Calling All Dog Owners

[[Al...]]

Saraa I had days like that when I had to hand feed Casey to get her to eat. I know it's upsetting when they don't eat however no dog will ever go without food after all they are animals. Eventually they will eat. When you put down the kibble just walk away. When you are watching her she knows she is getting attention from you and turning your buttons:) Good luck!!

 

[[be...]]

I've been a dog trainer for 20 years and have won many, many AKC titles. I am also an AKC judge. One poster is right. Dogs can smell 1,000 times stronger than a human. They can smell fear easily. That's why they have the dog pack mentality of chasing animals who obviously are very fearful. If you are anxious, they may think your anxiety is caused by them, and thus become anxious and hurt, themselves, as they don't know what they did wrong. Best train a puppy when he is 7 weeks old. The first command he must learn is come. So he won't be hit by a car. Then you can take him off-leash and have him run in a park, or anywhere there is some land. Anytime a dog damages your house, it's because he is bored. He is not doing this to upset you. It will only get worse. The only way to prevent this is by letting him run around a lot each day, to tire him out. And to let him smell news things and perhaps chase ducks. Unlike cats, who don't have the ability to feel true hunger, a dog does. So if he doesn't want to eat then take the bowl away from him. He will eventually get hungry. Or put him in a crate and don't let him out until he finishes his meal. Make sure he eats the same time you are, as you are his momma and daddy. You are his pack. Only let one person in the house train him and nobody else. The best person who is one that spends the most time with him. Obedience classes are great because they socialize the dog. The most important thing for new dog owners: Keep him crated from the very beginning. Have the crate ready when you bring him home. The crate will eventually become his refuge. Make sure the crate is large enough for him to stand up and turn around. Leave the door of the crate open, unless you need to keep him in there because he is not trained and you can't keep an eye on him. Don't ever bother him while he is resting in his crate. He wants to be left alone. Always crate your dog in the car. People are ignorant when they let their dog's head out of the window so he can see and smell new things. They end up getting hit in the head and eyes with toxic material in the air.  If you already have a dog that is no longer a puppy, then make sure to bring him to obedience classes. It is never too late. When you call them ask them if their instructors have ever gotten a CD, a CDX or a UD. A UD is the most perfect, very hard title to get. I have several. If someone says they have an OTCH, (obedience trial champion) then run there like mad. That means you have one of the best obedience trainers in the country. All dogs are considered puppies until they are 2.

Bets

[[Sa...]]

Fran,

 

Good news and bad news

Good is that did like you said, put 5 bits of Zignature & 5 bits of Merric.  At first she refused until i sat down to eat my dinner then she picked one of them started eating.  I put down her bowl with the rest of her dinner

Bad news is she doesn't like the Zignature but i am almost sure that its because she does like salmon dog food.  The pet store i bought it from said they would exchange it for another flavor if she doesn't like.  I think the closest flavor to beef in the zignature line was bison or Kangaroo.  Both being red meat. I think.

I'll keep you posted.

 

Pooping all over the house, despite being walked a couple of times a day and generously too.

 

[[Sa...]]

I've been a dog trainer for 20 years and have won many, many AKC titles. I am also an AKC judge. One poster is right. Dogs can smell 1,000 times stronger than a human. They can smell fear easily. That's why they have the dog pack mentality of chasing animals who obviously are very fearful. If you are anxious, they may think your anxiety is caused by them, and thus become anxious and hurt, themselves, as they don't know what they did wrong. Best train a puppy when he is 7 weeks old. The first command he must learn is come. So he won't be hit by a car. Then you can take him off-leash and have him run in a park, or anywhere there is some land. Anytime a dog damages your house, it's because he is bored. He is not doing this to upset you. It will only get worse. The only way to prevent this is by letting him run around a lot each day, to tire him out. And to let him smell news things and perhaps chase ducks. Unlike cats, who don't have the ability to feel true hunger, a dog does. So if he doesn't want to eat then take the bowl away from him. He will eventually get hungry. Or put him in a crate and don't let him out until he finishes his meal. Make sure he eats the same time you are, as you are his momma and daddy. You are his pack. Only let one person in the house train him and nobody else. The best person who is one that spends the most time with him. Obedience classes are great because they socialize the dog. The most important thing for new dog owners: Keep him crated from the very beginning. Have the crate ready when you bring him home. The crate will eventually become his refuge. Make sure the crate is large enough for him to stand up and turn around. Leave the door of the crate open, unless you need to keep him in there because he is not trained and you can't keep an eye on him. Don't ever bother him while he is resting in his crate. He wants to be left alone. Always crate your dog in the car. People are ignorant when they let their dog's head out of the window so he can see and smell new things. They end up getting hit in the head and eyes with toxic material in the air.  If you already have a dog that is no longer a puppy, then make sure to bring him to obedience classes. It is never too late. When you call them ask them if their instructors have ever gotten a CD, a CDX or a UD. A UD is the most perfect, very hard title to get. I have several. If someone says they have an OTCH, (obedience trial champion) then run there like mad. That means you have one of the best obedience trainers in the country. All dogs are considered puppies until they are 2.

