Dogs like poop. They don’t think it’s gross. We do. Dogs don’t understand why we freak out so much when we catch them in the act of chowing down their golden nugget.
Some experts say it’s a deficiency in their diet. You can watch the training session and find out what we think. What I’ll say here though is, you need to watch your dog, stop them before they do it, or in the act and make it a pattern so they stop doing it.
Always feel free to reach out to us if you need more help with this and make sure to subscribe to our free weekly training. You can watch replays or come on live with us!
Dogs do eat gross things. Sometimes it gives them some serious digestive problems. Yikes. If you think it’s serious or goes on longer than 24 hours you should get your dog to the vet asap.
General rules of thumb though. Stop feeding your dog their normal diet to let their system clear for 12-24 hours.
You can give 2-3 Tablespoons of canned pumpkin. Make sure it is not the pie filling which contains sugar. Straight pumpkin is best.
Give your dog 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil twice daily. It’s anti bacterial, anti fungal, and anti parasitic.
Make sure your dog is getting water and staying hydrated. Which means you may have to lead your dog to water if he/she doesn’t go on their own.
Weekly Live Online Dog Training Sessions
We have a subject to start with, but feel free to ask any question you may have about your dog in the chat. We even have the ability to bring you on live. Contact us and we’ll be sure to get you information on how get on with us live.
Send us your questions even if you can’t get on live, we’ll cover it and make sure you get the replay.
Online Dog Training – our way to bring help to all those dogs who want it and need it for no charge!
What Games are You Playing With Your Dog?You know the games your dog is playing are all about your life right?
What games are you playing in life? Do you ever take short bits of time and just play with your dog? Or are they games that leave you filled with excuses, lack and feeling a bit empty about each and every day?
The Perfect Game – Life With Dogs
Your dog’s version of perfect game is certainly a life well played and a life well loved. And honestly we all want that too.
But, us humans have all kinds of conflicting criteria as to what makes us happy. Money, career, the person to be with, the right job, owning our own business. The big house with the white picket fence, a nice car, a couple of kids and the well behaved dog.
And we also tend to carry around a lot of excuses as to why we don’t have those thing we define as happiness.
Are you sitting on the sidelines watching. Being a full blown spectator? You wanna have a say in your own personal life but you just aren’t willing to get out there and play?
And what in the world does that have to do with the life you live with your dog?
Everything.
I hear it all the time. My dog does this thing, (go ahead, list all your irritations here)..
She’s doesn’t listen to me.
She’s too hyper, can’t concentrate on what I want her to do. Sitting for a minute is beyond her capability.
She’s a ball of anxiety. New things leave her wanting to check out. Hide in the corner. Everything seems like a chore.
She’s destroyed my newest favorite pair of shoes again.
She barks non stop at anything that walks past “her” house.
Go ahead. Make your list. Do it. Right now… then come back and read this…
Now think about all those things you listed about your dog, the things that really bug you, the things you wish you could change with a wave of a wand. Abracadabra. Fixed!
Read them again, and then think of how in your own personal life you are playing those same exact things out. Oh yeah. OMD… Oh My Dog. Yeppers. We point the finger at our dog, and there are four pointing back at you.
She doesn’t listen to me = you know a lot of times when you should be listening, even learning but instead you are talking over top of someone else, or you don’t even hear what they say because you’re too busy formulating what you are going to say in response.
You’ve got 15 projects you really want to get done, and 45 tabs open on your computer. The multi-tasking has become such a habit you finish nothing but become really good at starting everything = way too hyper, can’t focus long enough to sit for more the 3.5 seconds.
You want to start something new, move, change our life, get a new boyfriend or girlfriend, stop drinking and get fit, but actually taking the necessary steps to do it, that thought brings total ANXIETY, it stops you cold in your tracks = the dog who freaks at the thought of your leaving, or the leaf that just blew across the yard when you let her out to go pee.
Get In The Game
I challenge you today. If you have been sitting on the sidelines; GET IN THE GAME.
Play it. The things you want to do. Do them. Stop being so hyper and grabbing at all the shiny bits out there. Concentrate on what you want. And do that thing. Get everything else out of the way.
If you spend hours and weeks and months worrying, building anxiety about what’s next, what if this happens or what if that happens… I challenge you. Get in the game. Concentrate on exactly what you want. Make a list of how you can get it. And every single time anxiety arises; do something on that list. Get in the game.
And how do you get your dog in the game? Get all those things that bug you so much to magically disappear?
