Nanook Ice, and Other Stories

Well. It's been a while, and lots of strange and interesting folks have been finding their way to our blog through strange and interesting ways...And since that's the case, you know what we need to do!!!

DOGALICIOUS GOOGLE SEARCHES THAT SOMEHOW LED FOLKS TO OUR BLOG!

If you're a new reader - Welcome! Here's the deal - sometimes we are located by strangers on the internet searching for knowledge, for love (in all the wrong places), or for the answers to all the deep mysteries of life, the universe and everything - as discovered by Google. Seekers of Googling Universal Truth - we are here for you!

Search # 1: Dog Cookies, New Jersey

YES PLEASE! You can send any dog cookies you like to New Jersey. We don't mind at all. In fact, if you'd like to send a whole bunch of them directly to our home, so we don't have to search the rest of New Jersey for them, that would really be best. Send us an email, and we'll send you the shipping information, okay?

But maybe instead of offering us cookies, you were looking for cookies all for yourself? *sigh* Here are the names of some folks who make dog cookies in NJ. They all look pretty delicious to us. *sniff, sniff* Are you sure you don't want to share? *droooooool*

Bubba Rose Biscuit Company, Boonton, NJ

Fat Murray's All Natural Doggy Treats, Montville, NJ

Annie's Pooch Pops, Columbia, NJ (we've actually had the pleasure of sampling Annie's Pooch Pops in the past. They are freaking delicious. All four paws up and waving happily in the air, for Annie's Pooch Pops!)

Search # 2: Nanook Ice

Oh dog that would be wonderful. As a matter of fact, our ice cube maker is BROKEN! Doooooooom! It broke last week. We have therefore been without both Nanook Ice AND Pooka Ice for far too long. But here is a picture of me, from happier times.

That's the stuff, right there!

Search # 3: Can Newfoundland Water Dogs Catch Salmon?

The short answer - they can if you throw the salmon to them. Preferably in easy to swallow bite-sized pieces. We're good at that. Please visit our blog post "Figaro" for more information on this very important subject.

The long answer (and probably what you really meant was 'can they catch salmon in a stream, in the wild?') - I'd imagine if the salmon were running thick and heavy in a river, a well-positioned and really motivated, (ie - hungry. ie - Nanook), Newf could probably catch a fish, yes. Some of our Kloofbear relatives hunt for fish in their pond, and catch them very handily. Salmon are pretty big - but so are we!

Search # 4: When Do Newfoundland Dogs Start Shedding?

Immediately. They were probably shedding a little in the womb. And they continue shedding for the rest of their lives, non-stop, year-round. I will say this though. They do stop shedding twice a year, when they instead do something so spectacular it can only be called "blowing coat." Shedding is to Blowing Coat what fireworks are to an atom bomb. You will discover enough fur around your house while your Newf is blowing coat, to make yourself a half dozen dog-fur-yarn sweaters. It never stops.

I have it on very good authority that indeed, decades after your Newfoundland dog has gone to his final rest, you will STILL be picking Newf fur out of your food, underwear, and butter dish.

For more information on Newfs and Shedding, please see our blog posts on the subject:

Nature's Most Renewable Resource

and

Do Newfoundland Dogs Shed?

Search # 5: Photos Range from Breast Girls

*blank stare* Mostly, we're just trying to figure out which one of our many interesting and informative posts led to you finding us with those search terms in Google. Because honestly, it's freaking us out.

Search # 6: Puppy Biting and Barking

Oh. So you have a puppy then. Because that's what they do. Bite, and bark. Sometimes they bark and then bite. But yeah. Generally, that's what's up.

However, we get this question a lot, and it IS important to teach puppies that what was an awesome game among their litter mates isn't so much fun for you furless humans. The question came up recently in a private email to us, so we'll copy the advice we gave there. This is gonna be a lot of information, so for those of you that don't have a normal puppy, (ie: one that is barking and biting), you may wish to stop reading here.

Okay - the most important thing is for you to know that this is totally normal puppy behavior. If you had another dog, your puppy would be doing this to the other dog, and the other dog would be correcting him whenever he overstepped his bounds - but know also that it would take a lot for the other dog to get upset, because Newfs have such thick fur that those puppy teeth aren't as painful on another dog as they are on you and your clothes! And puppies are given something called "Puppy License" by older dogs - the older dog will permit a lot of naughtiness, up to a point, because the older dog knows that the puppy is baby, and is still figuring things out.

Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VadluS_ktek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUEWZMG0Cfw

This kind of rough(ish) play is NECESSARY as far as the puppy's genetics are concerned - he has to learn how to fight and play-fight - it's an integral part of dog pack behavior. So it's not just some weird freak on his part, or him being "bad" - every part of his body is telling him that this is important stuff. So it will take a bit for you to teach him that while it may be important with other dogs - it's NOT to be done with humans, but don't worry! It's possible. What you need to teach him is called "Bite Inhibition." You don't want to teach him to NEVER mouth things - for one thing, a puppy is just like a human baby - they explore their world with their mouth.

When Nanook went through this phase, we tried everything - leaving the room for five minutes and ignoring him, turning our backs and ignoring him, yelping in pain and then dominant downing him, redirection to a toy, obedience classes and taste aversion. And eventually we were able to kick the habit. But first things first - before you can work on training him out of the nippy phase, you need to work on you guys!

So the first thing I want you to do is take a really deep breath, and tell yourself that it's going to be okay. Hah! Because when it was me, I was convinced that Nanook was going to grow up to be a 150 lb attack dog, and that I was doing a terrible job of raising my puppy, and that I was ruining him. And if you've read our blog, you know that instead he grew up to be a 140 lb ball of hair and love, a certified therapy dog, and everyone's favorite Newf. I'm sure your puppy is going to be just fine.

Second thing I want you to do is look at how you react to his play-attacks. Are you getting upset/frustrated/angry? If you are, it will make your job of retraining this behavior much harder. You need to be in control of you before you can be in control of him. He will SENSE that you're getting worked up, and it will just escalate his behavior. Kids ALWAYS try and find a button to push on you, and puppies are no different. Whenever my guys are misbehaving, I think to myself, "Mom Knows Best," and I adopt this persona of quiet-but-firm correction. Remind yourself that this is normal, and natural, and a phase he will grow out of.
Third thing I want you to do is be prepared. This means ALWAYS having on your person a tuggy toy that you can redirect his play onto. Always. I bought a fleecy braided rope toy, and I learned to loop it through my belt every morning for the first three months that they were with us as puppies, so that I would have it to hand the instant that he got nippy.

Now we can focus on your puppy:

I hope you've been teaching him obedience skills. Have you signed him up yet for puppy obedience classes? Classes are absolutely indispensable for a giant breed puppy - honestly they aren't really for the DOG - they're for the owners - they teach you how to communicate with your puppy. I advise classes at your local AKC chapter club if you have one. Wherever you decide to go, make sure of two things: 1. That you will be the one handling your dog and training him - I don't believe that the places that take your dog for a month or two are of any use, because learning to communicate with one another takes TWO parties, and if you send your dog away, only the dog is learning, not you. And 2. That the school you choose uses Operant Conditioning, also known as Clicker Training or Positive Reinforcement Training. Newfs are incredibly sensitive, emotionally fragile and very loyal/human dependent dogs. You can lose that connection with him if you wind up with a trainer who has you yelling at him, or performing harsh leash corrections. If you find the right school and the right trainer, then you and your puppy will soon be able to speak one another's language (body language) in a very meaningful way, which will help you in ALL aspects of his growth and development.

Another important thing is to make sure that your puppy has the opportunity to play with other dogs - this teaches him CANINE body language, which is also really important to his development. We took Nanook to our local off-leash dog park, on weekdays when it wasn't insanely busy, and let him play with the other dogs. We also met lots of nice people and their puppies at our obedience classes, and would invite folks over to our house for puppy play dates in our fenced-in yard. In addition, our puppy obedience class had a half hour session of free play set aside during the class itself, for the puppies to run around the classroom and play with one another. The key to having a stable, intelligent, and well-balanced adult dog is to provide him with lots and LOTS of socialization opportunities when he is little. Free play with other dogs is an important part of socialization. In addition, the other puppies and dogs will be helping you train your puppy in bite inhibition (which is what we'll be working on) because they will yelp and correct your puppy if he bites them too hard. In a normal litter, the other puppies and the mom would be teaching him this - since YOU are now his litter, you'll be continuing that training, along with any dogs that your puppy becomes friends with at class and at play.

Now let's talk about methodology:

IGNORE BAD BEHAVIOR -

Here is how another dog would tell your puppy that he is biting too hard - the other dog would yelp in a very high pitched tone, snarl a little and lunge at your puppy, snapping his teeth, and then ignore him - walk away. The general message being expressed is "HEY! That hurts! You're a jerk. I don't want to play with you anymore."

