First Snow - Photography Gifts
September 10th, 2008 / No Comments » / by Demanddesign
Border Collie puppy experiencing his first snowfall. Perfect Christmas present for any border collie lover. Click photo below to visit products.
Playtime - New Design
September 10th, 2008 / No Comments » / by Demanddesign
Border Collies are one of the most energetic dogs around, they could play all day and all night if they could. What better way to capture a border collies nature than this urgent but patient pose. Click photo below to visit products .
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Training Guidelines
September 7th, 2008 / No Comments » / by Demanddesign
Do’s
1. Encourage
2. Reward good behavior
3. Train in short bursts
4. Speak in your normal voice
5. Be Patient
6. Make it fun
7. Be in control
8. Keep Calm
9. Be Firm
10. Take them out a walk before you start.
Don’ts
1. Scald mistakes
2. Hit your dog
3. Wake your dog to train
4. Shout
5. Over feed treats
6. Train in a busy room
7. Speak “down” to your dog
8. Over excite
9. Mix playing, this will cause confusion
10. Try to accomplish too much too soon
Papillons as a rule are clever and respond very well to training.
I must admit however, my 4 years old did tend to ignore the majority of my commands when he was younger. It is now that he is mature that he follows orders more often that not.
If you remember one thing and one thing only, let it be this, Train your Papillon, before it trains you.
Although they are hardly prim and proper dogs, enjoying running, playing and getting dirty like most other breeds, they do tend to play on any weakness shown by there owners. Take for example on long walks, they will jump up when tired, wanting to be carried, if you start this, they come to expect it. If you return home from “walkies” because it is raining, they will never become accustomed to being out in the rain. If you let them take the lead and “walk” you, they will never heal or follow commands on walks.
They may seem very simple rules to follow, but if you have a Papillon, you will know that saying no to them is hard work.
I would never claim to be an expert at training dogs, however the little things that my Papillon is trained to do were achieved by the following and using the Do’s and Don’ts opposite.
- Sit - Seems simple enough?
Take a small treat and hold this close to their nose for them to become interested. Take the treat and place it closely to the top of there head, making sure the dog sees the treat moving behind them. They will instinctively place their head back, lowering to a sitting position, enabling them to see and be at the level to reach the treat.
- Paw - This can be the most frustrating!
Place the treat once again in your hand allowing the dog to catch the scent. Cup your hand and allow the dog to see the treat, then close your fingers to make a fist. The dog will most probably use its nose in the first instance to try to bury its way into the fist, do NOT let him receive the treat for this. After a few failed attempts, he will start to use his paw to break apart your fingers, this is when the treat should be released.
- Lie Down - NOT Down
Make sure this command is used in full at all times, as down will be used for another command completely. To get your dog to lie down, take a treat and from the sitting position, do not try this from standing, take the treat from your dogs nose and pull it slowly to towards the floor. The dogs nose will follow this, if he has done so, take the treat in the direction away from the dog, still remaining close to the floor. Once the dog is in complete contact with the floor repeat the words “lie down” and give the dog the reward.
- Down - Just Down!
If your dog is excitable, like most papillons are, they will jump up on furniture, other animals and most of all you! If you don’t want this welcome and ornament sitting on your table, bed or sofa, then make sure your dog knows and follows the Down command. To achieve this it is a case of patience and trial and error. For me, I must admit, I don’t use this command with my Papillon This is for a few reason, mainly I like him greeting me as I walk through the door, I enjoy him sitting on the sofa with me and lying on the pillows at night. However, he is aware of the command, which was taught by correcting him in a stern, but not shouting voice. When they jump simply say “down” and if needs must usher them from the area and reward them.
- Beg
Firstly this must be down again from the sitting position. Take the treat in hand and hold once again above your dogs nose and pull in an upwards motion slowly. The dog may stand, in which case correct him and follow the sit rule once again. They will eventually raise their front paws and then you may reward them.
