Family Gatherings Train the Dog in Advance

Coming up we have Canadian Thanksgiving, followed by Halloween, then US Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve. All these provide opportunities for family gathering and parties. These events are great fun for the people, but can be very stressful for dogs. Here are some tips to help keep both kids and dogs safe and happy during family gatherings

Holidays Are Stressful for Dogs

The holidays are especially stressful for dogs due to changes in routine and the comings and going of visitors. Many dog bites happen at this time of year.

When visiting a house with a dog, children should be taught not to approach the dog (even if the dog has been friendly on other occasions). If the dog comes to them they should stand still like a tree and let the dog sniff. Only if the the dog is wagging and panting and coming to them for attention, and parent and dog owners are supervising and have given permission, should a child touch the dog. Dog owners should gauge their dog’s reaction to visitors. If the dog is overly excited, barking or growling, cowering away, trying to hide or otherwise showing signs of anxiety or aggression, the dog should be kept separate from visiting children for the ENTIRE DURATION of the child’s visit. The dog should have its own place in a crate or another room with toys, a bone to chew on and its special bed or blanket so that it can be happy and comfortable and away from guests. Even dogs who seem happy with visitors should never be alone in the room with visiting children. No preschooler, toddler or baby should be allowed to be near your dog unless you personally also have your hands on the dog and can prevent face to face contact between child and dog and can prevent the child from hugging or otherwise bothering the dog.

Greeting People at the Door

Dogs should not be allowed to greet visitors at the door. This is for the safety of the dog and the visitors. Keep the dogs in separate room or crate until the visitors are settled and then allow the dog to say hello if appropriate. If you are not sure about your dog, then leave him confined or keep him on a leash. Make sure that the dog associates visitors with something good for the dog, such as special treats or a stuffed bone.

Not the Time to Train the Dog

If you do perceive a problem between your dog and visiting children - THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO WORK ON IT. It is not reasonable to use visiting children to help train your dog. Take preventative measures to ensure that your dog does not have the opportunity to bite and once the holiday season is over seek the help of a dog behavior specialist who uses positive reinforcement methods to solve the dogs problem.

Family Gatherings

Family gatherings at a relative’s house are the source of fond memories for many. The relative’s dog may not enjoy these events as much as the rest of the family. Noise, confusion and changes in routine are stressful for dogs. Even a normally calm and docile pet may become agitated enough to bite under the extreme circumstances of a boisterous family celebration. Supervision may be lax if each adult thinks that another is watching the children. Children are the most likely victims of dog bites in this situation. Doggone Safe offers the following tips:

• Put the dog in his crate with a bone or favorite chew toy, at least during the most hectic times – guests arriving and leaving as well as dinner preparation and serving.
• Assign one adult to be in charge of the dog, to watch for signs of stress and protect from unwanted attention from children.
• Signs of stress include: The dog yawns or licks his chops.The dog shows the white part of his eye in a half moon shape.
• If the dog shows any of these signs, then he is worried and wants to be left alone. Put the dog in his crate or in a room away from the guests with a favorite chew toy or bone. 
• If the dog licks his chops, yawns or shows the half moon eye when a child approaches or is petting him, intervene immediately and ensure that the child cannot access the dog. 
• Do not allow visiting children to hug the dog. Dogs don’t like hugs and kisses. Even if the dog tolerates this under normal circumstances he may not tolerate this from strangers or in a high stress situation with lots of noise and people. 
• Other signs that the dog does not welcome attention from children (or adult) guests include the following:

• The dog turns his head away, walks away or tries to hide under furniture.
• The dog freezes and becomes very still, with his mouth closed. He may be staring intensely at the person who is bothering him and may growl. This dog is a few seconds away from a bite.
• The dog growls or raises the fur along his back.

• Assign one adult to supervise each baby or toddler with no other tasks expected. 
• If you have multiple dogs, consider kenneling them, crating them or keeping them in another room during large gatherings. 
• Supervise at all times.

Download our handout with a summary of tips for parents and dog owners

Articles:

Visit our article library for some articles about keeping kids and dogs safe during the holidays. Scroll through the list looking for those articles marked with a candy cane. Download the Doggone Safe Holiday Press Release with more tips

Members:

Doggone Safe Members: Download the Doggone Safe Holiday Press Release that you can edit to send to local newspaper, radio and TV media to promote your business and disseminate our safety messages. Join Doggone Safe.

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Dog Training How To Leash Train A Dog

Dog Training Leash Collar



Hi there,

We have come to another form of training in our How To Train A Dog .

