Bella's boot camp

Bella's boot camp day 2 -

This is where the remote lay all day - nice!

So Bella finished off day 2 with a pretty good report.  The biggest wow was that she did not steal the remote this am!   It was on the end table in full view and reach and she left it alone!  Typically she will grab it and proudly prance through the kitchen towards the addition area.  I had always traded up which she would surrender the remote but unless we put the remote up high, you could guarantee that she would be running by with it in her mouth.  Just one less pain in the rear thing to deal with and that is nice!

So far so good!    

Bella's boot camp

I am going to blog daily ( or as close to daily as I can) this week.  After listening to Dr. Sophia Yin's talks at the Illinois State Veterinary Medical convention in Peoria this weekend, I decided to give her version of the learn to earn program a try to decrease Bella's innate impulse drive.  Our little black beast Bella - who is loved very dearly- has been increasingly naughty in the mornings pulling things off the counter, grabbing the tv remote if it is not up, etc.  Tethering as needed has helped,yet I felt that she did not see me or my family as her leader
. 
Bella Boot camp day 1.

Bella is looking at me for what she needs - the first steps to improving leadership

Now Bella brings the ball and waits for me - nice!

Say please by sitting is the core of this program.  Meals come as the rewards for polite behavior.  So starting yesterday morning at 6:30 am Bella went out on her harness to relieve herself and a little bit of ball play time.  When we came in, I put her measured meal in my pocket for individual rewards rather than the usual food puzzle.  Bella already knows her sit, come, down but is not always obedient.  I did not tether her to me, as I wanted to see how fast she would catch on to me ( plus I was a bit coffee deficient to have the energy to do all parts of the program).  She quickly caught on that when she sat nice a kibble came right to her.  She did very well for the majority of the am alternately sitting and laying on her bed figuring out what made the kibble come.  She was much less reactive the whole day to things outside, and even came to me on her own when she was barking noisily at another dog . I could clearly see progress in just 1 1/2 hours!   My staff commented how much more settled she was. She had walks and her active ball time during the day so there was not any denial of her favorite play or activity time.  Lets see what happens tomorrow.

 
 

Mind your manners tethering

Naughty Bella is counter cruising!

Mind your manners tethering

It is interesting how one training problem can actually be related to another.  For example, last week a n puppy parent commented that were having  a little difficulty with house training.  The pup could hold it  but occasionally would have accidents.  No one wants to battle house soiling, so I pressed for more details.  As we discussed the whole scenario of accidents, it turns out the puppy was highly active, getting into trouble and would then eliminate.  Wisely, the family did not want to use the crate for a punishment or isolation area and was not sure what to do.  All the highly active "naughty" play that is typical for a pup was difficult to find a solution for.   Getting the history of what a puppy is doing wrong is extremely important to help that family get on the right track, and that puppy to learn good manners in a positive way.   

Typically in a scenario like this I would suggest a baby gate to keep the puppy in the room you are in.  What is difficult is that many homes now have a large open floor plan so a baby gate won't work.  There are some pet gate models that expand up to 72" wide, but  that may not solve the problem in some homes.  So how does one keep a puppy out of trouble? 

The answer is a tether.  A tether is a leash or two joined to give a puppy about 10 feet  to play, chew on toys, and  a bed to rest on.  Tie  the tether to the leg of a strong chair, table or put a screw eye in the wall for attachment.  The tether is enforcing that this puppy has to stay in the area the owner is in, and prevents the pup from chewing on cords, furniture or going to an accident area. 

Yummy plastic peanut butter jar for tether time!

  Even if the puppy is not  happy on the tether, they will settle down and accept it after they see they are not going to be released.  Now when the puppy is settled,   praise the puppy and give an occasional treat.  This teaches the puppy to settle down on the bed when you are not able to play with them.  When you can play and give them attention, they are off the tether and played with continuously for at least 15 minutes to wear them out.  Off the tether means fun, games and activity ; on the tether means quiet time.  The crate can also be used for quiet time, but if your puppy is in the crate for more than 10 hours a day, they need to have more time in other areas of the home.

Bella is tethered for a moment so Butter can be leashed in peace 

Some people may think a tether looks mean or that the pup will think they are being punished.  When you give a reward like a food toy when they are tethered, the effect  is  the opposite.  The tether means good things are coming and the pup wants to stay put to get them.  Do not release your pup from the tether if they are barking or pulling unless you are suspicious that they need to go out.  If so, take them directly outside and praise them.  If they have not eliminated, do not take them off the tether.  Otherwise they will learn to bark to get off the tether!

