Why Do Some Dogs Scoot on Their Rear Ends
gjABEft Once in a while, your dog may appear to be sitting and then suddenly drag himself around on his front paws, with his rear end on the floor. It looks as if he is trying to clean his rear. This can mean that his anal glands small scent sacks just inside the rectum are full and need emptying. When they need emptied, you need to take him to your vet so she can express the glands. With some breeds, these small glands have to be emptied a couple of times a month. With other breeds, you never...
Puppy discovers sex
Sometime during this four-month to two-year period, depending on the size of your dog, the puppy will discover sex, and you'll be the first to know about it. Our Landseer Newfoundland, Evo, has always enjoyed playing with other dogs. He's generally well behaved and gets along with people and all the dogs he meets. When Evo was almost 2, he fell in love. We took him to a training facility where we were to meet up with friends who had just adopted an 11-month-old female Labrador Retriever named...
Taking charge
Dogs are pack animals, and a pack consists of followers and one leader. The leader is in charge and dictates what happens when. From Buddy's perspective, a pack leader's Bill of Rights looks something like this i To eat first and to eat as much as he wants to i To stand, sit, or lie down wherever he wants to i To have access to the prime spots in the household, including the furniture and the beds i To control entry to or from any room in the house i To proceed through all narrow openings first...
Why Do Dogs Show Nesting Behavior
Around eight or nine weeks after a female has come out of season, you may see her digging around her bed, turning in circles, collecting toys and putting them in her bed, and guarding the area from other animals and maybe even yourself. She's preparing a nest for her puppies. Sometimes even spayed females exhibit this behavior, and it's often accompanied by swelling of the mammary glands that may actually fill with milk. In the wild, female dogs in a pack, even if they weren't pregnant or...
Why Do Dogs Mount Each Other
Both female and male dogs can display mounting behavior. More normally associated with males trying to flirt or breed a female, this behavior can be seen male to male, female to female, and female to male. Most people think it has to do only with sex, but it can be a dominance display with dogs of the same gender the one on top reminding the other who is in charge or it can be a behavior that is displayed when dogs that know each other well have been separated for some time. The behavior is...
Mental sensitivity
Dogs, like people, vary in their ability to deal with negative emotions. Most dogs, however, are keenly aware of your emotions. Moreover, the more you work with Buddy, the greater the bond that develops. It seems as though he can read your mind. Okay, he may not be able to read your mind, but he certainly senses your emotions. If you're feeling frustration, disappointment, or anger, Buddy senses it. Because dogs are ill equipped to deal with these emotions, they tend to become anxious and...
Index
20-foot line use, Canine Good Citizen test, 179 30-minute Down, for aggression management, 168 Control Officers , 287 about-turn in Canine Good Citizen test, 178 teaching, 115 abstention training check use, 85 description, 21 of dog by cat, 22 accepting a friendly stranger, Canine Good Citizen test, 177, 182 accident, housetraining, 58-59 acid alkaline balance, 296 aconite, 143, 314 action exercises, 260-261 action training, 21 acupuncture, 157-158, 314-315 adolescence, 45-46 age, influence on...
Teaching Buddy Scent Discrimination
Sequence 4's goal is to teach your dog Scent Discrimination 1. Make sure that your hands are clean and free from chemicals and perfumes. 2. With you and Buddy facing the board from ten feet away, scent a metal article by slowly rubbing the bar of the dumbbell for 20 seconds and briefly let him hold the article. 3. Take the article out of his mouth, say Stay, and place the article on the board, letting him watch you place it on the board. 4. Go back to heel and send him with Find it. 5. If Buddy...
Using Control Position
In practice, you're also going to graduate from leash over the shoulder to Control Position, which makes it easier for you to remind Buddy of his responsibility to pay attention to you and stay in Heel position when he permits himself to become distracted. Control Position see Figure 13-1 is used whenever you want to practice attention and precision heeling. To hold the leash in Control Position, 1. Attach the leash to your dog's training collar. 2. Position both rings of the collar under his...
Why Do Dogs Eat Weeds or Grass
Dogs come with many instinctive behaviors. One of those behaviors is the incredible knowledge of what weeds to eat and when. One reason a dog eats grass is to induce vomiting. He may have eaten something that disagrees with him, and the grass goes into the stomach and binds whatever it contains, which is then expelled. It's an adaptive behavior that protects the dog against indigestion and food poisoning. As a result, dogs that have access to the right kind of grasses, those with wide, serrated...
