The Pet Care Magician @ Elite Pet Care & Education

What type of pet owner are you and how do you cope with loss of a pet?

2011-10-03T16:32:00.000+11:00

An interesting comment on PetsAustralia's facebook site during the week

"Recent research shows that people often grieve as much for their pet as they do for people, but they get less support and often feel embarrassed about admitting it...."

reminded me about an article that I studied a couple of years ago whilst completing my Certificate IV Companion Animals Services with Delta Australia. As part of an assignment we were asked to discuss the various categories of dog owner that Michael Fox 1 outlined in his paper. Fox defined 4 categories of pet/owner relationships:

Object– orientated

This family has one or more dogs or catsjust because that is what always happened, when they grew up. One dog or cat or even more was a natural part of the family. A puppy or kitten is nothing morethan another plaything for the kids. Adults may keep pets for purely ornamentalreasons. The novelty may wear off as the pet ages and they get sick of them toreplace them with a newer or younger model. This type of owner will not bemotivated to solve any problems. They will more than likely get rid of thatanimal and just get another one. They will not be invested in the time andeffort to train or to say for the correct grooming or health needs of these type of pets. Needless to say when this pet dies they say "it was just a dog or just a cat" and go out and replace it with just another dog or cat. Normally picked up for nothing or as free as possible.

2. Exploitative,Utilitarian

This animal is used, trained,manipulated or exploited to varying degrees for the exclusive benefit of thehuman. This can be at times only part of the relationship the owner has withits pet e.g. a dog owned by breeder that is wining in the show ring andproducing valuable off-spring but also fulfilling a need –dependency and objectorientating relationship. If this is the sole reason they have a pet then atrainer will need to find out what behaviour from that animal will provide themost benefit to the owner but not necessarily to the pet. They need to find outwhat the owner sees as important or beneficial. The groomer will appeal to the needs of the owner to have a nice looking, winning pet rather than making the pet comfortable during the grooming process. As for the first category this pet is easily replaced with another that might win or perform better. If the animal is not winning or performing it is re-homed. How many conformation show breeders keep older titled dogs in their yards?

3.. Need–Dependency

The pet is regarded as a source ofsatisfaction for various needs and dependencies. This is perhaps the majorreason why people have pets. They are companion, pet, child substitute,confidant, cure for loneliness. These owners are fairly needy and would tend toapply human characteristics and feelings to their pets. (Anthropomorphism). The dog is not in facta dog so you would need to talk in human language terms and address the factthat this dog will probably be allowed to do more human things within the homee.g. sleep on the bed and be fed as a human. This dog might be more susceptibleto getting separation anxiety and owners will possibly have difficulty withleadership concepts.Fluffy or muffin is hard to groom as a normal dog, the owners hover around insisting that the dog can not be away from them. These owners grieve considerably and never think in terms of replacing an animal, but may eventually get a new animal after the grief process finalizes.

4. Actualizing

The pet is related to essentially as arespected “significant other” in what is a mature relationship between ownerand pet. This pet is intrinsically worthy for itself not due to its value asproperty or what is means to the owners mental health or as something that justhas to be there because a dog or cat always is. This owner/pet relationshipwould be the easiest to deal with as the owner is invested in real benefits toboth the animal and themselves. These owners would be showing signs ofleadership already and be willing to expand this role and respect what trainingcan do for their pet. As grooming clients they are also good to deal with, responding well to discussions about the benefits of various grooming techniques such as different clip lengths, stripping vs clipping and frequency of grooming appointments. They will be sad when a pet dies but understand that they do not have the same lifespan as humans. They grieve naturally and make a rational and educated decision about getting another pet.

Where the difficulty arises of course with the comment made on facebook and the various type of pet owners is when different types of pet owners are discussing the death of a pet. As you can see from the types of pet owners there will be very different views as to the "value" of the pet. For some it is just a dog or just a cat but for others it is an integral part of their life that means they will never feel the same way about their life again. The comments made on the PetsAustralia facebook site seemed to indicate that most of the pet owners commenting were in fact from the last two categories. Their is no inherent problem with being in each of the categories as people own pets for a number of reasons. The skill as a groomer, trainer, boarding kennel operator or breeder comes in recognising which group your customer is in and adopting the appropriate communication strategies.

Which type of pet owner are you and how had this affected your feelings when you loose a pet?

Until next week.............
Stay safe and remember to Kiss the dog, hug the cat and tell your goldfish you love them.

Regards

Louise Kerr
The Pet Care Magician

Louise Kerr (aka The Pet Care Magician) is the owner of Elite Pet Care & Education based in the Nambucca Valley NSW Australia. She consults and writes widely on a range of pet care issues including feeding, training and grooming dogs and cats. Her online pet care magic subscription program deals with common pet behaviour, training, feeding and grooming issues such as barking, escaping, scratching, aggression and fleas. Pet care professionals are trained to handle customer issues by the provision of up to date programs to differentiate their pet care business from other competitors.

A solution to the smelly damp winter dog.

2011-07-16T14:54:00.002+10:00

The east coast of Australia is having a pretty cold winter, with record snow dumps in the snowy mountains and well below average temperatures. The last week here on the mid north coast it has not been much above about 2 or 3^oC each morning. There has also been a lot of rain which is unusual for our winter months. Now that is great news if you are into cold weather but not if you are getting older like me and prefer sunshine and warmth and can’t wait for the days to get longer and spring to be here.

One of the things that most of us think of doing on these cold winter mornings is to jump into a nice warm shower or bath. Stay under it way longer than is recommended for our power bills and let the warm water take away our aches and pains as it heats up our muscles and joints. Even better would be to find a nice indoor spa with water heated to the right temperature and about ohhh I don’t know 50 or so jets plus of course a nice glass of my favorite chardonnay and……… opps sorry just off day dreaming there for a bit…….

What has all this got to do with our pets I can hear you all saying!

Professional groomers know that their business drops off dramatically in winter. Mobile hydrobath operators are used to having people ring up and cancel because it is just too cold or wet to bath their dog. Those pet owners who normally give their canine companions a bath using the hose or in the laundry tub just let them stay smelly as they figure a cold water bath and a damp for hours dog is not a good mix in winter.

But what does that do to the dogs and is it fair to deprive dogs of those wonderful warm baths that we find so beneficial in these cold months?

What does it mean in terms of keeping longer coats in tip top condition and preventing skin and coat issues from occurring?

Wouldn’t older arthritics dogs with aching muscles and joints find the canine equivalent of a spa with water heated just right and about 50 odd jets massaging those sore spots wonderful on these cold winter days? Might it mean they are able to move around better?

Having decided that a nice warm bath followed by a blow dry with a lovely dryer pumping out air at just the right temperature. Then receiving back a lovely clean and fresh dry pet with a groomed out coat and a check that the skin is healthy would be very beneficial to our best friend and just what your canine companion is asking for. How do I get that you ask?

That’s such an easy answer. All you need to do is find the nearest professional certified dog groomer or stylist in your area. They can be a mobile or salon service just so long as they can say yes when you ask,

“Do you use heated water and do you use a heated stand dryer or high velocity dryer?”

Make a booking today your canine friend with love you for it.

©The Pet Care Magician@Elite Pet Care & Education.
www.elitepetcare.com.au [ www.petcaremagician.com

You are free to use this in blogs, newsletters and other printed or electronic media so long as these two lines above are kept at the end of the post.

Interesting what you find on the pet food shelves at Woolworths!

2011-05-30T21:05:00.016+10:00

      With a few big dogs to feed you can imagine that I am always on the lookout for good quality dog food at an excellent price. Normally I switch between Supercoat, Bonnie Working Dog and CopRice and buy at least one 20 kg bag each week. Last week, having missed the closing time of the local produce store I rushed into Woolworths to pick up an 8 or 12 kg bag of their Woolworth’s Select Chicken and Rice to tide me over. Despite being a no name product I find it to be reasonable in terms of protein content and the amount of preservatives and additives and it is a good backup when I don’t have time to get the alternatives. I would not use it long term as it does not have the complete nutrition my dogs with special needs require but it is a good standby.

      I often spend some time in the pet food isle. The locals and store personnel have become used to seeing me standing there, reading glasses on, muttering at the fine print on the back of the pet food labels Two of my dogs have Crone0hree dogs I feed have food intolerances and many feeding consultations I undertake involve dogs with food intolerance or allergy issues. I am a bit of a connoisseur of pet foods. I do stop at taste testing but frequently smell food to try and rate the palatability of each product. I feel at times a bit like the MasterChef contestants who are asked to name all the ingredients in a big bowl of food.

      On this occasion I was surprised to see a new product prominently featured on the shelves. Woolworths had recently released a super premium dry food product under the Woolworths select label. To my knowledge this is the first super premium dry dog food to be sold in an Australian supermarket. Normally you can only purchase super premium foods at pet stores or veterinary clinics.

      The big question however is what defines a super premium, premium, holistic or ultra premium food. These labels are not defined in any legislation specific to pet food labels and are mostly invented for the purposes of marketing and may or may not be based in fact. However having purchased large quantities of dry dog food over the last 26 years of owning large numbers of dogs you do get what you pay for.

       If you stand in a very large capital city pet food warehouse like Petbarn or Petstock you will see many bags of pet food all varying in size, product ingredients, meat base (chicken, kangaroo, beef, salmon), price and with a bewildering range of product claims. As a general rule the more premium the product the greater the price. As you move from the cheap dry foods to the super premiums there is less preservative, less additive, less fillers, more real meat used and a higher protein percentage. In addition you start to see in the mid to super premiums the addition of omega 3 and 6, prebiotics, and other ingredients such as cranberries, blueberries, yucca, carrots and kelp. Some of the more common super premium brands include Hills Science, Eukanuba, Royal Canine & Eagle Pack but there are many more out there.

      The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) establishes standards that should be considered the minimum for dog food manufacture which are only guide lines as they have no regulatory authority. Food manufactured to this standard contains a statement as such, usually on the back of the packet. The protocol requires that 6 out of 8 animals that complete a 26 week feeding trial do so without showing clinical or pathological signs of nutritional deficiency or excess.

      The other important way to determine the quality of a dog food is to understand what is called the 95% rule which applies to products consisting primarily of meat, poultry or fish. At least 95% of the product must be the named ingredient (such as beef, chicken or cereal), not counting the water added for processing and "condiments." Counting the added water, the named ingredient still must comprise 70% of the product. In addition the ingredients list (in the fine print on the back) must show the ingredients listed in order of predominance by weight. Therefore reading this list will tell you the major ingredients of the product. If cereal or rice is listed first before beef or chicken then it is not a meat based dry dog food.

      So back to the comparison between Woolworth’s select Chicken and Rice and their new Woolworth’s select super premium Chicken Rice and Vegetables.

Woolworths’s Select Chicken & Rice

Ingredients:
Wholegrain cereals, poultry & poultry by –product, Vegetable matter, rice, Tallow, Natural Flavor, Salt, Vegetable Oil, Bentonite, Vitamins (A, D, B1, B12, B2, B6, E, B5, Folate, B3), Minerals (Calcium Iodate, Zinc Oxide, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride & Selenium), Calcium Propionate, Antioxidam.
Typical Analysis:Crude Protein: 18% min
Crude Fat: 10% min
Salt : 1% max
Crude Fiber: 4% max
Feeding:
Up to 5 kg: ½ - 1 cup
5-10 kg: 1-2 cups
10-25 kg: 2-4 cups
25 – 50 kg: 4-6 cups

Cost: (when not on special) Online website prices 8 kgs: 0.20c/100g ($2/kg) 3 kg: 0.25c/100g ($2.50/kg

Woolworth’s Select Super Premium Chicken, Rice & Vegetables (Puppy)

Ingredients:
Chicken by-product meal, maize gluten, sorghum, poultry tallow, corn, barley, rice, chicken digest, vegetable fiber, dried egg, flax seed, Dicalcium Phosphate, Vegetable oil, Fish oil, Salt Iodised, Potassium chloride, Vitamins (A, B1, B2, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, C, D, E), Choline Chloride. Natural antioxidant, Preservative, Zinc Sulphate, Ferrous Sulphate, Copper Sulphate, Potassium Iodide, Selenium
Typical Analysis:

         Crude Protein: 32% min
         Crude Fat: 17% min
         Moisture: 10% max
         Crude Fiber: 5% max
         Salt: 1.8% max
         Ash: 10% max
         Calcium: 1% min
       Phosphorus: 0.8% min
       Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids: 3% min
       Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA): 0.1% min
        Average Metabolisable energy kcals/100g = 380

Feeding: 5 kg: 1 cup (110g) 10 kg: 1.5 cups 20 kg: 2.5 cups
Cost: (when not on special) Online website prices: 3kg bag: 0.47c/100g or $4.70 / kg

The super premium range contains a much larger number of flavors, good for those fussier eaters or those who have food intolerance issues; it also comes in a wider range of sizes and formulations for various age groups from puppy to senior. The major ingredient is meat whereas in the select range the major ingredient is cereal. The % of protein is much higher in the super premium at 32% versus 18% in the select and it also has Omega 3 & 6 which are well demonstrated as being beneficial in coat and allergy issues. In addition the level of fat in the super premium product is 17% versus 10% which is beneficial to dogs that need a higher fat level than humans normally consider, especially in baby puppies. This increased level of protein and the main ingredient being meat will result in a reduced elimination output in the dog, which is an added bonus for those who find cleaning up the back yard an issue. Comparing the two three kg bags the cost comparison is $2.50 versus $4.70 per kg which is not a unrealistic price difference given the advantages of the super premium product. The larger bag you buy the better the price per kg is so buying a larger bag and keeping it in a sealed container would improve this price differential even more. Hopefully in time this product will be one that consumers will support and Woolworth’s will release it in an 8 kg or even a 12 kg bag. It certainly is comparable to some of the more expensive options at the pet shop or veterinary clinic, so long as you are dealing with a dog that can tolerate lamb, beef or chicken. It will be on my shopping list as an excellent addition to what pet owners previously had available. It will be interesting to get into a Coles supermarket and see if they have released a comparable product. I will also do some investigation to see if I can determine which of the super premium products it is derived from.

More Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_food - Read this if you really want to get confused about what products are good or bad.
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/UCM047113 - the mathematics and science behind dog food manufacture. Degree in Rocket Science required.

The Armchair Method of Dog Training

2011-05-27T21:45:00.011+10:00

The busy trainer’s armchair guide to dog training is dedicated to all those writers and trainers out there who find it hard to fit find the time in their busy schedules writing and blogging to squeeze in training of their own dogs. It was inspired by a comment from Monica Segal, one of American’s leading canine nutrition experts who commented on her Facebook page recently that her dog Tori could not understand why she was always at the computer working on her new book and didn’t have the time to get up and engage in a training session. So Monica here are some quick ideas on how you can have fun with Tori without even leaving your computer.

Our dogs come up to us regularly and ask for attention. As humans we naturally think in terms of what we can offer in the way of a scratch behind the ear or a cuddle; however there are many more ways that we can interact without even leaving our favourite armchair or our computer chair. In fact each of these exercises takes only a few seconds are ideal to do in the add breaks of your favourite animal show. Personally mine is It’s me or the dog with Victoria Stillwell.

Meet Napoleon, my clicker savvy miniature poodle. He has been clicker trained since the age of 7 weeks and has a strong repertoire of behaviours that he loves to show off. (See our you tube channel) but even so he needs to have the basics reinforced from time to time.

The first place to start when clicker training is to pair the sound of the clicker with a nice reward, we use a combination of clunkers (a moist dry food heavy in garlic) cheese, smackos and a good quality dry dog kibble. All the pieces are cut up small and mixed together into a treat pouch or a margarine container. The idea being that the dog is never sure if he is going to receive a high value reward (cheese or clunker), medium value (smacko), or low value (kibble). Holding the reward in one hand and the clicker in another click and immediately offer the reward. Repeat this exercise four or five times at the start of each training session.

Nose touch:

Dogs instinctive reach out to smell items with their noses. Hold a piece of food in the palm of your hand with two fingers out and place your hand down near their nose. Wait until the dog moves its nose towards your fingers, click and release the food. Repeat this exercise four or five times and then you can graduate to no longer having the food in your hand. The dog nose touches your fingers; you click and then reach for the food reward. The clicker marks the behaviour we are rewarding and the reward no longer has to be delivered instantly. Once the dog is reliably offering the behaviour (85% of the time) you attach a name to the game. “Touch” is most commonly used. From then on when you say touch and place your fingers out the dog should understand to nose touch your fingers. Remember to keep up a high rate of reward early on to reinforce learning and continue to click to mark the behaviour. It is very important that you allow the dog to move towards your hand, resist the impulse to move your hand towards the dog as this does not teach the dog and for some dog’s hands coming towards their faces is considered very aversive.

You can either hand feed the reward or if your dog is acting like a shark and snapping then throw the food a short distance away. This achieves the effect of exercising the dog and teaching it to return (reorientate) to you. Repeat this exercise four or five times. Once the dog understands to touch its nose to your hand you can modify this exercise to be a nose touch to a lid, stick, toy or another part of your body. A further modification is to have the dog touch that object placed away from you on a nearby item of furniture or a toy placed on the other side of the room. Many dogs also enjoy learning a paw touch to your hand or any other type of target. Learning touch is a foundation exercise in clicker training that becomes the basis of many harder skills. It is also used in the film industry to teach a dog to go to a mark placed on the floor in any location in an exercise know as “go to your mark”.

Part 1: Starting to teach nose targetting

Part 2: Advancing the nose targetting technique

Sit:

With food in one hand, clicker in another place the food directly in front of the dogs nose then slowly raise the food up in the air and slightly behind the dogs head. The dog’s head should be following this movement which will cause their backside to move into a sit position, as their backside hits the floor click and then reward. If the dog snaps at the food when held near its nose hide your hand behind your back and look away from the dog. It is not necessary to say anything as the dog will understand that the snapping made something he really wanted go away, however it is important that you also remove eye contact as this will be interpreted by the dog as a reward for snapping. If the dog jumps up place the treat behind your back and remove all eye contact and say nothing until the dog has all four feet back on the floor.Repeat this exercise four or five times. When the dog is consistently sitting add the cue word "sit".

Part 1: Inital training of the sit command

Part 2: Adding the verbal command "sit"

Spin left:

With food in one hand and the clicker in the other place the food down near the dog’s nose, slightly to the side you wish it to move towards. Slowly move the food and the dog’s head should follow. Initially aim for only slight movement in the left direction, clicking and rewarding for any movement even if it is only head movement. As the dog gets the idea then ask for more movement, gradually building up to a full 360 degree spin to the left. Once the dog is reliably (85% of the time) performing this name the trick “left spin”. You can then go on to teach right spin however do not do this until a spin in once direction is mastered. This often takes some dogs some days to achieve, so be reasonable about the degree of movement you will reward for initially. The trick is to get the dog to understand at the start that you want any movement in the left direction and then gradually build up to more and more movement once they understand what you are asking. Many dogs learn best by being given an opportunity to try some approximation of the behaviour and then being allowed the time to go away and process this new skill. Dogs that are not used to this type of work will at first find it tiring and be able to process only small training sessions. If at any time your dog walks away and is unwilling to engage in the training respect that this is their way of saying I have had enough to process right now and need a break. They normally come back shortly after for another session. Train in very small session more frequently at a pace dictated by your dog is the key.

Part 1: Teaching a dog to spin.

Part 2: Teaching the spin in the reverse direction

These are three very easy training exercises that you can do from your favourite armchair or whilst at your computer desk. Did you find them easy or hard to train? Any problems let me know? What other fun tricks would you like to be able to teach sitting down?

For more youtube clips of simple training follow the links:

Drop
Start of the recall
Off the furniture
Onto your lap for a cuddle
High 5
Foot touch
Beg
Dance
Crawl
Training more than one dog at a time

Regards from Louise Kerr

The Pet Care Magician – delivering pet care magic for your pets.

A journey into your dogs thought processes

2011-05-03T18:49:00.000+10:00

Have you ever stopped to think about how you and your canine companions make decisions?

The other day I was on my way to Coffs Harbour with a zillion things to do and as usual not nearly enough time to do it all in. I had next to no petrol in the car and so had to stop off at the petrol station. I had that morning been contemplating the difference between how humans act within our world vs how our dogs behave and what influences those actions. This had been prompted by another one of those "my dog did something naughty hours ago to make me upset" type of comments that many pet owners like to say.

As I drove towards the petrol station I started to pay attention to the decision making that was going on automatically inside my head. Please don't stop reading I know that the talk inside my head can be pretty scary at times. My internal dialogue was going something like this:

" How much petrol do I need? How much cash is in the bank? Which bank account is it in? What price might the petrol be today {groan}? Where do I have to drive over the next few days and how much petrol might that use up? What food do I need to buy tomorrow, the next day, next week and if I fill the tank will that leave enough money for the bills I have to pay? Have I really considered all the facts I need to? Oh darn, is that really the time? I am running late now."

I told you it was scary and that's just my internal dialogue from the first traffic lights at the start of Mackville to the entrance to the service station, about 400m distance. My head sounds like this all day and most of the night. But the important thing to notice is that I was using strong reasoning skills and had an understanding that the action I was about to undertake had an impact on the present, and the future. My decisions were also based on both positive and negative learning from the past, i.e. running out of petrol in a diesel engine is more complicated that in a petrol driven car vs not totally filling the tank means I can buy some groceries at the shop, maybe even a treat for myself.

Contrast this with how your dog might be thinking at the moment it is contemplating any behaviour:

"I need to wee, OK here is good. Wow that feels so much better"

   No reasoning, no concern for the future they just perform the behaviour and move onto the next thing. Dogs live within the moment, sometimes even within the microsecond. They do not reason, in fact I don't think any animal species has been clearly demonstrated as understanding the reasoning process and that their behaviours have consequences like humans do but they can learn that behaviour brings rewards. There are some pretty amazing dogs who seem to be almost able to reason they can be seen on various websites selecting a single requested toy from a large group (See links below). Researches are yet to really understand how this happens and if they are in fact reasoning. In my experience the dogs I have worked with do not show much appreciation of the future. beyond that which is fairly immediate.

    What is the application of this understanding to companion animal training?

Dogs do what works for them right now and how they define a positive outcome is not necessarily the way we do. Elimination is a highly rewarding behaviour for a dog. They fail to understand the we do not like eliminations on our expensive carpet or on our beds as they are unable to comprehend the reasoning that the carpet is expensive to replace or clean and we sleep in the bed and what they have done is unpleasant to us. They fail to understand being punished for an act that happened hours ago which they have probably long forgotten as their concept of past is hazy at best. Hence your dog will do the wrong (to us) behaviour over and over again.

   We need to find an effective training tool that is capable of marking behaviour that happens within a microsecond in a sea of hundreds of other behaviours that the dog may be exhibiting that we fail to see. A clicker, silent whistle or marker word is a perfect tool to use.We need to develop the ability to give our dogs time to think about what we are asking, especially when we teach a new behaviour to allow for their different way of processing thought.

Napoleon practising his high five

I was doing a training and grooming demonstration last weekend at Pet Barn Coffs Harbour and it was a great opportunity to work one on one with Napoleon, my first ever fully clicker trained dog. I got him at 7 weeks of age and he was never trained with anything other than positive reward based methods. Napoleon is now a clicker savy dog and has an ever expanding list of tricks he can do. I was reinforcing old tricks and also expanding his skills, showing people just how effective clicker training is. What was evident was that when I introduced a new behaviour he would continue to offer the old one, as that had previously been gaining him yummy treats. He needed time for his brain to process the fact that I was now asking for something different. He was acting in a purely instinctive way and I had to give him as much time as he needed to "think" differently. There was far less processing of what I wanted going on than you would expect. The more distractions and the more tired he got the less he was able to process the new request. I introduced a new command to our training that was "think about it" when I could see the cogs in him mind turning as he was trying to work out what I now wanted. This became his cue to offer me something different.

A clicker savy dog like Napoleon knows to offer behaviours as he has only been trained using positive reward based methods. Dogs that are trained using negative or aversive methods lose this ability and have to be retrained to think and offer behaviours to find out what we might reward. The are operating in shut down mode as all they are taught is what not to do. Rarely are they told what we want them to do.Likewise our dogs who are not ever given any positive reward at home. Don't bark, don't wee there, don't hassle the cat, don't jump on the lounge. You literally see some dogs lower their heads and try to hide as they shut down, while others bark or get aggressive in frustration.

Has this given you some food for thought. Let me know what your thoughts are on how your pet's mind operates. Do you agree or not that they cannot reason?

Links to two amazing dogs that appear to understand words:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaanlrI9H-I
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827921.900-border-collie-takes-record-for-biggest-vocabulary.html
http://www.dogbehaviorblog.com/2011/01/chaser-the-dog-who-knows-1000-words.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7362312n
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=12877715

Happy Mother's Day to all two and four legged mums. Put your feet up and get all the positive rewards you can next Sunday

Regards
Louise Kerr
The Pet Care Magician
www.petcaremagician.com
www.elitepetcare.com.au

A bride a groom and.......................... the cows!