How To Leash Train A Dog

http://www.mdarma.com/dogs/leash.html

The leash and collar Training is the oldest form of training and is one of the effective tool for you to train your dog into an obedient and faithfully pet.

http://www.mdarma.com/dogs/leash.html

Cheers, Have a great time with you pet.

Darma

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Dog Training Initial Training how to train a dog

Dog training – Initial Training

Dogs are known as a faithful animal, most dog owners or dog breeders would love to have a calm and obedient a dog. It is said that a calm and an obedient dogs can be acheved by a good training program on how to train a dog. Moreover, these trained dogs will have lesser tussles with people and other dogs.

If it is a puppy, you will need much more patience and time to house train your puppy correctly.

If you want your puppy to use the bathroom outside, you have to observe to its need to use the bathroom. When he needs to go outside, it will help if you condition him by saying "outside" or "out" in a high-pitched tone of voice, just to get him used to the idea of where he is going. He will soon learn what you mean and that it is time to go to the bathroom. Never forget to reward him with a praise when he follows or obeys your command.
Whatever dog training we give the dogs, there are some basic trainings and commands a dog must understand and follow. There is will be great to have a good program on how to train a dog.

http://www.mdarma.com/dogs

Some of these commands are:

· Sit – Training your dog to sit on a command is a basic and an important part of any dog-training program.

· Stay – A well-trained dog should be able to remain where his or her owner commands. So stay is another very important command in dog training.

· Down – Lying down on command is more than just as necessary; it is a key factor of any successful dog-training program.

· No – the word “NO” is one word that all dogs must learn and obey. Training your dog to respond to this important word can save you a lot of unnecessary trouble.

A well-trained dog will respond well to all the owner’s command. This dog will not be confused or show displeasure. Therefore, to achieve this it is vital to embark on a good dog training program.

Also a well-trained dog will also be a very good companion to you and your family. Further, you will have fewer problems like getting into tussles with people or with other dogs. So a good dog training is necessary

Obedience training is essential and is a great way to satisfy some of the dog’s own needs, example, exercise, relationship with it’s owner or handler.

Obedience training should be on going sessions; apart from dog training, playtime should be part and parcel of the training. This will ensure that the dog does not become bored and it also reinforces the bond between the owner and the dog.

Have many happy years with your friend and companion. Cheers

P.S.
Dove Cresswell is Professional Hollywood North Dog Trainer. Find out her success secrets.

2006 (c) mdarma.com - All Rights Reserved Worldwide A Dog Training

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How to train your experienced blood tracking dog a training report from Darren

This is a report from Darren Doran describing his latest training line for Theo. Regular readers of the blog are very familiar with this tracking team from New Jersey. Darren used a new design of tracking shoes, which is produced by Ray Holohan. We will have a separate post about them soon, when Ray is ready to start selling his product.

TRAINING LINE
The line is 1000 yds. long. This line was my first line using Ray Holohans buck shock tracking shoes. 4 oz. of blood was used. Blood, feet, and articles were from the same deer. The line will be 36 hrs. old when ran and is set in an area the County burned this spring. The soil is very sandy here. The vegetation is sparse due to the burn and the woods are mostly oak and pine. Visibility is good here and the over story is somewhat open. There are numerous 90’S and one backtrack and one wound bed. Three articles were used on this line and were made from deer skin about 2 X 1 stapled to a 4 inch by 1 inch diameter dried piece of stick.

TRAINING GOAL
The goal of this exercise is to work on article identification, stopping and re-starting on the line and the backtrack. I will also start this line as a controlled search and see how Theo does.

ACTUAL LINE
It was 71 degrees, overcast and humid this morning. I started Theo in a controlled search about 80 yds. from the line and about 50 yds. into it from the hit site. I asked him to search and “find the blood”. He worked nicely in a left to right forward arc until we hit the line. He took the line back towards the hit site and through it and began searching. He looped back to the line and took it back to the hit site and was about to pass through it again when I alerted him on it. He stopped and smelled the hair and turned around. I gave him a piece of meat and we started tracking.

I thought this was going to be harder for Theo but his tracking speed told me differently. We did numerous stops on the line and I would reward him with a piece of meat and give him water. He restarted nicely. He found the articles and these were too big for him to swallow. Articles in the past were small pieces of skin and hair that he would pick up, swallow and continue tracking so fast I was not able to reward him for finding them. He took all the turns but one perfectly. The one he missed only took a minute or so to require the line. His tracking speed also caused him to miss the wound bed. The backtrack took seven minutes to work out. This line took 33 minutes to finish and does not include the controlled search.

