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38 Benefits of Owning A Dog

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We Are Going Viral!

Hello everyone!  We are going viral…no, no that doesn’t mean I have a virus, thankfully I kicked that bug a few weeks ago, we are taking our information and knowledge to share on Facebook and Twitter!

I know what you are thinking, you have a busy life and even if you are already have an account with Facebook and Twitter you are wondering if you have the time to add something else to your plate and your life.  I completely understand!  I feel the same way every time I click “Like” on my facebook page.  I make a concerted effort not to add anything I am not truly passionate about on my page.

But I am here to convince you to join me!  Not only will all of our new articles and services be added immediately to our account, but I will also be adding fun facts, services, and new and upcoming items to our pages!

Today, for instance, I added a link to get free pet supplies!  Who doesn’t like free stuff?  Some of the things offered are coupons to get money off items you are probably already purchasing and some offer free treats and items to the first 150 people!

Yesterday, I posted a link to one of my favorite videos a Man vs. Dog eating contest!  I simply love this video, it brings a giggle and a smile to my face every time I watch it.

I will be posting news articles, rescue information, articles, pictures and cool doggy supplies on our pages!  It is my desire to find the coolest stuff and share it with you!  I also encourage you to join me and send me links you would like to share and leave questions and comments for me.

I will do my best to answer your questions and give you the best, and the most fun information I can!  My passion in this life is to truly enjoy the time I spend with my family and my dogs!

So PLEASE join me, so I am not Tweeting and Facebooking to myself!  Share the links and encourage your friends and family to join us!

Join Our Facebook Page!

Follow Us On Twitter!

I look forward to building a more personal relationship with you and finding the coolest dog stuff around!

 

Preparing and Dealing with Thunderstorms

This is the time of year for afternoon thunderstorms.  Many dog’s suffer from thunderstorm phobia, and sometimes it seems the older the dog gets the more severe the phobia becomes.

Because we are not dogs, we can only hypothesize how dogs feel when it storms, but for some dogs storms truly cause a panic attack.  This can actually be life threatening in some cases; because some dogs run away, break through windows and some have even been reported to jump from secondstory windows causing mutilation and even death.

Some experts hypothesize that the electrical current in the air actually has a shocking affect for some dogs.  This theory may explain why some dogs choose to lay in the bathroom, bathtub or behind the toilet because the porcelain does not conduct the shock.  Some people report success from rubbing their dogs down with dryer sheets prior to a storm.  This may help to lessen or take away the electrical stimulation.

Some say that the drop in barometric pressure and the boom of the thunder and the crack of the lightning may actually cause pain because dogs hearing is so much keener than ours.

No matter what the cause, it is essential to help our dogs to deal with this phobia or to help them never develop it.

Alleviate the Problem:

• Got a puppy or a new dog?  When the storm begins, the barometric pressure drops and the booming starts; begin playing with your pup.  If thunderstorms equal fun and games; your dog will look forward to the event rather than fearfully awaiting its arrival. I also take this time to distribute great treats and chewies that may take a long period of time to chew; rawhides, bully sticks, and all kinds of edible bones and toys can be used to keep your dog’s mine off the impending storm.  I also crank up the radio and blast out some tunes in order to keep the sound from being overwhelming.  Any event that can be perceived as scary, should be turned toward fun and exciting.
• On the evening of the fourth of July I often play outside games and do scent work around the neighborhood so that the sounds are not overpowering they become the background to the fun that they are experiencing.

Dealing with the Problem Once it arises:

Even though I spent hours and years desensitizing my dogs to storms after one of my dog’s ear drums rupture he has experienced some noise phobia since and my oldest has watched him in his fervor and developed some of the same problems; so I know it can happen to anyone.

