I'm going to start publishing a weekly recipe for home made dog treats or foods. We take for granted that store bought pet food is better for our pets, but that is not always the case. Dogs love home made food because it tastes great, and they know we made it for them. The bonus is that it is good for them as well.
Thanks for reading,
Dizzy
Ace's Favorite Cheesy Dog Biscuits
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/4 pound margarine -- corn oil
1 clove garlic -- crushed
1 pinch salt
1/4 cup Milk -- or as needed
Grate the cheese into a bowl and let stand until it reaches room temperature. Cream the cheese with the softened margarine, garlic, salt and flour. Add enough milk to form into a ball.
Chill for 1/2 hour. Roll onto floured board. Cut into shapes and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until slightly brown, and firm.
Makes 2 to 3 dozen, depending on size.
Monday
Socialize Your Puppy?
The importance of socializing a puppy can never be over-emphasized, but what does it mean? And how do you do it? This article will explain to you what it is and how to put it into practice to ensure your dog has few, if any behavioral problems later in life and is able to interact well with other dogs and other species.
Socialization is the process in which a puppy learns to recognize and interact with other individuals of its own species, with people of different ages, races and genders, and with other animals that she is likely to come into contact with, such as cats and horses. The dog will learn skills necessary to communicate with and interpret the other animals' intentions, thus avoiding unnecessary hostilities. The dog will also learn to cope with stress and will suffer less as an adult in stressful situations. When talking of socialization, we often include habituation, that is, getting a puppy used to different places, sights and sounds so that she becomes confident in new situations and gets used to as many different stimuli as possible.
There are certain periods in a puppy's development that are more important than others. The most sensitive socialization period begins at around 3 weeks of age and begins to end by 12 weeks. Peak sensitivity is between 6 and 8 weeks of age. It is important to remember that many young dogs need continual social interaction to maintain their socialization and failure to do so will mean that they regress or become fearful again. The 6-8 month period is another sensitive time for socialization and you can use this window to further habituate and socialize your puppy to different surroundings, people and animals.
So, now we know why and when socialization should be carried out, we must look at how it’s done. It is recommended that your puppy be introduced to new stimuli and other people and pets in a systematic and controlled way. Remember that these formative experiences will shape the behavior of your pet for the rest of her life, so the idea is that they should be pleasurable and fun. They may well also be challenging, but if done in the right way, the puppy will learn that there is no threat and that she is safe to explore and meet new friends and situations without being fearful. This ensures the best chance of her developing a sound temperament and capacity to cope in all circumstances.
Early socialization is, of course, in the hands of the breeder and if they are conscientious and responsible they will ensure that the puppies are handled frequently, as well being exposed to normal household stimuli such as the television, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, doorbell etc. Puppies that are raised in a quiet kennel or room will have trouble adapting to a normal family environment.
So once the puppy is at home with you, it is your job to continue carefully introducing her to different people, animals and stimuli. It is however important to introduce the puppy to new people, places, objects and situations only when you can completely control the experience. A frightening experience will be detrimental – avoid unfriendly dogs and adults and children who do not understand how to be kind and gentle with animals. Invite friends to your house soon after you bring your puppy home to teach her that guests are friendly and welcome in her new home. Give your friends treats to give to the puppy so she is rewarded. Introduce her to one or two other friendly, healthy, fully-vaccinated dogs – she can join in with bigger groups once she has all her shots and has learned some dog social skills and has over-come any fear. Always be ready to intervene if your puppy is scared, threatened or being bullied by another dog.
When socializing your puppy, you must evaluate your lifestyle and environment and assess what is lacking. For instance, if you live in the country, take your puppy to town and gradually and carefully let her become accustomed to crowds of people, noise and traffic. If, however, you live in a town and these things are no problem, take your puppy to the countryside so she can see and smell farm animals and become accustomed to them too. Make sure your dog meets some cats who are dog-friendly. Don't let her chase them as this will start a life-long habit that will be difficult to change. If your household has no children, introduce your puppy to some children who can regularly play gently with her. Always supervise them to ensure the children are gentle and that your dog is responding well and not becoming nervous or aggressive.
Remember, always protect your puppy's health, before she is fully vaccinated. Don't put her down on the ground where there may be dog urine or feces, and don't let her interact with other dogs that may carry disease. You can still socialize your puppy by carrying her into different situations and taking her in the car, allowing her to see many different things in a safe environment and she will get used to trips in the car at the same time. Use treats and praises to reinforce good behavior. Do not comfort your puppy if she is fearful as this can be interpreted as praise for the wrong behavior. Simply change the situation (i.e. ask an approaching person to step back or pick up your puppy to get her out of a difficult situation) until she feels safe and secure once more.
All interaction with your puppy at this age involves consistently rewarding desirable behavior which will increase the likelihood the dog will repeat this behavior. It will also help to prevent the development of undesirable behavior.
