I had been for a walk with my partner.  We were on another visit to the Lock House (restaurant and coffee shop) with the dogs.  All the dogs were lying peacefully on the floor waiting for any bits of cake or bread roll on offer.

Then in came a family with some teenage children.  The eldest boy was carrying a Peruvian hat with a very thick fake fur trim.  Initially Arwen didn’t notice it.  But then she spied a bit of the fur trim poking out from the side of the chair which the boy was standing behind.

Arwen’s eyes almost jumped out of her head.  She stood up, intense and shaking, and wagging her tail at the same time.  The poor girl could not decide if it was a rabbit to be chased and eaten, or a cat to be friendly with!  She almost launched herself across the restaurant, which would have taken the table and all its contents in her wake.  I hung onto her lead just in case!

The other two dogs, Kylah and Vinnie, didn’t pay any attention to the hat.  Vinnie’s too old to bother and Kylah’s brainy enough to know it was simply clothing.

Arwen has incredibly keen hunting instincts.  Despite her size, she is much more sharply focussed than the others.  That’s because of the Scottish deerhound in her breed lines.  This shows how important it is to be clear on what you need from a dog’s character before bringing a new puppy home (or bringing a new dog home if you go for an adult).

Notice I say ‘need’ not ‘want’.  Many people bring home a puppy which they think has the character they want, only to find it’s not a good choice for their home.  Let me explain more.

Pure breed dogs show a general character type which is fairly reliable.  For example, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a loyal, protective dog which was originally bred to herd bulls to market.  They have to be good with people but also strong minded and determined when necessary.

Staffies these days mostly have a reasonably relaxed and outgoing character.  However the ‘bullishness’ they needed to do their original job still remains in the breed.  You will get variation in the puppies, depending on the quality of the sire and dam (father and mother) used, and also how the genes fall when the puppies are formed in the womb.

This is why you can get a litter of Staffie puppies where some are outgoing and relaxed, and others are more aggressive and territorial.  There is a range of characters in any litter of puppies, no matter what breed (even mixed breeds).  No two puppies will be the same.

How does this affect you?

First, it’s important to bring home a puppy with a nice temperament.  I mean by that one which reflects the best of the breed you are choosing, if it is a pure breed.  But it’s not just about that.   To bring home a suitable puppy, you must be sure first that the overall character of the breed or type of dog you are choosing actually works for you!

To give you our example, Arwen is a lurcher, and lurchers are swift, agile hunting dogs.  We chose Arwen because she seemed quiet and sweet, but we knew she had the potential to be a ruthless hunter.   It’s something we were prepared for, accept and deal with.  However many other people would find that difficult to live with.

So what kind of character do you need?  How would you feel about a guarding dog that will bark at every noise and visitor to the house?  Do you need a bubbly, energetic dog that is always into everything and likes to have fun?  Or is a quiet and undemanding dog more your style.

Generally speaking, the type of puppy you bring home should reflect the type of person YOU are.  If you’re bubbly and always on the go, and love exercise, then maybe a lively Springer Spaniel, Labrador or Standard Poodle would suit.  However if you are a quiet and calm type, these dogs could drive you nuts very quickly.

I know this because I’ve been immersed in dogs almost all my life.  Yet even I made some horrendous mistakes when I first got started.  Now I can always choose a new dog for myself successfully, and I can match you to a dog that suits you perfectly too.

So if you’re worrying about what to do, that’s a good thing.  It can be difficult to know how to choose the right breed of dog and then get a suitable character puppy for you. There’s so much to look for and consider.  That’s even more true when you are starting out for the first time, or if you have made a bad mistake with a puppy in the past.

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One which doesn’t drag you out in the cold and wet, if that’s something you hate!

One of the joys of having dogs is they need exercise.  Which is a great way to get out, get fitter, get healthier and meet people.  It is also one of the drawbacks too.

Last night it was blowing almost a gale and raining with it.  Delightful weather for an evening stroll.  Well, my two youngsters think so.  They get what I call ‘cabin fever’ if they don’t get two good walks a day.  (For us a good walk is an hour or more.)  If they don’t get their evening walk they start tearing round the lounge and generally getting in my face until we do go out.

So after a short spell of insistent grinning, tail wagging and being poked with feet, we donned our waterproofs and headed out for an hour’s walk down the canal bank.

The walk itself once we were out was enjoyable because we were wrapped up against the elements.  But getting yourself motivated to go out in bad weather can be difficult.

