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Christmas Puppy – Are They A Good Gift?

November 27, 2009 By 17 Comments

You’ve seen it before maybe in a commercial or in a clever magazine advertisement with the image of a Christmas puppy in the stocking. It’s irresistible! How can anyone pass up the chance to purchase a Christmas Puppy for their loved one on the twenty-fifth of December?  The holidays just wouldn’t be right without your rollie pollie little Christmas puppy playing with empty gift wrappings and ribbons…[fade from dream sequence back into reality]

Christmas Puppy?

Christmas Puppy

Photo by Fauxen

While all sounds wonderful in the thoughts and images of a new puppy for Christmas I have to put my foot down and say “DON’T DO IT!”

I’m not going to look up the statistics right now, but I’m willing to wager that a number of these so-called Christmas Puppies end up in animal shelters anywhere from a few weeks to a few months later.

Why Not?

Let me start off by saying a puppy is a lot of a work…A LOT OF WORK…

I get tons of emails at this site saying

I just got a new puppy:

  • How do I get him to stop crying/barking/howling?
  • How do I get him to stop peeing/pooping in the house?
  • How do I get him to stop biting/mouthing?
  • How do I get him crate trained?
  • How do I get him to stop chewing my valuables?
  • How do I…

The list goes on and on.  I admit that puppies are very cute.  They seem like they would make a great Christmas gift, but just say NO!

Puppy As A Gift

Here’s how I’d go about getting a puppy as a gift.

  • I like surprises so I’d just plan a day with my girlfriend and behind the scenes I’d set up an appointment(s) with a puppy rescue(s).  You can find local puppy rescues by searching through the Petfinder.com website.  We volunteer with a great puppy rescue called Cuddly Canines if you live in the Orange County, California area.
  • Purchase a great puppy training book like the Puppies For Dummies book and wrap it.  On the way to your first puppy rescue you can give your girlfriend the book and explain what your going to be doing for the day.
  • If your girlfriend is uninterested in a new puppy as a gift then you can just spend a nice day together looking at puppies (who can resist puppy watching?).  If she is interested then you can start the discussion of the responsibility of caring for a puppy as well as seeing some prospects during your day.

You may need to adapt this for Christmas as I’m sure puppy rescues would not be showing their puppies on Christmas day.

A few more pointers:

  • If indeed you decide that a puppy is in your future please avoid purchasing your puppy from the pet store.  The majority of these puppies come from puppy mills which are horrible places.  Read more about puppy mills here.
  • Again if you do decide that a puppy is in your future then please consider adopting your puppy from a local animal rescue or shelter.  If you’re like us and you’re interested in becoming a more green eco-friendly family then one of the greenest things you can do is adopt your puppy from the shelter or animal rescue.
  • Make sure you’re informed and know exactly what your getting into.  I’d suggest reading the entire Puppies For Dummies book before making any decisions on purchasing a puppy.  There are some great tips in the book on how to choose a puppy: puppy temperament tests, breed selection, and many more.

One final thought.  If you plan on getting a Christmas puppy then make sure your significant other is ready to take on the responsibility of a new puppy.  A puppy as a Christmas gift is usually a bad idea because people just simply aren’t ready for that kind of responsibility.

I think that pretty much sums it up.  If your truly bent on getting your loved one a  puppy for Christmas then please try following my “Puppy As A Gift” idea rather than taking the full plunge without the consent of your girlfriend or boyfriend.

This article contains affiliate links.  If you click the links on this page and make a purchase we will receive a small monetary commission that we will use to help cover the costs of running the Puppy In Training website.

Filed Under: Dog Adoptions, Featured Tagged With: , , ,

Pet E.R. Guide Review

November 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Are you the type of person who always takes his dogs on vacation?  If so, then the Pet E.R. Guide might be something to add to your dog traveling kit.

The Pet E.R. Guide

So what exactly ist the Pet E.R. Guide?  It’s a book/directory that lists 24-hour and after hour veterinary facilities in the United States.

