My newest foster cat "Maple"

Maple has been at the SPCA since November. When i first brought her home as a foster parent she had signs of chronic stress, and muscle atrophy from sitting in a kennel for so long. Her skin was flaky, and the tip of her ears were crusty, plus the tapeworms didn't help either (dont' worry no more tapeworms!)

She hid for the first few days and i was really worried about her, but she has really come along now!  She was so uncivilized... didn't know how to eat from a hand, didnt' respond to human voices...

She is a bouncing ball of fur now though, plays with FLint, and responds to her name and she has even learnt to Sit for a treat. She is so active ... doesn't need cat nip to be high.. and always playing.. come to think of it, i dont' see Maple sleeping very often! She is like the border collie of that cat world. But she is still very cuddly and likes to be held and petted.

 She does have the  "stray cat syndrome" where she devours any food as fast as she can.. and will always eat eat eat. Since she's getting chunky though i know she is eating more than she needs! So I am now starting to train her and get her to work for her food.

Heres a video so hopefully someone will want her. She was so stressed at the shelter, I really want her to fine a home and not have to go back to the shelter!

Shake-a-paw for the unwilling dogs

I recently trained a labx great dane to "shake-a-paw" in a day where owners claimed to have tried for 2 years!
"Shake" is usually an easy trick to teach dogs, because some dogs will naturally paw you to get your attention. Not this dog though. First i tried hiding a treat in my palm to see if it would paw it.. (nope) then under a towel to see if it woudl paw it (nope) perhaps a cup (nope)... I waited and waited... but this dog never used its paws for anything other than for carrying it's weight!
This is quite serious... so i went down to the basics...

How I teached a dog to Shake-a paw:First I chose a paw to work with,
-I lured it onto a book and when it had that one paw on the book, I gave it a treat.
-When it did this reliably, i slowly added mroe books so it would actually have to lift it's paw to place it on the pile of books
-Then as it lifted it's paw, i would put my hand out before it reached the books and reward whenever the dog's paw touched my hand.
-Then do it without the books in the way-TA DA!

Now this dog won't stop shaking it's paw when you have a treat  =)

Note: i didn't just grab the paw and reward.. because i wanted the dog to do the motions itself and reach out. Plus for a dog that doesn't like it's paws handled, that method could result in a dog that cringes and retracts it's paws when the command is given,  because it has associated the command with someone grabbing it's paws -complete opposite of what u want!

Go PLaY with your DoG

This may just be me.. but I love crazy dogs. I love working with crazy dogs and I am bad for encouraging flint's destructive, rambunctious, energetic nature!  So long as it's safe, and the dog knows ON and OFF signals i see no harm in it :) Playing has lots of benefits..

 Benefits of PLAY:

1. For submissive/shy dogs (like flint)  playing does wonders to build on confidence, and a confident dog will be more willing to learn new behaviours (important in trick training!)
2.  Playing safely re-directs a dog's prey drive to something appropriate like a ball or tug-toy. It becomes an outlet for their natural behaviour  and a dog gets to be a DOG! A dog that is allowed to be a dog, will be better at overcoming distractions like chasing a squirrel when you say "Leave it" because  the dog thinks:  "Meh.. i see those all the time" (actually you throw stuffed animals for Rover all the time, but he can't tell the difference!)
3. Toys become another reward for good behaviour. Especially good if you dont' want to rely on treats to reward those pudgy pooches!
4. Play  keeps a dog active, healthy and happy.

5. Builds on the Bond between you and the dog -this is an obvious one! If you are fun, your dog will like you -need i say more? 

                                    

Flint too proud to show me what she did =P

Flint trying to keep Arthur off the road

Who needs to carry dog toys around when you have sleeves!