Let's Go For A Walk!

One of the things that I love to do with the dogs is teach through play. I will play tug to work on: fetch, drop it, take it, leave it and of course no teeth on skin.
This is one of my all time favorites because the dog is aroused and has to learn to have a shut off switch in order to get the toy back. No follow through on the dogs part means the game ends and I walk away or if there are any teeth on skin I will yipe and withhold all play for several seconds and try again. This means no jumping on me in between or the game ends. When I reintroduce the tug toy to play again I will continue to play as long as no teeth touch me, if they do the game ends for good this time. Playing with your dog and teaching at the same time are very bonding and can be lots of fun for both of you. By making fun a part of everything you do, your dog will want to be around you more then many other distractions.

The dog was walking nicely, and the woman wanted the dog in heel instead of sniffing (why at this moment in the walk, I don’t understand). She kept repeating “heel” and the dog kept walking and sniffing, so much for it working right? The dog was only a foot or two in front of her on an off leash trail, with no other people and yet it suddenly became important to have the dog in heel.? Meanwhile the dog is throwing calming signals that she doesn’t even understand, but a shock is something that she does understand.

Then she grabbed the dog by the collar(she was gentle so I give her that) and repeated the words sit and then had to use her hands to get the dog into a sit. She wasn’t using the shock collar at this point because her hands were full, not that it was working anyway. She then continued onto another trail with the dog in heel. I should have said something, I kicked my self for not saying anything, I usually say something…..why didn’t I say something? I think that I was having such a nice walk with my dogs that I didn’t want to get into any conflict.

The dog wasn’t appearing to obey the shock and perhaps it wasn’t working. I have had nice discussions with people that use these devices in the past and I have had shouting matches as well. Since the woman and I had chatted nicely before I noticed the e -collar, and she was further ahead of me when I noticed, it made it easier to not say anything. Argggg……..I should have said something! Perhaps a smile and “do you find that collar really works?” And see how she responds? But no, I sniff the ground, look the other way, blink my eyes, lick my lips, shake my body, yawn and stretch…………argggg, I should have said something!

Preventing unwanted behaviours also means feeding a healthy diet, going to a good vet who continues their education, and maintaining a good balance of exercise. Dogs who are not feeling well display many unwanted behaviours, whether it be from poor diet which causes an upset stomach or loose stools to too much or not enough exercise which can cause boredom, chewing, jumping up and many more naughty doggie behaviours. Too much exercise can lead to stiffness and joint pain as well as ligament tears and much more. I have a friend whose 9 year old black lab was playing Frisbee with him on a very hot summer day, the dog did not stop playing and the owner didn’t realize the dog was over heating. This led to the dog jumping one last time and never getting up again, he had heat stroke and died. Very sad indeed.

Enjoying the outdoors

I haven’t talked much about what kind of diet or what kind of exercise and will save that for my next post. This one is a food for thought post.

Vaccinations is also play an important role in how your dogs overall health is and can affect their behaviour as well.

I will leave this one for another day and since I am not a vet I will make sure to have good resources available to those that are interested in finding out more on whether to vaccinate or not.

-Donna