2011-04-26T16:44:00.000+10:00

I live in a rural area just outside of Macksville and for the point of clarity usually describe where I live as Macksville, that is unless I am talking to a local when I reply Welsh's Creek. Welsh's creek is a beautiful part of the Nambucca Valley that consists of Welsh's Creek road, Welsh's creek and well, lots of people called Welsh. It is still farming country with lots of larger original holdings interspersed with smaller properties and some residential sized blocks. I am not a local as I have only lived here 11 years and will never be considered a local, not even if I marry into one of the valley families. That brings me to the point of this story.

A few days before Easter I noticed a rather better than usual mowing job had been performed at the site of the old church that used to be located on one of the Welsh's properties right beside Welsh's Creek. I assumed there was a planned Welsh family reunion over Easter. I forget that the daughter of one of my friends (a Sanger before marriage) was to marry one of the Welsh boys. A merging of two valley families that needed a significant place for such an occassion to be held.

Talarm church now located at the Pub with no beer - Taylors Arm

I am not sure if the ground is still consecrated, however as it was a civil union that doesn't really matter. The weather was stunning, the location very green from lots of recent rainfall and the afternoon light was a photographers dream (well so my daughter a semi professional photographer tells me). But what was missing was the cows that normally live in that paddock. I assume that whoever did the mowing paid special attention to removing all the cow pats from the site. I am not sure when the cows were actually moved or if they were just relocated to the other side of the paddock.

Now cows being cows they tend to be very inquisitive, curious animals that want to know what is going on. I mean it must be pretty boring just hanging around in the same paddock day after day chewing on endless mouthfuls of grass. This is real farmland in this valley and we live in the middle of the animals and you normally drive through paddocks spotted with stock to get to the homes. Most of us have a small yard around our houses and sheds to prevent the stock from getting into them. Zena our horse and Wednesday the bucket raised cow would happily come and stick their heads inside the front door if they had half a chance. Any of the alpacas would be just as happy sitting in the lounge room as sheltering in a shed in bad weather.

A newborn alpaca and mum

Zena taken back in 2005 during a drought

I imagine the conversation went something like this............

"Hey buttercup have you seen all the fuss over there this afternoon? Looks like we got kicked out of the best paddock for the humans to come in and stand around on our best grass" muttered Daisy.

"Yep noticed all those noisy steel things they call cars driving up. What are those weird things they are holding up and putting to their lips?" answered Buttercup with a mouth full of cud.

"Stupid cow you are Daisy, those are cups and they need them to hold the liquid they drink in. They are not clever like us who can just wander over to the river and lean down to drink! But just watch them have fun walking on those pointy things on their feet when they have drunk a few cups" laughed Buttercup,

"Hey look mum at that pretty lady in the big white dress" yelled Dozer as he came bolting over with all four legs flying in different directions.

He's called dozer cause he keeps on knocking down the fence, and is soon to be renamed Freezer or t-bone. These are famers we are talking about remember.

"Yes darling she is the bride and the man in the nice suit next to her is the groom, but you would remember him as that kid who used to come chase us on the ATV when he wanted us to move. Brad and Shaunna are getting married today and wanted to do it where the old church used to stand on Brad's dad's place, cause it was where Brad's mum and dad got married." answered his mum, Buttercup.

"Hey buttercup would I look good in those pants that lady over there is wearing?" pondered Daisy.

"Oh Daisy you silly old cow your udder is far too big to fit into those pants!" replied Buttercup in a catty voice.She was cranky because Daisy always got judged best udder at the local show.

"Nasty old cow you are buttercup, McDonalds will be coming soon to turn you into hamburger mince" smirked Daisy having the last laugh as that is the worse insult in cow language.

Well the wedding went off without a hitch, the happy couple are off on their honeymoon, the chairs have gone back, the paddock is full of cows once again and life in sleepy Welsh's Creek is getting back to normal after all the excitement. Just as it should be says the cows who are enjoying the lush grass that is now growing as a result of the close mowing. Much better than the slashing the farmer normally does over the old church site.

Happy Easter or is it for your pets?

2011-04-24T13:15:00.000+10:00

     We are three days into the Easter break today in Australia. It is a major holiday season that either rivals or comes in a close second to Christmas depending on your perspective. It is a time for family, friends, eating too much chocolate, drinking too much, travelling and socializing. The roads are clogged, the shops are mobbed and the police are out in full force trying to stop people from drinking and driving. I have been through four random breath test sites in the last two days and expect to be pulled over again this afternoon. But I don't mind how many police cars are out patrolling as all the days of the Easter break see me driving around the valley looking after pets and houses for clients who are away and I like to know that drunk drivers are not driving on Australia's most dangerous highway.

    I was driving back home after my morning round and started to think about what Easter means for our pets. In my home the cats and dogs love it as I don't need to rush off to the training centre early in the morning and stay there all day. I get to go out for a few hours then come home before going out to do my afternoon run. This means that the cats get far more time to find a comfy spot on my lap or even better snuggled up as I have a midday snooze. The dogs like the fact that I am far more relaxed and less driven to do what just has to get done.

    But what about those pets who are left at home these holidays? Sadly Australia is not a place where we are encouraged to take our pets away or out with us. It is slowly changing thankfully. A few more holiday places are now accepting pets of responsible owners and a number of outside cafes are allowing you to sit and have a meal with your pet. Responsible owners going away, book either home vacation care services or kennels in advance, ensuring that their pets will be looked after. Sadly some don't and will just ignore the needs of their pets, leaving out some food or hoping that the kid next door will remember that they were asked to feed their neighbours pet. Even worse some shelters report that owners dump pets that are inconvenient to own at holiday times.

Many people do not go away but spend time at home socializing or just having family time. Easter egg hunts and family BBQ's. These events are great fun but increase the risks for our pets, especially dogs.

          Chocolate contains Theobromine, a compound that is a cardiac stimulant and a diuretic. The signs of sickness may not be seen for several hours, with death following within twenty-four hours. Cocoa powder and cooking chocolate are the most toxic forms. Semi-sweet chocolate and dark chocolate are the next most dangerous forms, with milk chocolate being the least dangerous, the smaller the dog, the less it needs to eat. So making sure all the eggs are found immediately in the Easter egg hunt and that the kids keep their chocolate eggs out of reach of canine snouts.  This doesn't apply to adults of course as we only have one very small Easter egg as a treat. Yeah sure, if you believe that then you don't really know Louise, the chocoholic who prefers chocolate to normal food. But as a parent I am used to hiding my Easter eggs.

    Then there are the BBQ's, especially this year as Easter, the school holidays and ANZAC day are all together in one large break. There are many foods that we enjoy that are hazardous to our pets.

      Onions and garlic cause sickness in dogs, cats and also livestock. Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Onions are more of a danger than garlic. Pets affected by onion toxicity will develop haemolytic anaemia, where the pet’s red blood cells burst. Initially pets affected by onion poisoning show gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea then progress to showing no interest in food and then become dull and weak. The poisoning occurs a few days after the pet has eaten the onion. All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion, sometimes fed as a supplement to young pets, can cause illness. Onion poisoning can occur with a single ingestion of large quantities or with repeated meals containing small amounts of onion.

       Macadamia nuts: The toxic compound is unknown but the affect of macadamia nuts is to cause loco motor difficulties. Dogs develop a tremor of the skeletal muscles, and weakness or paralysis of the hindquarters. Affected dogs are often unable to rise and are distressed, usually panting. Some affected dogs have swollen limbs and show pain when the limbs are manipulated. Dogs have been affected by eating as few as six macadamia kernels (nuts without the shell) while others had eaten approximately forty kernels. Some dogs had also been given macadamia butter. Luckily, the muscle weakness, while painful, seems to be of short duration and most dogs recover.

       Avocado (all parts): The toxic ingredient in avocado is called persin (toxic amount unknown). Symptoms include difficulty breathing, abdominal enlargement and abnormal fluid accumulations in the chest, abdomen and sac around the heart. However, living in an avocardo growing region, I do know of dogs who snack daily on avocardo with no ill effects.

      Pear pips, the kernels of plums, peaches and apricots, apple core pips, cherry pips: contain cyanogenic glycosides resulting in cyanide poisoning. These are a particular hazard to alpacas. The larger pips can also get lodged in the intestine of a dog, causing serious bowel blockage.

     Potatoes: if the skin has turned green. Rhubarb leaves Mouldy/spoiled foods: keep garbage lid firmly on.   Alcohol (Yeast dough) Coffee grounds, beans & tea (caffeine). Hops: used in home brewing. Tomato leaves & stems (green parts). Broccoli: in large amounts, rasins and grapes, cigarettes, tobacco, cigars. Xylitol: sweetener often found in sugar-free gum

     Cooked bones can splinter and cause gut perforation, as well as blockages in the intestine, tooth fractures, and cooked chop bones can get stuck across the roof of the mouth. Corn cobs are a common cause of intestinal blockage requiring surgical removal. Rich Fatty Food: rich fatty foods can cause pancreatitis which can be life threatening.

   So as you can see there are many hazards that our canine companions living with us can encounter. Is it any wonder their favourite occupation is sleeping? Prevention of course is better than cure, especially when you consider what the vet will charge for emergency surgery on a public holiday.

Have a safe and happy Easter everyone. Take the break to give yourself time to " hug the dog, kiss the cat and tell your goldfish you love them" A great energetic walk along the beach, throw of the ball or stick will do wonders for all the calories consumed in chocolate, not to mention how much your dog will love you for it.

Training the rarest of the rare- a Tibetan Mastiff

2011-03-26T11:12:00.000+11:00

              Last week in Australia the media was full of the story of a Tibetan Mastiff puppy that sold for the incredible figure of over $100 k US. In one of those strange six degrees of separation moments, the next day I was booked to train a six month old Tibetan Mastiff show puppy now living locally. As I live in a small country area of only 20,000 people in NSW Australia, I was amazed that two of the rarest of the rare breeds of Australian dogs reside locally. The new owners have just embarked on a show career with these two beautiful but unique dogs. There is only a handful of Tibetan Mastiff breeders Australia wide and luckily for me the only NSW breeder lives in my area. To say I am excited about this wonderful opportunity is an understatement.

         As a positive reward based trainer and animal communicator I train dogs as individuals, based on what the dog in front of me is telling me via its body language and behaviour (Read about my training philosophy). Pedigree dogs have many years of selective breeding history which usually results in strong breed specific personalities that I can use to get a head start on the information I may be presented with. Having never seen or trained a TM the place to start this training process was an Internet search aimed at  understanding the history of this ancient breed. and the history of the dogs owned by Jangbu Kennels

       Tibetan Mastiffs are an ancient Tibetan breed that many consider to be the forerunner of modern mastiff breeds that have been recorded for many centuries, even as far back as the 13th century by Marco Polo. They are a giant breed dog weighing from 90-150 pounds (40-68 kg) originally bred in the Himalayan foothills as a strong working flock guard where the isolation and need for this dog ensured they have remained relatively unchanged. Inherently protective they are also used as a guardian for homes and monasteries. They appear to be gentle giants, naturally reclusive with strangers, mischievous, intelligent, strong willed and independent.

Kathryn Hay of Shanti Soul Tibetan Mastiffs Tasmania Australia summarized the breed in this way,

The Tibetan Mastiff, belonging to the Molosser group of dogs was introduced to the western world in the 19th century and western breeding began in the 1970s. TMs are now owned and loved across the world. The person who respects the breeds' independence and sense of self will suit the TM character and from there mutual respect and admiration will grow and a very strong bond will endure.

To some people, meeting a TM for the first time can be quite an intimidating experience possibly because of their majestic appearance and air of aloofness. However on further acquaintance they will discover a delightful dog that is sweet natured, affectionate, playful, mischievous, curious and very gentle to both people and other animals.

TMs are very serious about guarding and will bark loudly should someone walk by while they are on duty at the front gate. They may also bark at strangers and sometimes even visitors until they are shown, through the actions of their owner, (with whom they have a solid bond) that there is no threat with which to contend.

Their intelligence is what actually makes any ‘training’ more difficult! I remember that we were the top of the class in our obedience group but after a few weeks, when the other breeds had finally come to realize what was being asked of them and started to rejoice in knowing and doing what their beloved parents wanted from them, our TM was bored, had already learnt that and didn’t see why he had to do it three times in a row!!

You see they know EXACTLY what you want from them, but they don’t necessarily agree that it’s needed. Many other breeds do things by rote learning and not ever questioning. Get prepared to ‘debate’ with your new TM puppy!!! 6

       Kathryn Hay's summary matches the picture I have in my head of a TM following my research. Many years ago I owned a Chow Chow, another of the Asian guarding breeds. With a very similar temperament to what is described for the TM's Chi was not an easy dog to train or understand, that is until I recognised that positive reward based training was the way to interact with aloof, intelligent, independent guarding breeds.

