Been a great 6 months since I last blogged, been busy with moving house and a new job etc. I went back to my hometown to visit my family during the weekend, and also got a chance to see the new pup of the family, a pitbull. Now this pitbull was given by a friend, there's no birth cert and no family history, we didn't even get to see the parents, but it had the features of a pitbull, especially the shiny thin coat. Since the death of our alpha guard dog, Jacky, we never came across another dog that could replace him. Hence having this pup, we hope that she can take that place one day. However, the pup was given to us, too prematurely if you ask me, at 4 weeks old. Luckily, there were no complications, it was no more than 6 or 7 inches when it came to our home, but now at 10 weeks old, she looks normal. (Please mind that I have never had experience with pitbulls before, let alone a pitbull pup).
During the weekend, the pup was sent to the vet to dock it's tail (that's what I thought at the first place). With it's 10 weeks of age, it would be the ideal age to dock the tail to lessen the risk of trauma. However, once we met the vet, his next words was "cropping the ears too?", me and my brother looked at each other and nodded, like it was the normal thing to do. The vet went on to say that cropping the ears would give the fierce pitbull look, which I would agree.
Please note, I have only had a beagle myself (which does not require docked tails or cropped ears) and I have experienced looking after a dog with docked tails, but cropped ears? I've only seen my sifu with his cropped ear Dobermans, but I've never lived through it myself before. When the pup came home that evening, I was feeling a heartache myself. The docked tail was alright to look at, though the missing 2.5 inches of tail was very very obvious. But what pains me were the ears. Half of the ears were missing, stitched together with thread, but with small amounts of blood still slipping out and both ears were tied together with the intention that the ears would go upwards and straighten up as time goes by. The vet mentioned that she is not to eat or drink anything until the next morning. Obviously she was in pain or in discomfort, but everytime I sat down on the floor, she would still come over to play with me. I tried to comfort her by massaging her back, carefully to not touch her wounds. Pitbulls require short cropped ears to have "the look", it was relatively easier compared to Dobermans. Dobermans have long cropped ears, which require sticks or straws to support the ears so that they could develop muscles to stand on their own. With this, the owner would need to adjust or change the sticks when required for weeks or months.
Having "the look" is one thing, but this made me think, what was the cause of this? Is this really cosmetic driven? Did it serve a purpose medically? Would the dog live a normal life without having its tail docked or its ears cropped? (Please note that I am NOT a vet nor have I have any experience in pet related surgeries, the below comments or reference are from some basic research done and my own opinions only, please leave comments if I have misunderstood anything)
First, let's start with docking.
"Docking is the removal of portions of an animal's tail. While docking and bobbing are more commonly used to refer to removal of the tail, the term cropping[1] is used in reference to the ears. Tail docking occurs in one of two ways. The first involves constricting the blood supply to the tail with a rubber ligature for a few days until the tail falls off. The second involves the severance of the tail with surgical scissors or a scalpel.[2] The tail is amputated at the dock." Reference came from Wikipedia
Tail docking is very common, especially for guard dogs (other than German Shephards). The original intent for docking was to prevent rabies, strengthening the back, increasing the dog's speed and prevent injuries when ratting, fighting or baiting. Now, many believe that cropping the tail is to hide the dog's expression, especially when it likes to wag it's tail from side to side when it's happy excited, so that thieves or burglars would not be aware. Docking usually takes 2 weeks to recover and it's fairly simple to take care, just make sure that the dog does not bite of the stitches and take notice whether there's any excessive bleeding or not.
Next, would be ear cropping.
"Cropping is the removal of part or all of the pinnae or auricles, the external visible flap of the ear, of an animal. Most commonly performed on dogs, it is an ancient practice that was once done for perceived health, practical or cosmetic reasons. In modern times, it is banned in many nations, but is still legal in a limited number of countries. Where permitted, it is seen only in certain breeds of dog such as the Pit bull, Doberman Pinscher, Schnauzer, Great Dane and Boxer." Reference Came from Wikipedia
Some mentioned that for the dogs to have "the look" they need to go through this process. It also stated that for the dogs mentioned above to enter a show dog competition, their ears need to be cropped. I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, but it does make me wonder, is it worth it? And how much pain does the dog have to go through.
What's next? Shaving the jaw bone and liposuction?
(Note: I do not intend to offend any owners who have spent years and so much effort to breed the perfect look through cropping or docking. As I've mentioned, there is no right or wrong in doing. What I've mentioned are only my views ONLY).
Till next time, Woof.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
BARF
Ever thought what wolves had or have for dinner? Kibbles, processed meat or canned food? Don't think we have those in the woods. In this post, I'm going to talk about a type of diet that has been having mixed reaction, BARF.
