Gonna Get the Groomer

After a bath

Let me tell you about cleaning Max's face. First off, I am seriously doubting that he is a pure Maltese which is why I refer to him as a mix. 

Maxie doesn't get tear stains on his face. I'm thankful for that because those seem hard to clean. Instead, he gets these disgusting eye boogers which I will spare you the delight of seeing. Cleaning his face a few weeks ago was extremely difficult but he's gotten pretty used to it now. Before he used to lightly nip me as if to say stop while you can. The books seem to deal with non-problematic dogs only.

I understand that most books don't want to give advice about dogs with issues because things could get dangerous and each dog is different. What I use to clean the rascal's face:

The tissue is for wiping the comb on. Every few days I wash the comb to disinfect it. 

Going Green

"Eco Dog" by Corbett Marshall and Jim Deskevich is a quaint book with an earthy organic feel that starts with the cover which looks like it's made of cardboard. It features different do-it-yourself activities which are referred to as projects. I enjoyed reading this book because of the simple layout and unique ideas. The book is divided into three parts:a healthy dog, a healthy home and resources. 

Thank goodness Max doesn't have fleas, but thanks to this book I now know that lemon and water can be used as a tonic to treat fleas. Other examples of projects include dry shampoo and herbal flea powder. 

The second section of part 1 focuses on food. There's a guide to ingredients in dog food and some recipes for meatloaf (calm down Max!), breath treats (he needs one!) and homemade jerky (beef kidney and liver!) Need to get ingredients and I think I'll make him those treats because, get this, there are just two ingredients required: organic wheat germ and organic baby food! Do you have your dog on a vegetarian diet? Let me know! 

The section on floor cleaners tells us about using white vinegar on wooden floors. We had researched this months ago and have used that mixture of vinegar and water. It's a great and don't worry about the smell because it quickly dissipates.  

One of the cutest parts of the book was on giving your dog a massage. I had been doing this all along (where's mine Max?) and it relaxes him to the point of his eyes are closed and sleepy. 

One of the projects is how to make sock animals. How charming! Except for the fact that Maxie already thinks that my socks are his for the taking. Once he snatched up one of my dad's socks and it a lot of effort to get it back. I'm also a little wary of making my own dog toys because I don't how strong they'll be. Here are the toys we have for Maxie boy:

  

I use the rope one for tug and fetch. I've been teaching him how to drop the rope so that I can take it and throw it. 

RrrrRRRRgggg

Stretching and Seething

Observe, the attention-seeking bark:

Pretty annoying, huh?

Well, Max has also gotten into the habit of reaching up on our legs when we're sitting on the couch and dining room table. What can I tell you, he likes it up there on our laps all warm and cozy. He likes curling up with the latest book (I'm reading). 

Anyway, so it got pretty annoying when he started begging and seeking attention. He gets plenty of it! Once, I closed my eyes on the couch for a quick nap when I was rudely awoken (Max, I'm looking at you!) by a paw scratching on my dangling arm and a loud obnoxious bark. I obviously didn't pick him up because I knew that it was wrong and would just encourage him. It turns out that I did the right thing because it coincided with one of the books entitled "Mini Encyclopedia of Dog Training and Behavior" by Colin Tennant. Tennant tells us to ignore this. (It was printed in bold in the book.)

This is what one should not do (person who won't be named but is my dad):

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

You get the idea, so let's see what else the book says. Tennant also tells us that even nudging your dog is rewarding and doesn't alleviate it.

For now, I am just ignoring Max when he stretches his little legs on me. It's working for me but he is persistently doing it to my dad. Anyone know why? Because Maxie knows that it works when he does it to our dad. He gets picked up and is as happy as pie everytime he does it. Close-up on my face which is seething. There has to be consistency or else Max will never learn. 

Honestly, none of the books I have give me any advice on what to do when someone you know refuses to cooperate in the success of the training. My dad just refuses to listen to anything I tell him about what I've learned. I repeat and repeat and ok you get the picture. But I am a little frustrated. Woof! is all Maxie and I have to say about that. 

Touch. Good. Treat. Repeat.