Bets

 

Bets,

Are you my dream come true or what? An honor to have you amongst us. A dog trainer for 20 years of such caliber, a judge. WOW.

I would love your advise whenever you feel up to it, it would be much appreciated

Besides the eating.  Our biggest problem is that she likes to go on the carpets.

Now this is the second house we are about to tear out all the carpet and replace with wood/tile.  She won't go on wood or tile.

This comes at a huge expense as you know

Tell me if its this is true. I've heard that some breader of her breed coton de tulear/havanese won't sell pups until a year and half old because they are so hard to house train and buyers bring them back.  Is it true?

I also heard the dog whisperer Cesar milan say when picking out a puppy see if you can get them to lie on their back.  If they don't you'll be dealing with a hyper and hard to train dog.  We never could get her to lie on her back and yes she has exhausted us both physically and mentally.  We walk her a couple of times a day, last night a third time.  play with her.  But nothing is enough.  Because i know exactly what she is saying to me and she knows i know her language, she follows me around like my shadow.  No bathroom time alone even. 

All that i can deal with even though i have gone nuts. 

But is there hope to house train her at her age being 7 years old?

Can you recommend a dog trainer that would house train?  That can come and live with us til she is trained?  Is that how its done with dog trainers? 

As a dog trainer you probably hate dog owner like me who are not strong enough in the beginning of their pups life to set down rules.

But for what its worth i appeal to you to compare this to my benzo ignorance.  The not knowing what these pills were and taking them because the doctor said it was good.  Same with my dog, i became a first time dog owner at an older age so i wansn't familiar with the dos and don't of training & being soft hearted didn't help me nor her.

Any leads from you regarding house training this 7 year old girl of mine would be so appreciated.

You wouldn't by chance want to come for a vacation to California? Please say yes I am serious

 

[[Pu...]]

Hi

 

How does one get a 7 year old dog to eat dry or wet dog food.

Help she is driving me crazy

At times like today i can't cook food for her or walk her

she follows me all day into the toilet even to take her for a walk

she weighs about 16 pounds is small and we have a generous enough back yard but still she won't leave me alone to take her for walks & cook for her,

 

she just came back from being looked after by my x husband for 5 months

please advise, i need to NOT give her away

this is her home and i love her so much

 

She is a half havanese & half coton de tulear

Weighs about 16 pounds

 

She is my shadow. No matter how many times i walk up and down the the hallway, if i forget something upstairs or down or need to go to pantry or toilet or outside in the yard 10 times, if i am watching tv or on the bed she has has to come and keeps wanting things.  Like treat, play, food etc.  She loves to go for car rides.  She in short is a high maintance dog,  all my friends with dogs can't understand why she is so hyper.  It is very stressful for me and i can't understand how people cope with worrying about their dog all day like i do.  She takes up all my energy and i am pooped from attending to her.  She doesn't give me my space of having a sound relaxation time and sound sleep as she sleep with me.  I love her so much and yes i know i have spoiled her myself but i cannot not spoil her as she is like a human, she communicates everything to me, how she feels and what she wants or which one she wants.  She is so beautiful and when i was sick a handful of people offered to take care of her but they all said they couldn't handle her being so hyper and pooping and peeing everywhere and not eating dog food etc. 

 

I hope this explains a little more.  I guess i just want peace to be able to unwind my brain, i worry about her as to OMG she is going to wake up and want me to cook, so i have to go to market and buy food and cook and give her then she wants walk, then play then she won't let me have an anxiety free sleep because she wants me to wake up early to walk... I live in a constant state of exhaustion from a dog, and forget her staying alone in the house.  I have so much anxiety when if ever i have to leave her for a couple of hours.  IDK what to do.  Its me i know but i want seasoned dog owners to tell me how you cope with these issues.  Any one tip may help me deal with this.  I love her.

 

If you switch from homemade food to dry food, do a gradual change. Mix 75% of the current food to 25% dry food. Do that for a few days then add a bit more dry food. I suggest using Grain Free Buffalo Blue. Also, you can add a "gravy" to put onto the food (bought in pet stores) to entice the pup to eat the dry food.

[[an...]]

Navies is right unfortunately. Mine certainly have.

Big Healing Hugs!

[[be...]]

Bets,

Are you my dream come true or what? An honor to have you amongst us. A dog trainer for 20 years of such caliber, a judge. WOW.

I would love your advise whenever you feel up to it, it would be much appreciated

Besides the eating.  Our biggest problem is that she likes to go on the carpets.

