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Stubborn Dog – Training Made Easy

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Article by Steve Wood

Stubborn dog training is not nearly as easy as training a normal dog but it can be done, and knowing how makes a giant difference. Let me start this article by identifying some of the breeds that tend to create stubborn dogs. When buying a dog, this might help you make a better decision.

Afghan hound – Airedale Terrier – Akita – Alaskan Malamute – Alaskan Husky – American Pit Bull – American Staffordshire Terrier -Belgian Shepherd – Bernese Mountain Dog – Bloodhound – Border Collie – Borzoi – Bull Terrier – Chinese Shar-Pei – Chow Chow -Doberman – German Shepherd – Giant Schnauzer – Great Dane – Greyhound – Irish Wolfhound – Mastiff – Rhodesian Ridgeback -Rottweiler – Saluki – Siberian Husky – Weimaraner – Setters

Stubborn dogs are not found in the sporting dogs as frequently as they are found in the hound and terrier groups. I think about a dog that is very stubborn until they tree or pursue the game to the end when I think about hounds. Many people in my area, who have deer dogs, on occasion have to hang on until season is over to find their dogs.

This is not to say these dogs can not be trained at all but rather to say it will take patience, knowledge, and confidence on the trainer’s part to be unbeaten. These breeds need companionship and they are not well suited for living in kennels. Many people are taking on the challenge of dog training today because economic conditions has made professional training fees more of a luxury than a necessity. If you make your mind up to train your own dog, you will need a good book or two to learn the valuable secrets that will save you hours of frustration.

Dog training can be apt to become a struggle between the trainer and the dog. When you understand that dogs have a “pack nature” that creates a “dominate nature” it makes it easy to understand the struggle. This means they had rather lead than follow! If you have had children you may understand this concept.

Here are some tips when working with a stubborn dog…

1- Use a firm voice but be cautious not to scream and lose your cool. You must be consistant when working with your dog because like children, they will pick up on inconsistance with no trouble. This creates confusion in their mind. Just imagine if you were the dog and one time you get scolded for doing something wrong and the next time you get a pat on the head. Also be very meticulous to correct your dog when the problem occurs. Dogs do not identify with delayed punishment.

2- Body language is also important because you want to look confident to your dog and always look them in the eyes. This is somewhat of a domination technuqie. Always look at the dog when correcting and when praising.

3- One great techneque is to use some type of noise maker when your dog is not obeying. These items are trouble-free to make by taking a plastic bottle and dropping a few small rocks in it. If you need to correct the dog by stricking them with an object that does not hurt, but makes a loud noise, use a large plastic baseball bat. If you need a louder sound, buy a bat with a larger end. You can also drop a few small pebbles in the end of the bat for added sound.

4- Using a pinch collar to train your dog to heel, sit, and stay is the fastest easiest method there is. I can train most dogs with this method within one week. It works great and this is the first step in training. This method can be found in eBooks.

Training your own dog will be one of the most gratifying things you will ever do. You will enjoy showing your dog’s obedience to all of your friends. The sooner you get started the sooner you will achieve success.

Learn how to train your Stubborn Dog by clicking RIGHT HERE .










Steam Cleaning Made Easy

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Article by Stephen Dunn

Steam Cleaning is something that maybe isn’t thought about right away when you think about keeping a clean home. In fact, it sounds kind of industrial. But why not? Why is it the first thing we think about when we want to remove a stain from the carpet to put down some miracle chemical that “releases” stains? Go look in your pantry with all the cleaning supplies, or underneath your kitchen sink, and what do you see? Probably a plethora of bottles and sprays that just get in the way when all you need is a new trash bag for the trash can. Also, have you read the backs of the bottles of cleaners? I’ve seen this before, a cleaner specifically made for removing pet stains from your CARPET and on the back this is what it reads. “Before applying the solution to the stain, test on a small spot of carpet in a discrete location.” Shouldn’t it read “tested safe for all carpets”?