CONCLUSION
Theo did real well on this line. What I thought was going to be difficult was very easy for him. He handled the controlled search excellent. There was no mistaking his reaction when he hit the line. Stopping and re-starting was good. The larger articles got him to stop and be rewarded for finding them. The backtrack still needs work but is getting better. Theo has a natural tendency to search forward and away from the last scent. When he circles back he doesn’t always make his circles large enough to cross back over the line. He does handle and when asked to “search here” he will respond. I’ll repeat this line and add 12 hrs. to the age and see how he does.

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How To Train a Dog That Doesnt Like Food or Toys

Training a Dog That Doesnt Like Food or Toys can be very frustrating at times, especially if you want to use positive reinforcement training. If you are set on using reward based training, check out my post Motivating a Non-Treat or Toy Motivated Dog

There are some dogs that just dont respond to food or toy based training. Such as the dogs mentioned in the comments of the post linked above.

Youre here because your dog doesnt like either food or toys. In fact, you have a hard time seeing anything your dog does like! You see reward based training everywhere, and every time you ask What do I do if my dog doesnt like food or toys you either get no answer, or you get answers just to get you to go away and ask somebody else.

My answer is, try a different Method! Its Okay if you dont train using food or toys.

Now, lets go over the other methods available to you.

How To Train a Dog That Doesnt Like Food or Toys : Praise and Correction

In this method, you dont use food or toys. You simply use petting and praise as a reward for doing the right thing. You always have these with you and its really easy to do! Dog doesnt like food? No problem!

To teach your dog what you want, you first show them what you want by getting them to do the behavior a few times. (Im not going to go into detail on how to do this, the link to the system below will show you exactly how to implement this training method. It works very well and is very fast.) Once you know the dog knows what you want, then you add in corrections when they dont do it on the first time you say.

If you would like more information on this system, check out the website to watch videos, read testimonials, and read more about it. See the website Here

I have this system myself and have used it on many dogs. Ive gotten very good results every time, and it does happen as fast as they say it does.

Get the Large Dog System here.

How To Train a Dog That Doesnt Like Food or Toys : Remote Collar Training

Our next method available to us if you have a dog that doesnt like food or toys, is Remote Collar Training. When used correctly, these do not hurt the dog and should not be used to hurt your dog. If youre hurting your dog or you see someone else using one of these and they are hurting their dog, you are Using It Wrong!

Remote collars can be an extremely useful tool in training, if you choose this method, please go to someone who knows how to properly use one and can teach you how. The best people Ive found that use Remote collar training is Sit Means Sit dog training. This company does amazing things, and no Im not affiliated with them in any way. I do not get paid to recommend them. Ive seen their You Tube Channel and have really liked what Ive seen. I highly recommend watching as many of their videos as you can so you can get an idea of whats possible with them. They have trainers all over the place, so be sure to see if there is one close by to you.

Here is a video of one of their off leash classes, it might give you an idea of what you can expect.



Sit Means Sit Dog training will let you use food or toys if you want to or if your dog responds to them, but they are not required.

How To Train a Dog That Doesnt Like Food or Toys : Natural Training

Natural training is using communication your dog understands and use on themselves. No corrective collars, no food or toys. I have honestly not experimented a lot with this type of training but would like to learn more on it. I found this nice website that is all about it, you can see it at Pam Shaw Canine Consultant. He has a DVD available and I think Im going to order it myself and see what its all about.

I am sure there is more available on the internet about him and on Natural Dog Training. Do a search for it and see what you can find.

To sum this all up, if you have a Dog That Doesnt Like Food or Toys then throw out the reward based training and try something else! It is Okay! Dont let others make you feel bad because you dont use food or toys with your dog. The important thing is finding something that Works!

I would also like to point out, all of these methods are great even if your dog does like food or toys, but maybe you would like to try a different method.

Food or Toys are great to use during training if your dog finds them rewarding! However, dont get frustrated if your dog has no interest in either. There are plenty of other methods out there that dont use food or toys. I hope I helped you find some that will work for you.

Happy Training!

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Image Credits:
Dobie Pic: Pato_Garza @ Flickr


Amy @ Talented K9
talentedk9@yahoo.com
www.talentedk9.com

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How Much to Park Your Dog

Dog Parker is a new start-up business with 5 locations in Brooklyn, New York.

Its basically a lock box that sits outside shops with a security card which unlocks the box and charges you for time. Theres a padded floor inside, and the box is (supposedly) temperature controlled.The charge is 20¢ a minute, plus a $25 annual fee. For the math-challenged, thats $6 for a half hour. Members can use a box for a maximum of 3 hours every 12 hour period. If the temperature gets below 32°F or above 85ºF, the Dog Parkers are (supposedly) closed until the weather improves.

