Tag: training

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What is crate training and why it is important?

In addition to solid and functional obedience, crate training has to be one of the most valuable skills our dogs can have.  Before we go any farther, let’s get one thing out of the way right now – crate training your dog is not cruel, inhumane, or mean.  Often times we as humans relate a crate to jail or feel sorry for a dog that is in a crate, but it’s important to remember that we’re training through the dog’s mentality, not our own.

There are several beneficial reasons to crate training your puppy or dog, and yes, by crate training we are expecting the crate door to be closed.  

In my opinion, here is the most important reason to crate train your dog:  At some point in your dog’s life, they are going to be in a crate.  Whether it be at the groomer, at the vets’s clinic, boarding, at a friend’s home, in a car, or anywhere else, it is going to happen.  Preparing them for these situations is important and, in my opinion, not crate training your dog is doing a disservice to them as it causes a lot of stress, anxiety, and is extremely difficult on some dogs when they finally need to be put in that situation.

1. Provide a Safe Space

I had always thought that crates were cruel. One of the things I learned with the new pup is that crates are not cruel when used properly, and in fact can be a great tool for the average pet owner. Proper, positive crate training can provide benefits for both you and your dog.

Dogs have a natural instinct and crates can provide a haven for your dog when he is feeling stressed or tired and needs some downtime.

2. Help With Potty Training

Crates are great for house training. Dogs and puppies don’t like a soiled bed, so a properly sized crate is very useful to assist you in teaching him bladder and bowel control.

3. Household Safety

Having your dog resting comfortably in his crate while you are not able to supervise him is a bonus. Maybe you are cooking dinner or working on renovations where your pup could cause safety issues just by being underfoot. Having him tucked safely away will give you peace of mind.

4. Positive Car rides.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBcIQXTjJik/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Car travel in a crate is far safer for both of you than having him loose in the car.

5. Positive Vet Visits

If your dog ever needs to stay overnight at the vet’s, he will be far less stressed when he is confined in the cage or run if he has already been crate trained.

6. Reduce Damages

https://www.instagram.com/p/CE0gXNeD-yS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Happily destroying our skirting.. -_-

You wouldn’t want to come home to find your furniture bitten or skirting destroyed to pieces. Unwanted disasters like these can be avoided by providing them stimulating dog toys or chews inside their crate, instead of them finding other interesting household items to destroy when left un-supervised and un-crated.

7. Evacuation

Finally, if you ever have to evacuate from your home in case of any kind of emergency, having a crate trained dog is so much easier for all concerned (Better Discipline). Whether you keep your dog with you, or he has to be handed over to others, your pup will be better off in his own crate. He’ll be more relaxed with his own blankets and toys with your scent on them, than one who is unfamiliar with a crate and therefore experiences undue stress.

To sum it up why crate training is so important.

  • It’s a tremendous aid in potty training your puppy or dog.
  • It makes traveling with your dog much easier as they have a familiar reference point wherever they go.
  • It’s important aid to creating structure in your dog’s life
  • It helps your dog to mentally relax
  • It gives your dog a place of their own to go and get some peace and quiet, especially in big gatherings etc.
  • Proper crate training can help reduce the anxiety when leaving your dog home alone.
  • It help prevent unwanted behaviours, such as chewing household objects, and more when you cannot be with your dog.

Although it may be emotionally hard for some of us, my advice is to put your dog’s crate in the proper location and immediately being crate training your dog from the second he or she sets foot in your home.  When your dog is properly crate trained as an adult, you may not utilise the crate as much but continuing to implement the crate into your dog’s daily routine so the benefits of crate training carry over for the dog’s life.

Misuse of Crates

Crates can also be misused and have a negative influence on your dog. Here are some uses to avoid:

  • It is very important to remember not to use a crate as punishment for your dog. His crate should be his haven. I have often found Kobe resting in his crate of his own accord with the door wide open.
  • While crates can be used for teaching your dog the house rules, it is NOT okay to use the crate as a crutch because of lack of training. Your dog wants to be with YOU, not spending his life in a crate, so be diligent about your training regime early on.
  • Never leave your dog in his crate for too long, especially puppies who have limited bladder control. If you must crate your dog while you are at work, it is important that he gets a potty break. If you are leaving him crated at home, it is absolutely essential that you make sure he gets plenty of exercise and playtime when you are around.

xoxo

Kobe’s Parents (Kendrick & Kimberly)

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Things I Wish I Knew Before Adopting a Dog

Things I Wish I Knew Before Adopting A Dog

When my husband and I were moving into our new home, we both knew that our home will not be complete without a dog; He had grown up with one while I have always wanted one. We were dreaming of all the moments we would share with our furry companion, and while we never regretted our decision to adopt Talia, I wish I knew these things (to prep myself mentally) before adopting a dog:

