Blog • Page 15 of 36 • Three Dogs Training

Whole Dog Journal article

Recommends “Please Don’t Bite the Baby” as a resource for ‘dog-owning’ parents.

For those of you who don’t subscribe to the PleaseDon’tBitetheBaby blog, I am cross-posting:

Once again Pat Miller CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA has written a lovely article for the Whole Dog Journal that offers families with dogs some great tips on keeping kids and dogs safe around each other.

If you subscribe to The Whole Dog Journal, you will see the March 2018 edition with the article: “Kidding Around, Combining kids and dogs in your family can be magical and heartwarming, or cause a devastating tragedy…”

If you don’t subscribe to WDJ, I highly recommend you do, and not just for this article, there is so much more.

At least a half a dozen times a month I recommend WDJ to new dog families and even established dog families for the journal’s ongoing commitment to information on training, behavior, health, various products from harnesses to toys, and the annual food guides are invaluable.

Thanks go to Pat Miller and The Whole Dog Journal for reminding families of the some of the ways they can make their dogs and kids safe together. And, thanks go from me for the nice nod to Please Don’t Bite the Baby, and Please Don’t Chase the Dogs.

Every family can work to make their kids and dogs safe around each other with some management, training, and time.

Resource Guarding – “Please Don’t Bite the Baby”

Excerpt… “Please Don’t Bite the Baby”

Resource Guarding can be one of the trickiest behavioral issues to modify and manage because there are so many variations.

Some dogs only guard their food

Some guard toys

Some guard bones

Some guard anything that hits the floor

Some guard whatever it was they just stole

Regardless of what your dog guards and to what degree, the process is the same.

There will be adjustments for management and time needed to modify the behavior, but ultimately it is all about teaching your dog that giving up something is far more profitable then guarding it.

And, occasionally, the guarding will pop up for the rest of your dog’s life during stressful periods, or high energy/excited play, but by keeping your dog’s skills in good working order, you will be able to easily resolve any guarding issues.

I have lived with, Pinball, the ‘Super Villain of Resource Guarding’ and have posted an excerpt about my strategies for working through his issues from my book “Please Don’t Bite the Baby, and Please Don’t Chase the Dogs.”

We were all a bit worried when our son arrived in our home with the ‘Super villain of Resource Guarding’ living there. However, by teaching Pinball good solid commands, and slowly allow him and my son to spend managed time together, we saw things we never expected to see. This video where Charlie Brown Takes a Dive is a great example of how far a resource guarding dog can come with some skills, management, and persistence.

In the end, if your dog guards things, training good skills then working with a good behavior consultant is essential to take those skills and turn them into more positive behaviors.

Lost Puppy Carlito’s Need Brought Together Unlikely Collaborators.

Carlito is a lucky little dog, who shared his luck with the Tanglewood community by bringing them together for a common cause.

Lost puppy Carlito’s story is about a dog whose need brings together some unlikely collaborators – a superstar cellist, a world renowned conductor, a Berkshire’s valedictorian just starting college, and 13,924 concert goers.

I know Carlito and his humans, Mary and David. They have been students in my training classes. When they said they’d be missing class to go up to Tanglewood, I thought it was for a holiday. Little did I know David is a highly esteemed conductor who first led the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in 1968 (shows what I know).

When the four-month-old Havanese puppy Carlito ran in fear from a smoke alarm that went off in the house where Mary and David were staying, everyone feared the worst.

How could the twelve-pound lost puppy Carlito avoid cars, coyotes, or getting hopelessly lost in the woods of Tanglewood?

Enter Yo-Yo Ma — for years a good friend and mentee of David Zinman (human of Carlito).

According to ‘The Berkshire Eagle,’ When Yo-Yo Ma appeared on stage after his concert, it was not for an encore, instead the famed cellist sought the help of the Tanglewood audience of 13,924 to find lost puppy Carlito.

Leaflets were printed searchers stopped anyone running, walking, or sitting on a front porch telling them to be on the lookout for lost puppy Carlito.

Grace Ellrodt (valedictorian) was one of those joggers who was alerted. Just before dusk, she spotted the little lost puppy in a busy intersection on Cliffwood Street. She grabbed him and returned him to Mary and David Zinman.

Carlito is a lucky little dog, who shared his luck with the Tanglewood community by bringing them together for a common cause.

While this story happened a few years ago. Its sentiment will never get old.

Wayfair’s “Dreaming Dogs” Where should your dogs sleep?

It is not uncommon for clients to ask me where their dog should sleep.

Wayfair (the online retailer) apparently wanted to know too. They did some research, reached out to various dog training professionals, and the result was the article, “Dreaming Dogs, The Most Common Places Dogs Catch Z’s”

After they compiled the numbers polled and heard from the experts, it seems that the popular opinion is people want their dogs to sleep with them (maybe not always in the same bed).

I like to take it one step farther and ask my dogs by letting them have the choice of dog bed, floor, my bed, etc.

If your dog is potty trained, and good with his/her house manners, then let your dog have a vote –

Unless he’s just gone out and gotten skunked! (then refer to the Three Dogs Skunk Blog)

Pets and your Health, Puppy Training

Dr Frank Adams of SiriusXM’s Doctor Radio has a great show each month called “Pets and your Health.”

I was flattered to be invited to speak with them again yesterday, March 7th about puppies and all the questions that come with having a new puppy.

This a wonderful show (not just because they like me) but because Dr. Adams’s guests answer questions on a variety of pet-related topics and showcase the ever increasing data demonstrating how pets make our lives better.

If, like me, you are in your car a lot and have SiriusXM, you can listen for the re-broadcast of this episode Friday 4am to 6am, Sunday 6am to 8am on channel 110. If your not up and awake enough at these times to listen, you can always stream this episode and others on SiriusXM Doctor Radio.

Just as a shout out to SiriusXM Doctor Radio, besides Dr Adams’s shows “Pets and Your Health” and “Pulmonology,” there are plenty of other great shows to listen into, from “Health Care Connect” that answers all your insurance related questions at a time when we all have questions on this topic, to dermatology, men’s health, women’s health, nutrition, child and adult psychology and more.