A dog’s adolescence is the time when everything starts to fall apart, unless you make a concerted effort to see it through to the stability of adulthood.

Your dog’s adolescence is a critical time. If you ignore your dog’s education now, you will soon find yourself living with an ill-mannered, under-socialized, hyperactive animal. Here are some things to watch for.

• Household manners may deteriorate over time, especially if you start taking your dog’s housetraining and other good behaviour for granted. But if you taught your pup well in his earlier months, the drift in household manners will be slow until your dog reaches his sunset years, when housetraining sometimes tends to suffer.
• Basic manners may take a sharp dive when puppy meets adolescence. Lure/reward training your puppy was easy: you taught your pup to eagerly come, follow, sit, lie down, stand still, roll over, and look up to you with unwavering attention and respect because you were your pup’s sun, moon, and stars.
• But now your dog is developing adult doggy interests, such as investigating other dogs’ rear ends, sniffing urine and feces on the grass, rolling in unidentifiable smelly stuff, and chasing squirrels.
• Your dog’s interests may quickly become distractions to training, so that your dog will continue sniffing another dog’s rear end rather than come running when called. (What a scary thought, that your dog would prefer another dog’s rear end to you!) All of a sudden he won’t come, won’t sit, won’t settle down and stay, but instead jumps up, pulls on-leash, and becomes hyperactive.
• Socialization often heads downhill during adolescence, sometimes surprisingly precipitously. As they get older, dogs have fewer opportunities to meet unfamiliar people and dogs. Most owners have established a set routine by the time their dog is five or six months old.
• If your adolescent dog does not get out and about regularly and only a few unfamiliar people come to the house, his de-socialization may be alarmingly rapid.
• Dog-Dog Socialization also deteriorates during adolescence, often at an alarming rate, especially for very small and very large dogs. First, teaching a dog to get along with every other dog is difficult. Groups of wild canids — wolves, coyotes, jackals, etc. — seldom welcome strangers into their midst, but that’s exactly what we expect our dogs to do. Second, it is unrealistic to expect a dog to be best friends with every dog. Much like people, dogs have special friends, casual acquaintances, and individuals they don’t particularly like.

Establishing leadership, creating rules and boundaries will pave the way through adolescence.

Dianne Sarasin’s Quick tips e-Book will be available soon through the Ottawa Dog Blog

Training your blind dog will give her confidence and help alleviate depression, dependency and fear. Proper training will also make it easier, and safer, for your blind dog to participate in everyday activities with you.

Training the “Sit” Cue

1. Give the cue “Sit.”
2. Place a tasty-smelling food treat right next to your dog’s nose and mouth at the same time.
3. Keep the food treat close to your dog’s nose and slowly take the treat up and over its head. Doing this will lead your dog into a sit.
4. Say “Yes” the instant your dog sits, and give him a food treat and praise.

Training the “Down” Cue

1. Start your “Down” cue by first giving your dog the “Sit “cue.
2. Hold a food treat close to your pet’s nose, and then give the cue “Down.”
3. Take the treat slowly down to the ground between your dog’s legs. This should lead your dog into the down position.
4. Say “Yes” when the trick is accomplished, and give your dog treats and praise.

Continue reading →

(Ottawa Dog of the Week for October 19th/09)

“My partner and I started looking for a medium size dog about one year ago. We saw an ad on Kijiji that said they were looking for good families for these adorable Cocker Spaniel mix puppies. They were giving them away for free! Luckily, we were the first people to call and arrive in Diego’s parent’s home. Diego was the only male of the bunch and, surprisingly enough, he was also the calmest, smallest, and most timid. The owners were particularly attached to him since they had to encourage the small fellow to eat, drink, and play with his sisters. We instantly fell in love with the little pooch and decided to take him home just a few days later.

Although he was born in Canada, his parents came from Cuba so we thought that it would be fair to give him a Spanish name.

Our new family member started out as very shy, so we took him absolutely everywhere to make sure he would grow out of it. We took him camping, to our rock climbing gym, to work, to friend’s home’s, parks, the market, on long trips, etc.

Although it took him a little while before growing out of his shyness, he had no difficulties learning commands and tricks. After just two weeks, our fluffy Diego was potty trained, learned how to sit, lay down, give his paw, and stay. Despite the fact that those two weeks were amongst the most difficult I’ve ever had, I felt like I had filled a big hole in my life. For once, I had to care for someone more than I did for myself, and it felt great.

Diego is now 9 months old and is doing absolutely outstanding. In many ways, he is a lot like an English Cocker Spaniel: same size, colour, intelligence, crazy hair-do, and long ears, but he does have something very unique, his tail! His tail is absolutely beautiful. It makes me wonder why breeders ever started to cut this breeds tail in the first place. He has a long coat with a beard and a mustache that is getting longer every day and big paws that don’t match his size (yet) but do match his big heart. He LOVES to play with other dogs (even thought some of them are three times his size) and cuttle with us on the couch at night. He also adores to play fetch and go roller-blading.

If I had four words to describe this little critter they would be: adorable, smart, soft (in every sens of the word), and happy. ” – Diego’s Mom, Julie-Anne

Continue reading →

(Ottawa Dog of the Week for May 4th/09)

“My name is Ricky and I’m a two-year old Pomeranian who adopted my parents when I was about 10 months old. At the time, they weren’t searching for a pet and Dad was not sure if a small dog was right for him but both of them melted as soon as I sat in their laps. My parents enjoyed training me over the past year and though I still have a lot to learn, they’re proud to report that I’ve come a long way. Before attending obedience and socialization classes, I didn’t even know basic commands like ’sit’ and I used to be terrified of strangers. But now I know all sorts of commands and tricks, and happily sniff at and accept treats from people!

Don’t let my size fool you – though I’m small, I have a huge heart and a giant of a personality! Recently, Mum was bed-ridden with the flu and I refused to move from her side for days. Finally Dad brought my food and water dishes into the bedroom so I could take care of Mum while he was at work. Also, sometimes Mum tears up while watching movies and thinking that she is really upset, I’ll come over and to comfort her. I’m also a bit of a neat-freak as I can usually be seen lurking around the kitchen when my parents are cooking just in case something drops, ready to clean up any spills so they don’t have to. Sometimes when resting on Dad’s chest, I try to sneakily groom his beard as a thank you for all the grooming they do for me. I take my duties of nurse, hug-bug, watch-dog and tidy-upper very seriously.

But I still manage to have plenty of fun and I can’t wait till it warms up a bit so I can spend more time frolicking outdoors and meet new friends around my size! In the meantime, I can often be found making nests out of blankets, chasing my favourite toys, and performing my favourite tricks – twirling in circles and shaking paws.

Woof!” – Ricky with help from parents, Maria and Glen

Continue reading →