Holistic Eye Treatment

Date Submitted: 3-23-2005
Written by Sam Aiden

Please use these treatments in emergency and temporary situations. Always seek the advice of a professional where possible. Ensure you are using the right remedies orally or topically and do not confuse the two.

EYE PROBLEMS

Eye problems in cats and dogs should always be seen by a vet first so that you know what the trouble is. Depending on what is wrong, there is much that can be done for the eyes using natural therapies and remedies. Common eye problems include cataracts, conjunc­tivitis, injuries and fading eyesight. Suitable treatments for eye problems include acupuncture, aromatherapy, diet and food supplements, flower essences, healing, herbs and homoeopathy.

Cataracts

Cataracts are fairly common in older pets and are recognisable as a cloudy white or blue film over the eye which can eventually lead to blindness. They can be caused by injury, allergies, diabetes and infections, but many health professionals feel they are a result of internal toxins and malnutrition. Diet is a vital part of the healing process and a pet brought up on a natural diet will probably never have cataracts. In many cases, changing to a natural preservative-free diet will arrest the progress of cataracts.

Diet – Follow the guidelines for a natural preservative-free diet and supplement programme in chapters three and four, including vitamins A, C and E. Zinc is also a good mineral for eye health. Raw cucumber can be used over the eye or the juice used for bathing.

Bach flower remedies Use crab apple to remove toxins.

Herbs – Aloe vera juice is a good internal cleanser and can also be used diluted as an eye wash. Eyebright can be used externally as an eye wash or taken internally.

Homoeopathy – Silica delays the progress of mature cataracts. Diluted cineraria tincture can be used as an eyedrop. Use calc. carb. for old, overweight pets.

Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the tissue around the eye and is ½ common in both cats and dogs. The usual causes are something

getting into the eye, allergy, infection or an irritant. Dogs that stick their heads out of car windows on journeys can get conjunctivitis if something flies into their eyes. Signs of conjunctivitis are red, sore looking eyes with a runny discharge

Diet – Change to the natural preservative-free diet and supplement programme outlined in chapters three and four to keep your pet healthy and strong. Zinc is a good supplement for healing eye problems Slices of cucumber held over the eye can cool hot, inflamed eyes, or the juice can be used as eyedrops.

Aromatherapy – Soak some cotton-wool in tepid water with a few drops of chamomile and hold over the eye.

Herbs – Tea made from eyebright or goldenseal can be used to bathe the eye. Vitamin E can be added to the liquid to enhance the healing process.A pad of cotton-wool soaked in witch hazel can be held over shut eyes. Eyebright and goldenseal can be taken internally as well. Homoeopathy – Use euphrasia diluted in water for bathing the eye, apis. mel. for sudden attacks and swelling. Use euphrasia tablets for profuse watering, and argent. nit. for uncomplicated cases.

Injuries

Eye injuries are pretty common, resulting from fights, accidents, foreign bodies getting into the eye and bruising.

Diet – A good healthy diet and supplement programme will help with the healing process (see chapters three and four). Slices of cucumber can be held over the eye, or use the juice as an eyedrop.

Herbs – Eyebright can be used externally to clean the eye or taken internally Cotton-wool soaked in witch hazel used externally is soothing.

Homoeopathy – Arnica ointment can be used externally around the eye to reduce swelling or taken internally as tablets to reduce swelling. Calendula lotion externally can soothe and relieve pain.
Failing eyesight

Old age is often accompanied by fading eyesight and many older pets develop cataracts (see above). There is little you can do to prevent naturally degenerating eyesight; however, the Bach flower remedies can help your pet adapt to change and cope with progressive loss of sight, especially if they become nervous or fearful with it

We can suggest bathing with Colloid Silver helps soothe irritated eyes and a drop in each eye acts as a soothing anti biotic treatment also.

The use of the remedy combination ‘Eyesore’ or ‘Eye Irritation’ from the www.caninecaregroup.net website offer great relief.

Sometimes if there is infection, the Infection Remedy is certainly highly recommended and given orally as are the above two remedies.

If the animal is distressed, we really do suggest the Anxiety remedy from the CCG website or Bach Rescue Remedy.

There are other remedies, but we would not give any further detail without more history which is purely to ensure we give your pet the right remedies, but the above are quite safe remedies and tips to help you until you can get Veterinary help.

Diarrhea

Date Submitted: 3-23-2005
Written by Sam Aiden
This is just for general advice, emergency treatment until you can seek the help of a Professional to aid your pet’s condition.

Diarrhea

Diarrhea is not always a sign of illness. It has lots of causes, many of which are just the body’s natural way of getting rid of irritants such as food allergies, bacterial or viral infections, worms and toxins. In these cases, the diarrhea usually stops once the toxins have been evacuated, and as long as there are no other signs of illness it is best to leave your pet to it. Other factors, such as a change of diet or stress, can also bring on mild diarrhea. Some animals will naturally seek out plants that will give them diarrhea as a way of detoxifying their system. A short-term attack of diarrhea is not usually a worrying sign, but long-term diarrhea is and an animal can get very dehydrated and lose essential nutrients. If there is blood or mucus in the stools, tarry, black-coloured stools or if the diarrhea is accompanied by other symptoms of illness, take your pet to the vet. Puppies and kittens should always be taken to the vet at the first sign of diarrhea since they can dehydrate very quickly and can even die without swift treatment.

Symptoms of diarrhea are loose, watery stools, and there may also be belching and wind. Sometimes blood, mucus or undigested food is present in the stools and the animal may also vomit.

Mild, short-term diarrhea can be treated at home, but long-term, serious problems should always be seen by your vet. If the diarrhea continues for more than two or three days, a visit to the vet is essential. Diet – At the onset of diarrhea, the most important treatment is a day’s fasting. Make sure your pet has plenty to drink.Vegetable broths (the strained liquid only), brown rice water, barley water, apple cider vinegar water or honey water can all be given during the fast to support basic nutritional needs, while at the same time letting nature take its course. When giving food again, change to a natural preservative-free diet, since your pet may be sensitive to preservatives, colourings and other additives in commercially prepared foods. Give acidophilus daily, along with a good-quality multi-vitamin and mineral complex once the fast has finished. If the diarrhea persists then give activated charcoal tablets (see chapters three and four).

Aromatherapy – Chamomile, geranium and sandalwood can be added to olive oil and massaged into the abdomen to soothe the digestive tract.

Bach flower remedies – Use crab apple for cleansing.

Biochemical tissue salts – Use nat. mur. For thin, watery diarrhea, or diarrhea which alternates with constipation. Use nat. phos. For foul-smelling, green stools, and combination S for stomach upsets.

Herbs – Garlic helps to fight infections. Slippery elm, as a syrup, powder or tea, is soothing and nourishing. Aloe Vera juice is soothing and adds nutrients. Parsley and fenugreek are digestive tonics.

Homoeopathy – Use arsen. alb. For watery stools, arsenic for vomiting and diarrhea, mere. cor. for frequent diarrhea with straining but no vomiting.

Flatulence

Also see stomach problems, constipation, and diarrhea.

Flatulence is caused by a build-up of gas in the stomach or intestines and can be accompanied by bloating, abdominal pain, belching and wind. Undigested food fermenting in the stomach is the commonest cause of excessive gas and it usually responds well to a natural preservative-free diet of the type outlined in chapter three. In most cases a change of diet will be enough to sort out the problem. Food sensitivities can also cause flatulence. Use acidophilus powder, digestive enzymes and stomach acid to assist optimum digestion. Activated charcoal granules/tablets can also help.

Biochemical tissue salts – Use mag. phos. Or combination E for flatulence and indigestion.

Herbs – Aniseed, caraway, peppermint and fennel all help to reduce flatulence.

Herbs – Use Carbo Veg. For most cases, Nux Vomica when accompanied by diarrhea and digestive upset.

As a basic kit for digestive upsets we do list this on the CCG website, but for reference: Digestive Remedy, Foul gas/Stool Remedy, Bowelease, Parasite treatments (this should be a regular treatment) Detoxing your pet on a regular basis can keep this problem at bay unless there is a serious underlying medical situation and this will probably be suggested anyway, but not without full details. For this we suggest the basic Pet Detoxifier.

If you suspect any de-hydration there is a quick remedy on the CCG website remedy page at the bottom. Add honey if the animal has difficulty taking this, but let me assure you, it does work in an emergency and it is not for long term use. You need to get proper electrolytes from your Vet to keep on hand if your pet is prone to this type of problem.

With herbs they have to be used correctly, I use Tincture, but this has to be obtained from the right source as poor herbs can cause problems. Please do not use Herbs without Professional advice.

We would suggest that you do check all remedies prior to use and make sure you know what you are doing or come to this forum for advice to get you through a minor situation PLEASE.

These are not foolproof treatments, please understand they are just for guidance.

Disclaimer: The Canine Care Group/The Natural-Horse and DoggieBag publishes material to inform and educate users. It should never be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, to diagnose or treat a medical illness or without your Veterinarian’s approval. Discuss any of the suggested treatment with your Veterinarian to open a dialog concerning treatment options. Discuss whether or not it applies to your individual symptoms/medical condition. The Canine Care Group/The Natural-Horse/DoggieBag are not responsible for the mis-use of this information. We are not Vets

Epilepsy

Date Submitted: 3-23-2005
Written by Laura Redhawk
This document must not be used as the definitive treatment of Epilepsy, it is here to enlighten you as to what Epilepsy is, how it shows itself but is a complex problem. However, in extreme emergencies some of the remedies below may suit your pet and help it until you can seek Professional help. I must add that in my experience not all seizures mean your Pet is Epileptic so please think about any triggers that may have started the seizures like changes in the environment, change of food, recent medications or vaccines, sounds or sights have also been proven to cause seizures. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MEDICATE YOUR SELF OR YOUR PET WITHOUT PROPER MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FROM A QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL FOR THIS ILLNESS.

EPILEPSY

Disturbances of the brain may be either functional or organic. In the former there are no structural changed in the nervous tissue and such conditions in the dog are of less importance than those, which fall in the organic category. The main functional disorder of importance is a form of epilepsy, which has no obvious cause. It is of fairly common occurrence. Clinical Signs: The owner’s attention is first drawn to the occurrence of minor convulsions, which last sometimes less than a minute and are usually unaccompanied by loss of consciousness. These attacks tend to become more serious but less frequent as the animal gets older. Attacks can come on suddenly without premonitory symptoms but occasionally the animal appears restless and uneasy immediately prior to the seizure and is lethargic and sleepy looking afterwards.

Treatment: If there has been a history of short attacks that pass off quickly the following remedies will help delay the onset of further seizures. They will also help during the actual attack, limiting it considerably.

Belladonna 30c. This is one of the most frequently indicated remedies, for attacks, which are associated with dilated pupils and throbbing pulse. The animal will usually feel abnormally hot.

Stramonium 30c. This remedy has a somewhat similar picture to the preceding one, but there are usually premonitory signs such as staggering with a tendency to fall towards the left side. /Eyes again are dilated and staring.

Hyoscyamus 30c. Indicated when attacks are preceded by shaking of the head and an unsteadiness of gait indicating vertigo. There may be spasmodic closing of eyelids and the mouth is flecked with foam.

Bufo 30c. They symptoms indicative of this remedy frequently commence when the animal is asleep. There may be an accompanying nosebleed. Attacks are usually short in duration.

Cocculus 6c. The main use for this remedy lies more in the preventative sphere and is useful to ward off subsequent attacks. It should be given at regular intervals over a period of a few months. One I use a lot.

Ignatia 6c. Consciousness is usually lost when this remedy is indicated. The head may be shaken to and fro and this precedes hysterical turns.

Cuprum Met. 30c. A useful remedy when convulsions are associated more with meningitis than encephalitis. The head usually assumes a lowered posture and there may be attempts to press it against any suitable object.

Cicta Virosa 30c. This remedy also is associated with meningitis both cerebral and spinal. A prominent indication for its use is a turning of the head and neck to one side. There may be a history of concussion leading to convulsions.

Oenanthe Crocata 6c. This lesser known remedy is associated with sudden convulsive attacks accompanied by twitching of the face head and muscles and symptoms suggestive of lockjaw.

Absinthum 6c. Indicated when attacks are preceded by excitement and twitching of various kinds. The dog tends to face backwards and there may be unequal dilation of pupils.

Some forms of epileptic convulsions have their origin in conventional vaccination and the possibility of this should always be borne in mind. If it is suspected that attacks date from such vaccination, the nosode Distemperium or other appropriate one should be used in conjunction with selected remedies. Usually two doses of any nosode are sufficient, spacing them one week apart.

Epilepsy can take different forms, Myclonic, Absence, light sensitive, sound sensitive. Somewhere there is a trigger. If you read through the remedies and spot one that describes as near as possible the dog’s problem, that is the one to try first. Also, watch out for food triggers and check on vaccination dates. Keep a short diary of the dog between attacks so some pattern may be seen forming. What you did, what you fed, what exercise, how the dog appeared etc. this is what I had to do, but eventually, a pattern formed, and it was easier to prescribe.

Often these seizures are found to start following a Rabies Booster or extreme medical treatments so it is vital you seek professional advice as soon as possible. I cannot emphasize this enough. Having dealt with many cases of Epilepsy which were not in fact Epilepsy but seizures brought on by some specific thing, I know it is easy to mis-diagnose and I also understand the need for treatment quickly be it from a Vet or Homeopathic Practitioner. In some cases the drugs used to prevent seizures will cause Liver problems, so if your Pet is diagnosed, beyond a doubt to have this, please use Milk Thistle or homeopathic Cardus Mar in 30 potency to protect the Liver from as much damage as possible and consider doing Detox on a regular basis to remove harmful chemicals out of the body. I would personally still use an Immune system remedy, stop all worming, flea treatments and Vaccines.

Ensure you have a good diet. These seizures can also be helped and in some cases stopped by a good diet. Often Blood Sugar levels can drop, so a diet prepared for your Pet and given 3 times a day is often very helpful in stopping seizures if it is actually not Epilepsy we are dealing with.

Your vet should request your dog be brought in regularly for testing anyway to check blood sugar levels and drug levels if you do find you have to put your dog onto Drugs. We hope we can avoid this, but often this is already taking place before we get a chance to comment on the situation, so please bear this in mind. It is important these levels are checked on a 3 monthly basis.

Bach Rescue Remedy is good to have on hand to give the animal recover from the stress of the seizure.

It is important that you make a note of when the seizure started, exactly what happened before, during and after the seizure as this guides us as to the extent of the problem. Also, how long each seizure lasted. If you can stop and think of possible ‘triggers’ this again is helpful to your Vet or Homeopathic Practitioner.

It is said that certain Breeds of dog are prone to Epilepsy. I don’t know if I actually go along with that although the ones I have personally looked after have been more Working Breed types, high intelligence, high energy, so it is possible.

Please be assured that there is nothing you can do during a seizure other than to ensure the animal does not harm itself as they take different forms and can be quite violent and distressing to watch. There is to my knowledge, no pain, no feelings on their part and it is the actual period after the seizure when there may be some disorientation on their part. At this time you are vulnerable to being bitten so as much as you may wish to comfort your Pet, please be careful at this stage. Administer the Bach drops as quickly as you can after the seizure stops but be careful not to let the animal bite down on the dropper or snap at you as it comes round. If the seizure puts the animal into a sort of ‘clonic’ state, which is where the limbs go stiff, there is a possibility there will be soreness, so you can give a muscle relaxant to help avoid this but this can be done at a later stage and again, get advice on the right type to use, homeopathically this is done and has proven to be highly effective.

