Green Dog Blog

Love our blog? Now, you can meet Sterling in person and ask her all the puppy questions you can squeeze into an hour an a half. She will be at various coffee shops around Seattle in the afternoon and the evening. Stop by and ask about house training, biting, chewing, digging and all your puppy concerns.

Check out the schedule for the next Canines Over Coffee event near you and feel free to email us with suggestions for other locations and times of day at stay@greenpups.com.

Alyssa Rose Photography is hosting a Puppy Photo Session where a suggested donation of $10 to the Humane Society will get you a 20 minute photo session with this very talented photographer. She takes all the pictures of our Green Puppy Academy students! Don’t wait to sign up, the slots are going quickly and puppies grow up overnight.

Email her at info@alyssarosephotography.com to sign up today!

Another fun and easy recipe from our favorite treat master, Liz Palika:

Ingredients:

1 pound cooked chicken livers, chopped finely

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup cornmeal, for coating treats

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix together all the ingredients, making sure that the liver is well coated. The dough will be stiff.

3) Form the dough into teaspoon-size balls, then roll each ball in cormeal.

4) Place on greased cookie sheets.

5) Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. (Be careful not to let the bottoms scorch.)

6) Remove from the oven let cool thoroughly, and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator .

Visit Lizpalika.com for more information and a chance to purchase her whole book of treats!

House training is all about being able to predict when your puppy needs to go to the bathroom. A huge part of this is giving your puppy limited access to water throughout the day. We give our puppies water every 2.5 hours before their nap time. Then they nap for 2 hours and when we let them out of their crates we KNOW they have to pee. They’re not allowed to participate in play time until we see them pee. It’s a great system. If you’re having trouble with your house training, take a look at your schedule and see if it’s allowing you to easily predict when your puppy has to potty.

Sad as it is, children comprise the majority of Dog Bite Victims. There are quite a few reasons for this but one of the major ones is a child’s lack of knowledge about how to appropriately interact with dogs. Babies and children often pull on and prod dogs in ways that the dog considers rude, unfriendly or even painful because they just don’t understand what they’re doing or the danger they’re placing themselves in.

The best way to combat this unfortunate statistic is a two pronged attack: 1) Teach the kids and 2) teach the dogs. Both of these things are fairly simple to do and mostly just involve a lot of repetition, supervision and clear guidelines.

Obviously any interaction between dogs and kids should ALWAYS be supervised by an adult. To start off with, introduce them to a dog that you know very well (your own family dog or one owned by a relative or close friend who has already had a lot of experience interacting with children) and trust. Show them places that the dog does not want to be touched (i.e. Ears, Tail, Paws, Eyes, Muzzle and Inside the Mouth) and show them the appropriate places to pet them (Top of the Head, Side, Back). Repeat this every time they meet a new dog, even after you are confident they know it. At the end of this teaching session feel free to demonstrate a nice friendly Belly Rub!

When out in public always make sure to ask the owner of a new dog before allowing your child to pet the dog. Of course you should use your own judgment as to whether or not the situation is safe. Finally, and we can’t stress this enough, Never approach a Tied Up Dog! No matter how friendly it looks the risk is not worth it.

Check back soon for the second part of this topic that discusses the other half of this equation: the puppy.

So it’s 3 AM and your 12 week old puppy has decided she just can’t hold it any longer. She whines, scratches and generally makes it clear that she needs to go out NOW. The only problem is you live in an apartment on the 24th floor of your building and, to be honest, you don’t feel like riding the elevator down that far holding an about-to-burst pup. Thankfully we at Green Paws have worked with many families who choose to use an indoor potty box.  These can be great if you have a small dog.  We really like the Pet-A-Potty box but you can also build your own and buy some sod at Home Depot for a cheaper alternative.  House training is exactly the same but instead of leashing your puppy and saying “Go Potty” once you’re outside, you just leash them up and lead them to their potty box.  It’s a great solution for people who live in condos.

Getting your puppy to walk politely on leash is hard. I know it’s hard and it’s also one of the most asked for behavior problem solutions I hear. Linda at Seattle DogWorks (a place I love) just gave me a great tip. She said that you should take your dog for a 20 minute walk using your EasyWalk harness. Then, after your dog has got a lot of their energy and excitement out, do a 5-10 minute training walk when you both have more patience. You can read about how to train your dog to have good leash manners in our Dog Library. Such a great tip!

No one wants to deal with these pests (or their bloodsucking cousins, Ticks) and that’s why prevention is ALWAYS the best idea.  Here at Green Paw Studios we really like Sentinel for Flea prevention for three reasons.

First, it’s great that it comes in pill form so that you don’t have to worry about young children petting the dog.  Second we love that it also works for various types of worms, including Heartworm.  Lastly Sentinel is only for dogs so you know that you’re getting the most specific formulas.
Of course you should never make any type of medication decision about your dog without speaking to the vet so feel free to call and ask them what they recommend.

Well, it’s Tuesday again and time for another example of the tasty treats you can make for your sweet pups from food you’ve already got around the house!   As always these recipes are provided courtesy of Liz Palika’s GREAT book The Ultimate Dog Treat Cookbook which you can purchase on her site lizpalika.com  - now on to the food!

Ingredients:

1) 1 and 1/4 cup of 1/2-inch pieces of cooked chicken

2) 1/2 cup of 1/2-inch pieces of cooked sweet potato

3) 2 cups of all-purpose whole wheat flour

4) 1 cup of evaporated low-fat milk

5) 1/2 teaspoon of salt

6) 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

7) 2 large eggs

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

2) Mix all the ingredients together well, making sure the pieces of chicken and sweet potato are thoroughly cooked

3) Drop by rounded teaspoon onto greased cookie sheets

4) Bake 14 to 18 minutes or until golden brown

5) Remove from oven, let cool thoroughly, and store in an airtight container in the fridge

Makes 40 to 50 bite-size pieces

One of the best way to get your puppy to meet is to take them to a sporting event.  Now the little guy may not quite be ready to see Ichiro in action at SafeCo but with fall rearing its head there are likely to be hundreds of clumps of children chasing soccer balls around.  And where there are children there are parents and pets.

So feel free to take your puppy out to a local field, walk around and say “hi!” to the spectators.  Because if we at Green Paws no nothing else, we know that everyone loves puppies and that puppies need to love everyone.

Sometimes your pup does something so fantastic that she deserves the best, most tastiest treat you can give her.  Well, here is another great option from our favorite chien-centered chef Liz Palika!

