Kyzer and the Bell

Well, it's a Monday. And if your Monday is anything like mine, you could probably use a good laugh. Lucky for you, I'm always here to share stories with you of my daily comic relief! That's one joy of having a dog as energetic and unpredictable as Kyzer. No day is uneventful or boring.

Last summer I wanted to try a completely different approach to the whole "potty training" ordeal. We initially trained Kyzer so that he would bark when he had to go to the bathroom. Growing up I had a Yorkie, and that's what we trained him to do. Lance would come over and "ruff" at us whenever he had to be let outside. But Kyzer doesn't have a soft, "inside" bark, though. He doesn't have a little, polite "ruff." For some reason, when he has to go to the bathroom, he finds it necessary to bark as loud and enthusiastically as possible. It's almost like he's yelling, "GUYS. YES. I HAVE TO POTTY. LET ME OUTSIDE. NOW." Living in an apartment, having a dog bark as loud as he can is kinda problematic. We tried to do the whole "Shh, quiet bark" thing to try and assure him he doesn't have to bark as loud as he can for us to let him outside, but it never worked.

So instead of getting him to bark at us whenever he needed to be let outside, I thought I would try to hang a bell on the door so that we could teach him just to ring the bell when he needed to use the restroom. To save money, I even went to Hobby Lobby and got bells and ribbon so that I could make my own potty-bells. When I started to assemble the bells, Kyzer was instantly intrigued. He managed to grab one of the bells that hadn't been put on a ribbon yet and treated it like a new toy.

I thought it might be a good idea so that he could get all his fascination and curiosities over with so that he would lose interest in the bell as a toy.  I was wrong.

I finished putting the bell on some ribbon, taking my time to measure to make sure that the bell was the appropriate length. I placed it on the door. Kyzer had other plans. He knocked it off the handle and began running around the room with it. I fussed at him and put it back on the door. Kyzer grabbed it again and ran around with it some more. For the next couple of hours I tried to get him to leave the bell alone. I would think I made progress, but then about 20 minutes later I would hear the bell jingling again.

I quickly gave this idea up. Kyzer loves playing with things, ESPECIALLY items that aren't really toys, so I knew he would never get the idea that this fun-sounding object had a purpose other than being his toy. Although I couldn't use the bells to help with potty training, I didn't let Kyzer have the satisfaction of them being a toy, either. Especially since the bells were as loud as breaking glass. I still have the supplies, though, so maybe one of these days when Kyzer turns to a fat, older dog I can try the strategy again.

(Kyzer: "This is what I think of your potty-bell!")

So there you have it! When it comes to some training aspects, it's better to be consistent and to follow the same strategies that you use when you first get your puppy. I'll get more into potty training at a later date :) I hope this story gave you a good laugh to make your Monday a little brighter.

Do any of you have any funny experiences of training "fails?"

~Kathryn and Kyzer

Choosing a Dog Breed (Despite Contrary Belief...DO NOT Buy a Dog Just Because it is Cute)

*Sees cute fluffy puppy ad on a Facebook Pet-Selling page*

*Instantly falls in love and contacts the lady*

Ask me if I did any research on the Australian Shepherd breed before I decided I wanted THAT puppy. I mean if it counts for anything, I decided to research the breed AFTER i had already paid the $250 deposit...but even then I overlooked major personality traits that most Australian Shepherds have. You wanna know why? Because WHO could resist that FACE?!

(I mean, I might be bias by thinking that Kyzer is the cutest dog ever, but Google Australian Shepherds if you are unfamiliar with the breed and you too will fall in love with their cute, fluffiness.)

One of the main things about Australian Shepherds that any site or any individual familiar with the breed will say is that they are a VERY high energy breed; in order for their minds to be most at ease, they need "hours" of exercise a day. Typically they don't sleep much during the day. When you are watching TV or doing homework they don't entertain themselves. At least by my experience with Kyzer, he ALWAYS is seeking attention or something fun to do. If you aren't playing with him, he expects you to pet and cuddle him. If you stop petting him, he expects you to play with him and so on. You can play with him for hours, make him run outside, give him a bone to chew on, pet him until he seems to fall asleep--and the second you think he might be content he's sitting right next to you, begging for more. Kyzer is like the Energizer Bunny. He just keeps going and going and going...(Fun fact: when he was a puppy we had to put him in his cage in the afternoon so that he would actually take a nap and sleep!)

By researching the breed I was forewarned what I was getting myself into, but I denied the facts. I assumed that all dogs were different--regardless of what experts may say their breed-personality traits are--and that if this puppy ended up having an excessive amount of energy, I could handle it, despite my busy schedule.

After hitting one-year Kyzer did mellow out a bit, but during his first 10 months with us he was a terror. No matter what we tried to do in order to get his energy out and get him to relax, nothing seemed to work. As fun and energetic as Kyzer is, as a college student after a long day of class and work, sometimes you just want to relax and do homework. But Kyzer always seems to have other plans. Don't get me wrong, I love him to death and can't imagine my life without him. But I definitely learned how important it is to do research of a breed before committing to one.

