The Gift Dog (by Bonnie Tetlock)

Sometimes people give dogs as gifts. Christmas and birthdays, etc., are the perfect time of year for this article. Even though giving dogs as gifts has worked for some, it seldom meets with success. The ideal way, if you want to give a pet is a "gift" is of course to let the recipient choose it. But this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes the person doesn’t want a dog at all, other times the dog is the wrong breed, or the wrong match for the person or family.

If you are the recipient of a "gift dog" and don’t want it, no matter how adorable, the very best thing would be to be very honest and tell the gift giver that right away. However, you are already involved, whether you like it or not. The gift giver has done this to you. Perfect, if that person could understand and take the dog and love it instead, but is it a perfect world? Will they? Can they? Where did they get the animal? They already did the wrong thing by giving the dog to you. Will they make the write choice for the dog when you hand it back to them. This is an important question to ask. Pet store - will they take it back, and yes or no, what then for the dog. What if the breeder doesn’t take it back. Good breeders should take puppies back, and generally don’t sell gift dogs, but some "breeders" sell dogs as gifts and don’t take them back. Some "breeders" disappear without a trace after Christmas. Do you want your "gift dog" to leave your arms, and end up in a terrible situation. Back to the store, back to the breeder, back to the pound. Yes, like it or not, you’re involved. Maybe you are the dog’s gift. Think about it.

You have to ask yourself, can I keep this dog, can I deal with this dog? If the best person right now is you, whether you keep the dog forever, or find a home at some point yourself, basic training will help your relationship with the dog, and if you place it, the next person’s relationship with the dog. The dog’s eventual success in life and how it interacts with other people and animals can be shaped by you starting now.

If the dog is under 12 weeks, the first lessons will be crate & potty training. This is very important and must be emphasized. In conjunction with these early lessons you will need to do some reading, especially if you have never owned a dog before. At this point, find a trainer/puppy kindergarten class that you can start at the appropriate time. Basic good manners and walking on lead will take up most of these early lessons. Keep at it. You can do it.

Crate Training

A crate is the best thing you can buy for your dog. The sooner the better. The crate should be big enough for the pup to stand, turn around, and stretch a bit when lying down. If it is too big, the extra room in the crate can cause crate soiling and defeat the purposes of training. If you have a tiny or small dog, the crate you buy now should be sufficient for it as an adult. If your pup will grow up to be an average sized animal (35-50 pounds) a medium crate or #300 will be sufficient, and you can buy this size now for a relatively young pup, and block part of it off with a box, so it doesn’t have an area to soil. If your dog is a giant breed you could try buying a huge crate and blocking part off now, but you may expect to need a different crate later. If your dog is a random bred dog, eventual size may be impossible to determine, and you may buy one that is too big or too small. Remember, you can always sell your crate if the wrong size. You won’t make a profit, but people do want them, and you will be helping a dog.

Dogs actually like the privacy of their crates. Crating your dog isn’t cruelty, unless they are crated for a huge amount of time, or its cold, or whatever, but you won’t do this will you? As an aid to potty training, the theory is that a dog will not soil its bed, and if the crate is the appropriate size and you use an appropriate schedule for the puppy, this works perfectly.

To crate train your, start with small amounts of time. Everything in a puppies life is small amounts of time. Short play time, short potty endurance, short attention span, and....short sleep time, then it all starts again. Let your puppy potty first, and play with it a bit. Then put it in its crate to sleep. As soon as the puppy wakes, take it out of the crate to potty right away, praise, and play. The crate is never for reprimand. The puppy is placed in the crate after loves and positive experiences. I don’t think we like to go to sleep with someone mad at us.

Here is a list of the reasons to have a crate. This has been adapted from a list of reasons to have a crate by Chris Walkowicz, veterinarian and writer.

