Apollo has arrived

This is Apollo.  Apollo was a free dog on craigslist in Kinderhook, NY. My friend Heather from SFLS made me aware of him.  I talked with the owner and made arrangements to go meet him and see if he was appropriate for the Shepherds for Lost Sheep program.  Of course I took him. He is about 7 months old and is a GSD mix.  The only problem he has is that he absolutely hates to be alone.  He got to meet Maggie and Tim and Danny before I brought him home and they approved of him.  We got home and he had to meet the whole pack here plus my daycare dog was here.  Barney proceeded to give Apollo the instructions of the house, I'm sure included in those instructions was the fact that Barney is the Big Dog!!.  Dinnertime came and it was time to start learning sit and wait for his dinner.  He didn't eat all his food and it disappeared.  He really wasn't too concerned.  He is still settling in.  I can hardly wait to see what tonight brings!!  I'm not counting on a lot of sleep.

Service dogs

I am so bad at blogging and journaling.  I think I will remember things and then I remember nothing.  So let me catch you up.  At the end of August I went camping with Shepards for Lost Sheep.  This is a family that obtains and trains dogs for veterans.  I wanted to learn more about training service dogs and they were gracious enough to include me in their family.  I didn't know how bad it sounded until I said it out loud--"I went camping with a bunch of people I met on Facebook."  Haha.  Luckily they are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  They had with them a dog that has been a service dog for 3 years and a dog that has been a service dog for about 3 months, a dog that was just beginning her training and a dog that was to meet her vet for the first time and finish up her training.  I took Emma with me hoping they could show me what I needed to do to meet the requirements for her becoming a service dog.  Tim said she was very well trained and went through her Public Access Test and she qualified to become a service dog.  She is now my registered service dog.  Emma learned a lot about being a service dog from the dogs she went camping with.  She was off leash for 2 days in the woods and never left me.  She laid at my feet whenever I sat down.  Now that we are at home, she makes sure she is where she can see me.  I need Emma with me because I have back problems that cause my legs to give out and she prevents me from falling and helps me on stairs which are scary for me.  I am getting grief from some factions of the public about having my service dog with me at all times, they don't understand.  Some are willing to be educated and some are very closed minded and unwilling to learn about how my dog and I are a team.  Right now, there are certain places that will not allow my dog access.  If my dog can't go there, neither can I. 

Yesterday I had a young lady call me to ask if I knew anything about training service dogs.  Now I know why I went camping when I did.  This young lady needs a psychiatric service dog to help her function normally in life.  What a blessing it is to be able to help her and her dog.  I contacted SFLS to see if they had any tips on helping with the psyche end of it and they emailed me 3 pages of information that is very helpful.    I am looking forward to working with this young lady and her dog.  She has a young family and will be able to do things with her family that she would not be able to do without a service dog. 

This is a picture of Jason meeting Harley for the first time.  Jason had a service dog that died and Harley is going to be helping him out with things that he can no longer do for himself.  Thank you for your service Jason.

Rescue

I love rescue and am very involved in it.  I have many friends who are involved in rescue.  Then problem with rescuing puppies at a very young age is that they are taken away from their Mom too soon.  There is a reason breeders keep puppies for 8-12 weeks before they adopt them out.  There are certain things that the adult dogs teach the puppies and it is something different every week.  I took Emma at 6 weeks because I was impatient. Now I cannot get her to go down stairs.  Well, Mom teaches them how to not be afraid in the 7th week.  So this is a person mistake and not a problem dog.  I have to deal with it.  So when you get a dog that was taken away from Mom too soon, it is very important to get that dog socialized with as many other dogs as possible so the dog can learn how to be a dog and how to not be afraid.  This takes a lot of work and a lot of patience.  So if you adopt one of these type of puppies, please be aware and don't give up.  You can always call me.

