When is the last time you learned something new: new software on the computer, a new sport, a new card game?  I bet it wasn’t so long ago and it wasn’t too hard to learn.  So why do people assume that a dog is too old to learn?  Not only should you continue teaching your old dog new tricks but you should never give up on his good manners or the wonderful communication you have fostered over the years.

Many older dogs are turned into shelters everyday because their people have given up on teaching them good manners; they just assume it’s too late to change them.  We are here to promise you it is not too late.  The beauty of dogs is they are incredibly flexible in their behavior and are able to learn new things everyday.  The challenge is for the people to take the time to engage their dogs mind so that they can enjoy learning – one of our favorite things to tell people is ‘when the person changes the dog changes too’.

Give yourself credit for everything your dog does well; however everything that annoys you about your dog you have also helped create.  It is simply a matter of learning how you have enabled the behavior and changing what you do.  If your dog barks at the door do you shout ‘quiet!’ and do nothing to stop him or show him what you do want?  He might not have a clue you are even speaking to him, and might just think you are simply joining in the barking.  Does your dog pull on the leash and every effort you have made does nothing to change him?  Well, if you allow him to pull you even one inch in the direction he is headed then you have just taught him pulling works!  Everything you do communicates something to your dog; you just need to learn how to clearlycommunicate the things you want him to understand.

So often when someone brings a new dog home they sign up for training classes and put lots of time and effort into teaching their dog tricks and manners.  As the dog learns and succeeds the person seems to think their job is done and they back off.  A few months/years go by and it seems the dog has forgotten his manners.  The person is bewildered and wonders where it all went wrong and how did their once wonderful dog get such bad habits?  It is the same in all relationships, people work hard in the beginning to start things on a good foot, but as time goes by they slack off and the relationship suffers, sound familiar?  Dogs need their people to engage their minds, keep the relationship fresh and in balance.

Mental stimulation is vital to a dog’s well being, but most dogs end up just hanging around the house and left to do as they please.  They get bored and either act out to relieve the boredom or act up in order to get the families attention, either way it can lead to unhappy families with out of control dogs.

Take a long look into your dog’s eyes and remember laughing at her antics as a pup, the fun hikes, the times you couldn’t stop staring at how cute she was, or just cuddling on the couch.  Now think about what you can do today to start recreating a strong relationship again, get to work engaging her mind, and don’t hesitate to call a good trainer to help you teach her some new tricks, and repair some bad habits. It is time well spent together.

Article Reproduced by permission by Tenderfoot Training 
Tenderfoot Training encourages responsible animal parenting, healthy socialization, humane use of training tools, natural nutrition, and sensitivity to the animal heart, mind, and body.  (Article updated  03/19/2015)

But when it comes to respecting the personal space(s) of humans, many dogs ignore our personal boundaries and invade our personal spaces when we don’t want them to. This space can be our immediate personal space or any space we choose to set boundaries for (like when we are using a kitchen or a bathroom). This pet podcast teaches you how to get your dog to respect your personal spaces through boundary training. (Updated Dec 17, 2014)

Shownotes and links of interest:
Tenderfoot Training DVD

You can download this pet podcast directly by clicking the first link in this post link or listen to it almost immediately, with the embedded player below. This podcast is 00:30:52 in length.

Shownotes and links of interest:
Tenderfoot Training DVD

You can download this pet podcast directly by clicking the first link in this post link or listen to it almost immediately, with the embedded player below. This podcast is 00:39:24 in length.

Pet podcast 60 – Separation anxiety in dogs

Sherry Bedard is an animal behaviourist and trainer working in Montreal. She founded Animal instincts school in 2005 and she teaches people how to become dog trainers. She also consults on a 1-to-1 basis with dog owners that are having problems with their dog. Sherry also teaches canine and feline behavior to students in the adult education program at Vanier College and regularly volunteers her time and expertise at local animal shelters in Montreal.

Related video – How to give a pill to a dog

Shownotes and links of interest:
Cesar Millan Live – Upcoming Canadian Tour information
Cesar’s Way – Cesar’s website
Thundershirt.com

You can download this pet podcast directly by clicking the first link in this post link or listen to it almost immediately, with the embedded player below. This podcast is 00:21:48 in length.

Pet podcast 59 – Interview with Cesar Millan

Or how about this one, you get a new dog for your family and the dog is so excited that it goes through a jumping period where it constantly jumps on you and other family members.

There are quite a few ways to control a dog’s jumping and dog trainer Sherry Bedard offers up a few tips when I asked her how to control or correct a dog that jumps. Sherry responded as follows:

This question can be a little tricky since there are many reasons why a dog might jump on people as they enter the home. A few questions I might have as a dog trainer would be; Is the dog jumping on you, the owner, as you walk in the door? Does the dog jump on everyone as they walk in or just visitors (strangers or known guests to the dog?)