Honestly, you’re playing the same game here. You have a hyper dog, jumps on you, spins around, you’re practically dizzy just getting a leash on. The shiny bits went way out of control in your dogs mind. Practice sit. For more than a minute. Over and over. It’s an exercise that is extremely calming.
I know. Sounds way too simple. But we’ve worked ourselves into it just can’t be done because we’ve created expectations around the way my dog just is. I’ll just put up with it. It’ll either just go away if I wish it away long enough, or when I have more time I’ll get some help (exit to scrolling the facebook feed)… how many hours do you spend there that you could be playing the game of life creating exactly what you want, from decluttering to a new career, to spending a little bit time each day getting your dog to sit instead of letting her spin out. How many hours have you wasted not working on that?
Practice becomes permanent. An exercise as simple as sit, it’s calming. It builds confidence. It can even be a game.
Do This Thing With Your Dog and You’ll Play More Good Games
Sitting is zen for dogs. Grounded. Then you can move on to the next thing. Throw in a daily walk, things really change for you and your dog! It’s all a psychology I teach in my ecourse on how to life the life you really wanted with your dog. Of course I work with people privately too, but for now, just start. All on your own.
The big deal is, get in the game and to do that you gotta start.
What’s your game of life? What game do you want to play with your dog? Go do it! You can do anything you want. You can teach your dog a ton of stuff, like the dog on the skateboard. It’s a matter of how you view it. Would you rather sit on the sidelines or do you want to get in the game and play hard?
DO IT. Ask Me Anything You Want About Your Dog. In Fact, If I Gave You A Genie In A Bottle And Granted You 3 Wishes For Your Relationship With Your Dog, What Would They Be? Grant Me My 3 Dog Wishes
Wish 1 Wish 2 Wish 3
Click the button below and schedule your no charge dog lifestyle session with me today. Grant Me My 3 Dog Wishes
*Note: the button will provide a place for your e-mail and then and then it will take you to a calendar to pick a time that works for you so that you can have the best dog ever. Pick it, add the contact info where I can reach you and you’ll hear from me at the appointed time. It’s pretty cool really.
Dog Leash Training That Will Make Your Life so Much Easier!
*guest post by Austrian Pro Dog Trainer Brigid Weinzinger
Dogs pull on leashes.
Full stop.
Like it was a law of nature.
Do you feel like this sometimes?
Like there is nothing you can do about it? Not much at least. Because you have tried it all and still you got that dog of yours pulling on the leash.
Well, your are not alone! We have all been there!
As a matter of fact there are solid reasons why your dog pulls on the leash.
(I’ll go there in a minute!)
However, there is no reason to stay there.
You, too, can have your dog walking nicely on leash with you.
Without years of harsh training or putting stuff on your dog that will just hurt and harm them.
And I will tell you how.
Before that we’ll just take a quick glance at why the dog pulls in the first place.
There are three simple reasons
Reason:That interesting thing over there! Dogs follow their impulses, go for whatever isinteresting, smells interesting.And bet you: most of the time that interesting thing is well beyond the range of the leash.Plus dogs move faster than humans do (at least as a general rule). So what do you end up with? A dog that pulls on the leash trying to get to the interesting thing.It takes impulse control and thus training to not pull.
Reason:You pull on the leash!
Have you ever watched your first reaction when the dog starts pulling? Yes, your reflex is to pull or jerk back. It is simple physics: force and countervailing force.In plain language: the dog pulls, you pull. The terrible thing, though: The same thing will happen to your dog. You pull, so they pull. Countervailing force!It will just go on till you end up in a tug of war on the leash or you decide to break the vicious circle.How do you expect your dog to keep the leash loose when you don’t?
Reason: It works!
Dogs will do what works and stop doing what doesn’t. It’s what learning theory calls the “Law of Effect“. If the effect of leash pulling is success – as in, “I get to go where I want to go and faster than any other way“ – the dog will continue the successful strategy. Honestly, anything else would be madness, wouldn’t it? Now, who set the dog up for success with pulling?
Yes. You. Because you walk along and let yourself get pulled.Sure way of actively teaching your dog to pull! So don’t complain if they do…
By now you probably have a notion of where we’ll be going….
Eliminate the reasons Establish impulse control Effectively train for success on a loose leash
Let me give you the best three tips I can come up with for that later.
We are talking best three tried and tested on hundreds of dogs!
They always work. Always! I mean ALWAYS!
Provided the human part in the equation stays cool and consistent :).
Does it really matter what type of leash or collar or harness you use?
Oh Yes!
