Changing A Behaviour

Everyone has at least one behaviour that there dog does on a regular basis that drives them nuts.  No matter how often you correct the dog the dog just keeps doing it.  Some dogs get really smart and wait for you not to be paying attention or be out of the house but they still do it and now they are sneaky about it.

The first step is finding an incompatible behaviour.  If you just stop the inappropriate behaviour you are left with a vacuum and nature hates a vacuum.  For the dog the easiest thing is to go back to the behaviour that has already been heavily reinforced (any behaviour that is constantly repeated has value somewhere).  The incompatible behaviour fills that vacuum giving your dog something else to do when faced with that cue.

For an example we are going to use the dog that counter surfs the minute you leave the room.  This is the dog that is perfectly well behaved but the second you leave the kitchen they will clear the counters.  First step is to identify the cue.  The cue in this situation is you walking out of the kitchen.  Second the inappropriate behaviour that you never want to see again.  For this example I have decided to teach the dog to follow me when I leave the kitchen.  This is usually the easy question, going on the counters.  Third is the hardest question; what incompatible behaviour do you want to train.

NOTE:  While you are training the incompatible behaviour you have to prevent the inappropriate behaviour from happening.  In this case you could use a baby gate to prevent the dog from going into the kitchen when someone else was in the kitchen.  Ideally everyone in the family would participate.  This will make the changes happen quicker and be generalized to everyone.  Make it easy keep an easily accessible bowl of treats on the way out of the kitchen.

NOTE #2:  The alternate behaviour needs to be rewarded until it becomes a habit.  Meaning the dog always follows you when you leave the kitchen.  Eventually you will stop rewarding this behaviour and it may fade but by this time you have erased the original incompatible behaviour.

Now you are ready to start the training.  At first I would call my dog as I was

leaving the training and reward her when she reached me.  After the first 3 or so repetitions I would start waiting to give her the reward somewhere away from the kitchen.  Make sure that you don't end up rewarding some other inappropriate behaviour such as jumping for the food or barking at you.  If the dog does any of these just keep walking until the behave politely and then reward.

After a few days of this you are going to do the first test.  You are going to leave the kitchen but you are not going to call you are just going to keep moving away and have the treat ready.  Will your dog choose the kitchen or choose to follow you?  If your dog chooses you awesome give her the reward as soon as she reaches you.  If your dog chooses the kitchen you are going to calmly and happily go get her in the kitchen by her collar and guide her out.  When she chooses to follow you reward.  I would then be ready to try it again as soon as my dog has gone and settled down.  If after three attempts she goes into the kitchen every time I would go back to calling her as soon as I left the kitchen for another 3 days and then try again.

You are now well on your way of teaching an incompatible behaviour.  Remember this won't get rid of counter surfing just that running into the kitchen as soon as you leave the room.  Depending on the dog this will go a long way into getting rid of counter surfing because dogs learn that when we leave the kitchen the chances of food being left around is very high.

I would keep this up for at least a month.  At that time I would start assessing the what stage my dog is at.  Does she always follow me without hesitation or does she kinda wander towards the kitchen and take a quick peek before following?  If without hesitation you can start reducing the food to about half the time and then a week later about a 1/4 of the time and so on.  If while reducing the food she starts to go back towards the kitchen you have to quickly and deliberately go and get her out of the kitchen.  Take her out let her go and see her choice.  If your dog still checks out the kitchen every time then I would continue rewarding making sure I was calling a earlier before she had a chance to check out the kitchen.  If my dog was only checking out the kitchen sometimes she would only get rewarded for the times she didn't even look at the kitchen.

What and How Much To Feed Your Dog?

Please keep in mind that I am not a vet.  This article is written from my experience and accumulated knowledge.

This is a very important question that will affect our dogs quality and length of life.  Our first step is to figure out what we want.  I want a dog who has a gleaming coat and healthy skin (no smell), who is the appropriate weight (more on that in a minute), good muscle tone and is not achy.  There is a lot of ways to reach this dog.  What might work great for one dog does not work for another.  What might work great for one dog as a young dog may not be the best thing as a senior. At the very beginning when I started searching for what to feed my dogs I received a lot of information from a lot of sources some of it contradictory.  Eventually I took all that information and made the decisions that led me where I am today.  I did a lot of experimenting through the years and am still open to change if I feel something interesting should be tried.  That's one thing about feeding you never know when a change will make your dog even better.

The first main question is do you want to feed kibble or do you want to feed a homemade diet.  There are many options on the market that allow you to pick either extreme or anything in between.

There are so many kibbles on the market that it is a bit overwhelming especially nowadays in the age of the recall.  I always recommend checking out The Whole Dog Journal.  The Whole Dog Journal rates the top foods every year.  I have faith in this list because they accept no advertisers and should therefore not be biased.
 When I talk about kibble another thing I read in The Whole Dog Journal was that you should change types of kibble every time you get a new bag.  This to me makes perfect sense.  If you only feed one thing your dog becomes only able to digest one thing.  This is how you get dogs with sensitive stomachs.  If you regularly change it up including adding things to the dogs kibble such as meat or veggies then the dog maintains the different enzymes.  Please let me be clear I did not say feed your dog meat scraps (dogs should never be given cooked bones) or feed them extras in an amount that will cause them to gain weight.  Of course all these high end foods cost a lot.  I believe that the money you spend on food will save you money at the vet in the long run.