I still need to use the tether on Bella our family dog who will be 3 soon.  She gets a wild hair to start pulling things off the shelf when she wants to have extra attention.  She will come to the tether ( yes a little reluctantly)when I call her and get content on her bed with a stuffed Kong.  For her it is almost as if she needs to be tethered to settle herself.  She is a very active dog and it is hard for her to self settle at times.  The tether is her friend, and she knows it.  She gets to lay close by as I am working on the computer, or enjoying TV time with my family.  She is still loved and now knows she cannot just demand attention all the time.

Looking pitiful at the kitchen table, but it beats counter cruising

So use a tether to teach good manners and calm settling.  It is a great alternative to constant crating, especially if you have a large open floor plan.  Make it happy with a nice bed to lay on and some rewarding toy or treat.   Use this technique as your pet grows up to remind them of good settling manners.

For more information on pet behavior and positive handling go to www.drsallyjfoote.com

How far is too far to walk?

walking in the parade

How far is too far to walk?

After the home coming parade last Friday, someone asked about how Butterscotch did after the walk.  Was he used to walking that far (he is. He walks that far twice daily).  The next question was how far was too far to walk an old dog.   No one wants to over work their pet, especially an older one.  How does one know what is a good amount of exercise but not too much to cause harm?

The answer will depend on your pet's fitness level now, if there is any arthritis already present and what kind of surface your pet will be walking or exercising on.  All pets, especially older ones get a lot of help by regular daily walking.  So, even a short walk will be good for your pet.  Walking helps the circulation to the heart, liver and kidneys helping those important organs to work better.  It is really stimulating to the brains of older pets to sniff out different things and see different sights on a walk.  Keeping muscles fit is one of the best ways to reduce pain and stiffness due to arthritis.

Butterscotch on his am route

So,  for a first walk, notice when your dog starts to tire out make note of how far or how long you have walked.  Take about 5 minutes to let the dog lay and rest before heading home ( be patient! ).  Now, for future walks go half the distance out that you went when they became tired so you can do the whole route in 1 walk.  Use this as a starting point.  Repeat this walk twice daily.  Even if it is just 5 minutes of walking, 2 walks that are 5 minutes and not over tiring a dog is better than 1 10 minute walk.  Every week you can increase the walk by 2 minutes or so.   The point is to keep up the daily walks  so your dog does not loose it's conditioning.  

Grass is a good surface to walk on.  The key is to praise your dog when walking with the head up and not buried in the grass.  Do not use a choke chain or prong collar.  These can be damaging to the neck.  The easy walk harness by Premier is a good choice to prevent pulling or guide the dog into you.  Older dogs do ok on pavement as long as it is not too hot, and they keep the pace at a walk.  Be mindful of areas where there may be broken glass, or other debris. 

As dogs get older they may not be able to hear as well.  So people may startle them, or shrill noises may upset them.  Pet them and use food rewards for walking well or encourage calm behavior when a train passes or emergency vehicle. 

Most dogs do best walking after they have been up for a little while to get their legs limber.  If your pet takes arthritis medication wait about 30 minutes or so before a long walk so the medication is already working.

Butterscotch is all ready for the parade with Ranger in the float

Walking your old dog is a great way to enjoy time together, keep them and yourself healthy, and show off your super senior dog! 

     Dr. Sally J Foote

feline friendly vet exams

Ranger and Mercy chilling out

The word is out - cats outnumber dogs as pets in the home.  Yes, there are more cats as pets in the USA than dogs.  81.7 million cats to 72 million dogs according to the CATalyst council to be exact. Despite this, veterinarians are seeing fewer cats for regular care compared to dogs.  Various surveys have listed the reasons  and I am going to focus on one - many cats hate going to the veterinarian. Surprise!!!  Are you surprised? I am not.  The typical veterinary process  is not very cat friendly.  Good news is that things are changing at progressive veterinary clinics and there are things you can do to help your cat be more tolerant ( even like) check ups.