Sedna Chi Chi - my beautiful Chow Chow

      Tomorrow I start the training sessions with this rare breed. I have the video camera set up, my mind open to what I may see as the personality of this dog and a range of rewards that hopefully this dog will also agree is rewarding to her. Watch this space for my blog next week and see how we progress as I report on what did and did not work when it came to training this unusual breed for the show ring.

     Hopefully this client will also see the pet care magic that Louise, the Pet Care Magician from Elite Pet Care & Education has become renowned for.

References:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/steve-dale-pet-world/2011/03/tibetan-mastiff-pups-from-china-being-sold-for-over-100k-us.html
http://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/breeders/tibetan-mastiff.asp
http://www.shantisoultibetanmastiffs.com/
http://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/member.asp?name=KRISTIE
http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-breeds/dog-breed-profiles/tibetan-mastiff-dogs-dog-breed.aspx
http://www.shantisoultibetanmastiffs.com/breedinfo.shtml

I'm taking the Pet Blogger Challenge

2011-01-11T09:48:00.000+11:00

1. When did you begin your blog?

January 2009

2. What was your original purpose for starting a blog?
To provide pet owners in my local country area in NSW, Australia Free access to updated, professional, positive based information to allow them to better care for pets. I also love writing and love animals so the mix of the two made a great deal of sense

3. Is your current purpose the same?

Yes

If not, what’s different?

If so, how do you feel you’ve met your goals?

I love blogging and really enjoy the challenge of finding something interesting to write about. The local paper picks up an occassional article and prints it as well

4. Do you blog on a schedule or as the spirit moves you?

No schedule, although it has become part of my weekend actitivies.

If the former, how often — and what techniques do you use to stick to it?

If the latter, do you worry about… well, whatever you might worry about (e.g. losing traffic, losing momentum)?

It is always a case of so much that could be said and finding the time to sit and write it but once I start the fingers start flying and its hard to stop, or more importantly to make is less like war and peace in length.

5. Are you generating income from your blog?

No

If so, how (e.g. sponsor ads, affiliate relationships, spokesperson opportunities)?

If not currently, do you hope to in the future — and how?

Don't we all want to do that lol?

6. What do you like most about blogging in general and your blog in particular (bragging is good!)?

I like the fact that blogging is free access and helps spread good information to people who love caring for their pets. I do like the intellectual challenge of saying something worth saying. At times I do push the envelop and write what I hope are thought provoking articles, eg this one on euthanasia in pets and humans.

7. What do you like least?

Trying to work out how to embed video, mp3 and photo files and my slow internet

8. How do you see your blog changing/growing in 2011?

I see it having more posts and those posts being more multi media orientated as I do more work on Youtube. I also see it integrating more with my website, facebook page and twitter accounts. I also hope to see more comments.

My new year wish for all pets worldwide

2011-01-02T00:12:00.001+11:00

At 10 am on New Year’s Day 2011 I was lying in bed, unable to get up due to severe pain, when I saw a Facebook post appear from Pat Miller. Pat is a Certified Professional positive dog trainer, Certified Behaviour Consultant, author and owner of peaceable paws dog training 15,383 kms away in Fairplay, Maryland. She travels widely throughout the world educating pet owners and dog trainers. Her dream for 2011 was that

“I think we should make 2011 National Train Your Dog *Year*!!!

My instinctive reaction was sure “that’s never going to happen”. Like many positive reward based animal trainers I often feel that we are fighting a losing battle, unable to shift public awareness from the fact that the only way to interact with our companion animals is in a never ending cycle of yelling at them when they do something wrong and wondering why they constantly hide from us and never seem to behave as we want them to. I like many other animal lovers despair as the millions of dogs and cats euthanized each year in shelters all around the world.

It is so easy to sit back and believe that you can never change these facts. But......... maybe we can. With Facebook reported at having 600 million users worldwide and the growth of other social network sites such as twitter it should be possible for one of the upcoming years to be named National Positively train your dog year. With your help maybe not 2011 but why not 2012 or 2013?

The world media would sit up and listen if a group called

Promoting Positive Reward Based Dog Training went viral and gained 1 million members in only 6 months. (Click on the name to take you to the site)

Is that possible? Sure it is, if every person who trainers or believes in positive reward based pet training goes to the group and hits LIKE and then tells all their friends to do the same we can have an immediate and remarkable impact on dog training worldwide right now. The saying from small things big things grow has never been truer than in this day and age with the impact social media can have and the speed at which the internet can promote good causes. Do you want to bring positive benefits to the lives of pets and their owners? If so then it is as easy as going to the group right now and hitting LIKE then sharing this group with your friends and asking them to do the same. The pets of the world will love you forever and their owners hopefully will find training a dog using a positive reward based method is just so much fun – like many that I have taught have.

Happy New Year to all pets and pet owners.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all pet owners and their pets

2010-12-19T17:19:00.000+11:00

Our training and education centre will be closed from 23rd December until 4th January while we take a break and spend time kissing our dogs, hugging the cats and hanging out in the paddocks with the alpacas (as I don't have fish).

A very merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my clients - two and four legged - and a very big thank you for allowing me the privilege of spending time with you to help provide solutions to your grooming, training and behaviour issues. It has been a pleasure to work with you and such a delight to day after day see the positive changes that the application of our methods has brought about in your pets.
Some of the more challenging case studies we have addressed are outlined.

I look forward to a very interesting 2011 when we have many new and exciting ideas and events to share with you - stay tuned.

Vacation - How to choose a Professional Pet Care Service

2010-12-14T16:15:00.001+11:00

It’s holiday time and for so many of us this means leaving the pets at home while we take off and explore interesting places. It is very easy at this time of the year with all that is going on to forget the essentials that need to be considered when it comes to the provision of good vacation care for your pet. Each situation and each pet has different needs. How many pets do you have, are they indoor or outdoor pets, what is their normal routine, how old they are, how often are they left alone. All these factors need to be considered when it comes to deciding what the most appropriate care for them is going to be while you are away.

Home Care:

Traditionally the kid next door could be relied on to feed the animals while you are on holiday but sadly that no longer seems the best option. Often pet owners comment that they did not get the service they expected or they really wanted more done for their pets but did not want to ask. The choice of a professional pet carer means that you should get the type of service you require at the frequency you require it, generally for a reasonable cost.

The types of services you can expect to receive include:

• Feeding, watering and exercising of your pet/s once or twice a day

• Daily brushing of dogs and cats

• Daily check of the general health of your animals, including searching for and removal of ticks

• Cleaning of kitty litter and yards

• Mail collection

• Watering of pot plants and gardens

• Maintenance of property security including lights turned on and off

• Rubbish bins placed out and collected

• Text messages at frequent intervals

• Full insurance cover

• References

• 24 hour phone contact details

• First consultation before you leave on holidays is free

The types of situations that are best suited to home care include:

• Older animals

• Animals that do not do well in boarding kennels

• Cats that need to be let out during the day and locked in at night

• Elderly cats

• Households with multiple animals, especially those on rural residential properties

Boarding Kennels

Boarding Kennels can in a variety of makes and models ranging from smaller older boutique style businesses through to state of the art air-conditioned, piped music, mega establishments that house many hundreds of dogs. In fact an increasing trend in the United States is for high rise multi-level boarding kennels in large air-craft hanger sized buildings. The size of the building and the number of dogs or cats housed is not the most important issue when it comes to selecting a good boarding kennels. Bigger is not always better.

When choosing a kennel for your dog or cat it is important to consider the following issues:

• How clean the establishment is – it is never ok to be told “we have not cleaned yet today”

• How well trained in animal care and first aid all the staff are

• What supervision of junior staff is in place

• Are staff present in close proximity to the kennel/cattery complex 24 hours a day

• Is a vet on call?

• What knowledge of canine behaviour have senior staff obtained that will enable them to assess if a dog is stressed or not.

• Will your dog ever be in contact with another dog in either their kennel or outside exercise areas?

• What worming, vaccination and parasite control measures are required for each pet?

• What is the surrounding environment like with regard to noise and pollution?

• What measures are in place for you to contact them and vice versa?

• Can your dog have its favourite toy, blanket or bed?

• What feeding regimen is in place – this is particularly important for dogs with sensitive stomaches or allergy issues.

It is advisable that you chose the kennel you wish to use prior to your holidays. Book your dog or cat in for an overnight stay at a time when the business is not that busy. Assess what state you dog or cat comes home in, did they willingly go away from you when you left them there, did they come back looking happy, healthy and settled or did they come home smelly, full of fleas and clearly distressed and upset. Did you feel comfortable with how the staff handled your pet on delivery and pick up. It is never good if the staff dragged off your dog while making sure you were escorted fast off the premise. If staff come out and do not greet your dog or cat kindly in an appropriate manner then find another kennel to use.

Word of mouth is often the best way to find a good kennel, ask friends, family, your groomer, vets and the local pet shop what they recommend. You will soon find out which local kennel gets the best recommendations.

How do we greet our dogs - being a responsible dog lover

2010-12-09T06:13:00.000+11:00

I don't often reproduce another Canine Behavourists blog but this one from Casey Lomonaco is just too well written and too true not to share with you. She has a great gift of being able to see it from the dogs perspective. How often do you see a cute puppy and cuddle it and hug it while the puppy desperately struggles to get away? How often have you stopped to think what is going on in the dog's mind?

All too often I also consult with clients on issues that occur for them with dogs that interact badly with their dogs at "off lead" areas. I wonder if the owners of these off lead nuisances understand how badly behaved (untrained and unrestrained) their dogs are.

http://blogs.dogster.com/dog-training/dont-be-that-guy/2010/12/

Hope you enjoy this excellent article

Remember: to hug the dog, kiss the cat and tell your goldfish you love them.

It's that time of year again!!!

2010-12-06T14:09:00.000+11:00

The year has flown by and we are back again wondering what to buy the rellies and kids for Christmas. Pets are often considered as a Christmas present, not only for the kids but for mum, dad, your girlfriend or a host of other minor and major people in your life. Is this the correct thing to do however? As a groomer and trainer I often see these pets and hear the person tell me “I don’t know why they thought I wanted another dog, cat............... {insert pet type}. These owners often don’t want the pet and are not happy they have been landed with it.

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog that outlined what should be considered when purchasing a puppy called “Puppy Purchase- Delight or Nightmare” It discusses the purchase of a puppy from the point of view of the puppy being for yourself but if you cannot answer all these questions for the person the puppy is going to be living with then it is not an appropriate gift.

At Elite Pet Care & Education we are offering FREE 1 hour consultations via face to face, internet or phone to discuss the purchase of a companion animal. Call us on 1300 307 991 or email on contact@elitepetcare.com.au to take up this offer.

How do dogs communicate?

2010-11-18T13:34:00.001+11:00

            How do dogs communicate both with us and with other dogs? As humans (two legged animals) we are a verbal species that relies heavily on what we say and what we hear for our communication. Body language, tone and intonation are important but are mostly subconsciously absorbed and processed by our brain to add to what we are hearing or saying. Not so our dogs. The primary language of dogs, and in fact all four legged animals is body language. All animals have some degree of vocalization but it is not the primary means of communication. It is mostly, in dogs, a minor part of the interaction and the fact that owners inhibit barking and vocalizations made it even more so.

          When I am enrolling a new client into the dog training class I regularly get told that their dog knows how to sit and come, clients tell me their dog knows exactly what it means when they say sit or come. Then we start working and sure enough the interaction goes something like this:

           Client: “Fluffy sit, sit fluffy, fluffy sit, come on now sit.. siiiittt........... sit, sit, fluffy sit" (tone         becomming   more and more exasperated)

           Fluffy: ignores all the sit commands and then eventually sits down as it is far more comfortable than standing up and he figures owner will get around to doing something interesting soon enough. Yawn!

           Client: “what a good sit fluffy”

           What this interactions tells me is fluffy has about as much understanding of what the word sit means as he understands what the word gdander means. Yes I know gdander is not a word that is my point. What fluffy is more likely to be paying attention to is not the constant noise that comes out of our mouths but what we are doing with our hands, our fingers, our shift of weight, movement of our left big toe or even the slight raise of one eyebrow. He is more than likely paying attention to all of these things simultaneously. Our dogs spend far more time watching us and each other than listening to us. The nuances of dog body language are immense and whole chapters of very large books have been written about what each slight movement of a tail, ear or tongue means.