Again, the more information you can give your Vet the better and if you can keep a diary or think of any ‘trigger’ I can’t say this enough, think hard and mention this to your Vet, it could mean the difference between a simple Diet change or a life on Drugs.

Disclaimer: The Canine Care Group/The Natural-Horse and DoggieBag publishes material to inform and educate users. It should never be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, to diagnose or treat a medical illness or without your Veterinarian’s approval. Discuss any of the suggested treatment with your Veterinarian to open a dialog concerning treatment options. Discuss whether or not it applies to your individual symptoms/medical condition. The Canine Care Group/The Natural-Horse/DoggieBag are not responsible for the mis-use of this information. We are not Vets

Could Your Dog Have a UTI?

Date Submitted: 3-23-2005
Written by Laura Redhawk
UTI’S and Alternatives in Health Care

Many of us have had the unfortunate experience of finding out our puppy or adult dog has a UTI, Urinary Tract Infection. When my current pup, Hannah was brought home, she had one, but since I had never had a pup or dog that did…and since she was only about 12 weeks old, I didn’t realize it was there at first. After all, puppies DO go potty A LOT! As it became worse, and her need to go increased with the actually potty only being a bit of dribble every 15 to 20 minuets, I started to wonder about it and of course called my Vet to add that to the little list of things to check out on her first Vet visit. (Scheduled within the first week I had her.) My Vet told me to bring in a sample, easily obtained by holding a small plastic container with a lid under her as she went…. although, she did shoot me a rather annoyed look…”hey!…what do you think YOU are doing back there!?” I manage to obtain the little bit, no more than a Tablespoon is needed, to run the test and find out she did in fact have a UTI.

Having a UTI is simply horrible for anyone, but when you are trying to train a puppy or dog to go potty outside it’s a very counterproductive problem. The pup can’t help that it constantly needs to go, and as it gets worse there is real discomfort…PAIN with trying to go, that the poor dog doesn’t even understand. A puppy or dog with a UTI is going to have accidents in the house, they simply can’t help it! Other signs to be aware of: the pup or dog whips its head around to “look” at its back end when trying to urinate. Very frequent licking of the private parts, and even yipping or whimpering when trying to go potty.

There are many things that can cause a UTI, general poor health, extreme stress, digestive problems, or allergies to foods, some vaccinations that are given to dogs and puppies, (some individuals can have negative reactions to what are normally thought of as safe vaccines, or other medications.) Being kept in a space that has sawdust for the bedding.

Getting rid of the nasty booger is the GOAL!

You can do one of two options, go to your vet, who will provide you with antibiotics, that when Hannah had hers, ended up taking 3 rounds to finally clear it up. OR consider doing what I personally would now prefer to do, which is try using a Holistic Treatment. My thought is that I DON’T use antibiotics on myself as a general rule, because they also remove all the Good bacteria in the body and make it harder for the body to recover from other possible infections. Probably every woman reading this knows, and some men as well, that anytime you take an antibiotic, you open yourself to CAUSING a yeast infection…it’s just the way it goes, hand in hand…ugggg!

Since I also work with Samantha at Doggie Door’s Holistic Health, (I discuss massage, herbs and emotional conditioning, Sam is the QUEEN of knowledge about using Homeopathic Remedies…it is her life’s work and she is excellent at it!), I wanted to also offer information to you about THIS line of treatments!

Here is the information for you to check into, if you are interested in treating your companions without resorting to antibiotics or other drugs that too frequently mask symptoms rather than actually treating the real problem. You may want to keep in mind, that Holistic Medicine generally requires time to work, as does traditional Western Medicine…it’s not necessarily an over night wonder. (Hannah was on the dang antibiotics for 3 weeks and the 3ed week the med was changed to a much stronger one!!! Oy…if I knew then what I know now!

Here is Samantha’s note to me regarding treating UTI’S by way of Holistic Medicine.

Hi, yep we can clear UTI’s up pretty quickly with one of two remedies that they can get from p4h! I ought to be on commission there LOL. Seriously, we can pretty much sort out any problems homeopathically, even down to Hip Dysphasia and we don’t cover up, we heal, same with any structural problem, so a UTI is ‘nothing’ for us to handle.

If you send the person to www.pets4homeopathy.com there are 2 remedies, Bladder irritation and one specifically for UTI’s but if they can’t find it, tell them to e.mail Lita at: DetoxRules@aol.com and tell her I sent them; otherwise it could be a bit of a wait; she’s that busy!

It also depends on why the dog has it, how often it’s had infections etc. etc., so again, suggest they fill out a questionnaire. Often foods can cause this, even Breeds come into it. I’ll send you the questionnaire and then you can just pass it on to the person privately with this information. Lita will also probably suggest Pet Detox, as I would to clear out all the toxins as I am assuming the dog is vaccinated and wormed etc. so the chemicals can cause irritations in these situations. Sam

You are also welcome to visit Samantha or myself at the Holistic Forum for any additional questions about your companion’s general health care, or other health issues. If you have questions about Dog Food specifically, do touch base with Reney and Susan on the Dog Food Forum, they too are fantastic and knowledgeable about what’s out there to feed! (Did you know those semi-moist packets of dog food are FULL OF SUGAR? WHY would anyone want to feed THAT to a dog? Is corn digestible? Which “high priced” dry dog food is not nearly as healthy or digestible as they would like you to believe?)

My goal in offering this information is to provide you with the opportunity to learn about additional things that can help you care for the life of your pup! Not only have you probably invested financially, but also you will be investing your time to care for the fur kid and most of all you’ll be investing your heart and love for a wonderful dog, who will “give back” to you willingly its entire life! Information IS POWER…and allows us to make more informed decisions! Enjoy learning and playing with your fantastic dog! The questionnaire is provided as a separate thread.

 Subclinical Hypothyroidism in Dogs

Date Submitted: 6-01-2005
Written by Daniela Jantzen
Our story

I first met Ramstein when he was 1.5 years old. A black 1.5 year old, poorly socialized Bordercollie – German Shepherd-Mix full of energy. It was soon obvious that he had NO clue about manners – and I had no clue about how to teach him some. A crash course was needed. After a few bad experiences with so called “professional dog trainers” (choke chains, scruff shakes etc. incl.), which got us nowhere, I found a nice trainer who introduced me to the works of Karen Pryor, Jean Donaldson etc. As I could not afford ongoing training sessions back then, I had to find a way how to learn about dogs, dogs’ learning behaviour etc. on my own. I started reading whatever book I could find, became a member in various forums and met other people with “problematic dogs”. It was over one of these forums when I first heard about a disease pattern called subclinical hypothyroidism.

In early 2004, a friend of mine, whose dog had already been diagnosed with this type of thyroid dysfunction a few years ago, asked me for a translation of an article by Dr. Jean Dodds on the thyroid gland and its influence on dog behaviour. This article opened my eyes. While reading it, I made a mental checklist to see how my dog fitted into this pattern:

- Insecure? Check!
- Low stress tolerance? Check!
- Easily frustrated? Check!
- Hyperactive? Check!
- Sudden aggressions? Check!
- Anxiety? Check!
- Problems concentrating? Check!
- Etc.

I slowly began to understand why – despite intensive and carefully staged training sessions – I sometimes seemed to get nowhere with Rumpy (his nickname). Now all I had to do was making an appointment with the vet for a thyroid panel test.

Sounds easy…..BUT: My vet had never heard of subclinical hypothyroidism before and called the idea of having my dog checked for a thyroid disfunction hilarious. After all, Rumpy was not showing any clinical signs (hair loss, lethargy, weight gain etc) for it, right? I handed him my printouts of Dr. Dodds’ articles to read and we decided on making another appointment to have Rumpy’s blood checked after he got done with the texts. When we got the results back, the vet smiled triumphantly and said: “See, I told you, everything is fine! The results are all within the normal range!” I would have loved to see my face back then: the results were pretty much ALL borderline – and it was clear that it would be a hard and long way convincing him of the problem at hand and get proper treatment for Rumpy.

I contacted a behaviourist in our area, who is known for her medical background and expertise on thyroid problems. We made an appointment – and she taught me quickly what a real checkup should look like (see below, general information)! For about 1,5 hours, she asked questions about Rumpy, his behaviour, our everyday life, Rumpy’s health in general and lately, vaccinations etc while watching him walk around. She suggested we should have him x-rayed by our vet for possible hip dysplasia and get back to her after that. Do I have to mention the vet just laughed, shook his head – and did the x-rays, telling me it would be useless? The x-rays came out nice. I contacted the behaviourist again and she said she would talk to the vet about proper therapy for Rumpy until my next appointment with him. When I got to his place two days later, I almost broke out laughing: I don’t know what she said to convince him but I felt like talking to a completely different person. We started substituting Rumpy’s thyroid gland with 10 µg/kg body weight of thyroxine a day, given in two doses of 12 hours apart. This dose was to be raised each week by ¼ of a pill with a complete pill containing 200µg Thyroxine. Following a chart with Rumpy’s results over the last few months ever since we started the treatment:

T4 free T4 T3 free T3 cTSH T-Antibodies
Normal range: 1,5-4,5ug/dl 0,6-3,7ug/dl 0,2-2,0ug/dl 2,4-6,0ng/l < 0,5 ng/ml
08.07.2004 1,6 0,7 0,66 0,12 negative
25.08.2004 1,9 0,8 0,50 3,4 0,07
20.10.2004 1,9 0,8 0,81 4,2 0,06
12.01.2005 2,1 0,9 0,79 3,7 0,03
To give you a better idea of how he responded to the therapy and the changes in the doses, the next chart provides you with the info of the amount of thyroxine he received a day and its effect on his behaviour:

Period Dose a day Behaviour changes
13.07.-20.07. 2×3/4 calmer after 2 days
21.07.-02.09. 2×1 More relaxed, easier to get a reaction in extreme situations (meeting other dogs, deer sigthings etc), less affected by unusual or loud sounds, thicker coat with more shine, weight gain

03.09.-24.10. 2×1,25 (1,5+1) same behaviour symptoms as mentioned above, in the end quickly stressed again though
25.10.-08.11. 2×1,5 getting calmer all in all
09.11.-17.01.05 1×2, 2×1 30 minutes after getting a pill concentrated enough to face new things without too much stress and excitement

18.01.- 02.02.05 1×2, 1×1, 1×1,5 see above
03.02.05- 1×2, 1×2, 1×1 see above, although he seems to react a lot more sensitive to changes in the dosis now compared to when the treatment first began

General Information on Borderline hypothyroidism

A few months ago I joined a group of people in a German forum, who all own dogs suffering from borderline hypothyroidism. Almost every one of us had troubles finding vets with some profound knowledge on this type of disease. And almost all of us either needed Dr. Dodds articles to convince them or even had to go to a specialist to get some help.

Here is some of the most important information we gathered on this problem:

1. The General Health check should include:
- complete anamnesis (the dog’s medical history)
- clinical examination and neurological tests
- blood tests with complete blood values and thyroid values
- Analysis of urine and feces
- X-ray examination

Depending on the individual case, additional values or further neurological tests (computed tomography or CAT scan) can make sense
(also suggested by James O’Heare in his “Canine Aggression Workbook”)

2. A Thyroid panel test should include at least the following:
- Both total and free T4 (hormones produced by the thyroid gland)
- Both total and free T3 (hormones produced by the thyroid gland, derives of splitted T4)
- canine TSH (produced by the pituitary gland and regulates the production of hormones in the thyroid gland)
- Antibodies (if possible, both antibodies against the T4- + T3 hormones and TgAA, which destroy the thyroid gland itself)

3. Autoimmune hypothyroidism (comparable to Hashimoto disease in humans) is the most common form (and it seems as if it can be triggered by vaccinations!). Therefore dogs used for breeding should be checked regularly and, if diagnosed with a thyroid problem, not be bred!

4. The thyroid gland is part of a very sensitive loop between pituitary gland, hypothalamus and the thyroid gland itself. This loop can be easily influenced by outside factors (heat, coldness, infections, physical problems, medications, vaccines, stress etc.), which can reduce the efficiency of the thyroid gland as well. Therefore, a proper diagnosis is mandatory before starting treatment (general health check, see above)! Not always are low thyroid results the consequence of a “simple” thyroid dysfunction!

5. The results can vary from breed to breed. Smaller dogs have higher levels of thyroxine than large breeds (small dogs: upper third of the norm range, large breeds: around the average value, geriatric dogs and hounds: lower third of the range).

6. Borderline hypothyroid dogs usually have results right at the bottom of the range (and some might be below). They show NO clinical signs of hypothyroidism which is why the disease is barely recognized as such by vets, especially when the results are still within the normal range! However, the low hormone levels can influence the behaviour tremendously (see my own experiences above) and the dogs might not respond to training at all or not as good as they should. If in doubt, contact a behaviourist with a thorough medical background who is familiar with the works of Dr. Dodds!

7. Treatment should start by 5-10µg Thyroxine/kg body weight a day, given in two doses every twelve hours. This is the general recommendation by Dr. Dodds due to the fact that the half life of thyroxine in dogs is 10-12 hours ( I have changed to three doses a day as my dog seems to respond best to it, especially as he can face a lot of stress in doggie day care each day. But please, check with your vet before doing the same!).

8. After the initial testing dogs need to be retested after about 6-8 weeks to check on the progress and, if necessary, adjust the dose.

9. A pill of thyroxine usually contains 200µg (other dose available). Each week the dose rate should be raised by a quarter pill. However, the maximum amount of thyroxine to be given to a dog should not exceed 40µg/kg a day!

10. After receiving treatment, dogs can change their behaviour within a short amount of time (see second chart above). However, many behaviour patterns might have already been established by then! While the thyroxine substitution does not take away the training of these sometimes problematic behaviours, it provides the owner with the chance to REACH the dogs again (see above: hyperactivity, lack of concentration etc.) thus making a proper training possible at all.

11. Keep in mind that the thyroid gland is very sensitive and easily affected by lots of factors. Therefore even small changes in the environment, health or the stress level might cause overreactions due to a reduction of the thyroid productivity! If you know the dog might be facing lots of stress soon, give an extra dosis of ¼-1/2 pill (please consult with the vet!).

12. Thyroxine needs about 30-60 minutes to “get to work”. Do NOT start training before that or bring the dog into a stressing situation (even the usual morning walk might be too much then).

13. These dogs rely on positive reinforcement more than others. They are so susceptible to stress that even small amounts of pressure can cause them to just shut down and block you out – or overreact (dangerous when dealing with a dog-dog or dog-human-aggressive dog!).

14. If you haven’t done so already, spay/neuter your dog. Being in heat or meeting a female in heat is just too much stress to handle for these dogs!

For further information on hypothyroidism in dogs, please see the following links:
- http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com -> table of contents -> hypothyroidism

If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me via email: daniela.jantzen@gmx.de
Regards,
Daniela Jantzen

Title : Potty 101

Date Submitted: 3-23-2005
Written By Laura Redhawk
You’ve just gotten your new puppy, the cutest puppy in the world! Or, maybe you’ve chosen a slightly older, more mature dog, which has the sweetest temperament towards every member of your family including the cat and the baby. CONGRATULATIONS!

