Here's what I've been up to in case you are interested:
Conditioning took a backseat and we haven't really pick it back up. It's embarrassing to say that especially since I am a canine rehab assistant. Things have gotten a lot busier at the rehab practice these days and I haven't been able to cart Monster back and forth from home to work to my other work, etc. Also, I want to eat better, exercise more, walk my dogs more, enrich my dogs, relax, clean, train tricks, train agility, etc. Geez! that's quite the list. No wonder I haven't gotten much done!
I have purchased some food stuffable dog toys and am trying to leave all 3 dogs out during the day more often. It was scary the first couple of times I did it but so far the couch is just more hairy when I get home every day. Nothing is damaged, no urine or feces on the floor. No signs of chewing. I was pretty sure they would be good boys but it's scary knowing that you'll be gone for HOURS and won't know what they're up to. I contemplated some kind of camera to spy on them but that was scary too. What if I see that they're getting into trouble and I am stuck at work unable to do anything about it?!
My goal with the food stuffed toys was to provide a positive reward for my leaving the house. In the past, my guys have made quite the protest as I leave the house to run down the road to the store or something. I was worried I'd create anxiety ridden mutts that hated the thought of my absence. I really don't have the knowledge or time to deal with that type of issue so I figured I'd be proactive after watching a few episodes of "It's Me or the Dog" LOL. The toys seem to be working so far but I found that pumpkin was a better "wet" ingredient than peanut butter. One of my guys got loose stool and had a blowout in the hallway shortly after the first food toy! NOT FUN!
The food stuffed toys I chose to use were regular Kong toys (a mix of classic, puppy, and jumbo), Kong Genius (specifically the "Mike"), Goughnuts K9 cup, hollow marrow bones, and the Busy Buddy Squirrel Dude.
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| I strongly suggest supervising your dog with marrow bones until you know it's a safe option for your dog. I have seen dogs get their lower jaws stuck in them and tooth fracture becomes a greater risk with any bone chewing. I suggest buying an already hollow marrow bone because marrow tends to be high in fat and is more likely to cause diarrhea. A bottle brush works great and cleaning the inside of any of these toys. |
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| Goughnut K9 cup: this toy is super durable and I love this company's thought process but my dogs had ZERO interest in this toy by itself. So, when I was searching for food stuffable toys around my house, I knew this toy would work perfectly. It's difficulty level isn't high but it serves its purpose. |
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| Kong Genius Mike: I ordered these in small because I don't feed my dogs a lot and these are perfect size for about half of Shawty's meal with canned pumpkin mixed in. They are made out of an easy to clean rubber but are a little more difficult to stuff (this stuffing difficulty also reflects that this toy is difficult to get the food out of which I do like!). I ordered 3 of these and all 3 belong to my old man Shawty. |
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| LOVE this toy! It's pretty much like the classic Kong but the prongs make it more difficult (a LOT more difficult for my guys) to get food out of. This rubber is also easier to clean then the Kong (maybe it's just the design) which makes my life easier! I am hoping to get more of these and more of the Genius Mike models. PSA: for multiple dogs (especially ones with different diets and spouses!) it may be worthwhile to have one type of toy for each dog. That wasn't my goal when I started this but I have ended up delegating Kong classic and K9 cup to Monster, Squirrel Dude to Punch, and Kong Genius Mike to Shawty. The marrow bones are for all 3 on Wednesdays on which I work only half days. Their sizes are different enough that I know whose bone is whose and I can monitor the amount of time each dog has to chew on the bones. |
The other enrichment game we've been playing is foraging for kibble. I got the idea from a fellow dog Facebook friend. You just literally take the kibble and spread it out around the yard, let the dogs out, and they provide the clean up! The only tricky part was how I should deal with Shanty being on a special skin diet. Initially I just told myself that a meal or two of another food wouldn't hurt but his skin is definitely more "yeasty" than it's been in a couple of months. So... I have two options: partition an area for "Shawty only" foraging OR switch all 3 dogs to the same skin diet. I tried partitioning and it seemed successful but I don't think there'd be any negative effects to switching all 3 dogs. I have a few bags of food that were given to me because they were returns (dogs didn't like the taste) and I'd like to get through those first before switching the dogs.
Let's see, what am I missing? Ah, yes! Walks! After my "It's Me or the Dog" marathon I realized I was totally taking advantage of my fenced backyard and that my dogs aren't getting enough mental stimulation daily. My goal is to start with at least 3 walks per week. I know I should do more but with Punch's challenging reactivity, I have to walk him separately. It's a lot of walking if I walk them an appropriate amount of time/distance. We'll get there. I have NO idea how I'll make all of this work during the winter when the sun goes down early!
Run thrus! We made a last minute decision to go to agility run thru's in Ridgeland Saturday and it was totally worth it! I was thinking of excuses not to go because my head hurt and I'd spent the last few hours at work fixing/cleaning out the underwater treadmill. Well, I took some Tylenol and closed my eyes for 30 minutes. My head still hurt a little but I made myself go anyway. Man, do I miss agility! I wasn't expecting much since Monster hasn't seen anything other than jumps and tunnels for the last 9-10 months and Punch has minimal foundation work.
Punch gave me some interesting information regarding his reward preferences on and off the agility course. He wasn't very focused with his favorite tug toy outside of the ring but once we got in there, he wouldn't work for food and went crazy for his tug! This might be telling of my training habits though... Regardless, he was halfway listening and then... he did the teeter, TWICE! with confidence! And then... the dog walk ONCE! with confidence! Ok, maybe there was a bit of surprise/confusion on his face once he got on the middle plank, BUT he quickly shrugged it off and ran to the bottom like a good boy and we tugged and tugged and tugged! Our mini dog walk in the back yard was shorted in height and length.
Monster started out running fast but not focused. Took some extra obstacles, went around some obstacles, skipped every other weave pole, but NAILED EVERY CONTACT! The second time through the first course Monster weaved like a pro and took the indicated obstacles. His mama was a bit disconnected. I have been slowing him down at trials by sending him back around an obstacle to complete it if he doesn't perform it. My goal was to be fast, fast, fast at run thrus. I went for too much speed and not enough handler or obstacle focus but I think that was good for a dog that had taken such a long break from agility. I was late to a few obstacles because he was flying but his distance skills (we trained this a lot in the backyard) really showed! We lost some of our tight turns and I read his obstacle commitment poorly. The moral of that story is that I am the one that needs the refresher. It was like I'd completely forgotten how to handle on course. Windi pointed out some obvious handling options to me and I realized I needed to work on my own course analysis.
Last but not least, I have gained a considerable amount of weight in the last few years and am feeling pretty bad about my body. I am depressed about my body but not quite ready to really commit to fixing it. It took me a bit to get back into agility so, I am hoping that if I make myself walk/exercise, I will get excited about fitness too!
Well, that's all for now. Who knows when I'll be back or what I'll be posting about, haha. I hope to be back soon though!
