Chewing Canines

For many dogs, chewing can be a favorite past time.  If you're Cheri, the service dog in training that my husband and I are training, chewing falls right behind running, agility, and getting her chest scratched on her lists of favorites.

Cheri is, well, should I say, a dedicated chewer.  I'm sure that if left to her own devices when younger, her laundry baskets of 20 plus toys would have been decapitated, gutted, and hung out to dry in less than two minutes.  Fortunately for Cheri's health and our peace of mind (not to mention our pocketbook), raising this puppy has not been my first rodeo by any means. For many dog owners, however, this is not the case. Therefore, this week of blogging is dedicated to the owners of chewing canines.

First and foremost, it's important to have safe chew toys available for your dog.

Top Five Favorite Chew Toys
1.  Kong (original beehive shape)

2.  Nylabone

3.  Goughnuts (stick)

4.  C.E.T. Chews

5.  Hollow, sterilized shin bone

Top Five LEAST Favorite Chew Toys
1.  Rawhide
2.  Rope toys
3.  Soft toys (especially those with stuffing and/or squeakers)
4.  Socks
5.  Sticks

While no chew toy is perfect, it's important to find things that are safe for your dog.  Chew toys should be given under supervision and taken away when you cannot watch your dog (there are one or two exceptions).  The biggest thing to watch out for is pieces that your dog can ingest.  Also, you have to consider what kind of chewing habits you are teaching your dog-more to come on this!  Interested in details on my lists? Post a comment with questions.

Mason

I hadn't planned on doing more than one blog post every few days, but I ran across this article this morning and thought I'd like to share it: Mason's Journey.

Isn't it amazing what dogs can do?

The Chocolate Chart

Have you ever heard the stories about the neighbor's lab who ate 5 lbs of chocolate truffles on Christmas Eve and begged for more?  Many of you probably know that the weight and size of the dog has a lot to do with how much chocolate will severely impact him or her, but aren't you always left wondering how much?  National Geographic has provided The Chocolate Chart so that you can see how much of each kind of chocolate will be toxic for your pooch.

(Note: I'm sure the exact data can vary, depending on your dog's overall health, age, etc.  Please never feed your dog chocolate-go for the carob alternative instead.)

When Pigs Fly

Because it's pretty cool to see other animals doing agility, I've included these links to two articles about Louis the pig doing agility:  Louis the Pig  and BBC Article

Everybody Loves Agility-Including Hamsters

The club will soon be offering...wait for it....HAMSTER AGILITY! 

Okay, so this isn't actually true (sorry to disappoint the hamster fans out there), but it is pretty amazing what animals can do.  With some operant conditioning and a lot of practice, you can train most animals.  If you're interested in learning more about this, I would recommend the book Reaching the Animal Mind: Clicker Training and What It Teaches Us About All Animals by Karen Pryor.  This book is available for checkout at the Logan Library.

Welcome Zoomdoggies

Welcome everybody to the Zoomdog Agility and Sports blog! We're more than happy to have you follow along. With this new club we're hoping to create a community of dog enthusiasts in Cache Valley and beyond who just love their dogs and doing stuff with them. Of course, our emphasis is agility-but we hope to have general doggy knowledge posted for all those who own our favorite four-legged friends. 

zoomdoggy 

noun.  plu. zoomdoggies
1. anybody who is interested in canine sports (especially agility)

2. anybody who owns a dog that loves to zoom around

3. any dog following this blog in the middle of the night, without their owner's knowledge
(Yes, a zoomdoggy can be a person or a dog-or even a dog/handler team. Some people think it's an insult to be called a "dog." Quite frankly, I feel like it's quite the compliment!)