Arts and Crafts

This was a spur-of-the-moment craft project, instigated by my young friend Kelly (who was spending March break with her grandmother, our next-door neighbour) and carried out on a stormy evening when our other entertainment options were limited.

Remember the Bendy Holdy Wondervase? If you’ve got a pair of them, you’ve got great fun! Kelly had had her heart set on playing with those flexible vases from the moment she laid eyes on them, so of course that was the very first project we had to do!

And what’s a vase without some flowers?

They’re a bit of a tough job, these flowers, since we didn’t have much in the way of materials — Kelly glued together popsicle sticks and painted them green to make the stems, for instance — but hey, we had fun doing it!

One of the tissue-paper flowers — the white one printed with tiny red hearts — went home with Kelly as a gift for her Grammie, because grandmother’s have a deep appreciation for such things.

Granny Squares

What can I say? For the better part of a year, I’ve been griping about the sad state of the throw pillows on the couch.

Scraps of yarn, a couple of crochet hooks, and an eager young helper with a week’s break from school… and now I’ve got plenty of “granny squares” to fashion into cushion covers!

Healthy Exercise with Dogs

The long-faced greyhound — who can’t get out to his running yard, with all that snow, enjoyed a Novice class in Rally Obedience. (That’s a dog sport that involves high-speed obedience moves around a timed course: great fun! You can learn more about it at RallyObedience.com.)

And when the weather wasn’t too bad outside, we had some doggie visitors… and some lovely brisk walks on snowy trails, coming back home to cinnamon buns and hot chocolate.

…and Nature Appreciation

Because winter in Atlantic Canada may last just a teensy bit longer than we’d really prefer… but, still, it does have its moments!

This greyhound of mine looks a bit embarrassed about having to wear his winter boots (a.k.a. “paw protectors“), doesn’t he?

Don’t be fooled by that hang-dog look — when we go outside in minus-20°C weather (that’s, um, 4 degrees below 0°F for our American friends), the big guy’s whole attitude gets adjusted pretty quickly!

So, when do you know it’s time for your dog to wear winter boots?

That will depend in part on the individual dog’s breed and on your climate and lifestyle, but here’s a good rule of thumb:

• When you’re walking somewhere that salt has been spread to melt the ice and snow.
• When the snow is cold enough to squeak when you walk on it.
• When the dog tries to hold all his paws off the ground at once.
• … or when it’s cold enough that you, yourself, can’t walk the dog in comfort without earmuffs or something over your ears.

We don’t bother with boots just to pop from the house to the car, but in the depths of a Canadian winter, dogs often will need boots to take a walk or even to go in the yard to do their “business”. Obviously, there are many parts of the world where paw protection just isn’t even needed. But for the rest of us…

Lots of people say that their dogs “don’t like” wearing boots, or just kick them off, or refuse to let the boots get put on their feet in the first place…

But no worries, if that’s your situation. This can be solved with a little bit of positive dog training. If you’re not near a dog school that offers clicker training, however, you can still DIY…

First off, you can see from the photo that my greyhound isn’t too crazy about the whole boot concept either — not when we’re in the warm kitchen! — but once we get outdoors in the snow and ice and road-salt, he soon decides that he likes the idea.

Secondly, the dog boots pattern I drew up a while back has proven to be simple and effective. (Cheap to replace, too, if we lose one in a deep snowdrift!) The boots just slip on over the paw — use one hand to hold those toes together and guide the foot, while the other hand holds the bootie — and it fastens with a combination of Velcro and elastic that makes a snug secure fit around the dog’s ankle.

And the third trick, the really big one — Don’t wait for mid-winter to introduce a dog to wearing that paw protection.

Let your dog get used to his boots gradually, over time, and it’ll save a whole lot of grief when you’re in a hurry to walk him and get to work!

This greyhound stands patiently to have his boots put on, even when a smaller dog is getting curious and bugging him. Not only that, he’ll accept the putting on of winter boots from anyone — even the neighbour kids — without struggle or protest.

I tell you, a bit of training makes life so much easier!

How to “Boot Train” Your Dog

As part of a grooming or training session, just slip a boot onto one of his feet — don’t fasten it, the first time — just slip the boot on, give a wonderful treat, and then slip it right back off again and go on with your other activities.