Chemicals and solutions really are not good for cleaning. Even if the stain is cleaned, solutions, over time, will build up a residue on the carpet that you will not come out with any kind of cleaner. So then what do we do? What about Steam Cleaning? Think about it. What’s needed for a steam cleaner to work? Water. That’s it (and, of course, electricity). Steam Cleaners use a type of heating element or boiler to heat tap water to high temperatures somewhere between 240 and 310F producing a low-pressure, low moisture water vapor, enabling cleaning, sanitizing, and in some cases disinfection and even sterilization of inanimate surfaces. What else is nice is that drying is done in a fraction of time compared to traditional cleaning with solutions.

I’ll give you a ‘for instance’. A few years ago My wife and I we’re eagerly waiting for our first child. At the time she was about 7 months pregnant. We had planned for a baby shower at our new house and were expecting somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 guests to show up. Well the night before it was supposed to be about 30 degrees outside and at the time we didn’t have anything for our two 9 month old puppies (I call them puppies, but they’re Mastiff/Anatolian Shepherd dogs and stood about 4 feet tall and weighed about 120 lbs. They’re more like small horses) to sleep in or on yet. So we decided that we would let them stay inside for the night, but we had placed them in the room with tile flooring with some old towels and set up the gates and went to bed. Well, of course, you know what happens next. The two behemoths pushed the gates out of the way and decided to have a bathroom break in the main living room. My nice brand new sandy white thick berber carpet was annihilated. They must have eaten like kings the night before. That’s all I can say. When we woke up the next morning to start preparing for the shower, we were mortified at the disaster which was our living room. And with the party guests arriving in 3-4 hours, there seemed like no way to clean up the house and prepare for the shower at the same time. Well I ran to the store, whipped out my newly purchased steam cleaner and started cleaning up. Not only was it clean before the guests arrived, I still had enough time to clean myself up, help with preparing for the shower, and took a nice break just before anyone had arrived.

I’ll just say from past experiences using both steam cleaners and rubbing ‘who knows what’ solution into carpets for hours. I’d much rather use the steam cleaner, for a multitude of reasons. If you’re a pet owner who occasionally, or full time, likes having your pets (or kids… just kidding) inside the house, you will go through cleaning solutions constantly. That means another expense from your wallet which may have become a monthly occurrence. Again, Steam Cleaners require only water. Free water. If nothing else warms you up about steam cleaners, just think of the money you could save each year, or month for that matter. Steam cleaning also cleans better than any other chemical on the market, and as far as eco-friendly products go, its about as green as you can get. And Steam cleaning can be applied to nearly anything. From cleaning pet stains on carpets or upholstery to baked on messes on ovens and stove tops. From grout to clothing. And let me tell you, if you’ve ever had a wrinkle in your nice suit jacket you want to wear for you anniversary dinner with your wife, just grab your steam cleaner and blast the wrinkles away, or risk burning a nice iron mark into your 400 dollar suit jacket. Seems like a pretty simple choice. In fact, if you own a steam cleaner, It will probably become your only choice.

My name is Stephen, or Steve, and I have learned a lot when I first bought my own house and got married. I’ve also learned a lot about steam cleaning in the process. Check out my site and see which products I prefer. http://www.steam-cleaning.org










How What I Know About Airedales Has Made a Difference

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Article by Robin Reynolds

I’m not going to say I’m an expert on Airedale Terriers. I’m not a breeder. I’m not a trainer. And I’m not a dog show judge. But Airedales have been a part of my family since I was child, so what I know about them is what I’ve learned from living with them.

As an adult, my husband and I have had four Airedales — two of them have passed and we have two now — Amber and Krissy. Each one came to us in a different way – Bernie came from a backyard breeder, Max came from a shelter, Amber came from an AKC breeder and Krissy came from rescue. Yes, they all could be described with the typical Airedale traits – smart, playful and determined. But what made these Airedales so unforgettable is not how they were the same, but how they were different.

