Tag Archives: training

How to teach your dog "lay down"

Posted on by jennariedi

As always, the first step is to find a treat your dog is really willing to work for! Once this treat has been identified, break them up into small pieces (no bigger than your pinky fingernail).

Essentially when you are teaching your dog a command, you will first teach them the result you are looking for (in this case, down) and once that is learned you are putting a verbal command to it. So to teach the result of laying down, first ask your dog to sit. Then, take a small treat in your hand and put it close to your dog’s nose and slowly move it to the ground towards your dog’s front feet. This motion of moving a treat from your dog’s nose to the floor will almost always result in your dog laying down so he can get to the treat. Once your dog does lay down, give him the treat immediately and praise him! Dogs only have an association period of about 1.5 seconds, so you need to get that treat to him in 1.5 seconds for him to understand that laying on the ground=treat.

Do this about a dozen times or so to make sure your dog is making the connection. Once your dog seems to be predicting what you want when you put the treat out by his nose, add the word “down” or “lay down” (pick one command and stick with it!) into the mix. So every time your dog puts his belly on the ground, say “lay down” and give the treat. Do this a few more dozen times and your dog should have it! Try just holding the treat in your hand, close to your chest, and say “lay down.” If he lays, praise him and give him that treat as soon as you can.

Do not be discouraged if your dog takes a while to catch on, some dogs are better at learning new things than others. Just keep doing each step over and over until your dog gets the hang of it before you move on to the next step. Some dogs figure this out in minutes (like my cavalier) while others take a bit longer (just like my chihuahua mix and border collie mix-they took a few days). My border collie actually hates the command and action of laying down. I have found in my experience that certain breeds are not fans of laying down or rolling over. So definitely be patient and make sure to reward the little victories!

Reminder: dogs get frustrated just like we do, so don’t train with your dog for more than 15 minutes at a time. That way, he can retain everything you are trying to teach him and not get so frustrated that he shuts down and you have set backs.

How to teach your dog "sit"

Posted on by jennariedi

As always, the first step is to find a treat your dog is really willing to work for! Once this treat has been identified, break them up into small pieces (no bigger than your pinky fingernail).

Essentially when you are teaching your dog a command, you will first teach them the result you are looking for (in this case, sit) and once that is learned you are putting a verbal command to it. So to teach the result of sit, first take the small treat in your hand and slowing move it from a little bit above your dog’s nose backwards to over their head and towards their back. Keep it close to their head so they can smell it! This motion of moving a treat over their head towards their back will almost always result in your dog putting his backside down so he can get to the treat. Once your dog does sit down, give him the treat immediately! Dogs only have an association period of about 1.5 seconds, so you need to get that treat to him in 1.5 seconds for him to understand that butt on ground=treat.

Do this about a dozen times or so to make sure your dog is making the connection. Once your dog seems to be predicting what you want when you put the treat out, add the word “sit” into the mix. So every time your dog puts his backside on the ground, say sit and give the treat. Do this a few more dozen times and your dog should have it! Try just holding the treat in your hand, close to your chest, and say “sit.” If he sits, praise him and give him that treat as soon as you can.

Do not be discouraged if your dog takes a while to catch on, some dogs are better at learning new things than others. Just keep doing each step over and over until your dog gets the hang of it before you move on to the next step. Some dogs figure this out in minutes (like my border collie mix) while others take a bit longer (just like my chihuahua mix-he took a few days).

Reminder: dogs get frustrated just like we do, so don’t train with your dog for more than 15 minutes at a time. That way, he can retain everything you are trying to teach him and not get so frustrated that he shuts down and you have set backs.

What to do about your cat’s claws

Posted on by jennariedi

So you have a cat and you’re afraid he is going to scratch everything (including you) to pieces. What are your options and which one is the best for you? I will go through the most common options and layout the pros and cons of them so you can make an educated decision when the time comes.

1. Declaw. This option was very popular up until about five years ago when people began to realize the true extent of the damage done with this surgery. Most people think that declawing the cat is simply removing their nails when in fact you are removing their finger from the first joint. Even if your cat makes it through the surgery without complications, there are long term issues that have been proven to occur. A cat’s claws are their first line of defense. When a cat is tired of a child pestering them, they give a few swats of their paw as a warning. However, if a cat figures out their paws no longer work effectively to ward off unwanted attention they will resort to their second line of defense-their teeth. So it comes down to deciding if you would rather be scratched when your cat is grumpy or bitten.

Another behavior issue that can arise from declawing is peeing outside the litter box. When a cat loses his fingers through the declawing surgery his feet do not feel the same anymore. Some cats will respond to this discomfort (or, if the healing did not occur properly, pain) by avoiding strange surfaces. Like cat litter.

