Bark #3

I can count the number of times my dog has barked. The first two times were the same incident on 2 different days. Apparently he didn't like it when I woke up and then went back to bed. He's got a lot of energy in the morning. For the first few weeks he woke up between 5-6am (I wake b/n 6-7). The first time I didn't know what was up and I took him outside. Then I went back to bed and I think he did it again or something. The next time I can't remember if I was napping because I was sick or it was the morning again but I could hear him make tiny noises and I was ready to pounce on him when he did start up. He did this thing where he jumped left and right. He's such a calm and shy dog, this totally threw us off. After I corrected him (it's pretty easy to intimidate him... well for me it is) I pretended to go back to bed. I waited till I could hear him lie down and then I got out of bed and petted him. At that time he had a pet tag that made a lot of noise, so it was easy to hear him change positions.

Today was #3. I'm having a new side door put in and the workers had to knock out the stucco and sawzal the old door frame. You could hear the workers chatting. I guess Marley would make a good guard dog as he barked. I shush'd him but I don't think I was making an impact so I took him outside and walked a little. when I brought him back in I got the idea to leave the leash on (idea I got from ed frawley's ebook: establishing pack structure with adult dogs). Basically this tells the dog I'm in control. The whole, look calm and don't talk to him, wasn't enough for this situation. I had him on the leash and he growled at some random destruction noise and I was then able to yank on the leash in addition to "hey!" (my correction word). He was amazingly calm from then on.

I'm not sure if he's still chicken or not because when I had him on leash and brought him over to where the door was... he didn't want to go past the kitchen. haha. Maybe because I was taking over as pack leader (though, wasn't I already in that position???) it allowed him to step back as the timid follower?

Right now I'm thinking, when he barks is it better to correct him for barking or better to put the leash on him and tell him I'm under control here... you don't get to bark unless I say so?

Dog Tags

I foolishly bought dog tags at petsmart (don't do it!). Recommendation from Elizabeth @ marley's pitstop (no relation) was to purchase them from boomerang tags. We got a nice tag from them. We chose the adjustable collar because it didn't jingle jangle when he scratched himself. It's a really nice tag. really durable and it ain't falling off.

weekend away

The weekend of Dec 27th we went down to SD so we brough Marley to stay at Sunny dog place for a night. When we came back he was so happy to see me, he licked my face over and over. I couldn't stop smiling :)

It could be my imagination but I do notice different behavior since then. He usually wakes 30-60 mins before I do but now he wakes when i wake. He also seems more tired. On walks he marks more. Though it is not typical for dogs not to mark... he usually just pee's once and then that's it. But perhaps it's because I don't allow him to wander.

Dog park day

What a day that was... 2 weeks ago? we took Marley to the dog park after approval from Suzanne at Sunny dog place. It was a good experience, though it felt like his favorite activity was smelling grass :) He did fine with most dogs but with two he yelped and backed off... he's so not aggressive, which brings me to another story when I took him to sunny dog place for the first time. Suzanne brought him with the other dogs and we were able to see how he would react. He was shy for a few minutes but then opened up and began sniffing and marking. And he actually growled to another dog. Though aggression shouldn't be praised I was actually happy to see some dominant behavior in him. The dog park took 30 min to walk there and we spent at least 40 mins there. He was quite tired on the way back.

After we got back we took him to get a bath at Tidy Dog. Overall it was a good experience. It was very convenient. It was only $15. we were totally paying for convenience but for our first bath it was good. Besides, the shampoo I ordered from 1800petmeds hadn't came in yet... and it was good to get advice from the people there. They also recommended i get a shedding blade and stop using the defurminator (esp w/o using the defurminator shampoo).

then on the evening walk our neighbor's dog, who happened to be off leash ran up at full speed and bit him. Marley yelped but the owner was able to get his dog off. We walked off in silence and I noticed Marley's tail was up so I guess it wasn't too bad. this incident disturbed us for quite some time. Neither of us knew how to react so I think we just kept walking and that actually turned out to be the best solution. I don't hate that dog. I'm disappointed in the neighbor. I hate to sound dog elitist but I've noticed so many poor dog owners. My neighbor's dogs are clearly not socialized. they bark at everything and they are never walked.

