Want to hear something crazy? People need vacations. Have you ever had a crazy day wherein you simply wanted to leave everything and spend some time alone to revive yourself? You probably have a boss who begrudgingly gives you only the weekends to relax. What if one day he decides to personally plan a vacation for you, will that help you appreciate him? Don't you agree that retreats actually help the person live a fuller and a more stress-free life?

Canines operate in a similar fashion. They need to find a secure place to nest in once in a while. It is a deeply primal instinct that goes back several decades, even centuries. A masters responsibility is to lead them into things that we know are good for their well-being. This is an article that aims to do just that with puppy training tips on the often misunderstood but terribly useful crate training.

Crate training a puppy sounds like a really bad form of canine punishment you don't want to get involved in. Truth be known, it's actually helpful in animal training; specifically potty training. You see, as much as he is able to, dogs will not unload dog matter on his personal space. This means that a crate trained puppy will wait until he is released from the pen before he eliminates, therefore giving you something to work with in terms of scheduling his feeding and potty time. Make sure to use a crate that is comfortable but small enough for him not to use a part of it as a toilet.

This crate should be placed inside your bedroom or living room. Never forcefully push the puppy inside this place, he should enter willingly. Put in interesting dog toys and some favorite treats. Begin to feed him inside the crate. Remember the secret is to make this place as pleasant as possible. This should be his haven from all the busyness of a dogs life so do not take him here as punishment for wrong behavior.

Now the puppy is already accustomed to being inside the crate, close the enclosure for a few minutes at a time. Make sure he hears you and knows you are still in the room. If he gets upset for no pressing reason, do not let him out until he quiets down. If you do, he will use crying to get what he wants in the future.

If all goes well, the puppy will now be accustomed to a closed crate and is probably not noticing you as much anymore. Begin to go out of the room for longer periods of time. With the puppy toys distracting him, he is now at ease and even enjoying this time of play and quiet time. Keep in mind your puppy's physical limitations and do not leave him alone for more than four hours at a time without going potty.

With these puppy training tips, expect a new found freedom in living life with your pet. No more difficult sleeping and potty training times. No more shortened vacations due to the puppy's inability to behave and stay put. Your pet is a happier, well-adjusted dog on top it all. Go ahead, book that spa appointment you never had time for. Enjoy! After patiently crate training a puppy as well as you just did, you deserve nothing less.

Posted under Puppy

Hello. You have seen the scenario where someone is walking in the park with their cute puppy on a leash. As you walk towards it you can see it's joy in living each and every second as its tail starts wagging at high speed.

Moments later, you hear a repeated high pitched yap yap yap yap and the deeper growl of a less playful dog. Without turning, you already know the problem. Playful puppy has been stopped dead in its tracks by another dog which may not be quite under control of its master.

There are a myriad of reasons for what we call bad behavior on the part of canines. Inbreeding, bad upbringing, chronic damage such as poor dental health. Any of these can be contributing factors as to why a dog would suddenly go off in a public area.

A few weeks ago, as I was petting the head of the dog a few doors down, my neighbor recounted this story about this half puppy half wolf.

Sometime last year he tied his dog to the back bumper of his vehicle and gave it a 5 meter length ( about 15 feet ) to play with. He remembers hearing a ruckus outside and running out to his front door to find the following scenario.

There, running free of its leash and cutting a line straight towards his big puppy was a vicious pit Bull. He remembers his dog backing up to the vehicle as if to get enough slack in its leash. In no time the pit bull had crossed 30 feet and without so much as a hello, launched itself in the air towards the puppy.

What happened next was more of a blur, but as he describes it the pitBull jumped and was airborne and in attack mode in no time at all. The waiting half wolf had expected this and when the pitbull grabbed for where the puppy's throat was, it got nothing but air. On landing, the pitbull tried to launched itself yet again but the puppy was already above it in the air and promptly seized the pitbull's throat as it attempted to shake it into submission.

A very low wolf like growl emitted from my neighbors dog. For a moment the pitBull went slack and the half wolf tossed it about 2 meters.

I am told that the angry pitbull didn't have 3 feet properly on the ground before it promptly launched itself yet again at the half puppy. This time meaning to surprise it. However, everyone was surprised when the puppy itself met the pitBull midway and without ado simply snapped its neck. There was a kind of silence that one hears when everyone is holding their breath.

Time that had rushed faster than anyone could probably recount, suddenly stood still. The only slow movement came from the puppy as it backed to the vehicle, slunk down and looked around.

Its truly sad when something like this happens. The savagery of the episode is lost in the speed and suddeness of an attack like this. We heard that an older child had been threatened by the same dog a year earlier and that there was pending investigations about that due to those on the scene telling different versions of what they thought they saw.

Nature does what nature does, and its sometimes sad when its your dog that has been put down, even though you know it may have been its fault but still...

Posted under Dogs

Myth #1 - A dog that chews things is either terribly bored or simply trying to be vindictive.

False. It's not completely straightforward, and it is one of the commonest behavior problems, but dogs chew things it's very much part of their nature. They also must chew things to keep their gums and teeth healthy.

Allowing your dog to chew on something is also really needed when you have a puppy and they begin to teeth. The secret is to redirect any chewing behavior to something that is safe and acceptable for him to chew.

Myth #2 - You need to understand and communicate in "dog language" so that your dog will understand you.

Incorrect again, I find this a tough one to understand, but your dog knows you are not the same as him. You don't look like him and you don't smell like him. It is important however, to spend time reading your dog's body language. So for example, you know whether a bark is playing or it means there's an axe murderer behind you.

Although you do need to be 'alpha' over your dog. In the wild dogs went around in packs with a clear leader who kept everyone else in line. You have to be that dog or otherwise your dog will keep playing up.

Myth number 3 - Your dog is only being trained when you are actually doing dog training with him.

Not true. Your dogs life is a training ground and he is picking up cues all of the time whether they be verbal or non verbal.

For example if the phone rings and you jump up to answer it, your dog will understand that's OK and he will jump up when he hears a ring.

If you get nervous each time you pass by the neighbor who walks their Great Dane on the other side of the street in the morning, you are training your dog to be nervous if the Great Dane is in sight. You need to be consistent with your Dog and make sure you spend quality time together.

Posted under Dogs