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Calming Signals

One of the topics I like to introduce handlers to when they attend puppy socialisation classes, is Calming Signals. In 1997 Turid Rugaas and Terry Ryan published a book entitled “On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals”. This book describes how dogs are able to offer certain behaviours in order to calm those around them down. Turid Rugaas, who hails from Norway, first noticed these behaviours when her little Elkhound, Vesla, appeared able to prevent aggression in other dogs by behaving in a certain manner. Here is a direct quote from her book:

“Dogs, being flock animals, have a language for communicaton with each other. Canine language in general consists of a large variety of signals using body, face, ears, tail, sounds, movement, and expression. The dog’s innate ability to signal is easily lost or reinforced through life’s experience. If we study the signals dogs use with each other anduse them ourselves, we increase our ability to communicate with our dogs. Most noteworthy of all canine signals re the calming signals, which are used to maintain a healthy social hierarchy and resolution of conflict within the flock. These are skill which, when carried over to our own interactions with dogs, can be highly beneficial to our relationship. Dogs have the ability to calm themselves in the face of a shock (fearful or stressful situation) and to calm each other as well. As an exale let’s consider the manner in which dogs meet each other. Dogs which are worried in a social situation can communicate concepts such as, “I know you are the boss around here and I won’t make trouble”. Furthermore, the boss dog is very apt to want the worried dog to realize that no trouble is intetnded. “Don’t worry, I’m in charge around here and I mean you no harm”. Dogs that do not signal properly can be the cause of problems.”

Some of the commonest calming signals used by dogs, taken from Turid’s book, are as follows:

Sniffing the ground
Sniffing the ground is a frequently used signal. You often see it being offered in groups of puppies, and also when you are out walking your dog and someone unfamiliar comes towards you. In fact in any place where there is a lot of activity, noise or unusual objects. Sniffing the ground may be anything from moving the nose swiftly down toward the ground and back up again – to sticking the nose to the ground and sniff persistently for several minutes.
Is someone approaching you on the pavement? Take a look at your dog. Did he drop the nose down toward the ground, even slightly? Did he turn his side to the one approaching and sniff the side of the road?
Of course, dogs sniff a lot, also in order to ´read the newspaper´ and enjoy themselves. Dogs are pre-programmed to use their noses and it’s their favourite activity. However, sometimes it’s calming – it depends on the situation. So pay attention to when and in which situation the sniffing occur!

Walking slowly
High speed will be seen as threatening to many dogs, and they might want to go in to try and stop the one who is running. This is partly a hunting behaviour and is triggered by the sight of a running human or dog. If the one running is coming straight at the dog, it involves a threat and a defence mechanism sets in.
A dog who is insecure will move slowly. If you wish to make a dog feel safer, then you can move slower. When I see a dog react to me with a calming signal, I immediately respond by moving slower.
Is your dog coming very slowly when you call him? If so, check the tone of your voice – do you sound angry or strict? That may be enough for him to want to calm you down by walking slowly. Have you ever been angry with him when he came to you? Then this may be why he doesn’t trust you. Another reason to calm you may be if the dog is always put on a leash when coming when called. Take a look at your dog the next time you call him. Does he give you any calming signals when coming? If he moves slowly, you may need to do something different in the way you act.

Freezing
“Freezing” – is what we call it when the dog is stopping while standing completely still, sitting or laying down and remain in that position. This behaviour is believed to have something to do with hunting behaviour – when the prey is running, the dog attacks. Once the prey stops, the dog will stop too. We can often see this when dogs are chasing cats. This behaviour, however, is used in several different situations. When you get angry and aggressive and appear threatening, the dog will often freeze and not move in order to make you be good again. Other times the dog may walk slowly, freeze, and then move slowly again. Many owners believe that they have very obedient dogs who are sitting, lying down or standing completely still. Perhaps they are actually using calming signals? Very often a dog will stop and remain calm when someone is approaching. If your dog wants to stop or move slowly in a situation like that, then let him. Also, should your dog be in a conflict situation with a human or dog, and is unable to escape, freezing may be one way to calm the other dog or person.

