Overall Dog Info

When we brought our 9 week old Schnauzer home, I thought how wonderful he is, so intelligent. I could tell he was a very smart dog. He walked beside me on the leash, didn’t pull, didn’t make a fuss about the collar or anything. When talking to him you could see the wheels turning in his head, as if he understood every word. Once introduced to his toys he seemed to understand that those were what he was to chew on and not the table legs, furniture, corner of the walls, or our shoes or socks.

He was very smart in those types of matters, but I couldn’t understand why he was so obnoxious and difficult to get along with about other things. We discovered later, it was when we intruded on his position or authority as the pack leader that he would become very ill-tempered. In his mind, we were totally out of line, out of control and we were not adhering to his rules and he felt it was his job to set the household right again.

It didn’t take us very long to realize that he was actually training and manipulating us in how he wanted us to relate and respond to the rules he was establishing.  How he had managed to manipulate his way into the “CEO’s position” of our household, I will never know, well, yes I do know, we allowed it.  By the the time he was only 13 weeks old, we knew we needed help from a professional dog trainer.

We began attending a regiment of weekly obedience training sessions with a dog trainer for several months. The first session started out OK, until the trainer said that we needed to use a different type of collar on Smokey. The trainer preceded to remove the thin fabric collar, which went OK, but when he started to put the metal choke training collar over his head, Smokey went berserk! He was trying to bite the trainer and throwing his body all around like a tasmanian devil. The trainer went into action, grabbing the skin around the back of his neck and forcing him to the floor, keeping him there until he submitted and calmed down. The squealing, screeching sounds Smokey made was horrifying and if that wasn’t enough he urinated all over the floor.

Then the dog trainer began asking a lot of questions. He wanted to know if Smokey was allowed up on the furniture, to sleep with us on the bed, did I have him on the leash inside the house, was I shouting at him, what was our feeding routine, etc. I thought he was being rather nosey, but soon realized he had a reason for asking.

After all, I wanted a lap dog, so of course, I was allowing him in the recliner with me, on the sofa and on the bed to play. The only good thing we did, was to start him off using the dog crate to sleep in.

The dog trainer explained that in the wild, the pack leader didn’t allow their subordinates into their personal territorial space unless the leader gave his permission. So, first off, to establish ourselves as the leader Smokey could no longer be up on our laps or on the furniture for the first YEAR. We, as the pack leader, could intrude on his territory any time we chose.

This was the most difficult part of the training because I wanted to hold him and have him on my lap all the time. But, it proved disastrous in just the first 4 weeks we had him.

We couldn’t let Smokey violate even the smallest of rules. When he got away with something that he knew he wasn’t supposed to do, he interpreted it as “my leader is weak”…. and since he perceived the pack was being lead by a weak leader he felt he could challenge us for that position.

For those of you who find yourself in this situation with your pet, you MUST establish yourself as the leader. Then, once you have established the rules you MUST be consistent. Keep your chin up, keep smiling and above all, know that the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train, it’s the disciplined, well behaved dog you have always dreamed of having!

It’s Spring time, the time of the year when it’s raining quite a bit and many of our dogs just don’t like going out in the rain to go potty.   If your dog is like mine, he doesn’t mind his bath at all so I don’t understand why he won’t go outside to do his business when it’s raining.

When it’s raining, I have a large golf umbrella that I use and as long as I can keep the umbrella over him, he’s ok with it, but if he wanders out from underneath the umbrella and gets rained on, he wants to go back inside, even if he hasn’t finished taking care of what he is supposed to.  So, this leads me to talk about some things we can do to remedy this, because I know that many of you have the same situation with your dog.  A quick remedy for this is a dog raincoat and this is a good solution unless your dog doesn’t like wearing clothes.

I’m going to veer off the subject just a little bit and tell you that my Schnauzer is ok with wearing his winter dog coat but he wouldn’t hike his leg or squat for a BM because the coat hung down around his hind legs and I guess he felt his movement was being hindered.  One winter day, I arrived home from work, and would usually let him out right away.  But on this day, I dressed him up with his dog coat and dog boots, which took a little time, then we went for a walk.  He had to go potty so bad that the binding of the clothing didn’t prevent him from taking care of what he needed to do.  He realized that the clothing didn’t have any hindrance on his movement so from that time on he was fine with the dog coat.  Dogs need to be gently introduced to new things and sometimes you may need to get creative or find the right situation to solve a problem, just as above.

