Pie trains Betty!
June 15, 2010
Betty trying to convince Pie that she is more interesting than his bone!
I am fascinated watching Pie and Betty, I don’t have them together all the time, they spend a good time apart or I will lose my puppy to Pie! And I need and want a good relationship with both of them! But when they are together I love to watch the interactions, in a little over a week Pie has taught Betty not to jump on him when he is lying down, well for most of the time! She does forget sometimes when she is very excited, how has he taught her you ask? 🙂 He is a lesson in determined persistence, he never loses his temper, the volume goes up sometimes to a bark, but mostly it is a grump noise that deters her! Every time she jumps on him he grumps, it took sixish times for her to get the message (the 6 repeats to train anything applies to this too it seems!), sometimes he backs up the grump with walking away, sometimes he stands up to bark then lies down again. Betty ends up squirming on her back looking as cute as she can to win him over, and submitting to boot! Sometimes, when she is half-hearted in her attempts he simply ignores her. The most I have seen him do under severe provocation is to hold her nose in his mouth, but he can’t be biting as I have not heard Betty squeal once, he hasn’t frightened her once! Pie is a very good puppy trainer! Every day and on every occasion he repeats the same similar procedure, and now he is reaping his reward, he can lie in the kitchen or garden nine times out of ten without being pounced on. Betty tries every angle, playing with his tail is allowed until she hits his tail bone, when the grump comes again!
My old Teddy, the dog that Pie grew up with was more fierce with him, I wonder if that was because Pie was a tougher puppy, but I suspect it was more to do with Teddy being a tougher leader, as was his Mum, Truly, who he grew up with.
I know in the wild the pack leader varies in how bossy and tough they are, it is about personality types, just as in people.
In dog training it is far more productive to be gently persistent, by repeating over and over the exercise or deterring a behaviour the dog will learn and retain training only through these consistent repetitions. Where as if “scare” tactics are used the dog simply freezes, learns nothing and once recovered from the scare will repeat the old behaviour.
Betty is truly learning not to jump on Pie, and I am coming to appreciate Pie in a new way. My dear Teddy, who died last February, was a saint of a dog, and it has been tough for Pie to become top dog in my heart, but he is working his way through just as persistently as he is training Betty!
Betty learns not to jump on Pie!
Dogs and swimming pools? Question from Jacquie
June 10, 2010
“Just a query as you know I don’t now go out as a behaviourist anymore just get the odd question posed by close friends and family members, but my niece has asked me a question, they have recently moved to a house with a pool, they have an 18 month old cocker bitch, not spayed, whenever a member of the family is in the pool the dog is frantic, obviously it is worried that the person in the pool is going to drown, the dog does not jump in just runs round either barking or crying, if they put the dog indoors and continue she cries as she is obviously trying to look after the family and make sure they are not coming to any harm. I just wonder if you have come across this before, if it were a golden it would be in the pool with the person and enjoying itself, so it’s not one I have come across before, I would say leave the dog indoors before they even go into the pool, but I suppose they would feel that was unfair and want the dog in the garden with them, but my thoughts are if the dog doesn’t know what is going on then it’s not going to get worried as to what is happening to one of the family
Jacquie Smallcombe”
Reply
Good to hear from you Jacquie I agree with you, I would leave the puppy indoors, age will help the dog to understand better, I would add that I think the noise is about the dog wanting to get to them and being frightened of the water, so the conflict of wanting to get to them and not wanting to go in the water. In time the dog would go in the water, they could hasten this by sitting in a shallow part of the pool near the edge, the dog is likely to venture in with some encouragement. Should they not wish the dog in the pool though, leave in doors for now.
I would add a thought too, I have had a few reports of dogs getting under pool covers in the winter and sadly drowning, so just make them aware of this should the dog get to like going in.
Best wishes Avril
Betty meets Mac!
June 9, 2010
Betty meets Mac
Tuesday I was baby sitting my nephew Mac while Mum Lucie had a hair cut, I took my entertainment with me, Betty! Mac is used to living with a dog and loves animals, he was fascinated by Betty as she was with him! They got on great, Mac is a perfect child to introduce a puppy to as he is relaxed with dogs, not at all phased by her rushing around and jumping about! Mac was so gentle with her, a great start to her experiences with small children.
