Baying Beagle

Dear New Dog Owner...

2009-07-05T19:37:00.001-07:00

Dear New Dog Owner...

(If time travel existed, this is the letter I'd send to myself when I first became a new dog owner.)

Congratulations! Right now you are fascinated, anxious, and excited that there is a living, breathing dog in your condo. There's a whole world of fun ahead of you and tons of emotional growth you'll experience over time. You have no idea how good it'll be and how your life will change.

I have to warn you though - there are many things about dogs that aren't common sense and you really should know now on day one.

1. Dog socializing is not forcing your dog to meet every dog on the sidewalk, every dog at the park, or any dog tied up outside the supermarket. You wouldn't allow a 10 year old child to "go play" with all the kids standing around the corner store, so why would you do that to your dog? Socializing your dog is about making him feel comfortable just being in the company of other dogs, which may or may not mean a meet and greet. In fact, two dogs meeting on leash on a narrow sidewalk is a very tense situation - kind of like when the mafia and the yakuza meet in a warehouse for a drug deal. There's a good chance somebody will get nervous and accidentally pull the trigger, setting off a big kerfuffle.

2. The books about dog behavior stocked at your local bookstore are generally garbage - save your money. Start by reading Patricia McConnell's "The Other End of the Leash". If you pick up a book that talks about Wolf packs or Dominance, put it down.

3. Ditto with the programs on TV. I admit, I do watch Dog Whisperer and End of my Leash, but mainly because I think the dogs are cute. The training is abusive - you won't be able to tell at this point, but the dogs being "trained" there are under intense psychological stress and trauma. If you are lucky enough to get Animal Planet, do watch Victoria Stillwell's "It's Me or the Dog" though.

4. Don't be in such a rush to let your new dog off leash. Off leash is a privilege for both YOU and your dog - one that must be earned with work.

5. You'd think a dog park is exactly where your dog would want to play. You'd be surprised though, I think he'd rather be playing with YOU somewhere quiet. But you need to learn how to play with your dog and be interesting to him. Start with Tug of War and Fetch.

6. This may be a lot to ask early on, but kibble is terrible for him. For now, can you just add some table scraps on top of his food bowl each night? Just no onions or grapes.

7. Get pet insurance. You will spend more each year than the premium.

8. Work with a private dog trainer that uses positive reinforcement NOW - don't wait. An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure.

Sincerely,

Me in the Future

PS. You know when he's doing that - he's rolling around in poop or rotten food.

Counter Conditioning - TIMING IS EVERYTHING!

2009-06-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

In the last two months we've been working on changing Duke's underlying attitude towards dogs. Much of the work we started off earlier was about teaching incompatible behaviors (i.e. Duke sees dog, he looks at us) but now we're tackling things a bit more head on.

For example, at the dog park - when we unleash Duke and dogs come to greet him, we click and treat as the dog approaches and Duke stays calm. (he takes the treat). When a dog approaches and sniffs Duke appropriately, we click and treat. When Duke approaches a dog and sniffs nicely, we click and treat. The result after just a couple of weeks has been phenomenal. While in the past, Duke used to let out a warning howl and snap to send incoming dogs away, now he tolerates their arrival and allows them to sniff him (and he will often sniff them back).

At the dog park, we usually do this work off-leash. I've gotten good at throwing a treat such that Duke sees it coming and can eat it in mid-air (or anticipate where it'll fall and pick it off the ground right away).

We've been doing the same, on-leash, with certain dogs on the street and sidewalk. Click and treat just for the mere presence of another dog (we're not asking for him to sit or look at us). Click and treat as the dog approaches. Click and treat after Duke passes the other dog. Click and treat if we can get them to meet on leash (major jackpot here).

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1. Safety - we've gone back to using the Gentle Leader so that we can close up Duke's mouth if ever he decided to bite another dog. Also a side effect of the Gentle Leader is it adds a certain level of suppression to Duke, which makes it a bit easier. (Suppression, as I see it, is the underlying fear of something unpleasant - in this case, pulling up to close the Gentle Leader is not exactly a fun thing)

2. Level of intensity and Flooding - if Duke won't take the food (I have waved milk bones right in front of his nose and he's turned away from them) it means the stimulus is too great. If this happens, you either have to lower the intensity (distance is best, or sometimes the particular dog is too "hot" for him) or increase the intensity of the reward.

