Treasure's Legacy

It's taken me a week to even attempt to write this post.  My heart and my mind have struggled to find words that would even come close to describing the relationship I had with my dearest Treasure for the past eight years.  I'm not sure I will ever find the right words.

I've been blessed to share my life with a dog that has touched so many from all around the world.  I am sure I do not even know how far her legacy has reached.  She has followers and fans all over the world.  She has helped countless dogs to find new homes and to be able to stay in their homes.  She has changed lives that I may never even be aware of.  

And so, I want to share with each of you the magic and the legacy of Treasure.  I will share with you over time and many posts, about who she was and who she continues to be.  You will laugh with us and cry with us.  I hope you will come along and celebrate Treasure's life with us.

This all happened very suddenly.  One day Treasure had a heart attack, and although she appeared to recover, she was quickly diagnosed with heart and kidney failure.  What does one do with a diagnosis like that?  

I did what we all would do - I focused on how to make it all better for my precious girl.  We worked with the veterinary team to do all we could to reduce Treasure's symptoms.  I knew that her time (at age 12) was limited, but I didn't know whether I would have her for another hour, or another couple of years.  My initial fear caused me to try to focus on packing every minute full of things to do with her - a bucket list so to speak.

I quickly realized, though, that focusing on a bucket list was causing me to focus on Treasure's death.  The death that I knew was going to come one day.  I didn't want to focus on her death, so I decided instead to write a Celebration List.  Together we created a list of all the little things that we loved to do together every day.  And then I focused on celebrating all of those moments with Treasure every day, for however long we had left together.  

This shifted my focus from the fear of wondering when I was going to lose her to gratitude for every moment we had together.  This shift allowed me to have some wonderful last days with my friend full of love and remembering and celebrating each memory we had created together.

Treasure is the reason I started this blog.  When I adopted her, so many people misunderstood her as a blind and deaf dog.  They expected her to be miserable and helpless.  I wanted to show and inspire everyone that she wasn't like that at all.  I knew that if so many people thought this way, surely there were many more.  This limited thinking would surely prevent blind and deaf dogs from being adopted, so we set out to change hearts and minds.

The White Dog Blog has become a go-to resource for all things related to double merles and blind/deaf dogs.  This is all thanks to Treasure coming into my life.  We expanded the blog and wrote a book about teaching and living with dogs that are both blind and deaf, and it continues to be the only one of its kind.  Again, this would not have happened without Treasure's inspiration. 

Treasure paved the way for many blind/deaf dogs to be adopted, and to show just what they are capable of!  She loved to learn new things!  She loved nosework and learning tricks.  She was the first blind and deaf dog to earn trick dog titles!  

What an amazing therapy and READ program dog she was!  She was a superb cuddler and when people held her, she surrounded them with a gentle and radiant love, which they felt and commented on every time.  Her patience with children allowed her to teach them that it wasn't scary to be different ... or to be friends with someone who is different.

I cannot even begin to count the stories of lives she has touched and changed for the better.  Many of those stories are shared here in this blog.  I hope if you are a more recent follower of the blog that you will go back and visit some of the older posts to see some of these stories. 

My dear Treasure passed away a week ago, after blessing me with an amazing week full of special Celebration memories.  She is greatly missed.  As she left me, she surrounded me with that gentle and radiant love, which continues to sustain me and bring me comfort. 

Holiday Photos? Make These Adorable Collars!

Now begins the season of taking holiday photos.  Some will take dogs (and cats!) to see Santa for pictures. Some will pose the family animals with the family humans of all ages and capture memories forever more.

Tulle collar.

These adorable collars are not hard to make, and you can be creative in your use of materials and colors to match your dog's personality and the occasion.  

Cut elastic into strips that will easily fit around your dog's neck without stretching.  Without stretching the elastic, the collar should fit close to your dog's neck but not tight.  Add an inch to that length and cut the strip that length.  The extra inch is to allow for you to tie the ends together easily to create a circle.  Cut off any loose ends after you tie it.  

Tulle cut into strips can make a fluffy, tutu-type collar.  How long you cut the strips will determine how fluffy the collar will be.  You can fold the tulle strip in half and hold it on the elastic collar to see how far it will stick out.  Adjust your tulle strips accordingly.

There are a couple ways to attach the tulle.  One is to simply tie the tulle to the elastic with knots.  I prefer to use slip knots.  To make a slip knot, fold each strip in half.  You will then have a folded end and two loose pieces at the other end.  The two loose ends go underneath the elastic collar strip and curl around the elastic, so you now have the elastic in the middle.  Then slip the two loose ends into the hole created by the folded end and pull the loose ends through until it tightens on the elastic.  (See photo below)  Don't pull too hard.  Just hard enough to have it tied around the elastic. Continue in this way until the entire collar has been filled.

Shown with ribbon because it's easier to see.

Ribbon collars are also pretty.  Choose several colors/styles of ribbon that you feel complement each other. Attach them in the same way as attaching the tulle above.  It's nice when you cut the ribbon strips to cut the ends of each strip at an angle.  It looks fancier and prevents a lot of unraveling.

Voila!  Super cute and easy collars!

