PENNIES AND POUNDS

Almost a week on and Marvin is doing great! The humping has calmed down, and only now on very excitable occasions might he accidentally pee inside. He's a gentle and happy soul who does what he is told to do with a wagging tail. He plays with his toys, fetches balls, won't jump on the sofa or bed (unless we go out..), and chews only what he should (okay.. I lost a pair of training shoes to him on day two, but..), and he's very warm and friendly with people on the street.

He's a little unsure at the dog run still but has been in a couple of situations where he has happily wrestled nicely with another dog of his size. Unfortunately this morning a shitzu got out of bed the wrong side and took her mood out on Marvin, so that has set us back today, but he's definitely getting there. And he so loves the outdoors, I can take him anywhere. Here we are in Stuyvesant Town on Halloween.

He's still a little thinner than I would like, even though he is getting three mugs of puppy food, a breast of chicken and countless organic doggie treats and cheese cubes a day. I've bought some doggy fish oils to go in his food now as I noticed his coat is quite dry. Puppies cost a pretty penny!

I received an email today from a lobbying/rescue group in California that is actually pushing for pet owners to be granted tax exemptions on part of their annual pet-related outgoings. Because of the recession, an increasing number of pet owners have surrendered their animals as they simply cannot afford them. California's shelter numbers are up 12% since the end of 2007, for example.The ASPCA estimates the number of dogs and cats to be dropped off at shelters to have been as many as 8 million in 2008, and only 25% to 50% of those animals end up rehomed.

The HAPPY Bill would allow pet owners to deduct up to $3,500 of pet-related expenses a year from their tax returns and may help to keep owners and their pets together when the going gets tough. Here's the website: www.petexemption.com

THE ALIEN HAS LANDED

Marvin has arrived! An adorable energetic little ball of hormones with an uncontrollable bladder to boot, we named him Marvin after Marvin the Martian as he looks so alien with his webbed-like paws, bat ears and turned-up nose. 
Marvin is four-months old, with maybe some labrador retriever in him, but certainly some sort of staffordshire terrier. He's a beautiful chocolate colour and has big doleful eyes so is certain to be adopted soon. 

Marvin was left tied up to the gates of the Brooklyn Shelter so I don't know what his background is (other than possibly coming from outer space!). I'd guess he was kept somewhere confined. He likes to sleep in a different room on his own, and initially dragged his treats into the bathroom to chew. His nails are very long too which suggests he hasn't been outside a lot. It's interesting to compare him to Sammy and illustrates what damage a few months can do. While Sammy at 11-months had never been outside and even with a week of gentle coaxing was still no better, Marvin, just seven months younger, was nervous the first few times but now will run down the stairs into the yard and cannot wait to get out and explore – so much so we've had to put a gate up!He's a little on the skinny side and is more excitable than a less stressed dog would be but I am hopeful that Marvin hasn't been physically abused. He's a little handshy but will bound up to everyone he meets on the street to say hi and seems very happy!. He loves playing and chasing balls and is already much more cuddly after just two days. He's also more sure of himself in the dogrun than Wilson was at 3.5 months, although still runs for cover if play gets too much. It's so interesting looking at the differences between the two. Wilson was all about chewing trouser legs. Marvin is all about chewing hands!

Having only been neutered on Tuesday, Marvin is a bundle of hormones still and is having to be pulled off legs constantly! I gather this is usually the case for up to two weeks after neutering. And can only be aggravated by the amount of stress he has had recently.

But boy can Marvin pee! He's a constant hose - mainly because he gets excited about EVERYTHING! Infact, he's just peed again so I'd better go clean up!

TOY TIME

So Wilson is still with us, getting bigger by the day. A potential adopter is due to come in about 10 days so fingers crossed for him. It will be a heart-wrench to let him go. He's a real Mummy's boy. 

