Have you heard the old saying “you are what you eat?”  We eat what and when we want to eat.  Dogs eat what you feed them, when you feed them.  What you feed your dog could be contributing to his bad dog behavior.  

When I speak with clients about “out of control”, “rowdy” “jumping” dogs, one of the things on my check list is diet. Now, don’t get me wrong, here.  I am NOT saying “change the diet, fix the dog!”  What I am saying is simply this:  carbohydrates (wheat, flour, or corn) can increase the serotonin levels in your dog’s brain. Increased serotonin levels can cause excitability in dogs and you get a wild, rowdy dog.  

While diet can be one of the contributors to excitability and bad behavior in dogs, changing your dog’s diet can be “part” of the cure.  

Look for premium dog food that is high in quality protein and low in carbohydrates.  You CAN NOT find a healthy, premium dog food at the supermarket or Walmart or Sams!  I repeat, you can not find a healthy, premium dog food at the supermarket, Sams, Walmart or other such places.  Go to good Pet Resorts, private pet stores etc.

Don’t expect to see immediate changes in your dog’s behavior.  It can take from 4 days to 4 weeks to see change.  This is also assuming that your dog is getting adequate amounts of exercise AND you are working on dog training to redirect the bad behavior to good behavior.

Next post we will talk about feeding one time a day vs. twice a day.  I’ll also throw in some names of good dog foods and how to read the labels.  Stay tuned!

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens when the new puppy, who will have an entirely opposite, much needed, conservative “earn-to-learn” value system, moves into the White House under the umbrella of “spread the wealth, we’ll take care of you” philosophy.  Maybe letting nature take its course will provide an interesting lesson  to all.

Puppy OBAMA will be lining up in the chow line with his bowl waiting, for his free handout, because he won’t have to work for it.  He’ll start jumping up and demanding more free stuff, creating a huge chain reaction of entitlement - everything from stuffed toys to chewies!

And, in the true spirit of big government, he’ll have so many different people taking him out and giving him his food, he won’t know who the boss is!  

But that won’t matter, because he’s top dog with them as well!  My bet is, that if things go as he plans, he’ll quietly begin to assume that “sense of entitlement”; slipping subtly into their bed, taking over their space as their leader.  

Who knows, pretty soon that little Maverick will be running the household - or should I say “White House”.  

Did I say Maverick?  Maybe we should call him Maverick!

For those of you who can’t seem to make any sense of all of this, just go to http://www.petiquettedog.com to learn more.

Opportunity Barks!

What many people are absolutely unaware of is the potential, stressful, fearful or compromising position dogs are put in when they are on leash and other dogs approach, mostly at what should be happy times - greetings.

I consult with owners of dogs every day that have not had an opportunity to develop their dog’s early primary and/or secondary socialization skills.  As a result, some dogs become fearful and are not comfortable being around other dogs.  This is sometimes further complicated by being on leash.

When a dog is put in defense drive he will choose one of two options:

1.  Flight - he will distance himself from that which he is unsure of, or deems a threat.  This is usually the preferred option, especially for more submissive or softer tempered dogs.

2.  Fight - if flight is not an option for the dog, then the dog is forced into fight or bite.  Oftentimes, the more dominant dogs choose the fight option versus the flight option.

If a dog is cornered and would prefer to diffuse the stressful situation by leaving, but doesn’t feel that option is available (when he’s on leash) then he reverts to the other option - fight or bite.  If you keep your dog on a tight leash, this can illicit that same emotional stress in dogs because they feel they do not have the ability to leave.  And unfortunately, owners invariably tighten up on a leash when they feel their dog is going to pull or lunge towards another dog whether friendly intent or not.

Dogs have distance increasing signals or warnings:  a throaty growl, growl with a lip raise, an air snap or a lunge and bite.  A dog will choose to offer up any one of these distancing signals depending on how they interpret the threat.  Some threatening factors include the speed of the approaching dog, the proximity of the approaching dog to them, the size of the approaching dog, the gender of the approaching dog and whether or not the approaching dog is intact or not and more.  In addition to fear in dogs there is resource guarding.  Many dogs guard things they consider having high value like chew bones, Kong toys and yes, you the owner.  

