Muckyhound Dog Training

Doggone Safe: Tip of the Day: Teach Your Children to Speak Dog

2013-07-28T00:59:00.001-07:00

Doggone Safe: Tip of the Day: Teach Your Children to Speak Dog

Tug Of War

2013-03-08T05:10:00.001-08:00

Exercising Your Dog | Teacher's Pet With Victoria Stilwell

2013-02-04T05:25:00.001-08:00

2013-01-29T23:55:00.000-08:00

Part 1 of 3: Pet dog physical, mental and naturalness needs:

During a recent CBTT (Canine Behaviour and Training Technician) lecture the focus was on animal welfare. The lecture content made me think, and reflect, on the situations that our domesticated pets, and specifically pet dogs, find themselves. Do we fulfil the requirements of our pet’s physical, mental and naturalness needs?

Shelter, food and water, although greatly important, are not the only aspects to consider when focussing on the physical well-being of our pets. The increase in pet dog obesity was recently pointed out by the DSPCA in their “operation transformation” programme. We are quick to gasp when seeing an under nourished animal but do not nearly have the same reaction when faced with an overweight or obese animal. Both scenarios points to a failure in meeting the physical needs of the animal.

For this, the 1^st of a 3 part look into the welfare of our pets why not do a quick check to see if your pet is in a good physical condition. The below information, taken from AniEd course material, is a good guide to use but remember to always consult your veterinarian when unsure about the health and physical condition of your pet.

Learning to Share

2013-01-09T08:56:00.001-08:00

Learning to Share

2013-01-09T08:55:00.001-08:00

sliding doberman

2012-11-27T06:39:00.001-08:00

AN INTERVIEW WITH VICTORIA STILWELL by John Bell Young | Life With Dogs

2012-11-13T22:58:00.001-08:00

AN INTERVIEW WITH VICTORIA STILWELL by John Bell Young | Life With Dogs

Hands Off when your dog jumps up

2012-10-15T08:47:00.002-07:00

Patricia McConnell has these words of advice about dogs jumping up:
"Avoid doing what comes naturally, which is pushing dogs away with your hands. Dogs respond to this as if you were playing, and leap back with even more enthusiasm. It's so very common for people to say "down" when dogs jump up on them. But think about is: down isn't the problem, it's jumping up in the first place! All dogs are going to go down eventually! Besides, aren't you teaching your dog to lie down to "down?" Using the word to mean two different things -lie down and don't jump up - is just another way to confuse your dog."

Rescued puppies will need homes…potential owners asked to register

2012-10-10T08:49:00.001-07:00

Rescued puppies will need homes…potential owners asked to register

Left behind

2012-10-06T11:18:00.001-07:00

The Tea Bag as a first aid tool

2012-09-25T02:56:00.001-07:00

Approximately a month ago, at a time when all were plagued by flies and horseflies, Boss, one of our horses started showing signs of an infection of sorts in one of his eyes. It looked sore and was an obvious source of irritation to him. It just so happened that the horse dentist called over during that time and recommended I put a used, wet (obviously cold) tea bag on his eye. So without any hesitation I made myself a cuppa and started the tea bag treatment. After 3 applications, voila Boss’s eye showed a great improvement.

You may well ask why I am sharing this with you as this page is all about dogs. The answer is quite obvious, when you have a terrier, that is. Smudge, one of our two terriers just love hunting around in the hedgerows and quite often come home with thorns in her ears and yes, you guessed it, runny and sore eyes. Two days ago the little princess promptly appeared with extremely sore eyes, more so than usual. So out came the teabags and again, voila, the treatment worked.

I am not suggesting that you ignore what you feel might be worth a trip to the vet and I will never suggest substituting veterinary treatment for layman advice. Should you however find yourself in a situation that the teabag treatment might help until such time as you can get to the vet, why not give it a go.

Healing properties of the tea bag

Should you be the Alpha Dog?

