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Overview of 101 Dog Tricks: Step By Step Activities To Engage, Challenge And Bond With Your Dog

Posted on: December 21st, 2010 by

A girl teaches a dog how to do a trick.
Posted by: H.R.
For Pets Best Insurance

The book 101 Dog Tricks: Step By Step Activities To Engage, Challenge, and Bond With Your Dog is one of the largest pet books targeted at teaching dog tricks.

The book offers step-by-step instructions with a difficulty rating for each trick. Along with detailed instructions, the book offers beautiful full-color photos of each trick. Learning new tricks will mentally stimulate your dog and at the same time strengthen your bond with your dog. This is a book every pet owner should have!

Each trick has trouble-shooting advice as well as dog training tips to help your dog learn. The book also offers “build-on” ideas which allow you to teach more complicated tricks using the simple skills your dog has already acquired.

The tricks are broken down and categorized by their skill level. The levels include easy, intermediate, advanced, and expert. The tricks taught in the book range from sit and stay to bring me the newspaper.

If you are looking for a book to help you teach your new puppy basic commands, this is probably not the book for you. However, if you are looking for a book that builds on your dog’s basic knowledge and can help you teach them to do more advanced tricks, this is definitely the book for you. The tricks are easy to teach and can be taught to a dog no matter what previous dog training techniques have been used.

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How to introduce your pet to a new baby

Posted on: December 20th, 2010 by

A baby sits with a large black dog.

By: Dr. Fiona Caldwell
For Pets Best Insurance

By taking the right steps in the beginning, the relationship between pets and children can become a lifelong bond. Pets can be an important part of childhood, but introducing a new baby into a household that already has pets can require a little planning and foresight. Planning prior to your new arrival can ensure the smoothest possible transition to a larger family.

It is best to start preparing your dog before the new baby comes home. Make sure your dog is comfortable being independent, as you will have your hands full. If you have a dog that is used to following you from room to room, you might start placing baby gates to confine the dog to the areas of the house that will be separate from the baby.

You should also ensure your dog is used to sleeping on its own, either in a crate or a separate bedroom, and not in your bed or your children’s bed. You’ll also want to ensure you have a way to separate your pet from the baby in the car, either by purchasing a barrier, considering a harness and seatbelt, or confining a smaller dog to a crate. Start using these prior to having a baby in the car seat.

You might see how your dog reacts to a stroller. Some dogs might be scared of the wheels, or try to jump on it. Getting used to walks with a stroller before there is a baby in it will be easier. You might try walking with another adult, someone to push the stroller and another adult to manage the dog. Be sure to make this fun, and reward with treats for well mannered leash walks with a stroller!

Some dogs are very sensitive to or scared of loud sounds. It sounds silly, but playing a recording of crying might help you to see how your dog will react. If s/he is scared or anxious of the sounds, you can start the recording low at first, and then slowly increase to volume over time, all while playing, grooming or petting him/her to desensitize from the sound. Reward for good behavior. Shorter noise sessions frequently will be more successful.

For the baby’s actual homecoming, make sure you have at least two adults available, one that can tend to the dog and another that can tend to the baby. Put your dog on a leash, even if the leash is just dragging on the ground, this will make it easier control, especially a larger dog, if needed. Don’t force the introduction; just allow the pet to be around the new baby. Allow your pet to politely sniff the baby, but if s/he becomes overly interested, or wants to lick, distract with a squeaky toy and divert their attention. If the pet becomes fearful, tucks its tail, or snarls, have the extra adult calmly pick up the leash without scolding and walk the dog away from the baby. It is extremely important that pets that exhibit untrustworthy signs be kept separately from young children.

Having animals in the family while kids are young can be very rewarding, and help teach many life lessons, in addition to providing friendship. Contact your veterinarian with additional or specific questions.

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Food for Thought

Posted on: December 14th, 2010 by

The cover of Arden Moore's The Cat Behavior Book.
Oh Behave!
Q & A With Pet Expert Arden Moore

Q. I’m about to adopt a pair of young cats from the local shelter. They are just a year or two old and are littermates. I don’t want my cats to get fat from overeating. Should I just keep a big bowl of kibble available to them all the time or feed them twice a day?

A. Welcome to the Great Feline Food Debate. There are pros and cons to both free feeding and scheduling specific mealtimes. Many cats, whether they live as solo cats or part of a multi-cat household, seem to fare well with free feeding. They eat what they need and stop before becoming obese. Unlike dogs, who tend to bolt down whatever food is put in front of them, cats are more comfortable nibbling 10 to 20 times a day.

In your situation, I would first check with the animal shelter officials as to how these sibling felines were fed. Ask if they ate twice a day or had food available all day long, and inquire whether there were any incidents of one cat bullying or nudging the other from food bowls.

Keep tabs on your new cats’ eating habits and weigh them regularly. If they seem to maintain their weight, then free feeding is a good option. Just be sure to clean the bowls regularly – daily if you feed canned food.

Some cats, however, view free feeding as a 24-hour all-you-can-eat buffet and stuff themselves with kibble until their bellies drag on the floor. They just can’t say no to chow. Consider this startling fact: an extra three pounds on a nine-pound cat is the equivalent of adding a whopping 40 pounds to a 120-pound person. Added weight puts both cats and people at added health risk.

For cases in which one cat eats too much and one eats too little, scheduling specific mealtimes is recommended. This allows you to have better control over your cats’ diets. To prevent the pudgy cat from gobbling up all the food, feed him in a separate room. Then, after a designated time, around 15 minutes or so, pick up the food bowls. Another option is to feed the slender cat an extra meal at night, while the plumper puss spends the night in a room of his own without any food.

