Microchipping ensures that if your dog is lost or stolen it can be easily identified – especially if its identification tag has fallen off. You can get your dog microchipped at your local veterinary clinic or enquire at your local council. Some local council’s will subsidise the cost of microchipping your dog, however this varies from region to region. There are standards that must be adhered to when the microchipping is done so it is important you check with your local council for a list of good operators.

The microchip itself is the size of a grain of rice and the cost of the operation varies (usually around $45 – $80). It is inserted usually just behind the shoulders using a needle. The procedure usually only takes a few seconds and is not too different from a vaccination. The chip has a unique number to your dogs information and is stored on a national database, which means it can be scanned anywhere in New Zealand and be recognised. Most SPCA and pounds hold scanners so if your dog gets away from your home it can be quickly identified and returned.

Microchipping usually only has to be done once in your dog’s life and ensures that if your dog needs to be identified then it has a permanent way.

We get caught up in the huge learning curve of training a dog, getting it micro chipped, learning the local council rules of registration and learning generally about how to look after a dog. We don’t think about calling the local pet insurer when we bring our new puppy home for the first time and finding out how to get your dog covered.

So what is Pet insurance?

It usually covers your vet bill when you Dog gets ill or injured in an accident and can also cover you if your dog gets lost or stolen or dies.

Why is this important?

When we get a dog we don’t think about it getting sick or ill. Trips to the vet are usually a common occurrence, especially when they are younger. We take our dogs to the vet usually for there routine check and vaccination and the cost of this is fairly modest. What we usually don’t expect is those accidents which occur during the year and leave us with good size vet bills. Normally we have no issues paying what it takes to get our dog fixed up; however it can leave you slightly bitter. Pet insurance helps to cover these costs with a wide range of plans which cover your pets for difference situations. You can get some of the cost of getting your dog fixed and also vaccinations covered or just have it for accidents. Prices vary according to the plan you choose. The benefit I see with Pet insurance is that it covers you for accidents which can give us peace of mind knowing that you aren’t worrying about the huge vet bill. During the time you have a dog it will most likely at some point get ill and it’s rare not to take your dog to the vet a couple of times a year.

A Few things to think about:

It’s important you do your research and look at various companies to find a plan which suits your situation. Costs vary according to the cover you get – usually the more covered your dog, the more it will cost. Pet insurance will usually cover a dog up until a certain age, once a dog reaches that age they will either refuse to cover them or up their premiums. You need to make sure you get a specific diagnosis of your dog’s illness as they can reject claims if it’s not well documented – usually this isn’t a major issue as you can normally just ring up your vet and they can give you all there notes.

Pet insurance won’t be for everyone however it’s well worth investigating as accidents and vet visits are usually a common occurrence when you own a dog.

The next is to discipline your dog. Often it’s here that we fail our dog and we can loose our temper or apply poor discipline technique. Disciplining your dog cannot be abusive, violent or stressful – these will lead to punishing your dog and ineffective training and possibly lead to behaviour issues.
Good discipline is:
- Consistent
- non-emotive
- non-violent
- Giving the dog rules / boundaries / limitations

Lastly, give your dog affection. You should only give your dog affection when it is in a calm state and only after you have used the first two steps to get it there. Often we are guilty of skipping the first two steps and jumping straight to affection, rewarding our dog when it’s not in a calm state. This leads to behavioural issues.

This can help to improve your dog’s state of mind and fix a lot of the behaviour issues we commonly see in dogs. Often these issues are a direct result of how we relate to our dog. So start implementing exercise, discipline and affection in your behaviour training now.

Buy Cesar’s Latest Book from Fish Pond:

The usual background to a scared / nervous dog is a series of events which put it into this state. For instance a common incident would be taking your dog for a walk and it sees another dog and either barks at it or stops and turns into a lead weight which you can’t move, often curling into a ball with its tail between its legs.

