07 Dec 2009
Clicker training may or may not be a term that you have heard before. It is a very popular method of training dogs and other animals.
On January 4th, 2010 I will be launching a series of training videos on the blog that follow my puppy Rusty through his basic training. In those videos we will use clicker training to teach him commands.
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?
30 Nov 2009
Rusty is approaching 6 months of age and Torchy is about 8 months. Torchy is already in training, learning basic manners and becoming a stellar Frisbee dog. Rusty will begin training sometime this week. If fact, you will be able to follow along with Rusty’s training program with your own dog in our 10 minute a day training program beginning 1/4/10.
As I watch these dogs grow and learn I am amazed at the capability of dogs. Torchy is an energetic, active Frisbee dog. And even though he is extremely high energy and had no concept of manners initially. He is becoming a well behaved part of the family. Rusty is extremely smart and exuberant dog. I really do love his enthusiasm and his love of life. He has already picked up on some basic commands like sit just by watching his adopted brother Torchy.
If your anything like me, your schedule is packed full and if you tried to add anything else into it your head would explode all over the place. For me, I run my own business, I’m engaged and planning a wedding, I’m applying to graduate school, plus I’m a friend, daughter, sister, aunt, fiance, etc.
On top of that I have a 5 month old puppy that needs to learn basic household manners. I’m here to tell you that it really is possible to have a well trained dog without having to carve significant time out of your schedule each day.
Every cat owner can recognize it, and no cat owner wants to come across it anywhere but appropriately designated areas. It is the very distinctive and highly unappealing smell of cat urine.
I’ve been a cat owner since I was 4 years old and a tiny kitten crawled under our freezer in the garage during a rainstorm. The garage door, which was usually kept shut, had for some reason been left open.
Midnight, as the kitten came to be called, developed over time the unpleasant habit of occasionally using someone’s bed as her litterbox. I can’t really confirm this, too many years have passed, but I believe there was a direct correlation between the frequency of litterbox cleanings and her urinated on the bed. What can I say, I was a kid and I often forgot about the litterbox chore.
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.
My cat is driving me nuts. Aren’t you glad to find out that even the professionals don’t have perfect pets.
I have two cats, Timmy and Cubby. Cubby was raised entirely indoors. Timmy however was an outdoor cat until I adopted him at about 2 years of age. Timmy has been an indoor cat since that time. However, recently Timmy had decided that he is desparate to go outside. I’m not sure if it is the recent change in the weather or some other reason, but I’m having a very hard time keeping Timmy in the house.
12 Nov 2009
Over the past few years I have done a lot of fostering for various rescue groups in the Central Texas area. Therefore, my pets have gotten very used to seeing animals come and go. Creating proper introductions between my own dogs and cats and my foster dogs and cats has become very important if I want to maintain even a remotely sane environment.
For all animals, but particularly cats, first impressions are extremely important. As much as I wish I could just bring a cat or kitten home and have it immediately fit in to our furry family that is just not the case. A process needs to be followed so that each animal can adjust to the presence of the new addition one step at a time.
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?
