I’ve been missing…

I must apologize for my lack of posts as of late. I’ve been working quite a bit and, more than anything, my husband and I have been focused on house breaking Stevie. We took him to the vet and he has a slight bladder infection so he’s been on antibiotics. The vet also mentioned that Stevie has a very small bladder – which explains A LOT. First of all, his bladder is probably small because of his life in the shelter where he was able to eliminate whenever he felt like it (common in shelter dogs and correctable over time). His bladder should expand as training continues. That’s a good thing because right now we’re taking him outside every hour or so. Accidents in the house have been cut in half, but we’re still getting up in the night. He’s starting to give us cues like running in circles or higher pitched barking, but he still occasionally squats wherever he is and leaves us a nice surprise. We’re getting there and I’m confident it won’t be much longer before he’s fully trained. Woo Hoo!

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• He Puts the ‘Pee’ in Potty Training (hearts4paws.wordpress.com)

He Puts the ‘Pee’ in Potty Training

Well, Stevie has been with us now for three weeks. He’s wonderful. So sweet and gentle. He’s a cuddler and loves nothing more than to be near us. He is an exceptional playmate for Toby and they have become good friends. We’ve noticed that Toby’s previous puppy-like behaviors have ceased. He hasn’t chewed up a glove, sock or any of the kids’ homework since Stevie arrived. He corrects Stevie when he is out of line and sits high on the couch overseeing his younger brother’s precocious activities.

Unfortunately, we’re still struggling with house training. Stevie seems to have an extremely small bladder with the inability to hold anything for more than an hour. While we’ve been adhering to a tight training schedule, he still manages several accidents a day. We’ll take him out and he’ll pee. We’ll bring him back in and within 20 minutes, he’ll pee again. We still can’t figure out his cues – he may be walking through the living room on the way to his bed and he’ll just squat. No circling. No sniffing. Just a quick squat and he moves on. He’s doing well through the night and he’s fine in his kennel for the most part. We are just struggling with getting him to do all of his business outside.

We’ve received several recommendations and we’re going to start with a couple of them. First, I need to scent the front door. Since Stevie can’t see where the front door is, we think he may not be able to find his way there in time. Second, a friend of mine recommended a belly band in between our outdoor potty breaks. We’re going to give those a try and I’ll keep you posted on our success.

We couldn’t have asked for a better addition to our family, so we’ll do everything we can to get him on the right track.

A Whole New World

To me, there’s nothing quite as heartbreaking as a dog rescued from a puppy mill. Some are paralyzed by fear, others are eager to socialize but completely unaware of how to go about it. Many are sickly, undernourished, dirty and scared. Their exposure to humans is so limited that their first few days after rescue find them frozen with fear, reclusive and running at the sight of a human being.

Right now at the rescue, there is a Yorkshire Terrier and two Bichon Frise pups that were given up by a commercial breeding facility. When I went into their room, they immediately fled to the corner and eyed me up. The Yorkie seemed fearful and the Bichons were curious but unsure. I turned my back to them and waited. Slowly, the two Bichons came forward and sniffed at me. They even licked my hands. As soon as I moved or made eye contact, they ran. They barked, but not fearfully, and bounced playfully, but they wouldn’t approach unless I had my back turned. I could tell that they were friendly and eager to interact, they were just uncertain.

The little Yorkie kept his distance, circling me and sniffing the air. With each circle he came a little closer, but never close enough to touch me. He seemed a little more fearful than the others, but not aggressive in any way.

They had come from a stark, loveless environment and were now in a place where they will experience human interaction, a kind touch, good food and clean place to eat and sleep. They are in a new world and their rehabilitation will be a challenge. The rewards, however, will be extraordinary. Their caretakers at the rescue and their future forever family will need plenty of patience and understanding in helping these amazing animals transition to a life that, at first, can be very overwhelming.

In the beginning, reassurance is necessary. Things like using the outdoors to go to the bathroom, walking on a leash, meeting new people, as well as experiencing a world outside of a cage, filled with new sights, smells and sounds, can be terrifying to a dog who spent its formative years in a puppy mill. It will take time and it will be critical to go at the dog’s pace in order to build its confidence so that it can begin to overcome its fear.

Meeting these dogs for the first time brought a rush of feeling about my dog, Toby. He, too, was rescued from a puppy mill. Fortunately, he was rescued very early on and was adopted by us at about 12 weeks of age. While he was standoffish in the beginning, he quickly grew to trust us and easily accepted the love we had to give.  I can’t imagine him having to live in a mill environment, petrified, dirty and unloved.

I hope I can participate in the rehabilitation of the cute little pups at the rescue. They deserve a second chance at a new life where they can experience all the love that a forever family has to offer.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has a great article on their website about adopting a puppy mill dog. Click here to check it out.

January is National Train Your Dog Month

According to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, January is National Train Your Dog Month which was designed to raise awareness of the importance of socialization and training, as well as to inform the public that training can be simple and a lot of fun for both the owner and the dog. January was selected because so many dogs and puppies are adopted or brought home throughout the winter holidays and what better way to kick off the New Year than with training that can last a lifetime.

We have some training challenges with Toby. I’ll start by saying that he’s very smart. He knows the sit, stay (or wait) and lay down commands. He understands the words ‘walk’, ‘outside’, ‘potty’, ‘treat’, ‘car’, and he even dashes for the door when we ask ‘Do you want to go to Grandma’s?’. We struggle most with recall. If Toby is in close proximity and I say ‘come’, he listens. If he’s more than 10 feet away, forget about it. It’s like he goes deaf. This presents a problem if he runs outside without being on a leash or if we are at the dog park and we need to get him to come to us. He’s run away on a couple of occasions and we’ve been lucky enough to catch up with him at a neighbor’s house. He’s very submissive so he doesn’t get into situations at the dog park, but it’d be nice if he came when we called.

I bought a 30 foot lead and I’m going to work with him on that and use positive reinforcement to reward him for listening; however, I’m concerned that his prey drive (he’s a terrier mix) may be too strong to keep him close by. I’ve also heard that using a word other than ‘come’ work as well. Some have suggested ‘here’ or ‘heel’.

Anyone out there have any good recommendations to get a dog to come when called? I’m interested in any tips you have to offer!