Your Dog and the Cleaning Service

I had to fire the cleaning service today. Lady and I arrived home shortly after the girls arrived to clean the house. As soon as one of the girls saw Lady, she started having a meltdown. “Get it away! Get it away!” she shrieked. All I could think was, “what would she be doing if I wasn’t here? Would she throw something at Lady? Would she kick her?” I’ve seen people do some unbelievable things out of fear and this girl was terrified.

Quick on the heels of those thoughts was the worry about what Lady might do to defend herself. If the girl kicked her and Lady bit back, Lady would be completely justified. But Lady would be the one punished. I won’t even let myself think about what that punishment would be.

So I had to fire the cleaning service today. They knew we had a dog. They had promised to take good care around her. By dispatching someone who was terrified to the point of hysteria around dogs, they betrayed my trust.

That set me to thinking about the things pet owners should consider when hiring a cleaning service. In addition to the obvious requirements that you want someone trustworthy who won’t rob you blind or burn the house down, here are a few thoughts.

Hire an individual rather than a service so that the same person will come to the house every time. If you do hire a service, get a guarantee that the same person will do the cleaning, or that they will call in advance if they have to make a substitution.

Interview the person with your dog present. Watch her interaction to determine if she genuinely likes dogs. If not, don’t hire her.

Discuss rules about treats and toys. If it is OK for her to give the dog a treat, then show her where they are kept. If not, make sure she knows not to bring any with her.

Be home during the first cleaning so you can observe any problems and find solutions.

Do not shut the dog in a room or let the cleaning person do so. This will just convince the dog that bad things happen when the cleaning lady comes. The exception here is crate trained dogs. However, be aware that your dog may react differently to being crated if you are not home and strangers walk in. On the other hand, I usually boot Lady outside or into another room while I mop the kitchen floor. Nothing wrong with that. Otherwise, I’d be mopping up paw prints all day.

Make sure she can recall the dog. On the off chance that the dog does get outside the house, make sure she knows the best way to entice the dog back into the house. Show her where the leash is kept in case she has to run the dog down. And if you have one of those wonder dogs that knows how to open doors, make sure she keeps them locked!

Obviously all of this pertains to people with dogs that are not at all aggressive toward people, or overly territorial about the house. If you have a dog that is, I would never consider bringing someone in to clean unless you are home and the dog is confined.

I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this topic. Post a comment.

A Few Thoughts on Training

One of my husband’s co-workers has a newly rescued bluetick coonhound and has named her Illy. Still looks a bit worried doesn’t she?

Like all new pet owners, Illy’s human has been asking lots of questions. One was about training and which books we would recommend.

In a post earlier this year, I suggested several books about animal behavior and the science behind it.
Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. (For the love of A Dog, and The Other End of the Leash)
Karen Pryor (Don’t Shoot the Dog)
Jean Donaldson (Culture Clash, Mine, and Fight)
Stanley Coren (How Dogs Think)
Temple Grandin (Animals in Translation)

All of these books offer insight that will make you a better trainer and companion for your dog. For a book with detailed instruction on how to teach specific behaviors, I would recommend Peggy Tillman's "Clicking With Your Dog" Peggy Tillman's "Clicking with Your Dog". The training is clicker based and uses only positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is effective, and in the end your dog loves you and learning, as opposed to fearing both. Tillman’s book gives step by step instruction with pictures and includes all the basics and then some. For more advanced behaviors and parlor tricks, I would get Kyra Sundance's "101 Dog Tricks”.

While I have read all of these books and many more, I have to say that there is no substitute for working with an experienced trainer. Some people opt to send their dog to be trained by a third party, and that is certainly an option. Sadly, such training only guarantees that your dog will behave well for the trainer, not necessarily for you.

By participating in the training, you will learn the techniques, and then can apply them yourself. Training helps to develop a much strong bond between you and your dog, and once you have the skills, you can map out a program to teach most any behavior you can think up.

Next post will answer questions about what to do for your dog while you work or travel.

