DoggyStyle: On Dogs and Cleanliness

It seems like I've been talking to a lot of people lately who are hesitant to get bigger dogs because they assume it means bigger cleaning time. Since we've been getting asked this question a lot, here are some simple things we do, so it's never really been an issue:

Less Shedding:

The biggest problem I had with Miss M was that she would shed like crazy; I thought I could have built a second dog out of the 'tumbleweed' I found across the floor. Then we discovered fish oil for dogs. Miss M had a really dry coat, and by adding a couple of squirts of fish oil to her meals it keeps her skin and coat healthier which means it's less dry and prone to shed. We've also heard fish oil can be good for allergies, and it helps cushion the joints for older dogs.
We also use this Kong Zoom Groom Brush which looks deceptively ineffective. The nubs actually really grab the undercoat, and I like how it has a larger surface area than the other deshedding brush I tried, which means less time brushing. Every so often I will take the pooches outside for a quick brush-out. The extra benefit: in a bind, it doubles as a durable dog toy.

Less Mud in the House:

Just like a person who takes off their shoes at the door, we wipe our pooches feet each time they come back from a walk. It may seem a bit time-consuming to wipe each paw for each journey out, but when I realized all the mud, dog feces, uneaten food, and worms found on Chicago sidewalks, it seemed worth it to make sure none of that was being tracked into our home. Plus, the pooches have gotten used to it. Check out how Miss M actually waits and gives us each of her paws before she can come inside.

Less Dust:

Since Chicago doesn't really have 'lawns', it does tend to get a bit dusty especially in the summer. Plus, fostering a dog like SuperLevi who loved rolling around, even in the streets, did make them a bit dusty in-between baths.We use these wipes for dogs in-between baths, and we also like a waterless shampoo to wipe them down and keep them smelling good and not getting dust allover the furniture.

Behavioral Accomodations:

 A lot of people ask whether we let our dogs on the furniture, and our decision to not allow dogs on the furniture was actually a behavioral decision rather than a cleanliness decision. We have all seen how stubborn and bossy Miss M can be, so I always kept strict rules with her to make sure she remembers she has to be respectful and listen to me; imagine how much more arrogant she would be if she were allowed to become queen of the couch. So we don't let our dogs on the furniture, but we do have some comfortable accommodations all around the house where we can lounge with them. We do know a lot of dogs who can go on the furniture without letting it go to their head or being an issue.

Of course, we do know the benefits of having our dogs far out-weigh any time spent cleaning. Anyone else have any cleaning tips to offer?

City Dog: Walking Two Dogs at the Same Time

One of the hardest, but most necessary, things about having multiple dogs in the city is learning to walk multiple dogs at the same time. The city distractions can make it difficult to walk one dog, which is only magnified when you add a second pooch. Plus, since most of us don't have yards and we need to go on 2-3 walks a day, which quickly becomes a tiresome 4-6 daily walks if you need to walk the pooches separately.
I first 'met' Willie & Nabi's mom when she emailed to ask tips about how I learned to walk our pooches at the same time. But I was stumped. I had forgotten the steps I had taken. Now that she has been working on walking Wille and Nabi together, I thought it would be great for her to share her experiences: successes and struggles.

When A asked me to guest post about learning to walk two dogs, my first reaction was, “But I’m still learning how!  What could I tell anyone?”  Then I thought how one of the great things about the Sociabulls community is that it is owners helping owners, and how it is helpful to hear about the “Before” as well as the “After”.  

I first found this blog through Project Rescue Chicago, the awesome group that rescued puppy Bella, as well as our smiley Willie, who we fostered and then adopted about 6 months ago.  I was so impressed how A was able to walk 150 pounds of dog at once, because I was struggling to walk a mere 80 pounds of dog at once.

