‘Can an old dog learn new tricks?’

It was nearly seventeen years ago that I spotted a little grey bundle in a rescue kennels. He was an odd looking thing, with a grizzled coat that stuck out all over the place, and a Jack Russell head with eyes that didn’t look terribly interested in me peering at him. He was only 2, but he looked ancient!

At the time I simply wanted a dog. Any dog. A dog of my own. I wanted a rescue dog. I took him for a walk and not much happened. That weekend I took him home. He was a very withdrawn little mutt, until he spotted another dog. At that point he transformed into a banshee.

As it turned out, he became the start of my career. After many struggles and a lot of work but a lot more fun, he became Pepper, ‘The Flying Flea’ or his official working register Kennel Club name ‘Red Hot Chilli Pepper’. He did Agility, Obedience, Working Trials training and was the ‘small dog’ in the ‘Superdogs’ Display team.

Can every rescue dog be given a new lease of life? It’s not always easy, it’s not always cheap, but nothing worth having in life is a simple walk in the park. And walking a barking, half-crazed terrier in the park isn’t easy. I learned so much from him, and he was my little mate. I still miss him.

Often I get calls from owners asking if an older dog can be trained. The answer is, yes. Pepper learned to “wave” when he was 15 years old, and in the year before he died, he learned to bark to call me when he couldn’t manage to reach something.

Sometimes, a rescue dog has not had the chance to learn about life and ‘normality’. It can take them a long time to adjust to what you take for granted as familiar. These dogs need careful, long-term social experience. They need to go at their own pace. You need to help them.

Getting a new puppy isn’t straightforward either, so it’s not always the better choice! In my work, get more calls for puppy and adolescent behaviour problems than rescue dogs.

I have seen several cases where the families called me the day they brought their rescue dog home. Perfect! This meant that any worries they had, they could ask me to assess what to do next. As months pass, they moulded these dogs into good citizens.

Sometimes, the dogs are just relieved to be somewhere where they can adapt and learn without fear.

Get yourself a good trainer – someone qualified, with proper credentials, with a code of practice, and no harsh methods or talk of old-fashioned dominance theory. Give your new dog the best chance you can. Keep notes of the early days so you can look back at how far you have come. You will be amazed!

With Pepper I learned a huge amount about training a terrier. About their determination, and about my own patience. About the benefit of silence and observation.

And the love, oh the fun and the feeling that I gave him a chance. I will never forget the day a lady came over after a dog display we had just completed, pulled a roast beef joint from her bicycle basket, and stuffed a wodge of it into Pepper’s mouth. He was extremely happy about that part of his career!

So folks, if you want to blame anyone for my presence on this site then the fault lies with rescue dogs!

This month we are supporting the Oldies Club: Please consider a donation to the fabulous “Oldies Club’ who care for and rehome older dogs. You can donate here

Easter usually means goodies but as we all know, dogs cannot have chocolate. So, the little Intellidogs Easter bunny has been hopping about looking for the best treats for your dog.

The rather clever little bunny has hidden an Easter egg in one of the blogs on the Intellidogs website!

So – what do you win? Well, take a look at THIS little delicious and calorie free dog toy gateau… the FAB prize donated to us by Katie from www.mypetaccessories.co.uk

To enter

All you have to do is pop a little Easter egg Twibbon onto your Twitter id until Easter Monday.

Then, start hunting for the Easter Egg!

The main blog page is here and you will have to search the pages to find the egg!

Then tweet me the blog link on which the egg is hidden on either @WildPaw or @Intellidogs

If you are being super-secret and don’t want to share your hard effort, DM me the answer. I will follow you if I don’t already do that so that you can DM.

If you aren’t a Twitter fan, just email me the answer on info@karenwild.co.uk

All entries must be submitted before Tuesday 6th April

Easter. Fun for you, fun for your dog, and not a calorie in sight!

Happy Hunting for you and your dog!

Karen xx

My Pet Accessories are doing a special offer during the hunt that if you spend only £12 on the site you will get a free dog hoody! If you think it’s too plush for your pooch, it would make a great gift or even a charity donation for an underprivileged pup while you treat your own dog. Katie has just reduced her prices for Easter so there are more bargains to be found than you could shake a bunny at.

