Tips for Walking Your Dog (and why you should care)

Since the weather has been warmer, Bonnie and I have been going on longer walks in the evenings after work more often. We live on a street that makes a loop, so we walk a few times around… and so do all of the other dog families in our neighborhood! I’ve noticed lately that some of our neighbor dogs are really well behaved and are great on the leash when we pass by, but others can cause a bit of a ruckus every time. I’ve been training Bonnie to follow my lead and keep walking calmly as we pass any other dogs (or squirrels or rabbits or birds…), and she has made tremendous progress. It takes a consistent effort, but it pays off to have a dog that will walk with you on a loose leash. After all, if you decide to take a jog, the last thing you want is a quick jolt of the leash with a 65-pound dog on the other end!

Hence this article… Below are some important reasons why you should train your dog for walks, some tips to train your dog to walk properly on a leash, and some reminders about walking your dog during summer weather.

 

A trained dog on a leash has more perks than just a pleasant walk!

• You won’t have to worry about the leash being jerked out of your hands (resulting in a dog chase, potentially in a high-traffic area) and you won’t have to worry about being pulled so hard that you fall (which could also result in that dog chase if you lose track of the leash on the way down).
• You won’t be dragged along whatever path the dog wants to take—it’s a lot of effort to walk a dog that pulls on the leash the entire time, even a small dog! This isn’t how you want to get an arm workout, trust me.
• Your dog may be friendly with other dogs, but not all of the dogs you walk past have the same good intentions, so it’s best if your dog follows your lead and doesn’t try to go visit every dog or person that you see.
• Same goes for people—we love our dogs, but some people are not so keen on animals or may even be afraid of dogs, so it’s just more polite to have an equally polite dog who waits to be invited for a pet.

Like I said earlier, training your dog takes consistent effort on your part, but it’s completely worth it and will make you so proud of your pup! The training tips below have helped me with Bonnie, but of course you should choose what works best for your dog. Some dogs catch on really quickly while others take more time—Bonnie is a quick learner and highly treat motivated, so these have worked great for us!

Please note that I am not a dog trainer and don’t claim to be one, I have just read a lot of articles and listened to many trainer tips over the years!

• Use a short leash for the walk so your dog doesn’t walk ahead of you. You want them to walk next to you or a little behind. I purchased a sturdy 4-foot leash with a padded handle, and I tied two knots in the leash farther down to hold when I need to shorten the leash (great for training but also for safety if a car comes close by, etc.). It will also reinforce your grip if your dog is pulling hard on the leash to give you even more control.
• I use a harness on Bonnie when we go on walks because it’s more comfortable for her and because it gives you a good place to grab your dog if the leash just isn’t giving you the control you need (if if you need to grab your dog quickly for whatever reason). However, many dog trainers suggest not using a harness because it can encourage pulling for some dogs.
• Take your time. If you’re in a rush on your walk, your dog will sense that energy and your training efforts won’t get very far at all.
• Use positive reinforcement throughout the walk. Don’t wait until your dog pulls on the leash or lunges in another direction toward a squirrel and only correct them in those moments. Sure, you want to correct that behavior, but you also need to periodically tell your pup “good girl” or “good boy” in a calm tone of voice so they know that the way they’re walking at that moment is great. It also helps with dogs that may get a little nervous, like Bonnie. I notice a difference in her demeanor when I reassure her that she’s being such a good girl every so often.
• Bring small training treats with you that are easy for your dog to quickly eat. Give treats periodically when using positive reinforcement so that your dog associates good walking behavior with deliciousness. (Be mindful about giving treats when other dogs are around—I personally don’t give treats if another dog is in view to avoid any food-related issues.)
• Use a calm voice for positive reinforcement instead of an excited voice—you want the walk to be relaxing, and getting excited about that good behavior might very well get your dog excited and result in the opposite response you're expecting.
• On the other token, when correcting your dog, use a firm tone without getting upset about the situation. Correct, keep walking and move on.
• When correcting behavior, don’t stop walking if possible—you want your dog to know that you are in charge, and right now they’re supposed to be following your lead. Once your dog is distracted, correct them and interrupt their attention so that they don’t fixate on the distraction. This will also remind them that, “Oh, mom is telling me to do something that I need to do” instead of completely ignoring you. This is easier said than done, and you have to find your own groove to correct and interrupt the distraction all while continuing to walk. Don’t get discouraged if this takes some time to master—it was the most difficult part for me figure out, and I tried several tactics until I found what worked best for me and for Bonnie!
• When you are finished with the walk, stay in “training mode” until you get home (or in your car), then reward with a nice treat and let your dog know how wonderful they did before you let them wander off to their next adventure. Or to an immediate nap, as Bonnie does after she eats her treat.

