what it means. If one family member says one word for a certain command and another says something else, and yet other family members say what they want, the dog is going to look at you and say, you want me to what? He may do that anyway. But by using one word for one command by all family members will actually teach him what it means.
The next step is to follow through on the command. Don’t give a command that you are not in position to enforce. Enforce every command that you give. It is usually better to train with your dog on leash
so that you can catch him when he decides he’d rather be doing something else and takes off.
Don’t tell you dog to lie down, and then give him a treat whether he does it or not. Don’t attempt to train you dog not to beg for people food and then have another family member slipping him pizza. Every family member should be on the same page. Be consistent and be firm. You’ll be glad you did.
Things I’ve Learned From My Dog – Part 6
After Joker had completed his basic dog training classes, it was suggested to us by our trainer, that we continue his training in advanced classes at our local dog training club. Most local dog training clubs are community service type clubs, and the costs are low.
This is a place where you can take your dog and train in a group class type situation, both on and off leash
. This is good for you and your dog. This is where your dog gets to meet and greet other dogs. This is where you get to meet and greet other dog owners, who, like yourself, are getting to know their dogs.
This social atmosphere is called socializing your dog, and is a very important part of dog ownership.
If you don’t know how your dog is going to act around other dogs and other people, you can’t anticipate a problem and correct it before it gets out of control. And if you know your dog has a problem in a certain area, this is where you need to be to correct it.
Things I’ve Learned From My Dog – Part 5
By the time Joker was eight months old he was pretty much running the house. He was top dog and he knew it. We had to do something. We read an ad in the paper about a dog training center that had new classes starting up. The person who ran the training center, as it turned out is one of the top trainers in the country.
When we arrived for our first class Joker pulled us inside. Joker wasn’t leash
trained. He wasn’t much else trained either. The instructor knew she had a real challenge on her hands. After six weeks of training on a weekly basis, Joker was finally under control. He no longer was top dog in our house and a much happier household it was.
Training you dog is an essential part of dog ownership. The classes are only once a week but the training goes on all week. When you go to a class of this type, you don’t go to train the dog. You go to train the trainer (you). The rest of the week you work on the exercises assigned to you in class. Your dog gets out of it only as much as you put into it. Time, effort and consistency are the keys.
Things I’ve Learned From My Dog – Part 4
Before we left for work on Monday morning, we put newspaper down in the kitchen for Joker to go potty on. This is what we had always heard we were supposed to do for a new puppy. The problem was we forgot to tell Joker.
We had failed to show him or even try to paper train him. We were too busy running him outside every time he had to go. We were spending too much time looking for him and removing his little teeth from the table legs in the dining room. If we had gotten him some chew toys in doggie flavors, the table legs wouldn’t have been such a problem.
When we arrived home that evening we were greeted by a very happy Joker, and Joker had had a very busy day. He was eager to show us what he had done. We were eager to kill him.
The newspaper that we had so neatly laid down in the kitchen was now in the living room, but in much smaller pieces. He had gone potty on the paper, lots of times. The way he had the paper strewn out he couldn’t miss it. In amongst the strewn papers and the potty piles, was the remnants of the sofa we had just recently reupholstered
The next day when we left for work, the wire dog crate 
I had purchased was set up on the back porch and Joker was in it, along with a bucket of water and a new doggie flavored chew toy.
Things I’ve Learned From My Dog – Part 3
I would like to say that the rest of the weekend was non eventful, but honesty prevails here, it was a learning experience for us to say the least. We spent the rest of the weekend running him outside to go potty every time he squatted to go in the house. When we weren’t running him outside we were looking for him. We’d turn our heads for a second and he’d disappear. Joker was a very curious and adventurous dog.
As the day drew to a close on Sunday, Joker was actually running to the back door to go out to go potty. He hadn’t learned to ask to go out yet but we knew what he wanted and we were right.
This potty training thing was easy, or so I thought. We wouldn’t need that wire dog crate 
I had bought to put him in while we were at work. He was a good puppy and he was learning so fast.
The thing I failed to remember was that his name was Joker. What happened on his infamous first day alone has forever been engraved in our minds.
Things I’ve Learned From My Dog – Part 2
Joker was four months old when we got him from the breeder. We were moving into a new home and the breeder was kind enough to hold him for us until after the closing on our house.
