Exercising Your Dog

This is an important topic that alot of people have no idea about, but is very crucial when it comes to exercising their dog. Most of us will take our dog out to the local dog park or school field and whip out the Chuck It, a frisbee or your dogs favorite toy and throw it over and over again until your dog is tired and you go back home with a pooped puppy.

Why is this the wrong way to exercise your dog? Think of it as if you were your dog. You woke up, ate, then just started running for 20 mins - 1 hour then stopped, had some water and went to sleep. Your muscles would cramp up and be more susceptible to strains. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with throwing a ball for your dog, but make sure you are taking care of your dogs body.

A great exercise regime that is nice and easy and guaranteed to get your 

dog sufficient amount of exercise is:

Lets say you have 1 hour to take your dog out and you've chose a ball for exercise.

• 10 minute walk to start on leash, start getting your dogs heart rate up slowly.
• Let your dog off leash and let him jog around the field or park for 5 minutes to allow his muscles to warm up
• Spend 30 mins throwing the ball on and off. Throw the ball for 5 minutes. Take a minute break. Throw for another 5-10 minutes and repeat. Make sure to have fresh water handy (see below for a the doggy bag musts).
• Once you're done, let your dog jog around on him own, leash him up after a few minutes and take him for a 10-15 min cool down around a couple blocks or just around the field/park until the dogs breathing is close to normal.

Just taking less than a quarter of the time to properly warm up and cool down your dog can save your hundreds to thousands of dollars in vet bills.

IMPORTANT : DO NOT run a dog less than 1 year old for more then 15 minutes every few hours. This can lead to severe joint problems such as arthritis as early as 3 years old.

 Doggy Bag Musts:

• Bottle of water, I use just an old coke bottle cleaned out (500ml for winter months and a 2L in  summer months)
• Some sort of container like an empty Tupperware or anything can hold a little bit of water like a collapsible dog dish. If you don't bring a container you're going to waste more then 50% of the water trying to let your dog drink from the bottle.
• More then one toy, I usually bring a ball, frisbee and cloth to play a game of tug.
• Treats in a ziploc bag - you never know when you want to reward your dog for a wonderful behaviour, such as calmly meeting a child.

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The Modern Day Canine

Over the 15,000 year span that dogs were domesticated their roles in human lives were shaped by environmental and functional factors. Through selective breeding dogs have developed into the different shapes and sizes you see today, from the tiny Chihuahua to as large as the Irish wolfhound.  

Dogs have played the role as pet to humans for a very long time but only after WWII as suburbanization increased so did the dogs role in a family. They were primarily used to work for their masters, whether it was companionship, protection or hunting but around 1980 the dogs’ role started to shift as humans started keeping dogs for emotional support. Slowly but surely dogs have made their way into our homes as part of the family.

Because we don’t live in the early 1900’s and don’t have the same needs for our dogs it’s fair to say we shouldn’t train our dogs the same way. Dogs are used for modern day working (keeping us humans happy and entertained) so we need new methods of training that help teach our four legged friends what we want out of them. Progressive Reinforcement otherwise known as Positive Reinforcement is one of the most commonly used training methods today. This shapes your dogs natural instincts into a desirable behaviour by reinforcing what we humans like and ignoring what we perceive as bad.

The modern canine you see today is slowly being shaped to conform to modern day human expectations of personality and behaviour; it’s truly amazing how humans and dogs can co-exist at all.


Poor doggy!

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How to Read Your Dogs Body Language

Let's Play
This is a classical look at two dogs who are just about to play. The Yorkie is ready at any second to run and hopefully have Oscar chase him.
Body - tails up but not over back, ears half mass, body tilted back indicating ready to run, focussed on one another.

Puppy Licking
Puppy licking is a submissive gesture and you may even see older dogs do this behaviour too as to appease a authority figure. In human words "Don't harm me, I'm no threat."

Body Posture -ears back, squinty eyes, head reaching up, tail tucked sometimes.




                                                                
Fearful 
Luna is meeting sheep for the first time in her life and she is telling me and the sheep that she's not liking this one bit! She's pretending that the sheep are not there, "I don't see you! So you don't see me!"

Body - whale eyes (you can see the whites), ears back, looking away, braced legs, tail low even tucked.

