Wolfie is Eating His Doggie Bed

I think that my dog, Wolfie, has probably eaten his weight in doggie beds!  He never does it in front of me, but he just chomps on it at night or when I am away.  I dont want to take his bed away from him.  What would he sleep on?

In my early days of dog training, I wrestled with this question time and time again.  I came up with some interesting answers and scenarios I asked my clients to try.  The results were hit and miss...

Several years ago, I had one of those "Oh my gosh" moments about dogs eating their dog beds when we werent around to let them know it was wrong.  The first thing to remember is that dogs dont need a nice fluffy bed to lie on to fall asleep.  Look outside.  Wolfie is sleeping on the cement patio or on the rocks under the tree.  They love to sleep on the cool tile during the hot days of summer.  So, our first "truism"  is that we dont need to give Wolfie a bed.

Next, we have to understand that dogs build behaviors through repetition and direction.  If we are allowing them do destroy their fluffy beds because we cant catch them, we are instilling the behavior of "lets tear up fluffy things" with our dogs.  The next thing we know, it isnt the $35 dog bed that we find torn up, it is the $400 upholstered and fluffy family room chair that now has stuffing all over the carpet.

So, what do we do?  The answer is really simple.  I know that we "humans" dont like simple answers, but here goes...

Take the dog bed away and let Wolfie sleep on the ground.  We know that he is fine with the ground, so we are not going to give him back aches.  Also, we have removed that repetitive destructive behavior.  This will keep him from escalating that unwanted behavior to destroying more expensive things. Wolfie is still fine and we have saved a ton of money.  Win win for all!  For more information, please contact The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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Never Use an Extension Leash!

I know that I have said this in the past, but after a conversation with a client this week, I just have to reiterate...

Just as it says in the Taylor Swift song, "never, ever, ever..." use an extension leash when walking your dog!  It is unsafe and could end with your dog being hit by a car or truck.

Yes, I have told this to you before, but I now want to share a conversation I had with one of my clients this week.

My client is a Fire Paramedic who has a great puppy and a wonderful love for dogs.  She told me of an incident she experienced about two weeks ago while responding to a call early in the morning.

It was about 6AM and they were heading to an emergency call driving down a major street in Fort Lauderdale.  Ahead of them was a man with his dog.  The dog was sniffing the grass at the edge of the street.  The owner had the dog on an extension leash and really wasnt paying too much attention to the situation.  It was early in the morning with no traffic, so they didnt have the siren on at the time.

Just as they approached the owner and the dog, the dog leaped in front of the oncoming fire truck.  It happened so quickly that the trucks driver couldnt respond and they were sitting so high up, they couldnt immediately see if they had hit the dog.  My client said that everyones hearts were were racing as they looked in the rear view mirrors.

Luckily, they had missed the dog by inches.  My client said that this incident impacted every Fireman and Paramedic on that truck for the rest of the day.  If the dog had jumped one second sooner of they were five feet farther back on the road, the dog would have been killed instantly.

Can I state it any clearer than this?  Please, no extension leashes, period.  For more information, please contact us at The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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