If your dog won’t wear dog clothing he probably won’t wear a raincoat but there is a wonderful alternative to the problem, if your dog is small.  And that is the dog umbrella, pictured here.  The umbrella has a clear, see-through vinyl so you can see if they have completed the business at hand.  I think this is a wonderful invention.  You have your umbrella and your dog has their umbrella, so you both stay nice and dry.  Besides, the umbrellas are quite fashionable.

Now, with the umbrella, there’s no reason they can’t go outside when it’s raining.  Although, if our dogs could talk, I’m sure they would still have several reasons for not wanting to go out in the rain?!  What do you think?

My kitty cat has no rules. I feel like that’s the best way for him to live because when I got him he was an abandoned kitten. I found him underneath a neighbor’s porch. He was covered in oil and excrement, as though he had been living on the streets for a while.

I took him home, gave him a bath and used scissors to cut the mats from his fur. It’s been four years now and he has grown into the best pet any girl could ever ask for. There’s just one thing that bothers me – his nails are so sharp that he often accidently scratches me. That is why I use a pet nail trimmer to trim them twice a month.

We know our lives are lived in the fast lane, we hurry to work, work all day, stop by the store, rush home, fix dinner, help the kids with their homework, get their baths, put them to bed….and only after everything else is done do we “maybe” find time for our pets.  This is reality.  In contrast your dog’s day looks like this, they go outside before you leave for work, lay around all morning and all afternoon, you come home, let them outside, feed them, and they lay around most of the night until they go outside before going to bed at night.

Do we really wonder why they are bored and get into trouble?  Do you get up a little earlier in the morning and take them for a walk?  Do you stimulate their brain by taking some time to teach them new tricks?  Do they have plenty of dog toys or dog chews to keep them occupied?  When they do get to go for a walk do you take the same route day after day?  Or if they get to go for a ride in the car do you take the same roads?

With a few changes, you can stir your dog physically and mentally.  By changing the direction of their walks you stimulate your dog’s brain.  Their nose gives them a tremendous amount of information to assimilate.  By taking the same route day after day your dog is smelling the same “old” smells from the same dog and person that walks and lives on those same streets every day.  When you change the routine and walk different streets in a different pattern they smell “new” smells, different dogs and different people.  When you go for a drive, stop and let them out on the leash to walk around a little bit to see and smell new things.

The results of bored, physically and mentally unchallenged dogs! Don’t let this happen to your home.

I have a thirty pound Schnauzer and I have purchased two items that he just loves and when I get them out he absolutely wears himself out playing.  I found them both at Cracker Barrel Restaurant.  One is a plastic ball that has a weasel attached to it.  You put a battery in the ball and it moves all around making the weasel jump, twist and turn as it rolls across the floor.  The other is a battery operated mouse with wheels inside a round ball that rolls all over the floor.  Of course, these types of toys can only be put out for your dog if you can give complete attention to the play time, these types of toys aren’t dog proof.  Other good stimulating dog toys are the ones that you put dog treats inside for them to get out.  You might want to visit our dog toy store for some ideas.

Another way to stimulate the bored dog is to keep them learning something new, such as tricks.  Teaching your dog tricks and playing games also helps the bonding between you and your dog.  While teaching them something new your dog is also getting your attention, affection and the sought after treat.  Learning stimulates their brain and also helps to mentally wear them out.  You know how it is when you start a new job and everything is new to you, your brain can absorb only so much at a time and your exhausted, right?  It’s the same with your dog.

So, if you have noticed your dog has started doing things that are unacceptable, maybe they’re just bored, both physically and mentally.  Try doing some of the things I haved mentioned above, such as: teaching your dog new tricks or changing where you take your dog on walks.

I’ve had several dogs in my time, but I would have to say that the most challenging one is Smokey who currently resides at our home. It has not only been a challenge to bring him around to our (the pack leader’s) way of thinking, which required obedience training, but I have to say that he has been the most rewarding one to train because of his intelligence, perceptiveness and his willingness to please. Although, his willingness to please was not evident until he relinquished his position as pack leader.