Intellidogs is sponsoring The Oldies Club, a charity specialising in homing, sheltering and fostering older dogs. Give those grey muzzles a chance. You can donate here and find out more. Thanks x

UPDATE: Winner! Congratulations to Faye Billington who was drawn from all of you that correctly identified the hidden egg in Dan’s blog!

They all have a doggy job to do. Companion, supporter, hot water bottle, friend, guide, collector of slippers, illness alerter, you name it – the dogs jobs are varied and important to us.

In the blog picture here, you might see a dog with a job that involves administering brandy to struggling humans. I see a different job. I see two dogs that have worked very hard to learn to behave calmly when kids are hugging and cuddling them. I want to hear from you about your pet dog’s job.

Celebrate your dog’s job in our photo competition!

Maybe we can’t imagine life without a doggy member of the family. Maybe we have our dog on purpose to help us with something. Maybe they do useful things that you never expected them to do! It’s a dogs job to do all these things.

In fact, our pet dogs all have a job.

It is time to celebrate how our ordinary dogs jobs benefit our lives.

Even TV star and recording mogul Simon Cowell talks about how his dog had the power to make his troubles go away. He says “I remember one particular day, I was having the worst (I thought) day of my life, I was coming home from work, everything had gone wrong, I was depressed, sad, and I went home, and there waiting up for my was my pet dog. And he jumped up, licked my face, and was happy to see me, and everything was happy again”. I am sure we can all agree, we know that feeling well.

Every dog has his down side…

but let’s bring into focus the jobs that our pet dogs do for us.

Taste tester, sofa keeper-warmer, extra blanket, doorstop, key-finder, conversation-starter, bringer of the remote control…

What is your dog’s job? – competition

Take your photos and send them to me with a brief description of the job your dog does, titled ‘My dog has a job’ to info@karenwild.co.uk

or tweet them to me as @WildPaw on twitter www.twitter.com/WildPaw adding #mydoghasajob.  All entries will be posted via this site.

The top 3 photos will each win a prize and one of my fab Pawprint ‘Top Team’ rosettes! Entries from worldwide are welcome. We’ll sort the postage!

I ask that if you enter and if you would like, please consider a donation to the fabulous “Oldies Club’ who care for and rehome older dogs. You can donate here

I may even ask YOU to vote for a winner, if I can work out how to do that – and if not, a panel of dog nutcases professionals will judge the best photo.

Closing date for entries is Mon 12th April which gives you plenty of time to start paparazzi-ing your pooch..!

My Pet Dog has a Job – let’s see yours

Karen x

Simon Cowell interviewed for WSPA: http://www.animalsmatter.org/

Its true. I have it on first authority that dogs are better off training their human. My good friend Border Terrier Marley returns to write for us again about how he maintains his human, keeps him happy and gets him to play the right sort of dog games.

Dog training – my view from by your leg – by Marley the Border Terrier

Ello for you. It is I, Marley.

I phink you did kno it was I, Marley. That is becos I ave been trainin you for recognisin me when I do be here. Trainin is important and that is why Karen has arsked me to tells you about it today cos some of you do be good at it but some of you duzz need some elp and I am the eggspert in the field.

Learning names

So let us go back to step 1, recognisin names. I say again for you “ello, it is I, Marley. Ow is you?” Knowin my name and knowin your own name is very important becos it can be helpful in avoidin danger. I give you example from real life. When my typist does approach the fridge in the evenin I say “Dad, you does not want that cold beer cos it will make you fats and lazy”. He recognise his name (Dad) and pick up ealfy fruit joos instead. This is good for him and save him from early middle age. He tell me that sumtimes he shout “Marley” to stop me goin in the road and getting urt when we is out walkin, but I say does he really phink I goin to step in front of a car? I is not stoopid you kno.

Repeat – and treat

Of course, the key for trainin is repetition. When dad is holdin ower dinner in the evenin he say “sit” every time before we can ave it. Lola and me always sit, cos if we dussn’t then I phink he forget what he is doin and serve up bird seed or leave ower bowls in the fridge. He is a bit slow and we ave to help him, like talkin to a baby.