By introducing Betty and continuing to expose her to children from this young age, she will grow up enjoying children!
By the time Lucie came home Betty was sound asleep and Mac content with me following him round 🙂
I have to confess, that evening I had a really painful neck, no idea how I did that, but it is at times like that it is hard work having a small puppy, all I wanted to do was lay on the sofa and watch TV and sulk about my neck! Betty had to make do with less than usual attention from me! Pie was grateful for some down time on the sofa with me:) Thankfully today I have been to a great therapist, Beth, and I am much better!
Betty’s first walk!
June 8, 2010
Monday and the start of our first proper week, Betty is now feeling quite at home and safe and I need some routine so that I can get some work done amongst all this puppy training!
I start the day with a walk coupled with a little training with Pie, next it is Betty’s turn. The part I find hardest about having more than one dog is having to split myself between them and the knowledge that up to a few days ago Pie was an only dog, having my undivided attention, like every other dog owner I feel guilty that he is not ever going to get all the attention again, but he is a dog and he can and will adjust! By walking him first on his own he gets the most important (in his eyes) part of the day to himself :)!
I must have time alone to train Betty before Pie becomes the most important person in her life!
I need to tire Betty out so that I can get some work done, I take her on a new adventure out of the garden! I carried her to the nearby paddock, she changed immediately we left the garden, becoming a little subdued and more alert to the sounds of nature around us, these were the same pheasant noises she heard in the garden, but now she was on the alert! I alternated carrying her and putting her down and encouraging her to follow, sometimes she would just sit and be a little afraid to follow, if I couldn’t persuade her I simply picked her up again, I want her to know I am safe, whatever else might happen! Once we turned back to home she became braver and was now on the ground all the time, coming onto land for the second time made that much difference! I kept moving away from her to stimulate the natural instinct to follow, which she did happily. I had put some of her puppy food in my pocket and now she was more relaxed I started calling “Betty puppy” and giving her a piece when she arrived, it took about 3 or 4 pieces before she twigged that it might not be an accident, and I then reduced the sound to “Betty” to start the job of teaching her her name. (Most breeders call “puppy” or similar when feeding the litter, in the early days before the puppy has learnt her name this call can be used to wean the puppy to her new name), having programmed her with the food, she happily continued to respond! The whole “walk” only lasted about 10 minutes and I was carrying her for a good part of it. We arrived home and Betty went silly with confidence now she was back on familiar territory, yet I had seen the signs of stress and knew she was tired, time for me to work and Betty to have more practice with the crate door shut. I put the crate by me as I sit at the PC, it took a few minutes for her to settle, we had a bit of whining, but it was half-hearted and simply her winding down from the excitement, she was soon fast asleep again!
Betty and her new favourite toy the milk bottle!
Come my coffee break two hours later, I took her out to the toilet and a little play in the garden before leaving her in the kitchen, crate door open to amuse herself while I went back to work, her favourite toy today is an empty plastic milk bottle, very cheap toy! Apart from lunch time she spent the time in the kitchen to sleep or playing on her own until it was time for my Pilates lesson, and another outing! This time in the car I put her in a small carry crate that would fit on the front sit, this way she was secure and could see me, she settled very quickly, this means that in no time she will be in the crate in boot, once I am confidant she feels secure.
Coffee break and a quick scratch at her collar
Meeting Tracey and Pilates
Betty in her car carrier
At meal times I use about half her food to teach Betty sit and down, well at 3 of her 4 meal times, in the morning I just want some tea! I will make a small video and show you this soon!
I look forward to your comments and questions 🙂
Visitors and adventures at Barnards Bridge!
June 7, 2010
Butter wouldn't melt!
Day 3 and 4!
On saturday I had a group at the house for the dog Behaviour/psychology course, so 7 new people for Betty to meet! She was in her element with so many cuddles, Annie does such a great job with her litters, they have so many visitors from day one that new people are a part of their life from the start, and being raised in the house everything domestic is easy for Betty! With so much going on all day the evening with Betty was easy, she was nicely tired out, so feet up time for me!
