This is Herman (Rosie). She is awesome and needs a family of her own.

This is the second part of yesterday’s post.  Find the first part here.

3. Pay Attention/Be mindful:  It’s so easy to accept what we’ve heard about dogs and disregard their complexity.  So many times I hear “but his tail was wagging,” when getting feedback about dogs who have found themselves in bad situations.  Dog body language is more complex than wag=happy, bared teeth=run.  Look at your dog’s body language and the environments which he displays it.  You might see his tail wagging down when he’s relaxed and in your house, but straight up like a metronome when you’re outside facing another dog.  These are two different messages.  Every dog displays their emotions uniquely– just like people.  Don’t make assumptions.  If your dog’s tail is wagging but they seem tense– they are probably not comfortable with the situation.  And, in those times when they are relaxed and you are most likely to ignore them– that’s when you want to pay the most attention and lavish them with love (calmly).  Reinforce their good behavior.

4. Teach your dog to love its crate:  Crates are not just for potty training.  Many dogs like having their own space.  If you introduce it correctly, they will begin to love it.  Crating a dog can teach it self control.  It can also help to handle any significant changes or stressors that come along.  I was speaking with the owner of our house cleaning company recently about dogs and going into people’s homes.  She said that they have several situations where her employees have to be EXTREMELY careful because the dogs are high risk of escaping when they enter the home.  This situation could easily be avoided if the dogs were crated upon arrival.  It is a simple solution that can help manage a multitude of challenges in the home.  How does this improve your relationship with your dog?  It keeps them out of harms way, and allows you to stop them from pursuing negative behaviors (ie, jumping at the door when someone arrives) without putting you in a position where you have to discipline your dog in an unfair situation.  Your dog hates his crate?  Does he hate food?  Because if he’s a fan of eating– you can start feeding him in his crate.  Don’t even worry about closing the door for a bit.  That’s the simplest way to start.

5. Stupid Tricks:  It can take a while to get in the swing of training.  Some of the best exercises you can do with your dog involve training “stupid tricks.”  It improves your relationship with your dog AND if you make mistakes, it’s far less frustrating because you’re not working on life-or-death skills (such as recall)… you’re just training the dog to roll over and get a belly scratch.  It’s easy to focus on the “important” skills– but everything you do with and teach your dog is another step towards a better relationship.  And, it may seem silly, but it’s definitely a pick-me-up after a rough day when your dog will take your socks off for you and put them in the hamper.  Stupid Tricks are valuable tools.

6. Prioritize & Educate:  This is the most important thing you can do to gain some perspective and start down the road to progress.  Many times when visiting with clients, they’re completely overwhelmed with what seems like a huge, gaping chasm between where they are and a trained dog.  If you sit down and write down the issues that you are having, you can group them into categories (life-threatening, unacceptable, wish list).  Life-threatening might be that the dog won’t come when called, unacceptable might be counter-surfing.  A wish list item might be to be able to sit outside at a cafe with your dog.  So, with these examples, you’ll want to start with getting a good recall– and that’s your first priority.  Once you have that settled, you can do some research and figure out the best course of action for getting things on track for you– whether that’s consulting a trainer, reading up on the topic or watching a few videos online.   Educate yourself on your dog and your options.  Be aware that there are many approaches to dog training, it’s important to be open-minded and find the method that will work for you AND your dog… sometimes it takes a little compromise.

These tips are most useful when paired with a consistent training practice.  However, even if you aren’t training regularly, implementing a few changes can improve your day-to-day dog interaction.  We broke this into two parts because it was getting lenghty.

Here we go:

1. Stop Walking Your Dog:  This one probably got your attention, eh?  It was meant to…  Walking your dog can be a rewarding and valuable way to burn some energy.  But, SO OFTEN I see people walking a dog that is distracted, out of control… and not paying one bit of attention to their well-intentioned owner.  If this sounds familiar, you are probably also exasperated, embarrassed and stressed out on your walks.  Every time these dogs are walked this way, it reinforces that that is how walks are supposed to go.  Every time something is reinforced… it requires a little more work to change those habits.  So, if you have a dog that’s unmanageable on walks– continuing to take those “walks” is only going to make the problem harder to address down the line.  Instead, to burn energy find alternatives such as fetch/frisbee, tug or, better yet, training.  You may not need to stop walking your dog altogether… if the dog is good until another dog or person passes, then walk in low-traffic areas at low-traffic times and avoid disturbances to the best of your ability until you can properly deal with the socialization issues being displayed.  If the dog’s a nut case as soon as you grab the leash– then I would strongly recommend training before continuing with the walking habit.  The walks where the dog is pulling and out of control are not walks that are reinforcing a healthy relationship with your dog.  Go back to square one, train your dog to walk on a leash, THEN take them for walks.  Give yourself plenty of time and patience to get back to that routine– you’ll be glad you did when you’re taking lovely walks with a calm and enjoyable companion… rather than beelzebub’s spawn at the end of a leash.  The truth is, if you don’t address an issue properly and thoroughly, the issue isn’t going to go away and there is a good chance that it will get worse.
2. Use Food:  One of the most overlooked opportunities pet owners have is utilizing food to improve their dog’s relationship with them.  Using food and treats you can incentivize almost anything.  For shy dogs, hand-feeding can do wonders.  And when meal time happens in a crate, all of a sudden they aren’t so averse.
    BONUS: Grade your treats:  Not all treats are created equal.  The baked cookie that they so happily accept when you’re alone with them in the kitchen, very well may not register on their radar when you’re out in a field of squirrels.  Having at least three different types of treats to pull from with three levels of value will help get your dog’s attention when you need it.  Save that chopped up steak or dried liver for the high-challenge times and use Charlie Bears for your average training session.  Throw in some hot dogs or string cheese every now and then.
3. Be your dog’s best friend: The old adage goes both ways.  Spend time playing and interacting with your dog.  Don’t rely on other dogs (dog parks, day cares, etc.) to fill that role for you.  In their eyes, all of a sudden dogs, other people, etc. are more interesting than you.  Not only that– but you’re the one that keeps them from those things with a leash, or ending their game taking away all the fun!  There are great ways to socialize your dog without diminishing your own value.  Once again, there are great alternatives for burning energy.  Find things that work for you and your dog– that make your relationship stronger, not weaker.

I know you may be reading this thinking that it’s impractical.  You know what, doing it this way does take effort.  But, it can be done in small incremental steps.  Training sessions with your dog can be as short as 2 minutes– especially for a dog with a short attention span.

The truth is, if you can relate– then you’d probably like something to change about your relationship with your dog.  Your dog isn’t going to be the one to initiate positive change… that’s up to you.

Tomorrow we’ll be posting round 2; see ya then!

Let’s face it, when we think of dog training we have our usual suspects… “sit,” “down,” “get the heck off the couch and stop that right now because, despite your breath’s odiferous assertions to the contrary– your mouth is NOT the appropriate location for my skivvies!”

And, in general, dog’s have their usual suspects… “sit” (until I get my treat, or see a squirrel, or .00005 seconds have passed), “down” (while sleeping and possibly if belly rubs are up for grabs,” and “I might remove myself from the couch but, contrary to your mouth’s assertions to the contrary, the breath doesn’t lie.  My mouth IS the appropriate location for your skivvies and if you don’t like it you can just chase me around the house until your face is blue to try to stop me… na na na na boo boo, so there.” (This usually involves lots of frustrating tail wagging).

So, perhaps there is a divergence of priorities.

Let’s face it, it’s difficult to line up priorities with someone who shares DNA, gender AND species… (or maybe I was the only one who’s sister poured orange soda on my head as a child?)  When you’re dealing with a dog who, may be of similar gender but most definitely shares fewer elements of DNA and therefore species, you’re bound to run into some relationship hiccups, no?

So, when you come in, guns blazing, barking orders (tee hee, barking…) expecting them to sit still– well… that tail they’re wagging?  It’s not that they’re happy to see you… they’re  laughing at you..hysterically.  They’re likely stronger, most definitely faster and although you (and some weird-ass cats out there) have got the opposable thumbs– they are absolutely certain they’re smarter than you (this is reinforced by the game of ring-around the skivvies in which you are currently embroiled).

Soooo… you can (and probably do) bribe them, you can (and probably do) trick them and you can (and probably do) get them to sit in your kitchen when you’re dangling steak over their poor, starving, emaciated self (they’re perspective, I’m sure).  But, you cannot train them until your priorities are lined up with theirs.  That involves a whole slew of pre-training exercises I like to call “antitraining”.