The whole idea seems to me to be a disaster on stilts waiting to happen.  Thoughts?  Yes, I do know a similar scheme is being tried somewhere in Sweden, as I recall.

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Dog Training How To House Train A Dog

Dog Training

Having a dog as your companion can be a true joy. However, you don’t want your beloved buddy chewing your new shoes or going to the bathroom in the house. Therefore, you need to know how to house train a dog. Therefore you have to create a dog training plan to help your new puppy or dog understand the rules of the house.

What things should you focus on in dog training when you want your dog to understand the expected behaviors and even some fun tricks? Should you take dog training classes or complete dog training all on your own? The answer to these questions is that it depends. Take a look at the following dog training options to determine what type of dog training you want to provide for your canine best friend.

Possible dog training options include: a beginning obedience class that you can take through your local human society, dog supply stores such as PETCO, community recreation departments, and local colleges. These dog training classes can vary in price, time commitment, and personal attention. They are usually affordable and meet once a week at a community park. It is a great way to not only have your dog experience basic dog training, but socialize with other dogs as well.

If you have the financial resources and time you can hire a personal dog trainer. This type of trainer may be necessary if your pooch is having a hard time in basic classes and your dog training efforts aren’t making a difference. Before you invest in a private dog trainer it is important to make an accurate assessment of your dog training methods. Often times a dog that is not following directions is the result of the poor dog training by the dog’s owner. The best shot is to get into a good program on how to train a dog

http://www.mdarma.com/dogs

A private dog trainer might be necessary if you are going to show your dog at dog shows. You can hire a dog trainer/handler or you can become one yourself. If you do, you must know the proper dog training techniques. You don’t want to have Fido jump up on the judges during the competition so he must be trained thoroughly and correctly. You can also search through dog training books, guides, and various resources. There are products that will help you complete dog training such as special collars and muzzles. You can effectively go through a dog training regime with your canine if you follow these eight tips on how to train a dog.

2006 (c) mdarma.com - All Rights Reserved Worldwide * Dog Training

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The Science Surrounding Children Dogs Part 2 The Bad

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving Julie!

(source)

I’m not exactly sure what that means, as we don’t celebrate it in Australia, but I hope you had a great time with your family and friends all the same!

Thanks for all those fantastic resources you included in your last blog post. It was also great to see some extras posted by readers in the comments section. 

(source)

Last time I looked at ‘The Good’ of some the science surrounding children and dogs. This post, it’s time to cover some of the ‘The Bad’. 

What can possibly be bad about children and dogs? Well, dogs don’t live as long as us, for one.

When dogs die

(source)

Having established last time that dogs can benefit kids’ confidence, self-belief, trust, respect and heaps of other positive attitudes and behaviours, I was left wondering how losing a pet dog impacts children. Loss of a companion animal can be a devastating event for people of any age.

Humans don’t all experience grief equally.

Our understanding of death is linked to our developmental state, but young children can still feel pain at the loss of a family dog. For many children, the death of a pet dog will be their first experience with this kind of loss and grief. Pet dogs can be almost-constant companions for children, and have been assigned a role in reflected appraisal similar to that of a best friend.

Psychologists encourage parents/guardians to explain death to kids sensitively and with honesty. Adults should answer questions simply, using clear and accurate information and avoid the desire to ‘protect’ children from death by hiding the truth of a pet’s illness or euthanasia. This is because children with active imaginations may create scenarios about the death that are far worse than reality. 

Adults should allow children to express their grief (through verbal, artistic or written expression; reading stories about the death of pets, etc.), acknowledging the importance of the relationship lost (rather than trivializing the death or running to buy a new puppy) and helping children to understand that grief is a normal and natural emotion that helps us cope with death.

Sometimes bad can be good

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Some psychologists believe that such trauma (with a successful associated recovery) can strengthen our capacity to deal with future stress and adversity. 

This is referred to as psychological resilience and is considered a desirable and healthy process as it enables a person, or in this case a child, to develop coping strategies and support networks (friends, adults, family, etc.) that will serve them in difficult times later in life.

Your dog is a zoo-

Zoo noses? (source)

Its true (when youre using zo/zoo- as a prefix to indicate animals are involved). And its about noses. Not noses-noses, that would be silly. Im talking about Zoonoses. As in diseases that can transfer from animals to people. As in from a dog to a child. Theyre not pretty. 