We got a glimpse of Joker’s personality on this beautiful Saturday afternoon when we went to pick him up. The puppies were running free in the yard without a leash
. He had endless energy. We called him to us and he quickly responded. He ran the other way. He had seen other puppies leave in cars when strangers came to visit and this was not going to happen to him.
After some serious coaxing, cornering and out foxing we got Joker into the car. He was none too pleased. For Joker it was about winning and getting his way, and Joker had just lost round one. The good part though was he got to sit on his new mommy’s lap. She petted and cuddled him all the way home.
We arrived home. We were excited. We had the rest of the weekend to get Joker adjusted to his new home. We took him into the house and set him down on the new carpet. It would have been better if we had taken him to the back yard first and let him go potty. O’ Well!!
Things I’ve Learned From My Dog – Part 1
The first rule of dog ownership is to never name your dog something you don’t want him to be. Always expect him to live up to his name.
Our first show dog came to us from a top line breeder who had had a litter of puppies on July 11. She insisted that we pick a gambling name for our puppy to coincide with 7-11. We thought this was neat and after little deliberation, we named him, The Jokers Wild.
What a bad Idea! Did he live up to his name? You bet he did. Not so much that he was different from most other dogs, but because we were new and inexperienced dog owners. I, like many new dog owners, thought leaving him in a wire dog crate 
when we were away was mean and cruel treatment. Actually the opposite is true, especially for a new puppy. A dog needs to have a place to call his own.
Joker was a great teacher. He taught us Humility, Patience, Perseverance and Honesty. In this series of blogs we are going to share our experiences with Joker and how he trained us to be good dog owners.
Keeping Your Car Clean
Let’s face it, we like to take our pets along in the car with us, but don’t like cleaning out the messes they leave behind. I’m speaking mainly of furry messes, those other messes are even less pleasant and we won’t go into detail. I’ve found that keeping my pets localized to one area of the car, like the back, is the best way to control their shedding. This can be achieved through a pet barrier, or if you have smaller animals, a high seat will work. If you can’t put your pet in the back of the car, pet car seats work great. They keep the seat completely covered, and after a few uses, you can pull the them out and throw them in the washing machine.
Hopefully either of these solutions will prevent you from having to vacuum your car out several times each week.
Bonding With Your Dog – Part 10
There are lots of opportunities to bond with your dog. From the essentials of bathing and brushing, to the fun things like dog tricks and hiking in the woods. A well cared for dog is a happy dog.
Keep in mind when giving your dog a bath, use a shampoo
designed for dogs, wear clothing you don’t mind getting wet and rap a towel around him after the rinse cycle to reduce the disaster when he shakes. Fido will tell you that shaking is the fun part, second only to the brushing your going to give him next. Make bathing and brushing your dog a regular and fun experience. It is a great way to bond with your dog.
Tying you dog to you is a great way to bond with your dog. Letting him be a part of what your doing, even when you don’t have time to play with him. The worst thing he could do, would be to attack the vacuum cleaner. But then a little humor in your work day isn’t all bad.
When hiking, start with short trips on rougher ground and work up to longer hikes on rocky terrain. You want to make hiking something your dog looks forward to, not something he fears because he ends us with sore muscles and sore feet.
Dog tricks are great if you or your dog are partial to showing off! This type of training is also great for calming overly energetic dogs. Your dog’s energy must come out in one way or another so why not channel it into something constructive and fun like trick training?
Bonding With Your Dog – Part 9
Your dog loves you and loves doing things with you. Most of all, he loves playing games with you. After you have completed the basic obedience training that all dogs need. You can move into the next phase of dog training. Most dog owners are not interested in showing their dogs at dog shows, or spending the time it takes to train a dog for competitive obedience.
Dog trick training is not serious as dog obedience training. The training is done off leash
and provides many of the same benefits to you and your dog. In the process of learning new tricks you open up a genuine form of bonding between you and your dog. Trick training helps to build confident dogs who are not afraid to experiment in the training process.
Dog tricks are great if you or your dog are partial to showing off! This type of training is also great for calming overly energetic dogs. Your dog’s energy must come out in one way or another so why not channel it into something constructive and fun like trick training?