The 4th of July is always a fun holiday for Americans. Its usually one of those holidays that involves outdoors, food, friends, and a grand finale of fireworks to end the day. All would be very well for the dog, one of our most trusted family members, except for the finale. Most dogs would really rather skip the fireworks.

With good reason. Dogs hear things 10 times louder than we do. Imagine how comfortable that would be on your ears. Fireworks happen once a year for the most part and dogs are not exposed enough to feel comfortable. Many dogs have a huge fear of fireworks to the point serious anxiety replaces the normal happy wag of every other day.

Whether your dog has anxiety or not, here are recommendations so your dog has a comfortable happy 4th July. Click to read a must-know guide for your dog:

Fireworks, Your Dog & the 4th of July

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We all know that in our urban settings getting the dog out for exercise is part of the deal. In fact, it’s one of the reasons we used to justify getting the dogs while living in homes with smaller yards and nice furniture. Research says that dog owners get outdoors and exercise more simply because they have a dog.

Even those with the best intentions can fall short on going out for a walk when you have a dog that pulls like crazy on the leash. When you have two dogs that have bad leash manners, forget it. Not fun. The walk can easily be overlooked or put off for another day.

When the dogs can go out and walk nicely on a leash the whole story changes. Going out for some fresh air, exercise, and a way to start your day or wind down a stressful day at work is something you look forward to.

If you are reading this and feeling like its a good description of what goes on around your house, here are a few tips to put the bad leash manners behind you and your dogs and help you get out and have more fun. It’s good for you. It’s good for your dogs.

•Your dogs thinks in pictures; don’t move forward unless your dog is in the right place in the picture
•Walk one dog at a time to start the new training
•If your dog can’t walk alone without pulling, the hopes they will walk together without pulling are none
•Simply stop when your dog even starts to get ahead of you
•Start again when your dog stops and settles (dogs do what they can get away with!)
•Make many turns of 90 degrees and 180 degrees
•Stop & start to keep your dog paying attention to where you are
•Be patient, don’t keep moving if your dog is not calm and next to you
•Again be patient! At first this takes more time than you feel you have
•Keep the leash short, the old adage give an inch take a mile applies

Habits are hard to change for anyone. Don’t give in to the frustration of your dog continuing to pull and don’t expect it to change in just a couple of outings. Instead commit in your mind that you are in charge and practice will make permanent. If your walks are very slow but the picture gets painted right for even a month, think about what that will do for your relationship with your dog over a lifetime. The added exercise is going to do you good and your dog even better.

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A health trend is becoming more of a focus as the number of Americans who are obese has increased by 2% in the last two years. This is a good thing as action is required to changed those statistics.

There are more Americans who now have come to believe they are overweight and now with the current economic state have realized the importance of losing weight and getting back into shape. The simple need to stay healthy, cut costs, and be able to maintain current homes and work positions is abundant.

Those Americans statistics also say that up to 70% also own a dog. And guess what? Yep, the dog is most likely a bit overweight as well. The good news about that is if you find yourself feeling like it’s time to take off a few extra pounds and you do own a dog, you have yourself the perfect training partner.

There is no magic bullet in losing weight and getting more fit other than cutting calories and increasing your exercise. Make sure the calories you eat are healthy, meaning not full of fat or a large percentage consisting of carbohydrates. One rule of thumb that makes it simple for people to gage is to not eat more food than the size of your fist at any one sitting.

This is true of dogs as well. Free feeding is out. That means filling the dog bowl up with food and letting your cutest best friend eat whenever and however much food anytime during the day is not a good way to promote a healthy lifestyle for your dog.

Many dog food companies are recommending too much food right on the bag. There are many reasons for this, (information for a future article), but for simplicity lets just say it goes along with many downfalls of our health care system. Providing recommendations for health isn’t the underlying agenda; providing recommendation to keep you at the doctor or vet have become the industry standard. If you’d like to look at some good food options for your dog check out Life’s Abundance for ingredients and recommendations. Again, great information for another story….

Here are few things you can do today to develop some great new behaviors to start on the road to weight loss and fitness for you and your dog:

•At meals eat the only the amount of food that would equal the size of your fist
•Give your dog measured amounts of food twice a day; do not free feed.
•Start walking with your dog at least 20 minutes a day* (we plan to build this over time… keep following our blog!)

*If you have not been exercising please make sure to get a physical to know what kind of health you are starting with, be safe, and know where you want to go with your health care needs.

Get out and get your health and happiness back with your dog!

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And as always, for private dog training and coaching contact us at K9 Coach.

