Training Tips
It can be hard to know if your dog is listening to you. We found an insightful article on getting your pup to listen up as you train him!
Training a puppy is usually frustrating if you do not know how to make the little one listen. As owners, most people think that there is something amiss in the dog’s attitude if they do not listen to them especially if they invested much time and effort in the training. It is even disappointing for many when they think that their dogs have something interesting to do rather than listening to their owners trying to train them for their own good.
So what does training your puppy dog to listen require you to do? Before answering this question, it is important to remember that dogs do what works for them, so your task as dog owner is to teach them how to listen by showing them how listening to you will be to their benefit.
Training Tips
Is your dog turning your garden into a minefield? The first step to solving the problem may be understanding WHY. Here are some ideas!
1) The Denning Instinct: Evolution has provided dogs with an instinct to dwell in a protected area. If such shelter is not provided, the dog will dig to obtain it.
2) Temperature Control: In extreme environments, dogs may use earthen dens to control body temperature. Some dogs dig dens to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Providing a protected, warm area in the winter and plenty of liquids, shade and occasional sprays with water in the summer can help eliminate this need to dig.
3) Hunting: Some dogs, such as terriers, are relentless diggers. Such breeds have evolved to use digging as an essential part of their hunting repertoire. Underground there are countless bugs, dead animals, old trash pits and live game.
4) Self Care: Occasionally digging will be an instinctive expression of self-care,such as
stashing bones or surplus food. This behavior keeps the dogs’ living areas clean and
prevents interference from scavengers.
5) Exploration and Territoriality: Dogs often dig because of their instinct to explore. There is a high survival value associated with being intimately familiar with the territory. Thus, dogs may dig to locate potentially dangerous or useful items.
6) Mimicry: The technical term for this is “allelomimetic behavior.” Dogs often will imitate other animals, as well as people.
7) Reproductive Behavior: Walker explains that females in the wild will dig series of dens. This nesting behavior is quite common, and providing a proper whelping box typically will address this sort of digging. Dogs also may dig to escape from the yard and attempt mating. Neutering, of course, provides a permanent solution for this digging
8.) Aggressiveness and Frustration: Digging, especially at a fence or gate, usually is associated with frustration. Being pack animals, dogs want to join others (human or canine) and feel stressed by their isolation and confinement. Male dogs also may display aggression in response to human teasing or canine challenges.
9) Social Interaction Needs: Some dogs require a home range much larger than a fenced-in yard can provide, and they may attempt to escape simply to increase social contact. Walks, a canine companion and a fence that allows a greater range of visibility may help.
10) Attention-Seeking Behavior: Digging, as a random exploratory behavior, may become an entrenched habit if a dog is “rewarded” with considerable negative attention because of its digging. Ignoring the digging while giving positive attention for an incompatible desirable behavior generally is the best approach.
11) Lack of Stimulation: Dogs will also dig out of boredom.
12) Anxiety, Trauma and Threat: Dogs often dig when feeling sick or especially anxious. “Dogs that are extremely ill will sometimes go off and try to dig a hole in which to lie and die,” Walker says. Likewise, when dogs are feeling threatened or insecure, a den may provide comfort and help them relax.
Once you’ve begun to realize why your pet is digging, training him out of the behavior will become much easier. Good luck!
The Scoop
Top 10 Dog Breeds for 2007
These statistics were gathered by registration information in the U.S. Do you own one of the top 10?
2. Yorkshire Terrier
3. German Shepherd Dog
4. Golden Retriever
5. Beagle
6. Boxer
7. Dachshund
8. Poodle
9. Shih Tzu
10. Bulldog
Interesting Fact:
“For the first time since 1935, the Bulldog has broken into the top 10. The organization says that this breed has recently gained appeal to a very wide range of dog lovers. The Bulldog is both docile and adaptive, and can thrive in small or large homes. It’s also one of the few dog breeds to be adopted as a mascot for some sports teams.”
Read the whole article HERE!
Health & Lifestyle
Take your pet to work!
Pets enhance our lives in so many ways. We see articles everywhere about pets reducing stress, aiding the disabled, enhancing the quality of life of their owners, and just being great. Here’s another amazing thing that pets can do for you!
“On the stress front, one study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology surveyed businesses that allowed pets in the workplace vs. others that do not. The study found that even when employees did not have their own pet at work, they reported less stress, and felt that the animals improved their work environment. In this study they also found that pets increased cooperation between employees, and improved their mental health and mood. In fact, people reported that the pets improved the organization as a whole (sounds like my hypothesis may be a good theory for us being kinder to each when we are kind to animals!)!”
Read the rest of this great article here!
The Friday Scoop
Pets have everything these days!
Boingboing.net noted this amazing new pet product. Great for curious dogs!
It’s no substitute for taking your dog out for his daily “explorations”, but it’ll certainly keep him busy in the back yard!
Health & Lifestyle
As summer starts to heat up, it’s important to make sure your pet stays cool! Dogs can overheat easily, especially during the next few months. Check out these ideas, posted by Catherine Leigh, a licensed veterinary nurse, for keeping your dog safe from the heat! (Source)
Heat stroke can strike when you may not suspect it. Those 100-plus-degree-days at the end of July are sometimes less dangerous than the first few warm days of summer when your pet is less acclimated to the heat.
A dog’s normal body temperature should be between 100 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit. According to veterinarians Roger W. Gfeller and Michael W. Thomas, temperatures over 106 degrees is a life-threatening emergency.
Preventing heat stroke is always better than treating it after the fact.
Dogs with heavy coats can be kept trimmed short during summer months.
When you’re on an outing with your dog, make sure to provide them with plenty of rest, shade, and cool drinking water, even if you feel fine yourself. Don’t count on your dog to limit himself.
At the first sign of overheating, you need to start helping your dog to cool off, and seek veterinary care immediately. If your dog can still drink, offer cool water. After doing what you can to lower your dog’s temperature, get him to a doctor without delay. Minutes count.