For training tips on teaching your dog to heel, which for many has to be a first step in this whole process, visit my favorite website with short PDF training handouts: Dumb Friends League. They have all sorts of training and behavioral handouts for both dogs and cats.

 

Before you take your newly trained dog on your walk, don’t forget to check the weather so that it’s safe out for you and your pup…

Georgia weather goes quickly from beautiful spring weather to hot, humid summer days that take your breath way. Remember that dogs are much more susceptible to heat stroke, so there are a few things to think about before taking your dog on a walk:

• If the pavement is too hot for you to walk on, it’s too hot for your dog’s sensitive paw pads. Going on walks in shaded areas, at dawn or dusk, or on natural paths will feel better on your pup’s paws.
• Watch your dog to make sure they don’t get overheated. Monitoring their panting and energy level will help you know whether it’s time to end the walk or keep going.
• Be sure your dog has access to plenty of water before, during and after your walk.
• Don’t leave your dog in a parked car to do errands before or after your walk, even quick ones—and cracking your windows won’t help much at all. For example, when it’s 85 degrees out, the temperature in your car can rise to over 100 degrees within just 10 minutes and up to 120 degrees within 30 minutes. Find out more at MyDogIsCool.com.

My final piece of advice… Stick with it, be patient and don’t get discouraged!

An Almost-Emergency Reminder to Keep Pet Disaster Kits Up-to-Date!

This evening I was relaxing in my living room, watching tv and I heard a weird noise. I thought someone was breaking in (it sounded like a window popping), and I looked down to see Cleo beside me to go investigate. There weren’t any intruders but Cleo still was acting strange, and I had a gut feeling that something just wasn’t right. I walked around looking for something that could have made the noise to ease my mind but couldn’t find anything.

Then I walked outside on my porch to get a look around the house, and there it was. White, stinky smoke was flowing over the roof--I went into emergency mode and ran back into the house to try to see where the smoke was coming from. I couldn’t find anything, so I ran around the house and saw that the A/C unit was smoking but not on fire. I ran inside and turned the unit off and went back out to be sure it didn’t catch on fire, all while trying to call boyfriend, landlord and dad to figure out what else to do so it wouldn’t have any power connected and to ease my mind that it wouldn’t randomly catch fire over night (good luck with that one). Luckily, I was home and able to fix the situation without having too much of an incident. (And yes, I should have called 911 instead of everyone else, but I was trying to stop the situation and was alone, so that was a certainly bad move in hindsight!)

So what on earth does this have to do with animals?!

Well, as I was running around the house to find where the smoke was coming from, I was simultaneously planning what I needed to do if, in fact, there was a house fire. The first thing on my list: get the cat carriers out and get the cats to my car. I had already put Bonnie in the back yard, so I could easily grab her leash and get her in the car with the cats. I also have a pet emergency bag with the carriers in my front hall closet, so that would be my next grab. After that, other things that are valuable to me and my boyfriend in the house.

When we think of preparing for emergencies, it’s so easy to think of tornadoes or hurricanes, mass floods or power outages, snowstorms or some other large-scale events that we can see coming. But the main emergencies we should be prepared for are things like today. The disaster kit and plan is pretty much the same, but it just puts in perspective the importance of having those emergency preparedness bags ready to grab at a moment’s notice.

I already have these things for my animals because I’m a volunteer for national animal emergency response teams—my cat crates are built and stacked in the front closet by the door, and the bag with their items are in the same closet. Our dog leashes and halter are also hanging there, so the important animal stuff is all in one spot. That way, I can grab the animals and be out the door in a flash if I had to. (Confession: I don’t have a HUMAN emergency response bag, other than my CERT bag in my car. I’ll have to work on that one soon!) 

