Product Review: The Gentle Leader leash

by: Air

First, some info on the experimentee:
Name: Butter
Breed: German mix
Gender: Female
Age: 1 yr
Weight: ~20 lbs
Occupation: being annoying

The Gentle Leader leash.

It may be just too gentle. Or our dog is too stubborn, strong, smart or just doesn’t care about it.

It’s basically a loop that you put over their snout and then hook a leash on the tail part hanging from the loop. So when the dog pulls too hard, their head will snap back and hopefully cause them to not pull anymore.

When we first started using this on our dog, Butter, it seemed pretty effective. She obviously didn’t like it and would try to rub it off by burrowing into the ground, or walking with her head down the whole time, but she was not pulling as much. So, of course we were like YAY! No more crazy dog embarrassment.

So, that was the first few weeks. THEN, as she got more and more used to it, she just didn’t care anymore. She would still pull and walk with her head to the side. I mean it’s the funniest thing in the world because, well, can you even see where you’re going if your whole head is to the side and facing back?

That was the second stage of this leader leash. And Yes, there is a third stage.

She knows how to take the thing off now. Apparently she opens her mouth and uses her paw to swipe it off. Damn this dog, why so smart?

I’m not saying that this isn’t a good product because I’ve seen it work on other dogs. Just not ours. Or maybe we’re not training her correctly. We’ll have to try a better training method for this leader leash thing. Will be back with an update.

Butter and The Gentle Leader leash

A Dog’s Tale: Jude Stringfellow & Faith

This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 2 legs -
He could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.

His first owner also did not think that he could survive and he was thinking of ‘putting him to sleep’. But then, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him. She became determined to teach and train this little dog to walk by himself..
She named him ‘Faith’.

In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfboard to let him feel the movement..
Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for him for standing up and jumping around. Even the other dog at home encouraged him to walk.
Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle,
Faith learned to balance on his hind legs and to jump to move forward.
After further training in the snow, he could now walk like a human being.

Faith loves to walk around now.
No matter where he goes, he attracts people to him.
He is fast becoming famous on the international scene and has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows.
There is now a book entitled ‘With a Little Faith’ being published about him. He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies.
His present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul’.

In life there are always undesirable things, so in order to feel better you just need to look at life from another direction.
I hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and that everyone will appreciate and be thankful for each beautiful day.
Faith is the continual demonstration of the strength and wonder of life.

A small request: All you are asked to do is keep this story circulating.

Faith The Dog’s Official Website

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We really appreciate your referrals, as we’ve been sending them a lot of traffic and would love to let them know! Thanks.

Rawfed Spotlight: Mantou

 
Name: Mantou
Breed: half lab / half dalmatian
Gender: F
Age: 5 yrs
Weight: 50 lbs
Occupation: throw blanket for the couch

 
1. What kinds of food do you feed and how much?
In general I feed meats, some fresh herbs, fruit, breads, treats. I sprinkle parsley or cilantro over her meals sometimes to freshen her breath a bit. When I eat fruit I give Mantou a little, but never grapes, which I learned is toxic for dogs in high amounts. Breads I give in limited amounts. For treats, I give her peanut butter, meatballs (without onions or garlic in them) and hot dogs.

On a daily basis, I feed Mantou a pound of raw meaty bones (Rule of thumb: 1lb of RMB for a 50lb dog), mostly chicken legs and chicken thighs. I feed her other meats occasionally when the price is good: oxtails, lamb chops, ribs (of any kind), beef or lamb shanks, T-bone steak, beef or lamb neck bones and goat meat. She can eat everything, bones and all. I throw in some liver, hearts or gizzards occasionally to vary her meals a little. Generally chicken is the cheapest, which is why I feed this to her as frequently as I do.

In my area of Queens (Kew Garden Hills) at the regular supermarket you can find about 3.5lbs of chicken legs and thighs for about $3-4. At the Asian supermarket I can find the same amount for a little cheaper, around $2-3.

