I have two rescued pitbulls and now a puppy Alapaha Bulldog.  Both breeds are full of energy, dynamic dogs that require a strong but fair leader. I hate choke chains, and though pinch collars are effective (again, they must be used correctly), they can be harsh and take the spirit out of a dog.  So I really didn’t want to use them either.   And with any training collar, the dog can get “collar smart”.   Peter for example; he is the best behaved boy when he had on his training collar.  But take that collar off, and he was a brat. Not really a bad dog, but just a brat. Sorta “come on chase me” kinda brat.  But it was enough to make me worry, what if he saw a cat or a small dog?

Peter loves to play catch.   I live in a small gated community that is fearful about dogs – specifically my favorite breed. About the same time I moved in, another pitbull in the neighborhood hurt a neighbors little dog. (I am pretty certain there was a human to blame, but the dog can’t speak to defend himself). So every time I took Peter out to play ball, I get a lot of flack about him being off leash.  How can I play catch with my dog if not off leash?  And I won’t take Peter to a dog park, but thats another story.   I needed something to help me keep Peter under tight control off leash.   Enter the remote collar.

Prior to introducing the remote collar to Peter he was already fully trained in the basic recall, down, stand, sit, back, wait and heeling. And I worked him into advanced training with hurdles, long distance work (40 foot leads are a pain) and beginning protection training.

The remote collar was the perfect tool to tighten his recall, long distance work is a breeze, and I never – did I say NEVER lose his focus. The trick is to use the collar ALL the time.   Playing, working, walking etc.. the collar is used all the time.  So instead of it being a negative, its just communication between me and the dog.

The collar is used at the lowest possible setting.  Its not a shock, its a tap on the shoulder.   And if the distraction does escalate, then I have room to go up a little on the collar. But as soon as I have his attention again, the level comes back down.

People need to understand the collar is not supposed to be a punishment, its freedom for the dog.   No longer is he curtailed to  6 foot leash.   He is free to run about up to what I feel is safe distance for him.. and for Peter that means playing ball on the green in my complex and I knowing I have proven to my neighbors that I have control of Peter regardless the distraction.

He has quite the following when we are out playing catch.   They come out to watch his spectacular hops, leaps and sprints to catch his ball and Frisbee.

I will say that I’ve trained many dogs on a remote collar; those that already knew basic commands and those that did not. I have had good results in both situations. It really boils down to the trainer knowing the dog and their client.

With all the improvements in technology, the shrinking of devices, power packs lasting much longer and being smaller, it’s no surprise that Electronic collars have been improved as well.  I will never stop talking up these wonderful tools; they are not the instruments of torture that uneducated people make them out to be.   IMO choke chains and pinch collars are much harsher.

The following is part of an article I found on the internet regarding using a Remote collar.  I’ve posted it with permission from Secure Pets.  http://securepets.com/train.html

Safe Training Devices

“Probably the most prevalent myth about remote training collars is that they are not a safe training device; that they are cruel and inhumane, and that simply is not true,” Benson said. “They, as well as most types of training equipment, are very safe and very effective when used in the right manner.

“With a good training program and understanding of proper use, the collars become very easy to use and very effective.”

And the electric stimulation applied by the collar is not the jarring, painful charge of electricity that some people imagine. Nor is it physically harmful to the dog. “It’s not like a shot from electro-convulsive therapy or a wall outlet like some people think,” Benson said. “In fact, the levels of stimulation we use when training dogs is like the static charge you get when you rub your feet on the carpet and then touch something,” he said.

The idea is not to make the stimulation painful, but just enough to communicate with the dog, he said. “We just want it to be uncomfortable for the dog, like when you bump your elbow on a table.”

You should always work your dog with the collar set at the lowest stimulation, just enough so the dog can feel it. The key, Benson said, is to set it so the stimulation produces only a curious look from the dog as though the dog is saying ‘Hey, what was that?’

