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Tractor Supply Company Partners to Help Animal Rescue

December 8, 2015

We love living out in the country.

We have elbow room and beautiful views. The one thing that drives me a little crazy is how far I have to go to get dog food and supplies. It’s about 30 minutes in any direction to get “to town.” Thankfully, we have a Tractor Supply Company® just a hop, skip, and a jump away — which saves me time and (bonus!) money!

This post is sponsored by Tractor Supply Company and the BlogPaws Professional Pet Blogger Network. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Tractor Supply Company. The Smart Dog U blog only shares information WE feel is relevant to our readers. Tractor Supply Company is not responsible for the content of this article.

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Smart Dog U partnered with Tractor Supply Company (TSC) in one of their many animal rescue outreach efforts.

TSC gave me $100 gift card to shop for any rescue. I contacted our local Labrador retriever rescue – Lab Rescue of L.R.C.P., Inc. to see what they needed the most. TSC carries all kinds of dog food, treats, collars, beds, bones, and toys, so Lab Rescue had lots of choices! They said they most needed Kongs and high quality, soft dog treats to keep the dogs occupied and to reward them at adoption events. I went to TSC armed with my list and my gift card and this is the fun that was had!

I had my choice of high quality treats: exclusively at TSC are 4health® brand high quality food and treats. Because they are reasonably priced, I could get even more treats for those sweet dogs in rescue.

I’m a fan of the 4health brand for a few reasons: (1) high quality (fresh meat in every bag) and (2) less expensive than premium brands, (3) it’s made in the USA. 4health has dog treats as well as dog food.

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Some of the 4health treats are soft, while others are crunchy, and some have hip and joint supplements. They are reasonably priced, too (bonus!).

TSC 4Health

TSC dog food

4healthGrainFree

TSC has an impressive offering of dog food brands — everything from Purina to Taste of the Wild to Wellness. Their 4health food even has a grain free line. No wheat, grain, corn, or soy!

TSC is way more than your average pet supply store.

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I love that TSC not only sells quality dog supplies like food and treats (which makes taking good care of my dogs so much easier), but that they’re really involved in the welfare of our pets. They offer low cost, walk-in veterinary clinics through PetVet where you can get routine shots and exams. Find a clinic near you.

TSC loves rescues.

Every year, TSC hosts a social media contest every year that awards a total of $25,000 in grants to 10 deserving organizations. Additionally, they provide space to rescue organizations to hold adoption events and fundraisers. With every sale of DogforDog treats, TSC donates to a shelter. It’s a win-win!

TSC Dog for Dog

Here’s the gift basket I made for Lab Rescue of L.R.C.P, Inc. I do hope the dogs like it!

Tractor Supply Company, TSC, Lab rescue, dog, dog training, Smart Dog, clicker, Mt. Airy

P.S. Looking for a couple of Labradors to love? Check out Reagan (#150794) and Quincy (#150793), a lovely pair of Labradors looking for a good home together.

Make Lazy Dog Training Work for You

December 2, 2015

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When you love what you do for a living, it’s easy to get caught up in it and take it a little too far. But sometimes, being lazy and taking shortcuts can pay off, too.

The topic for this month’s newsletter came straight out of my own life. A couple months ago, my husband needed open-heart surgery. Open-heart surgery is fairly extensive, to say the least. Lots of healing needs to happen and there is a fair amount of pain at the incision site, in the muscles, and where all the wires and tubes were placed for the surgery. He spent a week in the hospital, and then came home to spend another five weeks of recovery in our recliner (lying flat was out of the question – too painful). This month’s newsletter is all about lazy dog training.

We share our home with four large to very-large dogs (together they weigh about 375 pounds).