There is a serious point to this when asking yourself ‘what kind of dog should I get?’. 

Make sure the dog you choose is happy doing the exercise you want to do.

If you hate going for walks on dark nights when it is cold and wet, then your dog should be the same.  There is no point getting a gundog breed and expecting it to prefer curling up in front of the TV on a winter’s evening.  It won’t.  It will go out in any weather and be happy to be out.  Likewise with many of the working dog and terrier breeds.

There are dog breeds which hate wet and cold walks.  Most often these are toy and companion breeds like the Bichon Frise, Yorkshire Terrier, Maltese, and Italian Greyhound.  Some of these toy/companion breeds can be difficult to housetrain because they won’t even go in the garden when it’s wet!

Dogs which don’t get the daily exercise they need seem to go one of two ways.

• Destructive, hyperactive and barky – ruining your house, garden and neighbours’ peace and quiet
• Depressed, lazy, fat and prone to disease – increasing your vet bills

And all dogs operate best with a walk in the morning and again in the evening, as these are the times they would hunt when in the wild.

I know from experience that one of the best answers to ‘what kind of dog should I get?‘ is ‘one which is happy with the exercise time I can give it, and also  ‘likes going for walks in weather I’m happy to walk in‘.

If you start with only that when choosing your dog, you’ll get a lot further to happiness than most people!  But if you want true happiness with your dog, start off properly with 3 FREE Guides worth £37.

Statistically, at least 50% of all first-time dog owners get it horribly wrong.  Many more experienced dog owners do too. That’s why our rescue centres are overflowing with millions of abandoned, abused and unwanted dogs.

People get swept away with the idea of getting a dog, and how lovely life will be afterwards.  I can’t deny that life with a dog – the  right kind of dog for you – is everything you could imagine and more.  However, if you are all fired up and thinking ‘what kind of dog should I get?‘, there’s one thing you should do before you rush off.

Ask yourself whether you should have a dog at all.

Or at least ask whether you should get a dog right now.  There’s always time to get one in the future.

That’s what happened to one of my recent e-book customers, Nan Sharp.  She bought my e-book with the intention of getting a hypo-allergenic (low-allergy) dog.  Here’s what she had to say:

I did purchase your on-line book, and it helped me, although not in the way I had envisioned.  I was all set to select the non-allergenic dog that would be perfect for me and instead, determined that any dog was not in my future, at least for awhile.After the death of my husband, I moved into a much smaller house, about 3 miles from my prior home and made all sorts of renovations.

While still getting settled, I took a month off to be with my granddaughter, when she had her first child, and have made the 11-1/2 hour trip a couple of times to see my new great granddaughter.  Then, I was talked into teaching 6 yoga classes a week in the retirement community in which I live.  So, you can see why, after reading your book, I decided to put my dog-raising plans on hold, until my life settles down.

Of course, if at age 75, it hasn’t settled, it may never do so!

I’ve printed your book, so that I can return to the information in it, when the time is right.

The contents of your book persuaded me to wait awhile before buying a dog.  Also, the questions that you pose, as well as other avenues of information, changed the type and size of hypo-allergenic dog that I had thought I wanted.  With the start of the new year, I intend to reread your book and make some decisions about adding a pet to my household.  Thank you for all of the pertinent information contained in your book.  Nan Sharp

I can’t tell you how pleased I am with her e-mail.  Nan started by asking herself ‘what kind of dog should I get?’ and with the help of my e-book, decided not to change both the kind of dog and the timing!

Here’s my reply to Nan:

Nan, this is entirely the right outcome!  If the time is not right, then it is better to wait.  I’d rather someone do that than get a dog and then have to rehome it.  Too distressing for everyone.

I know people older than you who still have plenty of umph left and would make an excellent home for a dog. Your life sounds as mad as mine!

I can tell you from personal experience that an older retired greyhound (7 yrs or more) makes a perfect dog for many households and is also tolerable for people with mild to moderate dog allergies.  They’re quiet, easy going, usually good with people and kids, and don’t need vast walks.  There are always lots needing homes, so bear that in mind.  They might look tall but they pack down when asleep!

Best wishes!  Bev

Saving you from getting the wrong dog, or from getting a dog at the wrong time is just as important as getting the right dog into your life.    And the e-book stands the test of time.  The system never fails.  Nan will come back to the e-book in the New Year and I am sure she will find exactly what she is looking for.