BARF, aka Biologically Appropriate Raw Food or Bones and Raw Food, is a diet plan where dogs get the most basic and simple type of food, raw food. Today, we have the most convenient type of dog food, kibbles and canned dog food, which we can easily get from in the local stores. However, there has been reports that some of these processed foods, no matter how well they are promoted, are causing problems to our dogs. Why? Some of the ingredients might have problems, nutrition imbalance and allergy just to name a few general reasons. Don't get me wrong, there are some brands that are good and provides the best quality but they might be a pricier than the more commercialized, low priced brands.
I believe in the past few months or years, we have heard or read about disturbing rumors or news, questioning the production of processed foods for humans. The sausages that you ate this morning, in general understanding, the sausage we eat should be all meat. What if I told you, there were feet, bones, beaks, eyes, brains and whatever a chick has, is all mixed together to produce that sausage? Nobody can really prove this, but this leaked information had also been floating around the net for quite some while. Same goes for pet food, some say that even dog meat is mixed into the canned foods dogs eat. But again, no actual solid proof had been presented. No being able to identify what we feed our pets are already a big concern here, as far as we know, there could chocolate in their foods (chocolates are a big taboo for dogs).
Let's assume we're in a perfect world where the meat is normal meat, chicken breast, beef, mutton, salmon and so on. Another issue we need to worry about is nutrition. Although in the package, the balanced nutrition chart is presented to show how much of protein, calcium, Vitamin A,B,C etc is being given to your dog, but how sure can you be? We all (including myself) have no choice but to use their products and believe what they offer, although there's no real way to prove it.
And don't bother to ask your vet or your pet store's advise on which brand is better. In my opinion, they will only say which is better based on how much profit they will gain. As they have a business to maintain, they might put their profits in front of their actual advise, because, hey, it might all be the same, but this brand is raking in the numbers. So it's much better to research on your own.
Now, BARF is about raw food, so don't bother trying to look for it in the super market. It's a combination of raw food based on your picking, some examples like pig, cow or goat bones (ribs or leg bones), raw meat, vegetables, egg etc. Remember, all these need to be raw, not cooked AT ALL! The reason why we have this is because, it is a more natural way for the dogs to eat, biting off meat from the bone, cleaning their teeth in the process as the friction between the teeth and the bone would help with cleaning. Eating raw food would also help with digestion too. Imagine yourself eating nuggets all the time and steamed chicken breast meat, yes the taste might be different, but you might feel that the natural chicken breast would be better for your own body. Again, we go back to the wolf theory, in the woods, the only thing they had were wild animals. Did they produce kibbles themselves? NO! They could only eat the meat raw and off the bone, which is the best thing for them to survive.
Now, some owners have their doubts about BARF, saying that raw meat has bacteria which might cause dogs to fall sick or die. My counter would be this, did wolves set up a fire and roast their meat? No! Besides, we have had dogs eating out from the garbage, going through all kinds of bacteria infested food, yet they can survive on the streets. But one of the main weakness on BARF for me is, since you can't get much of these in the pet stores, and you have to pick up the ingredients yourself, nutrition imbalance might be a problem. Too much meat for a dog could be not enough as well, they might need some form of vegetables, eggs, Omega 3 and other vitamins as well. This might be the tricky part, hence, constant observation is required to see whether your dog is feeling well or not, any allergies, observing the stool ( I know it's gross, but it's useful) and other health symptoms. And for this you might need to do the extr homework of researching on the net and also consulting your vet if he is OK with the BARF concept. Again, not everyone can accept the BARF concept.
I've tried it every now and then on my girls, and they've given quite encouraging results, their fur is shinier, they have less skin itching, their stool is powdery and less odor (as opposed to the previous wet and stinking ones). And because BARF is natural food, it's not dry hence, the dogs drink lesser water and have less pee. Good enough for me :)
We're about to move out from our current house to our new home in a few months, and I'll be starting to spend more time at home then. I might begin using the BARF diet fully by then, hence I'll post more pics on it in the future. Hope everyone enjoys!
See ya next post, Woof!
BARF, aka Biologically Appropriate Raw Food or Bones and Raw Food, is a diet plan where dogs get the most basic and simple type of food, raw food. Today, we have the most convenient type of dog food, kibbles and canned dog food, which we can easily get from in the local stores. However, there has been reports that some of these processed foods, no matter how well they are promoted, are causing problems to our dogs. Why? Some of the ingredients might have problems, nutrition imbalance and allergy just to name a few general reasons. Don't get me wrong, there are some brands that are good and provides the best quality but they might be a pricier than the more commercialized, low priced brands.
