PSA: When Dog Equipment Fails

 We know how tempting all the other dogs, people, squirrels and rats(!) we encounter on our daily walks can be to our city dogs in training, and we've always worked to use a variety of training tools to keep our dogs focused and safe-should temptation strike.
In the past few weeks, we've actually been hearing from a couple of people who have had their equipment fail. A dog that slipped out of his collar and got away. A prong that broke mid-walk. A pooch that wrangled out of his easy-walk harness. And our own hard-to-believe situation where the latch on our leash came unclipped allowing Mr. B to run down the street to meet a Giant Poodle (I guess a dog that looked like a big stuffy was too tempting for Mr. B).
Not to mention a recent scary incident where off-leash dogs severely attacked a dog in a neighborhood where many of us live and walk.
Here are some things we've heard, and learned, that are good reminders to keep all of us safe.

Double Collars and Leash Latch Security:

 When I was adopting Miss M, her rescue group had a policy that the dogs had to be double-collared. If we were using a prong we would double-clip it with a martingale, and harnesses would also be double-clipped..The martingales are designed to be anti-slip, and these are what our dogs wear (they also come in thinner sizes and with the chain closure) and can be coupled with most any training device as a double measure.
E also designed a system using a key chain coupler (coupling key fob) to make sure our leash latches are extra secure, and Mr. B will no longer be chasing big poodles down the street. He created a diagram and wrote about it here. 

Hold your Leash Securely:

 We've had too many incidents where people unintentionally dropped their leashes, and we've had their dogs come running up to us (even across busy streets!). I always walk with the round loop around the crook of my elbow, and holding the leash with my other hand, just to make sure a quick lunge from the pooches won't cause me to drop the leash.

Top-Secret Safety Recall Word (Getting your Dog to Come Back):

 Just in case your equipment does fail, it's always good to have a good recall to get your dog back. In one of our training classes we learned how to condition our dogs where they hear a top-secret recall word, used only in dire circumstances, which would have your pooch turning back--robot-like--and returning to you. We wrote more about it here. (Our word is Yikes!)

When an Off-Leash Dog Approaches You Unexpectedly:

 My biggest fear each time I step out for a walk is that another dog will have his equipment fail, a gate will be left open, or an irresponsible dog owner will have an off-leash dog. We'd heard about an incident recently in Logan Square, an area where many of us live and walk, where two off-leash dogs viciously attacked another large dog, on a daily walk, leaving her in critical condition and nearly $10,000 in medical costs.
I've been carrying a can of Direct Stop citronella spray,which is a deterrent which is harmless to dogs, but they really don't like it. It's enough to deter a dog that is coming at you, but I've also heard it might not be enough for an aggressive dog that intends to attack. We also have a horn deterrent and  mace/ bear spray that we bring on our SociaBulls walks in case aggressive off-leash dogs approach our group. We've never had to use them, and we probably won't have to use them, but we like to have them in the small chance we do encounter an aggressive dog.
Update: Thanks Laura for this link demonstrating how to secure a harness with a martingale: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/latrenda/2011/10/collar-and-harness-safety/

We know the likelihood of many of these things is small, but we just wanted to share so everyone is aware. Anyone else have any tips to share?

SociaBulls: Walking in a Dog-Walking Group Without a Dog

As we've been having different dogs and owners showcase what they've been getting out of SociaBulls, I thought I would write a bit about what I've been getting out of the group. Since we started the group, I've never even walked a dog. I've been going as the 'dogless walker'.

Since we walk in so many densely populated urban areas, it's important to have people without dogs to watch out for other off-leash dogs who might approach the group, and to be able to stop and talk to people who might have questions about what we're doing.

While this may sound like too much responsibility, it has actually been a lot of fun. Since I don't have to focus on controlling a dog, I'm free to just walk around and have a chance to talk to everyone.

Our group has so many different types of people: chefs, PhD's, artisans, business professionals, people in the music industry, to name a few, but we're all brought together by our love of dogs and desire for responsible ownership. Since I don't have to focus on walking a dog, I have gotten a chance to talk to a lot more people.

And I get to practice taking pictures of all the gorgeous dogs. I try to get everyone, but sometimes I miss a few.

One of our dogless walkers made the realization that even though she'd been on so many walks, this was the very first time she was able to 'meet' certain dogs and owners because she had only seen them from afar.

Plus, Billy's mom wrote this great post about her experience as a dogless walker.

This was actually our first week adding an additional walk. We've grown so much, we now have 2 walks a weekend in 2 separate locations. So we will need more dogless people, but we get to continue adding new members!

Check in to our Chicago SociaBulls facebook page for even more photos and updates on our walks.

