Maintain Your Dogs Hygiene
Dogs may not love bath time, but sometimes you dont have a choice. Baths, nail clippings, and especially dental hygiene are very important to ensure your dog is living their best life.
Dental hygiene is particularly important, as dental disease is one of the most common canine afflictions. It can and has been known to be a contributor to other pet illnesses.
It may not be the most glamorous aspect of being a pet parent, but that doesnt make it any less crucial to your dogs well being.
Make Your Dog Work For It
Many dog trainers recommend training a dog that they must work for any reward, a method often referred to as “nothing in life is free.” Rewards include food, attention, walks, and anything else your dog enjoys.
Have your dog sit before you put its food bowl down or wait until you give the OK before it charges out into the yard. Your dog will quickly learn the behaviors you like . You should see fewer of the unwanted behaviors like begging because it will never get rewarded for this type of behavior.
Send Your Dog To A Cozy Spot
If your dog does come over to beg for food after she finishes her meal, the best way to get her to stop is to send her to a cozy spot near the dining area, recommends McGrath.
When Im in a clients home, and they want the dog to not beg, we would first break down what the dog could do instead, and train an alternative behavior while also managing the behavior I dont like if necessary, she says. One such alternative behavior is sending your dog to a designated spot like a bed, crate, or mat away from the table with a command like Go to Your Spot. This way, pups can still feel like theyre socializing with the family and they get a nice cozy spot to hang out.
If the dog already knows a solid Stay command, I would use it if not, wed train that behavior first, McGrath recommends. This ensures that your dog remains in the designated spot throughout the meal.
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Bring Back Your Dogs Appetite
Its a common issue when dogs dont want to eat their dog food anymore. They may be doing this because f health conditions and behavioral issues, but you can fix this problem easily by buying tasty and healthy dog food or making your own dog food.
Avoid giving your dog table scraps and keep to a strict feeding schedule. Making sure the meals are interesting and provide a balanced, nutritional, healthy diet for your dog.
For more on what to feed your pup, check out our article on Is Dog Food Bad for Dogs.
Slow Down On The Dog Treats
A puppy that is used to getting treats often throughout the day wont have any room in their stomach for their less exciting dog food. Think of giving your puppy treats like you would giving your child candy. While they are great to have every once in a while and a good way to promote positive behavior, you shouldnt let it ruin their dinner.
While more common in adult dogs, even puppies can be very cunning. If a puppy receives too many treats, they may refuse to eat their regular food as they would rather just wait for one of those tasty treats. If your puppy is refusing to eat, stop giving them treats for at least a few days to see if they get excited about their food again. A healthy puppy may refuse to eat in order to get a tastier treat, but a healthy puppy will not starve itself!
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Avoid Kibble With Air And Water For Fillers
Some brands of dog food will make their kibble look larger by puffing them up with air during their heating process. This type of kibble can make your dog feel full quickly, but also make your dog hungry again in no time, as he burps out the air. Foods that are high in water can also create a placebo effect, making your dog feel more satisfied right after eating, then hungry again after he urinates.
What Type Of Exercises Might Help To Get My Puppy Used To Handling
“Dont punish dogs for growling to protect food or toy items.”
Toy handlingYou should also practice gently taking toys from the puppy. Quietly and calmly place your hand on the toy and tell your puppy give as you remove it from its mouth. Then say thank you or good boy with lots of praise and animation. Then return the object as you tell your puppy to take it. Repeat this training task multiple times daily in multiple locations. At times take the object and offer a really great treat. The value of the treat must far outweigh the value of the toy. Be careful not to overdo the exercise. The goal is for your puppy to anticipate that good things happen when you approach while he has a toy. Excessive repetitions of this may actually teach the dog to be protective. The puppy should always see you approaching with something better and the motivation should always be that there is more in it for him if he releases his toys to you.
“Quietly and calmly place your hand on the toy and tell your puppy giveas you remove the toy from its mouth.”
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Spicy Honey Grilled Chicken Wing Recipe
Fur babies are fed with 5 Tips to Allow Your Dogs to be Part of the Family During Dinnertime and Nutrish DISH. Now, for the humans! We made a Spicy Honey Grilled Chicken Wing Recipe that is a great mix of sweet and spicy. Paired with iced tea and celery. A really simple, quick and affordable dinner that is fantastic with this beautiful spring weather.