Here’s an example:  Le’ts say that it has been your Sunday morning ritual to take your dog and sit outside a Starbucks enjoying your Latte Grande or your tall coffee (room at the top for cream of course) and reading your Sunday paper.  Your dog is lying by your side working on his Kong toy and reading the “Daily Growl”.  All of a sudden the peace of the morming is interrupted by your dog lashing out at another patron’s dog who is innocently passing by and your dog looks like the bad guy and you know he’s really not.

Here’s my advice on meeting other dogs in public:  Greetings should be pleasant, never approach another dog unless you ask the owner if it is okay to do so.  Remember to always ask “may my friendly dog meet your dog?”  Give owners an opportunity to keep their dog and themselves safe and stress free at that moment.Don’t be one of those dog owners who allows your dog to get in another dog’s face. 

If you have the dog that’s not good at greeting other dogs, be aware of that and don’t set your dog up to fail by not paying attention to the situation and the surroundings.

I have become great friends with a 2 year old misguided Maltipoo named Suki.  Suki was very insecure in her “sense of place” in her family and was claiming her territory by house soiling in areas she felt would help to brand her territory. 

When I went to the home, Suki had taken ownership of the family room in the house.  The couch and love seat were “hers”.  As I entered the family room, Suki stood on top of the couch barking at us, which is another reason the owners had called me.  She was letting us know we were entering the “forbidden zone!”.  The family redirected us to the kitchen because it made Suki “settle down.”

This had been going on for quite a while.  What I helped the owners understand is that Suki had no idea where she fit in the pecking order and she didn’t feel they were strong enough leaders to “handle” the role of alpha of her pack.  I taught the owners that Suki needed to understand boundaries in their home, much the same as parents teach children boundaries in their home.  We did this by putting a light line on the dog’s collar that is only worn when the owner’s are present. 

Why the heck did you do this, you ask?  Well, if the dog has a line on its collar and you keep the line attached to you, then the dog can easily be kept off the sofa until she has earned the right to get on what should  be “the owner’s sofa”, not forbidden territory and not allowed to sneak off and go pee or poop.  In a very short amount of time, Suki learned that these places were “off limits” until she earned the right to be there.    They also practiced good leadership in having Suki do sits and downs before she got treats and affection.

I always find it really remarkable that until people are really motivated to view their relationship with their dog differently and with new insight (what the dog needs to be balanced), inappropriate dog behaviors don’t change.  Once a person understands, from a dog’s perspective, what’s going on and why, (new insight) and they implement change in their relationship based on the insight, the dog problem vanishes.

And so it was with Suki, a changed and “Perfect Pooch” in just 3 weeks. 

On our last lesson I entered a quiet home, was pleasantly greeted by a delightful pup and happy owner as we all sat down in the family room for our final lesson.

As I left, I couldn’t help but notice a look on Suki’s face which seemed to say:  “Thanks for fixing my mom and dad!”

www.petiquettedog.com

This week I had a lesson with a client who rescued a little young 5 # male dog that appears to be a terrier/chihuahua mix.  She worked hard to rescue this little guy.  He was hanging around her house and she began to put food and water out for him.  She started leaving the bowls outside the wrought iron fence at first and gradually, very gradually began to move the bowls inside the fence.  She even managed to lure him inside her house where he now resides with her dogs and her husband.

This little dog has apparently been on the streets since birth fending for himself.  He even had to face the wrath of Hurrican Ike all alone.  A tall order for such a little bitty pup. 

This dog is extremely fearful of people.  He will not allow people to touch him - even my client.  That’s when she called me for help with his fearful behavior.  Her main concern is for his health and well being.  We have been taking baby steps to work with this little dog.  I’ve been explaining how important structure is in a dog’s life, especially a fearful dog.  We’ve covered leadership role and keeping emotional energy out of the mix. 

Because it was clearly impossible to try to work with the dog “hands on” due to his fear, we consulted her vet for the best way to help calm him which would allow her to approach him and put a collar and leash on him. 

In talking this over with my current students who are learning dog training from me, one of them came up with the brilliant idea to have the little guy, once calmed by the medication, lie quietly in the owner’s arms letting him rest for several hours breathing in her scent.  We hope that when this little guy fully wakes, he will have an imprint, more of a “connectedness” to his owner that will begin to break the barrier of fear - if only a little.

It take a lot of patience, time and love to even begin to rescue the apparent feral pup who has had little to no human contact.  I applaud my wonderful caring client for trying.

I’ll keep you posted on this little guy’s progress and how our future behavior modification efforts progress.

www.petiquettedog.com