2. Do you see benefits to feeding this diet?
Most obviously, Mantou’s improved health is the biggest benefit. The first and most noticeable improvement is her coat getting softer, although it does not follow that she sheds less. The next thing I noticed is that I need to brush her teeth less often and although I can’t say her doggie breath smells good, I can say definitively that it is no longer rank. Mantou drinks less water (which is normal as advised by all sources on raw diets), although I don’t know if this is nutritionally better for her, I think this is easier on her bladder, not always having to pee.

One more thing I’ve noticed, is that Mantou appears to enjoy her food more. She did not dance around for kibbles. I think after 4 yrs of eating kibbles, she feels it’s like getting treats for dinner everyday. Even now, after a year of being on a Raw diet, Mantou still licks her chops in anticipation of her food and licks her bowl clean – actions I take as signs of her approval.

3. Any disadvantages to feeding this diet?
Messier of course. Having to clean up after a meal is hard enough for myself but it’s especially important after Mantou eats because it involves raw meat. I’ve noticed though, that an added benefit of feeding chicken is that it’s the least messy and easiest to clean. Beef is bloody and lamb has a smell.

Another downfall is having to monitor the freshness of the food I serve. People suggest buying lots of meat at a time and freezing it, but I always have a hard time remembering to pull food out of the freezer a day ahead. So I’ve readjusted to going to the grocery store every few days because I only buy enough Mantou food to last 2-3days at a time.

4. Tell us about the whole process of how your dog adjusted to the new diet…
I expected there to be much more of an adjustment period, but in reality Mantou really didn’t have any difficulties adjusting at all. The only resistance she showed was her very first raw meal when she was confused over how to eat it. But after sniffing it and confirming that by virtue of being in her doggie bowl that it really was food, she tore into it as if she had always been eating raw meat. I will say though, that in my own ignorance, I gave her too much meat without the bones in the beginning, which led to a lot of diarrhea. Now I can tell by her poo if she’s been eating too much meat or too much bone. Too much meat = diarrhea. Too many bones = dusty poo (it comes out like a cloud dust – a sight I never thought I’d report seeing). Right now, her poo looks regular but feels firm when I pick it up. Her poo is much smaller in size too compared to when she ate kibbles.

5. How did you find out about this alternative diet?
I had always known about this diet ever since I first investigated adopting a dog. I didn’t know the first thing about raising a dog so I signed up on mailing lists (there are PLENTY on yahoo, but you can find lots of information just from a Google search too) where people advocate this diet because it’s better for their health. But I was always intimidated because I felt I needed to know everything about doggie nutrition and I was thinking of the inconvenience of buying raw meat all the time. Plus I didn’t think kibbles could be that bad for her because she seemed happy already. Early last year, I decided to eat better for myself and around that time, I decided that I should do the same for Mantou. It wasn’t until I decided to feed her raw meat that I found out how bad kibbles could be to her health and after reading about all of it, it only strengthened my resolve to feed her better quality food. I’ve learned about what she liked or didn’t like by trial and error and what proportion of meat and bones works best for her. I learned for myself, shopping for her groceries really isn’t that much different than shopping for mine, and I don’t have to be an expert in doggie nutrition (after all, I’m not even an expert on human nutrition for myself). Sure, raw meat is a little more expensive than kibbles, but I compare it to eating fast food all the time. You can buy your meals from the Dollar Menu at McDonalds every day and live on it. But if you spend a little more to buy fresh food to make your own hamburger patties, you will enjoy it more, and it will probably be healthier for you as well.

For us, investigating vitamins and nutrional enhancements is the next step and that is something we’ll learn together. But I’m not really concerned that she isn’t getting enough of what she needs and her vet confirms she’s in perfect health. And to top it off, it’s worth seeing how much she enjoys her meals, which gives me the most satisfaction.