As you can see her leash is very loose, giving her the freedom to run if she chose to. The sheep are pointed away from her face (as face-to-face is threatening especially for a dog who is already scared of the situation).

Caution
After a few minutes, Luna has decided that the sheep may not be a threat and now curiosity has kicked in, she wants to see what they're about.

Body - ears forward, braced legs (incase she needs to run), tail low even tucked (little scared still), eyes and nose forward on sheep.

Concern about Possession
All play has stopped because there is now tension between Luna and Jet (black BC). As you can see all other dogs are looking away, "we're no threat."

Body- stillness, body stiff (tension), orientation of dogs nose, staring at the threat (Jet), tail low or down.

Jet is a bit oblivious at this time (as both BC's are only 6 months old, siblings), he just wants to play, although Luna being scared that her precious wood will be taken.

Guarding - Warning
 Jet (black BC) is coming a little too close for her comfort now, so Luna is guarding the piece of wood underneath and gives Jet what is called a "soft look''.

Body - ears back but not always they can be up and forward, object is usually underneath dog, head may be pointed forward but eyes follow the dog that is too close for comfort, stillness (calm before the storm).

If you look at Jet (black BC) he is communicating wonderfully! Sniffing to let Luna know, "it's okay, I'm no threat and not interested in what you have."

Our dogs are communication with us every second of the day, we just don't notice because alot of the time it's very subtle. Here are a couple other body language tips:


Sniffing - Can mean 'no harm here', calming them self down if stressed, or just a good smell!
Yawning - Can mean 'I'm no threat', 'calming them self down if stressed, calming other dogs or people around if the energy is too high, sleep.
Stressed - Panting, worried look (eye muscles aren't relaxed), sniffing, yawning, scratching, dandruff, sweaty paws, pacing.

If you're interested in learning more about Canine Body Language I highly recommend "Canine Body Language" by Brenda Aloff. This is a photographic guide to interpreting the native language of the domestic dog.  You'll find yourself understanding your dog as well as others much more.

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"Kiss" Trick

This is how you teach your dog to "kiss".

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Progressive Reinforcement Training using a Clicker

What is progressive reinforcement training?

A type of animal training exists that involves no forms of intimidation, confrontation, violence, reprimands, or domination.

This non-violent type of training has gone under many names: “Clicker Training,” “Positive Training,” “Positive Reinforcement Training,” and “Reward Training,” among others.   There is a need for a more specific, more accurate, more inspirational term.  The above terms have been used so loosely in recent years that they have lost their original meanings.  How has this happened?  Trainers who use compulsion methods may incorporate a clicker (a noise maker to mark desirable behavior) and refer to themselves as a “Clicker Trainers.”  Trainers who use painful or intimidating methods may include food or toy rewards in their training and refer to themselves as “Reward Trainers” or “Positive Reinforcement Trainers.”  It is already possible that a member of the public may seek the guidance of a trainer who claims to be “Positive,” only to find out that this trainer routinely uses physical violence towards animals.

What is a clicker?

This is a distinctive noise that marks a desirable behaviour that is accurate each and everytime it is heard. Using our voices can sometimes be confusing for a dog as we're not always accurate with the tones to keep it consistent. 


Using these powerful training techniques together teaches the dog to think for himself and make the right choices.


This is a wonderful training program that lasts a lifetime. 

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Help LAPS by Voting

Langley Animal Protection Society Needs Your Help

Pepsi is giving away 1 million dollars worth in grants to winning ideas. LAPS is going for $100,000 to build a education and training centre where they can:

• Provide basic obedience training classes to the public. This will benefit dogs in and promote humane education. LAPS strongly believes in positive methods training all classes will be taught using “clicker training” as a method.
• Create an educational program for school age children to promote proper care for pets, including spaying and neutering.
• Provide basic obedience training classes for families that are adopting dogs from our shelter. This will help make sure that our dogs are good citizens and will stay in their forever homes. The number one reason why dogs are returned to shelters is because people cannot manage them.
• Educate people about our spay/neuter program for cats and our Trap Neuter and Release program (TNR). The goal is to reduce the size of free living and feral cat population in Langley.

Currently they are in 4th place as of February 12th 2011. We have until February 28th to get them to 1st place!
Vote everyday guys! And send an email to ALL your friends telling them to vote!


This will take you directly to the Pepsi website where you will be able to vote
TO VOTE CLICK HERE

LAPS website

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