03 Mar 2010
Question:
Is it OK to feed my dog only once a day?
12 Jan 2010
Rusty in his crate
I recently attended a webinar titled “The Use and Misuse of Crates” by Dr. Suzanne Hetts and Dr Dan Estep, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists, based out of Colorado.
Now I recommend the use of crates frequently to my clients, particular to the owners of dogs under 1 year of age. These pups are going through a lot of physical and mental changes as they develop into adult dogs and a crate gives a safe place for these dogs to stay when unsupervised.
Lets face it, puppies can be very destructive, they pee and poop on the floor, and they chew things, particularly when they are teething. Since it is impossible to watch your puppy 24 hours a day 7 days a week, a crate is a very useful tool when used correctly. However, crates can become nothing more than a doggy jail cell if used improperly. One of the most common mistakes when crating a dog is leaving him in there for too long.
Not long after I adopted Rusty I injured my back. I was on bed rest for a month and I was on strict orders not to do any bending. This meant that in order to pet my dog he had to jump up on my legs. Well that was ok when Rusty was 3 months old, but now that he’s 6 months old and 40 pounds it’s become a bit of a problem. Really I don’t mind him jumping up most of the time but I don’t want him jumping up on other people and it can be a problem if I’m wearing nice clothes or if my hands are full
08 Jan 2010
The short answer to this question is yes. In fact, yesterday our dog Torchy learned to go find his Frisbee by watching our other dog Zoe find her ball.
“Go find it” is the command Zoe gets when I’ve thrown her ball for her and she looses it. Let’s face it, I threw the ball for her and I don’t want to wander around in the grass looking for it if she’s lost it. Zoe also tends to loose balls in the grass rather easily.
Dogs bark. Barking is normal behavior for a dog along with many other sounds used for communications such as whining and howling. However, there is a point at which barking stops being a normal form of communication and starts being a problem, particularly if your neighbors are complaining.
A friend of mine recently discovered that she had a barking problem with her dachshund Sammy. She and her husband recently moved from an apartment to a house and now that their dogs were outside more, Sammy’s barking had become an issue.
01 Dec 2009
For the majority of my life I have lived in a household that included both cats and dogs, and for the most part, they have always gotten along peacefully. Even the husky we had when I was a kid, who was the sad end of one unfortunate hamster, did get along with our cat. However, life is not always that simple and sometimes we have to teach our furry friends how to coexist.
So, how can you get your cat’s relationship with your new dog started off right?
19 Nov 2009
Rusty
My 5 month old puppy Rusty goes potty on command! I have now decided that it is one of the best and most convenient commands any dog owner can teach. I only wish I had thought to teach my dogs this sooner! In fact, both our younger dogs Rusty and Torchy know what “go potty” means.
Any dog owner has had a moment like this. It’s pouring rain, dark and cold. All you want to do is get back to your warm dry home. Instead your outside with your dog waiting impatiently for him to go to the bathroom. Or your running late for work, but before you leave, the dog has to go out.
With Rusty and Torchy that is no longer a problem. Both of them know what to do when I tell them to “go potty”. I let them outside, give the command, and there they go. And because they are reliable with this command, for the most part I know that if they don’t go to the bathroom it’s because they don’t need to. It has really helped with the potty training. And it really is very convenient when you need your dog to go to the bathroom quickly for whatever reason.
I was reading a scientific study today on behavioral reasons that dogs and cats are given up to animal shelters (see references below). I spend a significant amount of time reading the scientific literature relating to animal behavior. But this one, just made me sad. Every behavior problems listed for the dogs and cats given up was a potentially treatable problem.
Is your pet’s behavior problem treatable?
05 Nov 2009
Cassidy
My parents dog Cassidy has chronic ear infections. She has had them for years. Every few months she follows the same cycle. She gets an infection, she gets medication, the infection goes away. And then the cycle repeats. Cassidy hates having medication put in her ears. So much so that she has become very wary of anyone touching her head. She doesn’t bite or become aggressive. She just pulls her head away and runs and hides if she sees you coming with a bottle of medication.
There was one point in time when Cassidy started biting. I reached down to pet her and she nipped at me. Was this some newly developed behavior problem. No. Cassidy had another ear infection and all the head shaking she had been doing had resulted in a painful hematoma on her ear.
06 Oct 2009
Rusty and his rawhide
Rusty is now 4 months old and teething. What this translates to for me is that he want to chew on everything he sees. It seems that anything with in reach ends up in his mouth. Including, a book of my parents while we were visiting – sorry mom. I even remember when I was in elementary school our puppy Nikki chewed through a vacuum cleaner cord. Yes it was plugged in and most fortunately there were no significant injuries – only singed whiskers. It could have been much worse.
Chewing is actually a very natural behavior for dogs. Most dogs will have a strong desire to chew up until 12-18 months of age. After that the occurrence of chewing behavior tends to decrease. What’s important is to channel this behavior to appropriate sources.
