7 Tips On Being A Responsible Dog Owner

September 28, 2016 by Fanna Easter

Responsible Dog Ownership Tips

All dogs and puppies need a responsible pet owner. Responsible dog ownership goes beyond meeting your dog’s primary needs, such as fresh water, high quality food and climate-controlled shelter. Responsible dog owners need to meet their dogs’ emotional needs and keep their dogs safe and healthy too.

1. Meet Your Dog’s Emotional Needs

Dogs need more than water, food and shelter. They also need comfort, mental enrichment, kindness and compassion. It’s so important to connect with your dog daily. You can do this by taking a walk around the block, playing fetch in the yard, petting or simply talking to your dog.

When your dog is left home alone, it’s important to provide plenty of mental enrichment. Fill interactive dog toys with food, hide treats behind furniture or scatter your dog’s kibble on the floor. These simple steps will keep your dog mentally fulfilled even while you’re away.

2. Prioritize Regular Veterinary Care

Dogs are stoic, meaning it’s difficult to immediately notice that something is physically or mentally wrong with them. Even if your dog is rarely sick, you should bring your dog in for annual veterinary check-ups. During these check-ups, your veterinarian will carefully examine your dog, perform blood work and make recommendations if needed. When in doubt, have your vet check it out.

3. Keep Your Dog Leashed

Leashes are your dog’s safety lines. Dogs don’t understand that moving cars are deadly or wandering off is unsafe. Leashes keep our dogs safely with us. They prevent dogs from running off and unintentionally scaring or hurting other dogs, people or livestock.

4. Pick Up After Your Dog

No one likes stepping in dog poop. 🙂 Plus, dog poop spreads disease and intestinal parasites as well as attracts flies. Please pick up after your dog and properly dispose of your dog’s fecal matter. This responsible dog ownership tip even applies when you’re in your own backyard.

5. Train Your Dog

Just like human children, puppies and dogs need to learn polite manners. Enroll your puppy or dog into a group dog training class with a positive reinforcement dog trainer. Your puppy or dog will learn how to behave politely around other dogs and people. Plus, attending weekly group training classes will certainly meet your dog’s mental and emotional needs too. 🙂

6. Groom Your Dog

Regular dog grooming keeps your dog’s skin and coat healthy, and it provides a positive bonding opportunity between you and your dog. Remember, dogs are stoic. Responsible dog owners are more likely to notice lumps, bumps, swelling or painful areas during a grooming session. Brush your dog weekly and bathe your dog as needed. That could be weekly or monthly, depending on your dog’s coat needs.

7. Microchip Your Dog

Take 10 minutes and permanently ensure your dog can be safely returned to you if she should get lost. Collars with ID tags are great, but they can fall off or someone can take them off. It takes 5 minutes to microchip your dog and another 5 minutes to register the microchip with your contact information. Do it. It’s worth it.

Dogs Can Benefit From Mud Baths As Well

September 26, 2016 by Fanna Easter

Mud Baths for Dogs

It’s a rare occasion when I can combine my dog training knowledge with my professional cosmetology license, but here it goes! If your dog has dry, itchy or flaky skin, a mud bath just might help. Dog mud baths have become recently popular, but humans have benefited from mud baths for thousands of years. Check out the benefits of mud baths and tips on giving your dog a mud bath.

Benefits of Dog Mud Baths

Mud baths contain mud, essential oils, minerals and moisturizers. While this seems simple, each ingredient has a special purpose for your dog’s skin. Without mud, other mud bath components, such as essential oils and moisturizers, wouldn’t be as effective.

Why Mud?

Mud contains tiny granules of dirt and clay mixed together with water. When massaging mud onto your dog’s skin, tiny granules of dirt remove dead and dry skin, which leaves soft skin behind. Once your dog’s skin is exfoliated, newer skin can be treated and conditioned with oils and moisturizers.

Moisturizers

When choosing mud baths for dogs, it’s important to understand your dog’s skin and coat needs first. If your dog has dry and flaky skin, choose a mud bath containing moisturizers that will soften your dog’s skin without leaving a greasy residue behind. Exfoliating and moisturizing your dog’s skin regularly (once a month) is an excellent idea, especially if living in a dry climate or during shedding season.

Essential Oils

While mud is the powerhouse of mud baths, essential oils play an equally important role too. Essential oils begin working while you’re massaging mud onto your dog’s skin, and they work afterwards too. These oils are powerful because they are calming, have antiseptic and antibacterial properties, and can certainly remove impurities from your dog’s body. Plus, essential oils leave behind an amazing aroma that lasts for several days.

How to Give Your Dog a Mud Bath at Home

Massage

Mud baths are different than shampoos in that mud baths are made especially for your dog’s skin. Once your dog is in the tub, wet his coat thoroughly and then apply mud bath onto your dog’s skin. Once your dog is covered with mud bath, slowly massage the product onto your dog’s skin, applying light pressure. Massaging is key to giving your dog a mud bath. The light circular or linear finger movement that occurs during massages pushes and pulls mud particles against your dog’s skin, which causes exfoliation.

