Walls might keep others out, but gates let in the puppy magic...

I trust you are all enjoying spring weather which has finally arrived!  The playgroup dogs and I certainly have been and if there is no reason to go inside, we simply stay out.  SO nice.

As of last year I have been wanting to replace the main gate to the yard.  The old one was a tad too short for my liking, and was starting to look pretty shabby.

As my driveway is exactly 8' wide, I have been waiting for "the perfect height" fence panel, because life just isn't worth it unless I am constantly on mission impossible.  And heaven forbid I simply go to a fence supply store and tell them what I want.  Then while browsing Craigslist the other day, I spotted the perfect panel.  4 1/2' x 8'.  Right?  How perfect is that?

So, with a whole bunch of help from friends, the new gate was transported, constructed and hung.  I am beside myself with how much I love it.  It's super sturdy, tongue and groove and short enough that I can easily see over.  There is a sweet double latch system going on to soothe that neurotic woman inside me  who constantly reminds me of everything that could possibly go wrong (even though nothing she tries to convince me of has ever even come close to happening).

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, The Gate.

4/15 is Marathon Monday

Just a friendly reminder that Monday, April 15th is Marathon Monday.  If you have the day off and do not need Happy Dog's services, please let me know.  As always, if I do not hear from you, any regularly scheduled care will happen as usual.

Thanks!

must... reach... bush... and the front clip harness

I'd like to start this off with commending anyone who regularly walks their dog.  It provides so much that is essential to a dog's (and our) well being, not to mention how much something as simple as a walk can help build the dog/owner relationship in general.  However, one of the things that can take away from a walk is leash pulling.

A quick lesson on leash pulling:

If your dog pulls you towards something (vegetation, an entrance/exit, another dog, food, etc.), and you allow it to reach the something with the leash anything other than slack, the pull is positively reinforced.  You have basically given your dog a big juicy treat for keeping the leash tight while dragging you towards something.  The positive reinforcement (treat) is reaching the desired location.  That's it.  If we never allowed our dogs to reach the desired location from the very beginning, and reinforced a slack leash, our dogs would never pull.  It's really that simple.

Yes, you might say, that is all fine and good, but that is not how we started, my dog pulls and I want it to ease up.  Is there something that an help me with this since it is already an unwanted behavior?  The great news is that there are tools out there which help with the pulling issue!

I have recommended the following product to a bunch of people and gotten back a lot of success stories, so I thought why not tell everyone?  After all, the people have a right to know.

THE FRONT CLIP HARNESS

I personally think the front clip harness is quite possibly one of the coolest anti-pull tools on the market.    In fact, I give anything clip 5 big shiny gold stars.  Now I have always just used a roman (or standard) style harness with the metal ring on the chest and clipped it to that ring, but I really like the design and ease of the front clip harness and I own one of those as well.  Obviously, it's totally up to you how you want to handle it (if you even want to handle it).

Ember modeling the (front clip) Easy Walk Harness:

Tommy modeling a roman (or standard) style harness, used as a front clip:

The idea behind the front clip harness is that you now control the dog's center of gravity, sort of like how you can control something the size of a horse with a measly head halter.  They have to follow the front of their body, they don't have a choice.  Gravity and kinetic energy mandates it so.  So when your dog begins to pull, you can easily redirect their center of gravity, consistently show them the correct thing to do and reinforce the good behavior, and presto, one day the pulling ends completely.  Well, provided you are consistent and uphold your end of the bargain.  Or other people have luck with simply putting the harness on and walking without pulling.  The harness does all the work.  It's up to you if you want to back it up with training or not.  The thing to remember is you can change your dog's behavior any time you'd like, it just takes consistency.  Put the front clip harness on and do not reinforce pulling while it is on.

Regular collars and back clip harnesses cannot help you do this.  It was explained to me like this:  Put your hand in the area of someone's chest (neck not recommended) and lightly push.  What do they do?  They lean into it so they can maintain their control/balance.  This is the exact same concept of the collar and/or harness that is clipped on the back D ring.  Not only does it offer very little by way of control, the "push" of the collar or harness simply makes your dog "push" (or pull) back even harder.  It is natural instinct to do so.  Also, I'm really keen on redirecting rather than dragging away.  Just saying.

Keep in mind that I'm a big harness fan in general.  It keeps your dog's body language very clear where collars can sometimes cause them to go into a position they do not mean to portray.  When a collar is pulled back on from above, the head goes up, the chest comes out, the body is stiff to maintain balance and the poor dog is now challenging any dog who approaches it to a potential fight.  How lousy is that?  I personally believe a lot of leash aggression gets started due to simple leash mismanagement.