I believe in the past few months or years, we have heard or read about disturbing rumors or news, questioning the production of processed foods for humans. The sausages that you ate this morning, in general understanding, the sausage we eat should be all meat. What if I told you, there were feet, bones, beaks, eyes, brains and whatever a chick has, is all mixed together to produce that sausage? Nobody can really prove this, but this leaked information had also been floating around the net for quite some while. Same goes for pet food, some say that even dog meat is mixed into the canned foods dogs eat. But again, no actual solid proof had been presented. No being able to identify what we feed our pets are already a big concern here, as far as we know, there could chocolate in their foods (chocolates are a big taboo for dogs).
Let's assume we're in a perfect world where the meat is normal meat, chicken breast, beef, mutton, salmon and so on. Another issue we need to worry about is nutrition. Although in the package, the balanced nutrition chart is presented to show how much of protein, calcium, Vitamin A,B,C etc is being given to your dog, but how sure can you be? We all (including myself) have no choice but to use their products and believe what they offer, although there's no real way to prove it.
And don't bother to ask your vet or your pet store's advise on which brand is better. In my opinion, they will only say which is better based on how much profit they will gain. As they have a business to maintain, they might put their profits in front of their actual advise, because, hey, it might all be the same, but this brand is raking in the numbers. So it's much better to research on your own.
Now, BARF is about raw food, so don't bother trying to look for it in the super market. It's a combination of raw food based on your picking, some examples like pig, cow or goat bones (ribs or leg bones), raw meat, vegetables, egg etc. Remember, all these need to be raw, not cooked AT ALL! The reason why we have this is because, it is a more natural way for the dogs to eat, biting off meat from the bone, cleaning their teeth in the process as the friction between the teeth and the bone would help with cleaning. Eating raw food would also help with digestion too. Imagine yourself eating nuggets all the time and steamed chicken breast meat, yes the taste might be different, but you might feel that the natural chicken breast would be better for your own body. Again, we go back to the wolf theory, in the woods, the only thing they had were wild animals. Did they produce kibbles themselves? NO! They could only eat the meat raw and off the bone, which is the best thing for them to survive.
Now, some owners have their doubts about BARF, saying that raw meat has bacteria which might cause dogs to fall sick or die. My counter would be this, did wolves set up a fire and roast their meat? No! Besides, we have had dogs eating out from the garbage, going through all kinds of bacteria infested food, yet they can survive on the streets. But one of the main weakness on BARF for me is, since you can't get much of these in the pet stores, and you have to pick up the ingredients yourself, nutrition imbalance might be a problem. Too much meat for a dog could be not enough as well, they might need some form of vegetables, eggs, Omega 3 and other vitamins as well. This might be the tricky part, hence, constant observation is required to see whether your dog is feeling well or not, any allergies, observing the stool ( I know it's gross, but it's useful) and other health symptoms. And for this you might need to do the extr homework of researching on the net and also consulting your vet if he is OK with the BARF concept. Again, not everyone can accept the BARF concept.
I've tried it every now and then on my girls, and they've given quite encouraging results, their fur is shinier, they have less skin itching, their stool is powdery and less odor (as opposed to the previous wet and stinking ones). And because BARF is natural food, it's not dry hence, the dogs drink lesser water and have less pee. Good enough for me :)
We're about to move out from our current house to our new home in a few months, and I'll be starting to spend more time at home then. I might begin using the BARF diet fully by then, hence I'll post more pics on it in the future. Hope everyone enjoys!
See ya next post, Woof!
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Home To The Unknown
As trainers, we sometimes prefer pure breeds, we know how they are, how they react, their flaws, their weaknesses, their merits, what they're good at, what they're not,etc... practically everything about breed have been studied, researched, observed, etc...For more extensive study, we even draw up the family tree of a pup, "is it coming from a champion line?", "How's the temperament of the parents?" and so on. I myself started out with a beagle, because it suited my lifestyle, the body size, its appetite, what to expect in training, how would it behave, the list goes on. All these anticipation, all these expectations, are naturally available when we go for a pure breed, preferably coming from a breeder, when it is still a pup.
Let's flip to the other side of the coin: Yearly, we have millions of dogs that end up in shelters/dog pounds. Some had homes before and they either ran away or got abandoned, some never even made it to a home and was directly sent to the shelter from pet stores. Sad story but it happens more than you can imagine (hence, going back to key message, never get from pet stores or dog mills, only buy from responsible dog breeders).
