Altameroy Blog

Training a shih tzu to come when it is called is a vital, and
potentially life saving, part of any successful shih tzu
training program. All properly trained shih tzu must learn to
respond instantly to the owner’s voice, and the sooner this
lesson is learned the better.

The advantages of teaching a shih tzu to come when called are
obvious. For starters, coming when called will help you regain
control of the shih tzu in case of collar break, snapped leash
or other similar equipment failure. This is particularly
important when you are out with your shih tzu, especially in an
area with lots of traffic. It is vital that the shih tzu respond
to your voice and return to your side, even in the absence of
collar and leash, and even if there are lots of other things
competing for its attention.

Coming when called is also a vital skill for every working dog.
Whether the dog’s job is herding sheep, guarding livestock, or
sniffing out bombs and drugs at the airport, the working dog
must be under total control at all times, whether on leash or
off.

Even if your shih tzu’s only job is being a loyal companion, it
is still vital that he learn this important basic obedience
exercise. After the first obedience lessons, such as heeling,
stopping on command, sitting on command, etc. have been learned,
it is time to start incorporating the come when called lessons
into the daily training sessions.

One note about shih tzu training - it is all too easy for
training sessions to become dull and routine for both handler
and shih tzu. A bored shih tzu will not be receptive to
learning, just as a bored handler will not be a good teacher. It
is important, therefore, to always incorporate fun things and
play into every training session. Incorporating a few minutes of
play time before the lesson begins can do wonders for the
attitude of the shih tzu and human alike. Likewise, ending each
training session with a few minutes of free play time is a great
way to end on a positive note and to help the dog associate
obedience training with fun and not drudgery.

The command to stay and the command to come when called are
often combined in obedience training lessons, and they do go
naturally together. Start with the shih tzu on a loose leash,
ask the shih tzu to sit and then slowly back away. If the shih
tzu begins to get up and follow you, return to the shih tzu and
ask him to sit again. Continue this process until you can reach
the end of the leash without the shih tzu getting up.

After you can successfully reach the end of the leash on a
consistent basis, try dropping the leash altogether. Of course
you will want to do this in a controlled environment like a
fenced in yard. After the shih tzu has mastered the stay
command, it is time to add the come when called command.

Take up the leash again, and with the shih tzu on the end of the
leash, say “come” or “come here”. It is often helpful to use a
lure when teaching this behavior. The lure provides a visible
item for the shih tzu to focus on. Teaching the shih tzu to come
to the lure is a good first step in training the shih tzu to
come when called.

Repeat this procedure many times until the shih tzu will
consistently stay and then come when called. After the shih tzu
has mastered coming when called while attached to the leash,
slowly start introducing the concept when the leash is removed.
As before, these training sessions should only take place in a
controlled, safe environment, such as a fenced in front or back
yard.

A well trained, obedient shih tzu should respond to the call to
return to its owner no matter where it is and no matter what
distractions may occur. It is therefore necessary to test the
shih tzu with distractions of your own.

If you have a neighbor, preferably one with a shih tzu of his
own, try having him come over with the shih tzu. Have him, and
the shih tzu, stand just outside the fenced in area and repeat
the come when called exercise with your shih tzu off leash. If
he becomes distracted by the other dog, put the leash back on
and repeat the process. The goal is to have your shih tzu
consistently pay attention to your commands, no matter what
distractions may present themselves.

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As a professional dog trainer, people often ask me what dog toys I recommend they should buy and which ones I use for my own dogs.

Here’s the answer: Your dog doesn’t need more than two toys. Rotate them, so he doesn’t get bored. But remember: We’re talking about an animal that eats the same food, day in/day out. And while your dog needs mental stimulation in the form of play and obedience training, they will be perfectly happy with chewing on the same toys, for years.

(Much the same way young children can watch the same Barney movie 100 times without getting bored!)

So… what are the two best dog toys in my opinion?

- The Kong. Either in red or black. (Sometimes you need to play with your dog and this toy a bit, before your dog gets interested in it… but once they do… LOOK OUT. The benefit of this toy is that they can chew on it for months and months, in most cases. You can also stuff it with doggie treats, cream cheese, peanut butter or whatever.

