Are you giving your dog stressful signals?

We all have busy lives, so sometimes we need to leave our beloved fur doggies at home. Going to work, travelling for business or going on holiday. It is usually very stressful for me to leave Luca alone at home. He can destroy the whole house and garden in seconds.

Living on a budget, don't give me the luxury to book him into a doggy hotel, so I always need to get a babysitter. Not all my babysitters have the knowledge on how to work or play with dogs or even worst they don't even like dogs and this can create stressful situations.

We hear allot of people and especially children that gets bitten by dogs, and it is always the dogs at fault. Dogs then get send away or put down, but the sad truth is 98% of the time it is humans creating these unfortunate situations. People are not educated enough on how to handle their dogs and they don't take the time to teach their children on how to treat and play with a dog.

There is a few guidelines that people can follow in handling their own dogs and handling strange dogs in unfamiliar situations.

Wrongful Signals you can give your dog:

1. Leaning over the dog
2. Forcing your face in the dogs face
3. Petting the dog on the shoulder blade
4. Petting a dog around the face and top of its head
5. Walking straight into a dog
6. Pulling and leaning on dogs
7. Eye contact with strange dogs
8. Hitting and yelling
9. Forcing your dog into certain positions

It is every owners responsibility to make sure not to put dogs into stressful situations.Remember dogs are animals, and they still have animal instinct to protect themselves.

10 Rules for a well behaved dog

At my age most of my friends and family have children and one thing I have observed is that all of them want their children to behave well, have good manners and make them proud. Unfortunately not all of us can have children for many reasons. So what do we do? We get a dog. A dog is not the same as a child, but most of the rules do apply.
Dogs can be a nightmare for other people if they are not trained well, making your life more difficult. I have compiled 10 Rules for a well behaved dog, that can help you when get that cute puppy or struggling with your own dog’s basic obedience.

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1. Socialize your dog to everything (All ages of people, other dogs, sights sounds and places).
2. Try to teach your dog, that certain areas of the house or furniture are out of bound for them, this will just make your life easier in training them.
3. Never feed your dog from the table. If you follow this rule you will never have begging problems.
4. Always praise your dog when he does good work. Producing better results- even more so than punishing your dog if they don’t do what you say.
5. Only correct your dog if you can catch them in the act. Otherwise forget it, just be prepared next time.
6. Train your dog on basic obedience. This is a must if you want to have a happy, well behaved companion in all situations.
7. Know you are the Pack Leader and they have to know it. This is done through obedience.
8. Never Ever hit your dog, it only makes behaviour problems worst.
9. Be patient with your dog and do give it time.
10. Try to think like your dog, when trying to teach them something new. Treat your dog with respect and when training them always try to look at things from their perspective.

I’m not saying that Luca is the best well behaved dog, but every day we learn and do get over new obstacles. Just by observing Luca's reaction to all things and situations, do help me with his basic obedience.
Good Luck and Enjoy!

Animal Family

In my first post I'm taking the opportunity to introduce all of you to the love of my life. My Border Collie Luca. This is a great week for him, he is turning 1 year old, so my Baby is grown up now. Life is not only hard as a single women, but it does get lonely at times. Sometimes you just need a bit of companionship. Luca is not only a dog that hangs around the house all day, he falls into my daily plans, forming part of my life, growing emotionally and mentally together.

It was not all moonlight and roses the last 9 months. Gone through potty training, relocating, loosing doggy friends, correcting bad behavior and dealing with terrible separation anxiety. At last 9 months later, we are finally in a routine that is working for us.

Because Luca is such an important part of my life, i had to get myself educated. I will be giving out tips on: Potty Training, Socializing, Eating Habits, Obedience, Separation anxiety, Traveling and sleeping over.