My friends don’t like coming over any more because of my dogs jumping all over them.

Are your friends getting bruises every time they come over  due to pounding paws on their legs and body?

Many people like to believe that when they come home and the first thing their dog does is jump on them, their dog is simply happy to see them. While I believe that there is no doubt that your dog is happy to see you return from your ‘scouting expedition‘ as they see it. Jumping up on someone is also your dogs way of establishing a pecking order in the home.

In your dogs world every time you leave your home you are leaving your pack. No matter how many times you tell them that you are going to work and will see them later, they hear the same tone and sounds they heard the last time you left for a long period of time. Not knowing where you went or if you would return. “See you later girl” is a cue that you are leaving. Nothing more and nothing less. In a dogs world life is very simple and real. Unlike humans they easily accept the fact that every time you leave the safety of the family/pack you may not return. So a new ‘hopefully temporary’ pecking order is established.

While I do believe that jumping up on a person who lives in the home when you return from being gone can be part of a celebration that you have returned to the family, I also know that the second part of that jump is a way to reassign the pecking order in the home and pack. Yes, every time you leave and come back. The interpretation would sound something like this, “Ya Hooo you returned, I’m so glad to see you. OK now look, don’t forget who’s in charge. ‘tail wag’ Ok cool”.

Now if your dog isn’t jumping up onto you then they are not trying to establish a pecking order, they are simply celebrating. Possibly feeling relief from the separation anxiety they have been dealing with while you were gone. Which is another discussion altogether.

For those of you that choose to over humanize your dog and believe that jumping up on you is only a polite over excited greeting that couldn’t possibly mean anything different to a dog than it would to a human, let me open another door for you to look through.

Jumping on people can be dangerous and painful!

If you have a bigger dog, little children, older people who like to come over, a family member who becomes sick, something hot in your hands, nylons on or no pants at all. This list goes on and on. IT CAN HURT. oops, was that said with too much intensity?

“I don’t have a big dog so its not a big deal”

Really? Those little claws can cause damage and pain just like a big dog. It is also easy to hurt your little dog when he/she is jumping and you are walking forward right on to a little foot or leg. Then try to keep your balance. And when that little fur baby gets hurt from being stepped on, tripped over or having whatever was in your hands drop down and land on them because you were trying to say hello so that they would calm down, your going to feel guilty. More importantly, they are going to feel the pain.

Jumping is not a good behavior no matter how you look at it.

People if you want to share in the celebration with them that you have returned home and to the pack then by all means do so. But learn how to speak dog so they understand exactly what you are saying.
You owe it to yourself and most importantly you owe it to your canine kid.

Good manners are part of being a Canine Good Citizen and just being polite. But they are also a sign of respect. A good education will teach these things to you and your dog.

Find out more about how to control this behavior and more by listening to the Canine Nanny 911 radio show and look into starting your education at Canine Nanny 911

To Bed or Not to Bed, is that really a question, lol?

While researching the topic of whether other professional and non-professional pet owners felt it was a good or bad idea to let our dogs (aka family/friends/fur kids) share our bed space with us or not. And what some of the most common issues seem to be posted by people who let their dogs sleep on their beds now. Along with stories I have heard from my own clients. I was lucky enough to run across a website called Webvet.com. Out of all of the articles I have read in the last week written by trainers, with and without all of the impressive abbreviated titles like cnc and others. Webvet.com had what I consider to be a few of the best.

Personally I don’t believe or agree that there is a simple canned answer, if you will, for every situation. Many trainers will take advantage of your ignorance on the subject to make themselves all knowing and give you a straight forward, cut and dry answer. We are talking about thinking, feeling beings. Are we not? How could there possibly be a straight yes or no answer for this question? 2 separate species that are still to this day trying to find a way to efficiently communicate with each other. Much like man and woman. Wow, now that is scary, lol. But none the less very true. Just when someone believes they have the perfect answer someone else comes along to argue the point with proof. The only real proof in my opinion is that each and every situation, though similar, is different. You and your family are not the same as the other families on the block. You each have a special situation and should be treated as such.

Here is my own special family situation;

I personally have 3 dogs of my own. They are my fur kids. And I love them with all my heart.

A female Great Dane named Mona, a male German Rottweiler named Tatonka, and a female Golden Retriever/Rottweiler mix named Nakona.

