Furry Love: The Other End of the Leash

snowbell lives with us now here in manila :)

at 2 months old 

still her fave position

It is nice to have a furry little one that makes us smile everyday with her funny sleeping position, quiet and sweet nature. She didn't whine or cry on her first night and easily adopted to her new environment. I chose her because she is a submissive type, she observes me quietly and I noticed when she was only about a month old that I will not have trouble to give her a potty training. She just know what, where and when to do it naturally. 

Back in Laguna, we don't teach tricks to our dogs but they know how to behave in a pack because they see my father as the pack leader. We let them out of the house off leash to do their thing and they will go back by themselves in a few minutes. Sometimes, they take too long to play and run outside so my father will call and wave at them to go back. It's always funny to see them going back, head down and somewhat looking sorry.

Here's a video of Bok opening our door to go back inside , he just figure it out himself :)

Owning a dog is a responsibility, we must be ready to allot time and effort to fulfill their needs and also to understand what they are trying to communicate to us. To help gain more understanding about our furry companion and to learn how to be a pack leader, M and I started reading books. 

$11 from Amazon (kindle format)

I am finished with this book, "The Other End of the Leash", which is informative in differentiating dogs nature from humans. Only that the author talked a lot about primates and all chapters remind the reader that she has a PHD and  a professional animal behaviorist :/ She tends to repeat and prolong a concept too. So you may want to wait for Amazon to include it in their sale list before your purchase.

On a positive side, I did learn a few things that I am applying now like using our body, not hands to block the dogs when they jump or come to us. When Snowbell want to go up on the bed, I face the other side, turn my back on her and ignore her, she will then go away in a few seconds.  

They can observe slightest change in our action so we need to be consistent and aware of our moves when we are training them ie when training them to sit, be consistent with your hand signals and face expression.
Variation of  our voice also have a relation on what we want our dogs to do. She also explains why dogs "misbehave" if their energy is not directed towards the fulfillment of their dog nature - we must allow them to work (sniff, dig,walk,run) outdoors. Also some photos in the appendix are also helpful for illustrating the concept. 

The author owns 3 dogs that help her in sheep herding. I like it when she share a bit of story about their experiences and training.

We also downloaded other books from Amazon, some are free. Can't wait to read them all.

I am now reading Cesar Millan's book and will share it on my next Furry Love blog post.

This is one of her "what is this human trying to do?" look in addition to tilting her head ;p 

Snowbell , 3 mos. old