3. TIMING IS EVERYTHING. The moment you click and treat is really critical. It has to be done the split second your dog's brain picks up the stimulus as its fed from his eyes. Its that split second where his brain is processing what the stimulus means where you have the opportunity to input meaning by a well timed click and treat. If you haven't had a professional dog trainer or behaviorist tell you that your training is bang-on, don't attempt this sort of program without getting expert help. If you're in the Toronto area, I can help you, or I can recommend someone who can.

I recently watched this video by Dr. Sophia Yin that really illustrates the power of classical counter conditioning. This video really shows that TIMING IS EVERYTHING.

Seminar on On-Leash Aggression - May 10 or 29

2009-03-31T09:09:00.001-07:00

For those of you in the Greater Toronto Area - our behaviorist, Joan Weston, is having a two hour seminar on On-leash aggression via our school, Who's Walking Who - see below:

DESCRIPTION:

Does your dog lunge out at some dogs while on leash? Do you feel that you
don't have full control or your dog looses focus quickly? Is your dog
aggressive or just afraid? This seminar is will help sort out the reason
behind the reaction, and help to establish a plan of action to manage your
dogs actions. Joan Weston specializes in aggression and the rehabilitation
of dogs with issues. She is the staff Behaviorist for Who's Walking Who and
is a leading authority on this topic. She is the author of the popular "On
The Couch" column for Dogs Dogs Dogs newspaper and has studied ethology, the
science of behavior, with Dr. Raymond Coppinger. Her complete bio is on our
website, on our Behavioral Consultation page. For registration, if you have
more than one person to attend, please register each person individually.
Thanks.

SEMINAR LENGTH: 2 hours

SEMINAR FEE: $35.00

The two seminar dates are:
May 10, 2009 Sunday at 1:00 - 3:00 pm 889 Westney Road, Ajax 2 min south of
Hwy 401

May 29, 2009 Friday at 6:30 - 8:30 pm 97 Main Street (at Swanwick) Community
Centre 55 in Beaches

You can register here
http://www.whoswalkingwho.net/SeminarsEvents.aspx

If you register please put Helping Homeless Pets in the box that says "How
did you hear of our classes?"

Never too early to start...

2009-03-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Xsara's mom has a new 12 week old puppy - and it is astonishing what she's been able to learn at such a young age! It is never too early to start!

play date with photon

2009-03-03T21:59:00.000-08:00

duke had a reunion with his classmate photon at the beaches off-leash dog park and had a howler-ific time. duke and photon hadn't seen each other since their 'step ahead' class almost 1.5 years ago.

photon impressed us with her leg weaving and duke blew out everybody's eardrums.

we also ran into a classmate from duke's current obedience class!

thanks peter for putting up with duke's overly enthusiastic howling and meeting us in the freezing cold!

i'm sure duke had a really great time playing fetch with photon!

Lessons from Practical Living, Class Four

2009-02-18T19:49:00.001-08:00

(Woops, I missed a post about Class Three)

Today, Duke was a champ! No incidents of howling in class and he was focused the whole time. A few factors playing into his outstanding performance:

1) He's had bouts of diarrhea in the last few weeks due to a diet switch and eating a lot of melting food from the streets. He's feeling better. Illness or injury plays a huge part in reactivity.

2) We fast him on school nights so he's more motivated to do work. Basically he gets a very small breakfast and that's it all day. This just increases his motivation and drive for food reward.

3) We also put cheddar cheese into the treat bag (thereby increasing the value of the rewards)

We were able to walk by many dogs in class, and have many dogs walk by us, and Duke either held it together or we were able to put him in a backaway.

In today's class we learned:

1) Down stay while reading the newspaper
2) Down stay while getting up to go to the door and come back
3) Down stay while other dogs are recalled (Last year, Duke couldn't do this in Step Ahead - he'd recall to the arms of other dog owners calling COME - this year he nailed it!)
4) Go to your Bed
5) Emergency stay mid-recall (see video)

Well done Dukey!