You’re Gonna Spend A Lot of Money
I thought I would be a chill pawrent, and she’s just gonna get the basics. She’s gonna sleep on the IKEA bath mat (recommended to us by the shelter), eat her kibbles, and probably have just a leash, collar and a couple of toys under her name. Well, I thought wrong. Talia currently has two beds (she even had a Sealy dog bed at one point which I sold at a loss because she decided that she doesn’t want to sleep on it), one crate, a boxful of toys, more leashes and collars than she needed, and enjoys a home-cooked diet and pet treats. But that’s not all. 

There are vet visits, both scheduled and unscheduled ones that will happen. If you think a visit to the doctor is expensive, a trip to the vet is even more so. While I know roughly how much the yearly check-up visits would cost, it’s the unpredictable trips to the vet that really burn a hole in my pockets. After one acute pancreatitis episode, I now set aside a rainy day fund for Talia for such unpredictable situations! 

What’s more, if you don’t own a car, the cost of bringing your dog out for fun activities is even higher. Before we had a car, I had to get a GrabPet ride everywhere to take Talia out to fun experiences. A trip to the beach to and fro could easily come up to $30, and if excursions are a frequent thing, things would quickly add up.

Do Not Expect Your Dog To Be Like Other Dogs
When we first got Talia, we wondered why she was so different from what we expected of a dog. She didn’t care much for other dogs when we are out on walks, and she doesn’t engage in play with dogs even if we bring her to the dog park. It took me a while to come to terms that she has her own personality, and that she takes a while to warm up to other dogs. Even then, she only has a small group of doggy friends that she would initiate play with.

Extended Travel or Weeknight Plans Will Be A Thing Of The Past

Before we had Talia, going away for extended periods of time was no issue. Now, we don’t go away longer than 2 weeks, firstly because our family members are taking turns to dog-sit her, and secondly, I would miss her far too much. We also used to have dates on weeknights, but we no longer do so because she needs to be taken out for her potty breaks as she’s grass-trained, and she would be starving since she only had her meal more than 12 hours ago. Unless a family member can come in to take care of her on our behalf on weeknights, weeknight plans are now history.

Training Doesn’t Stop, Ever

I thought passing the obedience test required for dogs under Project ADORE would be the end of all the training that’s required. Most people usually stop there (and so would I), but after Talia developed separation anxiety and also ran out of my workplace once, so I decided to engage a trainer to help her with that, and to work on her recall. We are done with the second round of training, but we still go for classes and talks to learn more about dog handling and understanding Talia better. We train because I want to be able to take her out everywhere with me. Everyday, we still practise what we have learnt and occasionally teach her new things to keep it interesting for her!

If You Choose To Feed A Home-Cooked Diet, Make Sure It’s Nutritionally Balanced

We didn’t manage to transition Talia to a kibble diet because she was a picky eater, and partly because she was fed a diet of rice and pork when she was at the factory. She is used to fresh food, and we decided to keep it that way. 

What we learnt from our first trainer was that the food intake should be about 2-3% of her body weight so we kept that in mind when we prepared her meals. In terms of her diet, she got eggs, brown rice, carrots, minced pork/beef. However when she started to itch and scratch more, we decided to do an elimination food trial to determine the source of her itch. 

The vet recommended us to start with a protein that she hasn’t tried before, and duck was our option at that point. We started giving her minced duck, she was just enjoying it, and I only realised my folly when she started having black tarry stools and vomiting. She was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, and after the vet gave us the all-clear, I decided to engage a nutritionist to design her diet and conduct the elimination food trial at the same time in a safe way. That’s when I realised that while we want to feed our dogs fresh food, it is important that it’s nutritionally balanced to avoid unnecessary health problems. 


You Will Learn A Lot Of Things

If you wish to give your dog the best life possible, you would probably be on a lifelong journey to acquire knowledge and to understand your dog better. I’ve learnt things I never knew before like how to trim a dog’s nails, to prepare kefir and even animal communication. I enjoy learning so, yay for us!

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Dog Handling as a Team Sport

Why you need to see yourself beyond the role of a pawrent

In today’s dogmanship world, too many of us focus so much on being pawrents that we neglect the highly critical portion of raising a balanced dog. A balanced dog is a dog who is aware of its surroundings and is able to have maturity and life skills to navigate whatever situations it faces with its handler. And this includes anyone other than its family members.