Ribbon collar.

Vinny's Trick Show

Wow!  Look who is joining the ranks of Novice Trick Dog!  Vinny earned his title certificate and ribbon!

Vinny 6 months old

This guy is just SO much fun to play with!  He learns just as fast as I can teach him and is always ready for more.  Enjoy Vinny's new tricks:

How Did You Get That Picture?

I'm often asked how I get such great pictures of my dogs, especially when I am taking a picture of all of them together in a group shot, like this one: 

There are a couple secrets I'll share with you.  

The first is that I teach a solid stay behavior to all of my dogs. I want them to be able to stay in any comfortable position when asked for as long as I need them to stay there.  It becomes my responsibility to be sure that I'm not asking my dogs to stay in a position or situation that is uncomfortable or unsafe for them.  

In the above picture, I know that the dogs that are up on top of the bales are comfortable with being on various surfaces and being up off the ground.  I also know they have great stays and are very unlikely to move.  This means I feel safe leaving them up on top of the bales while I move away to take pictures. 

The dog in the lower left is Vinny.  He is still a puppy and does not have a very solid stay yet.  When I took this picture, we had never worked on a stay in a brand new public place before, and he had never done a stay with me so far away from him or for so long.  Plus he was excited to be out with the other dogs and wanted to bounce around and play.  His leash is attached in case I needed to catch him quickly, but I tucked it behind him so it wouldn't show in the picture.  He did great because I took many breaks and went back to reward him for choosing to stay.  This made the photo shoot take longer, but left me and my dogs happier and helped Vinny be successful.

The dog in the lower right is Vegas.  He can't see very far away from him and he is deaf, so when I backed up to take the photo, he couldn't see me.  That meant he had no idea where I had gone.  I know that Vegas can get spooked and if I am not within his line of sight, he will bolt and run far and fast until I can catch up with him.  Vegas has a leash on and is tethered to the hay bale just in case.  He has a great stay, but I will not take a chance with my dogs' safety.  If you look closely, you can see his leash tethered, but it does not detract from the great picture.  

My second secret is to take a LOT of pictures!  I take way more pictures than I will need so that I'm able to go back and choose the best shots.  For this great picture, there were many others that I deleted with dogs looking this way or that way.  It is hard to get blind and deaf dogs to look at the camera on demand.  By taking lots of pictures from different angles, I then have lots of great pictures to choose from and can usually find one where they are looking in my direction at leash partially.  

I already alluded to the fact that I carry treats - I carry lots of toys and treats during my photo shoots.  I don't want my dogs to look bored in their pictures.  It has to be fun for them for me to get the great shots that I get.  The photos are for my enjoyment, so I do all I can to make the process for my dogs' enjoyment also.  I schedule plenty of time and take lots of breaks.  I know which of my dogs enjoy photo sessions and which ones get tired of them quickly.  I can choose which dog I photograph first and whether to do the group shot first thing or perhaps in the middle before certain dogs get tired.  

These are just a few of my favorites from out last photo session:  

Owen - paws up stay

Brinks - sit stay and wave paw

Treasure - sit stay

Vinny - sit stay with his own variation of sniffing the air for treats

Vegas - sit stay and his famous smile

Second Week - Puppy Update

Elsa and Vinny are growing so much!  I can't believe how much bigger they are already than two weeks ago!

Being bigger means they can reach more stuff when on two legs and can get into all the things that I put up on top of tables to keep out of their reach too!  They are more sure of their bodies now, and are continuing to climb over and crawl under everything.

What fun did this past week hold?
More puppy pool wading - last time I helped them out after a minute of them experiencing the different surface under their feet, before they had time to get upset about it.  This week they paddled for a moment and then found their own way out.  So far, not huge fans of the pool, I guess.
Separate crates still at night and now in the car also.  Elsa will be leaving us in two weeks and I want both puppies to be comfortable on their own without the other.  It will be an adjustment for them both, but hopefully not a traumatic one.
More brushing
Lured and captured sits
Housetraining is progressing - Vinny now potties and puts his head in the air, expecting me to pet him.  If the petting doesn't come quick enough for him, he starts moving his head around in the air "looking" for me.
Both puppies mastered going down several steps in a row this week with my support.
Continued socialization meeting new people of all ages, and both genders in different places
Puppies are learning the walking route to the door to go outside.  We don't do this every time, because often they need to potty in a hurry, so carrying is still the safest way.  But they are getting bigger very quickly, so I want them to be comfortable walking the route.  I help steer them, as they will run into a lot if I don't.  That will continue to get better as they are more comfortable with the route.
Taking longer walks with me on leash, individually for each puppy, around the yard and at work
They are getting more skilled at finding food/treats when sniffing them out and from my hand.  Their nose - mouth coordination is getting better!
Food bowl games continue.  I am careful not to allow the puppies to butt in on each other when they are eating.  They don't care now, but I don't want to set up a feeling that they may need to defend their food at all.  Let's start good calm eating habits now.  At their age, it's easy to get them used to me petting and touching them while they eat, and hand feeding them goodies from their bowls.
Some things can't be planned for - such as fireworks.  Vinny is deaf but did startle a couple times. Hard to tell if he noticed the vibrations of the closer booms, or if he startled because Elsa did since they were near each other.  Elsa is able to hear and did startle at the louder booms while we were outside.  She didn't notice inside and didn't notice the softer ones at all.  We  minimized our time outside as much as possible, but she wasn't upset, just an initial startle and then we'd have a quick game to get her happy again.
Other things not planned for - both puppies learned to eat their meals in a light rain.  Good experience since they were both happy to be eating and barely noticed the rain.   They also learned to potty in the rain - took a bit longer as the rain was harder by then - with lots of extra special petting and praise!