PetERGuide_small

I mostly travel locally with my dogs, but we do make the occasional trek outside of the county.  Not long ago we made a trip up to the Sequoia’s, camped, hiked, and fished.  Everything went well and at the time I never heard of the Pet E.R. Guide and never even thought about emergency veterinary service for my dog Linus.  However, looking back at our little adventure things could have gone south on several occasions:

  • When we were asleep in the tent I remember hearing this horrible sound I first thought could have been a bear (I was groggy).  Actually it was just Linus making that familiar sound right before he vomits.  We weren’t too sure what upset his stomach, but noticed some bits of food that we believe he picked up down by the river.  Fortunately, after throwing up on our sleeping bags he felt much better, cuddled up, and went back to sleep.
  • While hiking down the river we came to a waterfall where we all got into the water for a photo opportunity.  Linus didn’t want to join us and just stayed along the river edge.  However, after hearing our excitement he decided to hop from rock to rock to get to our position.  He nearly fell over the falls onto jagged rocks (about a 10 foot drop) and I’m almost positive he would have broken some bones if he had fell.

Lucky for us neither of these incidents resulted in a trip to the Emergency Room.  However, you can see how easily an accident could happen.  The Pet E.R. Guide lists hundreds of 24 and after-hour vet facilities throughout the US and could have been indispensable on our trip.

By the way, it had crossed my mind that there might be a directory for emergency veterinary clinics somewhere online.  I did several searches in Google and did not come up with a good source.  So as I’ve mentioned earlier if you are the type who likes to travel with your dog or pet I highly recommend getting a copy of the Pet E.R. Guide.  It could save your dogs life.

We received a complimentary copy of this book for purpose of reviewing.  This article contains affiliate links.  If you click the links on this page and make a purchase we will receive a small monetary commission that we will use to help cover the costs of running the Puppy In Training website.

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

Halloween Dog Costume Contest

November 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I know what your thinking: “Halloween was almost three weeks ago!  I’m already prepping my turkey and getting ready for Thanksgiving!”  I know, I know…but I just got an email about a Halloween dog costume contest and I’m sure plenty of you got some great photos of your puppies in costume this year.

Speaking of puppies in costume did I show you Stetson’s dog costume this year?

Stetson and I were lucky enough to get invited to the Orange County Guide Dog Halloween group meeting where the majority of the dogs were dressed up for Halloween.  Linus is not a big fan of dog costumes, so we didn’t dress him up this year.

Stetson’s Halloween Dog Costume

Dog Costume - Stetson the Angel Fan

Yep, that’s my boy.  We went eco-friendly this year and recycled some of our household items including a free Bobby Grich T-Shirt we received at the Angel game, a vintage 1980′s Angel baseball cap that we also received for free, and finally a rally monkey that we purchased at the Angel game several years ago.  Stetson and the other dogs thought the rally monkey was a dog toy, but had trouble finding the squeeker.

Back to the Halloween Contest I mentioned earlier.  Here’s the information:

We know that Halloween is over but we’re still reveling in leftover candy and photos of costumed pets.   Send us a photo of your pet dressed up for Halloween.  If we pick it as our favorite, we will send you a set of EatBetter and Drinkbetter bowls.  Hurry though, the contest closes November 30th.  Enter Contech’s November Photo Contest

We reviewed both the EatBetter and DrinkBetter Dog Bowls here on the Puppy In Training website.  If you want win your own set the rush over to the Contech’s November Photo Contest and submit your dog costume picture.

We’d love to see your Halloween dog costumes too.  Leave us a link in the comments section below or send me your images at ckmorita [at] puppyintraining [dot] com and I’ll put together a post with your Halloween dog costume.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Dog Tagged With: , , ,

Dog-Friendly Toyota Venza

November 17, 2009 By 5 Comments

We’re just a couple weeks away from the LA Auto Show and I’m hoping to get a glimpse of the Dog-Friendly Toyota Venza.  We are also hoping to see the dog-friendly Honda Element as well.  Unfortunately we only saw the plain old vanilla versions of the Honda Element and saw nothing of  the dog-friendly accessories for the Toyota Venza at the OC Auto Show.