Sitting down/lifting one paw
I have only rarely seen dogs lift their paw as a calming signal, but on a few occasions it’s clearly been used to calm another dog.
To sit down, or an even stronger signal, to sit down with the back turned towards someone – for instance the owner – has a very calming effect. It’s often seen when one dog wants to calm another dog which is approaching too quickly. Dogs may sit down with their backs turned against the owner when he or she sounds too strict or angry.

Walking in curve
This signal is frequently used as a calming signal, and it is the main reason why dogs may react so strongly towards meeting dogs when they are forced to walk straight at someone. Their instincts tell them that it is wrong to approach someone like that – the owner says differently. The dog gets anxious and defensive. And we get a dog which is barking and lunging at other dogs, and eventually we have an aggressive dog.
Dogs, when given a chance, will walk in curves around each other. That’s what they do when they meet off leash and are free to do things their own way. Allow your dog to do the same when he’s with you.
Some dogs’ needs large curves, while others only need to walk slightly curved. Allow the dog to decide what feels right and safe for him, then, in time and if you want to, he can learn to pass other dogs closer.
Let the dog walk in a curve around a meeting dog! Don’t make him walk in a heel position while you’re going straight forward – give him a chance to walk in a curve past the meeting dog. If you keep the leash loose and let the dog decide, you will often see that the dog chooses to walk away instead of getting hysterical.
For the same the reason, don’t walk directly toward a dog, but walk up to it in a curve. The more anxious or aggressive the dog is, the wider you make the curve.

Other calming signals
By now you have learned about some of the more common calming signals. There are around 30 of them, and many have yet to be described. I will mention a few more briefly so that you can make further observations:
• “Smiling”, either by pulling the corners of the mouth up and back, or by showing the teeth as in a grin.
• Smacking the lips
• Wagging the tail – should a dog show signs of anxiety, calming or anything that clearly has little to do with happiness, the wagging of the tail isn’t an expression of happiness, but rather that the dog wants to calm you.
• Urinating on himself – A dog who is cowering and crawling toward his owner while wetting himself and waving his tail, is showing three clear signs of calming – and of fear.
• Wanting to get up into your face and lick the corners of your mouth.
• Making the face round and smooth with the ears close to the head in order to act like a puppy. (No one will harm a puppy, is what the dog believes)
• Lying down with the belly against the ground. This has nothing to do with submission – submission is when the dog lays down with the belly up. Lying down with the belly towards the ground is a calming signal.
• …and there are even more calming signals that are used in combination with others. For instance, a dog may urinate at the same time as he is turning his back to something. This is a clear sign of calming by for instance an annoying adolescent dog.
• Some dogs act like puppies, jumping around and act silly, throwing sticks around, etc. if they discover a fearful dog nearby. It’s supposed to have, and does have, a calming effect.

Meeting situations
A meeting situation between two strange dogs will almost never show signs of strong submission or what people refer to as dominant behaviour. A meeting situation between two dogs will usually be something like this:
King and Prince see each other at 150 meters range and are headed toward each other. They start sending each other message the moment they see each other. Prince stops and stands still (´freezes´), and King is walking slowly while he keeps glancing at the other dog through the corner of his eye.
As King gets closer, Prince starts licking his nose intensely, and he turns his side to King and starts sniffing the ground too. Now King is so close that he needs to be even more calming, so he starts walking in a curve and away from Prince – still slowly and now he is licking his nose too. Prince sits down, and looks away by turning his head far to one side.
By now the two dogs have ´read´ each other so well that they know whether they wish to go over and greet each other, or if this could get so intense that it is best to stay away from each other.

Never force dogs into meeting others
Allow the dogs to use their language in meeting situations so that they feel safe. Sometimes they will walk up to each other and get along, other times they feel that it’s safer to stay at a distance – after all, they have already read each other’s signals, they do so even at a several hundred meters distance – there’s no need to meet face to face.
In Canada, dog trainers who attended my lecture, came up with a new name of these calming signals: ´The Language of Peace”. That’s exactly what it is. It’s a language which is there to make sure that dogs have a way to avoid and solve conflicts and live together in a peaceful manner. And the dogs are experts at it.
Start observing and you will see for yourself. Most likely, you will get a much better relationship with your dog and other dogs, too, once you are beginning to realize what the dog is really telling you. It´s likely that you will understand things you earlier were unable to figure out. It is incredibly exciting, as well as educational.
Welcome to the world of the dog, and to knowledge of a whole new language!

