I Don't Want To Teach People How To Train Their Dogs

I have come to a very important realization recently. I want to train dogs. I DO NOT want to teach owners to train their dogs. I want to train dogs and teach owners maintain that training.

Not everyone is a good dog trainer. Dog training takes timing and coordination and a knowledge of dogs, dog training techniques, and ability to read dogs. Many people don't have that and there's nothing wrong with that.

We constantly denigrate owners who seemingly don't want to put in the effort to train their dogs. I think this is wrong. I also think that in many situations, teaching people to train their dogs is less than effective. We're teaching people a brand new skill and expecting them to apply it as they learn it. That makes no sense. I don't want my hair dresser teaching me to cut my hair. I want her to cut it and cut it well. I don't want my electrician teaching me how to fix my electrical problem, I want them to FIX it. So why is it so wrong to want a dog trainer to TRAIN the dog, not teach people to train their dogs?

Dog training is a skill and not everyone is good at it or has a lot of time to invest in it. People have busy schedules. They are frustrated by their dog's problem behavior and want it fixed and fixed quickly. In my experience, I can train a dog much more quickly, easily, and efficiently than the average owner. So why not train the dog to a level of proficiency and then teach owners to maintain that training? I personally believe everyone would be happier and less frustrated in that situation.

So that's what I plan on doing. Focusing on training dogs quickly and efficiently, utilizing my skill and knowledge as a dog trainer, and teaching owners to maintain that training

Dog Nail Trimming-Dremmel vs. Clippers

Nail trimming... The bane of many dog owners. With every dog I've owned, nail trimming has been a stressful experience. From my childhood German Shepherd Onyx, who would yelp and jerk her paw away with every single snip of the clippers, to my first service dog, a Rottweiler named Fawkes, who would tremble and shake and only allow me to clip a couple nails at a time before putting up such a fuss that I had to quit, to my current mobility service dog, a German Shepherd named Malcolm, who would yank his paws out of my hands when I even brought clippers close to his paws... Stress!

I've come to realize a few things. First, I truly believe that using most nail clippers on most dogs is actually painful. Most dogs, especially larger ones, usually develop an aversion to having their nails clipped. When I worked at veterinary clinics we had dogs come in that would have to be sedated every single time they needed their nails trimmed. That can't be healthy physically or emotionally. I remember practically having to sit on some dogs to try to restrain them for nail trims. Not good... I believe that this is because the mechanical action of the clippers causes pain, pure and simple. Couple that with getting their quicks nipped a few times (also painful, if not excruciating), and you've got a recipe for a nail trimming aversion.

With my chronic health issues, stress is a HUGE trigger for me. Trimming my dogs' nails became so stressful for the dogs AND me that I tended to avoid it. That's not healthy at all. Nails that are too long affect how a dog walks and moves and even affects the way they hold and move their legs. This can lead to joint stress and even injuries. With a working mobility dog, being in healthy physical shape is essential to working ability. I had to figure something out...

I decided to try using a dremmel to grind down my dogs' nails, instead of using clippers to clip them. The change was MIRACULOUS!!!! I went from a dog that would jerk his paws away and try to run away to a dog that literally rolled over in my lap and allowed me to dremmel his nails without complaint in TWO SESSIONS! I vowed NEVER to use nail clippers on him ever again. Not all dogs will be rehabbed so quickly, especially if they've had a lot of negative nail trimming experiences. But the results were so obvious that it made up my mind. I do my best to let my dogs tell me what they like and dislike. Obviously, some things just have to be done whether they like it or not. But I try to make those things as easy as possible.

I went from a dog trying to get away from me to a dog that actually ran up to me excited when he heard the dremmel turn on! Yes, I used treats to help reward him for calm behavior. But that's not what did it. I used treats with nail clippers for YEARS and my dogs NEVER came up to me when the nail clippers came out, EVER. And treats NEVER helped them get over their stress and fear with trimming with nail clippers. Now, Penny and Malcolm practically bicker over who gets to have their nails done so they can get the treats.

