Thursday, August 29, 2013
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
doggie day care
I live in a house with a garden, medium size garden.
I work not far from my house, 10 minutes by car.
I adopted Jago when he was a tiny 10 weeks old puppy.
I know that many people are against adopting a puppy if you work full time, but the owner couldn't find a home for the 8 puppies and he was ready to bring them to the pound.
So I took some days off and on a Friday I brought home Jago!
After a couple of days I started to get him used to stay alone, to avoid separation anxiety.
I began leaving him for few minutes in a different room, then going out for 5 minutes and so on.
Obviously he was following me everywhere!
And he was crying a bit when left alone, but he was so tiny and scared!
I bought kongs and other toys to keep him entertained.
He started to think that me going away = treats and toys.
So the time came that I had to go back to work. I put my computer to record Jago and listen what he was doing. I left a stuffed kong and treats hidden.
But... but.. he is an high energy dog. Growing older I saw that he started to destroy, chew furniture and the kongs were not enough. I had sometimes to stay in the office for lunch.
I started to feel guilty obviously.
So I decided to try the doggie day care!
I have a day care near my workplace. It is a dog training structure, with professional trainers, where I went for Jago puppy training classes.
I bring Jago there at 8 in the morning and I collect him at 5 when I finish working.
The first day I was soooo emotional! My puppy alone with a lot of other dogs!!
The day care staff is fantastic, they put photos on their facebook page and they explain you if the dog had any issue, or anything. They divide the dogs into groups, puppies, small dogs and big dogs.
He was coming back happy and tired and in the morning when I bring him there his tail is wagging!
I am sure it's a great opportunity for playing and for socializing.
I am glad to know that he will meet different dogs, with different behaviors and he will get used to share time and space with them.
Obviously they are supervised all the time and they have interaction with the day care staff.
There are 2 breaks during the day, to allow them eating in a safe place and to relax a bit.
There are many day cares in Ireland, I know at least Dog Training Ireland in Blanchardstown and DSPCA in south Dublin.
They are not really expensive, 15/17 euro per day.
Now I bring Jago once a week.
Obviously the dog should not be aggressive and if he is over 6 months there will be an assessment before accepting him. Some of the day care centers will not accept male dogs if not neutered.
I am sure that day care is a brilliant opportunity to entertain your dog, help socialization and avoid anxiety and boredom, but obviously it should not be a way to avoid interaction with your dog, training and play time with him!
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Training: recall!
***Please note that I am NOT a dog trainer, so I am just sharing my experience with my own dogs..
I may be doing wrong things and I am open to suggestions :) ***
Well, we all know that one of the most important things is to be able to control our dogs.
And especially... to make them come back when called!
I thought it was kind of impossible... I've never been able!
So with Jago I started early.
I got Jago when he was 10 weeks old, a scared tiny puppy.
Since his 1st walk outside I started the recall training.
I was bringing with me treats and toys.
Obviously EVERYTHING was more interesting than me.. but, as he was very young and still unsure of himself, he wanted to stay next to me and I used this moment to make him believe that coming back to me was GOOD!
Maybe your dog is not so young, so things can be different.
Obviously you should start in a safe place, like your garden, a dog area in a park or a place where it would not be dangerous for him to be off leash.
It's better to start in a place with not too many distractions.
I started in a green area in front of my house, very quiet.
If you are not confident enough you should buy a long lead, in the pet shops they sell also these kind of equipment.
Choose a command and always use the same.
Every time that your dog comes back to you praise him a lot and give him always very special treats or reward.
He needs to associate the idea that coming back to you is something very good.
It is very important to call him "often" and release him to go play again.
He should not think that coming back means the end of the games and going back home.
We attended puppy classes.
We were letting the puppy playing all together and then trying the recall.
Every few minutes.
It was sooo difficult as the puppies were all excited to play together!
Obviously Jago and me were the Worse of the class!
:)
But now I must say that he is quite good.
He is always coming back when I call him and stopping if I need to stop him.
Do you have any special suggestion you want to share?
Which is your experience with your dog?
Read More...
I may be doing wrong things and I am open to suggestions :) ***
Well, we all know that one of the most important things is to be able to control our dogs.
And especially... to make them come back when called!
I thought it was kind of impossible... I've never been able!
So with Jago I started early.
I got Jago when he was 10 weeks old, a scared tiny puppy.
Since his 1st walk outside I started the recall training.
