Question:
"My dog, Sasha, is a one-year-old Pekingese dog. I imported her from Russia. She has settled in beautifully and is very well behaved.

She is a fussy eater though, and I have to coax her with a variety of different foods before she will eat something. She is otherwise healthy and active.

The only problem is that now I am going out of town for a few days and my husband refuses to hand feed Sasha, I am in a dilemma, do see if you can help me. "

-Mrs. Dubash, Mumbai


Shirin's Advice:
Finicky eaters are generally hand-built by us humans. It all starts when the dog for some reason or another, doesn't dive right into her food bowl. Concerned, we mix in a little something to make it taste better. And it does.

So the next time, she waits to see if you will add something tasty. And when you do, a finicky eater is born. Fussy dogs are not uncommon and many fail to receive a balanced diet as a result. What you can do to get Sasha to revert to good eating habits is to put together a healthy balanced meal for her and offer it to her at mealtime. Pick up the bowl and any remaining food after ten minutes and put it away, even if she hasn’t eaten anything. Do not try to hand feed her or coax her. Dogs by nature are voracious eaters and will eat when they are hungry.
 
She is to get no other food or titbits till her next mealtime. At her next mealtime, put down the same healthy, unadorned food and repeat the above. Keep at this; sooner or later she will eat. Some dogs may go a day or two without eating, but that is not abnormal for a dog and usually causes no harm.

Remember, if your dog is not eating but still defecating normal amounts, she's getting food from somewhere or someone.
However, before trying anything, you should first get Sasha looked at by a Vet to rule out any medical problem.

 Question:
"I am very interested in learning more about animal behavior, especially canine behavior.

I would love to be a canine behavior counselor just like you. What qualifications do you need to have? How does one go about being one in India?

Does one have to go abroad to learn? Does your organization run courses? "

-S.Parekh, Ahmedabad

Shirin's Advice:
When I first started working in India as a Canine Behavior Counselor, the topic was unheard of. Today, it is heartening to see more young people interested in the field of canine behavior. Our organization ‘Canines Can Care’ does run a variety of courses. You need no prior qualification to attend our courses.

The courses we run are - “Canine Rescue and Rehoming Course’, ‘Teaching and Training Course’, ‘Dog Behavior I and II’. Each course goes into depth on a wide range of topics. Do contact the organization for more details. Your other option is to study abroad. The Internet should lead you to a wide variety of courses on canine behavior. A word of caution - Canine behavior and training are kind of like cooking- a ‘hands-on’ learning experience.

You cannot be a dog trainer or a behavior counselor just by reading books or doing correspondence courses. You have to be able to show results with real dogs. That will only come after you have handled a wide range of dogs.

  Question:
"I have a six-month old Boxer puppy. The problem with him is that he is constantly chewing on the furniture and footwear.

He is otherwise a very healthy pup and full of beans. Please kindly advice me on how to stop this destructive behavior."

Mr. Kumar, Chennai

Shirin's Advice:
The problem you are facing with your dog is common in most puppies. Part of the problem is due to the teething stage which they go through at this age and secondly, it is because your pup could well be bored. Step up the games you play with your dog and give him acceptable things he can chew on. Remember to give him chew toys made from a variety of substances, for example, don't just give him rubber toys, be creative and give a rubber ball, a plastic toy, maybe a sock stuffed with cloth.

Also try to take the pup out more for walks in the park, dogs that age need to explore their natural environment, if they are denied that activity, they will soon turn to exploring the insides of the house they are confined in.

And lastly, do not be too harsh in your punishment when your pup chews up the furniture, if you gave him acceptable things to chew on, he would not need to chew the furniture. Goodluck!

Question:
"My four-year-old Labrador, Trixie is very sweet and loving. Every morning when I am reading the newspaper, she will come and put her paw on my leg or nudge me till I pat her.