I’m probably more prepared than a lot of pet owners in this regard, but the problem is, a lot of my records and some of the food items in the bag haven’t been updated in quite a while.  So today was a good reminder that everyone should have a pet readiness bag (and a human one) AND it should be updated every six months or so. I encourage you to learn from me today and prepare your own bag, or update the one you already have.

My goal for this week: update my pet emergency preparedness bag, hang the fire sticker on the front window (I haven't put a new one up since we moved into the new house), and get a human bag together. It won't take much time, but if something more serious does happen, it will be worth all the money in the world to me to have my pets safe and sound!

There are great resources for what you should have online if you don't have a pet disaster plan yet, or if you need to update yours: HSUS, RedRover, ASPCA.

An Animal-friendly New Year's Resolution!

So last year I resolved to write in my blog at least 1-2 times a month, but I somehow turned that around completely backwards and haven’t written in my blog for months now! Writing for our newsletters at work are the main culprit, but I do want to pick back up again this year (so we will see how it goes!).

I hate outlandish New Year’s resolutions, but I have tried to make a few achievable ones in the past year that I did follow through with… and some that I achieved for the most part or, like my blog, totally ignored because of life and its hectic ways in 2012. It’s over a week into the new year, and I’m just now getting around to making my new, short list of resolutions. One of them to increase my dedication to helping animals in 2013.

My day job is at a no-kill animal rescue, and most of my volunteer work goes to other types of animals rescues. But there are so many other aspects to humane treatment of animals, including the ways in which we eat and the items that we purchase. I have been working to buy more animal-friendly products, meaning that no animals were tested in any part of the process. Many products falsely post on their bottles that “no animals were tested/harmed/etc,” but the truth is, that isn’t always accurate. Many of the products purchase ingredients for their products that have been tested on animals, meaning that the product isn’t truly animal-friendly. The only sure-fire way to know this is to follow the Leaping Bunny standard, and they have their own icon that you can look for. 

I am planning to try to only buy Leaping Bunny approved cleaning products and personal care items this year if I can help it. Money is usually the only reason why I haven’t this year, but in reality, there are increasingly more affordable products that you can buy now. I use Method cleaning products, and they also make dish soap, hand soap, body wash, dishwasher tablets, and more. And the best thing is that they’re all affordable and available at retail stores like Target and Kroger now.

As for other personal care items, it takes a little more digging to find affordable options that my skin likes. I use Mineral Fusion make-up, which is certainly more expensive that your Walgreens make-up brands. But the catch here is that it’s made from minerals, so that nasty bacteria that builds up on other make-up brands within just a couple of months (you’re supported to throw out most make-up after three months) never grows on mineral make-up and makes it ageless! It also has the nice side effect of not irritating your skin because it is truly all natural—my eyes will get irritated with most make-up, but I can wear mineral make-up all day and never have one problem. Most of the Mineral Fusion make-up items will last for a good year or close to it, so you’re actually saving money over time by using it, being nicer to your skin, and not harming any animals in the process!

I have tried a new shampoo and conditioner that’s not technically Leaping Bunny, so I plan to try another kind once this brand runs out. There are some great options now, such as Burt’s Bees, that you can find in Target and grocery stores—they are becoming much easier to find now. The list goes on, but the point is to be more conscious of the products we buy and the ways in which they do harm innocent animals far from our eyes to see. And the really sad part of it all is that most of the ingredients that are used in cleaning and personal care items that are tested on animals have long ago been proven to be safe for humans to use—they are completely unnecessary tests!

So I vow to try my hardest to buy only Leaping Bunny certified cleaning and personal care items this year and beyond, AND to try to get my boyfriend on board. I need to do some research in men’s personal care products to find some to suggest for him. Thankfully, Leaping Bunny continues to improve its website and now phone app so that its much easier to find animal-friendly products quickly. Do me a favor today—download the free phone app (available for iphone and andriod) or visit the website, and pick one item to purchase this year that’s animal friendly and that will be a substitute for a product you use daily that’s not Leaping Bunny certified. Let me know how it goes and whether you decide to join me in changing all of our items over to reduce the number of animals that are harmed unnecessarily due to cruel animal testing!

(My food changes will have to wait for another blog posting!)

