Joyce Stranger
Freelance Writer specialising in Dog Subjects
Member of the United Kingdom Registry of Canine Behaviourists
Member of the Institute of Journalists & Society of Authors
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are a few of the questions I am frequently asked via email.... I hope you find them useful.
Question 1:
"I am looking for a new puppy. I have had problems with my older dog as she is antisocial with both dogs and people, and it has been hard work teaching her not to be. Can I avoid this?"
It is necessary to find a breeder who knows all about the need to let pups meet all kinds of people and, if possible, animals, before they are re-sold. That eight weeks in the nest is the most important time in any dog's life. A puppy who has been born in a shed, or barn or even a superb kennel, lived all his tiny life with his mother and litter mates, and seen nothing outside that, is a wild dog that needs taming, as he knows nothing of the world. This makes it very hard on owners, especially when Vets add to this by saying they must not go out until they are inoculated for fear of infection. At fourteen weeks or so it is like taking out a child who has been born at the top of a high rise building and never gone down into the outside world until five years old. There is enormous stress and shock. Imagine seeing a car for the first time ever, when you are only as big as one of its wheel hubs. And the world is full of noisy rushing giants tearing along and all you can see is ankles. A well socialise puppy has been taught people are lovely and that they won't be hurt by whatever they see in the outer world.
Question 2:
"Our new puppy is used to people and other animals and we are taking her out in the car to see the world. Also we are having lots of visitors and she is fine with them, but she has one oddity. She won't eat from her own bowl. She is desperate to eat from that of our older dog while he is feeding and he, of course, won't allow that. We are getting very worried"
I would think the problem stems again from the breeder. Many put out a communal bowl for the puppies when they are weaning them, instead of individual bowls. This, of course, if nine or more pups, is a nuisance, as it involves so much more preparation and washing up. But it means that the puppy when sold is unaware it can eat from its own bowl and wants to share as that is what it has now been taught.
This is a particularly difficult one to overcome. There are a few things you can try. Hand feeding is one. I always do in fact hand feed a new pup and a new older dog if it will let me, as this gets your scent associated with food and bonds the puppy, or the older dog, to you faster. Then you put your hands in the bowl and let the pup feed from hands in bowl. Then hopefully it has been retaught that food comes from its own place and not from a feeding station. Perhaps if the pup had her food after the other dog but in the same bowl, unwashed, it might at least give the feeling of sharing. It is unlikely that the older dog after years of his own food would allow another to share. Dogs don't starve themselves, so she will eat. Also you may be overfeeding her at one meal so that she doesn't want to eat at the next. Some dogs can thrive on much less than others, even of the same breed and weight. Put something tasty on her food, a bit of the older dog's meal or some chick soup, or gravy from your own meal.
Question 3:
This comes up so often and is somewhat irritating!
"Where can we buy your book "How to own a Sensible Dog"? The bookseller tells me it is out of print and no longer available."
This is pure laziness! It is not only to be found in Books in Print, but it is not allowed to go out of print as I publish it myself. It is available from all booksellers and I get many orders for it, from firms like W H Smith. It is obtainable via their tele-ordering system. Small shops do order it too, often by phone so my whereabouts can hardly be a state secret! Last year the dog food firm Wafcol bought 1000 copies and sold with their food as a coupon offer. The ISBN is 0 9513357 0 7. Publisher Joyce Stranger.
Question 4:
"We would dearly like to have a dog but as we both work we thought it would be kinder to buy two pups the same age to keep one another company. We are out from 8 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. but have been told that if they are in a kennel and run (it would be palatial) and we stay off work for their first two weeks, this would not matter"
The pups need human company to teach them manners or they will be unpleasant to take around. They need to go out and about and se the world. Kept this way, they will be anti-social. Also they need four meals a day. They won't be able to refrain from relieving themselves for so long and you will come home to two very smelly mucky little animals that need a bath before you can even want to handle them. They will go mad with excitement of the sight of you as humans are as important to most dogs as other dogs. I would recommend waiting until you stop work and can really enjoy having a dog. This is not kind on the dogs. There are ways folk at work can cope. These will be found in "How to have a sensible dog".
Question 5:
"My father died recently and my mother is very lonely. I am at college but will be leaving home for good next year. I would like to buy her a dog to keep her company. I thought maybe a Labrador or a German Shepherd, which would also be a protection. Is this a good idea?"
Do ask your mother first, as she may have plans to have long holidays or visit friends and relatives after you have left home and a dog would be both an expense and a tie. Has your mother had a dog before? Does she like dogs? Can she afford boarding kennel fees if needed, and vet bills, which can be heavy these days. You can insure your dog but there is always an excess, so that you may pay as much as £50 a visit before being able to claim.
Great care is needed in buying a puppy, and there are many snags (again see How to Own a Sensible Dog which has a section titled Buyer Beware, which is sad but very necessary). Both breeds you mention need a great deal of training, are very strong and can be beyond the power of an elderly lady to control and go about with, especially one who has never had a dog before. Ask her if she wants a dog and if so let her choose the breed. She may yearn for a little West Highland White, or King Charles Cavalier, or a Pug.
The little dogs to need training and a good dog class would give her contact with other people. She may well find new friends in such a place. You could be giving her a new lease of life, or a major headache, depending on how she feels. It is never wise to give a live animal as an unexpected present.