Stand your dog for this exercise — or have someone hold his collar, if he isn’t likely to stand still. You don’t want him trying to walk around with this loose floppy weird thing on his foot! A slip on the floor or a successful kicking-off of the boot will just make “boot training” your dog more difficult.

The next day, repeat with a different foot… and the next… and the next… Then, try two feet. And a different two feet, the next day. What you’re doing here is working up to the point where your dog is happy to get his feet handled and get a boot on, because he knows he’ll be getting a lovely treat when it happens.

Step by step, build up his tolerance for the whole footwear issue. Don’t be tempted to go too fast! Patience will pay off in the long run.

Note that I have suggested doing the boot training as part of your regular training sessions. That’s to help your dog to understand that the boot is just another part of the wonderful “school game” you play together. Go at the dog’s pace, and stay within his comfort zone when you’re introducing anything new.

For some timid dogs, that could mean you start out simply by showing him the boots (and reward him for being near them), then just gently touching one to the top of his paw (and reward while the boot is touching him) , then touching one to his paw while you lift his paw in your hand (and reward)… and so on.

If your dog isn’t used to having his feet handled, or has had a bad experience with clipping his nails, etc., this could take a good number of days to get him comfortable. Keep it calm and happy, with lots of great treats, and gradually build up his comfort level with this strange new activity.

It bears repeating: Don’t be tempted to go too fast!

When the dog will eventually allow you to put boots (not fastened) onto all four feet at once, go back to putting a boot on just one foot — but this time, fasten it loosely, just enough so he can feel that there’s something around his ankle. Boot on, fasten gently, treat the dog, take off the boot. Next session, do the same thing on a different foot… again, working up to the point where all four feet can be in (loosely fastened) boots at one time.

Repeat the training cycle — one foot first, working up to all four — but this time you’ll fasten each boot more securely, as you would if your were taking the dog outside.

You’ll find that each training cycle will go more quickly, because the dog is gaining confidence and becoming more comfortable with the whole process.

At this point, some dogs will be quite calm about it all, and more interested in walking around than in standing still with you handling their paws.

• If you’ve got carpets in your house, or some other kind of non-slip floor, that might be the best place to start learning to walk in boots.
• With slippery tile floors like this one in my kitchen, I’d go back to one boot (securely fastened) on one paw, and let the dog try it out with his other three paws feeling like they normally do. Then work up to all four boots.

You’ll laugh out loud, the way a dog in new boots will lift his feet and shake them, trying to figure out what’s going on! Just keep his mind off those new boots, those first few times — offer treats, a favourite toy, a ride in the car, whatever he sees as a reward and will distract him from the funny feeling of wearing boots…

Before you know it, your dog will be standing patiently while you put boots on his feet and walking gracefully with well-protected paws.

I just can’t say enough about clicker training as a reward-based method of training a dog — in fact, I can’t imagine even trying to train my retired racing greyhound by the old-fashioned methods, because the big sookie-baby would have curled up in terror if I tried to physically force him into position.

With clicker training, it was a breeze.

Strangers remark on what a well-behaved dog he is; and he’s just joined the therapy dog team! Even my brother-in-law’s Husky-mix “pound puppy” learned to walk politely on a leash — without pulling like the sled dog she was born to be — and the improvement in her manners came within 10 minutes of starting the training.

What a pleasure to see that Karen Pryor, the originator of clicker training for dogs, is now offering her books in a downloadable format!

ClickBooks will include new titles, old favorites, and a-la-carte positive training solutions that provide access to the information you want anytime, anywhere. You can purchase entire books for less than the price of a paperback, or individual chapters for only $1.99, which makes this the most convenient and cost-effective way to get training information from the experts.

ClickBooks are released in standard Adobe PDF format, so you can use them on any Windows PC or Macintosh computer, and with many portable devices, including Palm OS and Windows mobile phones and PDAs. Or, just print them out and read them like any other book! There’s no shipping, no waiting; just the best training information available exactly when and where you need it.

Save a tree!
Make a dog-owner happy!
Help a dog to learn to be the best companion animal he can be!
Check out Clickertraining.com.