Here's a picture of the puppy playground I set up this past week.  Many surfaces and new things for the puppies.  I sprinkled a few treats around to reinforce them for exploring and then mostly just let them have fun.

Surfaces included a foam pad, plastic striped mat with texture, a fitness step, a plastic tarp, a small pink fitness disc, and a purple snuffle mat with goodies inside.  It was interesting to watch the pups' different styles.  Vinny followed his nose right to the snuffle mat first thing and stayed until all the treats were found. Elsa covered the whole pen right away, sniffing out the scattered treats, until finding her way to the snuffle mat to help Vinny.

Here's a link to watch some of their fun:  Video Click Here

And, as always ... a sleeping puppy is a good puppy!

Dangers of Breeding Merle to Merle

I have updated some of my previous articles and added some new ones, which I will be sharing here over the next months.  Here is a great one to read again and to share to help educate others.  Happy New Year everyone!  

Dangers of Breeding Merle to Merle

©Debbie Bauer 2015 

Despite the efforts of many in educating others, there still are so many double merles showing up on the internet and in shelters needing homes. Why aren’t people listening? Why are they continuing to produce dogs with blindness, deafness, or both? And for every dog that ends up in a rescue or a shelter, or in a home, there are so many more that are being killed shortly after birth for a crime they didn’t commit. They didn’t ask to be bred this way. People made the decision to take a gamble with their lives. 

There are many breeds of dogs that carry the merle gene. Some of them are: Cocker Spaniels, Australian Shepherds, Pyrenean Shepherds, Border Collies, Cardigan Corgis, Catahoulas, Chihuahuas, Collies, Shelties, Dachshunds, Great Danes, Pomeranians, and I even recently saw pictures that people are developing merle lines of Schnauzers and Poodles! The merle gene is being introduced to more and more breeds (and mixes) due to the cool way it looks. I have to admit, I love the pattern of merle! It’s very pleasing to my eyes. Breeding merles responsibly (a merle to a non-merle dog) gives us the cool mottled look and can give us healthy and sound dogs, while breeding merle to merle often produces puppies with severe impairments.

(To read the rest of this article, follow this link ...)

Could Vegas have his own show? In Vegas?

Vegas is such a fun dog to play with!  He is learning new tricks so quickly.  I think perhaps he is aspiring to have his own trick dog show in Las Vegas!  He finished his Advanced Trick Dog Title in April, so these pics are a bit overdue.

Vegas LOVES to use his paws!  Ever since he came to me as a little puppy, he was always using his paws.  The usual ways of teaching him not to jump on us and not to grab our legs with his feet were just not working.  Then I watched him playing with his litter sister whom we fostered for a short while and saw that he used his feet to keep track of where she was.  If she moved and his feet were on her, he knew right where she was.  Vegas has some vision, but it's hard for him to locate what he's seeing.  He was keeping track of where we were by touching us with his feet.  It comes as no surprise then that all of these new tricks involve his feet in different ways.  Having learned from Treasure that a visually impaired dog seems to be able to hit a target better when the dog and the target are not moving, we tried this trick with Vegas lying down.  He picked it up right away and with a little practice, learned to hit the button with pretty good accuracy.

Playing the piano and wiping his feet on a mat were both pretty similar.  He just has to use his paw to stroke something.  These he can do in any position - lying down, sitting, standing up.  You can see me giving him his thumbs up sign while he wipes his paws on the blanket.  He can see the signal best when it's close to his face.

Vegas likes things that move under his feet.  He's very confident about it.  He enjoys pushing his skateboard and can also roll a peanut and push a shopping cart.

Perhaps the hardest trick for Vegas this time around was chorus kicks.  He is to put his paw onto my foot and together we alternate right, left, right, left.  He never did get the concept to look down at my feet.  He is very attentive and wants to watch my hands for his cues.  With a bit of creativity, he learned touch cues on his legs that I gave with my feet and he aced this trick too!  What a guy!  

National Holistic Pet Day!

Holistic.  That's a term that we hear a lot these days.  It's a term used to help us remember to look at a being as a whole, and not as its separate individual parts.  We all have separate parts of our lives, but in order to be truly healthy and vibrant, we need to consider all of those parts together and how they affect each other. It is no different with our animal friends.