- The rope toy. This is usually sold in either white or multi-strand colors. It is a thick piece of soft rope, tied in a knot on each end. Another great toy because–compared to the rawhide bone–this toy will last weeks or months.

There are other popular dog toys on the market, too. Everything from the brain stimulating “Buster Cube” to the tried and true pig ears and rawhide bones. Consult your veterinarian before giving your dog any new toy, and supervise accordingly.
About the Author

Adam G. Katz is the author of the book, “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer: An Insider’s Guide To The Most Jealously Guarded Dog Training Secrets In History.” Get a free copy of his report “Games To Play With Your Dog” when you sign up for his free weekly dog training tips e-zine at: http://www.dogproblems.com

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Can Dogs See Dead People?

By Bill Knell

“I see dead people.” Uttered by actor Haley Joel Osment in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, it has become one of the most famous lines in movie history. Although the film was based on a fictional story, we have all seen those people on television who claim they can see or communicate with the dead. Would it surprise you to learn that dogs may also possess that ability?

One of the oldest known paranormal beliefs is that dogs have the ability to see or communicate with the dead. It would be easy to believe that people have come to that conclusion based on a dog’s natural behavior. We’ve all seen dogs stand still and stare or react to something we were unable to see or hear. However, there may be much more to it then that.

Most of the pet people I have known had some sort of a weird dog story to tell. The most common involves the death of a beloved dog owner. The dog owner would die and it always seems like his or her pet would know about the event before anyone else. My mother often recounts the story of Grandpa Bill.

For the last few years of his life, Grandpa Bill languished from a terminal illness. When he wasn’t in the hospital, he stayed with us. It was during those stays that Bill became very close to an Irish Setter adopted by my mother. Rusty and Bill were inseparable. Whenever he sat in our back yard to get some sun during summer afternoons, Bill would play with her by throwing a ball for Rusty to catch or using her favorite old sock as a pull toy. Rusty slept at the foot of Bill’s bed and would start barking anytime he coughed or experienced shallow breathing.

During the final days of his life, Bill was back in the hospital. It was during that time that Rusty started acting strangely. She would pace back and forth in front of the bed in a spare room where Bill slept when he stayed at our home. She would circle the lawn chair he used to sit in when he played with her in the backyard. It was really eerie! However, stranger things were yet to come.

Although we knew he wasn’t going to live much longer, it came as a bit of a shock when Bill finally passed on. We thought that he would probably live another few months based on what the doctors said, but that wasn’t to be. A nurse checked on him around three in the morning and found he had passed on. Around the same time and without explanation, Rusty awakened everyone in our household. She began to howl uncontrollably. Less then an hour later, we received the sad news of Bill’s passing by phone.

I was too young to remember most of what happened, but I do recall that my parents were freaked out by the whole event. My mother was a no nonsense kind of person who had no use for anything paranormal, yet she recounted this story several times to me in later years whenever the subject of strange animal behavior would come up. Anything but a storyteller, I always felt that she spoke of those events as a way of trying to understand them. I suppose we could just toss it all off to coincidence, but the odds do not seem to be with that considering how many other people have experienced similar events.

Most everyone who has ever lived in any kind of a suburban neighborhood has some sort of a story to tell about that one weird house that everyone would stay away from. In my case, it was about seven houses down from mine in a neighborhood on Long Island. All of the houses on our block had been built in the early 1950s. With slight exceptions of larger or smaller models, most of the homes looked like they belonged together. All except one. The weird house in our neighborhood had a dark wood exterior and was landscaped with small trees instead of bushes and hedges. It stood out and most of the neighbors were not amused.

If it’s a true saying that strange houses attract stranger people, you could prove it by the weird house on our block. From the moment they moved in, the first family to live in that house made no attempt to fit into the neighborhood. The parents and three children were weird. They hated to answer their door, had two dogs that were as mean as they were big and never kept up their property.

Within ten years of moving into the house, the family fell apart. After several biting incidents, the police took the dogs away. The older brother died of a drug overdose, the younger one stopped speaking, their sister always seemed to be taking on the role of mom, and dad as their parents seemed unable to cope with anything. After their father was hospitalized for alcoholism, mom gave up, sold the house and moved away to parts unknown.