Lessons from Practical Living, Class Two

2009-02-04T19:38:00.001-08:00

Tonight was not so good a class for Duke's on leash aggression.

We got there about 20 minutes early and because the class is so full (12 dogs?) the lobby area was rammed and we were too nervous to go in. As we paced outside in the cold for 15 minutes, Duke was very sensitive and howled at pretty much every dog that was going in or coming out or going by. By the time we got into class, Duke's brain was tired out so he was only able to give us about 20 minutes of good work.

The big lesson we learned here is it is probably better to arrive just before class is about to get started. The lobby will be empty, and we won't waste Duke's energy outside the building or trying to get into the building without incident. Dogs only can focus for so long before they get tired and lose interest so its best to quit ahead. In fact, with 10 minutes left in the class, when a freezed dried liver delicacy put in front of his nose did nothing for him.

Some pluses - For every one time Duke howled at one of the dogs in class there were dozens of times he chose not to, and we were able to leave the facility and have Duke walk by two dogs at close proximity without any fuss.

We'll get it right next week!

Agenda from this week's class:

- Loose leash walking review
- Sit with your dog in down position, while other dogs circle your dog
- "Leave it" with food on the counter
- Back up - have your dog walk backwards
- "May I pet your dog?" - stranger pets your dog without him jumping up or acting silly
- "Hello how do you do?" - stranger approaches you but does not want to touch the dog
- Meet a dog on leash and recall from dog

Lessons from Practical Living, Class One

2009-01-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

After a year hiatus, Duke's back at school! Today was his first day for the Practical Living class at Who's Walking Who, Toronto campus.

The actual class content is a good refresher for Duke, and will be good finishing work, but the main reason why we're there is to expose Duke to as many dogs as possible in a difficult environment to help with his on-leash aggression.

This class is extremely challenging for that aspect, because it is a full house (10+ dogs) in the class prior, and a full house itself (10+ dogs in our class) meaning that Duke has to manage himself in a small room where 20 dogs will go by him at some point in the night. We did not go without some howling - but he only howls when dogs start getting very close. By the end of the 6 week program Duke should be able to sniff and greet many of the dogs in class.

The agenda for tonight:

1) Loose leash walking
2) Heel - with an auto-sit. A good tip we were reminded of was to guide Duke's face away from us for the finish for a nice straight sit (not a lazy 45 degree sit, like we've been tolerating - n.b. he had this problem in Sept 2007 too at Step Ahead, but shame on us for not tightening it up)
3) Sit, stay, and pat on the head, and return
4) Sit, stay, circle Duke, and return
5) Dog bowl manners - place a bowl of food on the floor and expect an auto-sit stay (easy)

All the instructors in class know about Duke's behavioral problem so they were very helpful. We were reminded of some very important points:

1) Reward for the absence of inappropriate behavior. For example, Duke in a down stay while we're listening to the instructor tends to whine. This is actually a behavior he's always had and has nothing to do with on leash aggression. We should wait for a pause in his whining, and mark and praise the quiet. Gradually we would only reward for lengthy periods of quiet.

Applying this principle to on-leash aggression - we should mark and reward for a variety of behaviors, such as sniffing, or avoidance, in the presence of other dogs - not just a watch behavior. If Duke ever makes contact with a dog on leash we MUST mark and reward for that - it is too big of a breakthrough to let go unnoticed.

2) Rewards must always follow markers. For example, in the case of the sit command, we no longer mark and reward for all sits - but IF we choose to mark (YES or click) then we MUST reward. Random reinforcement means the random application of a mark AND reward, not the random application of the reward.

3) A suggestion is we should practice the approach and touching on leash of another dog by getting dog friends to help out. These exercises are well covered in Click to Calm by Emma Parsons and Aggression in Dogs by Brenda Aloff. I need to get serious about getting friends to help out here.

Duke's little brain must be very tired! He aced the obedience exercises but the real challenges lie ahead... like "Meet and Greet" another dog on leash. Duke, you can do it!!!!