Fortunately he was house-trained within just a few days. I wonder if that was from his previous owner. In part I like to think it was down to having him on a schedule. The rule of thumb being: the number of months is the number of hours they can hold their bladders – so I've made sure he goes outside every three and a half hours and gets lots of praise when he does his business outside, and no water is left out past 8pm. Now he's confident enough to run down the stairs and go in the yard when he needs to - sorry neighbours!

I was fortunate to go on a training session with Lee Charles Kelley for a cute little yorkie puppy who had some separation anxiety. It became clear how important it is for puppies and dogs to play with toys. This little yorkie was not into toys at all so when he became stressed that his owner had left the room, he had nowhere to turn to to relieve that anxiety. Wilson, happily, is keen to sink his teeth into anything and I make sure he has lots of gentle tug of war and fetch. When he whines when I eat, it is only a few moments before he runs off to grab a toy to chew to relieve his energy, and on walks when he gets a bit daunted, I take a toy for him to chew on on the way. Encouraging dogs to play with toys takes time. Using treats as playthings, or even using the natural things that dogs choose to play with like paper or shoes can help put them on the path towards playing with toys. Fingers are still not preferable, and it seems the bitter apple spray on hands and feet has made Wilson learn that he needs to look elsewhere for something to chew. Fortunately he leaves the furniture alone, although socks and trousers are fair game (when they're lying around – not when they're being worn!)

Anyway, we are off to the dog park, where I am happy to say Wilson is becoming more confident. He had to spend a few days at a boarders in Massachussetts - The Woof and Whisker Inn - where the owners kept him in their home and he could play outside all day with doggy daycare clients. It's done him the world of good being around dogs so much, and it's so nice to see him becoming more comfortable with his doggy peers. 

SOCIALISING PUPPY

After a long summer away from the city, it's nice to be finally back on east ninth street. What's even nicer is that foster number 12 has arrived – a three/four-month rottweiler mix weighing in already at 27 pounds, named Wilson after my favourite House character and the basketball that is a loyal companion to Tom Hanks when he is stranded on a desert island.

Wilson arrived two days ago, having been found wandering the streets of Harlem, and is a little handshy and nervous around dogs.

I spent some time talking about puppy training with Lee Charles Kelley and have started some gentle socialising exercises to help him get over his nerves.

We're spending an hour or so in the dog run which he was initially very tentative about. One tip is to move a step away from him every time he tries to sit on my feet or hide between my legs so that he gradually becomes more comfortable with feeling on his own in the run. He runs for cover under the nearest bench though when dogs seems a little too interested in him. It takes a lot of will-power not to try and comfort him when he's scared, but lots of "good boy!" and little by little he'll find his feet there rather than becoming over-reliant on an owner.

One tip for getting him acclimatized to all those hands that keep coming his way to pet him is to put some butter on your palm and let him lick it off. Then, putting a treat in a closed fist and smearing butter on the knuckles, he is learning that licking the outside of the hand gets the treat inside. Hopefully this will prepare him.

I also took Wilson out today to Stuyvesant Town where there are lots of children so he can become comfortable with little legs running past him and seeing a human at eye level. He passed with flying colours, letting children gently pet him without the usual puppy biting.

Above all, I'm trying to follow the natural dog training methods that mean not inhibiting his puppy bite (as with Daisy) and allowing him to explore a little on his own without fussing over him. He's a little independent anyway so fingers crossed he is going to grow up to be brave and well-adjusted rather than suffering from separation anxiety down the line.

Oh, and we also tried water today! Making every new experience positive is the best thing to do for a puppy. Skateboards, bikes, squirrels, cats and showers all become chances for playtime or treats and lots of praise. Bless him, he jumped into the shower to join me on his own accord. He's going to be a 120 pound heartbreaker when he grows up!

Here is a blog by Trisha Selbach who is raising her puppy purely as per Kevin Behan's natural dog training book.  http://hero.naturaldogtraining.com/

BITE ME!

