The key to survive a teenager dog

Anybody who has had a teenager dog knows it is not an easy task. They stop listening, they have tons of energy and nowhere to put it and they just become uncivilized brats. To those who have not had a teenager dog this might feel overwhelming.

The feeling of being a failure

I know so many who when they have their first teenager they feel worthless and like they fail as dogowners. Having a dog wasn't meant to be this way! It was supposed to be my best friend, it was supposed to be nice and good company - not this, this.... (sigh of even thinking the thought of the words about to be said) monster.

Well trust me, it is normal and you are in no way a failure. If you are a low energy person and the dog is a high energy dog, you will have a really difficult time ahead of you and many usually just give up and sell the dog because they don't want to deal with it. But if you just follow the following tips, I know you can end up having the best dog there could be. Cause it is after the teenager period that the real fun begins!

Building a foundation

When the dog is a puppy, you are building the foundation of what dog the dog will become as an adult. Make a list of what situations you want this dog to be able to handle. Being around people, accept visitors, behave in the car, be able to stay on command, come when called, wait for a ok command to eat the food, drop things on command, handle grooming, nailclipping and handling, etc.

The environmental things the dog should be able to handle you need to expose the puppy to as much as you can to make it everyday life. Sit still and relax in the places you want the dog to be able to relax and just wait for the puppy to get tired and fall asleep cause nothing is happening. Then you just go home when the puppy has had a nap.

The commands that are important such as wait, come, stay, down, sit, not pulling the leash and so on you will focus on. Nevermind the partytricks for now. Just focus on a working everyday life like housebreaking the puppy.

When you build up frames in the puppyhood of what the everyday life should look like, you can hold on tight to these frames when the dog is a teenager. Do not trust the dog when it's a teenager, it will not come when called. Practice it while the dog is in a very long leash and a harness. Not collar - it can cause a whiplash. Always use a harness when in a long leash. Not the rolling leash, the dog feels when it pulls in the harness and knows it's not loose. The long leash is just a seatbelt in case the dog would choose to bolt off. Practice coming when called, run away when it runs towards you and play when it "caught" you and then play and give treat, put on collar or clip the leash into the collar if the dog has a collar and harness to practice being hooked up again, then praise, ask for a sit, unhook and hold the collar until the dog is staying on it's own. Let go and say the freecommand for when a command is finished. OK comes up too often in a everyday speech so release, free, finished or similar works better. This teaches the dog that even if you get leashed up it does not mean the freedom is over, and it teaches the dog to wait for the right command. Eventually you don't have to hold on anymore.

Once the teenager years is over and you have hold onto these frames of rules, and they start working for real, that is when the fun begins! Then you have time for the partytricks and stuff like that. You can even begin sporting after the dog is over 1 preferably over 2 years old when the joints are mature enough. Check with a vet to make sure the joints are healthy for your sport. Biking included.

If you have any issues with the teenager showing aggression, please consult a dog trainer with good reputation in your area. The faster you adress it with an expert the faster it will get better. Look for a trainer that believes in positive reinforcement, since this is the best way of shaping your dog's behaviors.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. :)

Breeding and Genetics

If you enjoy dogbreeding and genetics, you really should check this link out!

http://animalfarmfoundation.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/a-closer-look-at-all-dogs-are-individuals-infographic/

This blog is going a little slow cause I am working on some tabs that aren't official yet. 

Groom your own dog, save money!

Do you want to find a new way to bond with your dog, and save some money in the process? Do your own doggrooming!  

Brushing your own dog

I start off with this topic, because this ALL dogowners should know how to do correctly, even if you dont groom yourself. Brushing is extremely important! If you don't know how to brush all the way down to the skin, your dog will mat right into the skin and this is not only very painful to the dog, it can cause severe skinsores underneath the mat or even hotspots cause the skin cant breathe.

The rule is, if you cant run a comb through the entire coat down to the skin, your dog is not brushed out yet. 

Yikes, where do I start? Well, you start at the bottom and work your way to the top, layer by layer. It's easiest if you lay the dog down, maybe in your lap, maybe on the floor, maybe on the grooming table, but you lay the dog down. With one hand, fold the coat at the butt up on the thigh and then brush layer by layer in the direction the hair grows. Take your time though. A slicker brush is very useful and very popular, but the bristles are sharp and pretty painful to the skin so make sure the bristles aren't too sharp cause they can cause a brushburn. Using a regular brush works, but it does not take the hairs as tightly. I prefer bristle brushes with buds on the tips. They are pretty hard to find but they are out there.