Of course, if distractions increase, then the stimulation level may have to increase. For instance, if a rabbit runs across the road, the dog is not likely to be paying as much attention to the trainer, Benson said. But still the stimulation level should be nudged up just enough to get the dog’s attention.

The Importance of a Snug Fit

Myth No. 2: Remote training collars can burn a dog’s neck. “Not true,” Benson said. “The stimulation that a collar can output from the battery that’s housed inside is not high enough to physically burn even if it is set on a high level for long period of time,” he said.

The collar must fit snug so that it does not rub back and forth, which could wear away hair on the dog’s neck. If the collar is not clean and is rubbing into the neck then hot spots could develop and create a sore that could be mistaken for a burn, he said. Or maybe the collar was left on too long or it was too loose and an infection began to appear.

The Dog Learns How to Listen

Myth No. 3: Using a remote training collar is more stressful on the dog; that it is not as humane a training method as traditional methods of a leash and choke chain.

Again, not necessarily so, Benson said. Typically, dogs at Triple Crown are trained with collars set in a low-level continuous stimulation mode, meaning that the stimulation is being sent until the dog performs the correct behavior. “The faster he responds to the command the quicker the stimulation stops,” Benson said. “Then we give the dog plenty of praise and reward.”

Therefore, the stimulation level has to be low so the dog is able to think and learn. “I’m teaching the dog to problem-solve, how to listen to my command and shut off the stimulation,” he said.

But back to the stress myth. “I’m using an escape conditioning technique where I teach the dog to shut the collar off. Therefore, the dog is in control and goes through less stress. And he learns much faster,” Benson said. “This is based on sound learning principles.”

No, They Are Actually Easy To Use

Myth No. 4: Remote training collars are difficult to use; that only professional trainers should use them.

With today’s advanced collars that is certainly not the case, Benson said. Improved technology has made them much easier to use and understand. Almost any dog owner can understand the operation and use and will be able to communicate with his dog with 15 or 20 minutes of instruction, he said.

“It is however important to understand how to use them before you put it on your dog,” Benson said. “If you do not fully understand, then seek help from an experienced professional.”

The Collar Is One of Many Training Tools

Myth No. 5: When you use a remote training collar you can’t use traditional training aids, such as clickers or cookies or other rewards.

“We use them all,” Benson said. “In fact, we use more reward and praise than anything else. Praise is very important. You have to let them know when they do something right. You can’t just let them know when they did something wrong.”

Joe Arterburn and Keith Benson

Article courtesy of Innotek Pet Products

Note: SecurePets carries several remote training collars to fit every situation.

If  you are looking for a trainer who trains with remote collars then send me an email at dawgbiz@gmail.com

My now 5 month old puppy Gunnar has never had the opportunity to play in the rain before today. And before I was smart enough to think to get the camera, he was dashing around the back yard, chasing the leaves as they fell from the trees. And then with immense joy he dug his first mud puddle. He was up to his elbows and covered in mud from belly to butt.  Of course I was busy laughting my ass off at him and did not think to get the camera until after I had rinsed him off. Well that pretty much dampened his good time, as he really does not like baths.

Lets make a deal, I'll wipe my muddy paws, and you don't rinse me off again.

I grew up with small dogs;  we were always being told “to be careful” as we might hurt the dog.  So I decided when I had children I’d have a dog that can tolerate and play with children.  My children grew up with our dog – Spike.  She was an American Staffordshire Terrier, an awesome dog that put up with everything and anything with grace and tolerance. She was the “ugly step mother” that was loved by her human step children and family.  She lived to the ripe old age of 14.

I gave Spike basic training; come, sit, stay, down and walk on a leash.  But she was one of those intuitive dogs that picked up on things – like young’ns should not be on the lawn unsupervised, nor should strangers talk to them.  She was the self-appointed lawn monitor.  If the kids went out to play, you better let her out too or she’d take the door down. Her recovery method was to grab the kids by the pocket of the pants, pull them off the sidewalk and back onto the lawn. Of course I was always watching, but it was awesome to watch her in action.  This is something that can’t be ‘taught’,  it was her natural tendency.