Does your puppy or dog know how to go potty?

After 24 hours, maybe less, your answer may be a resounding, “Boy oh boy….does he ever!” “Under the table, behind the chair in the living room, in my daughter’s bed!!!!” These are just some of the comments we’ve had from K9U Members as they discover this adorable pup they already love has NO CLUE about the niceties, the expected behaviors, of going to the bathroom. This can be especially frustrating and confusing when the pup is slightly older, 6 months to 2 years of age or even older!!! “They said he was housebroken!!!” is sometimes the cry, “she was going outside, but now has gone in the house for the last 3 days!”

How and why has this occurred, and WHAT can you do to stop it?

Sometimes people fib about their older pup’s ability to do certain things.

Frequently, even an older dog will slip into behaviors they wouldn’t normally do, because of the stress of a NEW living situation. Moving, new roommates, new baby, return of an adult child to the home full time, a new pet, change in the owner’s schedule, remodeling of the home, or landscaping (both may include a lot of strangers suddenly tramping about the house and or yard), change in food, new carpet, divorce, kid leaves for college, death of a close family member or other pet can all trigger stress related behaviors in pets.

Dogs are creatures of habit, change, even positive, happy changes, even changes that we might not consider worth a worry, CAN upset a dog. Likewise, they can become stressed when we are stressed. That sensitivity to our moods is part of what makes them loyal, loving and ‘Johnny on the Spot’ sort of companions.

Sometimes prior owners do not train their pups to go potty in a preferred place. Sometimes they actually train them to hide accidents IN THE HOUSE, by using negative corrections such as yelling, hitting, and even rubbing noses in the accident.

Of course, with a NEW Puppy, one that is 8 to 12 weeks old, they simply have no idea that anything potty related is expected of them AND their bodies are not developed enough to ‘HOLD IT’ for more than a short while at a time!

Do you think your dog/puppy is being stubborn about this?

Some breeds can be more challenging than others. But, consider what breed of dog you have. Is yours a hunting breed that has been developed to work apart from the owner, making its own decisions, based upon training and breeding? Is it a breed that was developed to be outside most of the time guarding livestock, (this is different than herding breeds, this is a type of dog who lives with the stock and protects it from harm away from human assistance)? What was your dog developed to do?

If you have a Crossbred or Mutt, you may have the best of several dogs mixed into one, but you still need to consider what traits your pup has from the different breeds. Dogs are rarely stubborn about much of anything, not understanding what is wanted, fears, medical or too young to comply, even being left too long without access to outside is more likely to blame for most “stubborn reactions.”

So, now we have some ideas as to How and Why accidents happen. WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? The answer is TRAIN THE PUPPY/DOG TO GO POTTY WHERE YOU WANT THEM TO USING POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT!

No matter what breed of dog you have, all dogs are genetically designed through their DNA to work for the good of the pack, to not upset the tranquility of the home life. Dogs DO NOT plot revenge against you for coming home a couple of hours late, for petting another dog, as you walked during lunch at work, or any other imagined slight you might consider them taking action to express displeasure for your behaviors. They don’t enjoy Anger, Yelling, Screaming or other human examples of ire!! Their brains do not work that way! The last thing a puppy or dog wants to do is to piss you off! Please keep this thought in mind!

Positive Reinforcement or +R as it’s commonly called, allows you to train your dog to do what you’d like them to in a calm, happy, positive way! It also builds a bond between you and your dog, allowing you to create a strong foundation for future training skills, and safety with your dog. It builds TRUST between you and your dog. The dog does what it has been trained to do, to please the owner, and receive the rewards = PRAISE AND TREATS from the owner/trainer.

You have knowledge and abilities; your dog has different knowledge and abilities. Using +R to train allows you to each extend your knowledge and abilities through each other and become more fluent in understanding each other’s language and communications. You both have the potential to become more than what you were before as a team.

THE BARE BONES

Teaching your puppy or dog to go potty outside means showing him or her exactly WHY that is the most wonderful place in the world to go potty.

TREATS
Using the most flavorful goodies you can find that really excite your pup is one of the key ingredients to success. I like using people Jerky a lot because it needs no refrigeration, I can cut it up into tiny bites with a pair of scissors, and keep it by my kitchen door in a small zip lock bag. I don’t use “hot” or spicy, plain or at most teriyaki seems to be perfect. Other favor packed treats include: hotdog, left over cooked meats, beef, chicken, boiled chicken livers, (cheap and you can cook up a fair amount, some dogs love garlic, if yours does, toss it in when boiling, freeze some for later use) cheese, peanut butter…just a dab…easier to handle if you scoop some into a small plastic container with a lid, or any treat that really excites your pup will do great. Some people use the same treat all the time with success, others either choose to switch from time to time or the dog indicates a show of “Ho Hum” so they change to another type. (Of course, do not use chocolate, candy, human cookies; things you already know are NOT good for your dog to eat!)

The actual treat is a very small bite that is very big on flavor, one treat for every single potty action combined with PRAISE. **note: Try using one bite…but if that is not impressing YOUR dog….then give them a “JackPot” this is where the bite is still tiny…but they get several 3 to 6 bitty bits with a huge amount of praise at the same time! REMEMBER you are out to make a big impression here…

PRAISE!
As you get to know your pup, you’ll discover what is enough praise to get the point across. A shy dog may not respond well to you jumping around, clapping your hands and squealing with joy, (even though you may honestly feel like doing exactly that). A more calm, softer tone of voice, “what a gooood girl/boy, (name of pet), you are sooo good!” (treat popped into open, waiting mouth), May suit the shy dogs needs better.

If your pup is one of those self-assured, easy-going, happy-dance, joy, joy types, you will probably want to “kick it up a notch!” Using a very happy excited voice you say something like, “OH! (dog’s name), WHAT a GOOD, DOG! (dogs name)! You go potty OUTSIDE, GOOD GIRL/BOY!” (give treat!) If doing a dance, clapping your hands, rubbing their back, scratching behind the ears, (the dog, not your own), while singing their praises is what really gets the point across to YOUR pup…do it.

The pup goes potty, you immediately PRAISE and TREAT! This means….You go out WITH the pup, don’t just send them out the back door into your (lucky you) fenced yard and then offer the praise and treat when they come back in. Ideally, the pup needs to be on a leash, wearing a flat, NEVER a choking type collar, so you have some control and can stay near enough to swing into your routine the moment they have finished going potty, pee or poop, it’s all the same dance!

BUT, WHAT IF THEY DON’T GO POTTY…how long do we stay outside and how do I know if they need to go, how often should I take them out?????

If there is no potty taking place within about 5 to 7 minuets, DON’T SCOLD, but simply return to the house. HOWEVER, don’t let the puppy out of your sight, especially if it seems reasonable to you that the pup should NEED to go. Wait about 5 to 10 minuets, depending upon the age of your pup, shorter for younger ones, then, take them back out for another try. Repeat as needed till they go, then party on!

BUT, BUT,….HOW DO I KNOW?

Surprisingly enough, puppies actually do make specific facial expressions, even at a young age when they need to go potty. Watching your pup will teach you “the look” right before they squat.

If you want to really set your young pup up for success, YOU initiate trips outside to start, till they advance enough to learn to “tell you.” I suggest with pups 8 to 12 weeks of age that they be given a chance to go out every time they transition from one activity to another. This means: they wake up….go out, eat…go out, play….go out, take a nap and wake up again…you got it…they go out! Young puppies bodies are not developed enough to hold it, but a short time.
THE FORMULA: number of months old + 1 hour is about how long your pup MIGHT successfully “hold it.” (3 month old puppy + 1 hr = 4 hours MIGHT HOLD IT)

This does not mean that an older dog can keep from having an accident for over eight, ten or twelve hours. A dog/puppy/for that matter, anyone, drinking a healthy amount of water and eating a healthy amount of food, will need to GO POTTY in a reasonable time frame. How long can YOU hold it, if you are drinking and eating normal, healthy amounts? I would bet you’d want to visit a bathroom for something during an eight hour time period!

The Formula is merely a guideline as to the development of your puppy’s body ability. It’s not written in stone. If you are crate training your pup, it gives you a reasonable time frame to consider if you or someone needs to visit the pup during the workday for a mid-day potty break.

Can’t my dog just tell me when they need to go?
They sure can! IF, you train them to do so. Sal, a former Instructor, has thoughtfully provided a simple, fun training article if you want to teach your dog to “Ring a Bell” to go out. You’ll find it listed in the Articles section along with Potty 101.

In addition, you can train your pup to “speak” or tap you with a paw. (Our Chocolate Lab, Coffee, would whimper softly while staring hard and wag her tail for her own…”gotta go” signal.) My Hannah has SEVERAL ways of asking…according to HOW BADLY she needs to go! As your relationship matures the two of you will develop more communication skills. Training helps these skills develop even more. A very young puppy, however, is still learning, so don’t expect them to just know what you want, they have to be shown. Likewise the same goes for an older dog that no one has bothered to train.

WHOSE JOB IS THIS ANY WAY?

If more than one person is training the puppy/dog, work together to make it a consistent pattern. Have everyone do it the same way as much as possible. Understand that if the puppy/dog is running loose in the house WITHOUT supervision, there will probably be some accidents. THOSE are not the puppy’s fault. I’ve never had a dog, with the exception of illness; go potty in the house IF I was FAITHFULLY WATCHING THEM.

I CAN’T SPEND ALL MY TIME LOOKING AT MY PUPPY!!!

Use a crate as needed, use baby gates (2 of them if your dogs a jumper one on top of the other) to confine the pup in a safe, easy to clean space, use your leash or tether, (even a soft rope and a couple of clips), to attach the pup TO YOU, (on your belt or belt loop or??), making sure that the leash is easy to remove, and that there’s enough length for you to move about easily and for the pup to lay down comfortably while you are in one spot. This makes you at least aware of where the puppy is, while you are at the computer, cutting veggies for dinner or what ever. NEVER tether your puppy or dog to furniture, it won’t help with responding to the dog’s need, and it can be harmful to both dog and furniture!

MY PUPPY JUST MESSED IN THE HOUSE, NOW WHAT DO I DO?

Clean it up. Clean it really well!! DO NOT make a big hairy deal out of it with the puppy. It was an accident, treat it as such. The GOAL, remember, is to keep the puppy/dog focused on the JOYS OF GOING OUTSIDE! Accidents IN THE HOUSE are BOREING! Nothing interesting happens inside connected to potty. OUTSIDE is praise and treats and happy days. (Having a fit trains your dog to: hide the accidents, run from you when you call their name, not trust you.)

Catching them just about to go in the house you CAN say: (surprised voice) “OH, NO!!” (happy voice) “Lets go outside!” If they are small snatch them up and get them out. This is not negative, but you are redirecting them to where you want them to go, post haste!

Lastly, don’t despair! A lot of dogs are not fully 100% housetrained until 14 months of age! Some take a lot longer, some take a little longer, some, are a lot quicker than that. Each pup is an individual and learns according to the training, and their own unique selves.

PUPPY PADS, NEWSPAPERS AND LITTER BOXES! (Choices???)

There are alternatives to training your pup to go outside. Any of the above are available as tools, or other locations to set up for your pup to go potty. You would train them to use these other places/items the same way as you would for going outside. The only difference is, while it might seem more convenient to you now, (and it might later too, it’s personal choice after all), if you decide you DO WANT them going outside later on…you may have to, (I would say COUNT ON IT), train them a second time to understand that you really do want them to go outside for potty and not on the paper you were just about to read, that fell to the floor when you jumped up to answer the phone. (Remember the part about creatures of habit? You’ve successfully taught them to use the pad, paper, or box and now you want them to do it someplace else. They can learn to do it, but you are sort of starting all over, so be patient and consistent.

Happy Tails!
Laura

Title : Housetraining Methods

Date Submitted: 3-23-2005
Written by Renee Premaza
Take your dog out:

-First thing in the morning
-Within 5-10 minutes AFTER EVERY MEAL
-Immediately AFTER EVERY NAP
-Take your dog out after being played with for awhile. This is very stimulating to many dogs and they will need to eliminate soon after something exciting happens.
-Take the dog out on an average of every 1/2-hour to an hour. You might want to keep a log on this to determine just how often he needs to go from how many times you can get him to eliminate when you take him outside.
-Before taking the dog outside, say to him, “wanna go potty?” and bring him outside ONLEASH to your designated spot. KEEP TREATS ON YOU 24 HOURS/DAY. Within a half second after your dog begins to pee or poop in the right spot, immediately give him a treat and praise him to the skies. You can reward good house training behaviors by then letting him run around outside with you or taking a walk. Throw him a puppy party ANYTIME he eliminates in his spot. Puppy doesn’t get to play or take a walk unless he eliminates. When you return from playing or walking, ask your puppy again if he has to potty before coming back inside the house.
-When you’ve established a fair amount of success in getting the dog to go in this spot, begin putting a command word on the behavior. For example, when you bring the dog to his spot, as he starts to eliminate, say your phrase, like “go potty.” Then reward him with a treat when he’s finished. Don’t rush giving him the treat because he might interrupt what he’s doing in order to get that treat!
-If you can’t keep your eye on him ALL THE TIME, (1) put him in his crate, or (2) tether him to your waist with his leash or long-line.
Watch him for certain signals that he may have to go: (1) sniffing the floor, (2) looking a bit anxious or worried, (3) coming to you and just staring at you, (4) preparing to squat or lift leg, (5) behaving like a lunatic or being unusually obnoxious. Don’t expect him to indicate until he’s a little older.
-Take him outside to potty before bedtime.

IF YOU TAKE HIM OUT AND HE DOESN’T GO:

-Don’t allow him to play outside.
-Bring him inside and put him in his crate for about 20 minutes or so.
-Take him out again, and repeat all procedures you’ve been instituting. (generally, the dog will go after having been crated for an additional 20 minutes.)

DO NOT PUNISH HOUSE TRAINING ACCIDENTS!

The success of teaching a dog to go potty outside depends on YOUR MANAGEMENT OF THE SITUATION.

By punishing the dog, he will NOT LEARN that going outside is what you want him to do. Punishment will only teach him that his owner is DANGEROUS. This can result in a dog who will (1) refuse to potty outside in the presence of his owner; (2) come inside and eliminate where nobody sees him relieve himself.

REWARD ALL GOOD BEHAVIOR – IGNORE ALL BAD BEHAVIOR

SPAY/NEUTER!

When your puppy reaches about 6 months, please spay your female and neuter your male. If you have any plans to breed your puppy “because he’s so cute or sweet,” please visit an animal shelter ASAP to see all the cute and beautiful dogs that were bred and can’t find permanent homes. There just aren’t enough homes available for all the dogs being bred today. It’s tempting to breed just for fun, but think of how not fun it would be if you couldn’t find a home for all the puppies in the litter you just created. Also, consider the possibility that your female might have problems delivering her puppies. Would you be willing to risk her health, or even her life to breed for the fun of it? I’m sure you wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.