Today was a great day and I'm very proud of my little boy Max! I worked on getting him used to his paws being touched. I'm going to have to wipe them with pet wipes so they're fresh and clean. After we got back from our walk outside, I decided Max was ready for an exercise of a different kind. 

Can we please go train now? I'm cold.
(Ignore my owner's sausage foot)

I wanted to teach him that getting his paws touched was ok and that it wouldn't harm him.  I know that food makes Max happy so I went to the kitchen and selected this type of treats called Beggin' Strips, which are these dog treats that have the strongest smell of bacon and are easy to rip into tiny pieces to give to him during training. We have one other type of treat which is biscuit-like and makes too many crumbs. It's not good for breaking into little pieces so I used the Beggin' Strips. Another great alternative is tiny pieces of boiled chicken breast (no bone!) 

For this training session, I began by using the clicker but quickly realized that the verbal cue of the word "good" was better because the clicker got him too excited. Sorry I got too ahead of myself. A clicker is a handy little tool which does just that: it makes a clicking popping sound every time you press down on it. It's very precise and sounds the same to a dog each time unlike a word which you can say differently (emphasis on different syllables). 

This clicker has a sharper sound

This one is a little bit quieter

The reason why the clicker becomes useful is because I had already made Max associate the sound with food. You'll hear the phrase "charging the clicker" a lot when people refer to this tool. Simply put,  the dog or cat for that matter, learns that with the sound of the clicker comes a treat. Charging the clicker is that initial phase of creating the animal's connection between the two. With enough repetition of click treat click treat, Max now knows that the click is a good sound and one that he should look forward to. I'm glad he does, because that association comes in pretty handy when I want to teach Max things like sitting in his carrier and staying on his bed while I move around. 

It's a great tool, but for this particular exercise I set it aside. I broke the treat into tiny pieces and placed it on the living room table. I sat down on the floor and told Max to sit. When he did I'd say "good" and then I'd reach to lift his paw but he would quickly get up and bark. I realized his frustration after many attempts at this. Then I decided to ask him to sit after I had gently lifted and held his paw. That didn't work either and after fifteen minutes of trying this I knew that it wasn't his fault. I just wasn't communicating it the right way. Basically my goal was for him to calmly remain seated as I lift and eventually wipe each of the front paw (the back paws will have to wait until a later time!) I decided to gently remind him to stay seated while I placed my right hand on the back end of his body. I made my other hand flat and then gently touched him on the highest part of his left front leg and worked straight down until I reached the bottom of the foot and lifted it. As soon as I did this I practically shouted "good!" and the popped a treat in his mouth. I repeated this many many times and reminded him to remain seated. After multiple times, I gradually increased the amount of time for which I held the paw. Then I took the wipe (which by now had dried) and repeated the actions. After about an hour and a half, here is what I can show you:

Yes!

Ah, the small things! I was so happy with him that I was shouting praise excitedly so I hope I didn't scare you Maxie pants!

Please, I don't scare so easily!

I'm going to look through the books I have and see if any of them offer good ways to teach him to willingly "give paw." First, I'll practice what I did today with him so that he gets comfortable with getting his paws touched in the first place. 

Eat 'em and Weep

Observe the little fellow chowing down on that strange red object. That, my friends, is one of the greatest inventions I've come across for dogs and their owners. Our trainer (thank you!) introduced the Kong to us, which is a rubber hollow toy which you can stuff with treats and their actual meals (canned food or dry food and canned mixed). You can find it at most pet stores (especially Petco). The size we got (small) was about $9, but I think it's well worth it because they last and last. We've had this one since July and it hasn't changed a bit. It comes in different sizes: xx small (for dogs up to 5 lbs), small (for dogs 1-20 lbs), medium (15-35 lbs), large (30-65 lbs), x-large (60-90 lbs), and xx-large (85 and up).

