If your dog is ever admitted to a veterinary emergency clinic: Here's one small way to help them stress less during their stay.

I worked at a veterinary emergency clinic for over 4 years before having to quit my job (because it's hard to make a living in the veterinary business...!).  I loved my time there.  I saw and learned a lot; even up until the end new scenarios would come into the clinic and I'd learn new things (always, it seemed, when I was training a new employee...  Murphy's law at work there...).  I'd like to share an observation with you in hopes that it could possibly help your dog be less stressed out if it ever has to stay at a veterinary ER, though I hope it never does (quick, knock on wood!!).

A stressful experience.

As you can imagine, it's a stressful experience for a pet to be at an ER.  And while I know taking a pet to the emergency clinic is stressful for the owner, too, this post is about it being stressful for the animals.  

How could it not be??  They're sick and injured, so they're already stressed about that, and then a barrage of strangers poke and prod at them while in a strange place with, sometimes, lots of other animals around.  We always tried our hardest to keep animal stress to a minimum (while still treating the animals and making sure they were receiving good care), but some amount of stress is inevitable in a place and situation like that.

Less stress.

One thing I noticed was that dogs would often panic less and were more calm if they were walked away from their owners as opposed to their owners walking away from them.

Let me explain.

Sometimes dogs needed to be admitted to the clinic for continued treatment and observation.  In that case, dogs would be brought back into our treatment area, where they would be housed in their own kennel or pen.  Often, especially for dogs who stayed extended periods of time, owners would come to visit their injured or sick furry family member.

When an owner came to visit, we would do one of two things:

A)  Have the owners walk back to the treatment room and visit their dog in/around their kennel, and then the owner would walk back up front when they were done.

B)  We would bring the dog to them to visit in one of the private rooms out front (normally used for veterinarians to first see a new patient).  When the owner was done visiting with their dog, we would come get the dog and bring it back to it's kennel in the treatment room.

There are always exceptions, but in many cases, scenario A would result in a very upset doggy.  Something about having their owner walk away from them while they're left behind in a strange place seemed to trigger anxiety.  Dogs clawed at their kennel door, barked, whined, and/or cried, sometimes for hours afterwards.  

Scenario B resulted in a stressed out dog much less often.

All humans subjected to constant barking can confirm that it's an unpleasant experience, but perhaps more importantly is that the increase in anxiety and stress does not promote healing for the animal itself.  It can also cause an increase in anxiety and stress for other animals currently at the clinic.
And while it probably doesn't mean life or death for your dog, if you're anything like me, I prefer to reduce the amount of stress and anxiety my dogs experience as much as possible.  And in emergency cases, I would want to give my dog the best chance at getting better as quickly as possible.

Scenario B isn't always possible; sometimes dogs are hooked up to so many life-saving things or need extra oxygen (and so are in a special oxygen cage) that they can't really be moved from their kennels.  And it's possible that a clinic could be so busy that there aren't any rooms available for an owner to visit with their dog.

But if it is possible when visiting, having your dog brought to you and then taken back to it's kennel by an ER staff member is one way you might be able to reduce the amount of stress your dog is experiencing if it has to stay at a veterinary emergency clinic.

Frustrated by a non-stop, stubborn sniffer? I may have a solution for you.

Leopold being stubborn on a walk.

So you're on a walk with your dog, and your dog pulls you over to a bunch of grass to sniff around.  Then he spends a while there before walking three more feet and stopping again to smell a stump. Then more time passes and he finally moves on: four more feet and he stops at a rock.  Then two feet and it's some random bit of who knows what that you can't even see because it's so small.  And every time your dog stops, you stop, because you're attached to him.
Sound like your experience?

It's certainly my experience with one of my dogs:  Leopold will stop dead and dig in his heals in order to thoroughly inspect an area with his nose.  If I let him, our walks would take hours.  I don't have hours, so Leopold's excessive sniffing behavior just can't happen.  I used to spend a good deal of our walk hollering at him to get a move on and eventually putting my weight into the leash to get him walking again.  Let me tell you, 70 lbs of stubborn dog can be hard to get moving, and all the hollering and pulling sure puts a damper on our walk.

