Bob's Dog Blog

I know I’ve done a post like this before, but it bears repeating. Here is a great email from an owner who has questions about what dogs should chew. Remember, this is relative to Rottweilers as they are vigorous chewers…

Bob,

I think we talked about this before but what are your thoughts on rawhide bones? Bear is at the point were the rubber toys are no good, he is chewing them up and I cant think of anything else to replace a chew toy with other than a rawhide bone…..

Answer: Here are my views on toys and rawhides, versus bones. I myself do not recommend leaving a dog’s toys, such as balls and so on, for a dog to chew on as:

1. they then either become bored with toys in general (because now they associate a toy with food) and won’t play with you with the toy. Hold off on giving him any more toys to chew, as he will then not want to play with them.

2. You are running the risk of the dog swallowing a piece of the toy and creating an obstruction in his intestines, requiring expensive surgury.

3. A rawhide is not a good chew item for a dog as it does nothing for cleaning his teeth and can also be swallowed whole and get caught in the intestines,etc. Also, they get
chewed up in a matter of minutes, especially with Rotties = waste of money.

So, with that being said, I suggest you get real beef bones. No chicken bones. No rib bones. Nothing that will shatter while being chewed. You want big, knuckle bones or leg bones, from cows. Or big pork bones, like leg bones. You can pick these up at any good pet store or order them online. I like to get the smoked bones, with some meat left on them that the dog nibbles off and then gets into the actual bone. These will really help the dog to clean his own teeth and the bone meal is totally digestible. You can smoke your own bones, too, if you have a smoker at the house.

I’ve attached a couple pics of what I consider good bone types to use. Just keep him in fresh bones and when the bone gets too small, get rid of it and replace it. You can also go to jefferspet.com to order bones in bulk, as they are cheaper than at the local pet store.

Let me know if this helps.

Bob

Rule Number One: The purpose of a leash is to control your dog.

If you use a leash to let the dog drag you down the street, you are not using the lead for its intended purpose. When done this way, the dog is using the lead to control you. Practice using the leash to position your dog with quick corrections (see below) and to initiate heeling or walking. If a dog pulls, work it in basic heeling and correct this in your back yard or training area daily until the dog complies. Trying to correct a dog for the first time while it is outside the realm of a training activity (and while he is free to sniff and pee, etc) will get you nowhere.

Rule Number Two: The purpose of a correction collar is to train the dog into correct obedience.

Using a choke or prong collar as a type of jewelry is a misuse of this training tool and can also be hazardous to your dog’s health. All it takes is one hang up of the collar on a fence or some other stationary object and the dog will choke itself out and possibly die.

Training collars need to be used during training sessions, not just for walking the dog to go to the bathroom. Letting a dog drag you with its training collar on just strengthens the dog’s ability to drag you around and does not really correct anything. Pop the collar with your lead with correct timing after the command has been given so the dog avoids being disobedient. Reward for compliance. Begin by doing this daily in your back yard during training time. Then, the correction will have some relevance to the dog when walking with you or out and about on lead.

Obviously, you need to first train the dog or pup to understand your commands, otherwise all of the above correction will not be understood by the dog.

I hope this helps!

Best,

Bob

Most of the owners I talk with try their best to get in some kind of training with their dog at least a few times a week. While this is really better than ignoring your dog or pup’s training needs, it may not be enough for the goals you’ve set in getting your best friend up to a level where the two of you are on the same page.

A simple solution is to incorporate training into everyday actions that you perform with your dog. Examples of this are going in and out of the house, something I am positive gets taken for granted. Instead of ignoring your dog when this is done, just put the animal in a sit before entering or exiting the house. You can release with a treat or just praise, then open the door. Doing this every day will reinforce the sit command like nothing else and actually help with the dog’s overall obedience around the house.

I’m sure you can think of other ways to do this using the ‘sit’ and other commands. This handles the excuse that you don’t have the time to do ‘formal’ obedience training. If you can’t do it this way, then you probably are too busy or disinterested to own a dog.

After all, real world application is why you do obedience training on your dog in the first place, isn’t it?

Bob

Sometimes a person takes ownership of an eight week old pup and begins training and socialization immediately. This is correct and should be continued throughout the life of the dog.

