News Archives - Page 15 of 62 - Smart Dog University

Lake + Dogs = Vacation

August 9, 2012

We are ready for vacation! Well, the dogs don’t really know that vacation starts tomorrow, but they will be happily suprised when we start loading the car!

Every year since we’ve been married, my husband and I have loaded all the dogs into the car and headed to Lake Anna.

We love to vacation with the dogs. We love to do just about everything with the dogs, really.

When we took our dream trip to Europe a couple of years ago, the phrase that kept coming out of our mouths was “Wow, would the dogs love this!” We were on our 10th day (or a 14 day trip) when I started to wish we were going home the next day. In the middle of the Black Forest, a spectacularly beautiful spot, I’m wishing I was back home with the dogs. That’s just not right. But it’s how we are.

Do you vacation with your dog(s)? Where do you go? What do you do? Do your dogs like it? (Ask me about my Aussie [long gone, now] we took camping and how miserable she was, poor girl. I have pictures to prove it.)

If you don’t (or can’t) take your dog, do they stay with family? Boarding facility? Do you have someone come stay at your house?

Leave a comment below and let me know!

How Dogs Beat the Record Heat (Labradors Love Water!)

July 2, 2012

This was a pretty special weekend for us: Caysun turned 1 (June 30), it was my husband’s birthday (June 30), and we had a fantastic time beating the record heat wave that came through the mid-Atlantic region. And, as regular blog readers know, it was Caysun’s swan song weekend: she’ll be leaving us in exactly one week to continue her training at Service Dogs of Virginia. But we won’t bring this post down by talking about that dreadful day. That post’ll come, though, believe me.

Sure, the temps were over 100 degrees. But a with a lake, a boat, and swimming, those Labradors ate that heat wave up and spit it back out! Ain’t no heat gonna stop the Labradors from enjoying the lake!

Caysun also learned to really swim this weekend. She’s waded before, and she’s had to swim to shore after falling off the dock, but she learned to swim voluntarily. Once she had a little taste of it, we couldn’t keep her out of the lake. (We did have her in a doggie life vest when we took her out in the boat — better safe than sorry…)

Caysun, black Labrador pup, learning to swim. She's a service dog in training.

The first step is the hardest, Caysun!

Caysun and Tango

Tango LOVES the water and his bumper!

Caysun’s visiting the neighbor.

Labs, Labrador retriever, yellow Lab, black Lab,

Caysun loves to mess with Tango’s stuff.

Caysun, ready to swim off the boat!

Swimming is so tiring for Baby Caysun!

Tango and his trusty bumper.

Nemo is supervising the lake activities

Caysun’s a tired pup.

The Dog Trainer Blues

June 27, 2012

I’ve had a long, dry spell of melancholy. Which explains my lack of posting and checking in here on the blog. These bouts are few and far between, but when I hit a skid into a training funk, it’s best for me to keep my mouth closed…or my hands quiet on the blog.

There are several contributing factors to this funk. Briefly:

uneducated veterinarians (few and far between, thankfully) who provide outdated, inaccurate information to their clients about dog behavior
dog owners who are unwilling to listen to facts or to reason
dog owners who only want to hear the easy answer — even if it isn’t the right answer

Add to storm above that my sweet Baby Caysun’s going to be leaving us in two weeks [and there’s no replacement pup on the radar yet] and you’ve got one big, emotional, grumpy, and frustrated trainer on your hands.

I’ve started [and finished and deleted] blog posts about all the things I listed above. I’ve made it my life’s ambition to walk the clicker training walk, though, and found that almost all of the posts I wrote were not in the clicker training frame of mind. So I simply went silent.

The good news is that my funk has stabilized. I think I’ve hit rock bottom. The only place to go from here is UP! We’re stealing away with the dogs this weekend to my parents place on Lake Anna. It’ll be sweet Baby Caysun’s swan song — her last trip to the lake with us (I’m tearing up even thinking about it…) and I’m taking my shiny, new, fancy camera to get lots of pictures of that sweet girl. And video. And even underwater video with our cool GoPro camera! I’ll post lots of pics and video upon our return.

If you’ve got an uplifting story about your dog, please leave me a comment! I need a little good news long about now…

I Am A Reactive Dog

April 27, 2012

I’m at K9 Nose Work Camp in Cleveland, GA. It’s in the foothills of the mountains, a beautiful place, really. But along with the beauty comes wildlife. I’m not a city-girl (not that there’s anything wrong with that), so I’m used to critters. Heck, I pick up bumblebees, save spiders, and move toads out of the dogs’ reach. I’m pro-wildlife.

Just as I’d moved everything into my cabin, this big old snake comes slithering by. I’m ok with snakes and other slithering creatures as long as they stay outside, especially if I’m inside.

After my snake encounter, I found myself jumping at slightest noise in the leaves. I investigated every room I entered, checking for a snake or lizard or salamander.

I now have a small idea of what reactive dogs go through. I know my reactivity isn’t logical. I know snakes don’t want to get close to me. However: I’m now hyper-vigilant whenever I hear something move in the leaves. I jump at the slightest movement or sound. It could be a bird hopping among the leaves, it doesn’t matter. I’m getting the heck away from there — and quick!

