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Teresa, Leerburg's Office Assistant, with her Jack Russell Terrier, Max.

Enter for a chance to win a $25 Leerburg Gift Certificate!

Do you have great stories about your dog? Now is the time to enter Leerburg's Story Contest.
Email your story to Cindy about
How Your Dog Changed Your Life
We will change the theme periodically. Click here for more information.

I was always frumpy growing up and had few friends in high school. Always having loved dogs, at nearly 16 I decided to purchase a GSD puppy. I worked at a pet store cleaning cages and saved every dime. I picked up a newspaper and made an attempt to see a litter of puppies. I had no idea that the puppy I would bring home would change my life forever. I picked out a forward drivey puppy and headed home. Even though she came from a newspaper ad, "Heidi" luckily was well bred. Her sire was all DDR and her mother was West German working and Hungarian. She learned quickly and I soon became obsessed with training. At 16 I was more than just "chubby," I was FAT! In addition to this I was very introverted and generally sat at home on the computer or reading. I was painfully shy and had great difficulty making friends.

Training with her forced me to get outside and exercise, to meet new people and then join a schutzhund club. She was my novice A dog and I made many mistakes, but being that "once in a lifetime" dog she was great despite my errors. She took me to my first BH and our first Schutzhund 1 in the same weekend under Tom Rose (I was 18) and then came the WH and OB2. Having had a horrible experience with an AKC obedience judge, before joining the schutzhund club and finding it more welcoming to us, I decided to go back and try AKC obedience again. This time she obtained her CD in three straight tries (the bad judge was try #1) with placements and high scores, then off to her CDX which again we obtained in 3 or 4 tries with good scores.

When she died she took a part of my heart with her but more than that I found she had changed my life. No longer did I sit in the house all day, I had made many friends on our journey and somewhere along the way I had become both more humble and more confident.... both more outgoing and more willing to listen to those who knew more than I did.... both more independent and more yearning for those who understood that they are more than "just a dog." Even though Heidi Von Horizon died at 3 in a tragic accident she changed my life forever. What started as purchasing a German Shepherd puppy for a pet turned into a lifelong obsession with dogs and training.

I can't imagine that any dog has changed another persons life so completely.

Sincerely,
Kelly Hayes
Corbin, KY
Hedi Von Horizon BH,Sch1, OB2,WH, CD, CDX, CGC (1999-2002)

Michael Ellis Seminar in Boston

October 30, 31, 1
Boston, MA
Contact Scott Dunmore

Spectator/auditor positions are still open!

Michael Ellis explaining the DUTCH KNPV (part 2)
and what kind of dogs this dog sport produces.

*At checkout, enter coupon code OCT29 into the comments section at checkout to receive savings. An email will be sent after you have placed your order specifying the new total. This special is valid for TWO DAYS ONLY on Thursday, October 29th to Friday, October 30th from 12:01 A.M. to 11:59 P.M. Central Standard Time. Order must be placed, received, and be dated for October 29th or 30th. Orders placed before or after this date will NOT be given the price discount. No Exceptions!

Have a Question on Dog Training?

Have you checked the Leerburg Discussion Board? It is one of the most active dog web boards on the internet. The Leerburg Web Board has over 13,275 Members with over 165 forums and 212,000 posts in its archives. The web board also has an excellent search engine that only searches the web board's 212,000 posts.

This Week's Featured
Question & Answers

Our newsletter will always contain several featured customer Q&As from that week.
Have a question for Ed & Cindy? Try the Leerburg Search Engine. This search engine was written specifically for Leerburg by our in house IT manager. Our search engine is specific to Leerburg and only searches leerburg.com and the Leerburg web forum.
If you can't find the answer to your question by using our search engine, you can email Cindy here at Leerburg at cindyr@leerburg.com If you have your spam filter on, make sure you set it to receive our replies!!!

Question: I have some questions about our newborn lab puppies.  Can you help?

Hi ,

My female lab gave birth to 11 puppies starting early (4:30)Tuesday  morning.  Nine were born within a 4 hours window.  The last two were born about 4 hours later.

Sadly, the last two, a yellow and a black male, were the smallest.

Yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, I noticed the yellow male was somewhat lethargic.  Unlike all of the others, we could see his ribs. We immediately went and purchased commercial newborn pup formula and started giving it to him orally with a syringe. He seems to be doing better today. While he's still about 35% smaller than the others, he's holding his own. Upon finding your website this morning, I switched from the commercial formula to your recipe (goat's milk, yogurt, egg yolk and karo) and he really started to improve.  While he's still seems to be having trouble attaching to the bitch's teat, he is trying.  

Unfortunately, while the second to smallest male seemed to be healthier than the yellow, when my wife went to pick him up this morning, she noticed he was cold.