After a couple months with us, we started thinking of Willie as our Jekyll and Hyde dog.  Indoors or off-leash, he was super mellow and seemingly perfect.  On-leash, he would get overexcited, pull a lot, and react to other animals (sometimes dogs, but especially stray cats, squirrels, pigeons, or the housecat-sized rats that roam the streets of Chicago) by lunging and “barking smack” for half a block at a time.  Also, he would remember *everything*, so if he saw a rat on one walk, he would start reacting in anticipation the next few times he passed that same spot, even if nothing was there.          

Our other rescue, Nabi, is generally pretty good on leash, but true to her breed, she also has a high prey drive, and she has previously snatched and killed a pigeon out of mid-air while on a 6-foot leash.  

When I first started trying to walk them together, as soon as one saw a squirrel and got excited, the other would copy, and it was a mess.  We’ve recently started working with fellow Sociabull Maize’s trainer, and although we are definitely a work in progress, we are beginning to see some great changes.  Here are some of the things that we’re learning:

One Step at a Time.

Like Miss M and Mr. B, Willie and Nabi don’t have a yard, so we rely on daily walks.  We were used to doing long multiple walks a day with Nabi, so at first we were trying to work on Willie’s pulling and reacting during those long walks.  Inevitably, he was getting away with a lot of pulling on those walks (because otherwise they would’ve literally taken hours), and the more he was able to pull, the more excited he would become.

We switched gears by starting to walk Willie alone, without Nabi, because Willie was more excitable with Nabi present.  Our trainer had us break down walking with Willie to literally one step at a time, two steps at a time, etc., while never moving forward if he was pulling, rewarding for being “in position”, and “resetting” if he got ahead of us.  We use mainly kibble as training treats and began feeding most of his meals through training rather than out of a bowl.  He does get to run and sniff for parts of each walk, but only when we “free” him so he knows we’re no longer working.  Our street is a big challenge due to several dogs left out in their gated areas who charge the fence, a big stray cat population, and squirrels, so as part of every walk, we try to practice going back and forth on our street several times.  This type of walk doesn’t cover as much ground distance wise, but seems to tire Willie out by being mentally challenging.      

Not Cheating.

As you can imagine, practicing walking one step at a time can get tedious at times and sometimes the temptation to just get going already is great.  However, we have noticed that if we cheat, we have setbacks.  We especially noticed this when we took the dogs out to the suburbs for a couple days over Thanksgiving and were a bit more lax while in vacation mode.  When we returned to the city, it took a couple walks to get back to where we were before Thanksgiving.  

On Equipment.

I feel like before we started doing this, we were searching for a “magic pill” in different equipment.  We tried a couple different styles of no-pull harness, the Gentle Leader, and a prong collar.  Each would make a difference for the first few days as Willie got used to the new equipment, but then he would adjust to it and learn to pull against it, and would still get just as excited around squirrels, because we weren’t effectively addressing the underlying behavior.  I think different equipment can be a great management tool, but probably not in the way that we were using it before.  

Voluntary Check-ins.

Working with a trainer has changed our perspective from trying to get Willie to constantly follow a series of commands to letting Willie make his own choice to pay attention to us.  As an example, instead of us constantly telling Willie “watch me” like we were at first, now Willie can look where he wants, but he only gets rewarded when he voluntarily chooses to look at us and be at our side, which encourages him to keep making that same choice.  We noticed that using the first method, Willie would look at us while we were giving him a command, but not much at other times, but using the second method, he’s checking in much more frequently on his own, which helps him not get as carried away.            

Impulse Control.

We’ve also been working on other exercises like “leave it”, hand targeting, and recall, to help with focus and impulse control.    

We’re just at the beginning stages, but seeing great changes so far.  Just last week, Willie had a breakthrough moment, where a squirrel ran right in front of him, and he whimpered a couple times, but visibly made an effort to stop himself and then look at us instead!  We have noticed improvement when he is outside with Nabi as well.  Seeing how he is trying so very hard just endears him to us even more.

I love the support our Sociabulls community gives each other in trying to help our dogs be their best, from A sharing her experiences walking 150 pounds of pit bull to Maize’s mom telling us all about different trainers.  We are learning so much and looking forward to more.  Anyone else have experiences to share on working with pulling and prey drive, and learning to walk multiple dogs together?

