June 2010
Canine Sports: Competitive Obedience
Deb Jones and Zen perform in competitive obedience. “People keep saying you can’t get precision and accuracy with a dog unless you use ‘corrections.’ I strongly disagree. It doesn’t make any sense from a learning theory perspective. Behaviors taught using punishment aren’t any stronger than those taught using reinforcement; just the opposite.”
You could hear a pin drop. The bleachers and chairs are jammed with an audience holding its collective breath as the handler-dog team on the floor completes their final exercise in the American Kennel Club’s (AKC) National Obedience Invitational, an annual event that tests the best in the sport. The team that wins this final round has competed for several days in multiple classes, demonstrating the mental and physical stamina, as well as the training “chops,” that gave them a shot at this premier event. Precision heeling, directed retrieving, scent discrimination, directed jumping, and hand signals from a distance are the hallmarks of this level of competition. Points are taken off for the slightest of mistakes.
Teaching Bite Inhibition
Two more reasons to ensure that your dog develops good bite inhibition as a puppy: If he's got it, he won't hurt anyone, even in the excitement of playing with a favorite toy, or if he gets stepped on by accident.
My dog bites me. A lot. Scooter, the 10-pound Pomeranian we adopted from the shelter after he failed a behavior assessment (for serious resource-guarding), has bitten me more times than I can count. Most of the time I don’t even feel his teeth. He has never broken skin, and the few times I have felt any pressure, it’s been because I’ve persisted in what I was doing despite his clear request to stop. Scooter has excellent bite inhibition. In the dog training world, bite inhibition is defined as a dog’s ability to control the pressure of his mouth when biting, to cause little or no damage to the subject of the bite. We know that all dogs have the potential to bite, given the wrong set of circumstances.
Treatment and Prevention of Kidney and Bladder Stones
About 10 percent of male Mastiffs have cystinuria; itfs also common in Newfoundlands, English Bulldogs, Scottish Deerhounds, Dachshunds, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and Chihuahuas.
Canine kidney and bladder stones may be painful and life-threatening, but an informed caregiver can help prevent them. By far the most common uroliths or stones in dogs are struvites (see "Is Your Dog Stoned" Whole Dog Journal, April 2010) and calcium oxalate stones (see "Stoned Again?" Whole Dog Journal, May 2010). These two types represent about 80 percent of all canine uroliths. Now we address the remaining stones that can affect our best friends: urate, cystine, calcium phosphate, silica, xanthine, and mixed or compound uroliths.
Training Small Dog Breeds
Subscribers Only There’s a reality show that airs on TLC called Little People, Big World that chronicles the daily lives of the Roloffs, an Oregon family made up of both small (both parents are under 4 feet tall) and average-sized people. The series tastefully portrays how every day activities and seemingly uneventful situations can affect the family members differently based on their size and how society views them. Most importantly, it successfully shows that size does matter, particularly in a society built for the average-sized person. I just wish there was a show, or at least an effective way to get that point across regarding small dogs. They and their owners have long been misjudged and misunderstood.
Canine News You Can Use: June 2010
Subscribers Only In January 2010, the Kennel Club (Britain’s equivalent of our American Kennel Club) accepted the registration of its first “Low Uric Acid Dalmatian” (LUA Dalmatian), despite protests from breed clubs. Dalmatians carry a genetic mutation that predisposes them to the formation of life-threatening urate bladder stones. It is not unusual for Dalmatians to need several surgeries to remove stones during their lifetimes. Feeding a low-purine diet helps prevent urate stones, but the problem can be so severe that in some cases the only option is euthanasia. Genetic testing has shown that there are no longer any Dalmatians in the U.S. – or likely the U.K. – that carry the normal gene.
How To Stop Dog Chasing Children
Even the most kid-loving dog can get too excited... Protect your dog and your kids by banning chasing games.
Dogs and kids can be the best of playmates. Sometimes they develop this relationship all on their own, and sometimes they need some outside assistance to become fast friends. It’s not uncommon for the basic dog-kid foundation to be solid, with just a few rough edges that need smoothing. One of the common rough spots is when your excited dog wants to chase after and nip your excited children. Here are five things you can do if your canine youngster wants to play a little too roughly with your human youngsters.
Collared!
Recently I made four visits to three different vet clinics within a week. The visits raised my blood pressure considerably, and not out of concern for my dog. I was more concerned for the other dogs I saw there, and all for the want of the simplest equipment imaginable: collars and ID tags. I’d estimate that only about half the dogs were wearing collars – and only one dog in 10 was wearing identification.
