New Electronic Book is Now Available!!!!!

Parent's Manual for Adopted Dogs
by William Moore

Parent's Manual for Adopted Dogs is now available as an E-Book!

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the new book is now published. At the moment, it is only available in electronic format. The book is available from Amazon and Google Books at a cost of $6.99.

The intent of this book is to serve as sort of a parent’s or owner’s manual for the adopted dog.
Furthermore, the intent is also to serve as a guide for those of you who are considering adding an
adopted dog to your pack.

The following information and more is contained in this book:

• Tips for introducing your adopted boy or girl into your home.
• The most common behavioral problems with adopted dogs are presented and addressed.
• Tips for training your little guy or girl to be a polite dog are included.
• Dog training methods are defined and compared
• Tips on choosing a dog trainer are provided

Costs of adopting a dog are discussed. The costs are more than the adoption fee!

• Age related issues and benefits are discussed
• Senior
• Adult
• Puppy

• Chapters discuss the differences between adopting from a rescue versus adopting from a shelter. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.
• The importance of proper veterinary care is discussed.
• vaccinations
• diet
• accidental poisoning

Purchase Your Copy Today!

Amazon

Google Play

New Website

As most of my readers know, I also operate a lawn maintenance and handyman business. I have also offered commercial custodial services for many years as part of the handyman business.

Since we were married, the lovely, beautiful, and talented Shane has been a great help to me in these business endeavors. Shane has recently joined me as a full time partner (co-owner) in these business efforts.

Shane has recently begun building a residential cleaning offering.

I have wanted to get an Internet Domain Name for many years. We have finally done that and built a web site.

The new web site is: www.mooresvs.com . This web site will provide information on all of out service offerings including Dog Training. This blog will continue operating to provide dog training information, advice, and some of my commentary to our customers and the general public. I intend to update it more often in the future.  Recent health issues have prevented me from updating the blog as often as I should. I am recovering nicely now!

We will continue to offer the Dog Training services that we have always provided. The new website and new holding company name "Moore Services for your Money" is simply intended to provide our customers with a more convenient  way to access and learn about the services that we offer.

Thank you for your continued support!

Copper, the lovely Shane and I look forward to working with you in the future.

Till next time -

William

Welcome to the pack, Doyle the Doxle, Also, what I have been up to lately.

Welcome Doyle!

The Lovely Shane, Doyle and Butters spend quality time
at the Dog Training Shack

The Lovely Shane and I would like to welcome Doyle the Doxle to the pack at the Dog Training Shack!

We adopted Doyle shortly before Christmas from his former foster family at Angels Among Us dog rescue. The Lovely Shane saw Doyle on an Internet advertisement and fell in love with the little guy,

Doyle is a young adult and is very mild mannered. He loves nothing more than snuggling on the couch with his new Mommy. He is a young adult.

Doyle gives Daddy a kiss.

For those of you not familiar with the term "Doxle", Doyle is a mix of Dachshund and Beagle. He has a long body with short legs similar to his pack mate and new buddy Trigger the Dachshund. His face more closely resembles that of a Beagle.

Doyle is very food motivated, like a true Beagle. He also has many of the personality traits that one associates with the Dachshund. His bark sounds more like the Dachshund than the Beagle.

Now that Doyle is beginning to settle in to life with our pack, we are beginning to teach him basic commands (He knew a few already when we got him). It appears that he has never been taught to walk properly on a leash. We will begin that training soon.

Where has the Dog Trainer been hiding lately?

I apologize that it has been so long since you have heard much from me. I have had a few health problems lately. Most recently I had a very painful time with kidney stones. Before that, I had terrible migraine headaches that occurred every day. The doctors never really determined the cause of the headaches although they seem to have stopped now.

So, I am back in action now!

Copper and I have been doing dog training sessions. I have also started doing Handyman work again.

So, if you have a dog that is having trouble being a polite and well behaved little guy or girl, please contact me, Copper and I will be happy to help you!

By the way, Copper has now been my demo dog for two years! We are happy to celebrate that anniversary with Copper!