Common signs of a scared / nervous dog is barking, erratic behaviour, extreme wagging of the tail while moving around another dog, tail between the legs, growling, turning into a lead weight and not moving. Extreme cases your dog may even turn into a catatonic state, where its muscles get so ridged that it is virtually impossible to move it.

Socialisation

It’s very important you give your puppy good socialisation when it’s young. Often puppy classes are great; however the emphasis is on GOOD socialisation. If you drop your puppy into a high energy situation then it will only encourage bad socialisation skills or heightened nervousness. It’s best to socialise a puppy with only a few other dogs at a time so that it can cope with the new situation and make sure the other dogs are of a similar level energy wise. If there are any barking dogs or high energy dogs its best to keep your puppy clear of them until they have been brought under control. Puppy classes often are very exciting places for your dog and they should be kept on the lead till you are confident you have control over them off the lead or they have a fenced of area for puppy’s. Often puppy’s the same size, same energy level will get along well, I have found larger out of control dogs just aren’t good influences on your puppy. Good socialisations will help to prevent your dog been nervous or scared of other dogs. It will learn its boundaries and how to deal with different breeds of dogs as they often all have slightly different behaviours.

Nervous Triggers

When you are faced with a scared or nervous dog the first thing is to identify what the triggers are that gets it into this state. Often it comes about from a series of events that builds up this nervous energy. A walk for example starts as soon as you signal to your dog its leaving the house. If your dog leaves the house in a high energy state it will continue through the walk and can contribute to your dog’s nervous behaviour (read this article on dogs pulling on the leash). It’s a good idea to drain your dog of energy before it goes for a walk, so this maybe throwing the ball around the backyard for 15mins. The next trigger that could occur on a walk is scent or smell. A dog can often smell an approaching dog before it even sees it and without us knowing it can start to get into a nervious state. Signs might be excessive sniffing or a slow down in walking pace. To overcome this trigger you need to be aware that your dog’s behaviour has changed and quickly snap it out of this mood with a quick tug of the lead. The key here is not to heighten its energy by using your voice but to correct its behaviour. The next common trigger will be seeing the approaching dog. A dog will already know what the energy of the approaching dog is well before it actually meets it (they pick up on body language, scent, eye contact and often size of the approaching dog). This is why the dog will often be in a scared / nervous state before actually meeting the approaching dog. If your dog barks you need to stop it straight away – quick tug will off balance your dog and should stop it. I would also use a “ssssssssssssssst” sound and touch it on the back of the neck if it continued. It’s very important you don’t yell or hit your dog as this only reinforces this behaviour. The next part is to simply walk past the approaching dog and make no big deal about it. If your dog gets fixated on the approaching dog you simply correct it. I often walk between my dog and the approaching dog so that it never gets the chance to assert itself and also to lower its dominance in this situation. It means you have better control over your dog and its nervous state. The more times you correctly walk past a dog without your dog reacting the less nervous it will get around other dogs.

The Ball State

The next common issue is your dog sits down making it virtually impossible to move. This again comes about from a build up of triggers as mentioned above. Your dog firstly will slow down as a first sign, when this occurs you need to hold the lead shorter and snap them out of this mood. If your dog doesn’t snap out of this mood and turns into ball which you can’t move then do your best to get it upright and walking past the approaching dog in a calm state. To get your dog out of the ball state you can try to touch them under the stomach and often this will get them onto there feet. If this works then simply snap them out of the state and walk past the approaching dog in a calm state. Continue this as you walk past anymore dogs on your walk and never make a big issue about any dog approaching. If I’m approaching a dog on the street I often look around the street ignoring the approaching dog. I find this helps me forget about the thoughts that go on in your head like “oh no here’s another dog how’s he going to react to it?” Also stops me from pre-empting any bad situations that have occurred in the past.