Now this is the second house we are about to tear out all the carpet and replace with wood/tile.  She won't go on wood or tile.

This comes at a huge expense as you know

Tell me if its this is true. I've heard that some breader of her breed coton de tulear/havanese won't sell pups until a year and half old because they are so hard to house train and buyers bring them back.  Is it true?

I also heard the dog whisperer Cesar milan say when picking out a puppy see if you can get them to lie on their back.  If they don't you'll be dealing with a hyper and hard to train dog.  We never could get her to lie on her back and yes she has exhausted us both physically and mentally.  We walk her a couple of times a day, last night a third time.  play with her.  But nothing is enough.  Because i know exactly what she is saying to me and she knows i know her language, she follows me around like my shadow.  No bathroom time alone even. 

All that i can deal with even though i have gone nuts. 

But is there hope to house train her at her age being 7 years old?

Can you recommend a dog trainer that would house train?  That can come and live with us til she is trained?  Is that how its done with dog trainers? 

As a dog trainer you probably hate dog owner like me who are not strong enough in the beginning of their pups life to set down rules.

But for what its worth i appeal to you to compare this to my benzo ignorance.  The not knowing what these pills were and taking them because the doctor said it was good.  Same with my dog, i became a first time dog owner at an older age so i wansn't familiar with the dos and don't of training & being soft hearted didn't help me nor her.

Any leads from you regarding house training this 7 year old girl of mine would be so appreciated.

You wouldn't by chance want to come for a vacation to California? Please say yes I am serious

 

Thanks Saraa. Sorry I haven't stopped in sooner. You're right. Some dogs are very easy to train (Like a golden retriever) and some dogs are very hard to train (like a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling dog). I have never hard of anyone who would stay in your home to train your dog. This takes months and even if one was willing to agree to this (I doubt this highly), it would cost you a bundle. For example, I give one on one sessions for an hour and charge $80. It is also not done because then the trainer heeds to their commands, but not to yours. The whole purpose of dog training is to teach the owner how to train their own dog. heh heh. I must have gotten about 50 of the same pleas to come to a person's house and train their dog personally. And they don't mind the cost. I just had to turn down a good friend of mine who lives in another state to do this. I gave her a sheet of instructions, but she failed to use them. I also carefully picked out the right kennel for her. That took a lot of research, and they are very happy with her, but for her untrained problems. It is the perfect dog, breed-wise, but it does not obey any commends because she never taught them to the dog. Never buy from a backyard breeder, a puppy mill, a pet store, from a pet owner's friend or an ad you see in the newspapers.

 

You're right. The older the dog is, the harder it is to train. I train my dogs when they reach 7 weeks. I also bring them to obedience classes, not because I cannot train them myself but because I want them to get socialized with other dogs, to prepare for the ring. It is also much easier to train a pure bred dog, (With AKC registration) because the instructors know how each breed thinks and reacts. Getting a Heinz 57 dog is more difficult, because you don't know what you are getting into.

 

coton de tulear/havanese won't sell pups until a year and half old because they are so hard to house train and buyers bring them back.  Is it true?

yes, this is true. Both of these breeds are rather rare so instructors like me have really not seen them. Yes, you can train a 7 year old dog. But it will be rough and require patience. The peeing problem is pretty common. But now your dog is set in his/her way so it will be difficult to break that habit. Can I assume and get lucky that you crated your dog as a puppy? Or did you let it run around the house, perhaps when nobody was at home? The latter is bad news. Your dog might be an alpha dog, and less likely to listen to you. They are independent and do as they please, as long as they are not properly trained as a puppy. There are anti pee sprays, as you must know. But you would have to spray in every inch of your carpeting, which is overwhelming and costly. Since you said you dog does not like to pee on hard surfaces, that tells me that he believes his correct pee spot is on your carpet.

 