Pooches: New Dog Essentials

 It's funny thinking back about how clueless I was when I first adopted Miss M. The night before she came to live with me, I stopped by the pet store to get some things I thought she would like. Looking down the endless rows, I really had no idea what I should get. What I ended up with: A rope animal toy that would painfully whip me when she played with it. And the tennis ball head that was destroyed in a day. A little green stuffed frog that was destuffed that same day. And a dog bed that met the same fate.
As I've been meeting more people who have recently adopted dogs, they've been asking the short list of what I would recommend when they bring home their pooch. I'm definitely not an expert, but these are the top things that come to mind:

1)Kongs & Nylabones:

These are good toys that won't be destroyed instantly, and they are good to have on hand for misplaced chewing behavior. We live my our kongs and we love that they double as a mental stimulation 'puzzle' that will be sure to tire out your pooch. We still put peanut butter in our kongs, and freeze them, and the dogs actually look forward to us leaving. We also learned from Love & a Leash that you can put the pooches' food in the kong as an extra challenge, or a decoy if your dog is on a diet.

2) Pet Insurance:

 We don't work for the company, but I always feel an extra obligation to tell people about pet insurance. Both of our pooches have pet insurance, and we have literally saved thousands of dollars. The most important thing is to get the insurance almost immediately after getting your dog; this way your dog won't have any pre-existing conditions that the insurance won't cover. E has researched several of the companies, and the one we like the most is Trupanion. Most pet insurance, like the kind I irresponsibly got Miss M, won't cover breed-specific ailments. So things like allergies will never be covered. We like that Trupanion covers all of the ailments regardless of breed, plus they don't have a huge bump in premiums when your dog becomes an Elderbull. (Mr. B was on Embrace pet insurance and his premium increased 40% when he turned 7!)

3) Crate

Growing up we just used to have our new dogs in a gated portion of the house, though I think crating is the more accepted thing now (or at least for those of us who have smaller spaces). The good thing about the crate is the new dog will have their own private space. Plus, having a crate trained dog is a definite benefit so they have options of staying with friends if you have to go out of town.

4) Nature's Miracle:

This was the main thing I had forgotten, and even with our dogs now it's the first thing to go into their overnight bag. Even the most housetrained pooch is bound to have an accident when their schedule is disrupted.This is the short list, and once you get to know more about your pooch and their needs, you can start picking up some of the more specific things.
I'm sure there are several important things I left out. What does everyone else recommend?

Fun Fact: That top photo is of Mr. B when he was new to us. We had been corresponding for several weeks with his foster mom, and we went out to Michigan to meet him. That same night, we all went camping together before driving back to Chicago.

Some of Our Favorite Things: Backpack Training and Dog Video Camera

 To lead up to a big announcement later in the week, the pooches wanted to talk about some of their favorite things. The two things we get asked about the most are Mr. B's backpack and camera.
I had never even known that someone would make something like a backpack for dogs, but as crazy as it sounds, it has many purposes.
Backpack Workout & Training:

This was the main reason we bought the backpack in the first place. When we first adopted Mr. B he was crazy "Bulldozer Mr. B". The sights and sounds of the city where so exciting, instead of going for a run, Mr. B would go for a gallop. But once that backpack was on, his entire attitude changed. He had a job. He was focused. And our walks changed.
The backpack is also great because if we add extra weight it gives him a better workout. We don't have to walk as far, and we still get a happy, calm dog at home.

Running City Errands:

 The backpack also lets us incorporate our pooches in our daily life as we run our errands. For some reason it seems almost painful to walk a few blocks to the bakery, but with Mr. B at our side grabbing our groceries has become fun. We even wrote about how we have begun eating local as the pooches are able to carry their own dog groceries, goods from the Farmer's Markets, butcher, baker and wine store.
Note: We never leave our dogs unattended outside and either run errands as a family, or I call ahead and the owners are happy to bring things outside to us.

