|
Having grown up with dogs all my life it seemed a natural progression for my husband and I to get dogs of our own. Having already had a Parson Terrier (similar to a Jack Russell only with longer legs!) we decided we would get two brothers from this breed. Our puppies were 8 weeks old when we collected them.
We wanted to enrol them in a puppy socialisation class only to be told that they were full, which resulted in me talking to 7-8 trainers. To my dismay they all said the same to me…..
"You have taken on big trouble there. You have two boys from the same litter which means they will look at each other as to what they should do, rather than at you. AND as they are both boys they will fight for dominancy whereby you will probably have to move one on"
My heart sank, looking at the two bundles of fluff I could not even contemplate giving one away.
There had to be a way….I was on a mission to find out what it was.
I read books, attended courses and researched in depth the non-verbal language constantly communicated between dogs. I felt driven to understand dog psychology and pack mentality which I discovered was the key to success.
I watched intently the non verbal communication that was taking place with our dogs and was fascinated to see how the dynamics of the household changed favourably when I acted in a way they would expect a 'Pack Leader' to.
There is no shouting or hitting. I remain calm, decisive and expect my rules to be followed, as this is exactly how a pack leader would act.
I discovered that leadership MUST come first and affection second in order for dogs to accept you as the 'Top Dog.' Amazing….when you act like a 'Pack Leader', dogs look at you for direction and want to please and follow YOU! So simple and so effective.
When our dogs were about 4 months old they both started to drag their bottoms across the floor. The vet's believed it must be a genetic disorder as they had not seen this before in such young puppies.
A homeopathic vet recommended I read 'Give your dog a bone' by Dr Ian Billinghurst which is the BARF (Bones and raw food) diet. It made so much sense to me and we changed to this way of feeding.
INCREDIBLE. They stopped dragging themselves across the carpet and no more diarrhoea or offensive wind! The skin complaint that one of them had started to improve and eventually disappeared.
Learning to speak your dogs language, feed them a natural diet that their system is designed to digest, I believe, is a wonderful combination that gives you calm, relaxed and healthy dogs.
|
-1.jpg)
