Month: May 2020

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Introducing your puppy to water… the right way!

Who else is excited for the summer weather?!

Here in New Brunswick we are currently experiencing a heatwave! This brings lots of questions on how exactly to keep your pup cool during the summer months. There are tons of ways to keep your pup cool, but there’s no doubt about it that swimming in the water is the best way to quickly cool your dog down and keep them cool. So let’s get started!

Things you’ll need!

  • High value treats
  • Water toys
  • Small plastic pool
  • Water (duh!)
Petunia at 9 weeks, playing with her favourite water toy!

Some dogs are naturally more drawn to the water, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t teach your pup to love the water. I’m not claiming that this will work for every single dog, but in the majority of cases you’ll have a water loving dog in no time with a little patience and training.

Start by determining whether your dog is motivated more by food or toys, and use whichever your puppy prefers. It’s best for this to use both treats and toys eventually but start with your dogs favourite.

Treat method

If your puppy really loves food, kibble may be just fine, but we choose to get the good stuff out when teaching new things! Some favourites in our household are dehydrated liver, chopped hot dogs, cubed cheese, but whatever your dog likes will work!

Start by just walking your puppy around the pool to see their reaction, don’t put any pressure on them and whatever you do, don’t force them into the pool. Forcing them in, too quickly will often have the opposite effect and you’ll end up with a puppy that is scared of the water.

This will go one of two ways, either your puppy will go right in the pool, or they’ll go around it. If they go right in, perfect, you have a confident puppy, reward them heavily with treats and tell them how amazing they are, and repeat! Most puppies will go around the pool though, and that’s fine too.

If you have the second kind of puppy, start by taking a treat and luring them into the pool. It may take a few tries but if you reward them for the littlest try, they’ll catch on quickly. Some puppies will do much better if you walk right in with them, and some don’t need it. Some puppies need to be rewarded for going near the pool and never stepping foot inside (yet!), and some can be rewarded for putting one paw in, and some will jump right in after the treat. Move through the steps as slowly as you need to for your puppy, but once your puppy is confidently going in the water for a treat or when you point (I use the command “go in the water”) then you can move on to the next steps! Hopefully your puppy will also start going into the pool for fun to cool down without being asked!

Toy method

First grab your puppy’s favourite water toy and get them all excited playing with it away from the pool. Once they are really into it, bring them near the water and see what they do if you throw it in the water.

Note: Your dog should already be toy motivated and know how to fetch and tug, etc.

If they go fetch it out of the pool, throw them a party and play with their toy away from the pool again. Repeat a bunch of times and eventually they should love fetching it out of the water and it will definitly cool them down and tire them out. If they really don’t want to go in, i’ve had good sucess with tying the toy to their flirt pole and getting them to chase it into the pool.

To increase difficulty you can then move onto toys they don’t love quite as much, get them to “leave it” for a minute before fetching or move into larger bodies of water such as the beach or river.

Working with toys they don’t love as much is a great way to practice building their toy drive. You’ll have to get very active and excited until they get excited about the toy too. Basically don’t give up until they start playing with the new toy, just like their favourite. This is also a great activity to do with all toys, not just their water toys! Switch out their toys often to keep it interesting.

Getting them to “leave it” requires them to know what “leave it” means. So if they don’t know yet, go back and teach them before doing this step. Even if they know leave it well, you’ll want a leash for this part. Put a leash on your puppy, then say “leave it” and throw the toy into the pool. If they go to get it, pop the leash lightly and say”no”, keeping in mind that you don’t want to discourage them. Once they leave it and look at you, say “okay” and release the puppy. Holding them back like this will make them NEED to get the toy even more, which will build confidence, drive and enthusiasm in the water.

To start at the beach or river you’ll have to check out our next post!

Happy swimming! Comment and let us know how your puppy does, we are happy to answer any questions you may have!

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DIY frozen dog treats

What you’ll need:

  • Coconut oil
  • Plain Yogurt
  • Pumpkin
  • Small treats (we use dehydrated chicken for this)
  • Measuring cup to melt the coconut oil
  • A Bowl
  • A spoon
  • Ice cube trays and/or silicone molds

Start by melting your coconut oil in the microwave until it’s liquid, and pour until the mold or tray is about 1/3 full. Place ice cube trays with coconut oil in the freezer until solid (5-10 minutes). Next add the pumpkin until the cube is 2/3 filled. Then with the remaining 1/3 add plain yogurt. Lastly take a small treat, we use dehydrated chicken for this and place it in the middle. The order you place the ingredients really doesn’t matter!