 

It's important to think of everything that affects our dogs when we approach their wellness.  It's obvious when we think about health and wellness to consider our dog's physical well-being.  Feeding the best choices in food and water, avoiding over-vaccination and exposure to unnecessary chemicals, making sure she gets enough exercise and regular veterinary care, helping her maintain a proper weight, getting her regular dental care, etc.  Keeping our dog's body healthy will help her to live longer and more comfortably.  Taking care of her body will also have an effect on her behavior and her ability to handle stress.  None of us are at our best when we don't feel good physically.  A physically healthy animal is better able to handle day to day stressors and is in a better mood than one that is not feeling up to par.

 

Did you know that your dog also needs to have wellness in other areas of her life?  She needs to have mental stimulation as well as physical exercise daily.  Mental stimulation will help to prevent boredom and the behavioral issues that develop because of it.  Giving your dog new experiences and puzzles to solve daily will help her to be more content.  Sometimes giving your dog mental stimulation can be just as tiring (or maybe even more tiring) than physical exercise!  Read some of my previous posts for ideas about how to give your dog mental stimulation.

Learning how to reduce stress in your dog's life will go a long way toward helping her maintain emotional  and physical wellness.  Stress can cause us all to be cranky.  When we are stressed, we have a shorter fuse and things tend to bother us more than if we aren't stressed.  The same is true for our dogs.  Stressed dogs are much less tolerant.  Many dogs act out their stress in ways that we don't appreciate - chewing, barking, tearing things up, pacing, jumping, pulling, etc.  Long term stress has been shown to have poor effects on physical, mental and emotional health.  And, remember that your stress levels and emotional state can have an effect on your dog and her behavior as well!

 

This is what holistic means - that every part needs to be considered because every part has an effect on all the other parts.  The ideal goal is to find balance in all areas of your dog's lifestyle and wellness.  I want my dogs to experience balance and wellness in their physical bodies, mental abilities, behavior and emotions.  When they are balanced in all areas, they can be at their best and in optimum health.

 

When you notice your dog having any type of issue - a behavioral change, a physical change, anything that you are concerned about - the first thing to do is to check with her veterinarian to make sure it is not stemming from a physical issue that is causing discomfort.  Our dogs can't speak up and tell us exactly what is not feeling good or how.  Many behavioral issues can be caused from a physical discomfort.  It is important to rule out any issues that may be causing your dog discomfort first.  I find that often once the physical issue is being treated, that the behavioral or other issues will remedy themselves. 

 

Check your dog all over for anything out of the ordinary. You should check your dog all over frequently so that you know what is normal for your dog.  Keeping your dog well-groomed is also important.  For example, a dog with long nails may begin to move or hold herself differently and this can cause pain and structural changes.  You may notice that your dog's behavior is changing and perhaps she is not wanting to do things that she used to do.  Is this because her nails are getting too long?  If you have a dog with long hair, you need to keep it well groomed and tangle free. If you have long hair and you have ever felt your hair pulled as a tangle catches on something, you will realize how much this hurts!  Ears that are infected hurt a lot and can cause dogs to snap or act in other ways that they normally would not. 

 

The effects of stress on our dogs can have enormous impact on their behavior, their emotions and their physical health.  If you follow this blog, you know I write often about stress and how it effects our dogs, as well as ways to help reduce stress for our dogs.  Dogs don't know that there is this thing called stress or how to make it go away.  They only know that they don't feel comfortable.  It is our responsibility to help them with reducing stress and its effects on them.  After you have ruled out a physical issue, look at ways you can reduce stress in your dog's life.

The next step is to look at all areas of your dog's life and see where things may be out of balance.  Is she getting the right nutrition, exercise, sleep, mental stimulation, attention, grooming, etc.  Try as much as you can to help your dog have a balanced and well-rounded lifestyle and you may be surprised at  how her  mood, health and behavior begin to change toward being more balanced!   

 

 

Compulsive Behaviors in Dogs (Blog Request)

I’ve been asked to write about compulsive behavior in dogs.  This is a broad topic and one that I personally don’t have too much experience with, although I have had a few dogs through the years with behaviors that seem to fit the description of compulsive.

In searching various sites online, I’ve put together a definition that I think explains just what a compulsive behavior looks like.  In most cases, it is a normal dog behavior that is exaggerated and performed repetitively for long periods of time and most likely out of the normal context.  These behaviors can interfere with the dog’s normal every day activities.  The dog has an unrelenting urge to do the behaviors over and over again.  It is not something they can control without interruption.

Some common behaviors that may become compulsive include spinning, tail chasing, fixation and chasing of lights or shadows, pacing a specific path or pattern, circling, and chewing, licking or sucking on a particular body part, creating sores.  Of course, there are others, but these are ones I hear about most often.

If your dog is showing signs of compulsive behavior, it is important to have a complete veterinary exam done to rule out any medical cause for the behavior.   In extreme cases, the veterinarian may prescribe medication to help reduce ongoing compulsive behavior. 

In my personal experience, periods of stress seem to prompt the compulsive behaviors to start.  And once they start, they are difficult to stop.  The dog’s level of stress is often a factor as to how intense and long-lasting the outbursts of behavior are. 

In researching this topic, I found suggested that compulsive behaviors begin when the dog is stressed or frustrated and it discovers the behavior helps it to feel better and reduce the feelings of stress.  This is reinforcing to the dog, so it continues the behavior to help it feel better.  Over time, the dog is practicing this pattern and it becomes worse over time. 