Our dogs aren’t perfect, but have fairly good house manners. They don’t jump, they are gentle, and they are reliable in their routines. What we were going to need from them, however, was something they’d never been asked to do before: leave my husband alone completely. They occasionally solicit affection by poking their nose under one’s arm, resting their head on a lap (or chest if the person is in the recliner) – and Nemo normally lives in my husband’s lap in the evenings. Although our dogs had fairly dependable “leave its,” I didn’t want my husband (who was prescribed fairly heavy narcotics to help alleviate the pain) to be responsible for instructing the dogs to “leave it” all day long. (It’s hard enough to be proactive all day long anyway, without the added fog of being on narcotics and six other medications.) Plus: what if my husband was sleeping? He certainly wouldn’t be able to tell the dogs to “leave it,” then.

It wasn’t a situation for which I could train ahead. There wasn’t any way I could have convinced my husband to not allow Nemo in his lap. And prior to surgery my husband was very active – still running and exercising like normal, working on the house, mowing the lawn, and going to work every day. I couldn’t have gotten my husband to sit still long enough to practice. We also didn’t really know what to expect after surgery. Therefore, no training was put into place prior to surgery.

So here’s how a lazy dog trainer addressed the issue of keeping my husband safe from the dogs who missed him so much while he was hospitalized:

I put my husband and his recliner inside an x-pen. An x-pen is shorthand for exercise pen – think of it as a playpen for dogs. That’s right: I crated my husband. Before you react, think about how well this worked…

The x-pen kept the dogs from poking their noses in his space, from jumping into his lap, and from accidentally bumping him in the chest with a paw or tail. It encircled the recliner all the way around, yet still allowed him to fully recline the chair when he needed to sleep. He could still pet the dogs through the x-pen, giving the dogs (and him) the physical contact they both needed.

Benefits of lazy dog training

We weren’t worried about letting our guard down and missing the signal that a dog was incoming and was going to thump my husband on the chest with a happy and excited tail thwack. We didn’t worry that a dog (Nemo) was going to jump into his lap. We didn’t have to say “leave it” every 20 seconds, we didn’t have to redirect the dogs to another activity. We didn’t have to buy more toys to keep our dogs distracted from my husband. In short, we managed the situation in such a way that the dogs weren’t able to get themselves in trouble and hurt my husband. They were happy, and we were happy.

Was it lazy? I dunno, I think it was fairly clever. It sure did relieve a lot of stress in an otherwise fairly stressful situation. It wasn’t something we could’ve proactively trained before surgery.

With the holidays coming, I think lazy dog training might be an viable option for dog-loving families out there.

If the dog (or cat!) thinks the Christmas tree is a little too captivating, put a gate up so the dog can’t get into the room with the tree. Or use an x-pen to fence the tree off from your dog’s wagging and destructive tail. Another option is to hang the breakable and heirloom ornaments up higher than the tail or the mouth can reach. If you’re having a holiday party at your house, use lazy training to help guests get into your house without worrying about a door-dashing or jumping dog. Simply gate the dog off from the foyer or put the dog in a closed bedroom door (with music or tv on) with a delicious stuffed Kong.

Lazy dog training isn’t really lazy. I think it’s actually kinda smart.

Have you ever been a lazy trainer? Leave a comment and share your lazy training stories here, you might give the rest of us some good, lazy ideas!

Life Without A Service Dog (Empty Nesting)

October 20, 2015

Since 2001, we’ve had a puppy in the house every single year.

14 years later, life is really different as we’ve taken a temporary break from raising service dogs. It’s not better or worse, but definitely different. It’s certainly less work, that’s for sure. No house training, no all-day trips to check in with the service dog organization each month.

Our life now is very different than we’re used to. Three our of four of our dogs are seniors. Seniors! When did that happen? Each of them is a released service dog. I distinctly remember the pick-up days for each of those dogs. And for those dogs who went back for advanced training before being released (Lily and Schooner) I remember the dread and heartbreak of turn-in day and leaving them at the agency.

