Archive for the ‘Dog Training’ Category

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An Inspirational Dog Training Story With Two Legged Dog

Friday, September 3rd, 2010
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#dog #dogs #dogtraining #pets –  Well, have I got a real inspirational dog training story to share with you today.  I’ve been extremely inspired this week after seeing videos about a Labrador – Chow mix dog named Faith.  This is a really inspirational story of perseverance as well as, faith, as the name suggests.

Faith was left to die by her mother at two weeks old since she was born with a significant deformity of having no front legs.  But a family rescued her and decided to train her to use her existing back legs to walk.  Now, Faith is the only known dog in the world that walks on two legs full time.

This is such an amazing example of courage.  Faith has been on numerous TV shows including Oprah and Montel.  She inspires everyone wherever she goes as she proves that just because one may not be ‘complete’ physically, it doesn’t mean that one can’t continue to do awesome things in life.

I also salute the family who took the time to give Faith a chance in life and the determination to care as well as train her so that this dog can lead a full life.

Here is a video clip of Faith when she appeared on Oprah.

As usual, if you have any comments about this story, feel free to leave them below at the comments section of this blog post or right at my Dog Facebook page.  And if you feel that others will be inspired by Faith, please share this post using the Facebook, Twitter or other social media buttons here.

I hope that this story about Faith the two legged dog was as inspirational to you as it was for me this week.

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Final Heat Wave Of Summer Too Hot For Dogs

Sunday, August 29th, 2010
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#dog #dogs #toronto — Up here in the Toronto area, we are heading into probably the final week of a heat wave for the summer.  Lots of strong sunshine out there for the next couple of days.  Average temperations up here will be about 32 degrees Celcius which is about 89.6 degrees Farenheight.  At these temperatures along with the sunshine, it will be too hot for my Lhasa Apso dogs Chester and Roxie to be outside.

So I’m going to keep them indoors during the daytime until late in the day or even early evening when the sunshine won’t be as strong and perhaps when the temperatures will be a bit lower.  My two dogs in particular get hot really easily during these types of days and they let me know with their heavy panting.

This will be the same for many other dogs out there as well so do be careful during the heat.  Definitely do not leave your dogs inside your car parked outside during these days.  Better to just leave them at home with the air conditioner turned on if necessary.

There have been cases where dogs left inside hot cars where police and animal control officers were called in by worried passerbys.  Owners later got fined or even arrested for their negligence.

So do the right thing over the next couple of days.  Enjoy the last part of summer but also have some common sense when it comes to your dogs outside in the heat.

For me, I’m going to spend much of the daytime working inside on my next book which will be on potty training dogs with a litterbox.  My two dogs will probably be either watching the world go by from a window while they are nice and cool inside or taking their naps.

By the way, summer time and fall are great times to do some dog training outdoors with your dog.   I still put my dogs through some fun drills outside during our walks usually late in the afternoon or early evenings.  If you haven’t seen my basic dog training video yet, you can do so for free.  Just look at the info on this at the blog sidebar on the top left or at the Dog Training tab at my Life With Dogs Facebook page.

The Crowd Favorite
Creative Commons License photo credit: Morgan for Mizzou

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Cesar Millan Coming To Canada

Friday, August 27th, 2010
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#dog #dogs #dogtraining — TV dog trainer Cesar Millan is coming to Canada with a tour in late October and early November.  His tour website has him scheduled for Toronto on November 1 and Hamilton on October 30.

The website states that audience should not be bringing their dogs to the show as this is a show to train the dog owners rather than the dogs directly.  From what I can see, ticket prices range from about $38 to $89 depending on the seat level of the arenas.

I’m thinking of attending one of these shows but not the Toronto date since it is one the evening just before I leave for a trip overseas.  I may try to catch the Hamilton show instead on the weekend.

I think Cesar Millan will be doing his show in two parts with a presentation during a first half and then a second half to answer as many questions forwarded to him as much as possible.

Although I’ve been a dog owner for many years, I am sure that I can still use more education in dog training especially from a noted expert like Cesar Millan.  I’ve watch his TV show Dog Whisperer on occasion and love it.

I like his style of dog training as I’m sure many others do as well.  I like the idea of a show to train us dog owners since that’s where it all begins.  It’s training the dog owners before training the dogs themselves.

Many dog owners go through years without adequately training themselves as well as their dogs and it is quite obvious when we see them with their dogs out there.

I’ve done my share of the very basics of dog training by shooting a free video that everyone can access at the left sidebar of this blog or at the Training tab of my Life With Dogs and Puppies Facebook page.

