The few that will allow dogs sometimes will only allow a small dog. The ad may even state a specific weight like 20 lbs or less. I never understood this. A small dog can be just as destructive as any big dog can. I have also seen many small dogs who were much more vocal than some big dogs. I have even seen little dogs that were extremely aggressive. So what is the benefit to a landlord to allow a small dog but not a large dog. I would love to know the answer to this question because it has never made any sense to me.

Lord help you if you dare to have more than one dog things get even more complicated. Even the type of dog can cause undo problems for a dog owner. I remember when we had 2 dobermans. The landlord was ok with us having 2 dogs in the beginning. After we moved in he stopped by and realized they were dobermans and had all kinds of problems with it. I think part of it was a house insurance issue. Which is a whole other topic I would like to discuss at another time.

However there are things you can do to help persuade a potential landlord. First of all make sure you dog is well behaved. Maybe even put him through the good citizen course. Upon completion he will get a certificate for it. This basically says your dog has passed a test of basic manors and is well behaved. This certificate can be used to show your new landlord that your dogs are well behaved.

Once I called a landlord that had a listing that said absolutely no pets, even though I had 2 dogs and a cat at the time. The place was perfect for us and had all the things we were looking for. I felt like we had nothing to lose so I called them. I asked them if they were willing to meet us and our dogs and see how well behaved they were. When we met with them they saw that the dogs were very well behaved. Seeing us make the extra effort for our dogs may have help sway them also. At that time we also offered a separate cash deposit for the pets. Part of it was to be non refundable and part was refundable after a year. I think a non refundable deposit for a pet is more than reasonable. The landlord should be able to clean carpets and treat for fleas regardless if there are any just for peace of mind for the next tenant.

The other portion was a refundable deposit. We allowed walkthroughs once a month for the 1st three months to ensure them that the dogs were not doing any damage to their property. After one year they walked through again and refunded our deposit although we continued to live there after the first year.

Cash security deposits can be an additional incentive to help convince a landlord to trust you and give your dog(s) a chance. The deposit affords them some protection in the event that damage is caused by the dog(s). Your deposit shows the landlord that you trust your dog not to cause damage. I love when I feel like I have helped convert a landlord to be a pet friendly renters. I hope that anyone given the chance to rent with a dog respects the opportunity they are given. Each time a landlord has a good experience renting to a dog owner the better it is for the next dog owner. All it takes to do this is to be a good dog owner. If your dog does happen to damage something make sure it is repaired before you move out.

References can also be a big help in bolstering your case to a potential landlord. You could even invite you potential landlord to visit you at your current place. This gives your potential landlord a chance to physically see that your dog is not destructive. Be creative you know can sometimes change a landlords mind with a well behaved dog and some incentives. Landlords are just worried that there rental will get destroyed sometimes they just need to be shown that it does not have to be that way.

I would say that the majority of adult dogs are not destructive. I also believe that when it comes to puppies the risk is far less now do to the increasing use of crate training.. Crate training young dogs and puppies drastically reduces the opportunity for a pup to cause damage in the home.

Having done some painting over the years for some landlords I have seen my share of damaged apartments. I am here to tell you that human being do far more damage than any dog I have ever seen. The worst I have seen dog wise most commonly is when the dog owners leave these poor dogs locked up or left behind to defecate all over the place. More realistically the landlord will have to freshen the carpets and maybe plant a little grass seed. I have owned many dogs over the years and honestly any damage that has been done was usually to our stuff not the structure of the house. Examples shoes. remote controls. pillows couches etc. The only damage to any home from any dog I have had has been a few scratches in the wood by the door and maybe some grass missing from wear in the back yard.

Some breeds are more prone to develop ear problems than others. Cocker Spaniels are one of these breeds. In general dogs with long floppy ears have more ear problems than dogs with erect ears. The hanging ears create a warm moist environment perfect for bacteria to grow.

When your dog has a problem with his ears there are usually signs but not always. Usually in erect eared dogs you can see some redness or swelling. Sometimes you can smell a bad odor coming from your dog. If you do detect an odd odor from your dog it is a good idea to check his ears for any problems.