I can see how this can be true.  I’ve had dogs that showed compulsive pacing behaviors and trotted out a fixed pattern in the house and/or yard repetitively, almost as if they were in a trance.  These were dogs that had lived for years in small confinement and most likely paced their small cages as an outlet for boredom and frustration. 

When these dogs were stressed even slightly, the pacing behaviors started and continued until I was able to interrupt them.  It truly did look as if they were in a trance, not thinking at all about the behavior.  They were just performing on auto pilot as a way to numb themselves from what was going on. 

Everything I read pointed to stress as being a major cause and trigger for compulsive behaviors.  Some sites mentioned dogs that were tied up or confined for long periods of time to small areas, and/or were left along for long periods of time, showed more instances of compulsive behavior than others. 

So, what can be done to reduce compulsive behaviors in dogs?  Begin by writing down the compulsive behaviors you observe and anything surrounding that situation that may be a trigger for the behavior to begin.  As much as you can, remove or minimize the triggers that start the behavior.  It may be possible to put your dog in a different room before specific events happen (guests coming, microwave beeping, etc). 

Work with a trainer to begin to desensitize and counter condition some of the lower level triggers.  The idea is to help your dog to develop a new emotional response to the trigger, so hopefully instead of feeling stress (which will trigger the compulsive behavior), your dog can begin to feel calm or happy about it.

When you see the compulsive behavior begin to happen, distract your dog and redirect his attention to something else.  Try to engage him in a game or with a food puzzle or a chew toy.  You must help him substitute something else to do.  Don’t punish his behavior in any way.  He is not being disobedient.  He is stressed and he doesn’t know what else to do in that situation.  You must help him. 

Lowering stress levels overall will certainly help to reduce the behaviors.  You can read previous blog posts here about ways to recognize and lower stress.  Enrichment and exercise are also good stress relievers.  Moderate exercise is good for both you and your dog.  Heavy, frenzied exercise for long periods of time is likely to increase your dog’s stress levels instead of helping to lower them. 

Enrichment is always a good idea to keep your dog’s brain engaged and thinking.  Food puzzles, Kongs, chew toys, teaching tricks, giving him normal outlets for dog behavior (digging, chewing, and tearing), letting him explore new sights and smells, nose work games, etc.  All of these can be helpful in giving your dog other things to do and think about. 

I hope you’ve found this post useful.  Here are three websites I found while doing my searches that seem to be the most informative about compulsive behaviors in dogs. 

http://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/evr_dog_behavior_compulsive_disorder

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/compulsive-behavior-dogs

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/11_10/features/Dogs-With-OCD_16069-1.html

 

 

Excessive Barking in the House (Blog Request)

One of the questions I hear most is whether my deaf and deaf/blind dogs bark.  While I would love to be able to say no, the truth is, that yes, they do bark.  As do my dogs that can see and hear.  It’s what dogs do – they bark.  If you are going to live with a dog, I think you need to accept the fact that they bark.  However, sometimes that barking can be excessive and seem to be for what humans believe is no good reason.  Our dogs, of course, always believe they have a good reason for barking.  How do we strike that compromise that allows our dogs to be dogs, yet protects our sanity as humans?

I think more often than not our dogs are confused when it comes to barking.  They don’t know whether we want them to bark or not.  Sometimes we may acknowledge their barking positively to announce visitors or even unwanted people on our property.  Sometimes we may laugh at their barking if they bark at something they think is scary but we think is cute.  Sometimes we may haphazardly mumble to them to knock it off or be quiet while we are otherwise engaged in some activity.  And still other times, we may become downright scary in our attempts to get our dogs to be quiet.  That doesn’t show the dog much consistency, and it doesn’t help to make clear to him what we do want him to do.

Some of us have the problem that our dogs bark at every little movement outside the window.  But if we leave our dog home alone all day with nothing to do but look out the window, can we blame him?  He sees something new and exciting outside the window to give him something to do, and he wants to join in!  If your dog has a consistent habit of barking, such as barking at things moving outside the window, it may be easy enough to prevent your dog from having access to that situation.  You can block your dog’s access to the window or put him in another room while you’re away.  You can buy window films that will allow light to shine in, but will block your dog from seeing out.  There are options only limited by your creativity.

Some dogs like to bark because it gets their person’s attention.  Sometimes we are aware of this behavior, such as when your dog comes and sits by the cabinet and barks for you to give him a treat, or if he sits and stares at you and barks until you pet him or toss his toy.  But other times it is hard to tell that what your dog wants is actually your attention.  He may bark and you may tell him to be quiet and if he barks again, you may get up and go to him to try to make him be quiet.  The problem is that if your dog only gets attention when he is barking, he may want your attention enough to get in trouble to get it. 

Instead, try paying more attention to your dog any time he is being quiet.  A gentle scratch behind the ears or a belly rub, a tasty treat dropped quietly by his side while he chews a bone … these things will go a long way toward minimizing excessive barking.  Behavior that is reinforced (rewarded with something the dog likes) will tend to happen more often!  So, paying attention to a quiet dog will tend to give you a quieter dog.  Paying attention to a barking dog will tend to give you a dog that barks more.

