Jake the Lab: Still here!

Well, my last post about Jakey tore at many heart strings, of course mine the most as I was under the impression at the time that I only had days or weeks with him.  That was at the beginning of December and here we are almost 2 months into 2011.  I took the photo of Trevor, Jake and Noah today (Sunday, January 23rd) as they so politely lined up for me in my bedroom doorway and posed for a photo (thanks boys!)

Jake is still around.  Don't get me wrong, he's 15 pounds underweight and looks just awful but we have some hopeful things going on right now. . . 

At the time I had left the vet's office that day, Friday, December 3rd, (which was an internal medicine doctor whom I was referred to by my regular vet) I was a total wreck. I cried all the way home and for about 2 days after that.  I just accepted that he was on his way out even though I didn't want him to go.  I would sit on the end of our bed, sobbing, and just think -- I'm not ready, what am I going to do without this dog?  He's been so great, he's helped me with a lot of my training, he's helped a lot of aggressive dogs and most of all he's been the best pet anyone could ask for.  

But one day after Christmas I was looking at him and it dawned on me that this guy really had beat some odds already and there had to be someone out there that could find out why he's dropping weight like crazy and not showing any classic symptoms to anything that we have been treating him for.  So, first I turned to my now friend and very trusted surgeon that had done 2 of his 3 surgeries and asked her if there something someone could do?  She suggested that I contact my regular vet and discuss and we could put our heads together.  I also thought to myself -- Maybe I can get a babysitter for a few days and drive down to Texas A&M and see what the vet school could do for us.  I even got my calendar out and tried to see where and when I could do that.  I would make it work if I had to but my calendar wasn't cooperating with me.  So I waited to hear from my vet.  She called and we decided on a few new things to try and she also said she was going to try to get a hold of a remarkable GI specialist, one of the best in the country, at Texas A&M.  I was so excited about that and realized I was in fact on the right track there!

I had been doing online searches and of course all I could find were diseases that fit him except for one thing--they all had the symptoms of chronic diarrhea.  He never has had that.  Vets have been a little confused by it too because he has had so many GI problems they are amazed that he's got normal bowel movements.  But nonetheless I wanted to try to treat him for a disease known as EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency).  Basically the dogs pancreas doesn't produce enough enzymes to properly digest and breakdown food so they are starving all the time and eating normally (so is Jake!), losing weight dramatically despite a healthy appetite (so is Jake!) and have horrible diarrhea (hmm, not Jake).  I asked my vet if it would hurt at this point to try to treat him for it.  She said no and said she'd order the pancreatic enzymes to add to his food and see what we could do.

Then I got an email about 10 days ago from Jake's wonderful surgeon that she had received an email from the vet down in Aggieland and he suggested we try him on some aggressive antibiotics and see if he has some bacterial overgrowth in his intestines.  This could mean he has yet another disease I also stumbled upon in my research known as SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth).  There have been no diagnoses, we are just treating things as last resorts to try and get this guy figured out! 

We just started him on these antibiotics last week and he's been on the pancreatic enzymes for 10 days.  

Today I weighed him and for the first time he's either the same weight or has gained a pound. I can't be certain as I weighed him on a human scale by weighing myself and then holding him and weighing us together and then doing the math.  My calculations showed he gained a pound. I had my husband do it and his calculations showed him as the same weight he was last week, a sad 51-lbs.  But either way it's the first time he hasn't dropped weight in 2 weeks!  I took this as promising and I'm looking on the bright side right now.

Jake acts completely normal aside from how he looks.  So I'm hopeful that he'll gain weight back and live on with us until it's truly time for him to go . . .

I took these pics and video of Jake tonight chewing on a bone.  You can see how happy he is., so happy in fact he is completely ignoring me because he loves that bone so much! It's a little startling to see how skinny he is for anyone who saw Jake before.  

Tricks Contest!

Hope you all read my newsletter . . . I haven't' received any entries for my contest so I'm hoping you all are working so hard that you haven't' sent them in yet!  Here are the details for anyone who forgot or maybe didn't get them.  Better hurry, only 12 days left!

To get you going on our Train Your Dog Month we want to offer a contest!  Train your dog to do 2 new & fun tricks & show us how you did it to be entered to win a nice prize (it's a surprise)!

Rules & Details

1) You must only submit 2 different tricks your dog doesn't know already.  Video you starting & finishing the training successfully.  We need to see how you trained each trick & your dog completing each of them successfully.

2) Tricks can be anything that is outside of normal obedience.  Normal obedience is defined (by us anyway) sit, lie down, stay, walk on a loose leash, leave it, wait, come when called. Do not show us any obedience as a trick, we will not use them in our judging.

3) Your dog can be any age, any breed.

