If you live in or near Seattle, you know that it snowed in the Puget Sound last night. We woke up to inches of blissful snow! Almost nobody is driving. I even saw two buses that are stuck on the road next to my house.
If you have a puppy, you should be especially happy about the snow. If you aren’t off of work because of the snow already, you should go home to take this chance to be with your puppy.
My soulmate dog, Peanut, went to the vet to have an epulis in his mouth removed last week. The good news? It’s not cancer! And it was small enough that they could remove it without taking out any teeth, thank dog.
The bad news? He’s a wreck at the vet and it was a $500 experience. Dogs are not cheap!
The picture here is Peanut as a baby. He’s 6 now and I saw at the vet that once dogs turn 7, it’s a time to look for a “rapid decline in the dog’s health.” Wonderful. He’s almost a Senior Dog.
Now is as good as a time as any to say that if your older dog is suddenly aggressive or shows other brand new behaviors, it’s probably health related.
Did you miss our last photo opportunity? Here’s another chance to support PAWS and get some fun photos of your dog, to boot! Last time, Ahimsa students raised a LOT of $$ for PAWs with Alyssa Rose Photography. The photo above is from that photo shoot.
Continue reading Holiday Dog Photos – PAWS and Seattle Shelter
Thanksgiving and the rest of the holiday season can be dangerous for dogs. Cooked bones, especially turkey & chicken, can splinter and cause choking or intestinal problems, even death. While most of us know not to feed it to the dog on purpose, your guests may not know this or your dog may get bones out of the trash.
Continue reading Holiday/Thanksgiving Safety Tips for Dogs
Walking your dog off leash is like picking your nose, but more dangerous.
Both are something that no one else should have to see you doing. Okay, it’s not quite the same – dogs LOVE to be off leash, and it’s a lot of fun. If you know the dog is safe, it’s enjoyable to watch. But some people are afraid of dogs, some are allergic, and some dogs don’t like other dogs. And picking your nose isn’t against the law. On a trail, when the people you meet don’t know you and your dog, and vice versa, it’s important that leash your dog up as soon as you know they might be in contact with another person.
Cocoa Mulch, which was sold by Home Depot, Foreman’s Garden Supply and other garden supply stores, contains a lethal ingredient called ‘Theobromine’. It is poisonois for dogs and cats. Cocoa Mulch smells like chocolate and it attracts dogs. They may ingest Cocoa Mulch and if they eat a lot of it, they can die quickly. Just a word of caution, check what you are using in your gardens!
Your dogs may also find cocoa mulch out on walks, so be careful!
We want our dogs to respond to us in any kind of situation. When training their dogs to behave in the face of big distractions, people tend to make a few key errors and throw their dogs in over their heads. A solid understanding of the principles of positive dog training might also help Sarah Palin prepare for interviews.
Continue reading Training Your Dog for Distractions (or Prepping Your VP)
Imagine being chained to a tree year after year. You watch the door, hoping someone will come out to play. No one ever does. You long to run, but you can only pace. You shiver in winter and pant in summer. Loose dogs come to beat you up, and you can’t run away. Children taunt you and, again, you can’t run away.
King County Council (Washington State) is looking into the feasibility of implementing legislation to prohibit chaining dogs. Deliberations about whether they should look into it end October 20th, so please contact the council asap.
Continue reading Motion 2008-0347, Prohibiting Dog Chaining in King County
Beverly Hills Chihuahua opened in movie theaters this weekend. Chihuahua lovers everywhere have flocked to see it. People in the dog business have mixed feelings when we see dog movies. The dog-lover part of our personality is glad to see an oh-so-cute dog movie. The part of us that cares about the dogs cringes, because we know that the next thing that will happen is that people will be getting Chihuahuas, Dalmations, etc. for their children and then promptly returning them to the shelter when they turn out to be less fun than the movie actors. Yes, those dogs are actors! Even Chihuahuas can act!
Mark your calendar! The Humane Society for Seattle/King County is hosting a Walk for the Animals event on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 9:00 a.m. – Noon at University Village in Seattle. If you have a friendly dog that would enjoy this event, please support the animals. Click here for more info.
Is there a middle ground between banning pit bulls in Seattle and ignoring the fact that attacks like the recent awful, terrible, scary mauling of a 71-year-old woman keep happening, by dogs reported to be pit bulls? I think so. It’s not enough to target pit bulls. We need to prevent aggression from all breeds. I don’t think we should settle for protecting Seattle against pit bulls. Legislation should apply to all dog breeds, whenever possible, for the most possible protection.
Continue reading Pit Bull Breed Ban versus Dog Safety Legislation
My wife’s dog, Sagan, was featured in an interview of Ellen Taft, a woman who wants to ban pit bulls and many other breeds as service dogs. My wife’s dog has a big head and looks like a pit bull, though she’s actually a Boxer mix, possibly with Greyhound. Ellen Taft definitely has it out for pit bull type dogs, but also mentioned that, among other breeds, Greyhounds shouldn’t be service dogs because, and I quote, “A Greyhound is a very, very stupid dog. It was trained for one purpose, it was trained to run.”
I get contacted a lot by people who have fallen in love with dog training and want to learn how to become a professional dog trainer. I decided to write this blog post so that I can quickly give a helpful answer.