Personality:  Pit bulls are people pleaser’s – they are fun loving.  What ever you ask of them, they will do it to their utmost ability (be the best bad ass or a sweet heart).  They want their people to be happy with them.  What folks don’t realize when they take a pit bull home is that they are adopting an endless source of energy that must be tapped or it will be a problem.  These guys are born body builders; I know you wish you could be that ripped.  Exercise is essential to this dog!  My motto is “a tired pit bull is a well behaved pit bull”

Don’t get me wrong, they love to be couch potatoes and hang out with their people, but that is after they’ve had their daily exercise and playtime.  The energy must be harnessed or it will backfire – and then it’s a problem for all pit bulls and their owners.

Training: Training is essential for this breed.  No getting around it.  If there is no obedience, there will be no control, and this dog will walk, no stomp all over you.  I hate to see it and it happens everyday:  The dog is out in front on a long lead, the owner 6 feet behind, barely on their feet, yelling “fido stop”!  This is a bad scene and could escalate.

Socialization is also a must; get the dog into a group class where they interact in a controlled manner with other dogs. Do you have what it takes to own one? You must be the boss, but not too harsh or you’ll crush the spirit, but strong enough to be respected.

The dog needs a job, something to do for you… I train with my dogs.  I take them out to breed specific or breed friendly events.  We train and work them to harness that energy and really just to have fun.  They excel at agility, Frisbee catching, weight pulling, obedience, and defense of handler just to name a few.

But please do not take your pit bull to the local dog park – too much uncontrolled energy.  All it takes is one slip, one loud bark, or a body slam from your perfect baby and the other dog owner will freak out!  And that leads me to the next issue…

Perception: The perception is that pit bulls are fierce guard dogs or that they are man stoppers.  Genetically this is incorrect.  Pit Bulls are athletes, gladiators, fighters to the end, but  were never designed to protect property or attack people.  These dogs, in their original form, were designed to fight against other dogs or large animals.  And when the fight was over, typically the battered survivor needed mending.  The dog would have to be still for the handler while in pain; If the dog tried to bite the handler, it would have been destroyed.  Originally aggression against people was never tolerated in the breed.  I don’t think the backyard breeder throwing together two dogs takes that into consideration.

D.A. aka Dog Aggression:  This will be or can be an issue with the breed.  It can be an issue, but it does not have to be.  I’ve known pit bulls that live with many other dogs without any problems.  And then I’ve met and owned bullies that just can’t be around another dog of the same gender.  Then some that  must be in a home as the only dog and sometimes the only pet.  You must know your dog and plan accordingly.  If you can’t stand the idea of never owning a second dog, think about another breed.  You have to make the commitment to care for and protect your dog, from itself, if necessary.

They attract the wrong crowd:  There are those that have taken the pit bull and in their hands warped it into something evil.  Remember, this dog will try to be the best at WHATEVER you ask it to do.  Horrible people make monsters out of sweet dogs, crop their ears with kitchen shears, run them endlessly on treadmills to build muscle, starve them, poison them, douse them with lighter fluid and set them a flame, fight them in pits, kill them when they won’t fight, use live bait to entice them to kill etc.  Or they are left to wither away in a back yard on a damn chain with NO interaction with people.  Then the dog escapes, and is tearing through the neighborhood… would you allow yourself to be caught and returned to that situation?  Unfortunantly there is usually a small child or elderly person that gets hurt in the scenario.

Due to over breeding, poor breeding, in-breeding, and cross breeding the breed has been changed- and not always for good.  Some dog aggression may have been bred out, and that is a good thing.  But the opposite is also true – those that breed this powerful compact people friendly dog to larger breeds that tend to be people aggressive, have created some very dangerous dogs.  But to the untrained eye they’re all pit bulls.  That is very bad for real pit bulls and those that love them.