Now, you're trying to get a new dog, you've never had one before and this is your first round. You have a kind heart, where you feel that pure breeds will mostly get a good home, might as well go to a shelter to adopt a dog there. It's noble and admirable, but do you know what you're getting yourself into? Of course I'm not suggesting that adopting a dog from shelters is a bad idea, it is a great idea! If you're not into showing dogs or dedicating yourself to contribute in the breeding business, getting a pure breed and adopting from shelter has not much differences when it comes to "getting a dog into your life". There are just a few points where you need to be careful. (Please note that my points covers for both pure breeds and mongrels)
Parenthood
As the dogs mostly are abandoned, 99.9% of the time you will not know the history of the dog, how the parents are, how are their temperament, what had the pup gone through with the parents, are there any complications during birth or "puppyhood", was the pup aggressive, dominating or dominated among its peers........? All kinds of questions that would lead to how the pup behaves naturally, all remain unanswered due to the lack of history. To me, that would be the biggest flaw. Things get complicated when its not a pure breed, mixture of different breeds would cause mixture of attitudes, attributes, characteristics, markings, chances of disease and sickness, strengths, weaknesses and so much more. It might not all be bad, but it might not all be good. True story, my family adopted a pup that was mixed with German Shepherd (M) and Rottweiler (F). What was produced was a tall, strong sized rottweiler, with a longer muzzle and more importantly, weak hips (contributions of the German Shepherd gene). The mix could make so many possibilities, but sadly it is hard to predict what type of dog will be produced, for better or worse. Sadly, more often than not, mongrels usually turn up in the shelters more than pure breeds, at least that's the case for Malaysia, which makes the mixture effect worse as we might be looking at 10 or 20 generations worth of combinations and we don't see any characteristics of their original ancestors, other than that yellow fur-ed body.
Characteristics
Other than parenthood-contributing-characteristics, being in a shelter, you never know what had happened to the pup. Can you imagine yourself being abandoned by someone that meant everything to you, caged in, no freedom and cramped with other scared humans? The same goes for dogs as well. The trauma on the dogs psychology is hard to predict, just like humans, some are stronger than others. A royal blood might not be as strong mentally as a normal human being, same goes for pure breeds and mongrels. Bottom line, we just never know what kind of a dog we are taking just by observing it for a few hours.
Age
In a shelter, there dogs that are not a year older and there might be closer to death than you think, although sometimes you can see the certain indicators on age on some dogs, there are some that you can't see them obviously. The dog that you bring home might be a seven year old when you think or the shelter thought it was only two.
With all these points to consider, branches out to more questions, such as training method, food input, allergy concerns etc... things that you may need special or unique attention. Although getting a pure breed dog from a highly reputable breeder might not decrease the same complications to zero and all the above might still happen, but it might clear some doubts on how to tackle the problems with the clear history, for example, mom is allergic to chicken, pup might be allergic to chicken too.
However, after all said is done, these are the rewards for adopting:
Appreciation
As I've mentioned, a dog might be traumatized after it's brief stay in the pound, if a good person is willing to adopt it to his/her home, the dog might show high appreciation to the owner, being extra loyal. I personally know a Japanese lady, who adopted an electric-collar-over-abused black German Shepherd. At first it was totally scared of humans, not able to comfortably interact with strangers, and even had doubts with the owner herself. But a year later when I met them, he was just like any other healthy dog. If the owner has the determination to train and expose the dog to a better life, it might appreciate its twist of fate from worse to better and live a better life than dogs that don't know about hardship. This might also help with training as well.
Doing Society and Humanity A Favor
Sadly, we have enough assholes in the world to cause a long chain of supply of abandoned dogs, by adopting, we are helping to get these poor souls to homes so that they can lead a normal life. No one or nothing deserves to be abandoned, especially after it has given all it's heart and soul to the person. It's just not right. But sadly it happens, and luckily some of the greater ones in the human race, does recognize that adopting is more suitable than purchasing. For that, I guess, there's still hope for humanity.
To make it perfectly clear, what I stated above are not pros and cons, but points to consider if you're planning on adopting a dog. Cause the last thing we want is to have an adopter abandoning an adopted dog, because what he/she got was not what he/she wanted. To me, it doesn't matter if a dog is bought from a breeder or adopted from a shelter, if you're willing to spend time with it, give it your love or train it, regardless of where the dog came from, it will be a happy dog.
So till next time, Woof!
Let's flip to the other side of the coin: Yearly, we have millions of dogs that end up in shelters/dog pounds. Some had homes before and they either ran away or got abandoned, some never even made it to a home and was directly sent to the shelter from pet stores. Sad story but it happens more than you can imagine (hence, going back to key message, never get from pet stores or dog mills, only buy from responsible dog breeders).