Continue reading How to Become a Dog Trainer in Seattle (and elsewhere)
Seattle Metropolitan Magazine has an annual Best of the City issue. As the founder of Ahimsa Dog Training, I was featured as the “Trailblazer” in Seattle Met. Fox chose three of the Trailblazers to feature on their morning show and interviewed me with my dogs at the training center in Seattle. (The dogs are Sagan – Boxer mix, Peanut – border collie / whippet, & Spoon – border collie / hound). Click here to see the Fox “Best of the Best” Interview. The video is sometimes broken, and refreshing the Fox website seems to help.
There’s a big 3D picture in the Seattle Metropolitan magazine (page 96). Thanks again to the puppy class students for putting up with the photo shoot!
A group called Families Against Breed Bans that works to block Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) in the Seattle area and elsewhere. There has been talk of creating a breed ban in Seattle for pit bulls or “fighting breeds” and I know that this is *not* the answer.
Continue reading List of Banned Breeds: Will Your Dog Be Next?
Hi folks! In May, I’m going to redesign several of the classes, including Puppy & the Basic and Better Manners classes. If you have taken any of those classes and are interested in helping us teach more effectively, I’d love your feedback. I need ideas on what you liked as well as what you didn’t. If you didn’t finish the class, why not? If you continued to the next class, why? Were you happy that you did? Just reply to this email with ideas. Thanks!
The AKC reported 30 dog thefts for January-March 2008, compared to 10 in the entire year for 2007.
I don’t know the rest of the trend (maybe 2007 was a really low year?) but the AKC is worried and so am I.
Continue reading It’s 2 a.m. Do you know where Fido is? Dog Theft on the Rise
Is your dog a stubborn Donkey Dog? A lot of dogs pull forward on leash, but some dogs and many puppies pull *backward* or refuse to walk. This happens to French Bulldogs and English Bulldogs all the time! Pulling harder or luring with a treat only makes the problem worse, so what should you do to help your dog or puppy get moving?!
From StopCanineObesity.com: “The numbers are startling. Recent studies show that while veterinarians estimate 47% of their canine clients are overweight, only 17% of dog owners believe their dogs fit that description.”
Continue reading Is My Dog Fat? How to Tell Your Dog is Overweight
I’m very happy to announce that the details have finally been hammered out and Ahimsa is going to host a dog trainer workshop by Kathy Sdao in Seattle this summer. The I-Cue seminar is open to professional dog trainers and regular dog owners who have interest in taking their training a big step further. Click for seminar info & registration.
Continue reading Kathy Sdao Dog Trainer Workshop in Seattle 2008
I just made a quick video of my dog, Peanut, at Magnuson Off Leash Park in Seattle. I have him do the same chain of ten behaviors twice in a row: wait, spin, jump, heel, left turn, right turn, wait, come, sit, and carwash. There are a few dogs that Peanut just met at the dog park, for distraction.
I’ve been asked by dog training clients several times about my opinion on the Invisible Fence. The short answer is that I really, really don’t like shock fencing; I think it’s inhumane. Watch the video below, which shows several humans wearing a shock collar, for an indication of what it might be like for a dog to wear a shock collar. Continue reading Dog Fences: Invisible vs. Visible
There have been news reports of dogs in West Seattle that may have been poisoned with rat poison on dog treats, bones, etc, strewn about Westcrest and Fauntleroy parks where dogs run off leash (though possibly, they shouldn’t anyway, as I think they aren’t off leash parks).
Continue reading West Seattle Dog Poisoning
The Saturday puppy classes are changing times somewhat. The good news is that we now have a play time for bigger dogs – under 30 pounds instead of just 20 and for tiny dogs under 15 pounds. Continue reading Puppy class and play time changes
Everybody knows that chocolate is bad for dogs, but do you know how much is too much? That 7 raisins could kill your dog? Or that onions are bad for dogs? Or that garlic is also toxic for dogs? Continue reading Chocolate, Raisins and Other Foods Toxic to Dogs
Have you ever taken a dog training class and then not done the homework? I have. I’ve also done months of PT and struggled to get through the homework. I just never had time, and the dog training ended up being at the end of the to-do list. The cure? Continue reading Dog Training for Busy People
Fixing dog behavior problems isn’t just about training the dog. Many times, a “management” solution, where you change the environment instead of changing the dog, is the best way to go. Continue reading Sagan and the Blanket – Thinking Inside the Box
If you have tried a harness and that’s not enough to safely walk your dog, the Comfort Trainer head collar is a great way to reclaim your walk from your pulling dog. The collar portion of the Comfort Trainer head collar should fit fairly snugly, but not as tight as you might fit for the Gentle Leader. You want the collar on tight enough that if the nose portion does come off, the collar itself stays on. Continue reading Comfort Trainer head halter – fitting
Why do breeders continue to breed dogs that are not of sound temperament? The dogs meet the AKC beauty standards, but dogs can be dangerous, and living with an aggressive dog has a huge effect on our lives and the life of the dog. We should be breeding for calm, happy golden retrievers, labs, pit bulls, pomeranians, chihuahuas, etc. Temperament needs to be placed over beauty. Can’t we make a law? Continue reading Breeding Dogs for Temperament
It’s official. The “Dog Whisperer” TV show uses outdated, inhumane dog training methods. I’m so happy to have found out that it’s not just me, or the many, many dog trainers that I know – in Seattle and around the world – that think the Dog Whisperer show has done more harm than good.
Everyone has been so afraid to say anything possibly libelous, but it’s just the truth, and we need to stop hurting these dogs.The American Humane Association, founded in 1887, officially announced late last summer that they found the techniques on the “Dog Whisperer” inhumane, and stated that the National Geographic Channel should take Cesar Millan’s show off of the air as soon as possible. Continue reading Dog Whisperer Training Techniques Inhumane
