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Dog attack scares owner 'to death'
Guelph Mercury
(subscription), Canada - 55 minutes ago
MacDonald says she was "scared to
death" for Katie and her little dog. "I went to her and
offered to help, tried to hold her dog. ...
Cat owner shaken after dog kills pet
StarPhoenix, Canada -
5 hours ago
A Saskatoon woman who watched her cat
get mauled to death by a strange dog on Monday is speaking out
in hopes the dog's owner takes responsibility before it ...
Jailed for Walking Dog Without a Leash
WTOP, DC -
48 minutes ago
Dana Perino's husband, Peter McMahon,
was ticketed in November for walking their dog, a Vizsla
breed, without a leash in Lincoln Park just east of the ...
Woman Says Vet Clinic Lost Her Dog
KMBC, MO -
10 hours ago
I thought it would be the best place to
board a dog -- a vet clinic. If something happens and she gets
sick, they'll do the medical treatment. ...
Mercury Sniffing Dog
KTTC, MN -
9 hours ago
ROCHESTER, MN -- A dog is protecting
Minnesota kids from a dangerous vapor just by using his nose.
He's the country's only known mercury sniffing dog. ...
Long Jumping Dog
W*USA 9, DC -
13 hours ago
He's a Rhodesian Ridgeback and in the
Dock Dog world, this pooch is big dog on campus. At a
competition earlier this year, Finley jumped 27 feet and 6 ...
Now for this
week's tips and advice
Puppy
Socialism?
Last week we touched on the subject of timid
puppies, and since then I have been asked what kind of
schedule a puppy should have to ensure successful
socialisation. Also, what you can expect from a puppy at
different stages of growth. This is just my own ideas and some
research but I hope it helps.
Starting one week after you get your puppy (age 8 or 9 weeks),
get him out one day a week to a new situation he has never
seen before. This takes some planning, but is worth the
effort.
8 Weeks:
A walk (off leash) in a meadow or pasture with medium tall
grass. Keep him with you by voice. Encourage him to climb over
a little mound of dirt or a log. Praise his efforts to do
something he has never done before. Walk just fast enough that
he has to strain very slightly to keep up with you. At this
age his desire to stay with you is very keen. Capitalize on
that. The walk should take no more than 20 minutes.
9 Weeks:
Another walk, this time in the woods or in a park. He is in
taller grass and weeds. He must occasionally climb over small
logs (Just big enough to be a challenge). He goes up the hill,
down the hill, over the rocks, maybe down a small bank. The
perfect setup is where he goes across a small creek. He gets
wet up to the chest. He scrambles up the bank to follow you.
He goes through a thick carpet of leaves that crunch when he
walks. Encourage him all the way. Praise him for meeting the
challenge. The walk takes about 20 minutes.
10 Weeks:
The same as age 9 weeks but a bit more difficult. Occasionally
hide momentarily from him when he is distracted in the woods.
Watch him. Does he notice you are missing? If he does, and
starts to look for you, suddenly appear and praise profusely.
If he doesn't look for you, toss a pebble to make him notice
you are missing. Then call him from your hiding place. When he
starts to look for you, appear and praise him. This will teach
him, as it is repeated time and time again, to watch you when
you are out in the woods, instead of you having to constantly
be watching where he is. This makes him take that
responsibility of staying with you. Play this game over and
over through many weeks until you cannot hide from him because
he is always watching. This only works when started young.
11 Weeks:
Take him swimming if you can. You hold him and wade out to
knee deep water. Point him toward shore and gently let him go.
Be sure he gets his head up and he heads for shore. Have
someone on shore encouraging him in a positive way. Another
way to approach this is to entice him into the water by going
in yourself and encouraging him to follow. Do not throw him
in! When you are through get him out and dry him off and go
home. Don't let him get chilled.
12 Weeks:
Take a trip to the farm. Let him see cows, horses, chickens
and whatever else you can find. This time you can keep him on
leash. Make sure he is safe from the animals and let him get
close enough to sniff. This outing can take 20 or more
minutes. You have a positive attitude about all this. Be
nonchalant about it all, as if this is what every 12 week old
pup does.
13 Weeks:
Take him, on leash, in to town. Walk him on a main street with
medium to light foot traffic. He sees and hears cars, trucks
and heavy street traffic. He passes by many people walking
bicycles, delivery men with hand trucks, etc. This should be a
short outing about 10 minutes. Praise him lavishly for
positive behavior. Be nonchalant and very encouraging. When
you get back to the car, lay on the praise for his remarkable
feats of courage.