She tried feeding and warming him, but with no success.  He died about 5 a.m. this morning.   I called my vet and he said he likely died from hypothermia.   We're trying even harder at keeping all of the pups even warmer tonight.

I write you with a comment and few brief questions:

First, I really think your formula is making a difference.  This pup is eating better, looks healthier (albeit smaller)  and seems to have more vigor.  I don't feel that he's totally out of the woods yet, but I think he's on his way.

My questions are: when do we switch from administering the formula orally from a syringe to a baby bottle and/or is a tube a better option?

Also, do you think he'll ever gain the ability to suck from her teat.  My wife, who's a critical care nurse, doesn't think he has a cleft palate, although she's guessing maybe a cleft lip. 

In light of the hypothermia, when they're not eating, some of the remaining pups move on and off the heating pad.  How long do we need to keep a heat source in there and should I try to confine them all to the pad?

Lastly, when the mother is feeding, she's often panting as she's laying there.  Is this normal?

As you may be able to tell, this is our first litter.  While I've done a ton a research leading up to this incredible event, I really think your website was the most informative.

Your solutions are really thoughtful, backed by experience, well explained and just seem to make sense.

Thanks for all of your time.

I look forward to hearing back from you shortly.

Regards,
Rich

Answer:

I’d make sure you give the puppy an option to nurse from the mother as often as possible or it may lose the sucking instinct.  This is why we prefer a bottle over tube feeding if the pup will take the bottle.  I’d get the pup on a bottle as soon as possible.

Never confine puppies to a heating pad, they may get too warm.  They need to be able to move on and off freely.  Puppies can regulate their body temperature by about 3 weeks old, so keep the pad in with them until that time.

It’s normal for mother dogs to pant, but make sure she’s not running a fever.  We take our females temperatures twice daily for at least a week or ten days after they give birth.  If she is running a temperature of 103 she needs to see a vet right away.  She could have a retained placenta or infection that could be fatal to her and the puppies.

Learn to use the search function (located in the left hand corner of every page on our website) Simply type in your search terms or key words and you will be directed to articles, question & answers, free streaming videos and posts on our forum.  We have extensive info on these topics on the website.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

For more questions on this topic, see our Q&A on Breeding.

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Question: What's the deal with having the dogs return on recall to "between the legs" facing forward? Is this a new fad or what??

Cindy,

What's the deal with having the dogs return on recall to "between the legs" facing forward? Is this a new fad or what? I realize in protection you don't want the dog to "front" and take it's attention off the decoy, but why not to heel position?

Karen

Answer:

I don't want to compromise my dog's correctness in heel position, so I teach an alternate behavior for recalls in protection.

This is perfectly acceptable for competition in the sport we are training in currently (Mondioring).

For more questions on this topic, see our Q&A on Working Pups.

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Question: I have 2 dogs that are 3 years old.  We adopted them six months ago and they will not go to the bathroom when I am watching them.  What can I do??

I have spent a very large amount of time searching for answers to this particular issue, and so far I have not found the answers I have needed.  I am hoping you can help me. 

I have 2 dogs that are approximately 3 years old.  We adopted them about 6 months ago, and as far as we know, they have always been together, and it seems like they have very similar issues.  They are fearful dogs, but once we started crating them and keeping them on a leash otherwise, they have started to become a little bit more secure, and have even started greeting us with a bit of enthusiasm. 

Their particular potty issue is that MOST of the time, they absolutely will not go potty in front of me.  This means that it is impossible for me to reward them at the time they do go, and I also can't teach them a cue word so they can go on command.  On the other hand, if they feel the need to go while on a walk, obviously, they will go on leash right next to me, though it's never at a time or place that I have chosen.  They just go at the moment they decide to go.  This never really had a major impact on whether or not they also pottied in the yard.  As long as I wasn't too close to them, or obviously watching them, they would go potty in the yard when they needed to. 

Last week, due to me having troubles with pregnancy joint/nerve pain, I hired someone to help me walk the dogs a few days a week.  I gave her VERY specific instructions, which she obviously did not follow.  After only 2 walks with this girl, both dogs are now "waiting" for their walk, to go potty.  And during a walk with them now, they want to stop whenever they feel like sniffing or marking, and they try to go in their own direction.  Even though it frustrates me that I already have to "retrain" the dogs, I know that I can retrain them easily to WALK on a walk, as I was the one that trained them in the first place.  But how do I deal with them "waiting" to go potty till they get a walk?  I think it would be easier if I had been able to train them to potty on command before this incident, but how can I do that if I can't even be near the dogs or watching them in order to link the potty with the command and reward?