But dogs like to sniff, and it's good for them.  It's an engaging activity that's great for mental health.  I'm all for doggy mental stimulation, but I'm a busy person and can't spend hours on walks.  I concluded that Leopold should get to sniff, but I get to decide when enough is enough and it's time to move on.  The trick is communicating this to Leopold so that I can avoid the whole forceful haul.

My solution was a countdown.
Here's how it works:
Leopold gets to stop and sniff, but when I feel like we need to continue on our walk, I say "Leopold, Three, Two, One" and then I start walking again.
And it works--Leopold starts walking again without me having to pull and yank on the leash.

It took a little time to teach Leopold the countdown, just as it takes time to teach anyone anything.  In the beginning, I would count down, and then give him a pull to get him walking. It didn't take long for him to learn that the countdown means he better get in one last sniff or finally pick something to pee on already, because when I get to "one", we're headed away from the area.

Both of us are a lot less frustrated, and walks are much more pleasant.  As with so many things, communication is key.

If you're frustrated by a dog that likes to sniff non-stop on walks, you might give this trick a try.  If you do, leave a comment and let me know if it worked for you, too!

Leopold gets to stop and sniff, but when I want to keep moving, I do a count down.

Do you need to trim your dog's nails? Probably.

I took Leopold to a low-cost vaccine clinic last month to get him updated on his rabies vaccine.  While I was waiting (and I had to wait a while...), I enjoyed some small talk with other fellow dog-owners who were also waiting around with their pups.

One lady had a pair of adorable shitzu puppies: one was taking a pup-nap (I'd say cat-nap, but that just seems wrong) in it's little stroller, and the other was snuggling with it's owner.

Apparently the snuggling pup had long nails, because the owner complained more than once about how sharp they were.  She said she wasn't sure if she should cut them, and that her veterinarian told her the nails would wear themselves to a short length just by the pup running around outside.

I wanted to laugh at the veterinarian's advice.  But I didn't.

So I'll laugh now.  AHAHAHAHAHA!

Woooo...! It feels good to laugh.

Halo enjoying a mid-afternoon nap.  Or was this her morning
nap...? Maybe her late afternoon nap?? I can't remember!

In my experience, most dogs need to get their nails trimmed by their owner (or a professional if the owner can't do it).  It's true that some dogs run around enough outside for their nails to self-maintain at the proper length, but it's rare.   In the four years I worked at an emergency veterinary clinic, dogs that came in with naturally trim nails were the exception, not the rule.  The truth of the matter is that a lot of dogs spend a good chunk of the day napping or just lazing about. According to an article on sleep.org, the average dog spends about 50% of the day sleeping and another 30% lying around awake.

Sounds about right for my pups!  I let Leopold hang out in our back yard as often as he "asks" (so long as it's not too hot outside) and he'll wander around and sniff things, but mostly he's incredibly content to just lay in the sun and sniff at the wind or take a nap.  He likes to run and play, too, and we make sure he gets exercise every day, but the majority of his day is spent deciphering smells on the breeze, woofing at passing cars, and catching Zs.  Halo prefers to be where the humans are, so she ends up spending her time inside a lot.  But she, too, naps a lot.  There's stuff for her to do and she'll chew on a bone or toss around a toy if she feels like it, but again, she doesn't run around enough for her nails to self-maintain to a proper, short length.  

Leopold's nails could use a trim.  Ideally,
I would trim his nails regularly enough that
they don't touch the ground at all.  His nails
are a little long here!

Of course, the best way to know if your dog's nails need a trim is to look at them.  Do they touch the floor when they walk?  If yes, then they're probably too long and need a trim.  Do they cause your dog's toes to push out in funny angles?  If yes, then you definitely need to trim those nails and stat!  If you don't, your dog's nails could grow into their paw pad, which is very painful and could potentially result in an infection.

Having trouble trimming your dog's nails because your dog won't let you?  Check out this post for some tips on trimming your dog's nails.

