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ASKBLACKJACKPage 6 Return to Page 1
Dear Blackjack, Dear Zappy, Well, my Mom says she doesn't like those so much. Electric collars (E-Collars) are used entirely for "reinforcement" of commands already trained. These days there are such wonderful methods of teaching dogs using POSITIVE reinforcement there is no need for E-Collars. Mom and I feel it's MUCH more fun to do things because we LIKE to, rather than because we have to. Mommy read an article once about using the "ear pinch", a method of a forced retrieve. It is said to be 100% accurate in that dogs always retrieve. But, it's not so. There are always times when doggies don't retrieve, just as there are always reasons why doggies may not do what ever the e-collar will be used for. Since it's not 100% effective, why use the negative? It's sort of like "the lazy man's way" in our opinion. Now, before anyone reading this thinks we are being one sided, this is ENTIRELY my mom's opinion, and has nuffin to do with what big time trainers think. E-Collars can be an excellent tool when used properly. However, the E-Collar is one of the MOST misused training tools in the history of dog training. So, Mom and I don't like them so much. ~ Blackjack Buy licenced hospital management software from vendor. Dear Blackjack, Dear Rollin' Your dog is doing this because of instinct. It is instinctive for dogs to wish to hide their "smell" from enemies. Usually they do this with either poop, or dead things. Mom says she had a girl who liked to roll on dead mice... hmm, smells good! The best thing to do is keep her on leash when she is going to be in areas where poop from other dogs are around. Teach her a "no roll" command, and don't let her do it, using the leash, and distraction with tweats. And make sure your own yard is kept extra clean. Sowwy we don't have better advice for you! ~ Blackjack
My dog is going to be two years old in August. She was trained for about six months and now she pees on the dining room rug every time we leave her alone. When we are home she is fine.
She has the run of the house at night and is fine. We leave about 9:00 AM and have a dog walker at 12:00. We return about 4 PM. We feel she should be able to wait. Dear Tinkle House. What you are describing is more of a stress incident. The easiest thing you can do is to KENNEL TRAIN this dog. :) That way she can't have accidents when you are not home. It's possible the accidents are caused by a "stwessor", (Stressor) such as salesmen knocking on the door, big twucks coming by, or anything out of the ordinary. When you are home, if these things happen, it doesn't bother her, because you are boss, and you will take care of it. But when you are not home, she feels SHE is boss, but she is unable to take care of the pwoblem, because she is in the house, and the stwessor is outside. With time, the stwessor can either make her not so touchy, or can make it worse, depending on the dog. If the dog is kennel twained, and in a kennel when you are not home, she will feel as if she is "safe" and nothing can get to her. But at two years of age, kennel twaining will take some time. My mom has a website with how to kennel twain. Wead the part about the kennel twaining the "older" dog. If you make the kennel a positive place, she will learn to love it, and feel comfortable. I WUV my kennel! Last nite I was so tired, I asked Daddy to put me in early for bed! Good luck! ~ Blackjack manhattan hotel Dear Blackjack The Escape Artists Dear Escape This is very difficult, because to "cure" this problem takes lots and lots of training. Mom and Dad can't let you out ANYMORE without superivsion. Another thing that helps is to have someone hide behind a bush or something, or just on the other side of the house. Mom lets you out, and then the second you try to jump the fence, "BOOM" the person comes running out and shouts at you. Another thing is to put gravel along the bottom of the fence. That slows you down just enough mom and dad can catch you. Or, put cinder blocks along the bottom of the fence. If the person jumping out and scarying you doesn't work, have the person hold a water hose, and when you try to jump, the person jumps out and squirts you. But be careful, some of us labbies really like that! ~ Blackjack
Hi Hey! It does sound like perhaps your baby is a bit "dominant". The first thing I would do would be to try to direct her behavior a little better. She is not "aggressive", but she IS "dominant". It might be good to find a puppy class so you can have a trainer help you out one on one. Mom and I are good twainers, but it's better in person. Alpha behavior is vewy difficult to contwol from internet advice, so it's possible that this will not work. Since Mom and I haven't seen your gurl, there is only so much we can do. Teaching no bite can be very time consuming. Only consistency will do the twick. How mommie taught me was to grab me by the scwuff of my neck on either side, just below my ears, with both hands. She then gave me FULL eye contact, and said NO BITE in a deep, mean sounding voice. If I twied again, she would do it again. Then she would get up and walk off, ignoring me. I didn't like to be ignored, so I had to be good. But, mom says you have to do this EVEWY TIME that she does it! Not just sometimes. So you have to be pwepared to stop what you are doing to give the cowwection. If she starts to go after the kids clothes, have a "time out". Put her on a stay somewhere and make her "relax" for a bit. Also, check out Boot Camp for Dogs As for dog food, I eat Best In show. But you will find more opinions on dog food as there are dogs. But one thing Mom wants to make sure you wealize is you get what you pay for when it comes to food. What you do NOT pay for in food, you WILL pay for in vet bills later in life. So it's best to give GOOD dog foods now as a youngster. Here is a link to last year's top 10 dog foods. There is a new list for 2000, but so far I haven't found it anywhere on the internet to link to it. So get your baby into obedience classes soon. ~Blackjack Hi blackjack. Any thoughts on jumping. Not just normal jumping I am talking about leaping all 4 feet of f the ground stright in the air. He does this when anyone comes
