ConGRADulations!!

Danny the Golden Retreiver, Lola the Boxer X, and Toby the Mini-Aussie all graduated Beginner class last night. We all love Danny, his mom and dad rescued him; when he first came into class he was very subdued and shy and afraid, but we've all cheered as he's come out of his shell and become a happy, waggy, boy. Toby is also shy by nature but has joined Danny in becoming more social. Lola... well no social issues there! Lola has been the waggy, playful girl who's helped Danny and Toby make their progress! Lola's mom has worked very hard with her energetic young pup and I'm impressed with her handler skills!

Fall Foliage

What a fun trip to the coast we had! We stopped on Stevens Pass to take in the great fall foliage and soak up the sun a while by the river. The trees are all turning gold, red, and bronze, and with gas prices even being rather low we sure enjoyed it!
I also got to visit my wonderful friend, Becky Turner. Becky is an equine artist, and she does absolutely fabulous stuff with other pets too. She paints, she does pen and ink, and she paints individual, personalized Breyer Horses. She sculpts, and is amazingly detail oriented.
http://www.solticeart.com/drawings.htm
If you ever want someone who can capture the image of your pet, she does some great work. Check her website out!

Another Halloween Costume Contest

The folks at Blue Buffalo Dog Food are offering a years free food to the winner of this contest! Might be worth it to dress up the pup after all, hmm?
Blue Buffalo Halloween Contest

Bob is the Winner

There were about 15 costumed pets at the contest, and by crowd volume, Bob was the winner. Isn't he the cutest Lion ever? The headpiece was hand crocheted by Bob's mom. There was also a tail piece too but Bob was so busy wagging, it kept flying off! In case you can't see, Bob is HUGE, of undeterminable mixed large breed, and his mom and dad adopted him from a local pet rescue agency.
Second place went to Gigi the chihuahua dressed as a death princess in a lovely purple and black hand sewn gown, and third place went to a pink-leopard punk Priscilla the Maltese, currently in puppy class! Silly me for not taking more pictures with my cel phone but I was pretty busy conducting traffic and handing out goody bags! We had leftover goody bags so for a short while I will have $10.00 training coupons for you so please stop by and ask for one if it will help you get to the next level!
Thanks to everyone who stopped in and helped make our Howl-o-ween event so successful! Please send me pix of your pups in cute costumes and I'll post them up here throughout the rest of the Halloween season! Here's Cody in a pirate hat! I was amazed he sat still long enough to put it on and take the picture!

Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke's a Girl, Girl, Girl...

This here's Duke. Duke's a good ol' boy! Wait! Doesn't the title say Duke's a Girl? Yes it does, and yes, he is.
Isn't it fun how our dogs bring their own idiosyncracies and personalities into our lives? Duke has been a pleasure since I got her, but she wasn't always Duke. The story begins six years ago when I had to have Gypsy put to sleep. Gypsy was Hunter's mama, and besides him, the only member left of our once rather largish pack of six malamutes. Alone, Hunter withered. He missed his furry family! I decided to get another malamute to keep him company, and I went through WAMAL's website to find a nice, spayed female somewhat similar in coat and color to Gypsy. Her name was Precious. She was a foundling, and the people who'd surrendered her to WAMAL had 2 other boy dogs, and moving into a smaller home, had to rehome one. They had found her, no idea how old she was. They figured around 4ish. My neighbor and I drove out to Wenatchee and met Precious's escorts, a gal I used to show dogs with from Oregon. We fell in love with Precious, but decided we'd call her Karma instead, hoping to bring good karma back to Hunter, 8 years old, who was so darn lonely!
We drove back to Elk, Karma in the back with Jan's daughter Katie. We pulled in Jan's driveway and I jogged next door to bring Hunter over to meet his new friend on neutral ground. When he saw another malamute he was delighted, and strutted his stuff to impress. They became fast friends, and Karma showed her pleasure at her new surroundings by immediately submerging herself on both sides in a large muddy puddle. She loves the water! She doesn't swim, mind you, she only wades, but she sure loves to wade!
So began our life with Karma. The first week she came to stay, she saved our lives by waking me up when the electric heater malfunctioned. The repair man said if we hadn't noticed when we did (thanks to Karma barking loudly at the heater)our place would have gone up in smoke.
Once, while paddling in our pond in a one-man raft, Duke saved me by taking the oar and towing me safely to shore. She just kills me she's so funny! She tries to "save" me when I'm in the bathroom, because don't you know "awful things happen in there! Run, Run while you can, mom!" she seems to be saying, stomping her front feet and "rrrererrerring" at me
So where did the name Duke come from? The legend of girl dogs named Duke is a family joke, my brother nicknamed his girlfriends fuzzy little cutiepie shih-tzu "Duke" so his truck driver friends wouldn't think he was consorting with prissy little female doggies.
One day I had been playing with the dogs and had "good boy"ed Hunter and I accidentally "good boy"ed Karmie by mistake. The way she lit up when I called her "good boy" was hilarious. It was as if all her life she'd only ever been a good girl and now she was finally a good boy! She's been "good boy'ed" ever since and I decided to nickname her Duke after my brother's girlfriends beloved little shih-tzu, Rookie.
I've had several dogs who have earned many fun little pet nicknames over the years. Fuzzy Hogwaller, Pooter, Beelzabitch, Loo the Poo, Gyppiepoo, Licky Loo, Monkeybuns, and so on. What kind of fun (printable) nicknames have you given your dogs? Please use the "comment" feature if you like, or if you have pictures, you can email them to me! I'll post the responses I get but like I said, please only the ones I can comfortably print!