Freeze overnight then in the morning your pups will have a delicious and nutritious treat! Play around with the amounts of everything you’ll need, depending on how many trays you’re making! Once frozen they can be bagged or put in a container and kept in the freezer. Silicone trays can have the treats popped right out quickly, if you used a plastic tray, simply allow to thaw for 5-10 minutes then they should slide right out. These are perfect for hot summer days to cool your pup down after playing outside!

Pumpkin

Pumpkin is super nutritious and beneficial for your dog, and most dogs absolutely love it. It’s one of our favourite things to feed! You can find pure canned pumpkin at most grocery stores. Make sure you get the “pure pumpkin” because the pumpkin pie filling has too much sugar!

Plain Yogurt

Plain yogurt has many benefits for your canine companion, and we’ve never met a dog that didn’t like it! It is good for tummy troubles and perfect if your dog happens to be on antibiotics due to all the good bacteria in plain yogurt.

Coconut oil

Pure organic virgin coconut oil is also great for your dogs! It may not be the “cure all” that many people claim; but it has some great health benefits, especially for your dog’s coat and breath. We get ours in bulk from Costco, its the most cost effective.

Dehydrated Chicken

Everyone knows that dogs need meat, dehydrated chicken is the perfect thing to add to any meal, any treat and is even more perfect for training. Dogs are obsessed and more likely to try harder if you have a delicious treat, not to mention it’s choc full of vitamins and minerals that your pooches need!

Thanks for reading, we can’t wait to hear how your dogs like these. Comment below and let us know!

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Banana Kong Recipe

We use frozen Kong’s a lot in our household, it’s a perfect way to keep your pup busy in their crate while you’re gone, entertain them while you’re working from home or even to cool them down on a hot day! We’ll most likely start sharing new Kong recipes weekly as we test them out! Your dog will LOVE this one if they love peanut butter and bananas!

You’ll need:

  • Natural peanut butter
  • Coconut oil
  • Ripe bananas
  • A bowl
  • A fork to mash and stir together
  • A butter knife (we find this is one of the easiest ways to fill the Kong)
  • A Kong of appropriate size for your dog

We took 2 bananas and mashed them up, then added 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter and 1/2 cup of softened coconut oil. Mix it all together and now you have a delicious treat for your dog! This will fill quite a few Kong’s dependent on the size of your dog, we have a variety of large, medium and small Kong’s for our pack. Once filled we place in the freezer for a couple hours or until we are ready to feed!

It’s important to note that our dogs eat different food and treats daily so their stomachs are strong and used to every treat. If your dog is used to only eating their kibble you should introduce new treats slowly and in moderation to avoid an upset tummy!

Nacho testing the new recipe for us, I think he liked it!

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The importance of crate training!

Petunia happily napping in her crate during an agility seminar at 15 weeks, dogs barking and whining but she has always been super comfortable in her crate, using these techniques!

Crate training is the number one most important thing to teach your puppy. The benefits are endless and it’s a skill that will be used so many times in your dog’s life, even if you choose to let your dog roam free in the house once they’re older.

Benefits of crate training

  • Potty training made easy! Dogs will naturally avoid using the bathroom close to where they sleep, so with a properly sized crate you can easily teach them to hold it.
  • Keeps your puppy out of trouble when you can’t supervise or when you leave the house. They can’t counter surf, chew things, potty in the house, or bark out the window if they’re crated. Therefore they are far less likely to learn some bad habits that are totally avoidable!
  • Their crate gives them a safe “den” to hangout in whenever they feel like it. Dogs are den animals, if you teach them to love and enjoy their crate when they’re young, don’t be surprised if they hangout in there randomly when you’re home as well. We always keep the crate doors open in case they want to go relax in there.
  • If your dog gets hurt and need to go to the vet or simply need “kennel rest” to heal, they’ll be far less stressed out than a dog that isn’t used to the crate.
  • If you go away on vacation or unexpectedly have to leave your dog for any period of time, you’ll need a place for your dog to stay. They’ll be well adjusted enough to stay anywhere; Whether they stay at a dog kennel , or even if you have an in-home type dog sitter, your dog sitter will definitely appreciate a crate trained dog. It keep them safe while your dog sitter is away from them and makes their job much easier. If you send your dog to a groomer or a doggy daycare to play, they may need to wait in a crate for a few minutes or a couple hours, a crate trained dog is happy to do so, while one that isn’t used to the crate will be stressed out and possibly even hurt themselves attempting to break out.
  • Creating a good “off switch”. Have you met a dog that runs around constantly whether inside or outside, they just can’t relax? That would be a dog that hasn’t been taught to relax. Some dogs are natural born couch potatoes, but most dogs need some help learning to relax in the house. A crate teaches them that it’s okay to relax and chill even when we’re around as a puppy. Once they can relax well in the crate, you can slowly start teaching your puppy to relax in a playpen, on a leash with you, and eventually how to relax free in the house.
  • When eating something messy like a raw bone, or filled Kong toy it saves your house from needing to be cleaned when they’re finished. It much easier to sanitize a crate than it is to sanitize your couch, rug or whole house.

Choosing the right crate

Firstly a crate that is the correct size is important. For a puppy you can either start with a smaller crate and buy a larger one when they outgrow it or you can buy a crate with a divider so that you can section off the crate to make it the correct size. It should be just big enough to stand up and turn around comfortably. If it’s too big your puppy could get into the habit of using the bathroom in the crate away from their sleeping area, and if it’s too small your puppy will be uncomfortable and cramped. Once your puppy is full grown and well trained you can upgrade the crate to be bigger if you want to give them more space during the day, but for training purposes a properly sized crate is important. Wire crates or plastic crates work well for most dogs, stronger metal crates are also available for stronger breeds. While fabric crates are best used for trials, dog shows and shorter term crating.

The crate should be a safe and happy place for your puppy, so start by putting some of their favourite things in the crate. Favourite toys, safe chews, and a blanket that smells like you are all a good start. Once you have a comfy crate, you can start teaching your puppy to go to their crate on command.

Training the “go to your crate” command

Start by saying your command (“kennel” “crate” “go to bed” are all good ones.) then immediately throw a treat into the crate. Your puppy should follow the treat and go to their crate. Once you practice a bunch of times they should start going to their crate before you throw the treat.

Once they have that down pat, you can start keeping them in there for longer. To start this next step, send them to their crate then throw multiple treats into the crate one by one for a few seconds. Slowly start increasing the time in between treats, and when they’re finished eating the treats, quickly release them from their crate. To keep them in there even longer you can send them to their crate, throw some treats then give them a frozen Kong treat and monitor them when they eat it, then release them. You can build on this with duration and eventually start closing the door.

The next step would be teaching them not to bust out of their crate until verbally released. When releasing them open the door, and they will try to leave the crate, quickly shut the door, then open again. Repeat until you open the door and they stay put, then say “okay” and allow them/ call them out. They will catch on quickly, usually within 1 -2 days, and you’ll be thankful that they no longer bust out of their crate. Impulse control is something you can never work too much on! With an adult dog that always busts out, it will take longer to teach them, but they will eventually catch on as well!

Another super easy way to teach them to love their crate is always feeding them in their crate; Simple yet so effective at teaching them that their crates is their happy place!

Crate training puppies: Important tips

Myrtle at 9 weeks

It is extremely important when crate training to never let your puppy out of the crate when they aren’t calm. If you let your puppy out when they are whining, barking or scratching at the bars, you’re teaching them that all you have to do is be loud and struggle and you’ll let you out. Puppies cry and bark, they are babies so it is natural. The first few nights they will most definitely cry at first, but if you never let them out while they’re crying they will learn super quickly. It is however super important that you understand that when they cry at 3 am, after sleeping peacefully all night, that they do in fact need to potty and you should listen to them.

Placing the crate beside your bed when they are young makes them feel comfortable and not alone. When Petunia would start crying, I’d stick my hand through the crate so she could feel that I was there, without taking her out. When she calmed down and fell asleep I’d take my hands out. Remember that until you bring them home, they are used to being with their litter mates and momma 24/7, it is a big adjustment for puppies.

When letting them out in the middle of the night it is equally important that you never play with them or feed them during their potty break. Middle of the night pee breaks should be all business, out to potty then directly back in their crate. Puppies learn very quickly that if they wake you up in the middle of the night and you play with them or feed them, they will wake you up earlier and earlier because it’s fun to get out and play. This is the same reason that we never feed them first thing in the morning, wait a little while after waking up to feed them, otherwise they’ll wake you up at the break of dawn every morning for breakfast, and nobody wants that! We feed them at a random time every morning so that they never get upset if breakfast is off schedule.

Never leave them in their crate too long, 4 hours is typically the maximum amount of time a baby puppy (8-16 weeks) can handle before going outside, and that includes overnight! Some puppies, like Petunia mature quickly and start sleeping through the night at 10 weeks, and others take much longer before they stop waking up in the middle of the night. Adults can usually make it 8 hours or even longer, but it’s not fair to them to force them to wait that long everyday without a potty break, unless you exercise them vigorously before and after work. A dog sitter letting them out for a potty break mid day is always a great option as well.

Always exercise your puppy and let them potty before crating them. If your puppy has already used the bathroom, you know for certain that if they cry they don’t need to go out and you can ignore their crying. A tired puppy is a happy puppy, and it makes crate training a much better experience. Even my full grown, well trained adult dogs get lots of exercise before crating them, it’s super important!

Give them a filled Kong toy when you kennel them to calm them and keep them occupied during their time in the crate.

Happy crate training!