Help! Puppy zoomie hour!

So many new puppy owners are taken by surprise when their little bundle of fur becomes what seems like a different species - Tasmanian devil mix? - for a short period at the same every evening (and sometimes in the morning too).

It's been labelled as zoomie hour, witching hour, acid hour, and other #%$%$ names..... Luckily it usually doesn't even last close to an hour. Luckily you can almost set your watch by it too which means that you can somewhat plan ahead for it.

Very much like the children's book "Too Much Birthday" by Stan & Jan Berenstain.....   It is often the storm before the calm and then puppy is so tired she finally succumbs to a long, deep sleep.

How do you deal with this frenzied time? Puppy can barely focus for a nano-second! And those sharp teeth! This is the time when you basically put pup in a puppy proofed area and give an outlet for the physical needs.

• Full out zooming in a wide open space (fenced yard)
• Digging wildly and then zooming
• Rolling and squirming and then zooming
• Shredding something safe and then zooming
• Pile of leaves to zoom in and out of
• Long, floppy type tug toys to carry and wrestle and zoom with
• Big balls to bump around while zooming at full blast
• Obstacles that pup can negotiate at zoom speed

A certain amount of zoomie time seems to be normal and always seems to be followed by a decently long period of zonked out puppy. Zzzzzzzzzzz.... Only sleeping when exhausted isn't a great way to live the rest of your life though. Conditioning your puppy to settle on her own is very important. More on that another time...

Furry Faced Feature - "Chief"

Occasionally we will be featuring one of our Paw In Hand clients (or families!). If you would like to see your pet(s) featured on our blog, please contact us.

Meet Chief!

Black Labrador - Male - dob 4 May 2014

Submitted by

Shannon, Shane and Cameron

Chief joined our family at 3 months of age. He has a wonderful nature, and has taken to obedience work with great gusto. Since it's obvious that he's going to be a big dog (everyone who meets him comments on the size of his paws), we were determined from the start that he learn good manners, especially around children. So far, so good - Maren's help has been invaluable in ensuring that we are constantly getting compliments for his good behaviour, everywhere we go.

Holidays! Owieeeeeee! Trail first aid and no holidays or hiking for Maren

As usual, I took holiday time at the end of August. I started my time off with a weekend in Seattle at an excellent dog behaviour seminar. Then back home for a day before heading out camping with my family. I took time out from packing to take my canine sidekicks Opal and Trixie out on the trails. We had a fabulous run and even a nice swim. What a great start to holiday time! Then when we were close to home I somehow fell.  I landed on a loose rock with my shin and smashed my flesh open in some mangled unrecognizable shape. First step - stay calm Maren and sit down. I pulled a 2" rock out of my mangled flesh. Second step, quick trail first aid. After notifying someone where I was, I  hobbled home and then drove to Squamish General Hospital emergency.

The wound was assessed the the emergency physician. Not enough tissue left to stitch. Wound will have to granulate in slowly and be irrigated and packed daily at outpatient care. Keep the leg elevated and no walking and.....  Well ... next day they decided they'd stitch it loosely and pack the undermining pockets

Cancel camping reservations. No hiking for the rest of the season.

I tried to see the silver lining in my cloud... It wasn't broken or strained and my head was okay and it could have been worse.

As for the silver lining ... I have been working on a few Paw in Hand training projects so keep tuned!

Three weeks later...... Shin wounds take a long time to heal because of the lack of tissue and blood supply in the area. I am still banadaged up and getting my special treatment dressing changes every other day but moving around is good and I have the clear to get back to leading all my canine clients on trail adventures.

 Dogggies are good for my emotional health too! Hiking time!

Reminder to all....Know basic first aid and carry a fist aid kit with supplies for both humans and dogs!

Maren is a Practical Nurse by training and is also certified in DogSafe Canine First Aid http://www.dogsafe.ca/index.html

Opal and Trixie having a swim

Foot up with a friend

TFD - You are your dog's guardian

Hiking with our dogs is such a wonderful way to share special times with them.... BUT ....

Furry Faced Feature(s)!

Occasionally we will be featuring one of our Paw In Hand clients (or families!). If you would like to see your pet(s) featured on our blog, please contact us.

Meet Maggie and Marley!