Have a New Puppy? Ten Things You Need to Know

Some friends picked up a new puppy the other night and while I haven’t met Happy Pete yet, I’m sure he is adorable. After all, it’s a puppy!

When Mark and I adopted Lady, we were lucky that we had close friends who were experienced dog owners, and knew us well enough to give advice. Also, we were somewhat compulsive about reading every book on the market, after more than five years, I am finally felling like I might be able to raise a fairly good dog, if I had the chance to do it all over again. Lady is a great dog and we love her, but face it, we made some mistakes.

Today I was thinking about what I would tell new puppy owners if given the chance. Here are some of the things that top the list.

1. Housetrain and put it on cue. More on this later.

2. Crate train. You don’t have to crate your dog as an adult, but it is a kindness to a puppy. Your home can be an overwhelming place for your pup. The crate gives him a safe place that is his. Also, it helps him be good when he is too young to know better and no one is there to watch over him. Lady used a crate until she was six months old. Then we gradually phased it out.

3. Teach obedience commands. If needed take a class to learn how to train. Here in Atlanta Ian Ambry of Highland Pet Training Center offers a really good five week class (one night a week).

4. Bite Inhibition. Your puppy’s mother and litter mates taught him not to bite too hard by yelping when he did. Now he needs to learn that it is never OK to use his teeth on a human. This is easy to do with a puppy. When he starts mouthing you and touches skin with his teeth, hold his mouth closed with your hand – gently and just long enough for him to start to squirm. Dogs do experience the world with their mouths, so if licking is OK with you, praise and reward him when he licks. He will learn to differentiate between biting and licking quickly.

5. Socialize. Introduce your dog to everything. New sounds, sights, smells, people, places, and most importantly other dogs. Try to make these positive experiences by the use of praise and rewards. Dogs react badly when they are frightened and the best way to ensure that doesn’t happen is for them gain experience with their environment.

6. Spend time with your dog. Dogs are intensely social creatures. Most dogs would rather be inside with you than outside by himself. While it is true that dogs need exercise and enjoy being outside, opening the door and saying, “go play” in the same old boring fenced back yard by himself, is not the kind of stimulation your pet needs.

7. Find a good veterinarian. Get your dog vaccinated on the schedule recommended by your vet and then get in the habit of regular wellness visits. Puppies are vulnerable to some life threatening diseases until they are fully vaccinated, so don’t take them to places where they might be exposed to unvaccinated dogs (like public dog parks) until they have the full series – usually around sixteen weeks.

8. Be your dog’s protector. To new dog owners the line between play and aggression can be hard to distinguish. Some owners think their dog’s bad behavior is “just playing” or say that you should “let the dogs sort it out”. This is nonsense. If another dog plays too rough or your dog seems fearful, you need to intervene. That can mean encouraging your dog to stay away, speaking to the bully’s owner, or simply leaving the area. As your dog matures he will learn to deal with such dogs on his own, but as a puppy, you must deal for him.

9. Agree on dos and don’ts. Talk with the whole family about what behaviors are acceptable. Make a list and stick to it. It is much easier to teach a dog to stay off the bed before he thinks it OK than after. Make sure that what seems cute now, will still seem cute when the dog is full grown or you have company coming.

10. Be consistent. Dogs work very hard to please you and to understand what you want. If you don’t want your dog to beg for food, then begging must never work. It is wrong to reward begging with a treat and then punish the dog the next time he tries it.

11. Be consistent. I can’t say this enough times.

The best way to accomplish puppy housetraining is to take him outside every two hours, and every time he wakes up from a nap. This will ensure that he never have a chance to make a mistake. When you take him outside, bring treats. Stay close and if you want him to make a habit of going in one area, lead him directly to the section of yard you want him to use. As soon as the dog begins to go, praise him and when he is finished, give him a treat. To put the behavior on cue, select a code word (we use hurry up). Incorporate the code word into the praise, as in, “Good hurry up”. In short order your dog will be reliably housebroken and conditioned to go on command – a great thing when it is late and you want to get to bed. Photo credit: © Anke Van Wyk Dreamstime.com