Westie shaming – how to train your westie not to chew personal stuff and other not chewable things? Its possible to train :)

Chewing is a natural action for all dogs. In fact, chewing is an important activity for most dogs; it’s just a part of the way they are wired. However, excessive chewing can quickly become a behavior problem if your dog causes destruction.

The most common reasons dogs chew:

  •         Puppy teething
  •         Boredom or excess energy
  •         Anxiety
  •         Curiosity (especially puppies)


    How to fix it?

  •         Keep personal items away from your dog. 
  •        When you are not home, keep your dog crated or confined to an area where less destruction can be caused.
  •         Encourage your dog to chew on the right things by providing plenty of appropriate chew toys. ​
  •         Offer your dog to chew his/her toy immediately you notice chewing your personal stuff, furniture or anything that should not be chewed. 
  •         If you catch your dog chewing the wrong thing, quickly discreact your dog with a sharp noise. Then, replace the item with a chew toy. It can be any hard chewing toy, favourite toy or any other entertaining toy like snuffle matt.
  •       One of the most important things you can do is to make sure your dog gets plenty of exercise so it can wear off energy and be stimulated in that way rather than turning to chewing.

Welsh Pembroke Corgi – most popular herding breed – deserves best dog raincoat

Among the most agreeable of all small housedogs, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi is a strong, athletic, and lively little herder who is affectionate and companionable without being needy. They are one of the world’s most popular herding breeds.
Corgi’s body shape differs a lot from usual dogs body. When I made pattern for them, I had to throw away everything I knew about pattern for dog raincoat. It was totally new journey and I had to start it all over from first point.
You can see my process here on youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PawOu1Uqa8w​

Shoulders of a well made corgi male can be 25 – 30 cm, weight 12-13 kg – ist like a big dog in a small package. I mean westies can weight about 10-12 kg but they will not look like as big as corgi. Short but powerful corgi’s legs, muscular thighs, and a deep chest let him be ready for any day work. This dog breed is long and low, which gives a task to make raincoat as fit as possible as any extra cm will be hanging almost on the ground. Thats why it is important to get your corgi a perfect custom fit coat, as it will be no use if coat is too tight, Pembrokes are surprisingly quick and agile and raincoat can not restrict their movements in order to keep their origin activity free. And on the same time, coat can not be too big as short legs can stuck somewhere in the middle of coat or coat can be reaching the ground and get wet faster. 
The Pembroke is a bright, sensitive dog who enjoys play with his human family and responds well to training. As herders bred to move cattle, they are fearless and independent. They are vigilant watchdogs, with acute senses and a “big dog” bark. Families who can meet their bold but kindly Pembroke’s need for activity and togetherness will never have a more loyal, loving pet. Such dogs deserves a best coat to keep fur clean and dry during wet for a walks or hard work day with castles.

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Why your westie is staring at you?

When my westies stare at me, what I do first is checking their water bowl, if its not empty. Next checking point, clock, maybe its time for breakfast, dinner, go outside. If those are all full-filled then I digger deeper. Lets do some digging together.

First of all it can be simple, your westie is seeking your attention. Not necessarily belly rub or invitation to play. It can be only a way to ask if you still notice that your westie is still here, by your side. Give your westie a lovely eye contact, pride with good words or pet. It can be all what is needed.

Maybe your dog got confused watching you? Were you making different voice, talking to yourself, doing something unordinary? Maybe your dog is just trying to figure out what you can want from them. They want to be sure they will not miss anything useful for them or simply curious about something unusual you are doing. Be polite, explain your dog what is going.

Can it be that your dog is lost, confused, does not know how to react, what to do? it can be that your dog is asking for directions. When a dog stares for direction, it’s often because they are in the midst of training or some other kind of specific activity and want to know what to do next.

Some dogs possess an aggressive stare that essentially says, “Don’t mess with me” or “I’m going to take you out.” Before assuming that a dog’s stare is friendly, make sure you pay attention to the rest of their body language, or you could put yourself in harm’s way.

If none above is relative to your current situation, then congratulations. Dogs do stare because they love you, admire you and cant get their eyes of you, yes, just like people. Enjoy if its the case.

