The Dog Diary

I can’t really remember how the first night went with Conan. A friend of mine stayed over and we had some fun playing with the dogs until they were exhausted. As a result of that, I think my new puppy slept for most of the night. The peaceful nights were, however, to be short lived!

The following day, I was due to take Dexter to his agility class and I was determined that my boy would not be neglected just because there was a new dog in town! I was a little concerned about leaving Conan alone so soon after bringing him back to his new home, but Paul Connolly of Wolfspeak had told me to be brave, leave him in his dog crate, and come to training class. He assured me that a good way to conquer separation anxiety before it even started was to get the dog used to being alone for short periods of time from day one.

So, I made sure the pup was fed, watered and had been outside to do his business, then I locked him in his crate and left for training class.

A few hours later I returned, fully expecting to see a sleeping puppy, but the sight that greeted me was somewhat different! There he was, my 8 week old pup, asleep on top on my slippers which I had placed on top of the shoe bench by the front door. Have you ever looked at something and done a double-take? I was convinced I’d left him in his steel dog crate, locked and bolted. Was I going mad? On closer inspection, I discovered that the little cannonball had broken out of the crate. How he did this is still a mystery to this day, but yes, he had obviously gotten himself into such a state of separation anxiety, that he had broken right out from behind his metal bars. I knew from that point forward I was going to have trouble with this one. And Dexter had been such a great puppy. What on earth had I let myself in for?

A Picture of Innocence?

Around the beginning of 2007 I decided I’d like a second dog as company for Dexter. I also figured that I had learnt a huge amount about dogs over these last 3 years or so, was still learning, was really interested in dog psychology and behaviour and I was ready for a new challenge.

I researched various breeds with the help of Paul Connolly of Wolfspeak over a period of a few months as again, I was determined to get a breed that was conducive to my lifestyle. I wanted a different breed this time, not that I was at all unhappy with my Schnauzer, but I guess I fancied a bigger dog and a dog I could perhaps take on more dog activities with.

After much discussion and research online and talking to various breeders, owners and breed organisations, I decided upon a Northern Inuit.

There were various reasons for this choice. Firstly, it was a much bigger dog and would make me feel safer when walking alone, even though they were known to be non-aggressive dogs and probably wouldn’t hurt a fly. This was a good thing in my book, as I didn’t want a dog that I was likely to have dominance issues or aggression problems with. They were also classed as ‘wolf lookalike’ dogs and came in various colours with varying markings and were stunning looking dogs.

I had discovered that they were generally very friendly dogs too, good with kids and other animals, so Dexter and the cats would be safe and that the German Shepherd element in the breed gave them trainability, which was welcome. The only issue they seemed to have was that they could suffer from separation anxiety but I was sure I could overcome that with the knowledge I had and with Paul’s assistance.

I found a good breeder, saw some gorgeous puppies, chose mine and waited for him to be old enough to take home. The waiting time was spent preparing for his arrival by organising the dog space in the house and buying him things he would need such as a good complete puppy food, collar and leash, bed and organising his Pet Insurance.

I also chose a name for him, Conan, which is Gaelic for ‘Little Wolf’ which I thought suited him down to the ground. Little did I know at that point that the words ‘Conan the Destroyer’ and ‘Conan the Barbarian’ would probably be more appropriate, at least for a while!

I collected him from the breeder on a sunny Saturday afternoon when he was just 8 weeks old and took him home to meet Dexter.

It was a little tense at first as Dexter isn’t too good with puppies. I think he sees puppies as being rude and ‘in his face’ so he tends to put them in their place until they learn some manners. Conan was never going to be too fast at learning these manners… Dexter was a little put out too, as I was ‘his human’ and I don’t think he thought he should be sharing me with anyone else.

That evening, when things were a little more harmonious, I spent some time playing with Conan to begin my bonding process with him. He was sitting on the floor beside me and, without warning, hurled himself at me with the force akin to a small cannonball. He was no small puppy and, at only 8 weeks old, was actually a similar size to the fully grown Dexter, so it did hurt a little! Remembering my past experiences with Dexter and determined to establish myself as Pack Leader from the word go, I put him right back on the floor again. It made no difference. He hurled himself at me again, so I did exactly the same, putting him back on the floor in his original position. No, again he threw himself at me, and again, and again! Eventually, he tired himself out, as well as me, but I felt that I had been the victor!

I went to bed, a little bemused and totally exhausted, as well as totally unaware of the ‘interesting’ times that were ahead of me over the next few months.

6 Weeks Old...Not In His New Home Yet

Exhausted After Spending A Few Hours Being A Cannonball

Dexter and I continued with our rehabilitation on an ongoing basis, during which time we entered the world of Dog Showing for a few months based on the advice of Dexter’s groomer, a great lady who knows her dogs, and is very well connected in the dog world.

That lasted a few months and was actually quite hard work, what with getting up at 5am on the morning of a show, grooming him to perfection, driving to the show and then keeping him looking good until it was his turn to trot around the showring to try to win a rosette for himself.

He did quite well in his few months as a show dog, picking up a total of 9 rosettes in his 6 month show career!

I always thought it was quite hard for him in the showring. He’s a feisty little character, bursting with energy most of the time and there was a lot of standing about waiting for classes and the like.

Meeting Paul Connolly of Wolfspeak led us into a completely different set of activities.

We started attending Paul’s Obedience Classes, just to keep the learning going for both of us and to give Dexter some structure.

This soon led on to his absolutely favourite pastime….Agility Class! Paul suggested we try Agility to give Dexter something to think about, as he was an intelligent dog and it would stimulate him. After a few weeks getting used to the various obstacles in the training field, Dexter started to get the hang of things and started to bound over the jumps with such prowess, that he rapidly became the star of the class!

Most of the time he was the smallest dog in class, which was generally occupied with Collies and German Shepherds, but, determined not to be considered the ‘underdog’, Dexter continued to jump the ‘big dog’ jumps and didn’t see the point in the rails being lowered to suit his small size.

I was so proud of him and he thoroughly enjoyed it. So, we continued to go off to Agility Class once each week and still do to this day when classes are held during the summer time. Dexter absolutely adores it and is pretty good at it and it’s so rewarding to see him having such a great time.

I'm Happy But He Doesn't Look Too Interested!

The following are just some of the strategies that Paul Connolly of Wolfspeak taught me to put in place. I can promise you, they work! However, as with anything, you must stick at it, as the most important things with dogs are repetition and consistency and these strategies are all in dog language.

Feeding

Don’t leave the dog’s food down for him all day. Alter the feeding times within an hour and a half slot each day. Preferably, feed him after you’ve eaten, but do it like this….Prepare his food as normal, but ignore him while you’re doing it, don’t talk to him. When the food is prepared, YOU pretend to eat it, again saying nothing. Hide it, guard it, pretend to eat it yourself, even munch a cookie or something to make him think you’re eating it. When you’ve ‘finished’, put the bowl down for him, then walk away, again not talking to him - this makes him think you are Pack Leader and you are eating first, giving him leftovers. If, after about 15 minutes, he hasn’t eaten it, PICK IT UP and don’t give him a second chance. He can starve until next mealtime as he’s missed his chance!

Another tip, once every 7 days or so, go through the same sequence again, but put down an EMPTY bowl to him. This will make him think you have eaten everything, as is the Pack Leader’s prerogative, and there is nothing left for him. The other benefit of this feeding process is that it gives his tummy a chance to clear out which, in an adult dog, is a good thing. Don’t do this part with puppies as they need their food to grow! Remember not to talk to your dog while all this is going on, no matter how puzzled he looks!

Toys & Playtime

Do you leave the latest line in dog toys lying scattered all around your house? If so, put them away in the cupboard or the dog chest. YOU decide when dog playtime happens and what the game is. If he likes ‘tug’ which is Dexter’s favourite game, you as Pack Leader decide when the game commences, then play with him, let him win sometimes and make sure that you win other times. Make sure you put all the dog’s toys away at all times when dog playtime finishes and you decide when the games begin and end.

Space

Does your dog lie in the middle of the floor or by the stairs and instinctively, you step over him? Instead of stepping over him, invade his space and shuffle into him, forcing him to move out of your path and out of the way. Even at times when he’s lying comfortably snoozing in his bed, go over now and again and shift him out of his bed. Again, this is you being Pack Leader and you will decide what space he has, not him. Do this fairly often.