Question 6:
"I have read a great deal recently about the advisability of repeated boosters, and understand that some vets do now advise that they are not necessary every year"
This is something on which I would not give advice. I prefer people to read what is being said and make up their own minds. A very useful book in this context is "What Vets Don't Tell You" by Catherine O'Driscoll, ISBN 0 9523048 3 X. A number of people now use homeopathic nosodes. Boarding kennels are beginning to accept dogs protected in this way, and so are insurance firms. Though they do not cover you if the dogs dies of one of the diseases that the boosters protect. They cover everything else.
Question 7:
"I would like my little bitch to have puppies, as I understand all bitches need on litter for their own good. Also she is very nervous and this would settle her down."
This is an old wives' tale from the dark days of dog owning. It is on a par with using a rolled up magazine to discipline a dog, (so you scare it silly and it behaves even worse as it is now terrified of you) or rubbing its nose in its misdeed...which is unspeakably disgusting and terrifies the puppy again.
There are far too many dogs in rescue partly due to this belief. To breed you need a top quality bitch, with a very sound temperament. Nerves pass on. Also a top quality dog. Stud fees are often around £250. Also a great deal of time. So many things can go wrong. No pups at all. Pups born dead. A Caesarean which will cost a fortune. You may have eleven pups and only five buyers. The pups need to be kept immaculate or you get health problems and their bedding needs changing several times a day or you get filthy pups. No-one will thank you if you sell them unhealthy little animals that have not been into the house, or outside their kennel, and have not met other people than you. It is a tremendous undertaking.
Question 8:
"I have a seven month old Labrador pup that up to now has been very good with other dogs. Last week he was set on by two dogs in the park who were off lead, and badly bitten. Now he attacks every dog we meet."
This often happens when a young dog is attached. The dog may go for the dogs that attacked him, or all dogs of that breed. Or all dogs of that colour, or every dog of every size that he meets. I did a research project on this and found that out of over 100 dogs, 99% had been attacked before the age of a year old. Sadly, often dog clubs are to blame. A newcomer may be set on by an established member of a class, who considers himself top dog, and puts newcomers in their place. For this reason if I wish to join a class I go first without my dog and if I see this behaviour that is a club I avoid. The cure is long and slow and frustrating, but a useful book to help with that is "Dogs are from Neptune" by Jean Donaldson, a Laser Multimedia production, ISBN 0 9684207 0. I don't like her training methods, as they are not those we now use in the up to date classes, but her approach to re-training an aggressive dog is excellent.
Question 9:
"My year old Labrador is getting very disobedient and out of hand. There isn't a dog class anywhere near me. What can I do?"
Your dog is now a typical teenager and likely to be uncooperative and test you to see how far he can go. He is just entering what I call the Hormone Blaze, when he has three times as much sex hormone as the older dogs. This is the age at which most dogs land in rescue. It is much easier to live through if you start to train as soon as the pup comes home. There is an absolutely brilliant book that I recommend not only to all in your position but also to all owners who are trying to train their dogs. It tells you not only how to teach an exercise, but why you teach it, what can go wrong when teaching and how to put it right. It is well illustrated and very easy to follow. It is "Dog Training the Gentle Modern Method" by David Weston, published by Fleetfoot Press ISBN 1 85586 002 3. This, like the other books mentioned, including mine, can be obtained from Crosskeys. www.crosskeysbooks.com
Question 10:
"I have just moved house and started at a new (to me) dog club. We always used half check collars at the one I went to before we moved. Now I am told I must use a choke chain. I don't want to. These people all do and there are several dogs with almost no fur round their necks as we are also told to jerk hard if the dog pulls. I was not taught this method. What should I do? I want to socialise my dog and there is nowhere else."
I belong to the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers). It is against our rules to use choke chains. Not only is the jerk out of date, it is difficult to teach and many people never achieve it, but just nag nag nag at their poor dogs. It doesn't work unless you are very skilled indeed and few new owners are. I and many others who belong, use the half check, made of webbing with a small chain. We get them from Kumfi products, whose equipment is excellent. It works the same way but is far safer. You will find them on the Internet at www.kumfi.com Tel. 01609 770792 (George Grayson) .
No one can force you to use equipment, though the APDT do have to ask people NOT to use chains, or to stay away. I lend the equipment to first timers and they are always converted by the end of the lesson and buy it.
What people who come to me do, and who socialise at clubs like this, is to do their own thing, and just quietly use the methods I have taught them. It often makes other people think as the dogs are much more successful, and work so happily, having been taught by positive methods and rewards, and not by jerking which is a punishment, and hurts.
Others then see and begin to change their ways. There is nothing like example. There is no need to say anything. Just continue as you wish. It is your dog. I used to go to a class like this and when everyone did mass heeling, my dog "needed" to go outside as that is the surest way to teach dogs to pull that I know. I teach it one at a time, when the other dogs practice staying still without moving while another dog is busy.
Also if you buy the David Weston book mentioned above, you can do a lot of the training your own way as David Weston uses the new modern methods. Some classes are still in the dark ages, sadly, and see no need to change. But if we didn't change we would all still be living in caves!
©Copyright 2007 Joyce Stranger
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