In every home of multiple handlers, there’s always ONE primary handler and the rest being secondary. Meaning, dogs tend to follow ONE member of the family a lot more than others. In a home of multiple dogs and members, dogs naturally gear towards to members of the family that they have confidence in. If you have multiple dogs and people at home, be sure to have clarity who is the primary and who are the secondary handlers.

As the primary handler, when you and your dog are together, you are ONE team. Every day, in your walks, play, feeding etc, you’re engaging in a team sport. Like any sport, there are clear rules on how to score points and strategies on how to win.

The success of your team is dependent on:

(A) Your dogmanship abilities – this is your natural ability to handle, guide, teach a dog. Some of us are naturally more talented than others. So it’s important to know yourself and the areas in which you need help with. Don’t measure yourself with another person. Everyone is wired differently and in order for you to find another you is 1:33million chances. Be content with who you are and lead your dog with who you are. Skills and techniques in dog handling are acquired over time, so be patient.

(B) How much dog there is in our dogs – this is where some “positive only” people might disagree with me. So hear me out before you jump the gun. Every dog has different ‘dogness’ levels. For example, police dogs that are selected to do guarding and protection work are bred for their aggression. These dogs do not respond to pressure easily. From a young age, they are encouraged to bite and this is why often times you see their trainers even beating them and that makes them hold on to the bite even more. This is why these dogs can chase after the bad guys and hold on even if they are attacked. Likewise a dog that’s bred to be a service dog will have less ‘dogness’ in them because they are bred to work with their handlers in assisting them. Pet dogs are bred to have the least ‘dogness’ in them. This however, differs from breed to breed. E.g. a German Shepherd from a pet line could still potentially have a log more dog in it than say a King Charles Cavalier. Simply because they were bred for different jobs.

If you have a Singapore Special or a mongrel/ mutt like I do, then it’s much harder to gauge the dogness level simply because we do not know that dog’s ancestry.

Being able to have clarity on these two points will help you decide on what training approach you need to take. Unfortunately, this is not how many of us decide. We tend to decide based on trends and the advise that’s given to us by the circle of so-called experts.

As an experienced dog owner, I’ve often come across people who have a dog that’s a lot more dog than they can actually manage on a day to day basis. If you’re a softie at heart, and if you have a dog that doesn’t back down to pressure, then you have to be prepared for your dog to test you a lot more than someone whose less of a softie.

Benefits of adopting a team sport perspective

By being able to go beyond the pawrent perspective helps us to be able to
1. Improve our relationship – when we are able to have a more objective perspective, we are able to gain clarity on the areas where we are strong in and areas where we need improvement. When we gain clarity, we are then able to break down our goals and manage our expectations of ourselves and those of our dogs.

2. Create healthy boundaries – Because our dogs mature very intensively within the first year of its life, going beyond the pawrent role helps us to cultivate healthier way in which we can relate and engage our dogs. Just like how our parents don’t treat us like babies when we’re in our teens, we should seek to do the same for our dogs.

3. Encourages ongoing growth and development that is for the entire lifetime of the dog instead of just for a period. Professional athletes have a life after retiring from their sport. Likewise, our dogs should also be engaged in appropriate ways that will take them into their golden years.

4. It helps to build engagement. In a team sport, every member on that team has a specific role. Hence, everyone is clear about what is expected of them and they know WHAT, WHEN, HOW to participate meaningfully. When we adopt this perspective of being in a team, we are then able to translate clear expectations to our dogs. When our dogs know what it is expected of them, they are more motivated to do more for us.

5. It gives our dogs a sense of purpose, self-confidence and awareness. Have you ever played with a team and won a competition? Didn’t that make you feel good? Life is like a competition. We have fears to overcome. Hurdles to cross. What will our dogs say about us as their coach if they could speak? Will they say, ‘I’m on the winning team because I conquer something every day?’

Our dogs’ lives are short. Why would we want to use a lifetime to train the dog to overcome its fears when we can use that same lifetime to enjoy life together?

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Ah Boys to Men – Dog Training with Porkchop

punggolporkchop

We got Porkchop in November 2019 when he was only 2.5 months old. Fresh from the pet shop and brainwashed by dramas, we thought that being a pet owner just meant welcoming a new member into your life. We were okay as long as he peed and pooped at the right places like your typical family member. Being a first time pawrent we were super clueless about the need for training until we met our first hurdle – excessive barking.

How it started

Sometime around February this year, Porkchop became territorial and barked at strangers, neighbours and anyone that walked past the door. He only stopped when the person walked away. Initially we were all trying to adapt to it. I mean it was just doggo doing their doggo duty right? When strangers came they just wanted to safeguard the family and alert the family of impending danger (which happens to be in the shape of a Grab deliveryman most of the time). The only issue was that as the days went by, the alert became louder, more frequent and disruptive.

