Can you imagine sitting down to your favorite meal, starting to eat and suddenly one of your family members walks over, grabs you plate and walks away with it?  Wow, I don’t think THAT would go over well.  And yet that is what many do to their dog so he will LEARN that they must graciously let their food go.

I believe that the opposite is true.  Dropping  yummy treats into their food bowl as they eat teaches your favorite canine that your hand in their bowl is a very good thing.  Now of course this technique would not be advisable for a confirmed resource guarder but for most of our dogs it will be no time at all before your hand hovering around their bowl is a welcome sight.

My beautiful black girl Roxie came into the shelter very, very thin, she has never gotten over being hungry.  She absolutely inhales her food and would prefer never to be interrupted while she eats for any reason, except treats.

With spring coming, lots of people will be thinking about a new puppy, this is a nice easy way to help your new puppy be comfortable with food.

I must confess “I am a book junkie”,  I love books of all kinds, but my real weakness is dog books.  Like a lot of you I am starting that spring cleaning, starting with my computer/office/sewing/crafting/library room. Geez, no wonder I can hardly walk through that room!!!!  Of course, as I’m going through things (at this point books) I can’t stop myself from taking a peek at my favorites. HMMM could that be why that room never gets clean?  Anyway I was looking through one of my all time favorites “Taking Care Of Puppy Business” by Gail Pivar and Leslie Nelson yesterday before I went to the shelter,  LOVE,LOVE,LOVE this little book.

I had the privilege of attending a class that Leslie taught and I was blown away with her inventive, teaching style. She owns Tails-U-Win training center and at that time they were training 53 classes a week, every class taught through positive training techniques. That is astounding…….

When I took my small dog Max to his first agility trial, we ran in 5 classes, qualified and took first place all five runs. I was sooooo proud of him!!!!!!! When I went to agility class that week I took all 5 blue rosettes to show my agility instructor. Now Christine is a world class agility competitor and I feel really lucky to have her close enough to benefit from her expertise, and Her reply to me was...

We have all done it, something we know so well all of a sudden is gone!!!! Where does it go? When will it come back? Names, pin numbers, phone numbers, addresses, honestly I have forgotten them all. Thank goodness it is usually very short term and eventually pops back into my brain.

Have you ever asked your dog to perform a task that you are sure they know and they look at you like they have absolutely no idea what you were asking. Well they probably don’t. I notice that my dogs always go through times when they are learning new behaviors that they seem to completely forget what we have been working so hard on. There is a shift from short term to long term memory during which they go blank.

Why should I buy a crate for my new puppy?

When you take home a puppy a crate serves many purposes, it is home, bed, it keeps the puppy confined and out of trouble when you are fixing dinner, helping with homework,etc. etc. Crates keep puppies safe while you are gone, Crates keep puppies from chewing your furniture, cabinets, anything they can find to entertain themselves. Crates keep puppies from soiling in the house. Make sure there are lots of fun things for your puppy to do while confined.

Should I spank my puppy for going to the bathroom in the house?

NO!!!!! If you find a soiled spot in your home, it is too late to punish the puppy.

When you take home a puppy or an adult, take them out often (the younger the puppy the more often they will have to relieve themselves, every ½ hour for a young puppy). When your puppy potties in the appropriate spot, highly praise puppy. If you catch you puppy “in the act” quickly pick up puppy and take outside.

If you are committed to taking the puppy outside, within a few weeks you should start to notice the puppy giving some indication that they need to go out.