You may not be paying attention... but they are....

I've been walking dogs for 7 years now and have been around dogs all my life. We all want our babies to have their manners and basic commands down. We will take the time to teach them to sit, stay, come, etc.... Sometimes it takes some time for some dogs to get it and it can get a bit challenging but with a little patience and persistence, they succeed!

Have you noticed things that you say or do that your dogs get as if you trained them on purpose?

A few years back, my sister was away on travel for a good part of the year and I was taking care of my boy and my nephew. My nephew was on a eating schedule and had dinner every night at 5. We all know that dogs know how to tell time. (Although when we do a time change, they are off the hour but eventually get caught up). Every day at 4:55 Diego would start on me that dinner time was approaching. Diego was one of those that he would get right up to your nose (doesn't touch you but a sheet of paper width apart) and stare at you until you got up to feed him. Meanwhile, my boy Sebastian would sit in the back ground and let Diego do all the work. Dinner time came and I would say "fine" and off we went into the kitchen. Every day I would say fine to dinner or even to go out for a walk, not realizing that they were picking on this word and knew when that was said something was going to happen. I never realized that I was training them with the word fine, until my sister came back, had no idea of this, and one day said the word fine and the boys were at her feet. Uh Crystal......

When I walk my clients we tend to get on a path that we take and some of the neighborhoods would be a cul de sac to where we just walk to the end and turn around. Well, a couple of my clients that I have been walking for a few years now, I noticed I "trained" them with the word "OK". We would be walking and if I wanted to turn around and go back my one girl Binx would do a 90 degree turn to go back the other way. It was something I didn't notice until recently that they picked up on me saying "OK" and knew what I meant by that. Sienna was another pooch that picked up on that as well and to me that is pretty cool.

Another two "cool cats" that I walk, we tend to walk up and down side streets in their hood and when we walk to the end of the street, I would make sure there were no cars coming and say "OK, lets cross". I have been walking these two for a few years as well and had no idea that they picked up on me saying OK, lets cross. The second I say it they are crossing the street with me! Pretty cool...

Dogs are pretty amazing creatures and beyond smart. They are similar to little kids that are learning to talk, very impressionable and will pick up on what you say! Now if they can get sit & stay as fast as they learn "OK, lets cross" we'll be all set! Pay attention and watch what you say around these guys! :)

                                     Monday Funny.....

Parker's typical morning...

It's Sunday morning and I'm sitting here with my cup of tea and have Hotel for Dogs on the tube. I thought I would talk about my boy and what a "Parker morning" consists of. First of all, Parker is NOT a morning dog at all. If I have an early client and am able to come back after my first walk, he stays in bed until I come back. He rarely gets up before 9! I'm so glad I don't have my other job where I had to get up at 5, he wouldn't make it! He sleeps in his bed and likes to be under a blanket. I have him to where if I ask him if he is "Chillus" he nudges the blanket and that tells me that he is chilly and is ready to go under the blanket, most times that is where he stays. There is the rare occasion where he will get up in the middle of the night, make a little whimper to wake me up to tell me that his blanket came off and he needs it back on. (And we think we train them, ha!)

Then morning rolls around....

I get up, make my tea, turn on the tube and there is still no movement from under the blue blanket. As the morning continues and I make a little more noise, I look over and will sometimes see this.....

By all means is this little boy in a hurry to get up in the morning! My kind of guy! This look will usually last for a good 10 - 15 minutes and then I get this....

Slowly crawling out from under the blanket and I usually get a big yawn. 

But when that blanket is off, all bets are off! The first thing he goes for is his ball. He hasn't even stretched yet and he's rolling a ball across the floor. We play for a minute and then outside he goes. His main priority in life is the ball. He doesn't "ask" to eat or to go potty, he wants to play. I have to take him for a walk to get him to potty because he will not go in the yard. That is his playground, not his bathroom! When I first rescued him, it had been a couple years since I had my Sebastian (so I fell out of practice with time and dog duties) and there were times when it would be 9 at night and I would realize that he didn't eat dinner yet. Parker wasn't the least bit interested in food, his interest was in a green tennis ball. I would ask him if he wanted dinner and he had the expression on his face like, oh yeah food, sure why not! He would eat and then.. you guessed it right back to it!

He reminds me of when I was little and if we were swimming and had lunch, we would have to wait a half hour before we could go back in the pool cause we would get cramps. Parker is somewhat similar to where he has to wait a little bit after eating before he can play again because he will get sick. Talk about a hard task to accomplish! He will be persistent with trying to get you to play with him and if you ignore him, you will get this....

Needless to say, this little guy keeps me on my toes and if I let him, he would go at it 24 hours a day! I love this boy and am so glad to have found him.

So as one can imagine, at this moment, Parker is patiently waiting for a ball to be thrown. And as I am writing this, I look over to my door and see this...

Parker peeking under the door, saying.. "Hey Mom! You going to throw the ball yet?" On that note, I am going to finish this story and tend to my obsessed little boy. Have a great day everyone!