Entire Article to be found at www.canis.no/rugaas/

Dogs Puppy

My First TV Shoot

This is the advert that started me off in the TV training business. I got a call one evening asking whether a) I could train a Shar Pei to sit in the back of a car and b) how long would it take. I told them I could, and that it would take me 5 minutes. They wanted me to show them, so I drove over there, grabbed the nearest dog (there were 32 to choose from) and clicked him in to the car, then clicked him to sit and put his head out of the window. They were gobsmacked, as apparently the trainer they had employed had had that same dog (coincidence that I picked him) for 2 weeks and had not even managed to get him in to the car!!

Because the time frame was now very tight, they asked me to train 3 dogs, in case one fell sick on the day. I insisted on a car to practise with, which was a problem as the car was only being flown in from Germany the day before the shoot. So they leant us another car, which was gutted (all the seats pulled out) and we practised with that.

The footage was shot on top of Sanlam Centre in Randburg. We were on set for 9 hours on the 3 May 2001. In the end they only filmed one dog, Bent-Lee (the others, Fugley and Dix-E spent the day in crates). They were so impressed with the footage they got that they scheduled another shoot out at Haartebeespoort Dam on 11 May. At that shoot we had to lie down on a flat bed car (no superstructure and we were only about 6 inches off the ground) and zoom up and down the road to see if the dogs ears would flap back. Which if course they wouldn’t because of the way they sit on the dogs head. The police were there and closed the roads each time we barrelled down the road on the back of this low slung vehicle (apparently this is the same vehicle that is used to film planes taking off – the owner of the car has 3 of them which he hires out exclusively for film companies). Anyway it was a lot of fun, and the last few shots of the dog and car zooming off in to the sunset were shot there.

This ad won an Orchid award for being “entertaining, nice and short, and making a point without belabouring the whole exercise”.

dog training Dogs

Dangerous Dobermann OR Takkies Talk!

Post author By admin
Post date March 23, 2017
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Children are truly wonderful at getting to the root of the matter. They seem to have a gift for hitting just the right note. Let me tell you a story regarding a friend of mine and her two small grandchildren. Toni and her family were very keen horse riders, and spent lots of time at the nearby stables, where the ones that could would ride, and those that couldn’t, would wander around happily patting the horses and feeding them titbits.

On this particular occasion, Toni had driven over to the stables to check on one of her own horses, and had taken her grandchildren along for the ride. The girls were twins of four years old, and are fairly precocious, being the youngest of a bunch of cousins.

On getting out of the car, an old Dobermann wandered out of the stables and came up to sniff the newcomers. This dog lived on the property and often used to accompany the out rides or sit on the sidelines watching various classes being taught. Now the twins were quite relaxed around animals the size of horses, but a Dobermann!!! No, that was just not on. They simply wouldn’t get out of the car whilst this “huge” animal was wandering around outside. So Toni got one of the grooms to temporarily shut the dog into one of the empty loose boxes. They were only going to walk over to one of the exercising rings, have a look at the horse and then go back to the car and leave, so it was no big deal to leave the dog in the stable for the half-an-hour or so that it would take.

Once the dog was safely out of the way, Toni and the twins started out to visit their horse. Now out of the car and relaxed, the twins immediately shot off like bullets in opposite directions, both screaming for the other to follow them. Quite used to all this racket, Toni proceeded on her way undeterred. Suddenly there was a commotion behind her, and Tessa turned to find the old Dobermann had somehow got out of the stable and was ambling up behind them. The twins were stricken! Knowing the dog was completely harmless, Tessa continued on her way, interested to see how the little girls would handle the situation. A little hand slipped in to hers, and looking up anxiously into her granny’s face, the smaller twin said “my takkies are feeling a bit lonely and would like to walk next to your takkies for a bit. Is that OK?”

Smothering a laugh, Toni asked the child if she was nervous of the dog. “Oh no!” she said. “It’s just that my shoes get lonely sometimes and need to walk next to bigger shoes”.

So that is the story of how a simple pair of children’s takkies can help a child save face when frightened.