Sleeping with your westie have pros and cons

First of all, sleeping with your dog you can enchance your bond between you two (or how many you have). And if you spend most of the day not together it is great way to compensate your time spent at work accepting your dog to sleep with you. It is proven that sleeping with your dog you are more relaxed and sleep better.
Close relationship with your dog can improve your health or even improve survival rates after life threatening surgery.
Talking with dog can decrease blood pressure.
Lets not forget about cons.
Fist bad thing can happen is infections (but this is more a lack of hygiene not beause of sleeping together), sleep deprivation (scientists noticed that it lasts longer trying to sleep and moreover people got up more tired if they slept with their dogs, but again it depends on many factors, for example how good your dog is trained to behave) and behavioural issues in your dog (depends on breed, training, situation.. but if your dog is very bossy it can make changes in your dogs behaviour).
As you see, scientists have not confirmed that you can’t, it does not hurt or change something into bad way. But what I noticed, that my westies are much more enthusiastic and happy to welcome me in the morning when we sleep in our own beds. They are not so stubborn or bossy.
Moreover I feel better if we so not sleep together: my bed is big, but you know westies, they need to sleep close as they can, so I am afraid to kick or move not to wake them up. And of course, main reason I ask my girls to sleep in their beds is my nose, sneezing and some kind of allergy. As you know, I am tailor and there is plenty options for dusts to get into my nose, so I try to reduce these options so I could continue sewing withour big distractions.
Conclusion – know your own best way 😉

Living your usual life but with dog(s)

Do you feel like dogs are restricting your life?
Does it seems like you cant to do something because you have a dog or even more then one?
Do you want to do something  but you cant as you have a dog?
Please stay with me and read my story. Hope it will let you change your feeling.

I was always a dog person, I wanted to be always every time everywhere with my dog. I could not plan any trip, any activity if my dog was not involved. I had conflicts with my boyfriend because of this. He wanted to fly, I always refused as I could not take my dog (Dina was about 8kg so I could not take her to cabin and I could not even imagine her in that dark cold luggage place brrr…). I am happy I stayed to this understanding. But I must admit I changed my view to this situation. 

Today I can plan activities without my dogs, if its not longer then one day. My dogs always sleep with me or my sister, friend, mom. Never alone. I take my dogs with me to every trip. Please tell me, what kind of trip is that if its impossible to take dog(s)? I like being outdoors, hate museums, love traveling with my car, I like nature, free style of traveling without plan, easy going. And its perfect for my dogs as well. So why should I leave them home? I can carry my both westies to any mountain, they can sit on my laps 5 hours, I can stop in every forest to let them run free. 

When I started to write this article, I thought it will turn out that my life is suitable for dogs. As further as more I understand that it was adopted so my dogs would fit in it perfectly. But anyway… Who cares, if I feel ok with both variations. Yes I am a dog person, and I love life where my dogs fit in. If I am not going crazy about dogs, but, honestly, why a dog should not be allowed? Dogs usually act better then people, owners are responsible for their dogs, if owner takes his/her dogs with him/her it means dogs are more or less used to this and there is nothing to worry about.

Yes, I adjusted my life to dogs.. I had to divorce, change home, some friends, work, hobbies.. That was my way of life living. I finally admitted it and now I do not feel odd living my usual life but with dogs. My work is making dog clothes, my hobby is taking dog photos, I love going for a long walks with my dogs, I love writing and I started this blog and its about dogs again. My home is full of doggy stuff: 8 dog beds, toys everywhere, fabrics for dog clothes, books about dogs, their training and photography. I like how it all turned out, I feel complete doing it all. ​​
 



 

How westies are choosing favourite person?

I was always wondering why my first westie chose not me as her favourite person. I was giving food, going for a walk, attention all day long, hugs, kisses and so on. I was so crazy about her but she chose other family member to be her favourite. And now that person is not living with us anymore but I still fell that I am not her favourite still. Well, she loves me, understands me, but she is still looking for someone else to come to our family so she could accept him as her hero.
My other westie is totally my. She cant imagine life without me, I am totally her favourite person. But its still me, the same me. So one westie is my and other is living with me 🙂 It is hard to admit but it is like it is. Lets see why it happens like this. 

First of all, it is important who they socialise with early.
West highland white terriers like all dogs have important socialisation period for the first six months. Puppies brain developing period. The social experiences westie has during this period can influence them for the rest of their lives. 
So the person who is showing more positive expierences with your westie during this period can become favored human. If there is only one person during this important socialisation period dog has not other choice. 
Pay attention that during this period is very important that westie meets many different types of people, it will help them later to be comfortable with various humans. 

Second important factor: attention and affection that improves bonds.
Here is no surprise, westies love attention and person giving most attention to dog gets favourite human badge. It can be that human who feeds, give most physical attention and love, petting, brushing, massaging, playing.

Third factor to pay attention to if you want to get favourite humans badge is: positive associations.
Westies will remember good, positive, warm feelings with their favourite human. It can be person who always have treats or always plays games. 
Ok, here is where it starts to clear out my situation. I used to train my first westie a lot. Every day. She hated that. But I read a lot books before getting her and knew a lot about their westietude and hard training character, so I wanted to rise healthy, clever, good behaved puppy. It could be my mistake. Training became negative associations with me, inspite of all attention and food she gave from me. I was that boring person who always wanted to train and train. Uh… Don’t make my mistake!