14 Weeks:
A trip to the beach or some other special place he has never
been. Perhaps a trip to the local grade school front lawn when
all the children are pouring out. Let the kids stop and pet
him. Let him see and be in the crowd.
15 Weeks:
Another trip to town.
16 Weeks:
Your pup's major learning age of his entire life is now over.
Hopefully you have given him a very wide range of experiences.
If you have done all this faithfully you will have taught him
the most important thing of all to learn and it will stay with
him the rest of his life, enabling him to continue to learn
throughout his lifetime.
17 to 21 Weeks:
This is a bad time to subject your pup to stress, such as
plane trips, a stay at the vets, boarding kennel or any
threatening situation. Many pups act very fearful at this age.
This should be a quiet time in their lives.
Conditioning to "Come"
This is to teach your pup to come to you without a moments
hesitation when he hears the command "Rover Come".
Start using this method as soon as you get your pup. It works
best when started on very young pups. Expect to spend a few
moments a day on this for several weeks. This is to build up a
conditioned response to the word 'Come' as an adult.
This is how to proceed:
Start out when the pup is in your house very near you, like in
the kitchen. Take a small piece of cheese or frankfurter or
some such treat your dog might like. Drop quickly to your knee
and call "Rover come" with lots of enthusiasm. As soon as the
pup gets to you, immediately give him the treat and lots of
praise. Then return to what you were doing. A few minutes
later repeat the process.
On the first day you may do this 4 or 5 times. By the last
time you do it he will be coming readily. The next day you do
it, don't drop down to your knee, everything else is the same.
As he gets better at it do it when he is a bit further away,
with everything else the same. As time goes by, you are doing
it when he is in the other room. Then you try it when you are
both in the back yard.
After about 2 or 3 weeks of this, only give him a treat every
other time he comes, with lots of praise the other times. Use
the treat when you are on one of your outings. Always call him
with, "Rover come". If he doesn't come on any one of these
times, you go get him and bring him back to where you were
when you called him and then praise him. Never let him get
away with refusing to come.
This is the most important thing you can teach your dog. When
you call "Rover come" he always comes. No exceptions! Use
another word or phrase for come when it is not critical. For
instance, I use "Rover come here" or some such phrase. This is
for everyday life when you call him casually. Use "Rover come"
when it is essential that the dog come to you.
Never call your dog to punish him. If he is bad and needs
correction you go get him and give him the correction. If he
runs from you, walk him down in silence, staring at him all
the time. He will realize it is not a game if you do it
silently while staring at him. If you can't get him this way
and there is danger of him running away and getting lost, call
him to you and praise him and forget the punishment.
When using this method of teaching come, don't let. the pup
know when you have the treat and when you don't. It should be
a surprise.
As the weeks go by you are doing this 3 or 4 times a week and
giving the treat every third time or so, depending on the dogs
response. By the time he is 5 or so months old he should be
very reliable on the come from any distance that he can hear
you from and with distractions. Later when he is taught the
formal come of obedience training without treats he will
already be conditioned to always come, which could very well
someday save his life.
This method does not take a lot of effort on your part. It is
just a matter of remembering to do it one or two times every
day or two. The result is definitely worth the effort.
Other things you should be doing with your pup are:
Baths: Get your pup accustomed to getting
a bath while he is still small enough to handle easily. Give
him 3 or 4 baths between the ages of 2 and 5 months.
Nails: You must keep your dogs nails
trimmed. A dog who lives inside and doesn't get his nails
trimmed may have damage to his feet from too long nails.
Start trimming your pups nails as soon as you get him. Trim
the nails about every other week. If you do this now he will
learn to accept it Wait until he is grown and you will
probably have a fight on your hands. Don't put off learning
to do your dog's nails. "I can't do it because I am afraid I
will hurt him" is no excuse. Everyone has to learn sometime.
You owe it to your pup to keep his nails clipped. You will
hurt him more by letting it go.
Grooming: Put your pup on your washer or
a table at waist height on a towel for grooming sessions.
Brush him and clip his nails. Do this right from the first
weeks you get him. Expect him to stand still and let you
groom him. Don't let him get out of this by acting up. This
is all part of taking care of your dog.
That about covers it for now. If you put the
time in now the rewards will be lifelong obedience and
happiness from your new best friend!
for future "