All this sounds cruel and is in total contradiction of how we humans respond to each other, but this is DOG LANGUAGE! Yes, it’s difficult to do, especially with cute puppies like Dexter, and no-one knows that better than me, but it’s good for them, as they are ill-equipped to take on the role as Pack Leaders and we are actually relieving their stress by taking their responsibility away and establishing ourselves as Pack Leaders.

Dexter & His Favourite Tug Toy

The introduction of Paul Connolly of Wolfspeak signalled the start of Dexter’s rehabilitation, as well as an explosion of knowledge for myself. It heralded a learning experience for me that I have found to be invaluable, and crucial to the way I care for my dogs. This knowledge introduced me into a world where meeting like minded dog owners was fun and a whole new world of dog activities was opened up to me.

The first thing Paul did when he met Dexter was squirt lemon juice at him. I stared in disbelief and said that I hoped it was water in the bottle. He said it wasn’t and to be fair, it stopped Dexter dead in his tracks from the incessant barking that he was doing as Paul walked in through the door.

I was amazed…and then Paul told me that the taste of the lemon juice gave the dog something else to focus on by giving them such a surprise, that they stopped what they were doing. The trick was to squirt it in the mouth, although it wouldn’t do them any harm if someone was a bad aim, and got them in the eye! Another comparison between us and dogs…lemon juice in the eye would not be half as bad for them as it would be for us!

Paul spent around 2 hours with us that day, giving me lots of tips and training on how to deal with this little canine in my life. He gave me an introduction to dog psychology, which developed in me a thirst for knowledge that stands to this day and makes me realise that, no matter how much we know, we’ll never know everything.

Small things make a huge difference and Paul showed me how to implement simple dog training strategies that would help not only me, but more importantly, Dexter, and help reduce the stress in his life that I had inadvertently created.

My next post will cover some of these strategies.

My first meeting with Paul was invaluable. He is a die hard dog lover, extremely knowledgeable about his subject, understanding of the practicalities of dog ownership in modern life and will always go the extra mile for his clients…well, he would say it wasn’t for the clients’ benefit, it was really for the dogs!

When he left, he assured me that a call from me would be welcome anytime to discuss any difficulties I was having and he’d always be happy to help. Four years on, I can happily confirm that this is the way he continues to work and he and his wife Sylvia have become good friends as well as my principle source of dog knowledge.

A Happier Schnauzer

As I said, Dexter was an incredibly cute puppy, but that was part of the problem. It’s so easy to ‘humanise’ dogs them when they’re small and they look so defenceless and helpless, but really, they’re not, as the previous post highlighted!

I guess most of my problems occured with Dexter after I moved back home to Scotland at the beginning of 2005, when Dexter was only 6 months old. A stressful time for me affected him in such a huge way, but it’s hard to notice at the time.

It’s an absolute fact, and well worth bearing in mind, that dogs have something of a ’sixth sense’ and can pick up on what you and I might think to be the slightest ‘vibe’ but it’s really noticeable to the dog and they act accordingly.

Dexter was my ‘little rock’ through my stressful times, and he was showered with lots of love and cuddles and lots of trendy doggy gear, the most stylish I could find on the internet! However, none of that meant anything to him in his dog brain - all he was seeing was that I was elevating him up to ‘pack leader’ status and he was so ill-equipped to cope with it. He was taking on a role that was too much for him and it was my fault!

He started to suffer from nervous aggression which manifested itself by him snapping and snarling at whatever he wasn’t sure about. Now, this can be misconstrued by many people as pure canine aggression, and people don’t look any further than that, so it becomes very frustrating when the people around you don’t understand that there might be a reason for this kind of behaviour and that the dog is not bad or vicious, he is purely unsure and doesn’t know how to deal with certain circumstances, so all he’s really doing by snapping at it, is telling the ’scary thing’ to go away!

I knew my dog wasn’t a bad dog and I wanted to help him. I still didn’t fully understand the root of his problem, so I called in the services of a Dog Behaviourist. There are lots of Dog Behaviourists around but to this day, I feel I landed lucky and feel totally blessed that my random selection in the Yellow Pages led me to meet the most wonderful man, Paul Connolly, of Wolfspeak.