Schnauzers are very intelligent, curious, playful, loving, and affectionate. After saying that, I have to say they can be head-strong, defiant, possessive and protective (to a fault).

I’ve met several schnauzer owners who agree that they are very intelligent & loving dogs and they also agree that they can really try your patience because they will test and test you again to see if you are going to stick to the rules that you have established during your obedience training. Smokey is a little over 3 years now and he will still, once in awhile, test to see if he can sneak in the door without sitting first and waiting for the command to enter.

I have said to others, “that I’ve never had a dog who challenged me so intellectually”. The obedience trainer said that Smokey’s temperament and level of intelligence was that of the “pack leader” and Smokey was not willing to give up his birthright, at least not without a fight.

There was a time between the age of 6 to 8 months I considered finding a home for him other than ours, but the trainer at the obedience school kept encouraging me to stick with it.  He said, “don’t get rid of him because those type of dogs will generally make great pets“. He was right!

I am very happy to report that at 3 years old he has good manners (most of the time), is very devoted, loving, affectionate and brings to our life a great deal of joy and laughter.

Does your dog attack visitors at your home before they are barely inside the door? Is your dog absolutely out of control barking, jumping on you and rushing the door in attack mode? Yes, I understand and this is not an easy behavior to change.  But it can be done and here are some basic dog training tips that you can use to change your dogs behavior when there is a knock at the door.

First, establish a boundary that your dog is to stay behind and you don’t open the door until they calm down and stay behind the barrier.  Second, they are to remain there until your visitor comes into your home. The dog is not to cross the boundary to approach the visitor.   The visitor can cross the boundary when the dog is calm and then allow the dog to sniff and smell them.  The dog is not to jump on the visitor.

These are very basic principles and not difficult to understand, but can be difficult the first several times you put this into practice with your dog. You don’t need to wait for visitors to arrive to facilitate your dog’s training.  You might consider having a family member, friend or neighbor assist you with the dog training.  Have them knock on or ring the door bell, patiently wait until your dog calms down and is in their designated waiting area and then come into the house.  Praise them with kind words and treats when they behave well.  If you do this several times a week your dog will learn this faster than relying only on visitors.  If you drill your dog in this frequently and early on in their training then your visitors aren’t outside waiting in the rain. Take a look…

In this video you will see the basic dog training technique in action.

When we first began our dog training venture, one of the first things I learned was that I couldn’t give in and quit when he was being stubborn, just because it was taking too long or I was in a hurry or whatever the case may be.   Now, I’m going to tell you about what occurred during our obedience training with the trainer and our dog, Smokey, who was no older than 16-17 weeks old.  Even though we used the positive reinforcement method this will show you just how determined and defiant even a very young dog can be when they are unwilling to give up their “the leader of the pack” mentality.

We decided to use the term “chill” when we wanted him to lie down.  We used “chill” rather then “down” because we wanted to reserve the term “down” for other situations.  There was no doubt that he knew what the word “chill” meant.  He had been drilled on it continually for a couple of weeks and when he was told to “chill” he laid down.  We were at an obedience training class and the instructor said it was time to work with him outside where there were more distractions.  And the distractions were abundant as the school was on the corner of a busy street.

We went outside and started to go through some of the drills, which went actually really well even with all the traffic and noise, but when he was asked to “chill” that was another story.  Doing any further drills come to a grinding halt because he absolutely refused to lay down on the sidewalk or the grass.  We tried everything, but he just flat refused.  He is highly motivated by food and even his favorite dog treats didn’t work.  Now, I want to point out, that if we had given up our dog would have considered it HIS VICTORY and from that time on his resistance would have become even greater over other things.  I found this out early in his training before we acquired the trainer.

We spent a good half hour, if not more, just getting him to lay down.   When his belly hit the concrete it wasn’t there for more than 4 seconds and he bounced back up.  But, the result was, “he” gave in, not us.  From that time on, we rarely had any more resistance from him when he was asked to “chill”.

The whole point here, is you can’t give in.  You must follow through no matter how frustrated you get or how long it takes.  I always allowed plenty of time when introducing grooming procedures or a new training topics.  Hopefully, you don’t have a dog as difficult as ours was, but if you do, hang in there because our dog was an absolute struggle the first year.  But, he turned out to be the best pet we have ever had and it was well worth the effort.

