Dog Food Reviews by Brand

These reviews can be found here.

Seems a fairly comprehensive reviews of a whole host of dog foods.    Many that I have never even heard of.

They go through the ingredient list, help explain what the different ingredients are and give each type of dog food a rating.

For those who feed kibble you may find it valuable.

Basics – Teach your dog to heel

The “heel” command is a formal obedience exercise in which a dog walks precisely by a handler’s knee, matching her pace and immediately sitting when the handler halts. Your four-legged friend should know this valuable obedience exercise-for your sake and his.

This is the formal thing to do.   Do most people want their dog to heel?  no.. They simply want their dog to walk with a loose leash.   BUT teaching a heel is very valuable.

1. useful for agility training when you want your dog in close to you.

2. useful for walking through crowds and on busy streets

3. useful for when you are walking your dog off-leash and need your dog to stay really close to you.

A dog walking at heel is staying close, paying close attention, and is right beside you.

So just how do you teach a dog to walk at heel?

1. get your dogs attention, get your dog to watch you and pay attention to you.   There are different ways to do this.  Get your dogs attention by calling his name, tapping on his head, making noises or any other way you can think of.   This is a command in and of itself.

2. teach your dog where to stand.  For most people a heel is having your dog stand with their head at your left knee (or hip/ankle) depending on the size of the dog.   he’s to stay in that position regardless of how fast you move or in which direction you move in.  NOW.. for agility folks…you might want to teach your dog to heel on both sides as it’s a useful tool to have.     have a different command for each side.  Me…I always taught my dog to walk on my right side as that’s what worked for me.   Doesn’t really matter as long as you teach them to do so consistently.

3. Once your dog is in position.  Say Rover (or whatever the dogs name is) HEEL.  and start walking forward.  When the dog starts with you. Stop and praise him!  Treat him with food.  And then try again.  Practice is key.

4. gradually increase the length of time you walk with him before treating him.

If your dog starts to forge ahead, a good trick to correct that is to turn around calling your dogs name and walk in the opposite direction.

some people will do this:

When he tries to forge ahead, turn sharply and step directly in his path, making a 90 degree turn and heading off in a new direction. Once again, turn sharply, as if walking along a square. The dog will be used to leading you, and may be surprised or confused. Walk in a straight line again, until the dog tries to forge past you. Pull the same stunt. Doing this for 5-15 minutes a day is enough. Some dogs learn after the first session, but some dogs who have been used to leading you for years may take longer. This lesson will teach your dog that YOU are the one who knows where you are going, and not him.:

there are sites on-line to teach you how to train your dog to heel, I hope this has given you a start. 

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2010. That’s about 24 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 6 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 157 posts.

The busiest day of the year was November 25th with 177 views. The most popular post that day was Are Turkey necks safe feeding?.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were mydog-parlance.blogspot.com, dogs.thefuntimesguide.com, squidoo.com, search.aol.com, and athomepets.webs.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for biking with dog, rabbit housing, cycling with your dog, what are organs, and biking with dogs.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Are Turkey necks safe feeding? May 2007
2 comments

2

Biking/Cycling with Your Dog December 2007
30 comments

3

Rabbit Safe Foods September 2008
5 comments

4

Rabbit housing January 2008
4 comments

5

How to Make your Own Tug-toy (for your dog that is) January 2008
4 comments

Cocoa mulch warning

Please share this with all the pet owners you know and ask them to do the same – the information you take a few minutes to share might prevent the senseless loss of other pets.

Please tell every dog or cat owner you know. Even if you don’t have a pet, please pass this to those who do. Over the weekend, the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden. The dogs loved the way it smelled and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. Their dog (Calypso) decided the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn’t acting lethargic in any way. The next day, Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her morning walk. Half way through the walk, she had a seizure and died instantly.

Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the company’s web site,  this product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats.

Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by a variety of companies, and it has been shown  that “It is true that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees (depending on each individual dog). However, 98% of all dogs won’t eat it.”

*Snopes site gives the following information.

Cocoa Mulch, which is sold in a variety of places including Rona, home hardware and other Garden supply stores contains a lethal ingredient called ‘Theobromine’. IT IS LETHAL TO DOGS AND CATS. It smells like chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred.

Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker’s chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, axanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.

Emails of this sort are circulated every year.  names/dates/company names change.  BUT it is basically true that if you use cocoa mulch, be alert that some dogs will munch on it and potentially consume enough that they will have a negative reaction to it.

Dog stayed with Owner

dog stayed by owner’s side.

Through the last six years of his life, Parley Nichols, 81, never left his Hartville, Ohio, home without his dog Lady. The two were best friends, soul mates and constant companions who took care of each other.
So when Parley, who had developed dementia, went missing on April 8, it was no surprise that Lady, his 6-year-old golden retriever that he bought as a puppy, was also gone.

“Dad had been wandering around, and we kept looking for him for a solid week, sending out flyers, doing whatever we could,” Terry Nichols, one of Parley’s two sons, tells PEOPLEPets.com. “With his dementia, he would struggle to hear you talk to him, then four hours later he seemed okay. We were very worried.”

Finally, a neighbor called saying someone had driven by a field outside of town and heard a dog barking, trying to attract attention. But when Nichols and other family members drove to the area, they found nothing.

“When we went a second time to a different place by a creek, we found Lady and my dad, who was already dead,” Nichols tells PEOPLEPets.com. “Lady was standing by his side protecting him. We are sure that she never left my dad for seven days, staying alive by drinking water from the creek.”

