Category: Humor

Does Your Dog Take Visa or Mastercard?

It’s the New Year and all across the world, dogs and puppies are finding their way into new homes. As owners one of the first things we need to figure out about our new companions is what forms of payment they accept.

Imagine you’ve just finished your first week of a new job, you see the accountant making the rounds and you’re anticipating that first paycheck. You’re sitting at your desk when the accountant comes up, leans over you, pats you on the head, says “good job,” and then walks away! How likely are you to come back the next week and work for that same pay? Our dogs are no different. We need to find the things that they feel are rewarding and that they are willing to work for.

Not All Dogs Work for the Same Things

Some dogs are willing to work for their regular everyday kibble, for others it’s hot dogs, or cheese, or a smartly thrown tennis ball. Whatever it is, it’s your job to find out what your dog will work for; and, you need to find more than one thing. When it comes to food rewards, I recommend that you find at least three different levels of reward.

Level 1 Reward

This is a reward that your dog is definitely willing to work for, but they’re not doing back flips and standing on their heads. This is the standard everyday training reward. Think of it as the straight pay that you get for a 40 hour week.

Level 2 Reward

This is a reward that is coveted by your dog much more and as such should be used for special occasions, when training sessions become a bit more difficult and you need a bit more motivation to keep the dog engaged. Using a human analogy, if you worked 80 hours a week but were only given standard pay for that second 40 hours; how productive would those second 40 hours be? On the other hand if you are paid overtime rate for that second 40 hours, you tend to be more productive.

Level 3 Reward

I refer to the level 3 reward as the “emergency” reward simply because it’s reserved for training those behaviors that are life and death. For instance, having a great recall on your dog can mean the difference between life and death. This is the type of reward that is so special to the dog; it will break away from chasing a squirrel across the road and in front of the car. For my Aussie Gavin, it’s Prime Rib, for another dog I had it was fresh boiled liver. This level treat is used for that one behavior and that one behavior only. If you like surf and turf and you have it every day of the week; after a while it ceases to become special doesn’t it?

Size Doesn’t Matter

All joking aside, if a dog likes hot dogs, he will work as hard for a one millimeter sized piece as he will for a one inch size piece. I’ve yet to meet the dog that will only work for a treat based on the size of the treat. I’ve trained dogs using just a very tiny smear of Gerber baby food as a reward. Now having said that, there are times when we want to give our dogs more than their regular share of a reward. It’s called a Jackpot and usually accompanies a breakthrough or to end a session on a particularly high note.

Summary

To sum up here are a few key points…

·         Make sure that the reward is something that your dog is willing to work for, not something you think your dog should work for.

·         Establish at least a few levels of treats so that you can pay out for overtime and bonuses.

·         Do not use the special and reserved treats for everyday work, they will lose their value.

·         Make your treat size as small as you possibly can.

If you can establish these three types of rewards for your dog, then you’re off to a pretty good start. If you have something you feel has been omitted or a comment of any type, please leave them here for us.

Looking forward to a great new year full of treats for us all…

Kevin, Jackie, Gavin, Annie, Tosha

0 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 12:58 PM - Categories: Behavior | Humor | Training | Treats

Reflections on 2009

The New Year is always a time for reflection and this New Year more than most. 2009 has taken a toll on me and my family like no other year has. Loss of a job, a home, loved ones, health problems, and a plague of other nastiness descended on my family in 2009; yet it is still a year that I am thankful for.

One of the biggest reasons I started Dog Lovers Digest .com was to help combat the sea of outdated and incorrect information out there about dogs and our relationships with them; 2009 taught me that there are a lot of people across the world that feel the same.

