2008 August | Puppy In Training

National Assistance Dog Week

August 6, 2008 By Colby 4 Comments

This one came up in my RSS reader and I wanted to get a quick post up. Yep, it’s National Assistance Dog Week starting this Sunday August 10th.

What’s this all about? The full post can be found at this link: National Assistance Dog Week. To sum up: National Assistance Dog week is “…to honor the more than 20,000 dogs that assist people with disabilities. Their work ranges from guide to hearing dogs: from assisting those with mobility problems to alerting for sudden onset diseases like seizures or diabetes”.

National Assistance Dog Week

CRAWFORD, Colo., Aug 06, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — August 10-16 has been officially designated as National Assistance Dog Week to honor the more than 20,000 dogs that assist people with disabilities. Their work ranges from guide to hearing dogs: from assisting those with mobility problems to alerting for sudden onset diseases like seizures or diabetes. Literally and figuratively, assistance dogs have been opening doors for their partners since the early 1920s. With a service dog helper, people who were unable to leave their home can travel, go shopping, attend classes, or pursue employment. Federal laws assure that their dog is allowed access on public transportation and in public places. A service dog recipient is even guaranteed equal housing accommodation under the Fair Housing Act. Therefore, it is important for anyone working in the public sector to be informed about these valuable canines and the laws regarding their use.

Three-time service dog recipient Marcie Davis of New Mexico states that, with her dog, “All of a sudden the impossible seems possible. Virtually every area in your personal and professional life can be expanded and explored … Whatever you dreamed of accomplishing can be realized with the assistance of a service dog.” The dogs are specially trained for the needs of each recipient. They perform tasks such as opening doors, picking up dropped objects, helping a person with mobility issues, retrieving keys or even taking clothes out of the dryer. Success stories of service dog recipients abound. Her dog enabled Ms. Davis to pursue a career as president of Davis Innovations, a consulting firm specializing in health and human services.

This is what we’re working towards as puppy raisers. When people ask if it’s difficult to give up my puppy? I say yes, but the satisfaction of knowing that my puppy will be changing someone’s life is absolutely mind blowing.

Derby The Next Guide Dog?

I hope so, but you never really know. I’ve heard that your puppy will choose whether or not he wants to be a Guide Dog. I guess Stetson didn’t want to be a guide dog…I hope Derby chooses to be a Guide Dog. Either way I’ll be happy for him

I’m starting to get excited for Derby. Watching Dustin at graduation a week and a half ago was so insipiring. Derby is only 13 weeks old, but we’re working hard on his training…we’re getting there.

Positive thinking…we’ll take it one step at a time…puppy class tomorrow, and then…

Filed Under: Working Dog Tagged With: Derby, Dustin

How To Sing Your Puppies To Sleep

August 4, 2008 By Colby 4 Comments

Do you guys use StumbleUpon? It’s a great little application that allows you to find other websites you are likely interested in. Basically, you sign up for an account, install the StumbleUpon toolbar, and tell them a few of your interests then start stumbling by clicking the little stumble button on your toolbar. When you find pages you like click the “I like it” button …pages you don’t like you click the “I don’t like it” button. By check marking the webpages you like and don’t like you’re feeding StumbleUpon information that allows them to tailor your stumbles specifically for you.

Using StumbleUpon I found this great “how to video” on how to sing your puppies to sleep…well not really a “how to”, but he does sing the puppies to sleep. How he trained the puppies to go to sleep while he sings??? I’m not really sure. I’ve raised a few litters of puppies and wish I had this talent.

Actually when Stetson was a puppy I had to talk to him for 5-10 minutes before he’d fall asleep. If I didn’t talk to him and tell him what a good boy he was he’d whine, bark, cry, howl…He did this until he was about 4 months old. Now Stetson makes almost no noise…he doesn’t bark, howl, cry, or whine. Occasionally he makes that growling sound when he’s wrestling Linus or Derby or during tug-of-war.

Singing The Puppies To Sleep

Without further adieu…here’s the video:

Either I need a recording of the this guy singing his puppies to sleep or I need him to come over till my puppies get out of the whining stage of their lives.

Derby Training

How can I train my puppies to fall asleep in the crate this easily and at such a young age? Derby’s already well on his way to being well-behaved in his crate. However, on occasion he does bark for about 30 seconds before he settles into his crate and will also bark sometime when I get home (before I have a chance to take him out of the crate). I know with time and consistency Derby will get used to his crate, but as I said earlier: is there a way to speed up the process?