We also say that rewardin wiv treats does elp with learnin. After he say “sit” for the 20^th time, Dad do say “paw” and I old up my paw and he give us a nom to eat. I think that he is rewarded in his heart by givin me noms and so I let im do it after each trick or task. “Paw”, he say. Up go the paw, in go the nom. It does be simple but effective technique for hoomans cos they is unusually obsessed wiv ow they feel bout themselves.

Also, we find that we help him out by not always doin the same thing to see if he is payin attenshun. He say “lie down” and I lie down. Then he say “roll over” and I just give him the dead eye. “Roll over” he say again, and this time I sit up and give him paw. “LIE DOOOOOWWWWWNNNNN MARLEY” he say, so I do it and allow him to give me nom for spottin that his command ad not been followed to the letter. This way he get elp wiv accuracy and also a boost for his self respect.

Keeps us dogs from getting bored

Trainin is very good for stopping animals of all types from getting bored. If Dad is teachin me ow to stand on my back legs or turn round in circles then he cannot be spendin the evenin sittin on the sofa and sayin rood phings while mum watches America’s Next Top Model. It keep his mind active (trainin, not the models, ahem) and also elp wiv harmony in the house cos he is not avin to fight with mum bout wot is on telly.

You ave to be careful not to overdo trainin of course cos it can lead to tiredness and loss of patience. Yesserday me an Lola was up the woods and Dad was yellin for us to come back cos we was lookin under a bush for a squirrel. This is important work so we did ignore im. “Lola” he yell, then “Marley”. He keep this up for 10 minnits and eventually he is shouty and red in the face and his blood pressure look like it bout to burst off the top of the chart. I trot over to im and give im the “calm down” look but he was restless for the rest of the walk and did ave to ave a lie down when we got in. I tell this to you, careful ow you go about trainin cos it can be bad for your ealf if you do too much. Recognise your limits.

However, if you duzz trainin properly then then it can be rewardin for both dog and hooman. You see how happy they are if you roll over on command in front of the neighbours. It is like their eldest has graduated wiv first from Cambridge and they is about to be invited to join the golf club. Also, it is nice for people what you meet. If I sit and offer my paw to ladies we meet on our walks then we are always bein offered noms and that makes their pockets lighter and elp with finishin their walks.

If your human just isn’t getting it right

If your hooman is avin trubble trainin themselves by usin you for elp then I suggest you arsk Karen to elp wiv dat. She arsk me to do sumfink simple like “Marley, show me how Twitter work and can be applied to help solve world problems” and wivvin 5 minnits I have done a small presentayshun on it becos Karen make it all so easy peasy. The hoomans what have come with me do see how simple it can be and they takes me ome for practises followed by noms and a lie down.

All in all, me an Lola phink trainin is really really good and makes for quiet and contented staff what can be allowed to take you out in public. Give it a try, but make sures your hooman has Karen’s phone number close by.

Marley…… (offishul Dog of London 2012)

Marley’s human (A.K.A. ‘Bringer of Noms’, although people also call him Matthew Joy) is running the London Marathon on 25/04/2010 in aid of The Dogs Trust! So today leave your comment of support and maybe even a little donation towards this fantastic cause. Donate to Matthew’s London Marathon for Dogs Trust here

So I confess to you all now. I accidentally have two of them. I adore all dogs of course. As a trainer I am image-bound to own a massive mutt. But I now think little dogs rock!

Size isn’t everything in a dog

As a dog trainer and behaviourist, my daily dog diet consists of big, beautiful, strong, out of control dogs. I have lost count of the times I’ve taught handling techniques for comfort and kindness to owner and dog teams. A friend described me recently as ‘The Dog Wrangler’ which made me laugh aloud (I am 5ft 2). I have persistent hip and knee ache from re-training lunging mighty mutts. I empathise. I have been that owner.

I have owned a great big galumphing gorgeous collie and regularly look after pretty sizeable dogs, with usually 4 or 5 in the house. If you own a collie you will see my eyes mist over in anticipation of my collie ‘fix’… but don’t yell at me when I tell you, one of my absolute pleasures in life is to look down and see my tiniest dog Bonnie sitting patiently wanting a lap to curl up in. She high fives with my finger. Her bark and play noises can only be heard by bats.