I have discovered some amazing sites that, along with the people behind them, aim to educate using principals based in scientific fact. I will be compiling a list and review of these sites, but for now let me share just a few of them with you.

www.fearfuldogs.com If everyone were as passionate about just one thing in their life as Debbie Jacobs is about helping fearful dogs, we could solve all the problems in the world. If you have or know of a fearful dog, this resource should be first in your list of bookmarks.

www.dogstardaily.com Unlike some sites that I won’t “whisper” aloud, the training and behavioral advice found here is based on provable scientific methods; not on “energy” and outdated ideas. This is a great training resource and should also be at the top of the list for your training bookmarks.

www.fun4fido.co.uk If you want to find excellent fact based information about training your dog, go to this site and Bob’s your uncle (“there you are” for the anglophilically  challenged). She communicates in clear terms and her love for dogs shows through.

www.dogspelledforward.com Although I just recently discovered this site, it’s obvious that Eric is another one of those people that just gets it. He knows that ethereal, indefinable, hocus pocus is not how you train a dog. His blog posts are a must read. 

www.whole-dog-journal.com I know that this is a print journal, but if you don’t have a subscription then use the link and buy one. It is worth every single penny you pay and then some. The Whole Dog Journal accepts no advertising income and so is able to give unbiased reviews and some of the best advice on training, behavior, and health around.

http://smartdog.typepad.com/ Another new discovery for me, but again another trainer who clearly gets it. I love her blog posts and they are always interesting and topical.

http://www.askdryin.com The website of renowned veterinarian and behaviorist Dr. Sophia Yin. This site is full of useful infromation that is based and backed by the science of learning.

I know there are tons more sites out there that deserve mention but I want to keep this post short. Those listed here along with many other positive people can be found Twitter and are definitely worthy of a follow:  http://twitter.com/dogloversdigest/dogloverstotweet/members. I will continue to add to this list as well as publish a review page of these sites here on dogloversdigest.com.

If you have suggestions of sites and people not on this list that should be; please leave a comment for me so I can find them.

Thanks to you all and here's to a better year in 2010!

Kevin, Jackie, Gavin, Annie, and Tosha

2 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 2:47 PM - Categories: Adoption | Advocacy | Behavior | Dogs | Health | Humor | Photo | Play | Rescue | Training

Your Attention Please: What's in a Name

If you and I were sitting in a room together and I continuously called your name without ever saying anything else; eventually you would come to ignore me or hit me. That’s because when someone speaks our name it’s akin to saying, “You there, I have something I would like to tell you;” we expect more information to follow. Yet a common mistake I see people make with their dogs involves this same behavior.

Your dog’s name should mean one thing and one thing only to them— “Your attention please: I have something relevant to tell you.” It’s too much to ask our dogs to understand that the tone of voice we use to say their name actually means sit, or stay, or leave that piece of bacon alone. Yet time and time again I see people use their dog’s name to mean exactly these things.

Dogs are great at discerning things that are important to them. On the other hand, because they have a limited ability to understand our language, they can be quick to ignore things they hear over and over again that don’t impact on their immediate state of being. This is called Learned Irrelevance and can be why some dogs stop responding to their names.

So remember that your dog’s name really means “Your Attention Please” and follow it up with information that your dog is sure to understand.

1 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 8:00 PM - Categories: Humor | Rescue | Training

Holiday Pet Photo Contest

For most people that celebrate Christmas, it’s the time of year for peace, joy, and goodwill. But for many of our dogs, Christmas means something very different— humiliation by costume!

Festooned with antlers, red noses, elf boots, and other assorted holiday paraphernalia, dogs are paraded back and forth in front of the camera, all the while being encouraged not to look miserable while doing it.

Thinking back to my childhood days, I can empathize with these dogs. Trotting back and forth between the changing room and my mother— posing while she appraised the ridiculous outfit she’d picked for me to wear. I tried to look as sad and pathetic as I could, trying to convince her that making me wear something like that was the highest form of child abuse!

Although I empathize with their plight, even my own dogs have been subjected to this particular torture as well.  The wallpaper on my wife’s phone is a picture of my Aussie Gavin wearing Reindeer antlers. He seems to be happy in this picture but I know the mitigating circumstances behind it...

