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WARNING: Do Not Leave Children with Dogs Unattended

March 26, 2009 By 3 Comments

This one showed up yesterday in my email.  I don’t like forwarding my emails and instead post my favorites here on the website.   I hope you enjoy!

Please read!

If you are an owner of a dog that belongs to a ‘dangerous breed’ category and you also have a small child please take this as a warning. Don’t leave your dog with the child unattended under any circumstances.

Only a little moment was enough for the following to happen. See the photo …..

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Dog vs Child

This post probably falls in the category with our other Dog Versus Child posts.  If you missed our past Dog Versus Child posts then take a look at these links:

Children Versus Dogs

Children Versus Dogs Round 2

Great Image!  I hope it put a smile on your face!

Filed Under: Dog Humor Tagged With:

Surf Dog’s at Huntington Dog Beach

March 23, 2009 By 1 Comment

Have you been to the Huntington Dog Beach before? Our Guide Dog puppies aren’t allowed at the dog beach, but Linus and Stetson have been to dog Beach. Derby has had the luxury of going to the regular beach where regular dogs aren’t allowed. Here’s a puppy picture of Derby at the beach last summer.

Derby At The Beach

I just got this information about the Surf City Surf Dog at Huntington Beach. Check it out. As soon as I saw this it reminded us of our good friend Dustin the Surf Dog (he changed his title to Guide Dog).

Surf DogCalling all dog lovers!
Introducing for the first time ever, Surf City Surf Dog! Taking place on October 11, 2009, at Huntington Dog Beach, the inaugural Surf City Surf Dog is bound to attract attention, as “man’s best friend” takes on the challenge of surfing! Yes, dogs will be surfing! So grab your surfboard and pup and join us! Or, if surfing isn’t your thing, enter one of our MANY contests:

* Cutest Puppy
* Owner-Dog Look-Alike
* Howleen Costume Contest
* And more

Surf City Surf Dog benefits:
Huntington Dog Beach, OC Humane Society, Boxer Orange County Animal Rescue, Cuddly Canines Rescue and Coastal German Shepherd Rescue. Visit www.SurfCitySurfDog.com for more information.

It sounds like a good time. I think I might try to make it out. It might be too much activity for the dogs, but would be fun for me to attend!

Filed Under: Dog Events Tagged With:

Crate Training Puppies – 14 Useful Tips

March 18, 2009 By 4 Comments

In theory crate training puppies sounds simple.  A quick note: I often use the term crate and kennel interchangeably throughout this article.

Crate Training Theory: Your puppy does not want to poop or pee in the place he sleeps…put him in his crate (make sure it’s not too big or he’ll pee/poop on one side and sleep on the other) and he won’t poop or pee (unless he really has to). I wrote this article on How To Crate Train Your Puppy In 5 Easy Steps. Of course it’s not always easy to crate train your puppy.

Not long ago I received an email asking me for hints on how to get a new puppy from crying, howling, barking in his kennel during the night. I’ve actually received many emails asking me for similar advice.

Today, I compiled a list of all the tricks and hints I’ve tried with my puppies or heard have worked with other puppies. If you’re a regular reader on my blog then you’ll know that two out of my last three puppies did not enjoy the kennel and barked, howled, and cried throughout the night during their early days. If this is your first night at home with your puppy you also might want to take a look at this article: how to handle your puppies first night at home.

Crate Training Puppies – 14 Useful Tips

Every puppy is different. Some have no problems with their kennel while others (as you know) have a difficult time adjusting to the kennel. To answer your questions: yes, you do need to just leave him in the kennel and yes, expect to be woken up 3-4 times a night during the first week or two. Try to do your best to stick with your puppy and be consistent with his training. Every time you take him out of the kennel and reward him for whining by letting him sleep on the bed he’s learning that whining will get him what he wants.

Puppies are difficult to raise. It definitely takes a commitment. It can take a couple days for him to get used to the crate all the way up to a couple months.

Here are some suggestions you can try that might help you:

  1. If he’s crying you should try taking him out to see if he has to go potty. After you take him out bring him straight back to the crate.
  2. Cut off his water and food at least an hour and half before bed time. That way he won’t wake up as many times in the middle of the night.
  3. Try playing with him a lot before bedtime to tire him out.
  4. If it’s a wire crate try enclosing it by putting a sheet over it.
  5. If the crate’s not near your bed try putting it near your bed where he can see you.
  6. Try sleeping on the floor next to the crate.
  7. Feed him all his meals in his crate.
  8. Put some snuggly toys in the crate to keep him company.
  9. During the day when he takes a nap move him to the crate. You can try this with the door open or closed.
  10. Try leaving the door open but lying down across the doorway of the crate as if to nap with him, to make him feel more comfortable in the crate, and at the same time make my body block the doorway.
  11. If he’s in the crate and he’s not crying give him lots of praise.
  12. Try the heart beat toy. I’ve heard of a toy that simulates the mom’s heartbeat that helps the puppy sleep. Try this toy: Petstages Heartbeat Pillow
  13. Try the heated toy. I’ve also heard of a toy that has a thing on the inside that you can warm on the inside and insert in the toy. Makes the puppy feel like he’s with one of his litter mates. Try this toy: Pet Stages Warming Soother
  14. The one that worked for me and Stetson – I was a wreck and I thought Stetson would never get used to his crate. The only way I was able to get him to sleep was to talk to him for 5-10 minutes, telling him what a “good boy” he was when he wasn’t crying (if he did cry I would just keep silent tell he stopped). To try and quiet him down I’d either say “quiet” or “Shhh”.