Lure Coursing
An equally specialized activity is lure coursing, which is for the sight hounds. These dogs were bred to run down game over great distances. If you have ever seen a sight hound running flat out, you can appreciate how fast-paced and exciting lure coursing is. In an AKC test an artificial lure is used, which the dogs follow around a course in an open field. Scoring is based on speed, which is blazing, enthusiasm, and endurance. Of course, it helps if the dog is actually chasing the lure and...
Managing positive stress
For example, say that Buddy stresses in a positive way, which means he gets overexcited and bouncy. In the case of a person, you may say that he or she is hysterical. In the old movies, when someone started screaming uncontrollably, this was handled by slapping the person on the cheek. For Buddy, a check on the collar to settle him down would be the same thing. However, we advise that you keep your hands still and off your dog and keep your voice quiet, or you'll excite him even more. Instead,...
Tolerating your dogs behavior problems
Considering the amount of time and energy that may be required to turn Buddy into the pet you always wanted, you may decide it's easier to live with his annoying antics than to try to change him. You tolerate him the way he is, because you don't have the time, the energy, or the inclination to put in the required effort to change him. Time is a factor everyone has to consider. Can you be disciplined enough to put aside ten minutes five times a week to work with Buddy in a place with no...
Dribbling or Submissive Wetting
Dogs that are high in defense flight and low in defense fight drives are notorious for submissive wetting behavior. See Chapter 5 for more on your dog's drives. This behavior usually occurs upon first greeting the dog. He will either squat or roll over on his back and dribble, dating back to his days as a puppy, when his mother cleaned him. When Buddy dribbles, don't scold your dog, because it only reinforces the behavior and actually makes it worse. By scolding him, you only make him act even...
Introducing distractions
At this point in the training, introduce distractions, beginning with first degree see Chapter 13 for info on the degrees . The distracter stands ten feet from the dog at a 45-degree angle. After you leave Buddy in a Stand, the distracter approaches in a nonthreatening, benign manner to within two feet of him. Give the Drop signal, with the step toward your dog. If he does drop, praise and enthusiastically release. If he doesn't drop, slowly go to him and reinforce the Down by putting two...
The Directed Jumping
For this exercise, your dog has to go on command from one end of the ring to the other, between the bar and the high jump. The bar and the high jump are in the center of the ring about 18 feet apart. You then give your dog the command and or signal for one of the jumps, after which he has to front and then finish. The entire procedure is then repeated for the other jump. The Go-Out command takes a little time to teach because the dog can see absolutely no rhyme nor reason for this exercise. We...
Coaxing Buddy into the crate
In order to coax Buddy into the crate, use these helpful hints 1. Set up the crate and let your dog investigate it. Put a crate pad or blanket in the crate. 2. Choose a command, such as Crate or Go to bed. If your puppy isn't lured in, physically place Buddy in the crate, using the command you've chosen. 3. Close the door, tell him what a great puppy he is, give him a bite-sized treat, and then let him out. There's no rule against gentle persuasion to get your pup enthused about his crate. 4....
Managing the Terrible Twos
The adolescent stage of your dog's life, depending on the breed, takes place anywhere from 4 months to 2 years and culminates in sexual maturity. Generally, the smaller the dog, the sooner he matures. Larger dogs enter and end adolescence later in life. Adolescence is a time when the cute little puppy can turn into a teenage monster. He starts to lose his baby teeth and his soft, fuzzy puppy coat. He goes through growth spurts and looks gangly, either up in the rear or down in front he's...
Using an Exercise Pen for Housetraining
Although a puppy can last in his crate for the night when he's asleep, you can't leave a puppy in his crate for purposes of housetraining for longer than four hours at a time during the day. Your puppy will soil his crate, which definitely isn't a habit you want to establish. If your schedule is such that you can't keep an eye on Buddy during the day or come home to let the puppy out in time, the alternative is an exercise pen. An X-pen see Figure 4-2 is intelligent confinement and uses the...
Disadvantages to spaying and neutering
Altering changes the hormones in the body. Some dogs that are altered develop hypothyroidism as they mature. Hypothyroidism can cause these problems i Dull, oily, smelly coats i Increased shedding i Separation anxiety i Skin problems i A tendency to gain weight Regardless of these disadvantages, we recommend neutering a dog that isn't going to be bred simply because neutered dogs are so much easier to live with. For the males, neutering eliminates the stress they experience when they become...