I’m so thankful that we didn’t give up on him or find another home for him, which there was a time it was considered.  Smokey will be four years old soon and he is a real joy, he’s well-mannered and a very important member of our family.  We’d be lost without him.

When we brought our 9 week old Schnauzer home, I thought “how wonderful he is, so intelligent”. I could tell he was a very smart dog.  He appeared so well mannered and behaved that first week.  But, little did I realize it was because he was just apprehensive and hadn’t taken ownership of his new home yet. When we would talk to him you could see the wheels turning in his head, as if he understood every word. And once we introduced him to his dog toys he understand that those were what he was to chew on and not the table legs, furniture, shoes, socks, etc.

He was very smart in those types of matters, but we couldn’t understand why he was so obnoxious and difficult to get along with about other things. We discovered later, it was when we intruded on his position or authority as the pack leader that he would become very ill-tempered. In his mind, we were totally out of line, especially when we were trying to set down some rules for him.  In his mind that wasn’t the way it was supposed to work.  He wanted things his way and was extremely hard-headed and persistent for a little guy.

It didn’t take us very long to realize that he was actually training us and how he wanted us to relate to him. How he had managed to manipulate his way into the “CEO’s position” of our household, I will never know, well, yes I do know, we allowed it.  By the the time he was only 13 weeks old, we knew we needed help from a professional dog trainer who could educate us on how to handle him.

We began attending a regiment of weekly obedience training sessions with a dog trainer for several months. The first session started out OK, until the trainer said that we needed to use a different type of collar on Smokey. The trainer preceded to remove the thin fabric collar, which went OK, but when he started to put the metal choke collar over his head, Smokey went berserk! He was trying to bite the trainer and throwing his body all around like a tasmanian devil. The trainer went into action, grabbing the skin around the back of his neck and taking him to the floor, keeping him there until he submitted and calmed down. The squealing, screeching sounds Smokey made were horrifying and if that wasn’t enough he urinated all over the floor.

Then the dog trainer began asking a lot of questions. He wanted to know if Smokey was allowed up on the furniture, to sleep with us on the bed, did I have him on the leash inside the house, was I shouting at him, what was our feeding routine, etc. I thought he was being rather nosey, but soon realized he had a reason for asking.

After all, I wanted a lap dog, so of course, I was allowing him in the recliner with me, on the sofa and on the bed to play. The only good thing we did, was to start him off using the dog crate to sleep in.

The dog trainer explained that in the wild, the pack leader didn’t allow their subordinates into their personal territorial space unless the leader gave his permission and that didn’t occur all the time. So, first off, to establish ourselves as the leader Smokey could no longer be up on our laps or on the furniture for the first YEAR.

This was the most difficult part of the training because I wanted to hold him and have him on my lap all the time. But, it proved disastrous in just the first 4 weeks we had him.

We couldn’t let Smokey violate even the smallest of rules. When he got away with something that he knew he wasn’t supposed to do, he interpreted it as “my leader is weak”…. and since he perceived the pack was being lead by a weak leader he felt he could challenge us for that position.

For those of you who find yourself in this situation with your pet, you MUST establish yourself as the leader. Then, once you have established the rules you MUST be consistent. Keep your chin up, keep smiling and above all, know that there is a well-mannered obedient pet down the road.

If you knew Smokey, our miniature Schnauzer, today, at 3 years old, you just wouldn’t believe that he was the very difficult, defiant, hard-headed, unyielding dog that he was at 6 months to a year old.

If someone is around who is outside of his pack, which includes myself and my husband, he would not completely relax. He is always aware of his surroundings, who is there, what they are doing, ears peaked listening to who knows what but he would always be on alert and never be his relaxed wonderfully affectionate self. So needless to say, no one else will ever see the true Smokey. I will just have to tell you about him.

This dog has quite a personality, more so than any other dog we have ever had. I’m going to veer of the path for a moment and explore the possibilities of why. When I look back at our other dogs, well not so much the dog, but maybe better put would be, looking back at how much time was spent with the dog. Those dogs were not as “in tune with us” as Smokey is and not quite as alert of their surroundings or interested in learning new things. Now, I don’t know absolutely for sure that it had to with the lack of time spent with the other dogs or not but there is a tremendous difference between those dogs and Smokey.