The tiny dog has seen a rise in popularity and celebrities are much criticised for using them as accessories, giving a false image of the responsibilities of dog ownership. To be fair, we all make choices based on attraction don’t we? The problem arises when we don’t look beyond this. The celebrity tiny dogs I look after are probably better socialised, more tolerant and better behaved than most.

Little dog, big heart?

A small dog can have temperament ‘spikes’ in the same way as a big dog. My adored terriers throughout my life always have the kind of steely edge that would make an Akita quake (I love that about them, by the way). Little dog, big boots, sometimes a bit too big for those boots…

The tiny dog, like all dogs, need to be well socialised. But the tiny dog also needs to get used to the fact that most other living organisms they will meet will tower above and loom down at them. The tiny dog will be suddenly hoisted aloft for a waiting snuggle, or be surrounded by cooing folk. The tiny dog may need to tolerate a breathtaking and ever changing array of costumes, coats and dog clogs.

Little dogs in history

It’s not a recent phenomenon. A recent genetic study has found that small domestic dogs probably originated in the Middle East more than 12,000 years ago. Melissa Gray and Robert Wayne, from the University of California, Los Angeles, led a team of researchers who surveyed a large sample of gray wolf populations. She said, “The mutation for small body size post-dates the domestication of dogs. However, because all small dogs possess this gene, it probably arose early in their history. Our results show that the version of the gene found in small dogs is closely related to that found in Middle Eastern wolves and is consistent with an ancient origin in this region of small domestic dogs.”

Visions of ancient bling collars are marching through my head at this point…

Little dogs and their loved ones

The tiny dog owner, on the other hand, has to steel themselves for an onslaught of non-attention with the dog striking up more conversations than they ever will. Every venture out in public takes three times as long with echoes of ‘Look! Sweeet!’ ringing in their ears. And the tiny dog owner-professional trainer/behaviourist (me) has to endure a never-ending stream of mickey-taking from her German Shepherd owning colleagues. Good job I am well socialised.

So, my point? If I take into account the training that still has to be done, the housetraining issues that seem to accompany the small dog household, the choosing of temperament, the social experiences that ALL dogs need… I still love going home to them. My little dogs rock.

Tell me about your experiences of tiny dogs. Do you love them? or are you not so keen? Leave your comments below (or I will send tiny Bonnie to creep down your internet connection and chew thru your cables…)

(Science article ref : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100223191924.htm)

Free Dog Goodies!

Our lovely sponsor Katie from My Pet Accessories has offered a free hoodie for your dog worth £15 when you place a £25 order from www.mypetaccessories.co.uk ! My Pet Accessories is a lovely online doggy shop with plenty of goodies on offer including some gorgeous toys, collars, leads, harnesses and even doggy perfume all at really competitive prices. For big dogs too. Pop to the  shop!

I asked my friend Kirsty to tell us all about her work with potential Guide Dog for Blind puppy Dan. In this blog she explains the effort that goes into housetraining him.

You are not alone – guide dogs for the blind in the making need patience, too!

“This beautiful little bundle is Dan, a chocolate Lab cross Golden Retriever and one day he is hopefully going to have a very special job to do. He is a Guide Dog for the blind puppy – in training – and I am his puppy walker (also known as puppy socialiser).

Guide dog for Blind in training

For 12 months, I will be doing his basic training and taking him through the main socialisation period. In this blog I hope you’ll enjoy reading about his progress (and mine). Perhaps it will give you an insight into what’s involved in raising a puppy, as well as the extra expectations for assistance dogs. Although I am a student of canine behaviour & training, I’m not a professional trainer & I don’t have any special magic up my sleeve. Raising a puppy is enjoyable, but it’s hard work and it helps to have a good understanding of the stages of puppy development & realistic expectations of what your puppy can do. No magic, just lots of love, patience, consistency and hard work. (A strong stomach, impaired sense of smell and a good sense of humour can also come in handy!!!)

New puppy – help!

