Food puzzles!

Never underestimate the value of a good food puzzle! Food toys like kong, kibble nibble, and kong wobbler are all excellent ways to burn some energy. They're also really good for reducing anxiety about being left alone.

You say your dog won't chew on a kong? Then my question is what are you filling it with? Peanut butter is generally my first suggestion, but there are dogs who don't go crazy for peanut butter (mine prefer cheese). So try something else - cream cheese, yogurt, braunschweiger if you mean serious business! You can also freeze it to make it more challenging to empty. Ideally, your dog will expend so much energy getting the goodies out of the toy that afterwards he'll just take a nap.

You say your dog won't use a kong wobbler? Then show him how! Put some really good smelling treats in - pieces of freeze dried liver or sausage and sit it on the floor. Give him a chance to investigate, if he touches it, praise him! He may need a little help at first, so you may need to tip it over a few times so that he can see how it works. Be a coach - show him the ropes! Once he gets the hang of it, you'll probably be able to use just a basic kibble instead of something higher value.

This gorgeous Mutton Chops client is Diamond, and her dad feeds her from a Kong Wobbler to keep her from eating her food too fast! I wasn't there the first time she used it, but I doubt that she needed much coaching!


Give your dog a food puzzle when you leave the house so that he has a reason to be happy that you're leaving, as opposed to being sad and bored. Believe me, it's in your best interest to give your dog something to do while you're away, and a food puzzle is usually a good choice.

Please keep in mind that it's not a good idea to leave a high value treat like a filled kong out with multiple dogs while you're away. I use these toys as a consolation prize for the times when one dog gets to go with me, and the other dog has to stay behind - another thing that you should be in the habit of doing, but that's another blog post!

What did you have for breakfast?

I'll admit it, I'm a junk food junkie! I love anything that's been deep fried, even though I know that I won't be feeling my best shortly afterwards. That post-junk food slump hits me hard, but for some reason that doesn't prevent me from eating it. Donuts for breakfast? Yes, please! I don't let myself do that every day though, because I don't like the way it makes me feel. I try to eat healthy most of the time so that I can afford the occasional binge.

I handle my dog's diet the same way - they get a good quality kibble - I use Whole Dog Journal to help me choose one, and I add salmon oil to help with their skin & coat, and glucosamine for my older dog. I do this for a few reasons - one, I want them to live long, healthy lives, and I figure that good food is an important part of that. Another reason I do it is because I know that the way I feel and behave is directly connected to what I eat, and I suspect it's the same for dogs.

I also give them a few tablespoons of canned food with each meal because I like to give them a little variety (I wouldn't want to eat the same meal every day), and I want to give them an incentive to eat their food immediately because it helps me to plan their bathroom breaks. I don't want my dogs chowing down on a bowl of food at 9 pm and waking me in the middle of the night because they need to potty!

One other thing to consider is food allergies - many food allergies will manifest in the form of skin and coat issues, and I know that a dog who's itchy may also be irritable, and that's when the trainer gets called in! Pay close attention to what you feed your dog and the impact on his skin, his coat, his behavior. Discuss it with your vet and ask for recommendations, and never discount the value of a healthy diet!

Gordo's real birthday

It's been seven years this week since I adopted Gordo, and I'm amazed at the dog he's become! The dog who used to be a bundle of nerves and fear is now calm and confident most of the time, and when he's not, I appreciate it for reminding me of how far we've come.

Issues we've overcome: Fear of the car - he would pace and whine every time we went somewhere Fear of some noises like the blender or the coffee grinder Fear of new people approaching - he would bark Fear of dogs approaching - he would lunge at them Fear of children - he would bark and sometimes growl

How did we do it? Clicker training was a huge help - it gave me ways to distract him and redirect his attention when he was acting fearful. We always used positive methods - he was so fearful it didn't make sense to punish him and compound his fears.

I also learned a lot about body language so that I could read him and understand his more subtle cues. Lucky for me he gives really excellent cues so he was easy to read if I was willing to take the time and make the effort.

The fearful behavior towards children was probably the scariest issue we had to deal with, because not a lot of people want to volunteer their children to work on this issue (and I can't say I blame them!) I was lucky enough to have a neighbor with a calm 9 year old daughter who was a willing participant in Gordo's transformation. Initially I would just ask her to be present while I worked with Gordo on his tricks, then gradually I asked her to be the one to give him the commands and/or reward him. It took some time, but eventually the dog who would growl and bark when he saw her started to wag his tail and act happy to see her! He became more relaxed with other children after making friends with her, and now he's a different dog when he's around kids. I'll always monitor him closely when children are around, but I don't worry the way I used to.