Ingredients:

- 1 Cup of natural peanut butter

- 4 Cups of Cheerios

- 2 Cups all-purpose flour

- 3 large eggs

- 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk

- 1 tablespoon molasses

- 1/4 cup warm water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

2. warm the peanut butter in the microwave for a minute or so, until it’s soft enough to mix easily with the other ingredients

3. Add all the other ingredients to the warm peanut butter, mixing thoroughly.  The dough will be stiff and crumbly

4. Uses your hands to spread the dough onto a large greased cookie sheet.  if the dough is sticky, grease or flour your fingers.  cover the cookie sheet with a layer no more than two cheerios thick

5. Bake for 10 minutes.  Take the cookie sheet out of the oven and, with a spatula, turn over the dough, pieces at a time.  Put back in the oven for another 5 minutes

6. Remove from the oven and break the large pieces into bite-size pieces

7. Turn off the oven.  Put all the cookies back on the cookie sheet and return them to the oven.  Leave them in teh cooling oven for 15- 30 minutes or until golden brown

8. Remove from the oven, let cool thoroughly, and store in an airtight container

Your pup will LOVE these easy to make treats!  As always we are greatly indebted to Liz Palika for these fabulous recipes.  If you’d like to find more of them go to www.lizpalika.com and order one of her treat cook books.

Installing a Conditioned Emotional Response (CER) on a dog means that we’re going to get your dog to love something she doesn’t already love. This is particularly useful for dogs who go through a lot of grooming because you want to desensitize them to hair dryers, nail clippers, combs etc. To get a dog to like the hair dryer, you start by sitting next to your dog and turning on the hair dryer for 2 seconds, then giving her a treat.  If you do this over and over again using the following principles, you’ll have your dog begging for hair treatment in no time.

Here are some principles behind installing a CER:

1. The order is very important (present the new/scary thing first and then follow it up with something fabulous)
2. 1:1 Ratio - every time the new/scary thing appears, it must always be followed up by the reward
3. Identify and eliminate competing stimuli - that means do this exercise in lots of different rooms, positions, times of day etc. so your dog really begins to understand that it’s the hair dryer and nothing else that’s making the good treats flow.

There are two reasons to get a harness for your dog.  The first reason is that you don’t want to put any pressure on your dog’s neck and the second reason is that you want to stop them from pulling against the leash.  If it’s the first reason, it really doesn’t matter what type of harness you get.  If you want it to be an anti-pull harness, then make sure you pick up an EasyWalk harness.  Most harnesses click on the back of your dog and basically make a sled dog out of them by giving them the full weight of their body to pull against you.  An EasyWalk harness is specially designed to stop pulling as soon as you put it on.  The only catch is you have to fit it correctly. If it’s not fitted correctly, and the most common error is that they’re too loose, it won’t work.  This is often why people move on to something more harsh like a choke chain or a prong collar.

Since fitting them correctly is very difficult, for all of you who live in the Seattle area, I’d be happy to fit it for you for free.  Just send me an email to sterling@greenpups.com and we’ll set up a time where you can meet me at my home in Green Lake and we’ll get you all set.

It’s wet and rainy and your little guy has decided he no longer wants to potty outside.  It’s often that there’s a slide in house training for new puppies who quickly discover that standing out in the wet, cold, weather of October is no fun.  Be persistent though and up your bait.  If your dog doesn’t potty within five minutes, put him back in his crate for 15 minutes before you try again.  Then, when he does go, give your dog an extra big puppy party for going potty outside and follow it up with a very special treat.  The cold weather is pretty punishing, I don’t blame them for not wanting to go outside but it’s really not a choice.  Make it worth his while to freeze his little toes off and hopefully he learns to go quickly so you can both come back inside.

Let me make this very clear, despite movie scenes that might show rowdy frat boys letting their mascot dog drink beer to celebrate winning the state championship, this is absolutely not okay for your pup.  Dogs can get very sick and die from consuming alcohol.  It’s no joke and what’s worse is that most dogs like the taste of beer and will go for it if offered.  Please advice your friends and family members, especially if you’re having a party, not to let your dog have beer.  Keep them safe please.

One of my new clients has instantly become one of my favorites not only because her Maltipoo is adorable but because her family came up with one of the best recall cues.  They use “Chop chop.”  They are careful to follow the rules of recall but when it comes time to ask their puppy to come, they say Prideaux Chop Chop and their little darling comes running from all over the house.  This is an excellent example of a recall word that is unique and strong.  It’s unique because no one else will guess it and use it without your permission like people often do with the words “Come” and “Here.”  It’s strong because they practice it often with the whole family and with fabulous bait so the dog thinks “Chop chop” is the best phrase she’s ever heard!  Keep up the good work!

With September nearly over all sorts of schools are well under way and many kids and puppies alike are having to get acquainted with new surroundings: new classrooms, new playgrounds and new bus stops. Many are also dealing with new houses or apartments or condos. It’s no secret that there are a lot of people looking for new living space in these recent months and there are a couple of things that every pet owner should take care of before, during and after a move.

First and foremost of these is changing the tags on your dogs’ collar to reflect your new location. Or, better yet, take your favorite puppy friend down to your local animal hospital and ask the vet to give them a microchip implant. The process is not only 100% humane it is also a 100% assurance that if your pup should ever slip her collar or dig her way out of the back yard and get picked up by an animal rescue agency or shelter she will be scanned and returned to you safe and sound. Why take the chance?

These treats are super easy to make: the ingredients are very simple and it only takes a few minutes to prepare.

4 Cups of quick oats

1 Cup of minced or shredded cooked chicken livers

1/4 Cup vegetable oil

4 Large eggs

Preparation:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

2) Mix together all ingredients well, making sure that all the oats are well coated with oil and egg.

3) Drop by teaspoon onto greased cookie sheets.

4) Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

5) Remove from the oven, let cool thoroughly, and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

This will make 50 to 60 little bite-sized treats
that your pups will love. Enjoy!

As always these recipes are sampled from Liz Palika’s fantastic book The Ultimate Dog Treat Cookbook. Pick it up at a local book store or at Lizpalika.com

It’s often that people thinking puppies who vocalize during playtime are being aggressive or not having a good time.  This is not necessarily true.  Although vocalizations always make me watch play closer, I watch play with my eyes and not my ears.  After all, just about every dog whose breed ends in TERRIER is going to be a bit chatty when they’re playing and it has nothing to do with aggression.  Even if your puppies sound like they’re having a wicked fight, if they’re being bouncy, doing play bows and having great role reversals, it’s just play.   If you’re ever worried if your puppy is playing or not, pull off the puppy that you’re NOT worried about.  If they other puppy retreats, then it’s good you interrupted them.  If the free puppy comes straight back to play with each other, then they were having a good time.  The only behavior that really worries me is a freeze.  When a dog freezes it means she is saving all her energy because she’s nervous.  I separate dogs immediately if I see this behavior.

NOTE:  This should be applied to puppies who are 18 weeks and younger because they physically cannot do a lot of damage to each other.  Dogs who are older have much more developed jaws and teeth and I am much more cautious about play then.

