Pet Tips

Fixing The Problem Of The Doberman Who Liked To Urinate In A Crate
A Doberman Pinscher owner sent me this question: “Dear Adam: I loved your book, “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer!” and your web site, Dogproblems.com. They have been very helpful. My biggest training problem right now has to do with potty training. My dog is a 5 month-old Doberman female. About 2 months ago she had a bladder infection, so she started not making it through the night. She would pee in her crate and then whine that she had to go out. We have since taken her to the vet and given her the entire dose of antibiotics and the infection is all cleared up. She makes it through the night fine now, but if we have to lock her in her crate during the day she pees in her crate. She doesn’t seem to have too much separation anxiety, although I remember reading somewhere that Dobermans are prone to this. We let her outside to do her business and then lock her up a few minutes before we leave and she is quiet during that time. When we get home she is asleep or quiet. We wait a few minutes after getting home during which she is quiet, maybe whines a little, before we let her out. The only problem is that there is a puddle of pee at the bottom of her crate. We leave a few toys for her to chew on while she is in there, but nothing else, no bedding just the plastic of the bottom of the crate. She doesn’t seem to mind laying in it and we usually have to give her a bath when we get home. I’m not sure if I should punish her for this cause I know the timing is WAY off, but it’s getting so frustrating I don’t know what else to do. I should also mention that we don’t have to be gone for this to happen. If she is locked up because while we are home, she does the same thing. She is generally quiet while she is in there, but after an hour or so she will whine loudly and when we get to her, there is already a puddle. Thank you for your help. I look forward to implementing your advice. Sincerely, Tim Dear Tim: When you remove her from the crate after she urinates, be sure to clean the area thoroughly with an enzyme cleaner. This will break down the urine at the molecular level so its scent will be completely gone, not just covered up. You should also limit her time in the crate to lower the chances of this happening. Only leave her confined when absolutely necessary or when she cannot be supervised. Along with this, it would be helpful to limit her water intake to a strict schedule and when she does drink, take her outside and let her relieve herself after a period of time. Depending on the dog’s condition (hot and panting versus calm and tired), water will go through their system in anywhere from 20-45 minutes. If you put her in the crate immediately after she urinates outside, she might be less inclined (and able) to use the crate as a bathroom. Adam G. Katz is the author of the book, "Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer: An Insider's Guide To The Most Jealously Guarded Dog Training Secrets In History." Get a free copy of his report "Games To Play With Your Dog" when you sign up for his free weekly dog training tips e-zine at: <a href="http://www.dogproblems.com" target="_blank">http://www.dogproblems.com</a>
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How to train your goldfish to commands; is that possible?!
It turns out that all of the old stories about fish having three second memories are untrue.During recent scientific studies, fish have been taught many long-term skills that they are capable of remembering over the course of many months.Dr Phil Gee from the University of Plymouth says,”Research has also shown that fish can learn to distinguish between different shapes, colors and sounds. They can even learn that pressing a lever will dispense food at certain times of the day.”The applications of this newfound skill are still being explored but fish farmers are set to capitalize on it by training fish to swim to feeding stations.Hang on a second and read the results before I teach you how it’s done.At a certain time of day, every day, the fish will respond to a specific, pre-trained noise and all swim to the same place in a lake. This even works when the fish are in open water, free to roam as they please.This system is using fish’s intelligence to better improve their quality of life and at the same time keep the animal rights activists at bay. The fact that fish can be reliably trained to be called on command for feeding and monitoring means that the fish farmers can now keep the fish without using cages.– So how exactly do I go about training a fish? What can I teach it to do?The most basic way of training a fish to perform a task would be through what psychologists call “Operant Conditioning”. It means that the fish will learn how to operate a simple device simply because when by chance they do operate it they get a reward.A basic type of operant conditioning device for fish is a small box with a sensitive lever that will dispense food when the lever is pressed. To see a video of a fish doing this go here: http://www.psy.plymouth.ac.uk/fish/ Download the video and watch.You see the fish operating a very sensitive form of lever rigged to a food dispensing device. With a little bit of thought, something similar would not be difficult to make.You can buy fish food dispensers with small levers online and the idea is that a fish learns to use it through trial and error. At some point a fish will accidentally make the dispenser work and will receive the reward of food. The reward entices the fish to perform the same behaviors as the first time and receive the reward again at a later time.At this point the fish is trained to use the lever.Conditioning a fish to respond to a command is a slightly different task. One of your options is to wait until you see your fish performing the behavior that you want, perform the trigger (e.g. a unique noise like a bell) and give your fish a reward (e.g. food). Over time, if you do this while giving your fish a reward one in three of the times that this works then your fish will become conditioned to respond to the noise in this way.For more complicated behaviors that your fish does not already use then do the same as above only in stages building up to the final behavior. For example, condition your fish to swim forwards on command, and then swim backwards on a different command until you have trained it to do laps.The principals of classical conditioning hold that this will always work the same way it does with dogs and the dolphins that you see in sea world.I hope that this article has at least been interesting for you to read and maybe given a few hobbyists some ideas for their fish.If, by any chance, you are a fish-owner looking for fish related supplies for decent prices online then I highly recommend http://www.desertcoralaquatics.com”With literally thousands of items in stock and ready to ship, you can be assured that you ll receive what you need quickly. See us for aquarium lighting, aquarium filters, aquarium chillers, external water pumps, tank heaters, protein skimmers and so much more. We carry all the top brands with the best prices you ll find anywhere online. Shop in our convenient online store for brands like Mag-drive, Kent Marine, E.S.V., Dolphin Pumps, JBJ, Aqua Logic, Ice Cap, Aqua Medic Lighting, Sunlight Lighting, Current USA, Neptune Systems and other leading quality brands.” Feel free to distribute and host this article wherever you please and free of charge as long as none of its content is changed. For more infromation about search engine optimization please visit:<a href=http://www.desercoralaquatics.com>HERE</a>
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