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Posted on October 6, 2010
I had been neglecting this project for way too long. I had approached it several times and never found a way to make it exactly what I want it to be. A few weeks ago I gave it one more try and finally, finally there is a website for my dog training business. It’s like Mutt School is finally on the map. The virtual one. So if you are in need of some training help or know someone who might like to see this, send them on to www.muttschool.com. I’m a little exhausted, but really happy with it. I hope you like it, too!
Posted on June 3, 2010
I had a nice training break-through this week. I finally found a real motivator for Maize. She was kind of a tough nut to crack. While Mac is crazy food motivated Maize could care less. I mean, she does stuff for food, but only in rare circumstances is she ever as eager and excited as Mac. And that eagerness is what makes Mac’s training so easy. So I tried different things with Maize: different treats, petting, tug, fetch. Nothing. But now I found it. Fetch in the water! She loves run and chase after stuff, but on land she hardly ever brings it back to me… but she looooves to swim and swim after her fetch toy. I have not seen her this excited… ever! So I incorporated her training into our walks by the water and she learned to sit in a perfect heel position after two days. (And at the end of the video you see my super cool new shoes, that I will be writing about here soon)
I don’t believe that there is a dog that is not food motivated, but I do believe that some enjoy other things just as much or even more. Go and find your dogs perfect reward and be amazed by how fast she can learn all of a sudden!
Posted on April 27, 2010
My freezer is full of pork necks and chicken parts. Because for almost a week now I have been feeding my dogs raw meat. And I am excited. And my dogs are even more excited!
Just a few perks this has already: 1. I don’t even think about what kind of chew toys I could get them next, because the bones left from their meals keeps them plenty busy (and their teeth healthy). 2. I don’t dread picking up poop anymore, it became small and ODORLESS! But I still have a foster that is being fed “vet recommended” food and her poop still stinks. Literally.
After two weeks, I am supposed to notice a significant mental and physical change in my dogs. I will keep you posted. For now I wanted to review a few books I have read on the topic. If you are interested, all of these books are rather thin. I think I read each of them within one or two days. And I am not the person who usually reads books within days. More like weeks… or months 
My favorite is called “Work Wonders” by Tom Lonsdale. It is my favorite because it is easy and written by a vet. My second favorite is also easy and straightforward, but not by a vet and I can’t help but trust someone with credentials a bit more. Although concerning nutrition my trust in vets in general is shaken. But this one is great! He is not afraid to tell you that raw meat will reduce your vet bills. Makes you wonder if other vets recommend crappy food to make sure their patients keep coming back!? Anyway, as I said, it is easy and straight forward. Don’t be put off by the silly cover. Read it and start making your dog happier! (Right now it is actually on sale at sitstay.com)
The second book, which I also like very much is called “Raw Dog Food” by Carina Beth MacDonald. She write from years of experience with raw feeding her own dogs and because she wished she would have had a book like that when she started. And it really is what she wants it to be. Simple guidance to feeding your dog better.
The third book I am not too excited about. It’s called “Pet Food Nation” by Joan Weiskopf. She is a nutritionist and I have an affinity for nutritionists. I LOVED my (equine) nutrition professor and I love the topic of nutrition in general. And if you are looking for a book to tell you what is wrong with commercial pet foods than I would almost recommend to read her book. Almost, because in my opinion she goes a little far in the alternative she suggests. She does not recommend feeding raw but cooked meat and veggies. And I’m sorry, but I don’t even cook for myself every day. I am still looking for something that is not too time consuming while healthy for my dogs. And I find her reasoning against raw food pretty iffy in light of the many people who successfully feed raw.
So that’s it so far. I will keep you posted on my experiences. Feel free to comment with questions or your own experiences!
EDIT 1: Lexi asked about my budget. To be honest, the only thing that held me back from trying raw food in the first place was that I didn’t want to spend more money than I am with my dry kibble. So after reading the books I made some calculations and figured I need to spend no more than $1 per pound of meat on average. And that is what I am doing, I am looking for sales and often the kind of meat you feed dogs (with bones) is the cheaper kind anyway. So no, no dent in pocket. I think with my two 50lbs dogs I am going to spend about $60. Not more than most premium kibble. Actually less.
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Posted on April 9, 2010
I have a new favorite blog that I thought everyone out there interested in dogs might find helpful, too.
It is called “The other end of the leash“, which probably reminds some of you of a book with the same title. And rightly so because the blog is written by the same author, Patricia McConnell. Her book “For the love of a dog” was recommended to me by a good friend and fellow dog lover. I have not even started, yet, because I try to finish the other books I have started first, but I have subscribed to her blog right away because I tend to read blogs more than I read books.
So, Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., is an ethologist (Ethology = scientific study of animal behavior ). She helps to train problem dogs, gives seminars, writes books, and probably does a whole lot more, too. And on top of all of her knowledge I love her writing as well. Smart, understandable and funny, like this: “… I will say here that the misuse of the term “dominance” in dog training is so pervasive that it causes ethologists like me to want to poke pencils in our eyes.”
Now go and read!