Leopold partaking in his favorite activity: sun-bathing while sniffing the wind.

The Woes of Leopold, a cautionary tale: One Dog's Fear of Inanimate Objects

This blog is about the trials, troubles, and triumphs I've had as a dog owner.  Its about the things that I've learned work; and... the things that I've learned do not.  This post, in particular, is the story of a hard-learned lesson on a bad way to train a puppy not to chew my stuff.

Leopold is the first dog I ever owned on my own.  He was also the first puppy that I raised on my own.  As a first time puppy-raiser, I was nervous about making sure I raised him right and spent much time researching how I should do one thing or another.  One issue that I knew a lot of dog owners had problems with was chewing--and I wanted to nip that problem in the bud, before I ever lost any personal items that I would be very sad about losing. 

So I looked online and I read books and I talked to people, and discovered a lot of suggestions for "training" a puppy not to chew on your stuff.  Many methods involved scaring the puppy when it started mouthing something it shouldn't.  "Fill a soda can with change and shake it when the puppy messes with the TV remote".  Or "drop some books near the puppy (not on!) to startle it when it starts to chew on your favorite shoes" (I'm paraphrasing).  Etc....
This made sense to me.  If a dog associates putting its mouth on the TV remote with scary things, then its not going to want to put its mouth on the remote.
So this is the tactic I chose.     

But then, when Leopold was about six months old, I came home from work one day and my roommate says "Laura, watch this".  She grabs her gigantic stuffed penguin from her room and shows it to Leopold.  Leopold's eyes go wide and dilated, he crouches low and backs into a corner, shaking from snout to tail...   My roommate seemed amused.  I was not. 
That was the beginning of Leopold's fears.  After that, he was afraid of ANY stuffed animal (except a few that he had had since day one).  And then it was any large object that a person was carrying around--grocery bags, boxes, etc.  And then large objects that were sitting on the ground.  And then it was any inanimate object that moved, from wind or gravity or from a human touching it.  Branches that blew in the wind.  Manhole covers or any other metal thing imbedded in the street or sidewalk.  Pillows, wet puddles, ice puddles, swaying trees, the ocean, cars, children’s scooters and toys, our awning, doors, trash cans, recycling bins, ski poles.
At one point Leopold was afraid of the ceiling.  He would get low to the ground, continuously glancing up at the ceiling (especially when our housemate was walking around upstairs) and scurry around trying to get away from the scary thing.  Unfortunately the ceiling was everywhere. 
The list of things he was afraid of grew very long.  It was concerning.  The only thing he didn't seem to be afraid of was people and other animals.  (At least I did a good job socializing him...).
And I didn't know how to reverse all his fears.  I still don't.  Currently, I just manage his fears.  (But I'll save that for another post).

I was perplexed for a long time as to the cause of Leopold's fears.  They really did get out of hand.  But I've since come to the conclusion that it must have stemmed from the very beginning, when he was a puppy and I purposefully scared him away from my stuff (my inanimate objects) with other stuff (other inanimate objects). 
That was probably the worst thing I ever did for Leopold.  Its true, Leopold has destroyed very, very few of my personal items.  He once chewed up his own sweater, but it was my fault for leaving the sweater low enough that he could get at it.  And I've had a couple of pieces of paper torn up, but that's about it.  He's very good about not touching things that aren't his.  So I guess you could say the tactic was successful; but it came at such an awful price.

While I think that maybe Leopold was predisposed to having a bad reaction to the "training" method I used (all dogs are different),  this experience has me determined to avoid using the scare tactic in the future.

Fun activity for dogs who like to "disembowel" their stuffed animal toys.

Does your dog like to do this:

Leopold has always liked to "disembowel" his stuffed toys.  I used to stop him before he could completely ruin them and then repair any damage done.  The toy you seen in the photo was repaired probably ten times before I gave up and let Leopold do what he really wanted to do: tear every piece of stuffing out!  What a mess.  But at least he had fun.
Since then I've come up with an activity for Leopold that works with the same general principle (tearing out stuffing!), but is re-usable and easy to clean up.


