Listen to the podcast here:

or subscribe on iTunes.

You can also download the show here.

With great thanks to our sponsors, Enviro-Works Wee-Away – the probiotic pet friendly way to keep your home clean

Listen to the podcast HERE

or subscribe on iTunes.

You can also download the show here.

Episode 1 – Get a great puppy

So, you’ve always wanted a puppy and have decided to go for it!

First of all – congratulations. Your life really is going to change. Ask any dog owner!

As you are going to have this pet for what could be up to 15 years or more, let’s make sure those years are happy, happy, happy.

Pick a healthy one

In-bred faults and exaggerated features and dreadful health problems are inherent in some breeds. Make sure you do your research. I KNOW it’s a bore, but you have to do it for your family’s sake. Not every puppy can be ‘fixed’, and vet bills are not funded by the NHS. Pick a good quality healthy puppy.

How long are they a pup?

You will have a puppy for around 6 months. Be prepared for them to then transform into hulking adolescents. A peaceful homelife with visitors to the cute fluffy ball of baby dog suddenly becomes a non-stop hive of activity and constant supervision.

What is the right dog for your family?

I see many dogs in the wrong households. Owners tearing their hair out about what to do next, whilst a very active-breed dog is driving itself crackers on a diet of cheap food and not enough activity and stimulation. Big dogs in small homes, more than one dog, dog vs cat, unruly kids and nervous dog, there is no perfect scenario. I might be a good trainer, I might be a good behaviourist, but truly, you can’t train a dog to enjoy being left on its own for 10 hours a day. You can’t train a dog to not bark if you are not there to help relieve the boredom or stress felt by a social creature.

Look carefully at Mum and Dad dog, aunties, uncles, and really play with them. Do they seem like nice, settled and enjoyable companions? If so, the pup sounds like a good bet. If you are’t allowed to mix, it’s a cause for concern.

Listen to the podcast for a lot more detail on this essential topic (see link above)

How did you get YOUR puppy? Or, did you decided to get a rescue dog? Tell us your success story below!

Sponsored by:

Personally I believe that all dogs can bite – but they don’t really want to! Here are 10 top tips to prevent a dog biting you, or anyone else for that matter!

1. Read the dog body signals – Licking, yawning, shaking as if wet. A dog will do these things if they begin to get a bit unsettled. Give your dog the chance to get away, settle down, have a quiet moment and things are less likely to escalate.

2. Don’t expect a growl. Many dogs decide that growling is a waste of time. Why? Because when they growl, they get punished. Instead, they don’t bother to growl and just bite anyway

3. Biting is a sign of patience pushed too far. Some dogs have lower tolerance than others, of course, but unless a dog has learned to bite they would rather get away from a situation. Let them take themselves off to a quiet place if they want to.

4. Teach your children well! Use the free Kennel Club Safe and Sound game, or buy the ‘Blue Dog’ DVD. Get Kendal Shepherd’s book ‘The Canine Commandments – A book to help children understand and be understood by dogs. Children cannot read dog warning signals until they are well into their teenage years! Do not leave them unsupervised together.

5. If a dog has bitten once, they are likely to do it again. This doesn’t mean you should panic and rush for euthanasia or rehoming. Be aware of the situation that caused the bite. Get professional help from a qualified behaviourist immediately.

6. Hugging and kissing can be threatening to a dog. Obvious? Not to many. Even if your dog is used to your ‘loving attention’ they may not see it that way one day.

7. Always read the signs. Dogs can have bad days too! How can we tell if a dog is in pain, has a bad tummy, or is really tired or achy? Usually dogs will not show the signs until the pain is extreme. Be ready to help your dog by taking them to the Vet if you see signs of unusual or ‘grumpy’ behaviour.

8. ‘He only nipped’. Not a dog bite then? A ‘snap’ is often a deliberate miss. Take action by getting professional help now. Your dog was clearly feeling under pressure and needs help to feel less stressed.

9. Socialise, socialise, socialise. Get your dog used to people and their weird ways from early puppyhood, and keep practicising!