Ear problems can be very itchy sometimes. A dog will often scratch at their ears or even rub them on the floor to get some relieve. This constant itching often causes more damage to the ear if left untreated. If the ears get to painful to scratch a dog will often resort to shaking his head. Sometimes an owner does not always connect the head shaking to an ear problem until it is too late.

Constant head shaking will eventually cause hematomas. The violent head shaking causes broken blood vessels in the ear flap. The blood has nowhere to go so it pools in the ear flap causing a blood bubble. This is called a hematoma.

Hematomas usually need to be surgically opened and allowed to drain. As you can see quick treatment is best. Treatment usually consists of ear drops and antibiotics. This is far less expensive for you and less traumatic for your dog.

Ear problems are often connected to other allergies. I had two dogs with skin problems that fell into this category. Extra care also needs to be taken with dogs that like to swim. Always dry their ears well and you may want to ask your vet about an ear product that helps dry and or keep the ear dryer. There are several products for this purpose.

I have two dogs right now that have had ear problems in the past. One is a German Shepherd and the other is a Siberian Husky and both have erect ears. It seemed about every 3-6 months their ears would get red and itchy. Treatment with antibiotics and drops did help but the problem would reoccur. Over the years I have tried some home remedies to help soothe itchy ears and prevent future incidents. I did find that zinc powder such as gold bond did seem to give temporary relief and sometimes resolved the problem if caught quickly.

After all these years I have found a home remedy that has worked like magic for me and others. It is tea tree oil. I had been looking into natural remedies for our family and picked up some tea tree oil. It has many uses. It is used for itching and can be added to shampoo. It is also good to clean abrasions. it has antibiotic and anti fungal properties. I suggest you read more about it and decide for yourself but we think it is a wonderful thing to have around for your family and pets.

Anyway one of the dog’s ears were getting red and itchy again so i wiped them out with the tea tree oil and we did not have another problem for about 6 months. the next time I did the same and now it has been about 2 years since either dog have had a problem with their ears.

I have recommended this to a few people with very good results also. My sister was one of them. Her dog Bella has chronic ear problems. Each year they seemed to get worse. the last time she had to have surgery to drain a really bad hematoma. After she healed from than incident I recommended the tea tree oil and she has not had any further problems since.

I am not saying it will work for everyone but if all else fails you may want to try it. I know it has been wonderful solution for many of us. You can find tea tree oil in many stores in the 1st aid isle usually or at health stores such as G.N.C.

I would love to hear feed back from anyone who tries the tea tree oil.

Now that you have a solid sit and he will sit under all circumstances we can move on. The next command is the sit stay. This is basically a much longer sit then just a sit command. Personally in everyday life I would never use a sit stay. If I wanted my dog to stay a good length of time I would put him in a down stay. That being said lets move on.

Start with your dog on your left. Sit your dog. Then with the leash in your left hand signal your dog to stay. To do this you bring your right hand across, palm open in front of your dog’s face and say “stay”. As you do this pivot around and stand facing your dog. Keep your arm straight out fingers pointing up palm facing your dog. It will look like you are stopping traffic. Count to 5 and return to your dog’s side the same way you left him. Make sure to keep your hand in front of your dog until you are back at his side. Praise and release. To release your dog after a command you can say “okay” and walk a few seconds with your dog. It can even be just a few steps in between commands.

I suggest you use a flat buckle collar to teach your dog new commands. For sit stay I would turn the collar so the clip is up. This way when your attach the leash and hold it above his head it helps convey to him not to move. The tension on the leash and the hand signal in combination help him understand what you want. If you did not use these your dog would instinctively want to move when you do. If your dog does move quickly step in towards him saying “no” and put him back where he was when he broke the command. When you say “no” say it quick kind of like a distraction. Sometimes I use a quick “hey” or “ep” sound. Right now we are teaching so do not be harsh with him. I use the vocal distraction to give the dog feed back so he knows where he went wrong so to speak.

