San Dimas Dog Park

How to Discipline a Dog that Pees inside

Posted on December 14, 2017 ·

You have to teach your puppy a lot when he grows into an adult dog. It’s hard to avoid that he occasionally show bad behavior. That’s why you need to learn the way to react to such bad behavior. In addition, it’s also important to learn how to reward and foster good behavior. Take your time to discipline him so that he becomes a good canine citizen.

React to Bad Behavior

Start disciplining early

You need to start disciplining your dog as soon as you bring him to your home. You just need to show what behavior is acceptable and unacceptable in your house. Then, your dog will learn them. But, they have to be consistent with bad behavior. And, it’s easier to prevent the bad behavior.

Ignore bad behaviors

It’s best to ignore your dog when he tries to get your attention by nipping at your fingers, jumping up, or barking. Instead, you should look for what reward he is trying to get when participating in bad behavior. Your dog is jumping up on you as you go home. That means he needs your attention. Teach him how to get your attention by acting differently. Of course, your dog will know how to earn your attention and affection with good behaviors.

Distract as well as redirect him

You can make a loud noise in order to get your pet’s attention. You can clap your hands when you want your dog to do something undesirable like squatting to urinate on the carpet. By this way, you can distract him from the bad behavior gradually. Then, it’s time to direct his attention to desirable behavior.

Use time-outs effectively

If your dog makes any bad behavior, you need to remove him from any cause of the behavior. It’s best to take your dog to a different environment such as a quiet room in the house. You should keep him there for 10 to 30 seconds. Next, remove your puppy as if nothing happened. If he still doesn’t stop, you need to wait until he does. It’s important to do that once you notice the bad behavior.

Prevent him from barking

The best thing you should do is ignoring his barking. If your dog tries to earn your attention, he will surely stop right after. But, remember to determine why your dog’s barking if he doesn’t stop barking despite your inattention. Then, remove it. If your dog continues to bark, you should take him to another room for a few minutes. Or, giving your dog something to chew is also a great idea such as a rope toy.

Keep your dog from nipping

Your dog has to learn limits when he plays rough. If he nips, let’s say “ouch” and yelp. It’s best to leave him about 20 seconds after letting go of your hands. By this way, you can teach him that you won’t allow him to play rough. Don’t pull your hands when he nips. Of course, he will consider this as part of the game. And, he will chase you.

Don’t use physical punishment

If you use physical punishment for your puppy, it can increase aggression in him. Thus, don’t use physical punishment if you want to correct undesirable puppy behavior. In addition, this can injure your puppy. Most importantly, the physical punishment can also ruin your relationship.

Encourage Good Behavior

Determine what motivates your dog

Your dog is a very social creature. He needs your attention as well as affection. So, you should pay attention to him when he best responds to. There is no reason why you don’t reward your dog’s good behavior. This way purposes to help him get a positive association with the behavior.

Create your dog a routine

Your pet seems to know what to expect. So, we recommend you to make a daily routine with set times for toileting, meals walks, as well as training sessions. And, your dog surely knows what to expect. You can regulate your dog’s behavior thanks to a routine.

Reassert your dominance over him

If you want your dog to respect you more, you need to take clear control over him. You can use a stern tone of voice when you want to command him. For instance, you can make him sit and wait briefly before you give him a food dish.

Train your dog

It’s important to teach him a few basic commands such as SIT, COME, and STAY. This way aims to help you notice his engaging in bad behavior. Then, you can right now redirect his attention. Also, you need to command your dog to “sit” or “stay” when he intends to do something dangerous. This helps to reach him.

Get help

If your dog tries to resist your training, it’s time to look for a help. Indeed, your vet can help you. It’s also a good idea to enroll him in an obedience training class. Your vet will teach you some useful tips to learn what to expect from the training sessions.

The Community Comes Together with Dog Parks and Dog Services

Posted on October 1, 2017 ·

In an age where people are becoming more isolated within their homes, and where we talk more through our keyboards than our vocal chords, it has become all the more important to hang on to whatever sense of community that we have left.

A dog park can help, however fulfillment of a number of factors is required in order to ensure a park’s survival. The tips on this page provide some guidelines and some advice that is all too often ignored. Finally, remember, a dog park is about more than individuals, it is about community. A dog park provides owners with a space in their day to relax… and their dogs with the space to have fun. But fun to a dog often involves noise, while a successful environment comprises many communities.

Search for a Dog Park in Your Area

Exercising a dog is a daily concern for dog owners. One of the most popular ways dog owners do this is by taking their dog to the dog park. Whether you have lived in an area for years, are new to a neighborhood or are on vacation, finding the locations of dog parks near you will help ensure that your dog receives enough exercise.