Research has shown that people can be generally uninformed about some of the most common zoonotic diseases (e.g. common roundworm eggs readily transfer between dogs and people; the worm larvae can decide to live in the back of childrens eyes which can lead to blindness - people should know that!)

(source)

I suggest that if any of your dog-owning friends with children arent aware of the risks of zoonotic diseases, they run an online search for dogs zoonosis [insert country of residence] so they can read up on what parasite control and other measures can be used in their neck of the globe to reduce the risk of zoonoses. 

(source)

Maintaining good child and dog health and hygiene should be a no-brainer. Did you know dogs can catch things from kids too? Thats called reverse zoonosis. 

And to think sharing is something I normally praise my toddler for!

I hope you’ll grit your teeth and stick with me for my third post about the science surrounding children and dogs. 

You’ve seen The Good and now The Bad – next time, Im going to bring out The Ugly. Ill also touch on what science has to say about our childhood experience with dogs influencing us as adults. 

What do you reckon your childhood experiences with Arf contributed to your adult attitudes?

Take care,

Mia

Further reading:

Gerwolls M.K. & Labott S.M. (1994). Adjustment to the Death of a Companion Animal, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 7 (3) 172-187. DOI: 10.2752/089279394787001826

Serpell J.A. (1981). Childhood Pets and their Influence on Adults Attitudes, Psychological Reports, 49 (2) 651-654. DOI: 10.2466/pr0.1981.49.2.651

Davis J.H. (1987). Preadolescent Self-Concept Development and Pet Ownership, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 1 (2) 90-94. DOI: 10.2752/089279388787058614

Van Houtte B.A. & Jarvis P.A. (1995). The role of pets in preadolescent psychosocial development, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 16 (3) 463-479. DOI: 10.1016/0193-3973(95)90030-6

Bryant B.K. (1990). The Richness of the Child-Pet Relationship: A Consideration of Both Benefits and Costs of Pets to Children, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 3 (4) 253-261. DOI: 10.2752/089279390787057469

Kaufman K.R. & Kaufman N.D. (2006). And Then the Dog Died, Death Studies, 30 (1) 61-76. DOI: 10.1080/07481180500348811

Bonanno G.A. (2004). Loss, Trauma, and Human Resilience: Have We Underestimated the Human Capacity to Thrive After Extremely Aversive Events?, American Psychologist, 59 (1) 20-28. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.20

Bingham G.M., Budke C.M. & Slater M.R. (2010). Knowledge and perceptions of dog-associated zoonoses: Brazos County, Texas, USA, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 93 (2-3) 211-221. DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2009.09.019

© Mia Cobb 2012

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Mixing kids dogs a how to resource list

Hi Mia, 

Friends for life is a wonderful way to describe growing from childhood to adulthood with a dog. For me, Arf was always around till a living, breathing dog came into my life, and you clearly thought dogs were the bomb from an early age! 

And speaking of childhood dogs, how awesome is the Childhood Dog Photo Challenge that you started over on Facebook? Were you expecting people to post photos of so many dogs and kids from all over the world!?

Mia and Star; Julie and Arf

Nowadays, I imagine you and I are in the same position: People contact us with questions when a new baby is on the way and Fido’s already in the house or someone’s adding a dog to a family that already includes a child.

When this happens, I get uber excited. You and I clearly have a similar passion -- sharing information and resources -- so when an inquiry like this comes in, I can imagine we both go into OVERDRIVE!

While dogs and kids seem to have "effortless" relationships with "unconditional love," I find myself reminding parents-to-be that there are a lot of nuances that can make or break the relationship (clearly, my relationship with Arf was highly successful and bidirectional). 

Theres so much to talk about when it comes to dogs and kids, and I tend to emphasize providing a dog with (1) a comfortable resting area and (2) space where a dog can choose to retreat from interactions. This is one of the main ideas I took away from my Masters program: there is a higher probability of good welfare and good interactions when animals have options and control. 

And I also pass out oodles of resources! Here are some resources pertaining to dogs and kids, including resources you shared with me from down under. Australia has great resources!

A Guide to Nurturing the Child and Pet Relationship from Pregnancy to Pre-school
The Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, Australia, put out this information, and it covers a lot, such as Preparation, The First Six Months and Baby on the Move. The strength of this guide is it reminds parents that new challenges arise at different stages of a child’s development. A dog’s perception of a newborn can change radically once that bugger starts moving around and grabbing onto anything and everything.