If you’d seen my calendar this month (December), you’d have been thinking ‘this person is a clearly hermit, with absolutely no friends!’ because virtually all plans were put on hold, to focus on the important business of toilet training and socialisation. I’m stocked up with a rainforest worth of kitchen roll and enough anti-bacterial spray to impress Kim & Aggie. All I can say is, thank goodness for wooden floors! I’ve kissed goodbye to completing any task that requires more than 20 minutes solid concentration. I’ve moved everything off the floor and above puppy nose height (because Dan has absolutely no concept yet of what is mine & what is his). All phone & TV cables are inaccessible and a puppy gate is installed. Accidents are to be expected, so I’ve prepared myself for some weeks of mopping up (I find newspaper or puppy-pad training just lengthens the whole process, so we wont be using these).

Introducing puppy to toilet training routine

For the next 4- 6 weeks Dan will be accompanied out to the garden, for the toilet;

• After meals
• After drinks
• Immediately after sleeps
• Every 20 mins while he is active/awake

By using this schedule we have already got outdoor toilet 60% vs indoor toilet 40%, which is 60% less cleaning for me – yippee. If I didn’t use this schedule, I think the outdoor success rate would be more like 2%. Ok, so I feel like a yoyo, but it gives me lots of opportunity to praise him for a ‘job’ well done & I’ve lost some weight. I keep a ‘spending sheet’ (pee & poop diary) to help spot any patterns and I’ve briefed my boyfriend & mum on the plan of action, so we have a consistent routine (oh don’t I sound like I swallowed the corporate-speech dictionary?!).

At this point I am guessing you might think I am a bit obsessive, but I look upon it as a wise investment of time. Trainers often say ‘a behaviour that is rewarded’ is likely to be repeated, or as I like to think of it ‘giving praise for a pee, in the place it’s supposed to be’ saves me cleaning the wee and improves Dan’s understanding that this is the toilet, not the living room floor. Practice makes perfect. Simples…

I’m so excited about the coming months with Dan, but also feel slightly bemused that my life plans will revolve around the pee & poop schedule of this little furball.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my first ‘Dan’ blog and thank you for reading. Dan LOVES questions & compliments, so feel free to leave them in your comments ☺ Once he learns to read & type, he might write in his own blog *wink*”

Guide dog puppies – Did you know?

• The pups learn to go to the toilet on a concrete area of the garden. Guide Dog owners can have a similar area installed at home (or at their workplace) to allow for easy cleaning.
• The toilet command word for a Guide Dog is ‘busy’. They are very polite ☺

Self control for dogs is really tough. It doesn’t really make survival sense for a dog to control its impulses; its desire to race after something to hunt it down, or to rush to grab the nearest food item. Dogs do this. Dogs steal food. Dogs chase. Dogs leap to defend themselves with a bite or snap, without asking questions. After all, if their ancestors had not acted in this way it is unlikely that dogs would be here at all. A dog’s natural urge is to ‘Do It Now!’

Dogs that steal and snatch aren’t fun

Transport this into a family environment and the results can be annoying at best, and dangerous at worst. A dog that darts out of the door after a cat may end up in the road. A dog that steals and eats everything in sight is at risk from poisoning and blockages. A dog that defends itself and asks questions later is likely to end up in a behaviour consultation, rescue centre or worst of all, euthanized. Alongside these risks we owners are also responsible for the dog, hence vet bills, and even a visit to court, can be an outcome. How to control a dog that does this? Sometimes we can be there to prevent the problem, but sometimes we cannot. This is why self control for dogs is not just desirable, but absolutely necessary.

Training for a calm, relaxed dog

Self control for dogs forms an essential part of teaching your family pet from day one. Indeed it could be viewed that all dog training contains an element of dog control development. Teaching your dog to “Leave‘, ‘Sit‘, ‘Come‘ are all asking the dog to ignore the object of its desire and do as you ask instead. It may be that you already know how to control a dog that cannot control itself.