Now without StumbleUpon I may have never found this video which I had the chance to share with you today. By the way if you’re a StumbleUpon user please check the “I like it!” button if you like any of my articles. If you want to add me as a friend visit my StumbleUpon page and click the “add him as a friend” button.

Do you have any hints for getting your puppies to sleep? How about getting them used to the crate/tie downs? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Filed Under: Dog Training Tips Tagged With: crate training, Puppy Singing

Affordable Spay and Neutering

August 1, 2008 By Colby 2 Comments

I just got this one today from our OCGDA group leader. If you follow this blog I’m sure you know about the over population in our local shelters. Many agree that spaying and neutering your pet can drastically reduce the number of animals euthanized in our shelters each day.

Here’s the information I received from an email today:

Affordable Spay and Neuter Clinic

Affordable Spay and Neuter Clinic of South Orange County is opening Wednesday July 16th, 2008!

We need your help if this endeavor is going to succeed. Most everyone understands and believes that spay and neuter is the key to drastically reducing the number of euthanized animals in shelters. Efforts like The Pet Rescue Center are fantastic but do little to stem the tide. Many of you have personally requested that I focus on low-cost spay and neuter. Well, not only have I done that at Alicia Pet Care Center, but now I have built a facilty specifically dedicated to that effort. Additionally, all net proceeds from the Affordable Spay and Neuter Clinic will be donated to The Pet Rescue Center.

Now I need your help. We need to get the word out immediately to the public that this option exists. I anticipate to have some significant media coverage but it is slow in coming and I cannot rely on it at this time. I have also sent out several emails and phone calls for some financial help but have received none. This means that we are running with no safety net in place for slow days.

I need you to send out this email to some of your email list and suggest that they do the same.

I need you to utilize our services if you are with a rescue group.

I need you to print the flier (webpage) that is available here: www.affordablespays.com and display it at your place of business.

I need you to contact anyone that you know in the media (tv, online, newspaper, magazines, etc.) and request that they do a story on spay and neuter and our effort to save the pet world.

We truly need your help if this is to succeed. I thank you in advance for all of your efforts on our behalf. You are doing much to ensure a solution to this ever growing problem in Southern California.

Wish us luck!

Dr. Matthew Wheaton

The Affordable Spay And Neuter Clinic Flier

You can click on the image below to magnify the size.

Here’s text of most of the information contained on the flier:

Make your appointment today…Call (877) 277-7938
or Email: info [at] affordablespays [dot] com
Open Monday-Friday 7am-6pm

Pricing	*Pricing Cont.*
Cat Neuter: $50	Cat in heat surcharge: $20
Cat Spay: $75	Cat pregnant surcharge: $30
Dog Neuter under 20lbs: $75	Dog in heat surcharge: $30
Dog Neuter over 20lbs: $100	Dog in pregnant surcharge: $50
Dog Spay under 50lbs: $100	Vaccines: $12-$17 each
Dog Spay over 50lbs: $2 per lb.	Microchip: $25 plus 1st year registration

Pre-Anesthetic Blood Panel (Optional): $50
(determines your pet is healthy enough to undergo anesthesia)
Small Umbilical Hernia Repair: $50

*Sorry, we do not accept personal checks*
Cash or Credit Card only

All cats must leave the clinic in a cat carrier. If you cannot provide one when you drop off your cat, one can be purchased for $7

We do not accept any animals other than Dogs and Cats

Affordable Spay and Neuter Clinic offers low-cost spay and neuter services but with a high quality service. Most patients will receive an iv catheter and iv fluids during their procedure to ensure proper hydration and blood pressure. (Male cat neuters will not routinely receive iv catheters due to the short procedure time.)

Our patients will also be anesthetized with safe anesthetic agents and will be maintained during their procedures with Sevoflurane which is seen as the safest inhalant anesthetic in veterinary medicine. Patients will have anesthetic monitoring via pulse oximetry, EKG, and blood pressure. All patients will be sent home with pain medications at no extra charge.

We recommend but do not require pre-anesthetic blood work for all surgeries. Blood testing can be performed at an additional cost in the clinic the day of the procedure.

Our doctors are experienced and trained specifically on methods to increase safety and efficiency with spays and neuters. We only employ veterinarians that are licensed in California.

Best Of Luck To The Clinic

I don’t usually like to forward emails, so anytime I come across something I feel like forwarding I just post to my website. Hopefully I can bring awareness to some and help out the Affordable Spay and Neuter Clinic.

Filed Under: Dog Medical And Safety Tagged With: Spay and Neuter