Before anyone could move in, the house was given a major facelift. Gone was the excessive number of trees that had created a haunted mansion look. Gone was the nasty looking wood exterior that gave way to aluminum siding. The inside was gutted and replaced with lighter colors and modern appliances. By the time the new family moved in during the mid 1960s, it was like an entirely different house. However, some of the sorrow from the previous family may have been left behind.

The new family consisted of a couple, a boy and girl under ten, and a cute Yorkshire Terrier they called nappy (short for Napoleon). These people were just the opposite of the previous occupants. They were friendly, took care of their property and got along well with all the neighbors. I knew the children and played with them when they came by my end of the block, but rarely visited their house. Most of what happened next I got from my other friends and people closer to the family then I was.

A couple of my friends were regularly invited to sleepovers at the house. During the sleepovers, Nappy would normally roam the house and eventually settle into his little doggie bed in one corner of the living room. However, on more then a few occasions the friendly little dog exhibited some very unfriendly and odd behavior.

Nappy would bound up the stairs to a finished attic with two bedrooms. This is where the children slept in bedrooms separated by a small hallway. Once there, he would inexplicably start to growl at the room to the right where the boy slept. This was also the room were the older brother from the previous family had once slept and where he had been found dead of a drug overdose.

Their dog’s odd behavior was first noticed by the children a few weeks after the new family moved in. Some of my friends who had slept over in the boy’s room told me that the boy and his parents were really freaked out by the whole thing. The girl had seen it, but since it wasn’t directed at her room, tended to ignore the incidents.

It seems that Nappy got along fine with the children and showed no animosity towards the sleepover guests either. That meant that his nighttime growling behavior was being directed towards an unknown source. I suppose that any number of simple explanations could be used to explain the whole thing away, but the dog’s growling wasn’t consistent. He didn’t do it every night and as often as not slept quietly without the growling when friends of the boy stayed overnight.

About a year after they moved in, the family moved out. This seemed strange considering the investment they had made in the property, but I doubt the reason for their move had anything to do with their dog’s odd behavior. There were some strange stories from my friends who spent more time at the house then I did. On a few of the sleepovers they said that the boy’s room always seemed very cold, despite a brand new oil burner having been installed in the house before the family moved in.

Like so many other events involving the paranormal, odd animal behavior is often categorized as explainable even if we do not know the cause. Because dogs cannot talk, we do not know exactly what they are reacting to. Can dogs see dead people? I guess we’ll have to wait until we’re dead to find out the answer to that question! Read more amazing stories about dogs at http://advice.azpuppies.com

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Title: Can Dogs See Dead People?
Topic: Pets
Author: Bill Knell
Author’s Email: billknell@cox.net
Author’s Website: http://www.billknell.com
Author’s Phone: 480-632-7909
Word count : 1456
Terms To Use Article: Permission is granted to use this article for free online or in print. Please add a link to or print my website address of http://www.billknell.com

A native New Yorker now living in Arizona, Bill Knell is a forty-something guy with a wealth of knowledge and experience. He’s written hundreds of articles offer advice on a wide variety of subjects. A popular Speaker, Bill Knell presents seminars on a number of topics that entertain, train and teach. A popular radio and television show Guest, you’ve heard Bill on thousands of top-rated shows in all formats and seen him on local, national and international television programs.

About the Author

A native New Yorker now living in Arizona, Bill Knell is a forty-something guy with a wealth of knowledge and experience. He’s written hundreds of articles offer advice on a wide variety of subjects.

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The modern urban lifestyle isn’t very suitable for our pets. Pollution, stress, depression, anxiety and unhealthy lifestyles are having a devastating effect on the lives of pets. Behavioral problems become a key issue in today’s life, applicable to the owners as well as their pets. In the same way, physical ailments like diabetes, arthritis, chronic fatigue, digestive disorders, cystitis, kidney and liver disease, skin disorders, obesity, thyroid dysfunction and other problems are becoming more and more common in pets. As most of the pets are much more sensitive than human beings, a recent report says that even melancholy is a big problem in pets (although this is mostly referred to dogs).

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