This website even has a Pet Planner Checklist that helps new parents prepare their dog, their house and themselves for a new baby. The checklist asks questions like: 

• Do you need to change their current feeding routine? 
• Which areas are going to be pet free zones?
• Can your pet be comfortable and relaxed spending short periods of time in a crate or confined space? 
• When the baby comes, have you organized someone to exercise the dog?

(Source)

APSCA Guide To Kids and Pets
I particularly like the age-appropriate Activities for Kids and Pets as well as the section, How Kids Respond to Pets. As you point out, a toddler might think they are hugging another child when in fact, theyve smashed the child to the ground, and toddlers can make the same mistake with dogs. Sometimes I think adults also have difficulty seeing their behavior for what it is and how it affects companion animals.

Family Paws
Family Paws is the parent organization of two international programs: Dogs & Storks and the Dog and Baby Connection. They offer programs for new and expecting families to support happy interactions among babies, toddlers and family dogs.
 
Their goal: “increase the safety of children and the success of dogs in homes with children. Decrease the number of dogs surrendered to shelters due to easily preventable behavioral problems and common conflicts.”
 
They offer trainer-run programs, DVDs and of course, a newsletter!

Animal Behavior Associates: Dog, Baby and Kid Resources
Dr. Suzanne Hetts and Dr. Dan Estep run Animal Behavior Associates. Both are Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists. They offer videos and DVDs for smooth interactions between dogs, babies and kids.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Are there other resources that anyones particularly fond of when it comes to dog, kids and babies?

Bye for now!

Julie

© Julie Hecht 2012

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Dog Training Tips On How To Train A Dog

Dogs Training

• Many people start their dog on the path to dog training success by enrolling them in a basic obedience class. This is a great idea because you will learn how to teach your dog to do basic commands such as “sit”, “stay”, and “heel”. You can use these dog training commands by using verbal commands and physical actions. For example, right after you say the word “sit” you gently push your dog’s bottom down onto the ground and put them in the sit position. Immediately say “good” and smile. Give them a tasty treat as well. Basically, you want to do as much as you can to reinforce the action of sitting when you say “sit”.
  
  
• Dogs act like absorbent sponges when it comes to learning proper behavior and tricks. If you do your job properly then dog training should be a hit. Your dog is ready and eager to learn proper behavior. They want to please you. Therefore, if they aren’t following your instruction it might not be their fault. You might be giving confusing dog training instructions.
  
  
• Dogs thrive on positive reinforcement and encouragement. Positive reinforcement such as acting excited and petting your dog when they do the right behavior help with your dog training efforts. It is a dogs nature to want to be close to you and make you happy. Showing encouragement and praise will help your dog much farther, much faster in their dog training. Make sure to encourage a dog through each dog training accomplishment, no matter how big or small.
  
  
• Food is a powerful motivator when it comes to dog training. You will be hard pressed to find a dog that passes up food or a tasty treat. Dogs are always hungry and welcome any situation where food is involved.
  
  
• Dog training should be a gradual process with regards to skill level and learning more complex commands. Give your dog time to understand new commands. They most likely won’t learn it the first day you teach them. You will have to review the commands and proper behaviors often.
  
  
• Have dog training sessions at various times throughout the day. Your dog needs periodic training to reinforce the proper behaviors. You dog’s attention span can wane, so make sure to keep the training sessions to five to ten minutes long.
  
  
• When you first start dog training work in environment that is free from distractions so your dog can focus on their behavior. Once your dog understands the basic commands you can try to use the commands in a busier environment. One thing you may find is that your dog is distracted and seems to have forgotten the commands. Don’t fret. This can happen because dogs tend to be situational learners and your dog just needs to work on the commands in the busier environment
  .
  
• Too many treats equals an overweight dog. Dog training is a process that involves tasty treats, but too many of these treats can be a bad idea for your dog’s waistline. Use small treats and wean your dog off treats as they understand the different commands. They will then rely on your praise as the positive reinforcement for each behavior. These eight dog training tips will set you on the road to happy, healthy, obedient pooch

2006 (c) mdarma.com - All Rights Reserved Worldwide Dogs

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Eight Easy to Train Small Dog Breeds

Yorkie

By Linda Cole

Training any dog can be hard if you arent consistent and dedicated. Small dogs, which include terriers, come with big attitudes and arent afraid to take on big jobs. These dogs are intelligent, agile and tenacious. Dogs under 22 pounds or standing under 16 inches are considered small, although there are some small breeds that weigh a little more and are taller. If you want a small dog thats easy to train, theres a nice variety to pick from, including the breeds listed below. Carry a pocketful of CANIDAE Pure Heaven treats, and these dogs will practically train themselves! LOL.

