Set Up Yourself and Your Pet for Success

Working with my fabulous Dog Trainer, Barbara, has helped me and my dogs immensely.  It is amazing to watch how quickly and eagerly Jack and Mack take to the positive reinforcement training.  Barbara is a master at guiding my thought processes to understand the thought processes of my companion canines.  One of the tips Barbara reminds me of often is to help my dog to be successful.  Thinking about this, helping our dogs to be successful, relates to many aspects of our lives with our furry friends.

Here are Six Tips for Success for You and Your Dog:

1. Take the Right Dog Home in the First Place! Different breeds have different needs. It is difficult to house an Irish Setter, who naturally needs room to run, in an apartment. And dogs of the same breed can have different personalities. Jack and Mack are both Pomeranians and even look a lot alike. Even so, Jack has always been rather cautious of new things and situations while Mack is a Bonsai Baby. Mack does not have a fearful or cautious bone in his tiny body. When Jack was a puppy, we could use the couch as a playpen as Jack would not jump down. Not Mack – he launches from anywhere to be part of the action with his buddy, Jack. With Mack, closer supervision and lots of pillows are a requirement.
2. Start with Positive Molding Immediately! So many times we take home a new companion dog and tend to allow them to carry on with bad habits because they look so cute or they demand our attention. This is particularly true with puppies. For dogs, any attention, even bad attention, is better than no attention so they will sometimes do things that they shouldn’t just to try to get you to pay attention. Whose fault is that really? And that cute little biting puppy that loves to grab your finger and wrestle with you? He will grow up to be a not-so-cute biting dog that doesn’t understand why everyone doesn’t like his cute little play tactics anymore. Try to catch your dog doing the right thing and praise and treat for that. Mack is one of the first of the pack to bolt in through the doggie door when called to come. But that started by tempting him with a treat at the end of his tiny nose while backing away for him to follow, while telling him “Mack, come. Mack, come. Good come!”
3. Tempt with the Right Treat! Molding or training can be a lot fun for you and your dog. The Trick is to find the correct treat that motivates your dog. I found this out the hard way while attending a new obedience training class with Jack. Jack normally acts like a pro and garners acclaim from our fellow classmates. Not this time. My furry little partner acted like he had never been on a leash let alone through training classes. I valiantly tried to coax and cajole while being basically ignored until it dawned on me that he seemed uninterested in the tiny hard training bits I was offering. The instructor told me to try the treats she had brought. Jack got a whiff of those new jerky pieces and you would have thought we were ready for Westminster. That Pomeranian puffed up his chest and picked up his strut while never taking his eyes off of me. He became push button perfect! Some dogs are motivated by praise and affection and some work best for the better biscuit.
4. Help Your Canine be a Good Social Companion! Socialize your pet to be good around other people, pets, and places. More and more places are allowing our canine companions to accompany us to public spaces. Help your dog be socially acceptable by taking him with you to as many places as possible as young as possible. When going to Doggie Events, I figured out that my old man, Miles, was a great little party pooch. Chewie, my stray angel that I found on the streets, was just the opposite. She would scream and struggle to get at any other four-legged fur ball, convinced they had to be an enemy. Jack and Mack are taken out and about very easily. Both Pomeranians are good little public pooches because they got great starts in life and were taken out and about early, and frequently still are.
5. Create a Regular Routine! Dogs love routine. You may even have noticed that they pick up on cues such as the sound of car keys and race you to the door. Want a reliable alarm clock? Start taking your dog for a morning run when you get up. Teaching your pet about the proper potty place? Get up early and often to take your pet outside. If accidents happen, take the remnants outside to your preferred potty place and leave it there. Get into a routine of feeding at specific times and taking your dog outside five or ten minutes after feeding and place him at the potty place. Celebrate his proper potty when he does do it right and he will catch on quickly in an effort to please you.
6. Provide a Positive Place! There are so many fabulous pet products available that can provide extra convenience for you and extra comfort for your pet. One of the conveniences I provide for old dog Miles is potty pads in both bathrooms of the house. He is my old adopted Shih Tzu with attitude that finally trained me to put down pads so he didn’t have to use the rugs for his incontinence during the night. For all the dogs, I buy plenty of bed pillows and doggie beds and scatter them in strategic areas for my pooches to plop. Bonsai Mack has many pillows around the couch and favorite chairs. Chewie and Miles have both benefited from the dog multi-vitamins and joint supplements that their old bones do better on. Pets are part of the family forever and should be given proper consideration for every stage of life.