Teaching your dog tricks

One of the most rewarding things about raising a dog from puppyhood is seeing her development from a tiny, wide-eyed poo-monster into a sentient, clever, and strategic human trainer. Our trainer has taught us to give her treats whenever she does a consistent routine of movements that make us laugh, called “tricks”. In all seriousness though, it’s amazing how quickly our Havanese picked up these tricks, some within a matter of minutes. As simple as they may be, she’s got them down pat. It probably has a lot to do with her breed, which has a reputation for making good circus dogs.

note: Any training, tricks or obedience, is much easier when the dog is tired. Try taking him/her out for an hour walk or long romp around a dog run and you’ll find it much easier to keep their attention focused on you. Remember to give them lots of affection and praise when they do a successful trick. Try not to get frustrated if they don’t get it right away, as you’ve got to make training time a positive bonding activity for you and your dog. Keep consistent and practice routinely.

::THE EASY::
Sit
-hold the treat over dog’s head
-say “sit” while pushing the butt down with your hand into sitting position

Lie Down
-from “sit”, hold the treat down lower to the ground
-say “lie down” and push head down with your hand into lying down position

note: Sometimes with those above 2 tricks, you don’t even have to manually push anything down. They follow the treat, so it’s good to keep the visual cues consistent for them to follow. Eventually they’ll understand the vocal commands alone.

::SMARTIE PANTS::
Roll Over
-from “lie down”, roll dog over onto back with one hand and keep hand on tummy
-hold treat above dog, say “rollover”, and let go of tummy
- ta-da! rollover. repeat while waving treat in circular motion as visual cue

Up
-from “sit” position, hold treat way above dog’s head
-say “up” and reward with treat when dog stands up on hind legs
(may require manual prodding)

Walk
-from “up” position, keep treat above dog’s head
-move treat away from dog while saying “walk”
(Move treat away an inch at a time and reward as long as dog stays on hind legs.)

Circle
-from “up” position, keep treat above dog’s head
-move treat in circular motion above their head while saying “circle”
(Start with walking dog around in big circles and eventually make tighter, smaller circles. They’ll follow the treat.)

::BONUS ROUND::
Bang!
-from “lie down” position, roll dog over to his/her side
-keep hand on dog to keep in position
-with other hand mimic a gun
-say “bang!”
-hold dog down manually for few seconds before rewarding with treat
(Notice you may not have an extra hand to be holding out a treat. Helpful to have your friend/partner/spouse/roommate/parent to hold out the treat as a reminder for dog to focus on and look forward to.)

::ALTOGETHER NOW::

Dog Runs

A great way to get your dog happy and tired without tiring yourself out are the dog runs! It’s definitely a good way for dogs to socialize and freely run around without being leashed. We like to stay about an hour to get our dog really tuckered out. Usually there is a little area penned off next to the regular dog run for smaller dogs. Even though our girl is technically a small dog (9lbs), she enjoys the space of the bigger run and playing with dogs of all sizes. The smaller run is a good way to start off young puppies, but we found that dogs are able to referee themselves and play well together, no matter the size. Don’t worry if play looks a little rough. It’s natural for dogs to bite, pull, roll, chase, hump, and paw at each other. Just make sure there isn’t any aggressive growling, barking, yelping or excessive humping.

psssst, I have a secret...

the getting-to-know-you Butt Sniff

leap!

watching the action

Some Dog Run Etiquette
-don’t leave your dog alone in the run
-always keep an eye out for pooping and clean up after your dog
-sometimes play can get too rough, so be on hand to break up anything that gets too exciting

Some Tips
-take water with you. usually hoses/fountains are provided, but sometimes not
-take a treat or 2 with you if your dog doesn’t always come when called (this can save you the embarrassment of chasing your dog around trying to get the leash back on)
-take some toys like balls or frisbees for your dog to chase/retrieve

NYC Dog Runs

Home Alone Tip: Stuffed Kong Ideas

We try to leave our girl with something that might occupy a good chunk of her day while we’re out. We found that she just mostly sleeps when we’re gone, but leaving her the option of having something to play with at least makes us feel better as we walk out the door. Also it helps lessen their home-alone anxiety by leaving them with something they link to being “good”.

Now enter – The Kong
We mentioned this toy in our previous blog, but here’s specifically what works for us and her diet.