Yorkshire Terrier

This breed has been in the top ten most popular dogs for the last decade. The Yorkie may be small, but hes all terrier, with an expertise in rooting out and catching rats and other small rodents. The breed was developed in northern Englands Yorkshire County to control rodents in coal mines and textile factories. Earlier dogs were larger than the breed we know today, and fearless when it came to doing their job. It wasnt long before high society adopted the Yorkie as a companion pet, and thats when the breed was bred down to the size we know today.

Pomeranian 

The smallest of the Spitz family of dogs, the Pomeranian is descended from Northern breeds like the Norwegian Elkhound, American Eskimo Dog, Samoyed and Schipperke. Before this breed was bred down to their 3-7 pound size, Poms weighed up to 30-35 pounds. The dog was developed in Pomerania, a small province in todays eastern Germany. This compact little dog can excel at agility and obedience, or be happy hanging out in the lap of the one he loves.

Schipperke

Schipperke

This breed was developed in Belgium to get around a law passed in the 14th century by the ruling French elites that wanted to assure only aristocrats could own large dogs. Commoners needed a dog to work livestock and protect homes, so the smaller Schipperke was created as a herding dog for smaller livestock and as a ratter. The Schipperke is described as “the smallest shepherd in the world, black with a docked tail.” This dog has a fondness for agility, obedience and herding ducks and chickens.

Norwich Terrier/Norfolk Terrier 

Both originated north of London in the east central region of England in a place called East Anglia. At one time, the Norwich and Norfolk were considered the same breed. It wasnt until 1964 when the Kennel Club officially separated the two dogs, giving them their own distinct breed names. The main difference between the two dogs is that the Norwich has pricked ears and the Norfolk has drop-ears. During the 1880s, Cambridge University students decided it was fashionable to own a small dog adept at catching rats. The dogs were so good, the breed ended up being named as an unofficial school mascot. These little terriers are also capable fox hunters, running with foxhounds, ready to go to ground when needed and flush a fox from his den. Both breeds love to work and do well in agility, obedience, rally and Earthdog trials.

Silky Terrier 

Often mistaken for a Yorkshire Terrier, the Silky originated in Australia in the states of Victoria and New South Wales during the 1890s. After Yorkshire Terriers arrived in Australia, they were crossed with native Australian Terriers to produce the Silky Terrier. The original job of the Silky was hunting rodents and small game. This is a daring and tough little dog, true to his terrier ways. He is an excellent watchdog. The Silky Terrier is a little bigger than the Yorkie.

Miniature Pinscher 

This dog is not related to the Miniature Doberman Pinscher or Doberman Pinscher. The Min Pin is an older and distinctive breed from the Doberman, known as the “King of Toys” because of his elegant and confident demeanor. The dog was bred in Germany to control rats and other vermin in homes and stables, and as a watchdog. In the show ring, the Min Pin delights fans with his high-stepping, self assuring gait.

Affenpinscher

Affenpinscher 

This dog originated in Germany and today is considered a rare breed, but at one time, was very popular in his native country. The Affenpinscher has a unique looking face, and has the nickname “Monkey Dog” which comes from his name (the German meaning of “affen” is ape or monkey). His job in the early days was rodent control where his talents were used in kitchens, granaries and stables, and by shopkeepers. The Affenpinscher was eventually bred down in size while retaining the ability and desire to catch mice and rats.

American Eskimo Dog 

This  member of the Spitz family comes in three sizes: standard, miniature and toy. This is a very smart breed that can think for himself and problem solve. During the mid 1800s, German immigrants brought this beautiful white dog with them to America and the breed was very common in German communities. American Eskimo dogs traveled with circuses, performing tricks and delighting audiences with their agility and intelligence.

Top photo by SKimchee
Middle photo by Douglas Brown
Bottom photo by Ingunn Axelsen

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Dogs help in natural disasters They just do

(Australian bushfires are big. Really big. source)

Hey Julie,

What an important topic to raise. Its so important that we stop to consider what animals are experiencing in times of natural disaster and rescue. 

It got me thinking about a different kind of natural disaster that struck my local community in February 2009, the series of bushfires (wild fires) that came to be known in Australia as the Black Saturday bushfires. 

It was horrible. 

One of the formerly forested ridges in the 2009 bushfire zone (source)

Extreme weather conditions, the lay of the land, an unexpected wind change and a series of fires that merged into one enormous front resulted in Australias highest loss of life as a result of a bushfire. The fires were only 15km (9 miles) from my house and had the wind gone in a different direction it could easily have been my similarly bushy home area that was devastated. 