If your dog curls into a ball and won’t move or you are just having no luck then you may need to address this in role playing situations. Use a friendly dog it knows in neutral places – such as your back yard. Attach both dogs to a lead and replicate the approaching dog scenario. See if the nervousness behaviour is replicated or if it’s much happier in this situation. Once it gets use to the dog approaching it and doesn’t show a sign of the nervous / scared behaviour then move to the streets doing the same scenario with your friend’s dog approaching yours. Replicate this till it is done successfully. Once you feel confident your dog is happy doing this then take your dog for a walk see how it handles random dogs approaching. If it doesn’t work then continue with the role playing / training situations. The more you do this successfully (i.e. your dog walks past an approaching dog without showing any signs of nervousness) the more likely it will lose this behaviour when on walks.

These days you can purchase some really good beds or with some simple materials you can make your own. When you look for a place to put your dog’s bed you need to think about a well ventilated area that’s not in the sun. It needs to be an area which can be cleaned easily and away from high foot traffic areas – so away from the front door.

The best dog beds I have found have a padded bottom are made from washable materials and have walls. The walls allow your dog to have an extra feeling of security and relax them more. Inside the dog bed I put a sheep skin, which I find they really love. If you don’t want to buy a dog bed you could also just use blankets and shape them into a bed. Often it can be a good idea to make the bed in the corner of a room so that they don’t have to worry about what’s behind them and have one way of entry.

The main reasoning behind a dog bed is that it’s a place your dog can go and feel this is its own space. It will help to create a well balanced dog and often can fix behavioral issues.

Brushing Dog Teeth

When I visited my local vet they showed me the large range of dog dental care and it wasn’t until then that I relised this wasn’t a joke. Checking my dog’s teeth I noticed straight away a dark brown colour at the top of his K9′s developing. This is a build up of plaque and tartar – now I’m starting to sound like the dentist. It’s true, animals do develop this on there teeth and often are made worse with diets which lack in bones. Raw brisket bones and dental chews will help clean the back of there teeth however it’s the front teeth and k9′s that often get this build up (if your dog doesn’t have raw bones or chew’s it’s most likely you will find a build up on the back teeth as well). If you do notice a build up of plaque and tartar you will need to get your local vet to remove this with a specialist dental tool (this should always be check when you take your dog to the vet for its routine check up). If your dog has really bad teeth then a detailed oral clean maybe required in which may be put under anesthetic. Once this has been removed you can then prevent this by brushing your dog’s teeth using a dog tooth paste and soft brush. There are some good brands out there which are flavored so your dog enjoys it.

If this build up is allowed to continue it can lead to preventable dental disorders such as periodontal disease and also affect the overall health of your dog. It’s a good routine to get into and you should start when your dog is young, that way they will get use to the brushing. If you have never heard of brushing your dog’s teeth and you own an older dog, then there is no better time to start than now. It will only improve your dog’s health and also there breath.

Your puppy will be fairly good at telling you when it needs to go and you need to be aware what those signs are.
- The may walk around sniffing
- They could whin
- Walk around in circles
- They become restless
- First thing in the morning and just before bed time
- After it drinks water
- After Dinner or any feeding times

