Success Story One; Milo - Blog Fourty Three

As an occasional interlude from the educational posts, we thought we'd post a success story! A break from the norm to post something happy! We hope you enjoy--

HI. IS THIS THING ON? It is? OH, I'm too close. Sorry, I have no thumbs. So, hi there! My name is Milo! Sometimes I'm HEY and occasionally I'm STOPPIT! I'm a Chihuahua Jack Russel mix, and just as it sounds, yep, I have loads of energy. Sometimes I'm a little much, but I am way better now than I was before Ideal Companions helped us out! I have wonderful humans, don't get me wrong - I have two humans, Muscley One and Soft One (they have human names but I remember them like that because I can't show you their scent like this!). They are pretty awesome as humans go. I get food and play and walks and all kinds of love!

Thanks to Ideal Companions and Treats and Tall Lady (the other two humans!), I am a totally different dogs. They showed my humans how to become the humans I needed them to be to help me succeed. Man, I was scared of so many things - but I wanted to be brave and keep Muscley One and Soft One safe too, so I pretended to be super brave to scare off all the scary things. Boy was that not helping! I liked to bark and snap sometimes. I had way too much energy, I wasn't so good at listening, and I didn't take my humans seriously at all. They were too mild mannered and nervous to help me back then. But now, they have almost as much dog sense as Treats did! Wow! What a difference. Treats and Tall Lady showed Muscley One and Soft One all kinds of cool tricks and tools to help them have more confidence - and especially me!

First, Treats came in and made sure I knew he and Tall Lady were safe, fun people. We played, I got treats, we went on walks! It was GREAT! Then, Treats showed me things were going to change - but it was okay, and that I wasn't going to be allowed to act out any more. But you know what? I learned to trust myself more, and trust the world around me. I learned to take my humans seriously, and listen - and most importantly, I learned to trust THEM. Before long, the world wasn't scary any more, and I learned to  love the world I was in! It was such a big turn around for me, and lots of people say what a different dog I am!

Thanks for reading my story, everyone! I hope I have encouraged you! Woof woof!

Common Puppy Behaviours; What They Mean - Blog Fourty Two

When we bring home that new dog, we don't always know what to expect, or what our dogs are trying to tell us, especially with first time owners, or people who have not had a dog as a puppy before. The aim of this blog entry is to help owners sift through the most common behaviours, and sort out what they really mean.


1. Non teething chewing or destruction

When puppies aren't teething, a common complaint with most owners (even from adult dogs on this) is that their dogs are chewing EVERYTHING. Shoes, tables, sofas, pillows, blankets, you name it - it all gets destroyed, even if there are toys out, and sometimes even if they're crated with just their blanket. What does this mean?

Boredom!

It means your dog has too much mental energy! Mental and physical energies are totally different, and have different needs. When you want to curl up with a good book, would a long hike help? Likely not. Dogs are the same way, and they get bored almost as fast as a toddler. Puppies are even worse, and need frequent challenges to their mind to feel fulfilled - they can't just go grab a book. So, when they're bored, they occupy themselves with ways they know how, and usually that involves chewing!


2. Peeing Indoors in a Trained Dog

If your dog is successfully toilet trained, and hasn't had accidents, if they're starting to pee indoors again, many people get either frustrated, or angry. If you've ruled out medical problems, and are left wondering exactly what's going on, there's a common root cause.

Fear/Dominance/Excitement/Habit

When a dog is nervous, or getting to a deeper level of fear, they can lose the ability to hold their bladders, or they do so as a submissive behaviour. These are usually smaller puddles of urine, but bigger than dribbles. Smaller dribble puddles are usually due to excitement, and a dog forgetting to withhold pee. Larger puddles near walls or edges is a territorial behaviour, and has roots in instability, or fear dominance, a sign your dog thinks he's in charge, but doesn't want to be because he's scared. If however you find your dog peeing on the same spot continually, just as if he's outside, you've fallen victim to habit! Dogs that pee indoors like this are doing so because they still smell their own pee, and want to remark that spot. If you're using any ammonia-based cleaners or cleaners that are not strong enough to mark over urine, your dog is marking over top of it because he can still smell it and believes another dog is marking in his home. It's his way of saying "Hey, this is my space, clear out!" If this is the case, a deep clean is in order - time to call in a cleaning company!


3. Whining or Yelping while Crated in a Crate Trained Dog

Typically, when a dog has been successfully trained to use a crate and has shown no issues, it can be confusing when a dog won't stop whining or yelping. This is almost always the same problem!

Too Much Energy!
If you were super excited for an awesome day at the mall, or going for a hike, would you be super happy about being stuck in a small room with no way out? Obviously not - even if that room was your bedroom or TV room. Dogs are the same way; who wants to sit in a small crate when there's a whole world out there to explore and games to play! A dog that's whining or yelping in the crate is most often suffering from too much energy - your dog needs  mental and or physical exercise before you can expect them to relax in their crate!