So what do you do to train that new puppy?

Prevention is the most important part of potty training your puppy because each time your dog relieves himself in the house, the habit to do so becomes stronger. Until your dog has learned where to go potty, she should be under constant surveillance or confined in a small enough area that she’ll automatically choose to “hold it”. Im a big believer in crate training, the directions of which can be found on the US Humane Society's web site. As you progress, you can expand this confinement area until it includes the whole house. Here are some common sence directions for how to housetrain your puppy or adult dog.

* Keep her in an area that is small enough that she will automatically “hold it”. You can do this using an exercise pen, crate, pet gate, tether, attaching her to yourself with a leash or by holding her in your lap. Begin with a appropriately sized crate or 2 to 5 foot tether. The crate should be just big enough for her to fully move around in and lay down stretched out. If your dog is having accidents in the crate, make sure it isn’t too big and remove any absorbent bedding - this will help to convince her to “hold it”.

* When you are inside your home and she is out of his crate, keep her tied to your waist and watch her constantly for sniffing, circling or other signs that she is about to “go”. Take her out to her potty area immediately when you see this behavior. Set her down and say "POTTIES" When she does the deed use your happy voice to verbally reward the desired behavior.

* Stick to a strict schedule: Feed her 2-3 times per day and leave the food down for about 15 minutes at a time. Water can remain down all day until about 8:00 at night. Set a timer to go off every hour as a reminder to take her out. This way, you can keep her bladder empty and you will have lots of opportunities to reward her for “potties”. As your dog becomes more reliable, the time between outings can be increased.

* Say nothing while she is “going” in the appropriate area so that she doesn’t get distracted. When she finishes, praise and give her a tasty treat. If she doesn’t relieve herself, return to the house, confine her and wait 15 minutes before trying again.

* If you see your dog relieving herself in the wrong spot, DO NOT YELL, quickly and calmly bring her outside and praise her for finishing there. If you find a mess, clean it thoroughly using a pet-specific cleaner in order to prevent that area being “marked” as a future potty spot. Next time, be more careful! It is not generally effective to punish a dog for pottying in the wrong area. If you punish her for going potty in the house, she may learn to make sure you are not looking when she relieves herself which will make the whole process more difficult.

Potty training is basically pretty easy. One thing, If you have a short hair small breed and it is the dead of winter, try getting them to go outside with a sweater or fleece on, if that is not happening, don't push it, small dogs can get frostbite in really cold weather pretty quickly! You can find puppy chucks ( in house potty throw always at your local pet store or check out our books and supplies section at www.ezpetid.com where you can mail order the disposable potty chucks. they have a plastic backing and are sort of like a diaper for our tiny pals. Small dogs can be trained to relieve themselves on the absorbent product and no where else in your home. Now a days they are odorless and save your carpet and furniture.

Memorials and beloved pets

Recently a friend lost her dog Bo. Bo was a quirky Jack Russel Terrier who had a mind of his own and a clown like personality. Besides engraving the memorial plate for Bo's mahogany cremation box, I sought other expressions of creativity that could bring comfort and sweet memories to Stella as she recalls her pal. After a quick internet search I found some interesting ideas. A group called Celebrations of life will create a custom story about your furry pal...http://www.celebrationsoflife.net/ Then there is the gal who can take photos of your pet and transform them into wonderful sculptures http://www.pet-sculpture.com/ The options for memorializing ones lost pet were vast.

I finally decided that the best choice for Stella were to present her with several choices and let her pick. I would say that the top two on my list were the web sites and products I found above. Who knows they may even make it into the upcoming top 100 list for our web site at www.ezpetid.com.

Keep your pets happy and healthy!

Doggie meatloaf for your best pal

Whenever I can find Ground turkey on sale ill pick up an extra package to make the dogs a special treat. Here is our favorite recipe, We originally got this off the internet and made little adaptions which made the recipe a favorite for our pet pals.

Puploaf

1/2 cup organic barley

4 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey

1/2 cup cottage cheese

2 whole eggs

1/2 cup organic wheat germ

1/4 cup carrot -- finely chopped

1/4 cup spinach -- finely chopped

1/4 cup zucchini -- finely chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil


Directions:
Add Barley and chicken broth to sauce pan and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 50 minutes.
Set aside and let cool for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350.
In a large mixing bowl add meat, cottage cheese, veggies, and eggs.
Mix thoroughly.
Add wheat germ, cooled barley and olive oil mix well.
Add mixture to loaf pan, bake at 350 for 1 hour or until done.

Cool and serve 1/2 immediately placed unused portion in the refrigerator to keep fresh.

Loving your senior dog

Poppy awoke this morning with a new limp. She didn't seem to have any interest in bearing weight on her right leg. What to do? I used Linda Tellington-Jones, t-touch therapeutic massage methods to work out the pain and then gave poppy a nice warm bath. Typically Poppy is not fond of bath time but today she seemed to melt into the floor of the bath tub enjoying the hot water as the comfort of the water penetrated her sore muscles.

I also did research on my own web site at www.ezpetid.com in the books and supplies section and ordered her a medium heating pad, some arthritis chewable pills and I looked into senior pet foods with quality nutrients in them.

Poppy is now 10 years old and I have noticed that her aches and pains come closer together now and she is allergic to corn and she has the loving granny who will not be trifled with thing going on.