How do I get everyone on the same page so we don’t confuse our puppy?  This is a very common issue and one that is compounded when several children are involved.  If consistency is the most important backbone of dog training, then this is likely to be your biggest barrier.   Here are a few tips for making sure everyone is helping the puppy experience progress:

1. Make a list of verbal cues and post them on the fridge so everyone knows what words to use during training
2. Also make a list of house rules (i.e. dog gets automatic timeout for putting paws on the coffee table, dog gets warning timeout for barking at the door etc.)
3. Create a time once per week when the whole family can participate in training the dog
4. Keep a dog training notebook where people can record what training progress they had in a session so the next person can pick up there

If you have young children who are having trouble training the dog, give them some games they can play with the dog so it doesn’t interfere with the puppy’s obedience training.  Create a reward system for your family members so they have an incentive for training the puppy.  For example, for every half an hour,  family members can get something like movie tickets, massages, get out of a chore, play golf etc.

Wow, in one week I discovered two fantastic dog training books which is rare since most of them are pure rubbish.  The Everything Dog Training and Tricks Book by Gerilyn J. Bielakiewicz is a wonderful book about the ways dogs learn, clicker training and some fun tricks.  101 Dog Tricks by Kyra Sundance is also another winner.  This books has some beautiful pictures to teach you the step-by-step methods of getting your dog to do 101 tricks.  I was very impressed with the thoroughness and ease of this book.  Do go pick these up and start showing your dog off to your friends!

Many of us have busy lives and cannot be with our new puppies every hour of the day.  So how long can you leave her?  Your puppy can hold her bladder one hour for every month old she is (i.e 3 hours at 3 months, 5 hours at 5 months etc.)  That means if you have to leave your puppy for longer than that time, she’s going to pee and she needs a place to do it.  When I have to leave puppies for long periods of time, I leave them in a long-term confinement area which includes:

1. Fresh water
2. Chew toys (lots of chew toys!) Make sure they’re large enough that she can’t finish them while you’re gone so you’re not worried about her choking.
3. Work-to-Eat toy with some food in it
4. Her crate with a nice bed inside
5. Potty area with whatever substrate she’s being trained on (i.e. sod if she goes on grass, concrete if she goes in the city or wood chips if that’s what she uses.)

Then you can leave for the whole day even and know that she has everything she needs.  Now I know this is hard, but to practice Errorless House Training, I crate them for an hour when I get home.  Then, she has to pee in front of me for her to come out of the crate and have Puppy Time with me.

I know three families in the same neighborhood who all bought puppies at the same time.   Though this was a complete accident, it’s actually really great.  Now they can effortlessly socialize their puppies by simply getting together and letting them romp around.  It’s important that puppies meet as many other puppies before 18 weeks so they can learn bite inhibition.  But when you don’t have a trainer standing by to regulate the fun, what should you look for?

1. Bouncy, inefficient movements - you want them to be wasting a lot of energy by having a good time.  Scared dogs freeze so they can conserve all their energy in case there is a fight.
2.  Paw to the face - this is an invitation to play
3. A hip check - your puppy will hit (or try to hit) the other puppy with their back end.  This is an invitation to play like, “Come chase me!”
4. Kisses are an invitation to play, however, don’t confuse licking another dog with your puppy licking their own lips.  Licking another dog is an invitation to play, licking their own lips which may mean I don’t want to play.  So kisses are good, lip licking is not.
5. Play bows - when your puppy bows on the ground or lays down

If you’re a sucker for good deals like me and ended up buying a huge bag of raw hide bones from Costco that none of your dogs are interested in, here are some tips for making them more attractive:

1. Marinate them in soy sauce and garlic over night or marinate them in chicken broth
2. Stuff peanut butter in the cracks (don’t be lazy, spend some time pushing it really far in there so your dog has to work hard to get it out)
3. Do one of the above and then hide the rawhide in an old sock so your dog has to work really hard to get into it
4. Play fetch with it to get your dog interested in simply putting his mouth around the bone

And next time, let your dog pick out which bones she likes at the store so you’re sure she’ll enjoy it.

How long do I have to keep crate training my puppy for house training purposes? My response is, how expensive are your floors? The truth is, we have hardwood floors so the cost for us having an accident is a little bit of frustration and a few paper towels. For my clients who own $4,000 Persian rugs, their cost is quite a bit more. If you follow our Errorless House Training rules until your dog is 1 years old, you’ll have no accidents and you’ll end up with a house trained dog who can have freedom in your house.  If you only follow our rules 70% of the time and stop crating your dog during the day after he’s 5 months old, you’ll probably have a few accidents per week.

There is no absolute answer for how long it takes to house train a puppy but I will say that consistently rewarding your puppy for going in the right spot is key.  Remember, you’re not teaching the dog where NOT to go, you’re showing him how wonderful it is to go in the right spot with treats and puppy parties.

Socializing your puppies is so crucial because it should be done as much as possible before 16 weeks and also immediately after you discover something that scares your little pup.  One of the most common scary things out there is costumes and with Halloween right around the corner, this is important.  As silly you may feel doing it the best way to socialize your puppy to the craziness of Halloween is to have you and your family and friends put on a some costumes and meet your pup. This way when ghoulies, ghosties, witches and wizards show up at your door your little pooch will be a lot less stressed out. And, as we all know, a stress-free pooch is a healthy pooch.

Over the next few days we at Green Paw Studios will be relating some of our experiential knowledge of at-home steps you can take to make sure your new puppy becomes a happy, confident and well-socialized dog.

First off it is important to start this type of training as soon as you get your new friend.  The socialization window starts to close around 12 weeks and is pretty much over at 16 weeks.  So if you get Spot at 8 weeks your time is limited and you need to begin immediately.

The basic idea is to have your puppy meet as many types of people and experience as many places and plausible situations  as possible in a manner that you control.  This way your little buddy will be accustomed to and comfortable with all these things and won’t react unpredictably when they come up again.  Invite plenty of friends over and have them meet and treat your puppy.  Let Spot know that all of these things are fun and if he behaves he gets tasty treats.  Next you should take your dog to as many places as possible to get him used to anywhere you and your family frequent.  We’ll start with a general list of people and places tomorrow morning, and then get a bit more specific as the week progresses.

Have any leftover beef in the house? Here’s a great way to turn it into a healthy puppy pleaser.

1 Cup of shredded or crumbled cooked beef

1 Cup of quick oats

1 and 1/4 Cup of Bisquick baking mix

1/2 Cup of evaporated low fat milk

1 Teaspoon of minced garlic

2 to 3 teaspoons of low-sodium beef bouillon powder

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix together all the ingredients well.

3) Drop rounded teaspoon fulls onto greased cookie sheets.

4) Sprinkle each treat with a pinch of beef bouillon.

5) Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

6) Remove from the oven, let cool thoroughly, and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

I know your dog will love these so give them a try!

As always these recipes are sampled from Liz Palika’s fantastic book The Ultimate Dog Treat Cookbook. Pick it up at a local book store or at Lizpalika.com

Summer is nearly over, school has started but the heat hasn’t quite quit yet. Despite the recent wave of crisp mornings and cool evenings it still seems to manage to get well over 70 and often into the 80’s.  So, when you take your pretty pup out onto the back patio to share your morning coffee time with you  make sure you don’t forget her propensity for heat related maladies including heat stroke, heat exhaustion and, believe it or not, sunburn.