I was bringing with me treats and toys.
Obviously EVERYTHING was more interesting than me.. but, as he was very young and still unsure of himself, he wanted to stay next to me and I used this moment to make him believe that coming back to me was GOOD!
Maybe your dog is not so young, so things can be different.
Obviously you should start in a safe place, like your garden, a dog area in a park or a place where it would not be dangerous for him to be off leash.
It's better to start in a place with not too many distractions.
I started in a green area in front of my house, very quiet.
If you are not confident enough you should buy a long lead, in the pet shops they sell also these kind of equipment.
Choose a command and always use the same.
Every time that your dog comes back to you praise him a lot and give him always very special treats or reward.
He needs to associate the idea that coming back to you is something very good.
It is very important to call him "often" and release him to go play again.
He should not think that coming back means the end of the games and going back home.
We attended puppy classes.
We were letting the puppy playing all together and then trying the recall.
Every few minutes.
It was sooo difficult as the puppies were all excited to play together!
Obviously Jago and me were the Worse of the class!
:)
But now I must say that he is quite good.
He is always coming back when I call him and stopping if I need to stop him.
Do you have any special suggestion you want to share?
Which is your experience with your dog?
Monday, August 26, 2013
Dog walks: Tolka valley park
I found that there are so many dog walks near Dublin!Enjoying the nice Irish summer I brought my dog to many different places in the last couple of months.
Tolka valley park is one of them.
It has been quite difficult to find where it was and where to park my car!
Actually I parked at the Blanchardstown shopping center and I had to walk toward the N3/M50 entrance to find the gate for Tolka Valley Park.
I am sure there will be other accesses but I didn't find them on any website.
If you know one of them please feel free to add it in the comments!
Tolka valley is a linear park that run alongside the Tolka river and incorporates 300 acres of grassland.
It was very nice to see the change of landscape, between the big shopping center, N3 the work in progress on the road with big machines... and the quiet paths along the river, the small animals, the dogs and people jogging.It was a Sunday morning when Jago and me went discovering this place.
He also loves running on small paths when he can go to discover the "forest", but also open areas are good for sniffing :)
We met other dog owners and he could have a good run and play time with them.
Unfortunately it started raining so we couldn't explore the whole park, only a small part, but I am planning to go back again.
From the fingal website:
" The park is home to a rich variety of animal and plant species such as otters, kingfishers, dippers, bats, cowslips and willows .
* The park offers a diverse, natural and tranquil landscape which is great for walking and jogging and the river supports an abundance of brown trout, providing for some good fishing." 
How to get to Tolka Valley Park?
N3 from Dublin to Navan, exit Blanchardstown.
Car park at the Blanchardstown shopping centre.
I hope to find new car park and entrance.
By BUS, Busses 38 and 39 from O'Connell Street, Dublin to Blanchardstown.
View Larger Map
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Dog neutering, Jago experience
I have read so many discussions about if it's right or not to neuter a dog.
I spoke with many people and friends.
Obviously the first reaction is: NO!
It's against the nature, poor dog,we cannot choose for them and so on.
Then I start thinking how many abandoned animals live out there.
How many are put to sleep, just because nobody want them.
We didn't neuter our first dog.
I don't know exactly why, we were new to dogs and maybe we didn't have any strong advice to neuter him.
I know that around 2 years old he became aggressive with male dogs.
Maybe he would have also if neutered, but usually it helps to avoid aggressiveness.
Unfortunately we had to neuter him when he was already older for a testicular cancer.
He recovered and had no problems, but obviously it's always better to have surgeries when the dog is younger.
He was also started to have some prostate issue.
I neutered Jago when he was 6 months old.
First of all because I don't intend to use him for breeding.
He would not have had any sexual active life.
And he would have suffered.
My previous entire dog was suffering so much when there was a dog in heat.
He was crying for days even if the dog was living quite far from us.
Medical benefits of neutering are
He will be playful, energetic and happy, but less likely to develop some behavior like for example aggression toward other males, urine marking, roaming.
And the most important part is to avoid the birth of unwanted dogs.
Jago mother was very young when she had him.
His owner thought to wait a bit before spaying her.
They went on holidays, she had her first heat and came back pregnant.
She had 8 puppies.
The family couldn't cope with all those puppies!
They could re-home some of them, but not all! They were about giving the 4 males to the pound.
Usually neutering male dogs is a very easy surgery.
