Safety Information

Xylitol is a sugar substitute found in some candies and gum, but can also be found in other foods that people might not be aware of, one of them is peanut butter.

A lot of people give peanut butter to their dog as a treat, smear it on their dog's toys or use it to hide their pills.

Xylitol is very harmful to dogs, so please read the ingredients label on the peanut butter jar before giving it to your pet. To be on the safe side, read the labels of any food that is meant for people to be sure that the sweetener is not in it.

Dog Training Tips

1. Everyone in the household should be involved in your dog’s training. Everyone should say the same command words, agree to the same rules and modify the behavior the same way.  

2. Be consistent, and don’t give your dog mixed messages. For example, do not allow your dog up on the couch one day and yell at him for going on it another day.

3. Keep training sessions short (about 5 -10 minutes). Get in the habit of incorporating training in your daily activities. Have your dog do a “sit” before he eats or before you let him go outside. Have your dog do a “sit” or “down” before playing fetch. Practice commands while you are on a walk with him.

4. Always end your training sessions on a positive note. Perform a command your dog already knows and reward him for it.

5. Start training in a distraction-free environment.  Practice in different areas of the house.  Once your dog knows the command, practice where there are more distractions, including the outdoors.

6. Use treats or something else really special that your dog enjoys when he is showing good behavior. Maybe show him some extra attention.  

7. Redirect inappropriate behavior by showing your dog an acceptable alternative. Afterward, praise him when he performs the desired behavior.

8. Do not use after-the-fact discipline; your dog will not understand why you are angry. If you have to correct your dog, do it at the time your dog is doing the bad behavior. A firm verbal correction is usually all that is needed. Use words like “off” or "leave it" in an authoritative tone and re-direct your dog’s behavior as needed. Never hit or yell at your dog. If your dog is repeating the same inappropriate behavior then he either needs to be trained or re-trained for the appropriate behavior.  

9. While teaching a new command, practice the command several times.

Quality Dog Food

I have been looking for a quality dog food and it is not easy. I have been looking at the ingredients labels of different dog foods and it is disgraceful what they will put in our dog’s food.

I found this great website Dog Food Advisor that helped me sort through the different dog food ingredients. They list the dog foods by 1 - 5 stars and why they gave them this rating.

Training on a Raining Day

It was a yucky raining day today, it rained all day and night. Luckily, I did not have to go outside for very long and I got a chance to catch up on some stuff I needed to do. One of the things that I got a chance to do was train my dog, Snoopy to retrieve the phone for me in case of a health emergency. That did not take very long because she has already been trained to retrieve other things for me like the remote control, newspaper, socks and slippers. Once she was trained to retrieve a couple of things, any new item I wanted her to retrieve was just a matter of adding a name to it.

Towards the evening I realized how much help my dog was for me today. I have trained her to do a lot of service dog tasks, so I can keep up my training skills and be better able to help other people train their dog. Some of the tasks she did for me I did not really need, but she does not know that and is just happy to do something special that earns her praise and sometimes a treat. She retrieved the weekly newspaper for me after she went potty, which was nice since it was raining. Luckily the newspaper was in a plastic bag, so it was not all wet and soggy. While I was cooking, she alerted me to the oven timer. When I was in one of my rooms she opened the door by pulling on a strap, which I needed because my hands were full. She also helped me with the laundry by retrieving some of our socks and put it into the basket.

Cat Feeding Tip

If you always feed your cat dry cat food, you should consider adding at least a couple of teaspoons of wet cat food each day. I also add some water to it and mix it around. Cats do not drink a lot of water and can get serious health problems if they don‘t drink enough clean water daily.

I also give my cats dry cat food because it helps keep their teeth clean.

Recommended Dog Toys

I give handouts to all my in-home dog training clients and at the end of one of my handouts is a list of some dog toys. One of my favorites is the tricky treat ball.

I use the tricky treat ball with my own dog. I fill the ball with some of my dog’s kibble every time she eats dinner. She really enjoys it, she gets mental stimulation along with some physical exercise. The ball has one hole in it and all I have to do is put some dinner kibble in it. Treats can also be put in it as long as they are small enough to fall out. My dog pushes it around with her nose or paws and the kibble falls out. It is a great way to give your dog something to do. A lot of pet supply stores sell them or you can buy it at
their official website

Pet Safety Tips - added to list

I have added some more foods to the list of items that can be dangerous to your pets.

• Tomatoes
  
• Avocado
  
• Macadamia nuts
  
• Alcoholic beverages
  
• Coffee
  

The complete list is under my blog titled Pet Safety Tips in May 2010.