Some easy ways to insure wellness on  warm days include keeping a kiddie pool full of water for your pooch to splash around in, limiting exercise time and making sure they’ve had their summer hair cut - especially double-coated breeds like Huskies, Malamutes and Newfoundlands who are bred for cooler climes.

White or light colored dogs are the most likely to be affected by any kind of sun damage that can range from a painful sunburn similar to what I and my Scottish skin suffer through every summer to much more serious things including skin damage and skin cancer.  So, just like you’d pull your pup out of the yard to calm down after a long run you should make sure to keep them away from too much sun - this includes napping in front of the window!  And, of course, make sure to check with your vet if any skin discolorations appear.

Puppies are basically just babies with claws, fur and an overactive tail. Because of this Puppy Proofing should be a big part of bringing your new furry friend home. This is a lot like Baby Proofing: making sure hazardous chemicals are out of reach, that they can’t get into drawers and cupboards, etc. But for puppies whose sharp teeth are inclined to do more than just nibble it is especially important to make sure to cover all exposed wires.  Quite a few of our clients thread their wires through PVC or plastic piping - great for being organized too!  Others wrap them in heavy blankets or tape them to the ground with a few layers of duct tape.  No matter which you do, make sure that your puppy can’t get through the covering - puppies and electric currents don’t mix!

Here at Green Paw Studios we always have little puppies running around. They sniff, scratch and generally try to find trouble to get into. The best way that we’ve found to regulate the amount of trouble they can find is by controlling which rooms are puppy-friendly and which aren’t. By doing this the only things they have to chew on are the puppy-friendly items we give them. This makes our computer wires, table legs and pups all instantly out of harms’ way.

At first, we tried a series of collapsible baby gates but found ourselves tripping over them far too often. So we looked for a new alternative and found a great one: North States Auto Close Baby gates - they are fantastic! The only slight drawback is that they have to be drilled into the door frame but after they’re in you won’t find a more sturdy, easy to use room separator anywhere.

Separation Anxiety is a very serious condition and one that is ultimately medicated if a dog has a full blown case of it. The good news is, there are also many ways to prevent this problem. Though this term gets thrown around a lot, there are very specific and serious signs of a dog having this problem.

Signs of Separation Anxiety:

1. The dog chews on a variety of things only when you’re gone and is often focused on items that smell like you such as recently worn clothes and /or escape routes (doors or windows).
2. The dog pees or poops inappropriately, in many locations.
3. The dog barks continuously during the day (not on and off), perhaps after a build-up of whining.
4. The dog always shows these behaviors when left alone.
5. The dog is wild to greet you, and is still stressed, anxious and clingy when you first arrive home.
6. Destruction begins soon after you leave.
7. The dog cannot be isolated from you at any time, even in a different room with the door closed.
8. Sometimes, the dog can be left alone in a car (for any length of time) or other unusual location, without showing anxiety or destructiveness.
9. The dog gets increasingly distressed as you prepare to leave.

For new puppy owners and other dog owners who fear their pet might be showing early signs of this condition, there are many ways to prevent Separation Anxiety from becoming a problem. Here are some helpful exercises:

Try to make your arrivals and departures very boring and low-key. Don’t make a big fuss over saying hello and goodbye. Get your dog used to your getting-ready-to-leave cues, like picking up keys and jacket. Go through these actions repeatedly when you’re staying home, without actually leaving.

Give your dog more exercise. Most young dogs could use 20-100 minutes of full-speed running per day. Don’t forget mental exercise, like training, exploring new places, encountering new smells, and social interaction with other dogs.

Give your dog something to do while you’re gone! Give your dog a work-to-eat toy and bones to chew on.

Consider crating your dog. Some dogs are more comfortable when confined to a small “den”.

If you are already having serious separation anxiety problems, please contact a trainer right away.

Magnus asks “At 5 months our pup decided he should bark from the screen door at all strangers. I’m sure our running into the room shouting ‘no’ is just increasing the excitement. What do we do instead?”

This kind of barking is usually Watch Dog Barking and is triggered by the dog seeing or hearing something outside. Your first step in training this is to, of course, close the door or the blinds so the dog can no longer see the things passing in front of the house. Your next line of defense is to give timeouts. As soon as your dog starts barking, give him a warning “That’s enough.” When he keeps barking say, “Too bad” and give him a 10 second timeout either in his crate or the bathroom or any nearby room that removes him from the door. When the dog has learned what’s getting him in trouble, he’ll start to decrease the barking and will eventually stop after your warning cue. If he stops after you say, “That’s enough” follow it up with a lot of praise. “Good choice, thanks for being so quiet!”

Your last line of defense which can be used for very adamant barkers is to teach your dog to get a special toy on cue. Now, when your dog starts barking you say, “Go get your ducky.” The dog gets distracted by looking for the toy and once the toy is in his mouth, he can no longer bark. It’s a little tedious to train this but absolutely fun once you’ve finished.

There is a common misconception that dogs love to be in the backyard. Dogs who are left in backyards for long periods of time quickly develop some pretty serious behavior issues including barrier frustration, watch dog barking, general anxiety, excessive digging etc. In the backyard, dogs end up pacing and because they are so bored for the majority of the day, people passing by become a very exciting event. Then, after many times of not being greeted by the passing strangers, dogs become frustrated. So frustrated infact that they will now bark and lunge at people: this is called Barrier Frustration.

Most dogs would prefer to be inside and, in general, like being crated during the day. It makes them feel much more calm and gives you complete control of their surroundings. In their crates, give them work-to-eat toys and lots of great things to chew on. Since dogs sleep most of the day anyway, you’re going to come home to a much more calm dog who has slept properly, chewed delightfully and learned problem solving skills with her work-to-eat toy.

Christian asks, “How should I go about introducing my girfriend’s cat (7 years old with no claws…) with my dog (2 year old, 100 pound Great Dane)?”

This is always a little tricky especially if the cat has no claws. At first, I recommend having the dog on leash with the leash being held by someone strong enough to keep the Great Dane from dashing across the room. You want the dog to be able to see the cat without stressing the cat out too much. Now, watch the dog if it remains calm and relaxed, merely wanting to investigate then you can continue.  At this point look to see if the dog respects the cat’s warning signals, if it does then the two can probably learn to form a relationship over time. If the dog immediately rushes to chase the cat and has out-of-control straining of the leash, that is a bad sign and it may mean that you need to keep them in separate rooms.

Always make sure the cat has a place that’s high enough so the dog can’t get to her. Praise the dog immensely for getting things right and being polite. Never hold the cat down so she has to greet the dog, she should have freedom to run away if necessary. Here is a great handout from the San Francisco SPCA with more detailed information http://www.sfspca.org/behavior/dog_library/cat_dog_intros.pdf and remember, do not leave dogs and cats alone unsupervised without the cat having a place to get away and without knowing first that they have a solid history of getting along.