Pet

Birman Blues

I once got called in to help a lady with her Birman cat. This was a magnificent neutered male cat of almost 8 years old, called Blu. She had had the cat since it was 10 weeks old, and had had it neutered when he was about 5 months. When Blu joined the family, they already had another cat of unknown ancestry. This queen was getting on for 10 years, and had been spayed as a kitten. The family had also rescued a kitten that had been badly treated, which was about 5 years old when I was called in to help.

The problem as it was told to me, was that about a year ago Blu started spraying in the house. This sounded very strange, as the cat had lived a perfect life for 7 years prior to this. I asked the owners to keep a log book for a week, in which they would note when and where the cat sprayed. I was hoping that a pattern would emerge from this that would make diagnosis of the problem easy. No such luck!!

I went around to visit Claire and her cats, managing to take only one wrong turn on the way, thereby arriving a half-hour early for my appointment. Claire was very sweet and obliging, and didn’t make me sit in the car until the correct appointment time.

The first thing we did was go through the log they had kept for the past week. There was no pattern here at all – Blu had sprayed on the piano, on the guitar case in her sons’ bedroom, on the computer tower and on the curtains. He had sprayed in the lounge on the chair and in the master bedroom on the curtains. These markings occurred both north and south of the house, so it wasn’t a problem that was isolated to one area.

Claire very kindly took me through the house and showed me the spots. Literally!! There were lovely pile carpets, which were spotted with urine stains, which stubbornly refused to come out. She also showed me the litter tray, which was kept in the kitchen. The cats had free access to a large and rather lovely garden, which they generally preferred to use. The tray had been placed in a cardboard box with quite high sides to prevent the cats from scratching the litter all over the floor. I asked whether Blu used the tray. Yes, he did, but he would balance all four feet in one corner, and then scratch the cardboard when he was finished. This didn’t surprise me, as Blu is a good sized cat and the litter tray was more suitable for the smaller queens.

Only one of the queens used the litter tray and she was unwell. I asked to see her and was rather appalled at her condition.

Buffy was skin and bone, and her fur was dull and lifeless. This was the abused kitten that they had rescued, now about 5 years old. She had mouth ulcers and could only eat soft food. She had stopped grooming herself, but from time to time would pull her fur out in chunks. I actually saw her doing this – it was almost as if she wanted to rid herself of this unsightly mess covering her meagre frame.

We then went in to the garden so I could see if anything out there could be a contributor to Blu’s spraying in the house. It appeared that a number of neighbourhood cats visited the garden periodically. This generally was not a problem, but there was one cat that had moved in to the area about a year ago (!) that Claire’s cats did not like. They would growl and fluff up their hair on occasion, and Claire would have a look out of the window and see the interloper in the garden. She would chase it off, and her cats would calm down. This visiting cat would always jump on the wall alongside the driveway gate in order to gain access to the property.

So as I saw it, there were a number of possible reasons for Blu’s inappropriate spraying:

The litter tray was too small for him to use comfortably. I suggested that Claire buy a bigger tray, and fill it with garden sand from a spot where Blu usually chose to eliminate. She should place this tray beneath the window where he usually jumped outside to do his business.
I was sure that Buffy’s illness was worrying the other cats. Claire had taken this cat repeatedly to her veterinarian, who put it on antibiotics. This suppressed the mouth ulcers so that the cat could eat without pain, but didn’t seem to improve the general condition of the animal. I suggested that she see another veterinarian who has a reputation for being particularly good with felines.
The unwanted visitor was a major concern. Many neutered cats will suddenly start spraying if they are stressed by having a visiting male enter their territory and start challenging them. I suggested that Claire move some of her potted plants on top of the wall that the vagrant was jumping on to, and that she place tin foil over the area where this wasn’t possible. Both of these articles would hopefully deter the interloper from trying to enter the garden, and get it to move off to somewhere easier to infiltrate.

Cats are very sensitive and interesting creatures, and they often try and tell us when they are distressed or unhappy with their environment. For instance, a cat with cystitis (a bladder condition that causing a burning sensation when passing urine) will often urinate in the bath or on the stove instead of in its litter box. This in the hope that the owner will notice the presence of blood (much more visible on the white surface that in the litter tray) and take the cat for treatment.

I left Claire to implement my suggestions as best she could.