Renee Premaza
Dog Obedience Trainer & Behavior Consultant
(609) 280-9338
www.jerseydogtrainer.com

Date Submitted: 3-23-2005
Submitted By: Deb McKean

NOTHING IN LIFE IS FREE

The NILIF program is remarkable because it’s effective for such a wide variety of problems. A shy, timid dog becomes more relaxed knowing that he has nothing to worry about, his owner is in charge of all things. A dog that’s pushing too hard to become “top dog” learns that the position is not available and that his life is far more enjoyable without the title.

It is equally successful with dogs that fall anywhere between those two extremes. The program is not difficult to put into effect and it’s not time consuming if the dog already knows a few basic obedience commands. I’ve never seen this technique fail to bring about a positive change in behavior, however, the change can be more profound in some dogs than others. Most owners use this program in conjunction with other behavior modification techniques such as coping with fear or treatment for aggression. It is a perfectly suitable technique for the dog with no major behavior problems that just needs some fine tuning.

ATTENTION ON DEMAND
The program begins by eliminating attention on demand. When your dog comes to you and nudges your hand, saying “pet me! pet me!” ignore him. Don’t tell him “no”, don’t push him away. Simply pretend you don’t notice him. This has worked for him before, so don’t be surprised if he tries harder to get your attention. When he figures out that this no longer works, he’ll stop. In a pack situation, the top ranking dogs can demand attention from the lower ranking ones, not the other way around. When you give your dog attention on demand you’re telling him that he has more status in the pack than you do. Timid dogs become stressed by having this power and may become clingy. They’re never sure when you’ll be in charge so they can’t relax. What if something scary happens, like a stranger coming in the house? Who will handle that? The timid dog that is demanding of attention can be on edge a lot of the time because he has more responsibility than he can handle.

Some dogs see their ability to demand attention as confirmation that they are the “alpha”, then become difficult to handle when told to “sit” or “down” or some other demand is placed on them. It is not their leadership status that stresses them out, it’s the lack of consistency. They may or may not actually be alpha material, but having no one in the pack that is clearly the leader is a bigger problem than having the dog assume that role full time. Dogs are happiest when the pack order is stable. Tension is created by a constant fluctuation of pack leadership.

EXTINCTION BURSTS
Your dog already knows that he can demand your attention and he knows what works to get that to happen. As of today, it no longer works, but he doesn’t know that yet. We all try harder at something we know works when it stops working. If I gave you a twenty dollar bill every time you clapped your hands together, you’d clap a lot. But, if I suddenly stopped handing you money, even though you were still clapping, you’d clap more and clap louder. You might even get closer to me to make sure I was noticing that you were clapping. You might even shout at me “Hey! I’m clapping like crazy over here, where’s the money?”. If I didn’t respond at all, in any way, you’d stop. It wasn’t working anymore. That last try — that loud, frequent clapping is an extinction burst. If, however, during that extinction burst, I gave you another twenty dollar bill you’d be right back in it. It would take a lot longer to get you to stop clapping because you just learned that if you try hard enough, it will work.

When your dog learns that the behaviors that used to get him your attention don’t work any more he’s going to try harder and he’s going to have an extinction burst. If you give him attention during that time you will have to work that much harder to get him turned around again. Telling him “no” or pushing him away is not the kind of attention he’s after, but it’s still attention. Completely ignoring him will work faster and better.

YOU HAVE THE POWER
As the human and as his owner you have control of all things that are wonderful in his life. This is the backbone of the NILIF program. You control all of the resources. Playing, attention, food, walks, going in and out of the door, going for a ride in the car, going to the dog park. Anything and everything that your dog wants comes from you. If he’s been getting most of these things for free there is no real reason for him to respect your leadership or your ownership of these things. Again, a timid dog is going to be stressed by this situation, a pushy dog is going to be difficult to handle. Both of them would prefer to have you in charge.

To implement the NILIF program you simply have to have your dog earn his use of your resources. He’s hungry? No problem, he simply has to sit before his bowl is put down. He wants to play fetch? Great! He has to “down” before you throw the ball. Want to go for a walk or a ride? He has to sit to get his lead snapped on and has to sit while the front door is opened. He has to sit and wait while the car door is opened and listen for the word (I use “OK”) that means “get into the car”. When you return he has to wait for the word that means “get out of the car” even if the door is wide open. Don’t be too hard on him. He’s already learned that he can make all of these decisions on his own. He has a strong history of being in control of when he gets these resources. Enforce the new rules, but keep in mind that he’s only doing what he’s been taught to do and he’s going to need some time to get the hang of it all.

You’re going to have to pay attention to things that you probably haven’t noticed before. If you feed your dog from your plate do you just toss him a green bean? No more. He has to earn it. You don’t have to use standard obedience commands, any kind of action will do. If your dog knows “shake” or “spin around” or “speak” use those commands. Does your dog sleep on your bed? Teach him that he has to wait for you to say “OK” to get on the bed and he has to get down when you say “off”. Teach him to go to his bed, or other designated spot, on command. When he goes to his spot and lays down tell him “stay” and then release him with a treat reward. Having a particular spot where he stays is very helpful for when you have guests or otherwise need him out of the way for a while. It also teaches him that free run of the house is a resource that you control. There are probably many things that your dog sees as valuable resources that I haven’t mentioned here.

The NILIF program should not be a long, drawn out process. All you need to do is enforce a simple command before allowing him access to what he wants. Dinner, for example, should be a two or three second encounter that consists of nothing more than saying “sit”, then “good dog!”, then putting the bowl down and walking away.

ATTENTION AND PLAY
Now that your dog is no longer calling the shots you will have to make an extra effort to provide him with attention and play time. Call him to you, have him “sit” and then lavish him with as much attention as you want. Have him go get his favorite toy and play as long as you both have the energy. The difference is that now you will be the one initiating the attention and beginning the play time. He’s going to depend on you now, a lot more than before, to see that he gets what he needs. What he needs most is quality time with you. This would be a good time to enroll in a group obedience class. If his basic obedience is top notch, see about joining an agility class or fly ball team.

NILIF DOES *NOT* MEAN THAT YOU HAVE TO RESTRICT THE AMOUNT OF ATTENTION YOU GIVE TO YOUR DOG. The NILIF concept speaks to who initiates the attention (you!), not the amount of attention. Go ahead and call your dog to you 100 times a day for hugs and kisses!! You can demand his attention, he can no longer demand yours!

Within a day or two your dog will see you in a whole new light and will be eager to learn more. Use this time to teach new things, such as ‘roll over’ or learn the specific names of different toys.

If you have a shy dog, you’ll see a more relaxed dog. There is no longer any reason to worry about much of anything. He now has complete faith in you as his protector and guide. If you have a pushy dog he’ll be glad that the fight for leadership is over and his new role is that of devoted and adored pet.

Written by Renee Premaza
1. Make sure your expectations of your dog are reasonable. Don’t expect
your dog to acquire good behaviors until you train him to do what you want.

2. When you begin extinguishing attention-seeking behaviors (e.g.,
jumping, barking in your face, pawing at you, stealing, etc.) expect these
behaviors to get worse before they get better (known as an extinction burst). Be consistent in your training, and be patient!

3. When saying English words to your dog (e.g., his name, commands like
sit or down, etc.), do not repeat these words more than ONCE. When we nag our dogs by repeating and repeating, they learn to stop listening to us.

4. If your dog ignores you, it is not because he’s being stubborn! It can be
because whatever you’re saying might be confusing to him, or you might be using words that have become meaningless to him because you’ve repeated them over and over again.

5. When asking your dog to sit, or when asking him to do anything, please
stand up straight. Avoid leaning over your dog to address him as he may back away from you.

6. WOMEN – avoid sing-songing commands to your dog. When you tell your
dog to sit, say the word in a firm, but neutral voice. You’re not asking the dog to sit — you’re telling him to sit.

7. Remember that when you reward your dog for a behavior, that behavior will tend to increase. This is known as positive reinforcement.

a. If your dog is hyper, reward him for sitting, lying down or doing ANY calm behavior he voluntarily offers by giving him treats . You’ll notice that your dog will begin sitting and lying down more and more on his own.

b. If your dog starts to show inappropriate behaviors, and those behaviors get worse and worse, you will have to figure out who or what is reinforcing those behaviors. Remember that what can be rewarding to a dog is not necessarily rewarding to humans.

8. Consider the breed of your dog when fretting over his behaviors. If you
have a herding dog, this dog will tend to nip at children’s ankles, he’ll be more likely to chase children, cars, bikes, rabbits and squirrels and anything that moves quickly. If you have a dog known for protecting, your dog will bark at strangers. If you have a dog that has been bred to hunt rodents underground, this dog will enjoy digging.

9. Never physically punish your dog for anything! Your dog will not trust you if you slap him. He will think you’re a bully and he will not respect you. He might learn to be afraid of you, and he won’t respect you! Also, someday he may choose to defend himself against your aggressive behavior toward him. His behavior toward other people may also be affected by your aggression toward him. Physical punishment creates a lot of fallout.

10. MEN – when speaking to your dog it is not necessary to yell. More often than not, a word spoken in a non-threatening way will get more of his attention than hollering.

11. Your dog needs to know that you’re a good leader. When dogs do not
have confidence in their humans to make good decisions, dogs instinctively
feel that they need to “take over” and make decisions on their own. Your dog wants to know that you will never place him in harm’s way. Your dog wants to feel confident that his survival is your responsibility. If your dog feels the need to make decisions on his own, he will always resort to doggy-behaviors. Dogs that think they have to rule the roost become hyper and nervous. Many times they develop very bad habits, like biting people, growling and snarling when they don’t get their own way. Help your dog to feel more relaxed by controlling all of his resources (e.g., food, toys, shelter, and all good things). He will become much calmer when he knows it’s not his responsibility to make important decisions. Follow the Nothing in Life is Free Program.

12. Do not leave your dog’s food in his bowl all day long. “Free-feeding” causes dogs to lose their appetite. Dogs that have food out all day do not feel that their food is valuable. They think food grows in the bowl just for them. By offering two distinct meals per day, your dog will learn to eat when his bowl is placed on the floor. He will also see YOU as the giver of his food. If you have a puppy, feeding at definite times will help his digestive system become more regulated and you will be able to housetrain your pup much more easily.

13. If you have young children in your home, and you have a computer, please go to the following website for extremely important information about how to keep children safe with dogs, and how to keep dogs safe with children: www.doggonesafe.com

a. Never allow small children to play on the floor with any puppy or adult dog. When dogs get overly excited they tend to nip children on the face! Avoid making this mistake. Young children should either stand up or sit on furniture when playing with their dogs.

b. Never leave young children with puppies or adults dogs without an adult to supervise — do not leave them alone even for one second!!

c. According to the Humane Society of the United States, 12 year old boys are more apt to be bitten by their own dogs. Never allow your children (or your husband) to rough-house with your puppies or adult dogs.

d. Teach your children to behave appropriately with your puppy or dog. Never allow children to pull tails or ears or to lay on top of your dog! Teach children that when puppy or dog wants to go into his crate for a rest, they should respect his need to do so.

e. Learn to recognize stress signals that your dog tries to communicate. When your dog becomes stressed around your children, allow him to escape to either his crate or another room where he can chill. Teach your children never to bother your dog when he’s in this “safe space.” **To learn how dogs communicate that they are stressed, purchase the book, “ON TALKING TERMS WITH DOGS,” by Turid Rugaas. Also purchase the companion video with the same name. You can purchase these items at: www.Dogwise.com

14. When purchasing puppies, do not take them from their littermates until 8 weeks of age. If you purchase a pup younger than 8 weeks, it will be difficult to teach him to have a soft mouth. Puppies removed from their litter too early tend to be nippy and play bite with hard-mouths. A pup needs to learn bite inhibition from his littermates before he’s brought into the home. You then must teach him to use his mouth softly (see my Puppy Packet for more information).

15. Begin training puppies as early as 9 weeks of age. The earlier you begin
training, the less likely your puppy will be to develop inappropriate behavioral habits as he goes through his adolescence and enters adulthood.

16. If you adopt an adolescent dog or adult dog from a shelter or rescue
organization, be sure to start obedience training ASAP. The majority of dogs that wind up in shelters or rescue have not even been trained to sit.

a. When adopting a dog from a shelter or from rescue, expect a “honeymoon period.” This period can last anywhere from 1 week to 4-6 months. This might all depend on how long it takes for your adopted dog to feel comfortable and secure in his new home. Once this honeymoon period comes to an end, your dog might begin showing some inappropriate behaviors that he had developed in his previous life. Be patient with your dog and teach him more appropriate behaviors by rewarding him heavily for doing what you want him to do.

b. Start training your adopted dog in obedience after only a few days of arriving at your home. Let him know from the very beginning that you’re going to be a firm, but benevolent leader!

17. When you train your dog, teach him the word you want him to learn AS
HE’S DOING THE BEHAVIOR. For example, if you want your dog to understand the word, SIT, say the word “SIT” as he goes to put his butt on the floor. After about 5 times, test him to see if he understands the word by saying it first. If he sits then you’ll know he now understands what that spoken word means. Dogs will always respond quicker to hand-signals, as they communicate with each other using body language.

18. When using reward-based training, give your dog his reward within 1/2
second of his doing that good behavior. If your timing in incorrect, you might be rewarding him for the wrong behavior. For example, many people will take their dog outside to potty, but will then give the dog a treat after he comes back inside the house. The dog has only learned that he’s been rewarded for coming back in the house — not that he’s done a good thing by going potty outside!

19. If during the life of your dog you notice any sudden change in his behavior, take him to the veterinarian for a complete physical examination. There are many serious illnesses that might cause a dog to change his behavior.

20. I wish you good luck with your dog, and I hope this article will help you understand your canine companions.

Renee Premaza
Dog Obedience Trainer & Behavior Consultant
(609) 280-9338

Canine Learning Theory +/- R & +/-P

Written by Renee B.

Operant Conditioning:

Positive Reinforcement (+R): Applying something to increase behavior

Negative Reinforcement(-R): Taking away something to increase behavior

Positive Punishment (+P): Adding something to decrease behavior

Negative Punishment (-P): Taking away something to decrease behavior
Examples:

+R: Owner says “Come Spunky!”, Spunky complies and owner gives spunky a hotdog piece.

-R: Owner is teaching his dog to heel with a choke chain, dog is not heeling, owner then pulls the choke chain tight until dog heels, dog starts heeling, then owner releases the tightness on choke chain

+P: Dog sees owner and gets excited, dog jumps up to greet owner, owner knees dog in the chest, dog moves away from owner and doesn’t jump

-P: An owner is playing with her new puppy, puppy nips owner, owner turns her back to puppy, leaves the room, and closes the door so the puppy can’t follow
Ok, now lets talk about the rules of punishment – I’m mostly talking about +P and -R:

Punishers can suppress all behavior across the board – even the behaviors that you are trying to teach.

Punishers only temporarily suppress the undesired behavior. You still need to train the correct response to take the place of the undesired behavior. This is where we see a lot of fallout and other behavioral issues

Punishment is strongly associated with the handler. I think this needs no explaining.

Punishment is difficult to execute properly because the punishment needs to be only be associated with the target behavior (undesired behavior). This is impossible to execute because we get what is called a Unpredictable Avoidance Response. Which in plain English means that the dog didn’t associate the punishment with his “bad behavior”. He may have associated the punishment with the handler or the location (like the backyard). Now the dog starts avoiding the owner or the backyard

Punishment with poor timing isn’t punishment, it’s confusing to the dog and it’s down right abusive. When I say timing I mean 0.5 seconds or less.

