Loss of Great Friends

We have had a few losses over the last 12 months with dogs that we are personally close to.   This happens in dog training, because dogs just don't live as long as we do.  It is the one truly sucky part of dog ownership, in my opinion, and knowing dogs in general.   You are going to loose them.

Mid last year, our clients and friends lost Petey at just 3 years old.   Petey is a Giant Schnauzer that I trained, and has spent a lot of time here.  He looked healthy enough as a puppy, but turned out he had hip and knee problems.  He also developed very serious epileptic seizures.   You can not imagine how difficult it was on his owners when he died.   Awful, and he was such a great boy that just loved to give love and have fun.  He also lived with Magoo CD (Great Dane) and Lucey (Westie that has brought up two huge dogs ).

I actually have better pictures than this on my crashed computer.   Ones where he is helping and carrying a backpack as I pick up walking clients.   Petey was the best, and I wish his body could have kept up with his spirit.

Puppy Petey

Petey in the red bedroom.

Petey on Long Sands

Close up of puppy Petey.

Right before he died, Petey and I hang on the couch watching a bit of tely.

A couple of months ago, our clients and friends lost their dog Roxie to stomach cancer. It came on very quickly. Roxie was maybe my very first client in York Maine after we moved from Worcester Mass. She has also been my boarding and daycare client since 2005 or so. Roxie was my husband's very favorite client dog:) They had a little love affair going on. She was very good friends with my dogs, and most of the dogs that came here. I am glad that my dogs do not know that she is gone. She was friend to cats, dogs, and humans alike.

Magoo, Harley, Roxie, and Petey all share nicely and nap.

Tired Roxie.

Roxie and Harley enjoying each other.

The buds:  Leon, Boris, Roxie and Harley ripping it up at the beach.

Boris in the front, Magoo pestering Harley, and Roxie in the back.   I used to ride the bike that you see around the yard with them:)   Good times.  Well I still do ride the bike around, and I hope Roxie is somewhere still enjoying that.

Pals napping on the "dog couch".   Harley, Leon, and Roxie share very nicely and squish themselves together.

Majestic Roxie.

Roxie and Harley flank, Hannah, Pearly, and Katie (if you look behind everyone there is a little black American Pitbull Terrier name of Gigi).   All these ladies got along remarkably enough:)

I was riling Roxie all up just to get this picture.

Yesterday, our clients and friends lost their beloved Katie at age 13. She is a Springer who has lived with her litter mate Hannah during her life. Hannah came to us in 2006 for training, as she suddenly started going after her sister, Katie. The relationship was repaired, and they went on peacefully into old age together. Katie had recently gone totally deaf, and Hannah is now loosing her hearing as well.

These older ladies have been doted and loved up on by their family. This is a truly sad loss for all who knew these dogs. Hannah has never been without her sister, even when she came here for training. Both Hannah and Katie were great friends to my dogs, including my deceased Jazzy and Jackie. I used to sing a song to them "Hannah's bananas, but Katie she is crazy!". Katie was a giant living teddy bear, who also could blow you off with a smile complete with tongue hanging out. Hannah is more subtle in the ways that she got your attention, and can be a complete clown. Two very different sisters, but two very special dogs with their own individual personalities that worked like ying and yang.

Katie (black and white), Hannah, and I walking along Long Sands.

Katie and Hannah posing for me on a rock in my yard.

Hannah is in front of an English Springer, Pearly.  Katie is next to Great Dane, Harley.  Jackie is the red dobie to the right, and Leon is the red dobie to the left.

Leon, Jackie, Katie, Pearly, Hannah, Roxie, and Harley all pose for me:)

That is Katie peering up at me from under my desk.

Hannah laughs at messy Katie.   We had just walked through the woods near the wetlands, and Katie, of course, submerged herself like a hippo in the water.   Hannah always travels the same terrain but manages to stay clean.

Another view of swamp thing, Katie.

Katie "Will you quit laughing at me?"

Katie "If I rub hard enough, can I get it off?"

Katie "I know, I know, I am cute.   Now please get me out of this."

There are probably more than a few older dogs that I don't know have passed on yet.   Several that I trained from Worcester Mass, but that I have lost touch with  were older dogs.   It is truly one sad part of this business.   You get to know and fall deeply in love with these dogs, and then in one moment they are gone.   On the other hand, if I have done my job correctly, they had an amazing life and partnership with their human:)

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Bristol 4 Month Old Puggle Boy

Look at this cutey, who came for a visit.   This puppy was so much fun, and hopefully he will continue to visit:)

Bristol on the longe line (not training just hanging out).