Use dog park search engine to locate new upstarts or traditional favorite dog parks close to you. Before taking your dog to the dog park, you may want to first scope out the park itself. Check to see if it’s a park mainly for big dogs or small dogs and note how crowded the park gets. This will help you choose a dog park where your dog can feel comfortable and safe roaming around and playing with other dogs. If your dog feels secure at the dog park, (s)he will get the proper amount of exercise and, thus, remain a happy, healthy member of your family!

Although our list of dog parks is extensive, it is by no means complete. If you know of any that aren’t part of our dog park search guide send us an email. We are always looking to expand our list to make the dog park search as thorough as possible!

First and Foremost…

It is the responsibility of each individual dog owner to ensure that their dogs are properly trained, under voice command and fully capable of passive interaction with other dogs. Dog with their behavior is a reflection of their owners training and ability to control the dog. That is why dogs with Poorly trained are not received well in any parks!

Next…

Ensure that all owners pick up after their dogs. Clearly, it is impossible to watch your dog all the time, however in our experience, responsible owners are never upset by having a fellow owner point out a missed pile. And remember, when problems with non-dog owners arise, health risk to other park users is one of the first items on their list.

Finally…

Set up an informal committee to prevent degradation of facilities offered by the park. Routine checks, repairs and maintenance go a long way to counteract any negative comment by non-owners in the community. Share the workload equally among the committee’s members to prevent park maintenance from becoming a chore for just a few.

Successful Coexistence

Clearly, not everyone is a dog owner or lover, therefore successful coexistence must require a good level of understanding and consideration for lovers and non-lovers alike. In our experience, differences of opinion often get out of hand rather quickly, while resolution sometimes involves the city council. Then, the park is shut down or hours restricted. Prevention is usually much better than the cure, but it does require adult attitudes on both sides!

Taking your dog to the dog park for the first time

Posted on August 22, 2017 ·

Basically, dogs are social creatures. In addition to spending time with you and your family, puppies also like to socialize with other pups. Dog parks are ideal venue for your best pals to play around, have fun and get some good exercise time with other dogs under the right circumstances. However, just like a child at daycare, when being introduced to the dog park scene, a puppy might be anxious, stressed or overly dominant and present other unique set of challenges to its owner. That’s why, while some dog owners jump right into dog parks, others have hesitations. With some helpful tips below, you can work out these issues, set the stage for fun and stress-free experience when you take your furry friend to the dog park for the first time.

When is the right time to visit the Dog park?

It is ideal to take your puppy to the dog park when she is around 16 weeks of age. Any earlier, she has not been fully immunized and therefore will be vulnerable and likely to pick up a disease from other dogs. In some cases, some older dogs may display aggressive behavior towards a young pup, he can be very traumatized during an important stage of his social development. But when your pup is fully immunized, it is good idea to take him to the dog park as soon as it is safe. Plus, it is more likely to be a pleasant first experience if you take your puppy to the dog park before he hits adolescence – generally around 6 months of age. Most adult dogs will be patient with a young one who hasn’t mastered canine etiquette, but may get snappy with an obnoxious pooch in his teenage years.

You should also check your pup for parasites. Look for fleas, ticks and even cut his fur regularly to avoid some skin-related diseases and then spreading them to other dogs at the park. Apart from considering using preventative medicine for these parasites, keeping your pets well-groomed will prevent those problems from occurring in their fur and make all the difference. Instead of looking around for a good local groomer and spend on professional grooming services, home grooming can be a daunting but bonding experience with your pet. In order to make the trimming process as easy as possible and painless for both you and your puppy, you should choose a high-quality pair of dog grooming clippers.

It is also important to keep in mind that puppies and rescue dogs should finish their full course of vaccinations and make sure all vaccinations are up to date before they visit park with other dogs. An unvaccinated dog could easily catch some contagious diseases like parvo, kennel cough, hookworms, rabies… If your pup is still very young or was recently ill or malnourished, you’d better ask your veterinarian for their recommendation first, even after vaccination. He may need time to build up his immune system before being introduced to the dog park.