What I think of Pit Bulls is that I will always own at least one or more.  There is always one that will need to be rescued or rehabilitated and loved.

How can you not love that face?

October 10th & 11th, 2009

Hands on live instruction with your dog

See it in action before you decide!

Free day October 9th, 2009.  5 – 8 PM

Bring us ANY dog, even yours.

So Tuesday first thing we went to the vet. As Gunnar is not acting even remotly sick, no loss of appetite or energy, we can’t really determine the cause; could be change in water (Gunnar stayed for a bit with a friend), stress of the change, or a bug. So for now he’s on a wide spectrum anti-biotic and FortiFlora. This is a canine nutritional supplement – supposed to help digestive tract health. Activia for dogs?

My house got a dose of Lysol, floors mopped, carpets vacuumed and lots of Febreez. Crates were taken out and washed and bleached – bedding still coming out of the dryer – thank you Gunnar very much.

Puppies… gotta love them. Its kara; my punishment for not adopting from a rescue.

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and the slightly cooler weather.

I worked Peter first for about thirty minutes, not any longer than normal.   He behaved normally, in fact I stopped his lesson before he was ready – he let me know by continuing to bark and stare at the decoy, so I assumed all was well.    I walked him for about 10 minutes, offered him water (he refused) and then I put him in his crate so that I could work the other two dogs.  He was still panting when I put him up.

I worked the other two dogs for about 20 minutes each, watered them, walked them for a bit and put them up too.  I took Peter out of the crate, let him pee then put him in the car to get ready to go home.  Its about a hour drive home in good traffic.  That day it was two hours to get home.

When we finally got home,  I put the dogs out to potty.  One of my dogs is a 4 month old puppy so I followed him out to praise him for going potty in his spot.  I turn around to go back in the house and I see my Peter peeing what looked like pure red blood.  To say the least I was stunned.

I called the vet and said “I”m bringing Peter in, he just urinated blood”.  Twenty minutes later Peter was in the examining room, they drew blood urine etc etc to do tests.  I was certain he had somehow ingested poison as I had never seen a dog pee blood.  The  vet came back to me to say he was coagulating so she was pretty sure poison was not the culprit.  But she was being safe and giving him Vitamin K injections.

More questions… Did he work hard today? I told her about our workout session. Starting with OB, then move to defensive work. Yes it was warm, but we were working primarily in the shade. Peter was not acting sick at all, his normal happy self.  After he worked out I put him in his crate. Yes he was still panting, but I’ve put him up a little warm before.

The vet ran a blood panel and most of the numbers were right on, but his Red Blood count was high. This leads the vet to think that this has to do with Myoglobin.  And the color of his urine was a dead giveaway that his Kidneys were working hard to get the toxins out of his system.

Taken from a Medical website “Myoglobin is a protein in heart and skeletal muscles. When a muscle is exercised, it uses up available oxygen. Myoglobin has oxygen bound to it, thus providing an extra reserve of oxygen so that the muscle can maintain a high level of activity for a longer period of time. When muscle is damaged, the myoglobin is released into the bloodstream. It is filtered out of the bloodstream by the kidneys, and eliminated in urine. In large quantities, myoglobin can damage the kidney and break down into toxic compounds, causing kidney failure.“

Peter spent a night and two days in the hospital with IV fluids to flush his kidneys. The vet says since I brought him in so fast she is certain he has lost no kidney function. But they ran tests the next morning to be certain. Thankfully Peter came out of his ordeal without any lasting damage.  And the dang dog never even acted slightly sick.  But he did lose 4 pounds – he wouldn’t eat in the hospital.

Lesson learned, NEVER EVER put your dog up hot or warm even. From what I have read, this happens to race horses when they are not cooled down properly. When the animal rests while hot, the muscle begins to break down and then the Myoglobin gets into the blood stream and then its the Kidneys job to filter the toxin out.

