Caring with clear leadership
The big snipAfter Wilbur’s neutering operation he was licking his stitches and so had to wear an Elizabethan Collar.
Putting on an Elizabethan Collar- Dogs find these devices pretty strange. To put it on I would simply hold a treat in my hand and place my arm through the collar. As Wilbur tried to get the treat I would draw my arm back and his head easily followed the treat until his head was through the collar. Then I rewarded him with the treat and secured the E-collar with his usual collar.
He only needed to wear the collar for a couple of days till the stitches stopped itching.
Learning to swim
Wilbur loves the water but didn’t know how to swim. He hadn’t got the hang of dog paddling, he sank instead.
I got him used to fetching sticks in the shallow water and kept throwing them backwards and forwards. Gradually, I increased the depth of water as his confidence increased.
The beach where I taught Wilbur to swim had slight undulations on the sandy bottom, as he moved further into the water he intermittently went out of his depth and quickly back into a shallow, this developed into a swimming motion that became his dog paddle style.
It is important not to rush the pup or throwing them in the deep end as this can scare them from being in the water.
Once he built his confidence,he started going into deeper water and now swims with me and loves surfing.