Set proper boundaries

When at off leash dog park, you can obviously cannot control what other dogs do, but definitely can play a role in how your puppy behaves. The key to keep your proactive puppy safe at the dog park is to have a good grasp on how your dog will interact with other dogs. If your dog has an aggressive, fearful or reactive personality, introducing him to a dog park might not be wise. If your dog hasn’t been around other animals and thus is new to social situation, introduce them slowly, start the socialization process with one or two calm friends or neighbors’ dogs before mixing in with strangers’ dogs

Moreover, an untrained dog can be a safety risk to itself and others at the dog park. At minimum, your dog should respond appropriately to “come” command. Other useful commands to teach are down, sit and stay. If your pup doesn’t come when called, it’s time to start training him by practicing commands off-leash in a fenced-in yard or in your apartment hallway. . When your pet’s command response is strong enough, you can feel confident that he will come to you whether dog behaviors and interaction escalate at the dog park.

Choose the right park for your dog

In the beginning, dog parks with secure fences are the safer bet for the first time visits. Members-only dog park are even better choice because they are cleaner by picking up trash, doggy-do and aggressive pooches can be kicked out if necessary. But if you can’t find a fenced park, pick one with open space so your puppies can stay a safe distance from bullies or other dangers from adjacent streets.

Besides, there are other things to consider when choosing a dog park such as the size of your dog as if your dog is small, you may want to find a park with a designated small dog area; park’s rules and other park goers. You should visit the park alone beforehand so you can observe surroundings, how the other dogs behave and interact with each other and then decide whether the park matches your puppy’s level of activeness and bring him to the park or not. It is also important to let him observe from outside and watch his reactions to give you an idea of his actual response. Last but not least, for your pup’s first visit to a dog park, the best time is when the park is not very crowded with lots of dogs and people so avoid peak evenings and weekends.

9 Tips for stress relief

Posted on July 24, 2017 ·

Living with dogs (or kids, or both for that matter) can be stressful. No matter how much you love your dog, we all have days where we just need a break. While we go deep into your own specific triggers in my one-on-one intensive, Speak Doglish, this post will help you get started in kicking that stress to the curb!

Slowing down your breathing activates the prefrontal cortex and can help you feel calmer. Take a few minutes to yourself in your room, your car, or in a closet if you have to, and shoot for 4-6 deep breaths per minute.
Get some sleep! When you are sleep deprived, not only are you grumpy, but your prefrontal cortex gets grumpy, too, and you get stuck with high levels of stress hormones. Your cells have trouble absorbing glucose, too, and then you start craving sweets and caffeine, which isn’t good either.
Don’t get discouraged. Try it for half a day, a whole day, whatever works for you – do whatever it takes to not get yourself down about something that happens. Don’t let the little things derail your day. If you can do this all day at work, imagine how much of a better state of mind you’ll be in when you get home!
End the day on a great note by keeping a journal and writing down one thing that you are grateful for or happy about, from the day. If it works better, you could start your day the same way.
If something goes wrong, give yourself the same advice you would give a friend in the same situation. We are usually easier on our friends than on ourselves, so take a step back and cut yourself some slack.
Exercise! This works for everyone and every animal. Whether this is running, walking, yoga, tennis, rock climbing, or something else – just get moving. Start with 15-20 minutes and build yourself up to more, or take two exercise breaks in a day if that works better.
Listen to music. This is something easy that you can often do during the day at work, or on the drive/ride home from work. Let your mind wander, let it go, and just listen to the music.
Get outside. There is something about being in nature that melts your stress away. If you don’t have easy access to anywhere green, get a tree or some plants to put around your desk/office/home.
Develop a hobby. Some people find knitting or sewing relaxing, others like reading or writing. If you want something more active, try dancing, playing an instrument, or playing video/board games.

Teaching your dog about polite greetings

Posted on July 24, 2017 ·

My dog jumps on people as soon as they walk in the door! is one of the biggest complaints I hear from people. I get it – it can be really stressful when your dog goes crazy as soon as she hears a knock on the door or the doorbell. The good news is that there are a few strategies that you can implement to reduce this behavior.

1. If you know someone is coming over, take your dog outside to meet them and come in together. Sometimes just eliminating the high alert that comes from a knock on the door or from ringing the doorbell is enough.

2. Ask people to ignore your dog. Your dog is likely going crazy for one of two reasons – he LOVES people or he is SCARED of people. Either way, your dog is going crazy because he wants the attention or doesn’t want the attention, so ignoring the barking and jumping can be very effective.

3. Have some treats at the door so guests can ask your dog to sit or help your dog feel better. If your dog is super focused on the person coming in the door, having a guest ask for or wait for a polite sit can re-focus that attention and give your dog some training practice! If your dog is more toy motivated than treat motivated, have a tennis ball or other toy by the door instead of a treat.