10. Do not assume that your dog would never bite. They all can if they are put in the right (or wrong!) circumstances.

Enjoy your dogs – and your people! You can listen to our podcast on ‘Dogs that Bite’ here on Intellidogs with plenty more information and topical chat on doggy behaviour and training. Or tailor-make your very own dog training manual from only £2.99 by visiting my Intellidogs ‘Make your own Dog Training Manual’ section – there is currently a 40% discount if you buy 3 or more chapters!

Listen in to the WildPaw podcast where we discuss ‘Dog on dog aggression’ below

To get regular updates on iTunes, please access the podcast here and subscribe

Dog-dog aggression

Key points we discuss in the show

- Should all dogs get along?

- Ask yourself the usual questions about an incident – where were you, what was target, how long did it last for, what did you do, dogs’ body language.

- Barking – what is the dog saying? Is it saying GO AWAY? or is it saying “WHAT IS THAT?” or is it saying “I WANT TO GET CLOSER TO SMELL WHAT THAT IS?” or ’MUST CHASE…!”

- Body language of the handler: this can interfere with what the dog is trying to show, if the handler reacts

- Leads. These can prevent a lot of normal body language from the dog.

- Environment – How about these things?

• Pavements that are narrow and straight

• People and owners and how they react

• People and owners and what they have learned to do over the years

• People and owners and what they have taught the DOG to do over the years

• Practice – practicing a behaviour makes it better. Bark – take dog away. Bark – take dog away. Bark – take dog away. This can build up fear of the unknown as well as frustration.

- Early history? How about socialisation – back to the puppy years. How much did the dog mix, and KEEP mixing with other dogs?
This can also be affected by owners if they are afraid to let their dog intermingle in case the dog is attacked. It may have been in a skirmish before!
Dogs need to interact to teach social skills, so your boisterous teenager dog may experience a few knock backs in time.

- Also be aware of the sex of your dog – female dogs in season? Male dogs that ae not castrated? Dont rely too heavily on the neutering argument in relation to behaviour, because it doesnt stop the brain from having an impact on sexual behaviours BUT do be aware that smell is important to dogs.

What to do?

Based on all the above, let’s describe the ‘perfect’ dog

Well socialised, with adequate control, from early puppyhood and kept continuously in contact without any major frights along the way
Good social skills as a result, which lead the dog to make decisions on potential threat, chase objects and how they might react to keep safe and happy
Plenty of mental and physical exercise to reduce pent up energy, but not to overdo it and frazzle their brain – give them rest times too!
Training. Teach the dog that impulse control IS ESSENTIAL. Snatching, charging, jumping up, all these things are anti-social behaviours and are the same in the dog world as well
Good handling – owners be aware of your body language day in day out – what are you doing? This is fundamentally the most important part for me to teach to owners that have problems.

Each issue above will be dealt with in a forthcoming blog in more detail – in the meantime we love your comments so please write to us on podcast@karenwild.co.uk

This episode of the WildPaw podcast was made possible by 2Pure Pet Products! recommended by pet behaviour specialists to get rid of odours and bacteria caused by spraying, marking, or house training accidents!

I was delighted to catch up with Dawn, share her news about Potato and Lilu, and have a good old chat about why she chose her little dog and what he has meant to her over the past months.

Today’s podcast is put together with the help of poor old Jon Buscall who has man-flu! Get Well Soon Jon! Personally I rather like the husky voice, it reminds me of the Milk Tray advert voiceover… and if you are old enough to remember that, then pat yourself on the back!

The interview was recorded as part of our advent calendar in December 2010 – so the prize at the end is no longer available as it has already been won. But you can still guess the answer as a bit of trivia if you like and of course thanks to Dawn for sharing time with us. If you want to talk to Dawn via twitter, please contact her on www.twitter.com/hotpatooties

Listen to the WildPaw Podcast Interview with Dawn Porter and Karen Wild here:

Dawn talks about Potato, how he came to live with her and her boyfriend, well-known actor Chris O’Dowd.

Dawn has nominated the brilliant and life-changing charity Coppafeel today. Coppafeel is a fantastic cause encouraging younger women to check themselves over (cop a feel!) to reduce the risk of breast cancer. Visit and support this great cause by visiting their site Coppafeel – because Breast Cancer knows no age

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!