Kids do an awfully good job begging and pleading for a pet but when is the right time to let your son or daughter have a dog? I think a child should be at least seven before taking on this responsibility. Even at seven, the parents are going to be doing most of the work but at least the child is ready to handle some rules and take good direction for how to properly handle the puppy. If your child really wants a puppy, have them get up at 5 a.m. seven days in a row. Teach them that having a very young puppy means that someone has to let the puppy out early in the morning. Also, be sure to create a reward system for your child for performing all the dog responsibilities. If she feeds him on time all week then she gets some sort of toy or privelege (just the same way we train dogs!)

Though there is a long list of training books I enjoy, I have just found one that is very practical and a lot of fun - I just had to share it!  It’s called “The Everything Dog Training and Tricks Book” by Gerilyn J. Bielakiewicz. The book is fantastic but the thing I enjoy the most is how she explains that training your dog tricks even before training obedience skills is the way to go.

Training tricks is fun and it involves the same skill set necessary for both the trainer and the dog. You can teach your dog problem solving skills and then, show off the tricks to your friends. Tricks get practiced far more and are more enjoyable to work on. So either pick up Gerilyn’s book or another on tricks and go train your dog to do some funny and cute things!

Ingredients :

1/2 cup milk

2 cups shredded medium cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup bacon grease

1/2 shredded bacon

How to Prepare :

In medium bowl mix dry ingredients and chicken broth. Then add cheddar cheese, milk, bacon, butter, and bacon grease. Preheat oven to 350, while heating, flour hands and then roll batter into one inch balls, place on sheet about 2 inches apart. Over top sprinkle mozzarella cheese. When oven ready, place in oven and cook about 10-12 min.

Let’s face it, most dogs shed. Some dogs shed A LOT and there is nothing pleasant about it. It affects your carpet, your couches, your clothes and inevitably your friends and family who aren’t wild about showing up wearing cashmere and leaving wearing chow chow. With a little bit of patience and some dedication, you can get your dog to let you vacuum straight on his fur. Vacuum your dog a few times per week and your shedding problem will decrease dramatically. The following process is also how you get your dog to not be scared of the vacuum. Here’s how you accomplish this: (more…)

A lot of parents tell their kids, “Oh, that dog is wagging his tail and that means he’s happy” as a way of giving them the freedom to go pet the dog. This is entirely untrue and a terrible lesson to teach kids. Though a wagging tail often means that a dog is happy and excited, tail wagging can also mean “I’m anxious, I’m scared of you and I want you to leave me alone.” Teaching children that the only reason to approach an unfamiliar dog is to ask permission from the dog owner, is a good step in helping them understand good canine etiquette and in keeping them safe.

As all our happy readers know, we here at the Green Puppy Academy use a clicker in our obedience training.  The clicker is a wonderful tool for marking exactly which behavior your pup is being rewarded for.  Every so often we get a puppy through our program who is what we call “clicker shy.” This means that they’re afraid of the noise and often flinch whenever they hear it.   Now most pups react to this loud noise the first time they hear it, but that hardly means they’re clicker shy.  You can tell if your puppy is clicker shy because they become increasingly scared of the clicker and want nothing to do with training.  Instead, you can improvise by using another noise or even a word instead because really, any noise can act as a marker - letting your dog know the precise moment she earned a reward.

The real point of the thing is to be able to make an easily produced noise that is always both concise and consistent so that we can mark the desired behavior (sitting, lying down, ringing the bell). As a substitute we often use a “kissy noise” instead of a click.  This is a much gentler, reassuring alternative.

Need a pick me up? Visit www.puppywar.com which is a site solely for the purpose of posting puppy pictures. Click on which one you like the best and then two more will appear. It’s a great way to take a 5 minute break from reality and get lost in some puppy love!

When I walk into an excited puppy owner’s home to do an initial consultation, the first thing I do is look around the living room or whatever area they keep the puppy in. I usually see one of three puppy landscapes: no toys on the floor, a few stuffed animals next to a kong or truck loads of chews, ropes, rubber toys and stuffed animals.

If you fall into the first two categories, please understand that stuffed animals, squeaky toys, kongs and other rubber toys do not count as chews. Your dog needs actual bones to chew on that are not his toys. These can include bully sticks, knuckle bones, pig ears etc. but they should be consumables and not toys. Puppies absolutely need to and want to chew and if you don’t give them the appropriate outlets for this, they will improvise their own - usually in the form of your shoes or your couch.

So save yourself having to replace those beautiful Jimmy Choo’s or an expensive re-upholstering job and just provide your puppy with some delicious and fun to chew on.

“My dog bites me when she’s trying to take a treat out of my hand.”

Ah yes, this is a very annoying habit. Here you are trying to give your lovely pup a tasty treat and your only hope for coming out unscathed is that you can drop it fast enough into her mouth that she doesn’t nip off the tips of your fingers. Not only is this painful and annoying it will most likely make you a less willing and effective trainer.  It’s also not something that you have to let continue.  Here’s how to stave off this scathing habit:

Forget obedience training for a moment, your dog must learn Impulse Control first. This means even when she’s excited about treats, she must control her body. The exercise to train her out of this is actually quite easy. First, show her a treat high enough that she can’t get it. Slowly lower it to her face. As soon as she jumps up to get it, say “Ah ah” and pull it up toward your chest. Do this over and over again until you can lower it slowly all the way to her nose without her jumping. Then say, “Okay” and let her have it.

NOTE: Even though your puppy will figure this out quickly, sometimes older dogs (or really foodie dogs) always need this exercise at the beginning of their training session. After one or two tries, they figure out what’s up and you can continue training again.  Give this a try and you you’ll find you don’t really have to bring band-aids and gauze along to every training session.

Did you know that I, Sterling Peake, as well as all my employees are positively obsessed with dogs? Did you know that you can completely take advantage of this by commenting on the blog and asking us training questions?

We can’t help it, as we begin to read your questions our fingers hover over the keyboard in great anticipation of giving the perfect and most helpful answer we can think of.  It’s not really anything we can help.  It’s a compulsion - we’re looking into it.  In the meantime, however, please, do use and abuse this space for your own personal gain and tell us what you’re going through. We’re always happy to help answer your questions and make your dog life better and more fun!

Puppies somehow manage to be adorable even after they’ve rolled in dirt, slobbered all over themselves and loped around in their own pee. We still love them and can’t get enough. But, just in case all your friends and family members don’t have the same affinity for his puppy odor, now is a great time to teach him to LOVE bath.  It’s perfectly simple, just follow our six steps to sweet smelling success!

1. Put three inches of warm water in the sink (or the bath tub)
2. Place your puppy in the water and immediately after, give him a piece of smoked ham (or another very special treat your puppy loves)
3. Fill up a cup of water and pour it over your puppy, then immediately follow it up with more ham.
4. Repeat this last step until the puppy is all wet.
5. Now soap up the puppy and chat to him in a happy voice (I actually have a Soapy Puppy Song that I sing) and immediately follow up with more ham
6. Use the same cup and ham strategy to wash off all the soap and voila! You’ve got a clean puppy who thinks baths are an amazing ham producing event that ultimately results in more people petting and kissing him.  It’s a win-win!

