Need some help with crate training? Here's a terrific article:
I currently have three rescue dogs, and have had many dogs in the past. Several have been destructive and some still are (my works-in-progress) but rest assured, with time and effort on your part, things can improve. Read more.
5 Simple Things You Can Do To Help Keep Your Dog Healthy
Ben Franklin said it first, then our mother's and teachers repeated it to us over and over throughout our growing up years, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." So, in the spirit of prevention, I highly recommend this concise article about 5 simple things you can do to help keep your dog healthy.
Useful Dog Tricks
(Too cute -- had to share!)
Subscriber Photo!
The Woof! subscriber Tanya (and Anthony) of Chicago was recently adopted by this adorable Yorkie/Bichon mix. Wrigley, as he has been so appropriately named by this couple of Cubs fans, is just 13 weeks old and weighs about 4 pounds already. Tanya wanted some custom new puppy announcements to tell her friends and family about the furry new addition to her family, so we worked together to create these. Wrigley approves.
Who will be top dog?
Jill Bowen has practiced veterinary medicine in England and Texas. She lives in Blacksburg now, and answers local pet owners' questions every week in The Roanoke Times. Here is some great advice she dished out recently at http://www.roanoke.com/pawsclaws/wb/265776
Q My son has lost his job and is returning to live with us for a while. He has two Labradors that will be with him, a male and a female. We also have two Labradors, a female and her son. All four dogs are spayed or neutered. All the dogs get along well together except for my son's new female Lab, who is very nervy and can be aggressive. She is also very protective toward my son. She is currently on antidepressants and going to obedience classes to help socialize her. Any ideas on how we should introduce them?
A Plan to meet on neutral territory in the first instance. Beforehand, take some of your dogs' bedding to your son and bring back some of his dogs' bedding so that the dogs will know the smell of one another before they meet.
Introduce the dogs one at a time, rather than en masse. Use a box muzzle on the nervy Lab for the initial meetings and interactions; this will avoid any potential injuries while still allowing the dogs to mingle.
When introducing the dogs one at a time, keep them on a leash, and have plenty of treats available to reinforce good behavior. Let the least confident dog off the leash first if all is going well.
The most likely cause of disputes among the dogs will be over food, owner attention, and any toys or bones. Supervising feeding times is important, making sure that each dog has its own bowl and that they are fed in the same place and in the same order each time; the nervous one first.
Remove the bowls once the dogs have finished and have several water bowls available to reduce conflict. Make sure each dog has quality time with its owner and that there are plenty of toys available so that the dogs do not have to compete for them.
Finally, let the dogs sort out who becomes top dog and accept their choice.
Giving to a Good Cause
I am frequently asked to donate items to various dog rescue/shelter fundraisers, and try to do so as often as I can. I recently donated one of my Dog Lover T-shirts to an event in Springfield, Illinois. The event organizer was kind enough to email me with lots of details about the success of the event. Do you have an event planned to help raise funds for a rescue organization or dog shelter? If so, just bark! I love to help!
The APL Summer Dog Party was held September 18th at Stuart Park, Dog Run, Springfield, Illinois. It was held from 3 to 5pm and attracted close to 100 dog owners with their dog & families (children came too!)
We had several raffle drawings, dog trick contests, paw print painting,K-9 demonstration (across the field )from the Sangamon County Search & Rescue Squad and professional dog photos for purchase from the local girl scout troops. I hired a DJ, Richard Thompson to do different dog related songs, for example, "who let the dogs out", don't know the artist, but just an example. He played songs I never heard of that have lyrics about dogs.Richard also did all the announcements about APL upcoming events and the raffle drawing winners.
It was a hot day, partly sunny. We raised a little over $500, not bad for a 2 hour event. I didn't charge an admission fee, but, am considering next year to do that. The raffle and photos are where we made our money besides the donations in a jar. It was a fun event! Many first time visitors commented on how surprised they were to see the dogs get along so well. A lot of socialization going on in the play area. The dogs just loved to play with others their own size. We did separate by size, the large dogs with their counterparts in the large dog run, and the small dogs with their peers in the small dog run. It worked very well. The dog tricks consisted of dancing dogs, shaking paws and kisses!!! Plenty of kisses for their owners!
The prizes we had were Cesar Milan magazines and dog photo frames, cups, etc.....Everyone left with a gift bag to take home. Each gift bag contained items donated from area and not so local business that serve pet owners. Many people were very excited to get that as a bonus! Fun was had by all!!!
Thanks!
Teresita
By the way, my dog a 1 year old pure breed chocolate Labrador named Buddy (I adopted from APL) jumped the 7 foot dog run fence and astonished everyone! I couldn't believe it! It is time to enter him in agility competition! He is a natural!!! LOL
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