Dog Friendly Toyota Venza

Dog-Friendly Toyota Venza

So what is it that we hope to see at the LA Auto show?  Well, the Toyota Venza was designed with the dog owner in mind.  Toyota is offering pet accessories for the Venza.  Here’s a list from Suite 101:

  • Waterproof hammock style seat covers
  • Pet ramps for easy access via the rear hatch
  • A booster seat pet restraint system, complete with adjustable harness
  • A zipline for the rear seat, with matching harness pet restraint system to allow for movement while keeping pets restrained during an accident
  • A dog leash tether to keep dogs from jumping out of the car or into the driver’s area
  • An adjustable pet barrier to keep pets in the back seat or rear cargo area

I’m glad that Toyota has decided to keep the dog owner in mind when designing their latest vehicles.  Even if they do not have the Venza pet accessories on display at the LA Autoshow I’ll have to take a closer look at the car to see if it meets my needs.  Who knows?  The Toyota Venza may be my next Dog Car!

As you all know I’ve had my eye out for the perfect dog car for the past 2 years.  My tastes have adjusted over that time and not only am I looking for a great dog car, but one that is eco-friendly too.  Unfortunately, larger cars such as the Venza don’t usually get great gas mileage while green cars that get good gas mileage are often on the small side for me and my two large dogs.  Is there a happy medium?  If you’ve already found the perfect eco-friendly dog car I’d love to hear about it in the comments section below.

Filed Under: Dog Cars Tagged With: , , , ,

Can You Imagine 21 Puppies In A Litter?

November 5, 2009 By 2 Comments

Okay, so I heard of 101 Dalmations, but it was just a movie…an animated movie…lets get back to the real world.  I saw a video clip today about a Bulldog who had 21 puppies!.  That’s right TWENTY-ONE!  Unfortunately 4 passed away during birth, but that’s still 17 total puppies.  Take a look at the video (it’s from Fox News…fast forward to the last 25-30 seconds of the clip):

Bulldog Gives Birth To 21 Puppies

This clip got my imagination running with the “What if” scenarios.

  • What if I agreed to foster a pregnant mother dog for your local rescue group and she proceeded to give birth to 21 puppies.  Can you imagine how much poop there would be?  We fostered 7 German Shepherd puppies for 2 months and I felt like I was constantly picking up poop.
  • What if there was a guide dog puppy litter with 21 puppies.  Can you imagine?  Guide dog litters are assigned a letter.  For instance, Stetson was in the “S” litter and Derby was in the “D” litter.  You’d run out of names for your 21 puppies.  Perhaps they would just split the litter into two different letter groups.

I’m sure you can think of many other “What if” scenarios, but those two hit close to home for me.  I just thought I’d bring you a bit of the news today…I hope all those little bulldog puppies find good homes.

Filed Under: Pure Bred Dogs Tagged With: , ,

Do You Leave Music On For Your Dog?

November 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

During my lunch hour I was reading the book Green Dog, Good Dog and trying to learn more about how to turn Stetson and Linus into eco-friendly dogs. By the way, Green Dog, Good Dog has lots of great tips on how to reduce your dog’s carbon pawprint and one of the great things I like about this particular book is that they have 4 different levels of involvement.  That is, you don’t have to go from one extreme to another.  Instead you can choose to make a more gradual transition on your journey to becoming an Eco Dog or move more rapidly.

Back to my story…one of the sections in this book talks about the benefits of leaving music on for your dog when you leave the house.  Is it beneficial to your dog?  or is it a waste of electricity and and making us eco-unfriendly dogs?

image by by Kema Keur

Do I Leave Music On For My Dogs?

Until today I never really thought too much about the consequences of leaving the radio on for the dogs when I left the house.  I always thought it was a good idea not only because it could be soothing for the dog, but also because it drowned out any noise or activity happening outside the house that might excite or frighten my dogs.

I did take one step towards a greener life-style.  We chose not to leave the television on and opted to use the radio for our dogs.  However, is it really helping my dogs?  Are they less stressed out with the sound of music?

