….. These things have worked well for my family and our Berners. They might not work with your Berner. You might even find a breeder or trainer with different ideas. That’s okay. You are responsible for knowing your dog, assessing any conditions and situations you place it in, taking appropriate precautions, and reacting safely and appropriately when you apply a suggestion. We assume no liability if you choose to try any of these ideas, in whole or part. If you disagree with something, please do so without being disagreeable.
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Eating out with your dog? Tip big.
You don’t want a server to ruin things for other dog families by bad mouthing you – or your dog – to management or other staff. Even better, you want all the staff to look forward to your pooch’s return and to brighten up when you come through the door. I don’t have an oil well in my back yard, but unless the service was awful, I tip at least 20 percent if the server has been really, really good for the people in our party, and at least asked about water for our Berner.
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Cute fuzzies become big furries.
Remember that your cute little puppy is going to grow and grow and grow. Don’t do anything with your fuzzball that you don’t want to do with an 85-lb female or maybe a 125-lb male – like letting it sleep in your bed. Some folks are okay with it, but others have a hard time coping with a dead weight that snores and snorts and rolls up against them and hogs the covers, except for a significant other, of course.
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Table manners, including dangerous food
That “Don’t do anything” rule applies doubly to food. First of all, a lot of “people food” isn’t good for dogs. Instead of having to look something up on the internet and remember which is which, it’s simpler not to feed it to your pup or adult dog anytime or anywhere, certainly not in the kitchen or at the table.
Secondly, when that “It’s so cute!” pup grows up, its mouth can easily reach onto your table or counter tops. If it learns there are goodies to be had at the table, you’re going to have a lot of interruptions at meal time and a lot of drool to wipe off the floor.
The American Kennel Club lists human food that’s bad for dogs. A short list includes chocolate, onion-family vegetables (garlic, etc.), tree nuts (pecans, walnuts, etc.), grapes and raisins (high toxicity), cinnamon and several other things. (http://www.akc.org/content/health/articles/harmful-foods-avoid-feeding-dog) Don’t be fooled by the fact that your dog has had some or all of these foods before with no apparent ill effects. Some Berners can occasionally tolerate small or moderate amounts of some bad foods. However, the effects are sometimes cumulative. One raisin or one grape, or even one chocolate bar, might not make your dog sick, but the effect could be deadly over time. It’s better not to take a chance.
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When it’s time to go
Some people walking their dogs are quite vocal at encouraging them to “Go potty,” “Do your business,” or ____?____ (Calling out a word or phrase most of us don’t use in public.). We said “Hurry up” with our first Berner. It didn’t embarrass us to say it in public, and didn’t elicit snickers from anyone nearby. We started it with her as a puppy and she knew quite well what it meant and cooperated nicely whenever we needed her to “go” before getting into the car.
With our subsequent Berners, we decided “Hurry up” could be confusing to the dog and have disastrous consequences if we were rushing to leave the house and weren’t careful how we encouraged each other to move quickly. We also thought others might think we were being mean to the dog if we kept telling it to “Hurry up.” So we picked a different phrase – “Find a spot.” No confusion there. Not something we’d be likely to say to each other if we were rushing to leave the house, and it wasn’t something we’d be embarrassed to say in public or was likely to elicit snickers from passers-by.
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Excuse me, please
Ever notice how your best furry friend (BFF) gets in the way sometimes? Maybe it’s because they know they’re big enough to be seen and, “Hey, I was here first!” We learned to simply step over each of our Berners (Four over the years). It worked quite well, because they didn’t move at the last minute and we didn’t jump-stumble moving back and forth as they zig-zagged trying to guess where we were stepping. If stepping over was risky, we simply said, “Excuse me, please,” as we approached, and they got out of the way. Most of the time, if we had groceries or an armload of laundry, they sensed our need for space and moved before we had to ask. (We could have said, “Move,” but “Excuse me, please,” seemed more appropriate for these gentle creatures.)
Whether you want your BFF to move sometimes or every time, pick one phrase – “Move, please,” “Excuse, me,” or something the entire family can remember – and be consistent. Don’t say “Excuse me,” one time and “Move, please,” or “Get out of the way,” the next.
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