2012 Holiday Gift Guide

Last year I had fun putting together my holiday gift guide for animal lovers, and I chose items from nonprofit organizations because part of those proceeds help even more animals. This year I'm going a different route and supporting small, home-grown businesses by choosing items from my favorite stores on Etsy and displaying one of my favorite items from each store. (You can click on the shop name to view their other animal-related items.) I'm also going to split the categories into types of items as opposed to who they're meant for: jewelry, kids, clothing, artwork, home decor, stationary, wedding and pet memorial.

I hope you enjoy--let me know what your favorites are in the comment section below!

A Dog Year: Movie Review

I’m stuck on the couch recovering from some back issues, and it just so happened that the Netfix movie that came in the mail today was A Dog Year. So after some work, I decided that this would be a good movie to entertain me while I’m feeling very immobile!

A Dog Year is based on Jon Katz' book and came out in 2009 with Jeff Bridges as the main, and nearly only, character in addition to Devin the dog. The movie starts off at the airport where Jon (Jeff Bridges) is picking up a dog that he must have adopted from someone he knew across the country, but the dog clearly has some behavioral issues. The dog gets out of the crate as Jon tries to put a leash on him and ends up darting around  baggage claim. A circle forms around the dog, and Jon rushes over, slowly gets on his hands and knees to calm the dog down, and begins telling him, “I’m Jon Katz… I’m a writer… I’m 56… I have a bad back… Devin, look--I have a treat for you!” I love that this was his way of trying to connect with this new dog in his life!

The movie follows the journey of Jon, who is taking a break from his marriage and is behind on writing his new book, as he adds the challenge of caring for this mischievous, messy border collie named Devin. He gets frustrated when the dog keeps escaping to run furiously down the road and keeps destroying his kitchen to eat all of his food. Jon calls the person he got the dog from and is ready to give up and send him back, but something clicks and instead he becomes determined to conquer the challenge.

Not a lot changes with his efforts to train Devin except for some home damage control—he tapes the refrigerator and cabinets shut with bright red duct tape! But when Jon decides to rent a house in the country to clear his mind, the locals in the small town recommend a dog trainer. He gives in and goes to see her, but when she diagnoses Jon’s own inner turmoil as the main hindrance to Devin’s training, he becomes angry and leaves. He doesn’t want help or to admit his own problems to himself, and certainly not to others. The young handy-man who had suggested the dog trainer helps Jon build a small fenced area for Devin at the house, and when they’re finished he asks, “If he’s so much trouble, maybe you should just get rid of him.” Jon replies, “I’m not getting rid of the dog. I’m not giving up on him.” And maybe he realized he’s not ready to give up on himself yet, either.

When he sits down at the computer to write again, he begins to recount his story about Devin which it opens him up to life again and brings him out of his mid-life funk. He decides to go back to the dog trainer with his new-found sense of determination and patience, and he finally makes headway in Devin’s training and their bond with each other. The trainer reminds him that you have to take it "one step at a time."

This movie will remind you that patience is always key in these kinds of situations, and you should certainly be prepared before taking in a new animal that has known behavioral issues. Through his journey with Devin, Jon finds patience with the dog but also within himself. It’s a simple movie with a simple plot line, but the feelings he encounters along his journey with Devin really ring true in so many ways and will leave you smiling at the end. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 (based on Netflix ratings of 3 “liked it” and 4 “really liked it”), for some of the corny circumstances and some missing links in the story. Overall, I recommend it as a great feel-good movie for dog lovers out there!

Thoughts from my Recent HSUS Deployment

May 2011 Deployment in MS

I had the opportunity to deploy as a volunteer through the Humane Society of the United States’ Animal Rescue Team recently, where I volunteered at a temporary dog shelter in Texas for five days. This was my sixth deployment through HSUS (and RedRover Responders, formerly United Animal Nations), so I feel fairly seasoned as an emergency animal shelter volunteer. But even still, I always learn something new each deployment, and I take away memories that will forever stay with me—memories of working with other caring volunteers to help animals on their journey to a new, humane life.

So what are these temporary emergency animal shelters? These shelters are set up to house large numbers of animals who have been taken from a manmade disaster such as puppy mills, hoarding cases, dog-fighting rings, or other cruelty cases, or animals sheltered during natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes or wildfires. Because there is such a range of reasons for setting up a temporary shelter, each deployment is unique in its own right, with the same end goal of helping animals to have a safe, healthy place to live until they are transferred to their permanent homes.

