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Either way you look at it you need to make sure you take your pooch out and exercise them!! Its not just so they are tired and behave at home. It is so they can release all of their energy and receive the health benefits of it. Keeping their heart rate up. Stretching their legs out!! Take your dog out today!! Soon!! NO EXCUSES!!
TAKE YOUR DOG OUT AND EXERCISE WITH THEM EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO JOG A LITTLE BIT WITH THEM ON THE LEASH!JUST MAKE SURE IF YOU LET THEM LOOSE THAT IT IS INSIDE OF A FENCED IN AREA.
Today at the dog park there was a dog who seemed to have a big issue with being territorial of his things and shared areas that he thought were his. One thing I can say about this is that you should NEVER pick your dog up if you think there is going to be an altercation. This is turning the guilt to your side even if your loved one gets hurt or further pestered. You see while all of our first instincts is to want to get our babies out of the problem we are actually making them more vulnerable in the other dogs eyes. We pick he or she up and the other dog thinks, hmmm he can't move right now very well or run away, its a great time to jump up or go after him. Whether a dog is playing or attacking another dog it is never the answer to pick up your dog.
I would also like to talk about toy-aggression or your dog being possessive. When Shamus was just a little baby at 3 months old he came to me with food aggression along with, toy aggression. What I did personally was whenever I fed Shamus I would go towards his food, he would growl. I would say loud and firm, SHAMUSSIT! Having already taught him sit and down and wait he was easily agreeable. You may have to work on it with your loved one or may not. Either way I kept repeating that. The split-second he would growl or become uncomfortable I would command him to sit. Once this was instilled in him, I could control him and take his mind off of that and onto obeying his master and sitting down and waiting to eat. After a few days of this I started getting braver. I would command him to sit and wait to eat. Then I would move his bowl a couple feet in any direction away from him while commanding him to wait. Then I would say ok once the bowl was moved and he would scurry over. I repeated this periodically and randomly for a couple of weeks. He has never had food aggression since. Minou can attest to that. She frequently will try to eat his food and when he comes jogging over she'll intimidate Shamus away from his own food. Not fair so I give her a friendly mist from the spray bottle and that's that! =P
What happens if you or I stay inside all day and never see our friends? Gets pretty boring, right? A lot of energy wasted and saved up. Same thing with dogs except they cannot even call up a friend and chit chat. Starting to get where I am going with this? Exactly! Your four-legged friends need to have friends OTHER than you to socialize with regularly. > I take Shamus to the dog park and he runs around (exercises!!!!) and plays with them. He also is exposed to all kinds of dogs. Big to small, dominant to submissive, loud to quiet, fast to slow, and so on and so on. I know that he is exposed to every type of dog and knows how to act when he encounters a dog that may have the same personality traits as one of his friends. This helps me to not have to constantly be fearful that Shamus will go after another dog or feel threatened enough to need to protect himself. Socialize your dog today with people and other dogs. Just keep control of your dog and keep them close if you are just starting to socialize them especially if you rescued or adopted them as you do not know how they will react and if in a negative way, how much socialization they will require before being let off the leash.
Its a good thing the dog park is a 20 block walk for Shamus and I anyway. Walking there and back is exercise in its own almost everyday!! =P
Shamus made two friends today. Did not get a pic of the other guy, will next time. He was rescued from a bad situation and is still learning that no one wants to hurt him. Poor little poopie face. I hope to see him a lot in the future at the dog park. I am confident that all he needs is frequent trips to see his friends and eventually he will run with the pack in a confident and fearless manner. <3 u Iggy
The proud... The beautiful... Stand tall as one!
You take the low road, I'll take the high road.
Those of you who know Shamus, know that he LOVES his little friends!! =P
This little cutie pie was chasing Shamus all over. "Stay away from my bum!!" he shouted.
I was looking around on some dog sites today and stumbled across this rare breed. Check out this dog man!! Talk about a 'sensory overload'!! =P
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Just as I suspected, passed out!!! hahaaaa<3u poopie!!
Shamus still got exercise but once they opened the gate to bring the machines in I thought it was best to just go even though Shamus LOVES anything with a motor on it!! =P
Come on viewers... start posting pics of your loved ones!! haha