You're going to do something similar, at first. Find a word that will mean "no, that's not what I want" in your language with your puppy. For my two, I say "eh eh." To them, that means that whatever they just did WASN'T what I wanted them to do. You'll use that word for more than just bite inhibition in your training with your puppy.

The next time your puppy bites you, say your "no" word to him, in a low but very firm voice. Then you are going to detach him from you, and walk away. I set up baby gates in all the doorways of our sitting room, and the sitting room was the room that Nanook had access to most during the day. Any time he played too roughly, I said "eh eh!" to him, carefully pulled his teeth out of my pants leg, and then walked deliberately to the nearest baby gate, and left the room. I made sure to avoid fast, flashy movements because those could stimulate chase/hunt instincts in Nanook. I completely ignored him as soon as his teeth were out of my leg, averted my eyes from him, and when I was out of the room I stayed in his sight, but I kept my back to him and did not respond to him in any way. Sometimes he would chase me and grab my leg again before I was able to get out of the room, I just repeated the process of "eh eh" removing his teeth and walking out of the room. I would wait on the other side of the baby gate for him to settle down a little bit, usually five or ten minutes. Then I would return to the room, and offer him the rope toy to play with. This is called 'redirection.' You are providing him with an ACCEPTABLE substitute, and teaching him what he is allowed to chew on.

If he ignores the toy and launches himself at you again, repeat the process. "Eh eh!" stop all interaction, and leave the room. You are, in essence, giving him a time out. He needs to learn that biting hard will stop all interaction. And you are going to have to be very, very patient. It will take time. He may continue to launch himself at you over and over again. Up until now, biting you resulted in a wonderful game for him, a game that he really enjoyed. AND he's got his instincts telling him that this is an important part of his puppy training. The behavior will actually get much worse before it gets better. Your goal, (to get your puppy to stop biting you in play), is called a behavior EXTINCTION, in operant conditioning. You want the behavior to stop. But before it will stop, he will escalate the behavior in an attempt to get the result that he wants from you. This is called an Extinction Burst.

Let's use a different example: barking.

Say in the past every time he barked, you looked at him and gave him attention. Your attention was what he wanted, so he was rewarded for the barking. Now let's say you start ignoring his barking. He feels confused - every time he barked before, you gave him the reward of your attention. He thinks, "maybe she just doesn't hear me. I'll bark louder." And he does. This is called an Extinction Burst. The dog will perform the undesirable behavior much louder, or worse, trying to achieve the reward that he got before. I'm telling you this so that you expect it, and don't assume that because he gets worse, it means the retraining isn't working. It's normal. It's a part of his learning process. You need to be firm, and very patient, during this period. Be aware that the behavior will not stop overnight, but that it WILL stop. And that now is definitely the time to teach him these important manners - dogs learn bite inhibition prior to 4 months of age, so now is the perfect time to be reinforcing this with him.

You must also make sure that you praise and reward any good, gentle behavior on his part. If he's playing politely with a toy, tell him he's a good boy in a quiet but happy tone of voice. Give him lots of positive attention for good behavior - your attention and praise is what he wants most in the world - make sure that he gets it when he deserves it, and doesn't get it when he doesn't.

But all of the above is offered on the assumption that you have the time to work on this with him. And I'm going to tell you that you need to MAKE the time to work on this with him at least once a day now, when he's young and eager to learn, and easy to train.

REDIRECTION:

Okay - so you've told him that biting you hard is a bad thing, by ignoring him. Now it's time to teach him what you consider appropriate play. He's a puppy! He has to have some kind of interactive play with you! So let's move on to the redirection portion of the exercise. Lots of folks will tell you that teaching your puppy to play tug of war is a very bad idea - that it makes them feel like the alpha etc etc. My trainers used tug of war all the time, and so I think that's nonsense, provided that you follow three very simple rules of engagement.

1. You are in control of the game. In order for this to be the case, you will be the one to decide when the game starts, to offer the toy, and to direct how the game is played.
2. You teach the commands "Give" and "Take."
3. You always win the toy at the end of the game.

I played tug of war as a relationship building game with Nanook - it was part of our formal obedience puppy training. Tug of War is a game played between the two of you - with eye contact going on. It's very personal. Here is how I taught it to Nanook.