Now, you're trying to get a new dog, you've never had one before and this is your first round. You have a kind heart, where you feel that pure breeds will mostly get a good home, might as well go to a shelter to adopt a dog there. It's noble and admirable, but do you know what you're getting yourself into? Of course I'm not suggesting that adopting a dog from shelters is a bad idea, it is a great idea! If you're not into showing dogs or dedicating yourself to contribute in the breeding business, getting a pure breed and adopting from shelter has not much differences when it comes to "getting a dog into your life". There are just a few points where you need to be careful. (Please note that my points covers for both pure breeds and mongrels)
Parenthood
As the dogs mostly are abandoned, 99.9% of the time you will not know the history of the dog, how the parents are, how are their temperament, what had the pup gone through with the parents, are there any complications during birth or "puppyhood", was the pup aggressive, dominating or dominated among its peers........? All kinds of questions that would lead to how the pup behaves naturally, all remain unanswered due to the lack of history. To me, that would be the biggest flaw. Things get complicated when its not a pure breed, mixture of different breeds would cause mixture of attitudes, attributes, characteristics, markings, chances of disease and sickness, strengths, weaknesses and so much more. It might not all be bad, but it might not all be good. True story, my family adopted a pup that was mixed with German Shepherd (M) and Rottweiler (F). What was produced was a tall, strong sized rottweiler, with a longer muzzle and more importantly, weak hips (contributions of the German Shepherd gene). The mix could make so many possibilities, but sadly it is hard to predict what type of dog will be produced, for better or worse. Sadly, more often than not, mongrels usually turn up in the shelters more than pure breeds, at least that's the case for Malaysia, which makes the mixture effect worse as we might be looking at 10 or 20 generations worth of combinations and we don't see any characteristics of their original ancestors, other than that yellow fur-ed body.
Characteristics
Other than parenthood-contributing-characteristics, being in a shelter, you never know what had happened to the pup. Can you imagine yourself being abandoned by someone that meant everything to you, caged in, no freedom and cramped with other scared humans? The same goes for dogs as well. The trauma on the dogs psychology is hard to predict, just like humans, some are stronger than others. A royal blood might not be as strong mentally as a normal human being, same goes for pure breeds and mongrels. Bottom line, we just never know what kind of a dog we are taking just by observing it for a few hours.
Age
In a shelter, there dogs that are not a year older and there might be closer to death than you think, although sometimes you can see the certain indicators on age on some dogs, there are some that you can't see them obviously. The dog that you bring home might be a seven year old when you think or the shelter thought it was only two.
With all these points to consider, branches out to more questions, such as training method, food input, allergy concerns etc... things that you may need special or unique attention. Although getting a pure breed dog from a highly reputable breeder might not decrease the same complications to zero and all the above might still happen, but it might clear some doubts on how to tackle the problems with the clear history, for example, mom is allergic to chicken, pup might be allergic to chicken too.
However, after all said is done, these are the rewards for adopting:
Appreciation
As I've mentioned, a dog might be traumatized after it's brief stay in the pound, if a good person is willing to adopt it to his/her home, the dog might show high appreciation to the owner, being extra loyal. I personally know a Japanese lady, who adopted an electric-collar-over-abused black German Shepherd. At first it was totally scared of humans, not able to comfortably interact with strangers, and even had doubts with the owner herself. But a year later when I met them, he was just like any other healthy dog. If the owner has the determination to train and expose the dog to a better life, it might appreciate its twist of fate from worse to better and live a better life than dogs that don't know about hardship. This might also help with training as well.
Doing Society and Humanity A Favor
Sadly, we have enough assholes in the world to cause a long chain of supply of abandoned dogs, by adopting, we are helping to get these poor souls to homes so that they can lead a normal life. No one or nothing deserves to be abandoned, especially after it has given all it's heart and soul to the person. It's just not right. But sadly it happens, and luckily some of the greater ones in the human race, does recognize that adopting is more suitable than purchasing. For that, I guess, there's still hope for humanity.
To make it perfectly clear, what I stated above are not pros and cons, but points to consider if you're planning on adopting a dog. Cause the last thing we want is to have an adopter abandoning an adopted dog, because what he/she got was not what he/she wanted. To me, it doesn't matter if a dog is bought from a breeder or adopted from a shelter, if you're willing to spend time with it, give it your love or train it, regardless of where the dog came from, it will be a happy dog.