I am sure that I will put up a blog post soon to commemorate Copper's Anniversary.

Till Next Time-

William

Effectively breaking up a dog fight.

This is Clara. She was stabbed multiple times with a pocket knife
 in an attempt to break up a dogfight. She ultimately died as a result of the injuries
The unbelievable thing is that this happened
during an adoption event at a PetSmart store in Newnan, GA

Recently,  a tragic event occurred at the Petsmart store in Newnan, GA. There has been controversy regarding the particulars of this incident and my intent with this post is not to take sides. I do not have enough information to make any judgments regarding fault in this incident.

However, I can say that the knife play was not necessary. I have worked with dogs for many years. I have broken up  fights during that time. However, I have never cut a dog with a knife (or any other instrument for that matter). In fact, the thought would have never crossed my mind!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have also never fired a gun at a dog in an attempt to break up a fight. A security guard used by Petco actually shot a dog multiple times inside a Petco store to break up a dog fight. This incident occurred a little over a year ago in Austin, Texas.

There is a correct way and many incorrect ways to break up a dog fight. I urge you as a pet parent, to please, please, please learn the correct way to avoid a dog fight and the correct method to break up a fight if a fight does occur.

The best tactic is prevention and common sense. In public, always keep your dog on leash! If your dog is aggressive, I recommend against taking him to unfamiliar surroundings such as a pet store on a weekend (when adoption events are taking place).

If your dog is not good on leash, I recommend strongly against taking him to a public place until he is trained well on the leash.

Even if your dog is not aggressive, please observe the three foot rule. Maintain a minimum of three feet of separation between your dog and other dogs. I maintain more than three feet between my dog and a dog with which I am unfamiliar. When you follow this rule, the dogs do not get close enough to fight.

Please, please, please learn the proper techniques to break up a dog fight. For more information see my previous post on the subject here: http://fayettedogtrainer.blogspot.com/2013/07/what-should-i-do-if-dog-fight-starts.html .

If you need help teaching your dog to behave properly on leash please contact me. Also, please contact me if you have questions about the proper technique to use when breaking up a dog fight.

Till next time -


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

A Virtually Dog Proof Kitchen Trash Can!

 Any of you that live with Beagles or other scent hounds realize the importance of dog-proofing the kitchen.  The Lovely and Beautiful Shane and I are currently doing a small remodeling project in our kitchen. As you may recall, from a previous blog post, we used to keep our trash can behind a latched door in the kitchen pantry. This was problematic because a simple latch is no match for a curious and motivated beagle. Beagles and scent hounds find the aroma of kitchen trash to be a highly motivating thing indeed!

The other problem with keeping the trash behind the latched door was that it was inconvenient. Anytime we wanted to throw something away, we had to deal with the latch and door.

We decided that we would rather have more open shelf and counter space than the enclosed pantry so, I removed a couple of walls and we are working on building a new counter and shelves. We are also installing some cool wall panels that look like stone work.  We are exited about this project but, we needed a trash containment solution that would deter motivated beagles and allow us convenient and easy access to the trash can.

Through much research, The Lovely, Beautiful, and Intelligent Shane found a really cool trash can manufactured by Simply Human. This trash can is a model that simply human refers to as "butterfly". It has a cantilever type of lid that is operated by a foot pedal. Because of the cantilever design, the lid closes very securely. The model that we purchased is slightly bottom heavy so, it stays upright pretty easily. We have had ours in the kitchen for about a month now and the dogs pretty much ignore it.

For a trash can, these units are a little pricey. However, we feel that this unit is well worth the price that we paid for it!

We bought ours at a clearance price from a local Bed, Bath and Beyond store. I suppose this would fall into the "beyond" department :) . I am not sure why Bed, Bath and Beyond stopped carrying this item. We really do like ours!

If you need help dog proofing your home, or if you need help training your canine buddy to be a polite little guy or girl, please contact me at any time.

Polite Dogs = Happy People.... Let me help you get happy today!!!

Till Next Time

-William

Regarding confidentiality of customer information

I thought it prudent to write about an issue that has been in my thoughts a lot lately.

