Another dog lost!

Again I found a dog lost!
People start making fun of me, telling I am stealing dogs or I have a magnet that attracts dog lost.
To be honest I see that in those situation I am the only one "doing something".

The first time I found a dog, the wee small was crossing the road at a traffic light in a dangerous situation and was shaking scared. People watching and laughing. I stopped the car and took her and after 24 hours he has been reunited with the owner.

The second time coming back from a park another small dog was running literally in the middle of a road.
Cars were slowing down, no people walking and nobody stopping.
I stopped the car again and run after the dog and been able to catch him after 10 minutes.
Again after 24 hours dog reunited with his owner that was looking for him!

Few days ago I was in Tesco in Dublin 11 when a big labrador came in and started wandering around all happy in the fruit sector.
People laughing and security just pushed him out.
He went into other two shops and same thing.
Outside the shopping center he started to jump wagging his tail inside customers' cars.

Again I took the dog with me, thanks to few treats I just bought for my dogs, and ran to a vet.
He was microchipped but not registered and had a tag.

A big happy dog, but not easy for me to manage as I have two dogs at home.
Anyway we spent a nice crazy afternoon all together and thanks to facebook again I found the owner after just few hours.

I don't think I am special, but please, microchip and put a tag on your dog collar, everything would be easier!!

See my previous article for some tips.
http://adogpaw.blogspot.ie/2013/09/what-to-do-if-you-find-lost-dog.html

Read More...

Working from home - knee injury

It's long time that I am not writing on the blog.. but unfortunately I had a knee injury, so crutches and no new walks for us :( :(

But I am working from home and I want to introduce you my new work colleagues

Read More...

Dog walks: enniskerry - woodland walk

Maybe is the best walk of the last few months!

I went there with two friends and three dogs on a saturday morning.
On the M50 it took us less than 30 minutes to get there.
There are many walks in Enniskerry and we did the Woodland Walk.

Some problems to find a parking space, as we were not familiar with the area, we parked in the town, but we discovered after that there is a parking space at the entrance of the walk.

It is a beautiful walk in the forest, a lot of plants and a river (Glencullen river) for the doggies to swim and cool down.

The three doggies have been running in the forest for few hours, as the place is quite big and you will not be bored to discover new paths.
The walk that we did was circular, with two bridges on the river.
We met few people there and we stopped for a while in a beautiful area to drink and give the dogs something to eat.

You can find on these websites more information about the place, I am not very familiar, but I hope to go there soon!

http://wicklowcountywalks.com/knocksink.html

http://www.wicklowtourism.ie/village-guide/enniskerry-wicklow.html

http://enniskerry.ie/

Read More...

dog training: sit

***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 :) ***

 Let's start the training series with a basic command: SIT

With Jago has been very easy to teach him sit, but maybe not for all the dogs is so easy.

First thing to remember is that the dog should have fun during the training and should be able to concentrate.
So it's easier to start in a quiet environment, if he is a puppy maybe not when he is hyper excited.
Slowly you can trying moving to more busy places trying to capture his attention.

Sit was the first command we learnt at the puppy classes.
We have been taught to give the command sit as verbal command without body signals.
He should be able to "understand the word" even if we are giving our back to him.

How to begin?
The easiest thing is to use the natural moments when your dog are going to sit down to tell him the word and praise him.
He will start the association and you are not forcing him but gently using his natural movements to teach something.
Then you can start with the training.

Stand up and show to your dog a treat.
Move the treat near his nose.
If the dog sit give him the command "sit" straight away and praise him.
The timing is very important.

Why we shouldn't give the command before?

When we start with a new command the dog wouldn't understand the word.
So it's better to say the command at the same time with his action.
When the association between movement and word will be better you can give the command in advance and expect a reaction.
You should avoid giving 100 times the command expecting a reaction.
If he doesn't get it he will not understand better if you repeat and the command will loose intensity.

When he will be able to execute the sit following your hand with the treat you can start to training him to only follow your command and giving the treat as praise later.

To reinforce the command you can ask him to sit before opening the door, or before letting him play or before giving him his meal.

Training is an important part of the relationship with your dog, will keep him entertained and you will feel more confident if you are able to control him!

Let me know if you have any issues, advice or experiences to share.

I am not a dog trainer and I am only sharing my experience with my dogs.

Read More...

Dog walks: Bull Island

Another beautiful place for a nice walk near Dublin is Bull Island, just 4 miles from the city center.
The sandy beach is called Dollymount Strand and it's long approx 5 km!!!


The island is designated as a UNESCO Biosphere reserve and is also classified as a Wetland of International importance under the Ramsar Convention.


The island is connected to the mainland by the Bull Bridge at the southern (Clontarf/Dollymount) end, and by a broad causeway at Raheny.
Usually I drive from Clontarf road heading to the Golf club / visitor centre.
There is parking space and there you have the chance to walk through the dunes or on the beautiful beach!

There is plenty of space to let you dog running and have fun, please respect the wildlife and the environment!

The first time I went there I have been walking on the beach.. for hours! You can see in the photos Jago running and jumping down from the dunes just behind the beach.

Last Sunday we have been walking with a friend and her 2 dogs on the dunes and was beautiful as well, I think that Jago enjoyed even more!
And you can see a fantastic double rainbow to create a nice atmosphere!

From another website "Bull Island is a A 300 hectare island in Dublin Bay formed after the construction of the Bull Wall in the 1820's. It is now a Nature Reserve and Bird Sanctuary of international importance with up to 25.000 wading birds using the area in Winter"


How to Get There by bus:
30, 31 from Lower Abbey Street.

Visitors Centre is open 7 days a week, 10.00am-4.30pm.


 
View Larger Map

Read More...