I think treats are important to this process, but technique is also very key. First, I realized that Malcolm was much more sensitive about his front paws. So I started with his back paws. I let him sniff the dremmel while it was off and rubbed the off dremmel on his paws. Lots of treats with that. Then I turned it on and lots of treats for listening to it while on and letting me touch the back end of the on dremmel to his paws so he could feel the vibration. I was able to start this so quickly because he was already quite comfortable with me handling his feet. If your dog isn't comfortable with even having their feet handled, start there first. Using positive reinforcement and even clicker training can help speed the process along. The process may go quickly or may take many sessions. Please try not to be discouraged. I truly believe that once the dogs realize that nail grinding with the dremmel won't hurt them they'll make a breakthrough and the process will go faster and easier.

Once he was ok with that I started with his nails. It is ESSENTIAL to NOT spend too much time on a single nail. Grinding makes the nails get hot, which can become quite painful. I started with the dremmel on low. I "tapped" each nail a few times, zip-zip-zip-zip on each nail and then moved to the next. I alternated which feet I was doing. I created a bit of a pattern to the "tapping" so he would learn what to expect. You're not really tapping. I'm just using that as a way to describe to just use maybe a one second touch of the grinder to the nail, a few times, and move to the next nail. It helps to hold each toe and nail firmly but gently so the nail doesn't slip around or vibrate too much.

Grinding too long on a nail will allow that heat to build up. I went over each toe and then to the other foot, then back to the first foot, then the second foot again. I never spent too much time on one toe or one foot. Part of that also helps make sure you're basically trimming each foot about equal to the other foot. You don't want the nails of opposite feet to be too different in length as this will create stress on the dog's movement.

At first I gave a treat after every single toe. This was to create a positive association with the grinding as well as reward him for not jerking his foot away. After he seemed fairly comfortable with the process I went to rewarding after a couple of toes and then once I finished an entire foot. I continue to alternate toes and paws so no one toe or paw gets too much attention at one time.

With his latest session I was able to use the grinder on high, instead of low, and the "trimming" went much faster. It is absolutely ESSENTIAL to only spend a short amount of time on each nail when you have the dremmel on high. The heat builds up MUCH faster. Some dogs may only ever be comfortable with the dremmel on low, and that's ok. Also, I'm using a cordless dremmel. Cordless dremmels rotate at a lower speed than corded dremmels. I would avoid using the high speed on a corded dremmel to do dog nails. The heat will build up way too quickly.

As I said before, the difference is absolutely astounding! Malcolm now gets excited and comes running up to me when I pick up the treat pouch and dremmel. He willingly lays down and lets me grind his nails without jerking his paws away. I still allow him to get up and take a break if he needs it so he can stretch and move around a bit. But he comes back willingly and lays down readily to finish the process. He even rolls over onto his back, practically in my lap, as I do his front paws. It's like night and day from the fight it used to be to try to use nail clippers.

I haven't mentioned Penny much in this post. Penny doesn't really have an issue with her nails. I'm able to use the clippers to trim them if they're a bit long, as well as use the dremmel to grind them back. As long as I have treats she'll let me do just about anything I need to with her. :-) Malcolm has been the one to have issues. Because of his size, his nails are MUCH larger and thicker than Penny's. I think that is a big contributor to his issues. Trimming his nails with clippers, I think, is just more painful, given the size of clippers and the thickness of his nails.

I highly advocate using a dremmel to trim your dog's nails, instead of nail clippers, especially if they have issues with getting their nails trimmed. It is a process to get them over a nail trimming aversion if they've developed it. But I've seen that it is absolutely possible to do so with using a dremmel instead of nail clippers. It's well worth the effort to try. It will be much less stressful for both you and your dog.

How does your dog do with nail trimming? Do you have any tricks to help with the nail trimming process? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Medical Alerts From My Service Dogs

I'm very lucky in that I have two current service dogs that perform medical alerts. They alert me to changes in my physical condition so I can take actions to try to mitigate those changes. This just happened a little while ago...