Sunday I took Betty to meet my good friends Adam and Ian at Barnard’s Bridge, a great place to take a puppy for social experiences. Having met “the gays” (Ian’s words!) we took her into the garden for a photo shoot, Ian is a great photographer and I look forward to sharing some of the photo’s with you when Ian gets them to me! A very large Buff Orpington chicken was busy in the garden already and came over straight away to have a look at Betty, I am not sure what the hen thought she was but she wasn’t happy to see Betty and began to stalk her, Betty tried to ignore this big feathery stalker, but it was getting closer and eventually she couldn’t resist any longer and approached her, the hen is called Elizabeth :), Elizabeth was not impressed and fluffed herself up even bigger and looked like she might strike Betty, Betty ducked and made a hasty retreat to me where she got a big cuddle! What a great start for Betty to learn not to chase chickens, over the coming weeks I will take her back for another look and to reinforce this lesson.
The chicken was the only thing to phase Betty, the garden she loved and explored and romped in while we drank tea and Ian continued capturing her on camera. Before leaving we made a brief visit to the other animals, Barnard’s is like the ark! Donkeys, ponies, goats, sheep and Alpaca’s. Standing at the gate with Betty held high, Ian called the animals and they came galloping down the field, sheep baaing noisily, Betty was not impressed, this was seriously scary!
It is a common myth that holding a puppy at a time when they are scared will make them more scared, in fact the reverse is true, the shepherd carries the Collie puppy, often in his pocket on their early introduction to sheep. Now my guess is this was done originally for practical purposes to stop the puppy being trampled, but the outcome is that as the puppy gets to view the sheep from on high and remain safe they get braver and come to feel superior to the sheep. If carried around the sheep for too long the puppy would grow to have little respect or fear of the sheep, so timing is everything, I will show Betty the animals from my arms until I feel she is confidant, but she will go on the ground on a lead when the time is right to learn respect also.
Betty was stressed by so many new experiences and this showed itself by her going sleepy, time to go home. In the car Betty fell asleep immediately, once home she bounced back to life, but I knew how much the morning had taken out of her, so having fed her it was time for a snooze, a great time to close the door on the crate, though I had the crate by me so that she could see me, Betty slept for 3 hours!
The way I try to work it with my puppies is, when they have a lot of energy I look to give them a new experience, this way it makes sure I keep on target to expose them to enough life experiences so that they can cope easily with my life style. and at the same time limits the mischief they get into and therefore keeps me sane! New equals stressful equals sleep puppy, too much stress and stimulation can lead to health problems or a hyper active dog. I find if I let the puppy guide me through noticing how full of beans they are, we can keep roughly on track.
Pie is funny now, on the one hand is likes Betty, yet it takes 14 days for a dog to be completely accepted into a new dog pack, so Betty has several days to go, and Pie continues to keep his distance from her, grumping when she goes after him and gets too close, he is getting more half-hearted in his reaction to her and I can see that confuses her, on several occasions now I have plucked her out of his way, especially when her adrenalin is up and she is less likely to take notice of Pie. It is vital he knows I am on his side, the pack united in teaching the newcomer the rules, this will ensure a harmonious household in the coming weeks, months, years!
Toilet training is going well, more toileting outside than indoors, I don’t expect Betty to get it right all the time yet, I take her out on all the obvious times and some in between, but inevitably I miss some. Once she is a week or so older I will be shutting he in her crate more and I know that will help us both to get it right a great deal more.
I have been putting a little puppy collar on and off regularly and today is the first day she hasn’t tried to scratch it off, so seems that job is done! Now I will start attaching the lead in short bursts and monitoring her dragging it around, it is a very light weight one.
Out night-time pattern has stayed the same, though there is no squeaking at all when I first leave her, and in the morning just one puddle, I am delighted!
Day two of Betty!
June 5, 2010
The hardest part of having a new puppy is how full on life suddenly becomes, everything focussed around the new baby! At seven weeks she is sleeping a lot of the time, yet my day is planned around when Betty eats, sleeps and taking her out to the toilet!Pie who loves puppies is distinctly unimpressed, grumping if Betty gets too close, dear little Betty simply goes into a submissive posture, low on her belly or retreats from him rapidly! Watching them I can see Pie does like her but is playing the big guy, letting her know who’s the boss here!
Pie looking on!
What a difference 24 hours makes, as it came up to exactly 24 hours from her arrival her confidence kicks in! She turns into a whirling dervish of mischief, hanging off my jeans, chasing Pie, who continues to stay macho and has to make a louder noise to deter her from jumping on him! I have only closed the cage door so far when she has her food, but I can see we need to be progressing now her confidence has arrived!