A couple of weeks later, I spoke to Claire, and learnt that Blu’s spraying had decreased significantly, as he was choosing to use the larger litter box which had been placed underneath the window where he usually moved in and out of the house. The sick old queen, had been taken to the feline veterinarian, who had diagnosed kidney failure along with a bacterial infection. Although still battling to eat, the cat was visibly better after just 10 days. Claire was due to take her back for a check up to see what else could be done to make her life more fulfilling.

Seeing the improvement in the cats’ well-being and behaviour, Claire decided to take the big step of trying to trap the stray cat that had been terrorising her pets. Often this is a humane option, as the stray can then be put up for adoption (once sterilized), and be placed in a caring, loving home.

Not only were all the cats happy after these simple changes, but Clair’s family were able to focus on enjoying their pets instead of worrying about them.

Dogs Puppy

Some suggestions for breeders on helping puppies to get a good, confident start in life

Post author By admin
Post date March 23, 2017
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As soon as your puppies ears open you can start conditioning them to the sound of the clicker. Click every time they are allowed to feed off their dam. Click when you’re weaning them on to solids. They soon learn to associate the sound of the clicker with food, which is after all, a necessity to survival.

This article deals mainly with sensory perception in young puppies. Every day you try to introduce your puppies to different sensations in the categories of touch, smell, sound, warm/cold, vibration, sight, taste, etc. Once they are clicker conditioned (i.e. have learned that the sound of the clicker means something good is about to follow), you will find that the pups become very keen to explore new things in their environment. Start with just one or two new things, and then work up to half a dozen or so if you can. If you can keep records on how they respond, you might find some very interesting patterns developing. Try and manipulate their nails every other day (not necessarily cutting them every time, but always holding the clippers near and extending the toes and paws), and handle all body parts and mouth every day. If you click and treat whilst doing this, the puppies will soon look forward to the interaction, and often start to initiate it.

Touch – give them different surfaces to walk on – carpet, sandpaper, bubble wrap, cardboard, linoleum, cement, loose paper, different fabrics, grass, etc. Once again, click and treat them for having the courage to experiment with these strange feeling surfaces.

Smell – introduce them to different scents. Aromatherapy scents are useful for this. You will find they respond differently to some. Anise tends to be very calming and if introduced repeatedly in calm situations during their youth could be used in a stressful situation (on a cottonball) to be reassuring on a subliminal level. Carry puppies around from about four days onwards for five or ten minutes at a time. Some people believe this makes the puppies do some scent imprinting on the human smell and makes them more people social.

Sound – introduce them to different sounds they will experience in everyday life – radio, alarm, telephone, television, vacuum at a distance and then closer, toilet flushing, different voices…. Remember to always click and treat if the puppy is confident enough to voluntarily approach the sound to investigate it.

Warm/Cold – introduce them to differences in temperature. Try putting the pups in a cold glass pie plate and time how long it takes them to get out of it. Give them ice cubes and warm baked potato to play with.

Vibration – let them sit on the toilet lid while you flush, hold them to your throat while you sing, wrap carefully in a towel and sit them on a running vacuum (don’t be surprised if they drop off to sleep). Several short and longer car rides a week, starting with their first trip to the vet. Keep it positive by clicking and treating for confident behaviour.

Sight – make sure their environment is well lit once their eyes open. Make a puppy mobile a few inches off the ground. Cut out bright colored shapes and tape to walls around their play area. Tie plastic bags to the fencing so that it flutters in the wind (like bunting will do at shows). Make sure that the puppies can but not reach these items – you don’t want them swallowing plastic or other inappropriate things.

Taste – let them try biting/chewing raw fruits and veggies. You could let them chew on large hunks of raw meat too, thought they won’t be able to swallow any yet. Obviously mom needs to be elsewhere.

