Pet advice

[mostly harmless]

I used to teach dog obedience classes and have worked with a large variety of animals..so if anyone is needing any advice..I figured I would offer.
Training, nutrition, health...ect..

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Is it possible to train a Jack Russell Terrier (he's 2 years old) to stop jumping up on everybody when they walk through the front door? Our dog does that, and he's incredibly playful, but we've received so many different advice for his jumpiness:


1) He's a Jack Russell...........that's his temperament.

2) You must be firm and tell him "no!" when he jumps up, and then he will stop. (We do this every time he jumps)

3) Remove him from the situation. (We don't like doing this because we consider him part of the family)



And other variations of the above statements.



Help?



Peace,
Mystic

 

[Feathers in Hair]

I'd ask questions about trying to get my cats behave, but I can't imagine having the willpower to train cats!

 

[mostly harmless]

Is it possible to train a Jack Russell Terrier (he's 2 years old) to stop jumping up on everybody when they walk through the front door? Our dog does that, and he's incredibly playful, but we've received so many different advice for his jumpiness:


1) He's a Jack Russell...........that's his temperament.

2) You must be firm and tell him "no!" when he jumps up, and then he will stop. (We do this every time he jumps)

3) Remove him from the situation. (We don't like doing this because we consider him part of the family)



And other variations of the above statements.



Help?



Peace,
Mystic

It will take commitment to teach your dog not to jump but it can be done.
A few ways:

First teach a sit.

My way of doing it is to walk right through a jumping dog. They are jumping I ignore them and keep walking, if I step on a toe 'oh, well'...I will only make eye contact when the dog stops jumping...I will then encourage the dog to sit and give it a cookie when it does.

I have to say that ignoring a dog (no: eye contact, touching, NOTHING) works the best at getting across the message that you don't like something they are doing to you. Pushing the dog off is (to them) a signal to play. Eye contact or talking is like praise. If you want him to stop, pay no attention to him until he is calm.....even if it takes him an hour. He WILL get it eventually, you just have to stick to your guns.

If he can't control his behaviour around guests, then yes I would put him in a time out. I would take him as soon as he starts an unwanted behaviour and put him where he will have absolutely no contact with anyone and he can't see what's going on. When he calms down I bring him back out. If it starts again..rinse..lather...repeat...

Consistency...consistency...consistency...

And, teaching that sit will help you have a bit more control..you can reward him when he sits and he will leearn to control himself in order to get that reward or in order to get attention.

I love my dog, he is my helper...and like a part of my family. I trained him to be my hearing/walker dog myself...He has had his fair share of timeouts..(and still gets them every now and then!

 

[mostly harmless]

I'd ask questions about trying to get my cats behave, but I can't imagine having the willpower to train cats!

I had 4 cats, all rescues, and all obnoxious in their own ways. They were trained to come when I called them, to stay off counters, and to stay inside when the door was opened.

I had to give them to my ex-in laws because my allergies to them have gotten pretty severe.:sad4: I miss my oldest one...she was my girl...she made a meowing noise that sounded like 'mommy' when she was looking for me, and when I called her she made a funny meow-chirp that (this will sound weird) sounded like a question mark-like she was saying 'what?'

 

[MysticSang'ha]

It will take commitment to teach your dog not to jump but it can be done.
A few ways:

First teach a sit.

My way of doing it is to walk right through a jumping dog. They are jumping I ignore them and keep walking, if I step on a toe 'oh, well'...I will only make eye contact when the dog stops jumping...I will then encourage the dog to sit and give it a cookie when it does.

I have to say that ignoring a dog (no: eye contact, touching, NOTHING) works the best at getting across the message that you don't like something they are doing to you. Pushing the dog off is (to them) a signal to play. Eye contact or talking is like praise. If you want him to stop, pay no attention to him until he is calm.....even if it takes him an hour. He WILL get it eventually, you just have to stick to your guns.

If he can't control his behaviour around guests, then yes I would put him in a time out. I would take him as soon as he starts an unwanted behaviour and put him where he will have absolutely no contact with anyone and he can't see what's going on. When he calms down I bring him back out. If it starts again..rinse..lather...repeat...

Consistency...consistency...consistency...

And, teaching that sit will help you have a bit more control..you can reward him when he sits and he will leearn to control himself in order to get that reward or in order to get attention.