Mats and tangles

If and when you find a mat, gently pull it apart with your fingers to somewhat split it up, spray detangler spray on it and carefully brush it out. Hold two fingers at the base of the mat so it does not hurt the dog, we want this experience to be pleasant to the dog. If it is a severe mat, you can carefully cut it in lines down towards the skin, but not too close, you really don't want to cut the dog. If it is even severer than that or you just don't want to take the time to get it out or even the dog is not very happy with it, it is kindest to cut it out. Fold the mat to the side, take a small scissors and hold it level to the dog, blade sideways to the mat. Get the blade in between the skin and the mat just a few hairs at the time and make sure you can see the blade between the hairs, and cut those. Then you work your way through under the mat hairs by hairs. You can also use a clippers but you are more in control of what you are doing if you use this technique. Make sure you fold the mat away as you go to really see which hairs you can cut. If you cant see the hairs at all, you have two options. 1. cut through the mat and try to brush out the rest or 2. use the clipper machine.

The dog should always be completely brushed out before the bath! Otherwise the mats will only become worse from becoming wet. Same goes for rain, you really want to brush out and blowdry the dog completely dry.

If you want to avoid mats alltogether, keep the coat too short to tangle. But if you want your dog fluffy you better make this a habit. If you run the comb through the dog every day you will catch all tangles before they become mats. The armpits is usually the worst place because of the heat and rubbing of moving. A clean coat will tangle less, so unless you have a wirecoated breed and it's a breed that easily mats up you gain on giving it a bath regularly. A cocker breeder and shower on youtube said that if it tangles on day four, you bathe it on day three. Most longcoated breed mats really badly when they shed the puppycoat around 9 months to a year and for a while thereafter.

Saving money? But the grooming items are so expensive!
Yes this is true. But good quality items will last for years and years! More info about grooming different coats and grooming supplies will be in a later post.

Finding your dogs currency

The dog and the human has something incommon; they both want a salary for their work. Difference is that the dog usually wants treats, toys or cuddles. This post will talk about how to find what makes your dog jump through hoops - litterally.

Treats is pretty much foolproof. There is usually always something to eat that is worth working for. Downside is that this can cause obesidy, or you might already have an obese dog. Popular is soft treats so dog crackers is most of the time very boring. And, it takes a long time to eat so training doesnt flow well. I recommend catfood! It has tiny pieces and tastes really yummy. It has a high contence of protein and fat, but one bag lasts a long time. This treat can cause a puppy to refuse to eat it's food since it does not taste as good so use common sense.

Some dogs love to work for toys. Some like balls, some like squeeky toys, some like tug-o-war, some like soft toys, and others like to chase toys such as a frisbee. This reward is stressing so eventhough it makes the dog do things faster, it should be used wisely and not too often or for too long periods of time.

Cuddles is the lowest value unless it is a dog that lives for your attention.

Variation is of course the key and the more you can vary your reward the more christmas it will be. "Oh boy a gift for me, what will it be, what will it be?"

But there are also other things that are rewarding. There is something called "Self-rewarding behavior" and it means that the behavior itself has so much pleasure that it cant be resisted. I can compare this to eating candy eventhough the person is on a diet. The person or the dog may know it's wrong, but it is so self-rewarding and so enjoyable that the temptation is just too big. Some of these behaviors are chasing cats, stealing food, etc. Pulling on the leash to get to the spot the dog wants to sniff works the same way. It succeeded pulling you, so it to sniff the spot it wanted to sniff. You can use this to your advantage. Stop, stand still and wait until you have the dogs attention. Walk the other way if you have to to increase the distance to the temptation. You can now ask something from the dog, such as walking nicely on the leash, and once it does the task you can let the dog sniff the spot as a reward.

If you have a stressed dog you can find treats that has to be licked to get, such as the kong stuff'n can. Licking is soothing and calming.

So which one should you use? Try them and see! Play with toys and find which type makes them tick. Some even enjoy cat toys! Try different treats and see how much the dog wants it. You dont want the dog to become locked, but interested enough that it is worth working for. The massively super-good treats can be used to make boring tasks more fun, such as being brushed, bathed etc. Behave during boring handling = get something extremely valuable!

The good toys is great when working on coming when called. Work in miniature sessions or the toy will lose it's value. Dont just call when you will hook on the leash, but make it a game.

Pets and cuddles can be used during situations you want the dog to be calm.

If your dog loses interest in the training, you either have too high expectation, you worked too long, your environment is too distractive, or your reward isnt good enough. Try them out and see! Your dog might surprise you. :)