First medical alert, from Penny.

Penny exhibits a very specific behavior change with her medical alerts.

The second, and corresponding medical alert from Malcolm just a few minutes later, who also does balance and mobility assist.

Malcolm was trained to do a paw touch for his medical alerts.

So for all the doctors who say "it's just in your head" SCREW YOU!!! Tell that to my service dogs... They've NEVER been wrong.

What's amazing is that both dogs will consistently alert within a few minutes of each other. Sometimes Penny alerts first, sometimes Malcolm alerts first. But they both alert within a few minutes of each other. It still amazes me...

I'm so incredibly lucky because these two are my second and third service dogs, out of three total service dogs I've trained and handled for myself, that perform medical alerts. My first service dog (now passed away from old age and cancer) also performed medical alerts. I don't know how I got so lucky to have all three of my service dogs perform medical alerts. The medical alerts for me can't be trained, they had to start naturally. I'm not even sure what exactly they are picking up on that they're alerting to. This is unlike a diabetic alert dog, for example, who is trained to the actual physical scents of low and high blood sugar blood samples. So it's extra amazing that all three of my service dogs have done medical alerting for me.

My first service dog Fawkes and Malcolm have also both also clearly performed medical alerts for other people as well. That's also very awesome too!

Tracking weight loss in pets

I just had an idea. I'm not sure if anyone else has come up with it before. A friend of mine is having weight loss issues with her dog. The dog has been to the vet and is being checked for metabolic issues, though none are obvious from initial blood work. The vet prescribed a VERY low calorie prescription diet. I'm not going to get into my opinion on prescription diets here beyond saying that I generally think they are crap with crap ingredients and are way overpriced. Another friend brought up the issue of feeding too few calories and starvation mode, which I hadn't thought of before and is a very valid concern.

My friend has increased the dog's activity along with reduced calories and believes the dog looks fitter, but the dog has gained 5 lbs. It popped in my head that weight might not necessarily be the best measure. Muscle weighs more than fat, as we all know. I suggested using measurements to help gauge the weight loss as well. I've never heard of using measurements in pets before for tracking weight loss and fitness. It popped into my head from the little I know about humans and tracking weight loss and fitness. I suggested using a soft measuring tape to measure the top of the neck right behind the ears, the base of the neck, the girth, and the base of the abdomen by the hips and where the back legs start. Doing the measurements can't hurt and may give an indicator of fitness. I've just never heard of doing measurements for pets before. Might be a good idea...

Do any of you struggle with your pet's weight? What has been most helpful? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Coping with Chronic Illness-Creating Your Own Encouragement

Well, here's my first post about coping with chronic illness. For a while, I had been sunk deeply in depression and distorted thinking. In this post I'm going to talk about one of the things I used to help myself out of that deep rut. FYI, this is NOT a sales pitch. I'm just sharing a tool that I found helpful. You won't be asked to buy anything in this post.  :-)

Last year, I found out about some tools to help with goal setting and achievement. They were workbooks by Leonie Dawson. These workbooks, for your Life and for your Business, are quirky and encouraging resources to help you realize and accomplish your dreams and goals. I purchased them last year and didn't do very much with them. I decided when the 2016 editions came out that I would purchase them again and make a new and more positive start with 2016. I purchased the whole set that was offered, which was print and ebook versions of both the Life and Biz workbooks as well as a 2016 diary planner. I've worked with the workbooks and the planner and have gotten out of my rut and moved forward in a positive way.

Today I'm going to talk about how I used the Diary Planner. I didn't really think I'd use it very much because I mostly stay at home. Between chronic illness issues and my husband needing to take our only car to get him to work each day, I don't get out a ton. I decided to try to make some use of the Diary Planner since I had it. The planner has some EXCELLENT pages at the beginning and end of the month for setting goals for the month as well as examining the month at the end and seeing what you did and didn't accomplish as well as any lessons you learned. I've found these pages to be extremely helpful and valuable. They encourage me to set some goals. They also help me to evaluate my successes and failures for the month so I can hopefully do better in the future.