1. Aids in housebreaking.

2. Protects your house from damage.

3. Protects your puppy from danger.

4. Perfect for post-surgery recovery.

5. Feeding is easier with a crate, especially if you have other dogs.

6. A get away den for your dog when you have company.

7. A great end table. Yes,only in a dog owner’s house.

8. Post bath drying.

9. Safety in car for the dog. Dog cannot be thrown about on a short stop or collision.

10. Safety for you. Dog will not climb on your lap or bump you while your are driving.

11. You can roll the car windows down for the dog in a crate in warm weather.

12. Increased acceptance of you and your dog when a guest at a friend’s or a motel.

13. Prevents accidental escape from car or house.

14. Separates dogs who dislike each other, or separates dogs while eating.

15. Separates males and females while "she" is in season.

16. Allows dog to be shipped easily - already used to crate.

17. Convenience for you while at a dog show or other pubic event with your dog.

18. Can use crate top for a grooming table.

19. Keeping two perfectly groomed dogs "perfect" until they play with each other.

20. A teaching experience for other dog owners.

21. A hors d’oeuvre table at parties (party for dog people).

22. Protects your dog from rambuctious children, and protects the children.

23. Allows breeders or dog handlers to stack dogs more than one deep.

24. Fun for grandchildren to play in.

25. Sleeping quarters for your dog, and your bed to yourself.

26. Perfect for storing things when you don’t have a dog.

27. Perfect "mud room" for dogs after a wet walk or play session.

28. Separates two dogs at mealtimes so the "fat one" doesn’t get it all.

29. Confines a boisterous dog so you can have some peace.

30. Confines a dog when someone visits.

31. Easily cleaned.

32. Keeps dog confined when you go out.

33. Security blanket for dog.

34. Prevents formation of bad habits.

35. Comfy place for dog when dog (or you) are not well.

36. Dog can be in centre of things without being underfoot.

37. Reasonable cost when comparing with replacing carpet or furniture.

38. Resale value, but once you have it you won’t want to sell it.

39. The come in assorted sizes, just like dogs.

Reason not to have a crate - you don’t have a dog

Early Collar and Lead Training

The collar is the first thing to get the dog used to. Buy a canvas or leather collar. The canvas or fabric collars do come in adustable forms, cutting down the number of collars you have to buy for a growing dog. Let the pup sniff the collar, but not take it from, then place it loosely around the dog’s neck, praising all the while. If the dog will accept it right away do it up. Size the collar so that 2 fingers can fit easily between the dog’s neck and the collar. If the dog is hard to convince, try to introduce the collar over several, short sessions. If the puppy scratches the collar, do take it off, check the collar to make sure there is no irritating parts to it, and make the periods of wearing it shorter. If you do not do this, the dog may develop a bad lifelong habit of scratching at its collar.

After the collar is accepted it is time to introduce the lead. Again let the puppy sniff it, then do it up to the collar. Let the pup drag it in an open area in your home so that it doesn’t become tangled anywhere. Pick up the end and call the dog to you praising each time. This is an early lesson in coming when called, but also introduces the lead as a pleasant thing, and indicates to the dog, the lead means close to you.

Walk the dog around talking to it. Use a small treat if necessary to get the dogs attention. Make each lesson short and pleasant. Gradually, work up to taking the dog out in the yard, keeping its attention. Do not take the puppy outside the yard until you have several short lessons that have been successful in maintenance of attention. If you take the dog out of the yard too soon, forging and pulling can result.

Some dogs, and some breeds take longer to lead train than others. You have to think of the breed or breeds that make up your dog. Some dogs were meant for scent work, and they will need more training on attention. Others are dogs that are meant to pull things, and same thing, more time. Understanding what the dog was originally meant to do, will help make you a more patient, understanding trainer.

With all lessons for your dog, skip a lesson if you are not in an understanding mood or in a bad mood, or not feeling well. It is much harder to undo a bad experience you gave your puppy, than to miss a lesson and wait for a more congenial time. They do forgive well, but you can create a training challenge by not thinking about it first.

Barking

Some dogs are just simply more vocal than others. Don’t underestimate your dog’s size and the size of its bark. A barking dog, even a small one with a shrill bark, can upset neighbors, and you. Also, inappropriate barking is like "crying wolf". The dog that barks all the time does not alert its owner or the neighbors to a problem (such as a household break in). The constantly barking dog has already reached a saturation point, and tells us nothing, other than that it needed help a long time ago.

Crate training does help barking training too. The command "quiet" is can be more important than the word, "no" quite often. Stop the dog before it escalates and is so excited it cannot hear anything. Divert the attention with a trip outside for potty, praise, and then play and then praise. Once again, understand your dog’s heritage, and why some bark more than others. It is a warning signal. Either the dog has been left alone to long, in its crate to long, it has to go out. Sometimes it just has a lot to say.

Be consistent with the word used. Quiet is the most polite. Say the word then do something about it. It takes a while. But with patience and consistency, periods of barking will be less and less.

What To Do About Nipping

Puppies certainly nip for an innocent reason. Nipping is how they play with their litter mates. A puppy that spends enough time with his littermates (doesn’t go to his new home until at least 8 weeks of age) learns how his nipping feels, and the pups correct each other naturally. The dam also corrects a severely nippy pup. A pup that is placed too early hasn’t had enough socialization with his peers, and may nip you excessively.