Punishers can lead to aggression in dogs – dogs are fight or flight animals. How many times would I have to punch you before you decide to punch me back?

Punishment must occur each and every time the behavior does – otherwise you will only make the behavior stronger.

You must make a huge impression with a punisher and should only be a 1 time occurance (if used correctly). How much is too much? How much it too little. This is where people really get into trouble. I believe if people can’t even train with +R and treats, they certainly wouldn’t have the judgment to execute this particular point on punishers properly (I know I couldn’t).

Punishment Summary:

On paper, punishment is highly effective, but then we add in all the side effects (see the above list) and consequences (fallout). This is why positive reinforcement is the more effective choice. Using punishment(-R/+P) correctly is generally more difficult than using (+R/-P). The stakes are much higher and we generally see a lot of fallout (erosion of the human-animal bond). For those of you who work at shelters, you may have even seen a dog who has Learned Helplessness. This is a dog who has been exposed to so much punishment and negativity that it just shuts down – its very sad.

Written by Renee Premaza
It is vitally important that you begin socializing your puppies NOW! The window for socialization closes at 12 weeks. Gradually introduce your puppy to all sorts of people: tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people, men, women, children, men with beards and who wear hats, girls and boys who wear baseball caps, black people, white people, and DOGS. When you’re socializing your dog with children, watch your dog carefully to see if he’s getting tired. If he is, remove him from the children and let him rest somewhere, like his crate. Put him in there with a chewy or a favorite toy so he doesn’t see this as a punishment.

Begin this week by taking your dog to 5 new places. Put your puppy in the car and take him/her for rides in traffic. Speak to your dog along the way in a happy voice. Go and get gas at the gas station so your puppy gets used to someone reaching into the car to give you change. Ask the attendant if he’d mind offering your dog a treat through the window.

Expose your puppy to many different novel stimuli. Let him see the hose outside, or the rake, or your feather duster and vacuum cleaner. Familiarize him with all different sights and sounds. Let him walk on all sorts of surfaces, like concrete, grass, tile, and asphalt, etc. Purchase a CD that has the sound of thunder on it, and gradually let him hear this recording at louder and louder volumes. Have some toys and treats, and play with him while he’s listening to your thunder CD. If there is a real thunderstorm, play with your puppy and feed him delicious treats during the storm. Even if there is a loud, scary clap of thunder, clap your hands and laugh about it. Expose him to other sounds, like the vacuum cleaner, the dishwasher and clothes washer and dryer. Turn on the food processor and let him get used to that. If your dog shows any fear or discomfort from hearing those sounds, don’t console him. Just speak to him in a happy tone of voice, as he will be very affected by your own emotions. This is important to know, folks — your dogs will be very affected by your feelings about all things in general. Remember that for the future.

Once your dog has had it’s first set of shots, try to arrange play-dates with other vaccinated puppies of similar age and size. Make sure you know and trust the owners of these dogs when they tell you their dogs are healthy and friendly! Be careful not to overwhelm your dog at first. Do this very gradually. Most vets recommend that you keep your puppy off of any surface that might have been soiled by unknown dogs.

If, at anytime, you see your puppy begin to look stressed or anxious, please give him a much-needed break. Puppies can become ill if they are feeling overwhelmed.

If you notice that your puppy seems afraid of anything, DO NOT CONSOLE HIM by picking him up, petting him and cooing to him. This will only reinforce the behavior, making your puppy think you LIKE his behavior! Speak confidently and offer him treats as you desensitize him to the things he’s afraid of. Help him learn that SCARY THINGS = GOOD THINGS HAPPEN.

This is the time you should begin handling your puppy all over his/her body. Message your puppies feet and give him treats while you do this. This will get him ready for grooming and nail clipping. Bring out the nail clipper and put treats around it. Make his association with this instrument a positive one. Pretend to clip his nails with the clipper, but don’t actually cut them yet. You might want to take your puppy to a professional groomer the first time to make sure his first nail cuts are done without incident. Let the groomer show you the right way to trim nails to avoid accidentally cutting too close to the quick.

Always praise and reward with treats when your puppy doesn’t show fear or alarm at being handled anywhere on his body. If you notice that he’s sensitive in certain areas, begin to SLOWLY desensitize him to touch by feeding him some treats and then touching him gently while he’s eating that food. The more you handle your puppy, the better he’ll like it. Some of you may have puppies who don’t like being restrained or handled. Do NOT become alarmed. Work on these problems by using food rewards to encourage him to like these things. Pair up being handled or restrained with being given very tasty morsels of food so that the dog will learn to associate being handled as a good thing! If you pick your puppy up and he squirms, DON’T put him right down! Hold on to him GENTLY, but firmly until he settles down and stops fussing. THEN put him down.

A word of caution here: Please do not take anyone’s advice when they tell you to flip your puppy on its back and restrain him until he settles down. This will scare your puppy, and he will learn that you can’t be trusted. A puppy will feel very vulnerable to being attacked while he’s got his belly exposed. This is instinct here. If you try to flip an adult dog on its back, be prepared to get bitten!

If your puppy becomes over-active and obnoxious — AND HE WILL… — Here’s an exercise that will teach him to settle down:

Put your dog onleash and a flat buckle collar or harness. Sit in a chair in a quiet room with your dog. Watch what your dog is doing, and anytime he behaves calmly, say “Good Boy/Girl!” and toss him a treat. If he gets all excited again, and starts jumping on you or pawing at your clothing, IGNORE HIM or get up and walk out of the room leaving him alone! The instant he stops this behavior, say “good boy/girl” and give him some very tasty tid-bits of food. He will learn that a good default behavior is being calm and quiet. Set these training sessions up a couple times each day. Just sit there and wait for behaviors to reward him for. Remember to ALWAYS ignore your dog when he’s demanding your attention. If you put your puppy in his crate, and he immediately starts to whine or bark, put cotton in your ears and don’t run back to him. Otherwise, you’ll have a dog that knows he can get out of his crate by barking and whining.

Okay, more helpful hints for puppy owners: practice putting your puppy on a high surface, like on top of your washer. This will help him get used to being on a vet’s table. While he’s up there, do a physical examination of him, much like the vet would, checking his ears and feet and his teeth. Begin cleaning your puppies teeth using special doggy toothpaste – not human toothpaste! Good dental care is important, especially for the small breeds of dogs that are prone to dental disease. Dental problems can lead to other physical problems.

If you have young children in the family, please teach your children safe and proper handling of your puppy. Do not allow very young children to pick your puppy up while they’re standing. Chances of dropping the puppy can cause his death or serious injury. Many puppies do not like being picked up because they feel vulnerable to being dropped. Have your child sit on a chair and then place puppy in the child’s lap to pet gently. Do not allow children to pull your dog’s ears or tails. Do not allow children to lay all over your dog and jump on him. Some dogs will NOT tolerate this childish behavior and will snap or bite children for doing this. An excellent website to visit to learn about how to avoid dog bites with children is: www.doggonesafe.com Be sure to click on all the links as this site is packed full of very important information.

Do not allow your young children to sit on the floor with your dog! Make sure you supervise both kids and dogs whenever they’re together. All too often, kids and dogs get into trouble with each other because the dog misinterprets the child’s behavior, and then bites the child on the face. When children play with puppies or dogs, the children should be standing up or sitting on a chair or sofa and the dog should be on the floor. This eliminates all possibilities of child and dog being at face level. If you cannot be there to supervise, then your dog should be in another room behind a baby gate with a toy or chewy to occupy him. When kids and dogs are together, the keyword is SUPERVISE, SUPERVISE AND SUPERVISE! If your child is mature enough, allow that child to begin issuing sit commands to your puppy. Place a treat in your young child’s hand to offer puppy while your own hand holds onto your child’s. Many children inadvertently tease dogs by offering a treat and then pulling their hand away before puppy gets the food. Puppy then grabs at the child’s hand and might nip. Again, SUPERVISION WITH YOUNG KIDS AND PUPPIES/DOGS IS CRUCIAL.

Attached is a section on teaching bite inhibition. Please begin this training NOW. All puppies bite, because they’re teething, and because that’s how they’ve played with their littermates. It’s important to teach your dog to have a soft mouth. All dogs are capable of biting! If your dog has been taught good bite inhibition, if he’s ever provoked to bite during his lifetime, he will not do any damage because you will have taught him to bite without pressure!

Do NOT wrestle with your puppy. You will be teaching him that physical aggression is a fun thing to do when he reaches maturity. I watched a situation where the owner of 3 Pomeranians enjoyed teasing his dogs and he thought it was funny when they’d come back and try to bite him. Two of the 3 poms in this household have both shown serious aggression toward the owners and toward each other. Always think about what behaviors you are reinforcing! Again, use good common sense when you’re raising a puppy.

When the mailman comes or the UPS driver pulls up to your house, give him a treat to give to your puppy everyday! By doing this NOW, you will avoid having a dog who wants to kill the mailman or someone else wearing a uniform or hat. Let your puppy know right from the get-go that the mailman is a good thing because he represents treats.

If you don’t want your puppy to learn to chew on or steal socks or other laundry items, do not make them available! Keep laundry items in a closed hamper. Keep all food items off the kitchen countertops from the very beginning, so your puppy won’t want to “countersurf.” If you start out doing the right things, you won’t have to “fix” these training problems later on. Use good common sense when training and interacting with your puppies.

I know that many of you have had to get things out of your dog’s mouth – maybe your dog has stolen your children’s toys, or the dog has tried to eat something he found in the trash. Many of you have been told that it’s important to pick up your dog’s food dish so that he knows you’re the boss. I want to caution you about forcefully taking things away from a dog. Now… I fully understand that when there are small kids in the house, you need to teach your dog to relinquish items just in case the child tries to take something from the dog. But there’s a better way to teach a dog to relinquish something rather than grabbing it from him. If you work on training your dog to obey a DROP IT cue, he’ll relinquish anything you ask him to. If you continue forcefully taking things away from him, you might create a dog that becomes a resource guarder. Dogs who guard their food bowls, bones, or certain locations, or people, or their toys are resource guarding. Sometimes this behavior is instinctual, but sometimes the dog learns to do this because he feels he has to protect his stuff from everyone who keeps taking things away from him. Learn to make exchanges with your dog. If you need to take something away from him, put a treat right on his nose; when he opens his mouth to take the treat, tell him, “drop it” and then reward him with that treat. If you do this a lot with his toys, he’ll learn a drop it command very quickly. When your puppy is young, get him accustomed to being lightly stroked as you approach him and his food bowl while he’s eating. Toss something really delicious into his bowl when you do this so he looks forward to people being around him when he’s eating.

Puppies and adolescent dogs get a huge charge out of stealing things. This is a very clever game that they’ve invented in order to gain attention. Things that dogs love to steal include all laundry items, especially socks and underwear. One of my client’s dogs had a bra fetish! Of course there’s always the tv remote, eye glasses, children’s toys, all sorts of knickknacks, toilet paper is a big one and tissues are also a favorite. So, what’s a human to do when their puppy steals things? Well, as long as the item is not harmful to your dog, and if it’s not valuable, you should IGNORE THE DOG when he steals things. Stealing is an attention-seeking behavior. If you remove the attention from this game, the behavior will extinguish. If your dog steals something, pretend you don’t even notice him. It’s doubtful that he won’t make an effort to alert you that he’s got something that belongs to you. It’s almost as if he’s saying, “oh human… guess what I have…” You just keep doing whatever you were doing, but watch him out of the corner of your eye. Pretty soon he’ll get bored with the game and he’ll walk away and look for something else to do. Refocus his attention onto something more appropriate. When you get a minute, go and get the item he’s stolen, but don’t let your ingenious game-inventor see you do this.

Most importantly, please remember that your dog is a dog! He is not a little human in a furry suit! Your expectations of your puppy should be appropriate and you should not expect your puppy or dog to behave like a human or think like we do. Your dog requires training and he requires benevolent discipline and structure in his life. If he doesn’t learn what rules you expect of him, he will behave with typical dog behaviors. Keep in mind that all dog behaviors are normal for a dog. They don’t view ANYTHING they do as being wrong. This includes biting, eliminating on absorbent surfaces like rugs and sofas and beds, chewing on things like your chair legs, jumping up, trying to gain your attention, etc. If your puppy has a house training accident, don’t punish him for it — it was an accident. Do not think your dog feels guilty when you ask him, “what did you do??” as you point to where he soiled on your new carpet. He is NOT feeling guilty. He is merely responding to your change in demeanor, and he is lowering his head and body in order to look smaller and avoid possible punishment – not because he’s feeling guilty! Do not punish housetraining accidents. Keep on a good schedule and you’ll be able to quickly housetrain your puppy.

Written by Renee Premaza
One of the biggest mistakes that young couples make is failing to get their dog used to having a new baby live in the house, when the dog has been an ”only child.” Sometimes the ”new arrival” is seen as an intruder into the pack, and this can have disastrous effects. Here are some very important steps you should follow when you are expecting a baby. Keep in mind that you should do these training steps well before the baby comes into your lives.

1. Purchase as life-sized a baby-doll as you can find, preferably one that cries. If you can’t find a doll that comes with sound effects, you can purchase a CD that has baby sounds, which include crying.

2. Wrap the doll in a clean diaper or blanket, preferably one that already has the scent of a baby on it. If you can’t get one that has a baby’s scent on it, sprinkle the diaper or blanket with some baby powder, and add a few drops of baby lotion too.

3. Get into a routine where you’re carrying the ”baby” around the house with you. Talk to the baby much like you would if your real baby were in your arms. Pretend to feed the baby, and talk to the baby. Put the baby on your lap and watch TV. Try to make a daily routine with your new ”baby” and follow it so that your dog gets used to your new behavior.

4. Allow your dog to sniff the new ”baby.” Praise him to the skies for calm and friendly behavior toward the doll.

5. Put the doll into a stroller and start taking walks with baby and dog. Never forget to praise your dog for accepting the presence of the baby and for being well-behaved while you’re following your new routine as new mother.

6. If your dog has been allowed on the sofa, you may want to re-think his having this privilege. Keep in mind that you may have your child in your lap, and your dog may now be wanting to jump up on the sofa when you don’t want him up there while you’re holding your baby. Suppose you want to nurse your baby while sitting on the sofa? How will you react to the dog when he’s jumping up to sit with you? Plan ahead for situations like this, because if you need to change any of your dog’s habits that you’ve accepted before, you need the time to do this now, not after the arrival of the baby.

7. Another item you may want to have in your house during this desensitization period is the baby swing. Put the doll in the swing and turn the swing on. Watch your dog’s reaction to the swing. He may need to get used to this piece of equipment. He might start barking at it, or he may feel afraid of it.

8. Play your CD with the babies crying everyday. Start out by playing the tape with a very low volume. Gradually accustom the dog to hearing the loud volume of crying babies and watch for any negative reactions. If the dog doesn’t tolerate high-pitched crying, turn the volume down to the level where he’s okay with it. Then begin to turn the volume up again until he’s completely okay with the sounds.