There are other instances where the owner does very little with the pup during the 8-16 week period and then wonders why the pup is taking so long to train later on. This whole theory of not starting training on a pup until they are six months old is not valid, in my opinion. I mean, the pup is there, in your house, waiting to learn what his duties are and how to interact with the family, and you just leave him there to figure it out for himself. I’m not just talking about housebreaking here. I mean, the pup needs to be imprinted during this time for an optimum life as an adult.

Imprinting means the learning and socialization that the pup absorbs during the critical 8-16 week period. If you want your pup to chase a ball, you should probably start making it fun at eight weeks or otherwise at two years it’s not going to do it. Period. Please don’t blame the breeder for this, people. It’s handler caused and totally environmental. I’m not saying every pup can be titled in competitive obedience or Schutzhund – what I’m saying here is that you must bring out the as much of the pup’s working potential early in life for that potential to become active throughout life. It’s very important to know that a working attitude must be established for the pup to do work. This also holds true for the handler – if the handler does not have a working attitude, please don’t expect the dog to enjoy working.

As an example, recently I took a six week old pup with excellent nerves, food drive and overall great temperament and began imprint training.  The downside of the pup was that there was very little prey drive and lots of independent activity, which included ignoring the handler unless food was involved. I knew this was going to be a disaster later on, especially with an inexperienced handler taking him. A strong willed dog with no idea of obedience or play is not a good thing, especially at adulthood.

I began by introducing toys, which were ignored, as expected. I then, patiently, brought out another pup with high prey drive along with this pup and introduced a toy to both at once. As soon as the high prey pup went after the toy, the other pup began to follow suit, would wrestle to toy away,  then would get bored and go about his business. I did this about fifty times until, one day, this pup grabbed the toy and ran with it. Success! From that point forward, exciting prey drive has been a gradual, improving situation to the point where the pup will chase after a ball on a string while on leash and grip a rag as well.  In this instance, I had to bring out, through patiently imprinting, the prey drive that the pup had. This same pup will do a sit, sit/stay, recall and has begun basic tracking and heeling (all done with food and some ball release). He is now very connected to humans and although he will always be a strong willed dog, he will also continue to be extremely trainable and valuable to whoever eventually adopts him.  This pup can now walk onto any training field or into any household and do work. I know this because I helped put it there.

The moral of the story is: IMMEDIATELY BEGIN IMPRINTING, SOCIALIZING AND TRAINING YOUR PUP. Write down a list of all the things you want your pup to be able to do, in order of importance. Then, begin work on each, one at a time, until the pup is doing well with that thing. Then go on to the next one, remembering that you will need to go back and continue work on all of these things, every day, every week, until they are simply part of the dog.

Then you will be a real handler and your dog will live up to its expectations as a true working dog.

Best,

Bob

I received a great email from Sandy in Virginia, about a dietary handling she did on Riesling (King/Gwen). Here is an excerpt from her message:

“I just wanted to drop you a quick note to share my latest “dog-owner-proud-moment”.  I have recently switched Riesling over to a grain free food, Orijen Adult.  I’m not sure if you’re familiar with it but I know how seriously you take the dogs diet so I had to share my latest discovery with you.  I need you to know how much I absolutely love it!!  It is 42% protein & 16% fat.

She’s had some problems with her ears (build up & nasty yeast stuff, ewww) and any rottweiler owner can relate to the gas these pups have, hehe.  Since the switch, no ear troubles, the gas is almost non-existent and she never has loose stools anymore.  She has adjusted to this new food with such great ease, it’s unbelievebale.  The cost is comparable to any other high-quality food, which makes it even better.  I think I remember you doing a blog post some time ago regarding food choices which is why I wanted to drop you a line.” – Sandy.

The link to the manufacturer’s site is:

http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/adult.aspx

The ingredients are exceptionally good and with that great protein to fat ratio, it warrants looking into if you have any doubts about the food you are currently feeding your dog, or if they have similar issues to Riesling’s .  A lot of the high end foods just do not deliver in the protein/fat content and in my opinion, spending a bunch of money on low fat, low protein food is just a waste.

And no, I am not a sales rep for Orijen!!

Best,

Bob