Making our Pooches Approachable:

 We love taking our pooches around the city, and it's extra rewarding when people ask to meet our dogs and gain a new perspective on pitbulls. The backpack makes our dogs that much more approachable. Our SociaBull pooch friend Lola has started wearing the backpack and her mom noticed how they meet so many more people as a backpack-toting pooch.


Mr. B's Camera:

At the same time, people are also so curious about Mr. B's camera. We are kind of obsessed with experimenting with all kinds of cameras, so what better camera to add into the mix than one for our pooch?
While he used to have the Dog Eye View Camera, the battery quickly fizzled and since it isn't replaceable, we would have had to buy a whole new camera. So Mr. B upgraded to the GoPro HD Hero 960.
This camera has a waterproof case, so it can go the extreme, and it takes 5 megapixel photos, so these pictures are high definition.We hook the camera up to his collar, and it's set to take photos every 2, 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds, and we always think it's so funny to see things from his view. Like this awkward family photo:

The best part...it is also a video camera! We've had a lot of fun seeing things how Mr. B sees it, especially seeing Mr. B in this skateboarding video and his perspective from this SociaBulls walk.
Plus, the camera is kind of cool to use if you're involved in extreme sports. If your pooch lets you borrow it.
We have seen some of our other dog friends use backpacks, and we'd love to hear how your packs work for you. And does anyone else out there have a dog camera?

Dog Training: How to Train your Dog to Put their Own Toys Away

 People may find Miss M charming, but I think this reaches a whole new level when they actually find out she has been trained to put her own toys away on command. Back when I accidentally adopted my pit bull, I was so nervous about owning a pit bull I delved into research and training. I quickly learned she was like most bullies, food motivated and eager to please, and she became a star at training. I was a single-girl at the time, so I guess I did have a lot more time to devote to her training. Plus, what better retort is there if anyone ever questions owning a pit bull that she can put her own toys away--there are human children who don't even know how to do this!
You can click here and here to see the videos of Miss M putting her toys into the toy bin on command, and  these are the steps I used to teach her:

Step #1:  Retrieving

 I had to teach her to "go get the ball". Retrieving is easier for some dogs, as Miss M typically wanted to take the toy and run. Treats were a huge motivator for this step.

Step #2: Add "Drop It" to the Retrieving Command

After Miss M brought the ball to me, I taught her to drop it. I think some dogs automatically do this. Miss M learned to do this because she realized it was only by opening her mouth, and letting the toy drop, that she could actually eat the treat I gave her.

Step #3: Reinforce "Bring it to Me" and "Drop it" as a Single Command

Miss M learned any time she retrieved something she had to automatically drop it in front of me. When I said "Go Get the Ball and Bring it to Me" she would get the toy and automatically drop it in front of me. Though I would probably recommend a shorter command.

Step #4: Add the Box

 I had to make sure she had the command of getting the ball and dropping it very solid before we moved on to this step. I positioned a box under her, and each time the toy dropped inside the box, she got a treat. This one is like a puzzle, and it's easy for the dog to get frustrated, but Miss M was smart and picked up on it quickly. After she realized she got the treat for dropping the toy in the box, I moved further away from the box when I gave the command, so she would resist dropping it by my feet. We practiced a few minutes a day where I moved further from the box, and she was eventually able to start putting her toys away automatically. Mr. B is still in the learning stages and finds it hard to relinquish his stuffed toys:

This is how I trained Miss M, but I recently received an email from Tonya who just recently taught her adorable pittie Michael to put his toys away. Michael is a 1 1/2 year pittie who is highly treat-motivated. This is how she did it:  
So, when I saw your video of Miss M, I basically saw fetch. His toys were in the living room and the toy bins were in the hallway. So I threw a ball, asked him to "go get it," started walking out of the room hurriedly (he followed me out), and "drop it" in bin. Then I said "good put it away," when he finished and gave him a treat. We did variations of this (including pointing to toys and instructing him to "take it") in 10 minutes spurts over the course of a Saturday before he finally got it. 

