Flossie and Maui Dogs

Flossie, a tropical storm predicted to hit Maui early in the morning finally hit about 12 hours later in the early evening hours before sunset.  Lucky for the whole Island including me, my dogs and my dogs in training retreat all is well after heavy rain and losing power, which was quickly restored.

In the hours leading up to Flossie blowing through, what does one do with the dogs?

In the case of Max the German Short Haired Pointer Doberman mix and myself we decided to go for a run.  It was good for both of us.  It wasn’t the full on run I’d normally do with dogs like Max, but that’s the point of the story; doing something is better than doing nothing and sometimes getting a little creative about it is required.

Because we knew there was storm coming, there was no need to load up and head out into possible danger for major running space.  Instead we stayed by the Dog Ohana and ran laps on on the 400 yard long driveway where we live!  The neighbors might have thought we were a little nuts, but Max and I sure did feel a lot better.

With dogs and with people, movement dissipates anxiety.  A little movement is better than no movement.  Instead of choosing to just wait, get those good endorphins moving and have done your preparedness homework early on!

Preparing for Maui Tropical Storms, Tsunamis and Hurricanes

Preparing for Maui tropical storms, tsunamis, and hurricanes is something anyone living on Island should know.  As dog owners we should also be prepared for their safety as well.

It is comes under common sense, but still there are things we should have ready living on an island like Maui.

• Water – Drinking water is essential.   Make sure to have some for you and for your dog.  We have 5 gallon jugs filled with reverse osmosis water on hand but one of our tips was while we were waiting around for the storm to hit, we filled all the mason jars with filtered water.  Just an extra little supply in case the water was shut off for a period of time due to flooding.
• Food – Again, living on an Island, water comes into play.  In the case of food, a flood could wreak havoc on your food supply so make sure to have dry food storage.  Keep a sealed plastic container for your storage and even though I’m a great advocate of real whole food for both people and dogs, dry non perishable food is best.  A few days supply of canned dog food will make the space and preservation an easy solution.
• Identification – Have ID on your dogs in  the horrible case you should get separated.
• Gasoline – Not a good idea to have a vehicle to get to safer ground but no gasoline.  Make it a habit to never have your tank below 1/2 full.  Just in case!
• Solar charger – New to the list of disaster preparedness, we operate on cell phones.  Text, calls, news, the whole 9 yards.  Keep your cell charged if you know a weather pattern is coming but research a good solar charger.  You’ll have some connection to what’s going on and your friends and family will be much happier they can at least touch base and find out you are okay.

These are only a few of the full preparedness you should have in place.  Find a full list on pet disaster preparedness here.

Are you prepared? is a great website to build your own kits and be ready to do well in the case our Maui paradise, dogs and all find ourselves weathering a huge storm, expected or not.

Need a little help with your dog to be best dog ever?  Travel off island?  Have a dog with some issues you’d really rather get fixed sooner than later?  Maui Dog Retreats immediate pricing and information, enter your e-mail below and “Get it Now”.

This week A German Short Haired Pointer Doberman mix and a Sharpei mix have arrived for a Maui Dog Training Retreat. Talk about different personalities! It lends clarity to the fact dog training does not have a cookie cutter formula.

There is not a recipe that can be precisely written out and applied to all dogs. Though I hear it a lot from other professional dog trainers, and there were times in the distant past where I was even guilty of saying the rules of dog training are pretty cut and dried, I have come to understand clearly all dogs are not the same to train.

Dogs have personalities. They have things that make them wag and things that don’t. One may bark like a banshie at the neighbor and the other may go get a prized old sock and insist on giving it to them by jumping up to hand deliver it. Another dog may go hide under the table when anything new is introduced. Even if they were raised together, what one is wild about the other could care less about. And so, training dogs becomes something of a relationship undertaking.

Maui Dog Training for Lifestyle

As dog owners sometimes we forget dogs are not pre-trained. And we really forget that all the babbling human talk we are repeating to them doesn’t make any sense. It is our job as dog owners to take the time to not only show our dogs what to do, which could be classified as training, but understand the temperament or the general way we can bring the best out in our dogs.

For some that could be food. For some it could be play. For some it could be a stricter more disciplined set of tasks to complete. For some its about a lot of organized exercise, or it could be about a daily romp on the beach with the freedom to jump in the water and swim with wild abandon after a stick. And for some it’s really about being super calm and steady.

We finesse these things in our relationships with friends, family, lovers, and co-workers. On a conscious level we get to know these people and we know when to talk, when to be quiet. We know when a physical gesture makes all the difference in the world and when a small gift of appreciation speaks a million words of gratitude. We look to get the pono (goodness, do the right thing) response.

The same is true of our dogs. We just have been buying into the idea that to have a well trained dog, it must look utterly military style and there are only 6 words that should be followed through without fail. Sit, stay, down, leave it, come, and heal.

So not true.  Your dog could be able to do those things and still not be that well behaved companion we’ve created in our mind’s eye.

The Balanced Happy Island Dog

Max the German Short Haired Pointer Doberman mix needs some big play time. He loves a food reward. He needs structure and he needs an all out speed racer run or big ass swim in the ocean. It’s what turns him on.

Loki the Sharpei mix needs to be with his person. Physical touch, a soothing voice to go along with some exercise and teaching structured things he knows how to do well bring out the playful guy he is. He needs calm to walk him through his moments of fear of other dogs, or of the leaf that suddenly blew up in his face in the lawn.

It’s a bit of time and understanding and a way to speak dog that explains my philosophy of training dogs. It is why I love doing retreats with dogs. I get to spend that one on one time and bring a dog’s personality out, showing off the best side. Understanding what makes a dog tick, what is their passion is truly he best way to diminish bad behavior, or to help a dog get over fears which on many occasions appear to be aggressive behavior.

Maui Dog Mahalos

Mahalo for spending more time with your dog and wanting to have the best life ever together. If you’d like to know more about my retreats with dogs on Maui, sign up below to get immediate information and be ready for some pawsome-ness for you and your dog.

Jt Clough lives in Maui, Hawaii and practices health, happiness, natural remedies and training for dogs and their people.  Her way of communication with both dogs and people is healing and her training is effective physically and emotionally.  She is a contributor to articles in Runners World, Women’s Health and many other publications.