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Tonight is the local minor league baseball's Bark in the Park. For one night only, your dog can enjoy Major League Baseball with you! We've made this an annual event for the last several years. Not because we're baseball fans (we're football fans), but because we think the dogs really enjoy getting out and seeing different sights. 

And sharing popcorn, peanuts, and yes, even a hot dog!

Here's the trouble: I traveled for work over the weekend and got in at 3:30a this morning. After a quick nap, the dogs got me up and I've been going full-tilt ever since. All I really want to do is eat an early dinner and go to bed!

But.

The dogs only get one chance a year to go to the baseball game. I'm sure they know we've got this planned, so it's not like I I'll disappoint them if I decide to stay home. But I would disappoint myself if I let them miss a fun opportunity like this. 

So. I'm schlepping my sleepy self out tonight so my dogs can enjoy a really cool, fun, exciting night. 

Does that make me weird? Crazy? Off my rocker?

Or does that make me a good, thoughtful dog owner?

It was a great Saturday for Bark in the Park at Utica District Park in Frederick. The weather was terrific, the dogs were great, and I had a fun time meeting lots of new people. 

I was, of course, working the booth, which makes it almost impossible to have a dog with me. But my husband stopped by for the festivities and he brought good ol' Nemo with him, so I wasn't really dogless. 

Nemo had a fun time in the large dog off-leash area, found lots of friends, and played his heart out.

 I spotted four Great Danes and lured them over to my booth. I couldn't resist getting the chance to talk to four Danes!

I got this picture of the Danes when they'd gone next door to Mary Kate McKenna's Sweet Paws booth. She's the one who took all those cool pictures of my dogs. If you take a look at the picture with the Danes, you might notice two very familiar blue eyes in the picture, dead center. That'd be Big T!

I'll be back out in my booth for another Frederick dog event on May 21: Walk N Wag! Come out and visit — bring your dog!

 

 

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Here's one of the articles contained in May's newsletter, it's all about your dog's nose and how you can take advantage of it. Click to download the PDF version.  Download 5_K9NW

I won't even put a picture on this blog post. I'm too embarrased. I spent all weekend cleaning. And cleaning. And then cleaning a little bit more. Actually, I wish I would have taken a picture of all the dog hair I vacummed and swept. 

The worst part? I need to clean still more. 

This is the life of a family with four dogs. Who might, on any given day, have five or six dogs in the house, depending on if we're watching someone else's dog(s), too. That's a lot of hair. A lot of slobber. A lot of dog toys hither and thither. 

I've worked six out of the last seven weekends. The house had gotten to a state that was, well, scary. As I was dashing off to private training appointments, I'd glance over my shoulder as I walked out of the house and this thought went through my mind:

I hope I don't wind up missing. The police detectives would have to come to this house and see all the dog hair rolling along on the floor like tumbleweeds in the desert.  

I wish I was kidding, but that really was one of the thoughts I had… I don't know why I'd turn up missing, nor was I even worried that I'd be missing. I was just worried that someone would come in and see the mess. 

The one thing that didn't slip? The quality of life for the dogs. They always had a freezer-full of stuffed Kong's and Squirrel Dudes. They always had a sparking clean water bowl with fresh water — and ice, don't you know. Heck, when I did way-overdue laundry, their dog beds were the first to go into the washer!

As I'm home a little more now, I hope to restore the house to it's normal state. Never clean, but at least tolerable. 

I teach dog owners how to notice and reinforce their dog's good behavior and how to get more of that good behavior.  

It generally follows, then, that I am often asked: "How do I stop my dog from doing bad things." It's a fair question – how do you get rid of the bad stuff?!

It's relatively easy and there are a few different options. Let's take a look at the solution in detail. First, take a look at that picture. Those are library books. Damage courtesy of Talos, the Great Dane.

If I'm wearing my Dog Trainer Hat, my first question to this owner (me, obviously) would be: How did the dog get those books? Dogs have a hard time getting in trouble if we limit their access to get-in-trouble things (like library books). In this specific situation, I had to make a quick dash to the grocery store, wasn't gone more than 30 minutes. I was too lazy to crate Talos and this is the scene to which I returned. 

Many dog owners think their dogs should "know better." What do they (the dogs) know? That this was a library book? That it cost money? What the heck is money to a dog?! To Talos, this was just something new to chew. It might as well been a brand new dog toy I bought him. (In the end, I guess, it was…)

So. If you don't want your dog to do something, limit his options! I told you this was going to be relatively easy. When you limit your dog's options, you'll also provide ample opportunity for your dog to get involved in acceptable behaviors. In my case, the easy solution would have been to crate Talos with a peanut-butter-stuffed Kong. That would have kept him out of trouble and reinforced him for being in the crate. But more importantly, it would reduce his habit of chewing on things on the coffee table. 

If you can't do it, you don't develop a habit for it. Simple, simple, simple. 

Think about all those things you want to stop your dog from doing. Here are some of the most common complaints and easy, simple solutions:

• Problem: Raiding the trash. Solution: cover the trash with a lid or put it out of reach of the dog. (He can't find out how delectable items in the trash are if he can't get his head into the trash bin.)
• Problem: Jumping on you and guests. Solution: Put your dog on a leash so he can't reach the guests AND teach him to sit in the midst of distractions. 
• Problem: Barking at people from inside the house. Solution: Close the blinds so he can't see out AND teach him how to speak and shhh when you ask him to (and then don't ask him to speak very often). 
• Problem: Chewing the table, baseboard, shoes. Solution: Keep a keen eye on your dog. Don't let him out of sight. Redirect him to an appropriate doggie chew toy and then praise effusely when he pays attention to his own toys. 

I could go on, but you're getting the picture. It's pretty simple once you start thinking like a dog!

My dogs spent last week at Lake Anna living it up while I was at K9 Nose Work (TM) camp. I was working, the dogs were vacationing. 

I always wonder: what do the dogs think about vacations? I don't think they even have "vacation" as a concept. I think it's just "a whole lotta fun" to them. 

I have Labradors, dogs of the water. My parents' place is on the water – the dogs go out the back door and trot (race!) to the water's edge every day. What a life. I've been badgering my husband to put a pool in our backyard for the dogs. He was a lifeguard as a teenager and he keeps telling me there's too much upkeep involved. 

The dogs beg to differ, I keep telling him. 

While our three dogs went to Lake Anna to spend the week with my parents and their Rottweiler, Ike was on vacation, too. He went to a puppy sitter — the same woman who kept him when he was but a tiny 8-week old pup. She was happy to reuinite with him and take note of how much he'd grown. Ike enjoyed her black Labrador — a very spry nine year old, Rosie, who kept Ike in check. 

Anyway, I was gone for a week from the dogs, they had no idea where I was or why there were where they were, but from all accounts every one of them had a fun time while on vacation. Sometimes I would like to have their outlook — it seems to be something like this: take every day as it comes, don't worry about why or when, just enjoy it as it happens. 

Pretty good words to live by…