            Parents of teenagers might want to stop and consider this for just a moment. How often do you hear a parent say “My teenager never listens to me”? Dogs are like teenagers both of them stop hearing the words and lump it all into nagging. Many years ago I was training one of my dogs for agility and the poor instructor turned to me and in a very exasperated way asked me to stop the verbal diarrhoea. I didn’t much appreciate his comment at the time but he was right as my dog was not paying the slightest bit of attention to the constant chatter I was making. In fact now when I train dogs I do it silently and they pay far more attention to me as they are forced to watch for what I want them to do. As a natural pointer I let my hands do the work (to borrow a famous Australian add)

            We make so much fun of the butt sniffing antics of dogs when they meet up but if you see a dog that does not go and sniff butt but approaches from head on especially with an up-right stance then watch out as more than likely a fight is just about to occur. Likewise if we approach a strange dog from front on, making eye contact with our natural human upright stance then most dogs consider this to be an assertive/aggressive act. No I am not suggesting you crawl in and butt sniff however it is a very effective way to break the ice with some dogs. You will see many experienced trainers and behaviourists get down to the dog’s level; in fact I often sit on the floor turned half on towards the dog and let it come and check me out.

             Positive reward based trainers use the dog to dog body language communication to achieve effective and lasting dog training results as do the people doing all the fun tricks like watch my horse count to x when I ask him. This is achieved by using very subtle body language cues to show the animal what is required. To return to our sit example above, it can be as simple as taking a small piece of food in your hand and moving it slowly from in front of the dog’s nose and up over his head. Most dogs naturally sit in order to follow the track the food reward is taking. This is a technique known as luring and it is by far the fastest and most humane way to teach a dog to sit. Chronic non-sitters have the sit down pat very fast using this method and once they understand what you want sit becomes default behaviour, so much so that getting them not to sit becomes our next training challenge.

          Dog body language is a fairly large topic as is animal communication. If you want to learn more than check out my free podcasts located here but the best way is to pull up a chair, sit back, relax and watch your dog as it interacts with other animals. You can also become more aware of your body language as you interact with your dog. Try saying nothing next time you are training or just hanging out with your dog and see what reaction you get.

Its been a tough week

2010-11-14T14:12:00.000+11:00

WARNING: This blog contains themes of euthanasia and assisted suicide that readers may find confronting.

     It’s been a tough week here in paradise. Two of my customers are badly affected by Alzheimer’s and have a very poor quality of life but are trapped in that horrible land between knowing and not knowing what is happening to them. It is heartbreaking when your client tells you she is having a bad day because she can’t find her husband and feels that he has died and no one will tell her and you know that he died about 8 years ago. What do you say in that situation and what do you do when half way through the mobile groom they forget who you are and think you are kidnapping their only friend left in this world, their precious dog? In addition, a friend’s wife in her late 50’s has had a severe stroke and is clearly expressing a desire to terminate her life but is unable to due to medical intervention and family that think that she should be kept alive at all costs, despite her previously verbalized desire for no heroic measures to be undertaken in the event of finding herself in this situation.

     I cannot help but wonder why we are so compassionate towards our companion animals and happy to do the right thing and provide them with euthanasia when their quality of life becomes unbearable but cannot exhibit the same compassion towards our own species. Why do people think that a person who is breathing and existing should be kept alive? Is it because as human we have a fear of death and loss? Is it because we are selfish and think only of what the loss of that person means for us or is it because we value human life more highly than animal life? Do we just feel we can just go out and get a new dog, cat or rabbit to replace the one we lost but not so another friend or family member?

      Why is it that humans must live the average three score and ten years to be considered as having had a good life? In less recent times there are many examples of people who have made incredible contributions to society but have died young. Mozart for example was only 35 when he died and we cannot ague about his contribution to the world of music both while he was alive and since his death. In more recent times Dr Chris O’Brien, the NSW Neurosurgeon, who died a untimely death at only 57, as a result of a brain tumour, is good case of a person who in life and death has contributed immensely to our society. It could be argued that had he not died early the centre open in his name at Royal Prince Alfred would not have come into existence nor would people outside of the medical community have known about this wonderfully talented surgeon.

    I have lost many animals in my nearly 50 years of living as sadly they do not have the life span we do and also some significant people, such as my father. I have also lost many attributes of life that people value such as my career, my house, my health and the love of my family as well as my capacity to live as a fully functional person in society or to provide the type of home my daughter should live in. Yes it does cause grief, but at the end of the day a person who acknowledges these losses and allows them to make them a stronger person is blessed with a knowledge that life can go on despite significant loss and change. But those who I have lost are still with me still there in spirit.

    Spiritualists claim that people and animals touch our lives for a reason, some for a long period others not. For example Meeko, our lovely Burmese cross rescue cat who recently spent only two short years of her current life with myself and my daughter. She came from nowhere at a time that was important for my daughter to learn how good a photographer she is, Meeko became the star of some of her best work and photos of her taken by Kathleen have been praised as exceptional work from such a young photographer. Then just as quickly as she came Meeko incredibly left out lives in what was an act of madness to us. It had been an on-going battle to keep her away from the area where the big dogs lived for months then one Sunday morning she broke out through a window and jumped down right into the middle of two large dogs in what could only have been understood as an act of animal suicide. I can only believe that Meeko considered her time here with us had achieved what she set out to achieve and it was time to move to another point in her journey, to another life.

      Value and love what you have today either in yourself, your animals or those people who connect with your life. Make the best of every minute and know that what you have may be gone from you in a heartbeat as soon as tomorrow. Respect a sick person or animals desire to end their life with the dignity they deserve even if that causes you pain and suffering but know that they will always be there in spirit for you for the rest of eternity.

Miniature Poodle Puppy Training and Socialization

2010-11-10T12:52:00.002+11:00

As a dog trainer I spend so much of my time working with older dogs that have developed problems. Nothing too major, these problems are usually things like jumping up, barking, running away, but this week I have been luck to be able to work with two wonderful litters of miniature poodles. Cherry and Napoleon's litter is bred by me and lives with me and are currently 9 weeks old. The other litter is from Annabell and Jed and is bred by my friends and long time grooming customers Helen and Shirley. See puppies full details here

Baby puppies are sponges who are happy to soak up good and bad experiences and current animal behaviour research states that what experiences a puppy gets between 6 weeks and 16 weeks of age are fundamental in forming their character and behaviour as they age. It is at this time that the foundation for behaviours such as running away, barking incessantly or jumping up are created or avoided. As they are still babies it is also critical that any training done at this age is gentle and caring and based on positive reward methods.

These puppies are not fully vaccinated yet as it does take some time for vaccines to provide effective coverage, however they have the benefit of mum's antibodies and the places they are taken to are carefully managed with regard to the animals and humans they are exposed to.

The basis of work that is important with puppies of this age is to get them used to new experiences, new surfaces, different animals, cars and car travel, and humans of all shapes and sizes. We work hard to make all these experiences positive and do not push a puppy faster than they are prepared to go.

A good example of this is when Helen arrived at our education and training center yesterday. Her two puppies are a boy and girl and they are 6 days younger than Cherry and Napoleon's babies. All of these puppies and their respective parents have met a couple of times already but always at Helen and Shirley's place. This is a familiar and comfortable environment for these pups, not so the outing to a new place. Both puppies were initially unsure about where they were so we opened the car carrier up, kept the other dogs back and settled down with a cup of coffee to wait for when both puppies felt comfortable enough to venture out. It didn't take the girl long as she is the more outgoing of the two puppies however the boy was less certain and he had to stick his head out a few times and have a look before he ventured out. When he did come out to join us we greeted him with lots of cuddles and nice treats for being such a brave boy. Had he not ventured out at all that would have been ok as it was his way of saying this is just too much for me to handle right at the moment. If we had forced him out we may inadvertently had made him fearful of venturing into a new environment and set the foundation for long term issues.

The boy taking time out away from the others

This little boy can be seen in the video below doing zoomies around the room as once he did come out and settle in with the others he had a ball. I swear he had a perpetual grin on his face from ear to ear all the time. He did however take a couple of time out breaks safely back in his car carrier as he remembered that this was all new and unfamiliar. But sure enough the fun and games enticed him out again and he once more joined in.

I started introductory clicker work with them getting them used to the sound of the clicker and that the click meant that a nice reward was coming, either a cuddle, a play with a toy or a food treat. They got used to following me around which is the introduction to both loose lead walking and coming when called. All of this of course was done off lead and with no coercion. If they chose to wander away and do something else they were allowed to.

We also had the small green dog agility tunnel our and seeded it with dog treats to see if they would venture inside this big strange scary place. Cherry and Napoleon's puppies had no problem with this as they have got used to the idea that nice to eat "stuff" can be found in there. It's how I know if they are peckish as they go to the tunnel and check it out. This is of course only when they are not relocating the tunnel to the other side of the room just for fun. I must get that on video it is such fun to watch. Annabell's puppies did venture inside but not as far as the others but that was ok for today's session.

We did shoot some fun video and took lots of new pictures all of which can be seen on our website and at our Youtube site . After a couple of hours of play with a few sleep sessions all the pups were taken home for their dinner and sleep and we were confident that we had achieved another very positive step in the ongoing puppy pre-school training of these delightful puppies. But the fact that I got to sit on the floor with 5 fluffy puppies and Cherry and Napoleon giving me hugs and kisses was a total bonus.

View Video on Youtube

mp3 file tester

2010-11-06T16:22:00.000+11:00

What is our training philosophy and experience?

2010-11-01T08:08:00.003+11:00

       Where have I come from as a trainer, what methods do I use to train animals and where am I going in my career as an animal communicator and trainer? These are all important questions that all animal trainers should be able to answer for you as a client.

     I first started training animals as a very small child, fascinated by them; I loved to see if I could teach the family budgie to talk and to carry on long involved conversations with the cats and my imaginary animal friend a beautiful black panther. At the age of 8 or so the family got its first dog Lisa, a lovely placid black Labrador. Thankfully she was so placid, as I groomed her for hours and spent day after day making up simple agility courses and taking her for endless walks with never ending sit, wait and say commands. Poor dog I know so many more fun things now. At this age I was obvious to the wonderful world of dog sports that existed, at the time in Australia that was obedience and conformation shows as agility had not really taken off yet. Now there are so many types of dog sports you can participate in including flyball, frisbee, dock diving, lure coursing, sledding and so many more on their way out from the United States such as nose games.

       In 1984 i got the first of my dogs, a pedigree Chow Chow called Chi. She is the dog that first introduced me to positive reward based training and learning how to think outside the square when working with a difficult dog. Chi was a wonderful dog in the 16 years she spent with me but she invented the word stubborn and if she didn't want to do it no amount of jerking on a check chain, dragging her around or forcing her into a sit worked. She just planted her feet and that was that. Searching around I managed to find a private trainer in Sydney that was years ahead of others in the area of training dogs and she taught me so much. Unfortunately my aim to get Chi titled in obedience never eventuated as she had chronic knee ligament issues and spent so much of her life having surgery. She remained, until senility set in, a wonderful dog to live with, walked like a dream on a lead and was incredibly good at all the basic commands. I remember at one of the very big dog obedience clubs in Sydney (that shall remain nameless) the chief instructor, a dog trainer from the old jerk and check brigade challenged me as to why I had not been able to train this dog. Wordlessly I handled him the lead and stood back to watch darling Chi plant all her feet, look away from him and refuse to do anything he wanted. I was stifling laughter as he handed back her lead and advised me to get another dog as she was un-trainable.

       In 1986 I got my first Belgian Shepherd and ventured into the conformational show world was interested to see the great results being gained by a few handlers who used a treat to get the dog to stand where they wanted and behave in the way to best show themselves off in a technique known as baiting. That appealed to me as a far calmer, nicer way of interacting with my dog and hundreds of kilos of dried liver later I showed Belgian Shepherds as much as time permitted until 2009. Never achieving tremendously great heights in show world I did enjoy being with other like minded dog people and being out in the fresh air at weekends with my dogs and learning more and more about other breeds and what made them behave the way they do.

      Meanwhile my husband and I split up as a result of a serious car accident I was involved in and as a result I had to leave life as a sales representative working horrendous hours per week in Sydney, move to the Nambucca Valley and re-invent myself personally and professional. What more obvious to do that a little bit of hobby work as a dog groomer while single parenting my daughter. Never content not to improve myself I studied and learn all I could about grooming and of course every time I had a dog on a lead I trained it. Training is in fact not about a set hour training session each week but about doing the same thing the same way over and over and over again.

