Did I Buy A Beaver Or A Dog? (Chewing and What You Can Do About It)

First, let me say that chewing is an entirely natural thing for a dog to do. Most dogs do it throughout their lives, although rarely as much as in that first year of life.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? 

Ok. So you went out on Sunday and got what is going to be your new best bud. You get up the next morning and get ready for work. You've got her all set up (food, water, praised her for going potty in her litter box, played with her, gave her toys to chew on, etc) and you head out to bring home the bacon.

OMG! You come home that evening to a disaster area…

Interesting article about training your dog to modify his/her behavior through environmental means. I've been telling people to do this for a while and recently found an article where they gave it a name: Behavior Adjustment Training. In a nut shell, you basically put a dog in a situation where he/she would normally react badly to a stimulus, then take away the stimulus only when the dog stops reacting or the reaction lessons. For example, if a dog barks at a person, instead of leaving with the dog or the person leaving, you wait until the dog stops barking before the person (or you) leave. Where previously, the dog barked and the person left, now when the dog stops barking or doesn't bark at all,  the person leaves.

The trainers are out of Seattle, WA. Their site is http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/bat/
They also have great gear on their site. Check out their store at Ahimsa Dog Training Store

Barking: Entertainment or Nuisance?

Salutations!
Do you ever have one of those days where your dog is barking as if his life depended on it, over and over, all day and all night? Does he (or she) bark at every leaf that falls in the yard, or at every person that walks by?

If you do, or have had one in the past, then you know what I'm talking about. That kind of barking goes beyond the normal "there's someone at the door", "I'm so  happy to see you!", "Hey I want to go over there and see that gal down the street!" kind of barking. Dogs that bark like this do so for three main reasons.

What Murphy taught me today...

For the last couple of days, I've been really peeved with something really bogus the bank did. The worst thing is I can't do anything about it (and believe me, I've tried!). It wasn't even something that I did. As my family and friends know, I've got a passal of dogs, one of whom is named Murphy (aka Murphy's Law).

Murphy is a really laid back kinda dog. His idea of a great day is when he gets to chase the water from the water hose then sleep on the couch, usually belly up. Now, tonight, being that I've been so cranky and haven't been paying him the attention he usually enjoys, he saw fit to point his nose to the moon and howl --- loud and long. Understandably, this set off the rest of my pack, and even got the horses going with it. (obviously neighing, not howling -- they like to join in every once in a while lol ). Not being one to miss out on the fun, I followed suit. Just sharing a group howl with my guys and telling my woes to God in an elemental way made me feel a lot better; it helped me feel connected to the universe and that everything wasn't going down the proverbial potty. It was just a minor speed bump in the road called life and as the saying goes, "This too shall pass."