babyolive

As mentioned in my previous entry Cody is a gentle eater. He still showed enough interest for food (and more interest for snacks) but he’s very good at waiting for the cue before digging in. He’s also a very careful eater. Whenever I introduced new snack to him, he would inspect it for at least a minute before actually eating it. He’ll first sniff it, push it with his nose, feel it in his mouth, spit it out and more sniffing before he finally eats it slowwwwwly. It’s quite funny to see that. But after he’s familiar with it, that’s a different story.

Inspector Cody making sure all food is carefully scanned.

He still has the caveman instinct in him where he seeks out “cave” like structure. His new favorite “cave” is under our new bed.

He is also a very deep sleeper. Many times we found ourselves staring at him in his crate and he’s completely obilvious about it and sound asleep(where’s your doggie alertness? Then I guess you are feeling safe) Beside the normal doggie sleeping style, he has many ways of making himself comfortable. Such as:

He’s also a borned performer who enjoys life under the limelight. His favorite spot in the living room is in the middle of the room under the spotlight. He always ends up playing or sleeping there.

“Hey, what’s wrong with wanting to sing?”

I love love to see his puppy-ness but I know it would go away soon.

bye bye 您條尾!

Yesterday, it’s Cody’s first training session. The trainer came to our place to access and ask problem we faced. To be fair 99% of the time Cody is a really cute and sweet doggie. However, when he’s excited (i.e. when we come home) he tended to jump all over you and bite your hands playfully. The biting part should not be encourage because as he gets older it could hurt someone even if he didn’t mean to. He’s also showing a strong territorial sense by barking at strangers who enter our home (i.e. delivery guy and even our part time helper). It’s ok to bark once or twice but it’s not good to bark non stop for 20 seconds. Ultimately we wanted him to blend in the human society and be happy.

The reason I picked Mack as the trainer because after reading his philosophy and case studies I think his way of training suits me. It’s all about positive reinforcement plus association. The best thing is absolutely NO hiting or even scolding involved. Your goal is to make your dog look up to and respect you as a leader. Hitting or scolding your dog will only make him afraid of you and become a fearful dog, yet his behavior would not be corrected.

Also, Mack spent a lot of time educating the owner because really it’s the owner and the environment that shape how the dog behaves.

I am not going to talk about too much of the actual session because each dog’s training could vary. However, the 3 main ideas to raise a happy dog are:

1. Walk him everyday (preferably 45 min – 1 hour)
2. Have rules in the house
3. Games & love

The number 1 rule is do not raise a dog like a baby. Too much pampering will only make him a spoiled dog. You will also think about how a pack of dog behave & interact and think like a dog.

After just one session Cody is showing great improvement. Especially after the negative assocation with socks he has stopped playing with them. The only thing is sometimes you have to be really cool toward him. Such as when he comes over and asks you to pet/play with him, you are suppose to ignore him. I am gutted everytime when I do that. I hope I am making up to him by giving him a lot of affection when he comes over on demand. I just love him so so so much! (i am sure we’ll relax the rule slightly when everything is in order…shhhh)

I would recommend pet owners to consider training their dogs (and themselves) because it makes both yours and the dog’s life so much easier. Don’t wait until problems become too out of hand and stressful to handle.

Here are what Victoria Stilwell, a renown dog trainer in the States, said about dog training:

1. Think dog
Understand how dogs learn and what makes them tick as a species.

2. Talk dog
Learn how to communicate effectively in dog language.

3. Top dog
Who’s in charge? You are.

4. Accentuate the positive
Reward good behavior

5. Perfect timing
Get the timing right when rewarding or correcting

6. He says, she says
Be consistent at all times – and that goes for everyone in the family.

7. Know your dog
Your dog is an individual with his own strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes.

8. Vary the picture
Offer a variety of different experiences to stimulate your dog’s brain and senses.

9. Lifelong learning
Start training early and keep reinforcing the learning all through the dog’s life.

10 Easy does it
Make it easy for your dog to do well and succeed.

I am going to check out her TV show “It’s me or the dog“. And as a matter of fact, I’ve got her book just now keke

p.s. Cody learnt how to “down” yesterday (not during the lession). Such a smart boy!