Aaron and me had our marital dispute for the week was how to properly prepare chicken wings. Notice the photo above with the circle around the portion of the chicken in question. I always trim these parts off before cooking and my husband does not. He won this argument round since he was the one doing the grilling. Plus, he hasnt won an argument in awhile so I had to give him a win. Cut that part of or not. Tastes awesome either way.
When grilling chicken wings, add the dry seasonings before cooking and then toss with all the wet ingredients after cooking. I sprinkled some garlic powder, pepper and cayenne to prep. Toss the chicken wings on the grill for 10-12 minutes each side on a medium heat. As the wings cook, prepare your sauce with honey, butter, sriracha, hot sauce and cider vinegar. When the wings come off the grill give them a toss in a large bowl with some sauce added and serve. Serve with celery and iced tea. Oh yeah, bring napkins to the table. Will need napkins.
How You Can Help
The easiest tool to prevent counter-surfing is management. Use baby gates or fencing to contain dogs in areas of the home that are away from the kitchen or dining areas. When food is left unattended, its critical to involve the entire family in keeping messes cleaned up or containing the dog. For dogs who steal food in the owners presence, teach the leave it cue to stop them from grabbing food. In my dog training classes, we prepare dogs for real-life situations by teaching them to leave unattended food or food dropped on the floor with the “leave it” command while the owner is present.
Training dogs to leave it” and preventing access to unattended food in the first place are much more reasonable and effective approaches to counter-surfing than any punishment.
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Who Let The Dogs Out Lentil And Barley Vegan Loaf
If you wish to cut down your dogs meat intake, why not try this healthy dog food recipe? It has plenty of nutrients and it can be prepared in under 40 minutes. If yourdog gets picky and turns down the food, try adding another source of protein in the food, like an egg. Or you can add different flavours, such as garlic powder or cheese. Bon appétit doggy!
total time: 40 minutes
- 2 cups water or veggie stock
- 1/2 cup dried lentils, washed
- 1/3 cup barley
+ Spicy Honey Grilled Chicken Wing Recipe
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DogsLoveNutrishDISH #CollectiveBias
With inspiration from Rachael Ray Nutrish® DISH, I am sharing with you my 5 Tips to Allow Your Dogs to be Part of the Family During Dinnertime. In my home, dinnertime is often the only time of day where the family is gathered in one room to talk and enjoy each others company. Shouldnt your fur babies be a part of that time? I am sharing tips to make that possible. I am also sharing a recipe for all us humans for Spicy Honey Grilled Chicken Wings with honey, garlic, and hot sauce that is a real crowd pleasure.
My models today are Bella, who is a Chihuahua-Yorkie mix, and Chance, a Boxer-Lab-Beagle-possible some other breed mix. Both of my dogs were adopted. Bella was adopted over 2 years ago and had already been with multiple owners before she came to us. Chance was adopted almost 8 years ago. His litter was dropped off at a local pet store and put up for adoption. We fell in love with those big, droopy eyes immediately. I recently learned about Rachaels Rescue® through The Rachael Ray Foundation . A portion of proceeds from each sale of Nutrish DISH is donated to The Rachael Ray Foundation. Rachaels Rescue has donated more than $17.5 million dollars to pet charities and other organizations that do good for animals. Wowza!
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Side Effects From Vaccination
Vaccinations are necessary as they protect your dog against many serious diseases. However, like any other medication, receiving a vaccine does come with the possibility of experiencing adverse effects, such as loss of appetite.
These symptoms typically disappear within 24 hours, but unfortunately, theres really nothing you can do but to wait it out.
Stage Six: Lift Their Bowl Off The Ground To Give Them Their Treat
This stage is massive when it comes to trust building, as here youll be lifting their bowl from the ground to give them a treat.
In a calm tone, speak to your dog as you pick their bowl up. Only lift it 6-12 inches from the ground to begin with, add the treat and set the bowl back down. Each day, youll have a goal of lifting the bowl higher until you can place it upon a table to prepare the treat. Repeat this sequence until you are able to walk a short distance away and are able to place your dogs bowl back in the same place from which you picked it up.
This will establish trust between you and your dog, and they should become fully comfortable eating around you by the end of this step.
