These sites are recommended by Dr. Sue Haley of Kindness Animal Hospital and board member of Canine Guardians for Life, Inc.
There are thousands of websites which claim to provide information for animal companions to properly care for their non-human family members. And, as the saying goes, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find the prince. This is true of websites as well. Dr. Haley weeds through lots of websites suggested by her clients and has chosen some great sites that are truly helpful. Keep them handy and pass them on.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/ This is the public section of the veterinary information network (VIN) which is a veterinarian only website sharing cases and information. You can find out lots of info about your pet's health. This Dr. Sue's favorite site!
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp : The good old Merck manual has been around for 50 years. Has basic information on most species of farm and pet animals.
http://www.vetinfo.com/ This is the Ask a Vet site and there is a charge for your questions, which is not recommended. Your money would be better spent one on one with your veterinarian. However there are many good and free articles on the site.
http://www.petplace.com/ This site may require a sign in and although there are lots of ads, there are also lots of good articles
.
http://www.petconnection.com/ This is the online home of "Good Morning America" resident veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker, award-winning pet-care writer Gina Spadafori, and a team of pet-care experts”.
http://www.toothvet.ca/dentalcare.html information on dental care and toothbrushing techniques.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/ This is THE place to go for basic information on poisons.
http://www.petloss.com/ and www.pet-loss.net/ are good sites to help deal with pet loss.
http://www.petswelcome.com/ This site provides information on hotels, bed and breakfasts, and inns that welcome people with pets.
http://www.dogfriendly.com/ This site provides suggestions for places you can take your dog. Looking for a dog-friendly beach, restaurant, park, or campground? You can find that kind of information here.
We'll add more websites as we find them and we'll let you know on our newsletter when new websites are added. Remember to visit your veterinarian for any medical issues, but use these sites to educate yourself and to gain some insight into the world of animals. If you find any sites you love, let us know and, after we review them, we may add them to our list of Best Dog Sites on the Web!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
MENTAL STIMULATION FOR YOUR DOG
Just because the snow is coming and the weather is getting colder doesn’t mean your dog needs to get any less exercise. While continued walks and romps in the snow are ideal for physical exercise, there are also a lot of ways to mentally tire your dog out inside your home! As is often reported after a group training class, or a private in-home session with clients, the mental work training requires is exhausting for dogs! Dog’s stamina quickly adapts to routine physical exercise but their brains rarely ever adapt in the same way to learning something new.
Here are a few relatively simple ideas:
Even more fun than teaching obedience, both for guardian and dog, is teaching tricks. Tricks are exhausting but also more motivating than “commands”. Technically tricks and commands are the same thing, but our attitude towards teaching them and showing them off seems to be different. Some relatively simple examples to try include: Roll over; Touch; Spin; Bow; Dance; High Five/High Ten.
"Find it" games can also be a lot of fun. Start off by having your dog by your side, having a few treats in your hand, toss the treats down to scatter on the floor as you say “find it”. Graduate this to having your dog(s) either do a sit-stay at a distance while you toss the treats down and release them to “find it” or have a helper hold your dog while you toss the treats before telling them to “find it” and releasing them. From there, you can either be sneaky and hide a tasty treat while your dogs are elsewhere, call them in the room and tell them to find it (encouraging them along the say) OR have a helper hold them out of sight and do the same thing. "Find it" games are great because they also use their sense of smell to their advantage! Exhausting!
Meeting new people, places, or other dogs is a great idea to wear out your dog. Socializing can be exhausting (this also holds true for people)! Plus, meeting new people, other dogs, or going to new places really stimulates their mind and increases their social circle (of course, this is assuming you have a dog who enjoys the socializing).
Treat dispensing toys and puzzle toys are great ways to both feed your dog breakfast or dinner and really make them work for it, tiring them out in the process. What I’m talking about here are not so much stuffed kongs, but rather toys that need to be pushed around in a certain way in order to get the food to be pushed out. See my specific recommendations at the end of this article.