4) Submit your video by email or upload to YouTube & send us the link no later than 5pm, Monday, January 31, 2011.  Give us your full name, address, email, dog's name & breed.  All of these things must be included in each submission.

5) Submit all entries to: stacy@aictdfw.com

Examples of Tricks

Here is a list of tricks that you can teach your dog, of course you can be creative & think of another.  This list is just for suggestions.  Tricks can be endless.  Tricks can also be simple or complex.  Use your imagination!

• Shake
• High-Five
• Rollover
• Play Dead
• Back up
• Spin
• Left Paw, Right Paw
• Bow
• Crawl
• Put toys away (drop toys in a bucket)
• Jump thru hoop
• Jump over hurdle
• Get on an object (folding chair, bucket, etc.)

Whoo-hoo & Other News . . .

For those of you who aren't aware . . . I won 2nd place out of 28 nominees in the WFAA's A-list BEST Training category for 2010--thanks to all who voted and supported me!  I'm really are proud, can't complain at 2nd place!

Also, I'm excited to share that I'm  giving Adventures in Canine Training a major make-over--new logo and soon new website (done professionally instead of a "this'll do" by me).  These things are a bit pricey so one step at a time but the logo has been in the works for months, probably since September.  I just got the completed logo (that I truly loved) after going through 2 graphic designers and 2 illustrators.  I ended up using the illustrator who did my current logo. 

I have been asked why I'm changing the logo because the current one is very liked by many.  I just want to make something new as I'm trying a lot of new things this year for my business and I'm back to being all alone  in my ventures, as Misty has moved to Austin and has a full-time job there.  Michelle was one of my other independent contractors but she has several jobs and is a busy lady, so training has taken a back seat for her as she pursues ventures that she loves more dearly.  

The new logo portrays one of my own dogs, Noah, my Border Collie/Australian Shepherd.  He's a handsome guy and the illustrator felt he'd be great for a logo dog with his coat of many colors and his glowing personality.  I also wanted to stay along the lines of my business name, and really utilize the "adventures" part.  This is why we came up with an all new adventurous logo . . . Noah in a cape!  Let the adventures begin!  I'm playing with slogans but came up with . . . "Every dog is a superhero . . . you just have to find what makes his cape fly!"  We'll see . . .
Here is a picture of Noah that looks a lot like the logo.

So, stay tuned for new adventures, fun things & great dog training from Adventures in Canine Training . . .

Canine New Year's Resolutions.

We all know that we make new year's resolutions for ourselves, but do you ever include your dog in those resolutions?  I included my dogs in 2 of my 5 resolutions--more exercise and more training for them.  See, even a dog trainer needs to do more with their dogs!  Which brings me to those that aren't dog trainers . . . .

Many people assume that if they have trained their dog to respond to a cue (sit, down, stay, etc.) then they are done.  Dog is trained.  Check that off the list.  Don't be too hasty.  As my mentor trainer always said, usually in a group of dog owners, "Can someone tell me when you know you can stop training your dog?"  Everyone would be silent, trying to think hard for the right answer.  The answer was always, "Never.  You are never finished training your dog."  Training is an on-going process even with those seemingly simple cues.  Why do you think dog trainers dogs respond (or so I hope they do) so reliably to these simple cues?  It's because they use them daily.  I know in my dog's daily routine they have to sit for food, wait to go out the back door and sit for greetings.  Those are a few of the common rituals we have. 

Pick up a new skill.  If your dog is pretty good at basic obedience and you want to expand his vocabulary and skill set then join a tricks class or start agility with your dog.  These types of things are great for mental stimulation and maintaining great skills and the human-canine bond.  You can also try our "About Town" group class that takes the basics out to the streets and trains humans and their dogs to work through real-life situations politely.

Exercise your dog appropriately.  While one certain TV dog trainer brought more dog owners to the realization that they weren't exercising their dogs enough, he didn't mention that exercise alone wouldn't solve your dog's problems.  This is why I recommend exercise that is both physically and mentally stimulating.  If you are walking your dog for hours on end but he's still "everywhere" then you haven't been balancing mental exercise and physical exercise enough.  You can cause your dog to run off of adrenaline if you just exercise, exercise, exercise and do not provide productive and appropriate forms of mental stimulation.  I have several programs that address this issue and we can easily help you with this!  Our all new Outdoor Adventures is particularly great for this!

Feed your dog a well-balanced and healthy diet, it makes a difference.  For those of you who have worked with me you know how big I am on diet.  Diet can be the cause of many problems both physically and mentally, just like humans.  However, dogs aren't humans so there are many things that they shouldn't have.  For example, dogs have no need for carbohydrates and grains.  They should have a diet very high in protein, namely good sources of meats and fish. A great resource for diet and specific diets for ailments, such as constant allergies and even kidney issues, is "Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs" by Lew Olson, PhD in Animal Nutrition.