      Shifty a big 8 year old cream Labrador that I have been grooming fortnightly now for 10 years demonstrates this beautifully. Each time I arrive I set up the trailer, water in the bath, door open, lead out, go down to the gate, ask him to sit, open the gate, put the lead on him and lead him up to the trailer. With the words "in you go" he obediently jumps into the bath and turns around to wait for me to take his lead and collar off. When I have finished washing one side I say turn and he turns in the bath to present the other side. As soon as the wash is over he stands waiting for me to pick up his treat, return him to his backyard where he sits automatically to get the treat. Did I teach him any of this? No not deliberately, I just did the same thing the same way with the same cue words every time and he learned the routine about 5 years ago. This is positive reward based training at work.

       So many people have asked me for advice on their pets over the ten years and having really enjoyed producing the All Things Animals Program for 2NVR 105.9FM and with my daughter now about to spread her wings and leave home it was time to re-invent myself again and study as a professional dog trainer.

      Over the last 42 years of living with dogs and cats I have tried every training technique available, with the exception of prong and shock collars, as I was never convinced that they were humane. But yes I have used jerk and release on check chains, pushing a dog's rear end down for a sit, standing on the lead to try and get a drop and citronella spray collars to try and stop barking. I never got terribly good results as I have always owned smart dogs that can't be made to do what they don't want to do. Time wise I was too busy raising a child, working and then coping with disability to do more than the occasional conformation show (where I always used treats). During this time two dogs I still own were instrumental in moving me towards clicker training as a training method. Mistral (Tervueren) and Cherry (Miniature Poodle) are both reactive dogs, pig headed they bark and carry on at a leaf dropping off a tree. Both of them showed me all the tricks dogs can use to make a citronella collar useless. Both of them used to be a nightmare to live with. Many other people would have placed these two in a shelter for "rehousing – read euthanasia". Luckily I live on property and these two dogs were just the challenge I needed to develop me as a true dog trainer and to be able to really understand dogs and how they think

      I happened across a very interesting book called "Click for Joy" written by a wonderful dog trainer and author, Melissa Alexander. On my own I attempted to work on some of these techniques with Mistral, even brought a clicker but was not successful as it was very hard to untrain my cross over habits. Having decided to train professional as a trainer however I was committed to becoming one that only used positive reward based techniques and that lead me to the Delta Society Australia and their Certificate IV in Companion Animal Services. In this course I have been lucky to have been introduced to some trainers that are true animal communicators. People who have endless patience and skill working with animals, two of which are Kerry Haynes-Lovell and Carmel (aka fudge the dog trainer) and watching these two ladies work with animals is awe inspiring. During this time I also worked on techniques I learned not only with my two problem children, Mistral and Cherry but also with my other dogs and many customers' dogs I have been employed to train. I also implemented the techniques in my grooming practice and the results have been sensational. Dog after dog is transformed, yes even Cherry and Mistral. I have worked with 4 week old poodle puppies and the results far surpass anything I have ever achieved in 42 years of all the training I have done with many animals. They say there is nothing like a reformed smoker or alcoholic and that's me a reformed trainer achieving results I never knew were imaginable with problem dogs.

        I really wish I had learned these techniques so many years earlier as working with dogs that are clicker trained in a positive reward based training technique is so much fun and ....................so easy to do. The results are so much better than any other training method I have ever used and happen so fast.

     Where am I going from here as a trainer? I read extensively on the net and view videos of leading trainers in the US and UK and the science of dog training and animal communication is changing rapidly as more and more knowledge of how to get the best possible lifestyle for our companion animals is explored. There are Animal Behaviour facilities attached to top Universities in America that are undertaking more and more research into how animals learn and how we can better communicate with them. Hopefully my long term goal is to travel to American and work with some of these inspirational people but until then thanks heavens for YouTube and the Internet. In the meantime I have a great time bring these changes to the lives of my clients and their dogs.

Poodle Puppies start their initial training

2010-10-29T07:33:00.003+11:00

Learning all about the fun of scatter feeds

Poor Monkey he has had a wash and it not nearly as intersting at the moment

Father and son share a moment

The weather has finally given us a few days of less than heavy rain and some scattered periods of funny yellow and blue stuff in the sky so the mud is starting to dry somewhat. Meanwhile Cherry and Napoleon's puppies have commenced their initial training. They have been exploring the big world outside of the puppy pen and learning about clickers and nice things that come when they give me behaviours that I like. They had a great time exploring new surfaces and new things with a banana skin being a particularly big hit. Cherry had to check it out first of course, as all good mothers do, but once she gave it her approval it was on for young and old with puppies on each side of it in a great game of tug of war. Then there was licking to see what it tasted like and after all this of course we needed a big sleep, on my feet of course.

Mum Cherry has to check out the novel new item first

Then she introduces it to one of the puppies

"Wow this is fun to taste and pull around!"

They were also introduced to scatter feeds and having to investigate their area to see where I had hidden interesting items that were good to eat. This work is all essential for producing puppies that are well socialized and know how to think for themselves and to offer good behaviours that can be rewarded.

Poor monkey, normally their favourite toy was all but forgotten in the excitement of fun new things to explore and play with. He did get an occasional bit of attention when a piece of food fell on him in the scatter feed. He had also had a good wash as he was getting to be a stinky monkey as baby puppies do not really understand the nice concept of only weeing or pooing in acceptable places. It is at about this age that so many puppies are offered for sale as it is pretty tiring constantly using the mop, bucket and disinfectant to clean up after then. However it is also at this time that so many of the important socialization and training skills that only a mother can teach her puppies are put into place so that these puppies grown into healthy well adjusted adults. One of these skills is the learning that occurs during puppy play where they learn the nuances of doggie body language and how to read the very subtle signals such as a raised lip and sideways look of the eye and minor changes in ear stance all of which are the clues that dogs give each other in their version of language. Puppies that miss out on this vital learning in this period are often those that have difficultly interacting with other dogs when they are older and show up so often in training classes with poor dog to dog communication.

Now that the puppies are growing up they are interacting more and more with their dad however he is not so keen on the toe biting that they particularly like at the moment. For that matter I am also not so keen on having my toes attacked and have to quickly find distractions to substitute when three puppies with their sharp puppy teeth attack my toes. They are responding well to my "ouch" but tend to just look at me with a look that is so mischievous and a comment something like "Oh did that hurt? Sorry but we needed to see if your toes were nice to eat".

We also had a great session last weekend where Napoleon, Cherry, Annabell, Jed and all 5 of their collective puppies were introduced to each other. More on that next week and hopefully I will get a chance this weekend to edit the video we took and load it to YouTube.

Water, Water Everywhere

2010-10-04T12:08:00.002+11:00

A really strange thing happened to me overnight. I went to sleep last night and while I was sleeping someone installed a swimming pool around my house and took the trouble to integrate it with the two waterfall features from each of the water tanks. Now that's great I love swimming and so do my dogs and I can't afford to install a pool so a big thank you to the thoughtful person that did this for me. It could feature in house and garden as a natural watercourse integrated with a house complete with a mud floor for the bottom of the pool.
BUT............... and it's a big but...................
I can't get to the gate without having to swim across the yard and that really isn't very convenient when I am going out, especially with my computer, diary and handbag in tow. So it will just have to go.

Alright I know it is just the ridiculous amount of rain we have had over the last two days and all that water has nowhere else to pool up. When my rain gauge fills to 100 mls (4 inches in old speak) I no longer bother to empty it and it did that sometime yesterday. I have just driven to Nambucca Heads and back with the back being a long detour via the only remaining road of five that is not cut by local flash flooding. A 30 minute trip took an hour and a half.

That brings me in a long winded way to the point of this animal blog today.
Slowly driving the scenic route, due to all the water, I was amazed to see how the animals I passed were coping with so much water, not only on the ground but still falling from the sky. The cows were standing out in the open happily munching on sweet well moistened grass. Content to slowly graze whilst chewing their cud and not one of them was looking at the sky and moaning about how wet it was and how they could not go outside because it was so wet or thinking about getting an umbrella or rain coat. It is not that cold right now, the trusty Weatherzone tracker on the computer is telling me it is 17.6^oC, it is also finally flashing up warnings about flash flooding on the mid north coast of NSW (bit late as that started early yesterday). A number of the cows were having a nice time investigating the new streams of fresh running water flowing through their paddocks. Luckily this flood event is pretty minor by Mid North Coast standards and all the farmers had plenty of time to ensure stock were safe.

What was lovely to watch were the younger animals. It is spring here in Australia and so there are lots of young animals around and they were having a great time, running around investigating all these new water courses in their environment, catching drips off trees and running through the wonderful mud. I could hear them saying to each other "Wow watch how much this splashes when I jump in it" Their mothers were content to let them get very dirty and they were unconcerned about all the muddy wet coats. I did not hear one mother saying "get out of that puddle you will get dirty" In fact the mothers were looking on benignly with big smiles on their faces as they watched the youngsters playing and getting dirtier and dirtier. Even the horses at the stud I passed were enjoying the water, running up and down kicking their hind legs high in that playful way excited horses do.

I got home finally but had to leave my 2WD car 100 metres away from the house at the top of the driveway as it is just too wet to bring it close to the house. Well I could but Magna sedans don't do wet slippery mud that well. I had to back it the whole way up to the gate yesterday to get it off the place. That will teach me to get the 4WD fixed as soon as it breaks down. Yes it's my fault the rain is so heavy, I need the 4WD and this is karmas way of saying 'Har Har we warned you to fix things in a timely manner".

I got close to the house and was greeted with the 7 older pups and their dad, currently in the front yard where I moved them yesterday to ensure they had a dry sheltered spot out of the rain to lie in. Well so much for that as they have been having a great time playing in the mud puddles, rolling each other around and they are all dripping with mud from head to foot, so much so that it is hard to tell who is black and who is brown. They also had big grins from ear to ear and the excited chatter was all about how much fun their water logged yard is. It makes me wonder about all the rules and regulations that the authorities insist on regarding shelter. Hah these dogs don't want a bar of any of that shelter. Even Mistral their mother, who has the entire back veranda to stay on is also dripping wet and keeps running out in the yard to chase frogs. The only dog showing any sense is Alexia who just every so often pops her head out of her shed to see what all the fuss is about. She is not so keen on all this water. The funny thing is I know from experience that these dogs will be bone dry without any mud on them in about 2 hours, after it stops raining with their classic wash and wear coats. That is if they stop playing in the mud puddles which I don't think is likely to happen.

I think as humans (2 legged animals) we should take a lesson from the joy and delight that animals get from .............. Rain................They don't moan they don't complain about what they can't do they just enjoy it and take it for what it is, a part of the natural cycle of our earth. As parents we could do with taking a lesson from the parents of these animals who are happy to watch their offspring get muddy and dirty and above all else have some honest simple down to earth fun. Kids wash is what the motto should be.

Anyway bye for now I am going to go back to gazing out the window at the rain falling down and listening to the frog choir that is serenading this rain event. I look forward to seeing those who can make it at ProAg at Macksville showground this Friday and Saturday. Come and see me in the Dining Room where I will be lecturing on pet care and training. Bring your gumboots as you are going to need them out there, especially as there has just been about 300 RV's camped out there for the last week.

What have we been up to at Elite Pet Care & Education

2010-08-30T08:29:00.002+10:00

It has a very busy few months here at Elite Pet Care & Education as we roll out our educational program for pet owners and pet care professionals. Work on "The Barking Dog – How to survive without going mad "is almost complete and the cd will be available for purchase via our web site very shortly. We are also very close to having a download version available for those who are more internet savvy.

Meanwhile here in Australia spring is only two days away and all those matted mucky mutts from winter are coming in for their spring makeovers. On the training front we have also had considerable success with reforming a number of canines into model citizens. Special mention to Jodie and Charlie, Zulema and Stumpy, Helen and Rogsa, Karolyn and Sasha, Aimee and Annabell as all of them worked very hard to turn around dogs who had a few issues that was making life with them not as good as it could be. It is always so rewarding to see at the end of the 6 week course the changes to the dogs and the happy smiles on the owners faces. It is also wonderful to get calls from clients only a few days into the program when their dogs make giant breakthroughs and a special mention to Sue and Dora who managed a near perfect sit only a few hours after starting the course. Luz and Bronson have also been working with us and Bronson is now astounding family and friends with all his cute new tricks. Luz has proved to be a wonderful trainer who has a fantastic relationship with all her animals.

Off now to do some more matted mucky mutts into pamper pretty pooches.
Don't forget to "Hug the dog, Kiss the cat and tell your goldfish you love them"
Happy spring from Louise
www.elitepetcare-education.com.au

A day in the life of an Elite Pet Care & Education Puppy

2009-02-06T19:37:00.001+11:00

of. My mother is a minature poodle and my father is a cavalier x shih tzu and I am one of the puppies that Elite Pet Care & Education has bred and is selling. I don't have a real name yet as I am waiting for my forever home but I am sure that is not far off. In the meantime I and my sisters live with my mother and a puppy carer where we are being taught how to be good puppies and even better adults.