I love my dog, he is my helper...and like a part of my family. I trained him to be my hearing/walker dog myself...He has had his fair share of timeouts..(and still gets them every now and then!

Thanks, MH! We'll give this a go.




Peace,
Mystic

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'd ask questions about trying to get my cats behave, but I can't imagine having the willpower to train cats

Simple. You don't train cats. They train you.

Any advice on Ball Pythons?

 

[mostly harmless]

:areyoucra:biglaugh:

I have a ball python...
She likes to go for car rides.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Awwww! I'm so sorry to hear about your allergies! The "question-mark" type of sound is also one my love-bug cat, Momitji, makes. He tilts his head when he makes it, making the "Huh?" look even more effective. (His vocalization sounds like he's saying his own name- "Momo".)

 

[mostly harmless]

Hey Mystic-
I forgot to ask for updates every now and then...keep me posted on the progress and if you have any other questions just ask!!

 

[Willamena]

"Pet" is no longer politically correct... they are now called "animal companions".

 

[Katzpur]

I used to teach dog obedience classes and have worked with a large variety of animals..so if anyone is needing any advice..I figured I would offer.
Training, nutrition, health...ect..

Wow! That is so neat to know. I could actually use you full-time, but I'm heading off to bed now. But I definitely have some questions for you! (I have two Rough Collies and a cat. It's the one Collie who has some "personality defects.")

 

[YmirGF]

Very good advice Mostly Harmless. I used to get greeted by my Sherpard/Lab cross when I got home, ala Dino on he Flintstones. When he was young and little, it was quite adorable to have him literally leap into my arms. :badger: When he hit 60lbs... it tended to rock one rigid.

I ended up doing exactly what you suggested, although I did have to turn a few times. When he landed hard a few times, he figured it out, lol. :yes:

Likewise with the cookie rewards. MaXx was trained to sit, indefinitely with a Milkbone poised across his snout. I could walk out of the room and he would still be sitting there a minute later when I returned. Cross-eyed, but obediant, LOL.
As soon as I said, "OK" he would flip the biscuit into the air and snarf it down.

Oddly, MaXx thoroughly hated elderly Chinese men. He nipped one once on the man's upper thigh. Two inches higher and OMG. He never did this to any other race or age group, so I concluded he was severely beaten by a Chinese male when he was a pup. (I got him from the SPCA.)

LIke your kitty, MaXx also growled/howled an odd sound that floored people who heard him. It sounded like, "Hel-loooooo" and he always did it "on cue". You didn't have to use your imagination it sounded like an elongated "hello".

One thing I always get a giggle out of is when I see people talking to their dog, trying to get them to understand something. Short, sharp, consistent commands work. Lengthy dialogue does not... no wonder people need to keep having a little talk with their dogs, lol. : hamster :

 

[mostly harmless]

I have never ending conversations with my dog. I have come to the conclusion that I really need to get a life!!: hamster :

I had this one pit bull that I rescued and she was the sweetest thing...but she COULD NOT control her urge to jump up...she was so happy to finally have people pay attention to her.....It took a lot of turning - was So dizzy for a while there..but after a couple of days she could sit and BARELY contain herself...should be shaking from the effort it took to stay in a sit...lol

She was also very cat aggressive, and I had 4 cats..but after about 2 weeks she had learned to stop lunging at them and by the end of the 1st month she would sit there and look at them (she was still on leash).
Unfortunately the sweet girl had to be PTS she had cancer in her doggie breasts. Me and my daughter miss that girl she was a beautiful, sweet dog, I wanted to train her to be a therapy dog and take her to see people in convalescent homes and kids in hospitals and stuff...she would've been great for that...to her strangers were friends she hadn't made yet...she taught a lot of people about what a pit bull is really like...and she had been through a lot before I got her. Her name was Nova.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

"Pet" is no longer politically correct... they are now called "animal companions".

Does familiar work?

So any advice on Ball Pythons? I'm going to get one and I've never had a snake before. I've read at least one heat source, at least one hidding spot but two is better, ceadar chips are bad, dead rodents are better than live ones, most of them would prefer gerbils, even the picky eaters, sticking it in a brown bag with a dead mouse is a good way to get it too eat, they might not think a white mouse is food, and they can get up to 4 feet in length.