It also didn’t help when we walked to his playpen to tell him to “quiet” whenever he borked. We thought we were doing the right thing. But in Porkchop’s eyes it meant, “Oh when I make a sound my favourite hoomans come.” Being a super attention seeker, this attention that we gave him led him to learn the negative behaviour and the excessive barking gradually became attention barking.

#ProTip: One of the ways to tackle attention barking is to simply not give it any attention. By ignoring it you are sending an opposite behaviour of “ If you make a sound, I will not come”. However it does take a lot of effort on the pawrent’s end and all family members will need to cooperate, be firm and consistent in order to make it effective.

Everything sounds bad so far right? So hoomum went to ask her best friend, Google for some tips. She also talked to a few other dog owners to understand their experience. After some research, we decided to try what we found on the Internet.

First Try – Teaching the “Speak” command

Okay so the logic was, if your dog keeps barking, you hold a treat up at his nose for a long time and not give it to him until he gets annoyed and starts to bark. When that happens, catch it and tag it with the “speak” command. Once he knows that speak = barking, he will start to learn to speak on command. When he masters this, you then teach him the “quiet” command. Sounds simple, but it was an utter failure for us. We spent 30 minutes teaching him to “speak” using reward based training (rewarding him treatos when he barks) and he ended up barking every time he sees treats…. *shakes head* Maybe we did something wrong with this method but we had to give up in the end and look for alternatives. This also shows that not everything you read on the Internet works.

Second Try – Obedience school

This was one of the methods that hoomum’s colleagues recommended. We then started our journey of researching for a good obedience school for Porkchop and enrolled in a 10 week obedience training course with a local renowned trainer. We learnt how to use leash correction and choke chain during the training and every negative behaviour revolved around pulling the choke chain in a sudden movement.

Practicing sit stay with the choke collar

So whenever Porkchop barked, we pulled the choke chain up and corrected him. It was pretty effective at the start since it was something new for him that he never encountered. The choke chain did provide some discomfort so he stopped when we corrected him and the barking became less frequent. We also worked on our heel work during school a lot and the training also helped to tackle the leash pulling problem that he had whenever he was out. (Yes he’s a boy with many behavioural issues. In our opinion this is not uncommon though)

Taken during one of our practices

Everything seemed pretty good until Porkchop started to get used to it. When he got used to the chokes, the barking came back. Not as bad as the beginning, but if we say we progressed significantly during the course, by the end of the course we felt like the progress had taken a huge step backwards.

Yepp, overall we still felt there was an improvement. We did reward him during this training time but to see our futile efforts going backwards instead of progressing made us feel quite disheartened. On top of that we had been diligently practicing his training every day after work for the whole time, even outside of classes so it was physically exhausting for us. Not to forget this was done when Porkchop was still a puppy. So the hyper energizer bunny became too much for us and we weren’t enjoying our time with him as much as we liked to.

#Protip: Obedience school is a good way to start and get your pets to learn good behaviour. However, make sure you do enough research (Google, talking to owners with similar breeds, forums etc) to decide on which school is right for your pet. each school uses different training methods which may or may not be suitable for the breed you have or the personality of your pet.

Third Try – E-collar training

Obedience school was lengthened due to the circuit breaker that happened halfway so by July we were super drained out. This was also the time where we started to follow tons of other cute local Corgos on Instagram and chanced upon our idols Lion and Bambi. We were amazed at how they were able to do down stay for a long time while their pawrents buy bubble tea or run errands somewhere nearby. Their heel was perfect and done off leash. It was like seeing our dream for Porkchop come true through them. We were amazed and didn’t know that pet dogs were capable of doing this.

After being wowed by their progress, we decided that we wanted to make our dream come true and contacted them for referral. We had a meeting with the trainer and got introduced to the e-collar for the first time. We got ourselves educated while we sent him off for a 2-week board and train programme. When we got him back, the results were impressive.

Previously, I would say we progressed 20% with the choke chain. With the e-collar training we had managed to progress to about 60-70%. While it’s still not perfect, we think that it is a much better tool to correct negative behaviour. It is easy to learn and the execution is much faster and immediate compared to leash correction. It is also much less reliant on the techniques and handling of the leash, which can vary drastically from owner to owner. We also used it to correct his barking and the situation has definitely improved. Of course, it’s still not perfect as training is a life long journey. But to see him improve tremendously these recent weeks has provided us with a great deal of motivation and satisfaction. Walks with him are now more enjoyable. Being able to stroll down the park with him right beside us without a leash and knowing that he won’t run away is the best feeling we have thus far.