This should be enough to get you started and thinking. Be inventive – enjoy your puppies and their early development.

dog training Dogs

Showing in the Breed Ring

Post author By admin
Post date March 23, 2017
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Some years ago I imported a dog from Belgium, and was encouraged by the local club to enter him in breed shows. Having never been a great fan of beauty contests, I was somewhat hesitant to do this. However, I was assured that my puppy had the makings of a breed champion and that it would be a pity not to at least have him assessed under various judges. So I started showing in the breed arena.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this sport, it entails acquiring a dog which is registered with the country’s Kennel Union. One then enters a show (either open or championship) and arrives bright and early at the show grounds. After finding a suitable parking spot and setting up a chair to sit on as well as shade and water for the dog, you settle down in front of your ring for a long day. Rings are allocated according to the different sports dogs are bred for, so there is a ring for e.g. toys, working, herding, terriers, hounds, utility, etc. I have a Malinois (one of the four varieties of Belgian Shepherd Dog), and so had to wait outside the Herding ring. The dogs are shown in alphabetical order, so Belgian Shepherds are preceded by other breeds like Australian Shepherds, Australian Cattle Dogs, Beauceron, etc. Dogs are shown separately from bitches, and for some reason the males go in to the ring first. Once your class is called, you enter the ring and the dog is checked for any disqualifying faults, such as an incorrect bite, missing teeth, eyes that are too light, incorrect coat colour, etc. Disqualifying faults vary between breeds. Once that has been ascertained, the dogs are run in a circle, triangle and straight line so that the judge can check to see whether the gait of the dog is correct for its particular breed.

As instructed by the regular attendees to these shows, I entered and my dog often won his class and sometimes the coveted Challenge Certificate and Best of Breed awards. I became more courageous and started travelling a little further to attend shows, as you need to win 5 Challenge Certificates under different judges for your dog to earn the title of Champion (Breed). I had already qualified dogs in various working disciplines, and thought it might be quite nice to have a breed champion as well. So I began to show my Malinois (his name was Danjo) more seriously.

As often happens, some of us handlers gravitated together and began to try and make the tedious waiting day a little more bearable. (it is not uncommon to arrive at the grounds at 07h00 and only leave again at 17h00, having only had two spells in the ring of about 2 minutes each). On one occasion, a friend and I agreed to meet at a show in Pietermaritzburg and spend the day together. My friend was even more of a rookie at this game than I was, and asked for some pointers on how best to show her dog, which was a Standard Schnauzer. Only too willing to show off my newly acquired knowledge, I told her that the most important part of showing was your grand entry into the ring. (a judge had told me a couple of weeks prior to this that most judges are influenced by their first impression, and a good entry into the ring is a good way to get the judge to take note of your dog from the outset).

This is quite difficult to explain, so I told my friend not to worry, just to watch how I (the Undisputed Expert of Grand Entry into The Ring) did it. So she stood there with bated breath and watched my class being called up. The three dogs in front of me trotted into the ring with tails pluming and handlers preening. Then it was my turn…….

Determined to put my new-found knowledge to good use, I gathered up the lead, called to my dog and charged into the ring. Unfortunately I forgot to check where the entrance gate was, and so instead ran straight into the boundary tape, tripped up and promptly fell flat on my face. My beautiful dog (no doubt horribly confused by this new mode of locomotion), leapt on to my back and sat on me. Gasps of horror from the onlookers! The judge ran forward to help me back on to my feet. Now thoroughly confused, Danjo decided that this man was the cause of all the disruption and tried his best to fend him off. Being a breed that is used to guard and defend his property (which includes owner), Danjo did this by lunging forward and trying to bite the judge, who very wisely leapt out of the way. As I still have a firm grip of the lead, the dogs’ charge was short lived. Once I’d regained my breath, I struggled to my feet (covered in mud as it had rained heavily the night before) and staggered back in to my place. The judge very kindly allowed by to compete (he could have excused me due to the dogs aggression). Needless to say, my dog was placed last.

Eventually the class ended and I was allowed to scurry out of the ring with my poor non-champion dog. My friend was still in her spot at the side of ring – her eyes were big and bright. “My word”, she said – “I see what you mean about making the judge take note of you! But I think I’ll just stick to the conventional way of competing, if you don’t mind.”

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How to stop Bitches in Season from Driving Dogs Mad

Post author By admin
Post date March 23, 2017
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You can help prevent having all your intact male dogs from whining and crying over the smell that bitches in season give off by giving the bitch some chlorophyll. Dosage obviously is dependent upon a number of things (e.g. size of dog, hormonal level, whether she’s been bred before, etc.), so try a low dose at first and then increase if there is no reduction in the males’ noise level. Most pharmacies stock a range of natural products and chlorophyll is not normally difficult to get.

