According to an article in the October 12th issue of People magazine, a 12-year old English terrier mix has been taught to read! Continue reading Can This Dog Read?
Category Archives: Training
Training your dog with a clicker
We were watching “It’s Me or the Dog” on Animal Planet this morning, and Victoria was demonstrating the use of a clicker to train a dog. If you’re not familiar with it, the idea is to use a clicker to signal the dog that he is doing something right. Here is a short video showing how the clicker works – beware they are trying to sell you something!
Power company hosts search & rescue dog event
I hate to brag, but I have to say again how proud I am of my day-job employer, American Electric Power. The company’s Appalachian Power subsidiary recently hosted the K-9 teams from the Virginia State Police at their Smith Mountain Dam for a training exercise.
Continue reading Power company hosts search & rescue dog event
New Government Program Pairs Assistance Dogs with Injured Soldiers
The Associated Press reports today that a new program from the Veterans Administration takes dogs from animal shelters, trains them, and sends them home with soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan to help them in their recovery.
Continue reading New Government Program Pairs Assistance Dogs with Injured Soldiers
Angel Service Dogs
Have you heard about Angel Service Dogs? There was an article in People Magazine about the founders, Brett & Sherry Mers of Monument, CO.
Their daughter, Riley, is terribly allergic to peanuts, to the point where she cannot enter a room where there is any possible source of contact with a peanut product. Her mom saw a TV show about how dogs are used in airports to detect illegal foods being brought into the country. She wondered if dogs could be trained to detect allergans, and thus a non-profit organization was born.
The first breed they have chosen for training is the Porti -how Presidential!
They now run a foundation dedicated to training service dogs for allergic people and matching these people to a dog who meets their specific needs. The dogs not only know how to use their noses, they also are trained to get help and can even push a pre-programmed phone button to call 911 for help.
What a great idea!
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Emergency Medical Care for your Dog
This is CPR awareness week – do you have a plan for how to manage your dog’s emergency care? I have a couple of recommendations.
Take the Red Cross’ first aid class for pets. It’s been awhile since I took it, so I can’t remember if it includes CPR or not, but it did include a lot of valuable information on treating life’s everyday boo-boos.
Learn the location of the nearest emergency vet clinic and plot the quickest route to it. If you have the luxury of more than one clinic in your area, find out about any policies they have that might impact your choice of which one to use. Does one or the other have “forgiving” payment terms so you can get your dog treated even if you can’t pay right away? Is one or the other endorsed by your vet? Does one or the other offer follow-up care if you need it? What about hours of operation?
Ask your vet if there are certain treatments you can provide at home. Your dog is bound to be more comfortable with you touching him than the vet. (OK, that sounded bad, but you know what I mean!) If you are capable of taking care of some of his needs, whether on an emergency basis or for long-term medical issues, why not make him more comfortable by treating him in a very familiar environment.
Keep basic medical supplies on hand so you are prepared for emergencies when they arise. You don’t want to have your dog bleeding all over the floor when you find out you are out of bandages or antiseptic.
Keep an emergency kit stocked for any natural disasters that might occur in your area. Make sure you have enough food, water, and medicines for 3 – 5 days until basic services are restored.
Hoping you never need these suggestions!
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
DockDogs Competition
We spent some of the weekend getting sunburned at the Dock Diving competition at Clay’s Park, in Canal Fulton, Ohio.� Sponsored by Cabela’s, Stihl, Time Warner Cable, and DockDogs , it was so much fun! We had a jam-packed weekend, so we didn’t get to stay as long as I would have liked, but we did catch some of the Big Air competition, where the dogs jump for distance.� If you’re not familiar with Dock Diving, check out the article in our Dog Den. Some of these dogs were absolutely amazing!
We saw a Norfolk Terrier, the first one who had ever competed in Dock Diving, jump a proud 5 feet! He was so cute in his little life vest – the handler held him off the ground while she was setting up, and his little feet would just go, go, go – he was so anxious to get started.
We met Misty and Stormer, from Westerville, Ohio, who inspired their humans to get involved in dock diving by jumping off the docks near their home. Unfortunately, on their first sanctioned jumps, they only went about 1 foot, but now they are up to well over 20 feet.
We also got to see a Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog / Pit Bull mix – tell me that’s not a mouthful!
(To those of you who I interviewed, I have to apologize – somewhere between there and here, I lost my notes, so I know I didn’t include all of you here. Please rescue me by writing a comment & telling us your story!)
The longest jump we actually saw was 24’9″ from a Dalmation, but just as we were leaving, we heard the announcer call one at over 25 feet!
If you haven’t seen one of these competitions, it is well worth the trip. I’ll try to keep you updated on future competitions so you can find one in your area. This particular competition was part of the “Bark in the Park”, which featured displays from different vendors of dog toys, accessories, T-shirts, etc. The Dock Diving competition was the centerpiece, but there was lots of other stuff to do and see, as well. My middle son nearly cried when we had to leave!
The competitors come from all over – this event had dogs from Ontario, Canada, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Nevada, and Indiana. (After that, I lost track.) My son definitely wants to start our beagle in training, and I think we may take the Vizsla as well. I’ll have to find out how we get started, and I’ll let you know.
Here’s a nice article from our local paper about the competition with a great picture of the Dalmation.
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Congratulations to the dog graduates!
My local paper had a nice piece today about service dogs. There is an organization here in Canton named Canines Helping Independent People (CHIP) that trains assistance dogs, and they just graduated a new class of dogs yesterday.
Saturday Survey: Aggressive Dogs
With Michael Vick being released from prison this week, it made me think about aggressive dogs. So, I’ve designed a VERY short survey to see how you would rate your dogs as far as aggression.
Click here to take the survey.
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Tuesday’s Top Ten: Dog Sports
We carry a few articles in our doggies den about various sports you can enjoy with your dog, or at least enjoy watching him enjoy them. Here’s my list of the best damn sports period.