Bristol trots after his pals Leon and Boris.

Bristol says "hey there" to Emerson.

Bristol watches his buds coming over to check in.

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APDT's Gotta Have a Gimmick---See Their Newest One C.L.A.S.S

The Association of Pet Dog Training has, in my opinion, encouraged the divide between dog trainers and dog training.   Click on the APDT topic to see my other articles and discussions on this.  They are not an honest professional organization as they limit what topics can be discussed in dog training, engage in double speak, yet still try to keep their market share by pandering to their "targeted market".   APDT is all about marketing and dollars, and not, in my opinion, about dog training, dog owners, or dogs.  I could go on and on about all the things they have tried to brand, and the language that they have attempted to redefine.   I could expand on how they like to manipulate the naive public with these things.   Do some research on this organization, it's founders, and it's history and you will find out for yourself.

When I saw the tweet blip by yesterday, I mistakenly thought that they may have thrown out their multiple choice exam that many pass easily without even studying for one that might measure dog training based on measurable standards, and thus the ability of the dog trainer.  How naive do I remain?  I should have known better.

Let me start this by saying there exists numerous tests of a dog's behavior in real life situations.  AKC's (American Kennel Club) Canine Good Citizen (CGC), Obedience Trials from Companion Dog to Working Dog (CD and Up), Puppy STAR Program, American Temperament Test Society (ATTS), and the UKC's (United Kennel Club's) similar obedience venues.  AKC even dumbed down obedience trials to what they call "rally".

So why does APDT now need to be promoting their self proclaimed "C.L.A.S.S".  It's all about furthering their agenda, which in my opinion IS NOT about promoting positive training (which we all do).  It's about promoting their illusionary niche market, and dividing dog trainers even further apart.  If they simply wanted people to know that you can positively train a dog (let's just pretend every dog has the same history here, temperament, and had a perfect upbringing with no problems) to a standard, they would simply show up at many of the trials and tests available in their area and steal the show.  Their members would stop talking about how "Rally" is more like real life because you can say a command a thousand times and treat your dog.   Oh, yeah, APDT runs their own Rally trials as well, which are much more super difficult because you need your dog to do so many more things.   Reliability in the world with one command is not stressed at all, because that is not so important.

I am not saying that APDT members don't go to trials, I am saying that their motivation is not to promote training to a standard.   Their promotion is their niche market or the illusion of purely positive.   To some, purely positive would include no leash, no collar because that is restrictive to a dog.  I find training a dog to be off leash reliable is a lot more doable when you start with a leash and a collar.  In fact, I have many clients come to me because they fell for the "puppies follow you anywhere, you don't need a leash and collar".   Yeah, that is until puppy becomes an adolescent and realizes that while you are very nice, there are a lot of interesting things around.   Also treats and balls will not station an untrained dog when a larger reward or distraction is around.

You need to fall for their gimmick.   I think the thing that really toasted my butt was when I read this article.  In the very first paragraph, they imply that the C.L.A.S.S. designation is going to instantly give your dog access and rights where they were not allowed previously!   Unless they have had hotels and other businesses sign off on this, there is no certificate that gives you this right.   I will tell you though, I have gotten access in areas with my dogs because the training shows while I am there.   If your training does not show, you can give a business a golden embossed certificate, and it will mean absolutely nothing to the business if they are smart.   I further worry that people will think that their dogs have the rights of service dogs by the way APDT is promoting this.

I am convinced as usual, that the Association of Pet Dog Trainers is a damaging and dangerous organization to dog owners, dogs, and dog trainers who care about their skill and about their clients' dogs.

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Looking for options on changing dog foods-we do unfortunately have a budget

My dogs have been on Innova since we purchased Boris from Doberman Rescue Unlimited one and a half years ago.   Doberman Rescue Unlimited does a lot of research on their food, and I trust their opinions (in fact I will most likely send them an e-mail regarding this).   However, Proctor and Gamble have taken over this brand (Innova), and it is expected that they will change the formula to inferior ingredients, as they have with all the other dog food brands that they have acquired.
 
Changes in my dogs' digestion have caused me to become suspicious that this has happened already.   Apparently the company does not need to notify you until six months AFTER making a change. Since I am seeing a change in ALL of my dogs' ingestion, I am going to consider myself on notice to change the food from their old brand to be safe.


