Archive for the ‘New Puppy’ Category
Puppy with Hacking Cough
March 20th, 2010
My husband came home and called me and said – what did you do to the puppy? He apparently was acting like he was going to throw up but he wasn’t. He said it was off and on, not persistent. I got home and heard what sounded like something being stuck in his throat. It went on all through the night, off and on of course. As I paid attention to him, he seemed to have a few other symptoms, a hoarse throat, watery eyes and nose. It dawned on me, my puppy has kennel cough!
Now, I am a believer in vaccines for dogs and humans. The puppy had his first series of bordatella vaccine a few weeks prior so I think we are lucky that this is a mild case. I can tell today he is feeling better, drinking a bit more. Every once in a while you hear that barky hoarse cough.
I did call my vet and we are going in soon to get a check up. Now he could have picked this up anywhere – a neighbors dog who had been groomed and maybe wasn’t vaccinated, puppy class, anywhere dogs go really. Either way I wont be taking him to puppy class this week so we wont infect anyone else. He’ll just get some TLC for the next few days at home.
Stumble Upon
Del.icio.us
Buzz
Posted in 
Tags: 
101 Ideas for Puppy Socialization
March 19th, 2010
Well, after having a new puppy in my life for a few weeks, I thought I would post my 101 ideas for socialization. Feel free to add yours! The point of all of these are to introduce your dog in a positive way to anything they may encounter in their lives.
- A large dog
- A small dog
- A fluffy dog (ever seen a dog freak out at a newfie?)
- Kids
- Babies
- Bikes
- Skateboards
- Boxes
- Agility Tunnels
- Wire crates
- Airline crates
- Lawn Mower
- Leaf Blower
- School buses
- Garbage trucks
- Kids in helmets
- People in large coats
- People with disabilities
- Wheelchairs
- Sliding opening doors
- Mirrors
- Men with beards
- People wearing baseball hats and glasses
- Fireworks (carefully people!)
- Gunfire – especially if you want to hunt your dog, again, CAREFULLY!
- Gravel
- Grass
- Pet Stores
- Dog Parks
- Swings
- Slides
- Stairs
- Deck material
- Water (safely)
- Bath tubs
- Balloons
- Bubble Wrap
- Eat out of Plastic bowls
- Eat out of ceramic bowls
- The vets office
- The vet
- Training facility
- Sand
- The beach
- Different types of brushes
- A friends house
- Elevators
- Joggers
- Cats
- Farm animals
- Party hats
- Harnesses
- Different types of leashes
- Gentle leader ( I think every dog should learn to wear one – its good for handling their faces)
- Nail clippers
- Dremel
- Dog day care – every puppy should go once or twice
- Being held by a stranger
- Having a friend hold their lead while you walk away
- Shopping carts
- Little shopping carts (that kids can push)
- Hair dryer
- Remote control cars
- Baby toys
- Toys that make noise
- Different shapes of toys
- Kongs
- Rope toys
- Tags on their collar
- Socks on their feet
- Bandanna around their neck
- Visit to the groomer
- Touching their teeth
- Rubbing their gums
- Brushing their teeth
- Walk by a barking dog (always reward your puppy for being quiet!)
- Wobble board
- Weave poles
- Go under a table
- Go under a chair
- Eat from a buster cube
- Eat from a tug a jug
- Pop some balloons
- Have their ears cleaned with baby wipes or tissues (carefully)
- Kids in costumes
- Doorbell ringing (ignore the puppy early on so they dont get doorbell barky for attention!)
- A pizza person
- A mail person
- A UPS person
- Vacuum cleaner
- A large broom
- Short jumps
- Go under a bar of some kind
- Kids running and screaming
- Kids playing a sport
- Honking cars
- Car alarms
- Standing on tables (like at the vets office)
- Elderly People
- Someone with a “different” voice
- Girls wearing long flowy dresses
Puppy Socialization Ideas
March 14th, 2010
As Blaze is getting older and has had a few series of shots, its time to socialize. Lots of people focus on just letting their puppy meet new dogs, so I’m going to share some puppy socialization ideas for ways you can introduce your puppy to the world.
Today I took Blaze to a local pet store. This is a great place to go simply for the sights sounds and smells, but I think most new puppy owners take their dogs here at least once. If you want a dog that can calmly go as an adult, then try taking them here once a week and just walking around, no fussing, no real obedience work – maybe a few sits now and again, but overall keep it calm.
The real puppy socialization ideas are outside of the store. First, the sliding doors that open and close. Those can be kind of scary to a puppy! Next there are shopping carts. You can have your puppy ride inside one, walk beside a moving one, or if your puppy is nervous, just meet it standing still.
I’m lucky that our pet store is near a baby store, so we got a slew of new moms, young kids, babies, and of course baby strollers! Most puppies like kids but be careful your puppy doesn’t jump on the child or bite them. I tend to stand on the leash so they can’t jump. My puppy is used to be holding his head still for kids to pet him, if you haven’t practiced that though your puppy might not enjoy it – so practice alone first.
Another thing I always try to find is someone in a wheelchair, or with crutches. We haven’t encountered anyone yet, but if you are planning on doing any type of therapy work with your puppy later in life, this is a must see.
Post your puppy socialization ideas in our comment box, we’d love to see what you all are doing!
House Training Blaze
March 7th, 2010
Blaze is 10.5 weeks old, and is doing well with his house training. Our big problem is that he goes to the door and sits to let us know he needs to potty. If we aren’t watching, we dont know that he needs to go out! Enter the poochie bells, potty training system.
Poochie Bells are potty training bells you hang from your door knob and teach your dog to ring them as a cue to let you know its time to go out. You can make your own but in my experience they aren’t loud enough. I like these bells because they are well made, have several snaps so you can lengthen or shorten your bells. They are very reasonably priced too.
Click here to purchase a poochie bell
In order to train this behavior, I pulled out the bells, showed them to Blaze and said “yes” and gave him a piece of kibble every time he nudged the bells making noise. From here on out I am hanging the bells and when its time to go potty, I am asking him to do the same behavior by holding the bells up slightly and rewarding him for nudging them with a piece of food and letting him out to potty. As he starts to do it more on his own, the treat will no longer be needed as most dogs love to go outside and that is reward enough.
Puppy Training Blaze Week 2
March 3rd, 2010
Its week two and official training has started. I am of course keeping up with our house training and socialization. House training has gotten better, he is still on a 30 minute potty break but he has started going to the door to let us know he needs to potty. I think its time to introduce the potty bells. Scroll down for his puppy training video this week.
This week we are starting some attention work (eye contact), sit and back up. Sit is pretty easy for most dogs, whenever they sit naturally I say “good sit” and I also use a bit of a lure if I have to. Once they get the concept I ask for it a lot, before they go outside, before they eat, before I love on them, etc – so it isn’t always just “sit for a treat”. If its somewhere new, I use a treat.
For attention, I use the doggie zen method – hold a treat in your hand, wait for eye contact and then say “yes” or click and give the reward.
Backup is not something most owners will teach, but I really want to do obedience and rally, so this is a very important behavior to me. I teach it by simply walking into the dog. I’ve started teaching a bit of a stand in between sits so he is used to me lifting him up. When he walks back I say yes again, and give the treat.
Puppy Training sessions should be short, to the point and fun. Incorporate whatever your dog likes, if its rough housing, treats (food), toys, or being held, use it to your advantage. My sessions are typically about 10 behaviors long.