Posted on April 6, 2010
Thanks to the discussions we had lately on my facebook page I have done a little experiment with dog chews. Nothing that requires a lab, just my dogs and many different kinds of dog chews. My goal was to find one that is no health concern, is not mainly made of fat, one that the dogs like and keeps them busy for longer than 5 minutes. Preferably longer than 10 minutes, too. And that is no easy feat! At least if you disregard a filled kong or a nylabone, which I both love and are my first choice, but I also like to give my dogs something… organic you could say, I guess.
A little background on why I even started this: The common dog chews you can find in most local grocery and pet stores are rawhides, hooves, bones and pig ears. All of which are not necessarily the best products for your dogs to digest or chew on. I won’t go into detail but in general I’d like to warn you that raw hides can obstruct your dog’s bowel by expanding, if they are cheap and not made from one piece they can splinter and basically tear their guts. Hooves and bones, although I like them, are supposed to be too hard for them, so they can chip a tooth and pig ears are mainly fat.
So I ordered a load of “healthy chews”, which you can get from places like k9cuisine.com or sitstay.com
(and no, I don’t have any affiliation with sitstay other than I like them). They are mostly dried muscle or tendon. I orderd cow ears, bully sticks, braided bully sticks, twisted bully sticks, spiral flossies (tendon), and bully springs. Unfortunately quite a lot of other things I wanted to try are out of stock in several stores. Like I wanted to try achi
lles tendons or lamb pizzles. Anyway, so all of these products usually have a description that tells you the size of them, but even though I read them 6 inches on my ruler looks a lot bigger than some of the six inch chews I got. My bad, I guess. Just let me tell you, if you have a 50lb. dog, you probably don’t want to get the 6 inch chews. I hardly have to make any differentiation here, almost all of them were gone within minutes that I gave them to my dogs. I’d actually love to hear other peoples experiences, because maybe I have some crazy chewers on my hands, but I don’t think so. I think my dogs are pretty average. They go to town on a rawhide but they don’t destroy a KONG. That is my definition of average.
So out of all of these chews there is only one that I will order again. It’s the normal bully sticks. I think they lasted at least half an hour and those where the 6 inch one. So my conclusion: I am going to stick with Nylabones, KONGs and the thickest and longest bully sticks I can find
(Pictures courtesy of sitstay.com)
Posted on March 19, 2010
For a while now I have been looking into dog food ingredients. Several blogs I read have encouraged me to look more critically at what I feed my dog every day. A while ago I have started a little discussion about it on facebook. I have changed my dogs food, but that is not where it ends. The whole matter is way too complex to understand and digest all at once. After researching recommended dog foods so I can make an immediate switch and make myself feel a little better I am continuing to try to understand what makes a dog food good and what makes it bad.
Food labels are scary. They are scary on one hand because of so many terms that the average dog owner, me included, does not understand. And as soon as you do understand the ingredients of many of them are scary to look at. I am long not at the end of researching this and trying to find the best diet for my dogs. But I feel the need to share some of what I have found so far, because many people just don’t know. I’d like to give some food for thought, encourage everyone to do their own research and educate about what is going on out there.
The tip of the iceberg, unfortunately, are veterinarians. Who hasn’t seen the food bags sitting in almost every waiting room. Who has not been recommended one and the same brand by multiple veterinarians. And they should be the ones to know, right? I bet they do know, but they don’t tell you! It breaks my heart to see that a part of the dog food company bought up a large number of veterinarians and makes them recommend an overpriced and crappy food. I don’t think I even have to mention the name, as we all know. And have we ever looked at the list of ingredients of this “veterinarian recommended” food? I haven’t for the longest time, because I didn’t understand anyway. Now that I am starting to do so I did look. I have to say I’m a little terrified. I think everyone know that the first few ingredients are the main ingredients with the largest amounts. This foods first is Corn. Corn is fed to cattle to make them fat, fast. Corn is the least nutritional of all grains. Plenty of animals have developed allergies to corn, bless those animals. It makes me want to throw up.
I am thinking about putting together an easy fact sheet for the adopters at our humane society. One that will give you at least a basic understanding of food without having to do much research. Rule of thumbs so to say. Once that is completed I will of course post it here. For now I want to thank some great sources that I have gained better understanding from. If you are interested I strongly encourage you to follow Darcy of SitStay.com in her blog and visit website like the Dog Food Project.
Posted on March 12, 2010
I am excited that we are going to be able to offer Pet First Aid Classes in Manhattan. Thanks to the Red Cross, who provided us with training, equipment and the location for our first two classes, we can help you be better prepared for emergencies. Classes cost between $25-30 and include a book and DVD for either dog or cat first aid. All proceeds go to the Red Cross (first two classes) and the Riley County Humane Society (future classes).
I am going to keep this post updated with the latest schedule. You can view it at anytime through the Links button above!
April 10th, 2010. 10am – 1pm at 2601 Anderson Avenue, Manhattan. (This class is already filled)
May 1st, 2010. 9am – 12pm at 2601 Anderson Avenue, Manhattan. (Sign up here)
More events will be scheduled soon. Check back for updates or contact me to be notified of the next class!