             * * * WARNING!* * *  
This is not an activity you want to give to a dog that is prone to swallowing pieces of fabric (or other things they shouldn't be eating for that matter!).  This is an activity I would never give to my other dog, Halo, as she thinks fabric is delicious and likes to eat it.

Though remember that it's always a good idea to supervise your dog when it's playing with toys (especially when its playing with pieces of fabric).

MATERIALS you need for this activity:

- Hol-ee Roller Dog Toy, 5"
- pre-cut pieces of fleece fabric
- treats (I often use Zukes Mini Naturals)
- a dog who loves to play!

I like to use the Hol-ee Roller because it's very durable and doesn't do a lot of damage if my dogs accidentally whip it at something.  For a game I like to give my dogs that uses a smaller version of the Hol-ee Roller ball, check out this post.
I use fleece fabric because its a thicker fabric and is also washable!  I've cut my pieces into various sized strips.

HERE's what you do:
Stuff the ball with the pieces of fleece!   Then stuff some treats in the ball.  You don't have to add treats, but it can help make the game more fun for the dog.
I like to actually roll up small treats in some of the pieces of fleece.  Then Leopold is not only more interested, but because the treats are rolled up in fleece, he has to work a little harder to get the treats--this is good mental stimulation as it requires Leopold to figure out how to manipulate the pieces of fabric to get at the tasty bits. 

Want to get started on making your own dog a stuffed Hol-ee roller ball?
You can purchase the ball at most pet stores, or just get it from amazon.com: JW Pet Company Hol-ee Roller Dog Toy, 5-Inches (Colors Vary)
And here's the treats I often use: Zuke's Mini Naturals Dog Treats

[Edit, Jan2014: I put a warning at the beginning of this post, but here it is again in different words. 
Please supervise your dog when playing this game.  If you choose to roll up treats like I do, please please please supervise your dog to make sure they don't eat the whole roll.  I supervise Leo every time.  If you're watching your dog and see them chewing on the whole roll, then you'll be able to stop and correct the behavior immediately and/or take away the game before they consume the rolls and end up at the E.R.]

Now the ball is all ready to be torn apart! :-D

Here's a video of Leopold playing with his ball:

Leopold gets to have fun over and over, and the carnage is easy to clean up:

Hope your dog has as much fun with this game as Leopold does!


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Running with Leo and Halo: the perfect running buddy sometimes takes time and training!

I love running with my dogs!  I love that I get to have some company, the dogs get to be out of the house and move at a pace more to their liking, and we all get exercise. Both Leopold and Halo love to run and are wonderful running buddies. However, running with my dogs did not start out being an enjoyable experience.

The first time I tried running with Leopold, I discovered the experience was not as amazing as I originally imagined it’d be. Leopold wanted sniff at things and so would suddenly stop, nearly yanking my arm out of its socket, to put his nose to a particularly interesting smell. I also had trouble getting him to run past other dogs without trying desperately to stop and play. Leopold also seemed to have a low tolerance for being tired. Or bored. I could never tell. If he decided he’d had enough, he would stop dead and lay down in the grass. During one run, we were more than a mile from home when Leopold decided he was done with running and wanted to instead lie down in the grass. We turned around right away and headed back, but he continued to lay down in the grass every few minute or so the entire way home. Passer-bys found this to be quite funny and in retrospect, I suppose it is. At the time I found it to be very frustrating (stubborn dog!) and was a little worried (maybe he’s over-heated??).
Over time, however, Leopold has become a much better running companion. He now only stops when he has to do his business, which is perfectly fine. And I’ve learned that I can’t run with Leopold on warmer days because he doesn’t get far before the grass looks more inviting than does the run.