Similar to the toys just described, bones and stuffed toys (such as Kongs or marrow bones) are great too. Ice toys are a great alternative, especially for crate time. Ice toys are very simple to make and basically consist of kibble in a Tupperware bowl. Add in a couple of cookies, carrots, globs of peanut butter, safe toys, and/or whatever else you think your dog might enjoy (really get creative here!), then add an inch or two of water (depending on the size of your dog and their motivation to get to the food). Freeze it all overnight and the next day, pop it out and let them have at it! Chewing tends to be very relaxing for a dog so giving them something to really work on for a while can really calm them down and of course keep them mentally and physically busy!
Those are just a few ideas for simple ways to really give your dogs some mental stimulation as well as the slightly harder to come by physical stimulation during the winter months. Please feel free to contact me if you would like specific ideas for how to teach your dogs any of the above behaviors or see the following resources:
YouTube.com – Look up “dog tricks” and you will get all kinds of good ideas!
Books:
101 Dog Tricks: Kyra Sundance
The Culture Clash: Jean Donaldson
Quick Clicks: Mandy Book & Cheryl Smith
Play With Your Dog: Pat Miller
Favorite Treat Dispensing Toys:
Tricky Paw
Bob-A-Lot
Also, please check out my Amazon site for a list of recommended products:
http://astore.amazon.com/missbeha-20
Here are a few relatively simple ideas:
Even more fun than teaching obedience, both for guardian and dog, is teaching tricks. Tricks are exhausting but also more motivating than “commands”. Technically tricks and commands are the same thing, but our attitude towards teaching them and showing them off seems to be different. Some relatively simple examples to try include: Roll over; Touch; Spin; Bow; Dance; High Five/High Ten.
"Find it" games can also be a lot of fun. Start off by having your dog by your side, having a few treats in your hand, toss the treats down to scatter on the floor as you say “find it”. Graduate this to having your dog(s) either do a sit-stay at a distance while you toss the treats down and release them to “find it” or have a helper hold your dog while you toss the treats before telling them to “find it” and releasing them. From there, you can either be sneaky and hide a tasty treat while your dogs are elsewhere, call them in the room and tell them to find it (encouraging them along the say) OR have a helper hold them out of sight and do the same thing. "Find it" games are great because they also use their sense of smell to their advantage! Exhausting!
Meeting new people, places, or other dogs is a great idea to wear out your dog. Socializing can be exhausting (this also holds true for people)! Plus, meeting new people, other dogs, or going to new places really stimulates their mind and increases their social circle (of course, this is assuming you have a dog who enjoys the socializing).
Treat dispensing toys and puzzle toys are great ways to both feed your dog breakfast or dinner and really make them work for it, tiring them out in the process. What I’m talking about here are not so much stuffed kongs, but rather toys that need to be pushed around in a certain way in order to get the food to be pushed out. See my specific recommendations at the end of this article.
Similar to the toys just described, bones and stuffed toys (such as Kongs or marrow bones) are great too. Ice toys are a great alternative, especially for crate time. Ice toys are very simple to make and basically consist of kibble in a Tupperware bowl. Add in a couple of cookies, carrots, globs of peanut butter, safe toys, and/or whatever else you think your dog might enjoy (really get creative here!), then add an inch or two of water (depending on the size of your dog and their motivation to get to the food). Freeze it all overnight and the next day, pop it out and let them have at it! Chewing tends to be very relaxing for a dog so giving them something to really work on for a while can really calm them down and of course keep them mentally and physically busy!
Those are just a few ideas for simple ways to really give your dogs some mental stimulation as well as the slightly harder to come by physical stimulation during the winter months. Please feel free to contact me if you would like specific ideas for how to teach your dogs any of the above behaviors or see the following resources:
YouTube.com – Look up “dog tricks” and you will get all kinds of good ideas!
Books:
101 Dog Tricks: Kyra Sundance
The Culture Clash: Jean Donaldson
Quick Clicks: Mandy Book & Cheryl Smith
Play With Your Dog: Pat Miller
Favorite Treat Dispensing Toys:
Tricky Paw
Bob-A-Lot
Also, please check out my Amazon site for a list of recommended products:
http://astore.amazon.com/missbeha-20
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