1. He is an Aussie and therefore a natural camera hog
2. He knows that a treat awaits, and being an Aussie will do just about anything for food

In order to make this annual humiliation worthwhile, the good people at Mambo Sprouts along with Wellness pet food are sponsoring a holiday photo contest. In addition to awarding prizes, Wellness will donate $1 per entry (up to $1000) and the grand prize entry will get to choose the animal related charity which Wellness will donate to.

For more information, and to enter your own photos, you can go to the contest website at http://www.mambosprouts.com/wellness-contest/. Just remember to tell your pet, it’s for charity!

So what's your verdict— is this just cute, harmless holiday fun— or is it leading to years of psychotherapy from which your dog may never recover? Tell us what you think! :-)

Happy Holidays!

Kevin, Jackie, Gavin, Annie, and Tosha

2 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 9:58 PM - Categories: Contest | Dogs | Humor | Photo

Do Dogs Think Like Humans?

I often wonder if I do disservice to my dogs, for thinking about them in human terms. When I'm in a training situation, it's easy to think in doggie terms. I am actively participating in communicating with my dogs, and I get instant feedback on how well I communicate, via the dog's behavior. However, when I am not in a training situation with them, and we are just being human and doggie, I often fallback to thinking in terms of human emotions. Words like happy, sad, pouting, mad, and concepts such as humor, revenge, spite, and others, often leap to mind when watching my dogs. I know that they don't experience these emotions and concepts in the same way that I do, but I think many people would argue that they DO experience them, and there is my conundrum. The problem with assigning human emotions and concepts to our dogs, is that it makes it easier for people to attribute human motivations for them as well.

Sundown, a female Aussie of mine, and Midnight, a female cat that shared our home, often had exchanges that seemed to border human expression. Midnight loved sleeping on the bed and always wanted to lay in the center of it. Sundown would often jump on the bed, walk over to the center where Midnight lay, and sit right on top of her! I swear that you could see a smile cross that dogs face when she did it! Normally, Midnight refused to move. Sundown never stayed too long because the bed was usually too hot for her. Sundown liked laying on the floor better, it was cooler and she didn't have to share it with anybody. Midnight would often stalk Sundown as she slept on the floor. She would sneak up to Sundown's face, and nonchalantly smack Sundown with her paw. Sundown would wake up with a start, stare at the cat for a moment, and then go back to sleep. Midnight would just walk away with a smug look of satisfaction on her face.

In doggie and kitty terms, I think that Sundown was just laying claim to her property, and Midnight was just enjoying a toy. But I have no doubt that many people, if able to witness the exchanges between Sundown and Midnight, would use words like revenge, payback, satisfaction, humor, and others to describe them. Here is my problem with that. If a dog and a cat are capable of these emotions and displays, does it mean that they actively plan them? For instance if you punish a dog for a particular behavior, and he continues to display that behavior, is he doing it out of spite? Of course not! Yet many people believe that their dogs engage in such activity. Guilt is an especially heinous concept foisted on dogs. People assume that a dog knows that their behavior is wrong because the dog acts guilty when you catch them in the act. Guilt implies a sense of right and wrong. Yet study after study on the behavior of dogs tells us that dogs have no sense of right and wrong, they are amoral. The guilt display is nothing more than a reaction to a prediction. Punishment is about to happen, because circumstances are right for punishment to occur.

So now you see why I worry about humanizing my dogs. It is a natural thing to do because after all, we are human. But just remember that while these emotions may be accurate in describing a dog's behavior from a human point of view, the reasons behind them are purely doggie in nature, and most likely have nothing to do with their human equivalents.

2 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 8:45 PM - Categories: Dogs | Humor | Training | Behavior

Are Dogs Born With a Sixth Sense About Shoes?

It's an interesting question, and one that I believe, deserves scientific study. As Mars Blackman said, "Money it's gotta be the shoes!", and I think most dogs agree.

If you've ever had a puppy or a young dog, you've probably lost a pair of shoes to them. What interests me is not the fact that they chew and destroy shoes, it's which shoes they choose to chew and destroy. Your old tennis shoes, boots, and other assorted footwear, used to take the dog outside to play, are never touched. But a brand new pair of tennis shoes or work shoes, not worn when playing with the dog, are targeted for termination. I smell a conspiracy here and it smells a lot like puppy breath!