My experience with Halo as a running partner has been, quite literally, a more painful one.  When I first started trying to run with her, she ran like a crazy dog: Halo would weave all over the place and would incessantly pull me to go faster. I tried to get her to run by my side, but was having difficulty getting her to understand. But persistence paid off with Leopold, so I kept making an effort with Halo. At the time I was trying out a new running technique commonly called “bare-foot running”, and was wearing toe-shoes during my runs. During one run, Halo was weaving more than usual, and ended up tripping me a couple times, almost making me fall. This was irritating, but the cherry on top of this awful run was when she ran in front of me and I accidentally kicked her leg in such a way that her entire leg smashed between my toes, snapping my pinky toe out.  I slowly hobbled home, each step sending a shot of pain through my foot. (Who knew such a little toe could hurt so much?) And if the cherry is the broken pinky toe, then the whipped cream was when Halo accidentally stomped on my broken toe as I was trying to get her into her crate back at the house.
I stopped running with Halo after this incident. Partially because I stopped running for a while to let my toe heel, but also because I decided Halo was too unruly of a running partner. It was suggested by Halo’s pet training instructor that first she learn to walk nicely and then we could work on running. Chris and I spent a lot of time working with Halo and teaching her how to walk well on a leash. The next time I tried running with her, she was the perfect running buddy!

I’ve come to learn that successfully running with a dog doesn’t always just happen right away. Dogs aren’t naturally inclined to run directly at your side, suppressing the desire to stop and sniff everything and everyone. It was worth the time and effort to teach my dogs how to run with me though, as we now all benefit from the experience of running together.

Nylabones: for dogs who love to chew.

What’s the deal with Nylabones?


Nylabones have been around for a long time and have sort of been a doggy staple around my house; I remember my childhood dog, Max, having one, and it was one of the first things I bought when I got Leopold and then Halo. If you’re a dog person, its very possible you're already familiar with Nylabones. But if you're not, then this is the perfect post for you!

Nylabone is a brand name that originally sold only synthetic bones. Though they now have lots of products, their original bone is made of a hard plastic that is supposed to be appealing for dogs to chew. The idea is that as the dog chews the bone, little burs are formed which then scrape the dog’s teeth, helping to keep teeth clean and healthy! For most dogs, the bone is hard enough that they can’t chew off more than tiny pieces at a time; the tiny pieces are safe for a dog to swallow and are safe to pass through the digestive system.
I like to keep at least one Nylabone around for my dogs. My dogs love to chew on them (especially Halo!). Not only do Nylabones do a good job of keeping my dogs’ teeth clean, it’s a good activity to keep them busy and happy. Nylabones are good for powerful chewers and last a long time (Leopold and Halo have been working on their most recent bones for a good month now and most of the bone is still intact!).

Think your dog would like a Nylabone?
You should be able to pick one (or more!) up at your local pet store, or you can get them here from amazon.com: Nylabone Dura Chew Giant Original Flavored Bone Dog Chew Toy

Halo and Leo's Nylabone after a month of chewing.

A word of caution.

There is a softer version from Nylabone that are advertised for puppies. These bones are not safe for adult dogs or even older puppies. If your dog or puppy is chewing off chunks of their Nylabone, take it away immediately! (That goes for regular Nylabones, also—I know there are some super powerful chewers out there that could possibly take off large chunks from regular Nylabones, too).
I learned the hard way that puppy Nylabones can make a dog very ill if consumed:
Halo was still young when we brought her home—I considered her a “puppy”. So naturally I bought a puppy Nylabone. I gave her the bone and let her chew on it a while; she was thrilled with her chew toy. When I went to check on Halo (I like to keep an eye on my dogs when they’re chewing things), I discovered that Halo was annihilating her new bone. There were chunks and bits of Nylabone all over the floor. It seemed that Halo was eating some of the pieces, too, so I took the bone away. I instead gave it to Leopold, who loves to chew things, but tends to spit the pieces out instead of ingesting them. I assumed he’d do the same with this chew toy. I was wrong. Apparently the synthetic bone tasted too much like food and Leopold instead consumed the pieces he was chewing off. I didn’t realize this until Leopold had consumed at least half of the bone. He became very ill and spent the next two days vomiting up pieces of Nylabone. Halo was also ill, though less so because she consumed less pieces. It was awful and I felt horrible for letting this happen to my dogs!
So learn from my mistake and be very careful when letting your puppy chew on a puppy version of Nylabone.

Happy chewing!

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