Separation Anxiety Update

2009-01-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

Since we initially started this blog to keep track of Duke's progress with his on-leash aggression and separation anxiety, this little post is a quick reminder for us to remember a couple of break through moments that happened this past week.

Ever since we moved, last summer, Duke regressed a bit with his separation anxiety and had to go back to being crated. Well, I'm happy to announce that after practicing planned departures everyday (some departures are as short as 5 min.) for several months, Duke has successfully stayed at home uncrated for 3.5 hours two days in a row!

Both times I found him curled up on our living room couch, sleeping as I walk through the front door. yay :) (Although I do see the sweaty paw prints on our floor of a stressed beagle pacing the house, the fact that he can settle down and nap is awesome beyond words)

Review of Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. and Karen London, Ph.D

2009-01-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

Patricia McConnell needs no introduction. She's the author of the seminal book "The Other End of the Leash" (which I feel should be mandatory reading for every dog owner). I've read dozens of books on dog training and behavior and I've also noticed that the most helpful ones are written by people who have a scientific background and formal education (McConnell has a Ph.D in Zoology and her research focused on interactions between animals and their trainers).

Feisty Fido - Help for the Leash Aggressive Dog, is one of a series of short booklets McConnell's publishing company designed to address very specific behaviorial issues and offer advice in a very succinct and easy to digest manner.

This booklet is designed to help you if your dog is suffering from fear-based aggression while on leash. This book won't be that helpful for other forms of aggression (food/resource guarding, handler aggression, etc.)

What I like most about this booklet is the fact that its written in a way that makes me feel like McConnell and London are talking to me directly. My favorite example is when they describe different training situations in increasing difficulty:

Moderate:
On the sidewalk, as Muffy sees a dog she is friendly with 25 yards away

Difficult:
On the sidewalk, as Muffy sees a dog a third of a block away that she's charged at before

Really Hard:
On a walk when two off leash dogs run up to your dog and try sniffing her while their owner grins from a block away saying "It's Okay! My dogs LOVE other dogs!"

The other strength of this booklet is that it is the best description of a classical counter conditioning program I've ever read. Even a novice dog handler could read this book and do a decent job of implementing the prescribed program.

The only shortcoming of this book is its brevity and where this book ends. By following the program you'll have a dog that is counter conditioned to look at you and avoid pulling towards other dogs while on leash. A side benefit of this program is your dog will heel really nicely too. That's plenty for most and when we got Duke to this level, we were able to enjoy walks again and take Duke all over the place. But if you want to go beyond that and have your dog meet and greet dogs on leash consistently, you'll need to look at Feisty Fido as the first step in a much longer program.

(You can buy the book (and support BayingBeagle.com) from Amazon.ca on the sidebar to the right)

On Leash Aggression with Beagles, Part 2

2009-01-05T06:31:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post here. I found this great blog site by the owner of an Italian Greyhound named Peyton. He has made great progress with Peyton and has a video clip showing two very important techniques that we also use for Duke. If we end up getting cornered (dog on the left, right, front, and back) and there's no escape, this is what we do.

The two exercises being demonstrated are the Back Away and Emergency Hold.

Why are these exercises so important? It is very important to set your dog up for success and prevent him from acting inappropriately around other dogs. Each time he lashes out, you are making his problem worse by reinforcing the behavior. Its just like water - over time, water can etch into stone. Each time you put your dog in a situation where he reacts inappropriately, you've etched that behavior deeper into his psyche.

Peyton's blog can be found here for more reading:

http://igtraining.blogspot.com/2007/09/leash-aggression.html

Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Program

2008-12-30T08:03:00.000-08:00

One more sleep and two exciting things will be happening:

2009 is just around the corner
Elmo will be going on a trial adoption with a very loving and mature family. (A mom, dad, and 8 year old son)

One of my regrets about fostering Elmo is that I haven't given Duke the attention that he deserves. He's sort of reached a plateau in his training and I'm going to use the new year and Elmo's adoption as a catalyst for reinvigorating my efforts.