What I didn't expect was how helpful I'd find the daily pages. I got some ideas for different ways to use my planner from the Leonie Dawson Facebook group I joined. A big focus I've seen lately, from many sources, is setting your daily "To Do" list. I've tried doing this in the past and found it so discouraging! With my chronic illness symptoms varying from day to day, sometimes even hour to hour, I frequently didn't complete even a simple 3 item To Do list. This sunk me lower and lower... One of the ideas that I found was to write a list of EVERYTHING that you actually DID accomplish each day, kind of a reverse To Do list. That really struck me. A To Do list doesn't show all that you actually did get done. So I set my goal to write each day all the things I did at home. I also decided to keep a simplified symptom tracking in the planner each day also.

I was absolutely STUNNED to see how many things I actually did do on most days!!! Yes, they were basic things like feeding all the critters, making meals for myself, showering, etc. But there were days that I nearly filled the entire day's space in the planner listing out all the things I actually did. I found this SO encouraging!! Slowly, I stopped feeling so useless. It really showed me how much I truly was accomplishing each day. As a person with chronic illness, dealing with stress and frustration from not being able to work right now and feelings of uselessness, this was amazing to me. I hadn't actually realized just how much I really was doing.

Yes, it was "just" stuff around the house. But I realized that I was no longer needing to take an hours long nap every afternoon, or even all that frequently anymore. I realized that I was helping my husband prepare dinner many nights. I was doing laundry on an almost daily basis. I was rarely having to spend the evening resting alone in bed anymore, but was able to spend most evenings eating dinner and spending time with my husband. And more! I looked at all this and compared it to just a couple of years ago when I was practically bedbound and realized just how much different and better things are now!

I realized that on days when I wasn't able to do much, there was usually a very "legitimate" reason for that. Maybe I had a migraine that day or the day prior, or a big weather change was coming through which always messes me up physically, or maybe I'd done an outing the day before and needed to rest and recover the next day. I realized that recovering from events and outings was no longer as debilitating as it had been in the past. Now, I was MAYBE spending the following day in bed, if that, and while the next few days may be lower key, I was generally no longer having to spend up to a week resting in bed, fairly non-functional, after an outing or event. That is a HUGE improvement from even just a year ago!

What worked best for me was committing to writing my "Got Done" list every day. It wouldn't give me an accurate picture if I only wrote it once in a while. Daily for a month is a good starting goal. I set my goal for writing daily, but considered it a success if I wrote 6 out of 7 days in a week. This wasn't supposed to increase my stress, so I allowed for the occasional "off" day. I've actually been doing this since January 1st. :-) Find the best time of day that you'll likely be able to do this consistently. For me, that was right before bed. I do recommend writing for the same day. I found that if I tried to remember and write what I did the day before I usually forgot stuff. But I still did it even if it was the next day. Something was better than nothing...

I also kept a simplified symptom tracking in there also. Nothing too complicated, just my primary symptoms, what the barometric pressure did that day (a fairly major trigger for me) and any major contributing issues or factors (like a migraine or eating a new food that might cause an issue, etc).

When you're living with chronic illness, it can be really hard to see the forest for the trees. So often we understandably get bogged down in the negatives, the difficulties. While having a pity party once in a while isn't a bad thing and can even be helpful, only seeing the negatives can be really detrimental to both our mental AND physical health. Both are interconnected and influence each other. It can be so hard for us to see the small improvements, the little victories and successes. These are SO important though. So please find the tools that work for you to help you see the positive whenever you can. That may be finding and using various coping skills and methods. It may be talk therapy. It may be journaling. Whatever it is, please seek out, find, AND use (because they don't do any good if you aren't USING them) beneficial and positive coping techniques to help you as you deal with chronic illness.

What coping skills and methods have you found most helpful? What's your recent improvement, victory, or success? Please feel free to share in the comments!



http://leoniedawson.com/

I guess I'm starting early with this...