Having a dog isn't for someone who doesn't want to put work and effort into it.  In order to maintain your dog's health both mentally and physically you have to put some elbow grease into it.  It can be tiring at times and even frustrating, but when you train and raise a dog properly the rewards are tremendous for us humans!  I couldn't imagine life without a dog!

Happy New Year . . . and keep your dog's busy.  Let me know how I can help.  We will start offering group classes again in late February/early March.

National Train Your Dog Month: January

Alright here it is!  The APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers), of which I am a member of, is hosting the 2nd National Train Your Dog Month for January.  They are offering several contests for anyone who owns a dog.  If you need a reason to get off your butt and train your dog, use this one!  Great contests for everyone.  Check out their website: trainyourdogmonth.com to get all the details!

Do you need help achieving your goal for one of these contests?  Well, looks like you may know the right person!  Give me a shout.

Stay tuned with our newsletter for upcoming details and more on the great month of January!

Oops-a-daisy!

I find it very interesting what child rearing books I read that relate so much to my dog training.  I've been training dogs much longer than I have been raising a kid, so it all comes full circle at times.  It also inspires me to write my blog posts for my lovely followers.

I think potty training is one of the issues with dogs that I find to be so incredibly simple yet so many people have unreliably trained dogs in this area.  My daughter is 2 years old and I sat down and read a whole potty book yesterday to find out how to potty train a human being.  Interesting, sounds just like a puppy!

As I read the short booklet I sat it down and thought to myself--the fact is that people are lazy.  A dog that potties on the floor after 6 months of age without telling you he has to go out is not potty trained.  He also should be completely potty trained.  Please keep in mind this entire article is only referring to dogs that are healthy and have no medical reasons to have poor potty habits.  If your dog has been cleared of medical reasons for not potty training there should be no reason that your dog isn't fully trained at 6 months of age.  (I highly recommend a full urinalysis or urine culture done by a veterinarian if your dog is older than 6 months and is not potty trained.) 

To be quite honest, the majority of dogs can be fully potty trained by 16-20 weeks of age.  There are a few breeds that potty train quickly and others that take some real dedication.  Great Danes and other giant breeds tend to potty train in about a week.  I thought this was just ludicrous until I got my Great Dane.  He was sitting by the door reliably at 10 weeks of age.  He took me a week, it was crazy.  I had read that on all of the Great Dane websites but really didn't believe it until it happened to me.  On the other hand, some giant dogs such as the Bernese Mountain dogs and Greater Swiss Mountain dogs take a lot of time and patience to potty train.  Also, some terriers take longer.  Jack Russell Terriers can take quite some time and patience.  But hey, if you own a Jack Russell you should be chock full of time and patience for everything, not just potty training, or forget having that breed altogether!  But, still, if you are really consistent and follow all the right steps even those harder breeds should be potty trained reliably rather quickly.

The bottom line for successful potty training is dedication, time and patience.  The ideal way is to get a puppy during a stay-cation (vacation but you are at home) or if you can take about one week off of work to dedicate your days to potty training your puppy.  I know this isn't possible for everyone, and you can obviously still get it done properly without doing that.  However, this is a great way to jump start great potty habits with a new puppy.

Just like my toddler's potty book says, you have to also do this with a puppy to ensure success--don't let them out of your sight until it's safe.  Take them to the potty often to prevent accidents and be sure that each elimination is done in the appropriate location.  Praise heavily, but appropriately, for each elimination in the appropriate location.  Verbal praises work out great.  I don't even recommend using food for this for a reward, just a sincere obvious verbal joy and praise.  If you use rewards such as food, use the lowest value that your puppy will accept and still pair it with verbal praise and petting.

If you can't watch your puppy put him in his crate where he is quite unlikely to eliminate.  If he's eliminating in the crate first ask yourself if you are taking him out often enough?  Was he able to empty out before going into the crate?  Was in there too long?  Was there soft substrate (blankets, towels, bed or even a stuffed toy) that could absorb elimination so that puppy doesn't have to lie directly in it?

When your puppy is having accidents in the house the most common problem is that he wasn't supervised properly.  You cannot let your puppy out of your sight.  Young puppies should go out every 30-60 minutes, increasing the time by 15-20 minutes per week until he's more reliable for longer periods.

Potty training a dog is easy, it just takes you being able to put down your iPhone and pay attention.  Be consistent.  Don't let too much time lapse between breaks.  And don't feel bad about placing the puppy in a crate if you cannot watch him constantly while he's got free-run of the room (I say room because no puppy should ever have free-run of the house!)

If you have a puppy that needs help with potty training let me know.  If you have an adult dog that is having potty issues first go for a full blood panel and urine culture at your veterinarian's office, then call me and we can discuss ways to start teaching your dog the proper elimination areas.

New Year's Resolution #17: Potty train the dog--Check 
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