So Daisy happily left this morning with new owner, Lauren. A sad day for me though as she was such a pleasure to have around, and was making me quite popular in the block because of her happy spirit and wiggly backside! It's been five hours and I miss her like mad. It's one of the cons to fostering – having to give them up, and I don't think I'll ever get used to them going. But each dog teaches me something new about dogs, and about me. One of the many things I learned from Daisy is the importance of not inhibiting a puppy's biting habits. Daisy loved to nibble on fingers, and at eight months, she had adult teeth so could nibble quite hard! The biggest fear of a dog owner is having a dog that turns out to be aggressive. So they try to prevent puppy biting believing if they don't, then the puppy will grow up to think biting is correct and will sink his or her teeth into postmen, neighbours, other dogs or children. Such thinking is understandable, but is incorrect. Indeed, preventing a puppy from biting can lead to a dog that bites in later life. Lolly was foster dog number 6, a five-year old Shepherd mix. That's her in the photo. At first glance, Lolly was an extremely calm dog. She ate gently from your hand so was popular with children and their parents. She never jumped up, never chewed furniture, and would stand obediently by you to be petted. What Lolly could not do, however, was bite anything. She would not chew toys, would not fetch balls, would never play tug of war. Lolly had been so severely reprimanded for biting as a puppy, that she would not even bite her food. Lolly licked her dinner up.

So Lolly was far from calm. She was completely confused. Lolly would bark uncontrollably at moving objects such as trucks, vans, bikes, or skateboards. In New York city you can imagine how stressful taking her on walks could be! With other dogs she was unpredictable. She generally did not want to play with them, but would be the first to run into a dog fight to try and sink her teeth into a neck. In one sad case Lolly actually caused damage to a small dog while at a boarders. While I adored Lolly for all her foibles, it took more than three months before someone else felt that way. Now she lives in Connecticut with a loving family and is beginning to fetch balls.

So how does Lolly's behaviour connect to the fact she had not been allowed to bite as a puppy? As we are all aware, dogs used to hunt for food, and pull their prey down by biting.  By sinking their jaws into prey, dogs relieved all the tension that had built up during the hunt. So when dogs feel emotion, be that excitement or fear, then their natural instinct is to sink their teeth into something to relieve the stress that emotion causes. If you have seen a dog gnawing on a bone or chewing on their favourite toy, you will have noticed the glazed look of sheer bliss not dissimilar to how humans appear when getting a relaxing massage. 

While evolution has changed the dog from a human hunting companion to a pet, it has not taken away their desire to relieve stress by chewing and biting.  If they are not allowed to do so, where does all that stress go? In Lolly's case, it went inside and ended up in unpredictable outbursts of biting, snapping or barking. Had she known she could relieve that tension through chewing on a ball, or pulling a tug toy then she would have been able to be calmer in times of heightened emotion, and would have known when she should use her teeth and when she shouldn't. 

I'm always amazed by owners that shout at their dogs, but the training books out there are so confusing and often aggressive in their methods, that I can understand why owners think it the right course of action. I've seen some terrible advice for preventing puppy bites such as shaking the puppy by its collar, shouting No! at the puppy, pushing in the puppy's cheeks so it bites itself, holding the puppy's muzzle.. Would anyone expect a child to grow up to be normal if they were treated so sternly?

With puppies, patience is the key, and hopefully after my ten days with Daisy I've learned to be more patient. If you bring your puppy up calmly and with love, with plenty of play time and toys for stimulus, then it will not matter if they bite on your fingers for a few months. They honestly will grow out of it. Just replace your fingers with a toy if it bothers you, or let them nibble you and if they nibble too hard, yelp Owww! Puppies are learning what they can and cannot bite and how hard they can use their teeth. Through biting they bond with their group, and begin to understand their surroundings. They like to explore with their mouths! Let them do it! An excellent resource on puppy biting is a blog by trainer Lee Charles Kelley, my dog mentor! Here is a link to his blog on puppy biting and what to do about it. 

http://leecharleskelleysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-stop-puppy-bites.html