Sit, Stay and Play » Pets

Socialization Scavenger Hunt

Jules Nye — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:00:22 +0000

Socialization Scavenger Hunt

Here is a list of things to socialize your puppy around. Remember, socialization is exposure with pleasant consequences to teach acceptance of new experiences. Common sense goes a long way when socializing a puppy. If your puppy seems hesitant, go slower, let the puppy approach the person (not vice-versa), use rewards like food, praise and petting when the puppy does investigate something he was unsure of, and never force a puppy (this only creates fear issues later).

Ten different healthy, happy small dogs
Ten different healthy, happy big dogs
Ten different calm, well behaved, gentle children
Ten different calm, well behaved, gentle teenagers
Thirty different calm, well behaved, gentle adults
Ten tall people
Ten average height people
Ten short people
Ten people wearing glasses
Ten people wearing hats or hoods
Fifty different sounds
Five things red
Five things blue
Five things orange
Five things green
Five things purple
Five things yellow
One body of water, river, stream, or pool
Ten different vehicles
Ten things that are not in your house
Fifteen things you can only find outside
Twenty different ring tones
Five different surfaces (sand, grass, concrete, etc)
Five shiny things
Twenty different dog toys
One fence
Five street signs
One crate or dog bed
Touch each paw twice a day for one week
Twenty other people to touch or pet the puppy
Twenty other people to give the puppy a treat
See, be near, or interact with supervision, three other animals (cat, horse, etc)
Sniff on a walk at least five times, for at least ten walks
Respond to at least one easy cue (sit, target, paw, etc) in ten different situations (you’re sitting, standing, laying in bed, mowing the grass, carrying in the groceries, etc), in at least three different environments (outside, at your friend’s house, etc)
Eat a treat in twenty different environments (your house, outside, the vet’s, a friend’s house, on a walk, in the car, etc)

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Stupid Dog Don’ts That People Do

Jules Nye — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:29:01 +0000

This post is intended to be read by people with a sense of humor, because it points out and pokes fun at how we “more intelligent higher species” can be so dumb.

I think I have seen and heard my, your, and your brother’s fair share of stupid dog don’ts that people do. Even to this day there are still times I shake my head and think, “What?!?!!?” Here are my favorite top five:

1. Bite your dog on the ear. - This has got to be my absolute favorite. Why in heaven’s sake would you deliberately put your face near the pointy end of a reactive dog? Even better, who actually thinks they are fast enough to not get bit? Why would causing pain be a good idea in the first place and what is it supposed to teach?

2. Reach your hand out to strange dogs so they can sniff you. — This one is good for a chuckle. Like the dog can’t smell you unless you reach out your hand. Like we live in an invisible force-field immune to a dog’s sniffer. Besides that “duh” factor, how smart is it to reach right for the face of a strange dog? Believe it or not, that’s quite rude to do to a dog.

3. Train my dog not to bite my kid even while he’s: pulling his tail, smooshing his face, hugging him, using him to learn how to stand and grabbing onto his fur with a vice grip, smacking him, pulling his whiskers, yelling in his ear, etc, etc, etc. No, sorry I can’t. Because every living creature has their breaking point and constantly pushing your dog past his by bad parenting and lack of supervision can’t be fixed without realizing your kid can’t treat the dog like crap. Sorry. Get a stuffed animal for your kid to play with. I always want to drop the professional politically correct nature of myself and ask people, “Can I poke your eye, yell into your ear, steal your lunch right out of your hand, grab your husband’s ass, and anything else I can think of that is just completely crossing every boundary of respect and personal space and see how you like me?”

4. That dog must be friendly because his tail is wagging. — Yet another popular thought many people believe (and usually followed by stupid human faux pas #2.) Understanding basic canine body language is not too difficult and the big fat rule numero uno is look at the whole dog! Even if you don’t take into consideration the environment or any triggers, and zone into just the tail there are an array of tail movements and carriages. Is it low, high, stiff, only wagging at the top, fast, slow, hair standing up on it, methodically back and forth.…

5. Saying a cue over and over until physically making the dog do it. — An example of this would be, “Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit.Sit. Sit.Sit. Sit.Sit. Sit.Sit. Sit.Sit. Sit.Sit. Sit.Sit. Sit.Sit. Sit! SIT!” and then just pushing the dog’s bum. I never got that. Why waste your breath? Clearly the dog doesn’t understand “sit” in the environment he’s in or there is zero motivation to do so. Either way, it’s silly to nag your dog. Next time, just bring a block of cheese with you or train for generalization around distractions if you expect results. Just because a dog can sit in the kitchen doesn’t mean he will at the vet’s. That’s the same as assuming a new driver can drive on the interstate just because they drove around the block a few times. Sorry, you can’t have my car keys.

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