Traveling with your Dog

Safety when walking at night

Separation Anxiety and Boredom

Thunder Phobic Dogs

Housebreaking

Traveling with your Dog

On July 9^th, 2006, we were involved in a truck and trailer roll over accident at 65 mph in Gaylord MI.  The roll over was due to high winds that day that caused our trailer to sway back and forth and eventually it come around and rolled our truck.  Unfortunately, this is one of the few times that the humans forgot to seat belt their dogs in.  Unfortunately we paid the price dearly after our truck came to a stop our Border Collie mix Shelby Rae was missing. We thought the worse that she was thrown from the truck and killed.  After five-six hours of searching for her, she was found covered in mud about a mile from the scene wondering in a field.  We will never know how she got out of the vehicle, if it was during the roll over that she was ejected or if she jumped from the vehicle once we stopped rolling.  We are very grateful that she was found.   She was taken to a local vet who put her leg back together.  One thing we have learned from this experience is the cost of a Roadie Harness for your dog far out ways the cost of an emergency vet on the weekend and the stress of having an injured dog in an auto accident.  

Since that day we have learned a very valuable lesson to secure all precious cargo as you may never have a second chance.  We highly recommend securing your dog in a Seat Belt Harness that secures your dogs to a seat belt.  Because of our space in our truck, we have chosen to use Seat Belt Harnesses to secure our dogs.  Crates if not bolted to your vehicle can become a projectile in an auto accident.  Remember plastic crates can break apart as well as metal crates can injure your dog even decapitating them during a major auto accident. 

Always make sure you have proper ID Tags on your dog(s) including a pet tag that has your cell phone number on it.  Include an additional ID Tag if your dog should have health issues and need medication. 

We highly recommend a Pet Emergency sheet in every vehicle when you travel with your dog(s).  The Pet Emergency should include the following information:

1. Dog’s name, full description and any medical or health conditions.  Include a picture on the sheet if possible to help identify the dog.
   
2. Names and phone numbers of people who can care for your dog(s) in case you become incapacitated.  If you travel to other states, include people from those states on your list.
   
3. A list of instructions on what you would like done with your dog(s) in case you are incapacitated and someone cannot be contacted.  For example:  Please take my dog to the nearest veterinary medical center, doggy day care, or pet resort until I or someone else can pick him or her up. 
   
4. A list of instructions on what you would like done with your dog(s) should they need medical attention.  If you wish to guarantee medical expenses include that information as well.   
   
5. Make sure you date and sign this document. 
   
6. Create a “Lost” poster for our dog and fill in all the details except for the location last seen.  Make sure to include several pictures of your dog from the front and side.  Create your poster in color and make several copies to keep with you. 

Safety when walking at night

Just about everyone takes an evening stroll or a late night walk.  One of the things we forget about when we leave the house is about what time we will be returning.  Many times we leave with good intentions of returning before dark but we get sidetracked with stopping at the neighbor’s house or we meet a few other people on the trail or decide to investigate something new on the walk or ride. 

Having the proper reflective equipment is important.  It could save your life.  In an unscientific study we tested our reflective products on the back roads of Wisconsin.   We found that our best reflective product is our Reflective Shoulder Belt, which you could see from a half a mile away.  It was amazing how you could see the reflective material in the dark and you knew you were approaching something on the road.    The Reflective Shoulder Belt has several feet of reflective material and because it is worn on a person’s upper half, headlights bounce off of it perfectly. 

The next product’s we would recommend are our harnesses and leash extenders for your dog.  The combination together really works.  Oncoming vehicles from many directions can view the harness.  The leash extender offers the extra safety from vehicles that approach from behind and cannot see the harness.  The extenders are also nice because they are held up higher on the dog, which give the beam lights from vehicles a much better chance to reflect. 

When riding at dusk with your horse, we recommend using several products so traffic will see you from any angle.  We recommend a tail reflector, and a Bridle or a Breast Collar.  Either one would give the oncoming traffic a heads up that they are approaching something on the road.  Another nice product to use for walking at dusk with your horse are our horse leg reflectors.  The leg reflectors are nice because they are moving with the horse and will show oncoming traffic that something is moving.  When riding at night, don’t forget to outfit yourself in safety reflective products.  We recommend our best seller the Reflective Shoulder Belt, which helps the traffic see you up on your horse. 

Separation Anxiety and Boredom

One of the leading causes for animals to be surrendered to shelters or rescues is destructive chewing.  Some people realize after getting a dog that they start to destroy things in the house and they think the dog is a bad dog.  The dog is not a bad dog just bored out of its mind because no one will play with or entertain them.  Dogs act out just like kids when they want your attention. 

There are two types of energy:  Brain energy, which causes us to be tired when we use this type of energy and physical energy, which only takes a short time to recover.  Brain energy can be associated to being taught a new computer program at work.  After you have spent an entire day learning a new computer program you feel exhausted and most often want to take a nap after work.  Physical energy can be associated with walking five miles, aerobic exercise, or jogging.  After you do this, you may feel tired, but physical energy provides you with good cardiovascular exercise and restored energy.  Animals need both types of exercise, however, brain energy is more exhausting and helps destructive behaviors.    

