Resources:Articles:Better Dog Ownership
Developing Better Dog Owner - Neighbor Relations
Tips from Animal Control
- Keep your dogs on leash. Leash laws aren’t just for badly behaved dogs. Even Lassie can scare someone who is uncertain of how to deal with strange dogs. Use a short leash. Flexi leads can get tangled and cause accidents with bicyclists, rollerbladers, and joggers. Allowing your dog to wander into yards on long leashes and damage expensive landscaping can be very upsetting to neighbors who often prefer that dogs stay on sidewalks or tree lawns. Failing to control your dogs on leash leads to anti-dog legislation.
- Keep your dogs inside the house unless someone can supervise the dogs. This will eliminate opportunities for the dogs to develop territorial aggression, prevent chained dog syndrome, prevent inappropriate barking and prevent bad experiences with passersby and children that may tease or yell at a strange dog. It is very common for gates to get opened as a “joke”, strange objects to be found in the yard that were thrown at the dogs, garbage and poisoned food fed to dogs out in the yard, and dogs stolen from yards. The majority of barking complaints occur when dogs are left outside unattended. Think about it….it can be very difficult to relax in your own home when the neighbor’s dog is outside barking.
- Carry along materials to dispose of fecal matter on every walk. Even if you intend on returning at a later time to pick up after your dog, the non-dog owning witness to your dogs deposit won’t know that and nor will the kids out playing know to avoid that spot. Many communities have pooper scooper laws which result in costly fines and lost work due to court appearances if disobeyed.
- Register your dog at the county auditor’s office or county animal shelter. Ohio law requires all dogs over 3 months of age to be immunized against rabies and to be licensed. These licenses need to renewed annually in January. You are required to get a dog license for every dog immediately upon ownership of that dog.
- Strongly consider neutering your male and female dogs. With the overpopulation issues and growing need for rescue groups facing animals today, some would say there are no advantages to failing to pursue alteration of a pet. Studies show that neutering can reduce some training issues and problems by 90% and reduce the chance of the dog acquiring certain types of cancer by 75%.
- Train your dogs. Carefully interview and hire a professional trainer or enroll in obedience classes. Don’t try to train the dog on your own at home-even the most experienced trainers spend some time at dog clubs. These experiences create excellent socialization opportunities for your dog. Don’t use a lack of time as an excuse. Teach sit stay or down stay while cooking, talking on the phone or watching TV to maximize a busy schedule. Train your dog in frequent, short sessions of 10 minutes or less.
- Check out the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen program. Teach your dog to be a Canine Good Citizen and earn the certificate. Some states actually require that dog owners take the CGC test. Many house and liability insurance companies recognize the CGC test as a representation of good temperament. See www.akc.org for details.
- Continue training your dogs throughout their life (yes, throughout their life….don’t end up with an aggressive adult, because you gave up on it after puppy class.) You may want to read training and behavior books. Dog training has changed a great deal over the last 40 years. See Dogwise catalog for hundreds of titles (www.dogwise.com). Recommended titles: Canine Good Citizen by Jack and Wendy Volhard (also Training your Dog Step by Step by the same authors) and Body Language & Emotions of Dogs by Myrna Milani.
- Develop a leadership relationship with your dog using the following rules:
- “Learn to Earn” program. Many dogs very subtly take control of the house and us by pawing, licking, barking, or sometimes just looking at us to earn treats, food, walks, and petting/attention. Teach your dog that to earn petting, eye contact, or attention of any kind, or food, treats, walks, going outside, or returning inside the house, or getting out of their crate that they must “sit” or “down” first. Do not pet your dog when it comes up and nudges your arm(you’ll have to concentrate to not unconsciously do this while you’re resting or watching TV). As the dog approaches you, ask him to “sit”. If the dog does not sit, don’t correct the dog or get into a battle with him, instead get up and quietly walk away. The same thing applies to when the dog wants to eat. Prepare the dog’s food bowl and ask the dog to “sit”. If the dog fails to sit, put the bowl where the dog can’t reach it, and walk away. Try to get the dog to sit once again after about 30 seconds to one minute. The dog will probably sit after a few repetitions. When the dog wants to go outside, walk to the door and crack it open an inch or so. Ask the dog to “sit”. If the dog fails to sit, slam the door shut, and without a word to the dog, walk away. After 30 seconds or so, try again to let your dog in/out, feed your dog, etc. If the dog sits, praise the dog and let it do what it wants…..eat, get a treat, get petted, go out for a walk, etc. This is a very important concept! Don’t let your dog train you!
- Use the Gentle Leader head collar to control your dog and to establish leadership. The manufacturer, Premier Products can be reached at 1-800-933-5595 or www.gentleleader.com Some dogs may be very resistant to the Gentle Leader. Be persistent and don’t be afraid to seek professional help with the collar. When walking the dog on the Gentle Leader (or any collar for that matter), change directions or do a figure eight pattern when the dog forges ahead of you. You are the pack leader and you must be in front of the dog…don’t be a follower. Let the dog drag a lead around the house attached to the Gentle Leader. This will help you maintain control of the dog and help you reinforce commands. If you pick up the lead and ask the dog to sit before opening the door, the dog will not be able to sneak out the door and possibly get hit by a car when he escapes.
- Another method of establishing leadership with your dog is to put the dog into a down position for a half hour a couple times a week. This is not a down stay exercise, and the dog should not be corrected for getting up. Simply stand on a lead or whatever you have to do to put the dog quietly back into a down position. If the dog falls asleep that’s ok. Don’t let the dog play with toys during this time period.
- Make sure that the dog moves out of your way in the house. Don’t step around a dog that’s sleeping in a doorway, at the foot of the stairs, or in the middle of the room. Teach the dog to “move”. Walking around the dog teaches the dog that he is in command of all physical space. Use caution when teaching a dog to “move” since some dogs will reinforce their “right” to sleep in a prominent doorway by nipping or biting.
- Play with your dog in productive ways. Take it for walks, play fetch, play hide and seek. Do not play competitive games like tug of war or wrestling and roughhousing.
- Once again, continue obedience training. A dog that respects your leadership will obey obedience commands at all times, even when it’s excited after being penned up for a long time, even when there’s a strange dog or person in sight, even when you don’t have a treat in your hand. As a test, surprise your dog with a random command and see if the dog obeys you. If the dog does not, then you need to continue with obedience training, even if you have successfully completed a class in the past. Practice “push ups”. Ask the dog to sit, then down, then sit, then down several times.
- In multiple pet households, separate the dogs on a regular basis and use that separation time to pursue individual training with each dog. It is very difficult even for the most experienced professional to train two or more dogs at once. Multiple dogs are likely to “egg” each other on into bad behaviors like barking or disobedience, are likely to be a distraction to each other in training sessions, and are likely to develop a “pack mentality” that excludes you, the owner and supposed pack leader.
Following the above suggestions will go a long way towards making your dogs ones that anyone would want to own and towards developing better neighborhood relations. This list is in no way complete….seek more information all the time and seek the help of a professional animal behaviorist or professional dog trainer or your veterinarian if you are having problems with your dog.
Site Designed by Jennifer Marple | © Weimaraner Club of Columbus