No matter how much you might love a dog breed because they are so fluffy, so cute, so perky, etc., my biggest advice to you is to do your research. Make sure whatever dog you choose has a personality and lifestyle that matches your own. That's one fact I always read on websites that I always overlooked. Because at the end of the day, sure you want a dog that you think is the cutest thing ever, but you'll want a dog that you enjoy being with. And having a dog with a lovable personality that matches your own trumps any cute dog. Like the old saying says, "Looks may fade but personality lasts forever." Although dogs always remain cute...trust me. Sometimes their cuteness gets outweighed by their super-hyperactiveness. Again, I love Kyzer to death and I wouldn't want any other dog, but that's because I learned to love his energetic personality. Not matching up personalities ended up working for us, but I have heard of countless others who have to rehome their dog because their lifestyles don't meet the dog's needs.

I hope this post was helpful and will get you to do your research before buying the first cute puppy you come across! I know it can be tempting (trust me, I fell in that trap), but try to resist the temptation. :)

Till next time!
~Kathryn and Kyzer

P.S. Australian Shepherds are also known for being one of the smartest breeds of dogs you can get. Kyzer, on the contrary, isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Throughout this blog you'll soon understand why. Level of hyperactivity is pretty much guaranteed I guess, but smartness isn't as easy to estimate.

Kyzer's Diary #1: How to Get Attention

Dear Diary,

Although I am always supposed to be the center of attention, sometimes Kat and Corey forget that. One moment they will be obsessing over my cuteness, then the next they will be staring at the box with moving pictures and pretending like I don’t even exist! I’ll try to remind them that I’m still there by bringing them my toys, whining at their feet, breathing real heavy right next to them, but nothing seems to work. The box has them in such a trance only drastic measures will snap them out of it and get them to return their focus to me. 

Ever since I was a little pup I would try barking at them. Now here is the key to barking at your humans—you don’t want to be too close to them where they can swat at you and try to get you to stop. You need to be just far enough, as well as surrounded by objects, so they can’t readily grab you. This causes them to fail numerous times at trying to get you. It turns into a whole game. A fun game! And what dog doesn’t love attention AND playing a game?

About a year ago, when they were lost in their trance, I went on an adventure behind the living room couches. They didn’t seem to care, let alone notice! I knew I needed to snap them out of it. So I wedged myself between two couches and acted like I was stuck. I began to yip at them, trying to get them to “save” me. Although they didn’t come at first, they eventually helped me get “unstuck.”

That’s the moment I learned that the best method to getting attention is to act like you need something and bark. Especially if you are wedged between objects, if they come after you to try and get you to stop, you have the upper hand because you are not easy to get to. Another example would be barking and whining like you have to go outside, even if you don’t have to go. This is a fool proof method that can get any human broken from their box-trance and to get them to remember that you are in fact the center of attention.

Dog Logic.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my Blog!

First of all, this blog isn’t an expert blog. It won’t be overflowing with an abundant amount of information that is based off of facts or experts’ knowledge in regards to raising a dog. What this blog will be full of, though, is advice based off real-life experiences from a first time dog owner; a dog owner who is currently a full-time student, working 25-30 hours a week while being involved with a few different organizations on campus.  In the last year that I’ve had my dog, Kyzer, I have learned more about dogs and being an owner than I ever learned by researching about it. No matter how much you read about it, or how much you think you already know about it, nothing will prepare you better, or teach you as well than first-hand experience. That’s why, through this blog, I don’t just want to repeat expert advice, but what I actually did do—through trial and error—that either worked (or didn’t work) in raising my own dog. Despite what I had originally believed, raising a dog is hard. And it is especially hard if you are a full-time student who’s working part time who doesn’t even know what to do with your own life, let alone know much about raising a dog. 

This blog is designed to be a guide for someone in a similar situation—current student or recent graduate—who either has already gotten a dog or is just considering it and, like me, has NO idea what they are getting themselves into. By no means should you take what I say over any expert or vet’s advice. But what I share are experiences I had in various different topics that may not be as efficient as what experts may suggest, but they worked. And sometimes when you are a college student you just need something simple and easy that works.

And with this blog being about my dog—the most important thing in my life who I love very dearly and can talk about for hours—it is only appropriate that some posts will be from his point of view. Because if you’re as much of a dog fanatic as me, who doesn’t love funny posts from the perspective of a dog? ;)

So before I conclude this first post, I want to end with introducing myself and also the star of this blog. My name is Kathryn and I currently am studying Marketing and Advertising/Public Relations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My boyfriend and I got my dog, Kyzer, when he was just 8-weeks old. That was about two Christmas ago, and our bundle of fluff is now almost 16 months old. 

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you'll come again soon to read about the Adventures of Raising an Aussie.

~Kathryn and Kyzer