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Importance Of Training Your Pet

Pet training can come in many different varieties—from basic toilet training, to complex tricks and skills that will make your furkid impress your family and relatives. Today we will be sharing some information on the importance of pet training.

Your pet can make more friends.

This is relevant to your ordinary pet influencer—be it a dog influencer or a cat influencer—or just an active, friendly furkid who is eager to expand its social circle. Bringing your pet outdoors, going to pet events, and even just bringing another furkid home (temporarily or permanently) requires your pet to be able to handle the unfamiliar situation of meeting new people and animals. If your pet have had adequate training in staying calm, non-aggressive and approachable when meeting new friends, it will be a delight to bring your pet out as not only will you find it enjoyable, your pet will feel the same way too. In contrast, fear or aggression towards strangers will give you little choice but to narrow your pet’s chances of meeting new furfriends.

 A well-trained pet means encountering less danger.

Training your pet to stay calm and close to your side is essential, but most pet owners might not realize it till its too late. Often, your pet might be very curious and sensitive to new situations and triggers, such as loud sounds or going to a new environment. Even your most well-trained pup may be tempted to follow a stranger home without you noticing sometimes! Thus, it is important to train your pet to stay by your side at all times, even if it’s just the basic “heel” trick that ensures that your pet walks at your pace, and stops when you stop on a walk. Your pet will know to follow your instructions, and will be prevented from encountering more danger outdoors.

 You will have an easygoing pal in the household!

Last but not least, a well-trained pet also means a much more comfortable experience at home. Your pet will be less prone to causing damage at home (broken and bitten furniture), and/or causing unnecessary distress to your family and neighbours. Remember that pet training comes in all aspects; even the basics, such as eating a meal properly and regularly will require some form of discipline and training for all pets!

While there are many different styles and forms of pet training, do remember that pet training should also not necessarily be tough and uncomfortable for your pet. It is important to seek advice from other pet owners and professionals, and if your pet seemed to be experiencing discomfort from the training, it is best to switch to other methods or even a different professional trainer. 

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5 Effective Tips to Train your Dog

@mydogsadventuressg

We know that training your fur kid on your own can sometimes be frustrating and difficult… As such, we want to change that for you and help you through the process. Recently, we have collaborated with a professional dog trainer, Darren Yew (@MyDogsAdventuressg) to share some dog training tips with our pawrents. He was aspired to become a dog trainer since young and finally got to pursue his dream career as a dog trainer!

The top five areas of concern that our pawjourr pawrents face with their fur kids are: Potty training, giving healthy praises and scoldings, conducting basic commands, dealing with aggressive behaviour and separation anxiety. Read on to find out what tips Darren has been using to tackle these issues.

  1. Tips on potty training: For a start, pawrents can begin toilet training their dog by ‘crating’ him or her up during their puppy stage. Gradually, expand the ‘crating’ area as their dog grows up. Once their dog becomes an adult, they may choose to forgo the crate as they have already mastered potty training.
  2. Tips on giving healthy praises and scoldings to pets: Pawrents should give praises only when their dog is obedient or calm. As for scoldings, simple ones like “Hey!” and “No!” will do. Forbid slamming things or shouting at them.
  3. Tips on how to conduct basic command trainings: Pawrents can give treats to their dog like kibbles or small size snacks. An advice that I would give is to start conducting basic command training at home instead of holding it outdoors – safety comes first nonetheless! This is to avoid distractions that will more likely occur outdoors from things like birds and cars etc. Of course, pawrents can transition to training their dog outdoors but only when their dog is more advanced.
  4. Tips to deal with aggressive behaviour: When pawrents think that their dog is aggressive, they are not. Rather, they may just exhibit emotions like fear, uncertainty and defensiveness. When pawrents are faced with such situations, they should observe their dog’s body language. If their dog expresses fear, then pawrents should refrain from approaching them until their dog is more comfortable like if their dog starts sniffing or displaying curious behaviour.
  5. Tips to help with pet’s separation anxiety: Pawrents with anxious dogs should start to build a comfort place for their dog to rest like a mat. Their dog should not be following them around the house but learning to stay put in their comfort place. If their dog keeps following their pawrents around the house, this means that the hooman has become their comfort place instead, which would lead to separation anxiety.

We hope that you have found what Darren shared to be useful. To Darren, dog training is a constant learning process because each dog is unique in terms of their temperament. What matters most is for pawrents to be patient and never give up.

These tips are based on my own experience. There is no right or wrong training method because there are many ways a dog can be trained. These tips that I am sharing happen to work for me, and I truly hope that they would work for you too!

– Darren