I spent most of the evening being entertained by her and Pie, Betty running at him, Pie barking, Betty retreating before rushing at him again and the whole act repeats itself! She is eating every bit of rubbish on the floor, inside and out! I can easily distract her from anything worrisome and cross my fingers and hope her stomach doesn’t react too badly!
Time to get creative with her entertainment, I am delighted with myself for thinking of hanging the ball on a rope on her cage door, so is Betty for a few minutes, but every bit helps!
Home entertainment!
The ball on a rope off the cage door keeps Betty busy for a while!
I couldn’t help but let her stay on my lap later in the evening when she fell asleep, I do love a cuddle 🙂 ! I knew I had to get her ready to be alone at bedtime, so after her last feed at 9pm we spent some time out side and once back in the kitchen, I busied myself to help her prepare for me leaving her again. At around 10pm I left the kitchen and went in my office for a few minutes until she stopped the tiny bit of whining and settled down.
Through the night I came too occasionally but again all was quiet! I got up at 6am to just one puddle and a happy Betty! She had obviously been very settled or she would have been more active and gone to the toilet more, I was delighted to see her rapid adjustment to her new home!
With this much confidence her training could begin today!
One subject that came up when I asked for your ideas on suitable blog topics was “how to cope with strange dogs on a walk”. This is a favourite subject of mine, I am constantly amazed, stunned and downright cross with other dog owners when I walk my dog in the company other dog walkers!
Here is Bella’s story of what happened to her and her little Pug on a walk:
“A loose dog went for Toddy (who was on lead) the other day and got its jaws round his back leg. I shouted and swooped down on the dog and it let go long enough for me to pick Toddy up. There was no damage. However it was lucky it happened with Toddy not Snifter. Snifter would have reacted aggressively (Toddy was just surprised), there would probably have been a fight and possible lasting psychological issues as well as possible physical injury. So a discussion of how we can discourage other dogs from getting at ours, how to deal with the owner who insists their dog “only wants to play” – I have seen play and it does not look like that – and how we can reassure our dogs would certainly be of interest to me. I am convinced that some of Snifter’s antipathy to certain other dogs stems from my inexperience when he was a puppy and got menaced by a couple of Border Collies in our park.”
Please send in your stories of similar experiences, I will gladly respond and I think many of other Blog visitors will too!
Toddy
Here is one of my worse experiences walking in the park with a group of clients and there dogs:
I was out with 5 of my clients and there dogs in the park, a planned trip to take our training into the public! All was going well with recalls and lead work training until the Labrador in the group went lame! A big dog I was naturally concerned for him and his upset owner, and we started back to the car park to get him to the car and on to the Vet’s, luckily we weren’t too far away, but on the route a man was walking along with his Flat Coat Retriever off the lead, she obviously a very friendly dog, too friendly, she made a bee line for the weakened Labrador, I, like a tigress defending her cubs, leapt in front of him to protect him and head her off! She was not easily dissuaded from jumping on him and I got progressively firmer in deterring her, starting out shooing her verbally and waving her off, she kept coming and ran into my hand, she backed off, but her owner didn’t! He bore down on me and started to rant, standing right in my face, we were practically toe to toe, I wasn’t moving (foolishly maybe but my blood was up now), he threatened to call the police and accused me of attacking his dog! I explained, as calmly as I could, the situation and my concern for the injured dog, he wasn’t listening and became more offensive, I am sad to say I lost it at this point and told him very loudly to back off and take his dog with him, treating him much as I had his dog really! I told him I would ring the police and charge him with assault!
Luckily he went, I was shaken, and felt bad that my clients class had been tainted by the experience, after all I was at work! My group were great and very supportive but none the less we were all shaken by the experience, the man had behaved in a very threatening way.
On arriving home I rang the local dog warden and the police, thankfully my dog warden responded brilliantly! She visited the man, I had asked for his name, and as a result the next time I was in the park, this time I took my sister and our dogs, not my clients, he apologised profusely, he was a different man to the one I had seen before. The dog warden had explained that there is a by law that states all walkers, with or without a dog have the right to walk in public unimpeded by other peoples dogs! and we have the right to make that happen if the owner of the dog cannot!