Often dogs are absolutely rock-solid sure that a human saying ‘No!’ means that something bad is going to happen. Naturally, the dog decides that in that case, they will race to get or do whatever it is before the human can intervene. If they don’t succeed this time, their survival instincts will ensure that next time, they will get that cat… or bounce up at that toddler… or scare away those fireworks… or snatch that pie…

However, with a decent, alternative reward on offer dogs can quickly learn that they don’t need to go to all that effort. The human is sitting there with a better offer. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. All we are doing is replacing one ‘survival’ strategy with another. The dog learns to control one impulse (to snatch) and gets given something better for doing something easy (sit). Don’t wait until the behaviour becomes explosive through frustration. Teach small steps and keep it simple.

Of course, if you have a strongly embedded habit, you will need skilled help, so contact a qualified accredited trainer

If you have a puppy – get started now!

As I started this advent calendar I decided I would bring it to a close by choosing the winner of the Intellidogs Christmas Hamper!

I hope you are excited… I did my best job when choosing

Didn’t I do well? anyway, here is the winning letter…

Congratulations Stanley, I’ll get Karen to send your hooman an email.

Love from

Pickles

Thank you all for sharing the Advent calendar with us – we loved every minute.

Hope you have a calm, happy, cosy and snug family Christmas

Karen xxx

P.S. We will see you in the New Year when we will be giving you the chance to visit our virtual Intellidogs ‘Doggy Spa’!

Twinkle, twinkle little star- we are so excited at today’s calendar prize… all ready for Christmas.

Win an amazing Dogs Today magazine photo shoot for your dog!

They may even make it onto the cover of this, the UK’s top dog magazine. So strike a pose!

Here’s Beverley Cuddy, Editor of Dogs Today, to tell you more…

This Christmas Eve I’d like to give a special dog the chance to be a star. Several times a year Dogs Today magazine takes over a professional photographic studio in Slough and we always have a lot of fun!

Since 1992 the amazing Tim Rose has been take amazing shots for us of people’s beloved dogs using state of the art lighting and eye-wateringly expensive Hassleblads that make even the blackest of dogs shine in pin-sharp definition.

The best shots we take make it on to the front cover and every one attending gets a CD of their images to keep and a doggie bag of goodies. We use chicken and bacon to incentivise our super models and a array of silly noises to get everyone’s ears up! The shoots are always on a weekday and each session takes a maximum of 30 minutes to keep it fun for the dogs. Dogs that are flash phobic or very nervous generally will not enjoy this experience.

While we love highly trained dogs, we have ingenious ways of getting the shot no matter what! If you’re too far away to attend the shoot (we’ve had people travel from Scotland before now!) we’d still like to treat you! If you mention Karen Wild’s advent calendar when you phone up we’ll give you £5 off the price of a 12-issue subscription to Dogs Today magazine 01276 858880. (This offer valid for 30 days and is not to be used in conjunction with any other offers!)

The office will be closed Dec 24-Jan 4th for Xmas, so see you in the New Year!

Email me with a pic of your dog and why they deserve to be one of our canine supermodels – beverley@dogstodaymagazine.co.uk

So get snapping (with your camera, not the dog hee hee)

Merry Christmas Everyone – please leave your Christmas wishes to share below and don’t forget the hamper – it’s being drawn tonight!

Lots of love

Karen xxx

Christmas is about many things, and I am sure you will agree, gifts form a big part of our celebrations. Today the brilliant Kelly Dunbar invites us to consider that there are not many gifts that can rival the companionship, love, support and warmth that come from owning a dog. Those memories stay with us forever. Read, enjoy, and maybe even shed a tear of love and a smile of thanks to our canine companions…

Dogs enrich our lives in so many ways. The holidays are a season of reflection and every year I take a little time to review the gifts the various dogs in my life have given me. Sure there’s the requisite cuddles and kisses, but oodles of laughter and life lessons as well. So I’d like to personally thank my dogs of Christmases past and present for sharing their lives, light, and love with me over the years.

To My Sweet Charlie Brown (aka Boo)

From the very first time I saw you as a pup at the dog show I knew we were meant to be together. I may only have been 5 years old, and you a young pup of 9 weeks, but our hearts and souls connected and we both knew right away that this was indeed a special bond. You were my best friend all through my school years and taught me the joys of sharing life with a dog. You were always by my side, through thick, thin, my first loose tooth and all the way to getting my drivers license. I cried into your fur at my first heartbreak and told you all of my childish secrets. You taught me the loyalty of a dog
In the end you even taught me how to selflessly and gracefully say goodbye to an old friend.

