Dog Behavior

Get Your Flip Camera Today!

We made this little 30 second video while we were in Playa del Carmen celebrating our birthdays and anniversary recently.  We used an Ultra Flip Video camera and as you can see, the quality of the video and the sound is pretty darn good for such an inexpensive camera.

Why is this important to you? 

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There are many reasons why dogs soil in the house.  This video illustrates one of them while at the same time showing you a typical spring snow storm in the Colorado Rockies!

Anytime your dog begins to housesoil, your first step should always be to check with your veterinarian to rule out medical problems.  If a medical condition is not the cause, first go back to basic housetraining procedures.  This means a regular schedule and NO punishment.  If the problem persists, seek expert help from a certified dog trainer or certified applied or veterinary behaviorist.

We ran across an article in the Denver Post newspaper summarizing a lawsuit filed by pet owners against Petland, accusing the company of selling dogs with behavior and medical problems.  The company claims that they buy only from licensed breeders that are inspected by the USDA.  

Well, by their own admission the USDA is woefully underfunded and under-staffed, so being a USDA inspected facility at this point essentially means nothing.  Many so called “puppy mills” where dogs are bred and maintained under awful conditions are so-called USDA approved facilities.

When we acquired our Irish setter, Coral from a breeder, we visited the breeder’s home.  If a breeder wants to meet you somewhere - in a parking lot or “friend’s home” – rather than allowing you to visit her location – that should be a BIG red flag.

If we couldn’t personally visit the breeder’s location, we would NOT acquire a puppy UNLESS and breeder’s reputation could be verified.  If a local breeder of the breed you are interested doesn’t have puppies, then ask them to recommend someone. 

And of course there are always rescue groups and shelters – both of which can be sources of purebred  and of course mixed breed puppies. Read the rest of this entry »

We know you will enjoy this first  Audio Tip about a very easy way to make good behavior from your dog happen more often.

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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.