I am telling you this story, not because I am proud of my own behaviour, but then none of us are perfect or get it right all the time, and in the world of dogs things often go awry, and sometime it is a matter of managing the best you can.
I have to say that when I walk in that same park these days the regular dog walkers keep away from me and my dog! Word has spread and I am glad of it, though I am sure I am unpopular with them!
So a long answer to Bella’s query! In short I do whatever it takes, but for the most I keep my dog behind me and prevent the other dog getting to him, in the case of young puppies or very friendly dogs, I get hold of their collars and hand them back to the owners. With owners that assure me their dog is friendly I tell them mine is not, to be honest he is, but if there dog is not he could learn to fight, and then what would I do when he has to work with me and my clients dogs. The reality is that a strange dog is an unknown quantity, a strange pack, and the meeting of unknown dogs is, for the most part just that unknown but could be dangerous, I do not take the chance, my dogs temperament and safety is too important. Again this can go wrong, if my dog was upset by another dog, and that has happened to me too, the way forward is to create some experiences over the following days and weeks that are more positive to put the bad experience to rest. More on that subject to come soon, now come on let me have your stories so that we can share and learn from each other?
A story of a whelping!
May 13, 2010
My dear friend Annie has a delightful Border Collie called Buffy, she is a half-sister to my Pie, by a Grandson of my Teddy. Buffy combines both mine and Annie’s breed lines and Annie kept her especially to breed from and keep the line going!
Buffy with friend Molly and Annie's grand daughter Emma
It seemed that Buffy had other ideas! She is now nearly six years old and has only had 3 seasons! A very unusual lack of seasons, considering many bitches have a season every six months! Annie had too many commitments to mate Buffy at her first season, which didn’t happen until after her second birthday, and hoped that now she had started having seasons that the next one wouldn’t be too long coming. Alas it was another two years before the next season, when Buffy was mated but with no outcome! At nearly six years old, Annie was concerned about mating Buffy again, but assured by her vet that Buffy was very fit and in great health, she went ahead and mated her to Solo, my Teddy’s grandson, who has a very similar temperament to Teddy, bursting with joy for life!
At three weeks the Vet examined her to see if she was in whelp, but despite a lot of searching could find no evidence of pregnancy! At five weeks, Buffy was acting like her throat had been cut, eating Annie out of house and home and behaving oddly, so Annie talked to her Vet and they decided to scan Buffy, and indeed he found at least three puppies on the scan! Game back on!
On Friday the 7th May, the due date, nothing happened, no sign of the expected labour, on the saturday she was looking a little restless but other than that on top form, Annie waited! Sunday still very little sign of labour, Buffy eating well and full of energy. Annie getting concerned spoke to her Vet who said lets wait a bit longer. Poor Annie her tummy was getting upset with anxiety. Buffy is a special dog to Annie and now she was wishing she hadn’t mated her at all, concerned for her safety she kept watching and waiting for any sign of difficulty. Monday and Buffy was now looking a bit restless, wanting to dig from time to time and being restless for short periods, in between she would settle down to sleep and looked totally at ease! I went to dog sit while Annie went off to take her Monday night class, I did little but drink tea and observe her, and she was much the same as she was all day. Annie was on full alert by now and slept little that night, watching Buffy for any signs of distress or the hoped for puppies!
Tuesday and still nothing, it is not unusual for a bitch to be two days late, but this was getting worrying now! Annie spoke to her Vet that morning and he said if nothing had happened by tea time to bring her to see him. I went over to go with Annie, I arrived around four pm to see give a quiet push, for the first time! It was the first sign, we took her to the Vet at five pm so that he could see how she was doing. Annie’s Vet Marcus, is a good friend and Annie has the utmost confidence in his care of her dogs (vital at a time like this in your dog’s life). Marcus gave Buffy a good examination and after some discussion it was agreed to see if Buffy could finish her labour unassisted, but Marcus assured Annie he would be at the end of the phone all night, should she need him! Marcus predicted a puppy in the early hours of Wednesday morning!