The problem is that she keeps at this behaviour till I am finished reading. It is quite irritating what can I do to stop her? "

G. Bobade, Pune

Shirin's Advice:
The answer lies in your question. The very reason your dog is carrying out this ‘attention seeking’ behaviour is because you reward her for it. When it comes to getting an owner’s attention, most dogs have trained their owners to perfection. When your dog nudges you you give her attention in the form of patting. When she stops the nudging and sits quietly - you stop the patting. In her mind sitting quietly gets her nothing, but nudging or pawing gets attention.

To stop this behaviour, ignore all her attempts at pawing and nudging. Wait till she is sitting quietly and then praise her. Be consistent about which behaviour you reward and which one you ignore. Do keep in mind that she will not give up easily and will try harder for your attention before she finally gives up the nudging and pawing.

Question:
"I have a very embarrassing question. My three year old, male dog greets people by sticking his nose up between their legs.

It is extremely discomforting not only to me but also to the person he is greeting. It is also not easy to get him to stop it.

He seems very persistent. He is otherwise an affectionate and friendly, outgoing dog. "

Shirin's Advice:
When two dogs meet, they will greet each other by sniffing each other’s rear end. This is a perfectly normal canine behavior.

Dogs that carry out this behavior are normally dogs that are of the correct height to do so. However, if your dog is carrying out this behavior excessively with humans there could be a hormonal / sexual element involved. In which case, do speak to your vet about getting your dog neutered. You can also arm your ‘victims’ with a spray bottle filled with diluted bitter lemon juice.

 Ask them to spray your dog every time he carries out the behavior, in return ask him to sit and get your guests to praise him for it. If they do not reward the alternate behavior, it could well make your dog wary of guests.

Question:
"I own a seven-year-old Doberman. Recently, my family moved to a new home. We have no problems with our dog in the new home, except when we take him for a walk the stray dogs in the area come to attack him.

The strange point is that they only want to attack my dog when he is walking on one side of the street.

As soon as we cross the road, they give up! I have tried shooing them away with a stick, but they are very persistent.

I am scared they will bite my dog, he himself is pretty scared and no longer wants to go for a walk because of these dogs.

In my desperation I even contacted a local stray dog organisation and asked them to pick up these dogs, but they refused. What can I do? "

T. Pant, Thane

Shirin's Advice:
Many a city dog owner shares your plight. It is an innate instinct within a dog to protect his territory from other dogs who could be potential competitors for resources (food, shelter, female dogs) within that area. From what you say, it seems that they are territorial only over one side of the street.

The simple solution then would be to walk your dog across the road. As long as you don’t enter the stray dogs’ territory, they will not see the need to attack your dog.

It will not help you to have all the stray dogs removed from your area. It is not the duty of a stray dog organization to remove the dogs from any area. All that they can do is neuter and vaccinate these dogs. In spite of that if you yet managed to get the dogs removed it would create a vacuum in the eco-system - which would soon be filled by other stray dogs.

What you can do to keep the hounds at bay is to carry along a spray bottle filled with bitter lemon juice. Whenever any stray dog comes close to your dog, liberally spray that dog on the face. The bitter juice acts a harmless, but effective repellent since most dogs do not like bitter stuff. Be consistent and soon the dogs will learn to stay away from you and your dog.

Question:
"I am planning to get myself a pet. As of now my first choice is a Golden Retriever because of its beauty and temperament. But I have heard that they make for poor watchdogs.

It seems they are friendly even with strangers and will not alert to them. I want a dog that will alert me to the arrival of visitors. Which breed should I opt for? "

N. Eyeroor, Bangalore

Shirin's Advice:
Just because a dog has a genial temperament and is friendly with strangers, does not mean he cannot be a good watchdog. Golden Retrievers make for wonderful pets because of their good temper.

With a little bit of training, you can teach a Golden Retriever to alert its owner to the presence of strangers. However, if you want a breed that looks like a watchdog, you may want to settle for a German Shepherd, Rottweiler or a Doberman. Do keep in mind though, that although these breeds make ‘look’ the part, they do not always make for good watchdogs.