Even in the realm of homemade feeding there are still decisions to be made.  Raw or cooked, grains or no grains.  If you have decided to make your dogs food I would suggest you start researching your different options but eventually just try one.  Commit to a diet for a month or two or four.  How does your dog's body react.  Is gas reduced, are his teeth starting to look cleaner, does his breath smell better, is his energy better (more obvious in older dogs), are his ears cleaner. After a while make some changes, do you see improvements?  No matter what the dog food commercials say I promise you your dog can thrive on a number of different diets just like we can so don't be scared to try new concepts and see how they work.

Some websites to get you started

http://www.volharddognutrition.com/
http://www.barfworld.com/
http://www.tolldenfarms.ca/home local supplier or raw food


Finally I want to end this blog on how much to feed your dog.  Let me begin by please don't read what the bag says to feed your dog, instead look at your dog.  Puppies stop growing at about 6 months (later for larger breeds) you probably need to start reducing your puppies food around that time.  With my puppies I do the ribbie check about once a week or so and adjust their food accordingly usually by about 10% up or down depending on the ribbie check.  The ribbie check is just a hands on rib check to see what their weight is like.  With my adults I try to once a month do the ribbie check and adjust accordingly.  I am constantly changing how much my dogs eat.  Let's face it nobody exercises as much in the dead of winter as they do in the spring and fall so it is really easy for my dogs to start putting on a little weight getting on top of that right away prevents it from ever becoming a problem.

Here is a great blog on how to know how your dog should feel http://www.successjustclicks.com/fit-fido-or-fat-fido/  check it out and see how your dog measures up.

Great places to walk your dog

photo by Kelly Longtin

Fall is my favorite season.  The weather is cool enough so you don't get all hot and sticky or have to worry about the dogs overheating and best of all no bugs. The other great thing is you can get some incredible pictures with all that lovely colour that is around.  We are very lucky to live in the country where we have so many places to walk our dogs very close.

Ferguson Forest Centre
Here you can find all kinds of trails and water map of all the trails.
access right in town.  Ferguson Forest is over 800 acres bordered by County Rd 44, Hwy 43, the Rideau River and the Kemptville Creek.  Usually when it is windy I walk in the forest trails and when the bugs are bad I stick to the gravel roads.  Especially on a sunny afternoon it is possible to meet some other dogs and owners walking but usually me and my dogs have it all to ourselves.  Here you can find a

Baxter Conservation Area

photo by Kelly Longtin

On the shores of the Rideau River there is over 5 km of trails and once the summer is over a great place to take your dog for a swim.  Well maintained trails with boardwalks built over the wet areas.  Baxter can be found just south of Kars off of Dilworth.

Robert Graham Trail
Just south of South Mountain between County Rd 22 and County Rd 1 can be found this very peaceful 6.5km trail.  Walk through some lovely pines and enjoy the quiet.

photo by Kelly Longtin

Cardinal Waterfront
If you drive down to Cardinal and park at the legion you can walk on the point the whole time enjoying a great view of the St. Lawrence and the ships going by.  It is always fun to see the dogs reactions when a diver all of a sudden emerges from the water in full diving gear.  Usually takes a minute before dog realizes it's a person not a creature from the dark lagoon :).

I know sometimes it is so much easier to sit on the couch or deal with the million things you have to do.  Instead get up and go for a walk you and your pooch will thank you.

Have you exercised your dog today?

Dogs need exercise.  We all know this but I don't think we realize the importance not just to the dog but to us.  That time you spend in exercising which has so many benefits; you get to enjoy nature, it is good for you, you build a relationship with your dog, etc.  It also gives you a much better behaved dog in with the least amount of time and effort, so it is a win win.

I do a lot of in home work especially with puppies but I also work with older dogs.  My first question is always how much exercise does your dog get?  If you the dog is not getting regular off leash runs than that is always my first recommendation.  I realize that for some dogs, that take off this is much more challenging than for others but it still needs to happen.  Running around the back yard is exercise but not good enough.  I also find in the back yard a lot of bad behaviours get created such as digging, chewing on your deck or furniture, escaping (and once they are good at it your are done), biting at you when you are out there, etc.

When your dog is on an off leash run it is a type of relaxed exercise.  He is investigating so using his brain, smelling all sorts of wonderful things.  He is running as much as he needs to, some days my dog just wanders in front of me other days especially if he has not been fun recently he runs and plays.  He is building the bond with you he constantly is being rewarded by getting distracted and then finding you.  The sight of you becomes a reward when he finds you, how cool is that.