To begin correcting the problem of dogs jumping on visitors, I would recommend that the owners keep a leash next to the door and when someone is at the door, the owners would put the leash on the dog, ask the dog to either sit or lie down next to the owner and the owner should then step on the leash. This will keep the dog from jumping and teach the dog to stay quiet while the visitors are entering the house. The visitors should be advised not to touch the dog or even look at the dog as they enter. When the dog is calm, the owner should give the dog a treat or pet the dog as praise and slowly take his foot off the leash. If the dog remains calm, the dog may quietly say hello to the visitors. If the dog is not relaxed, the owner should continue to hold the dog in place by the door with the leash.

At first, this may take some time and I do realize that this method can be somewhat time consuming and visitors may look at the owners and ask why they are not allowing the dog to go free. But owners should stick to the program if they wish to succeed!

Another method of correction would be to simply put the dog in another room until visitors have come in and then give treats to the visitors to give to the dog and visitors must be asked to ask the dog to sit in front of them before giving the dog the treats. This will teach the dog to sit in front of visitors when the dog comes out of confinement instead of jumping.

All members of the household must work with the same program or the dog will not understand why it is okay to jump some of the time and not other times!

If the dog is jumping on the owners as they enter the house this usually means the dog was overly excited at one point and did not get any attention as the owner walked through the door so the dog tried jumping on the owner to see if the dog would get any attention that way and IT WORKED!!! So now the dog sees jumping as a rewarding behaviour even if the owners are yelling at him to stop! The reward comes from touching the dog as the owner tries to push the dog off.

Correction of this behviour can be done by confinement as with the example in dogs jumping on visitors. Alternatively the owner can keep a water bottle filled with water and water alone by the door as a deterrent. Timing of this method is everything! As the owner walks through the door, the owner should grab the water bottle and spray the dog in the eyes with the water and give a firm “NO!” It is important that the owner try not to touch the dog and the water must be sprayed in the eyes of the dog! Many dogs love water but no dog likes to have water sprayed in his eyes while being told “NO!” in a firm tone of voice!

Now, here is where timing is everything! As the dog sits or backs away without trying to jump on the owner, the owner should immediately praise the dog by saying “good dog” in a happy voice and can then pet the dog to give the dog the physical attention he was looking for. The timing must be done correctly for this method to work so the dog will associate the attention he is looking for with calm, non jumping behaviour and associate the jumping behaviour with the unharmful but annoying water spray in the eyes!

Sherry Bedard is the author of Sherry’s Secret Dictionary, A Guide to Your Dog. She is an animal behaviourist and trainer working in Montreal. She founded Animal instincts school in 2005 and she teaches people how to become dog trainers and  consults on a 1-to-1 basis with dog owners that are having problems with their dog. Sherry also teaches canine and feline behavior to students in the adult education program at Vanier College and regularly volunteers her time and expertise at local animal shelters in Montreal. Recently, Sherry started a dog club called Power Paws Dog Club which offers free training in canine pulling sports.

I remember being taught from a very young age NOT to pet someone else’s dog without permission. I even forgot that rule once and was promptly bitten – lesson learned the hard way. So we have a solution…

For those of you who have ridden horses in the show ring you are taught not to come behind a horse with a red ribbon on their tail because the horse will kick. If you do ride up on this horse and you are kicked then it is your fault because the message was clear and you ignored it.

So if dogs were to wear color coded collars then the stranger would have a clear, universal sign about the dog’s temperament. Green collar means ‘safe to approach’, yellow collar means ‘in training, not predictable’ and the red collar means ‘DO NOT approach under any circumstances’.

The biters could even wear a vest with lettering on it that says ‘DO NOT APPROACH!!’ I don’t know how long it will take for the world to catch on but something has to be done. Should we start a ‘Collar Color Code Campaign’? What do you think?

Sherry Bedard is an animal behaviourist and trainer working in Montreal. She founded Animal instincts school in 2005 and she teaches people how to become dog trainers. She also consults on a 1-to-1 basis with dog owners that are having problems with their dog. Sherry also teaches canine and feline behavior to students in the adult education program at Vanier College and regularly volunteers her time and expertise at local animal shelters in Montreal.

It’s obvious from the video that Sherry’s dog Hailey knows lots of tricks that she wants to perform for the camera, but this technique works well on dogs with no training at all.

In terms of the occasional yapping in the background…sorry about that, this was shot at the SPCA and controlling the background noise is difficult. Gonna choose a different location next time.

Sherry Bedard is an animal behaviourist and trainer working  in Montreal. She founded Animal instincts school in 2005 and she teaches people how to become dog trainers. She also consults on a 1-to-1 basis with dog owners that are having problems with their dog.  Sherry also teaches canine and feline behavior to students in the adult education program at Vanier College and regularly volunteers her time and expertise at local animal shelters in Montreal.

There are a variety of pre-packaged treats you can find at your local pet or grocery store that work well as training treats. But there are simple foods at home that can serve as great treats your dog will adore and also be easy on the budget. Because in all honesty, the pre-packaged treats can get pricey. Cheese cut into tiny cubes, frozen blueberries/raspberries, sliced apples, and even pieces of cooked and cut up chicken or salmon work WONDERS.

The sky is the limit when it comes to training treats for your dog. But remember, not all treats will work the same way. Although carrots are great treats, they will always lose out to steak. For more tips and to contribute your own ideas visit our pet forum: http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=65418