When teaching commands I like to repeat the command. So as you step around in front of your dog with your hand out I would repeat “stay stay stay”. When you say “stay” you need to say it evenly. If you use a high or excited voice your dog will want to come to you. You also do not want to say it so firm as the dog feels that he is being scolded either. Some trainers feel like you should only say the command once and that is it. Now I do believe that once your dog truly knows the command you should not repeat it over and over. If you do he will learn that he does not have to listen the first time. But I think that has to do with obeying and that is a different phase then the teaching phase. As he learns the sit-stay command you need to phase out repeating “stay stay stay” . You will also test him with just a hand signal or just a verbal command. Use what you need as long as you need to. When he seems to understand the command but you are using verbal, hand, and repeating of commands reduce the repeating until you only have to say it once. Then reduce hand signal to a quick hand signal in front of his face in stead of holding your hand in front of his face the whole time.

Always start in a quiet place but change environment as he improves. When he understands the command add some distractions. this improves his attention to you and the command. After he really understands this command you can start to increase the amount of time he stays and the distance from you. The rule is not to increase both at the same time. You can start by going 3 feet in front of your dog but still keep it 5 seconds. Or you could stay in front of him but make it 10 or 15 seconds. Never increase either until he is perfect in the time or distance you have previously set. In other words if he can not stay for 15 seconds do not try to do 30 seconds. As always start in a quiet spot and test in a different spot with distractions before you move on to longer times or distances.

Often dogs are taught to sit before the are allowed to eat or go out. This basically teaches and reinforces to your dog that you are the leader. Teaching your dog to sit before he goes out or eats or goes up the stairs is also very practical.

A dog racing you up the stairs or bolting out an open door can be dangerous especially if you have children. A dog that is taught to sit before it goes out a door is less likely to run out the door when a child opens it also. Children that are old enough should ask the dog to sit as well before going out or feeding them. It helps let the dog know where his place is in the family pack. Your dog’s place in the pack should always be at the bottom.

There are two basic ways of teaching the sit command. The first is to put your dog on a leash and place him on your left side. With the leash in right take your left hand and slightly push on the top of your dog’s butt and push down. When his bottom touches then you say “sit”. This way he understands that sit is when his bottom is on the ground. This was the way I was taught in my first dog training class. Some dogs did fine with this but some resisted. The owners that had dogs that resisted were told to squeeze hard right in front of the dogs hip bones as they pressed. If your dog does sit with the gentle version of this fine. If not move on to my on to the second way to teach a sit.

The second way to teach a sit is really the best way to it. In fact I think it is the only way a sit should be taught. Even if you are gentle with the above method it still won’t work for some dogs. Some dogs are very sensitive to touch. When you touch them it actually distracts them from learning. And the rough version is unacceptable to me. Learning should be fun not painful and frustrating for you or your dog. The method I prefer to use to teach a sit is lure training. It is basically what it sounds like. You use a piece of food or maybe your dogs favorite toy to lure him into a sit.

Take the lure item and hold it close to your dogs nose and lift if up and behind towards his back. Do not let him grab it from you until his bottom touches the ground. When his bottom touches the ground say “sit”. There is no point saying sit to your dog before he actually learns what it means. If your dog keeps scooting back place him with his behind close to a corner. When he has nowhere to back up to he will hopefully sit for you.

After some practice he will learn to sit faster because he is starting to get it. He is learning that he does not get anything until he sits. When he starts sitting quickly you know he probably understands. To really test this you say sit without the lure in front of him. If he sits give him his reward. If he does sit on command over and over you know he understands the meaning of the word. Now when you train mix up the rewards. On the first sit maybe give him a treat. The second time maybe pet him a little. The third time just tell him excitedly what a good boy he is. This causes some confusion because he never knows when he is going to get a treat so he will sit each time. You do not want a dog who will only sit when he knows you have food.

Adding a hand signal for sit is pretty easy. You may want to teach this in case you are unable to tell him verbally to sit such as if he is at a far distance from you or talking on the phone. The hand signal is similar to the movement of luring into a sit. Start with your right arm down at your side, palm open bend your all the way up. By using the verbal command “sit” and the hand signal together it connects the two. Test your dog by just using the hand signal alone. If he does not sit using the hand signal alone go back to using both together. Eventually he will sit with either the hand signal or verbal signal.