If your dog wishes the person would just go away, have your guest drop a treat or two while walking past and ignoring the dog. Do not require your dog to take the treat from the person, and just have your guest continue to ignore your dog.

4. Ask your guest to go back out the door and try to come in again. Repeat as necessary. This is the one that requires the most effort from your guests, and is only effective if your dog is excited to see people. Here’s how it works: Guest walks in. Dog goes crazy. Guest walks out. Repeat until your dog keeps all four feet on the ground, or sits (whatever your preferred behavior is), and then your guest can give your dog attention.

Note: If your dog is afraid of people, this strategy isn’t recommended. Having the person leave might reinforce that the barking and acting crazy is a strategy that works and makes people leave.

Have you tried any of these strategies? Which one worked best for you?

Teaching your dog to “target”

Posted on July 24, 2017 ·

“Target” or “touch” is one of my favorite things to teach to my clients and their dogs. It is really useful as a back up for “come” or when for when you are far away from your dog and need him/her to come to you. You can also use it for situations like getting your dog off the couch without having to physically move him/her or for getting your dog onto the scale at the vet. If you decide to get into agility, “target/touch” is great for guiding your dog through an agility course.

First, decide what word you will use. Any word works (target, touch, here), just make sure you choose one that you and your family members will use consistently.

Then, to train “target/touch”:

1. Extend your palm towards your dog and wait for him/her to sniff it.

2. Click and treat.

3. Once he/she will touch your hand 8-9 times out of 10, add the word “target/touch? before you offer your hand.

When you get to the point of adding the command word, you can start moving your hand to either side, and then further away. Don’t change your hand position until your dog has mastered the previous position (8-9 times out of 10). If you go a few steps away and your dog looks at you like he/she has no idea what you are asking for, move closer.

* If your dog won’t sniff your hand after 3-5 seconds, move your hand closer. If that doesn’t work, remove your hand and re-try. As a last resort, try dabbing a little bit of peanut butter or smearing a little bit of something tasty on your hand!

5 Questions to ask your dog food company

Posted on July 24, 2017 ·

Finding the best dog food isn’t just about looking at ingredients (although that is important, too). When trying to find the best dog food for your dog, you should be able to find most of these answers on the company website. If you can’t easily find this information, the answer may not be the one you are looking for!

Where is the food sourced? Most reputable companies will work with the same farm/ranch, regardless of how the price of the product fluctuates. Lower quality brands will change their farm based on who is offering the cheapest product.

Do they have a qualified nutritionist on staff? Developing a good diet for a dog can be difficult, so a nutritionist who is on staff or consults with the company will ensure that the formula is properly balanced for your dog and your dog’s life stage (puppies, adults, and seniors have different nutritional requirements).

Do they continue to research and improve their formulas?

Do they have their own, self-contained plant to avoid cross-contamination? This one is especially important considering the frequent pet food recalls!

How do they test their product? Some dog food companies simply do palatability test on pets, while others intentionally cause problems with laboratory dogs to find out how their food affects the problem.

Stop blaming yourself

Posted on July 24, 2017 ·

I made mistake after mistake with our first dog Chilli. Even though it didn’t work (at all), we used a choke collar on her. We didn’t know what else to do.

We didn’t take her to formal training classes because she listened “good enough”. Or so I thought.

One night I let Chilli off the leash to run around on the beach. She got scared by something and ran up to the road where there was a group of people. She was confused and disoriented and she ran onto the busy road. She got hit by a car that didn’t stop. The car behind that one did stop and told us where the closest vet was. We got her to the vet within 10 minutes, but it was too late.

And just like that, my Chilli was gone. I was devastated.

She was our first dog, and we adopted her from someone whose kids got tired of her and didn’t want her anymore. She lived in a crate and they just gave her to us for free.

I blamed myself for what happened to Chilli for YEARS. How could we save her from one bad situation and then let this happen? Then the what-if game – If the car had’ve hit me instead I could have survived, If I would have trained her, this wouldn’t have happened, If I hadn’t have chased her she wouldn’t have kept running… and on. And on.

Maybe that night wouldn’t have happened if she had been better trained, or if I didn’t chase her, but it was too late to change any of that.

It took me at least 2-3 years to get over the actual accident, and I still have lingering effects (I get extreme anxiety if I see any dog near a road), but I have realized that the only thing I can do now is never let that happen again to one of my dogs. I needed to learn from my mistakes so that Chilli’s accident wasn’t in vain.

Why am I sharing this story?

So that you can stop blaming yourself. Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes, sometimes little ones, sometimes terrible ones, but we have to learn from them. We can’t change the past, we can only change the future.