Lastly, declawing is a very hard thing for a cat to adjust to and therefore you should NEVER declaw a cat over the age of one. Take humans for example. If you take me, a 25 year old, and cut my fingers off it will take me a long time to adjust to this disability since I have lived with fingers for 25 years. However, if you take a newborn baby and cut her fingers off, that is all she knows while growing up and will therefore have less of an issue adjusting to the disability.

I have, and always will, recommend that this not even be an option for you. However, if you want to consider it I ask that it be your very last resort.

2. Softpaws. There are soft rubber caps you can apply to your cat’s nails that render them useless when it comes to doing damage. Applying the nail caps is about as hard as cutting your cats nails since it involves you touching their nails for a few minutes total. Just trim your cat’s nails, fill the nail caps half way with the provided nail glue and press onto their nail. The caps should last about a month before they will star to fall off. Sometimes it helps to just do one paw at a time and take breaks so your cat can settle down. One issue I have noticed with these caps is that especially active cats like to chew them off. However, I would say about 9 out of 10 cats I have put these caps on do not even notice they are on.

If you are worried that doing nail caps every month for the rest of your cat’s life is too much, do not worry! See my next suggestion and combine the two until your cat is completely trained. That way, during training your cat is still not able to do any damage.

3. Training. Yes, you can train a cat! One of the ways to train a cat to stop scratching is with a water squirt bottle. Whenever your cat walks up to the couch and starts to put his paws on it, give him a short squirt of water on the back. The trick is to make your cat think magic is occurring. Stay with me here-if your cat sees that the water is coming from you, he will just think you’re a jerk and will wait until you are gone to go to town on your sofa. However, if your cat thinks the couch is spraying him with water every time he touches it he will not go near it!

A great way to help redirect your cat away from the couch is to put a scratching post a few feet away from the spot they like to scratch. Rub it down with cat nip and then place double stick tape over the hot spot on the couch. So when your cat goes to his favorite scratching spot, finds a sticky mess and then smells cat nip we all know where he is going to go!

4. Nail trimming. You should already be trimming your cat’s nails about once every two weeks. However, you can trim them more often to avoid their nails ever getting sharp. My cat, Loki gets his nails trimmed once a week and they never are able to do any real damage as he wrestles with the dogs. Just remember that when cutting their nails, do not cut into the red area-there are nerves and blood there! Just cut the white area at the tip.

5. Do nothing. Sure, maybe after a few weeks of your cat living in your house you learn he does not use his claws for the evil purpose of killing your living room couch. If you have no reason to believe your cat is going to be destructive with his claws, then just leave him be! Do remember that just like our nails, cat nails keep growing and need to be trimmed regularly. I recommend at least once every two weeks, more if you want to keep them blunt at all times. Also, even if your cat does not seem interested in scratching anything, it is a good idea to provide a scratching post of some kind just in case the instinct kicks in.

As always, please feel free to ask questions or post comments! I am also happy to take article suggestions if you have an idea. Thanks!

Stop the Leash Pulling

Posted on by jennariedi

If your dog is pulling on the leash to the point where they are choking themselves or controlling you, there are ways to make them stop!

First, don’t even think about using a pinch or choker collar. The only thing these collars will do for you is cause permanent damage to your pet’s throat. Most dogs will still pull on the leash with these collars on anyways.

A harness is usually the best way to keep control of your dog and not hurt them. There are several types of harnesses out there, but the best one for a strong dog is the sensible harness. The leash attaches to the front of the dog’s chest as opposed to some harnesses that have the leash attach to the back. The reason for this is because if the leash is attached to the front (chest) and the dog pulls, his whole body will turn to the side. This teaches the dog that pulling does not get him to where he wants to go since pulling turns his body away from the object he is trying to get to.

If you have a smaller dog or a dog that is not very strong, a harness that attaches the leash on the back of the dog is fine. This will protect the dog’s esophagus and help you keep better control of the dog.

If you don’t want to get a harness, you can teach your dog to walk along side you with just a collar on. Make sure you have lots of great treats in your pocket. Whenever your dog pulls on the leash, just stop walking and stand there. Once the dog gives the leash some slack, praise them and give them a treat. The first few times you do this it will take a long time just to go around the block, but don’t get frustrated! With some patience and consistency with stopping whenever they pull, your dogs will figure it out pretty quickly that pulling doesn’t get them to where they want to go and that if they walk along side you there are treats to be had!

Remember – it is always a good idea to figure out what kind of treat your dog really loves. These are considered high value treats and your dog will work hard to get one!