Submitted by

Jenn & Martyn Lasek

Following a move to Squamish (from downtown Vancouver), I knew our next step was to add a dog to our family. We adopted Maggie (originally Myrtle) from WAG in March 2013. At the time, she was figured to be about 9 months old and came in to the shelter with a litter of 5 puppies! My husband and I both fell in love with her the first time we saw her picture on the website. We knew we could use some help with her adjustment to family life so we immediately enlisted Maren’s help! With her tips and support, Maggie flourished. She’s still a bit shy and apprehensive in new situations but warms up pretty quickly & is very eager to please. 

A year later, we once again found ourselves on the WAG website. Maggie had brought so much love & joy to our lives, we were excited to add another furry member to our family. This time, we opted for a 9 week old puppy. Lucky for us, Maggie’s mothering skills quickly resurfaced and our two pups bonded quickly. Also, since Maggie was still really only a puppy herself (not even 2 years old), they became fast playmates! Once again, we sought Maren’s support and enrolled Marley in the first puppy class we could.

We are very grateful for Maren’s support and expertise and are very much in love with our furry family members!

Step One Training Foundation Class Graduates

 

 

Cheyenne! Adolescent exuberant Golden Retriever! Always ready to learn and play!

Jazzi! Newly adopted Hound Mix from Texas that came ready to zoom and learn!

Cheyenne and Jazzi and all 4 of their humans learned many skills over the 5 week course. Better yet, they learned how to be engaged partners and how to apply concepts of training to their skills!

Ginny .... you are soooooo photogenic but you weren't at Graduation night so we missed getting a photo of you.....

Pill Popping Pooch Problems?

Do these scenarios sound all too familiar?

Help! It is a struggle every time I give my dog a pill!
Help! My dogs hates it when I try to give her pills and clamps her mouth shut.
Help! My dog runs away and hides when she knows it is time foe her pill.

The problem is that many of the suggested ways of giving pills to your dog might work the first time but  eventually your dog becomes wise to your ways and learns to evade your efforts to restrain them and pop a foreign object down their throat. Your dog may eventually even evade your approach and efforts to handle them in other situations as well.

There is a better way!

Here are a few different ways to train your dog to be a cooperative if not eager pill recipient!

Meatball Counting Game - 1 2 3 -Ta Da! 

• Prepare a few medium sized morsels of really yummy soft food treats. If you have 1 pill to give then prepare 5 treats, if you have more pills then more treats. 
• Examples of types of treats are medium soft cheese, chicken breast, meatloaf, fish cakes, muffins, etc.  There are also products on the market that you can buy specifically for this purpose. Smooth products such as peanut butter are too different a texture to use easily.
• Embed a pill in one of the treats. 
• Line the treats up and tell your dog it is time to play a fun counting game! 
• Plan. You are going to give all the treats in quick succession so that your dog won't even notice the one with the hidden pill. 
• Ready?  
• Treat #1 - gulp!
• Treat #2 - gulp!
• Treat #3 - gulp!
• Treat #4 (WITH pill inside) - gulp!
• Quickly followed by treat #5, lots of praise and a fun activity!
• Result? Even if your dog did notice the pill he will consider it part of the game and be ready to play again next time! 
• Some dogs will eat some pills if mixed in with their regular food but one day there may be a big or bitter pill that even they will spit out!

Open Wide! 

Sometimes pills must be given on an empty stomach and can't be given with food. Teach your dog to open wide and say "AAAAAAaaaaaaa".

Shaping and targeting methods, along with a marker signal or clicker are used to teach this behaviour. Using positive reinforcement methods this is such a fun and rewarding process!

Eventually you can pop a pill in with either the target hand or your other hand. Keep the behaviour reliable by practicing without being followed by a pill every time.

See video of Rizzo by Root Dog Training:

Proactive Pavlov

 

Pavlov conditioned dogs to react happily to the sound of a bell (and salivate!). You can teach your dog to react happily to different things too - including handling - even to the point of pushing a pill down their throat. Use Pavlovian or Classical Conditioning you can teach your dog (preferably as a puppy) to enjoy being handled in all different ways.

• It is crucial to begin at whatever level your dog is completely comfortable with. 
• Do several short sessions every day. Repeat each step multiple times in a session.
• Only progress to the next step when your dog is eager to play the game whenever the opportunity arises. 
• Touch your dog, reward mark (use a clicker, a tongue cluck or a crisp word such as "yes") and give your dog a high value reward.
• Condition touch to different body parts. 
• Vary the way in which you touch, sometimes longer duration touches, sometimes "grabbier" touches. Remember, always at a level your dog happily accepts!
• Make a game out of it and follow up with a fun activity.