There are so many ways to feed your dog that your head will start spinning as you research it.   Budget is unfortunately sometimes a factor as well.   In my case, money is indeed tight here.   So I want the very best nutrition that I can give my dogs priced close to what I have been paying a month.   I have priced out a raw type died, and the meat alone costs twice as much per day per dog.   Don't get me wrong here, my dogs are totally worth that.   Just right at this moment money is too tight.   Our own personal grocery bill (as well as our waists) have gone down due to this.  My dogs' bill has stayed the same, and will most likely increase even if we stick to another brand's quality kibble.


One of the more expensive type of diets that I would like to move to is Volhard's.  Here are some resources for being able to either make it all yourself or supplement some of it with pre-made products:


http://www.volharddognutrition.com/
http://www.volhard.com/
September healthy dog conference
Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog


I plan to use the above information to feed my dog one day.   Perhaps one day soon.   Until then though, I have been trying to select the best kibble brands at a comparable price to what I have been paying, and I am okay if they go over what I have been paying.


Here are some other online FAQs or articles on the raw diet in general  (BARF diet is Bones And Raw Food diet):


http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html
http://rawlearning.com/
http://leerburg.com/feedingarawdiet.htm
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm

Again, not in the cards right at this moment, but I am researching these ideas, as I would feel better if my dogs were on this sort of diet.  I am probably going to go into it a bit slowly, and am slightly uncomfortable with completely raw as I want to kill anything that might be lurking in raw meat and egg type of products.  So the budget is not the only reason that I am not quite ready to make a drastic switch.

So onward to good quality kibble type foods.   I don't feed my dogs the wet foods, as I believe the kibble is better for their teeth.  My dogs do get sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, bananas, and such as snacks or treats.  They love these sort of treats and they are low fat and healthy for them.  Some online sources that can help you identify the higher quality foods are as follows:

http://dogfoodanalysis.com/
http://www.dogfoodscoop.com/
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/


I find myself feeling a bit easier when I see the same brands listed at the top of each one.   You have to know that some sites will have their own agendas in doing this.   So research, know, learn about the food labels and what they are telling you so that you can use these types of sites to your advantage to help you with your research.

Since I am a professional dog trainer, I have access to my professional associations to bounce ideas off of.  Even if you don't belong to a professional association, you can use dog nutrition boards, your breeder, your trainer, your vet (though they may be pushing certain brands), and rescue groups in the area ET to inquire as to what they have found.   Having a good network of dog people can help point you in the right direction that you have a somewhat frequent contact with.
Finally, why quality dog food, isn't it just food?   We have all heard those terrible reports where contamination in dog food ends up killing pet dogs.  Part of the reason for caution and buying quality is that.   Human balanced nutrition diet helps us remain healthy and active.   It is the same for dogs, they need the nutrients that they need to be fit and healthy.   Sometimes it seems dogs are invincible, but I can assure you working with many dogs, they are not.   You want them fed well with nutrients that nourish their bodies.  The way dogs feel physically has a lot to do with their behavior as well.   Think how crabby we all feel when not eating right or waking from a hangover . 

I hope this gives others some ideas about checking on their dog's food (interestingly enough many sites have not updated the Innova information since the sale, and some sites immediately took Innova off the top brands of food).  Your dog's food is important, and to get the most nutrition that you can for your buck is important too!

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Check It Out! Does This Make You Want to Train Your Dog?

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Tommy, Leon, Rocko, and Boris Beach Days

You might see Tommy (brownish red Lab/Pit X) in many of our pictures and video.   That is because he is our temporary third dog.   His family has business in Sweden for the next year or so, and Pitbull type dogs are illegal.   So Tommy is vacationing here for a bit.   He fits in very well with both the human and canine companions here.   Tommy is a super nice dog.   Very cute too.

We have been including him in our beach adventures.   He really likes this.   Right now I keep him mostly leashed until we are alone with our dogs.   However, this next week, he has done so well, that it will be time for him to play unleashed with his new canine beach pals.   The human beach buddies are already in love with him.   He has met his canine beach pals, but just on leash.  It's quite a jump from known and trained dogs that come here, to unknown strange and untrained dogs on the beach .   So I wanted to be sure the introductions went well first.

Anyway, here are some pictures and possibly video of these events:

Boris, Leon, and Tommy posing for the camera.

Coming home Boris, Tommy, and Leon pose for the camera.

Tommy and Boris investigate the rocks.

Tommy in the front, Rocko is the next in, then Boris and Leon.

Close up Tommy.

Tommy heeling on lead while I walk Rocko.

Tommy heeling on lead, Rocko on flexi, and Leon and Boris meandering.

Boris, Leon, and Rocko walking along the water.

