bark

Arrival

As soon as the door opens everyone starts barking. Do not worry, they stop as soon as the dog enters the room. And we do not allow excessive barking.

When your dog enters the room for the first time, you may be nervous. All the dogs will run to the dog for a sniff. This is a normal greeting and your dog is expecting it. If your dog has more of dominant personality, he or she will stand very still. If he or she is more submissive they may drop to the ground on their backs. This does not mean they are scared or you should come to their rescue. It is how they greet each other.

If a dog is overly nervous or overly excited, the dogs may react differently. They may show some aggression towards your dog. It is only because the dog is not acting in an acceptable way.

Kind of like if we reach out to shake someone’s hand and they refuse or on the other hand if they give us a bear hug. We may not be so happy with those reactions!

We are there to make sure it goes smoothly. Generally after everyone sniffs the new dog shakes and runs off to explore. (shaking off is a stress relief)

Walking

Walking correctly is very important. It has nothing to do with words. Keeping the dog next to you and giving small, quick tugs when he pulls, is usually effective. It may take a while, but it does work.

Halti, Gentle Leaders and Easy Walkers are very helpful as well. Prong collars are good too, if your dog is not responsive to a Halti. I know they look awful, but they really don’t hurt the dog. I know there are trainers out there that do not agree with some of this advice and that is fine. You have to try what works for you. I am passing along to you my experience with many different kinds of dogs, including my own two cheeky dogs! With my Great Dane, a Halti head collar is a must. She weighs the same as I do! With my smaller mix, a prong collar is a must. He is very headstrong and gets fixated on squirrels and moving objects. A hard jerk of the prong collar is the only way to get his attention.

Play

We mix the dogs with all ages and sizes. It is my personal belief that they learn from each other how to behave. As Ceasar calls it, “the power of the pack”.

In my opinion it is better for small and large dogs to be exposed to each other. We have all seen small dogs get themselves in trouble with a big dog that is not so fond of bad behavior. People tend to want to protect a small dog and pick it up, thinking that the big dog is being mean. When in reality the small dog may have started the whole thing and by picking him up we are praising his rascally behavior. If you have a small dog, just ask yourself, ‘would this behavior be ok if he was 100 pounds?’. And, on the flipside, larger dogs need to know to be gentle with a small dog.

The same goes for puppies to be around older dogs. Like in a real dog pack, the elders teach the young ones. They have to know what is appropriate.

Of course all of their behavior is monitored by us.

Leash aggression

A lot of dogs will be aggressive towards other dogs while walking on a leash. That doesn’t necessarily mean they cannot attend daycare. Usually we, the owners are not telling the dog that ‘we are in charge here’. They sense our weakness or nervousness. Tightening up tension on the leash, even yelling will make it worse. As soon as your dog starts perking up at another dog, stay calm, strong and positive. Give a quick snap of the leash to snap them out of it. Keep the dog next to you at all times. Do not let them out in front to lead you. You have to believe that you are in charge or they won’t.

It always comes down to us seeing them as dogs and not people. They want to know we are in charge. Our body language tells them everything! Stay strong, walk tall, be confident.

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