Training isn’t fun, it’s work.  Dogs love jobs, but they don’t like work.  They aren’t command assembly lines, they’re the intelligence and attention span equivalent of a 2-4 year old.  Their priority when it comes to training can be summed up in one word… “fun.”

Antitraining involves convincing your dog that sitting is way more FUN than chasing a squirrel, for instance.  Think back to music class (try not to hurt yourself)– what did you have to learn first?  Did you learn how to play Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor right off the bat (or ever)?  I’m going to make an educated guess here that that was no the case.  You probably learned “Every Good Boy Does Fine.”  And although scales are basic, and boring, if you had a GOOD teacher– they’d make a game of it and make it fun so that you LIKED going to music class, right?  Maybe you’d go outside and toss a ball around whilst chanting these arbitrary mneumonics in a disturbing game of dodge ball (your welcome therapists everywhere).  But, the point is, you can’t just hand a kid broccoli and tell them it’s tasty.  Yes, there are those weird first kids out there that ensure that your second will be a nightmare in comparison just by merit of their angelic nature– but mostly you must smother these things in cheese until the kid’s convinced that broccoli grows in a lake of orange goo near a forest of dessert bribery.  (I admit, I don’t have kids, but judging by the negotiation skills of the five year old I saw at the grocery store yesterday– this is my impression of parenthood everywhere).

SO, the purpose of this blog post is not to detail HOW to get your dog’s attention– because then what would I write about next time?  It’s only to explain that it IS important.  And, sometimes (usually) your dog is not going to sit down and break into Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor until he’s convinced that scales are fun.  (This metaphor might be going downhill…)  So break out the dodge balls and stay tuned…

Teach your dog how to play and interact with you by using toys.

Dusty, our foster puppy, is about to head to his new home and family.  We’re VERY excited about it.  In honor of this and because we know that this time of year is one of the most busy when it comes to including new pets in homes– we thought we’d share 3 important tips for integrating your new dog.

1) KENNEL:  We can’t stress this enough.  The kennel is a fabulous training tool.  We know that most dogs aren’t crazy about it at first, but with a little dedication your dog will learn to love it!  Using a kennel can reduce issues regarding potty training, separation anxiety, aggression and general home destruction.  It gives your dog a place that is his or her very own.  Often, dogs will seek out their kennel as their place to nap, relax and enjoy.

2) TOYS: One of the best things you can do for your new dog is teach them how to play.  This may sound redundant– what puppy doesn’t know how to play already?!?!  Read on…

Of course puppies and dogs want to play– but if you don’t give them the rules of engagement, they’re going to create their own games.  Popular choices for the four-legged friends include keep away (with those laundry pieces which require the delicate cycle, more often than not.)  chase the squirrel (dangerously close to the street) and tag where you’re IT (and since four legs move faster than two– you’re likely to remain IT for the duration of the game.)

So, I highly recommend teaching your dog how to play and interact with you in a more fun, less exasperating manner.  Fear not if this sounds completely foreign to you.  We’ll be bringing tips and tricks to play to you in future installments.

3) TINY TREATS:  For many clients, we recommend utilizing food as a training tool for some time.  By food we mean both kibble and treats.  There are even some treat options which are formulated with food nutrition in mind, so your dog can eat lots of treats.  Have your dog earn every bit of food he/she gets– and have the food come from you!  This helps eliminate future issues of food aggression, it allows the focus of treats/reward to be on you rather than the food itself and it means that your dog learns to be excited about training– because it’s also meal time.

Just be sure to measure out the proper amount of food before you start your day so that you can keep tabs on the amount your new buddy’s eating.

Everybody loves Thanksgiving. Even my dogs love Thanksgiving– specifically Isa who somehow managed to snatch the entire remaining 4/5 lbs of Tofurky last year under our noses without ruffling the table cloth. The dog loves her soy products– let me tell you.

So, as we celebrated with family around the table, my thoughts couldn’t help but include my thankfulness for all of the wonderful things dogs bring into my life– as I’m sure they do yours.

So, I wanted to share my top 5 reasons that I’m thankful for my dogs.

1) Energy– my dogs have an endless supply of it. Not just energy, but happy energy. They go at everything like it’s the best thing that ever happened to them. It’s contagious and uplifting

"What are we doing next?"