Dogs

Eliminating Doggy Odours

At some stage or other, most dogs will urinate in an inappropriate place. This often happens inside the house. The reason for this can be varied, but the result is always an unpleasant odour. Removing the smell from your curtains, furniture, carpet or clothing can become quite a trial. You pet might also enjoy urinating on a favourite plant or garden feature, thereby making it wilt or look unsightly. And unfortunately, once a dog has urinated on something, it encourages other dogs to do the same. So quite quickly your e.g. lounge can become offensive to the humans living there.

When cleaning up mistakes in the house, avoid any product that contains ammonia. Using an ammonia-based detergent will encourage your dog to use that spot for elimination again, because the odour of ammonia is similar to the smell of urine. (the acid/alkaline story).

There are several ways of dealing with the problem:

Wash the area with soda water or with soapy water. Rinse well.
Spray the area with vinegar, moth repellent or mouthwash.
Because dogs are generally clean animals and do not like to eliminate where they eat or sleep, it may also help if you place small food bowls over the affected area.

Dogs Puppy

Placing Littermates in the Same Home

Post author By admin
Post date March 23, 2017
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The following are some thoughts which will hopefully be of some use to two different groups of people: breeders wishing to place their puppies in the best possible homes, and also for helping puppy buyers when selecting their new pet.

In general, it is never advisable to home two puppies from the same litter into the same home. This for several reasons:

Dogs communicate mainly through body language – they certainly don’t have an advanced vocal language like humans do. Place two pups in the same home and they will “talk” to each other and zone out the humans. Imagine having twins who go through school together – in the same class, then home to the same house every day. I’ve known twins who have developed their own language and use it to communicate with each other, rather than taking the trouble to learn English so as to be able to speak to their colleagues. Rather anti-social behaviour, and not good for the development of either.
Puppies need a lot of attention and socialisation. The most important time for this is before the age of 14 weeks. If you have two litter mates living together, it is very difficult for the owner to spend enough quality time with each puppy individually.
Two pups from the same litter will very soon sort out who’s the leader and who’s the follower. This results in what is termed a “shadow dog”. This means that one dog emerges as a leader, and the other always follows in its’ shadow. This is not good for either puppy, as the situation in unnatural and both will feel insecure if the other is not present.
If one puppy learns a bad habit (pulling washing from the line, digging holes, barking, etc.) the other will soon join in. Double trouble is not easy to curtail.
House training is also much more difficult. How do you know which puppy had the mishap? And the more upset or irritated you get, the more anxious the pups will get and the greater the possibility that accidents will occur. (remember, the puppy will pick up on your emotion – but it is very unlikely that it will understand why you are upset. This is extremely stressful for the animal).
Siblings that are kept together whilst growing up form a pack. This can be very unpleasant for others in the family. And it can be a problem if you have a friends’ dog around to play. The sibling puppies will often pack up on it and bully it mercilessly.
It is much harder to develop a relationship with a puppy if it is left with its’ litter mate for hours on end. So if you want to compete with your puppy, either select only one, or separate them from the moment you get them home. Spend a lot of one-on-one time with each of them.
Teaching your puppy its’ name also becomes a problem. One tends to call them together. E.g. “Freda and Fido, come”. They probably each think that their name is “FredaandFido”. Not easy for the pup. Making them once again realise that it is easier to stick to communicating with each other rather than letting a human in.
In is much easier to feed both puppies at the same time, in the same place. This can make it much more difficult for the owner to know if one of the puppies is off colour. (one of the first signs of illness being lack of appetite).
People who ask to take two puppies from the same litter are often lazy. They want two puppies so that they don’t have to take the trouble of keeping the puppy stimulated and entertained. They rely on the other puppy to do this, often with huge toxic side effects.
Two puppies means twice the cost – of inoculations, feeding, sterilizing, etc. Can the owner afford this?
It is not uncommon for a male puppy to cover its sister when she first comes in to season. You can just imagine the repercussions of this!!

Same sex puppies

Even worse than getting two puppies from the same litter, is getting two puppies of the same sex from the same litter.

Puppies of either sex will generally gain sexual maturity before they are a year old. When the hormones kick in, the pups have no choice but to sort out dominance issues. So even if they have got along like a house on fire initially, when they become sexually active, they could well start fighting.