Lily was just the second pup we raised.

lab, labrador, Labrador retriever, swimming dog, black lab, yellow lab, dog training, Frederick, dog trainer She was feisty and a real handful. She had gotten so attached to Rocky, the first service dog, that I was seriously concerned that she’d fall apart when he went back to the agency for his advanced training. Turns out she missed him a lot, but service pup #3, Tango (who was keeper #2), was a nice distraction and he kept Lily busy so she didn’t have much time to cry in her food bowl about missing Rocky. Lily was released from service dog training for a few reasons. She has a tactile sensitivity that made her quite unhappy in a service dog vest. She hated wearing the vest and doesn’t really even like wearing a collar, even today. She also didn’t love working in public. She’s very friendly, but I liken her to an introvert who would rather stay home than go to the party. She’s most comfortable tucked under my desk, under the table, or in her crate. Being out in public wasn’t really her thing. She wasn’t happy with the life of a public working dog, so the agency made the wise decision to let her live the life she really wanted — a pet dog that didn’t need to interact with the world all day every day. She’s now almost 14, but can run circles around any of the other dogs (with the exception of Great Dane, Schooner — and she runs circles under him!). She’s active, fit, and can keep me walking at a speedy clip for miles and miles!

Tango, the handsomest yellow Labrador you’d ever want to meet (not that I’m biased or anything) is the second keeper dog.

yellow lab, lab, labrador, yellow labrador
We were very excited for him to become a service dog as his training had been perfect. He was cool, calm, and collected in public. Happy and cheerful, full of pep, yet sensitive to the mood in the room, Tango was going to be the perfect service dog. He unfortunately had some elbow trouble that was diagnosed on x-rays early in his training. The service dog agency didn’t feel it was fair to Tango or his future partner to work a dog who may develop physical problems later in life. I remember the call telling us he was being disqualified. I maintained my composure “Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear that!” until I hung up the phone, then I jumped up and down like a loon and squealed like a schoolgirl, thrilled that this boy was ours to keep. Regular readers of the blog know that Tango is my favorite over all the others. It’s hard to explain, but if you’ve ever had that special dog that just gets you, you know what I’m talking about. While second oldest, he’s the one with the most physical problems. That nasty arthritis is really kicking in and it’s starting to really slow my boy down.

Nemo is keeper #3.

LaurieLuck_SmartDogU060 A total “man’s dog,” he mainly tolerates me while living for my husband’s affection. Once when my husband was on business travel for six weeks, we had a gentleman come over to fix something in the house. Nemo was attached to that guy the whole time he was here. Before the guy left, Nemo crawled his 85 pound self up into his lap and was the most contented dog you’d ever want to see. Visually, Nemo looks like the oldest dog, as he’s gone almost totally grey in his face. Silly and playful, Nemo is the one who’ll run around the yard doing zoomie laps while playing chase with me or the other dogs. A ridiculously handsome (and yet also goofy looking) dog, Nemo garners the most attention when we have him out. People seem to gravitate to his stately stature, his houndish face, and his friendliness. At the end of the day, he loves nothing more than to crawl into the LaZ Boy with my husband and drift off to sleep.

The big boy, Schooner.

Great Dane, Schooner, dog training, clicker, Frederick, dog obedience
The biggest, silliest, and sweetest Great Dane you’d ever want to meet, that’s Schoons. We had high hopes for Schooner as a service dog and loved the thought of him out working with someone in public. Big he may be, but he’s still quite a chicken. He’s afraid of thunderstorms, wind, and rain. It’s kinda hard for Schooner’s partner to go out only on nice days. When I got the call that he was being released, I was ready to get in my car at that very moment. I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting to get him. We love Great Danes anyway, and Schooner was a fabulous boy who had already lived with us and who had already been a part of our family. Did we want Schooner, they asked? Uh, YEAH! He had a rough transition from service dog to pet dog. Used to going everywhere all the time, he was unhappy for a few weeks, which led me to question my decision to take him. A couple weeks later, though, we figured each other out, got used to the new daily routine, and haven’t looked back. He’s a big bed hog, gentle, sweet, and oh so drooly. Man, can that dog make a mess of the floors and walls with all that goop. We love his silly self despite all the grossness — that should be a testament to just how much fun and lovable the big ox is.

