Edie MacKenzie

Edie MacKenzie is a published author, traveler, dog lover, and tortoise enthusiast. Passionate about what she does, her books provide peopel a firm grounding in the dog breed and their unique characteristics with a nice touch of humor.

Dog Language Info That Will Astound You

by Leave a Comment

Dogs communicate using a rather unique language. Learning to understanding this “language” will greatly improve the relationship you have with your dog. Not only that, but when it comes to training you will seriously turbo-charge your results by communicating to your dog on his level.

Unfortunately, no-one has yet written a handy reference guide, but by following the guidelines set out below you’ll quickly be up to speed on what your dog is trying to tell you.

Here are some of the most common dog language cues you’ll need to know.

Standing Rigid – When a dog adopts a very rigid stance, he could be telling you to back off and leave him alone. He may also adopt this stance when he is protecting some possession. Give your dog a bone or a biscuit when there are other dogs around and you’ll see what I mean.

Showing the Teeth – Dogs don’t just attack out of the blue, they normally give a warning first. Flashing the teeth may be first warning that a dog is about to attack. Your best bet when this happens is to stand down.

Growling – Showing the teeth will often be accompanied by a low, rumbling growl. If that doesn’t work the dog make well bite.Many people scold or punish the dog for growling or showing its teeth. This is dangerous because if the dog is not allowed to give a warning he may escalate straight to an attack.

Raising the Hackles – When a dog raises the hair on his back, he is trying to look bigger in order to scare off a threat. It is often a sign of heightened fear, and means to dog may attack.

Tail between the legs – Typically, this indicates, timidity, fear or anxiety. There may be a number of causes for the behavior, such as separation anxiety, or being introduced to an unfamiliar person or dog. Often the behavior will be accompanied by submissive urination.

Putting the head down – Depending on the context this could be a attempt by a submissive dog to avoid eye contact. Or it could be a playful gesture.

Raised Paw -A raised paw is a playful gesture, which means, “ let’s be friends”.

Wagging the tail – The tail is one of the dog’s most important communication devices, and the one that is most often misinterpreted. A common belief is that a wagging tail suggests happiness, but this is only true if the tail is being wagged loosely.A tail that is flicked side to side in short rigid movements suggests agitation. And if the tail is tucked between the legs and wagging slightly, the dog is insecure and fearful.

Dogs rely greatly on body language and gestures for communication. A dog may learn to obey voice commands, but in their world body language will always mean more.

Learn to interpret their language and you’ll understand your dog that much better.

Want to discover more about dog training tips, dog care, dog breeds a-z and other interesting dog info? Stop by at www.dogsanddogtraining.com

Selecting Your Golden Retriever Puppy

by Leave a Comment

Once you have decided on a breeder that you can trust, you’ll need to start thinking about what type of Golden Retriever puppy you want.  This decision could take you some time, as it can be quite a few weeks or even months before the right litter is whelped – although it will be worth the wait.  If your breeder has a few litters available when you look for your Golden Retriever puppy, you may be able to compare.

Some Golden Retriever breeders may require that you put a deposit down on the puppy of your choice, if the puppies aren’t a certain number of weeks old.  The good litters rarely go unsold, as most are already spoken for before the puppies are seven weeks old.  If you want to get in on a good litter, your best bet is to get to your breeder early – before all of the puppies are sold.

When you arrive to get your Golden Retriever puppy, you shouldn’t be alarmed if the breeder does the selecting for you.  Most quality breeders will spend quite a bit of time with the puppies and they will know just what their individual temperaments are.  The better breeders however, will do temperament tests to determine the temperament of the puppies they have with each and every litter.

By performing these tests, the breeder will get assistance in selecting which puppy goes to which type of home.  If you’ve chosen one of the better breeders, you should let him do his work and help you select the puppy that he or she thinks will be your best match.  Breeders can obviously select you a better puppy, as they have been around the litter for several weeks – and you have only been around the litter looking at them for a few minutes.

Although all Golden puppies are appealing to the eyes, you need to base your reasons on more than looks.  Before you pick your puppy up, you should always make sure that he has a strong build, with straight legs.  The puppy should be strong and muscular, yet be squirmy and active when you first try to pick him up.  You should also make sure that he has healthy teeth and gums, and look over the rest of his body to make sure that he is healthy.