This is a post that was done by one of my colleagues on Facebook this morning. She gave me permission to re-post this to my blog. It’s very important for dog owners to know that just because its sold in the big pet stores doesn’t mean it’s safe! Thanks to Tracey Lamerbert and if you need a good dog walker in the San Diego area contact her!

I thought i would share this with any of my friends that own a dog and use the very popular retractable leash.

This morning as i was out making my rounds. I was heading up Alga and saw a client walking her dog. Happy bear a very friendly,energetic cocker spaniel knows my truck well and loves me lots

He heard me coming up the hill with 7 other cars and all of the sudden darted out onto Alga. My heart jumped! We were all traveling about 50mph…He came within inches of a on coming car. His owner in a panic had a hard time controlling him with the retractable lead and like most of them,when the dogs darts doesn’t lock correctly. Now she will not be using the retrractable lead on busy streets.

Here is a little more information on the dangers of theses leashes:

A veterinary rant on the plague of retractable leashes in our midst

A plague of retractable leashes is upon us! Though that statement comes perhaps ten years too late, I’m happy to offer you my take on this important subject here and now.

Call me a hater, but I HATE retractable leashes. Here’s why:

I’ve never found one that didn’t click and stick or unspool suddenly at the exact wrong time (like when a stray cat crosses your path and an oncoming car has to slam on the brakes to spare your dog’s life). Sticky situations like this serve to illustrate how the “canine lunge line” can serve to thoroughly foul up your control over the animal.

Last weekend, my aunt’s dog was on a placid walk up in northern Florida when another dog came bounding suddenly from the end of a twenty-foot super-Retracto. Dog-fearful Trixie did what any other encroached-upon dog might under the circumstances. She bit the dog.

My aunt, being the responsible dog owner she is, offered to pay for the care of the bitten dog and called immediately to determine what measures she might take to prevent similar incidents in the future.

My take? It’s the other owners fault. And not just because lovable Trixie spent six months as one of my foster dogs before finding a home with my aunt. If my aunt truly had control over Trixie and the bitee’s owner didn’t have control ever her extendo-apparatus, then, well, it seems pretty clear, right?

The same situation plays out in our waiting room on a regular basis. Owners with ill-behaved or over-stimulated and stressed dogs often lose control of their charges. No degree of thumb clicking and hand over hand reeling-in will suffice when the thin line is already wrapped thrice around an elderly woman’s ankles.

Retractable leashes do have their places. But heavy dog interaction zones are not among them. Pet owners thinking about using this kind of leash as their tried-and-true standard would do well to consider the vet’s point of view: They’re a liability.

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It’s Mother’s Day weekend. Many husbands and kids are out shopping like crazy trying to find something Mom might like for Mother’s Day….. here’s an idea to add to what you have gotten her already, or if you haven’t come up with the perfect gift take this idea and build on it.

Mom’s take care of so much every day, and most likely if you are a family who has a dog, this includes all the dog things too. Since dogs have no transportation, only paws, a wag, and a bark to work with, it’s a little tough to really get anything special for Mom. So…. help Mom out with the dog. If Mom feeds the dog, picks up the poop, and does the walk thing… take the slack up for her as a Mother’s Day present from the dog.

Do all the feeding, clean up, and even go out for a walk with the entire family. Just be in charge of the dog walk. Leash on dog, bags for poop and ready to take charge of the getting the dog to walk with you.

Mom’s love time that’s dedicated to them… they dedicate so much to every one else. So have a great day and give a gift to Mom from the dog too!

For more tips and training tricks follow us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/GoTrainYourDog

For live online web dog training events follow us on K9 Coach Facebook and if your dog needs a little help from us in private lessons or a dog training camp contact us. We are located in San Diego & Temecula and train small dogs, big dogs… and dogs that fall in the middle of all of that!

As a professional trainer of course my own dogs are my family and I want the best for them. Because I’m in charge of a lot of other dogs destinies as well I have done quite a bit of research on dog food. And believe me, you would be surprised at how some of the premium vet recommended foods are absolutely horrible to say the very least for your dog.

Check out the video and all the info on this dog food for yourself. I highly recommend you give it a try. If your dog has poop that your really have to plug your nose to pick up, has a coat that doesn’t look shiny, looks a little fat, looks a little skinny, or you simply don’t know what to feed your dog this information on your dog’s health and the food you feed is important.

Since I feed it to my dogs and have done a lot of study on it myself feel free to contact K9 Coach if you have further questions… or just order a bag straight from the dog food web site. They even deliver it straight to your door!