After your dog learns to sit you need to clarify what sit means. Sit does not just mean to put your bottom on the floor. It means to sit and not get up until you release your dog. So after he understands the basic sit you want to ask more of him. To release your dog you say “okay”. You want to move him out of the sit as you say “okay”. You can do this by encouraging him to move forward and out of the sit. You can do this by moving back way from him or gently with the leash or collar. If he pops up before the command try to say “okay” as he comes up anyway. Either way it helps him make the connection. A good example is he is on the leash by your side in the sit position. As you say “okay’ you start to walk. Your movement and gently pull on the leash will encourage him out of the sit. As you progress you will move into the sit stay command. The sit stay indicates to your dog that he will be in the sit for some time.

Always make training fun. Keep each session short and successful. Always quit while your dog is doing well and you are happy. If you train to long he can get bored and stop working for you and you will get frustrated as well. You are always better off training 2 or 3 shorter lesson a day rather than one that is too long. For a puppy I would only train a few minutes at at a time working up to 15 minutes. Your puppy will let you know when the lesson is getting to long. If this happens adjust the lessons accordingly.

When we got our husky Buddy we found that although he was smart he was stubborn. At least that was what I thought then because he would learn a command quickly but would not necessarily do it over and over. I learned that he was not stubborn or stupid just not motivated. A lot of dogs will do something for you just to please you or for food(such as the Labrador). Apparently my Husky was more of a what’s in it for my dog. I thought about it from his point of view. What does Buddy love? Buddy loves to play. So I made a game out of it. When ever he sat or downed for me on command we would run a little. Sounds silly but that was his motivator. He loved it. It just made training fun for him. So if your dog is not motivated by food, praise or toys this may just be the ticket for you. It is a very good way for kids to train since it puts them in control of the fun their dog has when he listens.

Well good luck to all and as always keep it fun.

Dogs to not speak in words but do communicate to each other with an assortment of barks, grunts, yips, and growls. By using different tones we can mimick growls and yips etc. therefore conveying information to our dogs.

I will break it down into three overly simplified groups. The first is a high tone. This higher tone creates excitement in a dog. Excitement will encourage your dog to move and be active. This also you should use a high tone for praise. When you want your dog to come to you the higher tone is the best one to use. It creates the excitement you want which causes him to come quickly to you. It creates the needed enthusiasm you want for a quick recall.

A medium tone is what I would call a neutral tone. It is calming and is not really a reactive tone. This is the perfect tone to give a non moving command such as sit, stand, down, and stay.

Low or gutteral tones are usually reserved for stopping or reprimanding a dog for inappropriate behavior. It is the equivalent of a dog’s growl. It can be used as a vocal correction. Remember you do not need to yell, it is the sound of the low firm tone that tells the dog you are not happy with him.

Just as important is the way we use our body during training. When using body language you need to take your dog’s temperment into consideration. What may work for a dominant dog may overwhelm a very shy or submissive dog.

Author : Laura Walsh

[source: Dog Gone News]

]]> http://www.dogs-training.info/how-body-language-and-voice-effect-dog-training/feed http://www.dogs-training.info/using-hand-signals-for-your-dog http://www.dogs-training.info/using-hand-signals-for-your-dog#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:16:07 +0000 admin http://www.dogs-training.info/?p=80 Voice commands are great because your voice can take on countless tones and you can form countless numbers of word commands for your dog. However, hand signals have some advantages over voice commands. First off, hand signals are silent. This is great if, for example, everyone is asleep or there is a party going on and so there is a lot of interference with sound. Also, hand signals are a great way for new friends of the dog. Dogs normally respond only to their owners voice and other people who they consider “masters” so to speak. It may take a dog awhile to warm up to a new person and obey their voice commands.

Hand signals are more advanced than voice signals and are best taught after the dog has learned basic things like sit, stay, and come. The reason for this is that when you are teaching your dog hand signals, you should do so in conjunction with your voice. Eventually, you should be able to drop the voice part and the dog will still understand you.