Decide in your mind what type of barking you will allow.  It’s not fair to a dog to expect no barking.  Imagine if someone forbid you to speak or make noises – ever!  Yikes!  So, when will you allow or even appreciate barking?  And in what situations would you like to diminish the barking?  You have to decide before you can teach your dog the difference.

I like to teach my dogs a quiet cue by rewarding them for being quiet.  Even my deaf dogs learn a quiet cue.  The end result is that when they are barking, I can give them the quiet cue and they know it is time to be quiet now.  But in the beginning, they need to learn what quiet means.  How do you explain to a dog what quiet is?  When a dog is barking, you can yell quiet all you want, but if the dog doesn’t already know what quiet means, he is unlikely to figure it out in that moment.  He is just as likely to think you are yelling, “The pizza guy is here!” 

I teach the quiet cue by giving the cue when my dogs are already quiet and then rewarding them immediately.   Any time I am reinforcing my dogs for being quiet, I cue them “quiet” and then praise them and reward them with things they like.  They begin to learn that when I say quiet they will get a reward, and they begin to have an inkling that this only happens when there is no sound coming out of their mouths.

The next step is to get their attention on me when they are barking.  I want the dog to look at me and be paying attention.  Sometimes this requires a touch to distract the dog long enough that he turns to see what I want.  I immediately give the quiet cue and reward immediately.  The reward has to come fast in the beginning before another bark can be said.  I keep containers of treats around my house in various areas to reward good behaviors quickly. 

There are other things that can help communicate to your dog that things are not as exciting as he thinks they are.  If you immediately jump up and run to the door whenever someone arrives, you are showing your dog how to behave – to jump up and excitedly rush to the door.  Dogs bark when they are excited!  Instead, put a sign outside your door asking guests to be patient as you may take a while to get to the door.  Take your time getting to the door.  Move and speak calmly.

When your dog barks, try to redirect him to do something else.  Even if you haven’t taught the quiet cue yet, you can run the other way (from what he’s barking at) and get him to chase you for a fun game, toss a toy for him to chase, have him go to the dog bed (if he already knows how to do that), etc.  Make sure you are breathing deeply and calmly.  If you are tense and holding your breath (which we often do when we are concentrating or hurrying), your dog will also be tense – and, you guessed it – tense dogs bark!

Lastly, but not any less important, be sure you reward your dog for being quiet when you want him to be.  Even if he just pauses for a moment before barking when he sees that cat outside or hears a noise, be ready to praise him and really reinforce his behavior with something he thinks is great!   Remember, if you pay attention to a quiet dog, you will get a quieter dog! 

Dog bite prevention week - waking up gently

An important excerpt from my newest book, Through A Dark Silence: Loving and Living with Your Blind and Deaf dog -

Teaching your dog to wake up gently:

"There is a myth that b/d dogs are dangerous because they will always bite when they are startled or woken up. Could this ever happen? Yes, it could. But it could also happen with a dog that can see and hear. Does it happen a lot? No. Most b/d dogs are no threat when startled. Can this scenario be prevented?  You can certainly lower the risk of this ever happening with your dog.

You can teach your b/d dog to wake up easily and happily. By teaching this skill to your new dog, you can prevent any issues from developing. Start training when your dog is awake and is aware of you near her. Touch your dog and then pop a wonderful treat into her mouth immediately. Don’t wait to see what your dog will do. There should be no lag time. Just touch and pop the treat into her mouth. Make these really special treats. You want your dog to really look forward to being touched.

Repeat this pattern of touch and treat many times quickly in succession. Then touch your dog and pause for just a moment before giving the treat. The sequence will become – touch, dog looks expectantly for treat, and then feed. Don’t pause too long, just long enough for your dog to show you that she knows the treat should come next.

In future sessions, touch different parts of your dog’s body. One touch equals one treat. As your dog becomes more tolerant of you touching various parts of her body, sneak in a random touch now and then when your dog is not expecting it. Be ready with that treat immediately. Be sure to continue to use great treats every time you touch her. The more you reward the touching, the better your dog’s response will be when she is surprised or woken up suddenly. You cannot do this exercise too much as long as you are rewarding every touch.

There may be times when your dog gets startled by a touch when you don’t have a food treat immediately handy. Try to minimize these as much as you can, but if it happens, be ready to reward your dog with something else she likes – a small game or lots of petting if your dog enjoys that. Being woken up or startled should always mean good stuff for your dog!

When your dog is sleeping, though, be respectful. Don’t wake your dog up unless it’s necessary. When you do need to wake her up, do it gently. Walk heavier as you approach your dog so she can begin to feel the vibrations through the floor. When you get close to her, you can blow on her gently to wake her up. If your dog is lying on a blanket, you can wiggle the edge of the blanket to gently shake her awake. If your dog is still asleep, you can progress to brushing her gently with your hand. It is best to touch your dog on her body, not her face.  That’s just for safety in case she does wake up with a startle.  Your hand will be away from her mouth.