My aspiration and goal is to have Duke be able to (or be ready to) earn his Canine Good Citizen certification. (CGC)

What is the CGC? (taken from Wikipedia):

The Canine Good Citizen (CGC) program, established in 1989, is an American Kennel Club program to promote responsible dog ownership and to encourage the training of well-mannered dogs. A dog and handler team must take a short behavioral evaluation of less than half an hour; dogs who pass the evaluation earn the Canine Good Citizen certificate, which many people represent after the dog's name, abbreviating it as CGC; for example, "Fido, CGC".

There are ten objectives that a CGC must pass. I am happy to say Duke could pass 9 of the 10 tomorrow if he had to take the test:

Accepting a friendly stranger.
Sitting politely for petting.
Allowing basic grooming procedures.
Walking on a loose lead.
Walking through a crowd.
Sitting and lying down on command and staying in place.
Coming when called.
Reacting appropriately to another dog.
Reacting appropriately to distractions.
Calmly enduring supervised separation from the owner.

Unfortunately, he doesn't react appropriately to another dog. More specifically, the CGC requires Duke to be able to approach another handler and dog on leash, sit, and politely wait while I engage in conversation with the other handler, then depart.

In 2008, Hyedie and I worked diligently on making Duke practice avoidance around other dogs - that is, his automatic response to seeing a dog while on leash is to look at his handler and move away from the other dog. In 2009, I would like Duke to have the ability to greet another dog, touch him, and move away, all while on leash.

I've ordered a set of reference materials and training guides which I will review and keep everyone up to date on our progress over the next year!

Treating Separation Anxiety

2008-12-16T18:03:00.001-08:00

You may have read our previous post about Duke's separation anxiety and what we did to manage it. We thought we understood the condition (and by all standard definitions, Duke had it) but it was mild compared to our foster beagle, Elmo's condition.

Firstly if you are reading this to get help for your dog - the first thing you must decide is whether or not your dog truly has separation anxiety. Destructive behavior or barking at home is not enough. A dog that's experiencing true anxiety while left alone will...

1) Pant and hyperventilate
2) Drool
3) Urinate (immediately)

And... getting to more extreme levels

4) Defecate - with loose stool
5) Vomit
6) Eat door mouldings/scratch doors
7) Self-mutilation

Duke would do items 1, 2, and 3. Elmo does 1 through 6 (Thank goodness he doesn't do #7). He's chewed mouldings off of our doors. He's eaten the mouldings and its come out of his stool. He's scratched at the door. He's had explosive diarrhea in his crate. He's vomited undigested food/bile.

From reading "I'll Be Home Soon" (see our Amazon.com book list for the exact book) and reading many of the online blogs/articles out there, we managed Duke's behavior through crating to keep him out of trouble and using the planned departure method. Elmo's a bit more extreme so we're working on a more intense program. Here's what we're doing.

1) How we use the Crate

Elmo will soil in the crate within minutes if we leave the home. His anxiety overpowers any instinct to keep his den clean. As a result, we use the crate only in these specific ways:

a) He's crated while we're at home in the living room. We're in plain sight of him but through this repetition he'll get used to the confinement aspect of crating while isolating the separation aspect of crating. We will get up and leave and come back intermittently (i.e. getting food from the kitchen, using the bathroom, etc.) Elmo spends far more time with Hyedie and he does with me, and he actually only gets upset when she leaves the room.

b) He sleeps in the crate in the bedroom. In this case his dog bed is in the crate and he goes in there by himself. For now we leave the door open, but we are going to progress to closing him in. Again the objective here is to desensitize him to confinement.

c) In a pinch, if we have to leave home, he goes in the crate --- but unfortunately for now, it is guaranteed that he will pee in the there. At least he doesn't vomit or defecate in there any more. Right now we are renovating our home, so the crate is sometimes the only place he can go. Our preference for Elmo by far is Room Confinement.