What is Brain Energy?

Brain energy is what we use or exhaust so to speak when we have to figure something out, like learning a new computer program or figuring out a puzzle.  When you give your dog a toy and they have to figure out how to get the treat, they use brain energy.  Your dog has to spend time thinking about how to roll it a certain way to get the reward.  Chewing is also a natural behavior for dogs and working a treat toy to get the treat is very rewarding.  Some dogs take a long time to figure out how to get the reward, other dogs only a short period of time.  We call these toys educational treat toys because they provide stimulation for your dog that exhaust brain energy. 

Some dogs that become very destructive with their separation anxiety need lots of little games or puzzles to keep their mind busy so they will not eat the house while you are at work.  For example, once your dog masters treat toys and can get the rewards fairly quickly.  Now change the game and hide the treat toy in the house when you leave for work.  (Make sure your dog doesn’t see you hiding them.  Remember it’s a game of hide and seek with a yummy smelly treat toys.)  If your dog masters that one, the next thing would be to purchase different educational treat toys and hide them throughout the house.  If that is not working, take smelly treats and lather them in peanut butter or yogurt and fill the toy.  Then take the toy and put it in the freezer overnight.  Once this little cocktail is frozen give it to your dog to figure out.  The freezing makes it take longer to get at the treats.

What is Physical Energy?

Physical energy is what dogs use when they catch a flying squirrel, tennis ball or Jolly Ball.  A dog uses physical energy to run and play at the dog park.  All dogs need to exhaust this type of energy.  Dogs can recoup pretty fast from a day at the dog park.  Most dogs are bred to be physically fit, so exercising is not something new to a dog. 

You can turn physical energy into brain energy very easily.   For example if you are playing with Chuck It and tossing the tennis ball for your dog, ask your dog to sit and stay. Then toss the ball.  Let your dog watch the tennis ball launch into the air and land.  Then release your dog to go get the ball.  Now you are taking a physical game of fetch and turning it into a game where you dog needs to use his brain to think.  Making your dog wait until you say “Okay” will exhaust brain energy.  Now your dog is thinking about what you want from him instead of just chase the ball.   If you have to take baby steps, start with holding the tennis ball in one hand and your dog’s collar in the other hand.  Give the command “sit” and “stay” then slowly toss the ball.  If your dog tries to run after it, correct the dog and put him back in a “sit-stay” position.  Once you have received the command that you have asked for, release the dog to get the ball. Give your dog Big Cheerleader praises when the dog returns with the ball.  Continue to repeat this until your dog can hold a “sitstay” position without the assistance of you holding onto his collar.  Once you have done that, you have exhausted brain energy and your dog will now think this game of fetch has a whole new meaning.

Other things that you can do, is to take the simple things in life and turn them into brain energy training time.  For example, if you free feed your dog a treat for just being cute STOP!!!   Practice the rule “Nothing in life is for FREE” your dog should do something to earn a treat, even if it means sit, lie down, stand pretty, or roll over.   We feed treats throughout our day, however every time we give our dog a treat, we expect something in return because “Nothing in life is for Free”.  We have taught all sorts of little tricks with just 5-minute training sessions per day.  We have taught our dogs to turn right, turn left, roll over and a host of other neat tricks.  It doesn’t take a lot of energy to do, just time out of your day.  Once you make it a routine in your day to train your dog, it becomes a habit not a training session.

Thunder Phobic Dogs

Having done rescue for several years, we have seen several Thunder-phobic dogs and we happen to have owned two in our lifetime.  Here are a few suggestions:

1. If you know you will have a storm, put on music when you leave for the day.  Classical seems to work on many dogs.  If it’s summer time, close the windows, turn on the A/C and turn up the tunes.  The music should overpower the sound of the storm.  If you are home and know it’s coming, do the same.
   
2. We have seen good and bad results with crating a dog.  Some dogs love their crate for security reasons and other dogs have clawed their way out of a crate and injured themselves.  For this suggestion you would need to be home to watch your dog to see how he or she responds to being crated.  
   
3. With some dogs, we have used clicker training.  Click and treat good behavior and ignore bad behavior.  This works on only about 10% of the dogs we have seen. Clicker training works on mild cases of thunder-phobic.  Some thunder-phobic dogs are wound up too much due to stress and will not eat a treat if their life depended on it. 
   
4. My current dog (Pyro) occasionally will jump into the bathtub for storms.  We have left the behavior because it’s not destructive in nature and he just curls up into a ball in the tub.  We put towels in the tub to make a little bed.  In the morning, we find him curled up in a little ball on the cold tub and the towels all messed up at the other end of the tub.     
   
5. Rescue Remedy is a great all natural medication.  Found at the Vet or health stores.  We recommend the liquid because it gets into the blood stream faster.  You can Google Rescue Remedy and find it on the Internet.  
   
