Dog Obedience Training Blog

I am not talking about talking dogs, although that would make an interesting conversation as well.  I often wonder what my dogs would say about me if they would talk!  Maybe that should be left to a private conversation without children

But, what does your choice of dogs small, medium, large HUGE and your choice of breed or mutt say about you?

I have often marvel at what my dogs say about me….

I have my own opinions of course and some days they vary.

I find it interesting to watch celebrities carry dogs as if they are some sort of outfit ensemble.  I frequently wonder if some of these small dogs can walk on their own or carry their own body weight as they seem to live inside a purse, bag, or under someone’s armpit.

Sometimes I even wonder how they get these small dogs to sit still for that long?  Don’t they need to play or investigate life and smell the roses occasionally?

I have Belgian Malinois.  I think this makes me smart, athletic, and also means I like a challenge because these dogs are thinkers.

Did you know  that one year old Belgian Malinois, Mia opened four doors during a house fire to let herself into the basement and hid in a water filled bathtub for 6 HOURS before she was rescued by firefighters?  I’d say that is Einstein Dog Smart!

Eva Mendes and Tony Lampert join my ranks.

And, these dogs and Dutch Shepherds (my other loves) are well known in the world of police, secret service and other working dogs!

So what breed do you have?

I think small breed dogs indicate a desire to love and be loved and cuddle.  Or a need for an extra fashion accessory if you happen to be a celebrity.

Terriers are usually always up to a little bit of no good, so watch their owners

Labs and Golden are usually family dogs.

Pitbull and Rottweiler people are usually pretty serious and pretty tough.

Mutts usually belong to someone who is loyal and just wants the company of a dog and the love of any dog!  Mutt people are true dog people!

So tell me what breed do you have and why?  And, are you a loyal breedist or are you going to mix it up the next time you get a companion?

According to a new study done by Jo Fearon and Dr Lance Workman of Bath Spa University, you may be a lot more like your dog than you think.

The British study, which was conducted with 1,000 pure bred dog owners, revealed some interesting variation between breed groups relating to owners’ personality features.

Purebred dog owners were asked to take a short online survey and answer questions that were designed to test the traits that base our personality: extroversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, conscientiousness and intelligence.

Breeds were divided up into 7 groups and
here is what the results revealed: Read more »

To be a dog owner these days is quite different than it was when I was growing up. I don’t even know if calling myself a dog owner is the correct term anymore.

Am I a pet parent? A pet guardian?

I don’t know. I guess I’m all of them.

Regardless, of what I am called, today more and more people take being a dog owner a lot more serious than years past. Dogs are no longer viewed as a pet, but more as a family companion and these family companions are treated like any other member of the family, if not better in some cases.

For some dog owners their life revolves around their dog. They don’t leave home without their dog. They take their dog on vacation, or don’t go on vacation because the thought of leaving their dog for more than 24 hours is devastating. They come home everyday for lunch just to let their dogs outside, because being alone for more than 4 hours is just unacceptable.

Opps! I just described myself!

I admit, when it comes to certain things with my dogs things I am  am little bit extreme.

I have not taken a vacation in over 5 years, in fear that my dogs will miss me too much.  I come home everyday for lunch to show my dogs some love. I do leave home without my dogs, but not for long.

Read more »

I recently got this question from a subscriber about my thoughts on the best way to keep her dog from wandering off of her property…

Hi Chet,

My wife and I love your training tools.  We have a one-year-old Golden retriever and an 8-year-old Collie.  We also have an unfenced yard that our association requires.

Both dogs know where the property boundaries are however the Golden doesn’t always stay within them.  We tried putting up a 2 foot temporary fence to re enforce the property line however he soon realized that he could just jump over.  When people and/or dogs walk by I cannot call him back to the yard.  If there’s a rabbit…he’s gone.

We are now using a 15 foot tether that we will hook him up to when ever he leaves the yard hoping that he will realize when he leaves the yard he loses his privileges.  Not sure if this is working as it could take a minute or two between the time he leaves the yard, I retrieve him, and hook him up to the tether.

Do you have a training plan to keep dogs within their yard no matter what?  Just for what it’s worth, the Collie will sometimes want to leave the yard for the same reasons, however all we need to do is call her and she stops.  She lived most of her life in a yard with a tether.  The last two years she has had run of the new yard and there really wasn’t much training.  She just knew what to do.  Years ago I rescued a two-year-old Irish Setter.  As soon as I brought him home, he knew where the property lines were.  So I guess I’ve been lucky.  Our Golden is smart.  We just need to know what the right process is.

Thanks for your time.
Chuck

>My Comments:

Great question Chuck.  A lot of people have this question, and it reminded me that we’ve created a quick video series on this topic a while back for my Video Vault members.  If you are not familiar, with our Video Vault program, it is a low cost membership site that I created where we take your questions and answer them in video format.  It’s my way of providing a service where you can have ANY question on dog training answered that doesn’t fit into the topics of my other programs.