Scenario
Time to take the dog for a walk.
We get up from our chair perhaps saying to the dog “walk time”, the dog responds by getting up and coming to life. We head to the bedroom putting on a coat or changing into more appropriate clothing for the walk. During this time we may make more eye contact with our dog and talk to it which leads it to bounce around and often this makes us happy because our dog is happy and can’t wait to go for a walk. So we only encourage this more and more cause we want our dogs to be happy. Usually the next thing is we start to head towards the door and if you come down stairs or walk down a hallway you will find your dog runs towards the door before you can even get there. We may at this time tell our dog to slow down or calm down. As we draw closer to the front door the dog may start to bark and spin around in circles in excitement. At this point we may get our dog to sit, even though it maybe shaking in excitement. We put the lead on our dog and pretty much as soon as the dog hears the click of the lead it stands up and heads straight at the door. It’s about this time that we start to get angrier and our first out-burst maybe here, where we yell at our dog and command it to sit. We open the door and as soon as it opens our dog leaps outside dragging us with them. This makes us even angrier so we pull the dog back to us and attempt to shut the door and maybe we yell out to someone inside that we’re are taking the dog for a walk. We start to head towards the road and all the way our dog is pulling us like a freight train, they may start to sniff a bush then mark it, giving us a little relief before they rocket to the next spot to mark or sniff. It can be quite embarrassing especially when people start to stare at us and watch as our dog drags us down the street. It’s around this time we may either loose it and yell at our dog or just accept that this is what our dog wants on its walk. Often on the walk we can hear the dog choking on the lead which makes us attempt to reason with the dog by telling it to wait or stop, when all this fails we let out more lead which allows it temporary relief before it charges ahead and continues to choke itself. The only way we stop the choking is by walking at its pace. By the time we get home the dog has slowed down and perhaps it may not be pulling much on the lead. That is till we reach our home. When we approach the door our dog starts to again pull at the lead and drag us to the front door. We then open the door and our dog charges in and we look exhausted and find the walk is not enjoyable, rather it’s a chore. From here we start to associate walks with negative thoughts and thus we start to become less incline to take our dog for a walk. It seems hopeless and all the tips our relatives and friends give us just don’t work well or only discourage us. So being a proactive person we start to look around for information on how to walk your dog properly. After googleing “how to stop your dog pulling on a lead” we have found this article. Or maybe you found this other ways – it’s not important. What’s important is that this issue is very common and with some simple tips and consistent training your dog will be walking properly on a lead.

Your Walk begins before you go for a walk:

Dogs learn from being rewarded. The behaviour of our dog is a direct reflection of how we reward our dog for certain behaviours. If your dog jumps around in excitement it’s because you have rewarded this behaviour. A reward can be as simple as talking to your dog, touching your dog or even eye contact. It’s important to know a reward is not just a chocolate drop; it comes in many forms and often is associated with body language. Also, hugely important, is that the training of a dog doesn’t stop. There is no such thing as “training time” and then the rest of the time with your dog. You can teach a dog to sit and stay however once this stops your dog will still be learning – especially how to behave in different situations. Just like how kids don’t stop learning when they come home from school.

Our energy is often another large part of how a dog behaves. If you get up and jump around all excited your dog will mimics this energy. If you get up with no heighten energy, no eye contact with your dog, nothing said, your dog will most likely get up and walk around slowly (especially if your dog follows you around the house everywhere).

How on earth does all this relate to walking your dog properly? Well the walk begins as soon as you get up from your chair. In the scenario above when we got up from our chair to go for a walk we said to our dog “walk time” which alerted our dog to heightened its energy and thus it got excited. Often we have trained our dog to react a certain way to words or body language by accident and its these triggers which cause our dogs to react like nutters sometime.

So first thing, if you are about to go for a walk totally ignore your dog and don’t let on you are even doing anything. Don’t make any eye contact, say nothing and try to keep a well balanced energy. Often it maybe good to visualise a reason you are going for a walk, perhaps rather than taking your dog for a walk your are walking to the local Dairy to grab a bottle of milk and your dog is following you. Remember that when you are going for a walk, you aren’t walking your dog. Rather you are going for a walk and your dog gets to come with you. This is very important because without this going through our head we may do subtle things the dog picks up on which make it think it can lead you on this walk. If your dog is pulling on your lead, it means it’s leading you.

So when your get ready for your walk, totally ignore your dog, give it no triggers to make it heighten its energy. Your dog’s energy should not be heightened, if it is then you need to sit down and restart this over again until your dog doesn’t react to you. There is no point continuing the walk if you leave the house with a dog which has heightened energy.

The front door is usually a place where your dog will have high energy (it’s a trigger) so don’t take your dog to the front door to put the lead on. You should put your lead on the dog away from the door, in another room. When you put the lead on make sure that the dog doesn’t just take off, nor should it get excited. You should be ignoring your dog and simply place the lead on it. The dog should not even notice it has a lead on. If it does get excited when you place the lead on then you should lower the dog’s energy by taking the lead off and sitting back down. Again you should never take a dog with heightened energy for a walk. Putting the lead on is an important part because this is like the front door and often is a high energy trigger. The reason why we make sure that our dog’s energy is low before we move to the next step is because the dog will take this heighten energy onto the next steps and all you will be doing is training your dog to have high energy when you take it for a walk. What we are doing here is training your dog to have low energy at each phase of the walk.