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Let Us Know About New England Dog Events

Because we encourage our clients to be active with their dogs and/or compete in dog sports, we update our events page frequently.   We will not advertise another businesses classes for them, but if you know of dog seminars (attendees able to bring and work with their dogs), dog trials, dog matches, dog tests (like canine good citizen or therapy dog), and dog events (festivals that allow dogs, festivals for dogs, walks for animal shelters et).

If you know of such a New England event, please e-mail us at mannerly_mutt@yahoo.com and we will list it on our events page.

You could even just comment to this post:)

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Market Square Day Portsmouth NH with Dogs

Balloons balloons balloons!

Balloons closer up.

Nice Merle Great Dane meeting Boris.

Excellent way to travel with your favorite frisbee.

Adorable puppy with one blue eye and one brown eye.

Us just standing around meeting the Merle Great Dane.

Leon and I walking through Market Square Day in Portsmouth New Hampshire.




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Local Events Page Updated

NOTE:  These are continually updated on the actual page tab.   Please go to that page regularly to find new items, as we update this page regularly.

Seminars in the New England Area:

June 22nd to 26th 2011 Pia Sylvani and Carolyn Barney “ITC: Consulting and Problem Solving” in Methuen Massachusetts

July 15th to 17th 2011 Suzanne Clothier "Relationship Assessment Tool" in Swanzey, NH

September 24th to 25th 2011 Kathy Sdao "Improve Your 'I Cue' : Learn the Science of Signals" in Hudson, MA

DVDs and Educational Materials:
International Association of Canine Professionals Past Conference DVDs

Janice Gunn DVDs for Obedience Competition Training
Rental Service for Canine Training and Related Videos

Upcoming New England Area (ME, NH, MA) Obedience Trials:

(AKC) June 23rd to June 26th 2011Lewiston-Auburn Kennel Club Inc. and Penoboscot Valley Kennel Club Cumberland County Fairgrounds 174 Bruce Hill Rd. Cumberland, ME

(AKC) August 7th 2011 Cheshire Kennel Club  Wheelock Park Park Avenue Keene, NH 03431

(AKC) September 1st to 4th Central Maine Kennel Club and Mid-Coast Kennel Club Union Fairgrounds Common Rd Union, ME

(AKC) September 2nd, 3rd, and 4th 2011 Merrimack Valley  American K9 Country 336 Route 101 Amherst, NH

(AKC) September 24th to 25th 2011 Saccarappa Obedience Club Riverton Community School 1600 Forest Ave Portland, ME

(AKC) October 14th to 16th Souhegan Kennel Club American K9 Country
336 Route 101 Amherst, NH 03031

Upcoming Show N Gos (or run thrus):

No current matches or show n gos found as yet.

Canine Good Citizen (CGC) and Therapy Dog (TDI) tests:

No current CGC or TDI tests found as yet.
Walks and Other Events That Can Involve Canines:

June 18th 2011 Kittery Maine Block Party Government Street through Wallingford Square and up Walker Street in Kittery Maine

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Alyssa Starts Place Then Send to Place

The place command is great when guests and company comes over.   Or when you want to send your dog away from you to lie down for awhile, as you get something done.   This is also a great command to use with fear aggressive dogs (have a professional trainer show you all you should know before attempting this) so they have a safe place where they will not be disturbed yet still be around guests and company (again supervised and only after consulting a professional trainer experienced with these issues).

Alyssa is not an aggressive dog, but this would be a great command for her owner to use when company comes, but may not want to have Alyssa all over them.  She is a social love bug.

Very start of training the place command (notice we need heel or at least "let's go" in order to start.

The very beginning of send to place being taught:

This eventually becomes something like this:




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Easter Bonnet Dogs Posted Late

Bella models a black velvet hat.

Bell is the picture of spring with her daisy headpiece.

Tommy models checkered red summer hat.

Tommy models checkered brown and black fall hat.

Leon models jaunty blue striped straw hat with bow.   Boris with red checked summer hat.

Leon models fall fabulous black and brown hat.   Bella allows red checkered sun hat to be on her head.  Alissa wonders how she got trapped into modeling black velvet hat, and refuses to look at the camera.

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Boris and I Training Notes

I don't know if I went into it entirely, but I am attempting to train Boris in a totally different way.   I am trying to remain  true to what little I know about the training method and how I understand it from a seminar that I went to this Spring.   I am also going to get videos on this, once we get past the basics that I learned.

I started Boris a bit earlier, but when I realized we were not going to make a United Kennel Club Event in the time frame for the only UKC trial in Maine, some personal things of importance got pushed in front of Boris's training.   That's okay, I want to take time with Boris and this new training method.  I am also switching from the American Kennel Club to the United Kennel Club, since UKC takes tripods.