If your Golden Retriever breeder does allow you to select your puppy from the litter, then you should take the puppies that you are considering to get away from the remainder of the litter and observe each one carefully, and how they react to you.  Puppies that are around 7 weeks of age should be apt to explore their surroundings.  Even though they may be a little cautious at first, the puppies should still be more than anxious to look around and sniff their surroundings.

When you single out the puppies, make sure you speak to the ones you are interested in and see how they react to your voice.  Try moving around and playing with them, and see how they respond to you.  Some puppies will be faster than others, although you shouldn’t pursue any interest in a puppy that doesn’t show any interest in moving objects or their surroundings.

If you take your time and evaluate each puppy that you are interested in, you can find the best puppy for you and your family.  Golden Retriever puppies are great to have, providing you get one that’s healthy.  Getting a healthy puppy should be your desire – as a healthy Golden Retriever puppy will grow into a strong and healthy adult – and be around for years to come.

How Dog Training Has Evolved Over The Last Few Decades

by Leave a Comment

When you look down at your brand new, small and tender puppy peacefully sleeping in its little bed, it’s hard to think that in just two to three months it may grow to be 40, 50, or even up to 100 pounds depending on the type of breed and how much effort you’ll need in dog training.

And although its behaviors may be cute at the moment, like jumping up and putting his front paws on your body, these actions will be far less enjoyable when your dog is all grown up and literally knocking you over;so the younger you start your dog training, the better.

————————————————————–

Dog Training Tips To Get Your Dog To Obey!

If you’d love to discover EXACTLY how to get your dog to stop urinating on your carpet and actually ring a bell when he needs to potty. . .

Train puppies to NEVER chew on furniture or expensive rugs – even when you aren’t there to supervise. . .

Learn simple techniques for getting any dog to stop barking at strangers or from begging you to let him back inside –

Plus a TON more step-by-step dog obedience strategies THOUSANDS of regular people are already using, check out –

The Hands Off Dog Training Method

————————————————————–

Your best bet is to start dog training your puppy from day one so that he can learn proper manners as he grows into adulthood.

Puppies that are not trained in this manner end up learning all of the wrong stuff and their owners wonder why they cannot seem to get their dogs to behave as they age.

Many years ago, when dog training methods used more punishment oriented (using harsh methods to train puppies), dog trainers typically required all puppy trainees to be at least six months old.

The reason was partly due to the fact that such physical correction protocols used could not be done with dogs that were too small or too young.

What is ironic about dog training in the old days is that by the time most puppies are six months old they are big enough and mentally stubborn enough to ignore commands and are altogether tough to train.

New Times Bring Better Dog Training Methods

Over the last 20 years or so, the dog training profession has embraced more friendly and loving training tactics for their puppy clients.  Most trainers now except puppies that are as young as 8 to 10 weeks old.

They are typically enrolled in socialization classes and puppy kindergarten.

Positive training is now used instead of the old-school methods of negative reinforcement. Puppies are taught to walk politely on the leash.

They learn the basic commands of sit, stay, lie down, and come. In addition to these simple instructions, other useful techniques are learned by puppies such as how to relax, give and take their paw, and polite greeting.

Dog Owners Are More Involved With Dog Training Today

Another interesting aspect of raising dogs that has been noted over the last couple of decades is that more and more dog owners have taken it upon themselves to train their puppies.

This is partly due to the fact that so many dog training publications and manuals have been written. Modern dog training programs are based more and more on scientific principles and psychological studies of animal behavior and temperament.

Simple dog training programs have taught dog owners to utilize techniques such as clicker training and luring.

Clicker training involves the use of a small mechanism that makes a clicking sound when pressed. When a dog hears the sound it will associate the click with whatever reward you give him. This tells the animal that something good is coming and he should repeat whatever behavior or action you have been teaching him.

Luring training is a very common form of dog training and is simply using food such as a dog treat, or even a toy, to induce the dog to display a specific behavior in order to follow the lure in hopes of getting the reward.

Recent Blog Posts