#1 thing to remember is a dog does not pull itself, which means you are 50% of the problem.  Some people would even go so far as to say you are 100% the problem as the dog doesn't know any better until you communicate (and positively reinforce) it to be otherwise.  Do you love that or what?  First time I read that I was all, "Pfff!  Yeah, okay trainer person!  SO the expert!  Because there was...  uh...  that time...  and sometimes he...  he...  should just magically know better because that would mean less work for me...  *sigh*".  And then I stopped blaming my dog.  Because I now feel silly for doing it.  Nothing changes my perception faster than feeling a fool.  ;)  Now, instead of walking the dog, I am walking with the dog.

Remember everyone, we got them into this situation.  It's not like they came knocking on the door one day asking if we needed a dependent who we could be frustrated with every time we go out for a much needed walk.  ;)  

I hope this helped!  Happy walking!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2/18 Presidents Day

Hello! I hope this finds everyone well after the blizzard. 

2/18 is Presidents Day and I know a lot of people have it off. As usual, Happy Dog will provide any usual scheduled care unless I hear otherwise from you.

Take care and stay warm!

To hold you over...

I have a couple of things I am planning on writing about and I will probably get to it this weekend.  :)  Until then, enjoy.

The latest...

Some things have been going on here at Happy Dog and now that the holidays are over and gone and everything has gone back to normal, I thought I would fill in the gap that I am hoping you can forgive me for.  I had a little while there where I didn't have much to say, and then the holidays hit and OOF.  I sure loved how action packed it was while it happened, but it's nice to be back to normal.

A little before the holidays, my old dog Jimmy faded completely health wise, and as I could no longer justify making him continue, I went ahead and let my buddy of 13 years go.  Though it was absolutely the right decision, I miss him terribly.  He was such a good guy, and I very much doubt there will be another like the James.

Once Jim had passed on, Tabitha started to deteriorate at a rapid pace.  She had already been having a very tough time with the transition from her usually low key, quiet life, where she was used to my undivided attention, to the very busy schedule, go go go, constant traffic of other dogs, Happy Dog life style.  I personally believe that the absence of her constant companion (she had Jim with her since 9 weeks of age) was just too much for her to bear on top of the life style switch.  She became a very different dog than I was used to, sad and obviously not enjoying life at all.  I tried to help her along but nothing really helped and she continued on her downtrodden downward spiral.  Two of my close friends who love her (and are adored by her), had offered to take her for breaks here and there before Jim was gone.  They had backed off after Jim was gone, not wanting to double whammy me.  I ended up discussing it with them and Tabitha went to spend some time at their home.  She was picked up on a day she was completely despondent due to the day presenting a larger and more boisterous playgroup, and she never looked back.  She was transformed.  The undivided attention paired with one older (and awesome) Scotty dog to spend her time with throughout the day was exactly what she needed.  I was sent picture after picture of the happy looking Tabitha I remember.  Due to the immediate and obvious change, my friends and I decided she could simply stay with them until the end of her days.  As much as I miss Tabitha, I cannot think of a better situation for her to be in and it is clear she cannot either.  She comes to visit, and as much as we are psyched to see each other, she heads for the door when it is time to go and never looks back.  It's a bittersweet situation.  I might miss Tabitha, but I love her enough that I would rather her away from me and happy, than with me and miserable.  She's too good a girl to deny that to.

Luckily for me, I have two long term boarders so when I was personally "dogless" I had these two cuties to keep me company while I finished up the holiday madness and then started to decide what to do without a furry partner in crime.

Izzi & Lexie

As much as I was reminded that I am surrounded by dogs all the time, and as much as I might love them all like they are my own, it's not the same as having my own.  After making certain Tabitha was completely happy in her new (and that her new home was completely happy with her), I started looking around for another buddy who needed a home.  I ended up finding a little one online and filled out the adoption application.  And that is how I ended up with little Tommy Two Guns Gone Fishing.  Tommy came into my life 1/12/2013 at 12 weeks of age and he is really doing well.  He's a really good little guy.  

Ready to pick up the Playgroup!

Making friends is exhausting...

Not only is he doing wonderfully, everyone who comes into my home is doing wonderfully with him.  I truly cannot think of a better group of dogs to show a new puppy the ropes of life.  They are all so patient, fun and understanding all while teaching him how to have excellent boundaries.  If only all puppies could be this lucky.  

Ember & Tommy

Riggins & Tommy

After he is a little older, I am planning to get him out and about where other people and dogs play.  If anyone knows any super great local areas to take your dog to, please, let me know.

I am going to try and stay abreast of this blog a little better than I have in the past.  

If there is anything you would like discussed or reviewed, you just let me know and I will do my best on that subject matter.

Have a tail wagging type of day!