Training with a Shock Collar

January is national train your dog month. We recommend force-free training. "How you train your dog, and the tools you choose, are decisions that set the tone for your life with your dog. This lens gives objective information about how dogs learn, and gives the most current information available about the best ways to train them, and how shock collars fit into that. The decision to use or not use a shock collar is one that could affect your dog's health and even survival." Read the entire article

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50 Ways to Use a Kong

Paul Simon once sang a song about 50 ways to leave your lover. Well, it is National Dog Training Month and I have given you 50 ways to use your Kong! Click the link for a printable version! Click here for 50 Ways to Use Your Kong

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Dogs and Babies

January is Train Your Dog Month!

I read a great article about dogs and children. I so often see videos on Facebook and YouTube of kids and dogs interacting that make me so nervous. ". A dog may find the baby and your new routines disorienting, even threatening. Keeping the baby safe and the dog happy requires training your dog to realize the baby is neither a threat nor a toy." Read the entire article

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Puppy Socialization

January is dog training month! "Socializing a puppy to people is the easiest and most enjoyable aspect of raising a dog. On a regular and ongoing basis, puppies need to meet, play with, and be handled and trained by a wide variety of people, especially including strangers, men, and children.

Old dogs can indeed be taught new tricks. An adult dog may learn basic manners and good behavior (where to eliminate, what to chew, and when and for how long to bark) at any time in his life. However, socialization must occur during puppyhood—during the critical period of socialization, which ends when puppies are 12–13 weeks old." Read the entire article

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Sit!

Things Dogs Cannot Do While Sitting (It solves lots of behavior problems!) David Letterdog’s List of Things Dogs Cannot Do While Sitting!

1. Jump up, lick, paw, bump, or goose family, friends, visitors, or strangers, especially including the young and the elderly.
2. Bolt out of the front door or car.
3. Run off in the park.
4. Chase cars, cats, chickens, children, bicyclists, skate-boarders, horses, and other dogs.
5. Bully, bother, pester, or disturb people or other dogs.
6. Get underfoot, stepped on, or tripped over.
7. Mount other dogs, or be mounted by other dogs.
8. Slap a child in the face, or clear a coffee table of wine glasses with a waggy tail.
9. Fence-fight or scrap through the garden fence.
10. Pace back and forth, chase its tail, or self-energize by running around like a whirling dervish from window to couch, from couch to carpet, and from carpet to window, etc., while working itself into a feverish frenzy.

Extracted from Dr. Ian Dunbar’s Good Little Dog Book (James & Kenneth, 2003)

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Housetraining Your Dog

January is National Dog Training Month. Many people got puppies for Christmas and are facing the challenges of housetraining.

"Housesoiling is a spatial problem. Your puppydog has been allowed to eliminate in the wrong place. Housesoiling quickly becomes a bad habit because dogs develop strong location, substrate, and olfactory preferences for their improvised indoor toilet areas. To housetrain your puppydog: first, prevent any more mistakes; and second, teach your puppydog where you would like him to eliminate.

Prevent Mistakes

Mistakes are a disaster since they set a bad precedent and create bad habits, which can be hard to break." Read the entire article

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Pulling on the Leash

It's national dog training month! One of the biggest complaints I get as a dog trainer is that dogs pull on the leash. Dr. Ian Dunbar has written a fantastic article on this topic: "By and large, leash-pulling masks the real problem: without a leash you would probably be without a dog. It is indeed a sobering thought to think that most dogs prefer to forge ahead to sniff the grass or other dogs' rear ends than to walk by their owner's side. There are some dogs who simply don't want to walk beside owners who keeping yanking the leash. However, regardless of why your dog pulls, all dogs need to be trained to walk nicely on leash. If not, they are unlikely to be walked at all. Trying to teach a dog to heel using leash prompts and corrections requires a lot of skill and time. And even then, all you have is a well-behaved dog on-leash. Let him off-leash and he's history; you cannot safely take him for off-leash rambles, and you still cannot control him around the house, where he is off-leash all the time." Read the entire article

For more free dog training tips, click here!
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Publix Brand Dog Treats - recall

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets is issuing a voluntary recall for Publix Chicken Tenders Dog Chew Treats because it may contain trace amounts of antibiotic residue. The UPC, located on the back right-hand corner of the product, is 41415-18527 and the product comes in a 3.5oz bag. This product was sold in Publix grocery stores in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

"As part of our commitment to food safety, including that of our four-legged family members, potentially impacted product has been removed from all store shelves,” said Maria Brous, Publix media and community relations director. "To date, there have been no reported cases of pet illness. Consumers who have purchased the product in question may return the product to their local store for a full refund. Publix customers with additional questions may call our Consumer Relations department, Monday-Friday, 8a.m. – 7p.m., at 1-800-242-1227 or by visiting our website at www.publix.com/contact.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/11/3178484/publix-issues-voluntary-recall.html#storylink=cpy

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Milo's Kitchen Treat Recall

San Francisco – January 9, 2013 – Milo’s Kitchen® today announced that it is voluntarily recalling its Chicken Jerky and Chicken Grillers home-style dog treats from retailer shelves nationally. No other Milo’s Kitchen® products are affected. On Monday, New York State’s Department of Agriculture informed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Company that trace amounts of residual antibiotics had been found in several lots of Milo’s Kitchen® Chicken Jerky. After consultation with the New York Department of Agriculture and FDA, the company decided to voluntarily recall Milo’s Kitchen® Chicken Jerky and Chicken Grillers, which are both sourced from the same chicken suppliers. Read the entire article

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Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek Treats Recalled

St. Louis, Missouri, January 9, 2013 . . . Nestlé Purina PetCare Company and its wholly owned subsidiary Waggin' Train, LLC today announced it is voluntarily withdrawing its Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek Ranch brand dog treats sold in the United States until further notice.

The Company is taking this action after learning this week that the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets (NYSDAM) found trace amounts of antibiotic residue in samples of Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek Ranch chicken jerky products. These antibiotics are approved for use in poultry in China and other major countries, including European Union member states, but are not among those approved in the U.S. Antibiotics are commonly used globally, including in the United States, when raising animals fit for human consumption. Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek Ranch products are safe to feed as directed. However, due to regulatory inconsistencies among countries, the presence of antibiotic residue is technically considered an adulteration in the United States. This finding does not pose a safety risk to pets.

New York State authorities initially requested that the Company remove Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek Ranch chicken jerky treats from retail locations in the state of New York, which we have agreed to do. In addition, because of the differences in U.S. and Chinese regulations, Nestlé Purina decided to conduct a nationwide voluntary withdrawal.

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Beneful Dog Food

The latest pet food to enrage pet owners is Purina's Beneful. A spurt of complaints over the last few months has been accompanied by a large increase in the number of people reading the Beneful reviews posted by ConsumerAffairs readers. "I switched to Beneful about two months ago. Two weeks ago my maltipoo Buster stopped eating and started throwing up, followed by bloody diarrhea. He died within a week," said one angry reader. "Then my maltese Layla had the same symptoms everytime she ate Beneful dog food. I started feeding her home-cooked food like boiled chicken and she is 100 percent better. Buster is dead because of beneful." Purina did not respond to a request for its response to the consumers' reports. Read the entire article

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