Most dogs who are not used to running off leash will come home and sleep soundly for at least a few hours.  This is the perfect dog asleep in your house not chewing, digging, biting, etc.  It usually takes two to three weeks of regular exercise for you to start seeing a decrease in overall energy when he is awake.  If you start this when your puppy is young he then gets into the habit of this calm behaviour is how you act in the house which is a lovely habit.  Even when life takes over and you can't get your dog out for a few days once this habit is created even when they haven't had enough exercise my dogs give me a solid week before they start to get cabin fever and honestly by then I really need the walk too.

So get out and find someplace to walk your dog off leash where it is safe.  Enjoy the walk, enjoy the peace in nature, enjoy your dog.  They will thank you for it by being better behaved.

Are You Having Fun?

The whole point of getting a dog is to make your life better.  Yes there are things to do with dogs that nobody really loves to do like cleaning up poop or cutting nails but on whole I got a dog to be a happier healthier person.

Training should be included in this.  Are you having fun when you train?  You should be laughing.  If you are not you have to take a look at what's happening and make it fun.  Laugh at your dog when he screws up and then get him to do it again.  Don't get all bent out of shape, the world will not end, the sky will not fall and at the end of the day the dog will still curl up with you for some cuddles.

I am trying to create a habit of before I start training especially if we are going to work on something we are having a hard time with to tell my dog he is wonderful and make a list of my favorite things about him.  Every one of my dogs has had a characteristic that made me smile just by looking at it; my Sibe is his little black bottom lip, my Akita was his extremely expressive eyebrows, my Border Collie is  beautiful brown eyes.  When I start getting frustrated I look at that thing and it makes me smile.  Getting frustrated or upset is not productive and let's face it our goal is to get the dog trained in the shortest time possible and then move on.

Don't forget to smile and laugh when you training.  Sometimes when we are concentrating on what we are training we get very intense, remember to smile.  Your dog is trying.

To Shave or Not To Shave

I always feel bad for the dogs I see shaved at this time of year.  I know most of these owners are going out and spending money to have their dogs shaved because they think this will keep them cooler.  Dogs are very well designe, their coats protect them from both cold and heat.  When you shave your dog you are actually making him much more susceptible to heat issues such as heat stroke.

Here is an article with some more info on this subject

Thinking About Shaving Your Dog's Hair Coat For The Summer? Think Again.

Stay cool.

How Not To Greet A Dog

I am regularly surprised how people treat dogs.  I am not talking about people who are cruel to animals, that is horrible and they should be shot.  I am speaking about people who love dogs but have never learned how to appropriately interact with dogs.  I would say TV is partly to blame, movies like Beethoven the

wonderful St. Bernard who thinks he is human or commercials that depict dogs in unrealistic ways.  The other part is inexperience.  Maybe a dog at home who has very little personal space or someone who likes dogs but really has never interacted with them.  Our expectations about what our dogs should put up with from complete strangers is unrealistic and very unfair to our dogs.

You should never, ever, ever put your face into a dogs face that you don't know very well in other words live with.  That includes the neighbour's dog that you say hello to a couple of times a week.  Let's put it in human terms, can you imagine meeting someone for the first time and then grabbing your cheeks and planting a big kiss on your lips, worse imagine someone doing that to your child. That would be completely inappropriate and would cause action to prevent it from continuing.  Yet with our dogs not only do we allow it we correct the dog who would dare growl or bark.  A few years ago a Shitzu was in a shopping cart at Home Depot, one of the staff ended up getting bitten in the face.  Well the Shitzu didn't jump up and bite her the person had to have bent down into her.  I agree there is a responsibility to the dog owner to not only protect the people who come into contact with the dog but also her dog.  Dog's bite out of fear why would you allow someone to scare your dog.

You should always let a dog approach you, not rush into a dog to pet it.  You don't know how comfortable that dog is with strangers.  I know it's hard to accept but not all dogs love being pet by strangers most just put up with it.  If a dog wants to be pet he will approach you and encourage you to interact, if he doesn't then why should he have to.  I am not speaking about aggression just accepting that not every dog wants your hands all over him.

It especially concerns me that we teach our children to approach strange dogs

and pet them.  Yes most of them ask as they run in to pet the dog.  I have worked with enough aggressive dogs and I have seen how hard it is for owners to admit there dog may not be comfortable being petted and stop a child.  Do you want to risk your child?  Unfortunately when children get bit a lot of times it is in the face because it's right at the height of the dogs mouth.

I remember going to a friends parents house.  I always greet the dog and say hi but I only pet dogs who ask to be pet.  They questioned that I didn't like their dog to my friend.  Their dog never once asked to be petted and was completely happy with me not touching them.  It is sad how little understanding they had of their own dog.

If I am working with a dog that is worried or scared of people I will work very hard to change that.  I will also work very hard on my dogs accepting people touching them and kissing them.  All this will not change the fact that out of 6 dogs I have owned only one really likes peope touching him.  A lot of this is due to breed Akitas, Siberians, and Chesapeakes are not that people friendly, or at least mine were not.  These are well socialized dogs that nothing bad has ever happened other than one Akita who was a rescue.  These are dogs that regularly did Pet Fairs and were handled by 100's of people without ever a problem.  I always respected what their wants and needs were.  For my business they had to go to pet fairs with me and get petted, I in turn rewarded heavily and gave them regular breaks.