Reasons we’re not raising.

The real reason we’re not raising service dogs, anymore, is Schooner. Well, yes and no. He’s our fourth keeper dog, which means we’d have five dogs if we were raising service dogs. Five dogs in the house is a lot for me. The mess of hair and drool that five dogs creates is overwhelming. I can’t ever have the house totally clean. There’s going to be dog hair or dog drool somewhere, no matter how meticulous I am (which I’m not even a little meticulous). Whichever way you look at it, five dogs was our tipping point. We didn’t feel like we’d be giving each dog what a fair shake if we had five dogs.

Time was another reason we didn’t get another puppy. I’ll be honest, the four dogs don’t get enough training time. They all love to learn and train, but I don’t have enough time to get each of them the training time they need. If we added a fifth dog, whose training schedule was not only demanding but also inflexible due to the service dog milestones that we needed to reach, our four would get even less attention and training. And with four dogs already, I wasn’t confident I could give the pup all the training, attention, and time in public that he (or she) needed to meet the service dog agency’s requirements.

Our senior dogs made it clear when we were raising Levi, that they’d just about had it with this whole puppy raising business. Puppies were fun for them when they were younger, but now puppies were just a pain in the neck. They began to look at me with disgust when they were all reaching about 10 years old with the “you have got to be kidding” look when the next puppy would come into the house each year. It was when we turned Levi in and I got to see the dogs begin to enjoy one another, initiate play, and return to their normal selves (that I’d kinda almost forgotten about), that I realized what a damper a puppy put on their lives. It was then that we decided to take a break from pups until we had more room in our house. Which means we’re not going to raise any more pups until our seniors aren’t with us any longer. So while I do miss raising puppies, I’m in no hurry to get back to it at the cost of losing one of our seniors.

Do I miss raising puppies?

Yes, yes, yes. Very much. I miss the opportunity to teach the pup all the cool stuff like self control, attention, focus, playing nicely, leash manners…all that stuff that most dog owners think is a real pain, I love teaching. I miss watching the weekly progress as their brains take in all the learning, process it, and then they incorporate it into their everyday lives. I miss the silliness that is a puppy! The playing, the barking, the craziness.

We’ll get back to it, I know. But it’ll be awhile. In the meantime, I’m enjoying the senior years with my old guys. They still keep us busy and they’re still learning things, too. I hope it’s a long time ’til I get back to puppy raising.

5 Easy Steps to a Well Trained Husband

October 9, 2015

dog training, Frederick, dog training, Smart Dog University, husband, train, kids, puppy I was buzzing through town the other day when I spied a dog training franchise. The slogan on their truck said something like “No, we DON’T teach husbands or kids.” I had to laugh because here at Smart Dog University, that’s exactly what we DO! In addition to dogs, we teach husbands, kids, wives, neighbors, co-workers, and relatives.

Here are some tips that will help you get that husband (or whomever) behaving a little more like you want.

The best part? Unlike the franchise, you don’t need a special collar to get your husband to do what you ask. Ditch the crazy training advice from the pop-up franchises and start doing what works.

Bonus: the tips we offer won’t get you in trouble with the law when you try them on people (unlike those collars that franchise uses to “teach”). Use those collars on people and you’d wind up in jail for abuse — if it’s against the law to use them on a person, why would we want to use them on our dogs?!

Step 1: Determine what you WANT to happen.

Example: You want dishes in the dishwasher.
Phrase it positively, like I did above. In other words, “Put the dishes in the dishwasher” is way more powerful than “Quit putting the dishes in the sink!”

Step 2: Determine what might make doing what you want a little easier than doing the thing that bugs you.

Example: Leave the dishwasher door open so it’s obvious and clear — and easy — to put the dishes in the dishwasher. Or put a little sign near the sink that says “Dishes in the dishwasher, please.”