Another helpful step would be to enroll in puppy training class. This provides a great opportunity for puppies to socialize with other dogs, for puppies to learn obedience training in a playful environment with plenty of distractions and also for owners to learn training and communication techniques.
Socialization is the process in which a puppy learns to recognize and interact with other individuals of its own species, with people of different ages, races and genders, and with other animals that she is likely to come into contact with, such as cats and horses. The dog will learn skills necessary to communicate with and interpret the other animals' intentions, thus avoiding unnecessary hostilities. The dog will also learn to cope with stress and will suffer less as an adult in stressful situations. When talking of socialization, we often include habituation, that is, getting a puppy used to different places, sights and sounds so that she becomes confident in new situations and gets used to as many different stimuli as possible.
There are certain periods in a puppy's development that are more important than others. The most sensitive socialization period begins at around 3 weeks of age and begins to end by 12 weeks. Peak sensitivity is between 6 and 8 weeks of age. It is important to remember that many young dogs need continual social interaction to maintain their socialization and failure to do so will mean that they regress or become fearful again. The 6-8 month period is another sensitive time for socialization and you can use this window to further habituate and socialize your puppy to different surroundings, people and animals.
So, now we know why and when socialization should be carried out, we must look at how it’s done. It is recommended that your puppy be introduced to new stimuli and other people and pets in a systematic and controlled way. Remember that these formative experiences will shape the behavior of your pet for the rest of her life, so the idea is that they should be pleasurable and fun. They may well also be challenging, but if done in the right way, the puppy will learn that there is no threat and that she is safe to explore and meet new friends and situations without being fearful. This ensures the best chance of her developing a sound temperament and capacity to cope in all circumstances.
Early socialization is, of course, in the hands of the breeder and if they are conscientious and responsible they will ensure that the puppies are handled frequently, as well being exposed to normal household stimuli such as the television, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, doorbell etc. Puppies that are raised in a quiet kennel or room will have trouble adapting to a normal family environment.
So once the puppy is at home with you, it is your job to continue carefully introducing her to different people, animals and stimuli. It is however important to introduce the puppy to new people, places, objects and situations only when you can completely control the experience. A frightening experience will be detrimental – avoid unfriendly dogs and adults and children who do not understand how to be kind and gentle with animals. Invite friends to your house soon after you bring your puppy home to teach her that guests are friendly and welcome in her new home. Give your friends treats to give to the puppy so she is rewarded. Introduce her to one or two other friendly, healthy, fully-vaccinated dogs – she can join in with bigger groups once she has all her shots and has learned some dog social skills and has over-come any fear. Always be ready to intervene if your puppy is scared, threatened or being bullied by another dog.
When socializing your puppy, you must evaluate your lifestyle and environment and assess what is lacking. For instance, if you live in the country, take your puppy to town and gradually and carefully let her become accustomed to crowds of people, noise and traffic. If, however, you live in a town and these things are no problem, take your puppy to the countryside so she can see and smell farm animals and become accustomed to them too. Make sure your dog meets some cats who are dog-friendly. Don't let her chase them as this will start a life-long habit that will be difficult to change. If your household has no children, introduce your puppy to some children who can regularly play gently with her. Always supervise them to ensure the children are gentle and that your dog is responding well and not becoming nervous or aggressive.
Remember, always protect your puppy's health, before she is fully vaccinated. Don't put her down on the ground where there may be dog urine or feces, and don't let her interact with other dogs that may carry disease. You can still socialize your puppy by carrying her into different situations and taking her in the car, allowing her to see many different things in a safe environment and she will get used to trips in the car at the same time. Use treats and praises to reinforce good behavior. Do not comfort your puppy if she is fearful as this can be interpreted as praise for the wrong behavior. Simply change the situation (i.e. ask an approaching person to step back or pick up your puppy to get her out of a difficult situation) until she feels safe and secure once more.
All interaction with your puppy at this age involves consistently rewarding desirable behavior which will increase the likelihood the dog will repeat this behavior. It will also help to prevent the development of undesirable behavior.
Another helpful step would be to enroll in puppy training class. This provides a great opportunity for puppies to socialize with other dogs, for puppies to learn obedience training in a playful environment with plenty of distractions and also for owners to learn training and communication techniques.
Tuesday
How to Stop Your Dog from Chewing the Furniture
Does your dog chew like there’s no tomorrow? Does he destroy furniture, shoes, and the carpet? There is hope; dogs can be trained not to chew the furniture.
Most advice says start young, and that’s good advice when you can do it. Chewing starts in puppies as a response to teething, and if left unchecked, can become a problem as the dog gets older.
First, re-direct the behavior. If you catch Fido chewing the furniture, take a chew toy and move the focus from the furniture to the chew toy. Praise him for making the switch and give him the toy to keep chewing.