Your next step is to have the dog on the lead next to you. Make sure the lead is short and you must lead your dog to the door. Don’t let your dog rush the door and don’t let it get in front of you. You should have full control of the dog. If you find it’s pulling on the lead or getting uncontrollable you should take it back into the room you came from, lower its energy by making it sit and wait. Once its energy is lower then take it to the door again. Keep repeating this step till you can take the dog to the front door without it pulling or tugging on you.

Make it sit and wait at the door. The next part often will cause your dog to try and leap out the door. This again is a sign that your dog wants to lead the walk or is to excited for a walk. So make sure it is sitting and is calm, if you find your dog is crying you can stop it by using a command sound like “sssssssst”. If you use a word like “stop” or “wait” you may put emotion into it which only punishes a dog as it only hears the sound of the word, they don’t understand the word. Open the door. If the dog leaps out, shut the door and take the dog back into the previous room. Make it sit and wait till its calm. Again take the dog to the door and open it. Sit it there with the open door for about 10 seconds to give it time to get use to the outside smells and environment. You should exit the door and your dog should follow you. Once you are outside make your dog sit and shut the door. Another issue that can happen at this stage is that your dog may follow you however it may jump out the door and try to rush outside. If it does this then repeat walking through the door again until it stops doing this.

Now for the next stage. If you have a fenced property then grab a ball take your dog off the lead and throw the ball around for about 15 or so minutes – until your dog is almost drained of all its energy. Let them have a drink of water and then place the lead back onto your dog. Now your dog is ready to go for a walk. Why do we do this? They will be a lot easier to control since there energy will be low. Why go through all the stuff inside your home to lower your dog’s energy? Because your dog needs to learn leaving your home with a low energy.

Make sure your dog is on a very short lead and keep them beside you. The short lead means you have control of them and they will not choke themselves. Focus on a visualisation like heading towards the dairy and getting your milk. Your dog should be beside you and you must now ignore your dog. If it tries to pull sideways you need to counter this with a short tug back towards you. Don’t drag your dog, the tug should be very short and quick. This unbalances your dog and snaps it out of wanting to sniff the bushes. If you drag a dog you could injure it and possibly yourself. In a short time you should be able to pick up when your dog is about to be wayward and a simple small tug on the lead should correct it.

You need to lead this walk so you need to be confident on your walk, ignore your dog and just head towards your destination. With your dog at a lower energy they should be easier to control and with a short lead they should never get in front of you. If they do start to attempt to pull ahead of you do a quick tug and use the “sssssssssst” command to get them back to your speed. Don’t let your dog take over your walk. One of the most common mistakes is using a lead that is to long and letting your dog get a head of you – then you have no control at all and your dog will do what it wants. Your dog also doesn’t need to sniff every bush on your walk; this is just a territorial behaviour and should be discouraged. If you keep your dog beside you and it doesn’t get away from you within a short time they will get use to this and should make walking a lot more easier.

The next very important part of a walk is when you come home. When you enter your front door your dog must be in a calm state and not excited. If we let them enter the home excited then next time we go for a walk they will carry this excitement with them. So make them sit and make sure you enter your home first. You should take them into the living area behind you in a calm state, take the lead of them and just walk away. Also make sure no one else in the home makes any fuss of the dog as this can lead to your dog thinking it’s the leader of the home. Which is found in another article: Are you the pack leader? Often it’s good to feed a dog after its done some activity as feeding will also cause your dog to go to sleep which is the natural dog cycle: Exercise > Discipline > Food > Sleep.

To make this work well you need to be consistent. You cannot go back to the old way of taking your dog for a walk.

