Tuesday Topics 11 - Spoiled Rotten?

These days, it's as easy to spoil your dog as it is to spoil your children. What DON'T they have for dogs these days? Swarovski crystal-embedded dog collars, gourmet dog food, feather canopy dog beds, haute couture dog clothes...the list is endless!

Because Guide Dogs has a lot of strict rules for puppy raisers, it's a bit more difficult for us to spoil our dogs. But I sometimes wonder if I spoil Cabana in subtle ways. If Cabana were a pet, I wouldn't be concerned at all. But as a guide dog puppy in training, I'd hate for my spoiling to lead to spoiling her career as a service dog.

Here are my guilty pleasures. Because Cabana isn't allowed on furniture, I always sit with her on the floor when watching TV. If I don't sit on the floor with her, then my husband does. Cabana doesn't complain when we don't sit with her--but we don't really give her much opportunity to complain because we do it pretty automatically. Also, I hold her bones for her so she can chew on them easier. Not all the time, but it's frequently the case.

Are there ways in which you spoil your dog? Will my habits spoil Cabana? Will they make life difficult for her blind partner in the future? Or maybe even cause her to flunk out in formal training? I'll brace myself for the answer....

Tuesday Topics 5 - Guide Dog Whisperer?

One of my favorite TV shows is The Dog Whisperer. I started watching it right after Cabana came to our home, and I don't know what I would have done without Cesar Millan! The Guide Dog manual talks briefly about being a pack leader, but I don't think I would have fully understood that concept if I hadn't watched The Dog Whisperer. I think I've seen every episode now, but every few days, I gotta have my Dog Whisperer fix. It helps remind me to be assertive with Cabana, instead of getting lax and letting unwanted behaviors go unaddressed.

I completely espouse Cesar's dictum of exercise, discipline, then affection. Dogs need an effective, controlled way to drain their energy, which is why I make walking Cabana in the morning one of my top priorities, rain or shine. We also learned to minimize affection first thing in the morning, when Cabana tends to be very excitable (she's well rested, hasn't seen us since the night before, and is waiting for breakfast). By not giving affection when Cabana is in an excited state, we have helped her learn to control her excitement in the morning and be much calmer. Now, the period of time when we withhold petting her is getting shorter and shorter, because she's learning to calm down much more quickly.

Still, I know that The Dog Whisperer is not necessarily "Guide Dog approved", so I wondered what other puppy raisers think about his methods. Are you a fan or do you think it's hooey? Do you like certain things he teaches but think that other parts are flat-out wrong? Do you like his rollerblades or do you think they're weird?