More importantly, Maxie loves it! The trainer (let's call her E) had suggested we freeze it so that it takes him even longer to eat it. When we first brought Max home, we realized that he had quite the appetite. I mean, he can eat all day long if you let him (if it was up to my dad he would be eating all day, but that's another story). Initially, we had gotten a regular food bowl to put his meals in. I couldn't believe the speed at which he gulped the meaty food down! He inhaled it and I thought that could get dangerous. So, luckily the trainer had a solution. Anyway, that portion (stuffed to the brim) twice a day plus all the treats for training is more than enough. At least I thought so, until I read one of the books I had gotten...

The first book I read is called 101 Essential Tips: Dog Care by Dr. Bruce Fogle. It's a cute little book with literally 101 tips about care ranging from handling to feeding to exercising the dog. The book has a section entitled "Healthy Feeding" which I questioned because of the following. There is a chart for the daily feeding requirements for adult dogs arranged by weight and type. The disclaimer is that it is "an approximate guide only." I figured because the one for a dog listed as "very small,"a Yorkie, was supposed to get "1/3 to 1 can" of canned food. Whoa there! Easy! Someone tell me if we've been wrong but I feel like that is way too much for a dog of Max's weight. That made me wonder if I wasn't feeding him enough. I think it's ok because of the amount of pieces of chicken and treats he gets during training.

I don't know why, but I was a little thrown off by the sponsorship on the cover of the book advertising "a simple way to protect against fleas and heartworm." Anyway, it was a very light read with advice ranging from the slightly more detailed to the general. The pictures were helpful and illuminated tips that I was already aware of, such as how to handle a large dog (useless here as Max weighs a grand total of nine pounds). The tip before that was regarding how to hold a puppy and that was more of Max's size (no offense big guy). I need to do more research on small dog syndrome because I think our friend Max here has a case of that. We'll see...

Say Hello to My Little Rascal

                              Welcome to our blog!

Act serious, Max!

All stories have a beginning. Ours begins with a click and a meeting, but more on that in a little bit. Months ago, my family and I decided that the right time had finally come for us to adopt a dog. We were traveling less and would be able to dedicate time to a new member of the family. Why not get a cat? I love cats too but I wanted to be able to walk in the park and run with a dog outside.

I had wanted a dog before Lassie was a hero, before that boy had a dog named Skip, and before Wishbone was solving crimes (anyone remember that little fella?) It was also a lifelong dream of my parents' and my sister's as well. My sister and I (let's call her A) had volunteered at an animal shelter in Queens where I found Max. I had gotten into the habit (not a healthy one I might add) of going to their website and looking at what dogs needed homes. What were we looking for? Someone smaller and who was friendly, social, and appropriate for first time owners because that's what we were. So there I am browsing through a catalog of orphans in late June, when I spotted a dog that seemed right. Love at first sight? I don't know, but he seemed intelligent somehow (as silly as that sounds). So we went to the shelter to meet him and he was still there waiting (for us). After we filled out an application (somewhat frantically because there were others interested) we received a call and got our house checked. The woman from the shelter told us we could pick him up the following Monday because he still needed some of his shots. I almost fainted on the living room carpet when she said we were going to have a dog!!! Oh and the trouble and fun begin...

Before

After

Fast forward and let's take a look at Max. He is a one and a half year old Maltese mix. His history and background are pretty murky but we know he was moved around a lot. The strange thing is that he shares a birthday with my dad (our dad, sorry Max!) I wish we had more information on him. I expected him to very peppy, smart and cuddly. He is and so much more...He is also very quick to bite rather than growl as a warning, as our trainer had told us. We had hired a trainer in the weeks following the adoption. We discovered aggression issues he had that freaked Max and us out a little bit. Ah the trainer, what a kind calm person. Unfortunately, her rates (which are not unusual/unique) ended up at a whopping total of $500 which was just more than we can afford right now. But we were not to give up on him and I knew he was our responsibility now and trainer or no trainer he was getting trained. Since July, I am thrilled to say that Max has improved dramatically from the state he was in. He is feeling more secure and comfortable around us. I know that he is on his way to being very happy, but of course our work is far from being done. 

So here I am, an immature and amateur dog owner who has turned to her other passion, books, to help remedy his unwanted behavior and get him as happy and healthy as possible. Follow our tails (sorry, I couldn't resist!) as I navigate through the book world in search of answers.