February '06

Cleveland's Source for Dog Training News and Information

Dog Events Around Town

BowWow Ballroom Boogie

Saturday, February 4, 2006 - 7pm 'til we drop!

A Benefit Event for The Sanctuary for Senior Dogs:

Come Festive, Come as You Are, Come for the DOGS!

• Exhibitions start at 7pm and FREE Group Dance Lessons start at 7:30pm.
• Giveaways, Raffles, Refreshments and MORE!!!

All proceeds will help save the lives of senior dogs abandoned in Ohio shelters and pounds.

Tickets: $20 in advance or $25 at the door.

For more information or for advance ticket purchase, please contact Carmen at 440-449-5493.

Event Location:
ALL ABOUT DANCIN'
2115 Freeman Drive
Cleveland, OH 44113

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Seminar: Learn the Exhilarating Sport of Flyball

Saturday, February 11, 2006 - ALL DAY
Sunday, February 12, 2006 - HALF DAY

Come learn from Russel Rex, the current World Record holder of the most points earned in a single season (29,058 pts) with his Border Collie, Divit. Divit is a 2-time top pointed Dog of the Year for '04 and '05. He holds every title in Flyball plus a 60,000-point award! Russell is the owner of Extreme Insanity Flyball Team (NAFA #527) and his teams run consistently in the 17-second range.

This seminar will teach you and your dog to run Flyball, and many dogs will be able to complete the full run by the end of the seminar!

Hosted by Fur In A Blur Flyball Club, NAFA #681

Location: Elyria, Ohio

Price to attend with dog is $125 (lunch is provided).
Price to audit without dog $50.

To sign up or for more information, email furinablur@aol.com
or call Robin at 440-669-5866.

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Make A Braided Tug Toy

Make your dog a fun tug toy using just a few small pieces of polar fleece!

Supplies Needed:

• Polar Fleece in several different colors - you'll need three rectangular pieces, each about 4 inches wide by 20 inches long. Of course, you can make it any size that you want for a bigger or smaller dog, but keep the width and length proportional.
• Scissors - to cut the polar fleece pieces to size and trim the ends
• The ability to make a simple braid
• A dog to play tug with!

Step One:
Cut three rectangular pieces of polar fleece that are all the same size. For the sample toy, the pieces were approximately 4 inches wide by 18 inches long. Fortunately, with this project it's not critical that your measurements are exact and you can use up scraps of polar fleece to make this toy. Cut the strips to be a few inches longer than the finished toy, as this makes it easier to tie the knots at each end and the ends can be trimmed after the braiding is finished.

Step Two:
Hold all three pieces of fleece together and tie a simple knot at one end. Pull very tightly to be sure that the knot is very secure.

Step Three:
Braid the three strands of polar fleece together. Pull each piece tightly as you make the braid. The tighter you can make the braid, the more durable the toy will be and the longer it will last!

Keep braiding until there is about four inches of unbraided fabric left.

Step Four:
With your scissors, trim the width of the remaining ends to about half of the width that you started with. (You can trim this ahead of time - or at after you've made the braid.)

Make one or two more braid crosses and then make the final knot. The second knot will be a bit smaller than the one at the top.

Another idea is to make the length of the fleece fabric pieces extra long and after the last knot leaveg three "tails" of fleece. Lots of dogs like to chase the fleece tails just as much as they love to tug on the braid.

Step Five:
Have Fun!

 

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Pet/Family Portraits at North Coast Dogs!

In January, our pet/family portrait studio opened at North Coast Dogs' Lakewood/West Cleveland location... The Studio at North Coast Dogs is a full service pet and family portrait studio.  We've had a lot of fun so far, and look forward to seeing you soon!

View some of our January studio stars by clicking here.

Key features include:

Questions about the studio can also be emailed to Mari Towslee at mari@northcoastdogs.com.

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"The Gift of Bad Behavior" by Ed Dickson

You’re driving home from the office thinking, “It’s been a hard day at work, my boss drove me crazy today, I wish the expectations were straightforward. If only I had a clearer idea of how to do my part for the team. I just can’t wait to get home and unwind.”

On the other side of that door to your house, your dog is thinking, “I can’t wait for my providers to get home. I’ve been waiting here all day for them to get here and tell me how to do my job. I’m going to do my job really well today so maybe I will please them better than ever. I’m really ready to go today!”

The inevitable clash of expectations from this scenario is very common between dogs and the people that own them. Many of us get dogs to help us specifically with the times of stress like the one described. We also expect our dogs to provide us unconditional love and companionship. This is the great vision we have until the day we are too tired to provide direction and our dogs are ready to work, ready to do “their part for the team”. Balance in training is important to ensure that this clash heads the right way instead of the direction that will end with your canine in a shelter or, worse yet, euthanized.

So, what does this mean? How do we achieve this balance and most important, how do we do it while benefiting both ourselves and our dogs? Here are some helpful tips to achieve this balance and maybe help change your thought process towards your dogs “bad” behavior.

Something to remember: The behavior your dog, or any animal, is offering is only “bad” to us. The behavior to them is simply a way to get the desired result. Try to avoid the trap of humanizing the behavior in some way. For example, dogs don’t try to “get back” at us, they just try to earn a valuable resource. If stealing an easily accessible shoe gets your attention AND ends in a fun game of chase, well, why wouldn’t the behavior continue? Manage your environment until you can install some basic, expected behaviors. This way, you have a foundation with which to be proactive and build upon instead of falling into the trap of being reactive to what your dog has done.

As difficult as it may be sometimes, focus on the positives your dog has to offer. If the positives are getting reinforced, those behaviors will be offered more frequently. If negative patterns have been established, step back and think about what exactly it is you would like the dog to stop doing. Next, consider how to remove the reinforcement for the negative behavior. What is it that you would like the dog to do instead? What steps could you take to get the dog to offer the desired behavior? Finish the job by reinforcing what you do want (high praise, food, toys, fetch, tug, etc.).

Last, keeping yourself in a positive frame of mind will be essential to sending the proper signals to your dog. A fun way to do this is to, instead of getting angry about what your dog has done, think of it as a neat little gift. When your dog has done something that you don’t like, they are doing a nice job of pointing out what you need to work on in a positive, fun training session. In a sense, your dog is guiding you towards what your next training session should look like. As you install more positive behaviors and remember to use them in daily life, the negative behaviors will decrease and your training sessions will become more fun. Along with this, you will be providing very clear boundaries and the structure that your dog absolutely needs to do the jobs you would like them to be doing. Structure and boundaries in our jobs really makes life much easier. With a little time and positive interaction, you can make life much easier for your dog to offer the behaviors you would really like as well.

Now, about your boss……

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Just For Fun

From "Planet Dog – A Doglopedia" by Sandra and Harry Choron

8 Weird Laws About Dogs

1. In Palding, Ohio a police officer may bite a dog to quiet him.
2. It is illegal for anyone in Zion, Illinois, to give lighted cigars to dogs, cats and other domesticated animals kept as pets.
3. Cats and dogs are not allowed to have sex without a permit in Ventura County, California.
4. People who make “ugly faces” at dogs in Oklahoma may be fined and or jailed.
5. The animal code of Northbrook, Illinois stipulates that dog may not bark for more than fifteen minutes at a time.
6. Since the 1980’s a council ordinance has explicitly prohibited defecation in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, by any animal, including dogs, Constipated canines were thrilled when this law was repealed in 2002.
7. In Hartford, Connecticut, it is illegal to educate dogs.
8. In North Carolina, it is against the law for dogs and cats to fight.

 

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Event Calendar

View printable version of this calendar.

Sign up for a class online.

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