admin answers:

I’ve trained alot (OJT)of dedicated, talanted, responsible, respectful, motivated, hardworking employees in the past. I prepared each one to expect the OJT internship to be a 5-6 month endeavor to be thoroughly qualified to call themselves a professional. Experience is the key here and that doesn’t come in a brief education. One can pay a school for anything from a 3 week class to many month’s but do understand that your everyday experience in a shop is real. I’ve been at this for 3 decades and am still learning. My advice is slow down on your plans and don’t plan on whipping through this for knowledge and experience is powerful to be the best and most sucessful. Ask alot of Q’s and be respectful to your teacher/mentor. This is a choosen profession. Also, get to the Denver Dog show Feb 13-16 atleast one day to study the cream of the crop and breed profile. Also, join the asso and become as active as you can for this is a group of friendly groomers to tap info from. Good Luck! WB

admin answers:

Okay there are many reasons why a dog might urinate on the carpet. If your dog is a puppy you have to remember that it takes almost four months for them to take full control of their bladder. Also, there is something called submissive urination. This is something a puppy or even an older dog does as a sign that it is submitting to you. Like when you approach it the dog becomes very excited and urinates. Below is an excerpt from a website about submissive urination.

Submissive urination is not an un-solvable problem, especially with a four month old puppy. Let’s see if I can help. First it would be very helpful to know exactly what you’ve tried and hasn’t worked. Training takes time to work, and if you were trying a bunch of different things, rather than sticking to one technique for a month or more, she may be confused. Especially since she is very sensitive.

Here would be what I would suggest, which is I learned from the Denver Dumb Friends League. Both you and your husband and anyone else (if possible) who interacts with the dog should follow these guidelines. I would also suggest enrolling her in a training

1. Take your dog to the vet to rule out medical reasons for the behavior.

2. Keep greetings low-key. For now, don’t pick her up.

3. Encourage and reward confident postures from her. She can’t be urinating non-stop in your presence, so as often as you can, if she is with you or your husband and not urinating, praise her. (Positive reinforcement, which I am sure you are familiar with from your readings).

4. Give her an alternative to behaving submissively. For example, if she knows a few commands, have him “sit” or “shake” as you approach, and reward her for obeying.

5. Avoid approaching him with postures that she reads as dominant, for example: Avoid direct eye contact (this means looking at her back or tail instead, not in the eyes. You can do this standing up, you don’t have to get down to her level).

6. If you do want to pet her or get down on her level, do so by bending at the knees rather than leaning over from the waist and ask others to approach her in the same way.

7. Pet her under the chin rather than on top of the head. Hands coming from above, especially if she was abused, can be viewed as threatening and scary.

8. Try to approach her from the side, rather than from the front, and/or present the side of your body to him, rather than your full front. You may feel funny sliding around at first, but this is only a temporary method while you are training her to get used to you, not get so excited/scared in your presence that she urinates.

9. Don’t punish or scold her – this will only make the problem worse. You can continuing to housebreak her without scolding.

HOUSEBREAKING
Put her on a regular schedule of feeding (twice or three times a day for a puppy) and going out to go to the bathroom, or walking her on a leash to her papers if you are paper training her. Lots of praise if she does it in the right spot. If it has been a while and she has not gone, I would suggest calling her into a safe room (like a kitchen with a child’s gate) or into a crate where she can be until you can take her out under supervision, until you take her to her bathroom spot again. Only in the hour after she has just gone should she have full run of the house. If she does have an accident, you will have to just ignore it for now, but if you are consistent and supervising her, the chances of her having one are very small.

This information is basically for puppies but there is also info on the site about house breaking older dogs.

admin answers:

Top 10 Nosiest Dog:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/list/Planet_Dogs_10_noisiest_dog_breeds.html

1. Beagle
2. Collie
3. Doberman Pinscher
4. Finnish Spitz
5. German shepherd
6. Norwegian elkhound
7. Rottweiler
8. Shetland sheepdog
9. Terriers
10. Toy and miniature poodles

Quiter Dog Breeds:
http://www.petplace.com/dogs/top-lap-dogs-breeds-that-enjoy-a-quiet-life/page1.aspx

Basenji, The Barkless Dog:
http://www.examiner.com/x-8279-Denver-Dogs-Examiner~y2009m4d17-Breed-Profile–Basenji-the-barkless-dog

The quiet list has Maltese, which I say are NOT quiet! The opposite in fact. But I agree with the noisy list for sure, from my experience.

admin answers:

You would do well to check with your local Humane Society about what kind of dog to get. Many shelters now have someone who tests the dogs to see what their temperment is and if they are safe to be around children. Each kind has its own temperment and not every dog in that breed will be kid-friendly. Just because a dog is small doesn’t mean it’s safe to be around little ones. Not to give you nightmares, but last year I read of a woman in Denver who put her infant in the playpen on a deck to get some fresh air while she did something in the house. She heard screams and barking and found the family dauchsand had eaten through the playpen netting and was chewing on the baby. The baby later died at the hospital. No one could believe such a small dog could drag the child out through the hole.

Greyhounds are larger dogs, but can be very child friendly. Since they are rescue dogs they are tested to see if they are child friendly, cat friendly, etc. They rarely bark.

Beware of the “popular” breeds. Some of them have been so inbred you have no idea what they’ll do from minute to minute.

I think the best advice is to go the animal shelter and let them help you. They can see how the dogs match up with your kids (you don’t give ages so it makes it a little harder to be more definitive on what breed is good).

Remember too, just as you train the dog you have to train your children not to pull tails, ears, whatever. Not to cling to the dog or interrupt it while it’s trying to eat, etc. Any dog will react negatively in those circumstances.

Little dogs like terriers might not be a good choice because they are so hyper and they yap so much.

admin answers:

Petsmart classes should have other dogs in them-unless you’re speaking of a private class. A typical puppy class, from my experience, has anywhere from 4-13 puppies. No, I’m not kidding about the 13. I’ve been to several. They are good for generalized obedience, and socialization. Of course, the trainers are very limited in their training, so for behavioural problems, such as aggression, it’s best to go to someone more qualified.

The Petsmart trainers teach you how to train your dog. You practice exercises in the store, and at home. In puppy classes, the puppies are allowed “play time” to interact, in-between learning. Classes are once a week, 8 weeks, for $99.