Here’s an excerpt from Green Dog, Good Dog:

Dr. Gerald Buchoff notes that many people leave a television or radio on for their dogs when they leave for work for extended periods of time.  In his opinion “That’s an awfully wasteful activity and probably is no more entertaining for your dog than looking out the window.”

The book however recommends that if you’re going to play music then try playing harp music which is particularly soothing.

What are my final thoughts on this one?  I mainly like to leave music on to drown out the noise and activity going on outside my house.  Linus in particular can sometimes get stressed out when he hears noises outside the house.  I’m going to try getting harp music and playing that for my two boys for the next few weeks and see if it has any noticeable effects.

How about you?  Do you turn on the radio or television when you leave your dogs home alone?

By  the way I’m not quite finished reading it yet, but so far I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Green Dog, Good Dog.  If you’re interested in starting Eco Dog Training with your dog then you might want to go get a copy of this book.

Green Dog

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

Should We Discount Price On Dog Adoptions?

November 2, 2009 By 4 Comments

Do you think our shelters should discount dog adoptions?  The question arose (in my head) when I was reading an article about Animal Shelter has dogs for half-price adoption. My initial reaction is “that’s great…hopefully we can get more dogs and cats adopted by discounting the adoption fee.”  However, on second thought I’m not so sure it is a great idea.

Discount Dog Adoptions

Image By Gore Fiendus (Jerry Frausto)

After further review of Discounting Dog Adoptions I’ve come to the conclusion that there are good and bad things that may result from discounting.  Lets start out with the good:

The Good of Discounting

  • Discounting may be that final incentive someone needs to adopt a dog.
  • A discount gives a person more money to spend on dog toys, veterinarian bills, etc.
  • Marketing your discount program brings in more prospective adopters.

The Bad of Discounting

  • If there is a discount the shelter receives less money.
  • Okay, lets be honest…if you can’t afford the full adoption fee ($75 from the article) then should you really be adopting a pet. – my point being that the adoption fee should be the least of your monetary concerns when adopting a dog.

Shelter adoption fees are probably one of the smallest expenses you’ll spend on your new dog.

Here is an example of some of the fees you encounter during dog adoption: I brought Linus home from the shelter for somewhere in that price range of $35-40 adoption fee.  We then proceeded to spend approximately $200 on supplies including dog food,kennel, dog toys, treats, grooming supplies, etc.  When we got him home we noticed he was sluggish, infested with fleas (he had encrusted blood in his ears), stomach virus, worms, and was very anemic.  We took him to a self grooming shop, purchased a flea comb, medicated shampoo, and proceeded to clean him up – that was another 50 bucks.

The next day we took Linus to the veterinarian for a checkup.  He got his regular vaccinations, medication for his stomach virus and worms and we got another bill for about $200.  Finally, the shelter offered to neuter Linus at no charge…no thanks…Instead of bringing him back to the shelter we used our veterinarian.  When all was said and done another $250.  All of these fees piled up to nearly $1,000 in the first few weeks after adopting Linus.

On a positive note, Linus did receive his initial vaccinations from the shelter and they did offer to neuter him free of charge.  My fear of bringing him back for neutering was that he’d end up with fleas, worms, and another stomach virus.

Dog Adoption

A question I often get asked is what would I do today if I were to adopt a dog?  After all my experience with dog adoptions, rescues, shelters, fostering, guide dogs, puppy raising my first choice would be to establish a relationship with one of the our wonderful local dog rescues like Cuddly Canines and over time be patient and select a dog that would fit my personality and energy level.  I believe most rescues charge somewhere in the neighborhood of a $200-300 donation.  However, that usually includes spay/neuter which most rescues will do before you take home your dog, up to date vaccinations, de-flea and de-worm.  Also, dogs and puppies usually stay with a foster for at least 14 days for health and temperament evaluations.

Of course every dog rescue is different and I’d check with your favorite rescue volunteers to see exactly what their rescue has to offer before adopting.

How about you?  What kind of experience do you have with dog adoption?  Do you think discounting is a good way to “sell” adoption?

Filed Under: Dog Adoptions Tagged With: , , ,