Because many of these shelters care for animals that have been seized from criminal cases, the details of these shelters are confidential until the case has gone through the court system (as is the case with my last deployment). However, I can share with you a couple of the things I took away from my last deployment.

I have to say first that I am fortunate to work for an animal welfare organization on a daily basis—it’s what I love to do, but it also means that the staff understands the need for national animal rescue volunteers as well. So I was lucky just to have the chance to take a little time off work to deploy! I’m also lucky that I got to work with some fantastic animals and some amazing fellow volunteers. It’s such a unique experience, so you really do remember each deployment and the people you work with. You all are there with the same concerns and passion to help the animals, so it quickly feels like you’ve known the other volunteers for years! And you tend to see the same volunteers and HSUS or RedRover staff, so you do get to know each other better with each deployment.

When I got back to work, my Executive Director asked me if there was one thing I could pinpoint that I took away from this particular deployment. It’s hard to choose just one, but it did come to me and takes a little explanation. It’s an amazing feeling to work with animals that have been neglected and to be a part of their new lives. It’s a feeling that’s hard to put into words. Not all of them have been socialized or are quite ready to go directly into a family home, but each and every one of them deserves a second chance at life and to know what they should have been given all along. The majority of the dogs at this particular shelter were pit bulls or pit mixes, but they didn’t fit the undeserving stereotype of their breed. Most of them were so sweet and were just happy to have our company and pets! (And we were more than happy to be in their company and give out those pets, too!)

One of my volunteer duties was to work in one of the smaller sections of the shelter where we had to walk the dogs more often due to health reasons. I become really attached to one, but it’s funny because if I’d just seen photos of all the dogs there, I know I wouldn’t have picked her as my favorite! She was a little pit bull mix who was just so incredibly sweet. I can’t think of a better word to describe her. She just wanted to be near you and be petted, and you could see her sweet demeanor and personality just by looking into her eyes. Each day as I went to walk the dogs, I would get especially excited when it was her turn to go out. It was hard to leave her there (I would have tried to adopt her if she weren’t in Texas!), but I know that some other family is going to be unbelievably lucky to bring her into their home and that she’ll get to live a happy life from now on. Just thinking about it makes me smile.

But that brings me to one of the main things that sticks out in my mind about this deployment. There are always going to be one (or a few) animals in these shelters that the volunteers will fall in love… but guess what? There are animals right down the road in our local animal control shelters that are just waiting and hoping that someone will walk in there and fall in love with them so they can have a second chance at life, too! They come from all walks of life and ended up in the shelters for different reasons—many reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with them, just like in the deployments. And you can’t just look at a few photos online to know which one you’ll really fall in love with. It’ll certainly help you narrow your search before you go to the shelter, but please keep an open mind when meeting all of the animals. You may surprise yourself and fall in love with an animal that didn’t quite fit what you had envisioned. You have to meet them and fall in love with their personalities, not the color of their fur or their breed. Just like people, you can’t judge an animal by the cover of its book. You may be like me and decide to take home an animal that you never thought you would… but that will make your family happier than you could have ever imagined!

Caring is Cool: Giving Blood to Help Humans AND Animals

I came home today and was happy to receive my American Red Cross blood donor card in the mail! I gave blood for the first time in early July after many months of saying that I was going to start giving, and the partnership the Athens Area Humane Society has with the Athens Blood Donor Center--Caring is Cool--was a big push for me to take finally the leap.

I had a horrible first experience having blood taken in college because the nurse at my doctor’s office rolled my vein, resulting in a very painful experience and a black elbow for about a month. I know that these things don’t always happen, but it put a sour taste in my mouth for having to give blood unless absolutely necessary! But this happened so many years ago, I knew I just had to get over it. My boyfriend gives regularly, and every time he went to give blood I would feel so guilty… especially because I know I am type O- and thus a universal donor.

My experience giving blood about a month ago turned out to be such a pleasant one! The receptionist greeted with me a smile, and my nurse (also named Amanda) talked me through every step of the process and made me feel at ease the entire time. I came in late in the day to donate, but they didn’t make me feel rushed and even encouraged me to stay as long as I needed to before leaving afterwards.