Each of them came into my family in the order they have been named. And each one of them have their own breed traits and personalities.

Mona can be very territorial. And when I have allowed her to sleep in her own corner at the bottom of my bed for just 2 nights in a row, she always becomes more territorial with Nakona. (the youngest and a female). As soon as I take her bed privileges away from her, her whole demeanor changes.

Tatonka although not overly territorial, becomes very challenging with me over who the decision maker is in the house. When I give him a simple out/sit/off command he starts to hesitate on whether he has to listen to me anymore. He doesn’t just ignore me, he looks me at without moving anything but his eyes. As funny as this can be sometimes, it isn’t good. But low and behold, limit his bed time with me to only once or twice a wk when I lay down in the afternoon and vua’ la I have my wonderfully obedient boy back.

Then there is my sweet Nakona. Not only the youngest and last of the group to come into the family, but also the only one of the 3 that has no interest in climbing the leadership ladder anywhere in my pack. Please do not misunderstand. She is not bullied by the others in any way. She is happy in the her place in the family or pack structure.

She is allowed to sleep with me on the bed every night. Many nights she will get off the bed in the middle of the night and sleep on the floor. Now that I have my king size bed, she moves to the doggy sheet at the bottom corner of my bed after I have fallen asleep. Sleeping on the bed with me every night has not affected her behavior with me or the other dogs. So she is allowed to join me on the bed. If her actions change then so will her privileges.

Can you see why I absolutely do not believe in all or nothing?

I hope that you enjoy the articles at WebVet.com that I have included below.

*Go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/CanineNanny911 to listen to this topic and more.

Be sure to check the upcoming shows for call in times so that you can let your opinion be heard.

*As always if you have any questions on this topic or any other you are welcome to email me at Mickey@CanineNanny911.com

*Don’t forget to add any comments you might have below and keep checking up on http://CanineNanny911.com for updates.

Articles by Webvet.com

What to consider before letting your pet sleep on your bed

By Erik J. Martin for WebVet

Letting your dog sleep in your bed can prove to be a bad decision down the road. There was a time when Eliska ruled her household- at least when bedtime rolled around. The 3-pound Prague Ratter dog would curl up and sleep next to owner Krista DeAngelis in bed, and most of the time she and the dog would enjoy a peaceful night’s slumber.

Then, DeAngelis got married, and her husband banned the dog from the bed for fear of unintentionally squashing Eliska in his sleep. After enduring a few sleepless nights of her whining and barking, the couple attempted a harmless but helpful solution to curb their pet’s protests: simply spray Eliska with a misting bottle every time she acted up. After two nights of this routine, the DeAngelis’ pocket-sized pooch was fully trained to sleep by herself in another room.

“I originally thought letting my dog sleep in my bed was a good idea,” DeAngelis, a communications professional in Salt Lake City, Utah, said. “But I realized that they can keep you up when they rustle around, wake you up if they have to go to the bathroom and sometimes go to the bathroom in your bed if you don’t wake up.”

Let sleeping dogs lie?

“Having your pet sleep in the bed with you is a personal choice,” said Patrick Mahaney, VMD, of California Pet Acupuncture & Wellness, West Hollywood, Calif. If you discourage this behavior, “your pet will be less likely to confuse your bed with theirs. Therefore, you may prevent potential territory-related problems. But if you don’t discourage them, not only do you face the possibility of behavioral problems, but you could face adverse effects to your own sleep and health.”

According to results published in 2002 of a survey of 300 sleep disorder patients conducted by Dr. John Shepard, Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center, nearly 60 percent of the pet owners in the study slept with their pets in the bedroom. Twenty-two percent of the patients were likely to have pets sleeping on the bed with them. What’s more, 53 percent of pet owners considered their sleep to be disrupted nightly to some extent. Snoring was indicated in 21 and 7 percent of the dogs and cats owned, respectively.

Yet, a 2003 survey of 420 cat owners in Britain conducted by an organization called Cats Protection revealed that 44 percent of respondents (including 51 percent of women polled) said they enjoyed a better night’s sleep in their bed with a cat than with a human companion. Benefits listed included an absence of snoring, more space on the bed and purring.

“The advantages of letting your pet share your bed include companionship, warmth and a sense of security,” Mahaney said.