To Dear Ivan (aka Bubs)

You were my first dog as an adult and together we learned about dog training. Initially I was told to do nasty things to you in the name of obedience and leadership, and, against my better wishes I complied. I’m terribly sorry about that, and it did affect our relationship, but also, my love for you drove me to continue to search for kinder, gentler methods for communicating with my best friend. In our years together I tried lots of training methods with you and through it all, you maintained your sense of humor and dignity, while allowing me to find mine. In the end you taught me the invaluable lessons of forgiveness and how to train with respect and kindness over compulsion and cruelty.

To Mr. Oliver Twist (aka Little)

You came into my life as a shelter dog and companion for Ivan. The first lesson you taught me was that shelter dogs rock! My only regret was that I did not have the pleasure of knowing you as a pup; you must have been the cutest little guy ever! But you also taught me how to live life to the fullest. You did nothing at half-measure, you were a true pleasure-seeker that charmed all who met you. Your joie de vivre was contagious. In the end you taught me to live life to the fullest, to always express myself clearly, and that we should soak up the sunshine while we can.

To Claude (aka Claudey)

You came into our family as an adult dog with lots of issues. Nobody understood why we adopted you even though all agreed that you were indeed a handsome beast! But nobody could get close enough to touch you because of your handling and biting issues. Living with and training you taught me the power of gentle training methods such as classical and operant conditioning. Training you taught me about the courage it takes to rebound from adversity, but also that one truly can teach an old dog new tricks and give him a new outlook on life — one of love and comfort where even a formerly neglected dog can feel safe.

To Dearest Dune (aka Monk)

My first puppy in years! Wow, we’ve learned a lot together and the ride is not over yet. When I got you I had it in my mind that all of my years of experience would finally allow me to start fresh and create the “perfect” dog. We’d cross-train for many sports and you’d be the best-trained, most social creature on the planet! No pressure, right? Wrongo. Training you has taught me to focus on my dog’s individual strengths and set him up for success. It’s also taught me to enjoy the journey and not worry so much about the destination; to forget my ego and expectation of perfection and just have a blast with my dog.

Bonjour Monsieur Hugo-Louis (aka Lou)

My youngest. My bright star. Never have I met a dog (or human, for that matter) with a personality quite like yours. You are ever the optimist with a can-do attitude. You don’t let anything get you down. You are small and not built for agility or speed, but that has never stopped you from trying any task. You are up for anything. Your work ethic and ability to let adversity roll off of you like water off a duck’s back is truly inspiring. I can only hope that by hugging and kissing you every day that some of your Hugo-Dust will rub off on me because I want to be just like you when I grow up!

About Kelly

Kelly can be found on www.dogstardaily.com Kelly is a co-founder and the executive editor of the Dog Star Daily, a dynamic, web-based, multi-media dog-training learning centre.

She is the President of Open Paw, a non-profit organization devoted to addressing the unwanted animal problem from a different angle, arming communities worldwide with valuable user and animal friendly training and behavior information with the goal of keeping cats and dogs out of shelters by keeping them in their original homes. Kelly lectures internationally on the principles of Open Paw and consults for animal shelters regarding program implementation, layout, and staff-and-animal training protocols and procedures.

She is a director of the Center for Applied Animal Behavior, a multi-faceted business that focuses on teaching people how to train their dogs to be the best canine citizens possible.

Kelly is also a director for the K9 Games Corporation, a venture dedicated to bringing fun and games to the process of dog training in order to make it easy, entertaining, and accessible for all people, including children.

Kelly lives in Berkeley, California with three dogs, Claude, Dune, Hugo-Louis, and two hand-raised, species-confused cats, May & Uggs.

Competition

We would love to hear and share how your dogs have touched your lives here in the comments section. Kelly has offered a wonderful prize of a downloadable DVD from their website to a winner chosen at random. Kelly has also added a prize to the doggy hamper, so get writing your letters to Santa Paws here

This means we can open today’s competition to you all worldwide (delighted about this!) so let’s hear from you below – how has your dog touched your life?