Moby's important reading
Creative Commons License photo credit: ktylerconk

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Dogs Like Training

Thursday, August 19th, 2010
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#dogs #dog #puppy #puppies #dogtraining #puppytraining  —  Some new (and old) dog owners never put much into training their dogs, even with basic commands.  Some say that it is too much hassle and the dogs won’t enjoy it.  But guess what?

The opposite is actually true.  Dogs actually like training.  It is much better than leaving them bored all day.  Dogs enjoy the mental stimulation that training sessions provide and the interaction with you as the owner.

Since there is so much emphasis on positive reinforcement during dog training, dogs will just love the interaction with their owners during training sessions and classes.  Even though my two lhasa apsos know their basic commands quite well, they still go through drills every single day for their treats.  They don’t get freebies.  But that’s okay with them because they enjoy the interactions with me.

Dogs like to please their owners and when they do a good job during training whether learning new commands, tricks or just drilling ones they already know, they love the positive praise they get.  I can see it in my two dogs’ eyes when they do their drills well.

During a typical day, we would go through some of the basic commands like ‘sit’, ‘come’, ‘down’, ‘stand’ and sometimes even ‘shake’ (a paw) or ‘up’.  These are put through a quick drill during noon hour and they get healthy fruit treats.

During a walk outside, they would usually go through a one minute ‘stay’ drill at a distance about halfway into our walk.  Then I would give the ‘come’ command where they would come with much enthusiasm.

They never get bored of training drills because they never get bored of mental stimulation where they have to observe what my next command is as well as the positive praise I give them for a job well done.

So if you have avoided training your dog because you felt that it would be too much work and no fun for your dog, think again.  Dogs like training and so should you.

To see my free video demonstrating basic dog training with my two lhasa apso dogs, go to my dog training website.

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Creative Commons License photo credit: CRYROLFE

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Dog Owner Doesn’t Take Authority

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
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#dog #dogs #puppy #puppies #dogtraining #puppytraining

Last night, I was walking my two dogs in the park and one of my neighbours came by with her two dogs.  One of her dogs, still a puppy, is notorious for being a real barker with pretty well all other dogs.  Of course, this is a result of hardly any dog socialization.  The amazing thing is that as this puppy was going crazy at my dogs, the dog owner did not take any authority at all.  She just sort of shrugged and let her puppy continue barking.

If the puppy was her kid, I’m sure that she would not have allowed this to continue and would have immediately disciplined her child.  But with her puppy, it’s just weird that she wouldn’t do the same.

The longer her non-action approach goes on, the more this puppy will think it’s acceptable to keep on barking like crazy.  Of course, this is totally counter-productive as this puppy will continue to slide into bad behaviour.

It really isn’t the puppy’s fault since it’s the negligence of the dog owners to take control of the situation and have the puppy trained properly.  Why these dog owners do not train their dogs is really beyond my guess.

If these dog owners loved their dogs so much, why wouldn’t they give their dogs the best professional training they could afford?  It would be an education for these owners as well as it is obvious that they are not well versed in dog training either.

The fact is that if dogs are not trained properly, they will not see their owners in an authority position and this can cause all sorts of bad behaviour and problems in the future.

Tired or barking ?
Creative Commons License photo credit: Benoit Dupont

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Example Of The Benefits Of Having Dogs Litterbox Trained

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
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#dogs #dog #dogtraining #puppytraining #puppy #puppies

Yesterday was a great example of the benefits of having dogs litterboxed trained rather than traditionally trained to go only outdoors for elimination.  I left my house at mid-afternoon to beat the rush hour traffic (was not entirely successful as traffic was still quite heavy) to get to the opposite side of town to do a motivational talk at a Rotary club.

After my talk, I went to have dinner at a long time friend’s place which was near that part of town.  Since we haven’t seen each other for so long, there was a lot of catching up to do and it was the first time I met his entire family.  So needless to say, I didn’t end up getting home until about 10:30 pm.

My friend was wondering if my dogs were going to make a mess if kept indoors all this time.  I told him that there was nothing to worry about since both of my dogs are completely litterbox trained.  He had never heard of this before and was quite surprised.

When I got home, sure my dogs were a bit hungry but that’s okay.  A late dinner is never too much of a problem for them.  Best of all, they didn’t mess up my house since being litterboxed trained dogs, they simply use the box whenever they need to.

I just went into the dog room and cleaned up whatever was in the litterbox.  Simple and no mess.  That’s an example of the great benefits of training your dog to use a litterbox.  No need to rush home just to let your dog out for elimination.  No need to have your dog hold everything in for hours at a time.