1. Kong + baby carrot + peanut butter
We used to do this before we started the raw meat diet, but I think it’s still a relatively healthy recipe to use for any dog. Make sure the peanut butter is unsweetened, organic is better. Drop in one baby carrot, plug up the top with dollop of peanut butter, and put in freezer for at least an hour. We used to prep this the night before and let it freeze overnight. The carrot might come out floppy depending on how long you freeze it, but our girl never cared.

2. Kong + chicken jerky
Stuff generous piece of jerky all the way into the Kong. If it’s wide enough, it won’t fall out. We do this now that she’s on a meat-only diet and she LOVES chicken jerky.

We get these from Petco and store them in the freezer. However, we’re strongly considering a food dehydrator to make our own like this (minus the seasoning) considering recent recalls of chicken jerky.
Wal-Mart Recall
USDA “Dingo” Recall
Jerky From China Recall

We stay away from that kong “stuff’n” stuff and we’ve definitely stopped feeding our dog any pre-processed dog foods and biscuits mentioned in old posts. (We’re learning!) For more information, see excerpt.

**Also see a tip I found from Miss Kylie for bigger dogs. Great for staying cool in the summer!

Raw Feed Update

So it’s been 5 months now since we started our pup on the raw meat diet. Now she’s not even a pup anymore since we just celebrated her 1 year birthday last month.

Havanese First Birthday!

We’re happy to report that she can chomp through chicken drumsticks and thighs like they’re pretzel rods, and slurp down meat faster than Kobayashi can eat hotdogs. We shot this footage while visiting my parents’ place, and she didn’t like the camera or the slippery kitchen floor so she’s acting a bit skiddish.

The Meat
So far, most of her diet is chicken. It’s just convenient for us. We can get chicken for 0.49-0.99 cents/lb and it’s an easy prep/clean up. We buy whatever packages of chicken are available (whole or drumsticks or breasts; 2-3% water; unseasoned), cut it up, put the chunks in plastic bags, and freeze for a week or two. Each bag we freeze (approx 1 lb each) will feed her for about 5 days. We defrost a bag overnight and it’s ready to eat the next morning. She eats twice a day, and each meal for her is about 2 slivers of breast meat or the meat off a drumstick. We also feed her liver once a month- just the size of a thumbnail (our dog is 9 lbs now, full-grown). As for other meats, she tried turkey during Thanksgiving. She enjoyed it, but it was a hard meat to prep. Very sinewy, thick, and has lots of cartilage-like splint things all through the meat. We’ve tried beef, which she loved (but had poo issues, see below). She also loves pork, but we’re a little wary of that other white meat. Honestly, for no logical reason. MANY raw feeders feed their dogs pork on a regular basis so don’t let this post dissuade you. We’re interested in getting our hands on goat, venison, or rabbit but we haven’t really seen it around in stores. If you have a big dog, you might consider ordering meat online in bulk. Depending on your location, you might also be successful with sites like Freecycle. We highly recommend joining Yahoo!’s Rawfeeding group for other people’s experiences, tips, and advice.

Bag of Frozen Chicken, 1 lb

The Bones
We highly recommend getting a meat cleaver- we got ours in Chinatown. It hacks through bones with little effort. Makes it easier to estimate the 10% bone she’s supposed to get since she’s a small dog. For us, 10% bone is about half a drumstick per meal. She still won’t touch anything with her paws, but she does fine picking up the bones in her mouth and chomping down.

Meat Cleaver

Veggies and Supplements?
Nope, none of the above needed. As long as their diet consists of everything from the prey model, it’s plenty full of their needed vitamins, minerals, etc. Not every single meal has to consist of the prey model though. As long as somewhere in there they get organs once in awhile and a variety of meats + bones, it’s perfectly healthy. We’ve fed our girl salmon on two occasions, which she loved. (If you have excess bones, save them in the freezer. They come in handy on fish-meal days. Without the bone, it’ll give your dog the runs.) If your dog has dry skin, you might consider feeding fish/fish oil.