Spoiled dogs

Do you consider your dogs spoiled?  I do.  My dogs have the best of everything.  They have good food.  They are allowed on the furniture if they want to be there.  They get lots of hugs and praise and treats as rewards for good behavior.  They sleep in the warmth in the winter and the cool in the summer.  Lots of cool water.  They usually get what they ask for--like asking for a Kong to be filled.  At night they sleep where they want, inside or outside, in a crate or not.  They get scraps of people food when we are done eating.  However, my dogs have rules and they know who is in charge here, and it's not them.  I just fostered a very spoiled Pyr.  He was rather big at 140 pounds and stood almost as tall as my waist.  His owner just loved him to death.  He wore a bib when he ate.  He went to the groomer every day.  He had been to formal obedience classes.  His owners split up and lost their house and his Dad had to go live with his parents.  He couldn't take the dog because the dog has resource guarding issues.  He was not to be trusted around little people and food.  He was adopted by a couple who had him for 3 weeks and then sent him back to rescue.  Why? It seemed that the dog claimed the ball was his and bit the man to get it.  Here is where he ended up.  I decided to work with this dog.  I tried hand feeding him--that wasn't happening or I would not have a hand.  For four days, I held his bowl while he ate.  On the fifth day he bit me.  He had a fit if he was in his kennel with the gate closed and I would pour water into his bowl next to his food bowl. The funny thing was he would take a cookie from your hand with no problem.  It was decided last week to send this dog back to TN, where he had come from.  This morning I was transporting him to Catskill for the first leg of his trip.  I could not put him in the backseat because I had my grandkids back there.  He was riding with his paws and head on my right leg.  When it came time so shift, I reached for the shifter and he attacked me.  He must have decided the shifter was his.  When I reached for my coffee cup, he grabbed my other hand.  I was being attacked while I was driving with 2 little kids in the backseat.  I managed to get control of the situation, drop the kids off and put the dog in the backseat.  From there he was no problem.  This was also not a warning bite, it was a bite and hold type bite.
So the question is how spoiled do you want your dogs?  Do you let them know who is in charge?  There is more to dog training than obedience classes.  This dog should have been corrected the first time he tried resource guarding, but he was probably a cute little puppy and he would grow out of it--right?  This guy claimed to love his dog beyond compare and yet he created a dog that will most likely have to be put down at the age of 2.  Do you love your dog enough to make him a responsible citizen?  This speaks to the matter of BSL.  Pyrs are on the list.  I have been working with Pyrs for a great number of years.  This situation is not a matter of what breed the dog is but how he was raised.  So do you and your dog a favor and practice leadership skills that let your dog know who is in charge--and it hadn't better be him!

Hide and Seek

How many of you play hide and seek with your dog?  It is a great game to firm up their recall.  The kids can play it with the dog.  Hide somewhere in the house and then call your dog.  When he gets to you praise him and let him know he is the smartest dog in the world.  This makes the recall fun for both of you instead of frustrating when you are "formally" training and the dog ignores you.  If training isn't fun for you and your dog, you're not doing it right.

Positive Punishment

I just got around to reading some old emails and this stuck a chord in me.  I am guilty of telling my dog no or uh uh.  Guess I have some work to do.  For those of you who don't know who Susan Garrett is, she is an agility trainer which means she doesn't have a leash attached to her dog to give corrections when the dog does something wrong.  Leslie Nelson said if you want to see what kind of trainer you are, take the leash off.  I definitely have work to do.

Positive Punishment:
If you are still using positive punishment (physical or verbal corrections) in your dog training please know they are not only unnecessary but they are taking you a step away from where you really want to be; one of harmonious teamwork with your dog. Because I do believe our dogs are a reflection of our abilities as a dog trainer, when I see someone trying to teach something like  a sit stay and they come out with "errrrrr" or "noooooo!!" or "aaah aaah" when their dog moves I immediately think, two things.
My first thought is, wow, that dog is being blamed because his owner did not do a good enough job teaching him sit means "don't move . . . no matter what."
My second thought is that you are drawing attention to yourself, just as if you were clearing your throat to make a big announcement to a crowded room . . .
"Aaaah aaaah, excuse me everyone, if you can hear me I would like to draw your attention to the absolute crap job I did of training my my dog's sit stay, you will notice he did move toward the distraction  . . . thank you, thank you for this acknowledgment."
I know sometimes it is frustrating because we believe the dog "should know better" but the solution to your frustration does not lie in physical pain or intimidation. The answer lies in a better manipulation of the reinforcement your dog is seeking.~~Susan Garrett

Puppies as prizes

I find this disturbing on so many levels.http://www.dogster.com/the-scoop/puppies-as-prizes-on-toddlers-tiaras-shame-on-you-tlc?utm_source=Sters+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=807ccb4e71-06122012_Dogster_newsletter_6_9_2012&utm_medium=email