I have a neat video which shows my two dogs using their litterbox.  I am currently working on a project to teach new dog owners how to train their dogs this way.

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Example When Litter Training Dogs Really Pays Off

Monday, May 31st, 2010
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#dog #dogs #puppy #puppies #puppytraining #dogtraining

This past weekend was a clear great example when litter training dogs really pays off.  I was attending a three day event here in my home town of Mississauga, Ontario which is next to Toronto.  This was the Carassauga Festival of Cultures which takes place each spring and is a multicultural weekend of pavilions showcasing over 60 different countries from around the world.  I had planned to attend this festival to take video footage for my Clint Cora Motivational WebTV series and wanted to check out every single pavilion which would take me the entire three days.

So these were long days away from home and it’s a good thing that both of my lhasa apso dogs Chester and Roxie have graduated from litter training.  I did not need to rush home every several hours just to take them out so they can relieve themselves.  They just went to their litter box whenever they needed to go.

Litter training would be perfect for those who work all day as well.  You never know when you might be delayed coming home because of heavy traffic or some other circumstance.  Rather than having your dog having to hold everything in longer than needed and possibly making accidents at home, the litter box just takes the stress away.

When I did finally come home each night, I did take my dogs out for a bit just for fun and exercise.  One time it wasn’t even a big walk as it was just a romp out in the back where there were other neighbourhood dogs already outside.  So it was playtime more than anything else.

By the way, the Carassauga event was awesome.  Even if your dog is not litter trained, if you live around the Mississauga area, this event is a must see next year.  The sites are relatively close to each other and it would be relatively easy to come home if you have to take your dogs out.  But of course, the litter training option is just so much more convenient.

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Dog House Training Not Complete

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
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A friend was telling me today that she sometimes takes care of her neighbour’s dog when they travel but has problems with this dog because it marks and urinates in different places around her house.  I asked her if her neighbours know about this because this might be more than just an issue of dog house training not complete.

She told me that this dog would often just urinate in front of its owners to spite them.  I wonder what these owners’ style is when interacting with their dog.  I never met them but this might be a case where they are just too soft with their dog.  When this happens, the dog doesn’t really respect the owners as the alpha.

This is the case with one of my neighbours here too.  They are much too soft with their dog.  This dog barks like crazy at other dogs outside and won’t stop even when the owners ask it to.  Notice that I said ‘ask’ rather than command because these owners do not command their dog and therefore as a result, the dog doesn’t listen to them.

I told my friend that I don’t think she should carry the burden of looking after her neighbour’s dog until they take action to properly train it first which not only involves proper dog house training but maybe additional behavioural training as well to re-establish the pecking order in that household.

If I was that neighbour, I would be too embarrassed to leave my dog with somebody else.  If you have thoughts on this, I would welcome your comments anytime below.

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My Puppies Are Five Years Old

Thursday, April 8th, 2010
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I can’t believe that my two lhasa apso ‘puppies’ Chester and Roxie are now five years old – their birthday was yesterday.  It seems only yesterday that I brought them home from the breeder.  It’s been such a fun five years with them, time really does fly.

Of course, one of the reasons why we’ve been having so much fun together is that they are trained quite well.  When you have well trained dogs, you have fun.  When you don’t, then dog ownership can be quite hard.

So the key is to train your dogs well and early on.  Then you too can have lots of fun over the years with your dogs.  Prospective dog owners of course should see my free dog training video as this forms the baseline of what all dogs should be able to do during their training.

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Get Your Dog Socialized!

Monday, March 29th, 2010
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#dogs #dog training  It always amazes me how some new (and some not so new) dog owners fail to get their dogs properly socialized.  Another neighbour of mine has a new puppy a few months old and accidentally let her loose in the back when my two dogs were playing with two other of their doggie friends.  With a new puppy coming into the scene (and barking at the dog group), it’s only natural that the four dog friends will run over and check out the newcomer.

Of course, the puppy got scared with the mob converging on her since she’s never been around other dogs since coming to this owner.  The owner freaked out and immediately carried the puppy inside while yelling at our dogs.

This sort of thing has happened with some of the other dogs in the neighbourhood who are also not socialized.  What usually happens is the owner withdraws their dogs even more from other dogs.  What they should be doing is actively socializing their dogs properly under supervision in a training class.  But most of the time, they just shelter their dogs even more so as their dogs get older, they remain scared of other dogs when they should be enjoying the company of others since they are naturally pack animals.  Again, this is the fault of ignorant dog owners.  Their dogs will never enjoy what it’s like to really be a dog as shown in the video about dogs playing.  Socialization is part of dog training.

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