Don’t take the risk of going it alone.  If Nan had, she might have made a big mistake, like millions of people who dive in without help.  That help is just a click away and I can tell you that learning the hard way is not something I ever want you to go through.  The price of learning ‘what kind of dog should I get?‘ cost me over £5,000.

Instead, claim 3 Free Guides to choosing your dog worth $37 by just clicking here

However, if you’d really like to know what kind of dog you should get, and always get your perfect dog no matter what your life’s like, just click here now

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12.50pm – Kitten emergency

The cleaner from No11 across the road just turned up on my doorstep holding a tiny kitten she had found in the garden.  This poor little thing is only about 8-10 weeks old (if that).  She has no collar and tag.  She has filthy ears and a terrible cold, possibly cat flu.

Of course I have taken her in.  In half an hour we got to the vets to get her some shots and antibiotics.  Then I will see if there is a cat rescue that can take her, unless Robin asks if I am going to keep her.

At the moment she is quarantined in the conservatory. She is a sweet little thing and very affectionate.  She will make someone a lovely pet.  Kylah and Arwen have already given her lots of kisses and she wasn’t the least bit worried.

Hoolie Cat is not impressed with this supposed new edition to the family!

1.35pm – Call to Cats Protection League

I called one of the local branches of the Cats Protection League and got her registered on the waiting list for a home.  The lady said it could be 2 weeks before they could find her a place in foster care.  Well that’s what life’s like in rescue.  They are always over-run.

2.15pm – At the vets

The vet says she is only 7-8 weeks old, maximum.  Not microchipped and unlikely to have been vaccinated. She has a bad chest infection and ‘might not make it’.  She weighs just 0.8 kgs.

He could not vaccinate her but I gave her the antibiotic drops he prescribed as soon as I got back to the car, then went shopping for emergency kitten supplies.

3.38pm – Home at last

Armed with kitten food, kitten milk, a kitten collar and tag.  I am now going to put up the greyhound sized indoor kennel with soft bedding, food, milk and newspaper to toilet on.  Hopefully I will nurse this little kitten back to health.

I have to keep her separate from my own cat to avoid transferring the infection.

6.42pm – Milk time

She woke up from her sleep and was crying.  I have given her two small syringes of cat milk to try and get fluids into her  This seems to have done the trick as she has gone back to sleep.  I think this little thing is barely weaned.  Later I will try and hand feed her some salmon mashed into kitten food.

Update

‘Kitten’ is now called Dot.  She has been with me nearly 5 weeks and is fully recovered from her ordeal.  She is now weaned, eating well and putting on weight nicely.  She is double the size she was when I took her in.  She loves the dogs and curls up with Arwen if she can’t get on my lap.  She has taken to climbing the curtains and is in that lovely exploring stage where everything is fun.

In the last 2 weeks I have very often been typing with a kitten on my shoulder!

It has taken a lot of care and cost to get her where she is now.  Dot has a place in a local cat rescue on 13th December 2011 so they can find a very special home for this special little girl.

Why you should rescue your pet

It has cost about £200 to keep Dot, but that’s not very much to save a life.  I’ll never get that money back, but that’s not important.  This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the cost of rescuing a sick or injured animal.

Most rescue centres and shelters rely on donations to do their work.  However, the cost of veterinary visits, treatment, neutering and vaccinations is always way more than you pay when you adopt a dog.   A lot of their income is from people who never take a pet, but want to give their support anyway.

The emotional and physical cost of rescuing and caring for an animal is enormous, and this is never paid for.  Our reward is seeing that animal go to a home where it will be loved and cherished for the rest of its life.

When you come to choose a dog, please go to a rescue centre first.  The dogs there are just like Dot – abandoned, mistreated and unloved.  Most of them are good dogs who will enrich your life every bit as much as a pedigree puppy.

If you can’t choose a dog right now, why not make yourself feel good and save a life by just donating a small amount anyway.  The more you give, the more spaces there are and the more dogs can be saved.

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If you’re thinking about a dog sometime soon, but haven’t decided on what, it pays to get proper advice.  Get it from someone with real dog experience who’s done it all, and learned the costly way.  Getting a dog you really love is simple when you know what to look for.

Start with 3 Free Guides worth $37 right here.

Don’t be fooled by the sun in the pictures either.  It was COLD today.  This is the first day since about April that I have had to wear a fleece and a coat.

Arwen in early morning shadows

Kylah and Vinnie - Which Way Did It Go?

Dog file!

View from Castle Ring Hill Fort

Vinnie - still looking good at 11.5 yrs old!