Of course this would take a lot of time (and ham)  on your part so you won’t always give him baths exactly like this one but instead slowly taper off the treats. Eventually you will give him ham after every 3 cups of water, then 5 etc.  One of the last steps in this bath excitement experiment is to  give them something fabulous at the beginning when they step in the bath, after the soap and then after the whole bath is done. Soon you’ll have a puppy who jumps into the bath tub in anticipation… how lovely.

As all of our loyal readers know, mental stimulation is an incredibly important part of your puppy’s development. Not only does it relieve their boredom and help them learn - it also tires them out so that you can put them down in their crate and go out for a nice dinner at The Pink Door or Bizzarro.

One of the best, most entertaining ways to integrate mental stimulation into your dog’s day is to make as many routine activities as possible into super fun games! Dogs love games and any other activity that gets you to pay close attention to them because, let’s face it, they love us as much as we love them.

One fun way to turn Passe-time into Play-time is to make your puppy play a little game of Three Bowl Monte in order to earn treats. This lets them work for their food (which they love doing) and tires them out a lot more than if you just toss a piece of turkey into their crate as a direction-less reward. You’ve all seen card sharps on television or in movies quickly shuffling three bent cards back and forth faster than you can keep up with where the whole goal is to find the Ace or whichever card they’ve shown you at the outset in hopes of not losing your dollar bet.

Well in our version of this time honored grifter’s trick no one ever loses - you or your dog. All it involves is putting the treat under one of three little bowls or other containers and making your puppy follow the one with the treat in it. They’ll think you’re super silly for spending so much time pushing plastic around when they’re just going to sniff it out anyway but you can always make sure there is a behavior that needs to be met before they receive the reward. Some people make the puppy nose the correct cup forward, others think it’s adorable if the puppy places a paw on top and for those hard core trainers out there you could combine either of these behaviors with a very nice sit.

Feel free to check out our Obedience Training articles in the Free Library section of our website for more details on clicker training and how you can help your pup to this point. We’re sure that after you’ve got it down your pooch is bound to look like a regular wizard - who knows, maybe you can even take this show on the road?! Or, you know, at least entertain people at parties…

Timeouts for dogs? Yes. Timeouts can be a very effective (though sometimes tedious) way of getting your dog to stop bad behavior. Timeouts are great for dogs jumping on the furniture uninvited, putting teeth on you after 18 weeks old, putting paws on the counter and other thing that are never going to be allowed in the house.

As soon as your dog breaks one of your rules like putting his paws on the coffee table, say “Too bad” and put him in his timeout place like in his crate or in the bathroom, any closed place that doesn’t allow him access to the thing he wanted. If he was trying to get your attention by pawing or whining, you can also choose to leave the room yourself. If he was barking to get the tennis ball, put it on the refrigerator.

Timeouts last for 10 seconds. That seems like a short amount of time but they start to lose their meaning if they last much longer so no matter how severe the crime, keep it to ten seconds. Then let him out for another chance. It will take several timeouts for your dog to figure out what’s going on. This is a new concept for him. Eventually he will understand, when his paws his the counter, that’s when you put him in his timeout. That’s when you’ll start to see the behavior decrease. Be patient and always be consistent. If you only deliver timeouts some of the time, he will gamble and continue the behavior because sometimes it works!

Also, dogs don’t build a negative association with their crate during timeouts. He’s upset you took away what he wanted, not how you took it away. He will only be wondering why you’re not playing with him, he won’t wonder why he’s in his crate. Children don’t come to hate their bedrooms because they were grounded there. Good luck and remember, consistency is key!

Okay so this is a little advanced but I know that every one of you is a smart dog trainer and I think you can handle it. There’s a little secret that a lot of people don’t know about dog training: it is actually a very mathematical process! I know it seems hard to believe when you’re looking at their cutecutecute faces but it’s really quite a precise and statistical process. When people hire us for board and train projects, I doubt they imagine us having spreadsheets with updates for every training session and documentation for every step of of the process. When I stand in front of a dog, I have certain criteria that I’m looking for (i.e. a 5 second stay or a sit on a full hand signal.) No matter what I’m asking the dog to do, I always ask three times in a row. If the dog gets it 3/3 times, I PUSH to the next level, which means I make it harder. Now I’m asking for a 7 second stay or a sit on a verbal cue. If the dog gets it 2/3 times, I STICK which means I repeat another set of three at the same difficulty. If the dog gets 1/3, I DROP and make the requirements easier.

Now this can seem very involved at first, but this method can’t help but make you an honest trainer and you’ll find that your training sessions are not only more efficient but you’ll be surprised at how far you can push your dog. It also doesn’t allow you to lie to yourself about what your dog “knows.” She either complete the set of three or she doesn’t and you can’t move on until she has. It takes all the emotion and the bias out of training and makes it less stressful as there is no more guessing involved. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

It is very important that you give your puppy a reward for going to the bathroom outside. Even more important is that you make the reward something so fabulous that it makes her want to hold her pee until she has the opportunity to go to her magical potty spot where she gets roast beef or turkey or salami. If I gave you $50 every time you made sure to pee in the upstairs bathroom, you would probably walk up there even if you were exhausted and had to wait for three other people to finish using it.

House training for your puppy is a lot like the tooth fairy for little kids.  But instead of trading in baby teeth for quarters (or dollars, or a Nintendo DS - depending on whether or not your child’s fairy is working out of 5th Avenue or not) your puppy learns that she can cash in her poop in for delicious treats. If the treats are incredibly good and she can only get them out there, why would she waste it inside? Novelty is a big part of this too. If they’re treats she ONLY gets when she pees outside, they become even more valuable. So don’t be stingy. Make a deal with yourself that you’ll give the puppy something fabulous every time she goes outside for 2 whole months. Stick to this plan and pretty soon you’ll have a dog who is begging to go outside.

A very common dog training myth follows the idea that you must play the part of the “pack leader” or the “alpha dog” in order to get your pup to listen to and respect you. First off, let me inform you that your dog does not mistake you for a dog. He knows that you’re definitely not part of the pack and his bad behavior can be explained in many other ways - most of which are far more simple than assuming he is trying to take over your house. For example, when he busts through the door before you, it’s not because he’s trying to stage a canine coup, it’s probably just because he’s really excited to get to the stuff on the other side of the door.

Now don’t get me wrong, dominance absolutely exists among dogs and it’s very interesting, just don’t flatter yourself by thinking that you get to be part of this very complicated system. The good news is, you can still be very rigid about the rules in your house and instill perfect manners in your pup. Most everyone agrees that dogs should wait before going through doors and should have to be invited up onto the furniture just know that if your dog isn’t doing these things you should look to your own behavior first. The next time you’re frustrated, realize that your dog is reacting to how consistent you are and how relevant you are to his life. Dogs usually “snap to” much more quickly for the person who feeds him than he does for the children who just run around the house and don’t control important resources like food and water.