9. Do not forget that you’ll still need to keep a normal routine with your dog. If you can keep a routine with the dog throughout this early period, the dog will be more inclined to accept everything else that’s going on in the house. Continue taking the dog for his regular exercise. Don’t slack up on this. If your dog isn’t able to expend his own excess energies, his behavior will deteriorate from boredom and loneliness.

10. Teach your dog to keep all 4 on the floor. If you haven’t devoted too much time to obedience training, NOW is the time to really work on this. The last thing you want is your dog jumping when baby is in your arms.

11. Remember that when you first bring your baby home, you may not feel like going out jogging with the dog everyday. You may want to start asking some dog-savvy kids in the neighborhood to begin walking the dog, or playing frisbee or fetch games with him. Get the dog used to new things like this early on instead of waiting until last minute.

12. Keep in mind that you’re going to have times after the baby arrives when baby is screaming for his meal, and your dog has to go potty. Things can get pretty chaotic for awhile after the baby arrives.

Just as you are planning ahead for the arrival of your new child, please plan ahead and think how you’re going to help your dog become comfortable with the baby. If, during these early days of getting the dog used to the doll, you see any signs that your dog is experiencing severe stress, or he’s showing any indications of wanting to bite the doll, PLEASE enlist the help of a professional trainer who can come to your home and create a program for you to follow with the dog. It’s better to find these things out now rather than have a disaster occur when the baby comes. If you think you need a trainer, you may want to visit http://apdt.com to get a list of trainers in your area.

Good luck!

Renee Premaza, Dip.,C.B.,C.C.B.T.
Dog Obedience Trainer and Behavior Consultant
(609) 280-9338
www.jerseydogtrainer.com

Written by Renee Premaza
Work on obedience everyday, minimally twice, preferably 3 times/day for about 3-5 minutes each time. Work on Sits and Downs and Attention exercises, and reward with good treats. Always end each training session where the dog has earned a treat reward and praise.

Tell your dog several times/day that she’s a good dog. Make a huge fuss over her anytime she does something that you like. When you teach new behaviors, ALWAYS praise her whenever she does something good – she needs that feedback in order to know what behaviors you are requiring of her.

Always remember that a dog is a dog – not a human in a furry suit. All behaviors that dogs do are natural to dogs – we just need to teach them what WE want them to do in order to live in harmony with US.

If your dog is undersocialized, DO NOT FORCE PEOPLE ON HER! However, you must work very hard to expose her to all sorts of people; i.e., short people, tall people, men, woman, men who wear hats, fat people, white people, black people, young children, older kids, kids who are playing in a park and who are running around screaming. BUT DO THIS AT A SAFE DISTANCE!!!!!!!! If you are walking with your dog in a park, and she is scared by approaching people, walk her off to the side of the path in an arc formation. Keep your dog at HER safe distance. AS LONG AS SHE REMAINS CALM, GIVE HER LOTS OF PRAISE AND A FOOD TREAT EVERYTIME SOMEONE WALKS TOWARD HER OR BEHIND HER!

When walking with your dog, or when you want to introduce her to someone she doesn’t know, tell them you need their help in training your dog. Here are the instructions to give other people:

1. Do NOT make eye contact with her.
2. Do NOT reach out to pet her.
3. Do NOT even speak to her.
4. Do NOT approach directly from the front.
Approach her in an arc formation.
5. Allow your dog to make the first moves.
Allow her to sniff this person. If she
seems okay with this individual, this
person can drop treats on the ground for
her to eat. YOU praise her to the skies
if she eats them (if she is really
stressed, chances are she WON’T eat the
treats!
6. Do NOT let people lean over your dog.
7. Do NOT let people pet her on top of her
head!!
8. Do NOT console your dog by picking her up and telling her, “it’s okay, mommy’s here.” Your dog will see this as a reward for being scared, and she will also respond as if YOU’RE also scared, and that’s why you are holding her so closely!!
9. Exercise, exercise, exercise your dog. This is not a mis-print. The more exercise you provide for her, the more “feel good” hormones are released in her brain; i.e., seratonin. Lack of exercise causes many, if not most of behavioral problems in dogs.
10. As soon as your dog learns to sit on command, require her to earn every single privilege by sitting before:
a. she gets fed her meals
b. she gets to go for a walk
c. she gets petted or played with
d. she gets a bone or chewy
e. she gets a tug toy
f. she gets to go outside
g. she gets ANYTHING that SHE sees as
valuable in her life!
11. If your dog likes a good game of tug, play with her often! Teach her that this is YOUR toy, and never give her free access to it. In the situation where a dog is lacking in self-confidence, you can let your dog win AT LEAST HALF OF THE TIME.
12. Take your dog for rides in the car A LOT! This will help her get socialized also. Go and get gas and ride in traffic areas so she gets used to the noises of cars going by and people crossing streets.

IF SHE SEEMS TERRIBLY STRESSED AT ANYTIME, TRY TO REFOCUS HER ATTENTION ONTO SOMETHING THAT WILL MAKE HER FEEL BETTER, LIKE DOING SOME OBEDIENCE SO SHE CAN EARN SOME REWARDS.

WHEN SHE IS BEHAVING CALMLY, NEVER FORGET TO REINFORCE THAT HEAVILY!

Renee Premaza
Dog Obedience Trainer & Behavior Consultant
(609) 280-9338
www.jerseydogtrainer.com

Hunting Behavior in Dogs

Date Submitted: 4-04-2005
Written by Daniela Jantzen
A long time ago wolves became dogs – or dogs became some sort of tamed wolf. Ever since then, a lot has changed for our canine friends. But, despite numerous intensive attempts by human breeders to achieve the “perfect” companion, some things never changed – their most basic instincts. Hunting is one of them – and probably the one the hardest to deal with for all dog owners in this world……

In general, we differ between two different types of hunters:
Type A loves coursing: a quick movement in the corner of the eye is enough to take off at full speed. Type B prefers trailing – finding a track and following it, whatever else may happen. No matter what type of dog you have, keep in mind one thing: hunting is a self-rewarding behaviour. You can’t imagine how many speed junkies I have seen taking off all of a sudden, chasing birds they KNEW they couldn’t get just for the fun of it, only to come back with a big, “shitty grin” on their faces…. During such a hunt, a whole cocktail of hormones is being mixed inside the dog’s body – with endorphins playing a major role, right after adrenalin. This is a very powerful combination and it requires a lot of time, patience and effort on your part to beat this!

But…. It can be done.
But…..how?

Rule No 1 in canine training – stop unwanted behaviour before it even occurs the first time. If you don’t want a hunter – don’t let your dog hunt! Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, like so many other things in life, it sounds easier than it is…. Not because the task is almost impossible to fulfil, but because we are humans. And how many people do you know who can resist the sight of a clumsy, young puppy trying to go after a bird in the back yard for the first time? Now admit it, you would probably just stand there, laugh at the cute sight, get a kick out of it and shrug it off as unimportant, wouldn’t you? I sure would. After all…. The bird got away, didn’t it? But there you go, BIG mistake. By allowing your dog to go after the bird you just laid the perfect foundation for possible future hunting behaviour. If you don’t want your dog to hunt, don’t let it hunt. Period! Why even risk letting the pup train itself to become a perfect hunter?

But what about the older dog, who already has some experience in chasing possible prey…? Same rule applies. Stop the behaviour before it occurs. And once again, this sounds easier than it is… To prevent a dog from going off hunting, you have to have at least a basic knowledge about hunting behaviour. The most important thing to know is: hunting isn’t just one fluid motion, it consists of a whole chain of individual sequences.

These are:
1. Locating the prey
2. “fix” the prey (the famous eye of the bordercollie)
3. Sneaking up
4. Chasing the prey
5. Catching it
6. Killing it
7. Feeding

Your best chance to stop a dog from hunting is during sequences 1-3. As soon as it takes off – good luck, you either have your dog trained perfectly to achieve a reliable recall, or it is gone! The more chances for success for your dog (keep in mind that chasing itself is already rewarding enough for many dogs!), the less likely your chances to “cure” it. Therefore, when walking your dog off leash – never let it get out of sight. ALWAYS keep an eye on it to realize at once when it might be after something! The sooner you react, the better your chances to prevent hunting.

Until you get to the point of stopping your dog when it sees a rabbit right in front of its nose, it can be a long, hard way for you as a responsible dog owner. But….. going this road is definitely worth it! There is almost no better and more intensive feeling of success than when your dog turns around at the pure sight of a rabbit and happily comes running back to you!

So….. how do I achieve that?
Alright, let’s get started.

I think it is common sense that you should not let your dog run off leash in an area with lots of possible prey as long as it is not properly trained (note: this can include cats and smaller dogs as well if your dog has not been properly socialized to smaller domestic animals!).

When starting the anti- “oh my gosh, I HAVE to get it”-training I usually combine a whole variety of methods. First of all: because one method alone barely works. Secondly: the more options you know, the better your chances to get a positive reaction from your dog in emergency cases.

1. Going for a walk should be more than just a walk….

…. It should be an adventure! Yep, you heard me! An adventure, an exciting event for both you and your dog. Keep in mind that most dogs are confined, kennelled or crated for many hours a day. The least thing you owe your furpal after such a day is to act accordingly to the status you want to have in your doggy’s eyes – the status of a real VIP: THE very important person!
But…. How do I become such a VIP…? Matter of fact, it is easy. Do not take your dog for a walk, explore the world together! Find tracks together, show the dog where the best treats “grow” (after secretly dropping a few goodies behind his back, my dog still can’t believe how good I am in finding special treats in an area he just sniffed a few seconds ago. Gee, I am GOOD!), jump over benches together, teach it to crawl underneath them, circle trees, find your keys in the grass….. I am sure you get the picture! The more fun a walk with you, the less likely it is that your dog goes off, looking for fun somewhere else…. Maybe with Mr. Rabbit over there…?

2. Stage your walks according to your dog’s personal needs and preferences
You have a running addicted dog? Well then….. do you really think walking around the block, deeply lost in your own thoughts, will fulfil its desire to RUN? Better get yourself a bicycle with a springer. The more exercised the dog, the less likely it is to go off looking for the run somewhere else….. where was Mr. Rabbit again…? But what if your dog is less of a runner and more of a nose worker? Fine enough, enrol in basic tracking classes. You don’t have to become an expert in man-trailing to brighten up your dog’s day with tracking exercises during the walks. Basic knowledge is enough! Although I am sure your dog would not mind going into such classes regularly!

3. Feeding – the final sequence of a hunt

Who has said a dog’s food has to be given in a bowl at a fixed place at a fixed time? Forget it, if you have a dog which LOVES hunting, use the food for your own benefit! From now on, feeding will only take place during your walks, with the normal dry kibble functioning as treats for general obedience training and fun games and special yummy treats for extraordinary behaviour.
But actually, the food can become a lot more than just the reward – it can become the prey….. Here in Germany, we work a lot with treat bags. These are specially made leather or nylon bags, stuffed with food and impossible to open for the dog. Treat bags can be used for retrieving exercises where the dog has to a) find it and b) retrieve it to c) get the reward out of the hand of the owners.To make this game more interesting for the more agile dog, fix a flexible rope to a long stick, attach the bag to the rope and voila! There you go, your “canine fishing rod”. All you have to do is twirl the bag around for the dog to catch it either mid air – or drag it behind you when you go cycling to make a nice chase game out of it. Your dog will love you for it!

4. The emergency “down”

The better the obedience of the dog, the better your chances to stop it. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But when meeting a deer, squirrel or rabbit, many dogs just seem to forget about “basic training” at home…. Thus intensive training of an ultimative “stop”-signal is mandatory (not only for hunting, but also if you live close to streets with heavy traffic, such an emergency “down” or “stop” can become handy). The emergency signal is more likely to work if you train it over and over again during your daily walks- quickly followed by an action game of fun and excitement. (Matter of fact: this is indeed very important as simply stopping a behaviour can lead to frustration which we do not want – so please, give the dog a chance to get rid of all the energy and stress! And if you only start tossing treats into the other direction and have it go after them!) The other benefit of general obedience training during walks: the dog is more focused on you in general. The better the communication and concentration on both parts, the better your chances to redirect your dog’s attention to you again once something interesting shows up at the horizon – or right in front of its nose….

5. The emergency “here”

Ok, now let us be honest: how many times a day do you call your dog to your side, using come or here? And what does it get in return? Probably the usual ear rub, treat or play toy. And you really expect your dog to stop a funny and extraordinary hunt for such an “ordinary” reward and for such a common signal …? Reconsider. Once all a dog’s senses are fixed on the prey, the best chance to get through to your dog’s occupied brain is a sharp noise – whistles come handy. Condition the whistle in your home environment. Use a really extraordinary treat as a reward (small packages of cat food or liverwurst usually work wonders! Ensure your dog does not see you grab the treat though – stuff it in your pockets when it is not watching).
When your dog is not even paying attention to you – whistle and while your dog is still trying to figure out what the heck this sudden noise was, feed it with the yummy treat. Behave as if nothing had happened directly afterwards.
Do the same procedure again and again over the next few days (once a day), at different times and at different locations. Then “reload” the signal approx. once per week at max in none hunting situations. Note: This is an emergency signal, for emergency situations only. Don’t over use it! It is nothing else but a well conditioned reinforcer, promising a super yummy treat the dog would literally die for. Do NOT “reload” it over and over again in similar situations – smart dog’s will only realize your pattern and start provoking it! ALWAYS reinforce the signal. It is merely a signal for a good recall – do not wait until your dog sits by your side to treat it!

6. Situation management

If you walk your dog in a new area or at times when many animals are around – keep your dog on the leash. If you want to provide it with more exercise and still have it secured – use a long lead attached to a harness. The latter is very important as sudden stops can lead to severe injuries to the dog’s neck area!

There are many more possibilities to stop unwanted hunting behaviour. Not all methods work equally well with every dog. If you feel like despite all your effort you seem to get nowhere – ask your local positive reinforcement for help.

Danny

Friedberg, 04.04.2005

Socializing a Fearful Dog

Date Submitted: 3-23-2005
Written By Renee Premaza
Five years ago, I rescued a 14-month-old Border Collie, who had several very severe behavioral problems. One of those problems was his fear of humans. I’d like to share with you some of the things that I did to help this dog overcome that fear.

One of the major problems Jack had was that he knew that biting and snarling, showing his teeth and growling had always worked for him when he wanted to keep people away. I had to help him get used to people being around him BEFORE he got so stressed that he’d begin to show these behaviors. First, I purchased a Gentle Leader Collar. This collar fits on the dog much like a horse’s halter fits on a horse. The function of this collar is to give the handler absolute control over the dog’s head; a dog cannot lunge at someone if his head is not facing that person. So, when Jack wore the collar, I did not have to worry that he’d pull on the leash if he spooked at a person who was walking past us. This allowed me to relax. You want to be as relaxed as possible when working with your fearful dog because if your dog senses that you’re nervous, he will also become nervous. Another important factor that you must pay attention to is the leash. ALWAYS keep a loose leash on your dog. When a leash is pulled tightly, it will actually make the dog aggressive; a dog will tend naturally to pull against a tightened leash. The tighter the leash, the harder the dog will pull against it. So, make sure there is a decent bow in the leash at all times while walking along. NEVER pull your dog in too close to you. This will signal your dog that there is definitely something out there to be scared of because his handler is trying to keep him away from it.