A pretty pond

On days like today, it’s a joy to be out with the ‘kids’.

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We had a lovely time.  The weather was perfect.  However 10 minutes out of the car Arwen managed to find some really fresh fox poo, and became ‘stinky puppy’ for the rest of the walk.  I had to tell people not to touch her, which is a shame because she adores a fuss.

Kylah, Arwen and Vinnie in Biggin Dale

Kylah and Arwen as 'mountaineering dogs' where Biggin Dale joins Dovedale

Vinnie in Millway Lane, near Alstonfield

Resting Outside The George Pub, Alstonfield

Looking down to Narrowdale, and the hills beyond near Buxton

It's definitely a 'Narrow Dale'

'Primeval' Beresford Dale, near Hartington

I’ll get these and lots more pictures loaded on some gallery pages soon!

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If you’ve been desperate for a dog but didn’t know where to start, start right here by playing the video to get you in the mood. Then claim your free guides below!

Choosing a dog is easy when you know how.  Make your choice a great one with 16 easy steps to success. Just sign up for your Free Guide today and it will arrive by e-mail in seconds!

Plus you’ll get our Free Guide To Non-Shedding Dogs and Ethical Dog Breeder Checklist thrown in as a thankyou.  A perfect start to your perfect dog.

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If you’ve been desperate for a dog but have a dog allergy, all is not lost! You can still get your dog. You just have to know where to look:

So if you want to say ‘nuts’ to the doubters, just sign up for your Free Guide today and it will arrive by e-mail in seconds!

Plus you’ll get our Quick Start Guide to choosing a dog thrown in as a thankyou. Get them both here!

As fas as my own experience goes, the 4 keys to successful dog training are:

• Firmness
• Patience
• Consistency, and
• Reward

Use these 4 essentials with established dog training techniques (how to teach your dog to sit, stay, come, get off) will make training a lot easier.

Let’s look at each one of these in turn.

Firmness

Your dog has to understand that you mean it.  Dogs are like children – they will bend, flout and break the rules if they think they can.  Your job as dog owner (I often like to call it pack leader) is to set down what the leader feels is acceptable.  This means setting boundaries and being firm about any ‘overstepping the mark’.

You need to use a confident, assertive tone of voice, and keep your voice strong.  High pitched tones usually excite dogs, so lower the tone of your voice and speak confidently and clearly, as if you automatically expect them to jump to attention.  And guess what?  Often they will.  Sounding like a limp lettuce won’t get you anywhere, and neither will using the word ‘please’.  Dogs don’t usually undertand ‘please’. 

Give your command firmly, starting with their name first to get their attention.  “Major….. SIT!”  “  Major…. STAY!”

When they have done what you want, give them praise.  We’ll come onto this as part of ‘Reward’

Patience

Some dogs are easily trained.  Others take forever.  Whatever dog you have – pure breed or mutt – be prepared to have patience.  You have to put effort in to make sure you have a well-trained dog.  Your Labrador might pick up ‘sit, stay, come and down’ in a day, but that’s a day you are going to have to set aside.  On the other hand your neighbour’s Beagle might decide it doesn’t want to listen and instead take weeks of persistence.

To give you two examples from my own life to illustrate the point:

• Jamal (one of my past greyhounds) would run alongside cyclists thinking it was a great game, and run up behind joggers and nip their bottoms!  It took 12 months of training every day, every time a jogger or cyclist went past, before he would walk to heel and not bother them.
• Kylah, my lovely lurcher, took 2 years to train out of running after sheep.  Being part collie and part greyhound she had both a herding and chasing instinct which was very strong. 

Whatever you want to dog to do – or not do – put in the time until it does what you want, when you ask it to.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s a day, week, month or a year.

Consistency

Consistency in training comes in two parts:

1. Consistency with command.  Always use the same command for the same activity.  Dogs are pretty intelligent things but they do get confused if you give out conflicting signals.  So if you are using ‘OFF’ for ‘get off the sofa’, then always use OFF.  If you start using other similar terms like DOWN your dog won’t know if you mean ‘get off’ or ‘lie down’ and then probably won’t do either.  It’s not disobedient – just confused! 
2. Consistency between leaders.  Just like with children, if there are two adult leaders in the household, their messages also need to be consistent.  Again, your dog will get very confused if one of you lets it on the sofa, and the other one always orders it off.  What is it supposed to do?  It doesn’t know, because by not being consistent you have not set a clear rule.  The same goes for training methods.  Decide what training methods you will use to teach your dog to sit, stay, come, fetch etc and both of you use the same ones.  That way your dog will learn the rules of the house, and know what it expected of it in its training.