Let me tell you a short story: Many years ago with my first dog, a then very young and (always) lovely lab called Maluna I spent some days with a great dog trainer and was asked to join them for a group training. It involved walking in a group of dogs on leash trough a stretch of forest at 6am. God! That was going to soooo embarrassing: me half sleep walking at 6am with a dog who never ever was on leash in the forest (only in the city) and not used to being in a group of dogs!
You know what saved me? The night before I had bought a harness instead of a collar and a 3 metres leash instead of the short 1.5 metres leash. It worked magic! The harness was so much more comfortable for her, no pressure on her sensitive throat which she tried to escape from! The 3 metres gave her enough space to walk normally, take a sniff here and catch up again. Pure magic!
Since then I have changed hundreds of dogs onto nicely fitted harnesses and long leashes – and it always does the trick! So go and get some of the magic for your doggy, too!
(and don’t they look pretty? Yes, that’s the famous Malune in the pic!)
Make Leash Pulling a Failure!
Remember? Your dog pulls because it works. Well, make sure it doesn’t!
That requires you to do one thing that sounds simple but does take some practice: The very second you feel the leash isn’t slack or loose, you stop. Immediately! Keep your elbow to your side, let your feet stop and grow roots. Your dog must not have any success with pulling. Not one centimeter of ground to be gained through pulling. The only way to ensure that pulling does not work any more!
Be prepared that your dog might try really hard and even jump into the leash. After all it’s a case of, darn it, this always used to work!!! I’ll try just a bit harder“.
Just stand still, don’t move. Don’t pull back. Keep breathing. Stay calm.
And wait. Wait for this one moment when your dog notices that pulling won’t work and when they are maybe giving you that doubtful glance (hey there, what is going on?“), call them and reward when they come. What happens? Your dog will have stopped the pulling and procured the slack in the leash – which you reward. BINGO!
Reward the Loose Leash. Reward and Reward!
Let’s be honest: As long as the dog behaves nicely we normally don’t do anything. Only when their behavior takes a turn to the unwanted do we start to react and want to change things. The nice walking on leash goes unnoticed, the pulling gets immediate attention. It is human nature, so don’t blame yourself!
But please train yourself to do otherwise – to reward all the good things your dog is offering.You remember that dogs will do what is successful? So make sure the right behaviours are successful!The secret in successful leash training lies in the timely rewards.
Reward as long as the leash is loose! Use great treats! Reward frequently! If need be reward every two steps on a loose leash in the beginning. Then start asking for more steps and more and turn your frequent rewards into occasional ones. Make leash walking a fun game and you will get a dog who won’t leave your side any more…
Brigid Weinzinger lives and works with animals and their humans. She has made her passion her profession and offers soulful animal training and coaching to all who want to experience the same magic she finds in animals: Deep bonding, an understanding beyond words and the joy of learning and discovering things together (including good manners with each other). She lives in Austria and posts on http://www.denktier.com.Sign up for her blog and a free brochure “Share the Joy, Double the Fun with your Dog“ or follow her and her animal adventures and advice on http://www.facebook.com/brigiddenktier.
How much water do you need to stay hydrated? The blanket answer is 8 glasses. That’s for us humans. What about our dogs? How much water do they need to stay hydrated and what if your dog is overly active?
How Much Water Should My Dog Drink?
Make it simple and it helps to do the right thing. Find out what your dog weighs and figure 1/2-1 oz of water per pound. My Weimaraner is 65 pounds. That means she should have 36-65 oz of water per day.
This is the simple formula. Of course activity and weather can make a difference so common sense needs to be taken into account. In other words, the low end of 36 oz is not sufficient if you have taken your dog out on an hour plus trail hike in warm weather conditions in the 65 lb. example. Make sure to go to the 65 oz end of the formula, especially if your dog has had an all out session, like my Weimaraner tends to do!
Checking for Proper Dog Hydration
Dogs are not able to say they are thirsty and the situation can be easily overlooked by an owner not realizing you have to not only lead your dog to water, but in many cases you need to show your dog to drink it as well.
You can check for proper hydration in your dog by:
Check for a Dry Nose
If your dog’s nose is dry it’s past the time that water should have been consumed. Time to lead your dog to water, and encourage the action of drinking it.
A dry nose is not the only sign of a dehydrated dog. Keep in mind your dog can have a wet nose and still be dehydrated or on the verge of really needing to drink.
Elastic Skin
Skin loses elasticity as it loses moisture. There’s a good reason to stay hydrated yourself as well. Skin without moisture will remain wrinkled. Ewww… maybe a little water drinking could save a whole lot of dog owner botox treatments!
Check the back of your dog’s neck by pinching the skin between two fingers. When you let it go if the skin goes back to laying flat your dog is hydrated. If the skin remains squished or wrinkled your dog needs to get some water intake going as soon as possible.