I've done my own informal scientific survey, I've listed the shoes my wife and I wear, their relevance to my dogs, and their likelihood of destruction.

Old Sneakers Belonging To Me Or My Wife

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Excited anticipation. These shoes predict a walk or some playtime in their immediate future.
• Probability of Destruction - Low

New Sneakers Belonging To Me Or My Wife

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Feigned indifference. These shoes hold the promise of future walks or playtime, but not at the present.
• Probability of Destruction - Depends of the price of the shoes. The more expensive, the higher the probability!

Dress Shoes Belonging To Me Or My Wife

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Obvious distaste. These shoes predict the immediate departure of all sources of food, play, and bathroom breaks.
• Probability of Destruction - Terminate with extreme prejudice. If our dogs could talk to us, they would tell us it's the leather smell that attracts them, but we know better.

My Beat Up Moccasins

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Depends on their bladder. These shoes are for short bathroom breaks.
• Probability of Destruction - Very low. They have holes in them to begin with, but that doesn't stop them from licking the insides, ensuring a nice soggy moccasin to put my foot into.

My Wife's Flip Flops

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Worship. These shoes are for one thing and one thing only. Filling up the sacred doggie pool.
• Probability of Destruction - Zero. If my dogs had opposable thumbs and could use a hammer, they would build an alter for them.

So there you have it. My highly scientific study of dogs and shoes. If you have your own hypothesis, leave a comment and let us know.

On the serious side, if you have a dog or a puppy that chews your shoes or other valuables, here are a few simple things you can do to remedy the problem.

1. Put your shoes out of the reach of the dog.
   
2. Find some toys that your dog enjoys chewing on, and have some of these toys in each room the dog has access to.
3. If you your dog is chewing on something inappropriate, like your shoes, don't yell at him. Simply give him something he is allowed to chew on and praise him when he chews on it.

Chewing is necessary for developmental health, and is a stress reliever as well. If your dog excessively chews on the wrong things, you may want to contact your vet or a qualified trainer.

3 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 11:08 PM - Categories: Dogs | Humor | Behavior

Eau du Poo - Doggie Perfume

Following on the heels of my latest tweet, "If a dog rolls in poo in the forest, and no human is there, does the dog still smell?" I've decided to ask my readers. Do female dogs roll in poo and dead animal more often than their male counterparts? According to the nursery rhyme, girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, and boys are made of snips of snails and puppy dog tails. But when it comes to dogs, I don't think the maxim holds.

When my wife and I were first married, we lived on a horse farm with our female Aussie Shepherd, Sundown. There were several other dogs on the farm, both male and female, but only the female dogs participated in a game that Sundown invented called "Queen of the Manure Pile." Outside one of our barns was a pile where we placed our manure. Local farmers and gardeners would come by, and pickup the manure and haul it away for us from time to time. Between their visits, the pile could get up to 7 or 8 feet high. Sundown figured out that if she ran to the top of the pile and barked, the other dogs would come chase her. Eventually the game evolved into a doggie version of "King of the Hill" One dog would run up and try to knock or wrestle the other dog off the top of the pile. The winner would stand on top of the pile, covered in manure, triumphant for all the world to smell. The loser smelled the same, they just didn't get to stand on top of the pile.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, Sundown also loved to tear up the garbage and roll in it, something my male dogs have never done. Even my current dogs, Gavin, a male Aussie, and Annie, a female mix, take a different view on scent. Gavin will indulge in an occasional roll in rabbit pellets, but Annie is obsessed with cow manure. And not just any cow manure will do, it has to be fresh, and she prefers the dark green color. A habit which reminds me that spending time working on her recall, is better than spending time giving her a bath.

So you tell me, do girls like to stink more than boys?

0 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 2:37 PM - Categories: Dogs | Humor | Behavior