Dr. Phil McBeagle anexity update

The brave Dr Phil McBeagle waiting to cross the scary
kitchen doorway at the Dog Training/Foster Shack.

I am happy to report that Dr.Phil McBeagle is making great progress in overcoming his phobia of interior doorways! The Lovely Shane and have been using the techniques that I described in my last post.

Dr. Phil McBeagle bravely crossing the doorway
from living room to Dog Training Office. He is followed by
Cuddles the Corgi Mix.

After two days of using these techniques, Dr. Phil no longer had to be coaxed using treats. Sometimes he does not even slow down through the doorways.

I think it also helped that he could see that the rest of the pack had no problems at the doorways.

We are very proud of Dr.Phil here at the Dog Training Shack!

I hope that Dr.Phil's story helps to encourage some of you who have an anxious dog. There is hope! With the proper technique, persistence, patience and routine, you can be successful as well!

Dr. Phil is a very affectionate beagle. He really loves sitting next to Foster Daddy and getting petted! He can be quite the couch potato. He loves to watch TV. We do not watch that much TV here at the shack. But, Dr. Phil likes to lay next to me on the bed, just before bedtime, and watch a little TV.

Dr. Phil McBeagle exploring the back yard with Copper and Trigger

We are going to now begin working more on loose leash walking. I really don't think Dr. Phil ever really learned to walk on a leash. He does okay, he really does not pull that much but, he likes to put the brakes on so to speak and not move forward. We are going to work with him using positive reinforcement. I think he will make fast progress on loose leash walking.

He is really a smart dog and wants to please the people. However, as is common with beagles, he can be stubborn too.

We have begun our diet and exercise program. It is a little too soon to notice any results. He is quite an active dog for his age so that is encouraging!

I think it has really helped Dr. Phil McBeagle to be a part of our pack. Copper the Whopper Beagle and the rest of the pack have been really good about welcoming him and helping him to learn how the pack should behave. Phil loves to work for treats with Copper and the rest of the pack. We are working on the down command now. He has pretty much mastered sit and stay. We are going to begin working with him on how to wait and behave properly at doorways.

Remember, Dr. Phil is looking for a forever home. He loves it here as a foster at our place, but he really needs a permanent home with people who love him and can devote lots of time to him :) .

Dr. Phil really loves people and attention! He loves to go visit his foster grandparents! They live next door to us and love to pet our dogs and give them treats!

If you need help training your dogs to be polite, please contact me! I always tell you, " Polite Dogs = Happy People" Let me help you to get happy today!!!

Till Next Time

-William-

William Moore Canine Training
fayettedogtrainer@gmail.com
678-702-4791

How to help a dog that is afraid of nail clipping.

Our little Beagle, Cody really does not like to have his nails clipped. He is a senior guy and his nails are thick and they seem to grow fast.

The Lovely Shane and I adopted Cody in June. Since then, we have noticed that he is really anxious in certain situations. He does not like getting shots at the veterinarian. I can't say that I blame him, I am afraid of needles too! However, Cody yelps like he is in extreme pain before the needle ever touches him. (I have stopped yelping when the doctor pulls out the needle... now I close my eyes)
He only has to see the needle to become anxious. I suppose he is associating the needle with the pain of the stick ( not an irrational thing to do at all in my opinion).

Cody in his basket.

He is also afraid of the nail clippers. I speculate that perhaps at some point in his life, someone accidentally cut into the quick and hurt him. Of course now, I speculate, that he is associating the pain he once experienced with the nail clipper. We could use one of those dremel tool type devices that grinds the nail but I doubt he would be thrilled about that either.

The problem, in my opinion (based upon experience with other dogs), is that he is associating people doing things to his nails with some painful earlier experience. Much like people, some dogs are just naturally more anxious than others. Cody is generally slightly more high strung than our Whopper Beagle, Copper. Copper generally does not get nearly as anxious as Cody.

There is a reason I am writing about Cody's anxiety here. There is a technique for addressing this problem. I have had a lot of success with it in the past. Dog Trainers call this technique Counter Conditioning and Desensitization. Sometimes, just so we can sound cool, we abbreviate it CC&D.

Cody and I ready for a little nap.

It is outside the scope of this blog post to teach you all the details of this method. However, the way I usually explain it to people is as follows:

As I mentioned, the real issue here seems to be that the dog is associating pain or something negative with the nail clippers. Simply put, our objective is to get the dog to associate something positive with the dreaded nail clippers rather than something negative.