6am
I hear the rooster and that signals the start of another day as I open one eye to look at my sisters, cuddled up next to me in our bed. Not time to get up yet, I can’t hear the two legged people up and around yet, time for another half hour of beauty sleep.

6.30pm
Nope time for breakfast. Let’s wake them up. If we make noise quietly the lady or her daughter will say good morning to us and then come out with our breakfast. If we scream and carry on we get told to be quiet and they don’t come out. We used to have farax and soaked biscuits but we are big now and have moved onto oats, mince and doggie dry food. Good here it comes, I will see if I can get my sisters out of the way so I can snaffle more for me. There is mum, checking to make sure we are ok. We don’t need her milk any more but she still loves us and visits us regularly. We wish we could sleep on the ladies bed like she does. But we know it is not a good habit as our new forever owners might not want that. Well that’s what we are told anyway, we will soon fix that when we get there buy batting our ohh so cute eyes and looking loveable.

8 am
After a lovely run in the grass getting our feet nice and wet and our coats muddy it is time to go for our car ride. We do like going in the car, safe in our carry case and ready to take on new adventures in the big wide world. We are good now and never Wee or Poo in the car carrier. We have even learnt to walk sort of nicely on our puppy leads out to the car.

8.30am
Today we are back to the shop. It is such a fun place. We get extra food, toys to play with and lots of new humans to meet. In the afternoon there are some short humans who come in each day and give us lots of cuddles and play with us. We have a couple of special places to sleep here and we get let out often to go running around to talk to the rabbits, check out the fish room and bark at those noisy feathered things. If it is not too hot we have a nice walk up and down the lovely street outside and meet more of the two and four legged locals. But on hot days the lovely air-conditioning inside is where we prefer to stay. Once a week it is our turn in the doggie day spa for our one on one pampering with a wash, blow dry and brush. We even got our face, bum and feet all clipped off recently, it is so nice to be able to see. Those days are such fun. Everyone loves us when we come out all pampered, soft and smelling so wonderful. We like it cause we can go home and get dirty again.

3 pm
Nearly time for the local school kids to visit, we always make sure we are awake for that because if we are sleeping they are not allowed to wake us. We get cuddles and kisses and time to run around being silly and they think we are soooooo cute. Maybe one of them will be our new family but no one seems too worried about sorting that out. We just go with it and take what comes I am sure the humans know what they are doing NOT. One of our sisters has recently gone to her new forever home, but she does come back to visit and tell us all about it.

4 pm
It looks like our carer is getting ready to go. We love going home in the afternoon for our rumble in the grass, our dinner, cuddle-time with mum, each other and our human friends. Sometimes we detour on our way home. Yesterday we watched small humans hit a yellow ball back and forwards with a big stick. We tried to tell them that keeping the yellow ball and chewing off all the covering was much more fun, but they just kept hitting it back and forward. On other days we go down to the lovely river where the breeze is strong and we can smell all the dead fish and other lovely things to roll in. Our humans buy big sloppy food that melts all over the place. It is really nice when they let us lick their sticky, cold fingers after they have finished. I think they call it ice-cream and I know it comes in different flavors. I like the sweet tasting brown colored one with small chewy rocks. They call it chocolate with choc chips

5 pm
Home now and it is time to get really dirty rolling each other round n the grass before dinner of nice crunchy biscuits with lovely beef mince or chicken necks. It is wonderful feeling grass under our feet, playing in the water bucket and seeing what mischief we can get up to, we almost made it into the big dog’s area the other day. Hehehehehehh that would have been fun, except my sister gets scared.

8 pm
Goody inside time, we have to be good and try very hard not to pee on the rug and raz up the cat but hey we get away with it when she isn’t looking and mum seems keen to egg us on. We belt around like crazy for an hour or so and then snuggle up next to one of the humans and get a lovely brush and kiss.

10pm
Bedtime, it has been another busy day with lots of new sights and experiences. It is time to get our beauty sleep and recharge the batteries for another day until we find our forever home.

Fleas and ticks or teas and flicks

2009-01-07T19:36:00.000+11:00

Spring has sprung and summer is just around the corner. What flea and tick control have you chosen to use on your dog this spring?

Dealing with masses and masses of fleas, not to mention heavily matted and messy winter coats is what spring is all about in the grooming business.

Q: How do you pick your local dog groomer?
A: Look for the overworked lady rushing through the supermarket aisles at 6pm picking fleas out of her hairline.
No joke this is one of the downsides of being a dog groomer - the fleas migrate to us.

So what is the best flea treatment? In order to answer this question you need to look at the dogs life style, coat type and frequency of bathing/swimming.

Dogs that live indoors and sleep on human beds and lounges need more aggressive flea control than those who are purely outdoor dogs. If you wash your dog weekly or they swim often then different flea control options are useful. Dogs with long coats vs dogs with short coats, dogs with thick coats vs dogs with thin coats. All of these factors influence the effectiveness of flea control product.

What is available?
Flea powder - totally useless unless you want to place it on bedding or around kennels and even then it is pretty useless.

Flea rinses and washes - most have a duration of action of about a week and will only kill adult fleas so need to be applied weekly to keep adult flea populations under control. A good choice if your dog is bathed often. If flea control of the environment is not undertaken these will be useless.

Fleas collars - work in a similar way as flea rinses. Dogs who are being bathed often or swim regularly will not gain effective control with these as the chemical is constantly washed off the coat. Environmental control of fleas is required.

Spot on Products: eg frontline, advantix, advantage. Require oil in the coat to be effective but do kills fleas and eggs so more effective than previously mentioned products. If environment control is not effected will be less useful. These are water fast so are good in dogs that swim regularly if applied 48 hours before or after a bath or swim. Can be used in conjuction with some washes - check manufacturers recommendations. In hot humid conditions often need to be applied every fortnight not every 4 weeks. Some dogs no longer respond to frontline due to increased resistance seen in some flea populations so advantix or advantage is a better choice.

Spray on Products: eg frontline spray. Good on baby puppies up to 8 weeks of age and very small short coated dogs. Check the instructions carefully to ensure that enough is applied. it is set number of pumps per kg of weight. Not useful in long coated breeds as it fails to adequately penetrate the longer coat and most people fail to apply sufficient spray. Certain of the flea rinses eg fido's fre-itch rinse concentrate can be diluted 1 : 40 and sprayed on the coat between washes or spot on application to assist in killing adult fleas.

Knock down products : eg capstar - given 30 mins before bathing the dog these kill all adult fleas effectively but do not have a long duration of action and will not prevent hatching of eggs. Good to use to help flea washes be more effective or kill fleas on the dog before a spot on is applied.

What are the keys to better flea control on your dog?
1) Treat the dog and the environment - don't forget the ground under their kennel, inside their kennel and all bedding (including your bed or lounge). Fleas will jump off your pet onto your bed or lounge.

2) Apply the product when directed. Make a note on the calendar of when a spot on was applied and re- apply it at 2 or 4 weeks. Making these stretch to longer intervals is believed to have reduced their effectiveness as fleas build up resistance to control products.

3) If your dog is frequently washed or swims the spot on products may not be the best choice.

4) Make sure all dead coat is removed from your dog - you should be able to see the skin at all times. Dead coat will provide an idea environment for fleas to breed in. Clipping off the coat in breeds such as Border Collies, Cattle Dogs and Golden Retrievers will not help in flea control. The opposite will happen as clipping promotes the growth of the wooly undercoat that should only be present in winter and will give the fleas a moist, warm environment to breed in.

Dog Training 101- The fido sit, stay guide

2009-01-07T19:03:00.000+11:00

It’s the first night at home and the cute little puppy is so small. How can you not let it sit on the lounge, snuggle up on the bed or eat from your dinner plate? How could you make it sit or stay outside, in a crate or in the laundry? It’s only going to be a small dog they don’t need training.

Dog obedience schools, dog trainers and groomers see hundreds of these dogs every year once they have become total rat-bags and exhibited many aggressive behaviors e.g. biting children or adults, fighting dogs or killing smaller animals.

The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a highly evolved pack animal constantly looking for a leader. In the leader’s absence, they become disorientated, unpredictable, fearful and insecure. A dog’s most appropriate place in the human family is after the humans. Dogs instinctively chose the strongest person in the family as their pack leader. Like small children they thrive on consistent rules and routines.

Training should start as soon as you get your new puppy. Dogs have very short attention spans therefore rewards or reprimands must be instantly after the behavior. If your dog runs away and you discipline him when he returns then he is learning not to return to you. The reproach was for his most immediate action. If you want him to return in the future you should praise his return.

Ignoring the bad behavior and praising the good is reward based training. The choice of reward depends on the dog. Some dogs “walk through fire” for a small piece of dried liver; others do almost anything for praise from their alpha leader. Others love a squeaky toy only available at training times. The alpha leader determines what motivates the dog.

Dog training is preformed during day to day interactions. Large and small puppies should be taught to walk on a lead, to sit and stay at feed time, and to be quiet and settled inside the house and car or when placed in a size appropriate crate. Crate training is an excellent way to achieve toilet training, accustoms dogs to confined spaces in the event of illness, accident or boarding. Staying off beds and lounges must be enforced early and consistently. Dogs do not understand “just this once”, once means always. They get confused and scared if the rules are inconsistent.

Feed time is an excellent time to train dogs. Many basic commands are reinforced at this time. Sit, stay, down, come, stand and wait can all be taught. Dogs that wait for food are in control and responding appropriately to the alpha leader of their pack. You are the provider of all good things, especially food and praise. Removing food enforces that food aggressive is not allowed, important if your dog eats a dangerous food item, or gets a bone caught in its throat.

Teaching the come command, useful in a dangerous situation, starts at dinner time. Place the dog in a sit, a small distance from the food. Tell it to stay and place the food down. Say come and encourage the dog to move towards the food. For a younger, less stable dog have a helper hold the dog on a lead. When the dog performs the exercise correctly they get two rewards – food and your praise.

Dogs running away or out of the front door into the middle of traffic have never learnt boundaries. The pack leader must always be the first through a door, even small dogs can be easily taught to wait for a signal to walk through the door, gates, garage doors or car doors.

Basic commands can be reinforced at grooming time. Place smaller dogs on an outside table covered with a non-slip mat. Smaller dogs need constant grooming and a young puppy must be taught to remain still while bushing and nail trimming. Still is a command that is excellent in this situation. Bush all over the puppy, including the tail. Holding the feet is excellent training for Poodles, Shih Tzu and Maltese who need feet trimming for long coat.

Expose your dog to as many strange situations as possible in the first 6 months to set down many good memories they can draw on. After vaccinating take them out and introduced them to the big wide world of adults and kids, cars and trucks, other dogs (small and large), cats, birds, the vets, the grooming salon and any other situation they need to cope with.

Puppies take their cues from how YOU, their pack leader, react to situations. If you are calm and in control, talking in a normal, assertive, reassuring voice your dog knows it’s all ok. Owners who get upset, pick up the dog and retreat from situation are saying “its ok to be scared, as your pack leader is scared too” Dogs don’t listen to the words but infer information from tone and body language.

Our nearest community dog training school is at Coffs Harbour and full details can be obtained from http://www.coffsdogtraining.com/. Private trainers are available in the local area; ask at your pet shop for details.

Designer Dogs - Are they a true dog breed?

2009-01-07T18:59:00.000+11:00

There are over 800 pedigree dog breeds recognized today in the world. Modern dog evolution is obscure. They are believed to have split from wild wolves into a subspecies about 100,000 years ago and then domesticated 17,000 to 14,000 years ago, probably in China or in multiple places from Europe to Asia. .Dogs can still interbreed with wolves in a genetic process know as introgression. Early dog fossils were found in Russia and Germany from the large northern Holartic wolf, 17,000 to 14,000 years ago. Remains of smaller dogs, descendant from a lighter Southwest Asian wolf were found in Middle East cave deposits around 12, 000 years ago.

Humans emigrated from Asia and Europe and domesticated dogs went with them. The agricultural revolution and then the urban revolution led to an increase in dog numbers. Selective breeding, using artificial selection, resulted in the specialization of dogs into working dogs and pets over hundreds of years.

All modern breeds are relatively recent in this long time line of history. The four most common small breeds in Australia are the Shih Tzu, Maltese, Poodle and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

The Shih Tzu’s origination is unclear; they were first seen in the imperial palace in Beijing when French and English troops attacked the summer palace during the second Opium War (1856-1860), forcing the Empress Dowager Tzutsi to flee with her dogs. Developed exclusively as a companion lap dog they remained obscure, not arriving in the United States until the 1930’s and only gaining breed recognition in 1952

The Poodle possibly originated in Eastern Germany with influence from Russia and was standardized as the French national dog. German Poodles (from the German word pudel - "to splash in water") were sturdy dogs with curly and corded coats. The corded coat, rarely seen in the United States, still exists. The Russian variety was somewhat "greyhound" in body type.

