In my world, pets are like toddlers. They’re permanent three-year-olds which makes them a whole lot of fun. But there are also a few things that we have to be able to get done as parents so it helps when our child knows some basic commands. Think of these like house rules, the basic stuff, the stuff that helps us get by in society.
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These training basics don’t JUST bond pet parents with their pets, but also help you save money on pet care, because you’re not going into the veterinarian’s office for things you could do at home. Let me explain.
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Let’s look at something simple, like inspecting your dog’s ears or cutting their nails. Certainly I understand if you get an adult from a rescue, one who never had their feet handled before, it’s a slightly different situation. But if you start out with a kitten or a puppy – let’s touch that baby everywhere. Toes, nose, ears, fingers, bottom, genitals, belly, face. Everywhere.
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This is part of training, because there will come a time when you, as the parent, have to cut toenails, for example. Or look in the ears and see if there’s a problem. Or wipe the side of her face. Or make an inspection because something is not right. You have to be able to touch your dog or cat! So let’s get them used to that from the very beginning. And to make it fun and make it loving, you can give them little tiny pieces of apple as a reward or yummy freeze dried snacks. Or tiny bits of bacon! (A few of my patients have loved bananas!!)
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Now let’s talk about trimming their toenails. This is incredibly important and is ideally started when they are babies. Some groomers charge $25 for this service, which you could do for free in about two minutes at home if your baby is used to it.
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Plus, groomers insist on your pet being FULLY vaccinated. So here you are with the 16-year-old baby who needs her toenails trimmed and she’s geriatric and has health conditions and so she’s a little bit behind on her rabies vaccine and the groomer won’t see you. Ugg!
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OK, next thing that I think every dog needs to know how to do: Sit. Why is this so important? Look at your dog when he sits. Look at the muscles that he uses in his back end.
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Or look at yourself. Put a chair in the middle of the room. Do not hold onto the back or the sides or the table and sit in that chair in a controlled manner! (Like… don’t flop down.) Now stand up from that chair without holding onto the arms, the back, or moving your feet. Look at the muscles you have engaged. You had to engage your core, your glutes, your hamstrings, and your quads. You had to make your center of balance square to your abdomen. You used most of your body.
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The same is true for our dogs. If for some reason, your puppy gets an injury (Is limping. Strains a cruciate ligament. Anything like that.) – I’m gonna send you home with homework after an office visit where I line up the body.
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Your homework will be squats. Well what it really looks like is:
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sit stand
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sit stand
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sit stand.
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But if your baby doesn’t know that the act of sitting is attached to the word “sit”, then it’s really hard to get that sit stand executed.
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This “not being trained to sit” thing does tend to be a little dog scenario. I am also guilty of having cute little dogs that don’t know what “sit” means, but if they have to sit before dinner in order to have their dish on the floor, they figure it out quickly and we don’t have to force anything on them.
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They just sit there and look. And think. And think – Mom has the dish. She’s expecting some thing from me. Let me try jump up.
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Nope, that’s not it. Let me try putting my butt on the ground. That’s it. Dinner. Boom. Payday. Well butt on the ground must mean sit because she tells me “good sit” whenever I put my butt on the ground and then I get dinner.
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I think those really are the two training things that I absolutely think need to happen – ability to touch every orifice and organ of the body, and “sit”.
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As a bonus worth mentioning, my clients that participate in dog training have a beautiful connection with their pets. The training absolutely creates an emotional bond between the human and canine. There are group classes. There are plus and minuses to the group class. Usually those dog trainers insist on a plethora of unnecessary vaccines. Only because the trainer is protecting his/her liability. But there are also plenty of dog trainers who come to you. Most of them don’t ask about vaccine status because they are training one at a time. And they usually have their own dogs who are great for socialization.
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Do I think training is a requirement? No.
Do I think it’s a great thing to do? Absolutely.
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Simple training makes it so that you as the pet parent can identify problems early and also address the problems – should there be any. And when we see each other in the office, I will show you what to look for and how to help things happen in case there are problems.
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Still proudly seeing pets in Clearwater and Tampa and seeing virtual appointments all over the world.