diydoggo

[diydoggo]

Pepper’s home!

She just got here last night from Texas, and gosh she’s even sweeter than I was told! Her attitude is mellow and smart and she’s very inquisitive. I’m excited to say she looks to be a great service dog prospect. 

[diydoggo]

Dogblr Questions

[diydoggo]

Maisie hurt her paw so she’ll be doing a lot of resting and cuddling plushies in the next few days 😓

I’m also encouraging her to sleep on the lab plushies because it’s too cute.

[diydoggo]

Nayeli, Filou und Caleo

[diydoggo]

She’s so so beautiful

[diydoggo]

Heyyy haven’t posted in a while so here’s my dog.

[diydoggo]

miniature american shepherds by _Julia_B_

[diydoggo]

So what do you when an off leash dog comes running at you?

This is what I do, but it is far from fool proof, after all, fools can be pretty determined.

Train or work on training your dog to walk on a loose leash and sit and stay on cue. If your dog has some self control, it will leave you more time to control the off leash dog.

If the off leash dog comes out of a house or driveway behind you, keep walking, it is likely the further you get away from the dogs home territory, it will likely give up and return home.

If the off leash dog comes out of a house that is front of you, turn around and go back if you can. Avoid problems where you can.

If the off leash dog runs up to you, where safe try and put your larger dog behind you and pick up your small dog. Putting yourself between your dog and the other dog may deter the dog. I would stand with my arm outstretched and hand opened like a stop sign, and shout at the dog to “go away!“. My dog is behind me and as soon as the off leash dog started to back off I would walk after it to drive it away, hand still outstretched.

If the off leash dog attacks your dog, I would let go of my dogs leash, so I am not holding him still to be attacked, and now that my hands are free, I would do everything in my power to make the other dog go away. Yes that includes, kicking, screaming, grabbing it by the collar or whatever I need to do. I will do anything I have to in order to protect my dog.

As I mentioned, there is no guaranteed way to avoid all risks and control all variables, in some suburbs it is a potential minefield and others not so bad. Some clients walk with a stick to ward off dogs racing up to theirs and some walk late at night and in early mornings where the chances of being accosted are less.

It should not have to be this way.

It is vitally important, especially for dogs under 18 months of age that they don’t learn that they need to protect themselves from dog attacks or this can trigger fear aggressive behaviours.

It is your job as a leader to protect your dog from other dogs and other people, or they will take matters into their own paws and that can be harder to reverse than you might think.

Many dogs that I treat for aggression rehab have suffered being attacked by an off leash dog when under 18 months of age. These can be the hardest dogs to rehab.

[diydoggo]

You know what really pisses me off about that “it’s all in how you raise them” mindset though? It makes good owners feel like fucking shit.

I’ve owned Diego since he was four months. I did everything with him, socialized the hell out of him, he loved other dogs when he was young. We went to training classes, etc.

And then one day when he was about eight months old he jumped a dog. He no longer tolerated strange dogs.

And I felt like fucking hell. I believed that “it’s all how you raise them” shit. Here I am doing my best with this dog, and he turns out like this! I seriously considered rehoming him.

It took a lot for me to get out of that stupid mindset. I took him to behaviorists and trainers who all pretty much said the same thing - that’s his personality.

I don’t know where I’m going with this post. It just ticks me off.

[diydoggo]

Guess who adopted a dog!

I’m hoping to pick her up sometime later this month or within the first few weeks of July. 

I’m so excited!! She has a really mellow personality but supposedly she’s very smart, so already she has a good temperament for service work. She’s a shepherd/corgi cross which looks really goofy but I still love her.

https://www.adoptapet.com/pet/22100295-olympia-washington-corgi-

[diydoggo]

Don’t pet any dog in public without permission

I feel like this should be common sense. You just don’t pet a dog unless you know it’s okay, but seeing as how many people I’ve had to tell I guess it’s not that common, but it does still make sense.

The main reason I felt the need to make this post is that a few weeks ago I learnt that service dogs are not required to wear any identifying markers of their job. They don’t have to wear a vest or a collar or anything else that would make them stand out.

Now how is this relevant you ask? Well, just imagine, you’re walking and see a cute dog! It seems well behaved enough and the owner is busy in conversation or with something else so you just reach down and start petting the dog. No harm done right? Wrong.

If that dog were on duty and you didn’t know you could be distracting it from it’s life-saving medical care that it provides.

Now, why don’t all service dogs wear vests you ask? Well, a good majority do. It makes going into public places like stores and restaurants a lot easier, but it also means attracting attention. It means getting questions from strangers and rude remarks, especially if you have an “invisible” disability. Or sometimes it’s simply just too hot out. So, a handler may choose to not beat their dog or have them wear any other indentifying factor of their work.

You never know who’s on duty and who’s not. “But what if the dog is being roudy and playful?” Maybe they’re taking a break from work, but that dog still needs to be ready to go in a moment’s notice and you may interfere with that.

So, just ask first please. Ask, “Can I pet your dog?” or any variation of that. And if you’re told no don’t throw a fit, just move on.

[diydoggo]

[diydoggo]

So I’ve been following the facebook page The Dog Geek for awhile now, because of the easy-to-share-and-educate posters it gives out.

Well turns out they’re a) an actual training company and b) these posters and more are available for free on their website! (Each poster has optional text linked with it)

So above are a bunch I don’t think I’ve seen before

They also put out some useful videos on occasion, as well as info guides!

and you can get custom pictures of your dogs in their cute art style, to boot. Including STICKERS

[diydoggo]

Uh. Yikes. They denied my application because I said I would put the puppy in a crate at night. Peta much?

[diydoggo]

I’m so excited!! I just filled out the adoption application for this cutie! Wish me luck... Although if I don’t get him it’s because they found someone more suitable and that’s always good for the dog.

[diydoggo]

He doesn’t even know what’s coming for him today…

[diydoggo]

by Mark Muschett Photography