- Stand on rear legs
Very similar to beg, however raise the treat higher and try from a standing start. My Papillon does this and has always down so of his own accord. Doing so, more often that not to see onto a table or reach a counter top with something tasty perched onto it.
- Hi-5
I don’t think you will find this in many training manuals, but my Papillon does this very well. Just like giving a paw, I achieved this by holding my hand straight in an almost stop like position and placed a treat between my finger tips. The dog will try to “pat” this out and there you have a hi-5
Personal Experiences - More Than
September 7th, 2008 / No Comments » / by Demanddesign
Like most insurance’s these days, there are SO many to chose from, the premiums on some can seem outrageous, when other companies appear to be offering the same features for half the price. I have insurance with three different companies for my animals, two of which I have made a claim on. Firstly I would like to state, that this is strictly my opinion and dealings with this company,
I am no more recommending these companies than condemning them.
- Insurance Company: M>RE THAN.
- Claim for: Abnormally Retained Testicles.
- Amount £300
- First communication after claim: 3-4 Days.
I received a letter from them stating they were unable to settle my claim due to the following reason: - “When a puppy develops, the testicles will normally descend at around the age of 3-4 months. If they do not, they can be classed as having abnormally retained testicles (cryptorchid) from birth. When your policy was issued on he was 5 months old. As his testicles had still not descended, he was cryptorchid before the cover started; therefore exclusion A of the policy appliesâ€
As I believed this was unacceptable I informed them of this by Email immediately:- “I applied for cover when I purchased him, as he was bought from a home as an unwanted pet, we were not aware of his situation; we received no papers, certificates etc. and took the current owner at her word of age, breed status and what not.
The vet informed me on our first visit to inquire about his testicles that in most cases, yes, it can take up to 8-10 weeks, however if your pet has no testes down at twelve months of age, there is a slim chance that they will descend, but this is unlikely. Now from this information alone, it is unfair for you to deem anything over 4 months as unacceptable for settlement. As with humans, no two people are the same and the time in which it takes for the body to grow and develop varies, so please explain, why, simply because he was one month over you mark of “normal” and as I, myself had only just purchased him, why I am now not liable to claim for an operation that was required to stop cancer or tumors forming in the future.
I find this a very poor judgment on your part, as he had clearly been born with this problem and the time frame of 30 days over your mark of reasonable should clearly not be an issue here, if he had been purchased when he was 4 months old then the cover would of still been purchased in your eyes when he already had this condition. I can understand why dates are put in place and such exclusions apply, in obvious cases, such as a broken legs incurs before policy is taken out, however this condition was not diagnosed before we received him and in fact we were not notified of this until he was almost 12 months old on our first visit to the veterinary surgery.
I ask for you to reconsider this decision, knowing the above facts and ask for you to see the hypocrisy of stating a time frame that the condition must be diagnosed on one hand, and on the other stating it was a condition from birth. Thus ruling out any possible issue date that the policy could have been issued before the condition was present.â€
The same day I received an Email from the customer service team who passed on my Email to the relevant party. The following day a member of the claim department telephoned me to advise that after speaking with the veterinary surgeon and after reading all information I had provided that settlement would be processed and received within the week.
This is only one example of this companies service, however I would state that although they did refuse my settlement with that little bit extra information they reconsidered without hesitation and processed my claim with remarkable speed. It is always worth pleading your case to insurance companies as that tiny bit of information could be the difference between acceptance and refusal.
Personal Experience.. RSPCA
September 7th, 2008 / No Comments » / by Demanddesign
Insurance Company: RSPCA.
- Claim for: Blocked Bladder
- Amount £130
I had no trouble what so ever claiming for this, the settlement took around 14 days to complete, however, my premium has risen each month, which was to be expected, but, with the increase, after two years of paying the monthly premium I will have paid back the amount I received in settlement.
This case, although it seemed simple, the operation was carried out alongside castration, however, the RSPCA insurance did not hold this as a non eligible case and paid out the amount minus the cost for the actual castration.