My next post will describe my learning curve.

A Little Confused About Life

Dexter was such a great puppy and a cute puppy. He slept all night, every night, from Day 1. I put him in this huge cardboard box in my bedroom from the start, determined I wasn’t going to let him sleep on the bed, but I didn’t want to isolate him altogether at that point. After all, he was only 8 weeks old and had just left his mum and his little siblings, so he’d had the company of others all along.

His potty training wasn’t too bad either. I had some puppy pads by the back door and he did his stuff there for a few days then always went outside. The only problem I had was when it was raining…he’d always pee on my expensive rug then, as he hated getting wet, something which, to this day, is a problem for him. This is the dog who walks AROUND puddles and hates getting his feet wet! Even when I let him out in the morning after a long night, if it’s raining, he won’t go out, but he’ll let his little iron bladder get to work and hold it in until the rain stops!

Such a cute puppy, he was so tiny when he first came home with me. He was shorter than the height of one of the stairs and I was always worried that he’d fall downstairs while he was upstairs with me as I was working from my home office. So, I placed a step ladder on it’s side and strategically positioned it along the top of the stairs so he couldn’t fall down the stairs.

This worked well for a couple of days until the day I tripped over it and the ladder came crashing down on my poor little 9-week old cute puppy! Well, have you ever heard a dog scream? Scream he did and then shot straight under my bed, yelling like I’d tried to murder him!

I coaxed him out and he was wimpering like mad, holding one of his front paws up in the air as high as he could. I thought I’d broken his leg - I felt sick!

So, a quick call to the Vet followed and I took him there straight away. We saw the vet and the diagnosis was…..nothing wrong with him, but of a bump, that was all! The vet gave him a painkilling shot and I sloped off home, a bit embarrassed about my panic. To be fair to the pup, he did get a bit of a shock and slept for the rest of the day, but that was when I learned how clever he was!

You see, dogs are the single, most successful species on our planet. Why? It’s their ability to manipulate, to be a pack, to fool you into thinking that something is one way when it really is something else quite different.

My 9-week old puppy had managed to make SUCH a song and dance about his little injury, that he had me running around him like a slave, pandering to his every whim, giving him lots of attention and not letting him out of my sight, which all had the effect of giving him his spot as centre of attention, of leader of the pack, which was exactly what he wanted.

I didn’t realise this at the time, and unfortunately it did store up some problems for me, which I’ll come on to, but believe me, dogs can make such a fuss when there’s nothing to worry about, and they can play you like a fiddle! So BEWARE!!!

Poor injured puppy?

I want to talk about how I came to have Dexter, my Miniature Schnauzer, now 4 years old.

Back in September 2004, life and work had changed for me somewhat. I had changed employers and now, instead of working in an office with lots of colleagues, I was largely working from home, which did have it’s advantages, but got lonely now and then. A friend of mine, who had gotten herself a puppy fairly recently, suggested I got myself a dog.

I had always adored dogs and we’d had dogs in the family but for me, being single, career minded, and taking on the responsibility of owning a dog, was huge. I already had 2 cats, but owning a dog was a different ball game altogether! Anyway, I gave it some careful thought, and decided it was a good idea.

Within a week, I had researched costs, equipment required, my working hours and how they would affect a dog, particularly in it’s early puppyhood, and I’d trawled the internet for available puppies, but not before looking at what breeds might be suitable for me first.

This is the mistake people make. Owning a dog may be a good idea, but different dog breeds suit different lifestyles. That said, ALL dogs need TIME from their owners, and I would never in a million years have decided upon dog ownership if I wasn’t working from home a lot of the time.

So, I’d decided I wanted a small dog, but not too tiny. I wanted to own a dog with spirit and character. I wanted a breed that was a little bit different too! A dog that didn’t suffer from separation anxiety was necessary, although I knew the most I’d have to leave it would be 4 or 5 hours at a time.