Its the place where you can get any dog related question answered from how to stop your dog from eating poop, to how to perimeter train your dog so he stays in your yard.

If you’d like to learn more about this low cost way to get your questions answered, you can get the details on our Video Vault program here:

Dog Training Video Vault

But to answer your question Chuck, I thought it would be cool to just take one of the videos from our members area and show it to you.

This video shows you the first steps to perimeter training a dog.  We like electric fencing options for perimeter training, but we also like to train our dogs in the most humane way possible with electric fences.

In this first video in our mini series of perimeter training a dog we show you the first steps to working with a dog and teaching him to respecting a perimeter.

>NOTE: Instead of focusing on creating videos that will win editing awards, and paying editors hundreds of dollars to shoot and edit our videos, we focus on cutting right to the chase and giving you training videos that take just a few minutes to answer your question… so you get your answers and we keep the costs low for every member of our Video Vault program.

With that said, here is the first step to perimeter training:

To see the rest of the videos in this series and learn more about our program that answers your unique questions about dog training check out this program:

The Dog Training Video Vault

I walk my dogs everyday, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.

Except when it’s hot, and when it’s raining. My dogs don’t mind the rain, but I tend to melt in the rain.

So I walk my dogs a lot and when I am walking my dogs a lot I get a lot of questions and statements made about them.

People are curious about them and that is fine.

However, sometimes when you hear the same thing a million times your mind starts to play tricks on you, and in attempt to stay sane you need to get a little silly.

Or at least I need to get a little silly. Silly is what keeps me going. Silly is good.

Sometime I display my silliness to the general public, but sometimes I need to keep my silliness to myself.

Take these situations for example, these are times when I keep my silliness to myself,  although I have been known to make a slip here and there.

Read more »

Mother’s Day is just a few days away and while it is a day that we traditionally celebrate with our sons and daughters many people now also celebrate it with their 4 legged furry children.

I mean why shouldn’t we celebrate it with our pooches? We often refer to them as our fur-babies anyway, and they certainly are members of our family.

We feed them, we groom them, we take them for their annual checkups, we stay up late with them if they are not feeling well, and we clean up their poop.

We talk to them, we kiss them, we exercise them, we buy them the very best of everything.

We are often referred to as their Mom.

We Are Dog Moms and Dog Moms Should
Also be Celebrated on Mother’s Day.

So if you are planning to spend this day with your fur-babies, but aren’t quite sure what to do,  here are a suggestions that may make your Mother’s Day one to remember:

Read more »

My heart is heavy as I write this.  It seems that everywhere I turn lately there is a new story about a dog mauling or killing a child; most of which lately have been infants and toddlers.

• The latest was a Jack Russell Terrier who jumped up and mauled the new infant as he slept in his bassinet.
• A one year old toddler was killed after he crawled onto his family dog Rhodesian mix (which apparently he had done previously).
• And a Lab/Golden mix that dismembered and disemboweled a baby left in a baby swing.
• And if that is not horrifying enough, in 2008 a 6 week old Lab puppy killed a baby left unattended in a baby swing.  6 week old puppy!

No one wins in these instances.  Dogs are euthanized.  Children have died or have been scarred for life and the parents are left to mourn in the aftermath.

Most of these instances have been family dog related attacks.

I hate writing these types of articles, but I feel obligated to help new parents, grandparents and dog owners alike know how to keep everyone as safe as possible when it comes to dogs.

These are my 5 most important tips when it comes to kids and dogs. Read more »

 

What would the world be like if we treated our children like we treated or dogs, or we treated our dogs like we treat our children?  Pause for a minute and think about it, it is an interesting notion.

First of all, how many of us expect our dogs to listen, but have never taken them to school?  Dogs need just as much “school” and training as a child should have perhaps even more since they have more of an ability to be aggressive!

I have come under some fire lately due to my dislike of physical and forceful training methods.  We are a “hands off” dog training program after all, so it shouldn’t surprise you that I don’t indulge in the use of prong, choke, or shock collars and that I like Karen Pryor .

Although shock collars are technically “hands off” I don’t think it really counts

Now, I will agree with the naysayers that everyone that uses these “training collars” is not abusive and under a very few circumstances they may be warranted, but in most cases I think they are overused and used because people are too lazy to teach their dog good foundation obedience. Read more »

I wanted to share this urgent update with you about a major recall for a LARGE number of different dog foods.

I’m also pleased to announce that the company that I recommend you consider getting your dog food from, Healthy Pet Net, was NOT affected by this recall.

Watch this video to see if your dog’s food has been recalled.  I’d hate to have something happen because you didn’t know.

 

To look into the NON-Recalled food that I recommend to my clients, click here:

The Dog Food I Recommend That Has Never Been Recalled

My #1 Dog Training Tip

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