Happy Pets

If you are bringing home a kitten, it is important that you provide it with some toys to play with: play is a vital part of a kitten’s development, whereby it practises its chasing and pouncing skills. Playing with your kitten will also strengthen the bond between you, as well as being great fun for all of the game’s participants, be they human or feline. The imaginations of older cats, too, are often stimulated by a toy mouse to ‘hunt’, particularly if they are indoor cats who neither have access to the real thing nor much opportunity to exercise. Although, for example, our pair of twelve-year-olds have reached the age when they no longer always spring into action when a thing-on-a-string is dangled in front of their noses, toy mice materialise overnight in spots where once there were none, evidence that our felines are not too old to indulge in nocturnal games of cat and mouse. (more…)

Puppy Pet Socialization

Part of the secret of having a well-trained puppy is the ability on your part to think ahead. You won’t be able to take him for a walk outside until he’s completed his injections, at about fourteen to sixteen weeks. This is far too late to introduce your puppy to a collar and lead and the outside world. The socialization of your puppy at an early age is essential if you require a well-adjusted adult dog. I discovered this, to my cost, with Bracken, my first puppy. I never thought of taking him out on to the streets until he was sixteen weeks old. At home, he was perfectly behaved and afraid of nothing and walked well in the garden on a collar and lead. You can imagine my surprise at our first day’s outing. The moment we stepped out of the gate, Bracken flattened himself to the pavement with terror at the sound and sights of traffic. (more…)

Puppy Pet Sit

The first lesson you wish your puppy to learn is Sit. When you’re in possession of his toy, push your puppy gently down into the Sit position. With your right hand cupped around the puppy’s chest, place your left hand on his back near the tail. With your right hand, push gently backwards, while you are easing down with your left. Give a firm, but not loud, command. Never shout at your puppy. It will only lead him to flatten his ears against the noise and ignore you. It’s much better to talk quietly, then he has to make the effort of listening to you. As soon as his bottom is on the floor in the correct position, throw his toy. Repeat this over and over again in your games, which can take place as often and for as long as puppy is keen to play. He’ll have a marvelous time with you. As far as puppy is concerned, he’s not learning anything, for the Sit position is part of the fun. (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 Down position is the one exercise most dogs hate doing. In the wild, a canine lying down denotes submission and this instinct is still very strong in our pet dogs. The exception to this rule is the working collie, who will drop at a whistle when herding sheep. But if you watch the collie at work very carefully, you will realise that his hunting instinct is to the fore, and down he may be but every muscle in his body is alert, ready for the spring. When using and training working dogs, we are only channelling their basic instinct. The guide-dog is a good example of this, for all a guide-dog is learning is self-preservation, but he is extending his own body range, taller and wider, to encompass his human being. (more…)

Jumping

If you own the energetic type of dog, he will no doubt love to race and jump and a dog that is full of beans and wants to be on the go all day long can often be satisfied by five or ten minutes’ jumping in his own garden. But, as with all things you are training your dog, you should show him how to do it. Whatever you do, don’t put a six-foot jump up in the garden and try and clear it yourself, unless, that is, you’re an Olympic hurdler. To begin with, use a very small jump which can be simply made. I usually put the handle of a yard brush across two buckets, giving me about eighteen inches in height. With your dog on a loose lead, run at the jump with him, showing great enthusiasm. Be ready to let the lead go if your dog pulls back or refuses to go over the jump. (more…)

Teaching the retrieve to a dog who isn’t retrieve-minded can be a long and painful process; painful for the owner, I might add, not for the dog. So I advise you that, unless your dog is a natural retriever or you specifically want him to fetch things for you, forget this exercise and find something else your dog’s good at. Remember, all these extra things you are teaching your pet should be pleasurable both to you and him and if you find that your dog isn’t enjoying the exercises, forget it. If you’ve played with your dog from being a young puppy then the chances are that he will retrieve. Throw him an old sock or a pair of knotted tights and give him a command to fetch. (more…)

Don’t fall into the trap of many dog owners of forgetting the fun element in your training. If life with your dog has become a drudgery and the time you take to train him basic commands is full of harassment, fraught with anxiety, stop, you have got it all wrong. Dogs, like children, should be a pleasure to us. I see all types of human beings coming along to my training classes with their dogs and I can instantly tell you which ones will fall into the ‘failed owners‘ category. They’re the ones who won’t listen, who won’t try, who think they will make a fool of themselves talking to their dog and putting enthusiasm into their voices. Many of them refuse point-blank to sit on the ground with their dogs and think it childish and stupid to play with them. In my training classes I try and make most of the exercises a game so that the human beings forget their self-consciousness and before they realise it they are having as much fun as their dogs. It is very rewarding to train along with other people and their dogs, as it gives incentive to the owners to come out best. If you train with other people or go along to a training club perhaps some of these ideas will help you and if you’re the stiff and starchy conservative type maybe it will give you enthusiasm to change your dog’s training and have fun. (more…)