Dog Days of Summer

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This post is brought to you as a part of the Dog Days of Summer Campaign, hosted by the folks at dog training collars. Keep in mind, a safe dog is a happy dog!

I’ll admit it. I’ve never been a “dog person”. I grew up with cats. My only experience with dogs was visiting my friend Shana. Duke was a young black lab who pulled us in sleds down their loooong driveway and Jesse was a beautiful old golden retriever who was gentle and kind. My neighbor also had a long list of shelties, all named Teddy Bear. Once in a while I’d venture to the edge of our yard to say hello when mom approved.

Fast forward twenty plus years. I’m six months pregnant and our friends have a litter of puppies; sheltie puppies. I held a sleepy puppy during our visit and put her back with her litter mates before saying our goodbyes. As we drove out of their yard I heard whining. I looked back to see the puppy snug and warm in a travel crate. At this point in my pregnancy I was juuuust starting to sleep through the night again and welcoming a new puppy to the family regardless of my childhood emotions about her, was a challenge. I’d never raised a puppy and it was a LOT of work.

We named her Aella (Greek for “whirlwind”). She woke crying in the night. She needed potty training. She needed discipline. People suggested she was just getting me prepared for parenthood but I didn’t really see the humor in that. I was tired and getting bigger by the day and felt a huge responsibility to raise this dog the right way. My obsession with The Dog Whisperer from our years with cable TV had paid off. I read articles online and researched products at the pet store. We got clickers and treats and toys. I found myself imitating Cesar Millan as best as I could, “cchhh”.

I also had Juliet, my tiny, orange, tabby cat. Not among the listed advice when raising a puppy but she was a huge help. We adopted Juliet from the shelter when we first got our house. They guessed she was a year old at the time and had lost an entire litter of kittens (I say that we’re soul mates with our shared loss). She raised the kitten we got from the same shelter and when the puppy came home she didn’t hesitate to do the same. Our huge black and white cat, Izzy wasn’t so quick to love her but eventually they learned to tolerate each other. Juliet and Aella slept together and even learned to play together. Juliet is a bit OCD about cleanliness and transferred her cleaning skills to Aella as well. She stands between her legs and grooms each paw. Aella bows her nose down to get her entire face washed. It’s so sweet. It’s unconventional training but it worked for us!

Of course a sheltie needs more care than a cat can handle so we also take her to a local dog groomer. When money is tight we bathe her in our tub with shampoo from PetCo. She doesn’t mind the water but the hairdryer freaks her out so I towel dry her well, use the dryer on low and avoid her face. With every bath comes nail trimming which she’s learned to tolerate well since we’ve been consistent since she was a puppy (of course a treat afterwards doesn’t hurt). I also trim the hair behind her ears and legs to keep them free of mattes. Two times a year (fall and spring) I trim her “butt fuzz” as she tends to shed most there.

These days we have a pretty great family member although her pack is a little odd. My only complaint is her barking and protective nature around other dogs (which comes with the breed). We’ve found some success with a bark color that emits a high pitched noise when she barks however the batteries die quickly, it responds to sounds other than barking (scaring the poor dog for no reason), and eventually she learned to bark through the sound until it stopped. I’m still lost on what to do when she gets protective of us and her food around other dogs. I’m tempted to call Cesar about that one!

Disclosure: A small gift was received for this post, however all thoughts remain 100% my own.

5 Comments

  1. She is beautiful! Our oldest son just adopted a rescue Siberian
    Husky and is going through training him…Cindi

  2. Beautiful dog! I have no idea how quickly Cesar can train dogs, he makes it very easy and when you try something at home and nothing compared to what he does! Good luck with the barking

  3. Aw…hopefully as she gets older, the barking will settle down some…Good Luck with her, she is adorable.

  4. What a beautiful dog! It sounds like you have a big, happy family with your animal companions and child. I have a little trouble with my dog barking when people come to the door, family and friends and strangers, too. I can’t seem to break her of it. I may have to try one of these bark collars you mentioned, but I don’t want to scare her if she isn’t barking. I didn’t know they were so sensitive to other sounds.

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