It is important that you remain patient during this process. It will not happen immediately. It takes slow, methodical steps. Like virtually everything else in dog training, patience and routine are really the keys to success here. It is very important that you not get frustrated.

What we do is find something that the dog loves.It should be something that motivates him. Something that is of "high value" to the dog. For some dogs this may be a food item like a frankfurter (we do not say hot dog :) ) or cheese. For some dogs this may be a favorite toy.

Me when I learn the Doctor is going to need
to use a needle.

Once we have identified the motivation, we very slowly, in a controlled environment begin to get the dog to associate the motivator with the nail clippers. In other words, we are desensitizing him (making him less sensitive) to the nail clippers by associating the nail clippers with the motivator (maybe a nice piece of stinky cheese). This helps to "counter-condition" him from associating the clippers with pain and he begins associating the clippers with fun good stuff.

I know this sounds like a lot of psychological theory. I am not a psychology professor (however I do occasionally play one on T.V. :) ) I do however know what my experience has been .It does really work. I have seen it work many times. In the beginning, I was skeptical of this technique. I am a reformed believer now!

The Lovely Shane and I are going to begin this with Cody very soon. I will keep you updated on our progress.

If you have a dog that is afraid of the nail clippers or anything similar, this is a technique that we can use to help your little guy or girl. There is hope! It just takes the proper technique, time, and patience.

Please contact me and I will be glad to help you help your dog to deal with his/her anxiety.

Till Next Time

William

William Moore
William Moore Canine Training
678-702-4791
fayettedogtrainer@gmail.com

Progress report on our foster dog, Penny the tiny Beagle.

 I am not sure if you can tell in these pictures but, little Penny is making great progress! She is filling out. I really do think she is putting on weight though I have not weighed her. Believe it or not there is no scale in the Dog Trainer Shack, not even a bathroom scale. I suppose, at some point we should get one but it is not exactly a high priority in our lives right now.

She is eating like a little horse! As is typical with Beagles, she loves food. She is led by her little nose!

 As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been using Nutri-Cal in an attempt to put some weight on this little girl and I think it is working.

She is the first dog that I have ever seen that does not like Nutri-Cal right out of the tube. I take two small treats and make her a Nutri-Cal sandwich with them. She loves that! I have been doing this two or three times a day.

As you can see in the picture, she loves her new foster brothers, Copper and Cody, here they are relaxing in the back yard at the Dog Training Shack.

The Lovely Shane recently took her on a little trip to her parents house. She did this to see how well little Penny would get along with her parents toy poodle (Benny). We were also curious how well Penny would do around our grandson.

The Lovely Shane reports that Penny did great with the grandyoungun (for those of you who do not live in the south, that means grandchild). However, Penny was very vocal around Benny. She did not really like him getting in her face and barking. I suppose I would have been vocal too in her position.  However, this indicates that Penny may not be great around toy breeds. I think they probably make her anxious and nervous. This is something that may get better with time and more (slow and controlled) socialization with toy dogs.

Penny seems to be very willing to learn. Here is a video that I made of me and the Beagles. We were working on waiting at the door. Penny saw Copper and Cody working on that behavior and she joined in the fun. She did very well for a first attempt. Then we came in the house and the Beagle boys and I were working on "leave it" and Penny joined in with us again. For the first attempt, she did great!

Penny does still need some work on behavioral stuff though. It is all fairly minor things such as, she likes to jump on you for attention, we are working on this.  She also likes to nudge you with her nose when she wants to be petted. I discourage this behavior because, I should be the one who pets her, not the other way around. But, as I wrote, all this is minor. She is overall, a very sweet and fairly polite and well behaved little girl!

Penny is scheduled to be at Petco in Peachtree City  this Saturday. She will be there from around 11 till around 4. If you are interested, please stop by the Bully Wag table and see her. 

She will also probably make an appearance at a fund raiser for Bully Wag in Newnan on Friday. I will post updates here as we get closer to Friday.

If you would like more information on Penny or on adding an adopted dog to your pack, please contact me at anytime!

Also, if you have recently added a new member to your pack, I will be happy to help you with your in an effort to make your new little guy or girl a polite and well behaved dog.

Please also contact me with any questions/concerns. As always, my goal is to help you train a polite and well behaved dog!

Till next time

-William-

William Moore

William Moore Canine Training

fayettedogtrainer@gmail.com

678-702-4791