Happy Pets

It does seem that the younger the bird, the easier he is to tame; however, all birds, of all ages, will eventually respond to kindness. The major problem is getting his confidence in you. His fear of new surroundings, lack of companions and strangeness of a new cage are all contributing factors to his wild behavior when you bring him to your home. He will undoubtedly bite when handled, cower in the corner and hiss and strike at your extended hand. Patience is the key word here along with slow, cautious movements. Speak softly each time you approach the cage, and keep the cage near you while you do your chores. (more…)

Lampeyed Panchax; LampeyeAplocheilichthys (formerly Micropanchax) macrophthalmus 30 mm 1 in. Nigeria, Cameroon : forest streams. The body is not cylindrical, but more laterally compressed. Its colour is a delicate blue, with a faint gold line running from the gill cover to the caudal fin. The caudal fin may have a yellow tinge, with red marks at the edge. The eyes are blue. Unlike some Killifishes, this species does well in hard, alkaline water. A shoaling upper water level species, perhaps too small for a community collection. Temperature: 23-26^°C (73-78^°F). Diet: live and dried foods. Breeding: lays eggs over period of days in plants or mops. Eggs hatch in two weeks and fry mature in six months. (more…)

House-training should prove no problem if you’re quick and alert to your puppy’s needs. He will need to pay frequent visits to his spot in the garden: after each meal, after a sleep and any time you think about it in between. Always pick him up and carry him to the spot. Give him a command. I use the words ‘busy dog‘. Don’t dump him and retreat back to the house and close the door. He hasn’t a clue what he’s been put in the garden for. You must stay with him, repeating your commands over and over again. Whether it’s hailing, blowing a gale or a snowstorm’s on, you must persevere. As soon as he’s been a ‘busy dog‘, give him lots of praise, tell him how clever he is, pick him up and return him to the house. If you are diligent and watch your puppy closely, you will know when he needs to go out. A sure sign will be when he puts his nose to the ground, his tail up in the air and runs round in circles. That is your cue to move speedily with him into the garden. (more…)

I am very worried about the current enthusiasm for check-chain collars. The public seem to believe the be-all and end-all of training their dog is having it on the end of a chain. I agree there is a time and place for a check-chain collar, but it is certainly not on a puppy under six months of age, and, in my opinion, should not be used by inexperienced people. If you train your puppy correctly from the beginning, there will never be any need to revert to a chain. Seventy-five per cent of dog owners have a dragging dog. Why? Because they didn’t think to train their dog at an early age. I have seen four- and five-month-old puppies completely out of hand and then it’s so easy and so much less trouble to put a chain around the dog’s neck, whereas a little effort and patience on the owner’s part would prevent this. (more…)

With the puppy sitting on your left-hand side, give a quiet, but firm, Wait command. Do not use puppy’s name. Puppy should always associate his name with coming to you and we do not wish him to do that on this occasion. Take one small pace to your right, count one second and return to your dog and praise him. He shouldn’t have had time to move. If he has, just patiently put him back into the Sit position and try again. You are only expecting puppy to wait there for one second. Extend your puppy’s waiting time very gradually. If you rush it, puppy will want to come to you and you have achieved nothing.

Many puppies lose their confidence if they think their owner is leaving them. It’s not a bad thing that your puppy wants to be with you constantly, so you must build his confidence up. (more…)

The worst thing you can possibly do is introduce your puppy to the car on his first journey to the vet for his inoculations. A sensitive puppy will remember this traumatic experience and link the car journey with the vet. Stop problems before they begin and you’ll never have any. Don’t be tempted to rush any part of your puppy’s training. It would be so easy to put puppy in the car and go, and you could be lucky and have a dog who enjoyed car riding. But if the puppy you have has any qualms whatsoever about the car, you may be instilling a fear of the vehicle in him that will take years to cure. (more…)

The golden rule of training is never to let puppy make mistakes. My own Labradors love doing Stays, probably because, as a breed, they are basically idle, but I did come across one or two problems with Katy. While I was in full control of the situation teaching her Stays at home or in the park, everything went well and Katy had every confidence in this new command. But once she was old enough to be entered in Obedience shows, her Stays became a misery to her and, for a while, I couldn’t understand where I had made my mistakes. Each time I took her into the Stay ring, her ears went back and her body went stiff and I could tell from the expression on her face that she was extremely worried about the exercise and, although she never actually broke the Stay command at a show, she was never relaxed or happy once put into a Sit or Down-Stay. (more…)

I am sure that you will find all the exercises extremely useful if only to teach your dog discipline and self-control, but there are other practical reasons for teaching them. I remember once when my daughter Kerensa was a toddler and I was taking Bracken, Mocha and Buttons out for a walk. Unbeknown to me Kerensa had pocketed a tennis ball on the way out and before I realised what was happening she was bouncing the tennis ball on the pavement, and it rolled away into the road. Kerensa ran after it. Instinctively I dropped the dog leads, told them to Sit and Stay and rushed after Kerensa. Needless to say, all was well. I was able to retrieve her without a scratch, secure in the knowledge that the three dogs were still sitting and staying on the pavement.

Since that time I have practised my Sit-Stays while I run after Kerensa, as dogs will often think this is a game and immediately run after their owner. (more…)

Try to choose a secluded, grassy area for your first lesson with your puppy. Do not train in children’s play areas or let your dog run there. My own local council have provided exercising areas for dogs, plus toilet facilities. This is marvellous and I wish every other council were as considerate. It would prevent fouling of play-areas and pavements and would, I am sure, lead to more conscientious dog-ownership. Choose a time when your puppy will not be distracted by lots of people or strange dogs. Take pockets full of titbits and your puppy’s favourite toy, and add to this a long lead. An old washing line will do, or a special long lead you can acquire from your pet shop for the very purpose of training your puppy to return on command. (more…)

The biggest problem most dog owners have is getting their dogs to return to them on command once the dog is off the lead. But so many owners cause their own problems on this exercise, I’m not surprised their dogs don’t wish to return to them. Let us first view the faults, in the hope of preventing you from making the same mistakes.

Why your dog won’t come back to you

The first and simplest reason your dog will not return to you on command is that you haven’t trained him thoroughly in the garden. If he won’t come when called in the confined space of his own home, he certainly won’t in the freedom of the fields. In the main, owners with untrained dogs are full of excuses. (more…)