Now when I work Peter I take lots of water or a misting can with me.  If its very warm (and this year, it seems its always very warm) I wet Peter down before we work and I’m wetting him down as I walk him after working.  I offer water before and after but usually he refuses if he is panting very hard.  But I walk and wet him until he’s done panting.  Then and only then do I put him up.  If there is room and shade, I let him pace on a long line.  And I still wet him down until he’s cool.

Thank goodness for Pets Best Insurance – Yes Peter has medical insurance that costs me $33 dollars a month.  The total bill was $1480 and after deductible my refund was $1070.

Distraction
While playing the CD, you should also take the opportunity to distract your pet. Either play with him, or give him some training lessons, or give him his favourite toy or chew. This will increase the effect of the desensitisation program by making your pet think on something else while the background noise is going on.

Den
However, also allow your pet some time without this distraction to hear the noise. Hopefully the CD will manage to accustom your pet to the noise so that he’ll completely ignore it. However it is really best to be completely prepared and allow him every chance to cope.

Create a safe, comfortable and quiet den area for him. Ideally, this should be in a place which is furthest from the fireworks, and where he is used to resting. The room should be able to be darkened to hide the firework flashes.

Prepare the area in advance, with lots of comfy blankets to allow him to burrow into if he wants to, and take him there several times before the event, allowing him to settle there with a chew or toy for a while, and feed him there a few times too.

Make sure however, that he is free to come and go to this area, taking care not to lock him in the room alone.

Some pets find the most unusual place to seek comfort. It has been known for them to hide under desks, in kitchen cabinets and even in the bath! Don’t be concerned about this, just work with your pet and think about how they may be finding their chosen place secure. It may even be helpful to provide a pet crate covered with a blanket or a large cardboard box, both filled with comfortable bedding, favourite toys and some water.

So, really take some time to think about this – from your pet’s point of view – and set up the area where they are most happy. Perhaps they might like to lie under a table covered with a blanket.

DAP
If you already know that your dog is scared and that he needs some further help then using a DAP along with the CD will be very useful. DAP stands for Dog Appeasing Pheromone. It’s a plug in device, similar to an air freshener, which releases calming pheromones into the air. It should be plugged in, in the room where the pet spends most time and switched on 24 hours a day for about 2 weeks prior to, the fireworks. (the DAP can be useful for other behavioural problems too).

Feliway is a similar product for cats.

D-Day
There are several additional steps which can be taken on the day of the event

• Check that the den area is accessible, and prepared.

• Take your dog for a walk to make sure he has been to the toilet before the fireworks start.

• Feed him an hour before the event, adding some potato or white pasta to fill him up and make him sleepy

• If you can, set up some rhythmic music in the room. This can help to mask out the noise, so turn it up to a moderate level. Do, however, check that he likes it beforehand – and turn it off if he doesn’t, or seems more stressed.

• When the fireworks start, take your pet to his den area and encourage him to settle there.

• Do NOT try to pat and stroke him in an attempt to sooth him if he is showing signs of stress. This simply rewards how he is behaving and teaches him that he’s right to be scared. Don’t let him know that you’re concerned.    Instead, if he’s not settling in his den, try to distract him with a game or an easy training session, but don’t force him to play.

• You may even want to consider setting up a TV in the “safe” room and simply sitting in there with him. Normal quiet, family company may help to calm him.

And a word on safety
During high levels of stress, pets can be very unpredictable. They also become unable to take account of their personal safety, and may well panic. Therefore, it is your responsibility to look after their safety needs. Make sure that they have no access to potentially dangerous items around the house, such as open fires or glass doors. Really take the time to do a house safety check. And if you need to take him outside – at any time when a firework may go off – make sure that he is kept safe on the lead.

Thanks to Brian of Southbay Bullies for the research.