2) Forgiveness– I am a dog trainer. Something you need to know about training dogs, it’s not a science. There is no ONE way to train a dog. What worked great with one of my dogs was not successful with another. Learning to work with dogs can feel slow, clumsy and frustrating. My dogs don’t care. They may get a little bored. I might accidentally step on their foot, I might have to get firm with them because they’re acting like a ridiculous fool. Give them 5 seconds– they’ve recovered and moved on. Who knows what goes through their head to allow them to move on as they do, but through their actions they display something we’d call forgiveness.

3) Innovation– I enjoy teaching my dogs stupid tricks that seem really impressive. (Seem being the operative word– fancy stuff is just about as easy to train as the easy stuff, once you get the hang of it).  It teaches them to be independent thinkers and to interact and interpret their environment.

Clive invents the sink/water fountain. Perfect for dogs on the go.

4) Mystery– Seriously, what are they thinking?

5) Love–  Now, I don’t know the ins and outs of this one for people– let alone dogs.  What I do know is that recently I was having a particularly challenging day.  All sorts of things were going “wrong”–  to top it off, my printer decided that it wasn’t going to cooperate.  I literally shoved my head into my hands and said to myself– “seriously, could anything else break today?”

And when I looked up, (I’m not kidding) there was Puppy (my 70 lb Dutch Shepherd)… with a roll of duct tape in his mouth.  He shoved it in my hands, then laid down with his ball on his bed and chewed to his little hearts content. (I tried to snap a photo– it’s pretty blurry) He hasn’t before or since grabbed that roll of duct tape from its place on a shelf in the basement.  Again, seriously, what are they thinking?

Puppy decides to fix everything...all you need is Duct Tape

You're totally going to let me in, right?

Today’s recipe involves all sorts of typical kitchen-ness. Heat, liquid, spices and just a little time and care. However, it’s not for your mouth– it’s for your nose! One thing about fall weather– it can be wet. When you have dogs that are outside every day– rain or shine, occasionally you’re gonna end up with dogs that are wet as well. Hardly a sensory dream! Especially for multiple-dog households, no matter how well you keep up on their grooming and your housework– sometimes that wet dog smell just lingers.

One other thing I tend to end up with throughout the year– leftover wine. I rarely drink it at home, but use it often enough in my cooking. And, since I live in one of the blessed cities which is favored with a Trader Joe’s, I generally have a little leftover two buck chuck on the door of my fridge. So for far less than the price of a candle I’m going to share my wet-dog smell frugal fix while turning those mucky days into some of the most comforting.

Wine Whiffer

In a pot on the stove or a very small slow cooker place the following:
(And these measurements are entirely flexible– just throw in whatever you have on hand with your eyes open and you should be good)
1-2 C leftover wine
1-2 C Water (you want your pot to be relatively well-filled but leave enough room so that if it does boil– it’s not going to boil over)
1-2 Cinnamon Sticks or a generous pinch of ground cinnamon
A generous pinch of cloves or ground cloves

Optional:
I’ve played around with adding other spices like nutmeg, allspice and cardamom– so see what you like best! A pinch here and there is all you need. You could also just throw in some pre-made mulling spices.

Bring the liquid to a simmer and be sure that the heat is set low enough that the pot can go for some time. Just don’t forget to turn the oven off/unplug the slow cooker when you’re done.

Your house will immediately start filling with the wonderful and comforting smells of fall!  You can let it go as long as you like, just check on it regularly to be sure the water level isn’t too low.  And please, only do this if you’re home and awake!  Use the back burner, especially if you have little hands or paws that haven’t quite learned the art of kitchen manners.

If the liquid level gets low, just add more water. Since you’re not drinking the mix, you can even be REALLY frugal, strain out any soggy spices and save in the fridge for another rainy day or any other day that leaves you jonesing for an aromatherapy-fix.

We had technical difficulties with the blog earlier in the week which rendered us unable to post.  However, with the holidays coming up we thought a fabulously simple people/puppy recipe which makes itself a staple in many holiday goodies for both friends and fido was in order.  So, without further ado– how to make your very own peanut butter.

All you need is a bag of peanuts (we recommend organic if you can find it, and unsalted), a food processor and a little patience.  The key to good peanut butter is to process it until the peanuts break down enough to release the oils– creating that creamy texture that we all know and love.  If you’re more of a chunky fan, simply pull out a handful of the mixture while it’s still crumbly, and add it back in at the very end.  Ta daa!

Read this morning and LOVED it. It’s heart-breaking when dogs are senselessly abandoned, but sometimes you just have to be thankful for heart-breaking things.