Clipped poodles were seen in fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth century manuscripts and paintings. The standard poodle was originally used to retrieve game from water, hence the unusual hind clipping. The smaller dogs were circus trick and stunt dogs, truffle dogs and companions. The first poodle in England (1635) belonging to Prince Rupert of the Palatinate but it died in the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644. The next poodles were not recorded in Great Britain until 1874 and America in 1886.

The Maltese, in existence for at least 3,000 years, originated either from the island of Malta or a town in Sicily named Melita. The Phoenicians (1500 B.C) had a small white Maltese dog in their culture. Publius (100 AD), Rome's Governor of Malta, owned “Issa”: a Maltese who meant more to him than any other living thing. Ancient Egyptians and Eastern Potentates kept Maltese for the ladies in the Harems. Renaissance ladies carried Maltese in their sleeves and they were eagerly accepted by the British aristocracy from the time of Queen Elizabeth and are immortalized in literature by famous artists. Maltese dogs have been bred and exhibited in Australia for the last 50-70 years

Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, direct descendant of small Toy Spaniels, were seen in many 16th, 17th and 18th century pictures. Common as Tudor Court ladies’ pets they were officially renamed Cavalier King Charles under the reign of the Stuarts. King Charles II was seldom seen without two, three or more at his heels. In Queen Victoria's reign breeders started to hold shows and bred to a desired type. In 1928, the breed standard was drawn up and today is basically unchanged. In 1945 the British Kennel Club granted separate registration, the first dogs were introduced into America in 1952 but did not gain full breed recognition for 40 years.

These popular breeds have hundreds of years of careful selective breeding to specific standards to ensure correct temperament, type and health. Each country using a defined standard that referenced world wide breed standards developed over decades by breeders with considerable training in canine anatomy, health and breeding principles.

Taking a Maltese or Shih Tzu and mating it to a Poodle, without either having a certified pedigree, produces only cross bred dogs of no defined breed. It will always be a cross bred dog, despite how lovely a dog it is. It does not carry the years of selective breeding history for type, temperament and health as seen in pure-bred, pedigree dogs. If the parents were pedigree dogs then the resulting dog is called a hybrid but is still not a pure dog breed.

The American Kennel Club (AKC), recognized as one of the top kennel clubs in the world, states that to recognize a new breed they require at least 300 hybrid dogs within the U.S. and distributed among at least 20 states. The dogs must have a National Breed Club and there must be at least a three generation pedigree—e.g. three generations of oodle-to-oodle mating. They must have predictable characteristics and fulfill a specific purpose. This can only be achieved with a concerted program between hundred of breeders breeding specific health checked and temperament checked animals to each other with excellent record keeping.

A designer dog is designed for what? Hybrid vigor is the normal argument and it is clearly not seen. People who indiscriminately mate a dog of uncertain parentage to another dog of uncertain parentage have no guarantee of predictable offspring. They have no way of producing a dog that is genetically superior and free of the health problems inherent in many dogs, such as incorrect mouths, poor bone construction, epilepsy, hip dysplasia, luxating patella and heart defects. The old saying “You get what you pay for” is only too true in dog breeding. Pay more and chose a purebred with hundreds of years of selective breeding from a reputable breeder to ensure a happy, healthy puppy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs
http://www.tinyshihtzu.com/origins.htm
Poodle clipping and grooming – the International Reference by Shirley Kalstone – Howell Book House 2001.
http://www.barkbytes.com/history/poodle.htm
http://www.thecavalierclub.co.uk/breed/history.html
http://www.akc.org/breeds/cavalier_king_charles_spaniel/history.cfm

Dog Grooming 101- To clip or not to clip

2009-01-07T18:53:00.000+11:00

Big dogs, small dogs, cute white fluffy dogs, long legs, short legs, tail or no tail, protective, guarding or friendly lapdogs (who help the thief carry out the silver and nose out the spare cash). Just as dogs come in a multitude of shapes, sizes and temperaments they also come in a multitude of coat types. Long and short, single, double or triple, hair shedding 24/7, seasonally or never are examples. The size and temperament of a dog is important but equally so is its coat type.

Wild dogs do not have long flowing impractical coats Dogs from colder Northern Hemisphere climates have double or triple coats that shed continuously, protecting them from extreme cold. Poodles, Shih Tzu, Cavaliers, Maltese and Pomeranians, are long coated breeds developed many centuries ago by Royalty or Emperors who had unlimited time, money and staff to care for their beautiful elegant coats.

Working breeds such as Jack Russell, Cattle Dogs, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Dobermans, Golden Retriever or Labradors have short dense coats as they were developed to work in water or underground. They tend to shed hair constantly and often in greater amounts that long coated breeds.

Dogs are man’s best friend and responsible owners keep their dogs shiny, attractive and healthy. A dog coat that is matted, full of dead hair and smelly results in an unhappy, unhealthy and often flea loaded dog. Mats form when dirt collects in the coat making small knots, the dog scratches at this knot making it larger and larger as more dirt accumulates. Air is unable to circulate around the skin, fleas and ticks are in heaven and sores and rashes form.

Heavily matted dogs are unable to move their legs or feet correctly due to constriction and pain from matts under legs, elbows and in some cases the full back. Many dogs become aggressive as they can only exhibit pain by biting. To find out how your dog feels with a matted coat, grab two big handfuls of your own hair and pull tightly. How long can you tolerate this for? Removal of these matts is a painful and dangerous process, despite a groomer’s experience, pulling on the skin is required and the risk of accidentally cutting the dog is high, especially if they have become overly aggressive. In extreme cases full anesthesia is required in a veterinary surgery.

The rate at which coats matt will depends on the type of coat. Poodles, Shih Tzu and Maltese rapidly progress from a knot that is easily removed to a total nightmare that only a good set of clippers and a qualified dog groomer can fix. The designer dog breeds are a particularly difficult problem due to the inappropriate combination of different coat types resulting in faster and harder matting. Most Spoodles that are not professionally groomed every 6 weeks develop full body matting.

In the 21st century dogs are an integral part of modern life, and can be owned by rich and poor alike. But our modern lifestyle means we have far less time to care for the coat needs of these dogs and often not the money to pay others to perform the required grooming.

Dog grooming can be simplified into three main categories

(1) Clip: (e.g. Poodles, Shih Tzu, Maltese and Cocker Spaniels). Due to their single coats they clip without damage to the correct coat type. They are clipped to reduce coat maintenance and not to keep them cooler. Silky and Aussie Terriers can fall into this group; however, they only need light face and bottom trimming for hygiene reasons.

(2) Brush daily/strip fortnightly (e.g. Labradors, Australian Cattle Dogs, Kelpies, Corgis, Siberian Huskies, German Shepherds, Samoyeds, Malamutes, Pomeranians, Golden Retrievers, Jack Russell, and Fox Terriers). Stripping involves the use of a stripping brush, available at all good pet shops, for about 10 minutes per fortnight to remove loose wooly undercoat that sheds constantly. This will result in a coarser coat with shedding reduced by up to 75%

(3) Brush weekly and strip seasonally: (e.g. Border Collies, Belgian Shepherds, and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel). Despite being long coated these breeds are seasonal shedders who benefit from weekly brushing with a slicker brush to keep the shine but coat removal only when “blowing” coat at the end of summer and winter.

Dogs in group 2 and 3 above should never be clipped. Heat management in dogs is performed by exchange of heat via the tongue and the pads of the feet. In hot weather dogs pant and open their mouths wide to cool off. They often stand in water. They do not sweat from pores on their skin like humans and totally removing the coat to the skin will make the dog hotter as the insulating properties of a normal coat are removed. They can badly sunburn when skin not suited to sun exposure is bared. Continued clipping over time replaces the normal coat with the thick wooly undercoat that sheds, causes heat stress, and provides the ideal environment for fleas and ticks.

How can you tell if your dog is fully brushed out? If you are unable to run a comb through the full thickness of the coat down to the skin then your dog is not fully brushed. The choice of the right brush for your dogs coat is essential. Different coats require different bushes and different techniques. Most good pet shops in your area are only too happy to provide information on the right brushes for your dog. Grooming salons are also a source of information on the care of your favorite friend.

Happy clipping

Puppy Purchase - Delight or Nightmare

2009-01-07T18:27:00.000+11:00

A puppy purchase can be a wonderful experience or a nightmare. There are many steps that can be taken to ensure that your experience is pleasant. Dog’s can live from 8 years, for a giant breed, to nearly 20 years for smaller dogs. Over the course of these years the costs involved in caring for your dog are substantial.

Like the purchase of other expensive household item some thought should go into your choice. The cute as pie, fluff pup in the local pet shop is so appealing but is it the “right” dog for you?

Before even looking at various dogs consider the answers to the following questions. Do you live in a flat or a house? How big is your yard and how secure is it? Male or female, short or long coated? Is the dog to be allowed inside the house? What time do you have available for grooming, exercise and interacting with your dog? Will the dog have to tolerate children – yours, the neighbors or relations? What type of temperament would you prefer: active or laid-back? What can you afford to pay both initially and on-going?

Research the type of dog best matching these criteria. The internet, pet shops, television programs, dog shows and obedience clubs are excellent sources of information. For cross-bred dogs consider the attributes of each of the breeds involved.

Internet sites include:
Dogs NSW (dogsnsw.org.au),
selectapet (petnet.com.au/selectadog.asp)
Dogs Victoria (vca.org.au)
Queensland Canine Council (cccq.org.au)
Animals and More Links Page (animalsandmore.homestead.com/links.html)
Dogzonline(dogzonline.com.au)

Two or three breeds will be of interest. Use a search engine (http://www.google.com/) to find additional information. Many dog breeders and dog clubs in Australia have excellent web sites. Life style programs on TV also have web sites that can be viewed. It is important to view Australian sites as the information must be applicable to your situation. Follow the links on various sites to obtain alternative points of view. Research in depth the breed/s that interests you. Considering what they were initially bred for will provide keys to their temperament, exercise and grooming needs. What diseases might be present in these breeds that you need to ensure the breeder is screening the parents for. Common diseases seen in Australia include: hip dysplasia, epilepsy, auto-immune disorder, skin and gastric allergies.

Pet shops can be excellent sources, but only if they carefully select the puppies they sell. They must ensure that the parents were suitable for breeding and the puppies and mother were given optimum care in the first critical 7 weeks of life. Shops that are accredited with the Pet Industry Association of Australia (PIAA) are preferable to other shops. These shops trade under a higher code of ethics and are more likely to be able to suggest a puppy that will best suit your situation. If the shop is unable to answer all your questions on age, health status and breed of parents then you are advised not to purchase a puppy from them no matter how cute, fluffy and adorable they might be. Any purchase should be based on logic, not emotion. At this stage in your purchase you should be still looking at options available and costs.

Local animal welfare and canine shelters should also be visited. These are excellent sources of many cross-bred dogs. Resist the impulse to purchase a dog from here that doesn’t fit your criteria just because it is on “death row”. Pay particular attention to the temperament of dogs in shelters as unstable dogs are often surrendered. The first visit, as with pet shops, is to assess what is available, at what cost and to view types of dogs.

Dog shows, Obedience Clubs and Pet Expos are good places to view dogs and find out breed information. Take the opportunity to see dogs presented in peak condition. Talk to breeders about the care involved in owning their breed of dog, the temperament to expect, health issues to consider and costs involved.

After months of careful consideration the time has come to purchase. During your search you would have identified excellent breeders, pet shops or shelters. Now is the time to look at specific dogs, within the breed/s you have chosen as suitable. Take your written list of the attributes identified to remind you of the perfect pup for you. When looking at pups within a litter one will often chose you or appeal more. Slightly older dogs may also suit your situation better.

In NSW it is illegal to sell a dog that is not micro-chipped, vaccinated and aged at least 8 weeks. The pups and its mother must be wormed regularly. Pups should have been wormed at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks of age. Both parents must be free of the health issues identified in the breed. Dogs must to be registered with your local council by the time they are 6 months of age which is an important cost to remember. It is also essential that the cost of de-sexing is factored into your purchase cost.

Congratulations your new puppy is home. The first night wasn’t too traumatic as you chose from a breeder or pet shop that prepared your pup for its new home. Next step is puppy training, feeding and grooming. If it is a kitten you were looking for this procedure also works well and ensures you end up with a healthy, happy cat suited to your needs.

Happy puppy hunting -remember a pet is for life.