2) How we use Room Confinement

We discovered that Elmo did better while confined vs. crated (by accident - we were just trying every possible option to see what worked best). This is what we learned:

a) Elmo, if confined in a room with a closed door, will chew off the moldings and scratch the door. He'll eat the moldings too. Our contractors were amazed that a little 20 pound beagle could do the kind of damage he's done. This is obviously not good (fortunately, everything in our home is going to be replaced as part of our massive renovation) for most home owners with doors and mouldings they are happy with... and the risk of Elmo injuring himself is too great.

b) Elmo, if confined in a room (in this case, our mudroom addition attached to the kitchen) by the use of double stacked baby gates would NOT try to eat his way out of the room. I learned that a closed door becomes a powerful barrier and an object of focus for a panicked dog, while confinement with see-through gates is something entirely different.

c) Comparing Elmo to Duke --- Duke's preference was to be crated. We tried confining Duke in the condo and found that he would soil himself if confined, but hold it if crated. Not sure why, but I guess every dog is different.

3) The Gameplan:

1) We'll be building up Elmo's tolerance to confinement by crating him as often as we can and as for long as we can in ways that keep him from going over the edge (urinating). Over time we'll slowly increase the amount of time that we crate him and slowly increase the distance and duration that we leave him alone while crated.

2) We'll continue to use confinement when we have to leave for a very long time (1 hour or more)

3) We'll employ every tactic in the book (I won't go into detail - just google the topics - there are plenty of articles about each strategy), including:

a) Leaving an article of worn, soiled clothing with Elmo
b) Feeding in the crate (always!)
c) Leaving frozen peanut butter kongs and other chew toys (he ignores them for now)
d) Low key departures
e) Ignoring him when we return (for at least a few minutes, and slowly build up)
f) Naturopathic / holistic remedies - Rescue Remedy, Star of Bethlehem added to his water
g) Under consideration, although we're not acting on it now - DAP Diffusers or possible anti-anxiety medications.

Thanks for reading... hopefully this helps you - it will certainly help us as we track Elmo's progress. He's worth it! Whoever adopts this lovely dog, by the time we're done with him, will have themselves an issue proof dog that is the star of the dog park.

By the way, that's Elmo in the video below. Hyedie's just left the living room so he's whining a bit while I sit here writing this blog post watching TV. We're proud of him! He's made a lot of progress in a very short amount of time.

Before you decide to get a dog...

2008-11-14T22:18:00.000-08:00

Not to brag, but people often tell us that Duke is a super cute dog is so very well behaved, walks so nicely on leash, and is super focused and attentive and smart! And they're always impressed with how he can spin jump on command or has an almost limitless down-stay!

In our instant gratification society, people see a well trained dog and just assume that buying a puppy from a breeder or rescuing a dog from the local SPCA/shelter/rescue agency means they get to have that too.

We don't always have time to tell them this, but...

-Duke used to pull our arm socket out on walks
-Duke used to get into "hunter mode" and stop responding to anything
-Duke used to soil himself within 10 seconds of us leaving him alone
-Duke used to howl for 3 out of 8 hours of the day when left alone
-Duke has caused us to get calls from our condo board/notes left on our door because of his howling
-Duke used to refuse to go into Down position, to the point where he'd try to bite us
-Duke has bitten dogs till they've bled
-Duke has bitten a man in the hand till he bled

When we adopted Duke, we told the rescue people that we were committing to care for him for the rest of his natural life, thick and thin. We had no idea what we were getting into, but we knew even then that if we gave Duke up, he was likely going to bounce around and end up dead. His life became our responsibility the minute we opened our home to him.

If you are considering opening your home to a dog - whether you buy a puppy or rescue one - ask yourself the following questions. If you can't answer yes to each one, please reconsider -

The easy stuff:

1. Are you willing and able to devote at least 60 minutes a day for walks (30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes at night), 365 days a year?
2. Are you willing to invest in professional dog walking or alternative arrangements so your dog can get a break in the middle of the day?
3. Are you willing to have your rugs or carpets soiled as you potty train?
4. Are you willing to spend 30 minutes a day to build a routine for your dog? (i.e. Outside for pee at 7am on the nose, feed your dog in the crate, make him sit before you go for a walk, make him sit before he gets a treat, spend 10 minutes a day on basic obedience routines)
5. Are you willing to be actively engaged with your dog when you are out for walks and play? (Not having your dog walk you while you chat on the phone)

And the tough stuff... which MOST people will never have to be asked, but SOME will.

