I have absolutely nothing political or social to comment upon. Seems every day that everyone else beats me to it. Which is fine, this blogging stuff ain’t a competition. So the topic of the day is my new dog. I have a five month old pup who is an American Bulldog. Fair warning should be given that I love this breed and they are fabulous. They are not for everyone though. If you have difficulty disciplining animals or are inexperienced with any working dog breed (shepherds, rotties, pits, Dobermans, or any breed used for protection and police work) do not get one! If you’re unwilling to use negative as well as positive reinforcement, this is not the breed for you. However, if you know what you’re doing and are capable of working with this breed, you’ll find no better animal.

These animals are great watchdogs, they are excellent with children (in fact, here’s a story about a bulldog so patient with a small child that the dog sat still while the child put a full pin cushion of pins into the dogs snout & the dog waited for an adult to intervene), they catch wild hogs, catch bulls, can do bite work, tracking, and are eager to learn.

Also, please crate train any dog you ever get! It avoids problems later.

The problem with my pup is that he likes to dig. So, my new expensive sod that was place in my new lot has about seven or 10 craters in it. That’s not the real problem. The real problem is that he gets mud all over the carpet (it’s easy to clean, it’s Berber). So, I must quell the digging problem. I have a dog door that goes to the backyard to give my pup (and my other dog) access to the yard or house at their leisure. But after a round of digging, he trots in the house and muds the place. Good thing I have a carpet cleaner.

I ask some of my dog buddies what I should do. It’s easy if a catch him digging, I just tell him ‘no’ firmly and when he stops he gets praised. However, the bulk of it is done when I am at the office. My dog buddies’ suggestions are as follows:

Trim his nails daily almost to the quick so that it’s painful when he digs (which I did last night, but he still tried to dig this morning).

Put the dog’s own feces in the existing holes before filling them with dirt (who wants to dig up their own poo?)

Crate him all day and make him stay outside when I get home. The whole time I’m home, watch from the kitchen window. When I see him dig, zap him with a correction collar (Zzzzzt!).

Invest in a sandbox and enforce (praise) when he digs there. Essentially, tell him it’s okay to dig in certain spots.

And as a final tactic, when I come home look for any holes that he has dug. Fill said hole with water. Escort Rover to the hole and dunk his head in the muddy water.

Boy, that last one sounds extreme. Last night, I trimmed his nails. He was outside while I was in the shower this morning and I got done and found a new hole. So, today I crated him all day. I will begin trimming a small portion of his nails daily to shorten them to the quick. The wife and I are also gonna invest in a sandbox and encourage him to dig there. I haven’t caught him in the actual act yet, or I’d zap him with the old correction collar. I tend to doubt I’ll dunk him though.

Posted in uncategorized on October 8th, 2002 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |