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Natural Pest Control for Your Home

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Protecting Your Home From Pests

Home Pest ControlWhen battling the war against fleas and ticks, it’s important to use a combination approach. Treat your yard, home and dogs. If you have cats, please protect them too. Research products made especially for cats, as they are sensitive to most insect repellents for dogs and even certain essential oils.

How to Protect Your Home

This is probably the easiest part because if your yard and dog are protected, your home is usually free of fleas and ticks. Now, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be proactive. It takes only one flea and within a few days, your home is infested–yikes!

I won’t bore you with a flea and tick’s life cycle. You can check that out here. It’s important to know, but if you’re already aware, I’ll jump right into the good stuff!

Wash Bedding

Wash your dog’s bedding weekly. This prevents fleas and their eggs from nesting in your dog’s bedding. When washing, I recommend using a hot water cycle and a fabric-free detergent.

Vacuum Carpet and Flooring Often

Most homes are carpet-free now. However, we still have area rugs, which ticks, fleas and their eggs can hide. Vacuum weekly or, if your throw rugs are washable, throw them in the hot cycle and air dry. For non-washable rugs, vacuuming works great.

For tile and hardwood flooring, mop weekly with a gentle cleanser, such as Seventh Generation Disinfectant Spray with citronella and lemongrass oil. I’m addicted to this stuff. Not only does it kill 99 percent of germs, but it also kills and repels pests. And yes, I’ve used this on our hardwood floors for years. Our floors are dark espresso and still look brand new.

Moderate to Heavy Infestations

For infestations, wash everything in hot water weekly and vacuum and mop floors daily. While this may not remove all fleas, you’re still removing some and their eggs, which is a good thing. In the past, I’ve added lemongrass and lavender to my steam cleaner and it did a pretty good job on carpet.

For heavy infestations, pull out the big guns and use insecticide carpet cleaners and sprays. Trust me, this is not my first choice, but given Lyme’s and other pest borne disease symptoms, I say knock them out and follow up with natural products.

READ ALSO: Protecting Your Yard From Pests

Understanding Dog Nutrition

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Canine Nutrition

Homemade Diets for Dogs

Dog NutritionWow, if you’re searching for a topic that evokes passion and debate in the dog world, look no further: homemade diets for dogs! One dog food camp recommends only feeding kibble while another camp demands feeding a raw diet–so many opinions and gray areas. So, hopefully, I can help point you in the right direction.

Caveat: This article is meant to provide additional information for pet parents seeking research on homemade diets for dogs.

Raw vs. Cooked Diets

Here’s the deal: this is your decision and obviously your goal is to create the most nutritious food for your dog so I’ll skip the debate on choosing raw or cooked diets. Either option is an excellent choice, as you’re feeding fresh wholesome foods.

For dogs, and us, it’s all about variation and balanced nutrition. Personally, I mix it up. My dogs eat a raw meal in the morning, and their supper is cooked protein with raw pulped vegetables mixed with yogurt, raw honey and other good stuff. Plus, a few times a week, they enjoy food-stuffed Kongs with kibble and canned food. My goal is to introduce different types of food, and hence variation.

RELATED: Healthy Dog Treats

Novel Protein

One bit of information I learned while working with a veterinary nutritionist, who was formulating a balanced diet for my dog, is to keep one novel protein in case of allergies.

Food allergies develop when dogs are exposed to specific ingredients over and over again so I choose not to feed my dogs lamb or duck. If they should develop food allergies (let’s hope that never happens!), I know they’ve never eaten lamb or duck before so I can create a limited ingredient diet using those proteins.

A Balanced Diet is Vital

Yes, it’s that important. So many cooked and raw dog diets are missing critical vitamins and minerals.

Let’s take a step back. Many people compare our diets to dog diets.  We don’t eat a bag of balanced kibble everyday. We eat healthy foods. I agree to a point. Dogs grow at a faster rate, especially large dog breeds, than children, so dogs may need additional nutrients than humans. Just keep that in the back of your mind.

