Oliver

Oliver received his first official professional grooming last week. However, his stomach has been funky the last couple days. My parents took him to the vet. The vet said that he probably have been stressed due to the grooming. He seems to be doing better today! :)
 
SJCSue said:
Oliver received his first official professional grooming last week. However, his stomach has been funky the last couple days. My parents took him to the vet. The vet said that he probably have been stressed due to the grooming. He seems to be doing better today! :)
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He will get used to it. My dogs regard grooming as their big outing. And they get huge amounts of attention as three different breeds of small dogs as we go through the store.

They think all customers and groomers are supposed to worship them. :lol:
 
5/17 Update

:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:
Oliver has been a little confused because we are having some work on our house.

:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:
 
What's he doing?

We had renovations on our house over the winter. Both dogs adapted, but they had their moments of being a little over-protective of the house.
 
Beach girl said:
Boy, I WISH more cat owners would use those harness things!! It is my biggest pet peeve. My neighbors let their cats loose to roam through my yard. Of course they then kill the birds (I've found all too many decapitated cardinals), and poop in my yard. My little dog Pippin was just diagnosed with giardia (Casey was clear, but is getting treatment anyway). Vet said it can be transmitted from and to cats.

Another neighbor's cat was recently killed by a fox who sometimes wanders through our neighborhood. Even with that, my next door neighbors still let their cats loose!! I don't understand the mentality, at all. For me, my first and foremost responsibility as a pet owner is to keep my dogs safe; second is to keep them from doing harm to other animals or people. Cat owners don't seem to think like that, and I don't get it.
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We don't have strays or feral cats up here. Coyotes eat them.

Too bad small dog owners bitch about their dogs disappearing off of the patio though.
 
Uuuggghhhh! I really, truly don't understand the mentality of people who just put their pets outside with no thought as to the other wildlife around that can hurt them. Bloody idiots.
 
We would like to teach Oliver to shake hands (in his case, paw) with someone. Any ideas?
 
Does he ever do it naturally? Lift a paw to you, that is? If so, reward that right away.

Have you ever used clicker training? Takes a little time to condition the dog to the clicker, but once you do, he can learn anything really fast.

You can search on line for more details, but here's a quick version:

1. Load the clicker. Get yourself a whole bunch of tiny treats (I cut "Pup-R-Oni" sticks into small pieces about the size of a pencil eraser). The treats should be something really, really yummy. Tiny pieces of cheese or hot-dogs also work well.

Get the dog next to you. Click and immediately treat. Do that about 20 times. The idea is that the dog knows that "click" means "treat is coming." Virtually any normal dog will make this connection quickly. To test if he has made the connection, after doing this about 20 times, click and wait a second to give the treat. See if Oliver looks around to see if the treat is coming. If so, he knows.

2. Do a command the dog already knows. "Sit." He sits. Click and treat immediately. Timing is important; ideally you want to click the minute his butt hits the floor for the sit. He learns: aha, particular behavior gets a click and treat.

3. Shaping. You want the dog to lift his paw. Have him sit. (Click and treat). Touch his paw. Click and treat. Lift his paw. Click and treat. Have a hand-signal that you will want him to respond to. (Outstretched hand, maybe?) Do that and see if he lifts his paw. If so, click and treat.

Whatever tiny movement he makes that is in the direction of what you want, click and treat. Gradually you can expect more and more of the right behavior before the click/treat.

After he is responding to the hand signal, add a verbal command - "Paw" or "shake" or whatever you want. Do it together with the hand signal. As he responds, click and treat.

All of this is based on POSITIVE reinforcement. You do not use the word "no." You do not "discipline" in any negative manner. If he does not do what you want, he does not get a treat. That is the only negative consequence for him.

If he does respond with the desired behavior, click and treat.

It works best, for obvious reasons, to do this when he is a little hungry. A few hours after a meal is a good time.

Some dogs are not all that food-oriented, though most are. My Pippin will practically do handstands if he thinks treats are coming; Casey gets more excited if I throw a toy for him to fetch, although he does respond to food treats too. So as you proceed, you might vary the reward from food treats to toys to something else, but always, always, always, a click means a reward is coming.

Google "clicker training for dogs" and you will find a whole bunch of stuff. Karen Pryor is one of the top experts in this area.
 
:wave: BG:thumb: you beat me to it

SJCSue, you can also use the meal times as any training time

as Beach Girl wrote, timing is VERY important for using your marker - marker is, what tells the dog that you liked what he did/treat is coming. The clicker is a marker. The marker can also be a verbal YES, a visual signal like a Thumbs Up or any visual signal that can be made very clear to the dog and that is associated with getting "good stuff" <food generally but you can also use toys....I personally do recommend getting a dog playing tug or interested in some other toy in ADDITION to using food as a reward. This is because the dog should learn to work with you when you don't have food and not learn that the food is a cue for a behavior>

When using a marker like a clicker or Thumbs Up or whatever, you must click/mark within a few seconds of the dog doing what you wanted. So, you shape a raised paw, dog happens to get up and sit back down as you click - what you just marked was the getting up and sitting down - NOT the raised paw that you wanted. You get what you reinforce. BUT - BUT - since you clicked or marked, you MUST treat....the click is a promise you make to your dog. If you don't treat the learning system breaks down.

You can practice timing by bouncing a tennis ball and when you see it hit the floor, try to click at THAT EXACT MOMENT. Not before, and not after. If you practice this, make sure the dog is somewhere very far from you are doing it so if you're using a clicker, the sound of it going off and nothing happening for the dog, is not confusing or stressful for him.

I use clicker, verbal YES <old standby> and also visual THUMBS UP for my bridge <marker>
 
oh - additionally - if you have kids, or they visit regularly <friends'/neighbor's kids etc.> don't let them play with or "try" the clicker. There's too much of a chance once a kid starts, they'll keep doing it, or even by accident. The clicker is only to be used by an adult familiar with how to use it.

Clicker should NOT be used to call your dog or to get her attention, either.
 
My dad has a boat and Oliver loves to go out on it. That is my little "Seadog".
 
Oliver is getting an operation tomorrow. I am a bit nervous even though it is routine.
 
As I suspected... ;-) Hope it all goes well and he has a swift recovery. The boys recover faster than the girls do, since the surgery is simpler.
 
Ollie was a very good boy today while we were out for 7 hours, which he did not have an "incident" in house. He received two rewards: a treat and a new toy.
 
Oliver has met my baby nephew, Ryan on Saturday(11/19). I have been busy with school and work.
 
You may want to try the Aussie Pet Mobile for grooming. They pull up in front of our house and groom the dog in their special trailer. This eliminates all of the stress of putting the dog in a cage at a noisy groomers. My dogs love it. The same person always comes and the dogs like their "doggie whirl pool." It's competitively priced. Oliver would probably love it! You will too.
 
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