Checking the Gum Tissue
One can get technical about this or one can think about it in easy terms. When you run your finger over your dog’s gums, if it feels a bit slimy, you have a hydrated dog. If the gum tissue isn’t slimy, your dog needs to drink and is on the dehydrated side of life.
The technical way is by using a method to check for capillary refill time. To do this when your dog is hydrated pull the lip up and press your finger firmly against the gums until the tissue appears white-ish in color. See how long it takes for the gum tissue to fill to pink again.
Now you have a baseline to see if your dog is dehydrated in times of activity. If when you remove your finger the tissue looks gray in color or takes a long time to refill to pink, your dog is dehydrated.
So there you go, you can choose to use the slimy method or the capillary refilling method. Either will help you determine how much water your dog needs.
How To Get Your Dog To Drink
It is true that sometimes you can lead a dog to water and yet they won’t drink it even if they need it. You can make this a habit by enticing your dog to do it, which is a fun way to say: train your dog to drink.
Tricks are the best way to train dogs and ourselves to do anything. After all, if it’s fun you’ll do it, and so will your dog.
Use a treat to entice your dog’s nose to the water bowl, drop the treat in the bowl and as your dog takes a little water in while going for the treat, put the word “drink” to it.
If your dog likes ice cubes you can do the same trick. Drop the cubes in the bowl requiring your dog to drink to nab the “treat”. I use ice cubes as a full on treat and my dogs love it. A very sly way to encourage your dog to drink more water.
Done enough times it will become a habit and you can fade the treat by offering it sometimes and not having it others. With repetition your dog will automatically start to drink. When you say the word at the moment your dog is drinking you are pairing the action with the word repetitiously. You’ll begin to illicit the automatic reaction to drink when you say the word and your dog is in proximity of the water bowl.
Another quick fix for some dogs is to add a little beef bouillon to the water mixture. Lab type dogs can’t help themselves. They’ll drink in the hopes of food appearing!
Welcome to Big Island Dog… my first post to our new life with our dogs and what we want to enjoy, appreciate and share on the Big Island of Hawaii.
I have two dogs, a Weimaraner and a Lab and a wonderful life partner, I call him G . We decided to live our dreams in our 40′s rather than waiting until later, when the economy recovers, when we get to that “retirement” age… whatever that is, or any other excuse most of us have become accustomed to accepting as the reason we stay in jobs, careers and lifestyles we wish were different.
The articles and insights you’ll find on this site will include many lessons learned in this process. It includes how I dared to say I wanted to become a minimalist. This from a woman who came to find out had four closets full of clothes alone before we even get into all the Mac computers and gadgets, sporting goods and dog training equipment packed away in my garage, most of which I had forgotten I had, or simply couldn’t find through all the stuff. Even the dogs missed out on a lot of fun with the over abundance of “stuff” in our lives since most of it was in bins and shelves piled amongst things I might need someday, never to be actually used.
Funny thing is when it comes to the dogs, now that all the stuff is gone and we are actually here in Hawaii, they are back to having the most fun ever and the toy that came along with them?
One simple tennis ball! Same for us, only one of anything and only the things that we would actually use. Everything is simplified.
What do the dogs have to do with it all?
I train dogs. Yes I have been called by many “the real dog whisperer” as well as a life coach (also adopting this label from the many who have described me as this)… that covers health and fitness, business and personal in case you were wondering if you might need this type of thing in your life! I enjoy teaching both things and in fact they really do intertwine. It comes down to what we focus on, what we put our energy into, what we think about and who we spend our time with…. and for me it includes a whole world of dog things that can apply to how we live, play and show our authentic selves.
What you’ll find in Big Island Dog
Why we have dogs
How to live with more play in your life
How to leave bad behavior behind and focus on what you want (that’s for you and for the dog)
Create simple habits to build a lifestyle of joy around
Develop your life to have the best day ever most of the time
Build your business or work around your life passion
Make a difference in the world
I hope to inspire others to follow their hearts, live out their dreams and make the world a better place though the playful eyes of a dog. As the creator of dog wellness programs, health and fitness, and coaching people who are ready to take their lives to the next level, reaching their full potential, I welcome you to the best day ever…. everyday.
Jt Clough, has studied, applied and taught others how to create a balanced life with calm dog training techniques through her lifetime commitment to health and fitness. Clough is also the creator of dog wellness programs and author of the 5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and Treading for Dogs DVD, further inspiring people to introduce playtime in life through the eyes of a dog changing unwanted behaviors to practicing a healthy lifestyle.