6. Are you willing to compromise on your career path due to your dog? (i.e. pass up that transfer to London, England, because the UK requires all dogs to be kept in a kennel for 24 months to observe for rabies)
7. If your dog hurts another dog or person, will you still love it unconditionally?
8. If your dog is seriously ill and requires thousands of dollars in expenses, are you ready to make that investment?
9. If your dog develops issues that may require months, or potentially years of regular (but not time consuming) work, are you ready for that?

Every dog deserves parents that can answer yes to the first five, and yes to most if not all of the last four.

Basic Training #1 - FOCUS and attention!

2008-10-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how long we'll have Elmo for, as he's generated a lot of interest and applicants... but we're not letting that stop us from helping him be the best Beagle he can be.

The most important, yet overlooked behavior that I find many dogs lack is the ability to focus. By that, I mean:

1) Looks at you instantly when you call their name.
2) Will continue to look at you with strong interest until released.

If you can teach your dog the ability to focus, all other basic obedience commands (sit, stay, come, down, etc.) will come easy.

elmo the foster beagle

2008-10-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

things i love about elmo:

he is still very much a puppy and looks at things in wonder
his sudden bursts and happy jumps during our walks
he is clingy, but that makes him sweet and snuggly
he gives kisses
for a 1 or 1.5 year old, he's super laid back
he's very much a beagle, nose to the ground, a serious investigative sniffer

sure elmo is still probably scared and learning to adjust to his new life (he was found as a stray), but so far he is far less anxious than duke was when duke started his new 'urban' life with us.

i get so furious, frustrated and sad to think that someone gave elmo up. if barlee's didn't work hard to find foster families, elmo and the other 14 dogs would have died last week. in fact, due to the pit bull ban in ontario, one dog was put down b/c she couldn't be brought into the barlee's program.

sad. sad. sad.

... but i have to look forward. elmo is going to be the first of many beagles that we would like to foster. and the thought of bringing love to future beagle parents helps counter the negative, sad feelings.

big news!

2008-10-05T22:09:00.001-07:00

through the agency that helped us adopt duke, we were lucky enough to be chosen to foster elmo the beagle.

through many volunteers and a lot of big hearts, we picked up elmo tonight, who had a very long day driving up here from ohio.

the other dog that was picked up today is sylvie.

both dogs have been rescued from a shelter that was over capacity. these two dogs were among 11 that were scheduled to be put down last week. it seems like all 11 dogs will be saved thanks to the tireless volunteers at barlees for organizing this spectacular rescue operation!!

from liaising with the shelter, to finding appropriate foster families for these dogs, the work that the barlees volunteers do is absolutely amazing.

2008-09-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

we've recently moved into a house and since there are less yuppies/bar stars in our new 'hood, there are less dogs too. this has made life more relaxing for duke.

sometimes we won't even see a dog for the whole duration of a 45min walk.

interestingly, when we do encounter dogs now he has been pretty calm and rarely has his howling bouts. he has yet to go ballistic over a dog in this new 'hood.

we've even had a few great run ins where we've been able to walk past dogs on the same side of the sidewalk. sure he needs his treats to get past the dog, but at least he doesn't howl!

another interesting thing. in our old neighbourhood, duke would sometimes pick up a scent and would go into what we call 'hunter mode'. in 'hunter mode' duke is squeeking and sniffing at an extremely rapid pace. during this time he can't even hear his name and he pulls like he's forgotten how to walk on leash. sometimes these trails would lead us to an un-neutered dog.

what's interesting is that in this new 'hood, there are more dogs that aren't altered, yet duke has yet to go into 'hunter mode'.

all in all i think duke is enjoying his new life in the new 'hood!

Separation Anxiety

2008-07-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

I found this video of another Beagle who suffers from separation anxiety. Notice how the beagle leaves the food and water alone... he is too upset to think about eating. I'm sure if there were chew toys and other things they would be left alone too.

Duke, when we first adopted him, was far worse. He'd urinate within minutes of being left alone and howl non-stop, destroy rugs, chew his leash, and overturn everything in sight.

