Fur Baby Inc

Christine Monroe Sculpture - Harry, the Agility Maltese

Talented sculptor Christine Monroe made this sculpture - Harry, the Agility Maltese:

Harry is in agility training and he loves it - especially the "Dog Walk!" Here's a video clip of him in class:

If you are on Facebook, become a fan of Christine Monroe Sculptures on Facebook! She's a very talented artist.

Happy New Year - and Another Canine Photo Secret for You!

Harry and Stella wish you a very happy 2010! We’d like to give you a Christmas present by explaining how we got them to pose with the piano.

When you first bring out a prop, it can make your dogs a little nervous. You want to encourage them to be curious and get comfortable with this new object. Clicker training is marvelous for this!

We put the toy piano on the floor in the middle of the living room so they’d have to learn to live with it. At first, we clicked and treated every time they even so much as looked at it. Gradually they were approaching and sniffing it. Again we clicked and treated for this. Eventually the piano was no big deal.

We left the piano there for a week. Every so often, we’d play a game with Harry and Stella. We’d call them over and put a treat on top of it. When they bravely approached and took it, we clicked. We gradually increased the complexity of this game until they were putting their paws on it. This was harder than you might think because it is very slippery plastic and they were nervous about sliding off. (BTW, it’s battery operated, so without the batteries we didn’t have to worry about getting them used to the sound it made when they pressed the keys!)

After a week of clicker training, the piano had become a fun exercise. Time for the photo shoot! Harry and Stella were given treats and praise for posing and the picture turned out beautifully!

How to get your pup to pose - Harry's 2008 Christmas card

Everybody knows a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are a few hundred about how to get that picture!

Here's Harry making his 2008 Christmas card!

You want to be able to select those 1000 words so that your picture tells a story. We'll help you by revealing some of our tricks!

The most important thing is to keep it fun! Posing for a long time to get your photo taken can be boring or even stressful. Praise and treats are mandatory. Most poses are just obedience exercises done in front of the camera, like sit, down, and of course, stay. Make your photo shoot seem like a normal training session. As you can see in the video, the perfect shot doesn't come right away! Sometimes it helps to use your clicker to "freeze" the pose you're looking for. If you're doing an action shot like this, then posing can be a game, too. Stop for a rest every now and then. We taught Harry a new command, "Take 5," to let him know when it was okay to break his pose and wander off for a stretch and a drink of water.

Your background and foreground should usually just support your photo, not feature in it. Pay attention to them so that they don't distract from your subject. For this photo, we used a roll of photography backdrop paper for the background. To make the foreground a little more interesting, we used a sheet of fibrefill insulating fabric because it looks a bit like snow and it gave Harry some traction for jumping. Most of the time the floor and a clear section of wall will work well. Our favourite do-it-yourself background and foreground is a bed sheet draped on the couch or a couple of dining room chairs. A plain sheet makes a great backdrop because you already have it, it doesn't reflect the flash, and it's often got some texture to make the shot just a bit more interesting. Also, it doesn't wrinkle like paper, so it's a lot easier to pack around with you.

We like to use props and costumes to make every photo unique. Our basement sometimes looks like a Hollywood backlot from the good ol' days before green screens and CGI. It doesn't have to take a lot of work. For this photo, we spent a couple of weekends hunting for the biggest wreath we could find. We got the idea from Harry's agility class because he had just learned to jump through a hoop. We added a little bit of garland and some ornaments and it was done!

Both you and your dog will get better with practice, so get started and keep it up. Have fun and post them on-line for us to see!

Andrew the Great Maltese Competes in Agility

Remember Andrew the Great Maltese from the Greatest American Dog reality TV show? He's still training hard! You can see him on YouTube and become a fan on Facebook.

Go Andrew go! Harry gets tired just watching.

Dog Plays With Grenade

Have you ever been out walking with your dog and he brought you something you really didn't want?  How about a live hand grenade?!

This happened to a woman out for a walk with her dog in Germany.  The grenade was left over from the Second World War, so it was about 64 years old.  In obedience class, they tell you that the "Leave it!" command can be very helpful.  It sure was this time, as she gave him the command and he put the grenade down.  They both retired to a safe distance and the bomb squad came to defuse it.

Whatever your dog brought you doesn't seem so bad now, does it?  Anybody feel a new sense of urgency to go practice basic obedience?

Here's the news story

Maltese Obedience Champion

Dogs in Canada is the official magazine of the Canadian Kennel Club.  In this month's issue, there is an article about Secrets, a Maltese who earned both Canadian and American Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) titles.  He's from White Rock, where I grew up, so I consider him to be a hometown hero!

As his human companion, Carol-Lee Turnbull, says, Maltese are a rare sight at obedience trials.  That's for sure!  In 2003, we saw a few compete at the American Maltese Association (AMA) National Specialty.  Most impressive were two dogs who ran the course together with a short lead connecting their collars.  This is known as brace obedience.  It's extremely difficult and rare even for non-Maltese.

Secrets attended evening classes, just like Harry is now doing.  Obviously he was a very good student!  Carol-Lee says it was a great bonding experience.  She and Secrets would like to encourage other Maltese to get their humans involved!

Agility Equipment

Most of the equipment required for agility is pretty simple.  You can go buy your own 1/2" or 3/4" white plastic water pipe, together with some elbows, tees, and caps, and make your own jumps, weave poles, and pause boxes.  A little coloured duct tape provides decorative stripes.

Several vendors make great gear the same way.  We bought weave poles, bar jumps, broad jumps, and a pause box from Murphy's Agility Equipment.  We got to pick blue and red stripes for them.  They're really nice and we've set them up in the living room for daily practice with Harry.  It's funny when people come over, because it looks to them like we're holding a miniature track and field meet inside the house!  The broad jumps are a little tall for Harry and we'll probably have to find a larger friend to give them to.  For now, we're using them as guides to train Harry to back up.  The bars on the bar jumps are very light and easy to knock off, so there's no danger Harry will trip and fall.