We’ve been talking about therapy dogs over on the WAHM.com boards this week, started off by someone wondering about training her puppy to visit in hospitals and nursing homes — what’s involved, how soon she should start, and so on.

That inspired me to update and expand my post called “Is There a therapy Dog in the House,” an introduction to the concept — and to write a new post, here, to talk a little bit more about the kind of training it takes to be a therapy dog.

It doesn’t take an obedience champion to be a good therapy dog — and it doesn’t matter what size or what breed of dog you have. Temperament of the dog is the single most important factor, so therapy dogs are screened and tested before joining a visiting program.

Although the actual formal training that is required of the dog-and-handler team will depend on the program and location, “company manners” are essential. A good starting point for interested dog-owners would be the Canine Good Citizenship (American Kennel Club) or Canine Good Neighbour (Canadian Kennel Club) training program. These are non-competitive evaluation programs that are all about good manners, both at home and out in the community.

Testing for both the AKC and CKC programs aims to evaluate the relationship between the dog and its handler, the dog’s social interactions with both people and other dogs, and obedience to a few standard commands.

No fancy tricks are required, and the evaluator is not looking for the kind of precise response that would be expected in the obedience show-ring. This is a test for your average well-manner family pet — for companion animals — and it is normally judged on a “pass” or “needs more work” basis.

There are some slight differences between the Canadian and American tests, but here is the basic line-up of tasks to be performed:

1. Accepting a friendly stranger
2. Patiently sitting for petting: a test for shyness and resentment
3. Appearance & grooming: showing the owner’s care & sense of responsibility
4. Out for a walk: loose-lead walking shows the handler’s control of the dog
5. Walking through a crowd: the dog moves through a crowd under handler control without showing over-excitement or distress
6. Commands: sit, down, stay, come: this illustrates that the dog has been trained and responds well to its handler/owner
7. Praise/interactions: shows the dog’s relationship with its owner and that it can be calmed down easily
8. Reaction to passing dogs
9. Distractions: shows that the dog is confident when faced with common distractions (e.g. an object dropped loudly on the floor, shouting, etc.)
10. Supervised separation: this test shows that the dog can maintain its training & good manners if left with someone other than the handler.

Many people who hope to enter a therapy dog program with their dogs will start out by completing a Good Citizenship/Good Neighbour program. Therapy Dogs International, one of the larger certification organizations, adds a few refinements to the CGC test — dogs can’t wear choke collars; greyhounds don’t have to sit; wheelchairs are used as distractions, etc. — but essentially the testing requirements are almost the same as outlined briefly above.

At the very least, training to the Canine Good Citizenship or Canine Good Neighbour level of achievement as a dog-and-handler team can only improve your relationship. Your well-mannered dog will be welcomed by friends and family, in the course of his daily life, as a sheer joy to be around — and well on his way to a richly rewarding volunteer job as a nursing-home visiting dog!

Would you like to share the joy of your dog’s companionship with the less fortunate?

It doesn’t take an obedience champion to be a good therapy dog. Purebred or mutt — large breed or small — it doesn’t matter. If your dog is sociable, gentle, and reasonably well-mannered, he may be able to qualify as a therapy dog, visiting with seniors or disabled people in nursing homes and hospitals.

Prospective therapy dogs are carefully screened and tested before joining a visiting program, with a focus on their temperaments and on their relationship with the handlers.

A dog who is friendly — who really likes people in general — is already a promising candidate.

The dog who is friendly and well behaved — no jumping, running around, licking people without permission — is on the way to certification.

The dog who is trained to work around people who are bedridden or in wheelchairs, who is always under the handler’s precise control, who can perhaps perform a few entertaining tricks — is halfway there.

The dog who can take accidental mishaps in stride (such as when a disturbed client yells or brandishes a cane), who can deal alike with the endlessly repetitive interactions of Alzheimers patients, with the grabbing and gurgling of infants, and with the unpredicatability of psychiatric inpatients — and give every indication of enjoying its work — is indeed a Therapy Dog.

Training requirements vary from place to place, but the personality of the dog is all-important in any visiting program!

To get started, check out the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program or similar groups. Contact your local kennel club for a Pet Visitation Program operating in your area, if you can’t find a nearby organization listed here or here. The rewards are beyond measure — for people and dogs alike!