Forgive yourself. Don’t forget the past mistakes, but let go of the hold they have on you. Commit to learning from that past and making the future better.

You, your dog, and your family will be much happier because of it.

Does your dog hate nail trims?

Posted on July 24, 2017 ·

If your dog hates getting his or her nails trimmed, there is hope! If you have a puppy, get his or her nails trimmed regularly, and have puppy massage time when you pet your dog’s feet, ears, head, back, tail, being sure to gently squeeze the areas as well. This will get your puppy used to being touched, and will help out with future vet visits as well.

If you have an adolescent or adult dog who hates getting nail trims, you can use a very effective strategy called desensitization. Desensitization is the process of gradually adjusting your dog to the uncomfortable situation until the situation is no longer uncomfortable.

Depending on just how uncomfortable your dog is, you can start in one of several places with this.

The first one is to clip just a couple of your dog’s nails at a time. Clip 2-3 nails every 2-3 days, or even every other day until all of your dog’s nails are clipped.
If more than one nail at a time is too much, go for one nail at a time, every couple days.
If that is too much, then distract your dog with a treat that they can take little bites from or put a frozen jar of baby food in front of your dog’s face to distract him or her while you clip a nail or two.
For some dogs, it’s the clip of the nail trimmer that freaks them out, work on desensitizing your dog to the sounds of the clippers. Get some treats, and click the clippers, then give your dog a treat. Do this a few times over the course of a few days until your dog looks to you for a treat when he or she hears the click.

Start at what your dog can tolerate, and gradually increase until you can clip multiple nails (or all of them) in one sitting.

It’s also important to choose your battles with things like this – if your dog can tolerate a few nails being clipped over the course of a week, maybe that’s the way you clip your dog’s nails. It’s not worth stressing your dog out to go to a groomer and do it all at once, if it gets easy to do it that way at home!

Another option is to ditch the clippers and try a nail grinder. Just be sure to go slowly, don’t do too much at a time, and be careful not to get your hair (or your dog’s fur) in the wheel. If your dog has never heard a grinder before, take some time to get your dog used to the sound. Turn it on, give your dog a treat, turn it off. Repeat a few times and then that’s it for the day. When your dog doesn’t show any signs of nervousness when you turn the grinder on, try a nail or two.

With a little patience and perseverance, you will be cutting your dog’s nails stress-free in no time!

Problem solving dog behaviors (free worksheet!)

Posted on July 24, 2017 ·

Whether you are trying to figure out what to do about a problem behavior or trying to figure out why your dog isn’t listening, use these tips (or call me ?) to figure it out:

What is the behavior – what does it look like? Strictly observations – don’t add any emotions or try to analyze it.

What kind of situation causes the behavior? What happens before the behavior occurs?

What happens right after the behavior occurs (aka how is the behavior being reinforced)?

What would you like your dog to do instead (or what is the replacement behavior)? This is where you have to get creative. Think what about this behavior can I reinforce or what can I change so that I can reinforce a different behavior?

Once you figure this out, you (or a dog trainer) will need to teach your dog the replacement behavior and reinforce that instead of the problem behavior.

Example 1

What is the behavior – what does it look like? My dog Junior jumps up on people.

What kind of situation causes the behavior? Guests coming into the house, walking past strangers on the street.

What happens right after it (aka how is the behavior being reinforced)? We yell at him to get down or people push him away at our house (which is actually giving him the attention he is looking for), jerk back on the leash.

What would you like your dog to do instead (what is the replacement behavior)? Sit or stand politely.

Training Plan: Teach him to sit or stand when guests arrive by having guests ignore naughty behavior and only give him attention when he has all four paws on the floor. Keep him on leash when people arrive and step on the leash so that while you aren’t jerking on it, he cannot jump. When all four paws are on the floor, reinforce with a treat or with attention from the guest.

On the walk, ask people to wait until he sits, or try the stepping on the leash technique.

Example 2

What is the behavior – what does it look like? My dog won’t sit on the hard floor, only on the carpet.

What kind of situation causes the behavior? Asking her to sit on the hard floor.

What happens right after it (aka how is the behavior being reinforced)? I give up and take her to the carpet to practice sit.

What would you like your dog to do instead? Sit down on any surface.

Training Plan: Buy a carpet square and practice having your dog sit on the carpet square on the harder surfaces. As your dog gets more comfortable, cut the square so that it is smaller and smaller, and eventually your dog will not even realize that she is sitting on the hard floor!

What problems are you dealing with? Try using this problem solving worksheet, and let me know how it goes!