As many of you are aware, I also own a Lawn Maintenance and Handyman business. Copper and I quite frequently purchase materials for business related projects at the Lowe's store in Fayetteville, GA. 

Lowe's has recently partnered with Porch.com. Porch.com is a marketing service. The electronic service that they provide is intended to match homeowners that are looking for home improvement contractors with contractors in the area that can do the work. It is similar to Yelp.com. 

I found some of their marketing material at the Lowe's contractor desk and decided to create a profile on Porch.com for the Handyman business.

I like some things about Porch.com. The contractor can put up pictures of projects and provide a lot of information on the type of services that they provide.

However, there is one thing for which my gut feel, so to speak, was not good at all:

Porch provides a mechanism for new homeowners to discover who has worked at the address of their home. Part of this information is obtained by Porch through public record searches (i.e. building permits, etc.) I do not really have a problem with this because this is public information and can be obtained by anyone. However, Porch, very strongly encourages contractors to give them lots of information about jobs they have done, Much of the information they request is customer information that I consider confidential. They want to know how much I charged a customer for a particular job (like the projects that I post). They want to know the exact street address of the job (supposedly for the address search feature I mentioned). They do not want the customer name ( if they have the other information, I maintain that the name is easy to obtain).

In his gospel, Luke records the words of Jesus, " Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Sometimes we call this the golden rule. Treat others the way you would want to be treated. Well, friends, I have to tell you, if I do business with you, I really do not want you telling strangers where I live and how much I paid you for the job. As the old folks that I grew up around used to say, "It just ain't none of their business".

It might be kind of cool to find out who, in the past, did work at a house I just bought. It might be cool to find out how much the previous owners paid for a repair. However, if they wanted me to know they would have told me. I could have asked before I bought the house. And, just because a particular contractor worked at an address in the past, does not really mean that this contractor will be a good choice for a future job. It does not even mean that the contractor did the work properly the first time.

A Porch representative contacted me by phone and very strongly suggested that I disclose this sort of information about my customers. I never intended to disclose any of this information. I have a very strong information security background from my previous career as a computer network security consultant, I was curious, so I asked for documentation detailing the internal controls, if any, that Porch implements to secure the potential vulnerability of this sensitive data. This should be in their internal data security policies and procedures. I was promised this information. What I got was names of contractors who have disclosed customer information to Porch. Porch wants me to contact these contractors for testimonials regarding how great it is to disclose sensitive customer information to a marketing company like Porch. Well.... No Thanks.

So, I strongly suggest that you, as a consumer, insist that personally identifiable information about your deal with your contractor remain confidential. I often use pictures and/or descriptions of the work that I do for customers as a marketing tool. Sometimes, I will give a broad description of the geographical area of the work, i.e. North Fayette County, GA.  However, I never disclose the customers name, address, nor any details of the deal (i.e. cost, time to complete, etc.) I am proud of my work but, your confidentiality is important to me as well!

I realize that this does not really apply directly to Dog Training. However, it does give you some idea of my position regarding business ethics and I thought it important to include here.

-Till Next Time

William

Advice regarding stores that suddenly deny access to your dog.

Copper Whopper helping me in the shop.

As many of my readers know, I also own and operate a Lawn Maintenance/Handyman business.By the way, we provide the best and most reliable service available anywhere.

I often take one or two of the pack to work with me when weather conditions are mild.

Recently Copper and I went to work together. We were purchasing material an tools for a custom shelving job. Copper has done this with me many times before. We were in Harbor Freight Tools in Fayetteville, GA. This is one of our frequent stops. Copper was on leash (as he always is when we are out) and we were approached by an associate of the store who asked that I put Copper in a shopping cart or remove him. Well, as you can imagine, a shopping cart, for many reasons, is not an option for Copper. So, I did not cause a scene. We simply went to the check-out, paid for our stuff, and departed for our next stop.

I never suggest that you start an argument with anyone who ask you to remove your pet dog. Please comply with a business owner's ( or in this case their representative's) request. It is, after all, their property and this is a free country. They have the absolute right to deny service or access to anyone at anytime and I would not have it any other way.