Rinse

Now, it’s time to rinse your dog. Using lukewarm water, start rinsing your dog from head to tail. Keep rinsing until the water running off your dog is clear. If you still feel a light residue in your dog’s coat, you can wash your dog with a mild shampoo.

Blow-Dry

After rinsing your dog’s skin and coat completely, it’s best to blow-dry his coat. When blow-drying your dog, use the least amount of heat possible and keep the dryer moving. Never dry one spot of your dog’s coat, as it can burn his skin. As you’re drying your dog, you’ll notice his skin looking clear and flake-free and his coat amazing.

Have you given your dog a mud bath? Please share your experiences below!

Simple Solution To Stop Your Dog From Getting Into Your Trash

September 23, 2016 by Fanna Easter

How to Stop Your Dog From Getting Into Your Trash

It will eventually happen—your dog will attempt to or actually raid your trash can. While it’s annoying and gross, it makes total sense from your dog’s perspective. It’s a buffet in there! Unfortunately, dogs don’t understand that eating trash can make them really sick. Check out these foolproof and easy tips to stop your dog from getting into your trash.

Purchase a Trash Can With a Heavy Lid

You can certainly spend hours teaching your dog to leave a trash can alone, or you can purchase a trash can with a heavy lid. Honestly, purchasing a lidded trash can is a quick and extremely effective solution. It’s not fancy, but it stops your dog from getting into your trash!

A Little Story About Management

Let me tell you a little story about managing a dog’s environment. Years ago, I arrived at a client’s home for a private lesson. Before I was hired, this client spent thousands of dollars trying to teach his yellow Lab not to chew remote controls, yet it continued to happen. During our first consultation, I sat quietly for 30 minutes while my client explained that nothing was working. Clearly, this client was upset and his poor Lab was totally confused.

Finally, my client asked, “How would you fix my dog?” This was my cue to chime in. I politely and delicately suggested placing all remote controls inside a lidded box and keeping the box on the coffee table.

There was a long pause, and I held my breath. Did I offend my client? He sat down and began to laugh. After another long pause, he said, “Wow, I never thought of that. That would work.” Whew, and from then on, all remote controls were safe and my client’s yellow Lab lived a very happy life. Plus, the issue was solved within an hour!

Choosing a Lidded Trash Can

This is the most important step. I recommend purchasing a trash can with a heavy lid. You can tell when a lid is heavy when there’s a clanging sound upon the closing of the lid. Not all trash can lids are the same. It’s best to choose a smooth-edged heavy lidded trash can. That way the trash can is securely sealed. Even a tiny lip can easily be opened by your dog’s nose.

Put the Trash Can in a Cabinet

Dogs are super smart. When dogs practice a behavior for a long time, they get really good at it. If your dog has learned how to lift a heavy trash can lid, knock it over to open it or bump it just right, then try this tip.

Place your trash can behind a bathroom or kitchen cabinet. If your dog knows how to open your kitchen cabinet, place child locks or straps to ensure cabinet doors remain closed. Now, I’ve only seen this happen a couple of times, and both times these dogs were completely bored and left alone all day.

Will This Really Stop My Dog?

Yes, using a heavy lidded trash can really does stop your dog from getting into your trash. Rarely am I able to make suggestions that work this quickly. By taking these preventative measures, your dog will stop getting into your trash can. Imagine if your ice maker stops producing ice. You’ll keep trying to get ice from it until you learn it’s no longer working. And if you decide not to fix your ice maker, you learn to adapt your life around it. 🙂 It’s that simple!

How To Clean Your Dog’s Ears At Home

September 21, 2016 by Fanna Easter

Dog Ear Cleaning Made Easy

Debris can build up in your dog’s ears, which can leave a residue, smell or even an infection. Most dogs need their ears wiped out monthly as routine maintenance. Now, if your dog’s ears stink or have dark or red-colored goop inside, it’s best to schedule a veterinarian appointment. For normal routine dog ear cleaning, try these easy steps to clean your dog’s ears at home.

First, Choose a Dog Ear Cleaning Solution

When cleaning your dog’s ears, you need an ear cleaning solution made specifically for dogs. As tempting as it may be to use water, vinegar or peroxide as an ear cleaner, it can cause your dog more harm than good.

Before purchasing an ear cleaner for dogs, ask your veterinarian for his or her recommendation. My favorite routine ear cleaning solution is Espree Ear Care. I’ve used it for years ever since my vet recommended it, and it does a great job. This dog ear cleaning solution contains peppermint, tea tree and eucalyptus. It leaves your dog’s ears clean and it smells fantastic!

Medicated Ear Cleaners

Medicated ear cleaners are a different story. If your dog has a bacteria or yeast infection in his ears, your vet will likely prescribe a specific ear cleaner and topical medication. Make sure to clean out your dog’s ears before adding medication. If you don’t remove ear debris first, then the prescribed medication won’t work.