Liver paste by Kong in a syringe to reward

I have seen many cats become more tolerant and even like their exams as we use rewarding and less stressful handling my office, Okaw Veterinary Clinic.  What is less stressful handling?  First of all - minimal handling of the cat.  It shocks many owners to see my Certified Veterinary Technicians only rubbing the head of a kitty as I give vaccinations or injections.  Even more awesome is when a cat likes the liver paste fed by syringe, then give the injection as they are chowing down.  This reward is now linked with what used to be really upsetting.  I won't lie - there is a bit of pain with the injection but we use small 25ga needles, not the larger type typically used.  The pain is less noticeable due to the pleasure of the liver paste. So the liver paste wins out for the cat's attention.  Wouldn't you tolerate a blood draw better if you were able to eat a chocolate brownie as the needle went in?    So rubbing the head, sliding the body, feeding what ever this cat likes  during  examination  helps the cat link something good with the exam. The cat learns there are good things at the vet.

Leeza helps veterinary students learn 

For the hissing, hiding fearful cat, less stressful exams means being creative.  It also means telling clients how we are going to handle this kitty  differently than before and how it may help their cat. Some of what we do may  look a little crazy, but it works.  Taking the carrier apart and examining the cat while still in the base of the carrier is one way to make the exam a bit more tolerable.  The cat is surrounded by the smells it knows, and feels more protected.  I use a tongue depressor to examine the mouth so I will not be bitten and often put some salmon paste on it to make the depressor nice for the cat.  Covering the cat with a towel can work - some like the whole body covered some like the head only.  The point is to prevent the cat from escalating in hissing, jumping around, and resisting exam. It may seem contrary, but for cats  more hands means more fighting. 

examining the mouth using the tongue depressor

How the cat feels during the exam is what the cat will remember about everything involved in getting to the veterinarian.  So, the car ride, carrier, waiting area, exam room, table and hands of the assistants and veterinarian can be good, bad or neutral. Unfortunately, the majority of training how to restrain cats for exams has been based on holding them down.Cats really do not like to be held down.    This has resulted in many cats having a bad vet experience - hence the results of the study! When you are going to bring your cat in for an exam ask the staff at the clinic what types of handling do they use.  Low stess handling is a new "buzz word"  thanks to the book and writings of Dr. Sophia Yin, veterinarian and behaviorist.  If you do not hear those words, or descriptions of " we use blankets, Feliway ( Ceva inc) and other things to make the exam more cat friendly"  then look around.  These newer techniques are not a secret.  Practices are using them and the cat owner needs to help promote this in our profession by asking for it and selecting clinics that use less stressful techniques.

Use rewards at home when loading your cat into the carrier.   The Bella Behavior System for the pet owner will teach you how to offer and know what works for your cat to accept treatment and handling better. The kit has an instructional booklet, pet chart to record what works for your pet, and online support  It is available for purchase at www.drsallyjfoote.com

this kitty relaxes with her Feliway bandana

Now some cats are difficult to get in the carrier or even into the vet. You can ask your veterinarian if they will do a house call. It is still important that less stressful handling is used at the home exam a well.    Read my "Here Kitty Kitty" article at www.drsallyjfoote.com, and look for next month's blog about how to get your cat to the veterinarian easier.  Let me know what works or does not work for your cat.  We are all in this together to help our pets and us live longer happier lives together. . 

 

social networking in puppies

Butter came well socialized to people like my niece Carole who he hardly knew

I never really knew how important it was to get a young puppy out and about meeting and greeting  before the age of 16 weeks until I studied animal behavior.  Unfortunately, past teachings in veterinary medicine emphasised the need to keep a pup away from others until all the vaccinations were finished.  This prevented a puppy from having a chance to experience all the great things in the wide wide world during the open learning period between 6 to 14 weeks ( approx).  After 16 weeks, puppies enter a fear period where they are often timid of many things.  Waiting to get this pup out and about   makes it more difficult for this pup to learn fun things.  They can still learn, but they now have to get over an initial timidness then accept treats or rewards.  I was pretty lucky that I could take my dog to work. Walking them to work at 8 weeks, they were seeing cars, trains, bikes and other people.  I was socializing them without really  knowing it.  