Desensitization

• This is the first thing to try and although it takes time it is often very effective.  Start with whatever stimulus first elicits signs of nervousness.  Pair the drop in pressure or the darkening of skies with treats, games and praise. Your goal is for your dog to emotionally respond to thunder as a predictor of something good.  You need to make the first signs of the storm induce happiness and relaxation.  If you have been working hard on getting eye contact and focus, you can also use this to help calm your dog before and during a storm.  Give him a command that he can be successful at achieving which will give him something else to think about.  Run through his tricks or commands, take him out before the storm and play ball and make this time fun for him.

Give Him a Safe Haven

• Designate an enclosed area for him to get away from the storm; a closet, in the bathroom, in his crate or wherever he might feel comfortable and add your tricks for desensitization here while the storms rage.  Crank some tunes and try to preoccupy him from thinking about the storm and hopefully the next time the storm begins he will rush to his safe haven to find comfort.
• Acupressure and Acupuncture has even been reported to help and be an effective tool for dogs with thunderstorm phobias.  Contact your local veterinarian to find a vet that provides Acupuncture.

Noise Therapy

• There are CDs you can use that mimic the sounds of thunderstorms and you can use them to help with your program of desensitization.  Start by playing the CD on low and then slowly increase the sound as your dog is more successful.
• Leeds and Wagner have developed music specifically designed to calm dogs. Their work is based on solid biological principles. You can read more about it, and get a CD or download the music by googling Through a Dog’s Ear.

Medications

• Homeopathic remedies, pheromone plug ins, flower essences and melatonin have been used and success has been shown.  A book called “The Big Bang” by Claudeen McAuliffe offers even more suggestions and tips on helping your dog with his phobia.
• Last but not least is prescription medications; if all else fails or you are not seeing victory quickly enough, talk to your veterinarian.  Thunderstorm phobia is so severe in some dogs that drugs have been specially designed to help them deal with storms.  Sometimes this is the best option for people who have to work during critical storm hours.  Often medications are only successful with desensitization and behavior modification.
  

  Is Your Dog Scared of Storms?

Thunderstorm phobia can be horrifying for your pet, but with some time, effort and dedication you can give your dog the tools needed to deal with his fears!

Learing To Be Firm But Gentle With Your Dog

All of us love our pets and most of us consider dog as one of our family members. This makes us difficult for many of us to train our dogs. So we let them do whatever they like and our puppies turn out to be naughty rogues and sometimes even unruly.

When they turnout to be unruly dogs, we will have no other go but to send them away to pet orphanage or to some other similar place. If only you knew how to train your puppy or your dog, it would not have gone to that extent of sending away your dog.

When it comes to dog training many of us think that we need to be tough with our dogs or puppies to make them obey to their masters. So many of us think that we cannot be tough with our dogs and thereby we fail to train them properly. Some of us even end up being tough with our puppies wanting them to be a well disciplined dog. These are extremes and both approaches will hurt your puppies one way or the other.

So what it takes to train your dog or puppy well is a firm but a gentle master. When you engage in dog training or puppy training, you must learn to be firm but gentle with them and just not tough. Dogs are very sensitive animals and they can easily sense when you are angry. This can make your dogs sulk and withdraw leading to behavioral problems.

Before you set out to train your dog or puppy for puppy house training or puppy potty training, you will need to find a good dog training program or dog training courses. You need to first be well equipped before you take the trainer’s seat.

Do Your Homework On What’s Available!

Don’t choose your dog training course randomly, before you buy your dog training course review them closely and make sure that it is a suitable course for training your puppy because poor choice of dog training course can hurt your puppy. You can even turn a healthy puppy into a rogue dog through inappropriate training.

Your dog or puppy will take some time before it understands your commands. So until then you need to be firm with your dog without being tough. It requires a lot of patience too to train dogs. By finding the right dog training course you will be able to accomplish things fast.

Good dog training courses will be developed based on sound dog psychology. Only such dog training courses will be effective. So it is your responsibility to pick to dog training course. You cannot blame your dog later for your poor choice of dog training course and your faulty approach to dog training.