What You’ll Need

You’ll need a bottle of ear cleaning solution for dogs, several yummy treats and something to wipe debris out of your dog’s ears. Don’t laugh, but I use an old sock. Old socks are soft, which won’t irritate the inside of your dog’s ears, and they’re thin enough to wrap around your finger.

Most dogs dislike having their ears cleaned, especially if they have an ear infection. Before jumping into an ear cleaning regimen, I recommend teaching your dog that ear cleanings are fun and super rewarding. To make ear cleaning fun, touch your dog’s ear and then give him a yummy treat. He learns that ear touches make treats appear. During ear cleaning sessions, I recommend smearing a plate with peanut butter, so your dog can lick away during ear cleanings.

How to Clean Your Dog’s Ears

Ask your friend to sit in front of your dog while holding a plate smeared with peanut butter. While your dog licks away:

Wrap a portion of an old sock (or soft cloth) around your index finger. For small dogs, use your pinky finger.
Lightly saturate the cloth with a dog ear cleaning solution.
Now, slowly insert a finger inside your dog’s ear.
Goop and debris usually sit at the bottom of your dog’s ears and along the sides. Slowly and softly wipe upward to remove them.
Rotate the sock around to insert a clean-clothed finger into your dog’s ear.
Repeat until your dog’s ears are clean.

Some ear cleaning products recommend squirting solution directly into your dog’s ear canal, but most dogs hate that. While it may take an extra minute or two to wipe out ear debris, I find wiping is much easier than trying to keep a dog still after pouring liquid into his ears.

How Often You Should Clean Your Dog’s Ears

If your dog’s ears are healthy, then I recommend cleaning your dog’s ears monthly. When your dog has an ear infection, you’ll probably need to clean his ears daily until the infection goes away.

Happy Ear Cleaning!

1 Easy Trick to Teach Your Dog to Stand Still

September 19, 2016 by Fanna Easter

How to Teach Your Dog to Stand Still

Standing still while someone pokes, prods and examines your body is tough for most dogs. Honestly, it’s tough for little and big humans too. Instead of forcing a dog to stand still, try this super easy dog training tip that works quickly and rewards your dog too!

Use a Peanut Butter Plate

A peanut butter plate is just as appetizing as it sounds! Smear creamy peanut butter across the entire surface of a plate and hold it up for your dog to lick away. When choosing a plate size, I recommend using a large dinner plate, especially if your dog needs to stand for longer than 3-5 minutes. By increasing the surface area of smeared peanut butter, it takes longer for your dog to lick than if you were to use a small saucer. You also want to make sure the plate doesn’t move around while your dog licks it, so choose a heavy plate. If you don’t have a heavy plate, place it on non-skid surfaces.

RELATED: Understanding Dog Nutrition

Check Ingredients First

Before using peanut butter, it’s important to check its ingredients first. Unfortunately, many companies are adding xylitol, which is a low-calorie sweetener. Xylitol is deadly for dogs—even the tiniest amount.

What If My Dog is Allergic to Peanut Butter?

Some dogs and humans are allergic to peanut butter; it’s actually pretty common. I suggest using a thick and creamy food to replace peanut butter. My Bull Terrier is allergic to peanut butter, so I either use cream cheese, squeeze cheese in a bottle or almond butter. If your dog is restricted to a prescription diet, I recommend purchasing several prescription dog food cans and using those in place of peanut butter.

How to Use a Peanut Butter Plate

Ask a friend to hold up the food-smeared plate, so your dog can comfortably stand and lick the plate without lowering his head. If you live alone, I recommend placing a peanut butter plate on furniture; that way, your dog is comfortable while standing still. For example, I’ve placed food-smeared plates on top of ottomans and sofas for large dogs.

For small dogs, place the plate on top of stacked books or even smear peanut butter on washable walls. For baths, I recommend smearing peanut butter on the wall of your shower. After your dog is bathed, rinse off and voila!

Why Use a Peanut Butter Plate

I highly recommend using a peanut butter plate any and every time your dog needs to stand still. By pairing something good, such as a plate of peanut butter, with standing still, you’re teaching your dog to enjoy standing still. And it doesn’t stop there!

When you pair something good during a certain situation, you’re positively changing your dog’s behavior. I recommend adding something positive (peanut butter plate) during baths, nail trims, brushing, ear cleanings, massages, vet exams and weight checks.

Will You Always Need a Food-Smeared Plate?

Maybe or maybe not; it depends on how your dog reacts during specific situations. You may need to use a peanut butter plate during all nail trims because your dog might always dislike them, and that is OK. It’s easier and much kinder to hold a peanut butter plate than hold your dog down.

Please understand that using a peanut butter plate isn’t bribery. Food-smeared plates are an effective dog training tool for teaching your dog a new behavior. Expecting a dog to do something because he’s told to do it is completely outdated. Instead, teach your dog what to do. I promise, it takes much less time.