DESIGNER PUPPYS: Everything you wanted to know about raising designer or mixed breed dogs,
featuring The BOYZ: Prince Alvin His Cuteness (on left) and Sir Simon The Sad, Cockapoo pups.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Housebreaking An Older Dog - Where Do You Start?

A visitor recently commented on the boyz’ impeccable toilet habits.

And then came the BIG question – “What would you recommend for my 3 Westies? They mess in the house all the time." (My thoughts – THAT must be a lot of fun to come home to!). (Pic is from dogwalkingsouthbeach.com)

housebreaking an older dog
The Westies in this discussion are not puppies, but adult dogs. My response was based on 3 things – the experts' advice, experience, and intel gathered from dog forums.

Here are my suggestions for housebreaking an older dog:

1. Get them a checkup at the vet to rule out medical issues that may cause them to be incontinent. If you don’t, you’re wasting your time. For example, one of these dogs takes medications for seizures. Is the medication contributing to the problem?

2. In general, housebreaking an older dog parallels the process for housebreaking a puppy. Choose crate training (http://www.squidoo.com/dog-and-puppy-crate-training-tips), paper training, or the direct method. The direct method involves keeping a watchful eye out for the obvious signs of poop or pee readiness – sniffing, circling, and squatting.

3. An older dog may have developed issues that need to be addressed a little differently. Three of these issues are separation anxiety, dogs who refuse to go outdoors during bad weather (Alvin borders on this woosie small dog syndrome), and older dogs who received inadequate housetraining; for example a shelter dog or a dog whose owner could not devote the time to housetraining.

The separation anxiety issue was addressed on a It’s Me Or The Dog TV show (animal Planet). A Dobermann would pee as soon as his male owner walked out the door. The owner’s wife kept a large mop by the front door. Victoria Stilwell addressed the anxiety problem and the peeing stopped. No – it ain’t magic, although it does seem that way when the problem is solved in an hour-long show. The important point here is the expertise of a dog behaviorist.

4. You will need a step by step procedure to implement and you need to stick to it without deviation. Illustrations are mandatory as well as a well-laid out easy understandable approach.

So, you can search the net and learn from any quack who happens to have an opinion about housebreaking an older dog, OR you can learn from the experts at Kingdom Of Pets. The online book is called The Ultimate HouseTraining Guide, and you can buy it (no, it’s not expensive) by clicking the picture shown below.


If by chance you should have additional issues with your adult dog (excessive barking, chewing, jumping, aggression toward other dogs, etc) – you might opt for the big kahuna - the Kingdom of Pets bible called Secrets To Dog Training (click the title to find out more). This uses DVDs, case studies, and represents the collective expertise of dog trainers with hundreds of years of experience.

I wished my visitor the best of luck with her Westies and congratulated myself for devoting the time and energy to housetraining the boyz when they were pups!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Goughnuts .75 - The Small Dog Toy - Causes Major Debate Among Co-Workers

Okay - so my co-workers and I were discussing the best small dog toys.

I mentioned how much I had paid for a GoughNut Green .75 (wee little Goughnuts) for Alvin. I neglected the fact that I paid even more for the GoughNuts Stick Green for his birthday because I was being beat about the head re the price of the Goughnuts .75.

Anyway, I presented a convincing argument that the GoughNuts .75 is indestructible and will last forever.

So, instead of continuing to buy many $5 - $10 toys that Alvin rips to shreds in 5 minutes flat, I bought a toy that has lasted more than a year with hardly a tooth mark.

And the little bugger carries it around every night to throw it for him repeatedly. And of course the Goughnuts party happens during dinner time. That toy has hit more walls!

He carries it outdoors and leaves it in frigid weather, snow storms, and hidden under bushes. We recovered one of the 2 goughnuts under a snow drift the other day - unscathed.

So, yeah - I made a great argument for that pricey small dog toy that's worth every penny, besides saving a lot of chewing on my things.

Now we have to work on Simon to stop dog chewing on bathroom rugs!

See this squidoo lens for best products for dog training: http://www.squidoo.com/best-products-about-how-to-train-your-dog

Monday, February 7, 2011

Need To Stop Dog Chewing? Find Out What Prince Alvin Got For His 2nd Birthday

Did he get a birthday cake?

NOPE!

Did he get a gourmet dinner? Yes!

But what toy did we get the cute ex-puppy for his 2nd birthday?

The cute former puppy Prince Alvin His Cuteness is a chewer - a real bad chewer. He works with younger brother Simon.

Simon steals and Alvin chews the stolen items. Their last target was a pair of boots left in the kitchen after a hard afternoon shoveling snow. One disappeared and showed up pretty well torn to shreds.

Mistake #1 - You think we'd know better than to leave the boots where the thief would find them!

Mistake #2 - The Prince's favorite chew toy - a green goughuts for small dogs - was buried in a snow bank where he left it. The boot was an inconvenient substitute!

We decided it was time for another Goughnuts indestructible chew toy for his birthday. We ordered a Goughnuts stick to suplement his original goughnuts (in the shape of guess what - a doughnut!). He just cannot destroy the goughnuts because it was designed to stop dog chewing (your stuff to shreds).

Ain't the Goughnuts Stick just the perfect gift for the Prince!

BUY the GoughNuts Stick Green


By the way - you probably think the goughnuts stick is a little pricey! Guess how much the boots cost! What price to STOP dog chewing!!