Reward

Your dog needs a reward for its hard work.  It looks to you to give it some form of recognition for a job well done.   Dogs started out life as working with or for humans, and their reward was probably food and a safe place to sleep.

These days we have dogs as pets more than we do workers.  But dogs still need a job to do. They still need and want to feel useful. (My lurchers think their job is to bring home food every morning and evening).  Training your pet dog to do tasks, including useful tasks such as bringing the newspaper to you, now takes the place of their job of work.

In return for working for you (doing the training, coming when called, sitting when asked) they need a reward.  This is their ‘thankyou’ for a job well done.  Otherwise, what was the point?

Reward can simply be high praise “Good BOY!” “Well done!” “Clever thing!”, but it works even better when coupled with an affectionate gesture.  “Good BOY!” plus a scratch under the chin, or strokes along his back, or a rub of the tummy tell him how proud you are and how well he has done his job.

Or reward can be those actions coupled with a small treat – a small cube of dried meat, a bit of cooked ham, a piece of something like a Pedigree meaty strip, or a small cube of cheese (very highly prized!). The food reward can be a really good way of training dogs which are naturally more difficult, especially if they are food motivated.  Eventually you’ll be able to ditch the treat part and just use the voice + gesture part.

Moving on – what’s next?

Start applying these 4 essentials to your own dog, hand in hand with a good book on dog training, which will teach you what to do.  If you consider that most dogs now live 10 years or more, putting a good solid year into getting a well trained dog is only 10% of the life you’ll have with it.

Isn’t that a small price to pay for 9 years of  joy?

Recommended dog training resources

Secrets to Dog Training By Daniel Stevens – The number 1 online dog training guide used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide

Dog Training Home Study Course by Ray Coleiro – Covers all the essentials and a good option on slightly lower budget

Doggy Dan’s Online Dog Trainer – A video training series where you can pick and choose what you need from the library.  First month’s membership is just $1.

Dove Cresswell’s Dog Training Online – A nice basic introduction in a 7 video series.

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Whatever we might think about the millions of dogs in rescue shelters and centres, there always will be a market for puppies.  And therefore a demand for breeders.  The challenge for us as dog lovers is to make sure that

• whatever choice a new owner makes is the right one, and
• whatever breeder they go to is ethical, responsible and supportive.

Today I wanted to showcase comments from my friend Gabriel Valdez of Da Vinci Kennels.  Gaby lives in Bogota, Colombia.  I first came across him back in 2006.  At that time I was considering an Azawakh puppy and had news that he might have youngsters available. Gaby replied that he had a pregnant azawakh but was also really quite ill at the time and felt overstretched by the impending litter. 

True to form, I stepped in and persuaded him to let me help.  I paid £3,000 to buy Dari and ship her to Kel Simoon Azawakhs for the puppies’ birth.  We found the all puppies and Dari superb forever homes.  The puppy I was going to keep went to a home in Washington, and I didn’t make back what I spent. 

But that’s the point.  It’s not about the money.  I think Gaby’s comments beautifully sum up what being an ethical breeder is all about:

I am a breeder.

I spend a lifetime learning pedigrees, going over dogs, talking and learning from those in my breed and those outside it.

I raise each litter as if I gave birth to them and spend an equal amount of time finding them loving forever homes.

I only put puppies on this planet that I think will be the healthiest (mentally and physically) and nicest examples of their breed.

I support each…… family who choses one of my puppies and let them know they are now a part of our extended family.

I am there if one needs to come back and will aggressively pursue the return of one of my dogs if its in the wrong place.

I support my breed in rescue and education. I hold them when they arrive and leave this world, not only my own, but my brethren in the fancy.

I share my knowledge and socialize my dogs so that they will be the advertisement for my dedication.

I don’t keep track of the money and time I put in to my love of dogs, it would not be true measure of how I feel. 

The price I charge for my puppies is never profit, but investment in the next generation.

I will not be ashamed of who I am, I work hard at being a good dog person and encouraging others to be the same. I am a breeder and I am proud of it.

If people want to choose a puppy, then THIS is what they need to look for.  If a breeder can’t say this about themselves, with passion and truth, then find one who can.  Choose a dog breeder well and you will get the dog your desire and all the support you could ever wish for.

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