Step 3: Decide what motivates your husband (kid, aunt, sister, etc.).

Example: If your husband enjoys it when you say good things about him to your friends, be sure to mention it to your friends (within earshot of your husband) when he does something good.

Everyone is different. “Atta boy” works well for some people, while cash works for a different subset, and public praise is what does it for another person.

Step 4: Close enough is just as good as perfect.

Example: Breakfast and dinner dishes found their way to the dishwasher, but there was one coffee cup in the sink at the end of the day. One coffee cup in the sink is way better than two plates, a knife, and two forks, right? Right! So take it and be happy about it!

Step 5: Be generous with that reinforcement.

Example: Your husband likes to be praised in front of your friends, so if he’s been better about getting some of the dishes to the dishwasher, tell your friends how helpful he’s been around the house. Give him the credit he’s earned!

Whatever you identified in Step 3 above, be ready to pay it out in bulk when you get something close to your goal behavior.

Notice that none of those steps involved any special equipment?

Focusing on a tool — especially one that’s illegal to use on people — is where that franchise made their mistake. Qualified professional trainers understand that behavior can be modified in people, dogs, horses, fish, cats, birds, just about anything — without special equipment.

Here’s where good, experienced, and educated trainers can come in and teach the whole family, not just the dog. We CAN teach husbands. We CAN teach kids. Heck, we can teach you how to modify your co-workers’ behavior if you want!

We understand what motivates and what reinforces behavior. We don’t need no stinkin’ “special equipment!” And neither do you. Now get out there and get those dishes in that dishwasher!

Talk back! Leave a comment below.

Tell us the coolest thing you taught your husband (coworker, kid, neighbor) to do using the principles outlined above.

Sparkle Bar: Shampoo Bar for Your Dog

August 25, 2015

A shampoo bar? For a dog?

What Is It?

In short, it’s a bar of shampoo. Y’know: like a bar of soap except that it’s shampoo instead. It’s the latest product from The Honest Kitchen and we tried it out on our dogs (and ourselves)!

What’s It Good For?

This is a great, easy, and smell good way to get your dog clean. I know, we’re used to shampoo being liquid. But it doesn’t have to be. It can come in bar form! I like using bar shampoo because I can get all the bubbles I need in all the right places. Need extra soap right there under the armpit? Just rub the bar there! No shampoo dripping down your arm or into the bathtub.

How Do You Use It?

Get your dog wet, get the soap wet, and start scrubbing! Each bar will last you about 18 baths for a 30 pound dog. I think it also depends on how much hair — a smaller, long coated dog is going to use a lot more than a larger, super short coated dog.

What We Loved About It

It’s handmade. Yep, for real. We make our own soap (for people) and as soon as I took the bar out of the box, I knew instantly it was handmade. It’s pretty impressive to get something handmade from a big company these days.
Delicious smell. I wish I could pump the fragrance through your speakers. The scent alone would make you buy it. There are three different scents: Apple Cider Vinegar, Diatomaceous Earth, Calendula, Comfrey & Aloe, and Lavender, Cedar, Juniper & Rosemary. Holy cow, the smell is incredible.
It works on people, too! I’m not gonna lie, I tried it. And loved it. The smell…so good.
Works well, rinses easily.

How You Can Get One

Check out The Honest Kitchen’s website where you can order the Sparkle Bars.

Slippery Floor Tough on Your Older Dog? Try This!

August 21, 2015

Traction on hardwood floors is hard to come by.

Almost all of the flooring in our house is hardwood or tile. We have dogs, hard floors are easier to keep clean than carpeting. However, our dog family is getting older. Three of our dogs are past their first decade, and our oldest at 13.5 years is having an increasingly hard time getting traction on those hard floors.