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With all the media on swine flu these days things that we never even thought of tend to pop into our heads… and it does start effecting all those things that are near and dear to us in our lives. As a professional dog trainer I get dog specific questions every day. Lately I’ve been getting questions about swine flu and dogs.

Here is the good news. According to a professor at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, located at the University of California, Davis, Sharon Hietala said that the H1N1 influenza virus “has never been shown to transmit to dogs and cats.”

An expert in clinical immunology and diagnostic techniques for infectious disease in animals, Hietala added that at this point there is no need to be concerned about your dog or cat becoming sick from swine flu, but that they should take all precautions for themselves as humans including washing hands, avoiding contact with your face and eyes, and certainly being aware of staying out of public places should your develop any symptoms to help stop the spread of swine flu to others.

Health concerns of influenza transmission is from human to human, not from human to dog or cat or vise versa.

So in these times of “pandemic” don’t be afraid to get out and get some fresh air with your dog. Healthy exercise for you and your dog builds a better immune system and allows you to maintain health and wellness for your family.

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And of course for private lessons and dog training camp in the San Diego and Temecula areas contact us for more information about your specific dog and puppy training needs.

Well there you go. The truth about puppies. Crazy. Michelle Obama asked about the new White House dog and she described him as “crazy”. Hearing that both Michelle and President Obama jumped up late at night when they heard the puppy making ruckus to see what it was all about was cool in the fact that they are the same as everybody else.

And, yes, the puppy is just like any other puppy. Sort of like having a baby. Sleep, play, eat, go potty, sleep, play, go potty, sleep, play, eat, go potty.. and it doesn’t exactly go on a normal 24 hour schedule. It’s more on a every few hours schedule.

The key to puppy training… supervision. Number one mistake people make is thinking the puppy knows something clearly because they do it a couple of times right. It really takes repetition. So for those of you potty training, a few times of going in the right place is awesome… however, it doesn’t mean the job is done. Get yourself on a schedule to take your puppy out and don’t let them run loose in the house without supervision for literally hundreds of correct repetitions.

It may seem like a big job in the beginning, but the pay off of having well potty trained puppies gives years of joy.

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The biggest difference is that our pups have become family members and live in the house with us. So the way we train them is much different because of that. Potty training used to be as simple as putting the dog outside and leaving it there for quite some time.

No more. Our dogs live in the house with us and teaching a new puppy when and where to go “potty”, manners so you end up with your furniture, shoes, and other favorite things in tact, and knowing what toys to help out with keeping your fingers from feeling like you have been poked with needles due to the very sharp puppy teeth is essential!

Its somewhat complex, yet very simple at the same time. Good puppy training really comes down to really awesome supervision. The hard part is paying attention all the time with everything else going on in your life.

The K9 Coach Puppy Training tip this week for potty training is to set a watch alarm so it goes off every two hours. Take your puppy out to “go potty” when it goes off. It may seem a bit over the top, but depending on the size of your puppy it’s going to save you a whole lot of grief in not having to fix mistakes.

Showing your puppy the place you want “potty” to be is important as well… so keep in mind the time you take to be consistent in the first 3 months is going to pay off BIG in the months and years to come.

For more information on training for puppies contact us at K9 Coach. Follow us on Twitter for fun dog photos, dog training tips and tricks, and cool dog news. www.Twitter.com/GoTrainYourDog

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How has the life of a dog changed in our American family?  Well, we used to see the dog outside the back door, bowl of scraps and water, and a dog house.  Now.  Dog lives in house, all natural dog food, nice dog bed… and in more cases than not they sleep in our beds with us!

It brings joy to our lives in so many ways…. except when you have the dog that needs a little extra help in the training… then we tend to have a love hate relationship… and we’d really like like to drop the second part of that and just go with the love part!

The “good dog” gets to do more and brings way more fun, joy and peace to our lives.  Many times the thought of “dog training” can seem like such a daunting idea in the midst of the rest of our lives, that it just doesn’t get done.   Unfortunately in the end, everyone misses out including the dog.

Many people get overwhelmed with how to get a well trained dog and tend to start at the wrong end of things.  Start with simple.  Seriously simple.

Try this:  Start with a simple “sit” for anything and everything.  Sit to get any attention.  Sit to get a treat.  Sit at the door.  Sit before getting in bed with you….

Make it very simple for yourself and for your dog.  Even if for a second the “sit” will establish the first step.  Then build on how long you can get your dog to sit.  You can add distraction when the simple sit becomes routine.  Most important, start today and don’t put it off for more complicated dog training.  You can always contact us at K9 Coach if you get stuck and need some help!

For more dog training tips & tricks, fun dog photos, & cool dog news follow us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/GoTrainYourDog

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