Max had the most unusual color — his coat was what is called black and grizzle and though that is not the AKC standard, he was beautiful. His furnishings were very thick and he never grew out of his puppy black ears. Max was also the most happy-go-lucky guy. It didn’t matter what happened in life; he was always able to get up each day and wag his tail. This was one of the most important lessons we learned from him and it was the inspiration for my book, Life to the Max: Maxims for a Great Life by a Dog named Max, which was recently published.

Bernie and Amber had and have the typical Airedale black and tan markings, but Bernie’s furnishings were always thin and scraggly, while Amber’s are beautiful and full. Bernie was sweet, patient and razor sharp. Out of the five Christmas stockings we would hang for the family, including the one for Max, she could pick out hers and she would lay under it all night until Christmas morning when her patience would be rewarded. Bernie was stocky, her tail was docked too short and one of her ears was higher than the other, yet she was graceful, gentle and loving. From Bernie, we learned the meaning of unconditional love and how to be good parents.

In contrast, Amber was our rebellious teenager. She really gave form to the depiction of the Airedale “Terror.” Though perfectly proportioned, she was a clumsy puppy — she ran into walls, she fell off steps and her impulsive exuberance got her into trouble more than once. Like the time when we were all gathered around the pool and Amber spotted my son on the other side. Convinced she could walk on water, she took off running toward him and plunged head first into the pool. Thank goodness, we were there to fish out the surprised little puppy.

Amber has also been the most pig-headed of our Airedales. To this day, she has not mastered “come.” Instead she sits down and looks at us like, “What’s your ulterior motive?” When she was about four, she began to calm down and now that Krissy has joined the fray, her patience is really emerging. (One of Krissy’s tricks is to grab one of Amber’s back legs in her mouth and Amber just stands there until she lets go.) Amber has taught us the value of loving, but firm discipline — something that’s been invaluable now that our son is a teenager.

Krissy is a spunky, very petite one-year-old Airedale — the smallest we’ve ever had. Like Bernie, her furnishings are very sparse and her ears are asymmetrical, but her straight, coarse fur is totally different than any of the Airedales who have owned us previously. She does not have the typical Airedale beard or furry muzzle, so her face and body look more sleek and pointy. At first when I introduced her to friends, I found myself almost apologizing for her looks, “Well, we’re not sure if she’s really an Airedale.” Afterwards, I found myself blanching at the thought that I had become a doggy bigot! Of course, it didn’t really matter – Krissy had already captured my heart with her soulful eyes, her funny, prancing little walk and her big guttural sighs that sound like a cow mooing.

Still with all this dissimilarity among our dogs, it made me wonder: were these dogs really Airedales?

My question led me to do some research on the Web and to discover Joyce Miller, a long-time Airedale enthusiast who runs a website (dearjubilee) that offers advice, articles and links on all things dog and Airedale. She is as full of insight, wisdom and energy as any of the Airedales she once bred. After sending her pictures of my dogs, I asked if these dogs were indeed all Airedales. “No doubt they are Airedales,” she replied, “I have seen these variations in the same litter.”

After long conversations with Joyce talking about genetic anomalies and reading more Airedale history, this is what I now know: just because you’ve had one Airedale, it doesn’t mean they’re all the same. Just like people, they are all individuals and enjoying their diversity instead of expecting exact conformity is a lesson we can apply to life. If we were all the same, imagine how boring that would be! That may be the one thing we’re supposed to learn from Krissy. All I know is that I’ve learned something special from every wonderful animal that has been part of my life. And it’s made all the difference.

Robin Reynolds is an award-winning writer who has more than 25 years of experience writing in a variety of formats. An Airedale Terrier lover since youth, Robin lives in Tempe, AZ with her husband, teenage son, and two Airedales. Visit Nice Creative and Life to Max.