Yes, you can feed a daily balanced diet or balance it over a week period. Now, balancing a dog’s diet depends on your dog’s specific needs, such as weight, body mass, age, chronic illness and other specific needs. Then, gather and calculate protein and carbohydrate (let’s say chicken and rice) nutritional values and compare them to your dog’s specific nutritional requirements. Now, you’ll need to add vitamins and minerals to supplement the gap between chicken and rice nutritional values and your dog’s recommended nutritional requirements.

Did I lose you? It can be so confusing. Check out “Balancing Your Dog’s Diet” article to obtain your dog’s required nutritional needs and find balanced recipes and experts, which can do the hard work for you. Personally, I partnered with an expert on balancing my dog’s diet and it was worth every penny!

READ ALSO: Homemade Diets for Dogs

Homemade Diets for Dogs

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Home-Prepared Dog Food

Diet Dog FoodChoosing a home-cooked or raw diet for your dog is an excellent alternative instead of feeding kibble. Now, I’m not against feeding kibble. Just make sure your dog flourishes on chosen kibble. Many times, we get stuck on specific ingredients and our dogs look dull. You need both excellent ingredients plus vitality.

Balancing a Dog’s Diet

When choosing a homemade diet, it’s so important to provide balanced nutrition. I can’t stress this enough. With so much information out there, floating around online and especially on Facebook, I urge you to seek and reference expert research, such as National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC) nutrient guidelines for dogs.

RELATED: Healthy Dog Treats

Many dog owners deem AAFCO as dog nutritional experts, however, “the NRC publications form the basis for Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient profiles, which are updated routinely” per 2010 AAHA Nutritional Assessment Guidelines for Dogs and Cats.

You’ll need NRC’s Nutrition Requirements of Dogs and Cats (2006) resource book when calculating and balancing your dog’s diet. This book will provide your dog’s required nutritional needs plus nutritional value of chosen ingredients for comparison. Or, you can purchase and reference Monica Segal’s books, which provide details using NRC’s guidelines and balancing your dog’s diet. She also offers many raw and cooked balanced diet recipes.

Expert Help for Balancing a Dog’s Diet

Now, I found calculating a balanced diet for my dogs difficult and intimidating to say the least. So, I had Monica Segal, a well-known and highly recommended dog nutritionist, balance my dog’s diet during a phone consult. I thought I was doing well since my dogs looked fabulous on my version of a homemade diet, but four weeks post-NRC balanced diet per Monica, I was blown away at his energy, robustness and gleam in his eye.

Several years ago, Dr. Susan Wynn DVM provided a homemade balanced diet for my Bouvier who was undergoing chemo for bone cancer at the time. Dr. Wynn works with your dog’s personal vet because she takes your dog’s physical appearance into consideration and is extremely beneficial if your dog has a chronic illness.

Additional Resources

Check out my favorite website of all time. I’ve used and followed Mary Status’ information for many years. She offers great resources packed with valuable information on homemade diets and much more.

Instead of throwing unknown amounts of vitamins and minerals in our dog’s homemade diet, seek assistance from a professional. It’s worth every penny.

Insect Repellent Dog Shampoo

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Insect Repellent Shampoo for Dogs

Fleas on DogsDuring spring and summer months, using an insect repellent shampoo may help prevent flea and tick infestations. This product can easily be a part of your natural pest control program because it works! Remember, it’s best to use a combination approach to repel pests. One product used alone won’t cut it, or at least not in the South that is! 🙂

When to Use

Usually, I use an insect repellent shampoo when I notice evidence of fleas and ticks scurrying through my dog’s fur. Most insect repellent shampoos kill pests on the skin, but offer little residual effect. This means your dog can easily become infested again so it’s important to follow up with a spray or topical for further protection.

When choosing an insect repellent shampoo, personally, I look for natural ingredients, such as orange, cedar, neem and lemon oils. If your dog is heavily infested, I would use a shampoo with an insecticide to kill pests or add a topical product, such as Frontline.

