Petiquettedog's blog

Puppy Potty Training: Pitfalls to avoid

Petiquettedog — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:23:27 -0500

Puppy potty training is always first on the agenda for my clients with a new puppy. Puppy potty training is almost always the one thing new puppy owners also have the hardest time with because of pitfalls they don't realize.

One pitfall new puppy owners can't seem to understand is that the more unsupervised free time in your home the puppy is allowed to have, you are setting the puppy up to have failure after failure in learning to be potty trained.

Until puppies get to be closer to 5-6 months of age, there is not a strong connection between the brain and the bowels and bladder. They feel the urge to go, they squat and go. To achieve successful puppy potty training you must be proactive instead of reactive with their training.

Puppy Biting - What NOT To Do

Petiquettedog — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:13:10 -0500

I recently read a blog posted by dog trainer,G.D. Williams, on how to correct puppy biting. I must say that I was absolutely appalled at the suggestion that an owner should “come down hard on the puppy” and give the puppy, among other things, a “strong blow to the nose!” This sounds like something out of the dark ages.

The example given was based on a daughter who decided to share some fat scraps from her dinner plate with the puppy and the puppy bit her. Behavioral science teaches us positive methods to train, correct and redirect our puppies allowing us to leave behind forever the old “school of hard knocks”.

Dog Aggression Agitates Lifestyle of Laid Back California Dog Owner

Petiquettedog — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:09:08 -0500

Family dog aggression precipitated an email to me from a lady in California (she found me on the internet) who is desperate for help with her two dogs. She has 2 dogs, a 4 yr. old doodle dog and a 7 yr old terrier - both rescue dogs.

This is one of the more interesting stories I’ve heard about dog aggression. A couple of years ago she was preparing to take her two dogs for a walk. She got them on their leashes, and headed out the door for a typical daily walk, not knowing disaster awaited. A neighbor had left a bag of dog treats on the front porch. The dogs were no sooner out the door when they both discovered the dog treats at the same time. Well, you guessed it. A major dog fight ensued and, as she so aptly explained, it was a war zone right there on my front porch.

Dog Bites, A Potentially Serious Threat

Petiquettedog — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:24:16 -0400

August 22, 2008

I have a client with a 7 month old Rottie who was doing some serious resource guarding of food bowls, couches, dog toys etc. The owners, who got him at 8 weeks felt that apparently since birth this dog had been very assertive.

The dog had had no structure in this home for 7 months straight, so, unfortunately both dog and family were on a one way journey down the wrong path of life with the potential for some serous harm.

It all came to a head when the wife tried to remove a bone from his space, the dog bit her. So, how did we fix it?

I explained to them how important structure and routine are to dogs, much the same way those two things are important to children. So we started the behavior modification.

Dog Training - To Treat Or Not To Treat - That is the Question

Petiquettedog — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:22:39 -0400

When you are training your dog your choices are: compulsion training (hands on shaping the dog’s body to sit or down) or inducement training.

Either one is acceptable because if done correctly, compulsion training is not done harshly. Which method you choose pretty much depends on the dog and if your dog will not work for food then use positive based compulsion training or clicker training. I say, if the end result is the same, who cares?

Without getting into extended sits, downs, stays or “proofing” your dog around distractions, here’s how I help people start with treat training then, most importantly, progress to not using treats, just using hand signals and voice commands.