Be prepared for a startle if your dog is sleeping soundly. Startling is a normal response. Just make sure that you are quickly offering your dog something wonderful! Usually the dog will recover immediately once she recognizes that it is you, and when you offer something tasty to eat, she will forget all about being startled. Be aware that your b/d dog may need you to use your hands to steady her as she wakes up. She may be disoriented as she wakes up suddenly and may jump up and bump into things nearby.  Maintaining a firm but gentle touch to her body will let her know you are there while you offer the food right near her nose.

Remember that startling is a normal response. You will probably not ever get rid of it completely. But you can diminish how much the startle bothers your dog by rewarding frequently.  And with lots of practice, you may notice your dog waking up easier and easier each time!"

 

To purchase a copy of Through a Dark Silence, click HERE.

 

 

Games Dogs (and Kids) Love to Play!

Fun and safe games for kids and dogs to play together with adult supervision

Dogs and kids seem like the perfect combination of fun, but their play together can very quickly get out of control and things can go south.   How can you encourage your children to play appropriate games with the dog?  By modeling appropriate games and play.  If you model wild and crazy games involving a lot of running, chasing, jumping and mouthing, that is how your children will want to play with the dog too, and that is how the dog will expect to be played with. This can lead to injuries and hurt feelings, because dogs play with a much rougher play style than most children.  Here are some fun and safe games that children can play with dogs while being supervised by a responsible adult.

The shell game:  Use empty flower pots or yogurt cups with a hole in the bottom.  With several pots, hold the dog while the child places a treat under one of the upside down pots.  She can move them around to mix them up a bit, and then have the child give the dog the find it cue as you release the dog.  It won’t take long for your dog to learn to enjoy this game!

Find it:  This is a progression of the shell game.  The child can progress to hiding the treat in new and easy places around the room for your dog to find.  It might be helpful for you to give the child suggestions of easy places, then medium, and finally harder places to hide the treat.  Hold the dog until the child gives the find it cue. 

Hide and seek:  Hold your dog and give the child a plastic cup with some dog treats in it.  Have the child get the dog’s attention by rattling the treats inside the cup a bit, then moving quickly to an easy hiding place.  As soon as the child gets hidden, release the dog and tell him to “find Lucy” (or whatever name you choose).  Because your dog saw the child hide and knows there are treats involved, he will probably hurry to find the child.  The child can then praise the dog and feed him treats with the cup.  Using a cup is helpful to keep small fingers away from the dog’s mouth while he’s eating treats, so they don’t accidentally get nipped.  Dogs can easily lick treats from the cup, or the child can dump the treats out of the cup onto the floor for the dog to eat.  With practice, the child’s hiding spots can get harder and harder. 

Tricks:  Older children can help you teach the dog some tricks and will delight in showing off the tricks to anyone who will watch.  This can be a great activity for children and dogs to do together, but again, be nearby and supervising.  It is easy for a dog to get confused, or for a child to get frustrated, and you may need to intervene and call for a short break for them both to regroup.

Obstacle course:  You can create an obstacle course with objects you have around the house.  Construct low things to jump over, or crawl through.  Cardboard boxes can be cut and taped into just about any shape.  Use different things for the dog to safely walk over, around and through.   Make sure your dog is comfortable doing all the obstacles with you first, before you add the child into the picture.  Then turn this into a game of follow the leader.  The child can carry a cup of dog treats to lead the dog through the obstacles – over, around and through.  You can make it a game where you hold a clicker or a small bell and when the child hears that sound, she should stop and offer the dog a few treats either from the cup or tossed to the floor.  This will allow you to pinpoint good behavior from the dog as a bonus (not jumping, doing an obstacle correctly, etc.) and will keep the dog focused on following the child because he knows he will be getting treats along the way!  You can even take turns and hold the dog while the child does the obstacles first, to “show the dog how to do them,” and then have the dog follow the child through. 

An important rule is to always supervise children and dogs when they are together.  If you need to leave the room, take one or the other of them with you.  Children move fast, dogs move fast, and they don’t speak the same language.  It is very easy for one of them to misinterpret something the other one does.  It is when these misunderstandings happen, that one or the other can get hurt.  Neither the dog nor the children can be expected to be able to make appropriate judgment calls.  That is a responsible adult’s job.  With appropriate supervision, a dog and child can become best friends.  I hope you find that together they can enjoy some of these games safely!

 

 

Stress Part 3

Tips for canine stress reduction

"This is a collection of techniques and products that have worked for me in reducing a dog’s stress levels and keeping them at low levels.  It is important when dealing with ongoing stress behaviors that a thorough veterinary exam be completed as soon as possible.  Many stress behaviors can be indicative of health concerns.  These suggestions are in no way meant to replace veterinary care.  Please take this list with you to your dog’s veterinary appointment and ask which techniques and products would be suitable to try with your dog if you have any questions or concerns.

If your dog is in a situation she finds stressful, the easiest way to reduce her stress is to remove her from the area to a place that is calmer and quieter.  If this is not possible, it may help for you to put an object or even your own body between your dog and what is causing her stress as a visual blocker (if your dog is able to see).  Perhaps you can move her to a different vantage point which will help her to feel safer.  For instance, moving her away from a busy doorway where others are coming and going will allow her to have more personal space.