I previously tried walking them around the yard where I want them to go, to try to stimulate their urge to go, and to keep them from just laying down, which they also do, when it's potty time.  It has never worked.  They won't go while on the leash, and if I take them off the leash, they will just lay down.  You could say, well maybe they don't really need to go, but if it's been all night or longer, they really ought to need to go pretty desperately.  And if I were to take them out for a walk, they would want to go potty rather quickly!

I need them to start going potty in the yard again, not only for their own health and comfort, but I also don't want the dogs to "require" me to take them on a walk just to get them to go potty.  I would like to train them, not the other way around.  Practically speaking, I cannot possibly take them on a walk every time they ought to need to go potty. 

I did think of perhaps feeding them more often throughout the day, to try to trigger their need to go, but this is not always possible either, and I would like to maintain as steady of a routine as possible.

Anyway, I hope you can help me with this particular problem.  How to get a dog to go potty when they just won't go is not an easy topic to find information on.  Most people have the opposite problem, it seems.  I'm glad I don't have to clean up messes (not yet anyway), but I would sure like to see them go potty more often than when they are desperate, or only after meals, or only on a walk.  I would be most grateful for any help or references you can give me. 

Thank you for your time!
Laurie

Answer:

I’d follow our groundwork program.

Until I was certain these dogs would go to the bathroom when I took them out, on leash, in front of me they would be in a crate.  I would use very similar tactics to what I would do when I bring a new puppy home.  These dogs would get NO time out of the crate until they relieve themselves on my terms. This is covered in our house training eBook. 

They get a short break out in the desired bathroom area on leash, if they don’t go, back in the crate for them and try again in an hour.  It’s a labor intensive exercise but there aren’t any shortcuts to this and an adult dog will learn quickly. If you break down and walk them or let them out alone, you’ll set back your training and TEACH them to hold it even longer until they get to go to the bathroom on their own terms. This is covered in the eBook I linked above.

We have a section on the website about house training.

I hope this helps.

For more questions on this topic, see our Q&A on House Training.

*If you have a training question – write Cindy here at Leerburg at cindyr@leerburg.com

*If you have your spam filter on, make sure you set it to receive our replies!!!

*Our newsletter is a big success and we would like to send out a huge THANKS to our wonderful customers! Since beginning this newsletter our volume of email has greatly increased and you may have a longer than usual wait for a reply to your question.  We will answer; it just may take us a bit longer than you are accustomed to. In order to speed up this process, please condense your questions to a paragraph or two. This will make it MUCH easier for us to answer in a timely fashion. Your questions are important to us and we always appreciate receiving them.  If you have a medical issue or emergency, please consult with a health care professional right away. We can’t diagnose or treat sick dogs via email. Also, try using the search function on our site - it now searches the site AND the web board. Thank you. Ed & Cindy

Testimonials

Hey there,

Just wanted to say thank you again for all the helpful advice and products we have received from your site.  We did all the dog training DVDs that are not for working dogs, we have an everlasting treat ball that is the ONLY toy my dog can't kill, we use stall mat in the kennel and crates (which is also the ONLY material he doesn't kill) and we use a dominant dog collar as a basic collar as it is the ONLY collar that stays in place. We never have to use a hard correction on him, just a slight tug and "uh uh" and he stops doing whatever it is he's doing.

We take him out walking twice daily and work with him during the day and at 10 months he is the envy of the neighborhood.  People are constantly asking what school he went to or who his trainer was. Since we got him at 9 weeks we have only had 2 weeks where we were at our wits end, but we stayed consistent with his training and got good advice and it passed.

He now knows over 30 commands, naturally walks at a heel and will come when we call him even when he is chasing something, he is also learning tracking training and is enjoying that immensely. A local dog trainer met him and said hands down he was THE best socialized dog she had ever met in all her years of training and even put it in writing.  She also was impressed how consistent our training was because she also said he was one of the highest drive dogs she had ever seen and would be destructive if he wasn't exercised or worked as much as he is.  Thankfully we back onto huge wilderness!

We used your socialization and neutralization techniques to have him comfortable around people, dogs, and all kinds of places. He can be chewing a bone or toy and a kid will walk by and he just wags his tail and ignores them otherwise. We also visited the vet office and grounds before he got neutered and he acted like it was just another day even after his surgery, and he still LOVES to visit the vet. My lawn is clean and free of dog poop and pee as Kye has his spot at the back fence and NEVER goes on the lawn.  He also doesn't mark anywhere but his spot.

We use Zuke's for training and my dog would turn himself inside out for one of those if he could, it is amazing what a dog will learn when motivated properly.  If our dog is this good at 10 months we can't wait to see what he is at 2  years.

Thanks again,
The Terniers

Here is a picture of Kye waiting for the command to take his toy, he will wait for however long we ask without moving until we say "ok, take your toy"

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http://michaelellisschool.com

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