The first time I took my dog to a park, I came home with a migraine headache. My poor dog, I’m sure, had one too! But… we both learned a lot that day. We set out on our walk at the worse time of day – lunch time. This park was in the very center of an industrial area. People who worked in the area were out walking during their lunch break, mothers were walking along with their babies in strollers, and lots of young children were kneeling and playing around the lake where the ducks and swans were swimming. We didn’t walk ten feet before a group of strollers came walking toward us. I heard Jack start to give off a quiet growl, and I could feel the vibration of that growl through the leash. Because the path was not terribly wide, I pulled him off to the side of the road, and turned him around to face these people as they walked past us. He surprised me because he did stop growling at that point. I praised him to the heavens because this was a very difficult thing he was doing, and I recognized that. When the pathway cleared, we resumed our walk and it didn’t take too long for more people to approach us. Again, I pulled off to the side of the path, and Jack could see the people walk in front of us and then pass. More praise! At one point, I was standing with Jack and a jogger stopped to talk to me about how beautiful he thought my dog was. Then he asked me about the Gentle Leader he was wearing. I was happy to give him information about the use of this collar, but when he wanted to approach the dog to check out the collar, I told him that my dog was scared and was now growling at him. He said, “He is? I can’t hear him growling.” Neither could I, but I was feeling vibrations again. I couldn’t praise my dog at this point because he was showing a lot of nervousness with this gentleman, but I just ignored his behavior and we kept on walking. The pathway at this park is exactly one mile. By the time we ended our walk, I felt like we’d walked twenty miles. However, I have to say that I noticed that my dog was “getting into the routine” of getting off to the side of the road and watching everyone. He didn’t seem quite as tense at the end of our walk as he was when we initially started out. This was good!

The next time Jack and I ventured out, I chose a different park that had a much wider path and was not quite as crowded as the first we’d gone to. I decided to bring my clicker with me on this second walk (don’t know what a clicker is? Go to www.KarenPryor.com for information). By using the click and treat method, Jack knew exactly what behavior I was asking of him. So, this time we were able to stay on the pathway when people walked
toward us. When the dog made no sounds and he calmly walked along with me while the other people were passing us by, I immediately clicked the clicker and gave him an extremely high-value treat (leftover roastbeef). This is one of the greatest positive reinforcement training techniques around today. One of the advantages to clicker training is that it produces pretty quick results. By the second time I walked Jack in this new park using the clicker, he began to drool whenever someone came walking toward us! I found this to be totally unexpected and a wonderful side-effect.

Socializing my dog meant teaching him to accept the presence of visitors to my home. When my visitors settled down, I asked them if it would be okay if I brought Jack out to meet everyone. I kept him by my side onleash until I knew he was relaxed. At this point, I trusted him enough to allow him to go and sniff these people (his favorite thing in the world to do), and then I brought him back to sit by me again. I gave everyone some treats and asked that they toss them on the floor so the dog could go and get them. This was a great confidence builder for Jack. He started to realize that visitors to the house = great food treats. The better he got at behaving well, the more freedom I was able to give him, but I continued to use my clicker. As long as his behavior was calm and appropriate, I was then allowing him to approach my visitor to be hand-fed. Each time he went over to someone in a friendly manner, I clicked him, and my visitor fed him his treat.

Jack’s progress was amazing, but it was a lot of work requiring a ton of patience. There are many ways to go about desensitizing fearful dogs; I’ve just given you one way that proved very successful. For those of you who are struggling through this problem with your own dogs, I’d like to recommend that you read a book entitled, THE CAUTIOUS CANINE… How to Help Dogs Conquer Their Fears, by Dr. Patricia B. McConnell. This book can be purchased directly at www.dogwise.com

Be patient with your dogs, especially if they’ve been abused, mishandled or under socialized. Take it slow. Sometimes socializing your dog can mean taking him out for a walk for only 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Always end your training sessions on a positive note. Don’t wait until your dog is too tired or stressed. Less is sometimes better. GOOD LUCK!

Renee Premaza
Dog Obedience Trainer & Behavior Consultant
(609) 280-9338
www.jerseydogtrainer .com

Introducing Fearful Dogs to Visitors at your Home

Date Submitted: 3-23-2005
This article, written by Renee Premaza, addresses fearful dogs, but not dogs who will automatically go into attack mode at the sight of a stranger!! If you live with a dog who displays this behavior, please contact a professional in-home behaviorist/trainer to work on this issue!

The dogs I will be describing below are dogs who choose a flight response when faced with fearful stimuli.

Since I’ve been training dogs professionally, I’ve come to realize that we humans often exacerbate our dogs’s behavior problems. One thing that most of us do is allow our fearful dogs to run wildly to the front door when the doorbell rings. By the time we arrive at the door to answer it, our dogs are already in such a lather that they can’t think straight! We’ve actually taught our dogs to behave this way because we wind up rushing to the door in an excited state, and our dogs have picked up on this.

Then we compound the problem by opening the door and holding the dog back by grabbing his collar to avoid having the dog either jump on, lunge or attack whoever is standing on the other side. We’re now causing our dogs to feel completely frustrated because we’re preventing them from investigating what’s on the other side of that door. Doesn’t this sound like a situation out-of-control? Well… it is

During one occasion, I was to train a fearful Shih Tzu who was always spooked when anyone arrived at the house he didn’t know. When I rang the doorbell, the owners opened the door, picked up their dog and attempted to hand him to me! Yikes! The dog was already scared out of his little mind, and now his humans were trying to push him into the arms of a person he thought might want to harm him.

So, let me offer some suggestions on how you can create a less stressful way of introducing your shy or fearful dog to a visitor at your home.

Most fearful dogs react strongly to the sound of the doorbell. The doorbell has become such a negative stimulus to the dog because it always represents something scary is about to come through the door! What has worked well with my own clients is (1) putting an “out of order” sign on the doorbell; (2) asking an expected visitor to call right before they arrive at the driveway. This way people have time to put the dog in a nice quiet room with a filled Kong toy or a healthy chew toy (e.g., bully stick or veggie nylabone). Train your dog beforehand to go into this room a couple times/day. First put him in there and stay with him for about 15 minutes. Each time you put him in there, stay less and less, and get him used to being in the room and feeling good about being in there. Also, put a TV or radio on for company. Then, when you know someone is coming, he’ll be very willing to go into this safe room without an “argument.”

Now you can go and let your visitor enter your home without having the doorbell ring or someone knocking on the door. Have this person sit down and get comfortable and ask them if they’d be willing to help you socialize your dog. I find the best place to seat myself is right at the kitchen table. I get lots of treats ready and place them on the table. When the dog enters the room, I already smell like a human supermarket of doggy treats. I sit there like a statue! Give your visitor the following instructions:

1. Do not make eye contact with the dog.
2. Do not speak to the dog.
3. Do not reach a hand toward the dog.
4. Do not try to pet the dog.

Bring your dog into the kitchen onleash and keep him under your control. Try to keep the leash as loose as possible. Avoid holding the leash with a death-grip, or your dog will sense that you’re feeling nervous and he’ll respond in kind! Have a seat yourself at the kitchen table, but at a distance from your visitor. Have your dog sit right beside you while you continue to hold his leash. When you sense that he’s calming down and not feeling anxious about the visitor, allow him to approach this person if he so wishes. If the dog then wants to sniff and investigate this person, here are additional instructions to give your visitor:

1. Begin slowly and quietly tossing treats on the floor for the dog to eat (provide soft and very tasty food treats; e.g., cheese, bits of lunch meat, freeze-dried liver, bits of garlic chicken, bits of hot dogs, etc.). If the dog does eat the treats, you can be relatively certain that his stress levels are lowered. If he chooses not to eat, he is still quite nervous.

2. If the dog is eating, after a few minutes, tell the visitor to put a treat in an open palm and put that hand down by their side. If the dog eats the treat from this person’s hand, you’re probably on your way to a good introduction.

3. Once the dog is accepting hand-fed treats, your visitor can start to speak softly to the dog. Your visitor can begin looking at the dog, but not directly in the eyes. *You* be the judge as to whether your dog should continue staying in the room with this person for the duration of the visit. If your dog seems to be relaxing and gaining trust in this person, that’s a very good thing. If your dog starts to back away from this person, it would probably be best to give him a break in that safe room you’ve created for him. He can always come back out in a little while for a re-introduction.

4. For first-time visits with anyone, I would suggest that you not encourage petting. Sometimes I don’t pet a dog until I’ve worked with him 3 or 4 times. Petting is not always seen by every dog as rewarding! When dogs are fearful, they may resort to nipping a person for trying to touch them. You always want to avoid having your dog practice any inappropriate behavior with anyone. Each time he’s allowed to practice inappropriate behaviors with people, he’s learning to strengthen those bad habits. Both you and your visitor should praise him to the skies for showing friendly behaviors.

5. Instruct your visitor to not get up without first telling you that they’re going to get up. If someone wants to get up or leave the house, *first* call your dog over to you, and take him into another room. Keep him facing *you* and get his attention focused on you! Get his attention by feeding him those delicious treats continuously until the person is gone. Nervous dogs generally get nervous again as soon as the stranger stands up and moves around. That’s probably because the dog doesn’t know what this person is going to do. If you make a practice of feeding your dog when people leave, he’ll again begin to change his association of that behavior from negative to positive because of the prediction of food happening.

The more visitors you introduce your dog to (on a one-to-one basis), the better he’ll get at accepting strangers to the house. What you’re doing here is changing your dog’s associations with strangers. At first it looks like: STRANGERS = SCARY STIMULUS-BAD FEELINGS. After you work on this for awhile, it will look like: STRANGERS = GOOD FOOD-GOOD FEELINGS. He’ll begin to look forward to meeting people at home because they will predict “good things happen.”

Be patient! This will not happen overnight! Depending on your dog’s age, his past learning experiences, and his overall temperament, this could take a couple of months or it could take a year or more.

We’ll talk about doorbell desensitization in another article. Hope this is helpful to you!

A Solution For Food and Object Guarding

Date Submitted: 4-20-2005
Written by Renee Premaza
So… you say your dog won’t let you near his food bowl? And, he won’t let you take something out of his mouth? Oh my goodness, he’s growling at you or biting you when you do try to take something away from him? Well guess what? Your dog is just acting like a dog! His survival instincts tell him that giving something up that’s valuable to him isn’t normal behavior for dogs. Okay, we need to talk:

Before we tackle the guarding problem, we need to work on gaining your dog’s trust and respect. In order to do this, you’ll need to implement an everyday training regimen with him called “Nothing in Life is Free” (aka NILIF). This program is very simple, it doesn’t take much time or additional effort to work with it, AND, you will probably see some nice results before the end of two weeks, or less. Any dog that is food or object/toy guarding has to be considered as on the verge of biting whenever someone interferes with his ownership of his possessions. I know you’ll agree that this is a potentially dangerous situation, especially if you have young toddlers or small kids in your home. Nothing in Life is Free is going to teach your dog that he owns NOTHING! Everything belongs to you, and if he wants anything, like his meals, cookies, toys, petting, going for rides in the car, going out of the door, etc., he has to earn that privilege FIRST by sitting for you, or by doing some sort of obedience maneuver that you command him to do. If you’re “free-feeding” your dog by leaving food in his bowl all day long, STOP THAT. If your dog’s toys are scattered all over the house, STOP THAT. If you go over to your dog and pet him for long periods of time, STOP THAT. Here’s a list of things you’ll need to start doing to teach your dog that all good things start with you and end with you:

1. Feed twice/day – command a sit before you place his bowl on the floor.
2. Don’t approach your dog for petting. Call him to you, command him to sit, pet him a couple of times, then stop!
3. If your dog wants a toy, take one out for him to play with for awhile. Command a sit before you give it to him. When you determine playtime is over, take the toy and put it away. All toys belong to you! Keep them out of his reach.
4. When taking your dog for a walk, command him to sit nicely before putting his leash on. Put the dog in a sit and you go through the door first, and then invite your dog to follow you out.
5. If your dog demands your attention by barking at you, or if your dog nudges you under your arm when he wants you to play with him — fold your arms across your chest and look away from your dog. Don’t talk to him or even look at him. However, praise him when he goes and lies down quietly. Never respond to your dog when he demands your attention. If necessary to stop barking or other attention-seeking behaviors, get up and walk out of the room.
6. Avoid giving your dog rawhides or pigs’ ears (ugh, very unhealthy stuff). These are very valuable items for dogs, and if your dog is guarding things, avoid giving him things to guard in the first place.
7. Don’t give your dog ANYTHING that you know he’ll become guardy with.
8. If your dog has been aggressive with you, do NOT allow him on ANY furniture. He must be on the floor, sleep on the floor, and never let him be above your children’s level. Keep children on the furniture when playing with your dog!
9. Never physically punish your dog! It is not necessary to physically dominate a dog, no matter what behavioral problems he has. Physical punishment is a human form of aggression. You cannot cure aggression with more aggression. Force training dogs is abusive. You will NOT gain compliance from your dog if you use force.

10. BE CONSISTENT IN YOUR TRAINING!

Once you implement the above program, you’ll notice that your dog becomes more compliant. He’ll begin to look to you as being a benevolent pack leader. He’ll realize that you are the giver of all good and important things in his life, and that he doesn’t have to worry about anything; you’re in charge of his life and will protect him and keep him from harms way. This will be the beginning of establishing a more trusting relationship.

Let’s get down to the heart of this matter – FOOD AND OBJECT GUARDING. We’ll start working with the food bowl. These are exercises for ONLY THE ADULTS OF A FAMILY. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO LEAVE THE DOG ALONE WHEN HE’S EATING! This goes for ANY DOG! For the next week, hand-feed your dog every piece of kibble of each meal (feed your dog twice/day). During the second week, place one kibble in the dog’s bowl, command the dog to sit, and then place the bowl down for him to eat the kibble. Your dog is going to look at you as if to say, “hey, where’s the rest of my dinner?” Take the bowl and put another piece of kibble in it, and put it down for him to eat. For the third try, place a small piece of chicken, beef or cheese in the bowl, along with another piece of kibble, and give it to your dog. Then, take up the bowl, and put just kibble in again. When the dog’s almost finished this meal, put in another piece of really good food. What this will do is teach the dog that sometimes (not always!) when you take his food bowl away, he gets something even more delicious to eat. You’re making it worth his while to take his food bowl up. As each day goes by, begin increasing the amount of kibble pieces you put in the bowl, while continuing to take up the bowl. Also, randomly continue putting in various goodies into the bowl with the kibble. Go slowly with these exercises, especially as you keep adding more food to his dish. During the last stages of this training technique, you’ll want to start making a few exchanges by tossing a treat away from the food bowl, while you pick up his bowl that STILL has kibble in it. Do not attempt to do this unless you’re confident that the dog will leave the bowl for the better food. Of course, put the bowl down immediately afterward.

The following play/training games should be played as often as possible, and the sessions should be kept to no more than 5 minutes. Each session should end on a positive note, as all training sessions should end – where the dog has done something well to earn a reward. Here are the games you need to be playing with your dogs NOW:

PLAYING LEAVE IT
1.Put dog in a sit or down in front of you.

2.Place a treat in your right hand and another treat of greater value behind your back.

