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< September 18, 2012 |
HELLO!Sept 18, 2012 Issue #38 Published by Sue SkiffIN THIS ISSUEA NOTE FROM SUE A NOTE FROM SUE
Hi!
Can you believe it? It's only been a week since I sent out my last issue. I plan on making this trend continue. Fall is a couple of days away, and the nights are definitely getting cooler. My work for the local school district has started up again for the new school year. This week, I have included an article on when to start puppy training. Additionally, there is a series of anecdotes about rats I have known and loved. I love to hear from you. Please send me your comments and questions. Enjoy! Sue When Should You Start Puppy Training?
Recently, I was surprised to hear a local dog expert tell her audience that
puppy training
can’t start until a dog is 9 months old, because puppy attention spans are too short. While it is true that puppies have short attention spans, it is also true that they, like young humans, are designed to learn quickly. Perhaps, you have also heard that you should wait until your dog is a certain age, or until you have established yourself as someone your dog wants to be with, before starting to train your dog. Neither of these are true. The time to start training your dog, no matter how old, or young, it is, is the moment you get your dog. Puppies mature quickly. By the time a puppy reaches 6 months of age, it is the equivalent in maturity to a 10-year-old human. By the time it reaches 8 months, it is the equivalent of a teenager. Imagine if you waited until a child was 10 years old before teaching it boundaries. You can expect the same type of results if you wait until your dog is 6 months old. Also, the younger an animal is when it starts learning, the faster it learns. Although it’s not true that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” it is much easier to teach those “tricks “when the dog is young. Dogs, like humans, are designed to do their most important learning when they are young so that they are prepared for survival as adults. RATS
There was a period of time in my mid-twenties when I ended up having several rats for pets. They ended up being my pets after they had been purchased as babies to be used as bait in traps for catching great gray owls in Yosemite (which generally caused the rats no harm). The owls were being caught for the purpose of putting radio transmitters on them so that we could track them. Once the rats grew up, they became too big for our traps, and for the owls. I found homes for some. In fact, there was a teacher at the elementary school in El Portal (just outside of Yosemite) who helped me out by finding families to take several of them. However, there were always those that I just ended up having. Here are some stories about my favorites. By the way, in case you’re wondering,
rats make great pets.
Benjamin K Rat was my favorite. I don’t remember whether the “K” stood for anything. I don’t think it did. And, no, he was not named for the movie rat that Michael Jackson sang about in the early 1970’s (“Ben the two of us need look no more. We’ve both found what we’ve been looking for. With a friend to call my own, I’ll never be alone….”). Benjamin was all gray. And, he was big for a domestic rat. He was incredibly smart. This was long before I got into dog training, but I was able to teach him to come when he was called. I would let him run around the campsite where I lived in the summer. Then I’d call him back so that I could put him away. He liked to chew on the grass seed heads in the campsite. One day, however, he somehow got out of his cage, and took up residence under the big canvas tent that we kept our equipment in. I missed him while he was gone, but I knew he was okay, because I would see evidence of his visits to get food. He refused to come back when I called him, however. Then, one day, out of the blue, he ran up to me while I was in the tent, and we had a happy reunion. He happily stayed with me for the rest of his life after that; and came to Davis with me when I attended graduate school.
ABOUT SILVER LINING PET SERVICES
Silver Lining Pet Services is the business owned by Sue Skiff. It provides both dog training and pet sitting services. If you own a dog, then look to Sue to alleviate any fears and frustrations that you have over your dog's behavior. Sue will come to your home, and set up a training program that is customized to your, and your dog's, needs. You can even have Sue do the training for you, in your home, while you go about your business. If you don't live within Sue's service area, you can contact Sue about setting up a Skype, or phone, appointment.
The first 15 minutes are free
As for pet sitting services, Silver Lining Pet Services endeavors to give traveling pet owners peace of mind that their pets will be well cared for while they are away. For further information on the services provided by Silver Lining Pet Services, please
visit our website. Silver Linings is a publication of Silver Linings Pet Services, and is published for the purpose of marketing services. The current address of Silver Linings Pet Services is: 1547 Palos Verdes Mall #202 Walnut Creek, Ca 94597 |
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