You need to teach the dog how to accept being in a crate. This can cause much anxiety in the dog, as they assume they are being punished. Any good dog kennel owner will not allow you to pick up the dog w/o a crate in your car. When dogs are crated from the beginning, then they enjoy their own crate as time by themselves. Once my dog goes into his crate, I never bother him, even to pet him. It is his own personal space. He is either tired or perhaps distressed by another dog in your home, or he just doesn't want to be with anyone. You have to teach your dog to learn to accept the crate as his own personal space. And you always must crate you dog when nobody will be at home, unless he is trained and not a menace to your home. At first, you will have much difficulty with this. The dog may bark or howl, as he wants out of his "prison." He believes he is being punished. Make sure the crate is large enough for the dog to stand up and easily turn around. If the crate is too large, the he will go to one corner and pee there. A 12-lb dog does not need a big crate. Every time I want a dog to do something, I add in a command. In your case, push the dog into the crate and at the same time, say the word, kennel. When I am very busy at work and my dog sleeps under my desk, and I want him out of the room, I just say, Go, Play. Then he knows to leave the room until instructed otherwise. When I want him back, I just say, play time is over. Keep the dog crated much of the time. Bring him outside during the day and say, Potty. If he pees, the say, good dog, or good pee. And always give your dog a treat if he listens to you. I use dried liver bits because all dogs love them, but they are very expensive. If he is fussy about his eating, many dog showers put the food in the crate, and leave him there to eat it. I used a mixture of wet and dry at the beginning, but now I only use dry, with the exception of Sundays, when my dogs are being given a treat. Since GRs will eat until they die, I also add canned green beans or carrots. GRs will eat anything. I want them to feel full. But my choice of dry food is called Blue Buffalo. You can buy it at a pet store. if you have a package of dry, read the ingredients. If there is corn or wheat listed first, then it is garbage. Or it might not say just chicken, but chicken by products. That is also garbage. Those chicken parts can be anything, mostly pieces that have no value as human consumption. The first ingredient should always be a meat.

 

It might take you dog a long while to get used to the crate. But there is no other way around it. You can take him out of the crate, as long as you keep an eye on him all of the time. If he starts to pee, pick him up, say, no and bring him outside to finish his business. If he poops then do the same thing but leave the poop outside in a place where he is supposed to go, so it gives him an indication that is is proper spot. Do not use the word, no, in a harsh voice. This will only scare him and he will have forgotten why you scared him. A dog has a memory of 7 seconds. If that 7 seconds has passed, it is no point telling him no. He will just assume that what is doing at the moment (maybe sniffing around or playing with a toy) is wrong. Not that the peeing is wrong, but what he is doing at the moment is wrong. Just bring him outside. He will probably not pee, but he will eventually get the hint, especially if he had peed there before. He will be able to smell that older pee.

 

No, us dog showers and judges don't get mad a pet owners, just very very frustrated. This is so common. And you can only show a pure bred AKC dogs, with registration. A mixed breed like yours would never be allowed to show. Also, even at your dog's age, you should bring him to obedience classes. That way, you have an "In" and might be able to contact your instructor if you need more help. We all want to help pet owners, as so many of them don't train their dogs, the dog is a menace, so they give it to the pound. This is the last thing we want to see happen. Even older dogs who are not trained are accepted into the classes, because we do not want to see this happen. You just have to start with the puppy class, which is socialization and they start to teach the dog to come when called. Sides, your dog is so small that other real puppies might actually be bigger. When one of my dogs was 7 weeks old, he weighed 15 lbs. Just my personal experience as an instructor. I tend to avoid Jack Russell Terriers and pit bulls. Not that all of them are bad. Their behavior mostly depends on how they are treated at home. If you beat a dog, he will bite a human. It is always a good sign if your instructor has their UD or OTCH. CDX comes second. I have all three. OTCH is a primo title and stick with that instructor. That title is extremely difficult to get. Remember the rule: if a dog makes a mistake, 90% of the time it is your fault, not the dog's. That means you did not train him well. I'll check back in more often now. You have to be tough and not give in to a dog's howling when you put him in a crate. Don't let him out each time he wimpers. You also have to crate him when you go to bed, until he is trained properly. Good hunting.

Bets

[[an...]]

Wow Bets!

You're our "dog whisperer". My dogs are so good.

They never leave my side. I often feel very guilty for what I have put them through.

Big Healing Hugs!

[[ba...]]

i saw this cute dog photo a few minutes ago its kinda funny so i thought i'd share with you ! enjoy

 

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab13/nanananabooobooo/dogcatch_zpsynkuglv1.gif

 

 

[[an...]]

Poor dog! If I were a dog, I would do the same thing!!

Thanks for the laugh BA!!

Big Healing Hugs!

[[ba...]]

hi animalsrule , this isnt a dog but i wanted to share this funny animal photo to you i think its cute

 

 

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab13/nanananabooobooo/seal_zps9jkyoozc.gif

[[an...]]

Hi BA!

I love it!!

Thanks for sending it. I hope all is well with you..

Big Healing Hugs!

[[be...]]

Wow Bets!

You're our "dog whisperer". My dogs are so good.

They never leave my side. I often feel very guilty for what I have put them through.

Big Healing Hugs!

 

You're dogs are good because you trained them well. Never feel guilty about training your dog. Would you let your kid eat rat poison? No, you slap him on the hand and tell him, NO!

Bets

[[an...]]

Thanks Bets!

All my dogs have been so easy to train. They want to do the right thing..

Big Healing Hugs!

[[be...]]

Thanks Bets!

All my dogs have been so easy to train. They want to do the right thing..

Big Healing Hugs!

 

They must be goldens..... I just gave mine an obedience book to read.