I’d been investigating ways to help her gain some traction including booties (which Lily would despise), little sticky pieces of plastic you stick to the pads of their paws (again, Lily would despise that), and even something called toe grips. Knowing Lily and her persnickety ways, I knew I had to find a solution that did not involve putting anything on her, but rather I had to find something I could actually put on the floor.

Now before you start suggesting scatter rugs, know that (until very recently) we had a cat that just loved to pee on any rug or dog bed on the floor. Throw rugs or runners were absolutely out of the question. Plus, they’re just one more thing to vacuum. The reason we took the carpet out was so I could sweep all the dirt up and get it out of the house. Adding scatter rugs everywhere sort of defeats the purpose.

At about the same time I was running out of ideas, the folks from HandiRamp happened to reach out to me with their Puppy Treads (TM). I was intrigued when they told me these were applied directly to the floor — that meant I could leave Lily’s paws out of the equation, making both our lives a whole lot better. I gladly accepted their offer to try some of their Puppy Treads (TM).

Here’s our experience with Puppy Treads (TM).

I put them at the spots where Lily usually loses traction. When she hears my husband’s truck in the driveway, she beelines it to the door which involves making a sharp right turn on laminate flooring — it’s very much like an ice rink and she routinely spins out and falls right on her rump. I tried using the treads in two different ways: I used a full strip in one location. And in another location, I cut the strip into smaller, thinner pieces, like so:

Puppy Treads, non skid traction, dog traction, Smart Dog University, dog training, dog obedience, Frederick, clicker

Yes, I left the dirt and hair on the floor. If you have dogs, hopefully you’re used to seeing floors like this and you’re not grossed out by it. In any event, that’s what I did with the Puppy Treads. Those have been on the floor now for about a month and have seen some seriously heavy dog paw and human foot traffic. This is probably the most heavily trafficked area in our house and the treads held up quite well here — no curling up or anything. We’ve had rain, too, so there have been wet and muddy foot- and paw-traffic on them and still they’ve stayed stuck.

Caveats

If the dogs take a different path to the door, where there aren’t any Puppy Treads, they’ll still slip and fall. I can’t Puppy Tread the entire family room floor, so I’ve tried to choose the most likely routes. I haven’t mopped the Puppy Treads a whole lot, so I can’t speak to how long they’d hold up if you mopped your floors every day. (Hahaha, mopping floors everyday; who does that?) Also, if you’re using the Puppy Treads on a high gloss real wood floor, I don’t know if the Puppy Treads would take any of the polyurethane off the floor when the Puppy Treads are removed. My guess is that they wouldn’t remove the poly (that’s pretty tough stuff), but because I didn’t try them on actual hardwood, I can’t speak to that flooring material.

About Puppy Treads

Size: 6″ high by 24″ long. They are easy to cut down to any size with a pair of regular scissors.
They’re fairly translucent, but it’s clear (haha) that they’re on the floor. The higher the gloss on the floor, the more readily apparent the treads will be.
Durability: they’ve withstood 16 paws and four feet for the past month without any trouble at all. That includes rainy and muddy weather.
Stick and unstick: these are easily removed whenever you want them to come up. If they’ve been down for awhile, I don’t think they’ll re-stick again with the same intensity as the first time around. Most important to me, though, wasn’t that I could move them from here to there, but that I could remove them without having to clean a lot of sticky residue afterward. I’ve since taken one of the treads completely off the floor and there wasn’t anything left behind.
They’re made right here in the U.S. (Illinois)
Made of vinyl and graded “high traction” by the National Floor Safety Institute.

These would be great on hardwood stairs — for people and dogs. We have only one set of stairs in our house (and they’re carpeted), so I didn’t have the opportunity to experiment with them on stairs, but I think that’s where they’d really shine.

Pricing

Per Puppy Tread: $7.99

4 Puppy Treads: $29.95

10 Puppy Treads: $69.95

If your dogs (or you!) are having traction problems on your floors, take a look at Puppy Treads. They fit the bill for us and have helped give Lily some added stability.

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