Chewing is normal dog behavior, often out of boredom, so Fido needs his own set of chew toys – active toys that will keep his focus off of the furniture. What are active toys? Active toys stimulate your dog’s ability to play alone, such as Kong toys that have the hole for the treat inside, or others that he has to manipulate to get a reward or food.
Keep chewing targets such as shoes, purses, etc. out of reach of Fido, so there is no temptation to stray. Teach your dog commands such as “drop” or “leave it” so that he will leave an item on command. Do not play tug of war with Fido to get the forbidden item back. If it is something you chase Fido to get, he will have a ball keeping it away from you, especially if he is a Jack Russell. Don’t make it into a game!
Punishment does not deter chewing, but often increases the behavior. Redirection and conditioning will always work better. Bitter Apple, or other unpleasant scents for dogs can be used to protect some furniture items. Changing behavior takes time and patience, but is ultimately worth is for the sake of your furniture.
Most advice says start young, and that’s good advice when you can do it. Chewing starts in puppies as a response to teething, and if left unchecked, can become a problem as the dog gets older.
First, re-direct the behavior. If you catch Fido chewing the furniture, take a chew toy and move the focus from the furniture to the chew toy. Praise him for making the switch and give him the toy to keep chewing.
Chewing is normal dog behavior, often out of boredom, so Fido needs his own set of chew toys – active toys that will keep his focus off of the furniture. What are active toys? Active toys stimulate your dog’s ability to play alone, such as Kong toys that have the hole for the treat inside, or others that he has to manipulate to get a reward or food.
Keep chewing targets such as shoes, purses, etc. out of reach of Fido, so there is no temptation to stray. Teach your dog commands such as “drop” or “leave it” so that he will leave an item on command. Do not play tug of war with Fido to get the forbidden item back. If it is something you chase Fido to get, he will have a ball keeping it away from you, especially if he is a Jack Russell. Don’t make it into a game!
Punishment does not deter chewing, but often increases the behavior. Redirection and conditioning will always work better. Bitter Apple, or other unpleasant scents for dogs can be used to protect some furniture items. Changing behavior takes time and patience, but is ultimately worth is for the sake of your furniture.
Saturday
How to Stop a Dog from Barking - #1
I have written before about general reasons dogs bark. Now let’s get specific about how to stop a dog from barking in different situations.
Play with me!
Imagine that you are sitting in your recliner reading the newspaper after a long day at work. You trusty dog Spot brings his ball over and drops it right at your feet. You are not interested in playing right now, so you ignore him. He is quiet for a bit, and then picks the ball up and puts it in your lap. You still ignore him. Spot then barks, and when you turn to look at him, he is in the “Let’s play” position with a smile on his face. You still do not respond, hoping he will lose interest.
Now Spot starts a series of barks, and keeps it up! After a few minutes of shrill barking, you give in, pick up the ball and begin to play with Spot. Amazingly (?), he stops the barking immediately.
What happened here? Did Spot respect you, the owner? No! He harassed you into playing with him. He did not honor your position as the one who provides food, shelter, and affection in his life. If Spot can get his way by barking, then your home is going to become a very noisy place indeed!
To prevent this unacceptable behavior, the simplest way is to simply ignore Spot. Dogs read our body language, so this needs to be an active technique. Let him know that if he behaves this way, he will not get your attention. Simply turn away from him, do not look at him, touch him, or say anything, not even “no”.
The first few times, Spot will be confused because his manipulative barking has worked in the past. All dog training needs consistency to work, so it may take a few times for spot to get the message, and he will. Do not give in, or you are signaling that persistent barking will eventually work. Remember to reward with affection the behavior that you desire.
Sometimes we just need to know how to respond to a barking dog. Dogs bark to communicate, but they need to be taught what appropriate communication is and what is not. You can learn how to stop a dog from barking!
Monday
Why Do Dogs Bark?
Why do dogs bark? The answer is simple, dogs bark because they are communicating. They are communicating with you, other dogs, or just expressing emotion. Dogs have a voice just as we do, and they use it.
Watch your dog interact with another dog. If they are playing or hanging out, there is vocal communication. If they are threatening or defensive there is a different communication (but be careful – dogs do not always growl before they bite!).
The difficulty for dog owners is to properly interpret the barking. Owners tend to humanize what their pets are doing, but it is not that simple. Think of your dog’s vocal communication as you would a baby’s cry – no words are spoken but definite messages are delivered.
Dogs bark because they are hungry, they want to play, they need to go outside, they are alerting you about something, or they are feeling bad. Sometimes it seems as though they bark non stop for no reason. Boredom, being left alone for long periods or inattention from you can be reasons for excessive barking.
To control dog barking, the owner must determine the reasons for the barking. Once the reason is determined, there are techniques to bring excessive barking under control, which I will explore in subsequent articles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