Male dogs fight for dominance, and although you will probably need to take the combatants to the vet for medical attention, it is unlikely that there will be any dreadful injuries. On the other hand, bitches have been known to fight to the death. The belief is that bitches do not want any other bitch to bear puppies, so they maim or kill adversaries to stop this happening.

Bites to the head, neck and shoulders can be severe, but are rarely an indication of true intent to kill. On the other hand, if a dog tries to bite the front legs of their opponent, you have a big problem. Breeds bred to fight other dogs tend to do this – they break their adversary’s front legs so that they cannot fight back, and then kill them at leisure.

If you want to get two puppies:

Should you want to get two puppies, then it is best to space them out a bit. i.e. wait until you have the first puppy fully integrated into your household and well trained and socialised. Wait until the hormones have been sorted. This either by waiting until after the dog is fully sexually mature, or by sterilization. (see “Sterilization of Dogs: Should one spay/neuter?” under “Articles” on this web site.) This usually takes about a year. Only then should you consider getting your second puppy.

By doing this you will alleviate (and hopefully eliminate) a lot of potential heartache and problems along the way.

dog training Dogs Puppy

Puppy Puzzle

On 28th January 2010, a litter of six Malinois puppies were born. The litter comprised 3 dogs and 3 bitches. My firm belief is that the only reason for breeding a litter is to try to improve the quality of that particular breed of dog (in this case Malinois). Because of this, I will only consider breeding with dogs that have working qualifications, are clear of hip dysplasia, and are breed champions. Temperament is paramount – if a dog is not of a sound disposition, how can it possibly enjoy participating in the gamut of events that we have available to us in South Africa? And if it doesn’t enjoy its work, how can it achieve?

Placing the puppies in the correct homes is quite a trial. I try to match puppies to their new homes as closely as possible, sometimes even refusing a puppy to someone who has paid a deposit because I don’t believe the puppy has the necessary characteristics for that home. Being highly active dogs, Malinois also need to go to homes that will work them and stimulate them daily on both a physical and mental level.

With this litter I decided to have the puppies evaluated by a puppy puzzle. This because one particular puppy looked like having really good breed showing/breeding potential, as well as having excellent drive which would make it a good working dog. I needed to make sure my evaluation was correct, and that this puppy was placed in a home where both aspects of its breeding could be utilised. All our puppies are sold with breeding restrictions, and the person who took this puppy needed to know that if the pup turned out to be as good as her form promised, we might wish to breed with her at a later stage.

Pat Hastings designed the “Puppy Puzzle” in order to determine whether each puppy in the litter is structurally sound enough to do what we will be asked of it in its lifetime, whether the hope is for the show ring or obedience, agility, working trials, flyball, etc.

Pat Hastings says of her puppy evaluations:”The purpose is not to determine which puppies will grow into future champions, but which will enhance a breeding program that will produce puppies that are genetically, temperamentally, and structurally sound.”

On the basis of this, I booked my puppies in to have a Puppy Puzzle. On arrival at the evaluators’ house, the puppies were placed in a puppy pen. They were taken out individually to be tested. Besides a simple temperament test, each puppy was given a thorough conformation evaluation according to the breed standard. I chose to use the FCI standard as it is far more comprehensive and is the standard that is internationally recognised.

The test is most interesting, as most of it is done by reflection i.e. a mirror image.

The test is ideally performed at 8 weeks of age, but can be stretched to two days on either side. Problems in topline are considered in relation to front and rear structural weaknesses, and movement as a function of front and rear assemblies; skull growth helps to predict whether the head will meet the breed standard; the neck is checked to see if it is too short or too long. Basically one wants to make sure the puppy is balanced in bone and muscle.

The evaluation has three purposes: to determine whether there are structural problems in the litter so they can be avoided in future breedings; to decide which puppy to keep as a potential addition to the breeding program; and to determine the best type of home for each puppy in the litter. The idea is not (according to Hastings), to determine which puppies will grow into future champions, but which will enhance a breeding program that will produce puppies that are genetically, temperamentally, and structurally sound.

The results of the test were most interesting – the little bitch that I particularly liked scored the highest. She was placed in a working home nearby so that her progress can be monitored. It will take a few years to see whether she meets the standard awarded her by the puppy puzzle, and we are all excited by her prospects.

Want to find out more? Call Maxine on 083 333 6172

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