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…)

Whether it be an immobile peanut, a living victim or any other object that the cat considers worthy of more detailed exploration, the feline has an armoury of sensitive touch receptors at its clawtips - and not only there. You may have seen a curious cat tentatively patting an object –perhaps a new toy mouse — with its paw. Although it may look comical, the cat isn’t playing, but is instead conducting a serious investigation. After all, it doesn‘t yet know that this alien object is a toy — it doesn‘t show signs of life, but that doesn‘t mean that it won’t jump up and bite the cat on the nose. With caution being the watchword, the cat therefore extends a forepaw, keeping its vulnerable nose well away from the potential danger, and delicately touches the toy 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…)

Puppy’s first walk into the outside world should be viewed with great importance but, first of all, I would like you to think carefully about your puppy and his feelings. Try to put yourself into his place and understand how he views the outside world. If you have carried him out with you over the past few weeks, there should be no fear in his mind and, ideally, you will have lead and collar trained him in your own back garden as well. Nevertheless, you must accept the fact that, to your puppy, walking out is a new and wonderful experience. He will look upon the pavements as a kaleidoscope of smells. Every blade of grass, gate-post and telegraph pole will be an exciting experience for him. (more…)

Mocha, on the other hand, feigns stupidity, which is not very difficult for her. She’s the nearest thing I’ve ever met to a backward Labrador. She has the sweetest disposition and a tail that never stops wagging. But there was a time in her training when I began to believe she was deaf. No matter how I encouraged or commanded, she would sit totally ignoring me, and yet the slightest sound of a food bowl being placed on the floor would bring her at top speed. I simply proved to Mocha that whatever I told her to do she must and no amount of feigning stupidity would get her out of it. (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…)

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…)