So till next time, Woof!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Training: One Step @ A Time
As trainers, we tend to set our expectations when we train a dog, of course the expectation vary when it comes to which type of dog. Rottweiler, good guard dog, good bite work. Doberman, good guard dog, good bite work. Sheep dogs, good work dog, good at herding. Hounds, good work dog, good at smelling. The list goes on. But are these skills usable when it comes to real life? I don't recall Malaysians using hounds to find hares as prizes of hunts, nor, sheep dogs used to herd in the cows and goats when they scatter.
Except for guard dogs, which most typical owners would need to guard their house, factory, warehouse, whatnot, most natural habits of work dogs are not trained to perfection or, even worse, ignored. I, for one, provides basic training, which covers heelwork, sit/down stays, recalls and everything we would anticipate in a normal dog to behave well, regardless of whether his a pure breed or a mongrel. The rules of training are simple, dog must listen to what owner commands. You do good, you get praised or treats; you don't, you get punishment or, for the lucky ones, ignored until you do it right. This training is quite simple for almost any owner to follow and is the basic of them all. The goal here is to have a dog that can behave well in public and is willing to listen to the owner.
Of course, even for obedience training there are quite a few levels, first you have basic (AKA Canine Good Citizen CGC in the Malaysia Kennel Association MKA), then you have Pre-Novice, Novice and Open. The levels differ where in basic levels a leash is required and higher levels do not, and of course higher levels would have higher difficulties of skills and commands. As we move higher on the levels, the expectation of obedience is higher where the dog is required to stay in a spot, even if the owner is out of sight.
Now, what about the next step? As I've mentioned, obedience training is for obedience only, which might not work for every dog. Some could be lazy, some hyper-active. Just like government schools are not for every children, obedience training might not be the best thing for your canine companion. Instead of obedience, there are other training like, Agility, Dancing With Dogs (DWD), Bitework, Guidance even Therapy. Dogs can branch out to so many types of roles, it is the handler's job to identify which.
Now still, other than what I've mentioned before, you might still find that your dogs don't like what they're doing. An example, a beagle, he might not like agility (likes to smell the ground), DWD (the ground, again), Bitework (are you kidding me?), guidance (this is mostly taken up by Retrievers or Labradors), Therapy (not suitable for all kinds of dogs just like not all humans can be therapists).
Then what's next? This is where you might need to understand your dog better, what does he like? Perhaps smelling the ground? It's annoying, I know, the dog loves everything on the ground while everything is going on above of his head. But perhaps you could utilize this? One of the exercises in high level obedience training actually uses 9 handkerchiefs, where one of them are used to wipe the handler's hand. Without the dog looking, the used handkerchief is placed with the other 8, and the dog will use his nose to pick the used handkerchief. This training will need months or years to train, but perhaps this would be one of the best ways to utilize the dogs natural instinct. Instead of forcing it to do something that it does not want to do, maybe the handler could create an exercise so that the unwanted habit is used for fun instead. The exercise could be short or long, it doesn't matter, but ultimately the handler uses the habit to make it obey.
I'm a fan of long walks, going for 5KM or 10KM walks during the weekends means letting my girls use up their week long energy for that one and a half hour. They reach home, exhausted but they enjoy it. At first, the girls would walk faster than me, cause of their high level energy in them, but after a while, they'll start to re-adjust their speed as they begin to feel tired. Now for me , key point here is to ensure that they are fully focusing on the walk, no sniffing around, no wandering off, constantly staying on my left, sit when I stop, that kind of stuff that are similar to basic obedience training, but in the real world, beside roads, buildings, cars etc. To me, it's an achievement that my girls are used to this kind of walks, as 1. They get to have different experiences during the trainings, 2. I get to show other people how as simple as walks can be used to train their dogs, creating more awareness.
Dog training is offered almost everywhere, and there are even more unique and special training methods for special dogs, you just need to research through the net and through books or magazines. It is key essential where a dog is fully trained and his energy drained, mentally or physically. A trained dog is always a better dog. Hence, you just need to spend more time with the dog, get to know him, understand him, just like you would with a child. There's no way to treat two dogs the same, just like humans. You just got to know more, and lay out a training method for him. Talk to a trainer, read, trial and error, there's no right or wrong in this, it just depends whether you want to make the move or not.
Till next time, woof!
Except for guard dogs, which most typical owners would need to guard their house, factory, warehouse, whatnot, most natural habits of work dogs are not trained to perfection or, even worse, ignored. I, for one, provides basic training, which covers heelwork, sit/down stays, recalls and everything we would anticipate in a normal dog to behave well, regardless of whether his a pure breed or a mongrel. The rules of training are simple, dog must listen to what owner commands. You do good, you get praised or treats; you don't, you get punishment or, for the lucky ones, ignored until you do it right. This training is quite simple for almost any owner to follow and is the basic of them all. The goal here is to have a dog that can behave well in public and is willing to listen to the owner.