It was a long day but as Cesar says... dogs live in the moment.

Food, toys

Food: I got duped by a Science diet dog food rep at petsmart and thus that was the first bag of dog food I bought for Mar. It's not that good. I can't believe what marketing they do. In petsmart they do heavy advertising as well as the vet that I went to. It would take Marley at least 20+ min to go to the bathroom on the walk. I'm now using Nature's Recipe: terrier breed instead. I think this is a much better brand of food.

He loves real turkey and prime rib. I will only use those for training rewards.

Snacks and toys: I started him with pig hoof. He's not too into it now but he was. I think he doesn't care for the hoof now that he's had a dingo holiday treat. I'm finding it very difficult to find a toy he likes to play with. I'm afraid he may have zero prey drive. I'm not sure if it can be nurtured. I recently bought him a classic Kong and he played with it for a short amount of time and is basically ignoring it now that he can't get the food treat inside it. /sigh

I also bought a bully stick that I'm waiting to see how he will like.

First week

The first week was quite memorable. Bad stuff first... he got fleas which then sparked a slew of emails to friends about what to do (other than google). Frontline did work but as of the post I bought Comfortis, which I will use after the Frontline is used up. I franticly cleaned and vaccummed everyday as I would rather not flea bomb the house.

I was quite proud of Marley after the first week. I taught him to come, sit, and walk on a leash. He lacks confidence but he doesn't run away or howl like other dogs. He will just lie down or tuck his tail between his legs. I taught him to walk on a leash by calling him to me with the leash on him. I tried the whole "leave the leash on him and let him roam free so he can get used to it" thing. I'm not sure how much this helped but it literally took like 30 minutes to walk around my tiny 3 bedroom home. I practiced 2-3x a day for 2-3 days and eventually he got it. The day he got around the house I immediately went to the front yard and then took him on a 1 hour walk. it was great.

First Dog

This blog is dedicated to my current dog and possibly any additional dogs. I'm primarily starting this as a way to document his life as I have recently found out that I talk and email alot about my dog.

My dog's name is Marley... as in Bob. My gf named him. We found him at a rescue (marley's pitstop) on petfinder.com and we brought him home on Nov 22nd. This is what the owner wrote back to my inquiry:

Thanks for your inquiry. The family are 3 of 15 dogs that were abandoned on a property in Lancaster that went in to foreclosure. The neighbors took care of the group for almost 9 months until someone alerted Animal Control. Rather than have them go to the pound where they almost certainly faced death, the neighbors put a sign out on the street *Free Dogs*

We saw the sign and offered to help.

Margie is in a foster to adopt home, Murray has an applicant coming to meet him on Saturday which if all goes well with the sniff and whiff, he will go home. Collin has a couple of people interested in him, but no submitted applications yet. We estimate Collin to be about 2 years as well. Probably brother to Margie & Murray. He is a very sweet dog and was the first to approach us with kisses. The dogs had been on their own for the 9 months, so were a bit hesitant and scared. They clearly had human interaction in the formative stages as humans are their friends. They tend to get a bit of confidence from other dogs - however, Murray & Collin didn't get along ?

Collin is very romantic and is a bit shy at first, but quickly warms up with affection and praise. They had never been on a leash, so we had to introduce them slowly. I am recommending the harness for them. At the abandoned home, they had indoor/outdoor access and we did see poop in the house, but with 15 it is hard to tell who was doing what. I would plan on committing 36 hours to retraining Collin. Collin is the leggier of the bunch and looks like a little deer. He likes to play with toys and go for walks - he doesn't bark a lot and is a really smart little guy.

Collin is Marley. I would say all of the above is true. he licked my face when I first met him. He would not walk on a leash and was totally catatonic when we brought him home. After 2-3 days he started to warm up to us. He is my first dog and we've become quite taken with him.