If you have a crate with you that your dog recognizes as a safe place, use it.  Place it in a quiet out-of-the-way place for your dog to relax in.  Some dogs may find having the crate covered offers them a greater sense of security.   If you don’t have a crate with you, a few minutes in the safety of your car (a familiar environment to your dog) may help her to calm down.

Some dogs will appreciate a chew toy when they are stressed to help them self-soothe.   Stuffed Kong toys and safe bones are good for this.  Some dogs won’t eat or chew when they are stressed, but others chew more when they are stressed.  This will depend on your dog.

Gentle massage, TTouch®, Healing Touch for Animals®, and other body work can be helpful in teaching your dog to relax in stressful situations.  Healing Touch for Animals® has a wonderful program where you can learn techniques for relaxing and calming your dog and for helping her to deal with stress, as does TTouch®.

 

Work slowly to get your dog used to new situations that may cause stress.  Don’t just throw her into a new situation and hope for the best.  Your goal should always be to help your dog have an enjoyable experience.  Go slowly so if she is not enjoying herself, you can intervene and remove her from the situation or make it easier for her.

Do not force your dog to interact with people or situations that are causing her stress.  Let her approach as she becomes more comfortable.

There are supplements that can help with calming and relaxing your dog.  Rescue remedy can be very useful to have on hand for stressful situations.  Talk to your veterinarian about how best to use this supplement.  Essential oils and other supplements can also be helpful, but care should be taken with dosages, so check with someone who is qualified to advise you.

 

Keeping a loose leash is a huge stress reducer!  Dogs pulled around on tight leashes feel powerless and trapped and become fearful.  Your dog can’t relax if she feels that she cannot get away.  Allow her to move away from the stress if she wishes.  Teach loose leash walking.

 

Some dogs feel more comfortable when wearing a coat or T shirt.  Check out other similar techniques and products such as TTouch® body wraps, anxiety wraps, or Thundershirts.  These create steady pressure to your dog’s body and can be very calming.

 

Make sure your dog is getting enough exercise.  Walking exercise is great!  Allow your dog to sniff, using a long leash in an open area if you can.  Dogs need to sniff and explore to feel secure in their environment.  Walking gets your dog away from home and lets her experience new things and meet new people so she is better able to deal with the stresses of being in public.  If she never leaves home, she can’t be expected to know how to handle things outside of her home.

Change the dog’s food to a more appropriate diet.  Many popular dog foods have fillers and artificial ingredients that can affect your dog’s behavior and body physiology, including how she deals with stress.  A diet with better quality ingredients can help your dog feel better and be less stressed in general.

Let your dog have time to be a dog.  Be less controlling when the situation does not call for it.  Having the freedom to make some of her own decisions can boost her confidence and lower her stress levels.

 

Use calming music for your dog to listen to while you are away, or even while you are at home.  Healing Touch for Animals® has great CDs created for this purpose, as does Through a Dog’s Ear.  Classical music can also work in a pinch. Of course this is only useful if your dog can hear the music.  I have noticed that my b/d dog does appear to feel the vibrations of music through a radio on the floor.

Give your dog a safe place where she can choose to go get away from the world for a while.  This may be a crate left open for her to come and go as she pleases, or a bed in a quiet corner where she won’t be disturbed.

DAP sprays, collars, and plug-ins may be helpful in a variety of circumstances.  DAP stands for dog-appeasing pheromones.  DAP products were created to help soothe dogs in various situations."

 

Excerpt from Through A Dark Silence - click on book title to learn more about my book!

 

 

Stress Part 1

April is Stress Awareness Month.  To celebrate, I am including for you, an excerpt from my newest book, Through A Dark Silence: Loving and Living with Your Blind and Deaf Dog. 

 

Stress in dogs

"Dogs experience stress, just like we do.  Not all stress is unpleasant, of course, but for the discussion in this book, let’s assume that we are discussing unpleasant stress for your dog.  Stress is a physiological reaction to something in the environment.  It causes very real changes in your dog’s body chemistry.

Stress is a fact of life we must all learn to deal with in appropriate ways.  It is not the circumstances in life that are stressful by themselves, but it is our (and our dog’s) perception of those circumstances that causes stress.  Every person and every dog do not react in the same manner to the same situation.  So, what might seem stressful to one, may not to another. 

What situations might create a stress reaction for your dog?  Being in a new environment or situation, being confused about what is expected of her or of how to react, anything that scares her, being in crowded places with very little personal space, having new people or animals enter her home, changes in known routines, being left alone, etc.  These are only a few.

As you get to know your dog better, you will begin to know what types of situations are stressful for her.  The important thing is to learn to recognize signs of stress in your dog so you will know when to step in and help her.

Dogs as a species show some of the same signs of stress, but individual dogs also show stress in their own ways.  It’s important to learn about these stress signals in dogs, but also to observe your own dog for behaviors that are different from her regular behavior.  These might be signals that she is getting stressed as well."

 

Excerpt from Through A Dark Silence - click on title to learn more about my book!