After doing hours and hours of research, mostly on the internet, trawling the dog adverts, and making many phone calls to reputable breeders to ask about their dogs, their temperaments, their personalities and their needs, I settled on my Miniature Schnauzer, who I discovered when he was 6 weeks old. He was with a breeder in London, one of a litter of 5, all of whom had been sold but his prospective owner had changed their mind about owning a dog at that point in their life.

I drove over 100 miles from Bristol to see him at 6 weeks, fell in love with him (as anyone does when faced with a puppy!)and spent the next 2 weeks preparing for his arrival and making plans and itinerarys for what he would need and when he would need it, such as his innoculations, training classes, sleeping area, food, collar and lead, toys, etc!

It was a dark, rainy Thursday night in October that I made the journey once more to collect him, complete with cat box for him to sleep in while he was in the car. I had my puppy!

We got home after 10pm, exhausted. The poor dog was terrified and obviously very unsure of his new home, so I left him in the box until he was ready to come out. It took a while and some scrambled eggs, but out he came eventually, introduced himself to my cats, and my journey of dog ownership began!

The 8 week old Dexter

Saying Hi to Floyd

So, where to start in feeding our dogs the healthy way? There is much research one can do and there are lots of arguments for and against various feeding regimes such as the BARF (Bones And Raw Food) Diet, to mention a prime example.

I wanted to give you an example of an easy and extremely economical way to feed your dog some natural treats. I use these all the time and honestly, you’ll find that not only will your own dog be begging you for commands in order to show you his repertois of skills to earn some of these little beauties, but you’ll also feel like the Pied Piper on your dog walks, as all the surrounding dogs will be after these….

Liver Treats

Ingredients:- Ox Liver - as much as you want to cook!

Take slices of the liver and fry it off gently in a non-stick, dry frying pan.

Once fried, cut the slices into small cubes, small enough to use as training treats, large enough so as not to disappear during cooking!

Spread the cubes out onto baking sheets, in single layers.

Cook in a warm oven, around 150 degrees Celsius, for anywhere between an hour and an hour and a half, turning occasionally.

Once cooled, portion the treats in small bags and freeze for future use. They will keep in the freezer for a few months and should be used within a few days once thawed.

Word of warning…your kitchen may stink while cooking this….best to cook a lot of it at once so you don’t have to do it too often!

A word about liver….Liver is a highly nutritious food to feed your dog but, when raw, should only be fed in very small quantities as is a very rich food and may cause a temporary stomach upset. When liver is cooked by the method above, because it is dried as it cooks, a larger quantity may be fed. As with all food though, don’t overfeed!

To follow on from this recipe, which I absolutely swear by, please click here and be introduced into a whole new world of home made food to keep your dog healthy.

These are my thoughts on dog nutrition. Now, I’m no qualified expert, but I’ve done a lot of reading and research over the few years I’ve owned dogs, a fair amount of trial and error and I have a few theories.

There is far, far more to feeding our beloved pets than opening a tin of the most well advertised dog food which is spookily placed at eye level on the shelves of your favourite supermarket.

Take a closer look at the ingredients……any tin or packet or bag of food that you see with the words ‘meat or animal derivatives’ on the ingredients panel….my advice is this….put it back on the shelf and stay well clear! You will probably see words similar to ‘minimum meat content 4%’. Ask yourself this…what on earth makes up the other 96%? The answer is this - waste products from slaughterhouses, feathers, entrails, ground up hooves and bones….the list goes on. Do you really want to feed this stuff to your dog? Not me! Some of these dog food companies are very clever, mixing all this stuff up and adding a specially concocted blend of EEC permitted flavourings, colours and preservatives to make it smell nice and look good.

Now, not all companies are the same, and there are those companies out there who actually look at the quality of ingredients they put into their dog food and adopt a more ‘holistic’ approach, including such things as high grade chicken, chicken fats, glucosamine, minerals, brown rice and herbs in their food. You might think that it’s enormously expensive to feed your dog in this way. I’ve worked it out and believe you me, it’s comparative, if not cheaper per day to feed your dog a good diet.

I personally believe that sub-grade dog food contributes to many illnesses, including cancers, which our canine friends suffer from and it’s well worth a little careful thought with regard to what to feed your dog.

Check out this nutrition report - it speaks for itself!