Way to Go, Coco

Coco was the only one who made it through to graduation out of his class so a big hurrah for little Coco!

Sometimes Turbo is just too cute...

Don't forget about the Halloween event on Tuesday at 6! Even if you don't plan on dressing up the pup for the costume contest you should drop by, because those free goody bags we're giving away have $10.00 coupons for training included with the treats, samples, Halloween safety tips and other sundry stuff!
I have Intermediate and Advanced classes coming up so if you are thinking about jumping on board, now's the time! Drop by on Tuesday evening and sign up!

Puppy Grads - Congratulations!

Kudo's to Roxy, Maverick and Bogey for graduating Puppy Class! Keep working with 'em guys, if you don't use it you lose it! Intermediate starts Saturday, Nov. 1 at 10:30 in the morning or Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 6:00 pm! Sign up early to reserve your spot!

Way To Go, Jack!

Jack finished up Beginners Class last week, the only one of his group to stick it out til the end! I feel bad for the dogs who don't get the opportunity to shine. Then there's YOU guys!
Thanks and hats off to all of you who stay the course with your fur-kids! Anyone who has a free Wednesday and is ready for Intermediate Class can join Jack & Fred this Wednesday afternoon at 4:30, we'll get started on Intermediate level skills!

Cocoa Mulch - Danger, Danger!

A friend just sent me this, I thought I'd pass it on to all!

"Recently, the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden. They loved the way it smelled, and it was advertised to keep cats away.

Their dog Calypso decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn't acting lethargic in any way. The next day, Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her morning walk. Half way through the walk, she had a seizure and died
instantly.

Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the company's website, this product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats.

Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey's, and they claim that It is
True that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa
Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees depending on
each individual dog). 'However, 98% of all dogs won't eat it.'

This Snopes site gives the following information:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp

Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman's Garden Supply and other garden supply stores, contains a lethal ingredient called 'Theobromine'. It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like Chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3 weeks. Just a word of caution, check what you are using in your gardens and be aware of what your gardeners are using in your gardens.

Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, axanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the
ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine."
So be aware what you're putting down around the shrubbery, my friends! After Cody's pond scum incident and a grand vet bill, (not to mention, the pumpkin) I'm very aware that dogs will eat things you couldn't imagine they would.

Do Dogs Really Like Pumpkin?

