Product Review: Wondercide

 

 Natural defenses for my pets are important to me.  We do not use any chemicals or pesticides in our yard for the safety of both the humans and the pets and our wildlife.

Let's start with the yard spray.  After my spring laying down of beneficial nematodes, I do a monthly application of the yard spray.  You can purchase it in concentrate for your own hose end sprayer or get it ready to go. 

From the website:

• KILLS & REPELS. A preventative and a treatment, this spray is a natural pest repellent, and kills mosquitoes, ants, fleas, ticks, roaches, flies, scorpions, chiggers, crickets, chinch bugs, japanese beetles, no-see-ums, gnats and more. Safe alternative to conventional pesticide sprays.
  
  
• SPRAY & PLAY! Safe for cats, dogs and people of all ages, with no wait time for drying or reentry into sprayed outside areas. Just attach directly to a garden hose, spray your backyard, and enjoy.
  
  
• NO HARSH CHEMICALS. No artificial colors, fragrances or harsh pesticides. Made in the USA from powerful, sustainable plant-based ingredients. Cruelty free and biodegradable.
  
  
• POWERED BY NATURE, AS POWERFUL AS PERMETHRIN. Powered by cedar oil, our eco-friendly formula is proven to kill and repel pests. Safe when sprayed outdoors around pets, kids, and beneficial insects like bees and butterflies. Permethrin-Free. Packaging may vary.
  
  
  
  I keep the spray bottle at my back door for use on both the humans and the dog.  Here are the details from Wondercide:
  
  
  
• SAFE FOR DOGS, CATS OF ALL AGES. Gentle enough to use on puppies, kittens, and senior pets as often as needed, yet powerful enough to fully eliminate pests on the skin and fur.
  
  
• 3-IN-1 PLANT-BASED SOLUTION. For dogs, cats, and home! A home remedy that kills fleas throughout the house on carpet, furniture, bedding, and flooring. Also a repellent in pet environments like dog kennels or cat condos. Invigorating Rosemary scent freshens homes and is safe for kids.
  
  
• POWERFULLY EFFECTIVE. Powered by nature and proven to work. Give your pet the best advantage in protection against fleas and ticks with our non-harsh formula. Cruelty free, biodegradable, and Made in the U.S.A.
  
  I have used it four seasons in a row now with great success.  It comes in a variety of scents and even a pocket sized bottle to keep in your purse or doggy go bag.  Becky uses it as well on her dogs (see the cute Lab pics?) and in her yard with great success.
  
  My favorite reason why it's great:  Wondercide utilizes cedar oil as the natural active ingredient. It targets fleas, ticks, and mosquitos by blocking a neurological receptor unique to these insects and effectively eliminating them. Bees and other beneficial insects like butterflies and dragonflies lack this receptor, so they are unaffected by the cedar oil. It's safe to use on my planted flowers and herb garden to keep away the bugs I do not want.
  
  I like the peppermint and lemongrass scents the best and truly do enjoy the smell of cedar in the back yard when I put down the yard spray.  Added benefit for me is that it is a mosquito repellant, so I can enjoy being outside and not get eaten alive by the "skeeters".
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

Click here for full product details.

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Product Review - Glow in the Dark Fetch Stick

   Canine staff member Libby reviews the fetch and glow stick!

 

PROS: 

• Great catch and toss/fetch toy. Fetch is my fav!
  

• Good size for large breed dogs to catch. For me, it's "pawfect"!
  

• Light enough for medium dogs to catch. But too big for the littles!
  

• Easy to catch and easy to pick up from the ground when my human does a lousy toss!
  

• Soft, flexible material is easy on my toofers when catching it! 

• Good for a gentle game of tug between me and my person.
  

• Glows in the dark.  That's way cool! It's something fun to do when it's startin' to get dark, they call that "enrichment"!  You can recharge the glow with your human's phone flashlight!  I found it in the dark when my human tossed it a short ways away.  I think that's "pawtastic"!
  

• Non toxic - safety is important!
  
  

CONS: 

• Not for UN-supervised play NOT a chew toy!!!   It's only for fetching!
  

• Too soft for UN-attended play!  Gotta supervise!
  

• Dogs with strong chomping habits might inadvertently bite off a chunk while catching it!  Lucky for me, I am gentle with my toys!
  

• Not for two dogs playing tug - I had to tell my sister this is not the toy for that! But I got my human to gently tug with me and that's ok!
  
  
• The glow doesn't last too long...bummer!

 

Overall, I give it four paws up!  I like catch-able toys and I really like that it is easy to see in the dark!

 

 

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Ultrasonic Bark Devices

"
I asked Rain Jordan, a professional dog trainer, who specializes in helping fearful and traumatized dogs what she thought about ultrasonic training devices. “The sound emitted from the devices is punishing dogs by startling and/or causing discomfort,” she told me in an email.
These devices punish any bark that comes out of a dog’s mouth and can’t discriminate between appropriate/happy/excited barking and “nuisance” barking. Barking is a perfectly normal, even necessary, dog behavior and is only a nuisance relative to human preferences.

When normal behavior is discouraged and suppressed, you “risk either learned helplessness, on the one hand, or aggression without warning on the other.” Dogs wearing e-collars don’t necessarily understand why they are being punished, and even if they do know why, they eventually habituate to the punishment and the “problem” behavior returns. Owners, then, are tempted to up the ante by increasing the volume button on the ultrasonic device or moving to something more extreme, such as a shock collar."  Click here to read full article.


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Collar vs Harness

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Choke, Prong and Pinch Collars..yes or no?

What Do the Experts Say?

Respected veterinarian and thyroid expert, Dr. Jean Dodds, recommends against choke or prong collars “as they can easily injure the delicate butterfly-shaped thyroid gland that sits just below the larynx and in front of the trachea. These collars can also injure the salivary glands and salivary lymph nodes on the side of the face underneath both ears.”

Bestselling author and canine behaviorist, Jean Donaldson, says: “These devices (choke and prong collars), when they work, do so to the degree that they hurt. With the advent of modern methods and tools they are irrelevant.”

According to veterinarian and veterinary behaviorist Dr. Soraya V. Juarbe-Diaz: “Using punishment to stop behaviors is not new. Notice I say ‘stop’ rather than ‘teach’ — I can stop any behavior, but I am more interested in teaching my students, animal or human, to choose the behavior I want them to perform because they can trust me, because I do not hurt them and they are safe with me, and because the outcome is something they enjoy.”  Click here to read more.

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