Everybody Needs to Feel Useful

If you have a hyper or nervous dog, chances are that she has too much energy bottled up... that needs to get out. And it will find a way to get out one way or another, so the best thing to do for your dog and yourself is to give that pent up energy a way out that you can both live with.

Dogs are naturally nomadic creatures and would love to walk for miles but since we can't always do that here's a way to make a short walk more productive. Give your dog the job of carrying a doggy back back. Make sure it's not too heavy for her own weight, (less than 5% of her weight or ask your vet just to be safe in case any medical conditions exist).

Your dog will not only be burning off a little excess energy but will feel like she's doing an important job for you. We all know we feel better when we feel useful and productive, this will help your dog's general outlook on life and will in turn help curb unwanted behaviors.

Another way to burn off energy is to give them a few commands to focus on each day; such as sitting for a few minutes. Remember not to use scolding as this makes the activity 'not fun' for either one of you. Keep things quick and light if your dog can't focus easily, and gradually work up to more time.

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Pure Love

The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants
Johnny Depp


What he's saying here is attributed to innocence. And just like an infant, a dog has no malice or ill intent.

This is crucial to remember when we find our dogs doing something we're not happy with. Anytime a dog does something that is, what we look at as "wrong", remember that he's just following instinct and usually the motive behind misbehaviors is just the opposite of what we believe it to be. Because the logic of dogs is much different than that of humans.

Here's another quote:
The way we treat our animals is a direct reflection of our own character

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Why Your Dog Can't Hear Your Commands

Do not make the mistake of treating your dogs like humans or they will treat you like dogs
Martha Scott

Many times training or potty training our puppies is approached from logic that we think we understand as humans. But the fact is that dogs are an entirely different species than ourselves. The only reason that they've been able to be approached in this manner is that they put up with treatment that most other animals do not.

We would never think of and for that matter could NOT ever use punishment tactics seen in the dog world to train a dolphin for example. But somehow since dogs put up with that treatment, it's accepted as the way to do things. Just because we "can" do something does not mean that it's the right thing to do.

If we meet our dogs' needs as dogs then they will be well adjusted, bond with us and we can be sure to enjoy a happy and peaceful lifestyle with them.



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Getting Your Dog to Love You Forever

Love does not dominate; it cultivates.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If we want our dogs to enrich our lives, be free of behavior problems, love us forever, provide unending friendship, and willingly listen to our cues, then we MUST meet their needs as dogs first, before any of this can successfully take place.

If we use our pets as an excuse to dominate or to fulfill some emotional need that WE need fulfilled, then behavior problems at some level (whether mild or severe) will result.

Canine behavior problems in a nutshell are the result of the needs of the dog not being met. Dogs are a living, breathing animal and as such need to approached and interacted with based on their own "canine" psychology and individual sensitivities.

When we meet our dog's physical, emotional and instinctual needs FIRST, they will naturally fulfill the role described in the first paragraph. As with anything else, we will only get out of the relationship what we put into it.


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Best Friends

"The language of friendship is not in words but meanings."
Henry David Thoreau


This is even more true with our dogs. They sense our energy, our emotions and read our body language. Because of this it's much easier to train our dogs using hand or body signals before we attach a word.

Our dogs can also sense our intergrity and commitment to them. Lack of interaction, impatience and over-dominance only proves to a dog that his owner is not sincere.

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Quote for the Month

The real test of friendship is: can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple?

By Eugene Kennedy


If you think about it, our pets fit this test of friendship.

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Timing is Everything

Training Tip:

Timing is critical when training your dog or puppy. If your timing is off just by a second, they you may accidentally reward him for something entirely different than you are trying to teach.

For example, you tell your dog to sit, he sits, you pause for a second to get a reward and he stands up, you give the reward and praise because after all he did sit, right? Wrong! Obviously the dog needs no correction, but the timing needs to be adjusted.

Instead, once the dog does the behavior, the first reward marker to give is the sound of praise which can be made IMMEDIATELY so the dog can associate it with the behavior, (or a clicker which works even better when learning new behaviors). Then give the food reward as quickly as possible after the praise, (the praise or clicker was the immediate reward marker).

At that time give a release command to the dog before he has a chance to even think about getting up. This way you can very gradually, as he becomes more reliable, increase the length of time between the behavior and the release command and he will naturally begin learning to stay in one place longer until you give him that release command.

See more about training at:

* http://www.ezinearticles.com/?Puppy-Training-that-is-Safe-for-Your-Puppy&id=17825


* http://www.puppy-potty-training.com/dog-training.html

A wise man regards the life of his animal

-King Solomon