2012-09-23T01:04:00.004-07:00

If this is a topic that is of interest to you this might be a video worth purchasing Alpha dog

One reason why puppy classes are important

2012-09-21T00:07:00.000-07:00

For the single pup in a family home it is vital they have access to adult dogs to continue the parenting role and develop good communication skills. More behavioral problems in adult dogs can be traced back to the absence of this lesson more than any other single factor. They simply do not know how to say "hello," or how to say "hi-but-not-today-thank-you." - Kay Laurence

SIRIUS Sniffer Workshop

2012-09-18T02:47:00.001-07:00

Saturday and Sunday saw me and Clyde attending a two day SIRIUS Sniffer Workshop at Dog Training Ireland, Blanchardstown. It was a great thrill to see the International trainer, Kelly Dunbar, utilising the natural instinct of dogs to sniff and turn it into a challenging game where the dog has to switch from using its brain to using its nose.

Instead of stopping your dog to smell, like almost all of us do almost all of the time, why not allow him to use this, his strongest sense, remember that dogs “see” through their noses similar to how we see through our eyes. You, as handler, can decide what is appropriate in what circumstance but don’t stop your companion from “seeing” his environment totally.

CIRIUS Training

Lawn Burn: The Cause & The Cure

2012-09-13T01:08:00.001-07:00

Lawn Burn: The Cause & The Cure

Teach Your Puppy to Play Tug of War

2012-09-11T10:56:00.001-07:00

Teach Your Puppy to Play Tug of War

The Danger of Incorrect use of Training Aids - Part 1

2012-09-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I took my dogs for a walk along the Slaney River, an amazing walk, with a variety of people with and without dogs, making use of the route.

Not too long after we started the walk I saw, with great delight, a guide dog pup in training walking toward us. Guide dogs are one of my great weaknesses, such a fantastic vocation for amazing dogs. I digress, as we got closer to the oncoming walker and dog my heart sank. The poor dog was walked in a Halti Head collar, now before I get some people’s hackles up, Halti collars can be very good, once the dog has been adequately conditioned to wearing the head collar and, like all other training aids, are used correctly and the user is cognisant of the potential problems that can coincide with the specific training aid.

Let me explain what I saw, the nose strap was pulled right into the dog’s eyes and it was very obvious that the dog was experiencing distress. It is also important to point out that apart from the immediate distress and definite possibility of future eye problems, this level of distress can cause longer term problems for the dog, in that he/she can start showing an aversive reaction to the head collar which in turn can lead to it shying away from going out on a walk. For a future guide dog this can cause major, major problems, even to falling out of the training programme.

As part of the process of choosing the training aid that will suit you and your dog it is vital that you investigate the advantages and disadvantages of each aid you consider.

I will share some facts on training aids with you during one of my next postings.

Travel Sickness

2012-09-07T02:42:00.004-07:00

Earlier this week a friend asked what she could do about her pup getting car (travel) sick. I gave my normal advice when the topic comes up: To use a travel crate or something similar and cover the crate to prevent her seeing out. I have found this to work for me before. She was happy to report back that after using a box for Ruby to travel in she had her first “sick free” journey.

But Ruby’s travel sickness made me think about highlighting some more tips to try and prevent what can be very stressful for you and your dog:

· Do not feed your dog just before travelling

· Allow plenty of fresh air into the car

· If you are undertaking a long journey use regular comfort stops and give your dog fresh, clean water

· It is always good to introduce your new pup to car travel gradually, from an early an age as possible, taking short trips

· Create a positive association to travelling for your dog by linking it to an activity such as going for a walk, going to the beach, etc.. By doing this you can alleviate any stress associated to car travel

· If your dog as already experienced a number of bad experiences stop taking him in the car for a week or two then, if possible, use a different car when starting to take him on trips again

If your dog continues suffering from motion sickness do and see your vet. There are anti-nausea drugs that can help.