Of course, even for obedience training there are quite a few levels, first you have basic (AKA Canine Good Citizen CGC in the Malaysia Kennel Association MKA), then you have Pre-Novice, Novice and Open. The levels differ where in basic levels a leash is required and higher levels do not, and of course higher levels would have higher difficulties of skills and commands. As we move higher on the levels, the expectation of obedience is higher where the dog is required to stay in a spot, even if the owner is out of sight.
Now, what about the next step? As I've mentioned, obedience training is for obedience only, which might not work for every dog. Some could be lazy, some hyper-active. Just like government schools are not for every children, obedience training might not be the best thing for your canine companion. Instead of obedience, there are other training like, Agility, Dancing With Dogs (DWD), Bitework, Guidance even Therapy. Dogs can branch out to so many types of roles, it is the handler's job to identify which.
Now still, other than what I've mentioned before, you might still find that your dogs don't like what they're doing. An example, a beagle, he might not like agility (likes to smell the ground), DWD (the ground, again), Bitework (are you kidding me?), guidance (this is mostly taken up by Retrievers or Labradors), Therapy (not suitable for all kinds of dogs just like not all humans can be therapists).
Then what's next? This is where you might need to understand your dog better, what does he like? Perhaps smelling the ground? It's annoying, I know, the dog loves everything on the ground while everything is going on above of his head. But perhaps you could utilize this? One of the exercises in high level obedience training actually uses 9 handkerchiefs, where one of them are used to wipe the handler's hand. Without the dog looking, the used handkerchief is placed with the other 8, and the dog will use his nose to pick the used handkerchief. This training will need months or years to train, but perhaps this would be one of the best ways to utilize the dogs natural instinct. Instead of forcing it to do something that it does not want to do, maybe the handler could create an exercise so that the unwanted habit is used for fun instead. The exercise could be short or long, it doesn't matter, but ultimately the handler uses the habit to make it obey.
I'm a fan of long walks, going for 5KM or 10KM walks during the weekends means letting my girls use up their week long energy for that one and a half hour. They reach home, exhausted but they enjoy it. At first, the girls would walk faster than me, cause of their high level energy in them, but after a while, they'll start to re-adjust their speed as they begin to feel tired. Now for me , key point here is to ensure that they are fully focusing on the walk, no sniffing around, no wandering off, constantly staying on my left, sit when I stop, that kind of stuff that are similar to basic obedience training, but in the real world, beside roads, buildings, cars etc. To me, it's an achievement that my girls are used to this kind of walks, as 1. They get to have different experiences during the trainings, 2. I get to show other people how as simple as walks can be used to train their dogs, creating more awareness.
Dog training is offered almost everywhere, and there are even more unique and special training methods for special dogs, you just need to research through the net and through books or magazines. It is key essential where a dog is fully trained and his energy drained, mentally or physically. A trained dog is always a better dog. Hence, you just need to spend more time with the dog, get to know him, understand him, just like you would with a child. There's no way to treat two dogs the same, just like humans. You just got to know more, and lay out a training method for him. Talk to a trainer, read, trial and error, there's no right or wrong in this, it just depends whether you want to make the move or not.
Till next time, woof!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Dog Attacks Part 2
As a dog trainer, I knew that one day I would be bit by a dog, it could be from a Chihuahua, Chow Chow or even a Dane. My first nib came from a Chow Chow, barely qualified as a scratch. At last my first real accidental bite came from a male Doberman, coming from my own home. No, the dog is not dangerous nor it is overly aggressive, I just did something wrong at the wrong place at the wrong time, being in the crossfire between him and another male rottweiler. The bite was at the ankle, having several scratches and two puncture wounds. The attack itself was not a great impact physically, but it did give me a lesson: Never Underestimate a Dog.
I believe for the past few years, we have had a fair share of dog attack related news in Malaysia. Bull terrier attacking an old man, rottweiler bit off the face of a child, farm mongrels killing a tourist (I have no prejudice towards these dog breeds, just stating what was published before). I decided to do some digging and found an article about dog attacks and dog related accidents in the US & Canada ranging from the years 1982 till 2012. I didn't know to either laugh at the report or to feel sad about it. I suppose not many people knew that a Beagle, Chihuahua, Shih Tzu, Mini Pincher and Pomeranian each killed or almost killed a human. Of course these dogs didn't bite or nib the victims to death, these were accidents that were caused by suffocation by the leash as well. There was a case where a burglar was bit to death by a pack of Maltese, true story.