My sweet girl has served me well in her youth and I imagine that she will continue to be a part of the family for years to come, but I'm now taking care of a mature dog who thinks she is a young puppy, runs like one too, but feels her age when she over does it. Before her I had other dogs, but she has always been that once in a life time, special dog that wins your heart the moment you meet, offers loyalty and obedience from day one and never ever would have thought of chewing on your best pair of shoes.

Poppy has aimed to please from birth and When the day comes that she and i will part to meet years from now at the pearly gates, I know that I will get a good report from the angels that she is a one of a kind canine angel herself.

My chiwawa and her terrible twos

So what should one do when their two year old chiwawa has a temper tantrum? Same thing as one would do for a kid. Tinkerbell got a time out today. 5 minutes in her crate with no attention from mommy! After the time out, we went back to quiet play and good behavior.

It is so easy to see my dogs as my children, they often give me looks and have talks with me that seem so child like. One thing is clear, they tell me when they want to go out, walkies, hungry, play time, I'm cold, YOUR NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO ME! I know all of the facial expressions, yips, barks and tail wags of these basic needs.

If Tinkerbell is cold she will crawl up to my shoulder, put her head right near my ear and start licking! Ill reach over lifting up the nearest of any number of her fleece blankets that adorn various pieces of furniture and she will dart underneath popping her little head out slightly tilted to thank me. Dogs are funny, they have huge personalities that have nothing to do with size.

I am grateful for my home and my little friends, I worry though, How many dogs and cats are in shelters tonight because their families had to give them up when they were forced to make a choice between food for their families and food for their pets. Many times the abandoned pet came from a loving home, where there was an expectation that Fido or Fluffy would be a beloved member of the family till death do they part. Who knew that economics would take its toll.

Traveling to different animal shelters I have found that attitudes are changing too.
Its harder to adopt a dog or cat from most shelters now because the shelters see the revolving door, Some dogs being brought back over and over, abuse, and abandonment.

So as more and more animals are abandoned at shelters, and the number of animals adopted out continues to be done with extreme caution, The ability of the shelters to accommodate the influx caused by the failing economy can and in many cases will leave shelters with no choice but to abandon very well intentioned no kill policies.

The message of spay and neuter has reached many ears, but there are still those who think it is profitable, cute, or a great family experience for the family to enjoy the birth of and care for puppies or kittens. In talking to a friend recently, I was told that for every 6 puppies born, three will end up in a shelter at some point in their life. I have no way of proving that or qualifying that statement, but I have heard the overwhelming numbers of puppies and kittens that end up at just our little rural shelters. Its overwhelming.

If you have love in your heart, the stability and ability to manage a new pal, perhaps you will seek out one of the shelters on our web sites list to find your next family member. If you already have a pal, please spay or neuter, and if you already have, proudly tell your friends and family to follow suit.

As you may know we provide custom engraved pet id for your fuzzy pals. We talk to folks at shows and we support sequoia humane society and other local shelters where we can. These shelters are feeling the pinch too, Donations are down while demand for their services are up.

Wishing you well till the next post!

Peanut Butter Dog Bones

Peanut Butter Dog Bones are my favorite recipe to date. If your dog is allergic to wheat you can double up on the rye and rice flour.

1 package dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 cup milk
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 egg
1 cup oat flour
1 cup all-purpose white flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 ° F (165 ° C).

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in water. In a large saucepan, mix together the potatoes, milk, molasses, stock, and peanut butter. Heat, stirring frequently until boiling. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Add yeast mixture. Gradually blend in the egg, wheat, rye, and rice flours. Add enough white flour to form a stiff dough.

Transfer to a floured surface and knead until smooth (about 3-5 minutes). Shape the dough into a ball and roll to 1/2-inch (12 mm) thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out biscuits. Place on ungreased baking sheets, spacing them about 1/4-inch (6 mm) apart. Gather up the scraps, roll out again, and cut additional biscuits.

Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool overnight. Makes several dozen bones that freeze well--and have the consistency of pizza crusts, a favorite snack for most spoiled dogs!

Welcome to Paws and Play

Ever since I was a small child I have had pets. My mother recalls my teen age years as a time when she was a supporter of the Barrett family zoo, I had two rabbits which turned into 7 rabbits shortly after they joined our family, snakes, chickens, a dog named lover, cats, turtles, fish, two hamsters that turned into enough that we regularly supplied the local pet store with the cute furry critters, and the list goes on, My greatest dream was to work at the local pet store. The sole proprietor must have received requests such as mine daily and I never got the much coveted job.

Now I am 47 years old and sill have a menagerie A chiwawa, a border collie, two geckos and a cat. All are first loves. I used to have birds too, however I just could not deal with the mess and gave them to a friend who coveted them for years. She is very happy and I have a clean fairly allergy free home now.

I started this blog because I love animals and i seem to have a head full of information and advice for the husbandry of four legged friends. Depending on the day Ill talk about allot of things and may occasionally get off topic. My Border collie is a service dog so I have had experiences over the years that I would love to share with others. Interesting reactions from merchants to friends and how to manage introductions one must constantly deal with as a disabled person with a service animal.

For now I leave you but please check out the new we bite we have set up that offers the best custom engraved pet tags on the north coast. I may become not only a engraver for my pet tags I may soon become the west coast distributor.. time will tell.