Don’t get me wrong, natural insect repellent products have come a long way, but when dogs are infested, it’s important to get rid of them quickly to prevent anemia and tick-borne diseases.

RELATED: Using Cedar Oil to Protect Your Dog

Follow Directions Thoroughly

Following insect repellent shampoo directions is the key. Most need contact time with your dog’s skin to paralyze and kill pests. To keep your dog happy in the tub while waiting for shampoo to work, smear peanut butter or cream cheese along the side of the shower or tub wall.

If your dog is on a specific diet, smear a canned version of your dog’s prescription food. If the thought grosses you out, pack these yummy things in a Kong and hold it while your dog licks away. This is much easier than trying to convince your dog to stay in the tub for 10 minutes.

My Favorite Brands

For heavy infestations, I recommend Espree’s Flea & Tick Shampoo. This stuff packs a powerful punch and will clean your dog’s coat thoroughly, meaning all the flea dirt (dried blood) will wash away, leaving a clean and fresh smelling coat.

If your dog has a few fleas or a tick, I recommend Living Young Essential Oils Animal Scents Shampoo. Long name, but it works! This shampoo is packed with herbal blends, such as lemon, citronella, geranium and aloe vera.

More:
Deep Cleansing Shampoo for Dogs
Best Medicated Dog Shampoo
Heavy Duty Dog Shampoo
Does Aromatherapy Dog Shampoo Work?

Trimming Dog Nails: Clippers Mean Treats (3 of 3)

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Nail Clippers Means Treats

Dog Nail TrimmingBy now, your dog is totally comfortable with you reaching and holding her paw for five seconds. Now, let’s add nail clippers in the mix. We’re still not cutting nails, just touching nail clippers to paw and nail, pretending to trim nails.

Usually, when clippers appear, your dog’s ears flatten against her head and she looks away. By the end of this tutorial, your dog will happily look and allow nail clippers to touch her paw.

Step One

Goal: Dog looks at nail clippers and gets treats.

  • Place nail clippers about three to four feet from your dog, and click and treat when she looks at them.
  • Practice five times in a row, then put clippers in a drawer and end training session.
  • Practice one or two more training sessions, rotating between front and back paws, with plenty of breaks in between.
  • When your dog will look at the nail clippers, it’s time to move forward.

VIDEO: Clipping Dog Nails – Touch the Nail Clippers

Step Two

Goal: Touch nail clippers to paw for a nanosecond.

  • Pick up and reach for your dog’s paw with nail trimmers. Practice five times and end session.
  • Pick up nail trimmers and place next to your dog’s nail just for a nanosecond. Click as trimmers touch your dog’s paw. If she moves her paw, place trimmers about one or two feet away and click/treat a few times.
  • Practice five times in a row, then put clippers in a drawer and end training session.
  • Practice one or two more training sessions, rotating between back and front paws, with plenty of breaks in between.
  • When your dog is comfortable with clippers touching her paw, move to the next step.

Step Three

Goal: Pretend to trim one nail with clippers.

  • Pick up your dog’s paw and place clippers against her nail. Click or say “yes,” as the clipper touches her nail. Release paw and put clippers down, then give her a treat.
  • Practice five times in a row, then put clippers in a drawer and end training session.
  • Practice one or two more training sessions, rotating between front and back paws, with plenty of breaks in between.
  • Once your dog is comfortable with you holding nail clippers against her nail for one second, slowly increase time to five seconds.

VIDEO: Clipping Dog Nails – Pretend to Trim a Nail

REVISIT:
Trimming Dog Nails: Reaching for Paw
Trimming Dog Nails: Restraining Your Dog’s Paw

Dog Training Nation is a dog training blog for pet owners and dog lovers. We cover a range of topics from puppy socialization tips to dog aggression to dog health. It is our hope you share our content to make the world a better place for dogs.

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