You may also want to opt for a mixed-breed dog. They seem to have a strong innate instinct to guard their homes. In my opinion, a good watch dog is not one that bites people, but one that barks.

Regardless of which breed you choose, you will need to socialise the dog so that it is confident around strangers; dogs that are scared of people make for very poor watchdogs.

Before that a dog is not capable of learning. Is he too young to start any kind of training at this age? At what age should one start training puppies? "

S. Gurung, Ahmedabad

Shirin's Advice:
The day a puppy walks into a new home, the training process should begin. Guide dog puppies all over the world start their training as young as six weeks. Between the age of six weeks to six months, the puppy is at its most impressionable stage and very receptive to learning new things. An owner must take advantage of that and teach the puppy good behaviour.

The puppy starts his learning process virtually from the day he is born. It is up to you - the owner to supervise his learning. Remember, that his learning process will continue - with or without training. Without guidance from you, it is very likely that the pup will learn more bad behaviour than good. If you then try to train him at six months you will first have to undo the bad behaviour then teach the good.

So start training your puppy from the day he walks into your home. You do not have start off on the complicated commands, but definitely do start his socialising, toilet training, recalls and the ‘No” command, besides teaching him to be a well-mannered dog. In the long run, you will be glad you started him off early.

Question:
"My husband and I own a two year-old Pomeranian.

He is a lovely dog except for one problem: he barks whenever we are out of the house. We only go for a few hours once or twice a week but the neighbours are starting to complain.

The dog knows when we are in the house and never barks when we are in, even if we are in another room. What can I do to make him stop? "

L. Mehra, Delhi

Shirin's Advice:
You simply need to remove all of the signals that let your dog know that you are going out so that he thinks you are always in. Make a list of things you do before and during the time you are about to go out. Everyday on a daily basis go through your going out routine but stay in the house or immediately return after closing the front door. You will also need to trick your dog into thinking you are still in the house by using some or all of the following tips:

• Try leaving the radio or television on.

• Make a recording of sounds that your dog will recognize as you being present in another room of the house. Cleaning, washing up, bathing, telephone conversations, etc. Play this tape in another room whenever you go out so that your dog thinks you are at home.

• Leave an unwashed, recently worn item of your clothing just outside the door of the room that your dog is left in so that when he sniffs the bottom of the door he thinks you are on the other side.

However, since it is our first puppy we are not sure how old the pup should be before we bring it home.

One breeder was willing to give us a pup that was four weeks old, the pup looked really small but the breeder said it was ready to leave the mother.

Can you please advice me on this? "

D. Roy, Thane

Shirin's Advice:
A young dog’s social life begins around four weeks of age when all of his communication facilities mature; he can see, smell, hear, touch and feel adequately at this stage. Between four to six weeks he will develop and practise different play behaviours extensively. During this phase, the mother changes her relationship from one of care to that of a teacher. She will discipline naughty pups and teach them manners when playing games. Research has shown that her teaching and disciplining has a direct bearing on how the pup will ultimately behave with people.

The way a mother alters her care-dependency relationship to one of dominance and submission has a life-long effect on the dog’s mind. Learning about dominance submission through maternal punishment is absolutely necessary for a pup. It was discovered long ago that puppies that were deprived of this learning phase, either because they were removed from the mother at an early time or the mother died at birth, showed difficulty in being trained later in life.

The best period to get a puppy home is anywhere between six to eight weeks. Taking a pup away from its mother or littermates before this period results in a pup whose communication and play skills could well be left undeveloped.

A breeder who is willing to let one of his pups go early has no knowledge of dogs and should therefore not be breeding. Sadly, India is full of such breeders who care little for the dog’s health and temperament; all they care about is making money. Be careful before buying a puppy from such breeders; you could well end up with a puppy that has problems that will only surface later in life.