Controlled feeding also works best when a medical problem arises, such as diabetes. Cats with this condition need to have their insulin and blood sugar levels monitored on a daily basis. Feeding small amounts a number of times each day can also help a cat who eats too much food at once and may throw up a short time later.

If you find yourself unable to be at home at specific mealtimes for your cats, consider buying a timed self-feeder. These gadgets dispense controlled portions of kibble at designated times. Putting a couple of golf balls in the food dish will also help to slow down a greedy gobbler, as will spreading out the kibble on a tray or shallow dish.

Confounded by your canine? Frustrated by your feline? Relax. Pet expert Arden Moore is here to deliver the real truth about cats, dogs…and you with her column appropriately called, “Oh Behave!”
Author and pet expert Arden Moore sits with her pets.
On a regular basis, Arden will unleash excerpts from her two award-winning books, The Dog Behavior Answer Book (named the top training and behavior book by the Dog Writers Association of America) and The Cat Behavior Answer Book (named the top training and behavior book by the Cat Writers Association). Learn more about Moore, who also hosts a weekly radio show called “Oh Behave!” on Pet Life Radio (www.petliferadio.com) by visiting her Four Legged Life website (www.fourleggedlife.com).

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Trained dogs are safe dogs during the holidays

Posted on: December 13th, 2010 by

Posted by: H.R.
For Pets Best Insurance
An untrained puppy gets into mischief.

When cooking for the holidays, the smells of turkey and pie will surely appeal to your pets’ nose just as it does your own. Sometimes the tantalizing draw is too much, and even well-mannered dogs sneak a snack when everyone’s back is turned. This could be dangerous to pet health if he grabs the wrong food, or races to clean off the floor after food has been inadvertently dropped.

Fatty foods like turkey skin and nuts, and toxic foods like chocolate and Xylitol, are very dangerous to a dog health care. Because the Holidays often see more pets taken to the veterinarian’s office with digestive upset, which can potentially become a serious pet health condition, it’s the perfect time to take extra precautions. Start with finding the best pet insurance and proper training.

“If your dog has already eaten the hors d’oeuvre tray and has a cheese-eating grin spread across his muzzle, it’s too late for a reprimand,” says dog trainer Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz. “Far more effective than a reprimand is to catch him in the act and use the ‘off’ cue, which tells him drop the contraband or back away, and then redirect him to what you want (including a reward),” said Sylvia-Stasiewicz, trainer for Bo Obama, the First Family’s Portuguese Water Dog.

In her book, The Love That Dog Training Program, Sylvia-Stasiewicz and co-author Larry Kay go into detail about teaching your dog the “off” command using positive reinforcement. Start today—you may save a potential trip to the vet.

First, teach your dog that he must sit before he is rewarded, given attention, a treat, or fed.

“It should become your dog’s verbal language of asking please,’ said Sylvia-Stasiewicz.

Then, show your dog one of his favorite treats, and teach him to wait for your queue before he takes it. When he learns “take it,” start teaching “off” by interrupting his lunge for the treat loudly and sharply with the word.

“When your dog backs off and looks at you (often with some puzzlement or concern), then say ‘good, take it’ in a happy voice,” said Sylvia-Stasiewicz. “Repeat this lesson until your dog becomes fluent with both ‘off’ and ‘take it.’”

Part of positive reinforcement is showing your dog that it’s fun to do what you ask. Whenever you give the “off” command, trade what he wanted for something he can have, like a safe treat or a filled Kong toy. With trades, your dog is always rewarded for obeying you, and everyone is happy.

Teach these commands for a safe, happy dinner, and you won’t need to use that dog insurance—just one more thing to be thankful for this year.

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Facebook Q&A with Dr. Fiona Caldwell

Posted on: December 10th, 2010 by

A dog and a cat rest their paws on a white wall.

Pets Best Insurance solicited questions from our Facebook page fans relating to pet health, happiness and everything in between. Dr. Fiona Caldwell, a practicing veterinarian at Idaho Veterinary Hospital weighs in! Read on to see if your question was answered:

Question: So many vets recommend multiple vaccines. Is there a standard of what vaccine my pet should get and how often?

Dr. Caldwell: This is a great question without a great answer! Each veterinarian might have different recommendations based on the region you live in, or your dog’s lifestyle or activities. In general all veterinarians will recommend a rabies vaccine and a distemper/parvo/adenovirus/parainfluenza combination vaccine. If you kennel or board your dog, or go to heavily dog trafficked areas, such as the dog park or the groomers, a kennel cough vaccine (bordetella) is generally indicated as well. Other vaccines are available and might be recommended depending on where you live, such as the rattlesnake vaccine, lymes or leptospirosis vaccine. Adults generally need vaccines every 1 to 3 years, and puppies need them monthly until the age of 4 months.

Question: Are pet supplements ok to give to my dog? I’ve been thinking of putting my dog on supplements but I am not sure what supplements are best or even if they’re necessary.

Dr. Caldwell: If you’re feeding a good quality dog food, you shouldn’t need vitamin supplements for the average healthy dog. In fact, vitamin supplementation can be dangerous for some animals, for example large breed puppies can develop orthopedic problems if fed supplements high in calcium. Other herbal or homeopathic remedies for various diseases often haven’t been thoroughly research in pets, and therefore generally aren’t recommended.

*The views expressed above belong solely to the practitioner and should not be construed as describing the coverage or benefits of Pets Best Insurance.

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