With Smokey I was working part-time and my retired sister lived with us, so he was rarely ever left to his own devices. Our time with Smokey on training was 24/7, which, of course, included playtime, learning tricks and just hanging out relaxing together. But, I truly believe the constant monitoring of his behavior contributed to his becoming the gentleman he is and contributed to the development of his personality and his sense of humor. We took him to the in-laws house for Christmas last year and they’ve never had dogs in the house and she said “He was a perfect gentleman”.

I sincerely believe that a portion of his personality comes from being together all the time and that he was very seldom, if ever, left to entertain himself or to find some trouble to get into. I was told by our trainer that he had a very active mind and we would need to keep him busy and always learning something new, which we did especially during the first 2 years of training.

At approximately 4 months old we hung a large bell on a string and attached it to the handle of the stove, which was next to the back door. Each time we took him outside, we stopped at the bell, told him to “ring the bell” and hit the bell with his paw. After a couple of weeks he would bounce into the kitchen, run around the corner and smack the bell and it would fling in the air hitting the door, the wall, swing down and he’d smack it again.

He played with the bell so often that it was hard to keep track of when he truly needed to go outside to do his “business” or he was just playing. The bell became one of his favorite toys. He’d crouch down, butt in the air, watching the bell, barking and growling at it, running back and forth as if he had a squirrel cornered. He’d hit the bell, then hit it again on the downswing and the upswing, that bell was swinging like a tether ball in a school yard (woops, just dated myself here).

He’d get a paw wrapped up in the string once in awhile but most of the time he managed to wiggle his paw loose, which really surprised me.

If you were to ask me, I do truly believe, that the more time you can invest in your dogs and “consistently” (consistency is key to dog training) monitor their behavior the better behaved dog you will have.

We started Smokey, our Schnauzer, at a very young age getting used to the car. Of course, when the dogs are young, it takes a lot of perseverance to instill proper car etiquette, which means they are not to be bouncing off the inside of the doors and the roof or using the passengers as springboards from the front to the back or vice-versa, or chewing on the seats, the seat belts or licking all over the windows, all of which is a definite no-no for us.

Our dog was fairly good in the car, even as a youngster. But, there were a couple of things that our dog did that were very difficult to change. One, was that he wanted to be standing on our lap looking out the front window with his head as close to the window as he could get. He wanted to see everything before we saw it. I wonder, is that possible that he saw it before we did because his eyes were in front of ours? I really wonder about that, does anybody have a clue? I’d really like to know.

In time, we got him to sit on the console between the front seats and of course now its his seat and nobody else better use it for any thing else, like my purse or he pouts. The other issue we had in the car was that he wanted to be right next to you all the time. He had to be physically touching one or the other of us. Now, the touching wasn’t so bad but he was always standing on the console, which made it very difficult to see around him. This is, obviously, a very dangerous situation to have because he was always in the way and blocking our line of sight. Now, not only was he in the way, but he would press and lean on you with what felt like his full weight.

But, one of the greatest commands that he learned from being in the car was the command of “back”. Let me explain, when he was up in the front seats & in our way we would tell him “back” and at the same time we pointed him towards the back seat and gently nudged him in that direction. We did this every time he was misbehaving and not sitting and he began to understand that when he did behave and would sit down, then and only then was he allowed between the seats on the console.

It wasn’t long before he understood what was expected of him while in the car, but that isn’t saying that he always responded. He would push his preference on us, which was to be standing and leaning on us while on the console. It was several months before the battle was over, though, but, guess who won? Needless to say, it wasn’t the dog.

Now he responds to the verbal command of “back” and jumps in the back seat. To me, the “back” command, has been the best command after “stay” or “sit”. I have found it to be a very beneficial command in a variety of situations and I believe, I use it as much as “stay” or “sit”.

He now goes with us almost everywhere and we can go through a drive-thru restaurant and eat in the car and he sits in the back seat until we are done eating. He knows that when the car starts he can get on the console again. The dog is so good in the car that I take him everywhere with me rather than leaving him at home all alone.

Good car etiquette is essential for him (and for me) because he gets “cabin-fever” being inside during the winter months, so I take him for a ride in the car. I generally, try to take him someplace where he hasn’t been before. That way he is actively looking at and assimilating what he is seeing, so even if he doesn’t get the physical exercise at least it stimulates him mentally.