For example, my dog knows and obeys the “come” command quite well. I added in a hand signal for “come” by snapping my fingers and pointing to the ground near me. When I was first teaching her this. I would say “come” while using my designated hand signal. A treat or reward was occasionally provided as well. After some time, simply snapping my fingers, with or without the snap sound, was enough to get her to come to me.

Another hand signal I have taught my dog is to stay. I firmly raise my right hand and make the stop signal much like a traffic officer would do.

Teaching a dog both stay and come at the same time is a good idea since they go hand and hand. Both are very useful and I find that the hand signals get used more often because they are easier to perform.

Just remember that with any training, time and patience are the key.

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Author : Laura Walsh

[source: Dog Gone News]

]]> http://www.dogs-training.info/using-hand-signals-for-your-dog/feed http://www.dogs-training.info/dog-training-equipment-a-must-have http://www.dogs-training.info/dog-training-equipment-a-must-have#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:40:32 +0000 admin http://www.dogs-training.info/?p=77

Dog Training Equipment

[source : Hub]

Problem behaviors with you pup can be corrected once you have determined the cause of the behavior. With puppies, you want to correct any problems that you are experiencing before the puppy becomes an adult, and you’re now chasing an 75 pound lab around the house because he stole your bedroom slipper.

Don’t think it cute when you 5 month old dalmatian decides to take off with a napkin from the garbage. Don’t laugh at him, because as with children, dogs will take that as amusement and a reinforcement to continue doing the behavior. And, unless you want to chase you adult dog around the house, then go ahead, laugh and call everyone in to see what Fido just did.

The Shih Tzu dog breed survived a tragic history to become one of the most popular toy breeds around today. Shih Tzu historical information reveals that the breed has roots in royalty.

The Shih Tzu originated as the pampered pet of Tibetan Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi, who bred the dogs prolifically between 1861, when she came into power, and 1908, when she died. Her successor disdained the little dogs and everything they represented. As a result, many dogs were killed after the Empress’s death. Surviving Shih Tzus belonged mostly to foreigners and members of Chinese nobility, who had received the dogs as gifts from the Empress.

The breed first appeared in the United Kingdom during the late 1920s or early 1930s. North American soldiers who got to know the breed in Europe during World War II became fond of the little dogs and brought them back to the United States and Canada.

Perhaps because of careful breeding to make them suitable as royal pampered pets, the Shih Tzu has a happy disposition and a strong desire to be the center of attention. The Shih Tzu is a lap dog who is content to spend hour after hour relaxing in the company of humans. Because of their small size—nine to sixteen pounds—and easygoing personality, these sturdy dogs are especially popular with apartment dwellers.

The dogs were bred to have a lion-like appearance, with their flattened facial muscles, bowed legs, bulging eyes, and intimidating facial expressions earning them the nickname of “lion dogs.” Their wrinkled faces were also said to resemble chrysanthemum flowers, giving rise to the breed’s second nickname of “chrysanthemum dog.”

The Shih Tzu coat ranges in colors from solid black or gold to several multi-color combinations. The breed’s elegant appearance comes from its long, slightly wavy coat, which requires daily attention.

The dog makes an excellent family pet but is equally content to be a companion for a single owner or a couple without children. The Shih Tzu is happiest when it is the center of attention, so families with infants or very young children are advised to wait until the children are a bit older before purchasing a Shih Tzu, to avoid potential problems with jealousy.

The British Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1935, and the breed continues to be popular in the U.K. and Europe. In 2006, the Shih Tzu ranked ninth in the American Kennel Club’s rankings of breed popularity. This is a particularly remarkable accomplishment, considering that the AKC first recognized the breed in 1969. The little Shih Tzu has come a long way in the United States in just under forty years, and it is likely to continue to grow in popularity as more and more people discover what a delightful pet this breed is.

The Shih Tzu is as well known for its delightful personality as it is for its long, flowing coat. Shih Tzu information can be found online, at public libraries, and from breeders.

Source : http://hubpages.com/hub/shih-tzu

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