Helping Her Eat Salmon Sashimi

The Cleanup
We spritz down the floor with our vinegar solution (1 part vinegar, 1 part water, couple squirts of soap). We wash the fur around her mouth with doggie soap. Sometimes we just babywipe her face if it was a clean meal. That’s it….

The Poo
It’s great! Well, as great as poo can be. She poops about twice a day, usually after each meal. It comes out in little hard pellets and stinks much less. She did have a little trouble with raw beef though. It’s fine going down but just recently it gave her Exploding Butt Syndrome for a day and half. We’re not so sure we want to go through cleaning that mess and losing any more rugs, so we’ll probably re-introduce it gradually later on, in moderation.

How Is She Doing Overall?
As for the physical effects of raw feeding, it seems to work wonders. Her coat is silky smooth and she smells great. No need for baths unless she gets a romp around the dog run and decides to roll in the dirt. Her teeth are pearly white with no signs of buildup. We don’t have to do a thing for the upkeep- no brushing, no dog breath products, etc. (Greenies warning here.) The bones in every meal work their magic just fine.

Havanese Teeth - 1 year

She’s now bounding with energy with rockhard muscles. Sometimes after a big meal she lies on her back and looks at us blissfully with smiling eyes and tongue hanging out. She’s totally uninterested in eating human food or trash, and she clearly doesn’t miss the kibble one bit. One happy dog.

Raw feeding all the way!

Home Grooming: haircut!

Recession Special Haircut, How to do a Doggie-do!

We were letting our pup grow out her hair for the winter, which looked nice AND kept her warm. But after 5+ months of no trims, this non-shedding dog was starting to leave traces of fur here and there. Eventually, brushing her became pretty high maintenance and the tangled strands were turning into huge knots that we had to start cutting out. Especially under her arms and neck.

Enough. Haircut time.

The last time we got her back from a professional groomer, it seemed like I could save $50 and trim her myself. It looked easy enough. And considering the economy going forward, I might as well start practicing now. In the long run, saving $50 every 4-5 months adds up, right?

So here we go…

12:30pm

Long and silky…

In case you couldn’t tell, she’s standing on our steel trash can.
We found this to be THE best way to make her stay still for anything we need (putting on her shoes, cleaning her ears, etc). For her, it’s the perfect size- just big enough for her to sit on and just high enough to scare her so she wouldn’t try to jump off. So if you don’t have a grooming table, look around the house for a platform or table that can suffice.

2pm…

Such a happy little lamb! Feels so fresh and light as a feather!

The Tools

1. So basically I first cut out all the big knots in her fur.
2. Then I brushed her out thoroughly with the wire brush and then used the flea comb for her face (eye boogers).
3. With the small scissors, I cut her fur all around evenly. It was easier for me to maneuver around her body using the small scissors.
4. To finish, we used the clippers to even her fur out and catch all the stray strands that the scissors missed. They also work to trim the fur on the paws and the hard-to-reach spots on the legs.

Are you wondering why we didn’t use just the clippers all around and save an hour? Well the small clippers we have wouldn’t work on her dense fur. There was way too much fur for the them to work.

We’re investing in bigger clippers for next time’s grooming session.

Cool Products: Wacky Walkr Dog Leash

We found this cool new leash at the King of Prussia mall in PA.  It’s essentially a short leash made of latex surgical tubing instead of nylon or leather.  The principle is simple – the more the dog jerks on the collar, the more the leash pulls back.  It’s like bungie jumping for your dog. It relieves the jerking effect on both you and your dog, and requires a lot less effort in your leash corrections.  We got the “urban” version leash for small 6 – 12 lb dogs, which is about 1.5 ft total in length.  It’s the perfect length for making your dog walk right by your side, as they should.  We weren’t planning on buying any more products, considering she has a full outfit from nose to paw, but after one test drive around the mall, we decided to drop $20 and give it a try.   So far so good.  One little tug on the leash and she snaps smoothly back into place and seems to wander off less.  It’s definitely a lot less frustrating for us and the dog compared to a regular nylon leash.

It looks like their website (www.wackywalkr.com) is down at the moment, but you can see it at Amazon.