Mannerly Mutts Making Dog and Owner Dreams Come True in York Maine - Blog

Leashes: How to Hold Them and How to Fold Them

1/15/2023

Shana training on a long line or 15' to 20' leash.

Leashes are a dog's safety net and life line for much of their lives. Many public places are bound by the leash laws of their municipal government. Also, if your property does not have a fence and they are not off leash trained, generally if your dog leaves your property then YOU have probably violated a leash law.

Many owners hold the leash casually, in a way that can harm the human, and in a way that can cause the dog to be free where they should not be and where it is dangerous. The topic of our blog today, is the best ways to hold a leash for the safety of both the dog and the dog owner.

IDEAS ON HOW TO MAKE YOUR TIMID DOG MORE CONFIDENT

1/2/2023

Do you find your dog to be timid or fearful around things that don't scare most other dogs? If you have also wondered about the reasons this can happen, there are a few as follows:

1) Puppies not socialized or handled by breeders. Usually these guys recover very well, but they may present as very fearful at the beginning.
2) Adult dogs that have grown up without proper socialization and exposure to the outside world.
3) Puppies that have experienced a traumatic or very scary experience during the fear stage.
4) Adult dogs that experienced Number 3 during the puppy fear stage, but their owners did not realize it or did not work with their dog in the meantime. Often owners might think something like this will pass, but for many dogs it just gets worse unless they are helped along the way.
5) Traumatic experience as an adult dog. (As an example my first dog got to experience a microburst at night with us one evening. All our screens on the windows blew in, and the power was instantly out. After that, Jazzabelle was very afraid of any thunder and wind storms, which we helped her with later.)
6) Incident that may have happened that you did not see happen.
7) It could be that a medical reason, like loss of hearing, is causing them some distress. In case of sudden behavioral change, you should make an appointment with your vet.
8) So many more possibilities may exist that caused this.
9) You may never know the cause.

Bottom line is that you have to move your dog forward. They may not fully recover, but you can greatly improve their lives and their thoughts on the trigger (thing that scares them).

DOG NAIL MAINTENANCE IS IMPORTANT TO THEIR HEALTH

12/19/2022

Sometimes the care of dog's feet can be overlooked. The proper care and examination of your dog's nails allows them to walk properly on their toes, avoid unnecessary injury, and allows them to remain active. Providing these services for your dog yourself also makes your relationship more bonded, and teaches your dog to trust you when doing these important tasks.

Your dog's nails should never be hitting the floor. If they are hitting the floor, it is changing the natural way that they walk. Dogs naturally walk on their toes, as this allows them to have more stealth and quiet. Nails that are too long will cause the toes to splay, reduce traction, and over time may cause damage to the tendons. Another painful injury that can happen with dogs who have nails that are too long are nail breaks. Nail breaks are not only painful on their own, but can lead to becoming infected. Spaces in between boards can catch your dog's nails as well, causing things like splits or breaks.

Shana's Training Position Routine's

12/13/2022

Shana and I try to do positions and/or tricks a few times a week. These positions are using food, and some of the positions or tricks are still really in the beginning stages. What tricks are you trying with your dogs?

Treat Training and Luring Insights

9/22/2022

Today I am going to go over the very commonly used practices of treat training used with luring to train your dog.   Most of this training falls under the category of positive reinforcement. That is the practice of adding something to increase the likely hood of a behavior.   In this case, we are talking about food rewards.

CONSIDERATIONS WHEN TRAINING WITH FOOD:

Most puppy training starts with food training.   Puppies are maturing, and do not have the focus of an adult dog.   They are discovering the world with their paws, nose, eyes, and mouth. Therefore, humans need a good reward method to catch their attention for any period of time.

Adult dogs will have more maturity and focus (usually). Therefore, the first section does not necessarily apply to them.   Although, these are things you may want to consider, especially if your adult dog seems at all flat when training.   Both young and old dogs need a distraction free place to start learning at first.

Ripping Off The Band-Aid or How Things Go Wrong Fast

9/15/2021

Shana has 40 stitches, four serious wounds, and 3 drains after surgery. She also has three types of antibiotics and one pain pill.

This is going to begin a series as best as I can. I don't know how many parts are going to be to it, but I am going to continue a Shana journal from now on. I have attempted this before, and it has not been consistent. This, however, is an topic most dog owners and dog trainers have not had the opportunity to cover. Although, I can later share some blogs that do go over interesting things in a dog/owner or dog/trainer relationship over time.

CLICK ON THIS FOR PAST SHANA POSTS

NOTE1: WE KEEP TRACK OF INCIDENTS HERE OF ALL SORTS. WE HAVE ONCE EVER HAD DOG SERIOUSLY HAVE AN INTENT TO KILL, AS I CONSIDER THIS. APPROPRIATE STEPS WERE PUT IN PLACE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THAT PREVIOUS INTERACTION.

Now the band-Aid is ripping off. Trigger warnings may abound if you have ever been in a dire emergency situation.

NOTE2: THIS IS NOT HOW TO GO ABOUT A DIRE EMERGENCY DOG FIGHT SITUATION. DO NOT USE THIS AS A HOW TO. THIS IS NOT A HOW TOO, BUT A MOMENT IN TIME OF DESPERATION.

Wednesday September 8th 2021: The day started out (7:30 am) normal though there have been some things going on here as in everyday life. Nothing too abnormal though...

Corrections, What Are They and How Are They Used?

1/4/2021

Dog owners tend to wince at the suggestion of using a correction. So many dog owners associate the word "correction" in dog training with punishment or treating their dog harshly. This is not what is meant by most dog trainers or dog sports enthusiasts.

My definition of a dog training correction is to further advance a position, speed, or behavior through communication the dog understands to mean what they had just done is not what was wanted and therefore offers another option or stops something. Some examples of corrections are verbal markers, spatial pressure, and the use of some training equipment. Please note that corrections should not be used, generally speaking, until the dog has started and advanced through the first stages of dog training, which is teaching. Once a performance can be reliably predicted to a standard, then you are ready to correct errors or non performance.

How to Use Steps to Build Up to Your Ultimate Training Goals

12/28/2020

Izzie is our model for this blog.

The ability to teach dog training commands that are later on reliable and functional depends upon how the ability to break them up into steps and then layer onto them different environments and distractions. This is also true when you are modifying your dog's behavior or changing your dog's perception of things that might make them defensive or scared. Many dog owners are not aware that going slower and methodically is going to give them a much better chance of reaching their dog training or behavior modification goals with their dogs.

Dogs neither understand English nor read minds. It is the dog owner's and trainer's job to break commands down into parts which can be taught well, and then advance the command by increasing things like the three Ds (duration, distance and distraction), which was discussed in our previous blog post.

How to Measure Your Goal Progress and Success When Training Your Dog

11/20/2020

Many dog owners and dog training students quickly get stuck in one place or feel that they have reached an impassable point. This cycle can make dog training students bored when they can't go onto something more challenging in dog training or behavioral modification of their dog. Meanwhile, with an understanding of how to advance their training and get to their goals, those goals are probably within reach by tweaking what they are doing or finding professional dog training help to bring it forward. How does a dog owner honestly measure their success in dog training and/or behavioral modification. This is the topic of this blog today.

How to use dog training commands for common dog owner problems

10/26/2020

Many dog owners, who have trained their dogs, do not realize the tools for working on many dog behaviors that are problems to us are the training commands themselves. The ability to use these commands repetitively in different situations can help build the types of reactions that dog owners prefer from their dogs in many situations.