By the way, if you leave anything in the crate with your puppy make sure he doesn’t start eating or chewing on anything that may be harmful to him.

Try to be consistent with your puppy. Try not to take him out of the crate unless he stops whining even if just for an instant.

One last tip: If you’re lucky enough to pick your puppy out of a litter be sure and bring a plush toy with you and rub it all over his litter mates. Then when you get home and it’s time for bed put the toy in the crate with your puppy. The scent of the litter will make him feel more at home and give him the feeling that he’s sleeping with one of his litter mates.

Best of luck with your puppy. Let me know if any of the above suggestions work for you.

What do you do when crate training puppies?

Filed Under: Dog Training Tips Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Puppy In Training Blog Carnival #8

March 17, 2009 By 2 Comments

Welcome back to another edition of the Puppy In Training Blog Carnival.  This is our eight edition and I thought I’d do something slightly different with the formatting.  We have five submissions this month and I’m going to feature my favorite submitted article first as the editor’s choice.  In the future as we have more submissions I’ll also do my best to categorize each article.

Anyhow, lets get started with the Editor’s Choice Award:

Editor’s Choice

  • The Organic Family Circle blog put together a very helpful article on pet allergies and how these allergies can be treated organically.  In the article: Healing Your Pet’s Allergies as well as Your Own Can Often Be Done Organically! Try Using Organic Feeds and Supplements it mentions many possible causes and solutions to your pets allergies.  Stetson, my Labrador Retriever has had a skin allergy and it seems to have cleared up after changing his diet to hypo-allergenic feed just as it’s mentioned in the article.  If you’re having issues with allegies and your dog you might want to take a peak at this article.

Blog Carnival Featured Articles

  • Dog Training Step By Step really gives you step by step rules on how to be the alpha dog in your house.  How to become your dog’s Alpha dog gives 9 tips several of which I’ve heard from my trainers on how to become the alpha dog.  The article reminds me a lot of the Cesar Millan DVD’s I watched not too long ago and it talks about how the dog is a descendant of wolves and how understanding the behavior of wolves will help you understand your dog.  Check out the article to see the 9 steps towards becoming the alpha dog.
  • I never thought about getting an impression of my dog or puppy’s paw, but that’s exactly what Baby Footprint Graphic Blog talks about in Creative Paw Prints and Impressions – Ideas For Creating That Lasting Memory of Your Pet.  I totally agree that after your dog passes you can never have enough pictures, videos, and other memento to remind you of your dog.  Heck, I still wish I had more pictures of my dogs as puppy’s!  There are some great ideas on how to get that “oh-so-valuable” paw impression, so when you have a chance check out this article.
  • Training Fido teaches how to keep your dog from jumping on people when you have visitors at the front door.  How to teach Fido not to jump on people gives some great pointers on things you can do to keep your dog calm when you have visitors at the door.  This is definitely a problem I run into with my three dogs.  We’ve worked on it on and off, but as I’ve mentioned time and time again on this blog you need to be consistent with your training and expect good behavior from your dogs everytime.
  • What would a Blog Carnival be without a funny photo?  Take a look at this image of Dick Cheney’s dog at the Cute Dog and Puppy Pictures Blog.  Sorry, the title of the article kind of gives it away: Instead, It Turns Out Dick Cheney’s Dog Was Darth Vader!

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Puppy In Training Blog Carnival.  If you’re interested in submitting an article then please go to the contact form or leave me a comment in the comment section below.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Dog Tagged With: , , , ,

Ranger The Brindle Labrador Retriever

March 16, 2009 By 10 Comments

Sorry it’s been a while I took a short vacation to Colorado for a little snowboarding. While I was gone I got a few more pictures of Brindle and Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers. These images are from one of our readers who found out her dog, Ranger was a purebred Labrador Retriever after getting a DNA test done. You can see Jenny’s full comment in the comment section of our Brindle Labrador Retriever post.