Lady didn’t know what to do when she saw other members of the Nichols family arrive at the scene on April 14. They had to pull her away from her master and place her in the back of their pickup truck.
“I don’t know how dogs perceive things but she knew she had to stay with dad no matter what,” says Nichols. “And she did.”

Lady may not have eaten for a week, but the sturdy dog (who weighed 75 pounds before the incident) was in great condition.
The preliminary autopsy conducted by the Stark County coroner found that Parley Nichols, whose story was first reported by WKYC-TV, passed away from heart failure. He could have been dead for the full week.

With the sad loss of her owner now behind her, Lady has been able to move on. She is living with other Nichols family members in the immediate area, enjoying a similar lifestyle that she had with Parley.

Dog Cars

looking for a dog friendly car?

Check out this side DogCars.

Thundershirt

Thundershirt

a solution to dog anxiety.

Thundershirt is recommended by thousands of veterinarians and trainers around the world. Whatever the situation that makes your dog anxious, fearful, reactive or over-excited, Thundershirt’s gentle, constant pressure can bring calm and focus back to your dog. A terrific solution for many types of anxiety including thunder, fireworks, separation, travel, and crate anxieties. And a terrific solution for eliminating “bad leash manners” such as barking, pulling or reactivity towards other animals and people.

Treating Ear Mites

One can go to the vet and get stuff to treat them there or one can medicate them at home using home remedies.

1. oil and iodine
2. iodine

both these methods call for repeat applications so you know you can kill off the mites. the oil drowns them, the iodine helps with healing.

some animals can handle having ivermectin given to them. cats, rabbits etc. just a matter of knowing the weight. If you have oral ivermection you can just drop some into the ear.

you can go to your vet and get some revolution (good for dogs, rabbits etc).

adopting read these articles

http://www.fortunatek9.com/articles.htm

and things to consider

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2010/01/16/rescue-pets-how-do-you-know-when-its-right/

Are you ready to Trial?

Hey…I remember the days. I’ve trained your dog it seems forever and you just want to get out there and see how it goes.

Quite frankly it all depends on you and your dog.

Trialling too early can scare off some dogs, trialling too late can make training seem ho-hum to some. Is there a perfect time? I don’t know, but it’s a matter of knowing yourself and knowing your dog. Talking with people who know the two of you just might help.

Here are some guidelines: NOTE, these are not all from me, most comes a person named Robin.

1. What are your goals for your dog? Do you have any? If you don’t,
you should.

The best goals are are performance oriented. Good goals are “I want nice fast sits on the table.” “I want a happy dog in the ring.” “I want my dog to do 2-on 2-off.” Adapt your goals to your dog. You should make short-term goals (this weekend, I want a good start-line stay), and long term goals (I want to be able to do 3 jump lead-outs). Your short term goals should never be discarded if they will adversely affect your long term goals. So letting the dog break the start-line “because he might Q anyway” is a bad decision.

2. What are your goals for yourself? Do you have any? If you don’t,
you should.

Again, not title oriented. “I want walk a course smartly and run like I walk.” “I want to be a team with my dog.”

Once you have set your goals, think about ways to accomplish them. And where you are on the journey to accomplish your goals will also help you know when you’re ready to trial. But here are a few more tips, some concrete things.

1. Is your dog crate trained? He’ll need a nice, comfy, quiet place
to hang out at the trial. Keeping him out all the time will exhaust both
of you. Doesn’t need to be a crate, can be safely stowed in your car, can be tied to a tree while you both take a break from the busyness of life, can be lying quiet under your chair, etc. My dog stresses in a crate so I work around it all.

2. Is your dog used to riding in the car? if not, you may wish to work on this as many trials need to be driven too.

3. Has your dog been exposed to the shows before entering? It’s a
really good idea to take your dog to some shows before you actually
enter so you can get him used to the noise and smells. Check all the rules first, some trials don’t allow unentered dogs on the grounds.

4. Do you understand all the basics of the sport and feel confident
of the rules? One of you needs to know what they’re doing out there, and you’re the only one that can read the course maps. That makes you team captain. You don’t want to spend all your time fumbling around the course, you want to know what you’re doing and convey that to the dog.

5. Does your dog understand all the equipment, and is he relaxed
and confident in his execution? If your dog is tentative on the teeter
or can’t do weaves at home, it’s going to be worse at a trial. It’s
ALWAYS worse at the trial. It’s never better, so think about that before
entering.

6. Can your dog work on both sides, does he know how to switch sides,
and can he read your crosses? If not, he’s not ready to trial and
neither are you. Even novice mandates side switches! NOTE: I have seen some owners do some creative things that have resulted in clean runs. so it all depends on just how creative you want to be.

7. Have you practiced in more than one area? Yes, I know there are
stories of how some dogs do fine at a trial after only having been
trained at home-but those are the exceptions not the rule! Remember that if your goal is for your dog to be relaxed and have fun, then your job is to help him figure out that agility is something he can do (and have fun doing) anywhere.

8. Do you feel confident about entering? If you aren’t confident,
don’t enter. I don’t mean confident you can get all clean runs, but
confident that you and your dog can have a GOOD TIME.

8. Finally, do you have a positive attitude? Are you prepared to
laugh at mistakes, not cry? Can you put agility into the right
perspective–that it’s a fun game we play with our dogs? Can you be
absolutely, positively sure that when things go wrong out there and
everyone is watching, you will NOT get upset, and you will NOT start
blaming your dog? If you’re not sure, please do not enter. Though I have to admit, at times it is your dogs fault….and all you can do is laugh about it.

If you can answer yes to these questions you are ready to enter an
agility trial. Remember there’s no huge rush to title. This is a game
you play with your dog, and having fun at the trial is an end goal, no
matter what your score ends up as.