 

[Jaymes]

So any advice on Ball Pythons? I'm going to get one and I've never had a snake before. I've read at least one heat source, at least one hidding spot but two is better, ceadar chips are bad, dead rodents are better than live ones, most of them would prefer gerbils, even the picky eaters, sticking it in a brown bag with a dead mouse is a good way to get it too eat, they might not think a white mouse is food, and they can get up to 4 feet in length.

If mostly harmless hasn't owned reptiles before, I can get a friend of mine who works at a local zoo to help you out. I don't know much about them myself, beyond "heating rocks are BAD!"

 

[michel]

I used to teach dog obedience classes and have worked with a large variety of animals..so if anyone is needing any advice..I figured I would offer.
Training, nutrition, health...ect..

Hey, this is good!

My wife knows all there is to know about training dogs (at least that's what she tells me) which means it is true. Joking.

She is good though. Reward good behaviour, ignore bad behaviour. Never shout, always peraise when she does come back........ The dog needs to know she is 'Delta' in our household with me as Alpha and my wife as Beta.......etc.

She is intelligent (the dog! - as is my wife); Marie has taught her all sorts of tricks. At home, she is an angel, except when she sees or smells a cat in our back garden; she goes completely mad, barking, jumping up to try and get to the cat....

The same when we are out walking her...if she sees a paper bag on the road that might be an animal, she gets ready. We have tried 'distraction' techniques; the last one (this is quite amusing) - I found one of our son's water pistols in the loft.

We keep it by the back door, and when she goes out barking, give her a shot (just to distract her), but even then, she has become used to that after that, and it no longer works.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Yep, it's working. He stopped jumping on me after a couple of days. I think he's getting the point.........or should I say that I'm getting the point, now?




: hamster : <---------------I love this emoticon. It's so much like me, it's uncanny.





Peace,
Mystic

 

[mostly harmless]

Does familiar work?

So any advice on Ball Pythons? I'm going to get one and I've never had a snake before. I've read at least one heat source, at least one hidding spot but two is better, ceadar chips are bad, dead rodents are better than live ones, most of them would prefer gerbils, even the picky eaters, sticking it in a brown bag with a dead mouse is a good way to get it too eat, they might not think a white mouse is food, and they can get up to 4 feet in length.

I have a ball python..her name is Lacey..

I use one heat source..a heat lamp...two hidy spots is better than one...use a soft substrate that says on the package that it holds the moisture better longer and is resistant to mold and such..I can't remember the name of the kind I use..
A young python should be fed frozen pinkies or small mice that have been heated up..mine won't accept them already dead, so I hive to feed her live mice..
Dead is better than live because the snake can be cut by the mice nails, but mine won't eat them dead..
Normally you would use a pair of tongs or something to hold the dead mouse and get the snake to eat...I wouldn't do gerbils...they get expensive and eventually the snake will be eating rats..
The ball pythons can get up to 5 feet or so in length..mine is currently about 2 1/2 feet long.

I forgot to add-put some foliage in there to..away from the heat source of course..and make sure you have a thermometer on the opposite side of the tank from the lamp...the tank should be big enough to have a cooler side and the warmer side (lamp area) and hidy spots on each end.

 

[mostly harmless]

Hey, this is good!

My wife knows all there is to know about training dogs (at least that's what she tells me) which means it is true. Joking.

She is good though. Reward good behaviour, ignore bad behaviour. Never shout, always peraise when she does come back........ The dog needs to know she is 'Delta' in our household with me as Alpha and my wife as Beta.......etc.

She is intelligent (the dog! - as is my wife); Marie has taught her all sorts of tricks. At home, she is an angel, except when she sees or smells a cat in our back garden; she goes completely mad, barking, jumping up to try and get to the cat....

The same when we are out walking her...if she sees a paper bag on the road that might be an animal, she gets ready. We have tried 'distraction' techniques; the last one (this is quite amusing) - I found one of our son's water pistols in the loft.

We keep it by the back door, and when she goes out barking, give her a shot (just to distract her), but even then, she has become used to that after that, and it no longer works.

I'll post you the method I used to get Nova less reactive to cats..she was VERY cat aggressive and it took about 2 weeks to see minor results.

I'll post it in a bit I have to make dinner!