We attend many dog shows and Pet Expos to visit the vendor booths.  We bought a tunnel, which also has a chute attachment, and a tire jump at these shows.  These were AKC-branded.  PetSmart used to sell them in the U.S., but we've never found them in stores here.  They're are excellent for small dogs like Harry.  I'm not sure they'd work very well for large dogs, as they are quite light.  The only deficiency is that the tire is not the breakaway kind, so we compensate by keeping it very low to minimize the trip hazard.  The challenge of the tire is really going through it more than anything else, so this is still a valuable training aid.

We did find a ramp for dogs to use to climb into the car at one of our local pet supply stores.  We propped it up against the couch and used it to teach Harry how to walk up the dog walk and A-frame, two things it is hard to have at home.  He can jump on the couch, so there was no danger of him falling too far.  It helped him get used to a different surface texture under his paws, too.

Mutt Does Math

I found this story of a mutt does math difficult to believe at first, but then thought, why not?  It could be possible. I wonder how much time it could have taken for the farmer to train the dog. 

As an owner of two pet dogs and going by my personal experience, I feel a dog’s brain is much more intelligent than what we perceive. It all depends upon how we understand the dog’s talent and how we nurture it. Such dogs, I feel, could be trained to handle petty cash and manage simple accounting tasks. I am sure; dogs would be equally capable as human beings. Such dogs can be hired as an assistant for shopping purposes for disabled humans, especially paraplegic and quadriplegic ones.

I strongly feel that pet training exercise imparted to dogs needs a serious rethink. Certain modifications need to be done in the procedure so that the dog’s specific talent could be brought out. The training method has to be essentially different for different breeds of dogs. After completion of training, these dogs could be allotted to different sections and departments based on their interest.

As for the ‘mathematician’ dog Wawa, my best wishes for it. Let’s hope the dog scales new heights in arithmetic and stands as a shining example for other dogs to emulate!  

Dog’s Aggression Linked to Illness or Behavior Issues

I read this interesting article stating that confrontational or aversive methods does not help training aggressive pets. "Veterinary researchers have found that most of these animals will continue to be aggressive unless training techniques are modified."

Territory and fear are the two common factors for aggression:

• Territorial aggression – It is directed towards approaching people or animals outside the pack in defence of the dog’s area (yard, room or home), or pack members. Sometimes, it's due to resource guarding. For example, the dog may guard his food, toys, water, kennel or people - if the dog think that person is his.
• Fear induced aggression – It occurs when animals or people approach a fearful dog. It is most common when the dog finds it difficult to escape. Unpredictable children could also trigger such form of aggression.

Certain medical reason could also be the reason behind the aggressiveness of a dog (source: http://www.petplace.com/dogs/aggression-in-dogs/page1.aspx). For example, dogs having neck pain often display aggression when they are pulled by the collar.

The best approach is to consult your vet, a professional dog trainer or dog behaviourist.

Clicker Training

In a nutshell, clicker training is a positive reinforcement training method - rewarding those behaviors which you like rather than punishing those which you dislike. The moment the dog offers a behaviour/trick you like, quickly single-click and give the dog a treat. You train the dog to associate the click sound with the meaning of "good boy, I'm giving you a treat!"

A clicker is a plastic box with a metal plate inside, which makes click sound when pressed. The click sound marks the precise moment when the dog carries out a behavior that you like.  This timing is essential when you teach the dog a new behaviour.  

Clicker avoids two potential issues in the regular training:

1. When we praise the dog, we could be using a different tone depending on our mood - we may not even be aware of it. Dogs are extremely sensitive to tone and body language.  The main advantage of clicker is its consistent sound. 

2. The other major problem with the regular training is timing. By the time we praise the dog; the dog could have stopped behaviour and could have already done something else. Dogs would not be able to determine which of their behaviors was rewarded. So, it could take longer to train a new behaviour.

How to Click Train Your Dog?

First, you'll need a clicker and some good treats.  Most dogs find small pieces of cheese or cut jerky, hot dog or sausages irresistible. :-)

Find a good location for training: alway start the new trick's training with minimal of distractions - best to do it at home without any excitment and distraction around. 

At the begining, you need to teach the meaning of clicker to the dog. Stand in front of the dog, click and give the treat.  Spend some time doing click and a treat without any tricks.  The dog soon would know that a click means a treat is coming.  You'd see his ears picks up the click sound and his behavior would show as he starts expecting the treat following the click.

Then, watch your dog.  As soon as he offers a behaviour/trick you want, click and treat!  Most dogs picks up the new behaviour quickly with click training.  If he repeatedly offer the same behaviour/trick, then you can add a commend right before he does it. And, of course, you click and treat him once he does it.  Gradually, you can click, treat and say "Good Boy!"  If you want, you can remove click and treat when he's good with the trick.

Basic Clicker Training Rules:

1. Always offer treat after you click.  If you clicked by accident, you should still give a treat.  You have to instill complete faith in the dog that “click means treat” routine. By the way, don’t allow the kids to touch your clicker.  It's not a toy.

2. Click once. Don't double-click!  ;-)  Practice quick single-click!

3. Keep your training sessions short, around five minutes. It has to be fun for both!

Try this game with your human friend:

While your dog is not around you, practice quick single-click and treat with your friend. 

e.g. (No talking) Click when your friend blinks her eyes and give a piece of Cheerio cereal.  Try it - it's not as easy as you think!  It's a great way to practice click and treat before you start click training with your dog!