How about holistic veterinary medicine for your pet?

What is holistic medicine?

Holistic Medicine is the examination and diagnosis of an animal, considering all aspects of the animal's life and employing all of the practitioner's senses, as well a the combination of conventional and alternative modalities of treatment. A holistic vet in addition to giving the pet comprehensive physical exam, they want to find out about its behaviors, distant medical and dietary history, its environment including diet, emotional stress and other factors. Techniques used in holistic medicine are gentle, minimally invasive, and incorporate patient well being and stress reduction. When presented with a "disease", the holistic challenge lies in the question of "why?" With a series of analytic observations and appropriate testing the goal and finding the root source of the pathology. A simple appearing symptom may have several layers of why its happening. Only when the cause is found is there a possibility for a lasting recovery. Once the symptoms have been treated, the task is not complete until the underlying disease patterns have been redirected. The dog as well as its owner will be guided to a new level of health.

Some of the Modalities used in Holistic Medicine, Modern Drugs, Surgery and Diagnostics:
Acupuncture

Behavior Modification - Ethology, biology, nutrition, pharmacology, lifestyle evaluation and aspects of modern psychotherapy.

Herbal Medicine - Specific herbs and plants. Western herbs, Ayurvedic herbs from India, traditional

Chinese herbs and other herbs from all over the world. Herbs have healing powers that are capable of balancing the emotional, mental and physical dimensions of animals.

Homeopathy - remedies are from plants, minerals, drugs, viruses, bacteria or animal substances. These remedies do not mask or suppress symptoms, they treat the deepest causes of the illness.

Nutritional Therapy - Proper nutrition is the best preventative medicine.

Veterinary Chiropractic

~American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association

I have been reading a lot on holistic medicine and am surprised on a couple things that I have found.

Conventional kibble could be slowly killing your pets!

Many conventional kibble products, or pet foods that come dried in bags, contain animal by-products, chemical additives and other questionable ingredients that could be slowly killing your pets.
Even the more expensive pet food brands contain some of these questionable ingredients, which include things like leftover animal parts ground up from "4-D" livestock. The 4-D part refers to dead, dying, disabled and diseased animals that are considered unfit for human consumption, and the by-products of these animals are routinely added to pet kibble. "According to the online pet pharmacy, PetMeds, by-products are 'the leftover parts of the animal that are not suitable for human consumption' and can include animal pieces such as necks, feet, bones, intestines and lungs," Besides animal by-products, most conventional pet foods are loaded with all sorts of other ingredients that no mammal should ever consume. Many dog food brands that contain fish meat also contain ethoxyquin, a preservative chemical linked to cancer causation. Many pet foods are also heavily composed of grains like wheat and corn which, besides their potential GM status, are not healthy for pets. Dogs in particular thrive on raw diets composed of healthy meats, fish and vegetables, not processed grains and chemical additives.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/045116_dog_food_kibble_pet_care.html##ixzz33YQgWKbA

Now this information is a tad bit contradicting to another post I made a couple weeks ago pertaining to chicken by-products, so it makes you wonder what is factual and what we should believe. Pretty scary if you think about it, so make sure if your pet's health and wellness is a top priority, be sure to do your research before feeding your babies!

One size fits all?

Over the years, devoted toy breed dog owners have wondered why our tiny balls of fluff receive the same dose of vaccine as large breeds. It doesn't seem to make sense that a five pound Maltese or Yorkie should receive the same size vaccination as a 120 + pound Great Dane! Vaccinations protect against illness, and are an important issue in veterinary care. 

Research was done by American Holistic Veterinary Medical Foundation to look further into the question of do the little dogs need the same dosage of vaccines as large dogs? 

This formal study is based upon nearly five decades of personal clinical and research experience with vaccinations in companion animals. This experience has shown that the dose of canine distemper virus (CDV) and canine parvovirus (CPV) vaccines can be reduced to 50%, but not more, for small breed and breed type dogs, based on body weight, and still convey full duration of immunity. They are continuing the research and it will take 6-12 months to complete. You can follow their continued research on their website. www.ahvmf.org

My Sebastian (American Staffordshire Terrier) passed away from cancer in 2011. Now I'm not saying that he passed because I did the "traditional" shots every year, which are now being said as not necessary to be given every year. There were several times when he had an injury or not feeling well and we went to the vet to get meds, either an antibiotic or steroid. And I also gave him the dried dog food from the bag for many years, not even thinking about the ingredients as it wasn't as talked about as it is now. Could both of those things contributed to him getting cancer at the age of 12? With all the information that is passed onto us humans as to what we should be doing and not doing as far as medications and the side effects, as well as the foods that are good and bad for us, why wouldn't we want to take that information into consideration when it comes to our pets? No they don't live forever, but if we adopt a pet, we are taking responsibility for that animal and we should give them the best life possible. If that's what we want for ourselves, then we should do the same for them. A thought for the day.... 

:)