When I came back into the room to offer the toy, I would drag it on the ground in front of Nanook enticingly, like you would play with a cat. I would say the word "take" as I did so, just once. If Nanook grabbed the toy, I would say "good boy!" and then commence with gentle tugging. If he didn't tug back, or crowded me, I used my free hand to nip his front paws in a gentle/playful bite motion. Usually then he'd whip his paws away from my fingers and back up, tugging on the toy. After a little bit of tugging, I would offer him a cookie with my free hand right in front of his nose, saying the word "Give" as I did so. He would immediately drop the toy to take the cookie. He'd be told "good boy!" when he dropped the toy. Then I would drag the toy in front of him again, saying "take." Sometimes, to make the game more rewarding for him, I let him 'win' the toy - a good strong tug and I'd release the toy and say "oh! you won!" with a ton of admiration in my voice. He'd get very smug and prancy about it, and usually he'd bring it back to me for me to start the game over again. If he turned away to take the toy away from me, I would gently 'nip' his tush with my fingers - just like another puppy would do to get his attention back. He usually turned back around to me and then I'd grab the toy again and we'd play some more. If he didn't turn back around, I made sure to grab the toy and remove it from him - you do not want him to think he can just steal the toy! Although I would sometimes let him 'win' a battle, I ALWAYS won the war. What this means is that when I decided that the game was finished, I got the toy back from him, and tucked it into my pocket where he couldn't reach it. Or I would take it and put it someplace very high up, where he couldn't get to it. The important thing there was that it was clear to him that the toy was MINE, and that I was the one inviting him to play, and deciding when the game was over.

If at any point he ignored the toy and tried to bite me, I repeated the extinction training above - "eh eh" and left the room. If at any point during the game he bit my HAND instead of the rope, even by accident, he'd get the "eh eh" and the game would be over and I'd leave the room for five to ten minutes. Rinse and repeat.

Gentle mouthing is not the same thing as hard biting. If he takes your hand gently in his mouth, you may continue quietly playing with him - it's important that he learn FIRST to control the FORCE of his biting, before you start to try and decrease the frequency of mouthing. And puppies do explore their world with their mouths. If he is polite with his mouth, and gently takes hold of something, you may quietly praise him a little bit. The object in teaching bite inhibition is not to teach bite prohibition - a dog that never learns to control the force of his bite may bite too hard when he is provoked later in life - causing serious injury. Accidents happen. A door might get closed on his tail, or a child might poke him in the eye by accident. A dog who learns to control the force of his bite is more likely to offer an appropriate level of reaction to sudden pain.

OTHER TEACHABLE MOMENTS:

You can also work on him being gentle with his mouth by hand-feeding him one of his meals every day. This is also an important activity to help prevent him from becoming food aggressive or protective of his bowl. He needs to learn that all good things come from you. So offer him a handful of kibble. If he bites you hard trying to get to the kibble in your hand, he gets "eh eh" and you take your hand away for a few seconds. Same with treat feeding - hold the treat in your fingers and offer it to him. If he bites too hard, close your hand in a fist around the treat and say "eh eh - gentle." If he lets up and mouths your hand more gently, or licks instead of mouthing - immediately open your fist and give him the treat with a "good boy! gentle."

I also worked on good bowl manners by keeping my hand in the bowl while the dog was eating - and slowly adding small pieces of hot dog to the bowl while the dog was eating. My hand in his bowl = yummy additional treats. Positive things should happen while you are around him while he is eating. I would also occasionally take the bowl away in the middle of a meal, saying "Give," adding some hot dog bits to it quickly, and putting it back down with his release word, "Okay!" and praise if the dog was calm about me taking the bowl. Teaching him that you taking his food away is a GOOD thing is super important.

In addition, I always, always - even still - put both boys in a sit/wait while I put their food bowl down on the ground. If they broke the wait as puppies when the bowl hit the ground, I'd pick it back up immediately with an "eh eh! Sit. Wait." If they waited politely, they would get praise, "Good boy!" and a piece of hot dog offered directly by hand. Then I'd give them their release word, "Okay!" and they were then allowed to go eat. As they got older and more steady I slowly weaned out the piece of hot dog.

It's also a good idea to work on grooming now - teaching him not to bite the brush took me a good long time with Nanook because if you stop the brushing when they bite the brush, it's actually a GOOD thing for them - so instead you ignore the biting of the brush, praise it when they don't bite the brush, and I often offered a redirection in the form of a spoon of peanut butter - he licked the spoon while I brushed him. That pretty much did the trick.

Best of luck!