Although you will spend a lot of time setting your puppy up for success, sometimes you will also need to set her up to fail occasionally. It is very important when your dogs are young to teach them that you control everything. So when you have extra time on a Saturday, help your puppy to understand that the rules of the house apply both when you are home and when you’re not. For example, you’ve got a puppy who is a counter surfer (tries to get things off the kitchen counter or the coffee table) and you’re doing a good job of giving her timeouts for paws on the counter. Now you’re ready for a sting operation.

Put something enticing on the counter and leave the kitchen. Then when your puppy strolls in there, quietly peek around the corner. As soon as she puts his paws on the counter because she knows you’re not watching, charge into the room and give her a timeout. Caught in the act! Your dog will start to think you have eyes in the back of your head. After a while you can even leave the house entirely and peek through a window. These exercises really help your dog to generalize that the rules of the house are in place whether people are present or not.

That means when your puppy has finally learned not to jump on you or pee in your house, it does not necessarily mean she has learned not to jump on people or pee in houses. In order to proof a behavior, which means making sure she knows it inside and out in all situations, you must do the corresponding training. You must continue your house training efforts in many different houses. Of course learning not to pee in your sister’s house will happen much faster than it did in your house because you’ve already done the hard work and laid the foundation for your puppy to learn this again. But this doesn’t mean you’re not going to have to give your puppy a helping hand for understanding that these rules are the same no matter where she goes. You need to make sure that the next 50 people she meets do not pet her for jumping. Eventually she will realize that jumping on people never gets paid with attention and she will just stop trying.

Imagine this, you sit down at a slot machine and the first ten times you play, it spits out $100. You’re up $1,000 and on the 11th try you get nothing. How long do you think you’d keep playing before you finally accepted that it isn’t a winner anymore? I imagine a long time. Your dog is making this decision all day long. Should I play the counter surfing slot machine today? Well 1/12 times I get a turkey sandwich off the counter and those are pretty good odds. This is exactly why teaching puppies can be so much easier than teaching adult dogs.

Teaching a puppy not to jump on you is really easy – sometimes it only takes 10 minutes because she has nearly no history of learning that jumping equals attention. Teaching a 2 year old lab who’s been getting hugged every time her owners come home after she jumps on them is going to be much more difficult. For those of you with puppies, just be consistent and never be a slot machine for bad behaviors. For those of you with older dogs, all is not lost. A dog of any age can be trained. Just recognize that you’re training journey is going to be a bit longer because your dog will need consistent and enduring convincing that the slots no longer pay.

How do I get my puppy to stop crying in the crate at night? I know you come to this blog for straight answers and here’s a big one:

This is one of the few training techniques I use that is slightly aversive.  Meaning it doesn’t involve wholly positive reinforcement. The truth is, it takes too long and people get too frustrated as they lose precious hours of sleep to do it the absolutely pure and positive way. So we’ve discovered that a really effective way to handle this is with crate shaking. When we put the puppies to bed at 11 p.m., we cover all their crates with blankets. Then if we have a first night puppy, we wait patiently by the crate. As soon as the puppy starts to wine, we gently shake his crate.

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1. The dog is not allowed in the house.

2. Okay, the dog is allowed in the house, but only in certain rooms.

3. The dog is allowed in all rooms, but has to stay off the furniture.

4. The dog can get on the old furniture only.

5. Fine, the dog is allowed on all the furniture, but is not allowed to
sleep with the humans on the bed.

6. Okay, the dog is allowed on the bed, but only by invitation.

7. The dog can sleep on the bed whenever he wants, but not under the covers.

8. The dog can sleep under the covers by invitation only

9. The dog can sleep under the covers every night.

10. Humans must ask permission to sleep under the covers with the dog.

Any of this sound familiar?

Jumping up uninvited on any furniture is an automatic timeout in my house. That means unless I say, “Okay” and pat the couch, there is no way that those lovely paws are allowed to touch the furniture. Dogs can learn this lesson pretty quickly. It’s also entirely possible to make the rules more complicated. One of my clients lets their dog (who doesn’t shed) on the couch as long as there are no people on it. If he’s alone, it’s his domain but as soon as there are guests over or if any of the family members are there, he must be invited. I think this is a great way for teaching dogs how to have manners. In addition, all dogs who stay with me must sit or lay down before getting invited up. If they don’t do it on the first try, they don’t get to come snuggle with me. It’s how we work in training throughout the day. We have a Nothing For Free Household and it keeps everyone happy and well trained - even us!

I know how concerned dog owners get about their dog’s food.  My clients ask me tough nutrition questions all the time that I can’t answer because, well, I’m not a pet nutritionist.  I simply don’t have the time to keep up on the foods you should or shouldn’t feed your pooch. But, because this is an incredibly important aspect of your dog’s life I have found a great resource for these questions: dog-food-blog.com is a fantastic site that deals with food issues and more. They even offer this: http://dog-food-blog.com/?p=60 is a wonderful e-book about keeping your dog healthy and happy.

Feel free to leave any comments detailing other great pet nutrition resources.

All dogs are hard wired to complete the prey drive sequence (search, stalk, chase, grab, shake, dissect and consume.) I know that doesn’t sound pleasant but if your dog’s wild ancestors weren’t good at doing this, your dog wouldn’t be alive. Most domesticated dogs don’t necessarily have a strong urge to do the whole sequence because their parents didn’t need to be good stalkers in order to live, they were eating kibble out of a bowl in the kitchen. Still, your dog’s prey drive can be triggered by certain things like children running and screaming or squirrels bounding up a tree and once the prey drive is triggered it is both dangerous and difficult to interrupt. This is why it’s very dangerous to leave small dogs with big dogs.

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Many people ask me whether or not I like going to dog parks. It’s always a hard question to answer because I think dog-dog play is incredibly valuable but it’s the safety risks that get in the way of me endorsing this canine paradise. Here are some things to consider: First off, know whether or not your dogs LIKES to go to the dog park. If your dog spends the entire time zeroed in on a tennis ball and gently snaps at passing dogs to leave him alone, then maybe a nice private park would be better for you and your pooch.