I guess I'm starting early with my passion and being outspoken. This is why I started a personal blog...

As a service dog handler, I don't believe people should have pets in non-pet friendly places. As a service dog handler and a dog trainer, I don't believe people should have reactive and aggressive dogs out in public places unmuzzled, putting people, children, and other animals at risk. I am being told this hardline stance isn't realistic or compassionate.

Why is my saying people should follow the law and not bring pets into stores where the law forbids them not compassionate? Why is my stance that people not bring reactive and aggressive dogs to public places where doing so puts other at risk of injury and harm not compassionate? Why is it wrong for me to expect people to follow the law and not endanger others by bringing untrained, reactive, and aggressive dogs to public places where they put people, children, and other animals at risk for injury? I don't think those things are unreasonable.

I don't really give a shit about your convenience or your special circumstances or any other reason you think you should be allowed to do so. Your untrained pet doesn't belong in non-pet friendly places, especially places the law specifically forbids them to be (like establishments that sell food). Your reactive and aggressive dog doesn't belong in public places, especially non-pet friendly places (especially unmuzzled), putting people, children, and other animals at risk.

Me saying this doesn't mean I don't have compassion. It means I DO have compassion for those who would be most likely to be affected by your entitlement of bringing your dog where it doesn't belong, people and animals who will be put at risk by your dog's dangerous and/or out of control behavior.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to A Chronic Life with Pets. My name is Renee. In this blog I'll be talking about chronic illness (daily life and coping with with chronic illness and disability) and pets. Animals are my passion. Before chronic illness changed my life, I had planned on being a veterinarian. I went to college and got a degree in Biology. Chronic illness made attending veterinary school physically impossible for me. Instead, I pursued working as a veterinary technician/assistant and then went on to being a dog trainer.

During my sophomore year of high school I came down with a case of mono that changed my life. I've struggled with health issues since then. Currently, I'm diagnosed with Chronic Epstein-Barr Virus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) which has been recently renamed Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID), endometriosis/ adenomyosis, and a whole bunch of food allergies and intolerances. I meet the diagnostic criteria for Postural Orthostatic Intolerance Syndrome (POTS), a form of dysautonomia, which is a dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system that controls the automatic functions of your body, but I haven't yet been diagnosed. I'll soon be pursuing specialty care to work on getting a diagnosis for that or whatever this dysregulation might be. I also have allergy issues and possibly Sjogren's, which I'll soon be seeing a rheumatologist to try to figure out.

Through it all, I've never stopped loving animals. My chronic illness issues led me to discover the world of service dogs, dogs specially trained to perform tasks or work that mitigates a person's disability. I'm currently assisted by two owner-trained service dogs, meaning I trained the dogs myself to assist me. Malcolm, a German Shepherd, is trained to assist me with balance and mobility. He accompanies me when I go out in public and works at home. His main tasks are momentum pull, counter-balance, retrieves, and medical alert. My other service dog, Penny, a Cattle Dog/Basenji (best guess as she was a shelter dog found as a stray), is a medical alert dog who works in my home. I'll talk more about those tasks and a wide variety of service dog issues in future posts.

Malcolm (German Shepherd) and Penny (Cattle Dog/Basenji)

My husband Paul and I also currently share our lives with two cats, Kevin and Sully. We adopted Sully from a shelter when we lived in North Carolina. Kevin came to us as a stray shortly after our cat Mike passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. Kevin basically adopted us. :-)

Kevin (orange tabby in the bucket) and Sully (brown tabby and white cat) stalking and birdwatching. Kevin's favorite spot to birdwatch and stalk is in the bucket.

I also have a passion for guppies. I'm currently breeding wild type guppies (commonly seen as feeder guppies) and some wild type/fancy cross guppies. I'll be posting updates about Renee's Guppy Grotto (as I affectionately call my 3 guppy tanks) here too.

I'll be posting about living with chronic illness and a wide variety of pet and animal related topics. I hope you'll join me!