Foster Dogs: Sweet Bessie-Belle Goes Home

Out of all of the dogs we've fostered, Sweet Bessie-Belle was the one we could have seen adopting ourselves. She fit in so well with our dogs and lifestyle, and her sweet nature made our own pooches look like the two wild characters from a Disney Movie.
But, we've realized we just don't have the resources to support a third dog, so we were fine enjoying Bessie-Belle as our foster pooch until the right family came along. We knew it would be hard to give her up. And we knew we would be really sad.
But then a funny thing happened.
Per happenstance, and charm, Bessie met the family she was meant to be with.
And we weren't sad.
We weren't sad because we realized that's where she fit in and it was where she was supposed to be.
She is no longer 3rd dog under bossy Miss M's reign. Now Elderbull Bessie is a confident little sister helping out her shy older sister Roxy....and 3 cats!
Bessie-Belle knew she was home the first time she was there, and on her second visit, as she walked down the block she knew exactly which house to walk into.
Here is the story of how Bessie was reunited with her family:

As a single person with a lot of pets, I had contemplated adopting another dog to keep my 10-year old heeler mix, Roxy, company.  Contemplated is about as far as I got: Am I slowly on my way to hoarding? What will people think? I was more concerned about finding the right dog for Roxy, who is shy and quirky and has been that way since I got her from a shelter about 5 years ago. 

So I decided to bide my time and see if the right dog would find us. And along came Bessie Belle.

Roxy and I were shopping for her food at Ruff Haus when New Leash on Life was holding an adoption day.  Bessie was one of the dogs featured and she greeted everyone in the store, showering each person with kisses and a smile. She wasn't really my "type" of dog.  She was a pretty big girl, a mix of bulldog and boxer and not the coloring I usually go for. But  I was smitten. I thought about her for the rest of the weekend, how her gentle nature might be good for Roxy. I read more about her on the Pities in the City blog and could not think of a reason not to jump at the opportunity.

I have not regretted a moment since that decision.  Bessie's integration has been almost seamless:  she is curious about everything, but not overbearing. She was not fazed by my cats' initial hissing.  We've been jogging (sorta) in the park and I swear she is smiling.  Roxy has gained some courage, following her younger sister into the crowd of dogs gathered for play every morning.

And she's not just good for Roxy; she is good for me.  At 80-plus pounds, she is one powerful cuddler.   

For many years now I have made an effort to adopt older animals. I have always felt fortunate to know them, love them and I marvel at how they still have the capacity to form attachments after a rough start in life.  And I've learned an important lesson from Bessie:  the best companions can come in unexpected packages. 

We've been so happy to hear how well Bessie has been doing. Her mom has even started her on aqua therapy to help some of the stress on her joints. (I think we all have the same imaginary image of her in goggles, a flowered bathing cap and full-piece swimsuit as Bessie goes to 'swimming lessons').
And we are so thankful to New Leash on Life, the same group who took a chance on mangy Miss M, for recognizing the value of the older, seemingly broken, underdogs for helping Bessie to her happy ending.

DoggyStyle: His & Her Spring Collars

 Living in Chicago, we've learned the winters can last well into summer. We have been lucky this year, and the warmer weather already has us anticipating Spring. Since we do have to go on many daily walks, we tend to treat ourselves, and the pooches, with some fun gear, like these winter ensembles.
So much like we switch our curtains between seasons, we've decided to brighten up and switch the pooches over to His & Her matching Spring collar sets from Sirius Republic. Plus, they make our photos more fun.
Mr. B loves how the bow tie, collar and leash really brings out the color of his new favorite stuffy

While Miss M now feels like she is back to being the belle of the ball a la Mean Girls with her pretty purple flower that perfectly matches her collar and leash ensemble.

We are so excited that the weather will soon be warm again for us to take longer daily walks in their new perfect spring/summer collar and leash set. We would like to thank Sirius Republic for the beautiful his and hers collar and leash sets.

Pooches: On Pitbulls and Families

 I'm always writing about how I never wanted a pitbull, but after meeting Miss M I was completely won over and I never looked back.
But that isn't where the story ends.
When we were just talking to our friends over at Two Kitties, One Pittie, we realized that in many cases while we love having pitbull-type dogs, our extended families might not understand our choices.
 Little known fact: I actually started this whole blog to prove to my parents we made the right choice adopting pitbull-type dogs.
My parents live in a city where there are always negative reports of pitbulls in the media, and they couldn't believe I actually made a conscious choice to own pitbulls. They weren't able to meet our dogs for 2 years. My mom was quickly won over, and calls Mr B the gentle giant. Though my Dad admits he is still wary of them.

At the same time, E's family never realized our dogs were pitbulls and at family events Mr B is always hanging out with E's little Korean grandfather.
 Just curious, what was everyone else's experiences when the family weighed in on your choice of dog? Were they automatically accepting? Did it take time to win them over? Were they never won over?

SociaBulls: Downtown Dogs

Last weekend's SociaBulls walk brought us to a new downtown location complete with special local Chicago celebrity. This handsome bomber-jacket wearing fellow is Dillion the Deaf "Snoots" dog. And he is adoptable!

Just like "The Fonz", Dillion is a laid back guy who is great with the ladies. Even though this was his first walk, in a new location with a lot of unfamiliar dogs, Dillion was very relaxed, fine being among so many other dogs, and he integrated right into the pack.
Dillion is still looking for his forever family. Being a pitbull-type dog, who is also deaf, poor Dillion has been continually overlooked which is so unfortunate because we've seen how amazing he is. He has been waiting so patiently to find his own family. He has his own facebook page here where you can read more about him and help spread the word.

