Are Your Jimmy Choo’s Getting Chewed?

That puppy was sooo freakin’ cute that you just couldn’t wait to get her home.  So adorable. So soft, so sweet, so…little.  But then she got bigger, right? And as she grew, all those things that were so adorable just really aren’t anymore.  And then you start to wonder if you just really got in over your head with this evil little furball that is eating literally everything she can sink her teeth into, and probably making your favorite rug her favorite puppy pad, jumping up on every person that comes through the door and seriously jumping on your last nerve.

This can be fixed. And it doesn’t require you taking her to the pound or putting her on some internet site to do it.  I am NOT an animal behaviorist, however, I do know a thing or two about animals.  I have 2 rescued Bengal Cats, an English Bulldog, a Maltipoo/Shih tzu, a Military Macaw, a Double Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot, and a Cockatiel (in a pear tree. ) And with that brood, I have made a vow not only to myself, but to each one of them that they will have a home with me until their end of days.

So with that experience, I’ve compiled a fun little list of common issues, the common sense solutions to those issues, interspersed in with some real life stories of our household for where I’ve applied them.

Potty Training

Getting your dog to go outside every time she has to is a big deal, and not always as easy as “Oh, you just take them out every few hours.” Like some of the pamphlets tell you.  There are a few steps to this that I have found to be tried and true.

• Set them on a regular feeding schedule. Puppies eat more frequently than adult dogs. So, feed at the same times, every day, and only leave down as much as they’ll eat in one sitting. Immediately pick up the food when the dog walks away, and immediately take her outside.

• Get a crate for when you can’t be in the room watching/paying attention, sleeping at night, and for when you’re away. This will save your rugs AND your furniture, as well as provide the dog with a safe place of her own where she can go to relax and have some coveted “me” time.

• Learn her cues.  For Molly, after she plays, she’s gotta go. After she sleeps…she’s gotta go.  After she gets excited for just about any reason…yeah, she’s gotta go.

• Use marker words. When you go out say “Go Potty” (or whatever your household says).  When she does it, say “Good girl Go Potty!”  Throw a little party. It’s a big deal. For Molly, we actually have 2 – Go potty is for #1, and Go Poops is for #2.

• Take them to the same place to poop – a place where you actually don’t mind them pooping.  It’s all fun and games until you have to inspect who stepped in what. Blech. Molly prefers the back fence line of our property, which is just fine by me. The kids don’t play back that far, and she can soil to her heart’s content.

The Meaning of the Word No

A dog, or bird, or cat who doesn’t know the meaning of the word no is not only a nuisance to beat all others, but also is in a very dangerous position.  Imagine a 3 year old child being able to do whatever they want, when they want with no direction, no teaching, nothing whatsoever to teach them the difference between right and wrong.  Then, when that child upsets you and ruins something that they didn’t know that they weren’t allowed to have (because you never taught them they weren’t allowed to have it), you take the child and drop them off at the nearest orphanage.

This happens every single day to millions of animals across the world, and it could totally be avoided if we just taught our animals the meaning of the word no.

The second Molly turned 12 weeks old, I enrolled her in PetSmart’s Beginner’s Obedience Class.  There, we learned Leave It, Sit, Lay Down, Not to Pull on our Leash and several other quick and easy commands.

The one that we use the most is “Leave It”.  If I tell her to leave it to pretty much anything, she will not touch it until I release her and say “Okay”.  I practice this every time I feed her, and a few times intermittently throughout each week. I can take the yummiest morsel in the world and put it right in front of her, tell her to leave it, and unless I release her and tell her “Okay” she will not touch it.

Listen To Them

Rio, is our Military Macaw.   When we met, he was a four year old monster of a bird who no one could handle, would bite absolute anyone who tried to handle him with a ferocity that would break bones and who was a loud screamer.  I decided right away that I wanted him.  I worked on paying for him over a few month period of time and during that time, he stayed at the pet store where we met.  The people that worked at that pet store were enamored with me because they thought I was some sort of weird bird whisperer.

I’m not a bird whisperer.   I’m not a behaviorist.  I am not an animal trainer.  All I did to get this bird to trust me, love me and not try to kill me was get on his level, provide an atmosphere with him that showed I respect him and his boundaries but that I would not tolerate abuse from him and I slowed the pace for him to give him time to trust me on his own schedule.

My Bengal Cats are brothers. They were rescued from a man who apparently was going to jail. I had always wanted a Bengal, so when they became available, I hopped on it and went and adopted them.  When I first met them, Olly who is the striped of the two, was my attention whore.  He was all over me, meowing at me, rubbing up against me – totally all about climbing in my car and going home with me.  Marshall, the spotted of the two hissed and growled at me, and I seriously considered only taking one, but decided in the end that I couldn’t split them up.

So began my attempt to try the same psychology on Marshall as I had on my Macaw.  I waited on his pace to get to know him and earn his trust.  I was always kind and sweet to him with my voice, and would pet him only when he would allow it.  Over time, I proved to him that not only am I not a threat, but my scratches feel great, and if all those other animals like me, I couldn’t be too bad.

Now, a year later, Marshall waits every night at the top of his cat tree for me to go to bed quite patiently. As soon as I head towards my room, he bolts down the cat tree, and sprints for my room, and then sleeps curled in a ball at my feet.  We have an amazing relationship because it wasn’t forced, it was earned through trust, love and while it took a bit to get there, we did.

Opposable Thumbs Take The Heat

The last thing I’d like to point out is that our animals are animals. There’s a reason we got the opposable thumbs and brain cells to get jobs, make technology and create fire – we’re the humans.  And, as the humans, we are the ones responsible for bringing these animals into our lives.  As such we should expect them to act like animals, and we should plan accordingly.

A few examples:

Problem: The Cat pees on a pile of clothes on the bedroom floor.

Question for you: Why are there clothes on your bedroom floor when they can be in a hamper?

Problem: The dog chews on your favorite pair of Jimmy Choos.

Question for you: You paid 600 bucks for a pair of shoes, and you should probably put them in the closet where they belong, don’t you think?

Problem: The dog eats your couch.

Question for you:Where were you when your dog was eating your couch? Could the dog have been in his crate when he was unsupervised, thus saving your couch and your sanity?

Problem: The cat won’t stay off the counter.

Question for you: Why would your cat think that it’s appropriate to be on the counter in the first place? Was this ever allowed?

My point is that at some point, we have to take responsibility for our actions, or lack thereof . There will always be something that will create drama with animals. It’s who they are and what they do.  However we cannot expect them to act like little furry Ivy Leaguers if we don’t give them the basic education of what we expect from them through consistency, rules, boundaries and guidelines.  If we don’t teach them those basic laws, we are putting them at risk – not only from traffic and poisons and things that can harm them outside, but from ourselves.  If we don’t teach them rules, eventually we’ll tire of their antics and off to the next home they’ll go, if they’re lucky enough to find one.

Tagged as: Bengal cats, Bird training, Cat Urine, Dogs, House breaking, Leash Pulling, macaw, military macaw, parrots, Pet Training, Pets, Potty Training, sarcasm