We would love to hear from anyone who has been successful with this trick, and if you have videos, we would love you to post them on our Facebook page. And we would also like your ideas for any new tricks to teach Miss M...I'm kind of stuck.

Dog in the City: How to Catch a Cab in the City with a Pit Bull

When I first looked into adopting a dog,  everyone was telling me it would be really hard to have a big dog in the city without a car. I never owned a car, but I was always able to catch a bus or train to take me where I needed to go. Unfortunately, dogs aren't allowed on the city buses and trains. The only exception is if you carry them in a dog carrier. And while I envisioned finding  a huge duffel bag, in which I could mush Miss M's huge body and let her head hang out, I had to realize how completely unrealistic this was:

In the beginning, I was successful at finding nearby places where Miss M could easily walk. I found a vet within a mile, a pet boutique within a 1/2 mile, and a training class 2 miles away--which was actually a good distance because Miss M needed that entire walk to calm down. And this worked for awhile. But then I found more places I wanted to go that were way out of our walkable zone. I was tempted by  dog fundraisers, parades, walks along the lake, and CGC training classes. Then I realized we could probably make like all other Chicagoans and take a cab.

The first time I tried, I wasn't sure if anyone would actually pick us up. I know a lot of cab drivers are not dog-friendly, let alone pitbull friendly. I had Miss M sit/lay nicely behind me while I hailed the cab so they wouldn't think she was huge. I also knew I had more of a chance of a cab pulling over if they didn't notice I had a dog with me. Plus, dogs in coats and sweaters are less intimidating.

When the cabs pull over I ask if I can bring my dog, who they can see is sitting and waiting very nicely. I also bring a blanket with me which I explain to the driver I will put over the seat. At the end, we tip extra so the cab drivers can see how nice dog-owners are. We've probably taken cabs about a dozen times, and in all the times,  we've never been denied a ride. Miss M and Mr B have their own pitbull-mobile now, but it's always nice to know we have other options.

Dog Training: Teaching Dogs to Be Gentle with Toys

After writing this post, we had an overwhelming response asking for our secret to teaching Mr. B not to tear apart his toys. When we first got Mr. B, he was a pro chewer: ripping apart baseball mitts in minutes and quickly tearing through all of Miss M's toys.

Knowing we couldn't afford to keep buying new toys, we decided to train Mr. B to be more gentle. We know all dogs are different, but this is how we trained our Mr. B:
1) We reinforce positive toy-chewing behavior

Dogs really don't know that we get upset when they tear apart their toys, so we have to reinforce positive behavior by marking when they're gentle. We started by supervising all of his soft-toy chewing. Every time Mr. B would nibble on the toy we would associate the words "Yes gentle". When he licks the toy we say "Yes  kisses" and give him lots of head rubs.

2) We have a signal to let Mr. B know when we're disappointed

Dogs are in-tune with us and they don't want to hurt us. Like when Miss M first came to live with me she thought she was showing affection by mouthing and chewing on me. Every time she did that I pretended to cry or be in pain, and eventually she learned to stop that behavior. We do the same thing with the toys; every time he would become aggressive with the toy we would pretend to cry and he would stop chewing it. Then when he would lick it and become gentle we would give the positive reinforcement. Eventually we were able to stop the fake-crying and insert a mournful "Oh no!" which gives the same effect.

3) We supervised toy playings and kept chewing time to a minimum

We would supervise his soft-toy chewing and only allow it for short amounts of time before taking it away. Eventually, he built up the time and we trust him to chew on his own. Sometimes we hear him getting rough with the toy and we just take it away. But now that he understands how to play with toys,  he's content just laying with them in his tepee.

We know Mr. B is sensitive, but I wonder how this would work with most dogs. Or does anyone else have some other tips?

PS. If you like Mr. B, his former foster mom is now fostering this "Mr. B look-alike" that we've heard is just as sweet. Read more about him here.