We went home to wait some more! And wait we did! Buffy had clear ideas about how we waited and made it quite clear that she wanted regular back massages, and if one of us stopped she squeaked at us until one of us started again! At 12.30am Buffy became more intense in her activities of digging and pushing, we even caught a glimpse of a puppy! Eventually at one am a one pound tri colour baby boy was born, followed fairly rapidly by another just twenty minutes later! Buffy was so calm about the whole procedure and l Our relief and pleasure was only dampened by our tiredness, though I can hardly complain, Annie had already missed one nights sleep!
Buffy obviously had more to come, and having cleaned her two babies thoroughly she started to feed them, she had copious milk and the babies had to little more than put their mouths to her teat and milk almost fell into them! We could see them growing already! She lost all interest in her back rubs now that she had some babies, and was immediately in love with them. I have never seen a bitch so careful of her new babies, any movements she made in the box she made slowly and gently to avoid hurting them, yet her cleaning of them was robust, and she bossily pushed them back to feed when her cleaning was done.
More waiting, I have to admit that at around three am I fell asleep on the floor and Annie delivered the next boy on her own at around four am! Still no girl for Annie to keep and continue the breed line, though it did look like there was another yet to come!At this point I clearly remember saying that the only way Buffy could redeem herself now, was to produce a brown and white girl for Annie!
At six am Annie’s husband Mick surfaced to see what the outcome was, we were both slightly hysterical by this time, brought on by lack of sleep and the relaxation of the loss of tension and anxiety, and were full of giggles at the amount of time it had taken to produce just three puppies! Yet with the possibility of another puppy to come, we were not out of the woods yet, there was still the possibility of a caesarean to deliver any remaining puppy! At seven am I didn’t want to go home in case there was still an emergency, so instead retreated to Annie’s living room to get a couple of hours sleep in comfort! At my request Annie woke me with a cup of tea at nine am and said to come look 🙂 and there she was, a brown and white girl for Annie to keep! Her name is Sydney and Mum and babies are thriving!
Buffy in the bluebell wood!
Dog behaviour health check!
May 10, 2010
Dog Behaviour rarely falls apart over night, signs of trouble ahead are always present (except in the rare
A dog with attitude can cause problems!
case of illness), the tricky part is to spot them before they turn into a major issue! In this post I am including a behaviour health check for your use, if you would like me to email this to you, just drop me a line or put in the comment section of this post? Please feel free to return the questionnaire to me if you would like my feedback on your dog’s behaviour.
Please be as honest as possible.
Dog’s pet name?
Breed or nearest type of dog?
Dog’s age?
Age dog came to you?
What type of establishment did the dog come from? E.g. Home reared/kennel reared /breed specialist /puppy farm /rescue
Did you see either of the parents? Yes / No
Is this the dog first home? Yes / No
Has the dog ever attended any formal training? Yes / No
If so for how long?
Is this your first dog? Yes No
Have there been any major changes in the dog’s life recently? Yes / No
If major changes what kind?
Has the dog had any medical treatment in the last 6 months?
If so what?
Where does the dog sleep?
Do you ever use a crate? Yes / No
Does the dog come when called at home in the house or garden? Yes / No
If yes are there any circumstances when the dog would not come to call at home for example “if the postman was at the door”? Yes / No
Away from home? Yes / No
Does the dog pull on the lead? Yes / No
Does the dog like retrieving? Yes / No
Does the dog drop toys at your feet or in your lap? Yes / No
Are toys and/or bones left down all the time? Yes / No
What games does your dog like best?
E.g.
Retrieve tugging digging in the garden stealing and running off hide and seek solitary games playing with other dogs dog runs you chase any that involve a person
Is the dog destructive when left? Yes / No
Is the dog noisy when left? Yes / No
Is jumping up a problem? Yes / No
Is the dog possessive over food or toys? Yes / No
Does the dog ever growl or bite anyone? Yes / No
Does the dog play bite? Yes / No
Is there any behaviour would you like to change?
In what order? 1. 2. 3.
How would you describe your dog’s personality?
Is there any behaviour you are concerned about?
What do you most like about your dog’s behaviour?
More news of Dennis!
May 10, 2010
I met up with Maggie and Dennis yesterday and got some new photo’s 🙂 Dennis was on good form as ever and here are my snaps! Maggie is now being asked to open Fetes with Dennis this summer! The price of fame!
And yes he is pushing a pushchair here!
Dennis
Dennis pushing the pushchair
Avril Munson's Blog 