Last year at Thanksgiving my 3 year old nephew was over for Thanksgiving. The house was chaos with about 30 people bobbing in and out of the kitchen and Gordo was just wandering around making friends, when little Joey tripped and fell on top of Gordo. It was one of those slow motion falls where you see it and can't get there fast enough, and I think it took 5 years off my life, but the beauty of it was that nothing happened. Joey fell, landed on Gordo, Gordo looked at him like "What did ya do that for?" and walked away. Nothing happened. THIS was the moment we'd trained for, and it proved that all of our hard work had paid off.

He's still terrified when the smoke detector chirps because the battery needs to be changed. He's still not overly fond of random people approaching and petting him, so he wears an Ed Hardy style collar that says "Trust No One" and I tell people that's his motto, and I'd rather they didn't pet him. He doesn't need to accept every new person, and it's okay if he's nervous on occasion. Sometimes I'm fearful and I just want some space so that I can compose myself. That's life.

It's been an amazing journey with this guy and I'm grateful for everything he's taught me. Through him I've learned that I have patience I wasn't aware that I had.

The Toy Graveyard

How do you stop a puppy from chewing? You don't. Puppies chew like it's their full time job, so it's in your best interest to make sure that puppy always has appropriate chew toys. If you don't provide chew toys and you find that he's eaten your favorite pair of Jimmy Choos, you should roll up a newspaper and hit yourself in the head with it. You should have given Fido an appropriate outlet.

There's a rowdy little bugger named Miles who's living with me at the moment, and little Miles is about 8 months. His job duties include tearing up toys, running with his brothers, and snuggling with my socks and earmuffs. (Don't ask me to explain this behavior, it's beyond me). His mom and I make sure that he always has access to plenty of appropriate chew toys so that he's not tempted to chew on inappropriate chew toys, like shoes and laptop cords (two items that have fallen prey to Miles the bandit).

He has access to a huge basket of toys when we're home, and he's crated with a frozen peanut butter filled Kong toy when we're gone. This is how you handle puppy chewing - you give the pup an appropriate outlet, and you manage the situation so that he doesn't get a chance to sneak off and destroy things when you're not watching. Training is almost always a combination of rewarding the behavior you like while managing the environment so that the dog doesn't get a chance to practice behaviors that you don't like.

At the moment, the toys in the basket have seen better days and most of them need to be thrown away and replaced, as you can see from the toy graveyard show in this pic. Sigh.

That's okay, I'll never be upset with him tearing up a toy. That's what they're for!

Now I have to run. I have some toys to order.

Crate Training 101

I remember a time well before my dog training days when I drove across the country, dropped off my two Shar-Peis in our new apartment, and went out to lunch. I returned to shredded door frames - something that neither dog had ever done before. I was mystified. The next day I went out and bought two big crates, then brought them home and put them each in a crate and left for a short period of time. Of course, I didn’t ask my dogs to compare their idea of a “short period of time” to mine, and apparently we didn’t agree, because I returned about an hour later to bent bars and bloody mouths. That was the end of our crate training venture.

Fast forward about 5 years and I brought home Gordo, the wild little Labra-Pei who wasn’t potty or chew trained. I did things a little differently with this pup - I fed him his meals in his crate, gave him special treats and toys in there, and made a point of putting him in his crate and staying in the same room. This pup learned to love his crate, and we’ve never had a problem with anxiety about being left alone.

This picture was taken a few days ago of Gordo and one of the other resident mutts in my home, Miles. These guys love going in their crate because the crate is a magical place where peanut butter filled kongs appear!

I’ve seen dogs who happily prance to their crate and wait for a special treat - here’s a shout out to Fez & Fiona! I’ve also seen dogs who have to be practically forced into their crates, and that breaks my heart. A crate isn’t a prison - it’s not something that should have to be reinforced with clips and ties and random objects so that it’s secure enough that your dog can’t escape. It’s simply a quiet place for him to hang out and relax until you get home, or until someone from the wonderful Mutton Chops team comes to take him for a walk!

If you'd like some help crate training your pup, contact Mutton Chops for more information!