We've been working on this and he's getting better. We've left him alone for 1 hour and recorded him as well (audio only). He generally settles down after howling for a few minutes and in the span of an hour may howl 5-10 times in total. Patricia McConnell has a great booklet called "I'll Be Home Soon" which describes the program of desensitization we're following.

Some key takeaways:

1) Leave home and come home without fuss. We ignore Duke when we come home and when we leave we try to do it promptly and ignore him.

2) Associate positives with being home alone - We feed Duke his meals by the door and leave as soon as he gets his food.

3) Slowly turn up the length - We started by just sitting outside the door for 3 minutes.. then 4... then 5.... and now we're able to go to the gym and work out (1 hour)

4) Exercise helps - we make sure Duke has plenty of activity like fetch, tug, etc. to make sure his natural prey drive instinct is well satisfied.

What we've read is after you break the 2 hour window, your dog is pretty much cured!

Charlie and Duke

2008-07-01T08:19:00.001-07:00

Natural Foods for Dogs Recipe Book

2008-06-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Its been about 1.5 months since the change from kibble to natural food. I ordered a great book that has a ton of recipes that are easy to follow. The book also lists foods that are dangerous for dogs (ie. onions, chocolate, etc.) and also has a section on calcium supplements.

Read more about it here (including how to buy!)

www.naturaldogfood.com

I hypothesized that Duke's improved behavior may have been because of the food, but I'm convinced that its an absolute fact. In fact, the author of Natural Dog Food clearly states that a change in diet can fix behavioral issues.

Its worth noting that cooking for your dog doesn't mean cooking every day. We typically prepare batches of food and freeze it and serve throughout the week.

If you think about it, its worth it - after all - if kibble can sit in the open for months and not get moldy, it means that its either loaded with preservatives or it lacks nutrients to the point that bacteria can't even thrive off it.

2008-06-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

we're really lucky that we have a beagle we can take off leash. his recall is pretty good and he is ball obsessed. duke gets a lot of exercise b/c he loves to play fetch!

2 days ago, however, the designated off-leash area was filled with tents and there were a lot of trucks and cars driving around getting ready for a festival on the weekend. so, i decided to play fetch in an area that is technically an on-leash area (despite 85% of all dogs being off leash there).

duke and i were happily playing fetch when all of a sudden he caught a scent and dropped his ball mid-way through bringing it back. despite calling him, he wouldn't come back. he started running across the park. he was definitely on to something.

that something was a lady's sandwich! as i was running after him, i saw him approach the lady and her baby on the lawn. as i got closer, duke jumped up and took a bite out of the lady's sandwich directly from her hand!! CHOMP!

needless to say, i received a well-deserved lecture on keeping dogs on-leash.

Homemade Food

2008-05-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

In the last month we've switched from feeding kibble dog food (Wellness Super 5 Mix Chicken) and started feeding him homemade food. His meal typically consists of:

1. 50% Lean Protein - chicken breast/thigh, or baked salmon
2. 25% Complex Carbs - ground up brown rice.
3. 25% Vegetables - celery, carrots, bok choy, pumpkin, etc.

We've read that you need to use a calcium supplement as well. We've been adding cottage cheese or ground up eggshells.

There are a few books on dog nutrition at www.dogwise.com that I want to pick up to ensure we're covering all of Duke's nutritional bases but from the last month we've observed a lot of changes in Duke:

1. His bad breath is gone!
2. He doesn't fart nearly as much!
3. His poo is a lot smaller and richer in color (and less stinky)

Perhaps on a separate note, he's been very well behaved too! Not sure if there's a correlation with the diet or not...

getting better

2008-04-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

going back to the basics of desensitization has helped us and duke is getting less reactive to dogs we see on dogs walks.

at the park and on our 2 walks today, duke was a star! good job duke!!

Spring Fever

2008-03-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

The snow has melted and the weather is warming up. Duke's been eating a lot of rotten food that is thawing out of the snow and unfortunately he's had some farting and poo issues. This plus the seasonal change might be the reason why we've had some very naughty walks lately, including one afternoon where he was lunging, howling, and pulling as bad as before we started working with Joan! We've learned in the last year that all dogs have ups and downs and Duke might just be ill or feeling weird with the weather so we're just hanging in there.