I was however, confused. Copper had been welcome in that establishment for a long time. So, I contacted Harbor Freight Tools through their website. I sent them an email in which I respectfully requested clarification on their policies and explained my concerns regarding the safety of pet dogs in shopping carts.

I learned that this was simply an encounter with an employee who did not understand the policy.

This is an except from the email I got from Harbor Freight:

Good Afternoon Mr. Moore,

I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience in our store.
I know who you are because I see you in the store with your dog.
It is not a policy nor is there a law that should keep you from bringing your dog into our store.
You and your dog is more than welcome in our store at any time. The only time that we may<sic> band a dog if customer’s felt threaten by a dog and I would confer with my boss and the office before making that decision.
If you will let me know who told you not to bring your dog back into the store, I will correct the situation.
The small business owner is the meat and potatoes of our business. We too are a small one owner company.
I am looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you and Copper in the store soon.
Thanks,
Bill

Bill Tesney
Store Manager
HFT352
1415 HWY 85 North
Fayetteville, GA 30214
Store Phone: 770-461-5521
HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS
Quality Tools at Ridiculously Low Prices


I responded with a description of the employee whom I encountered along with further clarification of my concerns:

Hello Mr. Tensey-

Thank you for your response.

I was never told to not bring Copper back into the store. I was told to put him into a shopping cart.

My experience and observations of canine behavior, in my work as a professional dog trainer, has influenced my belief that a shopping cart can be a very dangerous place for a dog. The issue is two-fold. If a dog is stressed, for any reason, being confined is not a good thing. This makes the effects of the anxiety much stronger for the dog. It has been my experience that a confined dog is exponentially more likely to bite. The other issue with confinement to something like a shopping cart is that shopping carts were not really designed with our canine buddies in mind. The large openings between the mesh on the bottom can lead to injury. It is also difficult to get a dog larger than medium size in and out of a shopping cart.

The above is my concern. I simply want to know if dogs are allowed to walk on the floor, on a leash  in your store. The representative who asked me to put Copper in a shopping cart was a white lady I believe she had brunette or dark color hair. Probably about 5'6" - 5'9" in height (if I remember correctly). I was a little rushed on the day of the incident so, I did not really discuss it with her. I simply told her that we were on our way out and went to the register.

I work with many customers who are interested in pet friendly places to bring their dogs. I maintain an Internet Blog at http://fayettedogtrainer.blogspot.com. I would like to accurately indicate your policy to my customers. Are dogs required to be in shopping carts?

By the way, I completely understand and agree that you absolutely have the right to ban any dog that you consider to be a threat to safety. In fact, other that the case of service dogs, you, as a business, can ban dogs altogether. That is your company's decision and I respect that right. I am not upset, I simply want to understand Harbor Freight Tools' position and policy on pet dogs in your stores.

Thank you again, and Copper and I look forward to seeing you soon. We are in there quite frequently to pick up tools that we need for the Handyman business.

Have a good day!


-William Moore

This is the response I got back:

Good Morning Mr Moore,
Thank you for your response.
On a leash in the store is fine.
We have numerous dogs that come in our store all the time.
The managers that I spoke all know who you are and have no problem.
Let me know if you need anything else.
I will speak to <name censored> about the incident from the other day.
Thanks,
Bill

Bill Tesney
Store Manager
HFT352
1415 HWY 85 North
Fayetteville, GA 30214
Store Phone: 770-461-5521
Cell Phone: 770-359-8112
HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS
Quality Tools at Ridiculously Low Prices

This, my friends, is the way that professionals handle this sort of situation. I asked for clarification and Bill Tensey provided the clarification I requested. I was never mad, simply concerned and a bit confused.

Now I can report that Harbor Freight Tools is a pet friendly business. Please be respectful of Harbor Freight Tools, or any other business, and do not bring your dog in unless they are properly housebroken and behave well on leash.

If you need assistance in training your dog to be a polite little guy or girl in public, or anywhere else, please contact me.

Till Next Time

-William-