Posted on March 6, 2010
I am such a slacker, I totally missed today’s post. But I got something to make up for it. Me and a few other girls just met with the Red Cross and got the first Dog First Aid Class lined up for Manhattan, KS!
If you are interested in learning not just CPR but also how to help your dog immediately after shock, choking, and injuries sign up for our first class on April 10th, 2010. To sign up or for more info go to the event page on facebook or contact me directly. If you are interested in a class on another day, let me know, too. Depending on interest we will have plenty more, I hope.
I can’t wait to start and hope to meet you all there!
Posted on February 26, 2010
As promised, here is my latest project:
Last week I built my own little agility course in our backyard! It was sunny outside and I decided to finally get started on this project. My husband was home to help and I was so excited! The excitement was only lowered a bit by the sudden snow that appeared as soon as I had everything set up and was ready to go.
But I know spring is coming. It’s so close I can almost feel it. Mac’s agility class is starting next week and Maize’s isn’t far away, either. And then these little PVC constructs are going to come in very handy! Because I know at least about the weave poles that you are supposed to practice them more than just once a week in class. And Mac is already getting so good. We just do it once or twice a day. Did I mention that I find these so handy?
And the best thing is, other than what you find in most online stores, this practice equipment is really inexpensive. I lost a few receipts, but I promise I did not spend more than $100. Probably closer to $70. That got me enough PVC for two jumps, a crawl element, weave poles and a (kids) tunnel. Still to be build are a pause table and a teeter. The pause table will be basically for free. We are still waiting for the store to call us about one of their electric wire spools. Once they got an empty one we will put a board on top and maybe some carpet scraps and voila, there is our pause table. My husband did not like the building plans for teeters online, so he’s got his own plan (that still has to be executed). But other than that we are set for practice!
If you can feel the spring now, too, and want to start a project like this visit some of the following websites or do your own search. BUT please, for your own sake, think it through a little better than I did. I just printed out all the instruction and headed of to the store just to come back home and find out that the instructions were missing parts. And then I had to go back because I ran out of spray paint. Then again because I forgot to buy end caps to put on all of the poles. And then again to buy more spray paint… and once I had all of my paint I thought I should have chosen more stylish colors. But the store I went to didn’t have the variety I would have liked so I will just give everything a make-over next spring.
Okay, I was gonna list some websites for instructions,wasn’t I? Here they are:
Canine Crib (nice and cheap instructions but make sure to check your list, they are missing things here and there)
Instant Agility (I liked their idea of the weavepoles, but I was too lazy)
Camp Bandy
Apparently there is a book, too: Do-It-Yourself Agility Equipment
And seriously, there is no need to have a husband around (unless maybe for the teeter). PVC is so easy to work with. Cut, paint, stick together. I ended up glueing a few pieces because I have mine sitting in the yard all of the time and my dogs play recklessly and run everything over that is not glued or stapled into place. And I have to admit that I might eventually invest in an actual dog tunnel. Mac loves it, I’m actually going to have to work on how to have him NOT go through it) and they love to play with it, hide in it, run underneath and so on. Plus, the kids tunnels are just smaller and not so easy to curve. But other than that I am super happy with my setup and can only recommend it. If you plan it well it takes no longer than a weekend for everything to be cut, the paint to dry and everything to be assembled.
Update: I just got my Modern Dog Magazine (Spring 2010) and all the way in the back I found a How to… Make your own Backyard Agility Course. So if you are interested, it makes it even easier than mine with a hoolahoop hanging from a tree and plywood and cinder blocks for a dog walk. Check it out!
Posted on February 19, 2010
These days I’m pretty lazy. I watch the Winter Olympics non stop. But after these two weeks are over I’ll be starting my own little Olympics in our backyard. I have about 30 painted PVC pipes drying in the garage and I cannot wait to assemble my new project. I think you’ll want to hear about. But not until next Friday… I need some time for pictures and stuff. So stay tuned.
For this week I have a little hint for your every day life and training with your dog. Something that I have to remind myself of quite often. And the super cool book I am reading right now reminded me of it again last night. (I’ll post a review once I’m done) How do you speak to your dog? How do you use your voice? Chances are you are like most people, the more frustrated you get the sterner and louder your voice gets. I am no different, and sometimes the circumstance (or dog) requires it. But in most cases it really leads nowhere, except to more frustration. And once I get into that agitated state it is hard to take a deep breath and step outside of the picture to evaluate yourself. However, I am a champ in seeing other peoples mistakes (and I’m not proud of it). So, when my husband gets more and more frustrated with a dog not walking on a leash or not coming I can observe a perfect example of what frustration and stern tones do to a dog. Mainly it is confusion, frustration or even fear. All I want to say then is “Use your happy-voice!” And as hard as it is, I think that is what we need to do: Take a deep breath, put on a smile and get back to the happy language we instictively use with babies and puppies. And we do so for a reason. Dogs as well as babies respond best to those high and happy tones.
(That reminds me of Mac’s first agility class… after I came home the only thing I could remember was a big group of adults talking excitedly in a very high voice… me included)
So remember, as hard as it sometimes seems, relax and have fun with your dog. Because as my favorite principle says: “If something goes wrong, always remember it’s your fault!” (~Silvia Trkman)