3. Hold out your right hand to the dog and show her the treat.

4. When she tries to take the treat, close your hand and say to her, “LEAVE IT” in a NEUTRAL voice. (don’t sound angry)

5. Do this repeatedly until dog turns his head away from the treat. Then give her the treat you have hidden behind your back and say to her, “TAKE IT.” Praise with a “good take it.”

6. Continue playing this until dog catches on 100% of the time. Now switch hands and do the game with your left hand holding the treat and hiding the more valuable treat in your right hand. She must know leave it means leaving it no matter what hand you are holding the treat in.

7. After awhile you will be able to up the ante by placing treats under your feet, or on the floor, or even right on her paws.

8. Take the dog for a walk onleash, and begin tossing food items or toys on the ground. As you throw the item, call a leave it. If he goes for it, say, “too bad, no treat,” and continue walking toward the next item. Don’t forget to reward with a hidden treat when the dog does leave the item alone. Make a huge fuss over the dog whenever he leaves the item, especially if there are outside distractions to contend with.

What you will gain from playing Leave It is a dog who will actually turn away from the item he’s to leave. So make sure when you’re playing a lot, and the dog is getting really good at it, that the dog begin to turn his face away from the item, not just his eyes. Play, play and play somemore!

TEACHING DROP IT
Make sure you make all training games a lot of fun for the dog. Start simple training with something that the dog likes, but doesn’t consider too terribly valuable. Play with him by making exchanges, first by exchanging an item with a food treat . When you’re first training, you want to work with items that ARE NOT very valuable, like tennis balls, or other non-food items! If your dog is a serious food/object guarder, toss a treat a distance away from the dog so that you will have enough time to pick up the item that was in his mouth. As soon as you see the dog open his mouth to drop the item, SAY “DROP IT!” That way, he’ll begin to learn that you want him to spit out the item, even when you don’t have a food exchange for him. When your dog comes back after retrieving the treat you’ve tossed for him, GIVE HIM BACK THIS TENNIS BALL OR OTHER NON-VALUABLE ITEM IMMEDIATELY! This will help you establish trust between your dog and you; he will learn that you’re not going to forcefully make him give something up, and that when he DOES give something up, YOU give him something even better (he gives up a lousy tennis ball, but gets a piece of cheese in exchange – woohoo!!)!

When the dog is really dropping the tennis ball quickly, you can start hand-feeding him the food treat by holding it out to the side so that the dog’s face is not right in front of your own. As he’s eating the treat directly from your hand, pick up the tennis ball and be ready to give it back when he’s finished eating the treat.

If you’re now able to command a DROP IT, and your dog DOES drop a toy from his mouth when you command it, it’s time to up the ante and begin working with more valuable items. Start all over again and repeat the process as you did with the tennis ball. As the items become more valuble that you’re working with, exercise caution that you don’t get bitten.

In addition to this, please play the LEAVE IT game as often as you possibly can. Also, read the directions for playing tug of war. Playing tug is one way to get your dog to have a bomb-proof DROP IT. Play by the rules!!

Rules for Playing Tug of War
1. Start the game off by making the dog sit or down
2. Ask the dog, “wanna play tug?”
3. Command a “take it.” and then give it to her
4. Play for a little while, and then ask for a “drop it.” The dog should have a bomb-proof drop it and should release the toy immediately. If the dog doesn’t release it, just hold onto the toy and don’t pull on it or look at her. She’ll realize that “well… this is boring” and then should release the toy. Praise her for the release, but put the toy away.
5. You can re-start the game in about 5 minutes or so (this serves as a time out for her ignoring the drop it command).
6. Play again, and then ask for a drop it. If she drops it, PRAISE HER and GIVE HER THE TOY IMMEDIATELY with a take it command.
7. It’s recommended that once in awhile, after commanding her to drop it, that you do a couple of obedience maneuvers before re-starting the game.
8. With any dog who has shown aggression toward an owner or other humans, NEVER LET THAT DOG WIN A ROUND. If you find that sometimes the dog has gotten the best of you and was able to pull the toy out of your hand, let her think you planned it that way, AND SAY “TAKE IT!”
9. Whatever toy you choose for playing tug should ALWAYS BE PUT AWAY and out of the dog’s reach. REMEMBER THAT IT IS YOUR TOY, as are all others. Put the toy away until YOU decide when to bring it out again.
10. If the dog makes any mistakes, like touching your skin with her teeth, the game ends immediately, the toy gets put away, and she gets ignored for about 3 minutes or so. Wait several hours after a mistake like that before re-starting the game. Put the toy away.
NOTE: If you are playing tug with a puppy, DO NOT PULL TOO HARD. Your puppies teeth are not strong enough yet, and you do not want to strain or sprain any of your dog’s muscles, tendons or ligaments.

Renee Premaza
Dog Obedience Trainer & Behavior Consultant
(609) 280-9338
www.jerseydogtrainer .com

Written by Renee Premaza

In doing the following exercises, make sure you praise and reward your dog for staying in the sit position. If he pops up, return to the dog and remind him to sit. Re-issue your stay command.

Before proceeding with the following exercises, work on duration in the sit and down positions by commanding the sit or down, and tell him to “stay!.” Then gradually increase the time by talking to him and delaying the delivery of each treat. Start out with just a second of duration and then reward and release & gradually increase the time he sits there and waits for the delivery of each treat reward. You can count to yourself so you remember each time how long your dog sat each time. Continue working on duration for a day or 2. When you feel he’s ready to proceed to the next level of difficulty, you can proceed with the exercises listed below:

1. Put your dog in the sit position right in front of where you’re standing – Praise and reward or click/treat.

2. Tell your dog to “stay!” Take a very short step to the right and return to your position in front of the dog – praise & reward or click/treat. Repeat “stay.”

3. Take a very short step to the left and return to your position in front of the dog – praise & reward or click/treat. Repeat “stay!”

4. Take a step back and return to the dog – praise & reward or click/treat. Repeat “stay.”

5. When you’ve determined that you’ve worked on this enough and your dog seems to be enjoying himself, STOP AND RELEASE THE DOG.

*** Each time you continue working on distance exercises, push the envelope just a bit. Start increasing the distance you walk away from your dog only one extra step at a time. Walk away slowly, but walk back to your dog faster to set him up to succeed.

If your dog was able to maintain his sit/stay for all 4 exercises, you can now take it to the next level of difficulty. Do not be surprised if the dog has a bit more trouble maintaining his sit/stay when you graduate to this level. Never verbally or physically punish the dog if he makes a mistake; however, do not praise or reward him for those mistakes. Go back
to him and remind him to sit/stay.

1. If you were able to take 3-4 steps away from your dog, begin your new lesson by taking only 2 steps back and proceed to where you left off in your previous training.

2. Increase distances and then begin to turn your back on the dog. Do this gradually by first turning your shoulder, and then walk back to the dog. Click/treat.

3. Repeat the above while desensitizing him to seeing your back. Once he is able to maintain a stay, start taking one step at a time away from him with your back turned. Come back to him and click/treat.

** Keep lessons short to hold his interest. Set him up for success by working slowly and doing gradual desensitizing.

If you’re working with puppies, go slowly as puppies do not have the patience or attention span to stay for long periods of time!!

When you begin teaching your dog any new lesson, begin training in your house where there are virtually no distractions. When he learns the behavior in one room, teach it to him again in another until he’s doing a perfect sit or down/stay all over your house.

Teaching sit/stays and down/stays requires that you (1) provide good reinforcements which will keep your dog motivated to learn the behavior, (2) begin your initial work with short lessons, lasting only about 2-3 minutes, (3) train your dog 2-3 times/day everyday,
and (4) end every lesson on a positive note where the dog did something that earned him a reward (this will motivate him to want to do the lesson the next time). Make sure you work in a quiet area where there are no distractions. When your dog learns his lesson
where he can do an extended sit/stay all over your house, then you can take things outside, beginning in an area that has only slight distraction. Do not be surprised if it takes longer to get him to perform the behavior once you’ve taken the lessons outside. Start again from the very beginning and proceed with all of the steps that you used for
working in the house.

Written by Renee Premaza
It is imperative to have a good “recall” with a dog where the dog comes to you every time you call him (well, at least 90% of the time!). Some basic requirements to teaching a good recall are:

1. NEVER call a dog to you to do something unpleasant; i.e., ending any fun, going to the vets, groomer, etc., to punish him, etc. Praise and treat the dog (use treats that are soft meat, cheese or liver, etc. ANYTIME your dog comes to you, either because you’ve called him or he came voluntarily.

2. If you’ve assigned a word to use to command a recall, and your dog has been ignoring this word, CHANGE IT! It’s not working, so start over from scratch with a new command word. HOWEVER, do not use your new word until he comes to you reliably. So, let’s say you want to use the word, “here.” Don’t use this word UNLESS he’s already bounding to you and you know he’s coming directly to YOU! Then say, “here.” HERE is only used when it’s a sure thing!

3. NEVER chase your dog! This will teach him that running away from you is more fun than coming to you. So, don’t play games that encourage him to “keep away.” The only time you want to incorporate chase games is when your dog is CHASING YOU. While he’s chasing you, and you know he’s going to come right for you, use your “HERE!” word and praise him to the skies and give him a great treat reward when he gets right in front of you.

4. Here are some recall games to get you started– PLAY THESE GAMES IN THE HOUSE UNTIL YOUR DOG IS VERY GOOD AT THEM! Play them in every room of your house so he learns that “here” or “come” or whatever word you’ve chosen means the same thing all over the house. Don’t play these games outside until he’s 90% reliable in the house. Outside = more distractions. Start these games outside in very small areas and only if the dog is ONLEASH or on a long line. Graduate to allow more distractions when he’s very, very good at coming to you in small areas outside.

BACK UP AND TREAT GAME

Get your treats and begin the game with the dog sitting directly in front of you ONLEASH. Let him know you’re working with treats. Deliver the first treat, then take a step backward and lure him in your direction. Say, “here” AS he’s moving in your direction. He’ll step forward, so give him that treat immediately! Keep taking one step back, say “here” and each time he steps toward you, give him the treat and PRAISE HIM LIKE CRAZY. Play for about 30-60 seconds, but play often! ONLY SAY THE WORD, “HERE” OR “COME” WHEN THE DOG IS ALREADY COMING TOWARD YOU! If you say your word before the dog is headed in your direction, the word will be irrelevant since she won’t be associating it with the actual behavior of coming to you.

Once you get past this first part of the game, you should hide your treats behind your back or keep them on a high counter so the dog doesn’t see them on your person. Remember that treats are used as a reward for doing the correct behavior, not as a bribe. So keep your treats out of sight, but bring a treat to the dog within 1/2 second of his coming to you!

DOGGIE IN THE MIDDLE

Start out in a SMALL area, even if it’s just in your bathroom. One person calls the dog to him luring him with a delicious smelling treat. When the dog starts toward that person, say “here” or “come” as he comes to that person, and give the treat when he gets right in front of you. The second person calls the dog and repeats this same process. As the dog gets better at coming to each person, start INCREASING the distances that your calling the dog back to you.

Gather 3 or 4 people together in a room that’s a little bigger and everyone stand in a circle. Each person gets a turn calling the dog to them. MAKE SURE NOT TO USE YOUR RECALL WORD UNTIL THE DOG IS ALREADY ON HIS WAY TO YOU!!

If the dog is already facing in your direction, DON’T USE HIS NAME FIRST. Just use your chosen recall word. If he’s not facing you, however, use his name to get his attention, and then say his recall word. The less you use his name, the more relevant his name will be.

RUNNING DOWN THE HALLWAY GAME

Get someone to help you with this one: Have someone hold onto the dog’s collar at one end of the hallway. You go to the end of the hall with either great food treats or a very special toy (ONLY TO BE USED FOR THIS GAME!!). Behave in a very excited and happy manner while you call your dog to you saying, “here.” When he gets there, drop the treat ON THE FLOOR, DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF YOUR FEET. Make a HUGE fuss over him FOR NO LESS THAN 30 SECONDS EACH TIME.

If your dog messes up during any of these games, do not holler at him or punish him. Say, “oh, too bad – try again,” and start over. ALWAYS MAKE YOURSELF INTERESTING AND EXCITING TO BE WITH. Otherwise, all other distractions will be more fun than you are.

After you begin training your dog, and he’s coming to you each and everytime you call him, you can begin introducing a distraction. Have someone else standing halfway down the hallway. They should NOT do anything at first. If the dog stops to “visit”, tell the person to turn their back on the dog and not to respond to him.

If your dog does well with this first easy distraction, up the ante by having this person play a little bit with one of the dog’s toys. Again, if the dog stops to “visit” this person, she should IMMEDIATELY turn her back and ignore the dog. The dog should then proceed down the hallway to YOU where you will praise/treat. To get THAT response, you’d better be interesting!

PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK WITH YOUR DOG

Start off by making this game easy. Hide behind a door or a wall that is close by the door. Call your dog’s name in a very excited and happy voice. When you hear him running to find you, use your recall word. When he finds you, make a huge fuss over him, praise and pet him, and give him a special treat for finding you.

Begin making it harder and harder for your dog to find you by hiding in harder places that are further away from him.

OUTSIDE WORK

Put the dog on a 20 foot long line. Have someone help work with you. Your assistant should begin by taking the dog to various places in your yard (not too far from the backdoor), and you call your dog to you from the backdoor using your designated recall word. Have very scrumptious treats on you and give the dog a tiny sample of those treats before you start working. Call the dog to you in a happy, high-pitched voice and when he comes to you, praise the heck out of him, and give him your treat.

Tell your assistant to make a running game out of this exercise. You call the dog to you, and then your assistant should hold onto the loop of the long-line, and run like a bat out of hell with the dog in your direction. It doesn’t take too long before the dog will get the gist of this game and will make a bee-line toward you and the door pretty quickly. If you have a fenced in yard, the assistant can let go of the long-line when the dog is running toward you on his/her own. If you’re working in a non-fenced area, NEVER LET GO OF THE LONG-LINE!

When the dog seems to play the game pretty well, tell your assistant to start creating more distance so that you can then recall the dog from farther and farther away.

Once the dog is coming when called out in the backyard, start working on getting the dog to recall from the front of your house. BE CAREFUL NOT TO LET GO OF THE LONG-LINE IF YOUR HOUSE IS FACING A ROAD WHERE CARS DRIVE UP AND DOWN. Have your assistant do the same procedures in the front by taking the dog to various locations around your house, and then recall the dog while your aide runs to you with the dog on the long-line.

Whoever is holding onto that line must be as fast as the dog. Otherwise, the assistant who can’t keep up will wind up giving the dog a leash correction when he runs too slowly.

The last part of outside training should consist of your recalling the dog to the door, but then open the door and continue feeding and rewarding the dog after he/she gets inside for at least 30-60 seconds. This way, the dog doesn’t see coming to the door as having all of his fun stop. He’ll learn that you continue to play/reward him even after he’s inside. Don’t make the mistake of crating him, clipping his nails, taking him to the vet, etc., once he’s inside the house.

ANOTHER SUGGESTION ON RECALL TRAINING

When walking your dog onleash, whenever you are about to make a right hand turn, as you turn your dog to face you and walk toward you, USE HIS RECALL WORD. When he gets to your side, reward him and praise him.