I brought Jago to the vet in the morning, he had all the blood tests and I collected him in the evening.
I was really stressed and scared.
I was expecting Jago tired and sad after the anesthetic but he was ready to play!
And hyperactive 6 months old Setter X.
The vet told me I didn't need the cone.
He was prescribed some pain killer and nothing else.
The morning after the surgery he wasn't able to walk and suffering a lot.
Unfortunately he started licking the wound.
I brought him to the vet and they gave us a plastic cone that he destroyed in 10 minutes.
They told me to put it on only sometimes, that usually dogs don't need it etc etc.
They told me to keep Jago quiet, but not in the crate.
Yeah, easy.
Jago was running and jumping even suffering and still trying to lick the wound.
I bought a soft cone, much much better than the plastic one.
James Marketing Comfy Cone Large 25-33cm
After one week, when usually everything is fine, Jago was prescribed antibiotics, pain killer and the cone 24 hour.
It took 2 weeks to recover.
It has been really hard, he was suffering but still wanted to play, to jump, to run off lead.
We had been allowed quiet walks on lead after one week.
It's funny how he started playing with the tennis ball using the cone to throw it!
They can drink and eat with the soft cone and it's not that bad to sleep with it :)
Anyway, so happy to run again free when he recovered!
It was a sunny day and we went celebrating to a nice park!
I am pro neutering, just be careful, if the dog is young, hyper active and licking the wound, please, use the cone!!
It will be a lot easier and faster the recovery!
Read More...
I spoke with many people and friends.
Obviously the first reaction is: NO!
It's against the nature, poor dog,we cannot choose for them and so on.
Then I start thinking how many abandoned animals live out there.
How many are put to sleep, just because nobody want them.
We didn't neuter our first dog.
I don't know exactly why, we were new to dogs and maybe we didn't have any strong advice to neuter him.
I know that around 2 years old he became aggressive with male dogs.
Maybe he would have also if neutered, but usually it helps to avoid aggressiveness.
Unfortunately we had to neuter him when he was already older for a testicular cancer.
He recovered and had no problems, but obviously it's always better to have surgeries when the dog is younger.
He was also started to have some prostate issue.
I neutered Jago when he was 6 months old.
First of all because I don't intend to use him for breeding.
He would not have had any sexual active life.
And he would have suffered.
My previous entire dog was suffering so much when there was a dog in heat.
He was crying for days even if the dog was living quite far from us.
Medical benefits of neutering are
- Testicular cancer.
- Prostate problems.
He will be playful, energetic and happy, but less likely to develop some behavior like for example aggression toward other males, urine marking, roaming.
And the most important part is to avoid the birth of unwanted dogs.
Jago mother was very young when she had him.
His owner thought to wait a bit before spaying her.
They went on holidays, she had her first heat and came back pregnant.
She had 8 puppies.
The family couldn't cope with all those puppies!
They could re-home some of them, but not all! They were about giving the 4 males to the pound.
Usually neutering male dogs is a very easy surgery.
I brought Jago to the vet in the morning, he had all the blood tests and I collected him in the evening.
I was really stressed and scared.
I was expecting Jago tired and sad after the anesthetic but he was ready to play!
And hyperactive 6 months old Setter X.
The vet told me I didn't need the cone.
He was prescribed some pain killer and nothing else.
The morning after the surgery he wasn't able to walk and suffering a lot.Unfortunately he started licking the wound.
I brought him to the vet and they gave us a plastic cone that he destroyed in 10 minutes.
They told me to put it on only sometimes, that usually dogs don't need it etc etc.
They told me to keep Jago quiet, but not in the crate.
Yeah, easy.
Jago was running and jumping even suffering and still trying to lick the wound.
I bought a soft cone, much much better than the plastic one.
James Marketing Comfy Cone Large 25-33cm
After one week, when usually everything is fine, Jago was prescribed antibiotics, pain killer and the cone 24 hour.It took 2 weeks to recover.
It has been really hard, he was suffering but still wanted to play, to jump, to run off lead.
We had been allowed quiet walks on lead after one week.
It's funny how he started playing with the tennis ball using the cone to throw it!
They can drink and eat with the soft cone and it's not that bad to sleep with it :)
Anyway, so happy to run again free when he recovered!
It was a sunny day and we went celebrating to a nice park!
I am pro neutering, just be careful, if the dog is young, hyper active and licking the wound, please, use the cone!!
It will be a lot easier and faster the recovery!