 This was one of our biggest walks yet, complete with downtown Chicago monuments, lakefront views, sculpture gardens, where many a tourist enjoyed seeing our 'parade' of well-dressed Chicago pooches.

Since we are walking in so many densely populated areas, we do need to make sure to limit the number of dogs on our walks and be aware of other walkers, bikers and runners in the area. We also have so many dogs of different socialization levels and having this structure helps set them up for success.

We've had so many amazing members step up to help coordinate walking routes, scheduling events, new member integration, organizing pack order, and helping as a dogless person. This coming week we will now be having walks on both Saturday and Sunday!
We were finally able to attempt a whole-group photo, which is very 'Where's Waldoish'. Can you spot Miss M and Mr B?

Current members, check the website for walk sign up information. New members, stay tuned as we are continuing to integrate everyone. And check our Chicago SociaBulls facebook page for more photos, including more photos of the gorgeous city views we saw on this walk.

PSA: The Dangers of Human Food

With all the ways we work to prepare our dogs to be successful city dogs, make sure they're good ambassadors and well-cared for, one of the little known things is that several types of human food can be fatal for dogs. Sure our families like to slip the dogs a treat under the table at Thanksgiving or we might let our dogs pick up the scraps from the floor when we're cooking, but it was only recently that I learned things like grapes, raisins, and onions can be dangerous and deadly, even for large dogs. Over winter break we learned one of our SociaBulls members, Jax suffered acute renal failure and his vets expected him to die after eating some raisins he found outside. Here is his story and a reminder to watch for food our dogs might find during walks:

There are so many things you worry about with a rescue, especially with an extremely fearful dog. I knew chocolate, macadamia nuts, cooked bones, caffeine and onions were toxic. But raisins? Raisins almost took my best friend away. It can be one, two or ten. Red or green grapes. A box of raisins or five.
Jax is a fearful dog who is most comfortable with his family--the people he knows the best--and his greatest joy is running loose on the golf course we live on with some furry friends. Jax gets his regular walks in the morning and afternoon, plus at least 2 trips to the golf course: no scary people, noises or things and just free to run and roam. The minute we hit the course, off leash he goes and zoomies galore!
The problem is that golfers and others throw food and scraps on the course, and Jax will find it each and every time. If I see him snatch something I go to him and open his mouth and take it out, but there are times I'm too late or I don't see him doing it....and it was almost deadly this time.

On December 26th after being out for an hour on the golf course  we came home and Jax, within 10 minutes of walking in the door, threw up. Jax has never thrown up since I've had him. I was on the phone with a friend and went into the bedroom upon hearing him vomit. I was saying to her dumbfounded, he ate raisins, the pile of vomit was fresh with raisins. She screamed into the phone "take him to the ER Now!" and right as she said it he vomited again.
Jax was not expected to make it. He was in acute renal failure. Pumping fluids, charcoal and he wasn't responding. He was barely producing urine for how much fluid was being pumped into and his BUN and Creatnine were at alarming levels and continuing to steadily rise. Day 2 in the afternoon they told me there was nothing more they could do, and he wasn't responding to treatment. I told them I wouldn't let my boy die in the hospital and asked to take him home. They didn't expect Jax would make it until the evening and when it happened it would happen quickly; he would within minutes drop into a coma.

But my boy is a fighter and Jax made it! We will go for dialysis twice a month for the next 6 months due to the severity of the poisoning, but it's just to give a boost to the kidney; he shouldn't have any long-lasting effects after this.
The terror and fear I felt cannot be adequately expressed; Jax is my family, he is my best friend, and I can't imagine ever being without him. I've written this to let people know how fatal this can be. There are a number of sites listing what not to feed your dog, the one I will share is from WebMD and found here. 

 We're glad Jax is doing well now, and we want to thank his Mom for sharing their story so we can all be aware of things our dogs shouldn't eat, remind our friends and family not to feed our dogs human food, keep all these items out of the trash and areas where our dogs might find them, and watch for things they may pick up on walks.

Mr. B Tries So Hard

Mr. B is such a sweet and loyal dog, but sadly, he is not very bright, which makes life difficult in a home where treats are handed out based on intelligence and to make matters worse he lives with a pooch that is smarter than anyone else in the house.

I would like to state that A chooses to treat the pooches after a trick or some sort of show, which clearly favors Miss M. I, on the other hand, give treats whenever they look cute, which is clearly in favor of Mr. B. The snooty Miss M and A are the intellectuals of the house, watching foreign movies with ironic humor and reading things like books, while Mr. B and I are very much the simpletons of the house watching instant classics like the new Muppet movie and reading things like the comics page in the newspaper.

Poor Mr. B, despite his inferior intellect, he still tries very hard to learn new tricks. It took us over a year to teach him down, on top of his other trick of sit, but A wanted to push the boundary and add wave to his repertoire of tricks. Now Mr. B is so confused that he cannot tell if he should be waving, sitting or laying. Sometimes you can see that single wheel in his head spinning so slowly as he tries to figure out the trick that will get him the morsel of treat.

But like his old man, he is not quite bright and not a quitter and he will try until he gets it right.

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?