Cooper and Daisy get to meet each other

two older puppies - the solid black is a bit timid

Take your pup to a puppy class that is focused on  learning to play nice with other dogs, meet and greet people and how to not be afraid of  loud noises.  We have these classes at Okaw Veterinary Clinic whenever we can gather a couple of puppies together. The focus of a puppy class is to learn how to be calmly curious and happy to see new things. We also teach the first commands of come and sit. There is also some time spent answering questions on house training, accepting grooming or other new puppy concerns.  The puppy classes are not about obedience, but about being a calm, well socialized dog.  The dogs that miss these classes often have problems later in life with fear of strangers, loud noises, or riding in the car.  They did not get that exposure as a young happy pup. They can learn as an older dog but it is often perplexing to the owner why this cute puppy backs away from friends and family.  If you have an older puppy, still take them to a class.  Don't be surprised if they may be the more shy one.  They can learn to open up and it will save a lot of problems.

pass the puppy helps with meeting unknown people

Think of holding back on socializing your puppy like holding a young child back from the playground  or preschool.  Like children, our puppies need to get out and socialize.  Lack of knowing all the good and scary things that life can offer makes for a very timid dog.  From this fear, aggression can unfold.  Then the aggressive dog is often given up to a shelter or worse, euthanized.  Socializing a puppy is a life saver.  If you are getting a puppy the 3 things  I feel are most important are supervised playtime with other pups, handling by and meeting unknown people, and lots of fun around loud noises.  Ask who ever is leading the class exactly what will be done.  If these components are not included keep looking. 

Mercy and Toby social networking

Fighting Felines - Helping Mercy and Ranger get along

Over the past week or so, Ranger and Mercy have been at odds with each other in the mornings.  It would be hard to tell who was starting things - Mercy or Ranger.  We would suddenly hear the 'aurggggg" sound of Mercy as she was staring at  Ranger who would mindlessly pounce on her in a playful way.  This was not what Mercy wanted - she would then roll him over and the two would wrestle in a sort of confused play fight.  Usually tossing the tube toy would get Ranger to redirect, but not now.  Actually Mercy seemed to be starting it.  What is going on? 

Lots of clients deal with this very same scene at home.  These 2 cats get along much of the time, they actually do groom each other and the outbreaks were not daily.  Aggravating especially since these 2 cats live at an animal hospital that promotes good behavior!  How embarrassing to say the least.  I decided to treat my staff and the cats like a case.  Let's document what is happening, what does help to decrease the fighting and observe both Mercy and Ranger for what is triggering the events.  At first you think you know what is happening, but as we took a closer look we found out a few things.

Ranger ready for the day all dressed up

These are the facts we already knew.  The skirmishes were typically in the morning shortly after Ranger and Mercy were allowed free access to the clinic. The fights were in the waiting room area when no clients were there. Putting a baby T shirt on Ranger helped  him to be less of an agitator.  Now he loves to dress up, but it somehow it was helping him to ignore her threats.  I surmised that Mercy may want to have more range for facial rubbing of the clinic.  As she has aged she does not get up on all the counters for rubbing and perching like she used to.  So  now Mercy could be free in the whole clinic while Ranger was still confined ( he still gets into things).  Ranger would get dressed up each am before he had free range with Mercy.  Rachael made up an incident sheet to record where - when - who and what started it. 

Mercy's favorite spot

We discovered a few things!  Mercy was picking on Ranger most of the time. It just looked like he was the bad guy because she was vocal and he would be more physical.  On closer look he  was pouncing back in play not aggression.  She would stare him down as he passed by the chair at the laptop in the hall.  As I found out Mercy loves to sit on the chair for the workstation in the hall.  She waits for it to be free.  So there are times she wants to perch but can not get to her favorite spot.  As a solution we put another chair - same type and kind right next to one she wanted.  Mercy will go up there or move over to it. She also gets her favorite treats at this new perch occasionally.  Fighting has decreased !!!!!  I think we are onto something.

  Ranger lounges on the high reception counter,hammock bed and shelf in the waiting area.  Mercy likes the lower reception counter and waiting room seats too. Now that there is one more perch for her in a different area.  This has expanded the space for the cats and has brought kitty harmony.

The chair is staying put. It is the right size, height and in the right place. I think I will name it "Mercy's chair"  

Now there is a place for Mercy and the staff 

Overall the number and intensity  of incidents have decreased.  The solutions were simple once we opened our eyes to what our cats were  needing.  Mercy wanted more alone time to facially mark the clinic and another perching area. One last thing, Mercy brought up a huge hairball as things were getting better.  Maybe she was having some pain in her bowels that was also an agitator.  We have increased her pumpkin dose to help with that.

Now we just have to keep up Ranger's wardrobe! He does love to dress up.  I would love to find a forest ranger outfit for him to go with his name.  If anyone has ideas  where to get one let me know.

Ranger advises lots of perches  and always look sharp!