There were many, many, many people, pets, other animals and wildlife who were killed, injured and/or displaced by this huge and devastating event.

But Julie, do you know what? Dogs helped. They really did.
In so many special ways.

A search and rescue dog and handler (source)

Volunteer handlers with their search and rescue dogs helped to locate the remains of people who had died trying to defend or take shelter in their homes, enabling identification that would assist with closure for the victims remaining families. 

We have evidence about how important the role of dogs and pets can be in our lives. Especially for children. The relationship children form with their pets has been shown to help modulate the effects of traumatic events like natural disasters. So keeping pets with families (or in a safe place that can be visited and where families know they are safe) is an important part of helping people cope in times of disaster.

Just by being present, many dogs were acting as unwitting therapists. Offering the opportunity for calming behaviour - like patting, which has been shown to result in lower blood pressure and heart rate in the person patting the dog - when people really needed it. 

One of the most remarkable things that the injured and displaced dogs achieved was acting as a catalyst to community engagement and resilience. 

The nearest animal shelter to the area devastated was immediately inundated by displaced large animals, cats, dogs, other small pets and numerous wildlife. You can read their account from page 40 of the article in Animal Sheltering magazine here. 

Happy was treated for burns at the shelter & featured in the media (source)

As the shelter had prepared for the possibility of a fire in the region, they were prepared to some degree. However, they found themselves immediately under pressure to find resources to house, feed and reunite hundreds of small and large animals with families who potentially (and very probably) had no homes left to return to. Within two days the shelter was inundated by offers of support from other vet clinics, community members, volunteers and people WANTING TO HELP THE DOGS (oh, OK, and the other animals!). 

(source)

A huge network swung into action sourcing and coordinating the donations of cages, blankets, food, etc. etc. from all over the country. This was an incredible feat given many of the shelter staff lived in the affected area or had friends/family affected. It gave the wider community a sense that they were contributing to help in some tangible way (enabling them to COPE on a psychological level with the awful reality) and also helped the affected area feel that people were aware of their situation and there to support them.

So important.

Im pleased to see that your city has similarly been pulling together in the wake of Sandy.

So you see? Dogs help in natural disasters. They really do.

Sam the koala drinking from a volunteer fire fighters bottle

Ill sign off now with a quick return to your point about animals in rescue situations. 

I know its not a dog, but this koala (dubbed "Sam") is a really interesting case. Koalas are not usually considered friendly or approachable in the wild. They can hiss and bite and scratch if they are approached and feel threatened. 

But this chap offered the entire country watching these horrific events unfold a beautiful moment of hope and wonder. He let a firefighter approach him and drank from his water bottle. An illustration of a positive human-animal connection all forms of media distributed far and wide.

Highly unusual behaviour (as the firefighter acknowledges with some colourful language part way through the video!).

I hope your election day went well over there. I really enjoyed reading your contribution to this piece about Seamus Romneys trip to Canada.

Til next time!

Mia

The region transformed in the 2009 bushfires is regenerating.

Further reading: 

Komar D. (1999) The use of cadaver dogs in locating scattered, scavenged human remains: preliminary field test results., Journal of forensic sciences, PMID: 10097372 

Yorke J. (2010). The significance of human–animal relationships as modulators of trauma effects in children: a developmental neurobiological perspective, Early Child Development and Care, 180 (5) 559-570. DOI: 10.1080/03004430802181189

Blue G.F. (1986). The Value of Pets in Childrens Lives, Childhood Education, 63 (2) 85-90. DOI: 10.1080/00094056.1986.10521747 

Vormbrock J.K. & Grossberg J.M. (1988). Cardiovascular effects of human-pet dog interactions, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 11 (5) 509-517. DOI: 10.1007/BF00844843

Cherry K.E., Silva J.L. & Marks L.D. (2009). The Psychology Behind Helping and Prosocial Behaviors: An Examination from Intention to Action , Lifespan Perspectives on Natural Disasters, 219-240. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-0393-8_11

Lyons R.F., Mickelson K.D., Sullivan M.J.L. & Coyne J.C. (1998). Coping as a Communal Process, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 15 (5) 579-605. DOI: 10.1177/0265407598155001

Irvine L. (2007). Ready or Not: Evacuating an Animal Shelter During a Mock Emergency, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 20 (4) 355-364. DOI: 10.2752/089279307X245482 

Emergency Animal Welfare Plan (Department of Primary Industries Victoria)

Pets and bushfires (Country Fire Authority, Victoria)

© Mia Cobb 2012

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