Muffin is so clever he knows that and he jumps on them when they come in. He means no harm but the guests don’t understand.

I have tried shouting at him, but he listens only for a short while. He never jumps on me. Can you think of anything to put this right? "

R. Khetsey, Pune

Shirin's Advice:
The solution is really simple. Muffin has found a great way to get guests to interact with him - they flail their arms, shout, run or push him away. This is all extremely entertaining for Muffin, which is why he continues to jump on people. You as the owner have probably taught him that he gets no such reward by jumping on you.

Your shouting at Muffin will only have short-term consequences, as you have realised. Instead you have to get your guests to change their behaviour to get Muffin to change his. The next time you are expecting guests, attach a leash to Muffin’s collar and let it trail on the floor. Ask your guest to step on the leash as soon as he/she enters the doorway - this will prevent Muffin from jumping on the guest.

At this point ask the guest to ask Muffin to ‘sit’ and then reward the sitting behaviour. It will take a lot of repetitions of this for Muffin to change, and every successful jump he has will set you back a bit. However, don’t scold your dog, be patient, and only reward the positive behaviour of sitting nicely. Most dogs quickly learn that they get a lot of attention when they practice this new form of communication when greeting people.

He will attack stray dogs in the park, run off and won’t come back when called and has starting growling at my maid servant.

Why this sudden change? Because of this I no longer leave him loose in the park and that frustrates him and me, I want him to have a free run.

What can I do to get more control?"

B. Vakil, Mumbai

Shirin's Advice:
Your dog is going through a normal phase of life. Around nine to fourteen months, dogs go through a period of development which is akin to the juvenile stage in humans. During this puberty phase, the body receives a surge of hormones and the dog goes through a phase in his development where he is trying to establish his own identity at this stage in his development. This often leads to irrational spurts of behaviour and can bring about a rise in aggression towards people and other dogs.

Also during this stage, the dog goes through a growth spurt which puts the body under more stress and has a large influence on how the dog behaves. In the natural state, this is the time when a dog would leave his pack and venture further from home.

Understanding the fact that your dog is going through this transitional phase is the first step towards coping with the problems. Most often, dogs, like teenagers, grow out of this difficult phase. However, allowing a dog to carry out unacceptable and irrational behaviours is not a good idea.

You should first get your dog neutered to curb any further problems. Next teach your dog how to come when called (recall) within a safe environment such as your home or building compound. You may need to join a training class in your area which will help you with your recalls and obedience training. These will give you better control over your dog. Be patient and reward your dog for good behaviours rather than scolding him all the time.

I have been working with her but so far have only been able to get to her paw before she snatches it back. She doesn’t growl or bite, but it is very clear that she hates it.

Can you tell me how to further her training to accept having her feet touched?

I have lavished love and attention, no physical corrections, just walk away and ignore her, which upsets her a good deal. "

H. Shelley

Shirin's Advice:
Providing your dog is obedient in all other manners except having her paws touched, you can handle her in the following manner. Start by handling her paws on a daily basis. Whilst you are touching her paw, make it pleasant, talk to her in a gentle praising tone. The minute you put her paw down, stop the praise abruptly, so she connects the praise to having her paw touched. Initially, don’t manipulate her nails at all. When holding onto her paw, make sure you push the dog’s elbow into the body – this prevents the dog from being able to snatch her paw away. Do this for two minutes at a time, at least five times a day for a couple of days till she accepts having her paws touched and actually looks forward to it.

Once she accepts this stage, hold a couple of matchsticks in the same hand that you hold her paw and clip at the matchsticks with a nail cutter just as you would clip her nails. This gets the dog used to the noise that accompanies clipping and de-sensitises her to it. When she is ok with this stage you can move to the final stage.

When cutting the nails, hold the paw with a firm but not tight grip (often an owner will hurt the dog by squeezing the dog’s paw too tightly) and check that the clippers you use are sharp otherwise they can pinch the nail during the cut.

