Dori, the Four-Legged Child

I normally keep my pets out of the blog, mainly because I was wanting to one day start up a sister blog to Reviewing Whirlwind that would focus on them. I will probably still do that. However, my Beagle/Boxer mix has had a pretty awesome month.

But first let me tell you a little bit more about her. Shortly after my husband and I bought our house (with a yard I might add) I convinced him that it was time for me to get my English Bulldog or one of several other breeds I wanted. We searched online and the local papers but nothing was really striking our fancy. Finally our search took us to the Lexington Humane Society. There we found several beautiful PitBulls, but where we have children under the age of 13 we were not eligible to adopt any of them.

Just as we were about ready to call it a day, we happened across Dori's pen. She looked pitiful just laying in her little bed. After a few minutes of coaxing she finally came up to the door to check us out. We arranged for a "meeting" and we were walked to a back room where they brought her in. She was so chill and calm and just what we were looking for in a pet.

My husband, completely enamored with the dog insisted she was the one. We filled out the paperwork and brought Dori home. There have been a lot of growing pains with adding her to our family. From what I can tell, she has not really had much in the way of training and she has a tendency to be really excitable as well as anxious.

When we brought her home, we found that she had not been housebroken, and frequently had accidents in the house. From there she and I have worked hard together and she has made some great strides. She has been crate trained and calms down quickly when she is sent to her bed. She does still have accidents from time to time, but that has greatly decreased since the implementation of the crate.

Last month, I decided that we should work towards other behaviors now that some of the basics were addressed.





I found this training kit from Pet's Mum. It comes with just about everything you need to get started including a dogwhistle and a clicker. While she has been really slow to respond to the whistle (read as she completely ignores it) the clicker has worked really well. We have quickly made strides to conquer "Sit" and "Down". Next up will be "Come" and "Stay". 






As far as incentives go, I do give her treats. Lately we have been trying Purina's new Beyond dog treats (free samples courtesy of Smiley360). These treats are amazing. They actually smell like their ingredients.

Previously, we had been using Milkbone treats (those are ok) but the generic dog treats I had found were awful. While the dogs liked them, they smelled bad. I could smell the dogs eating them from across the room. I feel much better with Dori eating these treats especially knowing that they are made with animal protein first and foremost and lack grain fillers.

Dori seems to approve of them too!! :)


To learn more about Purina Beyond Dog Snacks or how to get free samples to try from Smiley360 click the link below.

http://h5.sml360.com/-/1l7g2



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