A couple other things got sidelined as well, an AKC dog that I was working towards Open got an unfortunate injury that has held up his training (not injured in training by the way).   So I may switch client dogs to compete when I bring Boris in.   My goal was not only Open though, but to point as high as my skill level would allow in Novice.   That is going to be easier with my own dog, so I will concentrate mostly on Boris (and perhaps I should concentrate solely on Boris now).   I do have a contender living in house for the  next year plus though, and am asking his owner's permission if he could compete as well.   Unfortunately, a type of dog that I have worked before (while Magoo was a Great Dane and my first experience bringing to competition this breed).

That's life though, always tripping you up, so one needs to remain pliable and flexible to navigate through the obstacles.   These are the challenges that I am used to thriving on.

So my very next priority challenge, Boris and training him as completely as possible with a new method.   I have written about my experiences at the Mike Ellis seminar.   I've worked with toys and food as a reward before, but not at all like Mike Ellis.   As I understand it, people in the protection dog training sports might be more familiar with this method and the people that have been fine tuning it.  As with anything, getting actual results is a bit more complicated then just whipping out a toy and food:)

What I like about this method, is it is much fun for the both of us while getting results AND quite a good workout for the both of us.   While I am no competitor in freestyle dance with dog or expert, it very much the same reasons that I am interested in that sport, but with more of an advantage towards obedience training (or protection sport training) your dogs, I think.   Seems that way from observing the folks that do this sort of work anyway, which I got to see in abundance in the seminar.   Strongest training that I have seen from a group to date of any method.   Now, mind you, many people were into dog sports.   That means that a certain amount of careful planning of their dog of choice was made more so than the general public (regarding physical fitness, temperament, screening out potential health problems in the lines, and picking out certain breeds).   For instance, there were no small breeds that actually went to work in the seminar.   All attendees there were very much into training their dogs.  

So I am testing this out with my dog, Boris, who is of a typical Doberman pet dog temperament.   He seems to be the type of dog (also Leon and my deceased dog Jazz) that would benefit from and thrive with this method.  He is not physically perfect (only having three legs) but he is otherwise healthy with plenty of drive, and quite easy to motivate with a toy or food or attention or fun or adventure...

Here are the things that I have been struggling with or to get over in switching to a new method for training my dog (not yet clients dogs and I will list the many reasons for that shortly):

• Often times my other method goes faster towards distractions, and because of this, I will work my dog when daycare group or other dogs in training are around.   However, with this training method not only are those distractions a bit much at first for keeping the dog's attention (or not as quickly overcome), but I can inhibit the dog I am training by commanding another dog trying to get into the game by doing something or correcting that dog even if it is just a harsher tone of voice.  Since you are working with drive, you want to keep up the enthusiasm and drive of the dog and build upon it.
• Way more management of things, since I am avoiding even the gentlest of corrections when starting out with Boris.   It may be that I am unbalanced, and I will balance out the need later on as I get more familiar.   I have to think a lot more now, because this is unfamiliar, as to how I am going to handle a situation.  Luckily, Boris isn't going to do much very bad.   He did start out with the training that my other four dogs had received.
• With the other method, it is easier to sort of fake being enthusiastic and into it on an off day.   With this new method, I need to get into the mood, there is no faking.   This is a plus as well.
• Since Boris is a tripod, these sessions are done optimally in the earlier part of the day before he has wrestled with all of daycare, and run through the woods.    Having to use one front leg does tire him out more than the same drive dog with four legs.   Though he has more energy and drive than most four legged pet dogs that I know.  If I miss the earlier spot, I can get him going with food but I gotta work twice as hard .
• Get dinged up a lot starting this, and especially as I don't have the skill that someone else does in handling the toys in a straight line while moving.  Got a hole in one pants leg, and another in a sweat shirt to demonstrate.
• I have to be a lot more physically fit to endure the training sessions.   Again, this is also a plus.
• Not to mention that the handler has to really work at being engaging, which is a real plus.   However, it does take a real  amount of work and concentration when you are not used to working with a dog at their peak drive and needing to bring them their WITH you.

I love this method as it really is a team and bond building training method that based on what I have seen works in spades at least for the dog with the right temperament.   Again, I am not really sure how this would work for a more unstable or a substantially unstable dog, and I am not looking at it from that angle at the moment.   Plus, if you were to teach this to clients, your clients would need to be healthy and physically active more so than the other method that I normally use.

However, I am very excited about this for the right dog/human teams in the future, and to bring it to AKC and UKC obedience for my personal teams (being me and my dog right now).

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