Tips:

• Ignore your dog before you go for a walk
• Only go for a walk when you dog is in a calm state
• If your dog gets excited before a walk don’t take them for a walk till they calm down
• Spend a good 15mins tiring them out with a ball before the walk
• To teach your dog to walk beside you, you need to have a short lead and walk them beside you the whole walk
• Visualise there is a reason you are going for a walk, for instance you are picking up some milk from the dairy and your dog gets to come.
• To control a dog on a lead do not drag your dog, use short tugs and also the “sssssssssst” command
• Keep your energy level low and consistent, never heighten your energy because your dog will only heighten there’s.
• Walk at your pace not your dogs
• Take control of your walk, have a strong assertive posture
• Ignore your dog during your walk, don’t give them to much attention, don’t talk to them

Another issue which can arise is ear infections. Ear infections can be cause by many issues however they tend to arise when your dog’s immune system is low and a graze or minor irritant becomes infected. The infection thrives due to the dark, warm and moist environment inside the ear, especially with dogs with woolly coats. Yeast and bacterial growth will cause an odour in the ears and if the infection is found in only one ear you may find your dog tilts its head to one side attempting to equalise pressure. Common signs are that your dog is more irritable, the ears are warm to touch, possibly more tired and obvious signs such as redness inside the ear. The best treatment is to take your dog to the vet to get the ear checked out and if an infection has occurred then usually it will be fought with antibiotics, cleaning of the ear and also drops or a cream.

It’s important to check your dog’s ears for anything that may have found its way in there. They can range from plant material such as grass seeds or pollen, to sticks from off the beach or even cuts and grazes from rose bushes or black berry bushes. You should be able to check your dog’s ears with a flash light and a quick look inside, however it’s important that you don’t insert anything inside as this can damage the dog’s ear. If there is anything inside causing a problem you should take your dog to the vet to get a thorough check up and let them fix the issue. For a dog with quite a woolly inside ear it’s also possible that a knot can form from small debris inside the ear. If this occurs you should take your dog to the vet and get it removed as they can become infected.  

If your dog is treated with consistent flea and tick treatment then this shouldn’t normally be an issue, however if your dog is not treated they can effect your dogs ears. Ticks and fleas can bite inside your dog’s ears which can cause the bites to get infected or else your dog could have a flea or tick allergy which makes bites swell up and rashes occur. Even a bite outside of the ear can cause an allergic reaction which often shows up as redness inside the ears. The best treatment is to regularly use a flea and tick controller and also to make sure your dogs sleeping area is kept clean by regular vacuuming and also washing of bedding. Fleas usually only need to feed about once every 3months and the rest of the time they live inside small cracks of walls and where the wall meets the carpet or other places which are warm and dark. If an infection or major reaction occurs within the ear you need to take your dog to the vet and get appropriate treatment.

If your dog constantly scratches its ears then it’s possible that this can cause irritation that can make its ears swell up or bleed. Constant scratching is usually an irritation from possibly one of the above reasons. Scratching of the ear usually causes it to become more irritated and often can lead to other issues. Because dog’s claws can harvest bacteria, cuts caused by scratching can become infected. If un-left then your dog will most likely continue with this scratching and often will only get worse. It is normal however for your dog to scratch its ears every so often however if they do get obsessed then it’s important to address this issue.

If your dog does have woolly ears it’s often been a common suggestion to pluck your dogs ears to keep them hair free. Plucking is a personal choice and some people believe it’s a must while others believe it’s unnecessary. The reasoning behind plucking is to help to prevent issues such as knots and build up of junk. However plucking can also cause infections when the plucked area opens a wound and also some dogs are very sensitive in this area and plucking can cause a lot of stress. It’s possible as well that the hair inside the ear is an important part of protecting the inner ear. If your dog doesn’t have any major ear issues then plucking is probably unnecessary, however if health issues arise from excessive hair inside the ear then you maybe advised to look at plucking some hair. Often all that is required is trimming the fur inside the ear and keeping the ears clean. Vets will be the best to advise you if there are some major issues when they do there health check ups.