Here are the pictures of Ranger along with the email I received about him:

Ranger The Brindle Labrador Retriever

Ranger The Brindle Lab Puppy

Brindle Lab

Brindle Lab Puppy Days

Brindle Lab

Ranger

Ranger Brindle Lab

Ranger Relaxing on the Grass

Brindle Lab

Ranger Barking

Brindle Lab

Thanks for sending me your e-mail so I can show off Ranger to everybody. Here are some pictures of him. The first two are from when we first adopted him. He was about 10-12 weeks old. The third is a few months later. The last two are from 2007, so Ranger would have been about 3 years old then. Let me tell you about Ranger. You can edit as much of this as you’d like, of course. Ranger was adopted from the North Shore Animal League here on Long Island in 2004. As soon as we laid eyes on him, we knew he was the dog for us, so we went ahead and brought him home to a somewhat bewildered pair of cats. There was no problem introducing them. Everybody got along just fine.

Ranger’s training was just about as simple an operation as any dog owner would ever want to have. He was housetrained within one week, and learned the simple commands of sit, stay, down and come within only a day or two. On the advice of, well, everybody, we tried training him with a cage, but he hated it, my husband hated it, and I hated it. I’d never trained a dog like that before and I probably won’t try it ever again. I’ll stick to what I know how to do.

When our family went up to our lake house in Pennsylvania soon after we got him, he did not hesitate one second before jumping right in and swimming out to the boat filled with my husband and boys for a day of fishing. He spent that day curled up in the boat and taking occasional dips to cool off and get a drink. He was about 15 weeks old then, but to this day he won’t let the boat leave without him.

As I mentioned, we live on Long Island, so there are plenty of squirrels to chase, and chase them he does, but not before going through a rather catlike stalking which includes a picture perfect “point” stance. In addition, my husband does hunt, and has taken him on a few hunting trips. He has done very well in the field, though hubby and I are not really sure how to train a dog for hunting. It doesn’t seem to matter that we’re incompetent, ’cause the dog does exactly what he’s told to do and doesn’t crush the game in his mouth. He is utterly unafraid of the gunshot.

Our house in not empty too often (I am a stay-at-home mom), but there has been no problem leaving him at home alone. He is not destructive in the least. But if someone IS home…Ranger will be with him. Whenever we’re around, the dog is somewhere close by and often falls asleep on your feet (like he’s doing right now while I’m typing this). He gets along wonderfully with our cats and is friendly and gregarious with other dogs and people.

That is not to say that he isn’t protective of his family. He intensely dislikes it when the boys shout at each other or fight. Should they begin a tussle, Ranger will get between them and bark. If the smoke alarm goes off (like when we’re broiling something), he barks like crazy and always gets a treat for his excellent supplementary alarm system.

All in all, he’s a great dog and we couldn’t be happier with him. This whole “what’s my dog” thing has been a lot of fun for our family, and now that we know what he is, it’s also been very interesting, too!

Hope you like the pictures of our wonderful dog. I don’t know what we’d do without him.

PS: Ranger does do one strange thing: He eats like a cat. What I mean is, when his food is put down for him, he doesn’t do what most dogs do, namely scarf the whole thing up in about two seconds. No…he eats a few bites and walks away from his bowl, coming back throughout the day to graze. When he is finished, he picks up his bowl and carries it to us for a refill. I’ve never seen this behavior in a dog before.

If you’d like to read more about Brindle and Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers check out these articles:

Brindle and Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers

Black And Tan Labrador Retrievers

Brindle Labrador Retrievers

Filed Under: Pure Bred Dogs Tagged With: , ,

Brindle and Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers

March 3, 2009 By 10 Comments

We’ve posted several times about Purebred Brindle and Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers. Just the other day I received an email from one of our readers with some great pictures of his two Brindle Labs.

Here are the earlier posts including information about the Purebred Brindle and Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers:

Black And Tan Labrador Retrievers

Brindle Labrador Retrievers

Here are the pictures I received:

Brindle Labrador Retrievers

Tora and Maia

Brindle Labrador Retrievers Tora and Maia

Brindle Labrador Retrievers Tora and Maia Hunting

Brindle Labrador Retrievers Tora and Maia Hunting

Here’s what Bill had to say about his two dogs:

Here are a few more shots of Maia and Tora, our brindled labs. As you can see, Tora has grown quite a bit. Also attached are hunting photos, one of both dogs working an area of red grass and sage’ and two of Tora on a point.

Tora has turned out to be a natural pointer. One of her great-grandfathers was a famous pointing lab, Sir Hershey of Sussex. So is Maia’s, but she won’t stay put when she gets close to a bird. Tora, when by herself, will hold. Stopping and pointing is natural; however, I still give her strong commands to stay to reinforce and maintain this skill. Sorry I didn’t get the bird in the photo. It ended up being a Hun, a Hungarian partridge. We were hunting in Strasburg, CO.

Bill: Thanks for the great pictures of Maia and Tora! We hope to see and hear more about your two Brindled Labrador Retrievers in the near future.

Filed Under: Pure Bred Dogs Tagged With: ,