Rules about Crate Training

2012-09-06T11:01:00.004-07:00

Crate Training Made Easy
by Pat Miller

A crate, or, in other words, short-term close confinement, can be used to help dogs teach themselves two very important skills. The first is eliminating only when and where it is appropriate. The second skill is keeping out of trouble - behaving appropriately in the house. Without these two skills, a dog doesn't have much of a chance in this world.

A crate is inappropriate for long-term confinement. While some puppies are able to make it through an eight-hour stretch in a crate at night, you should be sleeping nearby and available to take your pup out if he tells you he needs to go.

During the day, a puppy should not be asked to stay in a crate longer than two to four hours at a time; an adult dog no more than six to eight hours. Longer than that and you risk forcing Buddy to eliminate in his crate, which is a very bad thing, since it breaks down his instinctive inhibitions against soiling his den?

Learning the Stay Cue | Teacher's Pet With Victoria Stilwell

2012-08-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

Training clip for the week

2012-08-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

To carry on from yesterday's topic of Sensitisation we are travelling south to the tip of Africa where we are going to take a look at Animal Behaviourist, Cara Williams', input on the topic:

Aim for Habituation not Sensitisation.

by Cara Williams MA - Animal Behaviourist

HabituationWhen we teach our animal companion to not be fearful of novel, possibly threatening situations or objects, we are using habituation. By gradually presenting the situation/object so as at no time is the animal's fear reinforced, the animal learns that it is 'ok'. Habituation requires:

The gradual presentation of the situation/object
It be carried out in a variety of different environments and contexts.
The situation/object to be presented often so the animal does not revert to his original fearful response.

Our animal companions can be habituated to various situations that they need to encounter on a regular basis.

Horses can become habituated to:

People
Other animals (dogs, cows, pigs, sheep).
Veterinarian procedures
Hoses
Trailers
Rugs etc

Dogs can become habituated to:

People
Other animals (dogs, sheep, cats).
Veterinarian procedures
Grooming
Cars
Hoovers etc

Cats can become habituated to:

People
Dogs
Veterinarian procedures
Being groomed etc

Sensitisation Sensitisation is the opposite of habituation. When our animal companion is sensitised to a situation/object, the more it is presented the more fearful he becomes. This is because the fear is reinforced through, for example, pain or surprise. As far as the animal is concerned, the fearful response is justified and so the response strengthens. Sensitisation not only causes the animal to be fearful of the particular situation/object in any environment, when the animal is sensitised he reacts fearfully to other aspects of the environment and his ability to learn or listen to you is reduced. If the rules of habituation are ignored, we risk our animals becoming sensitised to that we want him to accept as being safe.

2012-08-29T00:49:00.005-07:00

We are in the midst of a thunder storm. Not very common in Wexford Ireland. Sensitisation is one of the topics that we are currently covering in the Train the Dog Trainer course, and having not one but two dogs that is showing all the classic signs of Sensitisation and most probably you yourself have a dog or know of a dog suffering from this quite common phenomenon I think it appropriate to focus a little on the subject.

What causes a dog to show such strong reaction to stimuli such as thunder. Sensitisation is a reaction to stimuli, where in most, but no all circumstances the dog will become accustomed to the noise (habituation) it does happen that some dog's senses increase to the stimuli and extreme levels of fear can be experienced. Continued exposure to the stimuli will not decrease reaction, habituate, but instead the dog's reaction becomes more extreme.

At this precise moment of time I cannot continue on the topic of sensitisation as I am trying to calm the two dogs (the thunder storm has increased in intensity) and I have three horses that may or may not need to be calmed as well. However, I will get back to the topic and have a look at what can be done to prevent is from occurring in the first place and what we can do to try and diminish the effects.

2012-08-26T07:06:00.002-07:00

As of yesterday, and for the next two years, I am a certified Canine First Responder. I hope I never have to use my newly acquired skill, but should I need to I am confident that I can give on the spot first aid.

Canine Assistants

2012-08-18T01:40:00.001-07:00

Amazing dogs and well worth taking the time to watch this clip