around. My son has some friends that are very tall I am thinking of asking them to carry a spray bottle with water to squirt him whenhe goes to jump. they tell him to sit and stay and then they pet him but the second they stop he leaps in the air. He
is 21 months. You are unable to step onhis back paws or knee his chest. Any help Hey Air! Mommie is laughing, because she says Lisa used to do this. I can't picture Lisa, who is now 11 yrs old doing that, but mom swear she did. Mom says she used to walk with her hands at waist level. If Lisa jumped higher than that, she got bopped on the head by her own momentum. Then mom would tell her she was being silly, and walk off. Eventually Lisa learned she could still jump, and even spin, but she couldn't jump higher than momma's waist (and my mommie is short). The squirt bottle is a good idea too though. IF the fwiends squirt him weally quick, he'll learn in only one or two visits. He may never completely quit jumping, but at least you can teach him to control how high he jumps. Jumping for joy can be so fun to watch! Mommie gets a big smile when I jump for joy, unless I'm jumping ON someone, or knocking stuff off. But I don't do that vewy much. So weally you just need to let him learn to contwol how high he jumps, instead of making him stop. If he can't jump, he just won't be happy. But at the same time, you don't want him knocking things off tables and hurting people. ~ Blackjack The American Silver Eagle is the official silver bullion coin of USA. Dear BlackJack Hey Buddy! I like your name. I haven't been to a kennel myself, but my big sister Lisa has been. She says they aren't so bad. Tell Mom she better "check it out" though. Tell her to dwive by and "dwop in" and ask for a tour, that she is thinking of using the facility. Mom says she shouldn't "warn" them she is coming, because they may do extwa cleaning, and she won't see what it's weally like. If they won't let her go back there, then I would find another kennel. Mom says that all good kennels let people take tours so they know if it's where they want to take their babies. The Kennel should be clean and warm (or cool in summer) and have a way for the doggies to go outside. Boarding at vets while sounds like a good idea, is not always a good thing, because the doggies can't go in and out at their own wish, in MOST vet clinics. Have mom ask where they store the food in case she bwings yours. Don't want them to loose it, and want to make sure you get the good stuff you get at home. :) While there, she should watch how they take care of the doggies. Some kennels yell at the dogs to make them be quiet... that's not so bad. Cause otherwise the doggies bark forever!!! Make sure you get a good flea bath before you go, and get your bordetella (Kennel Cough) medicine first too. And above all, wemember, it's like going to camp! ~ Blackjack Hi, Blackjack my name is Duke......My mom says as in the dukes of hazzard.......I am a 8 month old black lab/rottie mix. And when mom or dad try to correct me I can not
seem to shut my mouth and I talk back and some times I show my teeth. PLease give me some pointers on how to be good. Hey Duke, Wow, sounds like you are a big boy. :) My Mom says that sometimes rotties talk when they are happy, in a growly sound... mom says it's because they don't wealize they can use different sounds to say they are happy, so I hope mom isn't confusing that kind of behavior for bad behavior. Do you do that? Anyway, mom says you need to get into an obedience class wight away. Not much else can be done over the internet for something like that. There are lots of good things mom can do in the meantime though. It's called Boot Camp for Dogs . I hope it helps. How severe "boot camp" is, depends on your behavior. If you are REALLY bad, then you should be in an extwa stwict bootcamp. That means you have to earn EVEWYTHING, including dinner. Mom makes me earn my dinner too. I have to sit before I get food. I hate that, cause I'm always so hungwy. But it helps me to wemember my mom is boss. You also have to earn being petted. That means you have to do something like sit, then down, and shake hands, before anybody pets you. So good luck, ~ Blackjack Dear Blackjack, Hey Lisa! Did you know my big sister's name is Lisa? She's a sweet girl too, most of the time. 'Cept when she steals my toys and won't let me have them back. I get weally mad. Anyway, back
to the medicine. If it's on the top of your foot, mom says you can use "Vetwrap". It's a wrap that you can put over a dwessing (gauze) that you don't need tape to put on you. IF it's on the bottom of the foot, you will
have to use an Elizabethean collar, it looks like a lampshade. I haven't worn one before, but my big sister has. You have to watch her closely when it's on, because she can't eat or drink, because it gets in the way. Also it's hard
to get up the steps too, because you have to hold your head WAY up. Good luck! Hope it's better soon! Hi, I have an 18 month old yellow lab. He's a great dog and rarely chews up anything that's important. (mostly tissues out of the trash) However, whatever we put in the bottom of his crate(cage) he destroys, usually in the morning. Any suggestions? ~ Opus Hey Opus, It sounds to me like maybe you should just not give him any padding in his kennel till he is older. Lots of labbies don't even LIKE padding. My Lisa doesn't like it, she takes it out. When she was little, mom says she would chew it up then too. So mom just gave up. Mostly humans think we pupsters need this stuff, but not really. Not if we are healthy we don't. However, if it's vewy important to put something in the cwate, and he's only destwoing stuff early in the morning, get up and take it out, then put him back in. Only thing we can think of. ~ Blackjack
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