Among the drawbacks are lack of space for you to sleep, interruption of normal sleep patterns, and confusion among your pet as to an expected place to sleep, he said.

Nipping a sleep problem in the bud

If you want to break your pet of the bed-sleeping habit, Mahaney recommends persistence, consistency and the following tips:

• Establish a separate area or bed for your pet to sleep in. A cat bed or dog bed can be something as simple as a clean, soft blanket placed near your own bed.
• Use positive reinforcement techniques. For example, give your dog a training treat and positive verbal cues when it is comfortable resting on its own bed to reinforce this desirable behavior.
• Immediately address any territorial aggression, such as growling when you move in bed or nipping at your heels.
• If your dog growls or nips, authoritatively say “No!”
• Next, remove it from your bed onto the floor or its own bed and give it the command to sit and stay.
• Praise it verbally or with a training treat.

If problematic behavior persists, seek consultation with a veterinary behavior specialist.

You’ve made your bed…now sleep in it

If you do ultimately decide to share your bed with your pet, Mahaney offers the following recommendations:

• Let it sleep on top of the covers instead of under them.
• Your pet may have environmental debris, including fecal material, on its coat with which you could come into direct contact.
• Give your dog the opportunity to void within a reasonable time frame before you go to sleep. A typical healthy dog should not have to get up in the middle of the night to urinate or defecate.
• Allow your cat the opportunity to exit your bedroom while you sleep  to play, eat, drink and use the litter box. Cats are nocturnal animals and are more likely to be active during the night.

Reveiwed by Susan E. Aiello, DVM, ELS, and John A. Bukowski, DVM, MPH, PhD

All content on WebVet is reviewed annually by Vets to guarantee its timeliness and accuracy.

Article last reviewed – 9/11/2008

There isn’t enough chocolate in there to hurt.

There isn’t enough chocolate in there to hurt anything.

( listen to the podcast here)

While waiting for a friend at a restaurant, a man was at the cashier picking up a Chocolate French Silk pie to take home. As the cashier was bagging his pie and ringing him up he wanted to let her know that his dog liked their French Silk pie as much as he did. Then acknowledging that his statement probably wasn’t seen as a good idea by some, he also felt the need to let it be known that he only gave him a “Little Sliver” from each pie he brought home.

Hmm, I wonder how often he those pies home?

My initial desire was to approach the man and make him aware of how lucky his dog had been. Lucky not to have had any noticeably negative reactions to the chocolate in that “little sliver” from each pie. That doesn’t count all of the other wonderful tasty ingredients common to many human daily diets. (White Sugar, Flour, Butter, Cream) Ingredients that many of us try diligently to keep to a minimum in our family animals diets. For most of us it is our hope to keep our animal family members and friends with us as for as long as we may be blessed with.

Thankfully instead of following my old instincts of blurting before I thought, I chose to be aware. Aware that no matter what or how I might have said something to this gentleman it would have landed on defending and deaf ears. He made it quite evident that he already knew it wasn’t a good idea when he followed up that he only gave him a “little sliver”.

There are many reasons the statement from this mans lips and so many others, leave me shaking my head and asking myself,
“How can so many people not understand how important the responsibility is that we take upon ourselves when we take an animal into not only our homes but our lives?”

Before I trail off to another topic lets get back to the poison.

Poison. Sounds dramatic and panicky. To live in fear would be a tragedy. To live in and inflict blind stupidity upon others you have a responsibility to is just as big a tragedy in my eyes.

I can not count how many times I have heard the statement, “We give it to them all the time and they are fine.” Only to hear the same people say, “I can’t believe after all this time of being ok this time made them sick enough to need medical attention.”

Or to hear someone else say, “I don’t give them enough to worry about.”  Until the one time comes that continually receiving all of those small amounts finally took its toll.

People look, what we do to our own bodies is our business. But when it comes to our non-human companions that depend on us, we have a responsibility to quit kidding ourselves into believing that its ok to feed them junk and more than is healthy. Much less things that are knowingly poison to them. It breaks my heart every time a companion animal acquires Diabetes or Toxicity because of a humans irresponsible love. Living with the dilusion that this wrong doing is ok, only to make themselves happy at the cost of a very special other. Not to mention what happens when the responsible person now decides they can not take care of the companion they chose to make sick due to finance.

Love your babies the way they see love and you will have them in your life for as long as you are blessed.