You should never force your dog to socialize if he does not want to and a large percentage of adult female dogs simply lose the interest in dog-dog play. (more…)

When getting ready to train your dog, it’s important to have a plan. After you have a plan and you know what you’ll be working on your focus should turn to The Five D’s. These are all the different things that affect how hard your training session will be. Here are The Five D’s:

1. Distance - how far away from your dog you are when you ask them to do something.
2. Duration - how long must the dog maintain the requested behavior (i.e. sit for 10 seconds or 3 minutes)
3. Distraction - what other things are you competing with for the dogs attention in your training area
4. Direction - most dogs will comply with distance training if you walk straight back keeping the dog in front of you but as soon as you start moving from side to side or diagonally, it tends to fall apart
5. Disappear - even well trained dogs will break their stay if you walk through a door and they can’t see you anymore (more…)

Puppies absolutely must be socialized before they are 18 weeks old. Obviously it’s incredibly adorable when puppies play together but what many new owners don’t realize is that it also serves a necessary purpose. While they are learning all the skills of ritualized fighting, (yes, that’s what puppy play simulates) they are also teaching each other bite inhibition. Bite Inhibition is a big term but this is an easy way to think about it…. when two puppies play with each other and one bites too hard with his needle sharp teeth, the other pup yelps and stops playing. Immediately, the puppy who bit down too hard learns that in order to keep the play session going, he has to soften his jaw. (more…)

Of course all of you are following my house training rules so you don’t have any accidents in the house, right? Well just in case something goes amiss (which is frequent, I know, and understandable - if only we could all devote every hour of every day to our puppies…) I found a home recipe for getting dog messes out of the carpet from my friend Justin Kleibacker who is the owner of a very highly recommended carpet cleaning business in Seattle. We have hardwood floors in our home so we don’t need carpet cleaning but I thought this might be useful to all you puppy parents out there who haven’t yet replaced your 60’s shag:

“Apply Cleaning Solution (mix 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide, 3% solution available in drug stores, with 1 teaspoon household ammonia). Let stand for 2 to 3 hours under a weighted pad of clean white towels. Repeat application of Cleaning Solution until removal is complete. Blot finish with weighted pad of paper towels. Apply white vinegar (undiluted) only after stain is removed for smell and to discourage little Rover from peeing there again. ”

To contact Heaven’s Best Carpet Cleaning, feel free to give a hello to Justin through email: hbseattle@gmail.com

Getting your dog to come when called is the most important behavior for your puppy to learn because it’s a matter of safety. Here are the five rules to follow when training your dog to come:

1. Say your recall word once and only once
2. Never call your dog for something unpleasant (i.e. “Puppy come get a bath”)
3. Fabulous reward! Your dog gets the top shelf treat for this like meat and gravy baby food, smoked salmon, blue cheese etc.
4. Only call your dog if you think they will come (don’t go to the dog park and call your dog if you haven’t trained in a high distraction area)
5. If you take a chance on Rule #4 and your dog doesn’t come, you have to SAVE IT. You have to walk to where she is, show her the fabulous bait you have and lure her back to where you called her from. Then give her the bait and throw her a puppy party. She’s not learning to come but she’s learning that she isn’t going to get away with not coming.

The BBQ bones I ordered online at www.AskTheMeatMan.com have been absolutely amazing. The dogs are kept occupied for hours and they always take a nice long, satisfying nap after they’re done exploring every square inch of these tasty knuckle bones. I can’t possibly rave about them enough. The only caution I have is that because the dogs like them so much, they are likely to guard them against other dogs. Even my extremely passive dogs are being a bit growly over their bones. The easy solution to this is to just put them in separate rooms or let them enjoy their chew in their crate.  And if your puppy is still a little skeptical of the pleasure potential of their crate these delicious treats will definitely tip the scales!

 Dirty Puppy Mouth?  Clean it up with New… no, we don’t have Orbit gum for dogs but we do have these great new de-stinkifying treats that are super tasty and easy to make at home.  Give them a try and enjoy a bad breath free home (well, dog breath anyway - we make no guarantees about your spouses and children…)!
Ingedients

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups Bisquick® baking mix
• 1/2 cup mint leaves — loosely packed
• 1/4 cup milk
• 4 tablespoons margarine
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup — or corn syrup

Directions

Combine all ingredients in food processor, process until well mixed, mint is chopped, and a large ball forms. Press or roll on non-stick surface (floured board or ceramic) to a thickness of 1/4-1/2″. Cut into 1×2″ strips or with bone-shaped cookie cutter and place on non-stick cookie pan. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool and store in air-tight container. Makes about 30 medium biscuits.

We got these From The Poop Pantry at www.thepoop.com - check out their site for more fun tips!

I know this has been passed around the internet a lot but I simply love it so much that I’m going to post it too. Here is an amazing video of a dog dancing to You’re The One That I Want from Grease. It’s absolutely fantastic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFIZdCY2BcI

Ever seen anything similar or maybe even Better than this?  Let us know!

A lot of my new puppy owner clients never even have to give me a hint about their number one question . Their arms (and sometimes their ears too) are such obvious evidence that I’m hardly surprised by the time they finally exclaim: “How do I get my puppy to stop biting me?” The short-term answer is that you don’t - in fact, you should be encouraging your puppy to bite you.

I know this sounds strange, but puppies are born with needle sharp teeth so that during play sessions with their litter mates and friends they can give each other feedback about how hard of a bite is too hard. Puppies quickly learn that softening their bites will make play time last longer. As puppy owners you need to get on board with this system and give the same feedback to your puppies. (more…)

That is the question I get over and over from new puppy owners. They want to roll around with their rambunctious pups but don’t know how to make sure it doesn’t get out of control. The solution is to treat it like a game. But like every good game, it has rules. The game needs to have a start and end cue. For example, “Let’s Wrestle!” can be the start cue and “All Done!” can be the end cue. (more…)

Wikipedia defines Learned Helplessness as “A psychological condition in which an animal has learned to believe that it is helpless. It has come to believe that it has no control over its situation and that whatever it does is futile. As a result, the animal will stay passive in the face of an unpleasant, harmful or damaging situation, even when it does actually have the power to change its circumstances.”

This is a very common symptom of adult dogs who have been purchased from large-scale breeders and been subject to very bad conditions. The dogs have learned that no matter what their behavior, they are without water, closed in a cage and often yelled at for no apparent reason. These dogs need a significant amount of training in order to re-learn how to be dogs again. All their natural behaviors have been punished out of them, so much so that they merely stop responding to what’s going on in their environment. It is a sad situation, but not one that’s hopeless. It just takes a very special dog owner who is patient enough to rehab the dog back to being emotionally balanced.  If you any concerns in this regard feel free to contact us for help.

There’s a new work-to-eat toy in town. It’s call the Amaze-A-Ball! I just ordered these from www.petedge.com (a site I love that has really inexpensive dog stuff) and Ashley, Evan and I definitely just spent 15 minutes playing with them even before we gave them to the puppies. Not only do I love their bright color and the fact they’re super bouncy but they have a really cool rubber maze inside of them. Mazes like this mean that the food comes out slower than with a hollow work-to-eat toy. And as any experienced pet owner knows the longer it keeps your dog occupied, the better. Remember, dogs are meant to scavenge for their food all day long so feeding them from this ball instead of a bowl will keep them calm and happy - and you won’t feel to bad yourself.

It’s 10:30 p.m. and your brain is buzzing. You work 50+ hours per week, your parents are coming to visit this weekend, you need to update your blog, clean your bathroom and buy food since all you have is flax cereal and Odwalla juice. You didn’t