Check Out Our Hands Off Dog Training Course Today!

A Good Walk is Hard to Beat

There are fewer joys in life greater than a good walk; add a well behaved dog to that equation and in my opinion you have pure perfection!  I have the great honor of training and walking 5 Weimaraners twice a week.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are full of exhilaration and exercise, I tell my friends I am Weimar-running or doing Weimar-obics.  Although it is a job for me (thank goodness for wonderful clients who rescue dogs) it is an opportunity for me to get outside, enjoy the weather and beat some of my stress.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Take A Break Command

I rolled over this morning, stretched and opened my eyes only to have a wooly pink bunny dropped into my newly opened peepers.  My dogs lay quietly until they see any sign of me rising, and movement is often celebrated with a fuzzy gift and a little dance of joy about the bedroom, luckily for me gifts aren’t usually shoved in my eye.

But this morning, I wanted a chance to catch up on some missing sleep.  Later, while doing Yoga and in a very precarious and painful position a fuzzy rump was thrust my way in an attempt to get a scratching.  Sometimes I simply need a break or some space.  I prefer working out on the floor without furry people sitting on my face.

I like to eat without heated dog breath exhaled in my face or drool dripping onto my lap or down my leg.  And, I prefer welcoming visitors without the help of hairy feet dancing about in front of them and jumping their way.  So, I teach my dogs to go and lay on their beds until distractions are gone, or they are told otherwise. Read the rest of this entry »

What is Clicker Training?

Clicker training is based on the behavioral psychology concept of operant conditioning.  Without getting too technical, because this is not Psych 101, operant conditioning states that when you use consequences you can modify behavior and training. 

However clicker training doesn’t use punishment as consequences like older more traditional forms of dog training, but rather uses rewards to modify behavior and training.  There are of course, many benefits to using clicker training and positive reinforcement.

A Clicker is a Conditioned Reinforcer

A clicker, a small handheld device which makes a clicking noise when pressed, is a conditioned reinforcer.  Meaning that the specific sound a clicker makes marks a desired behavior.  You can pick them up at most pet stores for just a couple bucks. 

For example, you ask your dog to sit and he sits, you click and that signal marks the behavior.  Your reward so that he begins to make associations.  Your dog begins to relate the treat to the click and the click to performing the behavior you request.  

Why Clicker Training is Important

Why this is so important to learning.  While sit isn’t such a difficult behavior for dogs to learn many behaviors are.  Many behaviors take several steps to perform correctly and therefore it’s very important your dog knows when he’s performed all or part of the behavior correctly.  Now you might be asking, “Why can’t I just say ‘good dog?’”  

Our voices change inflection, we use different words, and we’re unable to speak as accurately as a simple click.  That being said, you will absolutely need to practice clicking to achieve the accuracy necessary for it to be useful. 

You certainly don’t want to click a split second later when your dog has decided to stand up again after the sit command because now you’ve just marked the standing up behavior – not what you were intending on teaching! 

Tomorrow I’ll post the benefits of Clicker Training. You can also read some more on Clicker Training For Dogs here.

Dealing With Dog Aggression Interview – Jeff Tinsley

If you have a dog who’s starting to show signs of aggression you’re going to love my most recent interview with Dog Training expert, Jeff Tinsley.

In this interview Jeff and I talk about how to handle dealing with dog’s who get aggressive when certain parts of their body are touched. This should be helpful for people who’s dog’s are showing signs of aggression when going in for Vet checkups where the Vet has to handle the dog.

Plus we also get into what causes different types of aggression and how to solve them.

All you have to do to is right click here to download the audio file to your computer, then just use your favorite mp3 player to listen in. It’s an hour long interview so it might take you a while to download… but be patient, it’s worth waiting for

Enjoy!

Chet Womach

P.S. I’m really making it a priority to deliver some great free information for you, and I’d appreciate it if you’d leave your comments on what you got out of this interview in the comments section of this post… Thanks.