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Can You Teach A Dog Food Manners
As anyone who has ever owned a well-behaved dog knows, they can make the best of pets. They are loyal, loving, playful, and protective of the safety of family members. If they are taken care of properly, they can and will provide years of entertainment and great memories.
All that being said, a dog that is not so well behaved can sometimes be a pain. There are many instances in which a dogs bad behavior can be, at the minimum, embarrassing to the owner.
One of the times when this kind of acting up is commonly observed is during mealtimes. Poorly trained dogs will not only act overly protective and aggressive around their own food, they will take bites from their owners plates of food given the slightest opportunity.
Obviously, this kind of behavior is not acceptable. Fortunately, there are some time tested techniques which can turn the most boorish dog into a paragon of mannerliness.
HOW TO FOOD TRAIN YOUR DOG
The food training process for canines is not rocket science. A few days of concerted attention is usually enough to turn even the most ornery pet around.
1. The first step will be to train the dog to respect your mealtimes. One of the easiest ways to do this is to train the dog to go to its sleeping area while members of the family eat their food.
Once this has happened, the dog will have learned to never act in an aggressive manner when the owner is feeding it. This will establish some level of dominance on the owners part, and is key to keeping peace with the pet.
Eat At Different Times
When you are eating a meal or snack, your puppy is going to be naturally curious about what is happening in your mouth or what is in your bowl rather than their own food dish. Your puppy is going to need to understand that even though they are an important part of the family, they are not human and should not be eating your human food. In fact, sometimes it is us humans that need to be trained to not give into those beautiful cute puppy eyes!
However, when you are eating around the same time as they should be, the puppy will become confused and may prefer the smell of whatever food you are eating. Eating before or after your puppy eats will help avoid some confusion and frustration for both of you.
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How To Get Your Dog To Eat Dog Food Again
When dogs stop eating dog owners can be faced with what looks like an insurmountable problem. However, there is a simple solution, and not only will we teach you how to get your dog eating dog food again, but he will be healthier than ever before!
We talk about some of the reasons why this might happen to you, as well as give you some great tips and advice on how to get your dog to eat dog food again.
Meals Are The Best For Training Wait
Mealtime is a perfect opportunity for twice daily Wait training sessions, using two principles of operant conditioning: positive reinforcement and negative punishment. Positive reinforcement occurs each time you say Yes! and feed a tidbit. Negative punishment happens every time he gets up and you put the bowl back on the counter or lift it out of his reach.
1. Have your dog sit at his designated dinner spot. Tell him Wait! If he remains seated, say Yes!and feed him one tidbit from his bowl .
2. With your dog still sitting, say Wait! and lift his bowl off the counter. If he remains seated, say Yes! and feed him a morsel . If he gets up, say Oops! and place the bowl back on the counter . Repeat until he stays seated when you pick up his bowl.
3. With your dog still sitting, say Wait! Lower the bowl halfway toward the floor, one to two feet in front of him. If he remains seated, say Yes! and feed him a tidbit from the bowl. Raise the bowl several inches and repeat a number of times until youre sure hell remain seated. If he gets up say Oops! and raise the bowl above the level of his head. Try again, and dont lower it quite so far this time.
4. With your dog still sitting, repeat the Wait exercise until you can lower the bowl all the way to the floor without him getting up. When hell hold his sit with the bowl on the floor, tell him Okay! or Get it! and encourage him to eat.
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How To Wean Your Dog Off People Food
Dogs and humans are not supposed to have the same diets. Dogs have specific dietary needs that are not met by the meal habits of humans. Some breeds require particular nutrients to ensure healthy growth and longevity of life. If your dog has grown up on people food and table scraps, making the switch to a healthy dog food might present a challenge. However, a little patience and hard work will result in a pup thats happy to eat the food shes supposed to be eating.
What Are Handling Exercises And Why Might They Be Useful
Exercises that use gentle and positive handling can help to increase the enjoyment and decrease any fear associated with handling and restraint. In addition, they provide a means for achieving a relaxed state, which might then be used if the dog begins to get excited or aroused. Verbal and physical exercises can and should also be used to help achieve a relaxed state. While the physical contact and attention you provide may be sufficiently reinforcing for most puppies, food treats can also be paired with handling to mark and reward the desirable response. One important principle to always keep in mind is that the hand should always be an indication that something good is about to happen . This means that physical punishment and forceful handling must be avoided.
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