Dog Behavior

Archive for the ‘Preventing Problems’ Category

We all want wonderfully behaved pets, but it doesn’t happen on its own just because we wish it.  It takes time and effort to create the kind of pet and relationship you want. Here are some basic principles that can help you have a better behaved pet. Read the rest of this entry »

Does your dog flip out when you, or your veterinarian or groomer tries to cut his nails or touch his feet? Dogs aren’t born being sensitive about their feet or having their nails trimmed.

Now, in this 6th audio tip you can discover how to prevent this problem and what to do if your dog won’t tolerate nail trims. You do NOT want to allow anyone to wrestle and pin your dog to the ground just to get his nails cut.

Look in the video category to see the results of acclimating a puppy to nail trims the right way, and then listen to this audio to learn how to get those results.

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Crates can be quite useful training and behavior management tools, but did you know you may be over-using yours?  How much time does your dog spend in the crate?  In this audio tip we’ll talk about what’s too much.

If you’ve read or been told that dogs are “denning” animals and therefore automatically take to crates, think again.  What does “denning” have to do with spending 8 hours in a crate?

And finally – there are specific circumstances in which it is dangerous to crate your dog.  Do you know what they are?

Learn all this and more in this audio training tip.  And if you want your dog to be happy home alone without getting into trouble you need our “Helping the Home Alone Fido” DVD program.

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WATCH THE VIDEO THEN READ THE ARTICLE

 *Puppy class video from Puppessori and Christine Shedron, Golden CO 

Puppies aren’t born hating or being afraid of nail trims and having their feet touched.  They acquire these behaviors either because their owners fail to actively accustom their dogs to feet handling and nail trims, and/or because puppies have bad experiences with nail trims.

When you ask your veterinarian, groomer, or other pet professional to trim your dog’s nails, this procedure should require no more than two people.  If 3 or more people are having to wrestle a frightened, defensive animal to the ground to cut his nails, there is no benefit to this to anyone. 

Try a Calming Cap, use other passive restraints such as a head collar, or ask your veterinarian for medication to sedate and calm your dog. 

Nail trims don’t have to be nightmare experiences.  Watch the video above to see how puppies can learn to enjoy nail trims, resulting in adult dogs – in this case our Coral – who are relaxed and tail-wagging happy when trimming nails.  You can use these same procedures if your dog already has a nail trim phobia, but you’ll just have to progress a whole lot slower in tiny baby steps. 

These procedures are called counter conditioning and desensitization and you can learn more about how to implement them in our DVD program by the same name.