Dog Training - Random Dog Tips for Random Dogs

Josie was a classic puppy walking her owner. She'd bite the leash, tug and pull. I went online and typed in "leash biting." I read that you simply stop when the dog pulls on the leash. You should "make like a tree." Ignore the dog. Do not make eye contact. Eventually the dog will settle, you praise him and proceed. Repeat as necessary. The dog will learn pulling on the leash stops the walk, so he stops pulling on the leash.

That's the theory.

I took Josie outside on our flexi-leash. Immediately she bit it. I stopped. Josie stuck her butt up and crouched down. Tug, tug, a head shake, a quick regrip of the leash. Hey, how'd the leash fall apart?

The flexi-leash has a spot where the cord meets a wider band. Josie had chomped on this connection and managed to split the leash. Crunch. Just like that. I got our leather leash.

We walked. Josie grabbed the leash. I stopped. She tugged. She danced around and then, wow, she was settling down. I looked. Yes, she'd settled down, settled down to enjoy the taste of leather leash. Soon she'd destroy our remaining leash. I decided to walk her as usual, leash-in-mouth, out-of-control and buy a chain leash tomorrow. Josie 1, Me 0.

The next day I snapped on the metal leash and began walking. Josie bit the leash (impressive given how hard it is to sink teeth into metal) and dashed off. "I am a tree," I thought. A tree whose branch is going to rip from its socket. Wait, is that a pause? No, just a tactic change. Josie dropped the leash, then pulled and twisted. The leash went slack. There stood Josie, tail-wagging, butt-wiggling, pleased as could be at having pulled the whole collar and leash assembly over her head. Josie 2, Me 0.

I got a choke collar. Josie repeated her head-down-twist-and-pull. She gasped, coughed and paused. I peeked to see if she'd blacked out. Next assault. My branch swung wildly. Josie yanked and choked. Then she stopped and sniffed.

"Good Josie. Let's go."

Oh my gawd. Two steps, she bit the leash and tugged. Replant the tree. Josie crouched and yanked more. I am a tree. Josie darted one way and back. I am an annoyed tree. Finally she dropped the leash and rolled around.

"Josie, sit." I pulled a biscuit out. Josie sat.

"Good Josie."

I ran. 100 yards later she remembered her usual game and bit on the leash and pulled. It was a long quarter-mile walk.

The method did eventually work. Just don't expect it to be as simple as: stop pulling back. Make like a tree.

Our dog Rascal feels she should live up to her name. She also loves to eat. My son came up with the idea of taking a Kong (if you don't know what one is, it's in the Amazon list below) and stuffing as many dog biscuits as he could inside it. Rascal (our Cocker Spaniel) will chase it around for okay, maybe not hours, but an hour or a very long time. She is always convinced if she noses it, or licks at it, that she can get the treat she can smell inside. It definitely keeps her entertained!

When we got willie and Tamara we lived in a house in the woods. "Willie will make a good watch dog," said a desparate owner (they were moving to a no-pets apartment). He did make a good watch dog, but at times his barking was too much. I tried yelling at him. I tried an electronic collar that was supposed to emit a sound that would make him stop. Woof, woof, woof. We lived with it.

Fast forward about 20 years. Enter Josie. Josie always barked an annoying amount. But after one weekend in the kennel she came home barking incessantly unless you were with her or she was asleep. We'd fall asleep and then she'd get restless and I'd put her in her crate and she'd bark loudly enough to wake me up at the other end of the house. I put her outside (it was warm enough) and that only made the barking slightly quieter. In desparation I had to put her crate in our van and put her in it. I wondered what the SPCA would say, but by this time I had to get some sleep.

I researched online how to get your dog to stop barking and read about the citronella collar. It sounded a bit hokey. The dog barks, the collar shoots a citronella spray and the dog stops barking. The reader reviews said it worked for about 80% or so of dogs. Most people said it worked great and a few people said they had dogs that it had no effect on. No way to know which kind of dog Josie was without trying.

It arrived and I put it on Josie and put her in the crate. The barking continued. Great. What now? Whauf, Whauf, Whauf -- a big throaty bark. Oh, wait. I forgot to flip the switch on the collar to the ON position. I got Josie out and she wagged her tail at me "I knew I could get bailed out again!" I flipped the switch, tossed a biscuit into the crate and locked her up. Back upstairs I waited.

Whauf.... just one bark and silence fell. After a long pause, a second short bark began Whau and stopped. And that was it. What's more the cycle was broken. While Josie will bark when I take the collar off, she has never again gotten in the habit of just barking and barking. Her popularity soared!

P.S. Note added January 2008 -- After several months this collar stopped working. I called the manufacturer (getting the address off the website). They had me try a few solutions over the phone, provide them with the serial number and then when the collar still wasn't working, they simply exchanged it for a new one. Great customer service! I was impressed.

In 2004 we decided to go to Rehoboth Beach to participate in the Sea Witch Hunt and Festival. One of the activities was a costume pet parade. Rascal, with her less-than-perfect behavior, has been called 'Devil Dog' now and then, which gave us the idea of turning her into a real one. We went through 2 bottles of temporary red hair coloring and strapped the horns on her red collar and voila, Devil Dog. We didn't win a prize, but we got lots of applause, laughter and "Look, look, you gotta see this. Look at the Devil Dog."

A couple baths washed the color out of Rascal and she has returned to the pet parade in other years as a clown and bumblebee. The toughest part of the bumblebee costume was finding a decent set of wings. If only I had seen the lens on building wings(http://www.squidoo.com/fairywings), I would have been all set. Maybe we can use the info next year, when we.... (oops, can't say, family secret).

The saddest day in a dog owner's life is probably the day after their dog passes away. Every day that they were at home for the past dozen or so years has begun and ended with their friend nearby. But not this day.

A very wise friend said to me, that short of having your spouse or a non-grownup child pass away, that they thought it's actually harder to lose your pet than a human. The reason is, with most close friends and family, we don't see them every day, certainly not multiple times a day. So the first day they are gone or the second, it's not so horribly obvious that they are gone, that they are gone for good.

I know a lot of non-pet-owners just don't comprehend the huge hole in your heart that happens when you lose a pet.

If you have a friend who has recently lost a pet, express your sympathy and tell them yes, it can be very hard and hurt a lot.

As I write this, I think of Jack and how we lost him and now over two years later I can still feel a physical ache. I haven't REALLY thought of him for a while and am surprised by how strong the feelings are when I replay those last years in my mind.

But, the same friend who made the one observation also commented that when time has passed, then it's harder to have lost a person than a pet. I don't remember the reason they gave. Perhaps because we share fewer years and do not have verbal communication, there are fewer reminders significant time has gone by.

Anyway, I'll think I give Josie a hug. She's the Lab who followed Jack and it's a tough act to follow. I've been known to pretend to be the-voice-of-Josie and I say "Where's this dog Jack. I'm sick of hearing about him. If I ever see this dog Jack, I'm kickin his ass."

Okay, now you know I'm a total loon.

Peace.