And the most important factor – dogs feel if their personality is just like theirs or not. Just like we humans, dogs also feel similar personality and dog will seek to be friends with that person of course. If dog loves to play dog will look for person who can be his/her playmate. Calm and intelligent dog will choose same personality person as favourite. 
In my case, my westie was strong minded, independent, quite selfish, rough when playing, no jokes, life is quite serious thing type dog. Its obvious, I was not her favourite person as I was opposite of that. It seems like I still have a chance to become her favourite as now we are more alike then before. Probably she is testing me, if these personality changes are permanent. And my other westie easily attached to me, because we both ware willing to smile and take life in big bites, at the moment my second westie came in to my life.

Interesting isn’t it?

Why westies love to rub their face and back?

It may surprise you, but westies usually rub their face and back to mark their territory. In other words to make their place smell like their home so it must smell like them.
You try to keep your home fresh, clean floor and carpets and here comes your westies and rub it all over with their smell as its their house. 

Other reason why your dog will rub its face in the carpet is a desire to clean its face. There are two common times that your dog may rub its face in the carpet, specifically to clean itself. One is when your dog is done eating and it has small bits of food on its face and around its nose. In order to relieve the itchy sensation from those bits of food, your dog will rub its face in the carpet to clean off the food. Another common time is first thing in the morning. If your dog tends to wake up with eye rheum (or eye boogers), it is not uncommon for it to use the carpet to clean the rheum off of its face. While you cannot do anything to avoid the need to clean its face after eating, you can wipe your dog’s face in the morning if there is noticeable rheum that occurs on a regular basis.

Although not as common as the need to clean itself, your dog may also be rubbing its face in the carpet to relieve itching and irritation caused by infections, allergies, and mites. The most common infection that would cause a dog to rub its face in the carpet is an ear infection. If you notice your dog rubbing its ears and face in the carpet on a frequent basis, look for discharge from its ear. If its ear is red and swollen, you should take your dog to the vet.

Sometimes your dog just enjoys rubbing its face in the carpet. There doesn’t always need to be a reason why your dog is rubbing its face in the carpet. Sometimes dogs simply find that itching their faces in the carpet is a fun sensation, and they will do it just because it is fun. As with any pet behavior, if you keep a close eye on the frequency of face rubbing you will be able to determine quickly if it’s being done for fun or because something is wrong.

Information taken from https://www.petbucket.com/blog/63083/4-reasons-why-your-dog-is-rubbing-its-face-on-the-carpet-.html​

If you find this useful please pin it to your Pinterest board Westies and share this useful information with your followers.

Waiting fo miracles? Read it!

Let me whish you to understand that miracles are living inside of you.

○ Be miracle for yourself.

○ Be that best person for you.

○ Never disapoint or break yourself, because.. why should you.

♡Hug your furpawfriend and try to feel that unconditional love you get from those tiny huge hearts.


 
Try to feel it same way, just for yourself, just because you can, because you know how to do it.♡

Just because you want to feel it this way…

Dont think who deserves who doesnt, just feel it, feel that feeling itself for yourself.

Let go any question, strugle (be sure it wont run away🙈), take a rest from all of it.

♡Let it be…
♡Let it go..
♡Let you feel..

☆That’s how miracles happends☆

Merry peacfull relaxed happy, spoiled and lovelly Christmas 😘🎄😘

Motivation for life

Breath in your day off, breath out your whole week. Whatever it was – let it go, whatever it brings – choose only best off it and accept. Love and be loved.

It is always interesting to listen motivational videos about how to live your life in best shape, how to enjoy, how to love, how to….

I have been struggling a little bit in my life for few years.. and these videos confused me more then made it easier. Why?

Because I forgot one thing. Those videos help us about our feeling, emotions, not about our life rules. These videos help us to survive if happened something that is against our life rules.

You know what, we don’t have to accept it, but we must learn to get it through with grace and relaxed mind.

Geting through does not mean we accept everything what happened, it means we choose what respects our values and life meaning, and still go further with relaxed mind, anyway we are satisfied or not.
We learn everytime, we learn to recognize, to choose, to value, to describe, to let go, to stay, to keep, to forget, to learn…

How to take better photos of your dog. Rule nr. 1

ALWAYS get low, as low as you can, and it is best if you reach  your dogs eye level. Or put your dogs higher so you don’t have to lay down on ground or floor.
Try it and you will see how those wonderful photos, you can’t get your eyes off, are made 😉