But they all do the nippies. Once again you have to be consistent and use the words "no biting" or whatever words you choose. The key is consistent, and stop the pup each time. Divert his attention by playing with a toy or ball, and praise if the toy or ball eliminates the nipping. You need to choose an actual toy that does not resemble any piece of clothing etc. I had a friend who used the leg of a pair of jeans as a nipping reducer, and guess what, the dog attached its mouth to anyone wearing jeans, and it was hard to train it out of this. They did eventually, but it took a lot of de-conditioning to do it.

You must start anti-nip training right away. Your puppy grows in leaps and bounds and those little needle-like teeth that get stuck in your socks at the ankles will start to be replaced with permanent teeth at about 4 months, and the jaw will get stronger and stronger.

Remember That Gift Dog? - When Keeping Your Dog Doesn’t Seem Possible

The idea for this article came from a similar one in the Basset Hound Club Of Greater Seattle Newsletter. They adapted it from one originally written by Sue Sternberg, Rondout Valley Kennels. It has been further refined for the Basset Hound Club Of BC Rescue Program, and reproduced here with permission.

It is a huge decision to give away your pet, no matter how long or brief the period of time of ownership. It may be because of a change in family dynamics or a move to a different residence. Remember, for whatever reason you no longer want your pet, YOU are the person in this world who loves your pet more than anyone else, and YOU no longer want your pet! First ask yourself if there is anything about your pet behaviorally or personality-wise that could be worked on in order for you to keep him. It is exceedingly difficult to find good, permanent homes for adolescent or adult animals (as you are finding out first hand). There are a few things you need to do to be responsible and caring until the last possible moment:

Take your pet to the veterinarian for a check-up, vaccinations, and, most importantly --spaying/neutering. if you were thinking that your pet might make a good breeding animal -- STOP -- why breed from an animal that no-one wants anymore? Why make more unwanted animals in a world where even great pets don’t remain very long in their first home? You want someone to adopt your pet as a COMPANION, not just because it might make a good or profitable breeding animal. You are much more apt to find a responsible, permanent home by placing an already sterilized pet. Get it done, it’s the least you can do, and the best thing you can do.

Spaying and neutering also reduces the risk your pet will run away from it’s next home, and helps to insure that your pet won’t urine mark his new home and this become quickly unwanted -- again!

If your pet is already spayed or neutered, and has not bitten anyone, try to find a new home for your pet through advertising. Place a classified ad in your local newspaper, and screen any callers carefully. Be completely honest about all your pet’s behaviors -- good and bad. No pet is perfect, and people are more likely to adopt a pet they know about, for better or worse. When screening callers, tell every caller that someone has already come to look at your pet, but you are still taking names and numbers and references, in case, so you can call them back. This gives you an instant "out" if you think the caller is not right for your pet, and hurts no one’s feelings.

Take a few good, colour photos and make some posters. Include your pet’s name (it personalizes him....) and include his best traits, his most endearing qualities, and some guidelines for the best possible home: i.e., no small kids, or kids ok, someone who’s home a lot, no other pets, high energy, good for experienced dog owner, etc.

Be careful in choosing the animal shelter, even if it is your last resort. You have to try very hard yourself first. Visit the kennels, meet the staff, familiarize yourself with the shelter’s policies. A "No Kill" policy might look good at first, but isn’t realistic either, and not if your dog will end up living out his life in the kennels. Dogs can deteriorate emotionally and mentally very quickly in a shelter, even a good shelter, and no dog should suffer that kind of stress endlessly, month after month, living in a concrete kennel run, hoping for that magical, perfect home. Don’t just drop the dog off and hand it over, and not think about it again. Someone has to think about it, even if it isn’t you. And your dog might be very hard, if not impossible to place.

If your pet is aggressive, or has nipped or bitten someone, EVER, then please get a professional behavioral evaluation before giving away your pet. Check with area and local laws, too, about liability in re-homing a pet with prior knowledge of aggression. Do not try to find a new home for an aggressive animal without professional help.

If your pet has a behavior problem, he’ll take it with him to the next home. Many problems are workable, or at least manageable, especially if you have been truthful about them. Contact a trainer or behavior counselor and see if it’s not possible to work things out so you can keep your pet or to help the next person.

Many dogs that have not had a good start in life have problems. Just think, a series of homes, a series of people giving up, a dog getting worse and worse each time.

Think about it. Spay and neuter your pet. Train your pet. Its worth it, if not for you, for someone else and for the dog.