This morning, on my way to breakfast, yet again, something moved in the leaves. It’s been two days since my snake run-in (with no other snake spottings), but I yelped and jumped. Run first, investigate later.

My heart was racing and I felt almost angry. When further inspection revealed the creature that made the noise — a toad, for goodness sake! — I was rattled. A toad? I pick these things up all the time. I am definitely not afraid of a toad. But that one experience — and it wasn’t a terrible one, nothing awful happened to me (except I was scared) — has now molded my entire camp experience. If I had to live the rest of my life like this, I would be a very unhappy person. Thankfully, I know this reactivity will naturally fade.

If I were a dog, I think I would probably have bitten the closest thing to me. Just out of frustration, adrenaline, and anxiety. And if my owner hired a trainer who would correct me for my reaction to the noises in the leaves, I know I would bite! My reaction is reflexive – I’m not thinking before I yelp and jump. And lastly, being reactive is exhausting; it’s frustrating!

If you have a reactive dog, know that they aren’t being reactive just to annoy you. They aren’t reactive because they want to be. They’re reactive because they can’t help it.

My Old Dog

April 16, 2012

After our R.E.A.D. programs at the local elementary schools every week, Tango exits the schools then takes me on a short sniff walk.

He’s almost nine years old now. Our walks are a little different now than they were even two or three years ago. They’re more…aimless now. When he was younger, he’d follow my lead, keep up with my pace changes, look to me for where we were going and what we’d do.

Today, though, I noticed that Tango definitely led the walk. We went at his pace, he sniffed where he wanted, and he was much less open to my suggestions.

I’m not particularly keen on watching my boy age. There’s no alternative — no acceptable one, that is — to seeing him get old, I know that. But on today’s sniff walks, he seemed more “old man” than usual.

His face is getting gray, yes it’s true. You can see the old man face coming in. For a long time, I was so proud of his “puppy face.” Wherever we’d go, people would ask his age and be surprised when I’d say 5 or 6 — even 7 years old. “But he looks like just a pup!” they’d exclaim. I’d smile and say “yes, he’ll be forever a pup.”

Now, though, he’s growing into his old and wise face that comes only with age. I never thought about Tango aging. Why would I? He’d never be anywhere but by my side for the rest of my life, right? I don’t even need to think about life after Tango, do I?

Oh, he’s still spry and frisky and ready to roll — he’s not done living yet! (Regarless of my melancholy post…) He’ll still chase the tennis ball enthusiastically, he’ll still jump in and play with the others when the ruckus is just right. And as much as I love the face of an old dog, it does give me pause, makes my heart stop for just a beat, for I simply can’t bear to think about how quickly dogs live their lives.

Tango’s only nine — he’s got quite a few years left. And my melancholy mood will be fleeting, I’m sure. It just feels odd to enter another phase of Tango’s life — his mature years. It’ll take some getting used to on my part.

How to Stuff a Kong (or MANY Kongs!)

March 12, 2012

When you’re stuffing Kongs for 4 dogs, it’s helpful to pre-stuff a bunch, freeze ’em, then you’ve got them ready to go whenever you need them. I use the Kongs to buy me some time if I’m working on a project — occupied dogs are good dogs. Also, every dog in my house gets a stuffed, frozen Kong as I’m walking out the door. They love to see me leave (and don’t, therefore, stress about my leaving or being gone) — it’s a preventative measure to avoid separation anxiety.

Our basket of empty Kongs.

Today as I stuffed Kongs, I took pictures, too, so you can see the process from beginning to end. We start with a basket of empty Kongs. I will run these through the dishwasher about once a month (top rack, no heat) just to clean all the spooge off. It’s for my sanity only — the dogs do not mind the spooge, believe me.

We stuff our Kongs with peanut butter.

So we start with peanut butter — you can put almost anything in that your dog likes. Some ideas: cream cheese, canned pumpkin, leftover mashed potatoes, plain yogurt, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese — pretty much anything that’s gooey. You don’t have to stop there — if you really want to keep your dog busy, toss in a few kibbles and shake the Kong around so the kibbles stick to the sides. Or, add some apple or banana pieces (no grapes or raisins — these are toxic).

PB is ready to go into the Kongs.

So. Now you’ve got your filling and your Kongs. Now just slide that knife into your filling, then put that filling all over the inside of the Kong. So the peanut butter’s on the knife, now just run the knife along the inside of the Kong. I try to evenly distribute the peanut butter, but that’s because I’m a control freak and like to have everything just so. The dogs don’t care how the PB is distributed just so long as there’s PB in that Kong!

PB stuffed inside the Kong.

After the Kong is stuffed, I drop it into a big plastic bag. Why the plastic bag? We put our stuffed Kongs in the freezer. Frozen peanut butter takes longer for the dogs to get out, so it keeps them occupied for longer.

Kongs get dropped into a plastic bag.

This plastic bag also keeps all the Kongs together so I can find them easily. And it keeps my freezer a little cleaner.

The Kongs are ready for the freezer.

All that’s left now is popping the entire bag of peanut butter filled Kongs into the freezer and letting them get frozen. Now I’m ready for the week ahead! Or at least ready for the next few days, that is.

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