After you've cut the first nail, praise her and give a treat (but don't let go of her foot!) and move on to the next toe. When you've finished the entire foot (it might take a little while during these first sessions), put it down and make a big fuss over her, lots of praise and treats. Depending on how your dog is handling this so far, you can either start on the next foot or stop for the moment.

Make sure to praise your dog throughout the sessions and be patient – it will take a while for your dog to accept having her nails cut.

She is very loving, friendly and full of mischief. The problem, however, is that she is easily frightened especially of strangers - men in particular and of strange objects.

My friends like dogs and it is embarrassing to see her crouch in fear; it takes a lot of cajoling before she plays with them. This happens all the time, even when the same people come over every day.

How can I make her friendlier? "

Vinay K

Shirin's Advice:
Unless a dog is socialised at a young age, it may grow up to be fearful of strangers. Shelter dogs get little or no socialising and often end up with nervous problems.

This can lead dogs, like yours, to be self-protective until they learn to trust people. Let your dog observe strangers from a distance until she is comfortable to go up to them on her own; don’t force her to interact with people. Once she is more relaxed and confident, she will approach people on her own. When she does, get your friends to speak to her gently and feed her a few tasty tidbits whilst they stroke her.

The best thing for shy dogs is to not to console them for their shyness or fearfulness. Avoid speaking to her or stroking her when she's scared. By doing this you are unintentionally praising her for acting scared, reinforcing the very behaviour you're trying to diminish. Instead, praise her when she behaves in a friendly and confident manner.

You also need to step up on her socialising - get her to meet lots of friendly new people and have pleasant experiences with them. Desensitising a fearful dog is hard work and a long, drawn out process, but well worth it.

Our trainer told us to exercise him, but even after going for a walk, he comes home and runs about the house. He has started to chew up carpets and he has even chewed up one of my expensive paintings.

His energy is never-ending and he is especially active at eleven p.m. when we want to sleep. What can we do? "

D. Pathare, Pune

Shirin's Advice:
Your dog is behaving like most puppies his age. At six months, dogs need to be able to run about and play and lot more than they usually get to do.

Also, go over your dog’s diet with your vet. A dog that is fed a high protein diet needs a matching exercise schedule to work off the extra calories. Failing this, the excess energy will emerge in the form of hyperactive behaviour within the house.

Just taking your pup for a walk is not going to stimulate his growing, inquisitive mind and his need to explore at this age, which is why he will resort to exploring your home in the form of chewing up your furniture. Your pup needs to go to a park and run loose and explore his natural surroundings.

This, along with a suitable diet, will reduce his hyperactive behaviour within the house. Regarding his energy level late at night, a brisk walk around that time will help calm him down.

Do we wait to teach her when she starts going outdoors? Or can we start earlier? What is the correct way to introduce her to the leash? "

D. Gandhi Ahmedabad

Shirin's Advice:
You can start immediately. Most dog owners wait to introduce their puppy to a collar and leash only when it is ready to go out into the world. At this time, the puppy is coping with the strange sights, smells and sounds of the outdoors. To teach it restraint at such a time is very unfair. Most pups thrash about and fight the restraint – not only can this make them leash-shy but also affect their confidence when outdoors.

It is a good idea to teach the puppy to accept the collar and leash without the distractions of the outdoors. But don’t just put the pup on a collar and leash and expect it to adjust. Put on the collar and leash just before mealtime and let him eat his meal with the collar on. That way, the pup will associate the collar and leash to a pleasant experience.

In addition, put the collar and leash on and walk the pup about the house, using treats and praise to lure him and distract him away from the restrictions of the leash. Do this for a couple of minutes everyday, then remove the leash.

Do not leave it on and let the puppy walk about the house with the leash trailing behind; this can lead to the puppy chewing on it or playing with it, which will lead to problems later on.