As owners, we tend to forget that dogs are there due to their loyalty and their responsibility to safe guard their owners and their families. We always treat them as pets where they need to listen to our every call, when at the same time, as humans, we couldn't make our own kind listen to our every call. We get frustrated, we get angry, pointing the blame at our canine companion. When they see a stranger, they bark, but yet sometimes we shut them off once we see that stranger is someone we know, and we expect the dogs to automatically know that the dogs should not bark at these certain people. Making them confused on what is right and what is wrong. And when they are confused, instead of guiding them, we tend to blame them or forcibly educate them wrongly.
News flash : a dog CAN bite back. I remember seeing a short article on line, it's about 10 things a dog would say to its owner. One of the sentence says, "Please remember, I can bite you, but I choose not to". I guess a lot of owners take it for granted, thinking that because they are the owners, their dogs won't bite. It only takes a split second for a dog to take the instinct to bite, and the damage is done. The cause? It could be because of food, pressure, pain, frustration, or just dumb bad luck. The only difference between a human's brain and a dog's, is the ability to have a high degree or reasoning. They are more simple minded and rely more on their instinct instead of their deep thinking (if they have).
The only reason a dog does not sink that great white jaw into that firm human flesh of yours is only because of loyalty. As you raised it from a pup to a dog, as you nursed every injury it had, the repayment is done by undoubted loyalty. Hence, appreciate it and try to understand your dog. Why does it do what it does? Stop blaming your dog for mistakes it made, instead, understand why. Why is it barking at nothing? Could it be something you can't see easily like a snake in grass? Why is it constantly sticking by your side? Perhaps it has an injury that requires your attention? If their loyalty has given them nothing but disappointment or worse with blaming and physical injuries, when do you think it will start to think bite back?
This is where "how to choose a dog suitable for you and your lifestyle" comes in, this is something I will bring up in later posts more thoroughly. But in the meantime, don't blame your dog for the bites, the growls or the threats. It could be something that you SHOULD be concerned with.
I believe for the past few years, we have had a fair share of dog attack related news in Malaysia. Bull terrier attacking an old man, rottweiler bit off the face of a child, farm mongrels killing a tourist (I have no prejudice towards these dog breeds, just stating what was published before). I decided to do some digging and found an article about dog attacks and dog related accidents in the US & Canada ranging from the years 1982 till 2012. I didn't know to either laugh at the report or to feel sad about it. I suppose not many people knew that a Beagle, Chihuahua, Shih Tzu, Mini Pincher and Pomeranian each killed or almost killed a human. Of course these dogs didn't bite or nib the victims to death, these were accidents that were caused by suffocation by the leash as well. There was a case where a burglar was bit to death by a pack of Maltese, true story.
As owners, we tend to forget that dogs are there due to their loyalty and their responsibility to safe guard their owners and their families. We always treat them as pets where they need to listen to our every call, when at the same time, as humans, we couldn't make our own kind listen to our every call. We get frustrated, we get angry, pointing the blame at our canine companion. When they see a stranger, they bark, but yet sometimes we shut them off once we see that stranger is someone we know, and we expect the dogs to automatically know that the dogs should not bark at these certain people. Making them confused on what is right and what is wrong. And when they are confused, instead of guiding them, we tend to blame them or forcibly educate them wrongly.
News flash : a dog CAN bite back. I remember seeing a short article on line, it's about 10 things a dog would say to its owner. One of the sentence says, "Please remember, I can bite you, but I choose not to". I guess a lot of owners take it for granted, thinking that because they are the owners, their dogs won't bite. It only takes a split second for a dog to take the instinct to bite, and the damage is done. The cause? It could be because of food, pressure, pain, frustration, or just dumb bad luck. The only difference between a human's brain and a dog's, is the ability to have a high degree or reasoning. They are more simple minded and rely more on their instinct instead of their deep thinking (if they have).
The only reason a dog does not sink that great white jaw into that firm human flesh of yours is only because of loyalty. As you raised it from a pup to a dog, as you nursed every injury it had, the repayment is done by undoubted loyalty. Hence, appreciate it and try to understand your dog. Why does it do what it does? Stop blaming your dog for mistakes it made, instead, understand why. Why is it barking at nothing? Could it be something you can't see easily like a snake in grass? Why is it constantly sticking by your side? Perhaps it has an injury that requires your attention? If their loyalty has given them nothing but disappointment or worse with blaming and physical injuries, when do you think it will start to think bite back?
This is where "how to choose a dog suitable for you and your lifestyle" comes in, this is something I will bring up in later posts more thoroughly. But in the meantime, don't blame your dog for the bites, the growls or the threats. It could be something that you SHOULD be concerned with.
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