6. Other chemical drugs are on the market to ease a dog’s stress from a storm.   You need a prescription from your vet.  We have only used it once on a rescue dog after we had exhausted all other means of training.  The new owners taught us that Classical music blasting right next to his crate was the ticket to calm him down. 
   
7. Buy Thunderstorm music and play is softly for a couple of hours while you are home.  Then play it again a few days later and slowly turn it up a bit.  Keep doing this day after day until it is as loud as a storm.  Play with your dog while the music is on.  Use treats and keep the experience positive.
   
8. Play with our dog outside during mild storms.  If they love Frisbee, play Frisbee outside during a storm.  Do this is a fenced in yard if you feel that your dog might bolt.   One person who had a horrible thunder-phobic dog played outside for one year in the rain. The next season of storms, the dog would bring the Frisbee to the owners when they heard thunder in the distance.  “Pavlov’s Law.”
   
9. Don’t cuddle your dog during a storm and tell him its “All Right” That only reinforces the bad behavior.  Your dog will learn very quickly that his bad behavior gets him attention.  Reward good behavior during a storm and ignore the bad and redirect the destructive behavior.    

Using a crate when you are not home is usually the best way to accomplish housebreaking and to make sure your home is not destroyed by destructive chewing behavior from a puppy. 

For an adult dog

1. When you are home, keep the dog with you on a loose line so you can catch him/her in the act of having an accident. Correct the dog with a firm “NO!” and take him/her outside immediately. When the dog goes potty/poop outside, use the cheerleader praise, praise, praise, praise!!! Occasionally yummy treat is a great reward.
   
2. You may also use training pants to train your dog. Use an old pair of men’s underwear and cut a large hole in the flap opening. Place dog’s legs through the leg part and tail through the new larger cut flap opening and pull up. Use a chip clip or rubber band to tie up the extra slack on the dog’s back. Once your dog has an accident in its pants, they normally do not like the smell or to be sitting in cold, wet pants. Let them sit in the wet pants for a few minutes, and then take them out. Take off the pants before letting your dog out and put a clean pair on when your dog is let back into the house.  This will help protect your home in the long run.   Wash underwear in a vinegar and baking soda solution to get the urine smell out. 
   
3. When you are not home, confine the dog to a crate. A bored and untrained dog can get into things that could be dangerous. With proper training, a dog can learn to feel comfortable in his/her crate.
   
4. Never correct a dog if you don’t catch him/her in the act; dogs aren’t able to connect your correction with an action that took place five minutes ago. 
   
5. Do not allow the dog free run of the house until you are sure that he/she is completely housebroken and compatible with your other dog(s).
   
6. While house training an adult dog, always take your new dog outside about every hour on the hour for the first few days.  Give lots to praise for good work done outside.  If you are training a puppy that is just a few weeks old, always take your puppy out about every 30 minutes to an hour.   Remember little bodies have little bladders and cannot hold it a long time.  Puppies take a little longer to train, but be patient as they will understand that the bathroom is outside not inside.  
   
7. Use an old rag or paper towel to blot and wipe up the excess urine. When cleaning up urine, use vinegar and water mixed at a 50/50 ratio solution into a spray bottle.   Spray on spot, blot, and rub out the stain.  Shake some baking soda over the damp area, and scrub in, let dry for one day.  Then vacuum up the baking soda once the spot has dried.   This mixture helps neutralize the urine scent and will stop a dog from marking over that same spot again in the future. 

Counter Surfing

Having done Border Collie Rescue for many years, I have seen countless professional counter surfers.  A lot strays that come into rescue have the drive to look for food because they had to seek food daily while they were on the run.    

The first way to stop counter surfing is pick up food in your kitchen and take away anything that could be tempting.   Next, make sure you feed your dog twice a day.  Also you can treat your dog daily so he knows that the food keeps coming from you and it will not stop.  Making sure your dog knows that the food will keep coming is key to training.  Animals are creatures of habit and if they are fed on a regular basis, they will do just fine. 

Oh… but those temptations… while you’re gone….  To stop those temptations while you’re gone would be to take all the food off the counter or to crate train your dog when you are not home.

Next would be to set up your dog to teach him that for every action there is a reaction and sometimes the reaction is not so good.   Set up your kitchen with some long baking pans.  Place them all over the end of the counters on top of one another.   Set up a few smelly things on the counter that is just out of reach from your dog.  You want him to smell the good stuff but when his paws hit the counter you want things to start to come crashing down on his head so he realizes that paws on the counter means crashing on his head.  You may have to set up your dog a couple of times for him to get that.  Make sure you are in the house when you do this so you have a good idea of what your dog does when he or she counter surfs. 

If pans crashing down on his head do not phase your dog, then take it up a notch and use the big sticky traps that they use for mice or rats.  Place several large sticky traps on the counter.  Set up a few smelly things on the counter that is just out of reach from your dog.    When his paws hit the sticky trap he is stuck.  Let him walk around for a little bit with the trap stuck to his paw.  He will understand that paws on the counter equal paws in a trap that will not come off his feet without his owner helping him get them off.