Many of you have heard me recommend pumpkin for digestive issues, and this being October and all, I scooped up a couple of 15 lb pumpkins at Rosauers and brought them home. Not only can I whiz them up in the food processor and freeze them for use year-round, they can stand double duty for a few weeks as Home Decor! Nice! Very autumnal on my forest green carpet against the oak entertainment center. 2 big, orange, round pumpkins. Martha Stewart would be proud.
Got up the next morning, and Cody had ate an 8" hole into the side of one of the pumpkins. Do dogs like pumpkin? Mine do! So, that one's in the freezer now, but I used the other one to take a nice shot of Turbo and Cody by the pond.
How do I process the pumpkin? What do I do with it? I gut it and cut it into hand-size chunks, boil it til it's mostly soft, let it cool, peel the hide off and puree the peeled chunks through my food processor. I also puree the hide with about a cup of water added, and freeze this portion for pumpkin doggie treats. A tablespoon or so in their food helps add healthy fiber if they are "irregular"
For human consumption though, adding pumpkin in just about anything is good for us. It adds fiber to our diet, and can help stretch a recipe. Don't tell Dennis, but I stick pureed pumpkin in stews, meat loaf, muffins, and even hotcakes! He doesn't know!
So while the pumpkins are available, take advantage of the healthy benefits for both you and your lucky pup!
Pumpkin Ginger Treats

Ingredients:
2 Cups fresh pumpkin puree (you can use canned puree, just not the "pie filling")

1 Cup Rolled Oats

1 Cup Flour (your choice, Oat or Rice works if your dog is sensitive to Wheat)

1 Egg

1 tsp Powdered Ginger

1/4 Cup Honey

1/4 cup Sunflower oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 300 F.

Mix all ingredients together. If batter is too stiff, add a few drops of chicken broth or milk. If it's too drippy, add a bit more flour. Drop by the teaspoon on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Experiment with size, smaller treats = less baking time If you really want to go all Betty Crocker on this you can make little rosettes using a pastry bag.
You realize there is nothing in these dog treats that could prevent you from trying a bite! Remember, your pup will be very forgiving of most baking tragedies and eat most of your mistakes without complaint!

The Feels-Good Approach

Since we use reward based training, I wanted to share a concept that made sense to me. Puppies are opportunistic by nature, and they will usually make the "feel-good" choice whenever possible. So when we can make our desires coincide with their feel-good tendencies, we have good results.
How often has your puppy wiggled out of a sit? Well, wiggling feels good, and sitting doesn't feel nearly as good. Chase bunnies or come back to walk ho-hum slow beside you? What do YOU think feels better? Isn't it so that this is usually why training becomes so difficult? Getting the dog to focus on YOU instead of a million other things?
When we start acting frustrated and distracted, so do they. Heavens, when we focus and stay patient they get distracted! Part of the knack of training dogs is knowing when to give it a rest and let the pup percolate what he's learned. Play a bit with the little fellow at his level, then get back upright and back to business. Stand and ignore pup until he settles a bit at the end of your leash, thank him for settling, and go back to your trainer voice for a few more reps on whatever you're working on.
How to incorporate feel-good into your rewards system? Rewards isn't only the treat, it's the delivery as well. How delighted ARE you REALLY acting when your dog gets it right? Use a bit of showmanship and overacting when your puppy does well. Make it feel good for the puppy to get it right, and he'll be happier about learning.
Use your voice! Have a happy, you got it right voice, and a lower, calmer lets get back to work voice. Watch your pup as you modulate your tones from excited happy-you-got-it-right voice to more stern, back to business, listen-to-trainer-voice. If he's totally distracted, observe slyly as you ignore your silly, wiggly pup on his leash, and see how he processes from wild hyena back into a domestic dog, and finally, grudgingly looking up at you for some sort of direction. Knowing when to stand silent and when to act are critical, like I always say, timing is important! Learn your dog, learn to read your dog, learn to use that "feels-good" concept in your rewards bag, and meybe you'll find the elusive clue to training that you're seeking.
Remember, having fun with your pup while you're training is a lot more fun than the alternative for both of you, so lighten up, be patient, and take some time to be goofy when he earns it! You catch more flies with sugar than you do with vinegar and nothing could be truer than when working with puppies!

Congratulations, Intermediate Graduates!

September 25, 2008 - a great class graduated today. Moxie the French Bulldog, Oscar the Bouncing Boxer mix, Brodie the BSD spokesdog, and Otis the Chocolate Lab all passed with flying colors! Thanks everyone, for a fun 8 weeks!

New! Beagle Sedation Device

Ever wish that pesky beagle would just go take a nap? Help is here! Simply install a BSD - aka "fireplace"!

Our spokesdog is Brodie, a 6 month old Beagle who discovered the fireplace is a wonderful place to braise one's belly. Normally ripping around at light-speed causing a commotion, Brodie's peaceful slumber with his bobo-buddy is giving pet-mom Jill some much needed rest!